Author’s Note – This story (for those who have been following my series) takes place at the very end of the series, and is mostly a Rian-centred story. For any new readers, feel free to ask me any questions, and I hope everyone enjoys this!

The Mortal Fate

There it was again; something different moving through one of the immortal worlds. It had been in ancient Egypt a moment ago, and was now in ancient Greece. Rian Halifax-Douet frowned as he tried to get a firm feel for whatever it was, and yet he was coming up blank. Literally. Whatever it was, it had no discernable power, and yet it was very much there. The young man didn’t know what to make of it, but there was one thing that he knew for sure – he had to find whatever it was, in case it meant trouble.

Running a hand through his dirty blonde hair, the eighteen year old sighed as he made up his mind to go after the strange presence that he had been feeling for the past two days. Slipping his leather duster on over his casual shirt and jeans, Rian soon disappeared from his home in a flurry of wind.

Reappearing on the streets of ancient Greece, the teenager didn’t automatically see anything strange. Nothing seemed out of place – the old streets held the usual bustle of immortals going about their business. The sky overhead was a clear blue, and the wind coming up from the Mediterranean sent a shiver down his spine. It was winter in the northern hemisphere, and Rian was glad that he had remembered to grab his coat. With a frown, he started towards the glistening blue of the sea, following the strange presence that had led him here.

As he walked, immortals nodded and waved at him, yet most kept a wary distance from the young man. Not only was he the grandson of the Trinity, but he was also the heir to Darkness and Light, and as such, was the most powerful out of all of the immortals. He could do almost anything that he wanted with his powers, and yet he often felt like he was by far the most restricted person in the entire world. One wrong move, and he risked disrupting the flow of the planet; a mistake that could cause irrevocable damage.

The Mediterranean was a sparkling blanket of blue when Rian reached its shores, and the teenager took a moment to enjoy the view. There were boats out on the water – ancient-style ships that had over a dozen men at the oars, propelling them through the water. One boat was clearly flying a flag depicting the goddess Athena, and Rian gave a slight smile at the sight. At least the Greeks were enjoying themselves whilst he was out tracking down an unknown entity in their world.

It was as he let his blue eyes sweep over the other boats that were playing in the Mediterranean that he spotted someone else standing on the white sands of the seashore. She didn’t look to be any older than Rian himself, with chestnut brown hair whipping about her shoulders as the wind caught it. She was hugging herself against the cold, and yet what had made her stand out to Rian was the clothing that she was wearing. They were in ancient Greece; Rian wasn’t expecting to see anyone wearing a denim skirt that sat a hand span above her knees, a plain green singlet top, and a pair of slip-on shoes. Whoever she was, she was clearly dressed for summer weather, and in clothes that could only be obtained in the Mortal Realm at that.

She must have felt him watching her, because the girl soon turned around and looked directly at him, and Rian could see that her eyes were a sparkling green colour that practically shone against the blue of the Mediterranean. Her eyes went wide when she saw him, and she took a hesitant step forwards, before catching herself. Rian could see that her teeth were chattering, and a sudden conflict arose in him as to what he should do.

She didn’t belong in this world. If her clothes hadn’t given her away, then what Rian could sense from her would have. It was her that he had been following, he was sure of it. She had no power, but an empty presence that just didn’t seem right. And yet she was standing there, freezing in her skimpy clothes, looking at him like a lost little girl. Rian sighed, slipping his duster off of his shoulders and folding it over his arm. Keeping his eyes on the girl, he started across the sand towards her, watching her all the while like a lion watches a zebra – sure that he could take her, yet ready just in case he got kicked in the head.

“You look cold,” he called out, and it was perhaps the most obvious thing that he could have said. Now that he wasn’t wearing his coat, Rian could feel just how cold the breeze off of the water was, and he marvelled at the fact that the girl wasn’t frozen over yet.

“Just a bit,” she replied through chattering teeth, her arms tight around her stomach.

“Here,” Rian said, offering her his coat, and the girl practically jumped on it. “What are you doing here, anyway?” he asked as she slipped her arms in and wrapped the heavy coat around herself. It was way too big for her – her slender frame looked waif-like compare to Rian’s more toned body – and her arms were lost in the sleeves, with the bottom of the coat touching the sand.

