He turned to face the girl and she immediately dropped to her knees, taking Soman into her mouth, thrilling him with skilled sweeps of her tongue. Slowly, she got back to her feet, letting her tongue trail up Soman’s abdomen and chest. Then she pushed hard on Soman’s chest with both of her hands and he fell onto the bedsack, landing on his back.
Soman looked up at her with astonishment. He’d never had a woman take so much control of him before, but he knew immediately that he liked it. He dropped his head back against the cushion and opened his arms, inviting her to do as she pleased with him.
The girl dropped down, straddling Soman like a horse and impaled herself on him. Soman shuddered with pleasure. Then the girl began rocking her hips, back and forth, in time to the drum beats. She threw her head back and her hair spilled down her back, tickling the tops of Soman’s thighs. Through his mask, Soman watched her well-formed breasts sway across her chest as she rocked and rocked. A groan of ecstasy flowed out from her mask; soft and quiet at first, but then it came again, more insistent this time. She panted and then groaned again, grinding herself against Soman’s body.
Her groans came faster and harder as her rocking became almost violent and Soman had to force himself to hold off reaching his own peak so he could continue to watch the wonder of the girl above him.
Suddenly a voice right next to his ear said, “Why?”
Soman started and jerked his body away from the voice, interrupting the girl’s rhythm. She was not deterred, however, and immediately started rocking her hips again. Soman turned his head to see who had spoken to him, but no one was there.
“Why?” the voice asked again, but this time Soman realized it must have come from the girl.
“Why what?” he asked.
The girl turned her face toward him and breathlessly asked, “Did you say something?”
“I thought you did,” Soman replied.
The girl simply shook her head and went back to rocking.
“Why did you do this to me?” the voice asked again, but this time Soman heard that it was full of anguish and it sounded very familiar.
“Gemynd?” he asked and sat up, pushing the girl off of him. He looked all around, but Gemynd was nowhere to be seen.
“You betrayed me, brother,” Gemynd’s voice said, now thick with emotion.
Soman yanked his mask off and jumped to his feet, his eyes darting in every direction. “Gemynd, are you here?” he asked, feeling desperate to see his friend.
“Why did you betray me? Do you know what you’ve done to me?” Gemynd asked and Soman gasped as he realized the voice was in his mind.
“I would never betray you, brother,” Soman said, vaguely aware that the others in the room were watching him. “You are my friend, my family. I did not report you.”
“You betrayed me,” Gemynd said again, this time his voice sounding like a growl that faded away in the distance.
Soman stood in the corner of the Pleasure Room, bent over with his hands on his knees. His heart pounded, his chest heaved with every breath, but not from pleasure, nor from exertion. But for the first time in his life, he felt afraid of his closest friend.
Numa
Numa glanced back over her hunched shoulders, certain she had heard footsteps coming towards her. But there was nothing there, only the stillness of the forest. So she turned back around and resumed her digging.
She had been on her knees for what felt like hours, digging a hole as fast as she could with only the help of a small stick. It was a futile task, and she knew it. If only she could remember how she had commanded the Baldaquin tree and made the water dance. If only she could summon her powers once again, she could command the dirt to move and the hole would be dug for her. And once the hole was dug, she would surely find her freedom from this place at last. She had tried finding an end to it--a boundary--in every possible direction. But the forest had no logical end. And so Numa had decided that the answer must lie beneath. She must dig her way to freedom.
When they’d left Aerie, she’d begged her mothers to let her go and find Gemynd. They had plied her with explanations of Iturtians and Empyreans and how each has its own place. “Gemynd must learn the ways of his people just as you must learn what it is to be Empyrean,” they’d said.
Numa had protested and made bold declarations of striking out on her own whether they agreed to it or not. Then she swore to go wherever they wished and do whatever they asked of her if they would only allow her to go to Gemynd for even one day. In the end, however, they took Numa’s power of choice from her and forced her into the forest. As they’d stood on the road leading north from Aerie, they reached out and grabbed Numa’s hands, too quickly for her to pull away. Suddenly the air in front of Numa’s face appeared to pop like a soap bubble and they were no longer standing on the road but were in the midst of a deep forest. A forest she would soon find had no way out.
In that moment, white hot anger had rushed like a torrent through her body. Her mothers had betrayed her. She shook off their hands and ran from them, running and running until she was too far away to feel their presence anymore. She didn’t know if they had followed her or tried to find her, and at first she was thankful that she had seen no sign of them. But as time wore on, Numa realized that not only had her mothers forced her into this awful place, but they’d abandoned her in it as well.
From the moment she’d left them, she had started looking for a way out. There was no way to know how long ago that had been for the maddening forest was void of time. Everywhere she’d gone, it was perpetually midday. The sun never set nor did it rise.
But the empty gnawing in Numa’s stomach made her keenly aware that her body still kept time and felt as though it had been days since she’d had any food. Thankfully, she’d had her waterskin fastened to her belt when she’d left Aerie or she would surely have perished by now.
