Sol gradually recovering from the events of the Fire Mountain…
Ramses as Prince Hulaal Mating Queen Ashlu…
The Pure Ones’ rebellion led by Tal-Telal and Ninti…
The Fall of the Dark Empire…
Sol existing in seclusion and solitude but keeping faith in the darkest hours…
Sol finding Ramses after thousands of years and reenacting the Challenge, this time perishing on Mount St. Helens and transforming into the Phoenix, reborn as Sorin…
Sorin saving and healing Ere when he needed him the most…
Ere dying together with the Hydra in the final battle…
Ere getting his life back but owing a debt to the Jade Emperor to fulfill his quests…
Sorin accompanying him on those quests…
Everything unfolded exactly as it should; nothing changed.
And yet,everythinghad fundamentally changed.
For, in all of these events, Sorin was not the same.
It was barely noticeable, but Ben saw, as the images swirling in Seventh Sister’s eyes homed in on Sorin’s face. His eyes.
Where Ben had seen glimpses of sadness and loss, sometimes even hopelessness and despair before, Sorin’s eyes now always held that spark of determination, that fire of faith. No matter what happened, he never lost hope.
His soul waswhole.
And Ere…
He, too, was different.
He endured the same past, suffered the same tribulations. But the Light inside was stronger than before, no matter his circumstances, just waiting to be reignited.
That Light,Rai’s Light, so pure and bright, filled with endless love and faith, embraced the Darkness within Ere, instead of merely pushing it back. Until Light consumed Darkness, and Darkness simply existed to make the Light shine brighter.
Ben didn’t know Ere when he was Rai, but Sorin had described the moonstone dragon to him in those rare moments when Sorin shared his past with Ben.
Looking at Ere now, he realized that the difference, the irrepressibleglow, was all Rai. Sol and Sorin, Rai and Ere, they were finally, fully, one and the same, their souls whole and vibrant, truly healed.
As long as they had each other, nothing could stop them. Not even death.
“It worked,” Ben murmured.
He could scarcely believe it. He’d changed the future.
“Not change it, Benjamin,” Seventh Sister said, the images in her eyes fading as they swirled unknowably once more.
“You cannot change something that hasn’t happened yet. You have merely influenced how it will unfold.”
Ben frowned a little in thought.
“Then, the past weeks did happen, didn’t it?”
He glanced at Ere, who was watching him intently, and thought of the male’s monster form, newly acquired in the recent past.