194: Shards

194: Shards
\[Ona\]

She didn't warn us. She hardly even said goodbye. She looked at us with such sad eyes as she swept her hand upwards and we became encased within a sphere of darkness.

"I am so sorry..." Her last words faded and distorted as my brother screamed her name, screamed for her to stop.

But she couldn't hear him.

I held my little brother close while the darkness swept our little family, our remaining guards and nurses, up and out of Elfholm to Luxandra above.

Freedom. She sacrificed herself for freedom.

When the inky darkness receded, we were only footsteps away from the Eastern Gate in the Realm of Air, close to the home duchy of Eleanora the False Queen. Carnelia used her newly developed abilities to phase our entire number across a vast amount of space.

Not even the Elf King himself was able to move us all so far so quickly.

What is she becoming now that she is growing up into her power?

"We need to get moving," I try to urge my brother, who has fallen to his knees, his hands reaching down into the earth as if he could reach through the crust and find her waiting. "She sacrificed herself for our chance to escape. Don't you dare waste her efforts. She got us as close to home as she could."

"THIS is our home," Primus insists as he pulls himself up to stand. "Luxandra. This is where we were hatched, Ona. It belongs to both of us, to our children." His eyes are swirling so brightly they begin to emit sparks and I wonder, not for the first time, if Primus might have a 4th form too. He has more fire in him than he realizes, a bit of spark and heat within him.

He grew so large and burned so hotly the last time he lost Carnelia.

What will he do this time, now that she has been taken from him again?

"Little Brother," I scold. "Be reasonable. She would want you to take advantage of this opportunity to..."

"You don't understand," he stands, gently holding me to keep me stable as my body shakes with exhaustion. "Ona, she'll die without me. She can't do this alone."

"She's stronger than you realize," I shake my head, raising my hand to his sharply defined chin. "She's not just anyone, Primus. Carnelia may be the most powerful of us all."

He pauses, hearing my words, but then shakes his head. "No, Ona. She might be able to tear the world apart if she wants, but she needs someone to hold her heart. She's strong in power, but the world has worked so hard to break her. She can't be alone. I won't let her be alone."

"But you are right," he admits. "We are too close to the goal. She'd want us to keep going."

Standing a bit straighter, Primus takes the lead. Approaching the captain of the guard, he gives some silent instructions, pointing towards me and I frown. Whatever he is planning he knows I won't approve, but I am too eager to get us all home to confront him about it now.

We still have time. I might still convince him to follow reason.

The captain approaches and bows. "My Queen."

Offering me his strength, the guard lifts me into his arms and flies me towards the gate with large, even strides. The wind pushes under us, and soon we are moving swiftly.

The gods must be on our side because we make it to the Eastern Gate unseen.  With the little ones unable to take a 4th form, we have no choice but to go the slow way, taking the long, slow ride through the gate tube back above the planet to the kingdom amongst the stars.

"Primus, please come with us," I make one last attempt to try and convince him. Carnelia wanted him with her children. She wanted him safe. "Carnelia..."

"I need to become the king she needs me to be, Ona. I need to save her." He insists, his mind and his eyes already looking back towards the ruined palace, barely visible in the distance.

"Then come with us and appeal for help. Go to the Grand Council. Contact Undersea. Negotiate with the Moon Kingdom. A king needs to know when to flee, Primus. A good king knows when to..."

"I CAN'T LEAVE HER HERE!" He roars and little Nova, the youngest and smallest of his brood, starts to cry. Her twin, Nox, holds onto her, trying to soothe her.

"Primus," I keep my voice as calm as I can but the fire of my own fears and anger is bubbling just under the surface. "You can't do this. Your children need you."

"They need their mother more," he has made up his mind and I know there is nothing I can do to convince him. "I know this is asking too much, Ona, but I trust you and Daax with my most precious treasure." He looks to his children, who look back at him with a wide-eyed stare of innocence and trust. "I need her, Ona, and right now she needs me. She thinks she has to do this alone, but she's wrong."

"Primus..."

"She's wrong, Ona. I thought that way once too. I sent her away to save our children and tried to fix everything myself instead of going with her. And I died, Ona. They brought me back, but I was dead. Everything ended." His hands are steady and his back straight as he looks towards the horizon, to his kingdom. "It would be a mistake for me to leave her now. I won't let her die when there is something I can do." He winces. "I can feel her pain, Ona. Whatever they are doing is almost more than she can endure. I won't let her spiral into darkness. I will bring her home."

Watching his hands burning with an inner flame, magma rolling under the surface of his stony scales, I know there is nothing I can say that will change his mind. Primus has always been as stubborn as a stone, but now that his heart is somewhere beneath the surface in a cave of blue crystal, he won't be moved. Not without her. She is his heart.

"I need you to do something for me, Big Sister," he lifts one of his children onto the glowing dias of the gate, kissing them gently before handing them off. "Once you reach the Celestial Kingdom, shut it all down. All the gates. Leave nothing open. Put up the shields. Block away the sun. Do not let the moon dragons reach you. No matter what they tell you, don't drop those shields."

"Primus, if we put up the shields, we won't be able to come help," I shake my head. "No, we can't do that. What if you free Carnelia and we're shut down so tightly she can't get back to the babies? What if..."

"When Carnelia and I survive this, we will find a way." He swears. "We will return. There is nothing that will stop us from reuniting our family."

Standing before me, proud and strong, I see an echo of my father, the king he once was before time and cruelty corrupted him. For the sake of us all, I pray that Primus is stronger than our father ever was.

His hands are sure and steady as he places his last child in my arms. "Love them like they are your own, Ona, but make sure they remember who we are."

Primus looks up at the guard he had been speaking with before and nods. I look over to say something, but the guard is already typing in the code. The gateway shuts around us. As the platform rises, his children begin to cry, seeing their father far below them, terrified as he grows smaller and smaller.

I hold as many of them as I can close to my chest. I will need to be their family now.

"Shh, Niblings. Auntie will tell you a story," I promise with a wide-open smile. It will be hours until we make it back home, a long trip for such little hearts. "Once upon a time, there was a strong dragon prince. He lived high on a mountain overlooking the sea. He didn't believe in love, until one day, a beautiful woman was given to him as a sacrifice..."