The Road not Taken

[Muad Dib]

“Hold. The. Line.”

Muad gritted his teeth as his mind flowed into the current of battle, the warping realities of the Nether and Chaos, rules that could not be broken, and the desperate attempts of a patient man who sought to circumvent his bands of imprisonment. The mind of a madman danced with the ancient collective of the Dragonborn. Three sacrifices to be made in order to be complete, and more for even greater power. The lie of a slumbering death revealed by the momentous desire to live again. Even if it cost every single descendant their life and soul. Yet despite the power of Valayrion he was powerless to enact that which was necessary to save himself. No, he needed pawns to do his bidding.

And they were.

Muad opened his mouth to warn them once again when the full gravity of his enemy's mind crashed against him seeking to eradicate the madman through sheer willpower and force of desire. A snarl etched upon his face as a silent struggle of titanic proportions began. And the madman was losing even as blood began to leak from his nose and tears of crimson wept from his glowing eyes.

Valayrion literally was taken from his feet from the supernatural kick to his nether regions, flying backwards to crash down upon his knees. Like a vengeful deity in an ancient culture, Derek took a single step forward and thrust out with his arm, pointing the metallic shaft at the original Dib. A roar of pent up frustration and rage erupted from him as the channeled lightning lashed out enveloping the kneeling Valayrion that added to Gin’s destructive strike.

“Stop … now …”

The hint of a whisper slipped from Muad's lips as the madman and the Dragonborn wrestled one with another, veins flashing darkly while the muscles of his body stood taut in stark relief upon the parchment of his skin. While Valayrion could skim the memories and thoughts of Muad, the reverse was just as true. And the truth gripped his heart even as the astral fingers of the Dragonborn drove deeper into the madman's mind.

Not to let the slight or defamation of character given by the Dragonborn against Gin'ika stand unavenged, Rhaegar joined into the attack. From the flames, that ignited from his body, a giant dragon of flame hovered above tethered by a tail that split in twain at the end and fused with his shoulders. A mighty bellow flashed out converging upon the kneeling man hiding from view beneath the onslaught. After several moments the lightning and flame that was wreathed about his body eased then stopped. The form smoked, wounds appearing upon flesh as seemingly real as if he stood upon the physical plane.

"Victory is so sweet, the taste of it is upon your lips, and yet all that will fill you is an emptiness of loss that you never knew you could experience. Life will turn to dust and it is because of your hubris. Now they will all fall.”
The words fell from two sets of lips in a connection that was unseen. Valayrion boasted while Muad shuddered at what had and would transpire because the others would not heed his warning. Loss had reared its ugly head though everything was not lost. Only some.

“What have you done …”

Valayrion raised his face, the hood that had cast shadows upon his features fell back. Reaching into his pockets he pulled out four glowing orbs, the same incandescent light that the two wraiths had delivered to him. Raising his hands out, palms up, he showed the four just what he possessed. Four souls that pulsed with energy. However the smooth exterior of the spheres in his left hand were cracked. The Dragonborn had begun to shift his body as the devastating kick had lashed out cracking one of the spheres while the second one was cracked by the pulsating lightning that had emanated from Derek. And it was in that moment the sensations echoed in the Force. The souls of Dibs. Rhaegar II, Amma, William, and Jia gathered in the hands of their enemy.

“Your impatient and foolhardy actions have chosen.”

As Valayrion spoke, the first cracked sphere shattered, the golden soul falling into a puddle before him. Then a form coalesced before them, a bewildered William looked from the wounded, kneeling Valayrion before turning accusatory eyes upon Ginnie although his words was for Derek.

“I always knew you would have a hand in my demise, father.”

And then the image of his being imploded before the golden light flew and entered into Valayrion. The second cracked sphere turned to gold dust and blew from his open palm, slowly morphing into a figure even as the pulsating orb within the cube attached to the iron chain dissipated and the chain and cube turned into smoke, drifting upon the breeze to wrap around the form of a young woman. Confusion and fear flashed in her eyes even as she looked upon her father. And then the chain encircled Jia’s neck, the dust of her soul entering the cube and fusing into an orb. Her eyes went dead and the new guardian of Chaos stared at them for a moment before she turned to smoke along with the wraiths and entered the gates of Chaos as they closed with a reverberation of finality.

