The First

by A. Claire Everward

  He took the black car, to let them know who was coming, to bring it right to their midst. He chose a random spot to park, got out of the car, and walked down the street toward the village hall, in plain sight, intending for them to see him. He wanted them to accept his presence, as a stepping stone for their ultimate acceptance of Aelia's presence among them. But as he walked among them they stepped back. And they looked at him, not so much in fear, although fear of sorts was there, in these people who knew the power of the Protector. What he saw were mainly curiosity and awe—the awe that comes with a title and with stories told over centuries.

  He let himself accept it. He would have to get used to it, he knew, to their reaction, to that powerful feeling that came with who he was. He would get used to it, and so would they, with time. When any fear would be gone, and only their confidence in their Protector would remain, as should be.

  He entered the village hall, an ancient building with doors that sensed his approach and opened before he came near. As he walked in he saw the telltale signs he'd learned to recognize, which showed that this structure was equipped with the Firsts’ security systems. He was pleased. He'd known the village was secure, but seeing indications of this himself made a difference.

  Here, in the village hall, he met with the woman who was called in this place the village elder, as the village did not have its own council. She'd been briefed before by Ahir several times, while Serena was being prepared, and had provided her support throughout the duration. But now Adam came himself, as a sign of respect, to let her know that the First was at Serena, that this was now their home.

  Later he walked through the village, getting to know it. He couldn't do this before, when he still wanted to avoid them knowing for certain through his presence who Serena was being prepared for. It was beautiful and quaint, and people here seemed at ease, friendly with one another. And at the same time, this place had everything. Every type of store, everything this village's residents might need. All understated, which did not surprise him.

  He saw the local market peeking down a small street to his right and headed there. He chatted up people and they opened up to him, soon more at ease around this imposing man who talked to them at eye level. Ahir was right, these were good people. But then Adam had heard that from Sonea, too. The way this village had accepted her, and the security detail that now lived here, too, them, the aircrew, their families, said a lot about its residents. True, this wasn’t their first time. After all, the Keeper had stayed in Serena. But still, this time they weren't just accepting the newcomers for a short visit. This small village, that had so far led a quiet, out of the way life, was welcoming their Light and Protector, and everyone they had brought with them here, for the long run, without reservation.

  When he finally left, he was impressed. This was a small community that had chosen to lead a quiet existence in this remote haven. Its way of life, although here too outwardly disguised to avoid detection by humans, was the way of life of the Firsts, and its eyes were on a future with the Light in it, a future that was now here. They would, he left here knowing, stand strong beside her.

  And then he brought Aelia there. A few days later, without first telling them. He didn’t want preparations, didn't want this to be out of the ordinary. He just wanted the villagers to meet their new neighbor, and Aelia to be able to visit the place feeling normal. Like everyone. Yes, he knew this could not, would never truly be, for both them and her. She was the First, their Light. She could walk among them as if she was one of them, but she would always be recognized for who she was. Still, a Light who walked among them was different from a Light who was kept hidden away, safely protected, on a pedestal in an ancient mansion. This was who she wanted to be for them, thinking she could do more to help them this way, and this had to start now.

  The day he chose was a cool, sunny market day. He parked out in the open, in front of the village hall this time. He got out of the car, and so did Aelia, looking around her curiously.

  “This way,” Adam said, and led her down the street and to the market. He walked beside her, alert to everyone, every move, every sound. But there was no danger here, he knew. So did she, and he was sensing this from her. Still, he never let down his guard. Nor did he tell her that the security detail, scattered, had had eyes on them since they entered the village. Not because of the Firsts who were its residents. They weren't the ones he was concerned about.

  She was liking this, he saw, pleased. She enjoyed walking in this picturesque village, in this lively market, almost like a normal person. Almost. She was surrounded by her people, by Firsts, and although she was calm and made every effort not to be noticeable, she, the Light, was felt. People stopped, gaped, took a respectful step back. No one spoke to her, no one knew what to say, how to behave. The First and the Protector beside her were awe-inspiring.

  Adam began to wonder how he could change this, make them relax and accept her presence, when a small child broke her father's hold on her hand and ran forward, skidding to a halt before them. The father ran after her and stopped a few feet away, hesitant, when the girl asked with the daring innocence of a child, “Are you the Light?”

  Aelia didn’t think twice before she kneeled down on one knee in front of her. “Yes,” she said softly, “I am.”

  And around them people began talking in low, awed voices at this admission that somehow made it all so much more real, and at the same time so much more possible to deal with. The father stepped forward and scooted the girl into his arms. “I apologize, Ma'am . . . First, she's young . . .” he said, his head bowed, the adult having learned to fear that which the child never would.

  The girl began to cry, squirming in his hands. “No, I want the light, there is no light.”

