So, here is an explanation as to why I went MIA all of a sudden. This is the hardest thing that I have ever had to write. There really is no easy way to say it, so here is it.
My husband died. I don’t want to share details, except that he was young, and it was all very sudden and unexpected. The love of my life, my best friend, the person that means the most to me is now gone. And I feel broken. Lost and alone. My heart and soul have been shattered into a million pieces and will never be the same ever again. And more than two years later, I still feel broken.
I am forever changed. There are a lot of things that I can’t do anymore; certain songs, tv shows, and movies all remind me of my husband. There are reminders of my loss all over Once Upon a Legacy. I don’t want to take time to list all of the specific examples. Just please understand how I lost all of my motivation to continue on.
Then kind of out of the blue, I don’t know how or why, something told me to open WordPress. I reread everything, starting with chapter 1 of Generation 1. I also saw that the last chapter of Lincoln’s story was not posted. It bothered me that the story is still unfinished. But even then, I hesitated to post it. I don’t want to constantly have to explain my absence to everyone.
But now I feel like I’m at a point of being okay with not being okay. I know that is really hard to understand, and I can’t even really explain it. Just that reminders of my husband don’t send me into a deep depression like they used to. Therapy has helped. Talking with someone that isn’t related to me helps. Plus, I have a lot to look forward to. I’m going to be a first-time aunt this March. I moved closer to my family, and that has allowed me to peruse a career that I enjoy, not just a job that I have to do.
I don’t know when or if I will continue this legacy. Or how many people are still out there that care. I have written a few chapters for the next generation, but they are in the very early stages. Nothing that I feel comfortable with sharing. I won’t post regularly (not that I ever really posted regularly before). If I ever do at all.
So, I guess that’s it for now. An explication of the shitty curveballs life has thrown my way.
After I leapt out from the bushes I immediately braced myself for the impending attacks from the throngs of wedding guests objecting to my objection. But when I looked around I saw no one. Just me, Alcander, and Mira.
“What are you doing here?” Alcander questioned me. “How did you find us?”
He didn’t sound very surprised or even mad that I was crashing the wedding. But he was about to be!
Feeling stronger than I had ever felt before I loudly proclaimed, “I came here to stop this wedding!”
“Wedding?! Boy, you are as stupid as you are ugly.” Alcander laughed at me. “You think that this is some kind of human wedding ceremony?!”
I didn’t understand what was so funny. This whole time Alcander has been trying to get Mira to be his wife. Wasn’t that the definition of a wedding? Come to think of it though, as I looked around I noticed that this spot on top of the mountain didn’t look like much of a wedding venue. Where were the flowers? Where was the wedding arch? Instead, the flowers were replaced with tall candles, and instead of wedding guests, there were giant stone statues dressed in ancient druid robes. In lieu of flowers scattered about leading up to a beautifully decorated wedding arch there were strange symbols painted on the ground.
What is this place?
“This is almost too perfect.” Alcander continued laughing at my expense. “I won’t be the one to tell you what is happening. It would be so much sweeter coming from Mira. Wench, you tell this mangy beast what just happened before he arrived.”
I looked over to Mira for an explanation. She was cowering, off to the side, on the edge of the marked circle. It was then that I really noticed that she looked different. And it wasn’t just the fact that her hair was styled differently. Or that she was wearing some dark gothic dress that was not in her usual bright style. No, she looked different on the inside as well. Mira looked broken. Defeated. The shiny bright yellow aura that seemed to always match Mira’s cheeriness was faded to black. Still, those rainbow-colored eyes of hers saw right through me.
She has always been able to see right through me. Through all of my lies, my selfish arrogance, my layers of BS that I use to overcompensate for my massive insecurities.
Mira saw the real me and said, “Linc, you shouldn’t have come here. It’s too late for me, run and save yourself!”
“Slave,” Alcander shouted at Mira. “That is not what I commanded. I said tell him about the ceremony!”
By some strong magical power, Alcander was now choking Mira. And she was powerless to fight back. Through the pain Mira managed to say, “this wasn’t a typical wedding. This was a supernatural bonding ceremony. Alcander has just completed the spell which bonds us together for all eternity. Until death do us part.”
No, this wasn’t possible. I can’t be too late. I begged Mira, “You don’t have to go through with this!”.
“I’m sorry, Linc. It has already been done.”
“But I love you,” I confessed. Finally saying out loud what I had been too afraid to admit to. “You don’t have to say it back. I know that you couldn’t love a beast like me. I don’t blame you. But this can’t be the end! There must be a way to break the spell.”
“This just keeps getting better and better.” Alcander laughed. “You love her. A pathetic nothing such as yourself is actually in love. With Mira. Unfortunately for you, Romeo, you’re too late. The bonding ceremony is complete. There is nothing you can do!”
No, Alcander was wrong. There was something that I could do.
With all of my strength, I lunged at him. I managed to catch him off guard just enough to scratch at his side. It was a deep wound, but he still tried to attack me with one of his lightning strikes. With my supercharged reflexes I managed to jump out of the way in time just missing the bolt of lightning.