“I don’t know,” she replied. “I don’t really know where I am, and everything just seems so strange. Like, one minute I was in a place that wasn’t nearly as cold as it is here, covered in sand, and then suddenly I’m here where it’s freezing!” she said, and Rian frowned as he noticed that the girl had a distinctive accent – Australian. That might explain her clothes; it was summer down under.

“What’s your name?” Rian asked, and the girl opened her mouth, seemed to think for a moment, and then closed it again, frowning.

“I don’t know,” she finally said, before a look of panic came over her face. “I don’t know what my name is, or where I’m from, or anything! Oh god, what’s wrong with me?” she said in a shrill voice.

“Calm down,” Rian said, placing his hands on her shoulders and meeting her green eyes with his own. “Just take a breath and tell me what you do remember, okay?”

She nodded, taking a deep breath and closing her eyes. “I remember some sort of light, and then I was in a jungle. I hated it there, and I wanted to leave. Next thing I knew I was on a very different beach to this one, and it was so hot. I wanted to go somewhere that was cool, because I could feel my skin burning, and then everything was green and cold. Too cold. It started snowing on me!”

“But you don’t remember anything before you started wandering from place to place?” Rian interrupted, and the girl opened her eyes as she thought about it.

She shook her head. “Nope. Not a thing,” she said in a quite voice. “Is that bad?” she asked, and Rian could hear the note of fear that was in her voice. She was afraid. If she were some kind of threat to the immortal worlds, then she wouldn’t be afraid. Unless she was scared of him, and yet her eyes were focussed on him, imploring him to help her. To Rian, she looked like a typical damsel in distress, and he simply could not turn her away.

“Okay, I’m going to work this out, don’t you worry. My name is Rian Halifax-Douet, by the way,” he said with a smile, and the girl smiled in response.

“I’d introduce myself, but we’ve already established that I don’t know what my own name is,” she said with a slight laugh.

“Well, how about I give you a name? I can’t just call you ‘girl’, can I?” he suggested, and the girl’s face broke into a true smile as she nodded in delight.

“Yes please!” she said, and Rian gave a chuckle as he sifted through as many names as he could think of, trying to decide on just the right one. After several long minutes, he had it; the perfect name for his mystery girl.

“Ellie,” he said. “It’s a Greek name, which seems appropriate, seeing as we met here in ancient Greece-“

“Ancient Greece? Is that where we are?” she interrupted in amazement, and Rian nodded, before continuing on.

“Ellie means ‘Shining Light’, as well as ‘Most Beautiful Woman’. Do you like it?” he asked, and the girl was speechless for a moment, before she gave a very firm nod as her cheeks turned a slight red colour.

“I do. I love it. Thank you!” she said, before catching Rian completely off guard as she threw her arms around him, hugging him tight. Rian blinked in bewilderment for a moment, before gently hugging her back, and then pulling away.

“Okay, how about we get out of here and go some place warmer?” he suggested, and Ellie nodded enthusiastically, before she frowned.

“But how do we get out of here? I don’t even know how I got here in the first place,” she said, and Rian grinned as he held his hand out to her.

“Just take my hand and you’ll find out,” he said, and Ellie wrapped her fingers around his with only a slight hesitation. “Just don’t let go, okay?”

“Okay,” she said, and Rian gave her hand a gentle squeeze, before thinking of home. A sudden wind stirred up the sand at their feet, and Rian heard Ellie gasp in surprise as the Mediterranean vanished in the flurry of wind. Her feet seemed to leave the ground, and yet she couldn’t feel herself falling. Only a handful of seconds later, solid ground was underneath her once again, and as the wind subsided, Ellie saw that she was standing in what looked like a typical lounge room.

Rian let go of her hand as Ellie surveyed the room that they had appeared in. A trio of couches were seated in the centre of the room, arranged around a low table, and against the wall in front of them was an entertainment cabinet that housed a DVD and blu-ray players, a music centre, a PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles, as well as a variety of movies, games and CDs. The only thing that was missing was a television; the gaping hole in the unit a testament to where it had been removed, following its untimely destruction.

