Radiant

by Ela Lourenco

  Sena nodded, unable to take her eyes off of the symbol on her arm.

  “There is a long hard road ahead of us my Sharran,” Kalla continued. “I will not lie to you. It will not be an easy path, but we will face whatever comes together as one.”

  “As one?”

  “The tattoos on our bodies are for our eyes only. Once the process is complete, they will fade and I will truly become a part of you.”

  “Part of me as in inside me?”

  “Yes, I am your true shifter form. That is what this rites of passage has been about,” Kalla answered.

  “You are going to be stuck inside of me?” Sena was horrified. What a horrific fate for the noble creature. “There must be a way of bonding, while letting you keep your freedom!”

  Kalla chuckled. “There is no cause for alarm, Sharran. I knew what it entailed and accepted my fate willingly. Remember, I have seen right down to the very essence of your being as you have seen into mine. I am honoured beyond words to join with such a noble spirit. This is a gift for me, not a curse or punishment. Together, we will move forward and complete our destiny.”

  “So we will be fully joined once this is complete?” Sena gestured to her tattoo, which was rapidly dimming.

  “Yes,” Kalla agreed. “But I will be inside of you now, and I promise you will hear my voice more often than you would like at times.”

  “Only if you can talk over me,” Z piped up suddenly. “Don’t forget I’m in her head too!”

  “Ah, young Dyx,” Kalla grinned in delight even as she began to fade. “So you have found your way to my Sharran.”

  “Damn straight!” Z preened.

  “Kalla?” Sena exclaimed, unable to prevent the slight note of panic in her voice, as her new friend turned into a golden mist before vanishing from sight.

  “I am here,” said her friend from within her. “It is done. The ritual is complete.”

  “Party of three in the house!” Z crowed. “Us chicks are gonna kick some butt!”

  “I had forgotten quite how enthusiastic Dyx tend to be,” Kalla said wryly.

  “And the colourful use of language,” Sena giggled.

  “Yes,” Kalla mused. “They do seem to have a knack for that too.”

  “I can hear you!” Z chirped. “Nuh uh, you didn’t? Don’t be hating on me “cos I’m Dyx. I do realise we can’t all be this awesome. Well, we all have our crosses to bear y’all. Anyhow, back to business. Sena, you need to shift now before we can leave this realm.”

  “Shift now?” a worried look replaced the smile on Sena’s face.

  “Well, duh. That is what this has all been about,” Z sassed. “So c’mon, let’s see it. Bring forth the Phoros!” she exclaimed dramatically, humming a pretend drum roll.

  “But I have no idea how to do it!”

  “Breathe, Sharran,” Kalla’s deep voice said soothingly. “We do this together. All you need to do is to turn your mind inwards and look within yourself.”

  Sena inhaled deeply and followed her Ranash’s instructions. Closing her eyes, she reached within herself, surprised at how easily she was able to find her core this time.

  “That’s it!” Z cheered. “Just like Sya showed you yesterday.”

  And right there, inside of her glimmering core, Sena saw her bonded. Kalla was cradled lovingly inside the ball of magick. She looked exactly as she had earlier except for the fact that she was minuscule now.

  “That’s it, reach for me,” Kalla encouraged her.

  Sena’s eyes snapped open as soon as she made contact with her Ranash. Heat spread throughout her body. Her magick hissed as a sudden pressure pushed at her from the inside. Nervous, though unafraid, Sena dropped to all fours, as her entire body elongated and transformed. Wings sprouted from her back, unfurling to reveal their silvery beauty, matching the sharp silver spikes growing in ridges across her back. Feeling as though all of her bones had just been stretched beyond what seemed possible, Sena lay panting on the sand.

  “That’s it! You did it!” Z crowed.

  “Well done, Sharran,” Kalla agreed. “It is always hardest the first time. Soon, your body will grow accustomed to the change, and you will be able to shift between forms with a mere thought.”

  Exhausted but elated, Sena stood up to inspect her form.

  “I have to admit I have never seen an all silver Phoros before,” Z commented. “How awesome is that?”

  “It is unexpected,” Kalla agreed thoughtfully.

  “See if you can breathe fire or ice like a true Phoros!” Z said excitedly.

  Sena raised her head high, guided by Kalla’s memories, and let forth a stream of mercurial flames.

  “Now ice!” Z piped up.

  Sena did as she was asked and a jet of blue tinted light silver ice shot out of her.

  “Most interesting,” Kalla murmured to herself, whilst Z and Sena chatted excitedly about what the latter had just done. “I wonder what this could all mean.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Sena rushed through the forest towards her house. After returning to the Hyios and filling Sya in on all that had happened, she barely had time to get home in time for her own party! Surprisingly, she didn’t feel at all tired. In fact, she didn’t remember ever feeling this good before. It was poor Sya who had seemed a little drained, as she recounted all the events of the spirit walk. Touching the spot where her tattoo now lay hidden, she smiled to herself. All that worry had been for nothing. Finally, she felt as though she was whole, as though she had found something she had been missing all her life. Almost giddy with excitement, she practically bounced through the door to her house. “I’m home!” she called out.

