Page 8 of Gift from the Source (Source of Elementra #5)

Five

CC

Eight Years ago

It’s a strange feeling mourning when you’re still alive. Knowing you’re going to die in just a short time but you can’t tell everyone you love. In my two hundred and fifty-two years of life, I’ve known for two hundred and thirty-seven of those that this was the day I’d die. I just didn’t know the adventure I’d be sent on in the meantime.

Closing my eyes as my feet hit the porch, I transport out.

There’re a couple more stops until my final destination.

The scent of the south wing welcomes me back and as much as I want to dally around, evade what’s to come, I don’t allow myself. With hurried steps, I cling to the box in my hand that holds my sweet girl’s birthday gift and move over to her replicated willow tree.

I swear even the cascading branches seem to turn in on me, almost hugging me as I lower myself to my knees. It’s easy for me to find comfort in the impressively familiar spot and I can’t help the small smile that breaks out across my face.

The box and the bark .

Gaster’s and Tillman’s souls had to know it was for her.

My palm roams across the trunk in a circle and the vibration of my magic settles the pounding in my heart. When my points meet at the top, I pull straight down the middle. A foolproof method Gaster always teaches for the first pocket dimension. One I’ve used so many times. It’s the way I taught Willow how to open this on the other side.

My bag of supplies I always need and have prepared for her is nestled in the small corner, along with a blanket and a pillow.

Call it poor planning on my part or maybe ignorance of how bad things would truly get for her, but I learned quickly when her elements and magic emerged, I’d have to bound her powers daily. She was so much stronger than I was prepared for, and it was too dangerous of a risk to leave her with her powers around Franklin.

So my original thought process in making this dimension was that she’d be able to open it on her own if she ever needed anything. Since that didn’t work out, the other side stays open all the time but is concealed from view. Only she knows it’s there and she can reach her hand through as she needs without being electrocuted to death.

Setting her box down on top of her blanket gently, I chuckle to myself as the memory of the day I caught her attempting to crawl through the dimension floods my mind.

When I transported in behind her, all I could see was her feet sticking out. I cleared my throat and she squealed, trying to back out as quickly as she could. All I could do was shake my head and laugh. She couldn’t have gotten through and if she did, she would’ve crawled through a wall then been stuck in the south wing.

My curious girl. That would’ve been it if she had managed it. I never would’ve been able to get her to leave.

The sweet memory draws a lone tear from my eye that I hastily wipe away before closing the dimension back up.

She’ll find it later today.

It takes everything in me to step back from her tree. Knowing this is my goodbye to her cuts me so deeply, it’s hard to breathe.

She deserves a better goodbye than just finding a box in a tree .

The sound of my communicator buzzing in my pocket forces me out of my mind and again, I clean my drenched cheeks as though someone may see me through my call.

Right on time.

“Dillon,” I say.

“Orien. Tell me you’ve changed your mind.”

“I wish I could tell you that. Is he ready?”

“Yeah. He believes he’s got you. It’s going to be an ambush. He’s been planning this for weeks and is bringing a small army, plus Ale and the relic. You know what that means,” he says with a tremble in his voice.

“I know…You’ve made it possible for the boys to escape?”

“I have. Their window of time is small, but they’ll take it. The three of them are smart boys. Thicker than thieves. Is this why you’re doing this? For them?”

“There’re many reasons why I’m doing this. They are only but one. I don’t know their fate for sure, just that they need a push.”

“Then what’s the reason for this? I need something, Orien. We’ve worked together for years on bringing him down from the inside. I can’t help but feel like you’re throwing it all away. I don’t see this ending any other way but in your downfall,” he says, his confusion and anger leaking through his broken voice.

“I’m not throwing anything away, but my time has come, old friend. I’ve laid all the pieces that were placed in front of me. Another will step in my place when their time comes.”

“Who?”

“You will know with time.”

There’s a long, tense pause, followed by a deep sigh I know all too well. He’s accepted this is what must be done. Even if he doesn’t understand.

