Heartlight

by T.A. Barron

  Ariella’s round eyes shone softly. “Trust, Kate. Trust in yourself.”

  Then the memory of the Sage of Sauria returned, and Kate heard again her final words: If you trust in the Pattern, you trust in yourself. And if you trust in yourself, your voice holds all the power of truth.

  Bravely, she turned to face the spot in the darkened clouds where she imagined Grandfather now stood.

  XVII

  Grandfather’s Choice

  Grandfather studied what little remained of his ring. But he found no comfort, only the painful memory of the loved one he had lost.

  “We must act!” thundered the Voice. “Will you join us?”

  “I will help you,” said Grandfather, speaking slowly and deliberately. “I will do as you wish. But first, I need you to answer just one last question. Before I go out of the universe altogether, I must understand. Forgive me, but I am still a scientist.”

  “What is your question?” the impatient Voice demanded.

  “I am troubled by just one thing. If you continue to live forever, because of my heartlight—”

  “And if you delay any longer, I will collapse and die! I will perish absolutely!”

  “Yes, I know,” continued Grandfather, thinking hard. “Just answer this question, and my heartlight is yours. Tell me why, if you continue to live forever, is not your energy displacing some other life in the universe? If energy is conserved, not destroyed—”

  “Nonsense!” boomed the Voice, with such force that the globe jolted and Grandfather lost his balance for an instant. “You are asking for a class in the last eight billion years of developments in physics. I cannot answer your question in the time left to us. We may already be too late!”

  “Prancer!” scolded Ratchet’s raspy voice. “Didn’t I teach you to overcome your doubts in order to pursue the truth? Haven’t you learned anything about the way science works? Put your questions aside. We will deal with them later.”

  “All right. All right. No more questions.”

  “You are very wise, Doctor Miles Prancer,” said the Voice in its most soothing tone. “Great scientist that you are, you will appreciate the most fundamental fact of all. This is an issue of life against death! Do you side with life, or do you side with death?”

  At last, Grandfather’s mind was clear. “I side with life, Great Star. With your life and the life of my lost Kaitlyn.”

  He drew in a deep breath, and opened his arms to the swelling mists. “I am yours, Trethoniel! You can take my heart—”

  “No!” cried a young girl’s voice from far away. “Grandfather, don’t do it!”

  He dropped his arms. “Kaitlyn!” he called, tears filling his eyes. “Kaitlyn, you’re alive! You’re alive!”

  “Yes, Grandfather! I am alive. Don’t do it, Grandfather. Don’t listen to the Voice! Remember the music we heard … That is the true voice of—”

  “Stop!” roared the Voice, with a force that rocked the globe and sent Grandfather sprawling backward. “Do not listen to that voice! It is not her, but an imposter! It is the voice of the Enemy!”

  “It doesn’t feel like an imposter,” objected Grandfather as he struggled to get back up. “It feels like Kaitlyn!”

  “It is the Enemy!” bellowed the Voice. “It is the voice of Death! Do not allow your longing to obscure your reason! Give me your heartlight now!”

  Grandfather’s turmoil swelled until he felt like he would explode. “What do I do?” he cried into the churning clouds.

  “Give us your heartlight!” commanded Ratchet. “Do it now!”

  “Don’t do it, Grandfather!” came the voice of Kate, shrill and urgent. “The Voice doesn’t value any life but its own. It’s destroying the Sun, just to feed itself.”

  “That is a lie!” roared the Voice. “Do not believe the Enemy! Give me your heartlight before it is too late!”

  “Don’t do it, Grandfather!” cried Kate, straining to reach him telepathically. She leaned against the Nurse Crystal for support. “Don’t—”

  At that instant, she started coughing. The terrible coldness was coming back, creeping into her heartlight. She felt a dark and evil force reaching deep into her chest, squeezing, squeezing hard.

  “What’s happening?” screamed Ariella in fright. “Kate! Kate! What’s happening to you?”

  Smash! The great dome was rocked by a gigantic blow, like a terrible earthquake.

  “The Darkness!” exclaimed the Nurse Crystal. “It’s trying to break through the dome!”

