Log:The Final Farewell of the Regent

The Regent Legacy 2014/07/11 Jennifer Exodus

5

The Clearing
This is a grassy clearing, well kept and open. It is not especially large, but it over looks the city and the bay. It is an arduous hike to get there, and who up keeps it is a mystery. In the clearing is a marker which if looked upon is made of some material that seems to have qualities of both metal and stone and glows iridescently. On its face is an angelic figure in flight holding hands with two twin female figures.

It's late afternoon on a clear summer day...

Jennifer has her soldier face on as Lorelei and her walk up the slope towards the clearing. It's Lorelei's first visit there but far from Jennifer's. Except for when she's been off dimension she's come to the clearing once a week to tidy up and make sure it's as perfect now as when Matt and her first found it.

The clearing is as it ever is, except for a marker that sits where Matt and Jen once did. Even in the brightness of mid day, its glow can be faintly seen.

Jennifer stops at the tree-line to look at the market. A breath catches in her throat as she notices it's in exactly the place Matt and her used to lay when they were here. Reaching out she grabs Lorelei's hand and squeezes it.

After a moment Jennifer releases Lorelei's hand and takes slow hesitant steps towards the marker until she can see it clearly.

The marker glows with iridescent colors it shimmers, and there is certainly power there. The stone is made of some kind of material, neither metal, nor stone, but seemingly possessing the properties of both. The marker's simple picture depicts a figure with a halo, holding the hands of 2 female figures. Jennifer recognizes the simplified outfit of Matt when he was in his Regent role.

Jennifer kneels by the marker and lays her hands on top of it. "Why..? Why did you have to leave me this way? I never stopped loving you but you weren't there with me. Now you'll never be there."

As she lays her hand upon the marker, she feels it is warm, not from the heat of the sun, but intrinsically. The iridescent glow coalesces around her hand, engulfing it...holding it.

For an instant she wonders if this has all been the setup for an elaborate trap as her hand is engulfed by the iridescent glow and held. But she senses no evil intent and while not a mystic in any formal sense, after so many years in the field of battle she is normally right about such things.

From the Iridescent energy that has wrapped itself in what could only be called a loving embrace around Jennifer's hand comes a Tendril of energy, it moves slowly and writhes as if searching for something and in the same slow motion begins to head for the spot on her forehead just north of the space between her eyebrows.

The tendril wends its way and touches Jennifer in the center of her forehead, and suddenly she is sitting in the Clearing, Matt is there, as he was before the transformation, he actually sits in his hover chair with a small somewhat embarrassed smile on his face. "How long has it been Jen?" he asks...

Jennifer tries to throw her arms around Matt and kiss him.

It is as if she is fighting to reach him through some kind of viscous invisible substance, her movements are slow, and languid seeming, he wraps his arms around her and asks again, "How Long?" even as he is kissed, the sure sign that this is going on in her mind.

Jennifer smiles, holding him in her arms, "Whose years, Matt? In Earth time about five and a half years. In my personal subjective time it's been about a decade. I've been off dimension a lot these last few years. "

Matt smiles at her, "It has been 400 years..very nearly." he says softly, "I am not here Jen...this is what is left of my consciousness, this is what is left of Matthew Regent. Your Matthew. I want to let you know...I had to let you know, I have never forgotten you. I have never forsaken you. If you do not believe me, I will understand.." the voice echoes hollowly in this place.

Jennifer's smile falters and tears glisten in her eyes. "Then why didn't you come back to me, Matt? I waited for years."

Matthew's smile doesn't fade, but there is sadness in his eyes, "Oh Jen.." he pauses, "My love...the war, I had to put an end to the rift war. We stopped it here on this plane, but the Elemental Planes...they never found peace. Incursions, continuously from the demonic planes." he shakes his head, "I could not sacrifice those realms. If those realms fell..next would be Earth." he stops again and says, "I could not allow harm to come to this planet, not to you." he says finally.

Jennifer nods, tears running down her cheeks. Jennifer was a soldier. She knows about duty. She fought in the Shield War. Grieved when so many of her team members fell but carried on because it was needed. "I understand, Matt." she says, giving him absolution. "I wish we hadn't been so responsible though. Putting off having children until we were older, were married. I wanted children, you know that. Children of yours to love, children to carry on the Regent name."

Matthew wipes her tears from her eyes and cheeks, kissing her forehead, she feels a tingle run through her. "I would never leave you. It is something I learned only recently, as I learned more of my heritage.." he smiles softly, "You still feel that way?...In all this time have you not found another?"

Jennifer says, "I waited so long for you, Matt. Until I lost hope. Now there is another. Jessica has two beautiful girls by him. I do love him Matt. But it's not the same. We are comfortable together. We can live together happily. But there isn't the intensity that I felt for you."

Matthew places a gentle hand between the two on your womb. "It is here..I still live here with you." his words are ambiguous. He places his hand upon Jen chin lifting it and places a long gentle chaste kiss on her lips "I cannot stay long my love. I have missed you with every breath, even unto the last."

Jennifer cries again, "Can you come back? Will you be here the next time I visit?"

Matthew shakes his head, once again wiping her tears, "I shall always have a presence in the marker. I could never leave this place, it was the only tie I had left to you." he smiles softly, it is as if in death, he has become more serene, "But I shall be here." once again he touches the area near her womb, "It is a magical gift that we have been given. Take care of our child Jennifer. I am sorry." and a look of remorse and regret overcomes his serenity, "I am sorry I cannot be the father you wish I could have been. I love you...always.." the vision begins to shift..

Jennifer collapses over the marker as the 'vision' fades and just weeps. Weeps until she cannot weep any more and then stays in the clearing by the marker as the afternoon and evening passes until the stars come out and she is looking up at the sky, at the stars that so often looked down on Matt and her.

The gentle feeling of warmth never leaves the gravestone, and as long as Jennifer's hand is on it, the iridescence remains wrapped around it.