In the same wall was a pair of double doors that – unknown to the girl – led to the great hall, with the conference room located off of that. Moving clockwise around the room, another corner was lined with books, scrolls and stone tablets, all carefully arranged, with several beanbags strewn across the carpeted floor. A hallway led towards the bathroom and three bedrooms, and the kitchen could be seen through an opening in the wall. A large dining table was located near this opening, and glass doors that led outside were located in the wall that was behind the pair of them when they had arrived.

Ellie walked over to the doors and looked outside. For as far as she could see, there was nothing but grass and trees, with thicker bush in the distance. Towering over the landscape was a mountain range, and when she slid the doors open, a hot gust of dry air rushed inside, making her gasp.

“This is my grandparent’s place,” Rian informed her with a grin. “Just so you know, it’s in Australia, so you won’t be needing that coat for long,” he added, and Ellie gave a dumbfounded nod as she slipped the too-big coat off.

“Why is there no TV?” she asked as she handed the coat back to Rian. There were a thousand other, more intelligent questions that she could have asked, and yet her mind seemed to be momentarily devoid of any intelligence.

Rian laughed. “My grandpa Adrian broke it the last time my grandpa Luke kicked his arse on the PlayStation,” he replied, and Ellie frowned, wondering at just what sort of people Rian’s grandpas were. She couldn’t remember her own grandpa – or even if she had one – yet she was fairly certain that, not only did they not play PlayStations, but they certainly didn’t destroy the television just because they lost.

“Right,” she said with a slow nod, before Rian led her towards the far left wall – the one opposite the hallway that led to the three bedrooms and the bathroom – where another hallway led them past several closed doors, before opening up into a smaller lounge area. There was one last door leading off of this area, and it too was closed.

“This is my end of the house,” Rian explained, before indicating to the doors that they had passed by. “My parent’s rooms and our bathroom are back there,” he said. “The three rooms at the other end belong to three of my grandparents. Technically, this whole world is their’s, but some extensions had to be made when my parents, and later on I, was born.”

“Uh huh,” Ellie said, taking a seat on the couch that faced a flat screen television, slightly overwhelmed.

“My room used to be fairly close to my parent’s rooms, but … well, every now and then they share rooms, so I put in the extra lounge area, and moved my room as far away from theirs as I could,” Rian continued on with a grin, proud of his own handiwork. Indeed, the world of the Trinity had undergone several renovations ever since Rian had developed a much firmer control over his powers.

“You’re whole family lives here?” Ellie asked, slightly surprised that they were all under one roof.

Rian shrugged. “Usually, yeah. Sometimes my grandpa Luke and grandma Jaid stay in England, and my grandpa Adrian often visits his younger half sister Claire, who lives in France, or his twin sister Alisha in immortal Ireland, but yeah. Everyone more or less lives here,” he explained, before picking up her hand and leading her over towards the closed door to his room.

“Wow,” Ellie said as she stopped in the doorway and surveyed the inside of the room. There was a bed against one wall, with a bay window opposite, and the back wall consisted of an inbuilt bookshelf that was overflowing with literature, both factual and fictional. On the same wall as the door, stepped in slightly, was an inbuilt wardrobe, the doors of which were neatly closed. The bed had been made, the books were all in order, and there wasn’t a single thing out of place in the spacious room.

“Yeah, this is my room,” Rian said with just a touch of awkwardness as he made for the bookshelf.

“It’s clean,” Ellie said, still standing in the doorway. “Aren’t boy’s rooms supposed to be, you know, messy?”

Rian laughed. “You don’t remember anything about who you are, but you remember something like that?” he asked, and the young woman shrugged. “I have cleaning faeries,” Rian explained as Ellie finally made her way inside.

“Cleaning faeries? Are you kidding me? I’m fairly certain that faeries don’t exist.”

“Not in the Mortal Realm,” Rian said cheekily, before selecting a pile of books and spreading them out on the floor. Taking a seat on the carpet, Rian began flicking through them, checking information against the others, wearing a slight frown as he did so.

