Well it's out. And it's taken me some time to do this. I'm going to have to claim that reality has intruded itself in my life once more. Not the nicest of excuses, but it's the only one that I've got right now. That and the fact it's true. I actually just sat down last night at wrote most of this, I finished it this afternoon. A couple of people have been very politely asking me to finish the story. Polite in the sense that they've threatened my life.
There are a lot of people that I want to thank, but don't have the room for them all. But I do have to thank Kenitra, Shade, Aeoros, Gavalin, Apples, Mirage, Casey and David. Like I said, there are more, but these are the ones that I really want to thank. If your name didn't appear on the short list above, don't think I've forgotten you. I really like hearing from you. If you want to drop me a line you can send it to either Mist_dark@hotmail.com or Mist_dark@yahoo.ca I check both of them so you should get a fairly quick response.
As usual the disclaimer hasn't changed that much. If you are too young or it's illegal in your area, please leave. This story is in no way supposed to reflect anything about the members of Nsync. If Joey is a psychic it's his own business. And if Lance has suddenly become a creature that controls the forces of life, I'm not aware of it. Of course they probably wouldn't mention that sort of thing in their interviews. Parts of this story are based off the RPG Rifts. All trademarks belong to Kevin Siembieda and Palladium books.
Hope that you enjoy the last part of Powers of the Mind. Until next time, Rune
EPILOGUE
It was a minor miracle that Joey hadn't ripped every obstacle between himself and Sandy to shreds. As it was anyone who had half a brain could have followed the path they'd taken. Makyla had melted a path through the rock until they reached the surface. She would have taken them closer to Sandy, but she didn't know the way very well and didn't want to risk wasting time they didn't have. Once they reached the surface Joey had taken over and moved them with incredible speed through the jungle. If something got in his way, it moved. Both Nathaniel and Makyla didn't say anything during the trip for fear of distracting the psychic while he uprooted trees.
The clearing was as they'd left it, with one minor difference. The four golems still faced outward and waited for the chance to defend their charge. The stone cocoon was exactly the way they'd left it. The only difference was the white bird that was perched on the cocoon. The bird was about the size of a swan, but looked more like a bird of prey. The truly odd thing about it was that instead of having feathers, it had flames. It looked like a phoenix, only with white fire instead of red.
"I thought you said nothing could get past those golems," Nathaniel whispered. "Why aren't they even noticing the bird?"
"I don't know," Makyla admitted. "But I'm going to find out." The warlock stepped toward the white phoenix. "How did you get past the guards?"
"No creature stands in my path," the bird calmly told her. The bird's form shifted and expanded in all directions. As it did so the light that surround its body grew too brightly to look at. When the light cleared Lance was sitting cross-legged on the cocoon. He wore white pants and a white shirt. He was barefoot. "I thought you would appreciate my presence here Makyla."
"Who are you?" The warlock demanded.
Lance laughed. "You've met my husband already." He looked at her and seemed to read her mind. "But you truly don't know who I am, so I'll tell you. I'm Lance. Also known as the Guardian of life."
Makyla took a breath in sharply. "I didn't know. I'm sorry."
"Don't be," Lance said in a dismissive manner. He unfolded his legs and got off the cocoon. "But you need to help Sandy at the moment."
Joey finally recovered from his shock of seeing his friend change from a bird into a human being. He wasn't sure why he was stunned, he'd seen that sort of thing often enough, but he still had to recover. He went toward Lance and pulled the blonde into a tight hug. For the first time since Sandy had fallen into the coma Joey cried.
"Hush," Lance said soothingly. "Let it out." The Guardian just held his friend until the tears passed.
"I'm sorry," Joey apologized.
"Don't worry about it," Lance told him. "What are friends for?"
"Not that I mind," Joey asked. "But why are you here?"
"A few reasons actually. You three were going to spend far too much time hunting down the Summoner. So I came to make sure that Makyla's spell didn't wear off before you got back. While I waited for you to get back I sort of extended her spell by sitting there."