“What do I do afterward?” he asks softly.

“What you’ve been doing. You and Pran continue to run interference as much as possible without the others catching on. Life will feel like it’s at a standstill for a little while, but it will all make sense eventually.”

I hear the sniffle he attempts to cover with clearing his throat and a lump forms in mine .

“Thank you, Orien. For all you’ve done for us.”

“Don’t thank me. I’m so sorry for what you all have endured and what you’ve had to sacrifice. If I could’ve changed it all, I would have.”

“I know you would have, but just know we wouldn’t have changed any of the aftermath. Losing them…” He pauses and I squeeze my eyes shut, taking a breath through his phantom pain. “It’s been a long, long two-hundred-plus years, my friend. But we don’t regret what we’ve had to do in the meantime. Our need for revenge has morphed into a sense of responsibility to the realm because of you. We will always honor our loyalty to you and any who come after you. I vow this still.”

“Stay on your path, Dillon. It will lead you where you need to go,” I whisper, looking down at my timekeeper. “My time has come.”

“Goodbye, Orien.”

I bring the communicator to my forehead as the signal disconnects and breathe a heavy goodbye. I haven’t had the luxury of gaining many friends in my time, but the incredibly few I do have mean a lot to me.

Even if they were found in very unusual and unforeseen circumstances.

I allow myself one last look at the masterpiece Gaster and I created, but I don’t give myself the opportunity to indulge. If I stick around longer than I should, I may not leave.

I may once and for all say fuck every obligation placed on my shoulders and walk away. It was hard enough to rein myself in when I created the scenario of bringing Willow here and hiding her at her mother’s. My sight showed me the paths that would form from that decision, and none were worth the risk.

Plus, I was fearful Iris may kill me in the beyond.

I’m not sure if that’s truly possible, but if it is, she’d be the one to accomplish it.

The blaring sound of my timekeeper finally going off forces me to squeeze my eyes shut. The noise swallows me whole. It blocks out the drumming in my ears and the racing thoughts.

Time to go.

My magic cocoons me in a loving embrace as my transport moves me through the fabric of Elementra one last time. It stays coiled around my body like protective armor as I step out and face the gray monstrosity of a structure.

I’ve seen this concealed compound so many times in my visions, I know its layout inside and out like the back of my hand. I know about the illusion wall, each chamber on every floor, and I could tell you the number of steps it takes to get from the door to the tree line. It was easy enough to tell Dillon to plant the seeds that word from my sister was I would be checking out a potential rebel spot on a solo mission.

This exact spot. At this exact time.

Squaring my shoulders, I walk toward the single door that will lead into the compound.

My company is waiting for me.

Silence greets me when I walk into the empty entryway. My footsteps are the only sound that echoes in the small space and the noise fades as I stop, staring at the wall I know isn’t real. The air is so thick, it nearly creates a fog from the tension wafting in here through the other side.

The small army I was warned about is holding their breath, positions calculated to surround me, and their Master will be waiting among them.

They’ve prepared, but so have I.

The pull of the illusion against my skin when I push my way through the wall is invasive, wrong. It causes chill bumps to break out across my arms, but I keep my face neutral and my breathing steady.

I sense them, even the ones I can’t fully see.

He really did bring an army just for ol’ me.

Lining the halls is rebel after rebel. Mastery members. They’re waiting at the ready with their gifts and elements on the surface. In each room are even more. Ready and willing to step out if the front lines fall.

And some will.

I may be going down. But I won’t be going down without a fight.

My gaze traces over them minimally. I don’t bother taking in any features or remembering any faces. They aren’t who I’m here for. The man of the hour is making his way up the stairs at the end of the hall.

Making his grand entrance, I suppose.

I keep my breathing steady and shove my hands in my pockets as the team blocking the stairwell parts. This isn’t the first time I’ve been in his company, but it is the first time in person. It’s different. Bad different.

