The Gathering of the Powers

When he closed his right eye and opened the left, he could suddenly see her.

"What’s wrong?" she asked frantically.

"Nothing," he lied, "Nothing that should trouble this gorgeous face."

"Well, what are you waiting for? Test your powers!"

He knew what power he wanted to use more than anything in the world. The power he hadn’t stopped thinking about ever since his conversation with Nimpsy. The power that made her betray him.

"It is not the time to do so," Starfiuse concluded his thoughts aloud, "I must look into the future, I must check several things, check the powers that I have, I must be alone to do so."

"If that is what you suppose then I’m sure you’re right," Pnomera agreed, "And if the things I’ve heard are correct, then one day, a young maiden will hold the destiny of the world with her power!"

She looked at him just like he would have looked at Nimpsy if he had had his eyes with him when she told him.

"If my thoughts are to be confirmed… then one day," he turned to Xornim, "One day, you will carry on your back, that young maiden, you will carry on your back the maiden that will hold the destiny of the world, Xornim, and that would be your hint, Pnomera."

"You know so much that I don’t," Pnomera spoke in a pitiful voice.

"Right now, I do not know if my knowledge is true or false," Starfiuse murmured to himself, "What I need is time away from this earth to figure it all out!"

"The only way out of this earth is the Mirtwix birds," Pnomera reminded, "They’d be willing to carry you on their backs and into space even though they hate carrying anything on their backs, they’re also grateful that you left them their powers, but they won’t carry me! I can’t stay alone here, Starfiuse!"

He thought and thought until he came up with a decision and announced, "You will reside with the merpeople for a while, until I will come and meet with you, after I’ve done my math outside of this earth, where no one will find me."

"I’ll wait for you," she promised, "You must return for me."

"Do not worry," he assured, "Your love will pull me back to earth, but there are a few things that I must sort out now."

"I trust you," said Pnomera sincerely, "How can one not trust the lord of the earth?"

He kissed her with tremendous passion, and she slowly sank down in the air towards the sea, while he raised himself higher and higher towards the sky. The only remainder of them was Xornim that fell deep into sleep on top of the cliff of fate. The fate of Iglolian The Second was, apparently, to find the strange creature snoozing in Starfiuse’s spot.

Once Starfiuse was far up in the sky, and perceived a group of Mirtwix birds coming near, he called over to the outline of Pnomera entering the ocean in an apocalyptic voice, "Farewell, my love, and may there be a time in which I would have no use for my left eye!"

****The subsequent events to this tale and "The War of the Islands" that led to "The Battle for the Maiden's Power" can be read and examined in "The Haunted Legacy" and in the trilogy of "A Legacy of Powers," that includes "Cedalion", "Glathoniyola", and "Nereus".