by R N Skye
“I arrived just as you began healing,” Kolaria said as if discussing the weather. “You did well although you were near your limit in providing the necessary lumen for such a healing. Thus I watched over you while you rested. If you don’t mind may I replenish what you used?”
“Replenish?” asked Ava.
“Yes,” explained the larger gryphon, “you have used nearly all of your internal lumen. That is a sacrifice that few rarely make, especially someone as young and fragile as yourself; that is why you were so tired after you finished the healing of Solaris.”
“I’ll be okay,” Ava deferred, “Besides If I take lumen back from you that will leave you in the same condition.”
A chuckle rolled through Ava’s mind that painted a picture of deep humor. “Child of Eliom your lumen is but a single raindrop compared to the great ocean of lumen that I represent. When the Dernier Chanson seals me to the sun of this galaxy you will understand. Until then will you accept my gift of lumen?”
“Yes please, and thank you,” Ava stammered not knowing quite how to respond.
The larger gryphon extended her beautifully plumed wing and gently caressed the top of Ava’s head. The feeling that followed nearly stunned Ava; she felt a sudden strength like she could lift a mountain. At the same time she felt relaxed as if she had just awoken from the perfect nap. Ava looked at her bare arms from where she had rolled up he sleeves. Her arms were glowing - a brilliant golden white; something she had not seen since she had been healed from her lumen poisoning.
“How do I stop glowing?” exclaimed an astonished Ava to the magical creature. “I’m going to frighten everyone.”
Again the chuckle flowed through her mind as if the gryphon was watching a child who had just learned to walk. Like the dreams of her instructor an image entered her mind and she instantly knew what to do. Ava complied and the glowing receded and she once again looked her normal self.
“Thank you,” Ava said gratefully. “I feel wonderful.”
“You are welcome Daughter of Eliom. Thank you caring for my young brother. You have also given me the hope that the Plan of the Elios is working. I will take my little family to reside in the valley of the Arc so that this little one will no longer interfere with your transportation tools. We will see each other again, of that I am certain. Until that time, fare thee well Daughter of Eliom. A flash of light momentarily lit up the area, when her eyes could see once more the two gryphons were gone.
Chapter VI
Ava used her portal to re-board the monorail and then forgoing the harness and the rope she used the portal to access the front of the rail and attached her final disk. Returning to the console to begin the process of inching forward to the next gap, she noticed that the representational viewer was showing green all the way to the blue dot that represented Coh Y Nord. Cautiously Ava moved the monorail forward using both her eyes and the portal viewer to see if the rails were there. Soon she was no longer over the crater and the rail continued onward uninterrupted. Noting the position of the sun rapidly approaching the horizon and having faith in the viewer she pushed the speed control forward all the way and watched as the forests blurred by. A short ride later she was soon slowing down as the monorail approached the long silent station of Coh Y Nord.
Stepping onto the station platform she saw no signs of habitation. Ava couldn’t help but be impressed at the way the empty city sloped down towards the harbor and the empty marinas. She could smell the ocean and hear the shrieks of gulls off in the distance; other than that the city seemed abnormally quiet. Assuming that like all of the Elios built cities the records center would have all of the information necessary to restart the infrastructure she briefly considered walking the few blocks to where the records center building should be located. Looking at the western skyline she decided that she would do that another day. For now she would just activate the monorail. Locating the section of wall that mirrored the station at Yllyan she soon had the control panel open and set the train for one run every two hours. This should be good for now, she thought as she closed the panel.
Re-entering the monorail she reversed the train and headed back to Yllyan. At full speed it wasn’t long before the viewer showed that she was nearing the Red Oak platform. Using the viewer as a guide she slowed the monorail down and came to a stop. Stepping off she was surprised to see a large crowd of men, women, and children, all looking at her with expressions of curiosity.
Slowly a stocky bearded man with a flowing white beard assisted by a walking staff approached her and ascended the platform. “Would you be the Lumen Mage, Ava?” he asked in a gravelly voice that sounded a little accusatory; as if she had committed on offense.
