Epilogue

It was about a year and a half since we left the Silver Country. Sathra and I traveled across the deserts of Platinum and Pewter Countries, braved the mountains of Crystal, and trekked across some of the Deadlands, a place rumored to be directly under the Silver Country and filled with active volcanoes and ashen ground. We lived like woodsmen in Wood Country and we discovered all sorts of tools that could be made from stone in Stone Country.

We visited home once, long enough to take the other ship and explore the other side of the world. The continent to the left of the Silver Country had more people and Sathra got a thorough understanding of them. At first she encountered everything new with wide-eyed curiosity, but then she soon grew used to seeing strange and unusual things. She obtained a more jaded view of the intelligence of commoners and decided that some parts of the chosen way of life had to stay.

She realized that people were far too dependent on the clergy and had to be told what to do with their lives. She hoped to lower the cost of becoming a psychic so that poor families could send their children in for the education. Maybe then more people could learn to help themselves or gather in groups to solve problems. She also hoped to expose the true teachings so that women could lead better lives. She was stunned to see how women were abused, ignored, or sold as slaves. Since the current teachings belittled women, it was to be expected. I had to stop her several times from trying to destroy a few towns that enjoyed female slavery and prostitution. I instead encouraged her to teach the women during her travels and help them escape their fates.

But the most disturbing thing we've encountered were seeds of corruption in the clergy. We came across a few villages and cities that had a priest or two who would deliberately bend laws in their favor. Sometimes we would even encounter a few paladins and psychics that embezzled money or threaten innocent families for riches. Seeing it almost made Sathra end her journey right there and take down the corrupted clergy. She had ways to take away their power, but she had to wait until she was High Priestess to do so. She wanted to leave a message to the world that corruption would not be tolerated.

However, I was more disturbed by the fact that good men still followed those priests, even when they openly did bad things. Paladins served their masters loyally until the very end. And that led me to a frightful conclusion: if paladins and psychics refused to stand against corrupted priests, then who would save the people? But thanks to those thoughts, I had an idea of something I could work on when ever we returned home. If the clergy couldn't fix clergy problems, then it would have to be the people who would have to stand up and fight for their rights. But I had to be careful with my planning. I didn't want the clergy overthrown, just the bad priests.

I stretched some against the cool grass before my arm wrapped around Sathra tighter. We found a secluded pond in the Ruby Country and decided to take a small break. Since this was also known as 'bandit country', she put up a barrier to prevent anyone from sneaking up on us…though with our sixth senses, that was next to impossible anyway. My little wife was now sixteen and she had grown both physically and mentally. She became a little more sarcastic towards other people and she had a streak of stubbornness and aggressiveness that was near impossible to douse when she encountered some heinous act. She had to solve every little problem she came across.

Sathra also grew a little taller and filled out even more. She was still very small compared to me, but I didn't mind. It was one of the things that made her cute. Her eyes still made her look like an innocent girl. She often caught the eyes of men and was pursued a lot. At first, I was the one who glared at the drunken hopefuls and held my wife possessively against me, but pretty soon she started throwing punches or insults to any that didn't take a hint. She acted violent, but she wasn't against secretly healing anyone she may have severely harmed.

She also seemed to have developed a hobby in starting bar riots. I was sure she did it in retaliation to the fact that I wouldn't let her drink alcohol. I knew she was allowed to drink wine and I knew she was a responsible drinker, but I wanted her to wait until she was the age of adulthood. She had to learn some restraint. As for the riots, all I could do was make her sit in my lap and shush her when she opened her mouth. All she needed was one degrading insult towards the largest drunken man in the bar and chairs would soon be flying.

Sathra's eyes were closed, but I could tell she was awake when I trailed my free hand up her chest. I saw a little bit of gold peering under her brownish-gold eyelashes as I expertly began unbuttoning her shirt. When it came to sex, we had done every position and every sanitary fetish that was out there and yet we still weren't tired of each other. Sometimes we were more than satisfied with just regular sex. Pleasuring her was always a thrill for me. But at the moment, I just wanted to see her body. I was in no rush to start anything. We've already had intercourse out in nature more than ten times this year, so it was nothing new.

I let my fingers trace the edge of her breast band and enjoyed the feel of her silky skin. Before we stopped to rest, Sathra decided that she wanted to go back home. She felt that she had seen enough and made a list of things she had to fix once she succeeded Lord Sorbin. During our short visit to the Silver Country, I heard that the new king was born. I still had a few years before the baby would understand anything I could teach him, but I still needed to prove that I would uphold my promise in the peace treaty.

Some part of me wanted to keep traveling, but I knew we had to return eventually. I liked the privacy and the closeness we had. I knew that once we were back in the Silver Country, Sathra would be too busy during the day and I would have my own duties while she worked. We would also have limited places for privacy.

But…there was one thing I couldn't wait to do once we were home. I trailed my hand lower to rest on her flat belly. We could start having a family of our own. I couldn't wait to see her become round with our child. It would be nice to have a boy or girl to teach sword skills and archery to. I rolled over on top of her and rested my weight on my arms. Sathra was quick to smile and unbutton my shirt for me.

I didn't think there was such a thing as a perfect life, but I had one. Sure, I had to work hard to keep it that way, but it was worth it. This was my chosen way of life.

© Sorceress Myst 2010

Thank you everyone for reading 'The Fall of Destiny'. My main reason in writing this was to explore how different Sathra would've been if she had stayed home at 13. I also added everything that I couldn't fit into Heretics, like what the kings were like, a more detailed past on Sorbin and his daughters, more information about Caidal and his grudge, and the different societies between the Holy Citadel and Evergreen. Basically, Destiny was a story that filled in the smaller back stories of both 'The Rise of Heretics' and the upcoming sequel.

The sequel is out and it's called 'Trials of the Demoness and Harbinger'. This will be a story told by Gahn and Sathra's daughter, Athena, as she tries to change herself to become a strong leader so she could be knighted and someday become a general of the army. The first entry will be a prologue from Gahn's POV. I will update every Friday. Thanks again for reading!