The Golden Dawn Page 2

  #

  Keith watched in shock as Julianna closed in on the Father, the golden glow around her bigger than the palace by now. He'd thought her dead when she lost half her body, but somehow she pressed on, and even seemed to grow stronger and stronger. It was surely her last gasp, though; she would die after this last act, and his tears continued to flow with that knowledge. Yet he had faith she would do Aerilea proud to the end, a scant comfort when he'd never see her again. Her massive energy aura touched the Father's head—and disintegrated it starting from the front, more and more of it vanishing away as she moved forward. After its head was gone, she continued into its body, her output not enough to destroy it entirely but burrowing a tremendous hole through it. But instead of going all the way through, she stopped. Had she run out of power, maybe passed away in the moment of her triumph? No—to call it triumph might be premature. The monster still stood... and then, its head regenerated. In seconds it grew completely back, and it bellowed. The world shook for miles.

  "No wonder the ancients sealed it," a woman in the street below said despairingly. "It can't be killed!"

  The Father of Monsters' boulderlike orbs focused on Myrrhise again. Another blast began to build up in its throat, and without Julianna they had no defense against it. People wailed in panic and ran around aimlessly, while Keith waited with face set grimly for death. Then golden light blazed not only from its mouth but eyes too, and more radiantly than ever before. What was going on, could it be..? A second later its whole body lit up and then exploded. Pieces flew in all directions for leagues, perhaps all over the continent. Where its center had been, half of a woman's body floated.

  Somehow, the Saint Princess' voice reached her city. "It can, and not by my strength alone! If humans believe they can do something, they will. So believe in yourselves, so that I may look upon my countrymen's deeds and be proud!" Then the pride of Aerilea's miraculous vitality finally gave out. She plummeted towards the ground, Keith's heart sinking with her. He ran for the stables, hoping out faint hope to find his love before she was gone.

  #

  Many minutes later, Keith rode into view of what remained of the woman he adored. Her white, one-armed torso lay surrounded by chunks of the Father of All Monsters, victorious even in death. At least, he thought it was death until she spoke. "Keith, is that you? I can't see."

  The magic must sustain her, but even so it surprised him how long she'd lasted. Her eyes were open, but completely clouded over, and he knew the end drew near. He knelt and held her, not caring how mangled her form was. "Yes, it's me. I love you."

  Her trembling arm reached up around his neck. "I l-love you too. Take care of our son for me, will you? Be the parent to him... I never could."

  "I will. I've been doing that already, haven't I?" He kissed her forehead. "Sorry, I don't mean to blame you."

  "Of course. I haven't been much of a mother, I know. But at the same time, I thought I would have time to..."

  Keith sniffed. She was still young, and they'd thought they could wait until teenage Julian gained more favor with the public before declaring him heir. It would take some favorable circumstances for people to accept a supposed holy maiden having a child out of wedlock, after all. But now she would die, and Aerilea be left without a monarch... "Can I crown him?"

  She didn't reply at first. "I suppose the kingdom requires a ruler, and I'm sure he'll make a fine prince under your guidance. You have my blessing."

  "I'm so sorry!" he said as his heart ached anew. "I wish I could have done more for you, and not let you..."

  "It's alright. This is the price I pay for being as strong as I am. The place of the strong is to protect the weak, and I got some good notches on my belt in my time. It was a fun journey, and I don't regret it. Although if I could have a little more... no, forget it. Just give me a last kiss before I go?"

  He shifted her in his arms and placed his lips to hers, not caring about the caked blood and gore on them at all. They were still warm, and to feel them like this one last time, he wouldn't trade for anything else. Well, other than her survival... Their tongues touched, and it felt as if their bodies merged. He willed his life into her, imagining that somehow, he could hold her in this world. Then her hand holding his neck lost tension, drooping limply against it. He didn't stop, continuing to nudge her tongue which no longer responded. More hot tears gushed forth down his cheeks, and he finally moved his head back to behold her still face, eyes half closed and fixed. The love of his life and greatest hero of their time, the Saint Princess Julianna, was gone.

  #

  Three years later, Keith rolled over in his bed in the cabin where he now lived, trying to go back to sleep despite it being almost noon since he had only gotten a couple hour-long chunks of sleep overnight. It was often like this now, him rarely if ever getting a good night's rest as he spent too much time thinking of Julianna and what could have been. He'd tried so hard at first to carry on her unfinished work, futilely assisting their son through meeting after meeting, negotiation after negotiation, but couldn't anymore. Her death had broken him, as much as he knew he should move on and she would have wanted him to. Even Julian didn't want to see him now, his demeanor a constant reminder of their loss, and sensing this Keith had distanced himself from him. What was wrong with him? He didn't wish to cause his son pain, but couldn't help the way he felt nor hide it. Though he wasn't that old, not yet forty, he wondered how long he had left. How long could a person go on with an ever-present pain in their heart like his? His days were so full of misery, he sometimes thought of ending it himself. Yet that was a coward's way out, and he still had a sliver of pride to not take it. He would live, if only to avoid saddening his son and bringing shame to their bloodline, until such time as his ailing soul naturally gave out.