His energy is much darker.

“Long time no see, Seer.”

“Titles rather than names today, I see,” I taunt condescendingly.

He hates the fact I’m the only individual, other than his piece of shit, good for nothing son, that knows who the man behind the mask is.

“Not long enough, I’m afraid, although I’ll admit, it’s nice to finally meet you in person.” I sigh as the tension becomes suffocating.

He hums, lacing his fingers together in front of him. “Tell me, is it your gift that makes you so blindly loyal to your creator that you can’t even see she allowed you to walk into a trap or is it something else?”

“There have been many times I’ve begged for blindness, ignorance really, but that prayer has never been answered. What I have seen are the possible threads of what’s to come. I don’t wager my gift on you, dear Summum-Master.”

He’s notorious for keeping his calm composure, so I make sure to make a show of it that I catch his minuscule flinch. It was the barest of a twitch on his shoulders, but I saw it.

“Then join me. Give up this tiresome dance and stand by my side. Together, we will mold this realm into what it should be. With me as its rightful ruler, you can be free of your selfless obligations. You can have a Nexus of your desire and choosing. Do as you please as men of our stature should.”

“You are forgetting that in exchange I will be yours to control, to enslave. You are also greatly forgetting the history of this realm.”

“History your family stole and sullied,” he growls.

“History my family rewrote to protect you,” I shout, losing my cool.

Nervous shifts roll through the hallway like gentle waves as the two of us stare each other down. Our chests rise and fall in synchrony, both of us on the cusp of speaking out loud the secrets we keep.

“Make your choice,” he grits out .

“Fitting. A choice…” I breathe, calling my air element out to my hands, preparing. “I will always choose her.”

Little does he know the her is not solely my creator.

I chose Iris.

I chose Eryken.

I chose Tilly.

Chose but failed. I won’t fail this time.

I choose Aurora.

I choose Elementra.

I choose Willow.

I will always choose Willow. Above all others.

Power explodes around the room as the Mastery members release their elements and gifts at his command. I sling my hands from my pockets, freeing the raging gust of air I’d been building up. The first handfuls of attackers slam into the walls and glass panes of the cells with thundering cracks, but the second wave doesn’t hesitate to jump in.

Breathe. Stay vigilant.

Be agile. On your toes.

Repeatedly, Tilly’s commands ring in my ears while I spin with the fluid grace she beat into me. Me and Aurora. The boys, Willow. Those teachings have been passed down plenty and my heart thuds wildly as my mind zeroes in on her voice.

Spinning and dodging everything I can, my element whips in a frenzy around me. It lashes out with unforgiving currents that have bellows belting from throats moments before they’re sliced. It’s a gruesome display of my power that I never unleash, but this is my last stand.

Every whip of a vine that tears across my spine or a hit to the face from stone I didn’t see coming has me blinking away stars. No matter how much I want to hold in the anguished screams that want to flee me, I can’t. The never-ending onslaught is brutal and my body needs a way to release the pain.

I sway harshly as my legs struggle to hold me up and I barely lean out of the way of someone’s fireball. The scent of my singed hair fills my lungs, stealing away the ragged breaths I was trying to take .

When my knees hit the concrete floor with a bone-jarring thud, I know…my body is tiring even though my mind and heart aren’t.

Fuck, this is it.

I trace the room with my eyes just as fast as my air whips from my fingertips and the number of rebels continue to roll in.

Gathering what I have left in me as blood pours from the multiple wounds covering me, I send out my final command.

The sound of bones breaking, screaming, and glass shattering is drowned out by the war cry that spews from my chest. With my palms stretched out, my element booms out of me. The horde that was closing go flying in every direction, but there’s more waiting right behind them.

My arms are immediately encased in stone blocks that drag my body down faster than I was prepared for and my chest hits the ground so hard it knocks the breath out of me.

Squeezing my eyes shut, I swear all you can hear in the room is my desperate attempt to draw in ragged pants. It’s like all the other chaos that just ensued ceases to exist when my breathing mingles with the sound of footsteps.

