A Division of Souls - A Novel of the Mendaihu Universe

by Jon Chaisson

  *

  I am here, she said.

  Denni stood just inside one of the warehouse doors and slowly scanned the thousands of Mendaihu and Shenaihu, who were all staring back at her in rapt silence. She sensed each and every one of them. They were quiet, reverent…and they were all waiting for her. For her, the One of All Sacred in its Ninth Embodiment. She stood there, not daring to move another step, not yet. She felt their eyes on her, the gossamer threads of their spirits reaching out to her, afraid to touch but powerless to ignore the attraction. They were anxious for the moment…they were patient and subdued. Their spirits were in flux.

  I am the One of All Sacred, she said within.

  She felt Amna’s presence behind her. Always behind, never beside. She recognized her stance as reverence, not as subservience. She would be the closest to her from now on, an ever loyal and trusted sehnadha. Amna would remain close to her from here on in…yet the spiritual bond she and her sister shared would not be surpassed. Caren…Karinna…she would always be the closest spirit to her, the Protector.

  I have come to Awaken you all.

  She exhaled and very slowly stepped into the warehouse. She did not know exactly where she was headed in this place…except that they moved back with each step she took. She scanned over the crowd at the racks and the mezzanines, searching for a place where she could see all of them and they could see her. The words she spoke within were reaching them clearly. She raised her lips in a half-smile…and the people closest to her returned her expression ten-fold.

  I am Dennise Johnson; I am Denysia Shalei si Emmadha si Dhumélis. I am not Meraladian or Mannaki by direct bloodline; I am Gharné, and I am Trisandi by spirit and by ancient bloodline. I am my own; I am part of All. I am singularity; I am duality. We are all duality.

  She found the steps to the northern mezzanine and made her way to them in a slow arc. She needed a high place for everyone to see her when she at last spoke aloud. As she walked she remembered the words given to her by Ampryss…her Spirit Guide. Ampryss! She now understood who she was! Ampryss was Trisandi, her anchor to all other realities, and the One of All Sacred was the only spirit who could safely and knowledgeably travel all of them. If it wasn’t for the fact that her spirit was giddy with this sudden influx of Light and Knowledge, she would not have been able to accept this daunting fate.

  We are all duality. We are One.

  Did anyone out there on the floor understand what she was saying? Would they in time? She shook that thought out of her head, realizing that she could ill afford to doubt herself right now; she was their chance to learn all that she, the One of All Sacred, had to teach them. She was their only chance.

  We are here, you and I, to set things right. We are here, ultimately, to learn and to evolve. We wish to ascend, to lift our spirits to higher plains of consciousness, to higher states of being. Hear this now: none of you — NONE of you! — are unworthy of this simple quest. Because we are all descendants of Trisanda, that is our ultimate goal, and it is one we are all able to achieve in our own way.

  Balance. Love. Peace. Light. Understanding.

  Denni stopped at the bottom stair, and turned to look at the still-silent crowd. They were waiting in rapt silence for her to say more…yet she found herself wanting someone, anyone, to join in. This journey was not just hers. This was everyone’s. She could feel the presence of non-Mendaihu souls here; some were curious onlookers who resonated with everyone, but most were Shenaihu. The element of danger — the possibility of danger, she reminded herself — was there, with the two polar opposites here in this ultimately confined space. It could just as easily turn into another pitched battle, but she refused to let that happen.

  I hear…I see Light and Dark surrounding me. I feel it.

  Her eyes stopped on a young woman. She was slim with an athletic build, with short jet-black hair, and dark eyes open wide in equal parts awe and terror. She tentatively reached out her senses to touch her aura, when the most unexpected and surprising thing happened: the woman flinched.

  Fear!

  “Do not be afraid,” she said aloud, directly at the woman. Again, she reached out her senses, this time with a deliberate slowness. “You are not alone here, eichi. There is no need to cower. I will not harm you.”