  The sun was too bright, burning his eyes through the windows he couldn't muster the will to shutter right now. He turned away from the light, pulling his covers over his head to bring himself into darkness. Dark... wasn't there a time when he told Julianna he always stood for the light, and would never let the dark take him? It had been metaphoric, but still. Seemed his life was mostly darkness these days. Gods, his bladder felt full. But he had no desire to get up to release it, yet if he didn't he would hardly get to sleep this way. Fuck it. He sat and swung his legs off the cot, took a moment to steady himself as he was groggy with sleeplessness, and stood. The door looked so far away. Maybe the bucket would be a better idea. As he looked towards it, his eyes passed over the half eaten loaf of bread on the drawer. He felt gratitude towards the couple living nearby who generously brought him food, calling him the "sad hero of the old world." Hero, huh? They remembered his past esteem better than he did. If not for them feeding him, he didn't know if he would even find the will to get food for himself or if he would've starved to death by now.

  He ambled over to the bucket and released himself. Almost full, he saw as the liquid churned in it. How long had passed since he last dumped it out? He realized he should, sometime. Another time. He headed back for bed. Before he could climb in, he heard a knock at the door. Who could it be now? The young couple had just delivered food, so he doubted they were back already, and no one else really visited him. Maybe Julian, coming to see him out of pity as he did once in a long while? But he knew he had no place in his son, or any functioning person's life now. He stumbled over to the door. "Who is it? Go away, I'm not interested."

  "Shouldn't you wait for your question to be answered before that second bit?" asked a woman's voice.

  "I suppose? Out with it, then."

  "You should open the door. Better for you to see yourself than hear it in words."

  Keith grew irritated by her vagueness, his initial urge being to tell her off and return to bed. But if he tried to do that, she would likely continue to bang on his door and pester him. Might as well get it over with. He opened the portal, turning away from the harsh light as it shone into his eyes. Recovering, he beheld a young woman in simple travelers' cl
othes standing before him. Her light brown hair hung down in front of her face, partially obscuring it, yet her mouth, nose and what he saw of her cheeks looked somehow familiar. "Have I met you before?"

  A grin played across her supple lips. "You have." She reached up, stuck her fingers into her hair and brushed it back. He stared, baffled at the face revealed looking up at him. She looked just like Julianna had only younger, maybe twenty years old.

  "Did Julianna have a daughter?" he said doubtfully. But then, twenty would be a tad old to be her child considering he had known her then and there was no way... "Or are you her sister she never told me about for some reason?"

  She frowned. "Really, you don't recognize me?" He blinked, not understanding. Wait, could it be? No, he shouldn't delude himse- "Keith, you big dummy. It's me, Julianna!"

  "What did you say? If this is some kind of depraved joke..."

  She averted her gaze, putting hands on her hips. "I know you're afraid to give yourself false hope, hence your reluctance to believe me. But if it wasn't me, could I tell you... you spent an awful long time kissing me after I was dead?"

  He gaped. "N-no one else was there... Julianna, is it really..." She didn't answer, but the insistent way she looked into his eyes seemed to say, Yes. Yes. Yes. "I don't know how this is possible, but I think it really is you." He was numb with shock, more excited than he could ever have pictured himself being yet unable to let go of the thought it was too good to be true. "Here, come on in."

  The girl—Julianna?—entered and looked around. "Well, if this isn't a shabby place for a High Knight." Her nose crinkled in disgust. "And shit, it stinks!"

  "It's only piss. Sorry about that. How can you be here? You look younger than before." At the time of her death, Julianna had been in her early thirties, but now—if this was truly her—seemed to have aged backwards ten or more years.

  "It took my spirit this long to gather the magical power to form a new, stable body. This current form of mine isn't exactly flesh and blood, but a close enough approximation to pass." As if to demonstrate, she took his hand, and he marveled that her gentle yet strong touch felt just like that of the woman he thought he'd lost forever. "As for the change in appearance, I did it because I could."

  He believed now that this was his Julianna, impossible as it should've been. "I never knew you were so vain, to prefer such a young look."

  "It isn't just because I find youth attractive. Looking younger brings me back to older, more innocent times, before I understood how hard things could really be. So since I'm getting a fresh start..."

  Keith embraced her. Though he figured her body was made of magical energy held together by her will, it felt solid enough to readily overlook that. "If there was ever any doubt what an incredible woman I fell in love with, there's none now. You don't die even when you're killed."

  "To be fair, I was dead for a good three years. But there was never a doubt anyway, was there?"

  Recognizing her humorous tone, he laughed. "You're right, of course not. How did you avoid being drawn off to the next world, or wherever souls go?"

  "When the reaper came for me, I punched him in the face and told him to back off."

  He rolled his eyes. "Are you serious?"

  "I'm here, aren't I? So it would naturally be something as ridiculous as that."