“Oui monsieur, I am,” Ava replied cautiously.
“Two residents of Red Oak Glen have born witness to the fact that you are a Lumen Mage and are repairing the Elios transport that travels from the Lumen City Yllyan to the city of the fisher-lands; Coh Y Nord is this correct.
“Oui,” Ava answered, “I have completed the repairs and was stopping here to activate this platform should any of your residents need to use the overland to travel anywhere it goes. If this is a problem I can leave the platform deactivated.”
“Now let’s not be hasty,” the old man spoke quickly. “We’re all for having the ‘overland’ as you call it – up and going - but we do have concerns of safety.”
Ava thought for a moment then with a smile called out to the crowd. “Is there among you anyone named Droddy?”
There was a sudden silence of drawn breaths, followed by a commotion of running feet and intelligible cussing. The commotion stopped as a loud commanding female voice broke the otherwise silence. “Rogg and Edgar G’well’n stop in your tacks this moment or I’ll set you a fire as sure as my name is Ann’n Drodairielle G’well’n!”
Shortly the two stout foresters that she had met earlier were marched up to the platform followed by a beautiful middle age looking redhead with azure eyes wearing a baby blue cotton shirt and dark blue trousers with a heavy leather apron and tool belt. While short like her brothers the woman bore no resemblance; she was slender well-muscled and in Ava’s opinion – quite beautiful. Her expression and disposition radiated both leadership and self-assurance. Looking Ava up and down as if evaluating her she nodded and said, “These two knot heads been refer’n to their older sister as Droddy?”
Ava laughed at the situation, “I’m sure they meant no disrespect, Miss G’well’n,” Ava replied, “they were just a little excited that the overland would be repaired.”
“I’ll be the judge o that young Lumen Mage; if that what you be. Let it be known that my name be Ann’n. Me middle name be the good name of Drodairielle, named after me mother and my family name be G’well’n I’m a smith mage trained after the order of the glyph mages of Yllyan; the last mage in the forest.” Turning to her brothers she said in a stern voice, “and don’t you be forget’n it.”
“It is a pleasure to meet you Ann’n, my name is Ava and while I’m not a Lumen Master I am a Lumen Mage in training. One of the things that I have undertaken as a student of lumen magic is to restore the infrastructure of the ancient Elios and Old Luion. As part of that process I repaired the platform controls. Your brothers mentioned that you had disabled the platform here at Red Oak Glen out of concern for the safety of those that may use it so I disabled it and hid it from view until I was certain that the rest of the overland was repaired and safe.”
“So you be a student then are ya?” the smith eyed Ava suspiciously. “Where be your instructor?”
Ava held out her left forearm displaying a shiny stainless steel gauntlet that she often used as a method for carrying it around. “That’s student glyph master and its right here, where’s yours, glyph mage?” Ava rebutted growing impatient by the suspicious inquires.
The redheaded forester looked down, “It was stolen by a red mage that used soul magic. We chased him away because soul magic is evil - we follow the laws of Elios; but he sto
le my only source of learning since the sky fall and I’ve only been able to practice what I already knew or had books on; which was mainly metal and fire magic.”
Suspecting that the red mage must be the Allyant that seemed to be behind all of the unrest in Jehhet, Ava looked at the surrounding dusk; she really wanted to get home and complete the activation of the overland so that tomorrow she could restart the infrastructure in Coh Y Nord and do some exploring.
Not sure where to begin Ava took charge of the conversation. Addressing the crowd she said, “My name is Ava Desmond. Like Ann’n, I am a student of lumen magic. I’m at the level between glyph mastery and being a full Lumen Mage. It is apparent that you are a long lived people and many of you were here before the fall. We are at an era of change. The Dernier Chanson has begun the restoration of magic and the knowledge of the Elios; as part of that effort I have been restoring much of the infrastructure that was lost during what you all refer to as the sky-fall. I have a lot to do so unfortunately I won’t be able to stay. I have repaired the overland that will allow you to travel to Coh Y Nord; I believe you all refer to it as the fisher-lands. It will also allow you to travel to Yllyan. Now it has been said that you have safety concerns regarding the safety of this monorail,” Ava pointed to the cars behind her. “I assure you that it is safe and fully functional and you should see one stop here every two hours; starting just before dawn tomorrow morning thru two hours before midnight.