  Aelia smiled and stood up, understanding what this small child, who was too young to understand, thought and needed. And right there, in the middle of the market, not heeding the adults but only this child who must grow with the confidence her parents had not known when they were her age, she reached into herself. And as the village looked on, the presence of the Light within them changed, taking on a subtly more powerful edge, and they could see a soft, bright halo around her, growing, expanding, there in its gentlest form. The child laughed happily, clapping her small hands with delight, while the adults stood awed, their reverence high, too high.

  And then a squeal sounded, a delighted call, and Sonea pushed between them, an obedient Nolan immediately behind her, his arms full of shopping bags. Chattering excitedly, she took Aelia by the hand and pulled her through the crowd to show her the most delightful greenhouse berries she'd just found. Aelia, the Light receding, let herself be pulled, and it was this that broke the spell on the people around her, sending them back to their stands and their shopping, chatting happily about the amazing Light that had chosen to live among them.

  Adam followed, marveling. This might work after all. Perhaps, when it came to the First and her people, he should just let things be.

  Gradually, as it realized it could watch them from afar, Aeterna relaxed and settled into a routine in which the Light and the Protector still lived among the Firsts, but away from the fortress prepared for them. It soon found it no longer had an immediate role in the Light's protection, as the Protector ran Serena's security with uncanny preciseness, constantly changing and improving it. What they did for Aeterna, he did alone for Serena, but no one in Aeterna's control center was surprised. The Protector of the Light had turned out to be everything the stories said he would be, and more.

  As life at Serena settled down, both Aelia and Adam resumed learning what they would need to know, from those at Aeterna and others worldwide, from past records, and from that which was still revealing itself within her, for Aelia. But one other thing Adam never stopped doing was thinking about the organization. He never had the illusion that it would let go of its goals, the very reasons for its existence. He had no doubt it was regrouping, and knew what that would entail—getting rid of every
thing connected to Jennison, to him, to the failures, would not be easy. So he knew the Firsts were safe for a while. But he had no idea for how long, and when the hit would come. Or what it would be.

  And that worried him. The simple reality was that he didn't know anything about what the organization’s new plans might be, nothing but what his past with them taught him, and what little he heard from the bug in Rozner's office. Especially now, with the changes in the organization and, he feared, in its attitude toward the Firsts. And so he never stopped trying to anticipate what it would do.

  Because that was the one thing he was sure of. That the organization would step up its preparations against the Firsts. And that when the time came, it would hit.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Soft light played over Serena, waking up the life that gentle winter days have been bringing to it for millennia, undisturbed but for the evolution of nature itself. In her bed, Aelia opened her eyes, her brow furrowed. She tried to understand, tried to grasp what it was that she was sensing, what it was that was within her, had been whispering to her in the deep of her sleep. She moved the soft blanket covering her aside and got out of bed, reached for the short robe that lay at its edge and put it on. She walked to the window that opened at her command and looked out at the silent water rippling with the gentle breeze, at the shadow of mountains clad with first snow beyond it. In the peace around her, the frown never left her face.

  Something. Just beyond her reach.

  Restless, she turned and left the room. She walked down the stairs and crossed the living room, opened the glass doors and walked out. This would register in Serena's security system, she knew, but would not alarm Adam. He would already know she was awake and about, would know it even before the system registered it. He too was awake, had been since before this wintery dawn. Rested, she could feel. He never slept more than a few hours, but he slept well. This place, and her being within his reach, her protection safely in his hands, seemed to be giving him some peace, and he had gradually relaxed these past weeks as they settled into their new sanctuary. Awake before her most days, he would go downstairs, turn the coffeemaker on, and go running along the lake, in the peaceful dimness that precedes the life that comes with full light, and, returning, would take his coffee upstairs to the niche beside his bedroom. To observe Serena, she knew, and connect to Aeterna's systems and to those of the Firsts' communities worldwide. Until she awakened, and then he would come downstairs and start the morning with her, as he did every day.

  She left the doors open behind her and walked to the lake, unheeding the cold, and stood on its shore near the edge of the pier, her eyes gazing around her.

  Then closing slowly, as that which had roused her called to her from within. Turning inward she found herself standing alone, nothing around her but the Light, her form within it, head bowed, eyes closed. Not like then, no darkness now. She was the Light, and the darkness was no more.

  Beyond her that which had called her appeared, surrounding her. It was endless, stretching back into the past, boundless on all sides in the present. It rose, unchecked, unhidden, and suddenly she understood, knew what it was, could perceive that which the Light had concealed within it and not even her people knew, not even her past forms. Knew that which was rising beyond the Light within her, had been, gradually, insistently, for days now, strengthening, preparing her for what was to come, in this place, this peace, his protection, that had given her what she needed to contain it.