  “I —” the woman started. Fear gave way to anger; she changed from stock still to defensive stance in one fluid movement. The surrounding crowd gasped in shock. Was she really that terrified of being touched by the One of All Sacred? “I —” she said again. Her hands wavered slightly, dropped a few inches. A single tear appeared under her right eye.

  The crowd surrounding them stood still, not daring to move for fear that their motions would be construed as an attack.

  D-Denysia… the woman whispered. Do not tempt me.

  “I do not tempt you,” Denni said quietly. “I welcome you.”

  “Don’t —” she growled. The woman shifted in place, hands still in the air in front of her, ready for combat. The inner demon held fast. Yet there was confusion within this anger, within this fear, as if she’d had a revelation, that something she’d never wanted to understand, had come to light and she had been cruelly forced to accept it. She choked back a sob, blinked out the tears, and held her stance.

  Kryssyna… the woman said.

  Another woman, brilliant auburn curls framing her oval face, moved closer and took the woman’s left hand. This woman looked absolutely terrified, yet refused to back away from her friend. Denni sensed the ripple within her senses of the second spirit moving in, giving this woman her strength. She had given it selflessly, without question. Denni felt the second woman’s fear, channeled through the first woman’s spirit. Denni knew not to fight against these two together, for their combined strength could obliterate that of a fifteen year-old girl. She did not have to remind herself of her mortality. They were both Shenaihu, and they were here to do something…something not according to plan.

  “You are Shenaihu,” she said. “You, Saone Lehanna, are perhaps one of the strongest Shenaihu I’ve sensed yet. Your energy knows no bounds. I commend you for that. And you, Kryssyna Piramados, you are her anchor. You are her shadhisi.” The two women lowered their hands slightly and stared at her in a mixture of disbelief and panic as she moved closer towards them. “You two are blessed to be here. Your presence here shall not go unnoticed.” She reached out and touched their clasped hands. Another wave of energy rippled through of her own emotions, mostly of love and acceptance of those around her. She touched them, and felt everything align. Their spirits, their minds slowed to a restful peace, their inner storms quelled for the time being.

  Saone gasped. “N…no…p-please, I beg you…”

  For the moment, Denni did not pay any attention to the thousands of people circling them. They were all still fixated on her, watching her every move. They would do whatever she told them to. For now she just wanted them to wait. There were some things here that she felt were more important. Saone and Kryssyna had come so close in their attempt to undo what Nehalé had started, that they commanded her attention.

  “You are the duality,” Saone managed to whisper. Her voice was speaking her anger through the tears, as well as her faint hope that violence would not come after all. “You’re the duality we seek…do you understand?”

  “I understand your pain,” Denni said. “I understand your misery, your feeling of abandonment…but what I do not understand is why you have chosen the path you have. Why such animosity?”

  “We…”

  The answer came to her in thousands of growling, screaming voices, directed everywhere at once, within her. They are the Shenaihu! Save them! They are the nuhm’ndah! The Nameless! Their violence knows no end! The crowd began to move. Something had shifted, and she felt it all start to spiral. They have refused to accept the Mendaihu… Save them…! No, kill them! They have killed our own! Save th
em, Dearest One… I am Shenaihu…please, we need this peace… Help us! Show us the way!

  More voices, more than she could count. Saone’s answer had been drowned out by the unsolicited voices of all those around her. They spoke within her, they spoke out loud…and not one person had cared to listen to anyone else around them. Denni staggered back from the force of the wave, and nearly tripped on the bottom stair behind her. It was only by luck that Amna caught her before she fell. The voices grew even louder, everyone now shouting over each other, both aloud and within.

  Stop…please, Denni cried.

  Save them first, Saone said to her.

  Amna took hold of her arm. Denysia, I’m right here…are you all right?

  “I…” Her own voice was lost in the din. She looked up, saw Saone and Kryssyna backing away, a look of defeat on their faces. No, that wasn’t defeat; it was acceptance. Acceptance of the fact that Denni was not going to be able to help them after all.

  “Stop!” she yelled, to no avail. Saone!