Ellie sat herself down on the floor, leaning her back against Rian’s double bed, and watched the young man for several quiet minutes. His dirty blonde hair was hanging over his eyes as he leant over the books, and the creases on his face looked out of place on one so young. He was only eighteen, and yet Ellie could tell that Rian Halifax-Douet was a man that spent a lot of time worrying and concentrating. He looked so serious, and Ellie wondered at the sort of life that he led.

“What are you looking for?” she eventually asked, wanting to break the serious mood that had settled over them. Rian however, didn’t look up; he merely flicked through the pages of one book, before glancing at another.

“I’m trying to find any reference to a case similar to yours. As far as I can tell, you’re mortal. You’re clothes give that away-“

“What’s wrong with my clothes?” Ellie said indignantly, and this time Rian did look up, blinking his blue eyes in surprise at her tone.

“Erm, nothing. It’s just that, dressed as you are, you sort of stand out like a sore thumb in the immortal worlds,” he explained.

“Immortal worlds?” she repeated, and Rian nodded. “As in ‘can’t die’, immortal?”

“Pretty much,” Rian said, going back to staring at his books. They were old and musty, and looked as if they were held together by dust and luck. Several more minutes passed by in silence, before Rian seemed to freeze.

“Oh great,” he said with a sigh, before the sound of voices could be heard outside of the room.

“Rian, are you still here? You really need to get out of the house more, kid,” a laughing female voice said, and when Ellie looked towards the door, she saw that two people who looked to be in their mid-twenties were standing in the doorway, looking at her in surprise.

The woman who had spoken had long brown hair that had been pulled up in a high ponytail, leaving several tendrils hanging free around her face. Her hazel eyes seemed to shine, and her skin was a healthy tan colour. She was wearing denim shorts that were so short that they almost vanished underneath the halter shirt that she was wearing. Her feet were bare, legs covered in a fine layer of sand, and as she looked closer, Ellie could see the straps of a bikini top underneath the straps of her shirt.

The other person that was standing in the doorway was a young man with brown hair so dark that it was almost black, with eyes a similar shade. Taking a closer look at his eyes, Ellie noticed that they were an odd shape – almost Asian, but not quite. His skin was paler than the woman’s, but not an unhealthy colour, and he was clad in only a pair of sandy board shorts. His broad chest was well defined, as if he trained everyday to keep it so, and Ellie felt her cheeks flush as she realised that she’d been staring at him.

“Well, at least we know why he’s been home all day,” the man said with a laugh, and Ellie looked away in embarrassment.

“Rian, what are you doing bringing a mortal girl home? I thought we’d been through this after you brought that Tracy girl back here,” the woman almost growled, and Rian was glaring back at her.

“That was a completely different situation. Tracy was drunk when I brought her back here from that party-“

“So were you, if I remember right,” the woman interrupted, and Rian chose to ignore her, continuing on as if she hadn’t spoken.

“And she passed out almost straight away. Not only that, but I took her home before she woke up in the morning. She didn’t even remember coming here,” he finished, yet the woman was still glaring at him.

“Andy, I’m sure he’s got a good reason for bringing her here,” her companion said in a calming tone of voice, and Rian was nodding in agreement.

“Tyler, you know that mortals don’t mix with our world,” Andy shot back, before turning her attention back to Rian. “Why can’t you date an immortal girl for once?”

“I’m not dating Ellie!” Rian shot back, exasperated, before taking a breath. “Mum, dad, chill. I know what I’m doing here, okay? And go and have a shower; you’re getting sand in my room,” he said dismissively, and Andy glared at him.

“Don’t think you’re getting off that easily, young man. You may be Darkness and Light incarnate, but you’re still my son, and I can still enforce the rules around here,” Andy snapped as Rian stood up and ushered them both out of his room.

“Okay, I promise I’ll explain everything later. Bye,” he said, shutting the door on them both. Silence settled over the room for a moment, before Ellie asked a question that she needed some clarification on.

“You called them mum and dad, but they don’t look that much older than you do,” she said, and Rian nodded as he sat back down amidst his scattered books.

“Remember what I said about immortals? They’re my parents – Andraya Torrens-Douet and Tyler Halifax,” he said, and Ellie gave a slow nod.