A rent sounded from the figure of Rhaegar causing him to collapse upon the ground. Between them a form began to take shape in the very earth of the Nether, an empty vessel.

“And the final two souls will fuse me with power when I sojourn across the Galaxy once more!”

Valayrion clenched his hand that possessed the final two souls, the spirits of the twins Rhae and Amma, to shatter the orbs and consume the raw power within. Rhaegar writhed upon the ground unable to comprehend as half his soul was being used to create a new body. Derek had dropped to his knees, the vision of his son being consumed by his ancestor while blaming him having shaken him to the core and distracting him just long enough to not be able to react as the Dragonborn clasped his hand into a fist to destroy the orbs and feed upon the power.

Valayrion released laughter in finally being free and taking the concentrated power within himself. The laughter turned to a scream of outrage as he opened his hand and saw neither of the twins souls.

While Ginnie, Derek, and Rhaegar had attacked, Muad continued to wrestle with the Dragonborn. Actions became clear, intent to manipulate the four of them to begin to break the orbs so that he, Valayrion, could use the souls. For he did not have the authority to maniputhe souls, so the four had to break them first. William was gone, consumed by his ancestor. Jia, sweet Jia, had become the guardian of Chaos and even now she was stripped of all she had been to become the emissary of Chaos. Rhaegar's soul was being utilized to create a new body. And the twins’ souls would be used to fuel Valayrion’s new body.

A growling roar of pain, loss, rage, and pure undeniable resistance erupted from Muad as he used the Force to weave around the souls of the twins. Through his power as shaman and his abilities in bending the realities until travel between planes could be made, he sent the souls of the twins back to their bodies even knowing he was now vulnerable.

Valayrion Dragonborn, the first Dib, drove his astral form into the core of Muad Dib, shredding through his mind and soul in wrath for being circumvented.

Ginnie Dib​

 

[Ginnie Dib]

“Gwyn’ika, let go.” Ginnie stuttered as the last locks on her powers clunked to the ground in rivulets of fallow iron. As was the perpetual state of the Dibs, the plan went to osik the moment the incredibly independent minds of each family member got to their own devices.

This always led to tears. Nothing Ginnie could do would save William or Jia their fate.

“DEDE!!” Amma shrieked, reaching in the brief moment for her beloved Uncle, prone as he was on the ground. Muad salvaged two of the orbs, two entrapped children who required nothing but the chance to grow in the love of their family. The twins were safe.

As the darkness wafted round them, and a madman laughed at his own family’s destruction, Ginnie’s head snapped down to Derek and Rhaegar. She dove for Derek, taking hold of his shoulders.

“Derek! We can still save Muad and Rhae. We can defeat Valayrion if we focus. Derek…” The man was nigh catatonic, his son’s accusations as bitter as the dead ground. “Valayrion is to blame. And he’s trying to destroy all of us. Dede, please. Help me.”

Ginnie’s hands slid down Derek’s arms, until her fingers interlocked with his. She set her forehead to his, sharing a keldabe kiss as intimate as they were, when he held her soul in his hand. “We have to destroy the Dragonborn. Help me channel him.”

Chaos surrounded the keepers of fire. A deep burden of a millennia’s plan shrouded all but the woman who with steps assured spread calm into this hectic place. Ginnie’s mother’s spirit was pure as cool water upon the dragon-born pyromancers, soothing as aloe on the many wounds.

“You took my daughter as your own kin, Muad Dib. Now I take you as mine.” The corporeal spectre of Ginnie’s mother wrapped this howling defender with a maternal love and presence so acute and pure it had no bound and no potential to run dry. Where Valayrion tore and roared at Muad’s flesh and core, the Mother bore each pain. She howled not, allowing each singe and tear and break to be born upon a woman whose last act upon the Galaxy was to salvage her daughter from death’s dragon-claws.

