Chapter 226: Denial
Zaire Solaris
A few months had passed since Cyrus’s break ended, and Lady Arya was on her way with important news.
Since then, I haven't had a moment’s peace.
I hardly slept anymore. Every night, I feared getting a call telling me something had happened to him. I tried calling him and the academy countless times, but none of my calls ever went through.
Nagomi said it was most likely due to the storm, that it would pass, and that I just needed to calm down.
Easier said than done.
“Lord Solaris, she has returned,” Solmane said through our telepathic link.
I walked to the door and peered through the peephole. Seeing Lady on the other side, I unlocked it and let her in.
She stepped through, her breath labored.
My eyes kept drifting to her stomach, wondering if they were playing tricks on me, or if I had misremembered her appearance.
“I-It's a pleasure to have you,” I said, closing the door behind her.
She nodded and found a seat in the living room.
I followed and sat across from her.
“So what is it that you wanted to tell me?”
“Zaire, there is a way for us to get Ezra to wake up sooner.”
My eyebrows raised.
“How so? Solmane and I are providing the best treatment possible for someone of Solaris blood.”
“I understand, but you and I both know the real reason he hasn’t woken up yet.”
My fists clenched, and my gaze fell to the floor.
I have been evading the thought for a while, hoping something else would change. Hoping that, magically, my son would find his way back.
I met Arya’s gaze.
“So, you’re proposing we reconnect Ezra’s astral form to his body? Solmane has searched the Astral Realm, and I’ve astral projected here every night, drifting around Xhatal on the off chance I’d catch sight of his flickering form.”
But I’ve found nothing.
The only astral projections I’ve encountered belonged to Starbounds traveling to the outskirts to deal with the newly formed rifts… or at least, that’s what they claimed.”
Arya’s face paled.
“I needed to go to the washroom?” She said, as her cheeks swelled.
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I got out of her way and followed her, grabbing a couple of towels en route.
Her eyes watered, and bile was projected into the toilet.
That went on for a few minutes, until she regained her composure.
I handed her a towel.
“Is everything alright?” I asked.
“Yes, nothing I can’t handle.”
My eyes drifted towards her stomach, and I nodded.
“I plan to find Ezra’s astral form by enlisting the help of the only other person who could know his signature better than I.”
“Wait, don’t tell me you are going to reach out to him?”
“We have no other choice. He was our cluster’s concordant, and one of the best in Valonara at that. There is a chance that Ezra’s astral body might have drifted into the unknown parts of the astral realm, the hidden realm.”
“But didn’t he isolate himself and go crazy looking for some imaginary treasure?”
“I’m not familiar with whatever treasure you are talking about. But I have spoken to him recently; he is living alone. But I would say he is far from crazy.” Arya said, patting her lips dry.
“He and… Theron spoke about these treasures to old knowledge of the hidden realm in the astral realm.”
But as the words came out of my mouth, I realized another one of my downfalls.
I dismissed so many of the things Theron brought to me in the past. After the death of his mother and his outburst that followed. He told me he had researched these treasures, said they were ancient to our universe. He said that if we obtained them, we could see his mother and my wife again.
My chest tightened as I replayed the conversations over and over.
I brushed it all off as a folk tale back then.
I shouldn’t have. He was a brilliant Truth Seeker.
But now, after learning he has been able to obtain a second fate constellation, I wondered what else he had been enlightened to.
“Never mind, Arya; I trust you. So when do you want to put this plan into motion? We can’t just pick up and leave. Cyrus is still at the academy; we can’t leave Ezra’s body here, and you’re in no condition to travel to another continent, let alone embark on a journey through the Astral Realm.”
I said, placing a hand on her shoulder.
“I will manage.” She said, walking out of the bathroom, my gaze falling to her stomach.
“When are you due?” I said, meeting her gaze
Her eyes drifted.
“Soon…”
A deep sigh eased out of my lips.
“Is it Ezra’s?”
She turned back towards me, her eyes pooling with tears, her voice cracking.
“Yes.”
I took a step towards her, pulled her in, and embraced her.
“Why didn’t you say anything before? Does your family know who the father is?”
“I was in denial. I kept telling myself he’d wake up soon… that he’d be there for the birth. That we’d face everything together.
As for my family… I told them the father was the man Theorn killed in the Celestial Grove.
I wanted to have the baby out here and tell them I lost it.”
I gently pushed her away and looked in her eyes.
“You do know what that means; it will be here with Cyrus and me. Is that something you want to sacrifice? A child needs its mother. You see what Cyrus is going through.”
She wiped the few tears she had.
“Then we better find Ezra quickly.”
“Lord Zaire, multiple cosmic energy signatures incoming!”
I looked at Ayra.
“Did anyone follow you here?”
“No, why?”
“We have company!”
The walls in the front of the house peeled, then bulged to their breaking point, blasting debris towards me, blinding me with a blizzard of drywall.