I have repaired the control panel here if you should desire to schedule it to stop here. If you doubt my ability to restore this magic then I will depart now and leave it deactivated. But I assure you that I have ridden it all the way to Coh Y Nord and then back to here.”
A hand went up like a child in school. Ava recognized Edgar. “Edgar, you have a question?”
“Yes Miss, Lumen Mage, what about the fire birds at the great hole. Won’t they attack as they have whenever caravans have ventured too near? Nothing can stand against them.”
Ava didn’t digress into her entire adventure with the gryphons but suspected that that was what they were referring to as the fire birds; for they did indeed - with their multi colored plumage - appear as if they were on fire. “I have spoken with the gryphons that you call firebirds and they have moved to the valley of the Arc and will not bother the transport system. I have had a long day, what is your decision?
The white haired man stepped forward looking at the crowd then to Ann’n; who nodded ever so slightly. “We will gladly accept the activation of the overland.”
With a sigh Ava walked to the spot where she had hidden the panel and using mastery she removed the lumen from the hide glyphs, and then re-imbued the entirety of the controls. “Turning to the old man she said, “There you go it is all back to normal. If you need to see when the next one is due to arrive just place your hand on the surface and it will give you the information you need as far as times and destinations.” Turning to Ann’n she added: “Come to Yllyan the next chance you get and ask for me; I’ll see about getting you a new instructor and get you back to learning.” With a wink Ava turned from the astonished redhead and stepped aboard the monorail and it soon slid away into the approaching night leaving a group of cheering forest folk.
Ava arrived in Yllyan and immediately made her way to the platform controls and began the final steps in activating the overland segment to Coh Y Nord. Soon she had them set to normal so now there would be a monorail that ran each direction every hour as to allow a round trip every two hours. Closing the panel she stood to see Laura and Soaris standing silently on the platform watching her.
With a smile Laura greeted her with a warm hug. “We were hoping we would run into you here, dear. Soaris suspected that you would be finishing up about now and I worry about you two kids and how you push yourselves constantly and don’t eat like you should.”
“Laura, you worry too much I’m fine,” Ava automatically replied.
“Have you eaten?” responded Laura with a raised eyebrow of a concerned query.
Ava realizing that she hadn’t eaten in several hours and recognizing an empty feeling in her stomach, conceded to her fiancé’s mother. “I could eat,” she admitted. “It’s late though, I’ll grab something at home unless you haven’t eaten either?”
“We were just going to do that,” Spoke Soaris. “We dropped by to invite you and Shane to join us.”
Noting that both Laura and Soaris seemed to be dressed up a little beyond normal dining she said, “I’ll just head home and clean up, where should we meet?”
“How about Valee station in an hour?” replied Laura, “That will give Shane time to get ready as well.”
Ava pulled out her portal and opened a door to her office. I’m just going to drop a few things off at the office then I’m headed home she promised. “I’ll see you in an hour.”
“I really need to teach her how to do that without a tool,” Said Soaris. “Her lumen capacity is strong enough. She is nearly bursting with it; even after all the work she has been up to today.”
“Now dear, it isn’t all about capacity; her mind still needs to be able contain the control as well.” Laura reminded her husband.
“You are absolutely correct, but did you look at the improvements that were made on the overland system? If she worked on any of that mentally she is clearly beyond the glyph master standards and getting close to the level of a true Lumen Mage if not there already. Besides I know something that you don’t.”
“What,” asked Laura curiously?
“I’ll tell you tonight at dinner. I have a surprise for you too.”
