Issa tried to be strong and wiped away the tears her mother asked her not to shed.
‘Blessed Woetala set her spirit free,’ said her father. ‘Our beloved goddess has awoken and now all is set right, all is made whole. Eritara and my baby’s spirit are free, so you must not cry for them.’
‘I will try,’ Issa swallowed hard.
‘She said something more, something very specific. She said your grandmother, Belledyn, managed to negotiate a small gift—a settling of unresolved issues, so she put it—and that you needn’t grieve anymore. She said you would know this gift when it happened, and you will know joy again.’
Issa looked up at her father, but his expression was mostly hidden behind his blindfold.
‘In all these years I’ve been without her, now I can find joy in her passing,’ he whispered.
Issa nodded, allowing a little joyous lightness in. She wiped her cheeks and composed herself as she turned to Ekem and Ata, trying to be the Raven Queen they knew her to be.
‘You fought most nobly, and it gladdens me greatly to see your race still with us,’ said Issa, feeling it from the bottom of her heart.
The Saurians dipped their heads respectfully. ‘As did you humans. We’re honoured to have fought beside you for the good of all. We come with a message from great Hallanstaryx. A pact has been sealed between us in the shared blood we shed in battle. The Saurians are ready to begin new relations with your race on better, equal terms.
‘Our numbers are few, but the Oracle has seen our future, and for the first time in millennia it is a prosperous one. She knew you would bring the war to us and in you she saw the end of endings—but there was the smallest chance of surviving. Should we survive, a new world unlike anything else before it would unfold. Her visions have not been wrong.’
Issa remembered everything the snake queen had said to her which was then echoed by Woetala. The end of endings. It’s cryptic, as goddesses are wont to be, but does she mean we will not die? It was too much to grasp, too much to believe. She shook her head.
‘Then let us enjoy a world unlike any before it,’ Issa smiled, not knowing what else to say.
‘That would please our Oracle very much,’ said Ata. ‘We hope you will visit us. Our lands appear to be flourishing in ways we had not foreseen. It is already quite beautiful.’
‘I promise I will come one day soon,’ said Issa.
The Saurians turned and bowed to Morhork before they climbed up the dragon’s back into the harness.
‘I never thought you’d wear one of those,’ said Issa.
Morhork snorted and scowled, showing a little of his old self. ‘It was a last resort. Dragons and Saurians are making alliances, and the seat needs modifying for them.’
Issa chuckled and Asaph rubbed his chin to hide his smile. Morhork turned and leapt into the air, beating his new, powerful wings.
‘What is it, Wekurd?’
Gedrock tore his eyes away from his shimmering hands and arms that he held in front of his face. His skin had changed, becoming lighter and shimmering like silver. All of the Shadow Demons and Grazens’ skin had changed, though the Grazen had become more bronze in tone. They had done nothing to cause it and could do nothing to stop it.
Gedrock felt less rage too. He wondered, worrisomely, if it were his age; but then why would he be stronger and faster than before? The changes had started when the terrible light blasted them on the surface of Maioria. The changes were deeply worrying.
‘You’d better come and look, Sire,’ Wekurd said, a strange tone in his voice. He gripped his staff and his eyes blinked continuously.
‘What’s happened now, Zorock blind it?’ cursed Gedrock.
Wekurd continued. ‘A new demon has been dug up, unlike any we’ve seen before. It’s only small, but…’
Gedrock huffed and pulled himself away from the green crystal. Wekurd led him down into the lowest tunnels where the new demon had been dug out. Demon workers stepped back to let him pass. Their eyes were lowered and this worried Gedrock some more.
He stared down at the fresh little thing squirming and gurgling in the mud. One of the diggers hurled muddy water on it, making it laugh and squirm all the more. When the water stopped, the demon wailed and screamed.
Gedrock’s eyes blazed as he looked at the demon’s shimmering skin unlike any demon he had seen before. ‘Zorock curse us to the Pit, it’s blue! No demon is blue! We have been damned by Carmedrak himself!’
