The Protector: Hakan & Nisan

Chapter 17

Hakan waited long, pregnant moments but the tip never even came close to puncturing his skin. 

He gently encased her smaller, shaking hands in his then and pushed the blade through the top layers of his flesh, drawing first blood for her.  They now had matching wounds above their hearts.  It seemed more than fitting to him as he once again felt a flush of shame for hurting her, his heart.  "It's okay, Nisan," he encouraged quietly, lovingly. "Do it. End it. Set me free."

The tears were rolling down her cheeks now, no matter the Immortals looking on, and she whispered his name quite achingly.  "Hakan."

"It's okay, Nisan," he repeated. "Just please know you've always been my heart.  And I finally did it. I finally had the courage to choose you over this godforsaken duty."  He actually smiled at her with his busted, bleeding lips then, a happy man. He was completely satisfied and contented in that moment. He was no longer cleaved in two, head and heart at war.  

Hakan suddenly realized with a start that Nisan had already set him free.

Thank you, he mouthed only for her, making the earth suddenly stand precariously still on its axis, I love you.

Nisan was frozen, looking down at Hakan, who had mind, body and soul given himself over to her, in front of the Immortals no less.  And had he just thanked her for killing him? 

She couldn't even hear the Immortals' heckling all around her as they looked on in amusement at the scene unfolding before them.  She was singularly focused on Hakan, only Hakan. Always Hakan.  Some scale inside of her suddenly, slightly, imperceptibly shifted...and she forgave him. In that moment, five hundred years later, she forgave him.

Close on the heels of that emotional rush of forgiveness came a startling lightning bolt of clarity.  She had been born to protect him, the Protector. Some part of her soul had always recognized this.  It was her calling, she all at once fully discerned, her ancient, ordained duty.  Her gift.  She had been carefully chosen and anointed a long time ago by the all-knowing fates just as he had.  Suddenly she perceived it with absolute certainty to her very core and she finally understood.   

Everything all at once made perfect sense spanning the past five hundred years up to this very moment. She blinked in astonishment as it all became so startlingly clear for the very first time. How had she not seen it before now?  

She was the Protector's protector.  

It was so simple, so pure, so holy and divine.  She finally, at long last, discerned it, embraced it, gloried in it.  He was her gift, and she his.

"My soul," she whispered as the world righted and started spinning once more. She still held the dagger to his heart but something had changed in her expression and a loving message flashed clearly within the depths of her dark eyes.

Hakan, always tuned and tethered to her, caught his breath at her words, her tender look. His face slowly lit up in understanding and his heart nearly leaped and soared right out of his chest. Nisan not only loved him, she forgave him. Finally, he breathed, slowly exhaling, visibly relaxing. The weight of the world lifted off of his shoulders completely in that very moment.

It had taken this surrender, this beating that had brought him to the precipice of death, but she once again believed in love, his love. Moreover it had clarified the calling embedded deep within her very bones, finally making sense of her.  It was hard to comprehend after all this time but it was finally over, this misguided war, this bloody struggle, this confusing impasse. They were both finally, after slow-burning centuries, fighting on the same side as it was always meant to be, instead of trying to slowly rip each other apart out of sheer frustration and misguided blindness. 

Love finally triumphed.  With all its imperfections and frailty, love still won against the madness and tyranny of darkness.  Nisan gave him one almost imperceptible nod and, reaching down deep into a newfound well of strength and resolve despite his battered body, Hakan pushed up on his feet and surged forward.

Side by side, Hakan and Nisan leapt in unison at the Immortals surrounding them, surprising their mutual enemy, their real nemesis all along, this sudden turn of events taking the vipers off guard and giving the couple a slight, momentary advantage. They hoped it would be enough as Nisan wielded the ancient dagger with deadly precision and it honed in on the nearest Immortal heart, almost as if it had a mind of its own, as if eager to finally complete, at long last, the holy task it was anointed to do so many centuries before.

Hakan and Nisan's eyes met as Mergen fell to the dagger. Heart and soul were finally reunited, restored, reconciled. The curse had lifted. Something ancient, powerful and divine slid into place. Everything else had needed to fall away for it to happen, their pride, their fear, their false Gods, even the Loyal Ones.

Now Hakan and Nisan were a formidable army of one, in complete harmony as they merged their strength, their purpose, their love. They at long last understood the why of it all and knew they were meant for this very thing. This was their purpose and the meaning of their God-like devotion to each other.   This.  Their world was no longer spinning out of control. It was completely and utterly balanced.  They felt and wielded double the strength now acting as one, fighting against the other Immortals that were now on the attack. 

Together they would fight, side by side for the rest of their lives, even if that was just mere minutes more.  As Nisan's intense, almost black eyes locked, danced, with Hakan's shining golden ones, they knew with certainty that they had already triumphed in this ancient war, regardless of the outcome of this particular scrimmage today.  

Together they were unbreakable, if not quite indestructible, having already saved one another.  After so many bloody, war-torn centuries, they were finally free to be together, to love and to fight on the same side.  Heart and soul united.

As one they'd finally, unequivocally won.