“Back, Slave,” Alcander momentarily directed his magic towards Mira. “Stay out of this!”
And with that Mira was frozen in place, unable to use her magic. But Alcander was distracted enough for me to get another attack in. This time I was able to wound him deeper than before. He let out a scream of pain that I had never heard a creature make.
“You will pay for that!” He threatened me with more magic, but I wasn’t afraid of him. I was fighting for my love. And I was willing to die trying to save her.
We wrestled in and out and all around the supernatural circle. I was not going to quit, and with each of my blows I felt stronger and stronger. On the other hand, Alcander was at half strength. He was using half of his energy keeping Mira frozen in place, while the other half was fighting me. And he was losing both battles quickly. Eventually I was able to overpower the villainous bruit. I had Alcander by his neck ready to break him.
But then I stopped.
I was not a killer. Was I? On one hand he had a supernatural hold on Mira. But she is the most powerful witch that I know. Surely, she could find a way to break the bond. Right? Or I could just end him now. But what would Mira think of me? I looked over to where Mira was still frozen in place, wondering what would she want me to do? I could tell, just by looking into her rainbow-colored eyes, that despite all of his evilness, Mira wouldn’t want me to kill Alcander.
Seeing my hesitation Alcander took it as an opportunity to reach behind his back for the knife he had concealed. And with his rattlesnake like quickness, Alcander plunged that knife into my ribs. It wasn’t until I heard Mira let out a bloodcurdling scream, then felt the sharp pain in my lungs, that I realized what he had done.
I released Alcander from my grasp, as I fell to the ground. I was losing consciousness as the warm sticky blood quickly soaked my shirt. At the time, I wasn’t sure if I had dreamed it or if this next part actually happened.
In a flash Alcander was no longer standing over me. With a supersonic quickness Osiris had appeared out of nowhere and had Alcander in his grasps.
“No one makes a cuckold of me!” Osiris spat and in one quick motion he snapped Alcander’s neck like a twig.
I heard the break and saw Alcander’s lifeless body fall to the ground. Then, in another blurred flash, Osiris was standing over me.
I was quickly losing consciousness, but I managed to ask “Why?”
“Do not mistake my actions, pacoste. Dis ‘as nothing to do with you. Alcander thought that ‘e could go behind my back with Reina and try and make a Nemernic out of me!” Osiris smiled a sinister smile as he talked. “As for you, my flea ridden beast. You and your Lykan friends may have defeated me and my nest today. But it is no bother, I can always make more followers. I ‘ave the sunlight spell, and once I find myself a new queen to share eternity with, no one will be able to stop me. I shall ‘ave zi last laugh after all.”
He was now inches away from me, and I knew that this was the end. “Killing you now might be a mercy. But do not fret. I vill still make you suffer!”
“Get away from him you monster!” Mira shouted as a boulder sized fireball pushed Osiris out of the mystical circle, hurling past the bushes, and tumbling down the mountain.
“Mira, you’re okay.” I was relieved that my last moments would be spent with the one I loved.
“I’m okay. Osiris broke the bond when he killed Alcander,” Mira said as she lifted my head in her lap. She put her hands on my ribs to try and stop the bleeding, but her efforts were in vain.
“I’m sorry I was too late.”
“Hush, Linc. Save your energy. I will teleport us out of here and get you to the doctor.”
“No, there is no time. I’m just glad I got to see your rainbow eyes sparkle one last time.”
“No!” Mira cried. “You can’t leave me. Not now. Not ever.”
Then the last thing I remember was a soft kiss and the words, “Linc, I love you too.”
~*~*~*~*~
“Then what happened, Daddy?” Harmony jumped up and down on her bed excited to finish the story. “No, don’t say, I wanna tell it. Momma broke the spell, and you lived happily ever after! Isn’t that right?!”
“Yes, my Sweetling.” I smiled at our beautiful daughter. “Mira, I mean Mommy, and her love broke the witch’s curse. And then we all lived happily ever after. Now you need to go to bed. I have already let you stay up longer than I should have.”
“Awe, but I’m not sleepy,” Harmony plopped down on her bed in defeat.
“If you go to bed now, then tomorrow I can tell you all about your great grandmother and her evil stepfamily.” I tucked my little girl in with a kiss on the forehead.
“I love you forever, Daddy,” she said to me. And before I turned off her light I smiled and said, “forever and ever.”
“She has you wrapped around her little finger.” Mira smiled at me as I came into the living room. She was at the computer putting the finishing touches on her latest novel. The second one in the series.
“I couldn’t say no to her.” I happily admitted. “But you know she is still a mommy’s girl.”
Mira got up from the computer to meet me in a loving embrace. I am so full of love for my wife that I had to show her with a kiss. “I love you Mira Charming. Forever and ever!”
Well, there you have it. The end of Generation 3: Lincoln Charming in Beauty and the Beast.
Y’all might be wondering where I have been, and why I went MIA. It is a really long explanation, too long for this side note. I will post another message after this that explains everything.
Once Upon a Legacy 