Relief flooded round the Madman Shaman, a near infinite fount of energy for him to use and heal, even as it shielded him from the Dragonborn attempting to get at a core which he would find distant from his talons.

"Get your raggedy-arsed chipped talons off my family, you bag of dikut'e." Impossible to reach beyond this sacrificial maternal love. It gave Ginnie enough time to hoist Derek to his feet, and reach with solemn fingers into the shredding core of Valayrion Dragonborn. For one who worked with souls, bound them to alloys and leathers and tricks of alchemical fancy, the restored Ginnie began to tear at Valayrion’s back, binding him into the inert metal around her wrists, tugging and pulling at his attacking spirit even as her mind screamed.

So too did she manipulate the ground itself before Rhaegar’s writhing figure, forming out of it a body just as he once formed a body for her out of the very soil of Manda’yaim. One hand forward toward Valayrion and Muad, the other back at Rhaegar, Ginnie barked and cried out.

“Derek! I can do this! I need you! Help… me…. focus!”

 

[Muad Dib]

[YouTube]​

He swayed on his knees, the breath seized in lungs that refused to function. His son was gone. Eradicated from existence. A thousand missed opportunities gone forever. And here Derek knelt upon sands and gasped with life. Sacrifices made, prices paid, by youth of their clan that had no involvement in the current circumstances. No, William and Jia paid the price that their fathers earned. All strength fled his body as everything seemed to fall apart.

Then the voice rang in his ears, Amma calling out not for Gin or Rhaegar, but for her Uncle Dede. Still, this was not enough. Everything within him shattered as the price he was paying settled upon his shoulders, crushing him beneath guilt and shame. At least the twins were safe. His eyes drooped heavily as, for the first time in his life, he gave up. He had paid too much, had given too much. He had nothing left.

Then her hands were upon him, sliding down his arms until fingers entwined with his. Forehead to forehead Gin plead for his help, begged him to help her save Muad and Rhaegar. As she stood holding his form to pull him upright with her, Derek realized that while he had failed his own flesh and blood son, he had done right by the twins whom he loved as if they were his own. Just as he loved Gin.

Gin let loose with two waves of energy, one to attack and destroy a Dib and the other to comfort and create a Dib. For a moment the thought to aid only in destroying Valaryion drifted through. But that was beneath him, no matter the temptation. Stepping behind Gin he placed his hands upon her shoulders, his thumbs splayed wide to press lightly at the base of her neck.

A slow trickle at first which nearly immediately grew in strength turning from a mere rivlet into a torrential flood of a raging river comprised of the Force crashed into and through Gin, augmenting her power and actions. Derek knew he was surrendering his chance for love and happiness by bringing back Rhaegar, but that was what a weight on the scales of balance did.

Rhaegar felt the pulse that echoed from the body near him. A form created for him, from himself. The perfect vessel for a being in the Netherworld who had no body. Weakened and laying upon the ground he began clawing forward toward what would rebirth him. Every stitch of nerve, sinew, and vein within the form drew a howl from Rhaegar as he felt the phantom pains of not a body being destroyed but rather of creation.

The black blood dried on Muad’s chest, the wounds becoming red incisions before the flesh closed and any scarring was erased from pristine flesh. The figure near where he knelt spoke gently even as the rents and tears upon his psyche was soothed. A great pain wheeled from deep within to coil around his gut. A slippery darkness that had infected him for so long was found and exorcised by the light that flooded through his body healing him. After years the plague he had barely managed to restrain was gone.

“Help our firebug with her riduur.”

Muad rose to his feet as Valaryion prepared to turn to attack the others. But Muad moved faster. Hand clenched the Dragonborn’s neck in such a grip it was if he wore crushgaunts. The hand squeezed even as the enemy sought to find purchase within the madman once more. Yet it was not to be.

