by R N Skye
Ava blushed and gave him a tight hug and another quick kiss. “You are so sweet; I’ve had this for years; I just threw it on. We best go let your parents know we are here.” She added grabbing Shane’s arm above the elbow.
Shane and Ava entered into the station and turned toward Soaris and Laura. When Shane’s parents saw them they stood greeting them warmly. “Thank you for inviting us to dinner,” Ava said then looking to Shane’s mother added, “Laura, your shawl is positively lovely, did you make it?”
“No dear, Soaris gave this to me many years ago. They don’t make these here, “she said with a faraway look. Laura stood back a step and looked Ava up and down with an impressed eye. “I love your outfit I wish I had your fashion sense you always look so refined; everything matches so well.”
Soaris cleared his throat. “If you ladies are finished with the opening ceremony of the mutual admiration society we should probably be going. The restaurant isn’t going to stay open all night.”
“You hush now Soaris,” reprimanded his wife, “not everything needs to be on a stringent time table.”
“Just a second,” interrupted Shane, “I forgot that I brought you a corsage.” He held out the small flowery bundle.
“It’s beautiful.” praised Ava as she took the offered corsage, paused a moment then looked expectantly at Shane.
Embarrassed, Shane reached out and took the flowers back. “Let me fasten this on for you.” Awkwardly he gingerly attempted to pin the corsage to the spot just below her left collar but was failing miserably as he couldn’t figure how to not accidently touch anywhere he shouldn’t.
Ava finally took pity on him and took the corsage and in seconds had it securely fastened; making it look like it was meant to be part of her ensemble from the beginning.
“Oh here,” Shane said handing her the candy, “I almost forgot, this is for you too.
“Lemon, my favorite,” she said giving him another hug, “Thank you,”
Shane mouthed a thank you to his smiling mother.
“Now for dinner,” Soaris said with impatience.
Laura grabbed Soaris’ elbow and with a spring in her step started leading him toward the door. “Where are going for dinner, dear?”
Ava grabbed Shane’s arm and playfully tugged Shane following closely behind. Soaris smiled, “Do you like home cooking?” With a flash the four were suddenly standing in a lobby of a magnificent marbled foyer. High above was a crystal chandelier that sparkled with golden shafts of light into a high ceiling with a mural depicting several dolphins surfing the waves of a bright blue ocean.
“It beautiful,” whispered Ava
“Soaris, how is this possible,” asked Laura to her spouse. “How are we here? Does this mean what I think?”
Soaris just smiled and said nothing.
Shane watched the people that had been standing around talking in hushed tones. All of the conversations had stopped and all of the men and women standing about turned to watch the four of them as they walked toward an elegant dining room. Their air of distinguished sophistication bore no malice and abruptly with an awareness not understood by Shane, simultaneously they all began to wear expressions that spoke many emotions; some of amazement, some of joy, some of pride. A few women held hands to their mouths in astonishment with scarcely withheld tears, while a few of the men nodded respectfully; some nearly bowing.
At the entryway to the dining room that seemed both opulent and modest, they were approached by a man in sandals and a short sleeved, robin egg green, calf-length, robe, with a gold sash tied around the waist. He had short wavy blonde hair, was of medium height, and wore a wide smile. “Welcome home Master Soarianus. I am honored to see you after such a long separation. May light shine on you forever,” the man bowed low. Turning to the others he bowed again, “I have a table set aside for you. Please follow me.” He turned and led them across the room and soon arrived at a table next to a massive window that overlooked a sea of stars; the center of which were two large nearly white suns. Within moments they were surrounded by several men dressed like the blonde man, only with robes of black with white sashes. Seemingly without fuss the four were seated; coats and shawls removed and carried away. The blonde man bowed again and with a smile said, “Drew will be pleased to convey your appetites to the preparers whenever you are ready. The goblets will refresh as you chose. If something handmade is more to your tastes Drew will see to that as well. Welcome come.” With a smile the man hurried away.
