Asking for Help

A Tale of Ace Gallagher Short from Book #3
by Jill D'Entremont

“Please,” Dorian shut his eyes as the words escaped his lips as a whisper. “Please give me the wisdom to do what is right, and the strength to be able to do it. I’m... scared. I know I shouldn’t be, but you know my past failings. I want to do what is right. I want to do what is expected of me–but I want to do what you want me to do above all."

The prince lifted his face to the ceiling of the chamber, though his eyes remained closed. “And if something does happen to me–if I fail, please, help me to know who should take my place–”

“What are you doing?”

Dorian leapt on hearing a voice, and he quickly turned his good eye toward the sound.

Ace stood across the room, watching as the prince remained on his knees before the burning pedestal.

“Asking for help.” Dorian admitted softly, admittedly thankful to see a friend.

Ace’s brows lowered and he stepped closer, albeit carefully. “From who?”

“Alphega.”

He refocused his eyes on the fire. “Wait, is that the fire?”

“The fire is a symbol.” Dorian turned back to the flame. 

“I know that–I mean, this is it–this is the eternal fire all the stories talk about.” Ace took a step forward, only to hesitate at the edge of the crimson and gold carpet that surrounded the pedestal.

"You can come closer," Dorian said simply.

He blinked and cautiously stepped up to Dorian, passing through thin strands of moonlight that painted the floor between each column. His worn boots and simple tunic seemed out of place in such an area of reverence, but as he refocused his eyes to the pedestal, he was drawn, almost mesmerizingly, to the fire. There was nothing for it to consume, and yet it burned steadily above the smooth top of the pedestal.

“How is it doing that?” Ace mused, still lingering behind Dorian. “Burning without anything to burn?”

“It is the Eternal Fire of Alphega,” the Kalgaran’s eyes glimmered in the light. “It needs no earthly source.”

“Hm,” Ace hummed.

“How much do you know about Alphega’s sacrifice?” Dorian glanced at Ace out of the corner of his eyes.

He shrugged. “Whatever my mom told me. He died to reunite humanity with him, and he made the fire as a sign of eternal life.” Ace paused to bite his lip. “I never understood why she believed it all.”

“Why is that?”

The Daethen’s eyes narrowed on the flame. “With everything that happened to her, everything she went through, I would have given up on a god long ago.”

“Sometimes, the times you feel the farthest are the times you are the closest.”

“That doesn’t make any sense.” Ace raised an eyebrow.

“Well, right now,” Dorian rested his hands in his lap, “I feel helpless and lost. I feel inadequate to lead. I’m afraid of failing again, and afraid of doing something that would jeopardize all of the trust everyone has placed on me.” He let out a deep breath. “But, despite it all, I know Alphega is here with me. I know he can provide what I need. I know he can bring comfort.”

“So, what if you weren’t here with the fire?”

Despite Ace’s impudence in the matter, a smile was tugging on the prince’s lips. “No matter where we are, if we need help, all we need to do is ask. Being in the presence of the fire is more of an aid.”

Ace frowned and turned back to the fire. “I guess I just have a hard time wrapping my brain around it all. It’s not that it doesn’t make sense, it’s just… I don’t know.” Ace stepped up to Dorian and crossed his arms. "You lost your parents, your eye, and your country–and you still follow Alphega?"

“Of course I do,” Dorian answered plainly. “What I lost helped me gain what I have now: time to grow up and out of my anger and disappointment in myself; a second chance now that I’m older and wiser; and some of the best people I’ve ever met.” His smile widened as he met Ace’s eyes. “You may see my past and say ‘what bad luck,’ but I can look at it and think ‘what good luck that I was led to meet someone like you’.”

This finally broke Ace’s hardening exterior. He looked down at the ground with a stunned expression on his face.

“So,” Dorian tilted his head, “Where have you really ended up?”

Ace pressed his lips together. “I’m here.”

“Yeah.”

“After everything that’s happened… I didn’t die on the streets, I didn’t die from my adopted dad, I didn’t die from a curse… and I guess I met you and stuff too.”

“‘And stuff,’” Dorian managed a smirk as he repeated Ace’s words.

“Well, obviously I’m glad to know you, and Athena, and Mioko and Raeya… But James, my brother… he was the best human being I’ve ever known.”

“I’m hurt,” Dorian clenched his chest.

“If you knew James, you’d agree too,” Ace shot him a playful sneer. “I wish I knew where he was, if he’s even still alive…” He shook his head, the smile fading.

“You should pray about it.”

“And that will work?”

“It never hurts to ask for help.” Dorian let out a deep breath. "Ultimately, if Alphega is who I trust in, I will be led where I need to go, no matter what the world may do around me.”

The gambler nodded, his eyes straying back to the flame. He turned his friend’s words over and over in his head. “And yet,” he offered carefully, “despite all that, you just said you feel helpless and lost.”

“Yep.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m human. Despite knowing Alphega can be trusted completely, I still struggle. I still get scared.” Dorian’s eyes slid down to the carpet. “That’s not a reflection of Alphega, but my own weakness.”

Ace still had questions, but at this moment, he couldn’t fish any of them out. He didn’t need to. Not now.

He slowly bent down and got to his knees beside Dorian.

His friend glanced over at him, surprised at first. But as he studied Ace’s thoughtful expression, his tensed frame relaxed.

The two smiled and turned back to the flame.