After eons of spending most of his energy quelling the plague, he was free. The power that had filled him by Ginnie’s mother renewed and refreshed. A smile crossed Muad’s face as he breathed in deeply, savoring the taste of death … and Valaryion’s fear. A roar escaped from the blue eyed devil along with a torrent of blue flame which enveloped the two men. The sizzling skin of the Dragonborn was unnaturally loud and almost overcame the maniacal laughter from Muad.

Then something exploded from Valaryion’s back as the husk of the body withered to ash. The sickly dark shadow of the Dragonborn’s soul howled in pain and anguish before diving for the nearly complete body that lay so near Rhaegar.

Ginnie Dib

 

[Ginnie Dib]

“Raaaaaaahhhh!!” The universe between Gwyndolyn’s hands was ripping in ribbons as she refused to let go of both her husband’s new body, and the frantic soul of Valayrion Dragonborn. Feet strong in the soil, Ginnie allowed the pain to become a cauterizing fuel, dangerous to use but necessary. Pain was always necessary to bring life. The shout broke in agony as Ginnie’s knee weakened. Valayrion was a roiling demon, slashing and snarling for his last attempt at freedom.

“DEREEK!!” The shouts of anger turned into a screech of panic as her front foot skittered closer to Muad and Valayrion. Slowly now… ever slowly Ginnie felt her spine tear apart as many disparate voices called through the Netherworld to claim she who could build them new skin.

Her breath flooded her ears, until nothing was left but the noise of a mighty wind. The body on the ground twitched. A nervous system, spare electrons flowing from Ginnie’s own valence cloud. Marrow and bone out of the soil, out of blood wrought up from the Blood Plains and a droplet stream from Ginnie’s fingernails. Teeth gnashed as calcium rose from the crags and burrows of the earth. Magnesium, potassium, zinc… Bone was a biological alloy, trace metals found in every tissue of the kiffar body. Hot tears roiled from her cheeks, drifting too toward the reconstructing body of her lover. Her husband. Yet with her other hand she ripped and bound, thrashing the dragon-soul who destroyed two of their own. Their younglings.

A wail of agony burst from Ginnie’s lungs as she refused to let go. She could never let go… never… let… Derek’s hands lit upon her shoulders, thumbs caressing the taught flesh of her clenched neck.

Once more, images of their lives flooded the connection between Derek Dib and Ginnie.

‘If only…’ Flashes of Ginnie watching Derek hold one of the babies, soothing a nightmare plagued child. The lucid times she did wake, while he carried her to her bed and removed her boots. Never taking so much as an inch of advantage.

‘… If you told me…’

The true penalty of the Dib’s, a wealth of independence and none of the prescience to recognize when they needed to fill the others in. A flash. Derek walking out of the ship wearing Rhaegar’s suit during the Verd’goten.

“Suitors… but… they’re not you… Don’t go. Dede…” The narrow shake of a widow’s head, a clumsy hand raised to the retreating back of her rock. The only foundation she had stable enough to cling to all those long years. “… Derek… don’t leave me.”

Words too quiet, or too filled with promise for Derek to have heard that day. Too flagrant the wind, too loud the roar of Mandalorians over a child running back to his mother with a terminal wound. The soul-shattering knowledge that Derek Dib would never turn round. Yet now she saw the cost of Derek’s resistance to serendipity. His gut-rotting anguish over leaving the woman he loved untouched and ignorant of his true heart.

‘… I convinced myself you did it for the kids… ‘cause who could love the drunk widow… ’

Balance.

It was the harshest Master of all.

‘… all this time… I would have moved on. All this time... I loved you.’

The energy rushing from Derek emboldened the Mandalorian firebug. She grit her teeth and doubled her efforts, constructing sinew, liver, a yet still heart. Yet, her heart belonged to the hope of a resurrection.

“Come home, c’yare. Come home.” Ginnie thrust her hand forward, sending the weakened Rhaegar every ounce of endurance she had in her petite, but mighty corporeal shell.

Muad lashed out at the ancestral demon, his body a new creation thanks to a mother’s affections and sacrifice. The ragged edges of Ginnie’s mother faded into gossamer, as with the last of her spectral strength, she rushed to give Rhaegar all she had.

