The Dream Quest: Eternity

     “You know, I’m not sure I thought this idea through very well,” Eleus Batrin said, wiping his brow, though it was rather chilly in the Haunted Woods. “There’s still plenty of time in the day for us to travel to Faerieland instead. I know they have extensive libraries-”

     “This is perfect,” Solanza interrupted, smiling reassuringly at the Kyrii. “You said it yourself, she’s broken curses before. This can’t be too different.”

     Xantan let his gaze sweep over the ramshackle hut, which seemed to be sinking ever so slowly into the swamp around it. Here and there, the roof was patched with newer materials, likely after some minor magical accident. Something- or someone- was grumbling inside. Purple smoke bloomed from the chimney.

     Well, he may have lived for thousands of years, but he didn’t want to waste another moment standing out here pondering his options. He strode up and knocked firmly on the door. Behind him, Eleus made a strangled noise. Solanza gave him a soothing pat on the back.

     The grumbling ceased abruptly, though the purple smoke was still emanating from the chimney. After a moment, a voice demanded, “What do you want?”

     “We’ve travelled here to request your help breaking a curse,” Xantan called through the door.

     Suddenly, the door swung open, and a green Ixi glowered down at them. “I don’t take requests,” she said, and went to slam the door shut.

     “Wait, please!” Solanza cried out, and the Ixi paused. “We’re in a bit of a predicament. Can we just explain-”

     “My fire will go out if I waste one more minute with you, and then my weeks of gathering ingredients will be for nothing,” Sophie the Swamp Witch snarled.

     “Excuse me, ma’am, but I believe I can help with that,” Xantan said. With only the slightest thought, a flame burst into existence in his palm.

     The witch looked at him appraisingly, then shook her head, exasperated. “Come inside, then, and be quick about it.”

     Inside, the fire was starting to dwindle, but a single gesture from Xantan and the flames roared back to life. The bubbling cauldron suspended over the fire was seeping the purple vapour they had seen from outside. A Meowclops was batting around some kind of withered claw under the table.

     “Don’t let the fire go out,” Sophie ordered, dropping a few crushed flower petals into the cauldron and giving it a good stir. “You can start talking now.”

     Solanza, perhaps recognising that brevity was important here, quickly summarised their journey.

     “So on top of being all-powerful, you’re also immortal?” Sophie said to Xantan. “Can’t imagine why you’d give all of that up.”

     Xantan thought back to those hazy memories of being buried beneath the surface of the earth, existing without truly living. In just the last few days with Solanza, he’d felt more alive than he had in all of those centuries spent hiding from the world. “It’s not as wonderful as it sounds.”

     Sophie’s mouth twisted with an old bitterness, and he wondered whether she was recalling memories of her own. “I can understand that,” she said finally. “So the repository of your power is that ring?”

     Xantan held out his paw, and Sophie inspected the silver ring. “Pretty sturdy,” she concluded after a few minutes, “but not infallible. My potion needs to simmer for a few more minutes, then we can work on your curse.”

     Eleus, who had been sitting gingerly on a footstool and trying not to look too often at Sophie, asked, “What do you think it will entail?”

     The witch tilted her head, considering the question as she slowly stirred the cauldron. “There’s no way I can think of to separate the powers from the immortality. They’ll all have to go. I think we’ll be able to destroy the ring, which should solve both problems. But the only consideration is…”

     Her voice trailed off, and after a moment, Solanza prompted, “Yes?”

     Sophie looked only at Xantan when she spoke. “There is a chance that undoing the curse may undo you, too.”

     Eleus gasped. Solanza’s mouth flattened, and she moved to stand closer to Xantan. Xantan heard his heartbeat roar in his ears.

     “Is there any way to prevent it?” Solanza asked, her voice low.

     “I’m not certain. Xantan is- if what you say is accurate- several thousand years old. His magic has kept him young, but once it’s gone, I don’t know what will happen,” Sophie said.

     Eleus started to pace. “Are there any other options? Anyone else who may have different skills to offer?”

     Sophie glared at him, and the Kyrii shied back. “In regard to curse-breaking, I’m about as good as it gets. If there were another option, I’d do it.”

     “Of course,” Eleus muttered. “Didn’t mean to offend.”

     “Describe how you will undo the curse,” Xantan said.

     The potion had finally finished simmering, and Sophie ladled it into glass bottles while she thought. “We’ll do it in the clearing outside. You’ll channel all of your firepower into the ring, which will overwhelm it. When it breaks, you’ll be freed.” She tilted her head. “You may need to make a sacrifice. Often, curses require some sort of sacrifice in order to be truly broken.”