‘As blue as that moon we saw,’ nodded Wekurd, saying things Gedrock really did not want to hear.
Gedrock stared closely at the squirming demon, noting many things about it he did not want to see.
Reluctantly he reached for it and picked it up. The little demon giggled at him, his gold eyes wide. Without saying anything, Gedrock whirled away and stalked back to the green crystal.
‘My King, what do we do?’ Wekurd asked, hurrying after him. It was worrying when his advisor asked him what should be done.
‘To the crystal, Wekurd, where we’ll demand audience with the Raven Queen.’
He had been worrying about speaking to her since the painful light had forced them to flee the battlefield. Demons did not worry, they never worried. Something very strange was happening to them.
On a snowy, secluded outlook west of Drax, Issa stood with Asaph and Ehka watching the first sunset of the new world sinking into the horizon.
It was cold, but the wind had dropped and the air was fresh and pure. Asaph stood behind her with his arms wrapped around her shoulders.
‘You’re right, the sun is definitely bigger than before,’ Issa agreed. It was whiter too, at least when it was high in the sky. At this moment, it was a glorious blaze of oranges, pinks, and even purples.
‘Just look at that,’ said Asaph, marvelling at the beauty. ‘It’s nice to get away from the city. It’s only been a day and I can’t stand the sound of another hammer. Don’t get me wrong, I love being home, and this beautiful country, but there’s just so much to do, and there’s rubble everywhere! I’m so glad Coronos left those infinity stones, I just hope I don’t spend them all at once.’
Issa giggled. ‘You could rebuild every city on Maioria with just one of them. And don’t worry, Freydel and Navarr are most wise and will always give you sound guidance. Anyway, I sense a world of great abundance and imagine no one going without. How could they in this beautiful new world?’
‘Then let us make it so,’ said Asaph seriously, kissing the top of her head.
‘But,’ she added firmly, ‘if Drax is to be our home, I want another one somewhere hot! Spring may be coming in the new world and all, but…I insist!’
‘Yes, my Queen,’ Asaph laughed. After a moment he sighed. ‘But it’s, hmm, it’s just that I…Do you remember when it was just you and me and Coronos? When we sat around the campfire with only our swords and our cloaks and the night sky above? I miss that—the freedom. I could never be a king sat inside on his throne.’
‘I want freedom too,’ Issa agreed. Choose freedom. The voice echoed in her head. ‘And I do remember it well; they’re moments and memories I’ll cherish forever but you’re never prying me away from my bath again, and I’ll only ever sleep outside if it’s on a proper bed.’ Issa spoke firmly, making sure she was understood clearly.
‘Yes, my Queen,’ said Asaph, squeezing her tighter.
‘But,’ she added, ‘there is a whole world out there to explore. Imagine if we found a place like Celene. We could build our own house together.’ With a pang of emotion, she remembered all that she had envisioned and longed for so long ago when she had made Celene her short-lived home.
She smoothed back an errant hair, and as she did so the demon crystal in her grandmother’s ring flashed. She inspected it and it flashed again and was followed by Gedrock’s voice in her head making her jump. He sounded oddly…worried.
‘Raven Queen, great changes are occurring.’
‘What is it?’ asked Asaph as she pulled away an
d stared at her ring.
‘It’s the demons, it’s Gedrock. I can hear him.’ She closed her eyes and saw the green crystal shard and Gedrock’s huge eyes beyond it. He looked different, his skin was lighter and shimmering and he looked younger, his features softer.
She replied aloud, ‘Yes, there’s so much happening, and much has changed.’
‘No, there is something very strange happening here, you need to see it,’ Gedrock growled, a deep frown creasing his brow into rolls of flesh.
‘What do you mean?’ Issa asked.
Gedrock lifted up a small, squirming, ugly demon with skin the colour of indigo, the colour of the dark moon. It opened its golden eyes and wailed.
Issa stared then gasped and stared some more, her heart pounding in her ears. Could it really be? Its features were unmistakable; its ears, its pot-belly, its one protruding tooth…Everything was the same, everything except that it was blue!
