Chapter 9
Akarra awoke to the sound of worried voices. Blearily, she opened her eyes. Every joint ached and her antennae throbbed with deep maroon lifelight and pain. Slowly and carefully, she sat up.
For a moment she didn’t remember where she was or what had happened.
Gathered around her was a collection of ... entities. She counted seventeen in total, each a glowing form of shifting, multi-colored light in the vague shape of a quartzian. They stood in a semi-circle around her, their faces showing their worry. As her memory returned, understanding dawned. These were the souls of the fallen Shardshapers who had preceded her: the Shardshapers who had fallen victim to the Heart Crystal and the lure its power had provided. Glancing around, she saw a pile of broken quartz where once the Heart Crystal had been. It wouldn’t hurt anyone else ever again.
She struggled to her feet.
“Careful, Sister,” a disembodied voice said from nearby. She looked up and her eyes met those of one of the glittering forms standing before her. “You received a tremendous blow to the head,” the spirit said.
Akarra lifted a hand to her head; she felt a crack there and sensed the fizzing lifelight that leaked out. She felt fortunate to be a quartzian; quartz was tough stuff. As she moved, she felt woozy, but it only lasted a moment or two. “I’ll be all right,” she said. “Thank you for your concern.”
“No,” the spirit said. “It is we who should be thanking you. You have freed us.”
Akarra glanced from spirit to spirit, suddenly feeling uncomfortable. Not from fear—the spirits did not seem to be malevolent in any way—but from being the focus of so much attention. It was overwhelming. “I freed you?”
“Yes,” another of the spirits said. “Long have we waited to be free. Sister, by destroying the Heart Crystal and the Heartshard you released us. We are forever in your debt.”
“The Heartshard is destroyed, as well?” Akarra asked. Thought of the shard left her feeling strangely naked without it.
“Yes,” a third voice said. “It was linked to the Heart Crystal. When the deathlight struck the Heart Crystal, the Heartshard overloaded and crumbled into dust.”
“I still don’t fully understand,” Akarra said. “What—”
“The Heart Crystal was a parasite,” another voice explained. “It fed on our lifelight; it held us prisoner; and changed us into Light-eaters while it did so. Now that it is gone we are free. And in your debt.”
“Yes,” another voice explained. “I was the first. I found the Heart Crystal in this cave during the Great Crystal Blight many grand cycles ago. It was surrounded by blight, but strangely unaffected by it. I tried to take a piece to examine and that is how it ensnared me—although I did not realize such until much later.”
“Where did the stela come from?” Akarra asked.
“That, I don’t know; it appeared sometime between my bonding and my death. I think it was part of the Heart Crystal organism and part of its curse, but I am not sure.”
Akarra felt a moment of uncertainty. “There is no Heartshard for me?” she said. “What am I to do now?” Her heart sank and her lifelights dimmed. “My whole life has been a preparation for a life path that is no longer open to me. I was meant to be Shardshaper. Now, I am purposeless.”
“Your life path must change,” it was Yridia’s voice. “Sister, you would have made a fine Shardshaper—the best in history—if not for the curse. Now, though, you must use what you have learned to find a new path.
“Go now in peace and love, and return to our people.”
Akarra glanced at the collapsed tunnel. Easier said than done, she thought. Moving over to the nearby pile of rubble she began to dig. It was slow, tiring work. But she was a quartzian; quartzians were strong and hardy. She set to with a fervor, tossing aside broken pieces of quartz, and clearing a pathway for herself.
She’d progressed some fifteen feet when she saw movement ahead of her. Someone was digging toward her.
“Akarra!” Thaygos’ voice was muffled but understandable. “Are you there?”
“I am here,” she called out, suddenly re-energized by the nearness of escape. She had to get out of this accursed hole!
Shortly, they cleared the final pieces of debris from her path and Thaygos stood before her. Suddenly, he lurched toward her and wrapped his arms about her in a warm hug; pink lifelight pulsed in his antennae. It was echoed in her own.
“What happened?” he asked after loosening his embrace, placing both hands on her shoulders, and holding her at a distance as if to study her. His antennae remained glowing.
“I’ll explain later,” she said. “Let’s just get out of here.”
They exited the tunnel and started the return journey home. Along the way, Akarra explained all that she understood of the Heart Crystal, its nature, and the fate she had so narrowly avoided.
“So, the Heart Crystal was ...” Thaygos began, looking as if she had just told him up was down.
“An evil parasite,” she completed for him. “And the Light-eaters were the imprisoned souls of former Shardshapers.”
“Unbelievable,” he said. “I never would have imagined it.”
“Me neither,” Akarra said.
He looked at her. His antennae showed different shades of grey: hesitation and doubt. The question he wanted to ask was clear on his face. But he failed to find the words.
She stopped. “I know what you are thinking,” she said. “I am no longer a Shardshaper and I am therefore free of the restrictions that office imposed upon me.”
“Then, you’ll consider ...” Thaygos began.
“I’m not sure,” Akarra said, hesitantly. “You have to understand, my whole life I’ve been preparing for my chosen life path. It was difficult and grueling, and it changed me forever. I will not be content to serve as merely an echo to your roar. I have learning and knowledge and skills. I have pride and dignity. Being your lifemate and only your lifemate will not be enough. I cannot let my past be wasted.”
“You do not wish to be my lifemate?” Thaygos asked, the deep maroon of pain dribbling from his antennae.
“I did not say that,” she said.
“Come, then. Join with me, my shinsin,” he said, drawing himself up to his full height. He thrust his chin out and held her with his gaze. “I shall call you Chieftain’s Wife and together we shall rule our people as one. Equals in rank and distinction, from now until our deaths.”
She looked at him warmly. She could not suppress the pink glow that emanated now from her whole body. That’s more like it, she thought, a challenge I can look forward to.
She wrapped an arm around Thaygos’ arm, and together they started the journey home.
The End
Prism Page 9