Numa threw the stick at the ground in exasperation. She was getting nowhere. Was this forest to be her eternal prison? She shook her head to banish the thought and recognized the now-familiar feeling of Gemynd’s presence there. It was as though he pushed at her mind, but never communicated a word. Still, Numa found it comforting just to know he was there.
“I will find a way out of here,” she said aloud to him. “And then I will find my way to you.”
Numa picked up the stick again and rammed it forcefully into the ground with a loud grunt. Ever since she’d arrived in this place, a constant feeling of prickly irritation worked its way under her skin, making her feel more and more like a raging beast and she felt that her heart had become as cold and black as lakeglass.
“I hate it here!” she shouted, no longer caring if someone had been following her. Let them find her with her fingers bloodied and her hair matted to her head. Let them see just what this forest had done to her. But she was alone and her voice echoed for a moment and then dissipated into the emptiness of the forest that was forever around her. With every breath, she could feel the forest draining the Lifeforce from her.
Numa lifted her waterskin to her cracked lips, realizing it was perilously close to empty. For a moment, she entertained the thought of letting it go dry. In death, she would surely find a way out of the forest. But then she felt Gemynd’s presence in her mind again and she knew she had to carry on.
Numa closed her eyes and listened. She heard birds calling and squawking to each other; and tree branches creaking despite the total lack of wind. She concentrated hard and at last she could make out the sound of running water far in the distance to her right. She stood, not bothering to brush off the dirt that had caked onto her raw and bloody knees and walked in the direction of the water.
As she walked, Numa kept her gaze on the ground in front of her. She wanted to block out as much of her new surroundings as she could. It would never be her home and she could feel that the forest didn’t want her there any more than she wanted to be there. The sooner she could find a way out of it, the better it would be for everyone.
As Numa entered the clearing, she noticed a small, grey bird flittering just above the water’s edge. A strange, wicked feeling came over her and she dropped into a low crouch. Her stomach rumbled a warning to the bird, but it was too involved in its water play to notice. Numa salivated as she crept closer and closer to the bird by tiny increments. When she was a mere arm’s length away, she pounced, lunging through the air and wrapping her hands around the bird at the same time. She came down hard on the ground, but her landing barely registered. She had already torn into the bird’s underside with her teeth. She spat out a mouthful of feathers, then plunged her face into the bird once more.
Numa could feel the warm blood running across her cheeks and down her chin and she swiped at it with her tongue, not wanting to waste a single bit. There was little meat to be had on such a small bird so she greedily sucked down its entrails. A flicker of excitement passed through her when she found the bird’s tiny heart tucked inside a brittle ribcage and she squished it between her fingers then chewed it slowly, savoring its delectable sweetness.
When there was nothing left of the bird to consume, Numa tossed the carcass on the ground and leaned over the pool’s edge to fill her waterskin. But she immediately jumped back, clawing at the ground for stability. A horrid beast was in the water looking back at her.
Numa’s eyes widened as she realized the truth of the matter. There was no monster in the water, only Numa’s own reflection.
Once again, she leaned over the water’s edge and this time let herself see what looked back. Her once-glorious hair now stuck out from her head like straw pointing in every direction. Her cheeks were sunken and her skin was grey. Her hollow eyes looked crazed and wild and were ringed with black shadows. And the entire bottom half of her face was covered in blood.
“No,” she whispered, shaking her head. “That’s not me.”
Numa plunged her head into the water, furiously scrubbing at her face with both hands. When she came back up, she looked at her reflection once more. It was distorted now from the water’s movement, but she could still see that she was hideous. “What have I become?” she asked and felt the sting of tears behind her eyes.
Suddenly Numa heard a very slight movement in the air across the water. She looked up and saw a familiar form materialize on the opposite side of the pool. It was the great Carus. The beast did not appear to notice Numa as she bent her stately head to the water and drank.
Relieved that the Carus had not seen her, Numa backed away from the water as soundlessly as possible. When she’d reached the edge of the clearing, she quickly ducked behind the first tree she found.
Numa leaned her head back against the tree and pressed her hands against her pounding chest. What if the Carus had seen her like this? After what had happened in the mantle grove that day, Numa could not bear the thought. Surely she would frighten the great beast.
After several moments, Numa tentatively peered around the trunk of the tree. She still needed to fill her waterskin, but had to make sure the Carus was long gone before she would dare to approach the water again.
When she looked out, she was startled to see that not only had the Carus not moved on, but it was now standing very near and looking right at her.
“Why do you hide?” the Carus asked to Numa’s mind, just the way Gemynd had.
Numa ducked back behind the tree. “I do not wish for you to see me this way,” she replied aloud.
“What way?” the Carus asked.
“I have become but a husk,” Numa answered and felt a tear roll down her cheek. “An empty, wrinkled, ugly husk.”
“That’s only because you see not with your eyes, but with your mind.”
Numa looked down at her hands. They were as grey as her face had been in the water. Her fingernails were crusted with dirt and blood. But she saw them with her eyes. “I do not understand,” she called to the Carus.