"Isn't that breaking your vow of neutrality?" Joey asked suspiciously.
"Not really," Lance said scratching the back of his head. "My mere presence will cause things to live longer. And in a sense a spell has a life, so if I'm around it'll last longer. I can't help it if I help out a friend by sitting on a rock for a few hours."
"Thank you," Joey said sincerely. "I don't know what I'd do if he didn't make it. He is going to life, isn't he?"
"I can't tell you that," Lance told him. "I wish I could, but I refuse to tell any living creature how long another is going to last. I won't even tell someone how long they have to life. I know, but I'm not going to put that knowledge in their hands."
"Can we start making the antidote then?" Joey asked.
"What do you think Nathaniel and Makyla have been doing while I was talking to you?" The Guardian asked in amusement. "They've completed it by now."
As Lance had said the warlock and priest had completed the antidote. They were just pouring it into a small cup when Joey and Lance walked over to them.
"It might not work," Nathaniel told Joey. "We may have waited too long, but it's worth a shot. I'll have Makyla drop the stasis around him and then inject it into his blood stream. After that there's not much more then we can do, other then wait."
Joey nodded. "We've done all we can. It's all any of us can ask." He looked pleadingly at Lance for a moment. Asking silently that the boy would live. "If you're ready, we might as well do this now."
Nathaniel nodded. He picked up the cup and dipped the nails on his right hand into the cup. He motioned to Makyla to drop the stasis once he was standing next to the stone. The warlock tapped the stone once with her staff and it crumbled into the ground. The instant Sandy's bare shoulder was visible Nathaniel slashed the skin with one of his nails. A tiny trickle of blood ran down the boy's skin. He repeated the process all over the boy's chest and finished over his heart. Then he forced open Sandy's mouth and poured the remaining antidote into his mouth. The priest stroked the boy's throat to coax the liquid down. When he'd finished he straightened and looked back at Joey.
"All we can do now is wait."
"I would like to stay with you, but I'm afraid I have other things to deal with," Lance said to the group. "But before I go I'll pass on a message to Nathaniel." He turned to the priest. "Tark wishes you to return to the high temple as quickly as possible. She will, however, be willing to wait for a day or two."
The priest nodded. "Did my mistress say why she wished to speak with me?"
"Not in as many words," the Guardian admitted. "But since the High priest has just passed away, I would imagine it has something to do with that." Lance hugged Joey tightly and then nodded to Nathaniel. He whispered something in Makyla's ear. The woman blushed slightly and nodded her head. The Guardian moved back to Joey and hugged him again. "Take care my friend. I'll be in touch."
Five hours passed while Joey, Makyla and Nathaniel tried desperately not to think about what might happen to Sandy. Joey had almost worn a hole in the earth from where he'd been passing. Every now and then he would stop and start rearranging the stones in the clearing with his mind. Makyla busied herself forming various things out of the stone. Some were functional, like a house, and others were simply ornamental, like statues. Nathaniel had lapsed into meditation. Phixt appeared to be sleeping, but with a spider you were never sure.
Each one of them stopped what they were doing when Sandy coughed. Joey was the first one to the boy. He moved so quickly he appeared to have teleported to Sandy's side. The others moved almost as quickly. Even Phixt wasn't far behind.
"Sandy," Joey whispered. Tears had started to form again.
"Joey?" the boy whispered groggily. "What happened?"
"It's a long story, get some sleep. I'll tell you when you wake up," Joey assured him. The tears that had formed were falling freely down his face.
"Why are you crying?"
"I thought I'd lost you," Joey told him. He carefully pulled the boy to his chest and just cried into Sandy's hair. "I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't made it through."
Sandy seemed about to respond but lapsed back into sleep. Nathaniel tapped Joey on the shoulder and motioned for him to put the boy down. Sandy's chest rose and fell with the regular movement of sleep.
"He should be fine now," Nathaniel told Joey. "But he's going to need a lot of rest, and we can't give him that here. He need shelter and care."
"Can we move him?" Makyla asked.
