#kirajoy

[tiptoesims]

wilted daisies | part 3 | sacrifice

His body was waning.

But he was making strides.

The screams of his enemies surrounded him as he shot a quick gaze toward Tess.

She still held the portal-blocking spell.

And with every enemy that rushed him, another stood in front of the spellcaster to protect her.

But he had a single-minded focus to reach her, and he would not be denied.

His extraordinary gift with wards was the only reason he still stood, and he’d learned over the years how to turn them into weapons. His shield would block, then capture the spells thrown at him, so that he could shove them into the face of his attacker. It was a gory, brutal power that threw the spell back with double the power while cocooning the unfortunate soul in the ward that quickly grew smaller and smaller until it crushed the body within.

Unless you could break the ward, there was no escape.

He’d thrown out six of those already, and he was drained.

Two werewolves were on him now, their massive claws ripping into his stomach and chest, but he kept on. A quick dodge thanks to elemental air magic and one beast took care of another by ripping off his friend’s head. That was a close one.

Enraged, the surviving werewolf charged him. Morrow stumbled and fell to the ground, but quickly turned that to his advantage by spelling a rock with a nice little bomb. One throw later and he was dodging beast guts.

But then blue fire was flying his way. Bad idea, hadn’t the spellcaster been paying attention? Or did the man think Morrow was running on empty? Sucks to be that dude, he’d clearly never met a man fighting for his child’s life.

The flames engulfed the man and his friend, at least the ward encasing them muted the horrifying screams.

Bodies were everywhere, and Morrow felt raw and empty as he stumbled, fighting consciousness. He would have fallen to the ground if not for the boulder beside him.

A boulder hiding Elsie.

Tess, alone now, moved forward with a smile, “At last, we are alone.”

He coughed, and blood poured from his mouth, “You went-” He had to pause to cough, “ -to a lot of trouble for little ole’ me.”

His voice was so weak that he was amazed she could even hear him.

“Ah, but you are the Sages Left Hand, you are worth the trouble, dear boy.”

Her voice was beautiful, a haunting melody that drew you into her very dark web.

He smirked, weakly, and only for a second, but it was there.

Her brow arched, “Arrogant, even now? I’ve heard of your hubris, surely by now you find it misplaced.”

But she was wrong. His every action this night had been for Elsie, and now, with Tess focused on him, and building sickening green magic in her hands, she was not thinking about blocking portal spells.

The repeating spell he’d placed on Elsie’s crystal would cycle through soon enough. if it already hadn’t, and she would be taken to safety. That was all he cared about.

Everything inside him calmed, as relief filled his entire being.

He’d done the impossible, he’d survived a horrifying attack that would have taken out most before half the enemies were down.

His baby girl was safe.

He could rest now.

But Kira.

His eyes closed for one moment as he let the image of her beautiful face fill his mind. He could have sworn, as he swayed and struggled to remain alert, that he heard her laughter, saw her smile before him, and smelled the fresh citrus scent she always wore. Was that her arms around him? No, he was getting delusional, but oh how he longed for her touch even now.

But Hedy.

He saw her cocky smirk, something she got from him. Heard her overly-confident little voice explaining her latest science experiment, saw her shoving wild curls off her face with annoyance.

Heartache nearly smothered him as he forced his eyes open.

Eyes that were clouded with pain and death.

“I’m the best there is, haven’t you heard?” Came his weak reply as he staggered toward the green haired witch. He needed to keep her distracted, just in case. Until he was one-thousand percent sure Elsie was gone.

But his knees gave out before he reached her.

The pain & blood loss so great he could not hold himself up any longer.

That’s when he heard the worst, and most beautiful, sound of his life.

“Daddy?”

His feeble head jerked up until he met eyes as blue as her mother’s.

He was horrified at the sight of her.

Without another thought, with more energy than he realized was still in his possession, Morrow threw out his hand and sent out a shield to her as Tess reared back with a spell that, for all he knew, would decimate his child.