To bring speed and strength to overcome Valayrion’s panic. Ginnie roared as her body combusted into white hot plasma, the ground around her and Derek falling away in a crater. Yet, Derek did not burn. The flames which engulfed them all carried such colour and such beauty they lapped upon his face and hands and skin with the effervescence of Ginnie’s soul. The shockwave of the flame slammed into the Dragonborn’s soul with enough power to send it scattered to utter oblivion.

But not Muad. Not Rhaegar. Those Ginnie loved were untouched by such violence as there was within her. No more of the Dib’s would pay for their ancestor’s wicked crimes.

And as skin and hair grew over the body, as breath filled his lungs, Ginnie’s head fell back into Derek’s shoulder. White eyes open, breath shallow. Collapsing backward lest she fall.

A heart beat.

 

[Muad Dib]

And Valaryion slayed Derek, Rhaegar, and Muad.

Spoiler

The real post:


Every ounce within him flowed to the woman in his arms in an effort for victory in the Titan struggle for survival. Their power entwined as their minds united in singular purpose to save Rhaegar and utterly decimate the soul of Valaryion which had shed his husk and strive to claim the new body being constructed in their midst. With the torrential wave of white hot plasma and the tidal wave of Force Valaryion was shredded, like light through the darkness, the molecules of his dismal spirit turning to ash and scattering upon the wind.

Derek's arms slipped around Ginnie's waist as the complete outpouring of all she had to give drained her. Slowly he lowered her to a seated position and knelt beside Gin. A hand caressed the side of her face before leaning in to lightly brush his lips against her forehead. Where his words would never break upon the cliffs of resolve, the gentle kiss offered what he could never say.

A pure love, one that would never waver nor falter. One that was given so freely and never asked for recompense. However he had received so much. The kiss conveyed the depth of his love that echoed deep in the reserves of Derek.

The kiss was also a goodbye.

Almost solemnly his fingers drew down her cheek and jawline in a touch that lingered ever so gently upon the velvety caramel skin. A sad smile creased his lips and then he withdrew from her, rising and turning to move the few meters to Rhaegar's soul and the now breathing body that had been formed for inhabitation. Once more he dropped to a knee to slowly raise Rhaegar from the dirt to transfer upon the body.

The final gift of a mother to those that would be named family still ran through Muad's veins as what remained of Valaryion turned to ash. Walking forward he paused beside little Ginnie and looked down. Still the pink mando'ad he knew long ago. And yet so much more. She had endured pain and loss unimaginable during her life. He wished he could free her from the pain endured. But no, she was a Dib. Pain and loss came with the name, however, the experiences made them cherish every moment life offered.

Moving once more Muad stood over the form of Rhaegar that lay upon the new body. Whispers of high Sith escaped his lips while he positioned his left palm over his uncle's chest. The sapphire runes adorning his skin from knuckles to elbow flickered and turned obsidian even as his eyes changed to the shadows of darkness.

Derek placed his left hand on Rhaegar's torso, the shard of his uncle's soul gripped tight in his fist. A slight tilt of Muad's head was all the warning offered before the madman drove his hand through Derek's and shoved the splinter deep into the created form’s heart. Blood flowed from the brother's as the body beneath Rhaegar began convulsing. Slowly the figure of Rhaegar moaned and then seemingly melted to drain amongst the blood to fill the chest cavity. Quickly Muad withdrew his hand from the ruination of Derek's palm which allowed Derek to fall away gripping his wounded appendage.

The Force flowed through Muad as he gazed down upon the final ebb of Rhaegar's soul entered the wound in the new body's chest. Using the last vestiges of power given him, Muad healed the ravaged flesh as runes began marking Rhaegar's new flesh. Spells of power and binding flickered upon virgin flesh. The chest began to rise and fall then eyes opened. An unknown gaze flickered over them yet the spark within was familiar. Rhaegar sat up and turned a thankful look from Muad and Derek to his Gin'ika but Muad place a hand upon his shoulder for a moment.