I groan as the stone covering my arms is forcefully commanded to lift me up and the sudden movement causes bile to crawl up my throat.

“You could’ve been so much more,” the Summum-Master says, standing over me.

“You could have too,” I wheeze.

Holding my gaze, he sticks his hand out, and his faithful servant, Dr. Ale, hands him a vial that I make out from the corner of my eye.

Their little concoction they’ve developed to steal gifts. I’ve witnessed its side effects. Watched it happen in my mind’s eye. That small glowing white vial may appear sweet and innocent, but it’ll be the death of this realm if it’s not destroyed.

Just because he’s supposed to take my gift today doesn’t mean I’ll allow it to be easy. I’ll hold onto it with every last fucking sliver of my soul.

He sees the defiance in my glare and for a moment, I dive into eyes that are blacker than midnight. Their color’s been tainted by the cruelty he’s cursed across this realm, but I remember what they looked like before .

A light brown that was once full of fear.

“Any last words?” he asks as he shoves the vial between my lips.

I try my hardest to choke it up, but it’s a losing feat. Not only because he pushes it so far into my mouth, I nearly swallow the whole vial, but also, the sight sucks me in.

“Choices were made, and they’ve changed the path.”

Elementra’s voice causes my heart to swell as my mind plays the truth of what happened before the Summum-Master arrived.

I will not win today.

But neither will he.

“Thank you, Elementra.”

As my eyes clear from their cloudy appearance, I find the Summum-Master staring at me curiously with the now empty vial clenched in his hand. Pain slices across my chest when I open my mouth to speak and nothing but a tortured cough comes up.

“You…you’ve,” I stutter, trying so hard to get the words out.

To my utter shock, water spews from his finger into the empty vial and then he presses it against my mouth. There’s nothing worse he could give me now, so I drink it willingly. For no other reason than to be able to rub his failure in his face.

“You’ve been betrayed,” I finally managed to say.

“Excuse me?” he asks, straightening his shoulders.

“That was not your normal concoction but the entirety of a main ingredient.”

“Liar,” he growls, leaning down until his face is inches from mine.

“What would be the point of that? Whichever concoction I was given would’ve taken my life. But now you know, you won’t get my gift at all because there won’t be one to take.”

A string of coughs tears from my throat, causing him to jump back and stand straight. I watch completely satisfied as his shoulders bounce with the rage that’s burning within him.

“What did you do?” he bellows, spinning on his heels to face his most trusted scientist.

“Master, I…I…”

I don’t waste time hearing whatever it is he has to say as the Summum-Master takes purposeful, deadly strides toward him.

Elementra, please don’t leave me now.

If I’ve been given a choice, I don’t choose to die here.

Calling my air element back out, I pray and push as hard as I can against the stone around my body. At the first crack, I use all the strength I have in my body to lift my arms and slam them into the ground at the same time I push my element out again.

When the earth crumbles to pebbles, my body flies backward on the blast of my air. The outburst sends the Summum-Master tumbling, while I soar through the hallway and crash through the illusion wall.

My head slams into the concrete floor as I continue to slide backward and roaring in my ears starts instantly. It’s not loud enough to block out the sounds of shouting from on the other side of that wall.

Pushing myself up, I stumble right back down when my wobbly arms and legs can’t bear the strength to hold me. The five-foot distance between me and the door seems like a mile long, but still, I crawl.

I crawl as hard and as fast as I can.

Every slide of my palm, every shift of my knee has indescribable pain lacing through my nerve endings and desperate tears spring to my eyes.

Don’t give up, Orien. A few more feet.

Push. Push yourself.

You’re there.

I fall through the door, face-planting the grass as I shove the steel with every ounce of my heart and soul. The second the sun touches my skin, I don’t waste any time.

“Take me to her,” I command my magic.

For a blissful, fleeting moment, darkness swallows me whole.