  Waiting.

  She reached out to it, beckoned. Let it be, I’m not afraid.

  And it came.

  That which had come from ages long gone, from a timeless, boundless existence, now swept through her, taking over. Powerful, insistent, it erupted within the Light, that fraction of itself it had sent before it and that for a time and more had been enough, until now when it finally wasn't, overwhelming her with its force and reaching beyond her, sending Serena itself into a foggy haze. But she was not aware of this, was not there anymore, her awareness now beyond time, beyond bounds.

  Around her all disappeared, replaced with an unfamiliar reality as it tried to tell her, warn her, as images chased one another, fast, faster until they crashed into her with staggering speed, hitting her with merciless vividness, as before her eyes the world itself came crashing down and reality escalated into pure chaos. She saw it all, saw destruction as it spanned the globe, her own life within it. She felt it all, as hope died with a feeble scream under a reign of hate and terror and oblivion, as the struggle for life grew desperate, as all the roads that must never be taken, were. She sensed it all, as hurt increased and swept the land, as the collapse became unstoppable. She stood helpless at the overpowering sights and sensations of it all, until the images came in which humanity fell, the Firsts alongside it, just before she herself crashed, falling into an endless abyss where the images, mercifully, stopped.

  Inside the cottage, all screens went black as the most advanced system in existence could no longer register anything beyond the staggering potency of the energy that was interfering with it. But Adam wasn't seeing this. He was already running out to where he knew she was, toward the lake, through the soft haze that appeared all around him, that was growing thicker, brighter, with every step he took toward her. She was alone, he knew, no one had come anywhere near Serena, but whatever was happening was hurting her, overwhelming her, drawing from her inconceivable amounts of energy.

  He sprinted toward her, his heart racing, afraid, terrified for her. From afar it looked like the Light was around her, the same Light he had seen emanate from her in the past, but it did not feel the same, and there was a new quality to it, a deeper essence, reverberating in it, dominating it, crushing powerfully against him, so that he had to put every effort into continuing, pressing on, not giving into that which was beyond even his abilities. It felt foreign, was just beyond his reach, as if he could not fully perceive it, as if his mind could not fully comprehend what he was sensing.

  He couldn't see her inside this new Light but it didn’t matter. He saw her as only he could. He pressed on, feeling its staggering strength, feeling it on his skin even as he could feel it inside him. As powerful as it was, as foreign as it was, he could feel the parts in it that were the Light he knew, could easily connect to that part of her that was always within him, just as that new essence of the Light that was so much more potent threatened to overwhelm him, as if for it the Protector was nothing to behold, as if it only regarded her, was only her. But all senses of it washed only fleetingly through the back of his mind, and were just as quickly crunched by his fear for her. Without hesitation, without even considering that anything would dare try to stop him from getting to her, he crushed through it and reached her.

  And the Protector could see what she saw, see as if he was looking through her eyes, see without the force of it, without the sensations she was shielding him from, absorbing them all herself. At first he could not understand what he was seeing, felt like someone walking into a story too far into it, tried to grasp what—

  And then it hit him. What her eyes were telling him, what her heart was telling him, what she was crying out to him in his name. And as the newly arisen Light within her finally ebbed, slowly withdrawing from Serena around him, disappearing back deep into her, now forever one with her, and as she collapsed, drained, and he caught her, cradled her in his arms, he understood.

  The sun came up and the clouds made way for it to warm life in Serena below, help it recover from what had transpired under its skies only hours before. It was already high up and contemplating starting on its path to the end of the day when Aelia finally regained consciousness in her bed. She sat up and looked around her, as if trying to orient herself, to ensure that she was here, now. She remembered it all, up to the moment the last of her strength was drained and then it all disappeared. She knew what happened, knew what it meant, what she was, the Light as was never before that was now within her.

  The Light was stab
le now, although she was still weak. She breathed in deeply. It would take a while for her to regain her strength, and even more time until she could safely use that which she now was, but it would be so. She got out of bed slowly, and walked to the window. Stood looking outside, her eyes on the spot she had stood in earlier that day.

  “You saw,” she said softly.

  On the edge of her bed, Adam continued to gaze at her for a long moment. Finally he got up and came to stand close beside her, his silence a confirmation.

  She felt no fear, and not a shadow of a doubt or question. It was as it should be, and it would be as foretold. She now knew why. Why her, why now. Why this Light. Knew the purpose, the part only she could play in it.

  And in the future of life in this world, in this era that the Light, so much more than anyone had known, had chosen to return in.

  “What now?” the Protector asked.

  The First stood tall, looking at an unseen horizon. “Now we save them.”

  End of Book One

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