“Okay. You look nothing like them, you know that, right?” she asked. Indeed, with his blonde hair and blue eyes, Rian didn’t look anything like either one of his parents.

“Yeah, I know. I take after two of my grandparents – Luke Halifax and Harmony Torrens. It would seem that I inherited the throwback genes,” he said with a laugh, but Ellie was still frowning, pondering another thought.

“Do your grandparents look so young as well?” she asked, thinking back to what she had been told about the tantrum that had destroyed the television.

Rian grinned. “Of course.”

“Okay, weird,” Ellie muttered, before a flurry of wind sent some of Rian’s books flying, causing the young man to sigh in annoyance.

“What now?” he asked, and when the wind had died down, another young man stood in the room, and Ellie blinked up at him in surprise. This young man was tall – taller than both Rian and his father – and had deep brown eyes and light brown hair that looked like it had recently been cut into a neat, short style. Where as Rian looked strong yet slender, this newcomer had the physique of a warrior, despite his modern clothing and distressed look.

“Rian, I need your help,” he said, and Rian groaned.

“Bryant, now’s not really a good time. I’m sort of busy,” he said, indicating Ellie, and Bryant turned towards her, his eyes widening as he noticed her for the first time.

“Don’t tell me you brought a new girlfriend back here?” he asked, and Rian frowned.

“Why does everyone assume she’s my girlfriend?” he asked of the ceiling, before lowering his eyes back towards his cousin, only to discover that Bryant had dropped to one knee before Ellie, and had picked her hand up in greeting, gently kissing it.

“My name is Bryant Douet. Who may you be?” he asked in a completely different tone of voice than before – more suave – and Ellie felt her cheeks flush again.

“Um, you can call me Ellie,” she said, before Rian cleared his throat, gaining their attention.

“Bry, was there something that you needed?” he asked, and Bryant seemed to remember himself with a start.

“Oh right, Imogen,” he said, and Rian groaned, knowing that whatever his slightly older cousin was about to say next, it couldn’t be good. Bryant and his twin sister, Imogen, were the children of his great aunt Alisha, and of the Celtic warrior god Nuada, and were known for getting themselves into almost as much trouble as his own parents had when they were younger, which was quite an achievement.

“What’s she done now?” Rian asked, dreading the answer. Imogen was exactly the sort of girl who acted before she thought, and even though she was a goddess who’s gift lay in the art of prophesy, it didn’t seem to keep her out of trouble.

“Well, you know how she was sort of seeing Ruadan?” Bryant asked, and Rian nodded, having heard all about Imogen’s meetings with the Celtic Tuathan god. “Well, he sort of broke it off with her.”

“Oh Light, this is going some place bad, isn’t it?” Rian said, leaning back against his bed and pinching the bridge of his nose. “What did she do?”

“She sort of decided to go on a bit of a quest to take her mind off of him,” Bryant cryptically answered, and Rian growled.

“Just tell me what she’s gone and done already, Bry.”

“She went to Wales to search for dragons,” he said in such a rush that Rian wasn’t sure that he had heard right.

“She did what?”

“Yeah, and you’ll never believe it – she actually found one,” he continued on. “But … well, he didn’t like being woken up, and now he’s sort of holding Imogen hostage.”

“Couldn’t you have gone to your dad about this?” Rian asked, and Bryant shrugged.

“Well, yeah, but then we would have gotten into trouble over it,” he answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Bryant was so used to coming to Rian to bail himself and his sister out of trouble that going to anyone else hadn’t really occurred to him.

Rian sighed, turning towards the silent Ellie. “I’m sorry about this. My cousins can’t seem to keep themselves out of trouble,” he said, and Ellie gave a slight, almost nervous laugh. “Come on, we’d better go and save Imogen before the dragon eats her,” he added, before thinking about what he’d just said. “On second thoughts, maybe getting eaten would teach her a lesson.”

“Ri, you’re not going to let her get eaten, are you?” Bryant asked in shock, and Rian quickly waved his concerns away as he joined hands with Ellie. Holding his other hand out to Bryant, the twenty year old grasped it firmly.

“Lead the way to the dragon, Bryant.”

