Prophecy of Light - Foretold

by RJ Crayton

  He nodded and said, “Then let’s not split up just yet. We’ll start there, and if we don’t find him in an hour, we’ll go off in opposite directions.”

  “But he won’t go with you,” I said. “He doesn’t know you.”

  “I can subdue him, if necessary.”

  “No,” I said, a bit too loud as I shook my head. “I don’t know what Zygam did to Akilah, but we’re not going to act like he would act. We’ll find Nigel and convince him to come with us.”

  Pylum gritted his teeth, then looked up at the sky. “The sun is still fairly low in the sky,” he said. “In the vision, it was around midday. That means we only have a couple of hours to find him.”

  “We will,” I said.

  * * *

  We had searched for Nigel for two hours. First together, and when we had no luck, we split up. I wasn’t entirely sure I trusted Pylum to reason with Nigel, but I was frightened of what I’d seen in Pylum’s vision. Akilah seemed so different. Her change frightened me. It made me realize Pylum hadn’t been entirely wrong about me going the moon temple to find my aunt. He’d warned repeatedly that I didn’t know what I would do under Zygam’s influence. I had been certain he was wrong. So certain that I would know my own mind, that there was nothing Zygam could do to change me.

  Only he had done something to Akilah. He said he unlocked her mind, that Pylum had locked it. While Pylum had admitted he’d locked up some memories, nothing hidden away could cause that kind of reaction. I think Zygam did something else to her, some type of magical brainwashing. The same thing he would have done to me if I hadn’t been shielded.

  He’d turned her evil, somehow, and it was my fault.

  Even though Pylum had said he wasn’t sure why Akilah would want Nigel, I could tell he was holding back. He knew why; he just didn’t want to tell me. Though to me, it was obvious. She wanted Nigel so she could hurt me, or lure me back there, the way Zygam had with Talitha. But it wasn’t fair. Nigel was innocent. My aunt knew, even better than me, exactly what she was getting into with Zygam. She knew the dangers and had accepted them. Nigel shouldn’t be involved in this. I had to find him.

  I looked up at the sky, and the sun was almost directly overhead. Akilah would be here soon, and if I didn’t get to him first, she would knock him out and take him.

  In addition to looking with my eyes, I had been looking with my mind, sending out a telepathic beacon calling for Nigel. Or at least, I’d been trying. It had gone unanswered, so I wasn’t sure I was doing it right.

  I walked the crowded market watching for him, and as I passed an alleyway, I felt something in my head. Not a response to my beacon, but a hide. I don’t know how else to describe it. It was like when little children played hide and seek. Even though they were supposedly hiding, you could see them moving behind a curtain, or hear them giggling in a closet. It was like that, a little tell, a little something in my mind that said things weren’t quite right. There was something in this alley. It was fairly near to where we’d seen Akilah apprehend him in the vision. I walked down the alley and looked. I saw nothing out of the ordinary.

  But I could sense him. The alley was formed by several mud buildings on each side. There were shadows from the sun, but they were fairly short at the moment. There were a couple of stationary boxes outside the buildings. They were spots where delivery men could leave items. I didn’t see anything unusual, but I knew he was here.

  Akilah said his magic was of the mind. I had such gifts, too. I considering saying, “Kushif” — it was a simple spell to reveal hidden things — yet I didn’t want to. That would spook Nigel.

  I looked up again at the sun. Time was not on my side.

  I spoke in my mind. Nigel, you’re in danger, I said. It’s my fault you’re in danger, and even though you think you can handle things on your own, you can’t. The girl I’d been with before. The one you said had darkness inside. You were right. I looked around for any sign of him. I saw nothing. But there was something here, something that felt like it was real. I didn’t want to leave, even though if he wasn’t here, I was wasting valuable time. Nigel, she is coming for you, and I’m afraid she is going to hurt you. She knows more magic than you do, and I can’t help you unless you come out. Please, let me help you.

  My mind got a response. If I can hide from you, I can hide from her.