Laura could no longer contain herself and turned to her husband. “Soarianus Chashanan! Start talking.”
Shane and Ava just looked at each other. It was obvious they had been brought to this marvelous place by magic but they both were content in waiting for the ‘what’ and the ‘where’; knowing that the information would be provided eventually.
“Shane, Ava, welcome to Ricanus. The best place to dine in all of Elios. What your mother is trying to ask, Shane,” he said with a wide grin, “is does the fact that we are here mean that our time on Eliom is done.” Turing to his wife he held her hand warmly. “Yes, my dearest one, our work is complete. Our commitment fulfilled. The Last Song has chosen, the heart of the world has arrived and accepted the Bride of the Song. Eliom has its new protector and the magic is restored.”
Laura’s eyes were moist, “Oh how I have missed Elios.” She said quietly as she looked out the window at the panorama of stars. “I never thought this day would come.” Turning to Shane, “I never in all the worlds imagined that my son would be part of the Plan. I’m so proud of you Shane.” Turning to Ava she added, “And Ava, what a special women you are. More than you can realize.”
Shane and Ava looked at their two hosts more confused than ever. “Would you care to be a little less cryptic,” Shane asked?
“Yes, please,” agreed Ava.
Soaris smiled and turned to the attentive Drew and spoke in a language that Shane and Ava didn’t understand. With a nod the man departed. Facing back to the table he slowly began to elaborate on what he had just revealed. “To start with the hearts, souls and lumen of each and every world and star are referred as star seeds. They have the form of that of a gryphon or other equally amazing magical beasts. I’m sure you may have already deduced from your studies that suns are stars. Additionally planets are what you might term as clothing for stars. – Stars that are either nesting mothers or the shells protecting young star seeds. To go even further, when a mother star is through raising her children she will shed her world and become a star and join the sky with her husband with the worlds of her children nearby.” Soaris nodded toward the window and the binary suns in the center of the panorama. “These are the Stars of Elios all of the world’s round about are their children.
It is said that many years ago, more than can be counted by man or mage, a group of evil sorcerers called soul mages were attempting to conquer and destroy the Stars of Elios. The sons and daughters of man that dwelled on the worlds of their star seeds were powerless to do anything. As things seemed helpless a great Lumen Mage named Eno appeared in a city of light with power unimaginable. This great Lumen Master soon defeated the soul mages and cast them beyond the edge of the galaxy. He then dwelt here and taught the laws of light and showed how to increase the lumen of the Elios system through the power of the lumen of light. How long ago and how long it took no one knows. Eventually the great Eno left Elios telling that there were other worlds that needed the Laws and his purpose was to share the Laws of Light to all. His final teachings were for the Elios to do likewise and where ever possible to create interim worlds so that the sons and daughters of man can grow by degree to become able to abide the worlds like those of Elios. His final words were: ‘Serve others, help if you can and if you can help you should’. He promised that all who progressed enough to abide the glory of Elios would have the ages of the stars and beyond if they would accept his challenge and create other systems like the worlds of Elios.
Eventually the glory of Elios was so great that only t
hose that would abide the laws of lumen could abide here and those that would not live them where forced to flee or be consumed by the greater power of lumen. The first to have to leave were led by a man named Yant. He and his followers began to practice the dark ways of the soul mages. His followers and those ever after who chose to oppose the Laws of Light were eventually called the Allyant; a name derived from the ancient language of Eno for followers of Yant.
Angry that they could not live how they pleased in pursuit of their selfish desires and jealous of the power of the Elios. They claimed entitlement to an inheritance of the worlds of Elios by right of their ancestors. They gathered in force and tried to take the outer worlds for themselves and used the perverted lumen to destroy the Light Lumen that they emulated. Unfortunately, at the first, they were successful. They stole the lumen souls of several worlds. These soul mages with the lumen of millions and of several slain star seeds became the Allyant great ones. A war ensued but eventually the Lumen Mages that wore the mantel of Eno cast them from the galaxy like the soul mages of old. In the effort to make Elios unassailable the lumen masters of Elios increased the glory and influence of lumen until the entire system was beyond any in the known explored galaxies. This glory was a wonder and a great protection and none could assail Elios. Even the Allyant Great Ones feared to venture too near in fear that they would be consumed.