0.0

Bryant led the pair to the top of a rise that overlooked a deep chasm in the ground; a rocky scar of grey against the otherwise green landscape of Wales. They were still within the Higher Realm, yet the part of Wales that they were in didn’t look much different to its Mortal Realm counterpart.

“She’s down there,” Bryant said, pointing down towards the chasm. “She was climbing down the rocks when she slipped. A whole heap of rocks tumbled down, and they must have hit the dragon, because it grabbed her soon after,” the young man explained, and Rian nodded as he walked over to the edge. Ellie hung back with Bryant, not wanting to get too close to the edge.

“How do you know the dragon didn’t just eat her?” Rian asked, and Bryant snorted.

“Because I heard her calling out to me right before I left to get you,” he replied, and Rian thought for a moment, peering down into the rocky crevasse.

“Imogen!” he suddenly called out, then strained his ears for any sound of a reply. He needn’t have bothered.

“Rian, that had better be you up there!” the young woman yelled back, loud enough that both Bryant and Ellie heard her clearly. Rian smiled; glad to know that his cousin was more or less all right.

“Yeah, it’s me. Hold on, I’m coming down,” he called back, before turning towards Bryant. “Can you stay up here with Ellie?”

“Of course,” the older boy replied, draping an arm across Ellie’s shoulders, and Rian felt a pang of annoyance at his simple gesture. Sometimes, Bryant was just way too laid back in his attitude.

Rian turned his back on the pair and looked once again over the edge of the chasm. It was a long way down, and the upheaval of rocks provided a fatal landing if he was to slip and fall. Rian contemplated just teleporting himself to Imogen’s location, yet he was afraid that his sudden arrival might make the already annoyed dragon do something irreversible to Imogen. Letting out a frustrated sigh, Rian started picking his way carefully down the side of the crevasse, grumbling to himself all the while that Imogen owed him big for this latest rescue.

It took him several long, agonising minutes to reach the floor of the chasm, with Imogen calling out to him what seemed like every five seconds. The closer he got, the more he could hear the rumblings of a dragon growl, and Rian gulped as he started towards the sounds. Rounding an impressively large rock, the young man finally saw the opening of the cave that housed the dragon. It was set back into the rock wall that he had just climbed down, and the opening looked like a jagged half circle. Curled up near the entrance, like a giant scaled cat, was a sleek red dragon that had its amber eyes fixed upon him with annoyance.

“Thank Light you’re here!” Imogen cried when she saw him. She was being held between the dragon’s two front feet, but otherwise looked unharmed. “Can you please tell this guy to let me go? He doesn’t seem to listen to a word I say,” the young woman grumbled.

“The girl may be a daughter of Danu, but she has disturbed my rest, and that will not be taken lightly,” the dragon grumbled, and his voice sounded like flames and gravel – rough and hissing.

Rian sighed, slipping into superior god mode. “I assure you that the girl meant no harm in coming here, dragon, and if you were to release her, she would not return to disturb you again,” he said in his most grown-up voice; the one he saved for when he had to throw his authority around.

The dragon seemed to contemplate his words, and Rian could hear him grumbling to himself as he sized up the boy before him. Rian was making no attempts to conceal his power, and he knew that the dragon could sense the full extent of his strength. If he wanted to Rian could have taken Imogen by force, yet he was choosing to be civil. He was hoping that he would be rewarded for his choice in actions, yet up until now he had never had any dealings with dragons. He knew that they still existed in places such as the United Kingdom and the Northern Europe regions, yet just like the Loch Ness Monster, he had been hoping to avoid making contact with any dragons. Although they were a part of the immortal worlds, dragons were very different in the sense that their powers were often very wild and primal. They did not always conform to human will, and could be largely unpredictable when confronted.

The dragon growled. “You have a power that eclipses all that I have met before you, boy.”

“And I don’t wish to use any of it on you,” Rian said, and the dragon considered him for a moment, before giving a slight nod.

“The girl is important to you?”

“Yes, she is a part of my family,” Rian replied, and again the dragon seemed to think his words over with a slow nod.

“So then if I were to keep her, you would try to stop me?”

“Like hell you’re keeping me!” Imogen yelled, sick and tired of being talked about like she wasn’t there. Rian laughed.