“Do you think Shane is as advanced as Ava?” asked Laura as she pulled her shawl more snuggly as the winter wind began to blow its message of an approaching storm.
Soaris put his arm around his wife and with a thought whisked her off the Yllyan platform across the plains and hills and into the warmth of the station in Valee. “May as well wait somewhere warm,” He smiled at his wife. Continuing he answered her question, “Your son takes after your side of the family in regards to his lumen ability. Amazing is too mild of a word to describe it. Next time you get the chance look past your son’s shields, you’ll see he’s glowing like a native Elios born. I don’t think he’s used lumen in glyphs, other than to make devices for those he’s been teaching and what he’s been making to assist in the war he is trying to end, for quite some time.” He pulled out a chair for Laura. “We may as well wait here. Ava and Shane will probably be a few minutes still.”
“What surprise,” She looked at Soaris suspiciously.
“If I told you then it wouldn’t be a surprise, now would it?”
~~~~~
Earlier that morning, as soon as Shane had left Ava and Ari, he instantly made his way to the athletic center of the Wonstrowd warball team and was soon standing in the dark stuffy confines of his old locker room. He could hear activity outside the locked door in the hallways as countless people seemed to come and go. Instead of using glyphs he channeled lumen to create a bird’s eye view of the entire area from high above the stadium. To his amazement the stadium was filled with people. In the center of it all was a large machine that towered almost five stories tall; appearing as glistening steel with a tripod of angled wings that made it look like a giant sinister dart pointing skyward sitting atop its fletching. The only indication that it was a vessel of some sort was that it had several angular windows that were mostly elongated diamond shapes near the top that seemed to match the angular knife like structure.
Shane scanned the monstrosity with his lumen sight and was rocked at the roiling mass of evil tinted blood red lumen that was contained within its structure; with more and more of the precious life lumen being fed into it, or rather siphoned from the masses of people that were herded into the stadium. Many were prodded by soldiers some walked mindlessly. They seemed to walk a circuit around the outer ring of the “zone” of the now barren grassless warball field and then they were headed back out of the stadium v
isibly depleted of all of their energy and much of their life lumen. Herded like animals back out of the stadium either to recharge or to die; the dead were hauled away by soldiers and thrown into a large open grave toward the rear of the arena.
Shane was sick to his stomach. He released the lumen that had provided the image and the view misted away and he stood nearly retching in the darkness. A deep fear struck his conscience. Had that been what he done to the giant man so many weeks ago at the bar when he had won that arm wrestle? Was he guilty of the same thing when he had killed those soldiers back when they had escaped from Jehhet at the wars declaration? He shivered uncontrollably as he realized that he may be guilty of using Allyant magic. The roiling angry lumen within the device in the stadium beyond seemed to laugh at him; the loneliness and the feeling of despair that overcame him drove him to his knees as the living nightmare of the wrung out people and the dead just beyond the walls crushed him like a weight. Tears began to pour down his face; his chest was so tight he could not breathe and he felt as if he were going to be pulled apart by the very sinews of his being.
“Shane,” spoke a calm voice, soft as a feather but steady like a flowing river. “Shane the voice spoke again you are being overwhelmed by the backlash of imprisoned souls. Look away, look to the Lumen of Light and the living; quickly before you are overcome.” The voice was his grandfathers. How he knew he wasn’t sure; he had only seen him for the few moments when he had watched the man that had assisted Ahhan remove the lumen poison in a time that seemed so distant and he was later told who it had been. “The voice once again gently spoke through his mind. Look at the Lumen of Light. The dark lumen is only a corrupt counterfeit. Do you see it? Shane felt as if someone had put a comforting arm around his shuddering shoulders and lifted him to his feet.
Instantly Shane began to feel less and less of the sadness and the redness of the angry dark lumen that had been teeming within the large sinister blade shaped craft at the stadium. He opened his eyes and he saw his grandfather standing on an island of brilliant light in a storming sea of the red lumen. You have the power of choice. Chose the lumen you will use,” spoke his grandfather calmly.