  Smash!

  The terrible tail of The Darkness slammed violently into the dome, and the vibrations nearly knocked Kate and the Nurse Crystal to the ground. Pieces of jagged green crystal showered on them from above.

  Then Ariella screamed in terror and pointed to the dome. The electric red eye was scanning them through a crack in the crystal.

  But Kate did not look up. She was struggling with another foe—an invisible foe.

  “Grandfather!” she choked, trying desperately to keep herself from coughing. “Follow your heart!”

  She fell to one knee. “Follow the Pattern!” she cried before another spasm of coughing made her collapse to all fours.

  “Grand—” she began, when another blow exploded overhead, cutting her off. A gigantic crack appeared in the dome, and the tip of the deadly tail began to probe inside.

  Suddenly, Kate felt very dizzy. She couldn’t breathe anymore without coughing. Her face was on the floor and the world was going dark.

  With her last ounce of energy, she pulled herself back into consciousness. It was all she could do to send one final message to Grandfather. She was too weak to wonder whether it would ever reach him. She coughed savagely, then fell totally silent.

  “Give me your heartlight before it is too late!”

  “Don’t do it, Grandfather!” called Kate, sounding weaker than before.

  The old man was completely torn. “Dear God!” he exclaimed. “What should I do?”

  “Grandfather!” cried Kate’s voice, suddenly stronger again. “Give your heartlight to the star! Do as the Voice tells you!”

  “Kaitlyn!” he screamed into the whirling winds. “Are you now saying I should give up my heartlight?”

  “Yes!” came the response, clear and strong. “The other voice was just an imposter! I am alive, Grandfather, but not for long! Give your heartlight to the star and I will survive!”

  Now Grandfather knew exactly what to do. “Trethoniel!” he declared. “I give you my—”

  Then a different voice halted him.

  “No!” cried another Kate, sounding much weaker this time. “That’s not my voice. That’s an imitation. Grandfather, please … Follow your heart.”

  With all his concentration, Grandfather listened to the competing voices. “Kaitlyn! Kaitlyn!” he cried, tears streaming down his cheeks. “Which voice is yours? Give me a sign!”

  “Save me, Grandfather,” called the stronger Kate, beginning to choke with coughing. “Save us all before it’s too late!”

  “Follow your heart, Grandfather. Follow the Pattern,” pleaded the weaker Kate, now barely audible.

  “Give us your heartlight now!” bellowed the Voice.

  “Give us your heartlight!” echoed Ratchet.

  “Save me! Save us all!” screamed the stronger Kate.

  “Follow the Pattern …” whispered the weaker Kate.

  Grandfather’s face twisted in pain. He closed his eyes, trying desperately to concentrate.

  “Save me! Save us all!” cried one Kate.

  “Follow the …” began the other Kate, before fading away entirely.

  Grandfather strained to hear the final words of the weaker Kate. But no more words came. He could hear nothing but the wailing winds. Then, in the far, far distance, he heard a small voice whisper hoarsely:

  All praise to thee my Lord this night …

  “Make your choice!” roared the Voice. “Make it now!”

  The winds screamed. Grandf
ather opened his eyes. He lifted his arms high above his head, and cried: “I choose the Pattern! I choose love! And I love you, Kaitlyn! I love you with all my heart!”

  XVIII

  Revenge of The Darkness

  A blinding flash of light seared the starscape. Thunder and electricity erupted everywhere. Crystals cracked, then dissolved into nothingness; mists sizzled and exploded with luminous lightning. The great cape of colored gases began to whirl about itself in a storm of devastating frenzy.

  “Fool!” cried the Voice above the din. “Mortal fool! You have doomed us all!”

  Wild winds lashed Grandfather. A floating crystal burst just above him, pelting the globe with flying fragments.

  “Oh, my God,” he moaned. “What have I done?”

  “You have destroyed me!” screamed the Voice. “You have destroyed me and all of my works!”

  “Prancer, you idiot,” called the strained voice of Ratchet. “I sacrificed so much—and for what? For nothing! All because of you. You and that—”

  His words were cut off by a wave of explosions that originated deep within Trethoniel itself. The raging surface of the star shook violently, sending blazing towers of fire in all directions.