“I think that you would find, noble dragon, that Imogen can be quite irritating when confined for long periods of time,” Rian informed the red dragon, who again nodded whilst Imogen sulked.

“Very well. I shall return her to you, little king,” the dragon said, startling Rian with his words. He had heard of dragons being prophetic before, yet he hadn’t expected to have the meaning behind his own name thrown back at him quite like that. Then again, perhaps the dragon was just being condescending.

“Thank you,” he finally said, giving the dragon a bow of gratitude. “I promise that she will never disturb you again.”

“I will hold you to that promise,” he said in his gravely voice, before moving his front feet and freeing Imogen, who ran towards Rian with her arms wide. Throwing herself at her younger cousin, she wrapped him up in a hug that almost knocked him over.

“Thank you! You’re awesome, you know that?” she said as Rian pried her away from his neck.

“Yeah, I know. Next time you get dumped, do us all a favour and do something normal, like binging on chocolate, okay?” he suggested, and Imogen nodded emphatically, sending her dirt-filled light brown hair everywhere.

Rian sighed. “Let’s go home and throw you into a shower,” he said, gripping her hand and teleporting them both back to where Bryant and Ellie were waiting for them to return.

0.0

“I’m telling you, you have to plug this cable into there!” Adrian Douet said, waving a black cable in the air for emphasis. Sitting on the carpeted floor with the manual in hand, Luke Halifax rolled his blue eyes.

“And I’m telling you that we don’t need that cable because we can use this one,” he replied, waving a cable with three plugs on the end of it – red, yellow and white in colour.

“Then what’s this cable for?” Adrian asked, now slightly confused and not sure as to what he should do with the cable that he was holding.

“Older model players, you numbskull,” Luke answered as Rian arrived in the common room with Ellie and his cousins in tow. The teenager took one look at the scene – Luke on the floor with an instruction manual, Adrian standing confused with a cable in hand, and Harmony sprawled on the couch, smiling with amusement at the pair of them – and immediately understood the situation.

“New TV?” he asked, and Harmony nodded.

“It’s amusing watching them try to set it up,” the golden haired goddess replied, and as Adrian growled, Luke threw down the instruction manual. Tinkering with a cable or two, the young man pressed a button on the remote control and a moment later the big flat screen came to life.

“Awesome screen!” Bryant remarked enthusiastically, climbing over the back of the nearest couch and bouncing into place in front of the new television. “Hey, have you got the PlayStation hooked up yet?” he added, and Luke nodded.

“Just give me another ten minutes or so to tune all of the stations in, and it’ll be good to go,” he replied.

“Awesome! I’ll give you a round of Tekken when you’re done.”

“Hey, I called first dibs, brat,” Adrian barked, and Bryant held both hands up in a gesture of surrender. He knew better than to argue.

“Alright, but try not to destroy the new set before I get a chance to play it, okay?”

“Go home and play your own!”

“But where’s the fun in that? Everyone’s here,” Bryant said smoothly, spreading his arms wide and encompassing the immortals of the Trinity, his dirt covered twin sister, his annoyed looking cousin, and the slightly unsure Ellie.

“Oh cool, new TV!” a new voice suddenly chimed in, and all eyes turned towards Alisha Douet. “About time you guys replaced the one that Adrian blew up,” she added, digging at her brother’s ribs.

“If you’re here to play the Sony, then get in line. I have a score to settle with Luke,” Adrian said as the young man in question finished tuning in the right stations and started up the PlayStation.

“I swear, what ever happened to you two sorting out your issues with swords? That used to work so much better, and didn’t involve exploding appliances,” Alisha sighed as she sat down next to Harmony.

“True, but solving problems with swords leads to injuries that I have to patch up,” Harmony countered, and Alisha contemplated this sagely for a moment.

“Why are you here anyway?” Adrian asked as he sat down and picked up a controller, scrolling through a list of characters.

“Actually,” Alisha started, turning towards her two children. “I was looking for those two. I was about to head to Wales when I felt them move here. Please tell me that you haven’t been causing any trouble?”

