Chapter 176: Into Forever

Tali

4 months later

Well, to say they were surprised that day would be an understatement, and they were a bit pissed that I had gotten stabbed. I had told them that was the only way I would get him close enough to grab, which is why my armor didn’t appear. So, it worked out the way it needed to.

Now there’s a ton of things that have happened in the last few months. The Fae went back to Skalic Sil, Oohar went back to Illiali, and the dragon goddesses all went back home. I still speak to Gihanna, and I have visited Oohlar since they went home, and I’ll continue to do so.

Michael has decided to take up his position as the remaining royal in Lysenia, but he wants to revamp the whole thing. Now, rather than just the royal ruling the whole thing, they are creating a different type of council. There will be members from different species and realms, not just the protectors. They will get together and discuss the state of their realms and any help they can give each other as well as finding those evil “children” that are still running around creating havoc out there.

We had known that Shaitan was only the beginning. With his realm now sealed with his death, no more can leave, but those he had released and who had fled that realm over all of the centuries, still have to be caught and put back or eliminated. Cerberus and the hounds are all for elimination. They spent their whole lives almost trying to coral these evil things.

Jareth has grown so much, and is now walking. We are all hard pressed to keep up with his little hands as they curiously look to grab this and that. Kira has grown and is now starting to interact with us more. She’s starting to coo and smile and make baby babbling sounds. Jareth likes to pat her, but we have to be careful he doesn’t smack her by mistake. I look forward to watching them grow up together.

We have decided to return to the Earth realm. I grew up there and feel connected, and my guys had been there so long it had become like home to them. Cerberus says he doesn’t care just as long as we are together, and of course I melt at that. Right now, we are trying to figure out exactly where we want to move to, and find a house big enough for all of us and what we want to do. We will keep being “protectors” in that we’ll help clean up the rogues that are there from Shaitan’s realm. Also, if there are those who prey on the weak or helpless, then we’ll step in. That’s the plan anyway.

One thing we are determined to do this time around is not depend upon one governing body to hand out justice and orders. Nope, just like what Michael is doing, we are going to be working with other species, and talking between all of us. This way perhaps it will keep the power from growing too much with just one group, and the other groups will keep them sane. We’ll see how things play out, and how everything unfolds. I am excited to witness the changes.

Gia pulled me back to her realm for a dream walk, and she looked rather bruised and battered, but she assured me she’s healing. It was difficult for her to kill her brother both physically and emotionally. She has approved of our plans, and assured me I’ll see her from time to time, and maybe someday so will the children.

4 years later

Well, I am watching my children running around our “yard”, which is basically a huge amount of land. I have a garden, not much of one, but some. We also have the usual kid things of a pool and playground equipment. There’s trees and grass, wildflowers for them to play amongst as well.

We ended up coming back up to Montana. I fell in love with the mountains, trees, and the wide open spaces we found here. So, now we have about 20 acres that we have built up. There’s a training facility, just a small one mind you, to help not only protectors learn about their powers and how best to use them, but other species come here too

Jareth will be in kindergarten this coming fall, and I am wondering how that will go. We are including that in with the training facility. We thought about sending him to public school until the day he extended his wings. Kira won’t be able to do that until mated supposedly, and he wasn’t supposed to be able to do that until he hit 18, but, yeah, that didn’t happen the usual way. It’s probably his freaky mom’s fault. So, now we are making a new class to teach him, which is really rather like being homeschooled honestly. Kira will join him in another year, and there have actually been a few protector pregnancies and we think it has something to do with eliminating Shaitan.

Another new development catches my attention as I hear Kira’s little girl giggle as she runs and plays with her new best friend. You guessed it, it’s a dragon. He just suddenly appeared one day and landed right next to her. She, without hesitation, ran up and threw her arms around his neck. So, I went and spoke with Oohlar, and found out that “technically” it’s his son, but his mom is the dragon I had met briefly while in Illiali, Niria, the black and red ombre that had bred with Oohlar and had babies running around her. Apparently dragons grow quickly, as those babies are now fully grown dragons and this little boy is from their most recent breeding. I spoke with Niria, and his name is unpronounceable of course as I don’t speak dragon. Kira called him Zoola, and they said that was good enough.

So, I take them both to see Oohlar and Niria, but he stays with us. So, now I believe my dragon rider daughter has claimed her dragon. I shall watch that unfold with great anticipation.

We have another daughter Sarah, but thankfully she came around with Kira was almost 3, so she’s just over a year old now and is toddling about after her siblings. I just found out we are pregnant again, and this time it’s another boy, which is good so Jareth isn’t  outnumbered.

Life is good, and full, and my mates and I love each other insanely, which is good. Our children are beautiful and blessed, and our training school is going well. We’ll have to wait and see what the future holds for all of us. For now, I am just basking in my happy ever after. I think I earned it. We all did, honestly.

As I see my children running around laughing, I smile. This was my dream. Even back in those dark times, my dream was this. I send up a thanks that I got my dream. Now, just to live it.

The End?