“You only have half a soul Rhaegar. Yet Derek and I have you a gift. Seedlings of our blood that will incubate deep inside of you. And they will grow to restore your soul. It will be a true cin vhetin. For your actions and deeds will fuel the growth. Your soul will be whole and your future is now yours to make.”

Muad released Rhaegar and turned to Derek to assist in healing his brother's hand even as Rhaegar pushed himself over to Ginnie and reached out tentatively, to brush her cheek with a stranger's hand, and to speak in someone else's voice.

“Ner runi."

Ginnie Dib

 

[Ginnie Dib]

The progenitor sound.

Inhale and exhale of her breath was forever joined in a sacred tandem with Derek’s sacrifice. As the last atoms of Rhaegar’s new body flowed together, and Valayrion’s soul turned to chaff like ash in the wind, Gwyndolyn recognized the horrid cost.

William.

Jia.

Derek’s woefully hidden search for the lover he pined for but never took. Legs stretched akimbo on the warm earth, trousers hopelessly dusted with the ash of their exertions. His skin cooled her feverish flesh. Ginnie stuttered, nuzzling into his hand. Forehead pressed into the kiss. A shaking hand reached to hold his palm to her cheek. Just one more second.

One more moment sequestered in this protective cocoon, from whence no harm could come. Her safety net, her foundation turned to walk away. Tears flooded her eyes as her forearms splayed on her thighs. Wide lost eyes drifted up to Muad, lips open in hopeful shock.

Would it be alright, now? Would everyone get a chance to breathe? How could she, her happiness, be worth this much? Jia, little Jia… locked beyond their reach. William.

How could a father even generations removed endanger his own descendants for his own gain? What cruel joke was he, who played with souls as if he owned them. As if they were naught but fuel for his miserly existence?

In the Madman’s eyes, Ginnie saw her answer. No one could ever make sense of a Dib.

Wembley cocked his leg and urinated on a pile of white ash, the last vestige of evidence Valayrion Dragonborn existed mere moments before. He kicked his hind legs, scattering the fallow yellowed matter before trotting back to circle around Ginnie and plunk down near enough to give her back something stable to lean on.

Good riddance.

The girl who never turned away from anything watched in rapt silence as Muad and Derek completed the ritual which returned her husband to the plane of the living. As Rhaegar convulsed, she watched. Nothing but the sound of her own breathing, Derek’s now receded past her.

Never again to be so close.

Lungs filled with air so cold and inhumane Ginnie nearly coughed. Full lungs held the air, warming it with her natural pyromantic body heat as the stranger with her husband’s soul reached for her.

His hand was warm, fingers with a pulse sweetened by the collision of skin to cheek. Rhaegar brushed the last atoms of Derek’s hold from Ginnie’s skin. Her lungs expelled their carbon dioxide in a gasp as she canted onto her knees.

“Ner runi.” A new voice in a new man. A voice she heard with the clarion call of her soul ready to thrash itself on the altar of never letting go. Gasping out a sob, Gin’ika crashed into Rhaegar and wrapped her arms around his neck. Her lips found their quarry, innocent in adoration. The love which found them in their eternal congregate in Manda once more became whole. Ginnie’s hand surged into his hair, holding her riduur to her, forehead to forehead. Her other hand drifted across his chest and up to his neck, until she felt his pulse beat with her own fingers. Ginnie burst in torrential sobs, the pain and grief and frustration and sorrow breaking upon the Netherworld’s ground to never again return.

“Y’yaim. Mhi… yaim. Ner kar’ta, mhi ne’waadas at slanar yaim.” (Home. We… home. My heart, we need to go home.) Hoisting herself to her feet, the petite powerhouse tugged Rhaegar to his, refusing to let go as she watched for Muad and Derek.