     “What kind of sacrifice?” Solanza asked.

     “A sacrifice of something important to you. Often some sort of memento that means a lot to you. Jewellery, family photographs, you name it. But I don’t suppose you have anything that would have survived for thousands of years,” Sophie said.

     “I have something,” Xantan said.

     “Oh, really? Good. Make sure to keep it handy. Once the ring breaks, you’ll want to use the last bits of your power to perform your sacrifice. That should complete the ritual.”

     Xantan nodded. “When can we get started?”

     Sophie gave him a slight smile. “Now.”

     —-

     While Sophie and Eleus were busy removing anything flammable from the clearing, Solanza pulled Xantan aside. “Hey, we don’t have to do this right now if you don’t want to. Really, we don’t have to do this at all! We can go around Neopia, talk to more people, and see if there’s a less-risky option.”

     “Oh, Solanza, I just want this curse to be over!” Xantan exclaimed, and before he knew it, he was crying into her starry fur. She held him close, and he could tell by the way her body trembled that she was crying, too.

     They embraced for a long moment, and finally he pulled back. “I know it doesn’t have to be today, but I want it to be today. I can’t spend one more minute like this, struggling to control my powers in a world I don’t understand, fearing the day I lose you.”

     “But I’ve only just gotten you back,” Solanza sobbed. “I can’t lose you again!”

     Xantan hugged her again. “I know,” he murmured into her fur. “But I would do it all over again- suffer a half-life for a thousand years just to see you one more time.”

     “Well, it’s your choice, and I’ll respect it,” Solanza said, sniffling as she pulled away. “But please… please try to stay.”

     “I will,” he promised.

     Then Sophie called over to them, “All right, let’s begin!”

     Xantan was stationed in the middle of the clearing, Solanza and Eleus facing him at the edge of the clearing. Sophie patted him on the shoulder. “Focus,” she ordered. “This is tricky magic. You don’t want to mess it up.”

     He nodded.

     “Take off the ring and set it down in front of you.”

     Xantan tugged the ring loose and placed it gently on the bare earth. His hand felt empty without it.

     “Now I’m going to step away. Pour your fire energy into the ring, and don’t stop until it’s destroyed. Then make your sacrifice in the last flames.”

     Xantan waited for Sophie to join the others out of range. He took a deep breath, then let it go. No matter what happened next, at least he would be free.

     He had used his power in tiny amounts, a candle here, a fireplace there. It had been millennia since he had truly allowed the flames to consume him.

     Now, they consumed him again.

     Flames streamed from his paws onto the ring, and flames wreathed around him until he was incandescent. He was all-powerful. No one could ever stop him, and no one ever would. It felt so right, searing a hole into the ground, the dirt turning molten around him. The ring was glowing white-hot, almost blue. He could hear it singing in time with his heartbeat: home, home, home.

     Then he heard nothing at all.

     —-

     Something jostled him out of unconsciousness. His eyes cracked open, and he tried to make sense of it all. Solanza, kneeling over him, saying words he couldn’t understand.

     Then suddenly he could. “The sacrifice, Xantan! You have to make the sacrifice now!” Solanza cried.

     “In… my pack,” he rasped.

     She rolled him onto his side and wrestled the knapsack from his back. Tucked inside a fireproof box was a card as red as the flames around them.

     “‘Xantan the Foul,’” she whispered.

     “I sacrifice… the monster I would have become, were it not for you. I sacrifice my fears, my doubts, my weaknesses,” he said, coughing on ash. “Please, Solanza, help me.”

     She placed the card in his paw and guided it with her own over the last of the dwindling flames. With a convulsive effort, he let it go. He didn’t watch it burn, though he knew it did. All he could see was Solanza.

     “It’s over, I think,” another voice said. Sophie. “The ritual is complete, the ring is destroyed, and the sacrifice has been performed.” A rare smile curled across her face as she came into view. “I admit, I wasn’t sure it would happen like this, but I think you managed to survive it.”

     “You weren’t sure?” Eleus spluttered. “I can’t believe-”

     Solanza let out a laugh tinged with hysteria and pulled Xantan to lean against her. “Let’s argue about that later, all right? Xantan is alive!”

     “Congratulations,” Sophie said, leaning over him. “You get to live as the rest of us mortals do: powerless and limited.”

     “That’s all I ever wanted,” Xantan said honestly.

     They would spend the night in Sophie’s cottage, and the next morning, they would limp back to Neopia Central, where Domria would no doubt be worried sick about their adventure. But until then, he would lie here in the ash and hear the sound of Solanza’s heart beating like it always had: home, home, home.

     The End.