  “Surprise!” a chorus yelled, her friends jumping out at her.

  Sena grinned as she hugged each of them in turn before being dragged into the kitchen where her mom and Aunt Zehra were putting the last dishes on the table. They had really outdone themselves this year. All of her favourite foods were there. From her mom’s sweet Jayberry pie to her aunt’s famous roast Hylan, a meat so flavoursome and tender that her mouth began to water.

  “So how does it feel to be sixteen?” Mysia grinned.

  “Do you feel any different?” Samia quizzed.

  “Uh, not really,” Sena replied, managing to keep a straight face. If only they knew!

  “So which are you Hectian or Sybeli?” Phia asked.

  Sena frowned. Which was she? Truth be told, with everything else that was happening in her life, she had completely forgotten that today was the day she found out which she was and which powers she would gain. She paled slightly as another thought occurred to her. What if she wasn’t either? What if her Zamani genes were dominant? How on Xanos was she going to explain that? “I don’t—”

  “Sena is not technically sixteen yet,” her mom answered for her. “She was born at one minute to midnight exactly.”

  Phia’s face fell comically. “So you won’t know till you wake up tomorrow which you are? That sucks. You must be dying of curiosity! I know I would be!”

  “It doesn’t matter which race you belong to,” her Aunt Zehra proclaimed solemnly, “What matters is what kind of person you are, and what you use your powers for.”

  “Your aunt is right,” Larii agreed softly. “It doesn’t really matter in the end.” She squeezed Sena’s hand reassuringly.

  “This party is getting far too serious!” Phia declared. “It’s time for some fun! It’s time to open some presents!” She grinned as she pushed a rectangular box into her best friend’s hands. “Open it!” she demanded impatiently.

  Sena tore open the wrapping. “It’s beautiful,” she said, lifting a large silver blue leather journal out of the box. The pages inside were such fine pale silver that they were almost translucent. “Thank you, Phia,” she hugged her friend.

  “Now open ours!” Lyri
a insisted, pulling out a slim box. “It’s from me and Larii. We thought it would go well with Phia’s present.”

  Inside was a beautiful deep blue pen. It was studded with tiny silver and gold crystals, which sparkled in the light.

  Samia and Mysia’s present was a first edition copy of the Magical Handbook to Herbology, a book Sena had read and reread thousands of times. “How did you guys get this?” she gasped. “The only copy I’ve ever seen is on in the Jya library. It’s so rare that you have to read it there and aren’t allowed to check it out!”

  “We have ways,” Mysia grinned.

  “And if we told you we would have to kill you,” Samia giggled.

  Sena hugged all of her friends. “Thank you so much, all of you, these are the best presents ever!”

  “Ahem!” a voice came from behind her. It was her mom. “You’ve opened everyone’s presents, now It’s time to open mine.” She smiled as she slid a small square box towards her daughter.

  “Wow! My birthday is in a month Allaya, just so you know,” Phia enthused, making everyone laugh with her not so subtle hint.

  Sena gently took out her present. It was a walnut sized amber stone with a delicate gold chain unlike anything she had ever seen before. Its honeyed depths seemed to shimmer with tiny flecks of gold, as she held it up to the light. “It’s beautiful,” she breathed in awe.

  “It isn’t just a bracelet. It’s also a talisman,” Allaya beamed at her daughter. “Your Aunt Zehra and I both worked on the stone. Keep it with you always and it will bring you luck.”

  Sena hugged Allaya tight, tucking her head under her mother’s chin. “I’ll never take it off,” she promised.

  “Great!” Phia clapped her hands together. “Presents are all done. Now can we please eat? That food looks so good, and I’m starving!”

  ***

  “You must awaken, child, for it is nearly time. Already has there been much delay. Fully ascended you must be when the flowers next bloom,” a myriad of voices chanted as one.

  Sena turned over restlessly in her bed, desperately trying to ignore the voices trying to rouse her.

  “You must ascend and become. It has been written and so shall it be. The outcome is unclear yet, only to be determined by chosen destiny. Open your mind, let go your fears. Only then will you find that which you need to move through time. Seek her out, find her, older than time, she will aid you when need be.”

  Sena’s eyes snapped to attention. Unable to ignore the voices in her head any longer, she sat up. “Who are you and what do you want?” she whispered, feeling slightly ridiculous talking to the empty room.

  “We are the observers,” the voices replied as one.

  “I don’t know what that means,” Sena admitted, confused. “What are you observing?”

  “We watch everything everywhere as we have since the dawn before time. We see all, we witness the changes in the cosmos. We watch and wait. It is our duty and has always been thus.”

  Frowning Sena leaned back against the pillows on her bed. Needless to say, she had no clue what the “observers” were on about or what they wanted with her. She snorted quietly to herself. You had to love the irony though. She had gone from being the studious girl who thought she knew the world order to the one that realised that in reality, nothing was as she had believed, not even herself. Life seemed to be throwing curveballs at her daily of late, but the scariest part of it all was that it didn’t terrify her. “What do you want from me?”

  “Time is running out that which has been set in motion accelerates further with each passing day. The balance of two has shifted more than ever before, it must be realigned, or darkness will reign and the plague will devour all that stands in its way.”