  I felt relief that I had been right about him being here, but fear that Akilah was close and would get him. I shook my head, knowing I had to convince him to come with me. Maybe you can hide, but you won’t, I said. There is a man who is here with me. He can see visions of the future. If you stay, she will get you. Please, just trust me.

  I trusted you before, and you sent me to that cold, cold man.

  “What?” I said aloud. “What are you talking about?”

  He responded in my head. When I went to your house, I went inside and a moment later, this doorway, a magic doorway opened and a man came out. He was mad that it was me. And then he searched in my mind and he knew you’d sent me. He handed me the note, and then he…. there was a fear within him as he spoke. He made me feel things, bad things. I’ve never felt such dread and horror and fear and darkness ever. He was filled with it and he put that dark in me and it made me … it made me never want that again. The man promised it would be worse if I didn’t give you the note.

  I didn’t know, I told him.

  I didn’t say, but now I am, he said. I don’t want to be involved with anything with you or him or Akilah.

  I felt awful for having dragged him into this. I’m sorry, but you are involved. And now she is coming for you. The man, the one who gave you the note, he controls her now. I want to help you. I paused and took a deep breath. I decided to speak aloud now. “You have a choice about what you want to happen. You can come with me and trust me to help you, or you can take your chances her. I won’t force you, but I can promise you that she will.”

  Dust and sand swirled a few feet from me down the alleyway, cattycorner. A moment later, as the dust cleared, Nigel appeared. It was a cool trick. “How did you do that?” I asked.

  He shrugged. “I just know how to hide from people.”

  He looked up at me, his eyes curious. “This man you’re with. The one who sees the future. Do you trust him?”

  That was a loaded question. I had so many reasons not to trust Pylum, I couldn’t truthfully tell Nigel I did. But I could tell him the truth he needed to know. “On this, I do,” I said confidently. “I can show you the vision.” He hesitated a moment, and then nodded. I projected my memory of the vision to him and when I was done, he looked at me with new light.

  “Why would she do that to me?”

  I couldn’t lie to him. “Me,” I said. “I think she knows that I want to protect you. Maybe she thinks if she takes you, I’ll come to rescue you.”

  He scoffed and raised an eyebrow. “And would you?”

  “Of course,” I said. “I would never let someone get hurt on my account.”

  “Yeah, you’re like that,” he said with a laugh and a head shake that said I was a hopeless case. “You’re a helper by nature. I knew I shouldn’t have let you try to help me that day.”

  “I wish I hadn’t,” I said. “Then you wouldn’t be in danger now.”

  He grinned as he shook his head, and then his eyes widened as he looked straight ahead. I turned to glimpse what he was seeing, and it was the beginning of a portal. It was about the size of a saucer and gradually widening. My mind immediately said to hide, and when I looked down, I couldn’t see myself. Or Nigel. But I did watch as the portal grew to full size, and a few moments later Akilah emerged from it. She walked right past us. She was dressed exactly as she had been in Pylum’s vision. Her mocha skin gleamed in the sunlight, and she looked powerful and confident as she walked from the alley.

  She turned left as she left the alley, and I waited a beat before I faded my disappearing magic. I wasn’t exactly sure how I’d known to do it, but the cloaking spell had wor
ked well enough to fool her. At least temporarily. Nigel, please, I said in my mind.

  He appeared, again from a cloud of dust. I wondered briefly if that was what I had looked like re-emerging. He nodded to me.

  In my mind, I called out to Pylum. I have Nigel. We are returning to the temple. She is here.

  I closed my eyes, lifted a finger out, pricked the air and thought of the temple. When I opened them, a portal, was opening. I grabbed Nigel’s hand as it widened for us. As we stepped in, I heard Akilah shout, “Kady.”

  I didn’t look back; just waited for the portal to do its work.

  Chapter 5 - Anger

  Akilah paced the room of the temple. She was angry, and several broken vases and decorations lay on the floor around her.

  “Why would she do this to me?” Akilah asked Zygam.

  He shook his head. “Do you really think she did this to you?” he asked, his voice cool in a way that had a calming effect on Akilah.

  She turned to him, looked him in the eye and realized he was right. “You don’t think she knows.”

  “You didn’t know until a little while ago.”