“You will know joy again,” her father’s voice echoed in her mind.
Barely able to breath, Issa said, ‘Maggot?’
The blue demon instantly stopped wriggling. It blinked and opened its eyes wider as it saw her face in the crystal. Grinning from ear to ear, and in that unforgettable voice, he squealed, ‘Issy!’
43
Becoming Guardians
Asaph let out a satisfied sigh as he lay down beside Issa.
Their small bedroom was one of the few remaining clean and whole chambers located high up in Castle Draxa. She was already asleep, so he restrained his desire to kiss and cuddle her.
Every inhabitable room and corner of the castle was filled with people from all over Maioria come to build the first city of the new world. With this many people, the entire castle, city and beyond would be rebuilt within a month, and for most of them it was a labour of love and being done without monetary payment.
He did not intend such labour to go unrewarded—far from it. All would receive something for their hard work and there was plenty of land available to give.
He nestled deeper under the cover thinking over how he would rebuild this magnificent country when a golden light grew. He stared at the light as it hovered beyond the bed. It filled him with warmth, and something more—love and contentment. The presence became a being with thought and conscience, and a face formed in the light.
‘Feygriene,’ Asaph said, dropping his gaze as she shone a brighter beautiful light.
‘Dawn Bringer,’ her harmonious voice echoed around him.
‘I feel a contentment I’ve never known before,’ he said. ‘I’m home, after so long, and I feel I have fulfilled my purpose.’
The face made of golden light smiled and joy filled his heart. ‘You will rest, for a time, and then your spirit will seek something new to accomplish. You would do well to think about your future journey and what you would like to do.’
Asaph nodded. He needed rest—maybe for an eternity—but his adventurous spirit would not stay still for too long. ‘I will, my goddess, what is it you would like me to do?’
Laughter tinkled all around him and he smiled, feeling a little foolish.
Feygriene said, ‘It’s time for you to choose. After all, you have ever been in charge of your own destiny. Even the One Source of All can only guide.’
‘Then I shall think on it, my goddess,’ he said and bowed his head reverently.
The light began to recede, and he had a second thought. ‘No, beloved Feygriene, I already know that which I desire most.’ The golden light returned, and Asaph continued, ‘I would like to bring the Dragon Lords back. No, I must bring them back. Man and dragon can find peace and harmony in each other. We can grow and learn together.’
‘You have learnt so much, Asaph Dawn Bringer, and grown wise in your experiences. You have all the power within you to regenerate the Dragon Lords upon Maioria. Speak it and it shall be so.’
Asaph relaxed, relieved, then realised the light was waiting for him to say something. ‘Oh, um, well, I had given it some thought, but I’ve not fully worked it out. So, uh, how about something like this? Twelve born with a mark, uh, a mark of the sun? Yes, let it be the sun, let it be you, beloved Feygriene. Those with the mark shall feel a need to come to me. When they do, I’ll instil within them the knowledge of the Dragon Lords that I alone hold, somehow. I’m not sure how this will happen. From them, other Dragon Lords will arise.’
‘So be it, Asaph Dawn Bringer, First of the Dragon Lords,’ said Feygriene. ‘May the sword be with you. Always.’
A new sense of purpose filled Asaph as he lay back down in the fading light.
‘Maion’artheria,’ a soft voice whispered, rousing Issa from her deep and peaceful sleep.
She opened her eyes. Asaph slept soundly beside her, his hand warm on her shoulder. It was very dark, and it must be late for not even embers burned in the hearth.
Beautiful white and golden light fell from—or rather through—the stone ceiling. It glimmered gently and wavered like ribbons, a golden borealis filling the room. It touched her cheek, bringing warmth.
‘Maion’artheria,’ the voice repeated, closer, inside the room.
‘My Goddess,’ whispered Issa as feelings of love and peace rolled over her.
Figures appeared in the ribbons of light dancing at the end of the bed, too bright to see any distinct features. Issa sensed that she should go to them. She swung her legs out of bed and walked into the light.
Warm, shimmering fields of light and sound energy surrounded her.
