Chapter 24

24

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"I'm here, Casterline. Come to me. I have much to tell you." Delia's voice snapped Casterline back into her body. She felt Delia's presence nearby and wasted no time flying out from the King of Wands. She could hear Delia's words echoing inside her head. Beckoning. Calling to her. She felt a strong magnetic pull toward The Queen of Wands card. No one noticed her resurfacing from the crumbling card. Everyone was far too engrossed in their own personal fight to realize. She crouched low and quietly stepped toward the face of the card, but it was oddly different from every other card she'd seen so far. In place of an open portal, there was only a mirror reflecting Casterline's own image back to her. By the gods she was frail. When had she become so weathered and gaunt? The woman looking back at her was most certainly not the same woman who had boarded that flight to Burbank a while back. Just as she leaned in closer to question, "Is this...really me?" a pale arm reached out and pulled her straight through the glass. It did not break, but rather molded to her body like memory foam and snapped right back into a solid once she made it to the other side. She was face to face with Queen Delia Rosequartz.

"Delia...is Haru..."

"He is. But his soul is unaware."

So Haru's soul and Delia's King were one and the same. They found one another across worlds. This gave Casterline an entirely new perspective of the phrase star-crossed lovers. It also made her heart ache even more than usual for the home she yearned to get back to. "So why are we able to communicate like this? Isn't it dangerous?" "Whatever the consequences, they are still not as dangerous as you remaining in this world with my daughter. When I lived, I had a naturally strong Light Affinity. And though you wield all the elements of Royalty, yours is yet to be determined. We will discuss that in a moment, for now I will address why you and I are awakened to one another." Casterline nodded. It was surreal to be face to face with the woman she'd seen so many times in her entranced state. Delia continued in spite of Caste's awed stare, "Karnelian passed naturally, peacefully. I passed forcefully, with a heart full of guilt and regret. Haru Akahoshi and Karnelian Krowne share the same Soul, just as you and I, but Haru's Spiritual Essence is asleep to the past. As all reborn souls should be...Just as yours was meant to be, before Fiaerna spirited you away..." Delia's eyes spilled over with tears. Caste instinctively reached out and wiped them away. She then placed her left hand on Delia's cheek, like she used to do when Harumi was sad. "It's OK. Don't be sad. Everything's going to be OK." Delia grabbed her hand and they stood together for a long while, just absorbing the silence. The togetherness. Casterline had felt so afraid and so alone from the moment she'd arrived on Odinsai. Being here now, with the other half of her spirit made her realize that Delia had felt much the same in her lifetime, if not worse. That she would traverse worlds, transcend time and space, to start over. To escape her own daughter...Caste couldn't imagine how shattered her heart must have been to give up like that. But she made a silent vow to never give up on her own daughter. Harumi was different from Fiaerna, she was good. Where there was bitterness and hatred in Fiaerna's eyes, Caste could always find sweetness and unconditional love in Harumi's. Though she thought this, she felt pangs of heartache for Fiaerna. She was corrupted by her Dark affinity, yes, but in the end she was still only a child crying out for help. "Is it possible for me to convince the princess to come home with me? We can start over there. Maybe she'll lose her powers once we get home? Or even her memory? That would be great! She'd have no way to use Magic if she didn't realize she could in the first place, right? If nothing else, this entire situation has taught me that °anything° is possible. Haru and I could integrate her into the family. She's technically Harumi's big sister anyway... Haru and I could file the paperwork and legally adopt--" "Stop this nonsense! You don't realize what you're saying." "I...I'm sorry. I'm just trying to help. I want to believe that in spite of all these circumstances, there's a positive solution to all of this." "You are naive. Just as I was. This is deeply embedded in both of our hearts, it seems. Hope, that is. I had so much hope that I would find a cure for Fiaerna's madness when I was alive. But when my body began to develop Dark Rot, I knew it was all over for me and for the Kingdom of Krowne. Upon my death I had no idea she would spread her despair and misery to every corner of Odinsai and I regret that deeply, but I was powerless to stop her. I loved her too much to end her life. But if I had, I'd still be alive today. And you and Harumi would have never existed to be forced into this cycle of tragedy once again. For your continued suffering due to my own negligence and failings as a mother, I can never atone. But you must swear on our spiritual essence that you will °never° try to convince Fiaerna to go to Earth with you. Look around you. You've seen it for yourself. She is the destroyer of worlds."

The idea of watching her home planet, her beloved family, suffer the same fate as Odinsai made Casterline's stomach drop. "What would you have me do?"

