Gathering of the Chosen

by Timothy L. Cerepaka

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Raya awoke with a start and her head started aching like she had been slammed in the face with a mallet. She grabbed her head and moaned because of the pain, which was almost overwhelming in its intensity. It was the worst pain that she had ever felt in her whole life, which made her wish it would just all go away.

  Not only that, but her chest was tight and her stomach rumbled. She wanted to throw up, but her stomach felt as empty as a dry bucket. All Raya wanted to do was go back to sleep, but now that she was awake, the pain prevented her from returning to sleep again.

  Is this what happens when you open a portal into the ethereal for the first time? Raya thought. God, this sucks. Who would ever want to open an ethereal portal again after feeling this way?

  But Raya managed to look up at her surroundings, just to see where she was. The last thing she remembered was falling unconscious earlier, but even a brief scan of the room she was in told her that she was no longer in the ethereal.

  Instead, she was sitting upright on her bed in her room in her apartment on World's End. Everything was silent around her. She didn't even hear her neighbors in their apartments next door making any noise. It was as though Amare, the Goddess of Sound, had taken away all of the sound in the world.

  Then Raya heard her heartbeat and realized that it was just very quiet today for some reason. That left a powerful relief in her heart, but it still left her with many unanswered questions.

  How did I get here? Where is everyone else? What happened to the Void? Raya thought, each question speeding through her mind one after the other. More importantly, did I win the challenge? Or did I lose?

  At that moment, the door to Raya's room opened. Her heart practically leaped out of her chest when she saw Carmaz enter. He looked tired, but was carrying a tray with some kind of hot soup and bread on it. It was a simple meal that Raya normally would have turned away due to its obvious plainness, but because it was in Carmaz's hands, she was more than eager to try it.

  “Oh,” said Carmaz, stopping in the doorway, his hand on the doorknob, while the other one carried the tray rather expertly. “You're awake.”

  Carmaz sounded neither happy nor angry about that. He was just stating a fact. Nonetheless, Raya thought that she sensed something in his voice that indicated he was pleased to see that she was alive and in one piece.

  “Of course I am,” said Raya, ignoring the throbbing pain in her head. She knew that Carmaz didn't put up much with weakness, so she tried to appear as strong as she could. “Why wouldn't I be? We Carnagians are a hearty bunch.”

  “It's just that you have been out for a couple of days now,” said Carmaz. “Granted, the katabans have been working their magic on you to help you recover more quickly, but I didn't think that you'd wake up for at least a week.”

  “My head still hurts and I want to throw up, but I feel fine aside from that,” said Raya. “And, I know I just said I would throw up, but I can still eat that food you've got there. I'll be able to keep it down no problem. I'm hungry.”

  That last part was true. She was very hungry, probably due to the fact that she had been unconscious for the past couple of days without getting even one bite to eat. The food on the tray didn't look nearly as delicious or amazing as the food that she had grown up eating in Carnag Hall, but at this point she was willing to eat just about anything, especially if Carmaz fed it to her.

  Carmaz looked a little skeptical at that, but he shrugged and said, “Well, that's why I brought you this food in the first place. I didn't know you were awake, but in case you were, I made sure to have some food with me.”

  Carmaz walked over and placed the tray on her lap. It felt warm on her legs and the soup, whatever it was, smelled really good. Raya started eating as Carmaz pulled up a chair leaning against the wall and sat down in it.

  “Where do you want me to start?” asked Carmaz, resting his arms on the back of the chair, which was facing her.

  “How I got here,” said Raya, gesturing at her room in between gulps of soup, which she shoveled into her mouth with a spoon. “Last I remember, I fell unconscious in the ethereal. How did anyone find me?”

  Carmaz frowned. “You were in the ethereal? No, we found you on the streets outside the Stadium after the Void left. No one knows how you got there. Even the gods aren't sure how you got there. But you mentioned something about the ethereal?”

  Raya nodded. “Oh, yeah. I'm part katabans, as you know, but I've never opened the ethereal before. Didn't even know I could, but I did because I had to escape the Void and that was the only way I knew how. It took a lot out of me, though, so I lost consciousness when I entered the ethereal.”

  “Very interesting,” said Carmaz, stroking his chin. “Did you see anyone in the ethereal? Any katabans, perhaps?”

  Raya shrugged. “No. I just remember seeing this light, but don't ask me about it, because I honestly don't remember a whole lot about it. It might have just been a natural phenomena in the ethereal or something.”

  “I'll have to let Alira know about that,” said Carmaz. “So anyway, after we found you in the streets, we took you here and I was given the task of keeping an eye on you and helping the katabans doctors heal you. Looks like all of their hard work paid off.”

  “Of course,” said Raya. She paused her eating. “Wait, did you mention that the Void left? Of her own free will?”

  “Yep,” said Carmaz. “Braim somehow managed to convince her to go away. Don't ask me how. He just went in there, talked to her, and then she was gone. I wouldn't have believed it myself if I hadn't seen the Void leave with my own eyes.”

  “Impossible,” said Raya, shaking her head, though she kept eating nonetheless. “I don't know much about the Void, but when I was in its embrace, I felt that it was too powerful to reason with. You'd have to be a god to come close to getting that thing's respect, and Braim isn't even half of a god.”

