by Kyrja
“Hold up your hand and cover your eyes,” Ratio said. “Everyone, cover your eyes. It’s about to be very bright for a moment or two,” and with that, he reached out to the moon that was as close to him as his other hand was, filling himself with the light Denit’s sun shone upon him, then directed that light into Rajesh’s hand.
* * * * * * * *
Denit felt dismayed. How could she be sure she was the right … Denit? There were so many of her. She felt many of the others thinking the same thing. Together, they each wondered how they would be able to prove they were the right one, from the right place and time. From her viewpoint, she seemed to be hanging in the dark of space, with only a few distant stars to give her perspective of where she might be. She wondered if the others were in different places, or in the same kind of place she was. And if they were all in different points in time too.
“Sov was my father,” she and many others said in unison. Those who did not, disappeared. “I was created by Giya, not born of a man and woman,” she said out loud, hearing the echoes of her own voice. But more of what she hoped were duplicates disappeared.
“I am trapped in Jikangai,” she and two dozen others repeated together. This is going to take a while … she thought, seeing two more disappear.
Chapter Thirty-Four – Tyran’s Choice
“Come on!” Kraas shouted to Zaria, running towards Ozahm.
“What are you doing?” Zaria yelled, following her.
“I have an idea!” she said, then stopped a good distance away from where the Lord of Death was being challenged by … she had no idea who, but whoever he was, he was providing a distraction so that Rajesh and the others could free Giya, and the damned turtle. She wasn’t about to just stand there, waiting to see who would win. “Here, she said, kneeling, “you’re a healer now, so make sure this part of the … ground, I guess … stays nice and healthy.”
“Healthy?” Zaria asked, confused.
“Yes!” she said, standing up again. “I’ll go over there and do my best to do the same. Send the energy towards him. If he’s all about death and dying, then maybe this will slow him down, so he has to fight on multiple fronts, instead of just …” she shrugged, “that guy,” she nodded at the man who had challenged Ozahm.
“Do you think this will help?” Zaria asked, already bending to the task.
“I don’t know, but he’s the bad guy, so we have to do something to help, right? Can you think of anything else to do?” Kraas asked, turning away from her.
“Not yet!” Zaria shouted at her back as Kraas ran to the other side of where the two … men? were facing each other. “Bad guy?” she whispered to herself, shaking her head, then sent a powerful pulse of health through the ground, aimed at Ozahm.
* * * * * * * *
“Get out your dagger!” Drena told Jonath. “Those two are trying to distract Ozahm, let’s help them!”
Jonath smiled to himself. Finally, Drena would have an enemy she could fight. Unsheathing the dagger he’d found in the lower levels of the Temple of Life – the same one he’d brought with him so that Drena could claim his life waters when he had come to sacrifice his life so that she would conceive Amphedia’s heir – he ran to the far side of where the two men were facing each other. The two of them were surrounded now. He wasn’t sure whether their efforts would make any difference against a god, but it would at least buy Giya and the others time to do what they needed to do. He really hoped he would live through this encounter, because he was looking forward to finding out what was really going on here.
* * * * * * * *
“Hey!” Honsa shouted as Yakuza put his hands on Tyran’s shoulders. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“Don’t be afraid,” he replied. “I just want to see what her choice is, so I … “
“Stop what you’re doing!” Ceirat warned Yakuza, placing her hands on his arms, intending to yank his hands off of Tyran. Instead, she felt herself falling into the music, much as she had done on her way to Jikangai. No! she felt herself protest. Not again! Instead of finding herself back at her childhood home, confronting her long-dead father again, though, she found herself in a place which was completely dark.
“Where am I? What’s going on?” Ceirat clearly and distinctly felt herself asking these questions out loud, but she did not hear the words come out of her mouth. Nor, she realized right away, could she feel her … self. She was here, but her body wasn’t. All right, she told herself, determined to stay calm, This is Tyran’s fear – being buried alive. Or something like it anyway. She felt, rather than heard, the music as it surrounded her. It wasn’t threatening, nor soothing either. It just was … sounds, really. Not music so much. Or, at least not what she would consider anything that she would dance to, or even set a song to.
