by Jon Chaisson
*
Denni stepped out of the Light and onto the grassy knoll of Branden Hill Park.
“Uh…” she said.
Branden Hill Park? How the hell did she get there? And why there, of all places? She was at her school in Berndette Corner’s west side just a couple of seconds ago, before she…before she what? Did she faint? She squeezed her eyes shut then opened them again, looking around. She was still standing in the middle of Branden Hill Park, about halfway up the slope to Jamison Avenue and about fifty yards from Park Street to her right. At least five miles away from where she’d been just moments ago.
She was facing eastward, in the direction of the Mirades Tower, and it was in such sharp focus it hurt to look for any length of time. She tried focusing on something closer: the grass she stood on. It too dipped and swayed in the breeze as if she could feel the life force moving through each blade, even those under her feet. It rushed through her with such incoherent completeness that her head spun and her knees buckled, her body dropping to the ground. Not an injuring fall, she thought with some relief, but a painful and embarrassing one nonetheless. She pushed herself back up slowly, determined to figure out what the hell was going on.
She couldn’t figure out why or how she had traveled halfway across the city, leaving her with a severe case of vertigo. She tempted fate and managed a look around again, taking time now to adjust to each object. The edges of the tenement rooftops at the bottom of the hill were just as sharp focus as the Mirades Tower a few miles away. It messed with her sense of depth, but not nearly as much as she’d expected. This was a vivid clarity of her own soul, of her thoughts and emotions, the physical clarity a side effect. This perfect eyesight, which made absolutely no sense to her logically, could only mean one thing, and that fact made her both giddy and nervous at the same time.
She looked around at the cars and the people around her.
Light.
She saw university students walking to and from classes. She saw men and women strolling on errands or on their way to work. She saw a young couple in love, walking hand in hand and talking as they headed towards the subway station at the park corner. She saw commuters in their transports and on their bikes and boards, intent on their destination. She saw a young child being dragged along against her will by her impatient mother. The child abruptly turned and stared at her for a moment, acknowledging her presence with boggled surprise. In each and every one of these people, she saw Light. She saw the glittering virgin white of their souls. She read their emotions, she heard the thoughts, and she sensed all of them. She sensed All. And throughout, she remained utterly calm and still. In the midst of it all, she felt Love. She felt their Light. And she accepted it.
I am the One, she reminded herself…but still she could not quite grasp the idea. She couldn’t understand what that meant.
“Ampryss?” She called her name again, louder.
Yes, Denysia? Ampryss’ voice floated in somewhere to her left. She turned, but could not see its origin. She continued to look as she spoke. She knew the answer to the question she was about to ask, but needed to hear the answer just the same. If she was correct, then everything that Ampryss had told her or implied, everything that Caren had told her…then it was all true. She had been awakened, not just because countless other people had been in the last few days. It had been done for a reason. She was the soul of the One of All Sacred in its ninth revelation, here on Earth.
“Am I…am I in Light?”
Ampryss did not answer right away. Yes, Denysia. You are.
“Oh Goddess…” she breathed, the expectant chill racing down her back. “Then it’s true.”
Ampryss did not answer. She didn’t need to. “Why?” Denni cried out. It was the only thing she could say, for it managed to encompass every single question she had wanted to ask. Why had she been chosen? What was expected of her now? Why was she here in Branden Hill Park? Why this park in particular and not the Crest or Ormand Street Park, nearer to her own neighborhood?
I bring you here for your own protection, Ampryss said.
Protection? Was there a soulsenser out there, a nuhm’ndah trying to find her? A wave of panic rushed over her. Caren’s words may have been truer than she had expected. The nuhm’ndah were hunting down the One in order to prevent the Ninth Coming. She realized her own life was in jeopardy now, simply because she had awakened. Could Mum and Dad have known this? Was this why she was never told she was Mendaihu? What else hadn’t she been told until now?
“Why the nuhm’ndah, Ampryss? Why are the nuhm’ndah attacking?”
There was no response.
“Ampryss, answer me!”
Her voice sounded faint against the howling echoes of the Sprawl. The voices and sounds she thought had come from the city’s ambient noise had now become a low, distant thunder that reverberated in her ears. Here in the Sprawl, the rumbling grew louder the longer she stayed in the park, and her sharp vision left a lingering uneasiness in her stomach. She whirled around again, trying to pinpoint Ampryss’ location. The woman had said she was on Trisanda right now but she had also said she was nearby, at least in spirit. And if she was going to find her, it wasn’t going to happen if she couldn’t concentrate. She’d have to calm down first.
She’d been placed here in the park for a good reason, and not for safety. If she really was the One of All Sacred, odds were good she wasn’t going to find a hiding place on this good Earth any time soon. There must be a number of Mendaihu Gharra nearby, already guarding her from a distance, ready to make themselves available at any given moment. A hollow relief, as she would never quite know who they were until that moment they were needed. There had to be a reason…
This has to do with Caren’s case, she thought. The church, the hrrah-sehdhyn…
“Ampryss…?” She could barely hear herself now.
I am here, Denysia.
“The souls of others,” Denni said. “That’s it, isn’t it? The nuhm’ndah are taking the souls of others…before they’re awakened. They’re trying to stop the One of All Sacred at the source, aren’t they?”
Yes, Denysia.
Denni hugged herself close, chilled by the cold winds rolling over the park slope. “Why?”
Ampryss’ voice let out a long, slow sigh. That I do not know, my dear. No one knows as yet. They are cho-nyhndah, but they are the imbalance in the universe, tamed only by the Shenaihu, as the Mendaihu have the kiralla. They are both former soldiers of a long since ended war. It seems this war has not ended for them at all.
Denni let out her own slow breath, holding herself close. There was no political, religious, or even logical reason for the Shenaihu or the Mendaihu for being here, let alone the nuhm’ndah or the kiralla. The Meraladian race had brought this otherworldly spiritualism to Earth, or rather, had awakened the Earth to its ancient fate.
“This doesn’t make any sense at all, Ampryss,” she said. “These two factions of spirits…these two energies that are really one in the same. Maybe you’re not asking the right people. Or maybe the wrong people are asking. If it’s a balance you want…”
Ampryss sensed her anger and lightened her own. I agree, she said. But that is easier thought than acted upon, Denysia.
“That’s bullshit and you know it, Ampryss!” she cried, and didn’t care if anyone heard her. “If we can set aside differences for peace treaties during wartime, then for Goddess’ sake spirits can!”
…I’m afraid that’s not—
“Give it a shot, my friend Ampryss,” she said acidly. “You don’t need the One of All Sacred to iron out petty differences. All you need is your own spirit to do that.” The temperature suddenly dropped significantly. Denni could see the people around her — bodies illuminated by their own auras and waveforms — speeding up in their motion, heading for the nearest cover from an oncoming rainstorm that had not even reached them yet. She herself had sta
rted pacing, waiting for the end of this conversation so she could return, if she could, to the warmth of her own body and the school in Berndette Corner.
Close your eyes, Denysia, Ampryss said.
“Why?” she frowned. “What are you going to do?”
Please. I beg you. I must show you this.
“Now what?” she said. “Ampryss, I really need to get back. Caren’s probably looking for me — ”
Denysia! Now! Her rough tone took Denni by surprise and she shut her eyes instinctively, and immediately regretted it. She lost her balance and flailed her arms again, expecting to hit the ground, harder this time. Her feet kicked out from under her, but when she didn’t feel the ground right away, she screamed.
“Ampryss!” she cried.
There was no answer.
Karinna, she breathed.