  Again he embraced her, fearing irrationally that she would be gone soon. Maybe this was all a dream, albeit an unbelievably lucid one, and at any instant he might wake up.

  "On a serious note," she asked, "how is our son? And does he rule the grand kingdom of Aerilea well?"

  "Julian is well. I'm sure he'll be delighted to see his mom again, as I am." He paused. "As for Aerilea... three of the five countries under its banner have broken away. What used to be known as the grand kingdom of Aerilea now only consists of old Aerilea and Kureau, the rest of the nations under it having declared their independence."

  She recoiled. "That fast? We'd been joined for a thousand years, yet three pass without me and..?"

  "Aerilea has never scrambled to put a bastard prince on the throne before, no insult intended to our offspring of course. And tensions had already been building before we lost you. Ostuh found your ban on magic without royal approval overly strict, while Severil had the opposite notion that your family's rule favored magic users too much and refuses to accept the reign of a bastard prince. As for Plasbias-"

  Julianna raised a hand. "Oh, I know. Dying didn't make me forget what the conflicts within our... or should I say, between our countries were. What about the One Army, I assume you fought them off since we aren't currently part of the so-called One Nation?"

  "Yes, it wasn't so hard to drive them back after the dent you put in their morale. And the horde that was called the One Nation under King Galen quickly went back to being a hundred clans or so without his strong hand to hold them together."

  "That's good. At least it means we shouldn't be facing any large scale invasions from the south in the near future."

  "So what are our plans now?"

  She flashed him a dubious look. "Our? Are you sure you're up for it in your condition?"

  He looked that bad, huh? He certainly wouldn't have said yes if he'd been asked whether he was travel ready an hour ago, but reuniting with her invigorated him to the point he almost forgot his suffering for the past three years. Sure his body wasn't in the shape it had once been, but he could adjust. With her at his side, he felt young again and like they could pick right up where they left off. "My condition? I should be the one asking if a dead woman can keep up."

  Julianna giggled. "I think I'll be fine. In any case, the first order of business will be to visit Myrrhise, check up with our son and see what current issues are most pressing. We can make further decisions from there."

  "I wonder if it would be lawful for a ghost to reclaim the crown?"

  "Do I count as a ghost? I have a solid body and all."

  "I guess that'll have to be determined after further deliberation." He walked over to his bed, retrieved a bundle from underneath and unwrapped it.

  Julianna started. "That's..."

  He patted the large hilt of the scabbarded sword and nodded. "It's Galen's. I know you have more claim to it, but since you were... I thought the trademark weapon of your last human conquest would be good to remember you by."

  "That's fine, you can keep it. I have no use for a clumsy oversized blade anyway. But do you hopefully have a spear for me?"

  "Sure." He pulled another bundle from below the bed, tossed it to her. "It's yours."

  She unrolled the cloth and smiled at the familiar short spear within. "Glad you held onto this, though I wouldn't expect you not to. What about my armor? I know the one I wore against Galen and the Father was destroyed, but I did have a spare set."

  "It's with Julian. He wouldn't let me keep every memento of you for myself, so I took the spear and he the armor among other things."

  "Alright, I'll pick it up when we get there. Let's grab everything else you need, and we'll be off to fix whatever kind of mess our land has become as best we can."

  Chapter 2

  Julianna walked happily along the road surrounded by bright spring fields, feeling great to see the sun and hear the wind again. Granted she had seen and heard them on the way here too, but having Keith at her side cemented in her mind that she was really back in the world she'd missed. Her senses weren't perfect in this body—her vision and hearing worked, but she had to focus to really smell or taste anything, and her sense of touch and ability to discern heat and cold were dull to the point she sometimes felt like she controlled a puppetlike shell rather than this form really being "her." Still, it was better than being properly dead.

  "So why did you move so far away from Myrrhise?" she asked. "It took me a while to come all this way just to find you."

  "It was too hard to stay where there were so many things to remind me of losing you. I deceived myself into believing I could run away from the memories by moving
here, but as you saw it's hard to flee from what's inside your head. What about you? I'd have thought you would 'recover' closer to where you... fell, which should make it easier to visit Julian. Why come to me first?"

  "Making my presence known there would cause an uproar and might complicate things after, so I decided to save that for later. Besides, I figured you'd need to see me more. I'm sorry I didn't get back sooner. You suffered a lot, and if we had better intelligence on what Galen was planning you might not have had to."

  He looked curiously at her. "You mean if we could've stopped the Father from awakening in the first place?"

  "Yeah. Besides what happened to me, it's a little worrying how much power I used to defeat it. The land had already been running low on magical energy before, so I can only hope it hasn't gotten worse since."

  "You can't sense if it has?"

  "I can only sense the concentration of magical energy within a limited distance of myself, just as it was when I was alive. What I'm concerned about is the state of the whole continent, which isn't as readily apparent." She bit her lip, then stopped realizing it felt more like chewing on a piece of sausage with the lack of sensation in it. "Everywhere I've gone so far though the concentration has been low, which increases my doubts."