Light attempts to cut through my closed lids, but the firm surface at my back soothes my racing mind and heart. The familiar scent of woods, rain, and a touch of the not so pleasant stench of this realm is welcoming and I breathe a sigh of relief.

I made it .

My eyes open with a groan and my insides feel like they’re shrinking to nothing. I use my shaky hands to pull some cloth from my pocket to clean some of the blood off me before Willow arrives. She’s going to go into full panic mode when her eyes land on me, but I do my best to conceal the worst of the worst.

Leaning my head back against her willow tree, I use what energy I have left to reach around me and pull her present through the pocket dimension in the trunk. I’m careful not to sully her box with my blood, and I lay it gently on the ground beside me as I close my eyes again and breathe through the pain.

“Elementra?”

“Yes, Seer.”

“I ask one more favor of you. Please.”

“You’ve succeeded in all that I have asked, plus more. Ask what you please, Orien Caduceus Vito.”

“I’m not ready to leave her, not completely. I want to see what she grows to be. What she and the boys become. The small bits I’ve been fortunate to see are not enough. I want to be a part of their lives. I ask for more,” I say, sobbing as the pain spreads through every part of me and of my reality.

I’m truly dying. I will have to leave them all.

I thought I’d prepared myself better, but that was a na?ve assumption.

Elementra’s power washes over me, only to calm me because even she can’t stop what has already begun and I relish her feeling of home, comfort.

“Your request comes with a decision. Whichever choice you make, I will honor.”

Her otherworldly essence flows across my mind, and the options available to me become clear.

I watch in horror as a monster bigger than her father comes into her life. It, I swear, speeds up the process of my heart stopping as I force myself to watch what he puts her through. Bile burns in the back of my throat, but I bear it so she isn’t alone.

I continue to be shown what will happen to her and become of her if I leave her here without giving her the stone.

I’m shown what I’ll be allowed to do from the beyond .

Then… the other option.

Through her grief and soul splitting, she’ll use the stone to run. She’ll go into hiding.

It’ll be much, much later in life that she makes it to Elementra and nothing of what I’ve seen of the possible paths for her and the boys will come to fruition. The true Nexus bond will still be there, but nothing will be as it could be.

Her other bonds. Her brother.

It’ll all be different. Every path will change.

But she’ll never be harmed. She’ll never be hurt.

She’ll never be forced to do anything against her will.

Franklin won’t be able to collect any more of her blood.

She’ll be safe.

Picking up her box from beside me, I open the lid and move her envelope over so I can see her stone.

“CC! Oh my God. Oh fuck. Are you okay?”

As if my thoughts alone summoned her, my greatest blessing falls to her knees, dropping the box in her hand, shrieking beside me. With shaky fingers, she traces the markings of the beating I took.

“Wh-What happened?”

“Everything’s going to be okay, filia mea .”

“It sure doesn’t look that way, CC. What the hell?” she mutters frantically as she reaches into the pocket dimension and snatches out the bag.

Popping the cap off two healing vials, I don’t reject them as she lays them to my lips although I know they won’t help. They’re a little taste of home I could surely use.

“What do I do? What do you need? Fuck, this doesn’t look good.” She continues to fret over me, and I reach my hand up to grip hers gently from around my face.

“Listen to me, filia mea ,” I mumble and her watering eyes shoot up to mine. “We don’t have much time, so let’s get the hard stuff out of the way, then we’ll spend our time together, okay?”

“Wh-Why don’t we have much time? ”

“You know why, my sweet girl,” I say, tapping on her heart. “I know you feel it.”

“Please no. It’s just bad heartburn,” she cries, and I snort, causing her to glare at me.

“I wish that were true.”

My heart splits open when her narrowed eyes break right before me. Deep, chest-heaving sobs tear throughout her body, and all I can do is hold her close as she falls into my chest.

“I have this one opportunity to be completely honest with you about some things, Willow, and I need to do that now. I need to make my decision, but I won’t do that without you.”

