Chapter 51: Z's Dream

Three Days Later

The past three days have been busy. Hardly anyone has stopped to even sleep, everyone has been working in overdrive to treat the wounded from the massive assault led by Solarious. 

Those with the most severe injuries didn't make it to land on Numir. About fifty Caspians lost their lives on the journey back to Numir. Another fifty to add to the total of the ones Solarious had massacred. 

My heart breaks for everyone but my eyes remain dry. The tears that once would shed for any loss of life have dried up. I simply can't keep being the weak hearted human who just cries all the time. I can feel for the ones lost but grieving can wait. At least what good would it do right now?

Z has been back and forth leading the plans for a strike on Solarious. The different strategies and ways we could attack back, however so far the results all yield the same. He sees us coming and annihilates us before we even have a chance at doing any harm to him. 

I believe all of us are mentally drained, we can't take anymore losses. The only thing that keeps anyone going right now is hope. Hope for a future where everyone can go back to living in peace. Not worried about a viral contagion that had been weaponized by some crazed maniac who wants to rule the galaxy. 

Hope is just a small little flicker of light at the end of this very, very, dark tunnel. The tiniest of flame that offers dim lighting to a world shrouded in darkness. A small reminder that not all is lost until the end truly comes. An end with either Solarious demise or our own.  May those who watch over us bring us luck. 

Z P.O.V. 

My eyes burn and my frustration grows, with each passing failure. I have submitted over a hundred strategic battle plans, and every last one of them comes out the same. Solarious defeats us and annihilates us before we even make a dent in his forces. There has to be something I am missing. But what?

I throw myself backward into the leather black chair that has become my only space. I am exhausted, and frustrated. This feeling of defeat eats away every bit of me. Little tiny pieces devoured in seconds. 

'You need to rest,' Leona comes to the front of my mind. 

"There is no time to rest, the longer he is out there the more civilians will die. I must find a solution, he must be killed." I snap back at her.

Leona shakes her head at me. 

' A restful mind makes for a better comeback.' 

Furious, I go to open my mouth to retort with a very plain and simple response,when suddenly I feel a little prick in my neck and my vision blurs. My body feels heavy and I try to stand but my body won't respond. 

'What- is…happening?'

It's a jumbled up thought and my eyes shut, despite my will and stubbornness, everything in me fades and I submit to the sleep I had evaded for so long. 

"When darkness rears its ugly head, beneath the light of the moon, a dance and song shall be performed, one that will end the feeling of loom and doom, for the wolf and the moon come together once again. For only peace can be spent, when the darkness rears its ugly head underneath the light of the moon only then can peace be bought."

A soft angelic melody greets my ears, my eyes open and I am staring straight at a soft navy blue sky, vast amounts of diamond colored stars and the crystal glow of the moon light the sky above and rain down a soft luminescence. 

I roll to my side and onto my stomach trying to look around for the one responsible for such a soothing passage. And there with a harp gently tucked back against her shoulder, her fingertips gently gliding across the necessary strings. I couldn't believe my eyes. Is it her? No, my own sight betrays me, there is no way, she's gone, she has left me alone. 

I try to rub my eyes and shake my head. This is just a dream, this isn't real. My mind is playing games again. I suck in a deep breath to try and calm my nerves. The cool crisp air greets my lungs and warms as I exhale. 

She turns to me and smiles gently, her blue eyes trained to me, leaning the harp into a standing position as she takes her steps in long strides, humming her enchanting song. 

Frozen in place, I dont move and I can't speak. This feels so surreal and a mockery to myself and my love. How can she be here in my dream? How can she be here at all? 

" Hello my love," she says, placing a warm hand on my cheek. 

My heart drops and years of pain and sorrow washes over me, threatening to drown me until I stop to breathe. 

" How, how are you here right now?"  I whisper tears prickling at the corners of my eyes. 

" I never left you Z, I am with you always."

"I have missed you, so very much." I keep looking into her eyes, placing my hands in hers.

To touch her again, to hear her voice again, I would give it all up to be with her just once more. To be able to stay where I am, with her. 

"I have missed you to, but we don't have long my love," 

"What do you mean?" I ask grasping her hands more firmly. 

" I came to help you one last time, to stop Solarious and to save the galaxies," 

A small burst of anger heats my core. I  just got her back and now she will be ripped away from me again. I won't allow it this time, no not again. Never again. 

" I don't care about all of that, I finally have you again, I finally get to see you, to hold you, to feel you, I'm not worried about the rest, I just want you." 

She brings me in for a tight hug, and I melt into her like soft chocolate on a low heat. 

" I love you Z, but you can't stay here, you have so much counting on you, and you also have your new love that needs you too." 

I find myself silenced, she mentioned Emily, and I feel as if I had betrayed them both. I love Estelle and I had fallen for Emily. And at this moment I was still willing to throw Emily away like she meant nothing. 

" Estelle, Im-" 

She kisses my lips tenderly. 

" Z, you have Emily, you have a love for her that is so strong and true, you don't need to be sorry, just be happy, be happy for me, live your life for me." 

Shaking my head softly the tears begin to trail down my cheeks. She is truly amazing and I will always love her, she will continue to be a part of me. 

"Now, listen carefully, Solarious can be stopped, and through you and Emily, he can be killed."

Puzzled, I look at her in confusion.  

" Estelle, I have tried over a hundred different strategies and none of them end in our favor. There isn't a way to stop him, Solarious has gotten too powerful, and with that weapon he developed, he is even worse." 

She still shakes her head no in disagreement with me. 

" Fuse your Lycan blood with Emily's blood, along with the cure you had come up with to give the Numirian troops different abilities. Once you do that, if you can find a way to inject it into his body, his natural immune cells will begin to attack the cells he was injected with, weakening his state and since he will have Lycan blood, in him-" 

Realization hits me. " He will be prone to silver," I look at my beloved wife and she nods. 

"You only have one shot at this, make it count, this is the only move you have he won't see coming." 

A bright light glows behind her and turns to look at it and with a somber smile she turns her head back to me.

" Our time is up my love, go through the light and stop Solarious." 

She places her hands on mine and kisses my lips once more. The feeling of grief, of pain,loss and fulfillment and the utter shattering of my heart to losing her once more, washes over me as one big tidal wave. 

As she fades from my sight, I take slow baby steps to the white open portal. My beautiful wife, this sweet taste of revenge will be for you.