Allan could not believe what he was hearing. "Mom, what are you doing?"
Sarah turned around and smiled. "I am doing what any mother does. You have not needed a mother for a long time, Allan, but Aly needs a mother, and hers was taken from her; I would hope that if your positions were reversed, her mother would do the same for you."
Sarah smiled at Allan once more, then turned to Xulgra. "Xulgra, I would like to make a deal with you. You are Death, aren't you? Let me take her place."
Xulgra looked at Sarah with a sad expression. "It is not as simple as you think, Sarah Mac'Millen. If you sacrifice yourself, I can heal her body, but pulling a spirit back from death. It is almost impossible. Even one of the higher beings can not do this easily. Despite how they played it off, what they did with Allan was a monumental task."
Sarah opened her mouth to speak again, but Elunitra cut her off. "Xulgra, ta taz krel ne'j keska'ma kin."
Xulgra's eyes widened in shock. "Nat um op'jin yop'j feln katvan'j?" He asked.
Elunitra nodded, and Xulgra inhaled and spoke, his voice seeming to boom across all of reality. "Fellow Divines, Mortals, Beings of Power, hear me!"
Allan looked up from Where Aly was very clearly dead. Xulgra continued speaking as Gods seemed summoned to stand around the brink of the amphitheater. "Succession! God-Kin has been named."
Xulgra paused momentarily to ask Sarah, "Are you still willing?"
Sarah smiled. "Of course."
"Say your goodbyes, Sarah," Xulgra said, smiling at her gently before returning to the divine crowd and speaking in the Gods-Tounge.
Sarah turned to Allan. "Allan, you will have to apologize to Eddy for me."
"I will," Allan said, unable to force anything else from his mouth, which was suddenly bone dry. "Mom... I..."
Sarah stepped over and hugged Allan as he held Aly's lifeless body. "I know Allan, I have always known. You and Eddy both. You are both great men, and I know you will win this war."
Allan simply nodded, numb from everything that was going on. He was shocked when Elunitra leaned forward and kissed him on the forehead. "Fight well, champion of the weak, protector of the innocent."
Allan felt something course through him, settling deep into his soul. He looked up, seeming lost for the first time in many years. Finally, Xulgra began speaking English once more, catching Allan's attention. "Sarah Mac'Millen, you have offered your life in return for the healing of this vessel?"
"I have," Sarah said, smiling at Allan. "Goodbye, Allan."
"Bye, Mom," Allan said hoarsely, and Xulgra waved his hand. Sarah vanished, her form seeming to dissolve into a sheen of golden light, part of which was absorbed by the God of Death, the rest of which flowed into Aly, healing her body.
Elunitra looked back at Allan and Aly, smiling at Allan. "Care for her well, Allan; she will need all your support."
Elunitra turned back to where Xulgra held a blade unlike anything Allan had ever seen. Without a word, the God of Death drew back and plunged the black blade through Elunitra's heart. Twisting the blade like a key in a lock.
A thunderous ringing could be heard. Allan Watched as a portal made from Elunitra's energy, and Xulgra's power formed, allowing a gold light to come through from somewhere. Allan watched the light settle across the cold but perfect body he held. Aly took a breath. Her eyes reminded closed. Xulgra held Elunitra's glowing body and lay her on the ground, gesturing for Allan to lay Aly beside her.
Just as Xulgra was about to begin speaking again, a terrible horn sounded from all around, and the gods surrounding the amphitheater vanished into the space between.
"What is that?" Allan said, still reeling from what was going on.
Around the brink of the amphitheater, Allan and Xulgra saw hundred of Ulr'Esh, and thousands of chiln looking down. Allan moved to pick up Aly and run to the ship, but Xulgra stopped him. "You must not move her; there are things to be done before the ceremony is complete."
"We need to go!" Allan said, using his adrenaline to hammer down on his emotions, forcing himself to think.
"I know!" Xulgra shouted and then took a breath. "I know, Allan. Buy me time; I have not done this in more time than your language has words for, I do not quite remember how long this will take, but I will do what I can to speed the process up. I need you to buy me time. As much as you can. Before ne'j keska'ma kin Elunitra named you champion, did she not?"
Allan nodded, his eyes taking in the enemy, who seemed to be in no rush since he was so sorely outgunned. "Yes, but..."
"But nothing. A god-named champion is nothing to scoff at." Xulgra said, throwing up his hand, and a gold circle, centered on Aly and Elunitra, roughly 5 meters across, appeared in the air. "I assure you that no ranged attack can interrupt what I must do, but they can physically walk in and kill us all. You must not let that happen."
"Kill them before they cross the circle. Is that the gist of it?" Allan asked, steeling his resolve.
"Yes," Xulgra said, handing Allan the God-Killing Blade and bone machete he had dropped.