“What do you mean?” she asks, popping up and attempting to wipe away the never-ending stream falling from her eyes.

I dive into those sad silver abysses and I lay it all out for her.

I’m honest to the point I physically feel her heart break with each word, but I can’t lie to her in this moment. She needs to know everything she could gain, give up, lose, and sacrifice.

I don’t start with the good that will come from Elementra, though. I fear that if I do, I’m dangling a carrot in front of her, only to rip it away with what she has to endure to get it.

So I start with the monster that will be entering her life rather soon with the first option. I tell her the dark trauma and truth of what he will put her through.

Only after that do I tell her about her family in Elementra.

Then I tell her option two and everything to expect from that.

When she falls into my arms once again in a fit of uncontrollable tears, I can’t help but think about the many times I’ve had to do this. I’ve been holding her little body as she’s broken down for twelve years now. It never gets easier watching your daughter’s heartbreak.

I’m so ready for my baby girl to get the peace she so desperately deserves.

“Why won’t you be here for any of this?” She hiccups.

She knows the answer, just won’t admit it.

“I was given a deadly poison. It’s called the Poison of Essence,” I whisper .

“But poisons have cures. We can find you a cure,” she says enthusiastically, attempting to hop up, but I latch onto her hand.

“These cures aren’t readily available, my girl. They take days to brew, and this is a drug that’s been banned for some time now. But obviously, there will always be those who don’t follow the law.”

“That needs to change. All of it. They should be ready for whenever and whatever. And those that break the law to this degree should die.” She spits out with just as much venom as what’s coursing through my blood.

“I agree, filia mea .”

She closes her eyes tight as her body trembles through the pain of feeling my soul slowly start tearing itself away from her and the grief that’s already washing over her. I’m experiencing it just as keenly, but watching her go through it is far worse.

I wish I could take it all away.

“The first option,” she whispers so quietly, I barely heard her.

“What?”

“Choose the first option.”

“Willow—”

“No. I understand everything you said. You may be trying to protect me, and I may be kept in a prison, but I’m not na?ve. I know what it all means. I know what will happen. I accept that.” Her words break at the end, betraying the brave face she’s attempting to show me.

“You do not have to choose that path. That’s why we’re given choices. You do not have to endure that, filia mea ,” I mumble as my tears choke me up.

“I understand, but the life I will have after that will be more fulfilling. My soul knows it. That life will bring me everything I’ve ever wanted. I just have to survive in order to get there.

“The other… Always hiding. Always looking over my shoulder. Always alone. Always scared. Yeah, I’m going to experience that with option one as well, but at least it’s for less time and what I get out of the wait will be worth it. If you can explain to me why, other than being safe, option two is better, I’ll choose that one.”

I don’t have a good enough reason. That’s the only reason .

I can’t tell her the men I painted a picture of in option one won’t be the men she finds in option two. In option two, they’ll be hers on a soul level, but they’ll have already gone back on their word of never settling. The four of them will be more jaded, uncaring, and resentful for making the decisions they had to make to feel like they were completing their duties to the realm.

It’ll be a mountain worth of drama, on top of saving said realm.

There will be a twenty-year time difference from when she could potentially get to Elementra compared to the eight she will wait in option one.

“You being safe is what matters to me,” I say.

She smiles at me softly as her tears stream down her cheeks and neck. “I promise you, I’ll fight. I won’t give up. I’ll make it home in one piece.”

A shuddering breath falls from me as I can’t hold my sobs in any longer. Right before my eyes, my six-year-old little girl has grown up to be an eighteen-year-old woman who makes life-changing decisions with sound reason and determination.

I hate it.

I love it.

Fuck Elementra, I’m going to miss her so much.

Looking down at her stone again, I gently run my fingers across it.

“Tell me, Seer. Is this a present for today or another?”

“Another.”

“Very well. Spend your remaining moments with your daughter. I will take care of the rest when it is time for you to come home.”