"Not very far, but yes we can."
"If we move him closer to the river I can make shelter for us," the warlock said. "Between the three of us we should be able to care for him."
"I won't be able to stay long," Nathaniel reminded them. "Tark wishes me to return to the high temple. I'll stay long enough to make sure he's not in any danger of a relapse. Once I reach the temple I'll send someone to help care for him."
"Let's move him then," Joey said. "It'll be easier if we get everything set up before the sun sets."
After they'd moved Sandy closer to the river Makyla had created a house out of stone near the bank. True to his word Nathaniel spent the next several hours caring for Sandy. The boy had developed a slight fever, but other then that seemed fine. Joey refused to leave his side.
The following day Nathaniel had to leave for the high temple. Tark may be willing to wait for a little while, but as a general rule gods and goddess were not the most patient of creatures. Before he left he made sure that Joey and Makyla knew enough to make Sandy comfortable. Another priest would be arriving in a day or so to continue where Nathaniel had left off. The priest was pretty sure that it was going to take at least two weeks before Sandy could leave bed, and at least another two on top of that to recover fully.
Joey and Makyla wished Nathaniel well and asked him to visit them now and again. Even if they didn't stay together they still wanted to keep in touch with the priest. When he had left they turned back to Sandy and did the best they could while they waited for the replacement priest to arrive.
It took almost two months, but Sandy's running around again. I was really worried about him. I really don't know what I would do if he'd died. I know he's not my son, but I feel like he is. I think this is what Evelyn must have felt when she took Chris and I in. I would love to think that I would be willing to give my life for Makyla or Nathaniel, but I might not do it. But I do know that if the situation presented itself I wouldn't hesitate if I could save Sandy's life by giving up my own. It's not martyrdom, just the way things are. I love him so much. It's kind of funny, but his poisoning seems to have brought us closer. He started grieving for his parents after I told him that the Summoner had been killed. He crawled into my arms and cried himself to sleep about his losses. He didn't shut himself away from me though, even when he wanted to be alone. He needed me, and that means so much to me.
Nathaniel did become Tark's High Priest. He was very excited about being chosen for that honour. He would have invited us to the ceremony, but only priests of a certain rank can witness it. And only worshippers of Tark can attend the celebration afterward. I don't think any of us would have been very comfortable with that many spiders there anyway. We had a private party with him when he had a small break before his duties began. He'll be busy, but he'll keep in touch.
I don't know where Makyla and I are going yet, but we're going to give things a shot. We might stay together, but we might not. Sandy likes her, and she likes him. As silly as it sounds, if they didn't get along I know that Makyla and I wouldn't be able to stay together. I know what Mom and Dad meant when they said their kids were the most important things in their lives. We'll just have to see how things go though. I've tried getting psychic flashes, but I can't see anything about how Makyla and I will turn out. I imagine Lance knows, but he's not saying anything. He just wears that silly little grin of his that says he knows something you don't. Most people would take that grin for a yes, but I've known Lance for far to long to take it that way. You just have to accept that he won't tell you until he's ready, if he ever will.
Sandy's outside playing near the river right now. I'm keeping an eye on him, but he's a strong swimmer. I think it has to be so much easier to watch someone when you're a psychic. Makyla says that the river doesn't have many rocks in it so diving should be fairly safe. Though I'm still trying to convince him that it's not the safest thing to do until you know the water. I'm probably going to join him in a bit. The jungle is hot this time of day and I don't really like all the sweating I'm doing. If Sandy weren't so attached to the climate I would probably suggest moving. I still might, but I'll give him some time yet.
Well, Sandy's trying to get my attention. I think he wants me to go swimming with him. He tried to get Makyla earlier, but she doesn't like swimming that much. She's gone for a walk. I think I could go for a swim right now. I'll write more later.
From the Journal of Joseph Fatone
THE END
That's it for Powers of the Mind. What did you think? Let me know. Thanks for staying with me this long. I know a lot of you have been here from the beginning.
Rune