Gathering Storm (The Salvation of Tempestria Book 2) - Gary Stringer (read e book TXT) 📗

that at least approximated what he truly looked like. Instead, he had chosen the appearance of a human male. He wasn’t sure what that said about him. What he did know was that even looking the way he did, it was difficult for many Tempestrians to trust a higher planar being. If he appeared as ‘light in a box,’ he couldn’t imagine that making the situation any easier.

Returning his attention to Sara and Jessica, he took in the good-natured banter between the two sisters. Jessica was still not letting go of the fact that Sara had snogged someone at that party a couple of weekends ago. There was an extra spring in their steps, and their tails were perked right up – a sure sign of happiness in Chetsuans. What would happen when it was just the two of them, again? Would they still be happy here, or could they find a home on Tempestria? Would the people there be any more receptive to their true selves than the people of Earth? Or would they both have to wear a perception filter for the rest of their lives? OK, they could deactivate them when they were alone with Cat and Mandalee, and he was sure there would be other Tempestrians who would be equally accepting. How many, he couldn’t be sure, but whatever the number, was it enough?

Daelen worried about these things now, more than ever, because he was hiding something from all four of his mortal friends. That was another kind of perception filter, in a way. He had created the perception that he had simply brought Mandalee and Cat here to train. In Catriona’s case, he had done the job too well and almost pushed her away. Hidden behind that perception filter was the truth: training was only part of it. He had hoped that the Time difference between Tempestria and Earth would give his four mortal friends the time to get to know each other. Bond.

The camaraderie he was witnessing before him was already a vindication of that idea. These four didn’t see race, gender or place of origin as a barrier. To them, that diversity was like the strong force that held the material universe together. That was important because, in a couple of months, Earth time – a fortnight on Tempestria – Sara and Jessica were going to have to choose.

You see, gentle reader, Daelen already knew in his mind how his Ultimate Final Battle with Kullos was going to go – even best-case scenario. In the end, it was going to be just the two of them, as it was always meant to be. Kullos was a shadow warrior, and that made him his responsibility and his alone. In case the Wish barrier was not entirely successful in containing the power, he could not risk his friends, nor let any other mortals be caught in the blast of Heaven’s Surrender. The only way he could see to ensure that, was to let StormClaw Island be their last battlefield. His ship, his crew, his friends, all would be safe across the water. Since StormClaw was hidden behind a perception filter, no-one else knew it existed. It was empty of all mortal life. No collateral damage…except his own house.

All of his facilities in all of his seven worlds were connected via the portal system, and he was likely to pull power from them. That would be devastating to anyone living there, even fatal if the building fell down. At the very least, the portals would collapse forever. Obviously, Sara and Jessica could not be home at the time, but more than that, whichever world they were on when the moment came, that was where they would have to build the rest of their lives. Of the seven worlds, they clearly could never return to their own world, Phitonia, so that left six to choose from. Of those, at least three were unsuitable long term, leaving three more: Earth, Tempestria and Lavos, the world where dragons were being hunted down. He didn’t think they could ever be comfortable in a world with dragons, even if they weren’t a threat like they were on Phitonia.

Trouble was, they’d never seen Tempestria. He knew Cat and Mandalee would provide the very best impression of that world – Tempestria couldn’t find better ambassadors than those two – but Daelen had no right to force the issue. The choice was Sara’s and Jessica’s alone. He wasn’t going to tell them yet, though. He was worried that that would put undue pressure on their building relationships. It would undoubtedly affect things. How could it not?

Daelen knew the Chetsuan girls had made sort-of-friends on Earth and if he gave them the choice too soon, he was pretty sure that was the world they would choose. As I said, gentle reader, he couldn’t be sure whether they would need their perception filters any less on Tempestria, but at the very least they would have two friends who knew and accepted them for who they really were. He wanted them to consider that. In fact, what he was really hoping, was that Mandalee and Cat might invite their Chetsuan friends before the moment of the choice arrived. That way, it would be seen as an act of pure friendship, untainted by any sense of charity.

The timing was unfortunate because he didn’t want Sara and Jessica involved in any fighting. Trained though they were, there was too great a risk of something happening to one of them for a cause, a world, and a fight that was not theirs. Moreover, he knew that if either one of them were to die, the other would not survive – she would make sure of it. He had taken them from their world so they could live, not so they could die.

The other aspect of the battle he was concealing was that, as far as he could see, there was no possible way he could survive. His dark clone had