  Save them first! Saone cried.

  She tried to move forward to catch the two women, but she had already lost sight of them. Saone! She could feel her moving away, towards the western end of the warehouse, towards the empty offices…she was retreating further and further away, and she couldn’t reach her.

  STOP IT, ALL OF YOU!

  Something inside of her shifted. She felt the glow of energy welling up inside her, pushing her backward again. Tears of pain and anger welled up in her eyes, blurring her sight. She twisted and darted up the mezzanine stairs. Below her, the others had become lost in their own cacophony, their disbelief that the One of All Sacred may just have let them down in so short a time. They didn’t dare think that, Denni knew, but they sure felt it, and she could feel it as well.

  STOP! ALL OF YOU! In the name of the Goddess, you WILL stop this foolishness!

  Denysia, she heard the voice within.

  “Damn it!” she cried, more at the voice than at the situation, but at that point it didn’t matter. She chose to answer. “Ampryss, what has happened?”

  They hear, yet they are still deaf to your words, child. They see, yet they are still blind.

  Denni cursed again. What should I do?

  Find Nehalé Usarai. He will help you.

  Nehalé Usarai.

  Denni shivered. The man that had started the awakening ritual days ago…who had brought all of these spirits here to this warehouse…the man behind her own Awakening. The man who had brought Caren and Poe and Nick and Sheila together to solve a case Denni now knew to be unsolvable. There was no case. It was the Goddess’ Divine Plan.

  Karinna… she thought, fighting back tears. I am so sorry… She wiped the tears away, and looked at Amna. She was crying as well, her disappointment running deep. They stood silently at the foot of the stairs, looking out at the floor. The loyal followers, who had invited her here, who had expected her here at this time, had fallen back on their old ways of linear thinking, of seeing the Mendaihu and the Shenaihu only as polar opposites. They were arguing amongst themselves, some quietly and some violently, at who was right and who was wrong. They all ignored the fact that the One of All Sacred, their supposed savior, stood among them.

  Still others fell silent, kneeling before her. They were near the back, the ones who understood. She felt the peace within them, centering their own energies and attempting to reach out and touch the others with them. They sacrificed their own safety by opening their hearts completely to all those around them. They radiated Love and Light in all directions.

  Denni sensed Nehalé among them.

  “Amna,” she said over her shoulder. “Can you reach Nehalé Usarai from here?”

  She nodded. “Not too hard finding his spirit signature in this mess,” she said with a smile, wiping away the tears. “I think I know what you have in mind.”

  “Good,” Denni answered. “Find him and get him here as soon as you can.”

  Amna skipped back down the stairs two at a time and plowed her way through the crowd. With her small frame, she was able to slide through gaps in the crowd almost without notice, and within minutes she had reached the far end of the crowd. Amna stepped gingerly around the followers kneeling in prayer until she found the one man who still stood amongst them. Nehalé Usarai stared directly at her from across the warehouse, hands clasped tightly in front of him and head cocked slightly down, waiting.

  Come, Nehalé, Denni said to him. Your work is not yet over.

  From this distance she could see his shoulders sag, his eyes close and his head lift up to the ceiling, relieved by her words. He bowed in her direction, and took Amna’s outstretched hand. He smiled.

  As you wish, Dearest One, he said. After a moment she realized his reaction had not been relief but of a closely guarded elation. The joy he felt shot through the crowd and hit her squarely in the heart, making her laugh. They took two steps towards her…

  Gone. Their bodies blinked out of existence. Denni grasped at the railing in front of her and gasped. Where…?

  A second later they reappeared at the bottom of the staircase, both of them at a full run.

  Where…?

  Come, Dearest One, Nehalé said. Take my hand.

  Before Denni could protest, let alone turn to follow, Nehalé had grabbed her and pulled her into the maze of half-collapsed readymade offices. She tripped over a metal runner, lost her balance and went sailing on her right side towards the concrete floor. She closed her eyes and braced for impact, but to her surprise there was none. She opened her eyes, and All was Light…