“I never wanted to be this powerful,” I let the truth echo within my mind and, ironically, found strength in it. “I don't need the Trinity Star, it needs me.”
“You would give up all of this—all of the Realms—just to kill me?” She gaped at me.
“To kill the evil inside me?” I countered. “Yes, I'd give up the Realms in a heartbeat. I already have.”
I grabbed my lioness, intending to bring her roaring out of Star's chest, taking two tips of the star at once. But, my wolf wouldn't be left behind. The white Wolf burst free of her evil prison alongside the tawny Lioness and with their exodus, Star exploded into millions of sparkling pieces. Stardust.
I sighed with relief as my beasts returned to me, leaping into my chest eagerly. But then the pain started. Star's remains floated down over me, searing my skin with darkness. The shadows around me thickened, particles of evil gathering. I had reclaimed my magic but I hadn't removed the poison from my soul. Evil is not conquered so easily.
The darkness closed in like sinister shadow soldiers, blocking all escape. I shivered, fear freezing me in place even as I burned. Then I thought of my lovers and my children. I thought of my friends and the entire world. All of the Realms. So much depended on me conquering this evil. But how could I when it was inside me? Again, with the asking of the question, all was made clear.
I came gasping out of my mind and sat up straight in bed. Viper cried out in relief and reached for me, but I held him back with one hand as I yanked my star pendant down with the other. The cap on the crystal vial popped free and the scent of pure water filled my nose. Water more pure than any found on Earth. I shot back the contents desperately, took a deep breath, and started to scream.
Arctic magic blasted through me, freezing liquid shooting down every artery and vein, into bones and flesh and ligament, seeking out the infection and washing it away. Then it went further, cleansing my very soul of the taint. And it didn't stop with me. I had poured evil into the men and dragons I'd made; into the world itself. As I thrashed within a strong embrace, the cleansing water streamed down the bonds that I'd forged. I saw it in my mind; clouds of darkness hovering around me like tumors in a body. The water of Abzu, the ocean beneath the world, flowed into those cancerous cells and obliterated them.
Viper shouted and fell back onto the bed with me while the cries of other men echoed in my head. My poor star gods, they were innocent of all of this. Taken from the Void to serve my purposes. To love me and fight for me. They'd never even chosen new names for themselves. Perhaps that was for the best.
I washed away my sins—the sins I had forced on the Star Gods—and made them pure again. Made them the men they were before I had infected them. I felt their relief at being freed from evil but with that relief came a new pain. Heartache. The pain of living with what I'd done and what I'd made them do. My cruelty was so clear to me now.
Tears poured down my cheeks as I offered them one last gift; a fresh start. I felt their gratitude shimmer through our bonds as I released their souls and placed them back in the Void, ready to begin again. With a breaking heart, I severed our bonds and let them go. I let all of them go. My beautiful dragons, soulless creatures formed of magic, couldn't survive the destruction of the evil inside me. They vanished, back into the dark matter I had formed them from. I cried for them; for the promises I had made them that would never be fulfilled. For the lives I'd forced on them that had been focused on violence. I hoped they would find some peace in the stillness of space.
My trinity star, freshly reformed and free of evil, instantly attempted to repair all of the damage we had wrought. I released her power, gave her—no, gave it—free rein to fix my mistakes and made another wish. Set things right again. Do whatever you have to do to get us back on the proper path. The Trinity Star burst from my body like a nuclear blast.
The dead came back to life. Nations were made whole again. Human memories wiped away. Tremendous amounts of power swept across the world in a wave of glittering white, restoring the balance I'd tipped. I saw it then; the plan laid out before me. I've glimpsed it before and every time I have, it has steadied me. Given me faith; not in some unseen force but in myself. The plan wasn't created by an ultimate being, but by all beings. All of us added to the design. Every soul wove its thread into the tapestry in a different way. Each one of us helped to forge new routes into eternity.
Call it Fate or Destiny or even Karma; it doesn't matter what label you give that great design. There is purpose to life and purpose to death. There's even a reason for war. The Trinity Star hadn't been bound by Fate, it had simply respected the plan. It had peered down the path and saw what was best for humans, Gods, and Faeries. Being connected to the Void and the Nine Great Magics wasn't about being the most powerful being in all the Realms. It was about having the power to protect the Realms and their futures. But the Trinity Star is only magic; it has knowledge but no sentience to direct it. That was where I came in. I had been chosen
