Leiyu landed softly on his feet at the bottom of the abyss.  He cradled Amara in his arms.  Gone was the all-powerful Fire Goddess that he had just witnessed moments ago.  She now seemed so delicate and fragile.

Her qi… why can’t I feel anything?  His heart raced and his breathing was erratic.   “Amara!  Amara!  Wake up!  Please!”

Shimmering specks of light began to leave her body and float in the air.  They looked like fireflies, but Leiyu knew that they were the remnants of her life force.  In desperation, he reached out his hand and tried to catch them, but he knew it was futile.  They floated further away into the sky.

His lips quivered and his eyes watered.  The pain and turmoil in his chest was unbearable.  He felt like his heart was being torn apart.  The tears began to spill over and ran down his face.  “Amara…”  

A montage of images flashed through his mind.  Ishkhandar…the palace…the Summer Festival…escaping into the wilderness…the Northern steppes…his hometown…the cottage in the Water Priestess’ sanctuary where they had lived peacefully for weeks…

“Thallios…” Leiyu held the lifeless body in his arms and sobbed.  “Why…?  Why did it have to end up like this? I couldn’t even protect you…”

He heard a sound behind him and turned quickly.

Samarian had landed near them.  She had reverted to her normal form with a plain white mask and simple black robes.  

He looked up at her and trembled.  He unsheathed his sword with one hand and held it before him.  His other hand pulled Amara even closer to him.  

“Don’t come near!” he warned.  “You can’t take her away!”

She paused and stared down at him through her emotionless mask.  “Why would I need to take her away?”

He looked at her quizzically but kept his sword up.

“She is already gone,” said Samarian.  “The score is settled…The Fire Goddess’ spirit has been completely shattered and will scatter to the four corners of the world…”

His eyes widened.

“Many years from now, her spirit will be reborn in a new person - a new vessel,” Samarian explained.  

He stared at her incredulously.

“Hopefully the new Fire Goddess avatar will follow the rules and keep to her duties…”

His breathing became more erratic and he felt an increasing sense of agitation.  “The score is settled…?  A new vessel…?  In the end, it all goes back to the same thing…?”

“Yes…the harmonious balance will be restored…”

He completely lost it.  “**** you!!!  **** all these ************* rules!  **** all of this!”

She was taken aback.  “You dare speak like this to a goddess avatar?”

“I don’t care!  Amara…Thallios…they’re dead…I couldn’t even keep my promise to protect them…”  He dropped his sword onto the ground and collapsed into uncontrollable sobbing. Holding Amara tightly, his voice faltered.   “Just kill me now…there’s no reason for me to live anymore…”

“…”  

Samarian stood still for the longest moment, and then finally approached him.  She placed her hand on his shoulder.

His eyes shot wide open when he felt a sharp pain run through his body as if something was being ripped from his very soul.  The pain was followed by an overwhelming sense of numbness.

I feel my qi leaving my body…he thought.  I guess this really is the end…

He closed his eyes and fell to his side, still holding onto Amara.

Perhaps we will meet again in the next life…he thought as the last of his tears trickled down his face.  

As he felt himself lose consciousness, he could hear the faint murmur of a voice he had not heard for many weeks.

“Leiyu…”

Leiyu felt someone clutching his sleeves weakly.  That voice…  He opened his eyes and looked at the person in his arms.  

“Ama-” He stopped when he saw a pair of half-open amber eyes gazing up at him.  “Thallios?”

“Leiyu…you’re here…” Thallios whispered.

“Thallios?  Y-you’re alive?”  Leiyu tried to sit back up, although his body felt weak and tired.  He turned to Samarian.  “Did you bring Thallios back to life?”

