Transcendance

20

I held Brendan's cooling down body, feeling the wetness of my tears going to his shoulder. I was sobbing loudly as I felt warmth followed by a bright, blinding light. I felt a pair of arms around me, caressing my hair. I looked up to see Brendan in a silver cape and loincloth and black face paint. I was in a small golden cape and a longer skirt.

"Brendan!" I shouted at him, kissing him. He kisses back and I noticed that I was wearing turquoise jewelry and a headpiece. My hair was pretty long as well. He wore a silver crown. I hear "awws" and "woooo!" in the audience.

"Erika." He smiled at me. "I love you."

"I love you too." I told him. I cradled his face and pressed his forehead against mine. "I love you so much." I hear clapping.

"Congratulations." It was Huitzilopochtli, the goddess from the streams and many other deities. "You broke the curse." I noticed the burned and charred forest was restored to green trees, blooming shrubs and a meadow full of flowers.

"But how did I break the curse?" I asked him.

"Hey, what the-" Jackson was alive and dressed similarly to Brendan.

"Jackson!" We all said at the same time. Heather ran to him, sobbing. Brendan and I joined the hug. Kyra and Brett joined as well. Leira jumped in, picking all of us up. We were all dressed in Nahua clothing, Kyra wearing a longer huipil while Heather was wearing a cape similar to mine.

"I'm glad I'm back but how-" Jackson and we looked at Huitzilopochtli.

"Your love for humanity and selfless act did it, Jackson. You sacrificed yourself to save your friends. Erika, the power of Sunstone and your love for those around you cleansed the darkness in Brendan's soul." Huitzilopochtli spoke softly. "Brendan, you gave up living if it meant that Erika and the others would survive once you beat the darkness."

"Well, that's a lot to process." I don't even know where to start.

"But now Leandrus was defeated and magic has returned to the land of the Fae. And there is something else." The goddess of the river spoke. "You will now take your rightful places of the new gods of the Fae Realm."

"Wait, what?" I asked them. "Gods?"

"Of course, our children back on Earth started to believe in us again so we'll have to leave for now. Erika, you will now be goddess of the sun. Jackson, you'll be god of the sky. Heather, you'll be the goddess of the stars and Brendan, you're god of the moon." The other goddess says.

"But what about our lives back on Earth?" I asked. A god with black face paint and a prosthetic foot speaks up. Tezcalipoca, I think?

"You will continue to live as humans until your death. Then you will ascend to the stars." He says. "And one more thing, Xochiquetzal, if you may."

A beautiful woman with flowers in her hair walks up.

"Of course, you can't be deities of the opposites without being married." Xochiquetzal smiles. Suddenly Jackson and Heather are beside us and I notice Brendan's cape is tied to my cape while Heather's is tied to Jackson's. She presents us with a cup of something.

"Erika Jimenez, do you take Brendan Howard as your husband?" She asked me. I nodded as she offered me the cup. I took a drink of the cup. It was like chocolate but also slightly peppery and slightly sweetened. Brendan took a drink as well.

She repeated the same thing for Heather and Jackson.

"Now kiss!" She says, clapping her hands. We both kissed our partners and everyone started to clap and cheer.

"And one more parting gift. Your wedding rings." Another god waved his hands in the air, humming. Rings appeared on our right hands.

"Wow..." I smiled at Brendan.

"I told you, didn't I?" Huitzilopochtli smiled at me. "Now, farewell and have fun." And just like that, the gods vanished.

"Damn. It's been a day, hasn't it?" Heather asked. I noticed that she had a ring on her finger. It was gold with a red gem. I noticed Jackson's wedding band was plain silver. I looked at my hand. Mine was silver with a diamond on it. Brendan's wedding band was golden.

I was ready to get back to our realm.

"It has." Jackson spoke. "I'm glad it turned out okay." We watched people who had been killed by Brendan rise up, unharmed.

"Same." I said. I watched Brett, Kyra, and Leira approach us.

"Gods, huh? Am I going to have to call you your Majesty?" Kyra crossed her arms.

"Only on Tuesdays." Brendan chuckled.

"Congratulations on the weddings, y'all. I'm glad that my four favorite people are together for eternity now." Kyra smiled. Brett put an arm over her shoulder and she leaned her head to his chest.

"Well, I'm glad that the Fae Realm was saved." Leira spoke. "But you guys have to return home, don't you?"

"We do. I'm sure everyone in Brendan's life will want to see him again." I told him.

"So they think I'm dead?" He asked.

"Yeah. The rest of your family was really, really nice." I spoke. "I'm sure they'll have a lot of questions."

"But only my parents can know what really happened." Brendan spoke.

"And of course, everyone else at the Agency has to know too." I wondered what Alberto would think of all of this. There was no telling, honestly.

"Leira!" It was Mellaria. Leira whipped her head around. Her parents were emerging from the crowd. You know I kind of forgot the original mission we were here for. We're definitely not getting paid.

"Mother?" She raised a brow.

"Leira." Mellaria doesn't even hug her or seem happy that her daughter survived all of this chaos. "I knew we shouldn't of hired these idiots to watch you!"

"I'm fine, Mother." Leira's voice had an edge to it. "They did a wonderful job of protecting me." Oh boy.