Sadly the greatness of Elios was to become a handicap. All that lived within the worlds of Eliom were Lumen Mages or Lumen Masters; some even greater as they bore the mantel of Eno. With their vast abilities they could endure the glory that they had created. The handicap was that children born here were born as all sons and daughters of men are; unprotected except through the light of their parents. Within a dozen years they would no longer have the parents inherent protection; if the parents were not sufficient in their lumen capacity to protect their children until they themselves became proficient they would perish like any natural man. Even worse some grew impatient or were not willing to work at becoming Lumen Mages and in the course of their learning discovered the short cuts of the Allyant and chose to follow the paths of their dark ancestors. In great sorrow these children fell subject to the great magics of the past and they were cast to the darkness of the edge. Out of mercy, they were not killed, in hopes that one day they would give up the evil practice of soul magic and return to the laws of light.
After much study and thought it was determined that the answer had been provided by the great Eno. Interim worlds needed to be constructed. At first many worlds were set into place for this purpose but the development of these worlds was time consuming and more than once before a world was ready or had developed enough inhabitants with skills in lumen necessary to protect itself the Allyant would strike and destroy the worlds. Ever on guard we often were able to rescue the star seeds and most of the inhabitants and transplant them to safety thus robbing the Allyant great ones of their spoils and preserving those dedicated to the Laws of Light.
Finally a plan was conceived that a world would be seeded by Elios lumen masters as well as those from other worlds both magical and non-magical alike. It was hoped that with the presence of lumen masters and mages in attendance we could keep the planet hidden until it was ready. The only risk was at one point those that were from Elios would have to leave for in order for the plan to succeed; the inhabitants would have to be native to the new System in order to have its own native protection.
One of the sons of the star Elios was mature and ready to expand; feeling that the words of Eno required him to find a space of his own he agreed to be the central star of a new system; provided that another star seed could be found and agree to the risk and be his wife. This great star was named Kuo’irus. The plan was held up for many years until a young Lumen Master named Ahhan rescued a dying world called Luion. A star seed of that world named Kolaria and her small brother were all that was left of a dying sun that had lost its heart along with the heart of the mother world in a battle that had ended sadly in the slaying of both the parent star seeds as well as the attackers in a tragic stalemate.
Lonely and afraid, Ahhan calmed the two star seeds and eventually introduced them to Kuo’irus. Kuo’irus held council with Ahhan and Kolaria and she eventually agreed to consider the plan. Whether still afraid from the loss of her family or wary of the sons and daughters of man; for the soul mages that had killed her parents were indeed of this description, Kolaria was doubtful but said that she would think about it.
Time for a star is different than the time for men and there was no knowing how long it would take for her to decide. Kuo’irus was certain that things would work out and agreed to assume the role of the sun and soon moved to the appointed location and a suitable world was created and moved into orbit nearby should Kolaria make her decision to join him; Ahhan called it Eliom. The only issue was that without a heart the world would soon die and crumble. To counter this Ahhan created an Arc of pure lumen. This Arc not only contained the glyphs necessary to preserve and instruct the non-magical inhabitants of the seed world but would hold it together until a star seed took its place. It also contained the ability to transfer the world to the star seed Kolaria once she had made up her mind.