She realised the subtly different shades of light each had consciousness, and each shade was a being, yet all the shades made up the one being. The sound was music, like bells but much softer, like nothing else she had ever heard. The harmony was so rapturously resplendent, no instrument or voice on Maioria could possibly recreate it. She wanted to cry with joy just listening to it, and she wished she could capture a piece, so she could take it to Asaph to hear it.
It feels like home, she realised, real home. This beautiful place of belonging and contentment had existed, and would exist, for all eternity and she cried for the wonder of returning to it.
The figures of light were now too numerous to count. They did not speak but they were sending her feelings of joy and gratitude. Issa understood that they were grateful to her for helping them to come home, though she did not quite understand why.
A figure stepped closer, its light lessening and its form condensing until it was the same height as Issa and she could look upon it without squinting. She sensed the being did this for her benefit. A face formed, one of a perfect smooth chin and lips. Zanufey, Issa realised.
Beautiful indigo eyes beheld her, and for a moment Issa was reminded of her mother, and then she was reminded of herself. The face was hers, but in its perfected form. Light suddenly flared from her eyes, so pure, Issa fell back with a gasp. Intelligence, benevolence, and rapture – she felt all at once. It is the One Light of the Source of All! she realised what she looked into.
Gentle power flowed into Issa. Lifting her hands, she saw her skin glowed indigo blue, like it did when I was a child!
‘I feel you within me,’ Issa whispered, trying to wrap words around the purity she was feeling.
The light calmed, and she looked again upon Zanufey. The goddess reached a hand forward and caressed Issa’s cheek. ‘The light has always been within you. You and I are one, and now the physical body is purer, the spirit can connect more.’
‘Who are the others?’ Issa nodded to the figures, and instant cognition gave her the answers.
‘Aralans,’ she whispered.
Zanufey smiled. ‘They are the Aralans you set free from the mortal planes. When the last Star Portal of Aralansia was destroyed, they became trapped. You became the last gate, the last portal home.’
‘I am a portal?’ Issa frowned.
‘All human beings are portals, gateways in themselves. How else do you think spirit takes physical form?’
Issa took a sharp breath. ‘Ayeth�
��’ The understanding of what had occurred between Baelthrom and Ayeth within the Dark Rift struck her.
Zanufey nodded. ‘Yes, in those last moments, Ayeth was able to reach his fallen self through you. You are the gateway between two worlds, and you always have been. Baelthrom knew the danger you possessed to unravel his plans so innocently.’
‘Did I save Ayeth?’ It was too hopeful to ask. She longed to save the kind, intelligent and powerful being.
‘No being can save another, only they can save themselves,’ said Zanufey. ‘But we may assist. Without you, Ayeth could not have reached his Baelthrom self in Maioria. Without the destruction of the last remnants of Aralansia, the dark moon, it could not be done either. Without just one of us travelling through the physical planes of time and space, all the remaining Aralans would have been trapped in time since the cataclysm. You were that noble spirit.’
Issa felt faint at the monumentality of all that had occurred. Memories of everything she had decided to do before her current lifetime came through in overwhelming waves. Thoughts, feelings, ideas, too grand for her small physical self to comprehend.
‘But why did I not know? Why didn’t I remember?’ Issa asked.
‘You did know, your soul has always known, but it is the physical being who forgets,’ said Zanufey gently. ‘All beings coming to Maioria since Baelthrom arrived can no longer retain their conscious connection to spirit—it is there but forgotten, hidden behind a veil. You always knew you would forget why you came and all that you were before, and perhaps that is a good thing, otherwise, things may not have gone this way.
‘There are many timelines and many outcomes. Nothing is predetermined in the way you might think it. Always look to the spirit for guidance for it is that which guides the incarnate, though the incarnate always has—’
‘Free will choice,’ Issa finished. ‘To forget yourself, and then to remember…It’s like being given a gift, the greatest gift, knowing who you are.’
War of the Raven Queen: The Goddess Prophecies Fantasy Series Book 6 Page 49