Fire Stones

Epilogue

“No!” I cried out. “Look out – Mom! Varun!” But I couldn’t just watch from the sidelines now. I had to fight. I ran into the waves just as Chance began shooting fire bolts at Abzu and Haven. But neither of us could penetrate the deep, metal-thick skin of the Kraken.

You have to fight it.

I whirled around, looking for the source of the female voice. But nobody was there except Chance, his eyes narrowed and fixed on the Kraken as it approached.

You have to fight it.

I had heard that voice before – in a dream. It was my voice – Vesta’s voice – the voice that had spoken so lovingly to Mars, that had luxuriated in her temple, that had placed those stones…

You must choose, Mac. Fire or Water. Gold or Lightening. You won’t get close to the Kraken – not without swimming. You’ll have to take on Water qualities – leave your Fire self behind. Enter the ocean – save the ones you love.

I hesitated. Take on Water qualities? That was Chance’s greatest fear – that I’d become one with the ocean, lost from him forever.

“Varun…” I whispered. The Kraken was getting closer, and he and my mother wouldn’t’ be able to fight it off alone. My heart was punching against my ribcage. I couldn’t breathe.

Make your choice, Mac. I chose you as my Embodiment – you have all the stones. I trust you to do the right thing. I chose you because you were worthy. You have proven yourself worthy. Now you must decide.

“Varun, watch out!” I called. There was no time to think it over. In a split second, my fate was decided. I followed my mother off the building, diving into the waters below. The waves stung my face, my arms, but I swam harder.

“What are you doing?” Varun called. “You can’t be here – it’s too dangerous. You’re not Water.”

“What if I want to be?” I gasped. “What if I decided to take up those Ocean qualities, after all?”

Varun looked up at me, shocked. A strange joy crossed over his face. “Why? I don’t understand.”

“Just do it!” I shouted. “I don’t care how – or what it takes – just help me unlock those powers.”

“Are you sure? It will affect your Fire…”

“I don’t care!” I yelled. “You and Mom – you need me right now. And in about five seconds Abzu’s Kraken will get here and then we’ll both be dead. So you’d better get started.”

Varun looked unsure. But then his expression set. He turned to me, a slow smile spreading across his face. “Don’t slap me,” he said. And then he leaned in and kissed me – not just an oxygen-transfer but a real, deep kiss, full of passion and longing. He pulled me deep beneath the waters, blowing oxygen into my lungs – but more than oxygen. He was giving me air, life. He was giving me power. He was giving me himself.

“Breathe into me, Mac.” He held my hand tight. “And take away my breath. Before, the Unification was temporary – but this will make it permanent. You need to kiss me, Mac. Embrace whatever it is you’re feeling. That’s the only way it will work.”

I gasped as he kissed me once again, his tongue lightly tracing the outline of my lips. His kiss was so gentle, so full of love, that I felt at once weak and strong – frail and yet powerful. I could feel my body glowing with a blue shimmer. The power of Water was entering me – I could feel my Fire abilities ebbing away. My eyes opened wide and suddenly I could see underwater – not as I had done before, but rather with crystal clarity, every fish and reef and plant suddenly visible to me in brilliant color. I had never felt so close to Varun before – our two spirits mingling into one, my love for him leaving me overwhelmed. Yet, for all my desire, what I was conscious of most of all was the beauty of the moment, the tenderness. I had never felt so close to anyone before, not even Chance.

Varun let go, and to my surprise I found that I was breathing on my own. Not haltingly, as I had done in Abzu’s palace, but as if I were born to live here. Born to be part of the waves. Born to wander among the beauty of coral and the rainbow lights of the ocean. I felt joy coursing through me as I swam towards the Kraken, alive with the sense of my new power. I broke the surface, tossing my soaked hair out of my face. Varun’s face was full of joy – my mother, too, was looking on proudly, beaming as she swam over to me.

“I knew you could do it, my darling,” she said. “I knew you could.”

And then I caught sight of Chance. He was standing on top of the building, a look of agony on his face. I had never seen anyone so utterly shocked and betrayed, as despairing, as he did now. He shot me a look that pierced through my heart more than any Kraken spike could have done. I had betrayed him. Whatever I had done with Varun – I could not deny it any longer. It wasn’t just a Unification – it was a kiss, plain and simple. And Chance had seen it.

My heart broke along with Chance’s. I had to take on water qualities, unify with Varun to help save my mother, Varun, and all of Aeros from the tsunami. To Chance, though, it appeared as though Vesta had chosen Poseidon. I had chosen Varun. I have chosen Fire over Water. And it hit me all at once what that meant. I was no longer Mars’s twin. I was of Water now. What about the Erosion? What about my destiny to stop Water from taking over the few remaining lands on earth?

I couldn’t answer those questions now. The Kraken had raised its ugly head from the depths of the waves, and its beady eyes fixed straight on me, hunger in its gaze.

It was time to fight.