Finally, there he was.

No more games.

No more tricks.

Just me and him in the final confrontation we all knew was coming.

He may be lord of the skies, but I had the earth on my side. My face was stone, and my veins were steel. My eyes, fire and my heart, ice.

Auraceli looked up at me, and the storm flickered. His thunder softened into a silent rain. He opened his mouth, but no words fell out.

I screamed because of all this destruction, and all this pain. Now to end this back and forth. “AURACELI! LEAVE AND NEVER RETURN! I BANISH YOU FROM THE EARTH!”

The winds swallowed up my words, but I knew they hit their target. His face contorted, and in an instant everything stopped. There was no wind, rain, or lightning. We were in a little bubble in the heart of the viloent storm, an eye of calm.

Within a second, Auraceli was in front of me. His face was more hurt than I had ever seen it before. “Terra, my love. It was all for you, only for you.”

He grabbed my hand with this speech tenderly, but I ripped it out from his grasp. “No, no! You do not get to justify this. Do you know how many innocent people have died from this? The rains and floods went way too far. Stop this before the entire earth is destroyed!”

His eyes ignited with electricity once more as before. “Innocent? You really think they’re innocent? Terra, these humans are killing you more and more each day. I have watched day by day as you get mistreated, and day by day you lose a bit of your life. You’re fading away. They sucked out all your life, and in exchange they aren’t even grateful!”

I kept his gaze and hardened my voice. “ Auraceli listen here. Without me, they are nothing. I give them everything, so maybe I am losing life, but all my life has always been theirs. They are my children. I feed them, shelter them, and clothe their bodies. I will die to save them.”

Auraceli threw his arms up in exasperation. “At this rate, you will. I can’t stand by and watch the only love I’ve ever known throw her life away for ungrateful little parasites!”

The ground beneath us cracked and steam shot out from the earth. “It is not your decison. You are no longer welcome here. Return to the sky, and never return. I curse your name for the sake of my children.”

Auraceli looked defeated. He knew my mind was set, and he gave in. He whispered back, “And for your sake? What do you say of my name?”

I was lost for words. I still loved him, and he was right. He was right about everything. The humans were polluting my life force, but there was something Auraceli could never understand. I loved them too.

“Goodbye, Auraceli.”

Without another word he was gone.

***

His tears would still fall to the earth sometimes, and Terra would gather them up and let them soak deep into the earth. She would reach up to his realm just to be close, and the people always said these mountains were sacred. He dazzled her every night with millions of stars, and she reflected them back with her oceans.

No one has ever seen it, but it is said. That at the horizon they still meet. They embrace once more, but never for long. The earth and the sky can never be one, but they will love eternally.