Tyran? She asked into the darkness, willing her to hear her, even if she couldn’t hear her own voice.
“Here!” she heard a voice call out, but it wasn’t Tyran. Instead, the … music? noise? vibrations? seemed to change, and it suddenly seemed to Ceirat that the darkness wasn’t as dark as it had been. There was a dim, but steady glow not far away, coming closer.
I can’t see you! she tried to say, but still heard nothing other than the music, which changed again. This time, with the changing of the … vibrations? there was enough light for her to see Yakuza standing a short distance away, and she could see her own hands in front of her now. It seemed to her that the light was actually coming from him, somehow. As if he was standing in front of a lantern. She tried moving closer to him, but found she couldn’t take a step. Moving her hands, which she could see clearly in the light, she had an idea. Using her hands to feel her way down the length of her body, she grabbed her right leg, which she could feel, but not see, moving it forcefully forward. As soon as she could see it, she could move it. Strange, she thought, then moved her left leg in the same way, and was able to move forward.
“Where is she?” Ceirat asked Yakuza, as she moved closer to him, thankful she was able to hear herself speak again.
“Down that way,” he answered her, pointing.
“Are you coming?” she asked, when he hesitated.
“I am not welcome here,” he replied, shaking his head.
“How do you know? Isn’t this the way to where the Singers … well … live? Or whatever you call it?” Ceirat pressed, not sure of the right words to use.
“This is the way for your friend, not for me,” he replied, taking a step back, causing the light to move with him.
“You’re just afraid. I can feel it,” Ceirat told him, trying to be patient.
“And you are afraid to go alone,” he tossed back.
“No,” Ceirat said, calmly and with great patience. “I cannot move forward without you, in case you didn’t notice. You are the light around here, evidently. At least it looks that way. When I am in the dark, I can’t move. So you have to come with me if I’m going to get to Tyran.”
“No,” and there was finality in that single word.
“So then what are we going to do? Just stand here for the rest of our lives? Or maybe forever? Or will you just leave me in the dark, alone, and unable to move? Come on,” Ceirat said, proud of herself for sounding so casual about it, when her heart was racing out of control, “what choices do we really have?”
“We could leave and let Tyran decide for herself whether she will join the Song,” Yakuza returned, and Ceirat was sure he was proud of himself for sounding reasonable in his suggestion.
“If I wouldn’t have come with you, what would you have done? Just stopped here, without finding out the answer to your question? You obviously know she hasn’t chosen yet, or you wouldn’t keep insisting on letting Tyran make her own choice. How do you know she hasn’t chosen yet?”
“Because all of … “ he hesitated, then spread his arms to include the darkness where they were standing, “this wouldn’t be here,” he said, his voice cracking. Ceirat couldn’t decide whether he was angry or sad, but e
ven without Ordan here to interpret his emotions for her, she knew he was unhappy with what he’d found here.
“This?” she asked, letting her voice sound astonished, but not outraged. “There is nothing here but darkness. What would we have found if she already decided to join the Song?” Ceirat asked, genuinely curious.
“The Song,” Yakuza whispered, closing his eyes and turning away from her, taking more of the light with him.
“What would have happened to me?” she asked gently, hoping he wouldn’t move any further away from her.
“You would not have been able to follow,” he replied, with a tremble in his voice.
“Ceirat?” they both turned when they heard a new voice. “Is that you?” Ceirat smiled, feeling relieved. That was definitely Tyran’s voice. The darkness was lifting even more, as she came closer, lighting up the entire area, so Ceirat could see she was standing in what looked like a long, dark tunnel.
“Tyran!” Ceirat exclaimed, rushing towards her to embrace her. “I’m so glad to see you! Are you all right?”
