The last sunset on Xylos was the most beautiful Ren had ever seen.
He sat on a hill overlooking the meadow where the Starfire waited. The sky burned orange and pink and gold, colors bleeding into each like watercolors on paper. The flowers around him glowed faintly, responding to the fading light.
A year.
They'd been here a year.
A year of training. A year of growth. A year of peace.
Ren had changed. He could feel it in every part of himself. The fragments no longer felt like foreign objects inside him. They were part of him now, as natural as his own heartbeat. Blue, purple, gold, red, black. Five voices singing together in perfect harmony.
He could do things now that would have seemed impossible before. Shape energy into any form. Move objects with his mind. Sense life across vast distances. Eldrin had taught him well.
But more than the power, Ren had gained something else.
Clarity.
He knew who he was now. Not just Kael's son. Not just the prophecy child. Ren. A person with his own hopes and fears and dreams. A person who chose his own path.
"You're thinking too loud."
Aiko dropped onto the grass beside him. She'd changed too over the past year. Less guarded. More open. The walls she'd built around herself had crumbled, brick by brick, in the peace of Xylos.
"Just watching the sunset."
"Liar." She lay back, staring at the sky. "You're thinking about leaving."
Ren smiled slightly. "That too."
"It's been good here. Really good." She was quiet for a moment. "I forgot what peace felt like. Thought I'd never feel it again."
"I know what you mean."
They sat in comfortable silence as the colors deepened. Somewhere behind them, Sara was packing. Eldrin was meditating. The Starfire was being prepped for departure.
Tomorrow, they'd leave.
Tomorrow, the hunt for fragments resumed.
"I'm scared," Aiko said quietly.
Ren looked at her. In the fading light, she seemed younger. More vulnerable.
"Of what?"
"Of losing this. Of going back out there and remembering why I left in the first place." She met his eyes. "Of losing you."
Ren's heart clenched. "You won't lose me."
"You can't promise that."
"No. I can't." He looked at the horizon. "But I can promise I'll fight like hell to make sure it doesn't happen."
Aiko was quiet for a long moment. Then she reached out and took his hand.
"That's enough," she whispered. "That's enough."
Sara was in her quarters when Ren found her.
She sat on her bunk, holding something in her hands. A small holo-image. Ren recognized it from a lifetime ago. His parents, on their wedding day. Smiling. Happy. Alive.
"Mom?"
She looked up, wiping her eyes quickly. "Ren. I didn't hear you come in."
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing. Everything." She patted the bunk beside her. "Sit with me."
He sat. She showed him the image.
"I look at this sometimes," she said quietly. "Remembering who we were. Who I was. Before everything."
"You were happy."
"So happy." She traced the image with her finger. "Your father used to make me laugh. Really laugh. The kind of laugh that comes from deep in your belly and won't stop." She smiled at the memory. "He was so serious about everything else. But with me, he let himself be silly. Be human."
Ren looked at the image. At the man he'd never really known.
"I wish I could have met him. The real him. Not just the fragments."
"He would have loved you, Ren. Not the idea of you. Not the prophecy child. You." Sara looked at him. "He would have been so proud."
Ren felt tears prick his eyes. He blinked them back.
"I'm scared too, Mom."
"Of what?"
"Of failing him. Of failing you. Of getting everyone killed because I wasn't strong enough or smart enough or fast enough."
Sara took his hand. The same way Aiko had, just minutes ago.
"You won't fail. Not because you're perfect. Because you'll keep trying. Keep getting up. Keep fighting." She squeezed. "That's what makes a hero, Ren. Not winning. Not being the strongest. Just refusing to quit."
They sat together, mother and son, holding hands and remembering.
Morning came too fast.
The Starfire gleamed in the early light, its hull polished, its systems upgraded. Aiko had done incredible work. The ship was faster, stronger, more capable than ever before.
Eldrin stood at the edge of the meadow, waiting.
Ren walked to him. The old man looked smaller somehow. Older. The year had been good for all of them, but Eldrin's time was passing. Two thousand years was a long time to carry.
"Ready?" Eldrin asked.
"No. But I'm going anyway."
"That's the spirit." Eldrin smiled. "I've taught you everything I can. The rest you'll have to learn on your own."
"Will I see you again?"
"Perhaps. The universe is strange that way." Eldrin placed his hands on Ren's shoulders. "Remember what I taught you. Stay still when the world spins. Listen when everyone shouts. Love when hate would be easier."
"I'll try."
"That's all anyone can do." Eldrin pulled him into a hug. It was unexpected. Warm. "Go, my boy. Finish what your father started. And when you face the Twelve, think of me."
Ren hugged him back. "I will."
They parted. Ren walked to the ship. At the airlock, he turned one last time.
Eldrin raised his hand in farewell.
Ren raised his.
Then he stepped inside, and the airlock sealed behind him.
The Starfire lifted off slowly, rising through Xylos's perfect atmosphere. Below, the garden planet shrank, becoming a green jewel against the black of space.
Ren watched from the cockpit. Aiko sat beside him. Sara stood behind them, her hand on his shoulder.
"Where to?" Aiko asked.
Ren closed his eyes. The fragments pulsed. Six of them now, pointing the way to the seventh. A planet called Noxia. Dark. Dangerous. Waiting.
"Noxia," he said. "Set course."
Aiko nodded and began programming the nav computer. The Starfire hummed, its engines building power.
And then they were gone, leaving Xylos behind.
Leaving peace behind.
Leaving the old man alone in his garden, watching the sky where they'd disappeared.
END OF CHAPTER 15