The War God's Wife

Chapter 17: Important Questions

When we were clean, we snuggled together under the stars.  She lay on my chest, her head cradled in the crook of my shoulder.  The arm she lay on traced random patterns on her back while the other entwined with one of hers.  I looked up into the rich, black sky dotted with stars and the glowing discs of three Moons.  I felt . . . content?  No, peaceful.  Quiet.  Oh so beautifully quiet.  Every part of me wanted to just stay here with Calli in my arms.  What could be better?  the voice in me sighed dreamily.  Then, Calli cleared her throat.

"So . . . I guess it was good for you too?"  she squeaked awkwardly.  I chuckled.

"Dear, I've never had anything like that," I said.  She moved her head to look at me with wide eyes.  "What we just had was something . . . wondrous.  Something I've never had in all my life as a Tel'mak."  She blushed.  We settled in again.  The breeze whistled overhead, bringing a slight chill with it.  Calli shivered.  I pulled her in tighter to warm her with my body.  The world was filled with my blissful quiet:  just as I liked it to be.  Then, I felt her breath hesitate on my chest.

"Chance?"  she whispered.

"Hm?"

"What happens . . . from here?"  I stiffened.  My quiet was cracking, ever so slightly.

"Well, I'm sure we'll have more and more . . . wondrous . . . times," I said silkily, running my finger up her spine.  She giggled and slapped my hand gently, but her tone remained serious.

"Do we . . . get married?"  My stomach dropped.  That was quite a leap.  I fumbled for an answer.

"I . . . I don't know, dear," I admitted.  Her brow wrinkled with concern.  I quickly went on.  "I-I just haven't considered that with anyone.  To be bound to an immortal for eternity . . . it's different for mortals.  'Till death do us part,' right?  What if death . . . just never came?"  She sat up a little, now even more worried.

"Are you saying," she said slowly, "you'd fall out of love with me?"

"No!"  I said vehemently.  I took a calming breath.  "No, but so many things could happen.  What if I do something that you can't accept, ever?  We would be stuck together even though you hate me.  How could I make you go through an eternity of bitterness and anger?"  She hesitated, so I pressed on.  "There's more.  So many questions to answer."

"Like?"  she asked.

"Do you want children?"  I asked bluntly.  She flushed down to her neck.

"What?!"  she squeaked.

"Do you want children?"  I repeated.  "Do you want to maybe adopt?  How would you want to interact with the rest of the world?  Be a god, like the Tel'mak?  A legend that none are sure actually exists?  Would you live with me in my home in the Volterra Mountains?  And on and on and on . . . ."  Silence fell between us.  The quiet I had been so lovingly wrapped in was now well and truly cracked with tension and worry.  Calli stared off into the distance without seeing.

"Then are we only playing at love?"  she whispered.  I felt my heart sink at that.  I tugged her back to my embrace and kissed her neck tenderly.

"No," I whispered back, "I don't think we are.  We just need to find some answers to the many questions of our future.  But they are answers we will get together."  She brightened a little at that and kissed me.

"Come on," she sighed, reaching for her dress, "we better get back to the house.  Dad's gonna figure out what happened if we're much later."  I felt the blood drain from my face.

"Please tell me you're joking," I groaned.  She laughed in reply, which only made me groan harder.

The next morning, I practiced lightly with Lightning, my mind and body light as well.  Calli had greeted me when I had left the house, her smile warm and tender.  I had even heard her humming sweetly as I passed through the door, the sound pleasant and soothing.  It made me think back to that dream-memory of her singing.  I wondered if she would sing for me.  It was a nice thought that made me grin as I stripped off my shirt, drew Lightning, and readied the blade.  I wasn't even following the strict forms I usually did; instead, my blade glided through the air in breezy patterns with no real force or purpose behind them.  As I danced through yard, my eyes caught on the life-stealer.  I slid to a stop, staring.  The face had crumbled more with the hole that I had punched in on my last attempt now a gaping chasm that still had dust breaking off.  Where once it had been foreboding and ominous, now it was broken and sad.  A memorial and landmark to my growth.

My energy practice was even further than I could imagine.  Once I became accustomed to the stretching feeling, I was able to almost constantly contain my energy, enlarging and storing more and more energy in my now ever-expanding Well.  Compared to my Well from before the ambush, my current Well dwarfed it by several magnitude.  It was like the village palisade to the walls of Invictus:  paltry.  Never in all my years had I felt so brimming with energy and power.  It amazed me how such a simple trick would seem to turn any magic wielder into an unstoppable force.

It also made me uncomfortably wary.  I had yet to actually try to perform any spells or casts precisely because I did not know how to gauge my energy.  What I once would have described as a handful of energy was now far more compacted and potent than I had measured.  A simple Fireball could be ten--even twenty!--times larger and more powerful than before.  I just didn't know.  I continued to stare at the life-stealer's crumbling face, thinking.

But I have to find out eventually.

Tenderly, I called up a handful of energy.  Where before it was liking scooping up water, now it felt like sap, thick and course.  I let it build into my hand, charging the air into a crackling bolt.  Even at this point, I could feel it was more powerful.  My hair whipped around my face as my hand shone and crackled with power.  With a snap of my arm, I threw the energy and released the bolt of lightning.

KRAK-KOOM!!!

The huge bolt slammed into the life-stealer, most of it swallowed up into the void, but not all.  The blast of thunder that followed roared in the air, creating more cracks and blasting more dissolving chunks off the life-stealer.  Some of the chunks glowed orange for a moment from the heat before disintegrating into the wind.  For a moment, the life-stealer's color changed from abyssal black to a dark gray.  Then it was gone, and it settled deeper into the ground with an inaudible sigh.

I blinked rapidly, my ears ringing.  So much revealed from a simple bolt of lightning.  For starters, the life-stealer could be overwhelmed.  The color change was indicative of that.  Perhaps, in breaching the face, it's internal structure now had no way to properly deal with the energy?  I could only guess; I was no wizard or potion-maker to understand how such rocks worked.  But now I knew for certain that I could certainly destroy the life-stealer at any time.  With my body and Well strengthened to such a degree, there was no doubt left in my mind.  It also made the fearful thought of my time with Calli coming to a swift and soon end creep into my head again.  I licked dry lips and pushed the fear away.

But it also meant my energy was more potent now, as I had suspected.  I would say my energy was now eleven--no, twelve times more powerful than before.  And it would only grow stronger as it got denser.  I tried to swallow hard.  I had expected to grow by leaps and bounds from this, but even this much was staggering to believe.  Now I really couldn't wait to tell Sister Fourth about this.

Sister?  Storms, I never contacted them!!

I sprinted into the house, slamming the door open with a bang.  Calli, who was cooking breakfast, jumped at the loud noise with a squeak.  I guess I startled Lyterias too because he shouted a curse suddenly.

"Is there a church of the Tel'mak in the village?"  I asked urgently.  Calli frowned, confused.

"There's a small one," she replied.  "We only have a couple of Tel'makian priests and orderlies who serve there.  Why?  Need to pray to yourself?"  Her eyes twinkled with mirth at her little joke, but I didn't share it.

"No," I said as I turned back around, "just to my siblings."  And then I sprinted out of the house and down the path, snagging my shirt and slipping it on as I ran as fast as I could to the village.