Awakening

by Hayden Pearton

  *

  The wolf had almost disappeared entirely from sight, so Alza quickened her pace, leaving the scene of battle to be reclaimed by the darkness. The wolf was soon back within sight, it's claw-tipped pads making not a sound as it trotted along the transparent path. They were close to the end now. The shards above had become larger, forming enormous spheres of bright-lit crystal. The blues and greens, intermixed with the reds and yellows, created a shimmering cascade of colours which gave light to the otherwise lightless void. It was a beautiful sight, although it's cause was sinister in nature. Had she not been so time-constrained, she would have liked to stay a little while longer, beneath the river of light.

  However, a moment later, she saw something which made her re-examine her entire perception of beauty. A great sea of broken shards, orbiting around a central fragment of Barsch's mind. It was beautiful, and yet it was also the most disgusting thing Alza had ever seen. To see a mind, any mind, reduced to such a state... Kain had chosen the worst kind of death for Barsch. His body could still feel pain; thirst; hunger, but his mind was gone, fractured beyond repair.

  “No. He's not gone... not yet. He is... special. He is my first.... friend. Even after he knew what I was, and why I was created, he fought for me. Until I have the chance to fully express how much he has done for me... until I am strong enough to tell him the truth, he can't die. I won't let him die!”

  In that instant, when hope and fear collided, the answer came to her. Barsch's mind had been shattered, but not destroyed. If he had been broken, then he could be fixed. His mind wanted to be whole... she merely had to show it the way. Before her lay the remnants of his mind: a field of memories and dreams, waiting for her.

  Closing her eyes, she let her mind think back, to the strong feelings she had felt in Dr Emmerfield's chamber. She let the emotions run through her, giving her strength and power. She called out to the strange energy that lived inside her heart, as much a part of her as she was of it. She called to it, beckoning it, luring it to the surface. It came quickly, without provocation. It rose from her depths, seemingly eager to be used once more.

  It pulsed in time with her heartbeat, making her feel more alive with every passing second. She could feel the coldness of the void, embracing her like a cloak, while the fire within her grew stronger. She could hear strange sounds, coming from all around her. The voices were coming from the dozens of shards, distorted and discontinuous, and yet comforting at the same time. It was Barsch's voice: a decade and a half of screams, wails and whispers. Nonsensical gurgles came from his infancy; high-pitched yells from his childhood; and deeper shouts from his adolescence.

  Barsch was not gone. He was there... all around her. She just had to... put him back together.

  With the power surging within her, she stretched out her hand, towards a nearby shard. When the two met, a flash of violet light briefly illuminated the darkness. The lonesome shard, previously a slave to nothing but chaos, now hung in the air, orderly and silent. With another wave of her arm, another shard was netted. Again, the violet flash lit up the void, as a line of purple light enveloped the fragment. Like a master surgeon, she guided the two translucent slivers ever closer. They came together with an inaudible sound; the distance between them filled in by the lively violet light.

  Like this, Alza toiled onwards, as piece after piece was caught and fitted. With every added shard, Alza felt the darkness of Barsch's mind recede. Light began to shine through the gaps, a golden, warm light which filled Alza with peace. She could feel her mind begin to open, accepting Barsch's as if it were her own. The melding of minds: the coming together of two separate entities and the creation of one, Supreme Being.

  Already, she could feel some of her memories leave her, migrating towards Barsch’s mind aboard the violet threads which tied the shards together. Likewise, his thoughts; his memories; his essence; flowed into her through the shards, filling her with foreign feelings and strange emotions.

  With every new link, the distance between them shrunk, until, eventually, they would be inseparable, two halves of a whole. It was a struggle to focus, to remember why she had come. If her mind wandered, even for a second, she could damage Barsch in a way that could never be undone. But, even knowing that, the allure of his mind was not to be underestimated. To give up... to let her mind be consumed by his... to let their thoughts truly become as one, was much too tempting. Picturing his empty eyes and bloodied face helped her to remember the cost of failure, allowing her to renew her focus.

  Slowly, very slowly, the mind of Barsch began to heal. The shards were no longer shards, but great pieces of shimmering crystal, interlocking perfectly and without fault. The sea of broken memories had been transformed into a massive sphere, with crisscrossing violet lines and her at the centre. Only a few dozen shards remained, only a few more pieces in the puzzle.

  Barsch's mind was still damaged, but already things had begun to improve. The void had all but disappeared, replacing with a solid golden light that stretched from horizon to horizon. The broken pathways had been restored to their original, mirror-like state. The memories had been returned to their orderly, linear avenue, and the great river of shards had been reduced to a tiny stream.

  However, in one corner of Barsch's mind, a great swath of darkness refused to relent. Even without investigating, she knew that it was The Void. Even now, with Barsch's mind all but fixed, it refused to relinquish its hold. If she had more time, perhaps she might have been able to do something about it, but it would have to wait until another day. Between death and living with a mysterious darkness, Alza reckoned that Barsch would most probably choose the latter.

  She was close now: only a handful of pieces remained. Barsch's mind... Her mind... had become One. Every thought she had, was his, and each of his was hers also. Their emotions, their memories, their hopes, their fears... there was no difference.

  “Thank you, for everything,” said Yumiere, appearing from a spot just beyond the core.

  “Thank you, for bringing him back to us,” said The Unknown Woman, from just beside Yumiere.

  “Thank you, and take care,” said Rigel, standing between the two.

  On the opposite side of the core, Lanista, the Beast, stood. “I will not say thank you... but, well done.”

  Alza nodded to each in turn, before returning her gaze to the last shard. The sphere was almost complete: a gigantic orb of deep ocean blue and forest green. At its apex, a single hole was its only blemish. The last piece hung gently in the breezeless air, waiting it's turn. It was the final piece of the puzzle, the key for the lock to Barsch's mind.

  “It's time to go home... to the place where we belong,” Alza said, as she placed her hand on its mirrored surface. The violet thread quickly enveloped the fragment, guiding it towards it's brethren. Without even a sound, it worked its way into place, completing the great orb. A second later, the sphere began shrinking, glowing ever brighter as it did so. When it was large enough to fit in Alza's upturned palms, it finally dimmed, revealing the captured memory held within.

  The picture shown was a looped memory... a precious moment that had become the core of Barsch's very being. It was a simple scene, and yet its contents almost brought Alza to her knees.

  Pictured within, frozen forever in time, was her. That moment, when their eyes had met for the first time... in that unforgettable glade. When Barsch had first found another, and had known that he was not alone. When Alza had first found another, and had begun her true journey. It was... their Awakening, preserved for all time in their deepest places.

  Without even knowing why, Alza smiled. It was her first smile, and it was beyond beauty, beyond description. With a radiant smile on her face and true happiness in her heart, Alza embraced the memory, as a blinding light filled her mind.