  “I know,” Akilah said. A portrait flew off the wall and crashed into the floor, the frame cracking. “How could Pylum do this to me? Why would he try to hurt me this way?”

  “Pylum is selfish and power hungry. He likes others to believe he is not, but that is not true,” Zygam said. “We will get him back.”

  Akilah frowned. “But I want him now. I don’t want to wait.”

  “We don’t have long to wait. The full moon is coming,” Zygam said “We will be strongest then. We will go to the temple and get him.”

  Akilah sighed. She’d always believed Hakari Ahet was home. How wrong she’d been about that. But she planned to fix things. “We have to figure out how to get the Talisman to full strength,” she said. “That will help us.”

  Zygam frowned. “Sadly, I think I’ve figured that out, too. That answer also lies at Hakari Ahet.”

  * * *

  When we arrived just outside the temple grounds, Nigel appeared awestruck. I wondered momentarily if Akilah would have followed us here. If I should drag Nigel inside. A moment later, a portal opened and Pylum emerged. He walked us into the temple and to his office. Nigel said little, but was eyeing Pylum with doubt.

  Trust him, I urged silently. I wasn’t sure entirely why I was forcing this idea onto Nigel. Part of me didn’t trust Pylum. But I knew the only chance of Nigel staying and being protected was by trusting the people here. A wave of guilt hit me as my convincing him to trust Akilah was part of the reason he was in this mess.

  Pylum, for his part, offered nothing but kindness and deference to Nigel. He told him he was free to leave at any time, but that Akilah was dangerous and that he would appreciate it if Nigel stayed at Hakari Ahet. “You have free run of the grounds, and you can attend classes to learn to use your magic better. When you learn enough, I dare say you’ll even be able to go back without our protection. You would be able to fend for yourself.”

  Nigel raised an eyebrow. “And what do you want in return?”

  Pylum smiled. “Only your safety. Only to know that even though the girl who intends to take you is after you because of what I’ve done, that she won’t succeed. That I have stopped you from being abducted.”

  “A clear conscious?” Nigel said.

  “I don’t know if mine will ever be fully clear,” Pylum said. “But I’d prefer it not become any more opaque.”

  I feared Pylum’s attempt at humor was lost on Nigel, but then Nigel smiled, and said, “I’ll stay today.”

  Pylum nodded. “A wise decision. Here at the temple, students stay in the student wing, often with roommates. It’s lunch time. Would you like to eat with Kady? That way, I can find you a room for tonight. After that, you can decide how much longer you’d like to stay.”

  Nigel nodded.

  To me, Pylum said, “Kady, could you take him to the cafeteria?”

  “Sure,” I said, and I headed out of the room. Nigel followed. We walked side by side down the corridors of the temple. “So, they really do magic here?” he asked me in a whisper.

  “Yes,” I said. “They’re quite good at it. They teach about all sorts of magic. Glyphs, various spells, and magic of the mind. Master Nuri teaches that class, but I’ve never met him,” I admitted. “But most people say he’s wonderful. He was called away shortly before I arrived. I’ve heard he’ll be back soon.”

  We were walking along the corridor when Nigel stopped suddenly. He turned to look at a mural painted on the wall. This one was different from many of the other murals. The drawing seemed simpler, more crude, but it was also very emotional. A beautiful desert sky at night, twinkling with stars. In it sat a woman, a baby at her breast, and a child, a little girl of five or six years old sitting beside her. They all smiled and looked up at the night sky. They were happy. And then a sandstorm came. The characters disappeared in the hail of dust and sand and wind. When all had cleared, the girl was gone, the woman lay prone on her back, seemingly lifeless, and the babe crawled around the desert sand. Then the pictures stopped moving.

  “What was that?” Nigel asked.

  “A painting,” I said. “Sometimes they move here. Sometimes they don’t. I haven’t figured out what makes them move, though.”

  I started to walk again, yet he stood there staring at it. “It seems very real,” he said, finally, before joining me

  “Yes, it does,” I said. I’d have to ask Jasper more about the pictures on the walls. Nigel was right. They did seem real, at least the ones that moved.