“Nothing that we couldn’t get out of,” Imogen replied as Rian glared pointedly at her. “Well, without a bit of help, anyway,” she amended, and Alisha stared at her a moment longer before looking away.

“Whatever it is, I’m sure I don’t want to know. Just do us all a favour and have a shower before you put dirt everywhere,” she said, shooing her daughter away. As Imogen left the room, grumbling under her breath, Alisha’s dark eyes settled on Ellie, and the demi-goddess frowned as she took in the stranger in their midst.

“Who’s your friend, Rian?” she asked, and the teenager quickly looked at Ellie before turning towards his great aunt.

“Oh, this is Ellie. She’s hanging out with me until we can work out where she’s from. She’s mortal, but she doesn’t remember how she got here, or who she is for that matter,” Rian explained, and Alisha gave a contemplative nod as her eyes stayed fixed on the girl, who shuffled uncomfortably under the other woman’s relentless gaze.

“Hey Ellie? Do you know how to play Tekken?” Bryant suddenly asked, breaking Alisha’s stare as her son turned around on the couch, beckoning with a smile for Ellie to join him.

“Um, I have no idea. No memory, remember?” Ellie replied, and yet she sat down next to the young Celtic god nonetheless, leaving Rian standing by himself. Alisha still looked like something about the girl was troubling her, and when she beckoned for Rian to follow, he didn’t hesitate in going after her.

“What’s up?” he asked, and Alisha shot another glance back at Ellie before answering the teenager’s question.

“It’s about Ellie,” she started, and then fixed Rian with her dark eyes that were so much like Adrian’s. “I think that you should go and talk to Meng-Po about her,” she finished, and Rian paled at the mention of the Chinese goddess.

“Why?” Rian breathed, barely above a whisper. Alisha fidgeted for a moment.

“I don’t know the full truth about her, but I get the feeling that Meng-Po has something to do with her situation,” Alisha said, and both immortals turned to glance back at the commotion that was occurring around the new television. On the screen, two fighters were attacking one another, with two more waiting in the wings. From the curses that were coming from Adrian, and the cheering from Bryant, it was clear that the younger immortal was winning the match.

“Try this button combo,” Bryant advised, leaning closer towards Ellie as he indicated which buttons on the controller she should press, and with a start Rian realised that it was Ellie’s character that was getting the best of Adrian’s, and not Bryant’s like he had first assumed.

“So I see you guys got the Sony working,” Imogen remarked as she emerged from the bathroom, towelling her light brown hair dry.

“Of course!” Bryant replied. “Though you should have picked up a PS4 as well as the new TV,” he added, turning towards Luke and Adrian.

“Why? The PS3 is just fine,” Luke said as Ellie gave a triumphant little cheer, causing Adrian to growl in defeat.

“Yeah, but the PS4 comes with mind control. Mind control,” Bryant stressed, and Luke just rolled his eyes at the boy. “Come on, you have to admit that that’s cool?”

“Yeah, it sounds cool, but have you seen how expensive those consoles are? It will have to wait until this one’s had it, same with the new Xbox console,” Luke said, ending the discussion.

Rian – feeling slightly annoyed at his cousin – shot a glare at the back of Bryant’s golden brown head before heading towards his end of the house. He wanted to do some digging around on Meng-Po before he made up his mind about going to see her, yet he was distracted by the sight of his parents sitting on the couch – Andraya leaning against Tyler – watching television.

“Fullmetal Alchemist re-runs?” Rian asked, raising an eyebrow at the anime that his parents were watching. He knew that they had seen it countless times already, as even he’d seen it all at least once. His father seemed to accumulate Japanese entertainment, and so there was no shortage of DVDs to watch.

“It’s either this, or join the fight out there,” Andraya replied, gesturing towards the common room. “No thanks, I’ll take re-runs any day.”

Rian watched the screen for a moment longer, before heading into his room and closing his door. Choosing a couple of books, the teenager sat himself down on the floor and started flicking through the pages. He knew enough about Meng-Po to know that, whatever she could tell him about Ellie, it wouldn’t be good. So the question remained: should he go and see the Chinese goddess, or should he just leave things how they were?

Author’s Note – Geek-out sessions are fun to write!