Jalla, who had not stopped moving the unconscious children into the shuttle, now stood outside the shuttle. Hundreds of children filled the shuttle, many stacked none too gently on every surface they could fit on. It was a drop in the bucket; the number of children who still lay in literal piles throughout the floor of the massive structure would never fit.
Allan locked eyes with her. "Take them to the station Jalla; if you want, you can come back, but Aly would want you to take those you can and get them out of here."
Jalla wiped the tears streaming down her face and nodded, going into the shuttle and prepping it for lift-off. Allan looked at Xulgra. "I hope you work quickly, God of Death."
"Me too," Xulgra said, watching the veritable horde of enemies descending to the amphitheater floor. "Fight well, Allan."
"Yeah, you just take care of Aly for me," Allan said. Somewhere in his mind, he realized he had no sympathy for Elunitra, but that was unimportant.
Allan closed the visor of his armor and went to work.
The next fifteen minutes would be one of the hardest things Allan had ever done. He could not remember how many he killed or how many times he grabbed an enemy just as they were about to cross the line. But the result he feared most was inevitable.
Allan now stood inside the Golden Circle, delivering killing blows to any creature that dared cross the line. "How long, Xulgra?"
"Too long." The God said, sounding drained. "There are certain things that just take time."
Allan smiled grimly and nodded. He watched the enemy form up outside the circle for a coordinated rush that would surely spell doom for those inside. Suddenly the world seemed to explode as groups of enemies crumpled.
Allan looked up to see men and women in camo uniforms dropping over the side of the amphitheater and others shouldering massive rifles sent round after round into the heads of the enemy as gish warriors guarded their backs. The next instant, Allan was surrounded by a ring of chitinous scales; in reflex, Allan raised his arm to start attacking but was stopped by a familiar voice.
"I don't think that is very nice now, Allan?" Hilx'Nit said, smiling at Allan from his place in the ring of Galgaxians.
"Hilx'Nit, what are you doing here?" Allan said, looking out at the wave of humans purging the area of enemy combatants.
"It's the strangest thing; the God of the Jeglithin showed up and powered the gate for our jump to Earth, where we found Eddy and a brigade of Marines waiting on the Hamunaptra. We told them what was going on, so they started the process of jumping here, and once again, the same God appeared and told us to prepare; he would power the gate so we would get here at the right time. Made it so the gate had three days to do a direct jump here. We radioed to Earth and had the Banker Clan ship bring anyone else who wanted in, and then we jumped here." Hilx'Nit said, watching the brutal efficiency of the Marines in a world with no rules of engagement.
"It was the same for us." A new voice said, and suddenly every Galgaxian turned, leveling bladed weapons at the voice.
It was Allan's turn to intervene. "It's all right. I figured she would show up when you said it was the Jeglithin god. Kallanna, how are you? And what do you mean it was the same for you?"
"I am well, Allan, and it is High Queen Kallanna to you," Kallanna said with a smile and gestured to the sky where hundreds of Jeglithin passenger cruisers descended on the amphitheater. "Hastarvana arrived, showed himself to us for the first time, and asked us to help another mortal. When he mentioned your and Aly's names, I knew it was a sign. I gathered what forces I could, and Hastarvana powered a gate to get us here just in time. Myself and Hilx'Nit both arrived within minutes of each other. As soon as we got close to the planet, we recognized the Solstice and spoke with Nara. Just when we were about to go and secure the station, Jalla returned from the planet's surface and begged us to help you."
Hilx'Nit nodded. "We reworked our plans and immediately began transporting troops to the surface using the Hamunaptra and the Solstice. Then I gathered all the officers on board the Hamunaptra and came to provide honor guard to you and Xulgra."
Allan looked across the battlefield where Marines were going from enemy body to enemy body, putting a single round in the head just to make sure. "God, I love Marines."
"They are quite something," Hilx'Nit said, also looking at the scene. "Now, could someone please tell me what is going on?"
Over the next half hour, as Xulgra worked, golden light flowed between Aly, Elunitra, and himself. Allan stayed close, and the Marines helped the Jeglithin load the children onto the transports. Allan also explained what had happened. "...and that is when Elunitra said something to Xulgra, and he spoke back, then he used my mother's sacrifice to heal her body and drove a blade into Elunitra."
The last part of the story came out so mechanically that Hilx'Nit and Kallanna knew he was not prepared to elaborate further. Hilx'Nit turned to Xulgra. "What are you doing, my lord?"
Xulgra held up a hand for silence as he rearranged Enuitra's body to look like she was sleeping. Then he severed a final strand of golden light, taking it into his body. Elunitra's entire body rapidly became a clear statue of herself as he did this. "It is done. The Goddess Elunitra is no more. Behold Goddess Alyquinal."
The looks of shock on the faces of everyone close enough to hear him were interrupted by two things, the first being the sudden outpouring of golden light from Aly's body, and the last was the star of the Quillinar homeworld seeming to go dark.