  “Tell that to him,” said Carmaz. “Anyway, the fact of the matter is that the Void is gone. But Braim thinks it will probably return at some point, as do the gods, who are now setting up security measures to ensure that it won't come back again.”

  Raya shuddered, causing tiny droplets of the soup to fall on her sheets (which dismayed her quite a bit). “What will happen if the Void comes back again and doesn't listen to Braim?”

  “Hopefully by then the Tournament will be over and there will be a bunch of new gods around to keep the Void from returning,” said Carmaz. “From what I've gathered, the reason the Void attacked is because the 'natural laws' are weakening. If we get a God of Martir, then they might be able to strengthen the natural laws and thus keep the Void out of Martir for good.”

  “I do hope you're correct,” said Raya, “because I was right there in the midst of the Void and I know just how powerful it is. I'm afraid that we won't be able to deal with it next time it comes around, whenever that might be.”

  “Got to say, I have to agree,” said Carmaz. “Had Braim not talked it down, we'd all be dead by now.”

  Carmaz stated that rather matter-of-factly, which Raya found herself admiring about him because she could never have stated such a blunt truth so calmly herself.

  “Speaking of the Tournament, did I win?” said Raya. “What was Alira's verdict?”

  “Alira says you won,” said Carmaz. He frowned. “Well, 'won' is not exactly the most appropriate term for it. See, when the Void attacked, it killed half of the Hollechian godlings. The others are in critical condition, like you, though they will probably survive and be ready to take on the next challenge soon. That means you technically won by default.”

  Raya smiled. “Who cares if I won by default? I won, which is an amazing honor. It means I am that much closer to achieving godhood, which is what I rightfully deserve.”

  “I thought you'd be angry about that, considering how much of a hissy fit you threw when Alira assigned you to the Hollech Bracket,” said Carmaz in surprise. “Resigned to your fate already?”r />
  “No,” said Raya, shaking her head. “I've just learned to take advantage of whatever comes my way. A far healthier way of looking at things than whining about it, in my opinion.”

  Carmaz was now looking at her as though she had come from some other world, but he said, “All right, then. Sounds good.”

  Raya nodded and said, “So what about the next Hollech Bracket Challenge? When is that supposed to be?”

  “Alira said it will be after the rest of the sub-bracket challenges are done,” said Carmaz. “According to her, the next one is going to be the Human God Sub-Bracket Challenge, which I will be participating in.”

  “That's great,” said Raya. “I just know you will do wonderfully. And think about it. If you and I both win our respective brackets, then we will both become gods and get to live with each other forever.”

  Carmaz looked like he had not thought about that. Unfortunately, he was frowning at the thought, like it disturbed him greatly, which annoyed Raya, because she saw no downside to spending all of eternity with him.

  “Anyway,” Raya continued, looking around the room, “where is your friend? Saia is his name, right?”

  “Was,” Carmaz said. His frown became even more pronounced. He rubbed his eyes, as though he was trying to fight back against the tears trying to burst out from them.

  “Was?” said Raya. “Whatever do you mean, Carmaz? Have you and Saia had a falling out recently?”

  Carmaz shook his head. “No. Saia … the Void got him before Braim made her leave.”

  Raya stopped eating her soup. She suddenly felt rather embarrassed about asking that question due to the sheer pain in Carmaz's voice. She wasn't sure what to say.

  But she had to say something, so she said, “Well … that's awful, Carmaz, and I am sorry to hear about it. Would you mind telling me the details or—”

  “No,” Carmaz said abruptly. He looked away from her. “You just need to know that he's dead. That's all you need to know.”

  “But I want to know the details,” said Raya. “Is it really that hard for you to—”

  Raya was interrupted by the screeching of the chair's legs against the floor as Carmaz stood up. He glared down at Raya with anger in his eyes. It almost reminded Raya of how Father sometimes looked when he got angry at her for doing or saying something that she was not supposed to, but it was much wilder and more primal, like the kind of anger she always imagined that violent criminals had.

  Carmaz pointed at her soup and bread and said, “Eat up. I'm going to go tell Alira that you are awake and recovering. I'll tell the Soldiers standing guard outside the apartment to get you any food or water or anything else you need.”

  Carmaz turned and walked back toward the door of Raya's room. Raya held out a hand, saying, “Wait, Carmaz, when will you be—”

  “I'll be back when I get back,” said Carmaz without looking over his shoulder at Raya. His tone was so harsh that Raya didn't say anything else as Carmaz wrenched open the door, stepped outside, and slammed it closed behind him in one smooth motion.

  Raya leaned back against her pillows. She looked at the soup and bread on the tray on her lap. The warmth of the soup felt nice on her legs, but she didn't really feel like eating it anymore, even though she was still hungry.

  What did I say? Raya thought. I just wanted to know the details about how Saia had died. I wasn't disrespecting his memory or anything. Must be a Ruwan cultural thing or something.

  Raya tried to tell herself that she didn't particularly care if Carmaz was offended or not, because she didn't do anything wrong. Even so, she found it hard to enjoy her soup and bread afterward, mostly because she wasn't sure if Carmaz would ever speak to her again after this.

  ***