“Come, look at me then, child. Tell me what you see,” the Carus replied.
Numa looked back around the tree at the Carus. Just as before, she saw a magnificent, silver beast with shiny, black horns that pierced the sky and flashing, golden eyes.
“I see you, the Carus,” Numa answered. But as soon as she’d said the words, the Carus began to shimmer and ripple before her. A bright, golden light burst forth from the beast, first shining from the eyes, ears and nostrils. Then it broke through all along the spine until finally light erupted throughout the Carus’ form. In fact, there was nothing of the Carus left, only a massive orb of golden light. The lightorb undulated in place for several moments and then began folding back in on itself while simultaneously stretching and twisting in opposite directions.
Numa watched wide-eyed as the lightorb began to take on a new form and new colors. Patches of the golden light became the palest blue while others turned black as night. Then it started to spin and spin, becoming a whirlwind of light and color before Numa’s eyes. When the spinning stopped, a beautiful woman with black hair and translucent blue skin stood where the Carus had been only moments before.
“Now what do you see?” the woman asked.
Numa dug her fingers into the bark of the tree. “A...a woman?” she said, unsure she knew how to answer.
“That is because you are still looking with your mind,” the woman said with a hint of annoyance. “You are Empyrean. Your eyes see only Truth. Now, try again.”
Numa closed her eyes and tried to free her mind of all thought. She opened them again, but still saw the woman just as before. “I see the same as before,” she said quietly.
The woman smiled. “That is fine, then,” she said with a note of resignation. “You are in rebellion. Perfectly normal during your time of transition.”
“Rebellion?” Numa asked and allowed herself to emerge fully from behind the protective tree. “Is that why I feel so dark and irritated all the time.”
The woman nodded. “When you entered the forest, your Empyrean Lifeforce was ignited and now it is trying to reconcile being in physical form. Your transition into Empyrean is much like that of the caterpillar into a butterfly. Once the transition has taken place, the butterfly would be most unhappy if it found itself being stuffed back into a cocoon. Your Empyrean nature has awakened within you and yet you find yourself within the limits of human form. The dark feelings will dissipate as soon as you realize that your form is merely illusion.”
Numa studied the woman as she tried to make sense of her words. She could see that the woman’s skin was not merely translucent, but that there was no real substance to her at all. Her body was nothing more than a faint, blue outline and Numa could see the pool of water through her. “Who are you?” Numa asked with wonder.
“I am Radine,” the woman replied simply.
“Are you my teacher?” Numa asked.
“You are your own teacher,” Radine said. “So be the best teacher you can be.”
“How can I teach myself what I do not know?” Numa asked, now thinking Radine must be mad. Or possibly she didn’t exist at all and was only a figment of Numa’s dehydrated brain.
“You are Empyrean,” Radine said again. “There is nothing you do not know. It is only a matter of remembering.”
“I remember being beautiful,” Numa said and clenched her fists with growing agitation. “I remember being a bride. I remember feeling Joy that I was about to marry my true love. And I remember all of that being torn away. And I remember being forced by my treacherous mothers into this place where there is no Joy.”
To Numa’s astonishment, Radine laughed. “Your rebellion is fierce,” she said. “But, as in all things, you have the power of choice. You must decide: wi
ll you stay in rebellion or embrace your Empyrean nature?”
“My choice is to find a way out of this forest,” Numa said with a snarl and began walking towards the water’s edge to fill up her waterskin.
“Before you do, tell me what you see there,” Radine said, pointing.
Numa’s gaze followed Radine’s finger and she saw that the woman pointed directly at the tree where Numa had been hiding.
“It’s a tree,” Numa blurted with no forethought.
“Is it?” Radine asked.
Numa looked again and saw that the tree was rippling and shimmering just as the Carus had done before. It followed the same pattern of bursting into an orb of light and then spiraling into another form. Only this time, instead of patches of blue and black, the light became a rainbow of colors swirling around and around. And instead of a new single form emerging, the light split into two new forms.
And Numa recognized them immediately.
“Mothers,” she hissed.
But they ignored her as they both went into deep bows, their foreheads touching the ground. “Great Radine, you honor us,” they said in unison.
Numa whipped her head around to look at Radine. She had never seen her mothers bow to anyone before. “Who are you?” she asked again.
“Numa, this is Radine,” Gracewyn said as she stood from her bow. “She is the Speaker for the Deis here in Turiya.”
Numa gasped and tripped over her own feet as she tried to step back. “You know the Deis?” she asked.
Radine smiled. “As do you, my dear. Something else you will remember in time,” she said. “But the first step you must take is to accept your true nature. You are Empyrean and Turiya is your home.”
“What is Turiya?” Numa asked and then glanced at her mothers. She could not deny that part of her was happy to see them again. But in her heart she still blamed them for keeping her from Gemynd so she added, “My home is with Gemynd.”
Radine exchanged a look with Gracewyn and Felyse. A look that Numa could not decipher and she felt her skin prickle with irritation once again.
Revelation: The Todor Trilogy, Book One Page 19