“Go!” He screamed with a voice too raw to hold much power.

With everything he had, Morrow wrapped her in a protective ward that would allow escape.

His body fell hard onto the ground.

He had nothing left to give, knowing he’d sacrificed his last chance of escape for the child he would give a thousand lives for.

He heard the portal.

He heard Elsie’s scream of denial.

He heard Tess rage and curse his child’s escape.

Dark twisting magic slammed into his head with a crushing pain that stripped him of all that he was on this earth.

And as death gently called, promising rest for his warrior’s soul, Morrow smiled.

[tiptoesims]

"& as someone whose work always depended on grants, I am 100% on the Quintyn team." "I don't think they actually argue over it. You just like to bring it up bc you don't like Nixie." "Don't trust her." "She's a good-ish person." A snort, "'ish' is the important part there."

[tiptoesims]

He felt anguish over how much he was depending on her. Hedy may have very strong magic, but the only thing she cared about was Keck.

Elsie loved everything about magic, & cultivated her gift every day.

He needed her to keep Kira & Hedy safe. Their lives could depend on it.

[tiptoesims]

Morrow arched a brow at the mention of his friend, "What did the dolphin do?"

"He wouldn't stop splashing him! You know Keckie hates the ocean, he's a space baby!"

Kira walked in with a chuckle, "It's been an adventurous day from start to finish that's for sure."

[tiptoesims]

"Kira-" "Are we going to have a fight with our family behind us? You know sound travels over the water."

He glared at her. "This isn't over."

"Well, you know how I like you to try & change my mind."

He bit his cheek to stop the smile, "Kira-"

[tiptoesims]

Mele stood at the edge of the ocean, watching her husband's ashes be swept away by the wind & water he'd loved so dearly.

How was she going to go on, alone, with the twins? How could Alika leave her so soon?

[tiptoesims]

Siobhan was excited to arrive home early for the first time in... well, longer than she could remember! She was trying to make more of an effort, Watcher knows her workaholic soul was truly struggling to balance marriage, motherhood, and work.

[tiptoesims]

Meanwhile, at the Yamazaki home...

[tiptoesims]

Ruran Kinghart, battle-hardened & retired, was recruited by bribery & calling in debts he owned to Headmaster Bakshi. The grumbling spellcaster now teaches all ages at Harnocks the proper way to Defend themselves against enemy magic.

Most students are terrified of him.

[tiptoesims]

Daphne Valerian, Herbology teacher, is a hybrid plant sim/spellcaster who has been teaching at Harnocks for well over a century.

She's known for being a bit kooky, very absent-minded, & always lost in daydreams of plants! 🌱

[tiptoesims]

Marvin Mudcrab, Transfiguration, is as erratic as they come! In the middle of teaching he will become a lamp, then appear across the room mumbling about spies.

Rumors of his retirement have been circling for a decade, but most say that as long as Daphne is here, so will he be.

[tiptoesims]

Tomax & Grace Collette, they've been friends since their own days at Harnocks, & moved in together when both accepted teaching positions.

Now, nearly a decade later, he teaches Spellcaster History while she handles Charms, & they are married with a beautiful little boy.

[tiptoesims]

It was like a stab in the heart for Elsie. But her pride was too great to let Hedy know how much those words had cut. So she plastered on a big bright smile and rolled her eyes, "Whatever, /sis/, now get outta my room with your sour attitude!"

[tiptoesims]

I'll leave you with Hedy having epic space dreams!

[tiptoesims]

Hedy really did walk around the party for the ENTIRE time like this 🤣 She was cracking me up! & every whim was for her homework for some 'nerdy' thing lolol, I love her so much!

[tiptoesims]

Zale like 'so I CANT smoke in here? right?'

Sota is in the back keeping an eye on him bc not one parent trusts this weed and Watcher knows what else smelling thing walking around their children!