Page 1 of Live Like Legends

A LONG TIME AGO…

Iwas different, much more hard-headed. I had the kind of confidence that others envied, and I thrived off of it. There was so much talk about my achievements and my skills, but I didn’t care much for the words of anyone else but hers. She was the most beautiful person I’d ever seen and just my luck, she wanted absolutely nothing to do with me. I was nice enough and she was cordial to me, but if she even caught a whiff of me flirting with her the conversation would be over. Jonah had continuously told me that there was someone else and I should have been fine with the hand of friendship she extended to me.

Eventually that’s exactly what I did. I was a sentry, and she was a messenger. She had this eagerness to train and fight, but once you were settled into your chosen field, that was it. There was no changing that. I would secretly train with her, not because I found myself constantly wanting to be near her, but because I believed that if given the opportunity, she would havepassed the test of a sentry angel with flying colors. I could always feel us getting closer, but there was always someone else. She

kept them a secret and I respected that—begrudgingly so, but I didn’t push.

I remember that baby being born. There was so much talk on both sides and while I didn’t interact with the happy couple, I saw what this could mean for the colliding of entities. I remember Moira hoping that this could be the first step in the right direction for all our kinds. I knew that Jonah’s father was angry at her, I knew he was jealous of how beloved Moira was. Hell, I loved her myself. She was best friends with the girl I loved, even though I would hardly admit that to myself at the time. Then everything fell apart. That baby was gone. Everyone was outraged and Isaac Zuriel was one hell of a tyrant, using it to his advantage.

Up until then, I had always shrugged off his threats and angry tones. I was a kid; I never really looked at the bigger picture until it was right in front of my face. This man wanted me to fight my friends and stand up against a group of individuals that had done nothing. I couldn’t believe for a second that Natalia’s mother would harm any living soul, especially something so innocent. Jonah was so scared of his own father back then; he was in so deep with eventually taking over that there was no getting through to him.

I said no. His father told me,“you either fight with us, Mr. Cassial or you never set foot on this foundation again.”

I’d built so many memories at The Skies, it was like my second home, but whatever this man was turning it into wasn’t my home anymore. So, I left it behind. I left my best friend. I left my rising status. And I’d left her.

I left Moira to fight on her own. I didn’t think to go back and fight for the other side. For the first time in my entire life sincehandling the hilt of a sword, I just didn’t see the point in the fighting.

Then everything was silent for a while. Years passed, my parents passed on and at some point, I ran into your mother again. So much had happened that I hadn’t been around for, but for some reason as we spoke, it was like no time had passed at all. At one time there was someone else that kept us apart, but now there was no one in the way. He had died in that fight, and she made it very clear that she only wanted my friendship. That friendship turned into holding hands and cuddling on my couch. It turned into reconnecting with Jonah and his new wife, Amelia. Even Moira gave me another chance to make amends. Jonah never spoke about The Skies when we would spend time together, so we all let it be. I could feel my life coming back together.

Soon that friendship I wanted to maintain with her became something else. Slowly she started to let me kiss her and then we became this inseparable pair. She was mine, even if she continuously claimed she was out of my league.

Then I married her.

Next thing I knew…she told me we were having a baby boy.

She had her secrets though and one-night things that happened during that war came out, how she lost her first love was revealed to me and how she still carried a piece of him with her—magic that he’d transferred from himself to her. On that very long night, I knew I would do anything for both of you.

While I was away Jonah’s father had made it so that any show of Enchanter magic outside of Oculus, especially the magic that they had deemed threatening and unworthy would be dealt with in the harshest form—torture and death being his two options. Lilith may have been trapped in Purgatory, but he was no better than her. I had tried to get Jonah to reason with his father, but he never would. Isaac Zuriel never truly liked myfriendship with his son in the first place so he would know where the resistant attitude came from.

Then as it always seemed to do, things fell apart. All of us were spending time as friends and you were just the cutest thing. Your wings were coming in and you were so adventurous and had this thirst for knowledge even at such a young age. Jonah and Amelia had gone off by themselves for a moment and we took our eyes off you for just a second, but that was all it took. You got too close to the edge of a steep hill that you shouldn’t have even been near. And you…you fell.

We ran to get you and my heart stopped in my chest seeing you on the ground, crumpled up and lifeless. You were bleeding from the back of your head and there was so much blood that I couldn’t think straight. The best infirmary in the realms was at The Skies, but we didn’t want to fly with you in that condition and portal usage was something we were all so rusty at, thanks to Isaac banning it, that it was like our hands were tied. She…your mother…she was breathing so hard, she looked like she wanted to scream. She brought her eyes up to mine and I knew what she was telling me what she had to do. She loved you far too much to let you go.

We nodded at each other, and I looked around to make sure no one was watching. She placed her hands on your body and closed her eyes. There were these lights that lit up her fingers, but it wasn’t an angelic light. The colors were a green shade, mixed with a white that I was mesmerized by. Her brow was furrowed, she was concentrating so hard, and it was like the light was scanning your body and then eventually it was gone. She opened her eyes, and they were glassy as if she was so afraid it wouldn’t work that tears had started to form.

Your eyes blinked once, twice, and then those brown eyes that looked so much like hers were looking back at me. Yourmother let out this nervous laugh, like she was even surprised it worked at all, but then she grabbed you and hugged you.

Almost losing you was the worst thing I could have imagined. But then I lost something else.

Someone was watching that day. Someone saw what your mother did and ran straight to Jonah’s father, but she never told me who. I had to find out the hard way and hope that you didn’t suffer from all the rage I held in for the first few years without her.

She didn’t want you to seek revenge for it. She didn’t want you to spend your whole life fighting for her when you could try to make this place something better for when your time came to make decisions and be the kind of angel we always knew you’d be. Your mother believed that angels did not have the right to dictate Enchanter powers, so she made sure the gift—the power—she was given by her first love remained in someone good, someone she loved with all her heart.

Before they came for her, she made me promise her something.

“I don’t want him to remember this, Maurice, please. Make him forget. If he wants to fight, don’t let him fight for me. I won’t be his burden to bear or the reason he doesn’t live the life he deserves. Let him fight for something all on his own. Love him for both of us, he’s the best piece of both our hearts.”

I did what she asked. I went to the only person I knew that could do what she’d wanted.

You begged for your mother so many times. You didn’t understand, but then Moira touched your forehead with tears in her eyes and took away your pain. Your mother was a fleeting memory and everything about the day you watched them take her from our home was gone. Moira didn’t take everything, but she removed enough to where you didn’t linger on those memories. I kept my answers to you short and concise, lettingyou believe she’d simply just left us. I did it all for the sake of a woman who still has a hold on me even after all these years.

I kept that promise for her, for my Scarlett, even though I knew what it might mean when the day came for you to find out the truth.

Your mother loved you.

She died loving you.

“It’s never too late to be what you might have been.”

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