The Luion, the Elios, and other refugees lived on Eliom for several millenniums until the time was determined that the population of the Elios descendants were numerous enough and powerful enough to protect and increase the lumen necessary to create an interim world that could support non-potent men as well as the children of Elios. Before long it was time for the Elios who were not indigenous to Eliom and not sworn to serve here as part of the plan or as immigrants to return to Elios. Their Luion spouses were by now Lumen Mages and could abide Elios so the day of departure came and except for a few called to be protectors like me,” Soaris pointed to himself, “The day that Eliom celebrates the great magic is the day that all of the original Elios returned home.”
Soaris took a deep breath and looked from Laura to Ava to Shane, “Now for the part your mother and I play. Your mother and I have been in love for quite a while and your mother was not quite ready to immigrate from Elios but I was adventurous and wanted to go and see the galaxy. So she stayed behind on Elios and I sought the adventure. Ahhan and I were great friends and I came with him to assist in the care of the world and was given the role of Sicam. When the time came for the great departure I was ready to go home to Elios and see Laura. It was then that I was approached by Laura’s father, your grandfather, Jahnon. Something you should know about your heritage – Jahnon is one of those who bare the mantle of Eno. It is said that he is a seer. He has never claimed to be, but sometimes he hints that he might have the ability to see the future. Jahnon one day out of the blue traveled from Elios and approached me and said that it was of utmost importance that I stay and protect this world. That my son would be born here and that I would need to tarry here until magic had been lost and restored. I was also told that if I stayed until the magic was restored that the plans for Eliom would not fail. Not sure what this meant, being in love with is daughter, and best friends with his son I promised I would stay behind. I was then given the title of Song which in a long forgotten language means caretaker.
After a while the unthinkable occurred. The Allyant somehow found Eliom. Fortunately the Allyant soul mage was not fully aware of what he had found and thought that it was yet another seed world like many before and he decided that he could destroy it by casting meteors to the earth from the machine the Allyant refer to as a starblade. The element of surprise was devastating but eventually I was able to use the Arc and destroy his craft but not until he had destroyed many of the cities. Many of the cities were evacuated and moved to areas that we felt to be safe but sadly millions were killed and those that could, fled to Elios.
Somehow this soul mage avoided being destroyed with his starblade and for many years traveled the world killing those few mages remaining and sowing dissidence throughout the world. This caused a major decline in the wo
rld’s civilization. I eventually tracked this soul mage down and regrettably had to take his life. Sadly he was able to cast an Allyant seed that I was unable to discover until it had infected the prince of Infin and eventually he started the current war. After I had slain the Allyant, Ahhan came to visit and to my surprise Laura came with him. We were married in the valley of the Arc where she promised that she would honor my promise and remain with me until the restoration and we moved to Colline Verte.
The years in between I spent trying to keep the knowledge of glyph magic alive and the world was improving until Allion the Thirds reign. About that time Shane was born and I received word that I needed to separate from my family and continue to increase the knowledge of glyph magic anyway that I could so that the one who would restore magic could learn what was necessary from the unearthed glyph devices; enough to restore the knowledge of lumen magic and the Laws of Lumen.
Which brings us to you two,” Soaris indicated Ava and Shane. “Today Shane was spying on the Allyant possessed King and discovered a stockpile of stolen soul lumen. Like any true practitioner of Light Lumen he was nearly crushed by the ill effects of the corrupt magic. Jahnon had foreseen this and was there to guide him away from this perilous encounter. Knowing that Shane was to be the Last Song, Kuo’irus also stepped in and when the red lumen began to tempt him Kuo’irus offered the other side of the coin and the joys of Light Lumen. Shane not only chose the Lumen of Light but he crushed the tempting Lumen. The defeat was so complete that there is no one that could ever tempt him again; even an Allyant great one.
Because of his choice something happened to you, Ava. While you were repairing the overland today you were visited by two very peculiar birds, were you not?”
Ava nodded.
“I don’t know what you did but you impressed Kolaria. You impressed her so much she not only travelled to the valley of the Arc, but she committed to the plan and agreed to be the bride of Kuo’irus; she also filled you so full of lumen you can now endure Elios without protection.”