by Jon Chaisson
*
“What do you see?” Natianos Lehanna asked.
Janoss Miradesi stood at the windows of Natianos’ office, looking out over the sea of rippling clouds, and at the fleet of Special Forces helicopters hovering tentatively above them. The sun had begun its slow afternoon descent and the resulting brilliance of color as sunlight refracted off the condensation was truly breathtaking. Janoss, however, had not been seeing with completely human eyes, not since they had returned from Trisanda. He had decided upon arrival that this new way of seeing offered much more truth than in a normal field of vision. He thought of himself as a Watcher of the Shenaihu now, the first of hopefully many. This new spectrum carried thousands more shades of Light, thousands more frames of focus. It was a clearer, more intense vision than anything he’d ever seen, and it told no lies. If he had chosen to switch back from Watcher to human eyesight, he would have seen Natianos as the tall, slightly stocky and intimidating man he had always known ever since he began working under him. Now, with Watcher eyes, he saw him as he truly was: a slender, intelligent and youthful man, the same he had seen on Trisanda.
“It’s a disorganized mess,” he answered. “Many hues, but it’s almost impossible to distinguish one from the other, even with these eyes. There are too many to comprehend. There’s no order to it.”
“With Lightseeing,” Natianos said, joining him at the window. “You would have been blinded. You would have seen only the brilliance of the souls’ energy, and not the consciousness. A collective consciousness, though in thousands of places at once. Each soul following its own separate destiny within the confines of a spiritual community as the Rain of Light.”
Janoss winced. “And Nehalé believes he can control them from the warehouse?”
“He does,” Natianos smiled. “He wishes to use the dual spirits. Those he has gathered in the warehouse, and those inside the Rain of Light. He wants to create a duality by Gathering. This ritual would create a body equally Shenaihuza and Mendaihuza…a cho-nyhndah by ritual rather than by inheritance. Most of the spirits within the Rain are Shenaihu, did you know that?”
He stared at him, the aside unexpected. “No,” he said after a long pause. “No, I didn’t.” Then, after another long pause, “How did you know?”
“Because I was once one of them.”
Janoss stared at him warily.
“And I tell you this: so was Nehalé Usarai. He and I were both in this Rain of Light that you see now, countless ages ago. Of course, he is Mendaihu, so naturally our two souls existed side by side. He is my duality, as it were. My spiritual twin. He cannot create a duality for himself, since I exist.”
Janoss frowned at him, unable to say a word. Had he not just looked at him with Watcher eyes, he would not have believed him. Spiritual twins, he thought with a shudder. True enough these two were so completely polar opposites, but that one observation was not enough to prove the Natianos / Nehalé relation. His eyes saw truth, but they did not speak it to him. He would have to find out for himself.
“You are trying to undermine him,” he said.
Natianos’ eyebrows went up, as if he were genuinely offended by the accusation. “Not in the least,” he said. “I am merely showing him how duality works. If he is to awaken the Mendaihu soul within these people, then I equally must awaken their Shenaihu side. He’s gotten it all wrong, you see. He’s thinking in terms of polarity. Quite a few people are, really. It seems we’re lucky, though…the One of All Sacred seems to understand the truth this time out.” He paused, laughing to himself. “Simple misconception, really. Polarity is the belief that there are two sides to a human soul…good and evil, let’s say…and that they exist separately. One is inherently this or that, chooses one or the other or has it chosen for them. Duality, on the other hand, is the belief that these two sides coexist symbiotically. One can be this and that.”
He turned back to the window. “Nehalé thinks he’s going for a duality, but for what reason?” he continued. “Does he think that a cho-nyhndah will nullify the animosity between the two? That is trying to rewrite history, and it makes no sense. He must join with us in peace, if he’s going to get anywhere, and that is the only way it can happen. That is what I was trying to tell you on Trisanda, Janoss. The Shenaihu and the Mendaihu are together a duality. One that cannot be abandoned and forgotten again.”
The bitter truth hit Janoss hard. He had coordinated the hrrah-sehdhyn yesterday at Natianos’ insistence. He had even fought Nehalé himself! Now, with his own words, he was faced with an altogether different reason why the attacks had taken place. Duality? He shivered, and didn’t care that Natianos was watching him closely, watching his every action and reaction. Did everything come down to some cosmic game played by some unknown god, perhaps even the One of All Sacred?
“What about —” he started.
“Free will?” Natianos said, cutting him off. “Oh, that we still have. Trust me, if we didn’t, would you and I be here right now, doing nothing but watching the Rain of Light try to devour the city?” He let out a small laugh and shook his head. “Okay, that was uncalled for. But truthfully, Janoss…this is bigger than the freedom of the soul. This is absolute freedom. The reason we’re not doing anything right now, is because Nehalé and the One of All Sacred are about to save us from a potential disaster. It’s his turn to play now; all we can do is watch.”
Janoss hid a sickening shiver. He was more confused than ever now; did this mean that there was Mendaihu blood inside his own skin as well? That there was Shenaihu blood inside Nehalé? That he could channel a side of him so bent on the destruction of its twin! And he had tried to do just that at the church yesterday…he had tried to kill Nehalé with his own hands! “What happens next?” he said quietly.
His voice barely reached Natianos, who had moved back to the couches against the far wall. He turned away from the window to see him sitting comfortably in one of the couches, one muscular leg crossed over the other. “I really do not know,” Natianos said, throwing his hands up. “Once we are all awakened…truly awakened, mind you, to the duality…it is up to the One of All Sacred to tell us what we must do next.”
Janoss remembered that one man…that one Shenaihu who had died early in the fight, when Nehalé had slammed him down into the ground, breaking his neck in the process. That man, whose name he no longer remembered, had spoken within, his voice screaming in vengeance. He had heard him…how could he not? His anger had consumed him, and his voice had carried throughout the place. Anybody who knew to listen within could have heard him. That was why he had returned to meet Nehalé face to face, rather than keep his distance.
Knowing what he knew now, he began to think that attacking the man as he did might not have been the greatest of ideas after all.
Knowledge is Light, he reminded himself, and took a seat on the second couch. Learn from your mistakes. He contemplated saying something to Natianos…but could not find any useful words at that moment. Whatever was done was done. He would have to make peace with his actions. Despite all that he was and everything he believed in, fate was completely in Mendaihu hands now.