Her power swirls around Willow and me, causing us both to sigh deeply, and I hold my arm out for her to nuzzle into.

The minutes seem to slip by in the blink of an eye, yet they drag for an eternity as my magic dissolves through my skin. It’s a painstaking few moments that I know Willow feels even though she’s trying to muffle her sobs in my shirt.

Her clenching fingers keep me grounded, though, as I focus on the strength in them. The way they ball into a fist, resting above my heart is a comforting weight that keeps me tethered to the ground .

A long, drawn-out gurgling breath escapes my lungs, and with it, all the air empties from my body. The exhale seems endless as my element flows through my parted lips, blowing the branches of the willow tree.

When the last breeze blows free, slow tears drip down my cheeks as hollowness settles in across my heart. I’ve never felt more like a shell of a person than I do right now.

“I have something for you. It’s not much, but I’d like for you to see it,” Willow says as she pushes herself up and quickly tries to wipe her face.

“You shouldn’t have got me anything, sweet girl,” I croak.

“I didn’t get it. I made it.”

As she goes to pass me the rectangular box, the violent tremble in my fingers has her pulling it back and laying her palm on top of my hand. I give her a squeeze and a smile, encouraging her on to open it for me.

“I’m far from an artist, but I gave it my best shot,” she says half-jokingly.

A genuine smile breaks out across my face when I stare down at the present she lays on my lap. Then the dam breaks.

She’s drawn a picture of her willow tree, with the two of us under it, surrounded by books. At the bottom of the page, she scripted the most meaningful message she ever could’ve written to me.

Realm’s greatest dad.

I try my hardest to be strong for her and stop the rapid fall of my tears, but I can’t as the gift I’ve been blessed with rips from around my mind. It’s as though time slows to the normal speed at which everyone else experiences it. The gentle weight that came with the sight is lifted, making my skull feel empty. Every color dulls, and the only bright spot I have is her.

My most precious gift and the gift she’s just given me.

“Worst birthday surprise ever, asshole,” she chokes, trying to make me laugh in these last moments. Which I do. Sort of.

What comes out of me is more like a mixture of a cough and a snort.

“I’d have to agree, my girl.”

“I don’t want you to go,” she whispers, and when I look into her eyes, I see my sweet six-year-old saying the same thing .

With every ounce of strength I possess in my rapidly aging body, I lift my now wrinkled hand to her cheek to wipe away her tears.

“I wish I didn’t have to. It won’t be forever, though. Elementra has something planned for me, and I trust her to grant my request. But I will always be with you. In your heart and soul, filia mea. You have been the greatest blessing I have ever been given. You are my most favorite birthday present.”

“There’s so much I need to say. I don’t have enough time to say it all…” she whimpers.

“I know it all. It’s already in my heart, my girl,” I tell her softly. I do know it all and I’ll hold onto that knowledge forever.

Her shoulders shake violently as her tears flow faster, but my brave, strong girl takes a deep breath and calms herself as much as she can. “Thank you. For everything. For saving me. Loving me. Teaching me. I don’t know how I will go on without you.” Her hands grip mine and tuck it against her cheek, holding me close for as long as she can.

“You will because you are the daughter of many. You’re smart, strong, and pure of heart and soul, Willow. You’re going to do amazing things, and I can’t wait to watch you.”

The weight of my arm becomes too much for me to hold up any longer and she can sense it. With gentle, soft movements, she lays it across my lap and my eyes gradually close as her lips touch my cheek. I manage to get the barest of smiles to cross my lips.

“Tell Elementra she better have you a birthday cake waiting when you get there. You can’t stop celebrating our day just because I’m not there.” She sniffles, trying to lighten the end.

“I’ll inform her…” I take a deep, rattling breath as I my body starts to become weightless. “Happy birthday, filia mea . I love you more than anything.”

“I love you, Dad.”

Her words and my birthday gift follow me into the wind and carry me to the beyond.