  “I can survive no longer,” called the Voice, now barely audible above the great cacophony. “But if Death the Enemy takes me, it will also take—” A new wave of explosions buried the Voice’s last words.

  At that instant, the globe began to vibrate. The intensity grew and grew until it shook so violently that Grandfather fell on his side. Suddenly, it exploded into tiny pieces, hurling him into space.

  “Hellllp!” His scream was swallowed by the shrieking winds.

  As the clouds crackled with electricity, Grandfather spun madly downward toward Trethoniel. Helplessly he flailed as the forces of wind and fire tossed and bounced him. All about him the majesty of the star was disintegrating. Down, down he tumbled, faster every second, toward the seething surface of Trethoniel.

  “Forgive me, Kaitlyn!” he cried.

  A jagged blast of lightning ripped across the sky, illuminating everything.

  Just then Grandfather glimpsed something breaking through the clouds. Torn by the angry winds, the object bobbed like a kite crafted of luminescent paper. Closer and closer it came, fighting vigorously against the storm.

  “Orpheus!”

  “I am coming!” called the butterfly, his powerful wings beating furiously.

  With a swoop, Orpheus dove underneath him and gradually slowed his fall. Grandfather embraced the sleek, strong body and felt the rhythmic beating of the great wings, wings that flashed with the light of ten million prisms.

  “Orpheus, you’re back!”

  The long antennae waved happily in response. “The Pattern has returned, and so have I.”

  Grandfather looked at his ring. The remaining slice of a wing was glowing again, pulsing with its old iridescence.

  Another flash of lightning illuminated the starscape.

  “Where is Kaitlyn?” cried Grandfather above the whirling winds.

  Like a meteor, Morpheus sailed through the gaping hole in the great green dome that had once shielded Broé San Sauria from all intruders. As he scanned the scene below, he saw instantly there was no time to spare.

  The Darkness had condensed its anti-light into a writhing body, whose blackness was broken only by the glowing red eye at one end. Slithering across the floor like a monstrous serpent of the void, it left behind the shattered bodies of three Nurse Crystals who had dared to stand in its way. Victims of the terrible tail, the smashed crystals lay in jagged pieces, their light forever extinguished.

  Only one Nurse Crystal, Ariella’s mother, still survived. Like a sturdy tree planted firmly in the soil of its birthplace, the Nurse Crystal stood as the last barrier between The Darkness and its ultimate prey: the girl who lay sprawled on the floor behind her. Morpheus realized with horror that Kate’s motionless form lay completely unprotected, except for the lone Nurse Crystal and another much smaller crystal who was shielding Kate’s face.

  “Ariella!” cried her mother, not daring to take her eyes off the deadly tail that was coiling again to strike. “Get away from here. The Darkness will destroy you, just like the others.”

  “I won’t go,” answered Ariella. “Not without you. Not without Kate!”

  “All we can do is hold off The Darkness as long as we can. If the Pattern has been restored, The Darkness will start losing strength. I only pray it happens soon—before we’re all destroyed.” Quickly, the Nurse Crystal glanced to the rear, and her deep silver eyes met Ariella’s. “I love you, my child, and nothing will ever change that.”

  Suddenly the tail of The Darkness lashed out, and the air crackled with negative energy. At the same time, Ariella’s mother stretched herself like a massive cloak, her long arms shielding Ariella and Kate.

  Craaaack! With a searing explosion, the deadly whip came crashing down directly into the Nurse Crystal. She burst into pieces, sending up a flare of white light so brilliant that it stunned The Darkness momentarily.

  The dark creature quivered for an instant, dissipating slightly. Then, with a flash of its red eye, it solidified again and started to coil its tail once more.

  Morpheus blasted into battle. His wings accelerated to all-out speed, despite the injury from his last encounter with The Darkness. He would not be out-raced again. Either this creature would know the pain of death—or Morpheus would himself.

  The evil eye of The Darkness, sizzling with negativity, pulsed with rage as it prepared to strike the final blow. To the extent The Darkness perceived thoughts of any kind, it was unified and propelled by a single idea: revenge. Gathering every last shred of its destructive powers, the gargantuan tail coiled itself tightly for the attack.