  Chapter 6 - Reunion

  Nigel and I had almost finished lunch when Jasper and Pylum came up to our table. Pylum was first to speak. “Good news, Nigel,” he said. “I’ve found you a room. You’ll be staying with Jasper here.”

  Jasper nodded. “Yeah, it will be nice to have some company,” he said.

  I hadn’t realized Jasper was in a room by himself. Though when Akilah and I had barged in the previous night, he’d been alone, so I suppose I should have at least considered the possibility that he didn’t have a roommate. I’d been so mortified by Akilah choosing to test her portal glyph by going to Jasper’s room that I hadn’t given a single thought to whether or not he lived alone. I smiled at Jasper. “That’s nice of you to help Nigel.”

  He shrugged. “Sure.”

  “If you’re finished,” Pylum said to Nigel, “we can show you to your room.”

  Nigel hopped off of his chair and nodded. Pylum started to walk away. Jasper spoke, “Um, Master Pylum, can you show Nigel the room? I needed to speak with Kady for a minute. I’ll be up shortly.”

  Pylum turned back and studied Jasper’s face. It looked for a moment as if he intended to say no, but then he nodded and said to Jasper, “Come to my office when you finish with Kadirah.”

  “Yes, Master Pylum.”

  Jasper turned to me, and I fully expected him to have a seat in the chair Nigel had vacated. But he didn’t. He leaned toward me and asked, “Can we talk downstairs?”

  Downstairs. A light room. I nodded. His face seemed concerned, and it made me worry. I wondered if something had happened last night. Something worse than what had happened to me and Akilah. I stood, and we walked downstairs in silence.

  Light rooms, also known as alshams rooms, were small, well-lit spaces meant for meditation and quiet. They were the perfect place to go for a secluded chat. When we got inside, I looked up, expecting him to speak. Instead, he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me tight. “Kady, you have no idea how worried I’ve been,” he said. I was surprised by the warmth of his arms, the concern of his tone. I hugged him back, glad to know that I had been in his thoughts, as silly as that seemed. He spoke again. “Master Pylum said you’re alright, but I just want to hear it from you. You’re really okay?”

  He released me and I smiled at him. “I’m fine,” I said. “I’m sorry you were worried.” I raised a hand to my chi
n and eyed him inquisitively, pulling back a vague urge to search his mind for an answer to the question I’d formed. “Why were you worried? I didn’t even realize you knew I was gone.”

  He shivered, as if experiencing a bad memory. “I had a nightmare last night. One where you were in a dark corridor, you and Akilah, and you were lost. I woke and tried to contact you, but couldn’t. I went to see Pylum and he searched the Seas of Time. Whatever he saw upset him, but he told me to go back to bed and not to worry.”

  I can’t imagine that was helpful. “So you went back to bed and worried?”

  He nodded. “I didn’t sleep much at all. When I came down for breakfast, there were murmurs that two students had gone to the Moon Temple overnight and one had been captured.”

  “Murmurs already?” I said. “There is quite the gossip network here.”

  “People overhear things, and Rasheeda is a gossip. Master Yaritza should consider a new trainee. Rasheeda is not particularly fit for the privacy that healing requires.”

  “I’m sorry you were worried.”

  “Is it true?”

  I stared at him, surprised Master Pylum hadn’t told him. I assumed when he’d arrived in the eatery with him, that he’d told Jasper everything. The room was extremely bright now. The purpose of the rooms was to help mages get rid of the sorrow and help them replenish their inner light, both literally and figuratively. The room seemed to be trying to fill us to the brim with light. I wasn’t sure if that was because of Jasper’s mood or my own. “Sit down, and I’ll tell you everything.”

  I gave Jasper the entire story and spared no details, including my regret over involving Akilah at all and my feelings of guilt over how this had impacted Nigel. Jasper listened attentively, and gave me a comforting pat at times, suggesting this was not my fault. I didn’t deserve his kindness, or his deflection. This was squarely my fault.

  “Thank you for listening, Jasper,” I said. “I appreciate you trying to make me feel better, but the only thing I can do now is to help Pylum protect Nigel and get ready for Zygam.”