SWNOVELS Nectar of War: Part 3 – Chapter 31
Part 3 – CARVING A KING
PHYV
THE MORTAL LANDS
P AINTING HAS BEEN ONE of the few things to keep my sanity under control.
Besides the comfort of my family that I found after being dumped here in the Mortal Lands, art is all there is. Those simple strokes from a brush that turn into beauty, pain, love, and even death. In the past, my creations turned into all four. Now, the art seems to only be enraptured by beauty and love.
My time here has not been the worst years of my life because I have Levora and Greyce, but by hiding who and what we are for the sake of the Immortal Lands, our true home, we have struggled immensely to blend in with the humans. To be among them is still as foreign to me as it was on the first day, and we are now approaching six years of living here.
I watch precariously as the face unraveling beneath my pencil begins to divulge slowly. At first it does not resonate with me, then the long curls in her dark hair, the almond shape of her light eyes, the warm skin. It all becomes identifiable as to who the woman is. It is the same woman as usual. I toss the sketch book onto the paint-stained coffee table.
Nyt, my dog, looks up to me from the floor with his usual head tilt. “I am all right,” I smile and pet his head as he worries.
When I glance down at my sketchbook, I retrieve it and flip through the recent drawings. I hold the tip of my pencil between my teeth as I look down at the multiple renditions of one particular woman. That beauty and love in my art is her.
Just when I reach to grab an old sketchbook, I ascend to the balcony of the stairs as I hear the doors to our home soar open. Greyce has come rushing into the house and immediately she looks upward. “Phyv! Come on, the portal is opening again!” She shouts and frantically gathers many of her belongings, first her precious romance book, Nyt’s leash, and her favorite cardigan.
I ascend over the balcony and down to her. “Calm down, Grey!” I plead as she repeatedly ascends around our home. One moment she is near the window, the next she is upstairs, then in the kitchen. Levora’s cat, Salem, hisses at her as she continues to cause chaos. “How do we know it will stay open this time?” I ask as she now gusts around the living room to gather more of her things and many of Levora’s.
“Because,” she looks up to me with hope. “It still has not closed! This is the longest it has ever stayed open.”
I grab her face as her breathing grows erratic. “I do not want you to get your hopes up if we return to the woods and the portal is closed.”
She only smiles. “But Phyv,” she shakes her head. “I know it will stay open. Please, gather everything that has meaning and let us go home.”
Whenever Grey says that she knows something, she has never been wrong. When I was applying at multiple different jobs to earn a wage to provide for the three of us, my good friend, Heath Carlisle, whose family is very much old money rich, came along with a position at their law firm. Greyce swore that the job was perfect for me and that she knew I would be accepted. And I was.
Then there was the time we were searching for a home fit for the three of us and the lifestyle we choose to maintain. We were shown two homes to purchase that were hidden in the countryside closest to society and the firm. One was only a three-bedroom home, manageable amount of space, but not enough to house Nyt and Salem, the acreage was too scarce, and we all knew we needed enough space for privacy to be who we are without the risk of public eye.
The second home was the home we are in now that Grey knew was ours. I thought she was wrong because I was afraid we would not be accepted. The home houses six rooms, a large kitchen, enough land for three horses and for us to be free. There are many other qualities about this house that we loved upon entrance—tiny pieces of this home are aged so finely that it reminds us of our true land.
Greyce calls it Pinnacle Sensory, but only a form of it, a power that alerts the mind of danger, truth, and more. She has never been taught to fully embrace and understand her ability since it takes great practice to be cognizant of Pinnacle Sensory without putting yourself in harm’s way. In spite of that, Greyce is rarely erroneous, but I fear this is the first time she may be mistaken about something. Mostly, I fear her disappointment in her abilities failing more than that portal not being open.
I leave the disagreement be and do as she is imploring me to do.
Nyt is first, then, in a duffel bag, all of my art supplies, sketchbooks and multiple favorite pieces of clothing although I know I would not need them. Then, my camera and everything needed for it to properly function.
I can hear the rummaging of Greyce downstairs as she continues to gather different belongings of hers and Levora’s.
The words I will say to her if her abilities have failed begin to form in my mind just in case she is wrong.
We meet at the doors of our home and Greyce looks around at everything we have built here for the past four of the six years we have been in the Mortal Lands. I may struggle to live here, but the girls do not. They have thrived here. It took time for them to grow accustomed to the human ways, but once they did, they became the best versions of themselves I have ever seen.
Levora broke out of her timid shell and learned to stand up for herself without the interference of neither me nor Grey.
Greyce became free of an arranged marriage that held her hostage.
“We do not need to leave this behind.” I tell her as I now look around at the beauty we created here amongst the pain.
A tear falls down her face and she stares up at me with puffy, red eyes. “We need to get you home.”
I smile. “I am fine, Grey, truly.”
“No, you are not.” She grabs my hand while Salem sits in her arms and Nyt is right next to me. “After six years of Levora and I living the fullest life, it is your turn. No longer will you be satisfied by giving happiness to others and not have all that happiness and more given back to you. You will be happy at home in Voschantai, you will thrive, you will find a wife and you will make me an aunt so I can spoil every child you have.” Her chin quivers and Salem licks the tears falling down her chin. “And I will be sure that those children and everyone who stumbles into our life knows how amazing of a person you are.”
Love is not an adequate word to use to describe what both Greyce and Levora have meant to me these years. We found each other within the same vicinity of each other in the darkest night we had ever known in woods that were uncharted to us. All three of us were so young and ignorant. Everything about this world was new to us and we had not a clue of where to go, nevertheless, we knew we were staying with each other. And then our family formed, and we crafted bonds thicker than bloodlines.
“Home,” I whisper.
Greyce nods. “Home.”
Out of everyone we know, our closest friend Heath will come looking for us first when I do not appear at work or our usual family dinners—I have explained a false family emergency in a note for him to find and I asked him to care for the house and our horses for however long we will be gone. I do not think we will be away for an extended period of time. I know for certain that we will be back soon. Just as Levora, Greyce, and me were thrown here on the Mortal Lands, we cannot be the only ones.
Grey keeps her hand in mine before ascending and we leave behind our little life built here to meet Levora in the woods.
When we land from ascension Levora is staring at the portal very slowly closing. It looks nothing like I thought it would. I do not know what I expected it to look like, but it was not this. The portal is in comparison to a circle of silver and blue electricity hovering in the air.
“Hurry!” Levora shouts. “It is closing!” She turns to me and I run towards it, just as I reach my hand out it grows massively and I can see the opposite end of the portal.
The woods within are dark, but the moon in our universe always shines brighter than the moon in the Mortal Lands. This is how I know this portal leads to exactly where we last were.
Without a thought, I push Levora through first along with Greyce. They both begin to shout at me, but I cannot hear a word they are saying as I haul everything we brought through the portal and lastly, myself, Nyt, and Salem.
Just as I step through the portal it lunges me and our pets forward and I collide to the ground next to Levora and Greyce.
“You stupid idiot!” Levora shoves me. “You could have gotten left behind!”
I look down to Nyt and Salem as they hesitantly glance around their environment.
We look back to where the portal was, and it is gone.
I stand and breathe in deeply.
Levora smiles up at me and Greyce takes her hand. “You are home.”
Home.