  Then the tail released, slashing through the air toward the helpless body of Kate. Ariella stood as tall as she could, stretching her arms wide as her mother had done. But she could only hope to shield a tiny fraction of the target.

  Craaaack!

  Morpheus flew directly into the evil eye, as an explosion of negative lightning ripped the air.

  The force of the direct hit knocked the tail slightly off course, and it crashed to the floor just wide of Kate and Ariella. Chunks of green crystal fell from above, shaken loose by the impact.

  The Darkness shuddered, as if a mighty sword had sliced through its brain. Then a wave of distant explosions, so powerful that they shook the entire planet of Nel Sauria, reverberated inside the green dome. The Darkness released a deep and painful rumbling, a sound so low it was beyond all pitch.

  Slowly, the threads of negative energy binding The Darkness together began to loosen, and its body began to dissipate. The raging red eye flared in pain and then started to fade steadily, while a web of negative energy crackled around it. The tail, motionless at last, grew rapidly thinner.

  Morpheus fell to the floor with a thud, his wings badly torn. Weakly, he crawled away from The Darkness and toward Kate.

  At that instant, she opened her eyes. The first sight she saw was the red eye glowing hatefully.

  “Help!” she shrieked, rolling over to her side.

  “You’re safe now, Kate,” said a familiar melodic voice. “The Darkness has lost its power.”

  “Morpheus! You’re back!” Still groggy, Kate sat up and hugged the neck of the great butterfly. “I’m so glad you’re here!” She glanced fretfully at the evaporating form of The Darkness and shivered. “Are you sure we’re safe?”

  “Kaitlyn!” called a new voice from high above her head.

  “Grandfather!” she answered, seeing him sailing through the cracked crystal dome.

  As Orpheus settled to the floor, the old man slid from his perch and ran to her. Kate quickly clambered to her feet.

  “Thank you,” whispered Grandfather, as he stroked her braid lovingly. “Thank you and bless you.”

  “You heard me,” cried Kate happily. “You really heard me!”
r />   “Yes,” laughed Grandfather. “And so did the star.”

  Suddenly, Kate’s eyes fell upon the hunched figure of Ariella, bending over her mother’s shattered body. Instantly the joy of their reunion melted away. She pulled free of Grandfather’s embrace and darted over to her.

  Taking the weeping snow crystal in her arms, Kate viewed the ghastly remains of the Nurse Crystal who had restored her life—and her hope. For a while she said nothing, as her own tears mingled with Ariella’s.

  Gently, she set down the small crystal, whose soulful eyes were saturated with pain. “I’m so—”

  Craaaack!

  With a flash of negative energy, the fading tail of The Darkness raised itself once again. Sensing Kate’s presence, it slithered swiftly toward her, searing the very air as it moved.

  “Run!” cried Grandfather.

  Kate instantly leaped to the side, but Ariella, still immersed in her grief, did not move.

  From out of the shadows, a small form rushed to Ariella and pushed her aside, just a split second before the tail smashed violently on the very spot where she had been standing.

  Kate turned to see who had saved her. “Spike!” she cried, amazed to see him alive again. “It’s you!”

  The columnar crystal bowed awkwardly, due to the portion of his base that was missing.

  “That’s the bravest thing you’ve ever done,” said Ariella, eyeing him thankfully.

  “Let’s not get carried away,” he replied. “It takes a lot of bravery just to hang around you, even for a few minutes.”

  Ariella’s misty eyes almost smiled.

  At that instant, The Darkness crackled and stirred once again. Kate, Ariella, and Spike backed away quickly as the tail, now a thin version of its former self, rose straight up into the air. It hung there for a moment, swaying from side to side, as if it were shaking an angry fist at its conquerors.

  Then it fell to the floor, leaving a thin trail of darkness in its wake. It lay there, quivering slightly, as it faded into nothing more than a transparent veil. For an instant, only the red eye of The Darkness remained, glowing feebly. Finally, with a sizzling sound, it disappeared completely.