“Oh Ceirat! This has been amazing! I can’t wait to tell you all about … well … everything! And how we’ll be able to do even more within our bond, and … “ she laughed, “There’s so much to share with you! It’s so amazing!”
“So you will not be surrendering to the Song, then?” she asked, mentally holding her breath, trying hard to not be selfish if this was what her friend needed. Or wanted. Or … would choose.
Shaking her head, Tyran said, “No. At least not any time soon,” and she smiled, hugging Ceirat again. Ceirat wasn’t sure Tyran had ever reached out to hug her first in all the years they had known each other.
“But you,” Tyran said, pointing at Yakuza, “I have a gift for you from your grandmother.”
“My grandmother?” Yakuza asked, eyes narrowing. “Who gave you this gift? How are you even here? No one comes back from beneath the mantle. I think I must be having a dream, and you’re not even real at all.”
“She said to tell you, ‘Nagy’ reminds you that you have a choice. One day or one hundred years above the mantle mean nothing to Singers.’” Tyran paused then, smiling, “That’s what she said to tell you.” She paused again, then cocked her head, saying, “But! She also gave me a note to sing for you if you want to return. The Song has changed, so it’s not as easy for you to go back as it would have been before.”
“I can go back?” he asked, his eyes wide, a smile finally breaking out on his face.
“Yes,” Tyran confirmed. “If that’s what you want to do. The choice is completely yours. Whenever you are ready, I will sing the note for you. Do you want to go now?”
“Not … yet,” Yakuza answered, shaking his head. “I wanted to go back in the worse way when I knew I couldn’t, but … “ he laughed then, clearly unsure what he was feeling. “Now that I know I can go back any time … I think … maybe … I will stay a while.”
“Come to see me in Midbar – if we all survive this crisis – and I will sing the note into your dreams, so you won’t have to worry about finding me when you are ready. Will that be all right with you?”
“Oh yes!” Yakuza exclaimed.
Ceirat felt the music moving through her again, and relaxed into it, then opened her eyes to find herself still holding Yakuza’s hands. She let go as he let go of Tyran, and they all embraced, laughing.
* * * * * * * *
“That’s it,” Raito said to Rajesh. “Just hold still …”
“What are you hoping to accomplish?” Oculis asked quietly, unable to piece together what the Moon God was doing. He had thought Ratio was going to rub Rajesh’s blood on the tortoise, but instead he was using light to shine on the blood in Rajesh’s hand. How did that make any sense?
“I am going … to stop … Deiserin from walking … around …. the circle,” he responded, biting his bottom lip, concentrating on what he was doing. “There!” he exclaimed, as the beam of light coming from his hand illuminated both Rajesh’s hand and the tortoise at the same time.
“You did it!” Nieva shouted, jumping up and down. “Oh Grandfather, look! She stopped!”
“She will be hungry and thirsty,” Ratio told them. “For the first time in a very long time. Quickly! Gather some leaves for her to eat. Oculis, you’re the fastest among us, would you find a way to bring us some water from the river?”
“I will return shortly,” he nodded. “Nieva, do you want to come with me?”
“I’d like to stay here,” she replied, already approaching the tortoise, with leaves in-hand, making calming sounds.
Nodding, Oculis transformed as Sina screamed, startled.
“Help me, Sina,” Nieva invited, holding out some leaves to her. “It looks like she likes this kind of leaves. And don’t worry, he does that all the time. And so do I. It’s normal for us. Grab some of those leaves from the bush by you, and bring them here,” she suggested.
“How did you do that?” Rajesh asked Raito, wiping his hand on his pants.
“You can nullify magic, can’t you?” Raito asked him, smiling.
“Yes,” Ratio agreed, “but I’ve tried that before, many times, when I came to visit her. It never worked,” he shrugged.
“There are two reasons for that,” Ratio explained.
“You were outside the circle,” Giya told him, “not inside, in the same time.” She emphasized.
“Of course,” Rajesh nodded. “And nothing I ever tried doing to the barrier worked either. Believe me – I tried!”