“Yes…” Samarian replied.  “I am also known as the Goddess of Life and Death.  I borrowed some of your life force to revive him…”

Leiyu’s eyes welled up with tears.  Placing Thallios gently on the ground, he leaned forward and kowtowed deeply to her.  “Thank you, my lady!  Thank you!”  His tears spilled onto the ground.  “I’m sorry for what I said earlier…please forgive me…”

“…”  Samarian seemed to sigh behind her mask.  “It’s fine.  I understood your…anguish…”  She looked directly at Leiyu.  “He is still very weak though, so you’ll need to take good care of him until his life force is completely restored.  You have also been weakened by the life force transfer, so you’ll also have to take care of yourself as well.”

Leiyu looked up at her.  “Why did you end up helping me?”

She hesitated before speaking.  “I also made a promise…”

***

Earlier during the battle…

Amara and Samarian locked blades and stared each other down.  Neither avatar seemed willing to yield.  They were surrounded by lightning and the roar of thunder.

Amara then began to speak.  “We’re at a stalemate, you know…if we keep fighting at full strength, the whole mountain, your temple and followers, and my Leiyu will be destroyed…”

Samarian stared at her blankly through her three-eyed mask.

“I have a proposal…” said Amara.

Samarian tilted her mask quizzically.

“Since you just want me dead,” Amara continued, “why don’t I just let you win?"

Samarian was taken aback.  “Why…would you do that?”

“Then you’ll finally get what you want and we can end this.  So we don’t end up taking the whole world down with us!  I can even attack first, and then give you an opening, so it will seem like you’re only acting in self-defense.”

“…”

“If I let you win though, you’ll have to promise me something in return…”

“What would that be?”

“If I die by your hands, do not let Leiyu kill himself or die of grief…”

“…”

“But he won’t want to live on without the person who is most precious to him, so…” Amara stared at her with great intensity.  “Give Thallios back to him…”

“Give…?  How?”

“You’re the Goddess of Life and Death!  You can figure out a way!” Amara paused.  “Do you promise?”

“…” Samarian looked at her in disbelief but acquiesced.  “Very well…I promise…”

“Good…” Amara took a breath.  “If you break your promise and Leiyu dies because of this…I will haunt you in the next life…”

Samarian gave her a look.

“…and the life after that…” Amara continued.

There was an awkward silence.

“…and every life until the end of time!”

Samarian stared at her uneasily.  She finally spoke.  “I will keep my promise…”

***

“That…” said Leiyu after Samarian finished her story, “sounds very much like Amara…”

“Yes…she is the Fire Goddess after all…” Samarian replied.  “But aside from that, I was also moved by your devotion to your precious person…such that you would even curse at a goddess and not care about preserving your own life.  It rivals the devotion of even my most ardent followers…”

She turned to walk away but then paused and looked back at them over her shoulder.  “You’ve been given a second chance at life…take care of yourselves…”

She leapt into the air and flew upwards and away.

Leiyu stared up for a long time until she was no longer visible.  Feeling thoroughly exhausted, he crawled over to Thallios and lay down next to him.  Thallios’ eyes had closed but he was still breathing.  Leiyu lay there for a while before he remembered something.  He reached into his sleeve and took out the tracking talisman that Anying had given to him many weeks before.

“If you’re ever in need of help, just activate this, and I’ll find you.”

Leiyu waved his hand over the swirling script on the talisman and it began to glow.  Light emerged from it and surged toward the sky.  He looked up until the light dissipated.  

He heard a soft stirring and turned back toward Thallios, who had now opened his eyes slightly.  Thallios gazed at him and opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but was too fatigued to go on.  Leiyu’s expression softened and he gently caressed Thallios’ face.  Thallios leaned toward him slightly and Leiyu wrapped his arm around him, holding him close.  He smiled weakly, fatigue also overtaking him.  

“Don’t worry,” he reassured Thallios, “We’ll be going home soon…”

---

Author’s Note

I decided to leave Leiyu's cursing to Samarian up to the reader’s interpretation :)

Although Leiyu tells Thallios that they will be going “home”, they have been traveling for months and do not actually have a permanent home to return to.  Leiyu could be speaking more metaphorically (“home” is any place where they can settle down and feel safe and secure) or he just considers the Eastern Region to be home, even though he originally wanted to leave it to see the world.