  A cold chill tingled down Sena’s spine at the ominous words. “I don’t understand,” she repeated, frustrated. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, and what it is you want me to do!”

  “Bound by oath are we to never reveal all that we see. Your role in this you must discover alone. We may only help you start on your path as soon as you can you must find the tree of stone.”

  “What is a tree of stone?” Sena demanded to know. There was no answer. The voices, whoever they were, had vanished.

  “I have heard of this tree,” Kalla stated. “I was not sure until now whether it was merely a myth or a legend, but I believe. It must be true, the observers would not lie.”

  “You know about the observers?” Sena exclaimed.

  “Indeed,” her bonded affirmed. “One cannot be as long-lived as a Phoros and not have heard of them. There is no reason to fear or distrust them. They may speak in riddles, and what they say may not always seem to make sense, but they are honest and have no hidden agenda.” She paused briefly before continuing. “Think of them as guardians.”

  “Guardians of what?”

  “Their duty is to ensure the preservation of the cosmic balance,” Kalla explained. “The observers watch in silence. They are not allowed to interfere unless the balance is upset by something.” She frowned. “The balance between light and dark has ever shifted slightly over the aeons, sometimes one way sometimes the other. That is the norm. But the situation must be dire indeed if the observers have felt it necessary to come forth.”

  “But where do they come from and who are they?”

  “The observers have always been,” Kalla began. “It is said that they were born of the first particles of magick in the universe.”

  “So they are stars?”

  “Not exactly, although you are partially correct. Stars are born of the accumulation of nebulas of magick, so yes, the observers do share a link to them. However, where they are different is that the observers came into existence aeons before the universe gave birth to the stars. They are the true origin of everything if you will.”

  “They created the universe?”

  “No, no one truly knows how the cosmos came to be. It is written that in the beginning, before even the existence of time, there was only light and dark. The two, as we call them. The two were ever drawn to one another, drawn yet repulsed at the same time, much like magnets of opposite polarity. The friction between them grew over time, causing sparks of magick.”

  “And those magicks are what the observers are,” Sena concluded. “Okay, I understand all that, but what on Xanos do they want with me?”

  “They want you, us, to reset the balance,” Kalla stated calmly. “And it is vital we do so with the utmost haste.”

  “But why us?” Sena wondered out loud. “I am just a 16 year old living in provincial Jya. It’s not like I’m one of the council elders or anyone important. What can I do to change what’s happening?”

  “They came to you because only you can stabilise the balance. Your Zamani genes mean you are the being most attuned to nature on Xanos. Only you can find the tree of stone they mentioned. She will not appear for any other than one of her own. And you are mistaken about something Sharran. You are of great importance. You do not realise yet just how much.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  “You are sure of this?” the silver-haired woman asked, a frown marring her copper-tan face.

  “I am,” the brunette sighed. “I only wish I knew what it meant.”

  Her companion chuckled mirthlessly. “If even you do not know what it means, then the rest of us stand no hope in hell of figuring it out.” She looked at the younger woman shrewdly. “Why are you really here though? What is it that you want that is so urgent that you risk coming here, especially after repeatedly stressing upon me the importance of keeping our association secret?”

  “Matters are slipping out of our control. Nothing seems to be progressing as we had anticipated,” the brunette admitted, unable to hide the worry in her voice.

  “Ah, so that is what this is about. Control. You and yours always did have an obsession with it. It is your greates
t weakness and will be the downfall of us all. You think you are all-knowing. This proves that even you are not always right. When will you realise that your meddling is what brought us to this point? Your need to micromanage every detail of our lives is why we are all in this situation. You think you are all-knowing.”

  “We do not interfere, it is forbidden,” the brunette protested.

  “Hah! That is a load of crock and you know it! Don’t think that I am not aware of how each of you has their own agenda. You are all experts of insinuation and persuasion. It matters little that you do not intervene actively.”

  The brunette was silent, unable to refute her companion’s statement. After all, what was she doing here if not meddling? “I do not think there is much time before they find the prophecy, wise one,” she admitted. “But it is not yet time. The Radiant is not ready yet.”

  “And whose fault is that? You insisted we cut all ties and leave you to handle the matter yourself. Oh, but I blame myself for listening to you and letting you take charge. Me and mine would have done a far better job than you. We at least care.” She sighed wearily. “We have so much to lose should the worst occur. You, you have no grasp of the meaning of loss or of sorrow. I pity you, truly I do.”

  “What’s done is done now. There is no time for recriminations, we need to work together to set things right.”

  “So, now you want my help,” the elder woman grimaced. “And why should I listen to anything you have to say? You have cost us all enough already.”

  The brunette nodded sadly. “I know, but I am trying to fix my mistakes.”

  “Sometimes, I think you are no better than Ishkan. He at least does not hide what he is.”

  “Dilara, you must help me,” the brunette insisted. “Or the Radiant is lost to us forever.”

  The one called Dilara looked at her pensively for a moment before nodding decisively. “We will do what we can. But be warned. We do not do this for your sake. If you double-cross us or I find out you have been playing all sides, there will be grave consequences.”