“Again,” Ratio explained, “that’s because it was created from the inside, working outwards. You would have had to be inside the circle for it to work.”
“So all this time … “ he sighed deeply, shaking his head. “If I would have just come inside, like I thought I should …” Rajesh was devastated.
“No,” Ratio disagreed. “Nothing would have worked without Lumas’ direct intervention.”
“What are you saying?” Rajesh frowned. “She wasn’t here just now, but you still stopped Deiserin!”
“That’s because I used the light of the moon,” Raito smirked, then watched Rajesh’s face as realization dawned on him.
“Because the magic that put my mother on this wretched path didn’t recognized that the light from the moon wasn’t actually coming from Lumas herself!” he nearly shouted. “I understand! Lumas was the Moon Goddess when she put my mother on the path around Jikangai! That’s brilliant Ratio!” he laughed, slapping him on the back repeatedly. “I don’t know how you figured that out, but it’s absolutely brilliant!”
“Can you do it again to free Deiserin from her tortoise form?” Giya asked, “or to release the barrier?”
“I wish I could give you some hope there, my Lady,” Raito shook his head, but both of those things are very different than what Lumas did in transforming Deiserin into a tortoise and in constructing the barrier.”
Oculis stepped closer to them, saying he had brought the water for Deiserin, as requested, by wrapping his shirt around a large bird nest he’d found. “It will continue to leak until the water is all gone, but by then, maybe we will have another source of water,” he said, pointing at the water rising above Jarles’ prone form.
* * * * * * * *
“Shio!” Savaar exclaimed, emerging from the water stream near Jarles’ body, shocked to see his sister here.
“Talk later!” she shouted. “My Tear isn’t working and neither is hers!” she said, nodding at the girl kneeling next to her. “Something’s wrong! Help me!”
“I’ve done this before,” Batal told her, coming out of the water right after Savaar. “It’s called the Heartbeat of Life. Do as I do,” she said, confident. She had once saved Ordan’s life and hoped the same thing would work on a god as well as it had on a human. “What you want is more of a vibration than a sound, but together, they will work. I know they will. Listen to me, and then try it yourselves,” Batal instructed. Pursing her lips together, she began to make a sound so
mewhere between a hum and a single, sustained note. She pitched the tone higher then, moving her tongue in a steady, undulating motion. When she felt the vibration, she knew something was wrong. It should have been exactly right. She had practiced many times since the first time she’d done it.
“The time is wrong!” a girl came running up to them. “The rooster must stop!” she shouted. Batal watched in amazement as the girl ran to the man she knew was Eruitt, yelling at him to “Quake the earth! Quake the earth!” She was shocked, though, when the man raised his foot, then stomped it into the earth hard. She felt the ground under her rock, as did everyone else all around her.
“Quake!” the girl shouted, her face turning red with anger. Once again, Eruitt stomped, even harder this time, so that Batal had to keep herself from falling over.
“Now!” the girl shouted, pointing at her. “The rooster cannot fix the water, but you can. Now!”
Focusing on what she was doing, and not on what was going on around her, Batal did it again. This time, she felt the vibrations right away. She felt it wash through her, and breathed deeper. This was the sound of life. And all that it meant. Looking at her companions to make sure they were watching her, she waiting until the harmony was just right – then almost jumped when she heard the exact same vibration she was making repeated all around her. She felt the hair stand up on the back of her neck, bringing a smile to her face and heart. Somehow, the Heartbeat of Life was being echoed and repeated all around her. It didn’t matter how. Not now. All that mattered was saving Jarles.
Holding up her Tear, she nodded her head, letting Savaar, Shio, and the other woman with the Tear know they should do the same. Aiming the vibration directly into her Tear, she felt it when a silent concussion exploded, throwing all of them away from Jarles. As she struggled to get back up, she saw him move.
“Shio?” he said, shaking his head.
“He’s alive!” she shouted, and sat back on her heels as a wave of joy washed over her.