"I would have you become stronger than your opponent. In doing so, we must first assess your Magic affinity. Concentrate on the space around you. Change the scenery. Make it your own. Breathe deeply, but don't think about the element forthcoming, just cast the spells." Caste did as she was instructed and cast as many spells to corrode and reshape the Card's interior. "Now, open your eyes." She did so and the beauty of the landscape before her truly took her breath away. Within the span of seconds, she'd terraformed a beautiful green paradise. "Earth. Your Affinity is Earth. How wonderfully fitting." Delia said with laughter in her voice. "Now that we know, you must take this ring--" "Wait. Everything I just saw..." "Happier times. Truly. I hadn't lost sight of myself yet. I had one goal and that was to shape Krowne into a land of peace and glory. But peace has a price and with my Lion gone, I lost my ability to lead and mother all at once. I often wondered if my sorrow wasn't the cause for Fiaerna's unfortunate Affinity. And yet, as you've seen. My people suffered even greater neglect than she. Enough of the past. You must focus. Take the Merlinite Ring from My White Lion's tomb. It will react to the ring I'm giving you now and thus amplify your Earth Affinity. It will protect and vivify the memories locked deep inside you...yours and mine." "It will also cause an interesting transmutation to your weaponry. The weapon you wield whilst wearing the Merlinite stones will take on a form specific to your innermost desires in that moment. Go now, we will surely meet again. We have much and more to discuss." Delia nodded toward a ghostly apparition hovering towards an open doorway in a small corner of the Card that was all white. A place Casterline's Earth Magic could not reach. She Magicked tree roots outstretched from the ground to ride over to the apparition and follow him. On the other side of the door he'd led her through She found herself back at Karnelian's tomb. The apparition smiled and bade her come closer so that he could bestow his gifts upon her. She spread out her wings, flew up to the statue and closed the gap between them. The kindly ghost held her hands in his own. Merlinite's touch was surprisingly warm in spite of his ethereal nature. "If you want to conceal the full extent of your power from your captor...make all that you wield be not as it seems." He then placed Delia's wedding ring on her left ring finger, Karnelian's on her right. He looked her in the eyes but spoke only with his mind. "There is no time. Now is all you have. I impart this sacred wisdom to you." She was expecting a long lecture, or at the very least a brief explanation as to how to wield new powers. Like a Beginner's Guide or a New Player Tutorial. But instead something much more amazing happened. Merlinite touched one translucent index finger to Caste's forehead and with a golden, shimmering glow, all the knowledge he'd ever accumulated in his lifetime circled into her psyche like a high speed internet download. Cryptic though the wisdom seemed, Casterline caught on quickly enough through the visuals flooding into her mind. She knew those words and visions might save her life and so she kept them close. And from then on she'd planned on keeping Fiaerna even closer than ever before. "Hidden strength is the greatest strength." She said aloud. Merlin nodded, and all at once the Tarot Card and everything therein melted away, leaving Casterline smack in the middle of the Tarot War battle ground.

Not phased at all, Caste braced her entire body for the magnificent power she was about to wield. "It's time to finish this." A Water soldier pointed his aquamarine spear in her direction and shouted, "She drank the Ambrosia!" Ambrosia? As in the Nectar of the Gods in old mythology? Now what was it that mortals were granted after partaking in divine drink again? A large and brawny Merman chucked a trident right into Casterline's upper torso. It pierced through her flesh, landing in the intercostal space of her ribcage, narrowly missing her spine and beating heart. To her own disbelief, she removed it with incredible ease. The war zone became deafening quiet as everyone looked upon this brazen, bleeding mortal return to sender. In all the earlier noise and chaos she'd found time to bind the Blazonetta and the trident together. The blazing hot trident honed in on The Knight of Cups and fazed right through his skull as smoothly as a knife slicing through butter. The Princess of Cups shrieked as she watched her mate's Card crumble into blackened soot and fade away with the desert wind. "All units! Attack!" And sure enough, as Caste stood in shock watching the gaping hole in her body seal itself back together, the entire deck of remaining tarot cards rushed to kill her. Which was the worst sin? Stealing from the Gods or obliterating them one at a time right before their very eyes? All were too blind with rage to care. Everyone wanted the mortal, the Princess, and the Lamia to pay. As they encircled the women, pinning them up against the backs of three cards with the Blade Dancer's hateful wind, all seemed hopeless. Fiaerna and Chise's Magic had been nullified when the Knights and Pages shackled them all with golden restraints. Casterline fought hard against her captors, immediately breaking her cuffs and chains into millions of tiny fragments. Her wings, eyes, and her entire body glowed with a golden halo of Light as she burst skyward. She conjured a celestial golden hammer from the heavens. Magnificent starlight danced all across the weapon's surface. Mesmerized by the sheer size and craftsmanship of the thing, none of the fighters thought to move nor to run. Casterline threw her hands up as if she were actually holding the heavenly hammer and slammed down as hard as humanly possible. The hammer swung down heavily upon the crowd. The pressure was so immense that all remaining Cards crumbled in an instant. "Princess! Chise!" In her God-like state she'd completely forgotten the safety and well-being of her comrades. "We are fine!" Fiaerna called up to Caste from behind an equally massive black and purple vortex shield. Fiarena's quick thinking had saved them both.