“Let’s leave this horrid tomb, before Wembley sila on it… Again.” The gratitude she wanted to voice had no syllables nor phrases strong enough inside her. Cataclysm still so fresh and raw, Ginnie couldn’t touch Jia and William’s fates without the perspective of time to cover the wound in a sort of melencholic balm. No. Ginnie couldn’t say as flimsy a word as ‘thank you’.

But she could dry her eyes on her husband’s shirt, step forward with her hand in his, and help return them all home. Stepping to Muad, one hand still clinging to Rhaegar, Ginnie leapt on the Shaman with a fierce hug. Her eyes caught sight of Derek, no longer clouded by her own inner pain.

For once and eternal, Ginnie Dib was finally at peace.

Derek Dib Muad Dib Rhaegar Nemesis Dib

 

[Muad Dib]

Oof. Muad gasped as Ginnie leapt into his arms which circled around her in an embrace. Her hand remained tethered to Rhaegar and Muad smiled one of his rare open features that he shared with only the close aliit. Accomplishment, happiness, a resigned sadness, and weariness burned from eyes that had returned to their natural blue. He squeezed her once more before releasing her with a gentle push back to her riduur.

“Time to go home. And Rhaegar, no one wants to see a dangling Dib. Go home you two.”

Kneeling he stuck his hand into the bag and pulled out a blanket to toss at the naked Dib who caught it and wrapped it around his waist. Rising he waved his hand and a shimmer appeared in the air, a portal back to the dais on Manda'yaim. He motioned for his family to go through even as his eyes turned to look upon the Netherworld and the gates of Chaos in the distance.

Derek moved to walk through the portal and paused before the couple, guarded eyes looking into their eyes. An emptiness echoed from within even as he offered them a smile that didn't quite ring true. However he was happy for them, that Ginnie was whole again, that Rhaegar was free from the obsidian tether, that the twins would have their parents back.

“Live like every moment is your last. Laugh with a fullness that fills your hall with joy. Love with a power that overcomes everything. And know that if you ever need anything, I will always be there for you both.”

Not wanting to make an awkward scene he slipped through the portal and headed off for one of the shuttles in the hangar bay. He should head back to Siskeen, yet something told him maybe he should stick around for just a bit.

Muad motioned the couple with a shooing of his hand.

“Get out of here. Take a shuttle and go home. I'd recommend using an automated shuttle. For privacy.”

He bellowed out a laugh as the reunited couple passed through the portal with the sith hound following behind. A final glance at the gates and Muad began to leave. However something paused his exit. A feeling ran the length of his spine as he watched the last of the ash drift away.

Valaryion had generations to prepare. He had ample opportunity to lay the groundwork for every potential calamity that may have befallen his carefully orchestrated plans. And in the end he failed. The Dragonborn had failed.

It felt wrong.

Muad snarled. He was missing something. Somehow this wasn't the end of his progenitor. And the moment the madman decided that there was something amiss, he felt an echo of truth in his chest. They would meet again.

He passed through the portal, the passage winking from existence.

Ginnie Dib

 

[William the Bloody]

The soulless body lay upon the cold tile of the balcony. A thousand stars sparkled and cast their illumination upon the automated breathing of the man lying motionless. The evening air rustled the dark suit and hair. Yet even that could not impress the idea he was alive. The pale flesh seemed devoid of blood which was nearly amusing considering the moniker of the empty vessel.

William the Bloody.

The face twitched. Then the body rose like a shadow to stand upright, hands braced against the railing of the balcony to look out over the city. Flashes of memory danced before his eyes as he sought to remember what had transpired.

Freeing his soul from Chaos
Damning some female descendant in his stead
Ripping a second soul free of his fleshly mooring
Joining his soul to the new one even as he transferred the young soul into the tatters of his decimated spirit
The attack upon his body
Releasing the ruined flesh to seek a new host
The last moment he released the ruination of his old soul, now inhabited by the male descendant
Fleeing across the Nether as the body pulled it's soul back
The destruction of the old soul and the innocent presence

Eyes blinked slowly as Valaryion Dragonborn smiled from Willam the Bloody’s face. Laughter broke the stillness of the night.

Ginnie Dib