Radiant
Page 14
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“I need to wake him now,” Sena told her mentor. “You and I have yet much to discuss, but it will have to wait. There is somewhere Ari and I need to be right now.”
Sya nodded, slightly dazed. When had the young girl, unaware of all that surrounded her such a short while ago, transformed into this powerful wise being? The change in her was drastic. She still looked much the same, but when she spoke, it was slightly with a new confidence as though she were one used to leadership. Although she was the one who had pushed for the girl’s ascension, she could not help but feel a frisson of unease at the power she could feel crackling around her student.
“I will be back soon,” Sena assured her as she gently woke Ari.
Sya watched with pride mingled with horror, as Sena’s hands began to shine, glyphs cascading from her fingertips in a graceful dance, and a large blue hole appeared amongst the shades of amber that was the Hyios. Blue bolts of magicks whirred and flickered like small lightning bolts creating a portal before her very eyes. Sya barely had time to register that no one but a God could open a portal, much less in a Hyios suspended in place and time before Sena waved at her and disappeared from sight with the still dazed boy in tow.
“What on Xanos?” Ari spluttered, clutching onto Sena, as his legs wobbled beneath him. Every cell in his body felt as though it had been taken apart and reassembled. He dry retched, the ground beneath his feet still spinning.
“You’ll be fine,” she assured him. “We are out the other end now.”
He looked up mutely and noticed the small hut they were now in. Still gasping for air, he rasped, “Where are we?”
“Still in Jya,” she replied calmly, as she walked over to the door opening it just as two figures appeared on the threshold. “Come in,” she welcomed them with a smile. “We have been waiting for you.”
“Ah, right on time,” Lyli chuckled as she limped in, supported by the protector. “Then again, how could you not be?”
Ari watched as they both laughed at this last comment, as though they were in on a joke no one else understood. His brain felt as though it had turned to mush with all the revelations of the night, added to being spelled asleep, not once but twice, and being sucked into what had felt like a giant meat grinder of blue magic that had transported him here—wherever “here” was.
“You!” a familiar voice shouted. It was the hooded man he had fought in the forest—all he needed right now. He really wasn’t in any condition to fight and he knew it. Bracing himself for an attack, he opened his eyes in surprise as the man knelt in front of where he was sprawled on the floor. “Are you all right?”
“Huh?” Ari managed to rasp. What where these people on? It had to be a new drug or something—either that or they were all crazy. First, the man beat him up; and now, he was asking how he was?
“I’m sorry about earlier,” the seeker continued. “I didn’t realise who you were.”
“I think it is time you took off your cloak,” Lyli suggested gently, as she and Sena sat together watching the two men knowingly.
The protector nodded and slid back his hood, causing Ari to gasp. Those eyes! That face. The boy was much older now, but it was the one in his memories! Wait, if the memories were real and the boy was real, what did it mean? The answer felt as though it were on the tip of his tongue, but he just couldn’t reach it.
“Do you know me?” the other asked, an odd urgency in his voice, hope in his eyes.
Ari shook his head. “I’ve seen you before … memories, but I don’t remember.”
“Kyan?” Sena exclaimed as she saw the seeker’s face. “What are you doing here?”
He turned around, equally shocked to see her there. How was the girl from the forest involved in all of this?
“You two have already met,” Lyli stated. “Just as it was meant to be.”
“So that’s why the unforeseen are not touring right now,” Sena grinned at him. “Very clever hiding in plain sight, very clever indeed.”
Kyan grinned back at her. “It’s a good gig, but yeah, mostly it enables me to hide my day job. After all, no one would expect the narcissistic and eccentric lead singer of a rock band to be a seeker in disguise.”
Ari’s eyes widened as he stared at Kyan. “I’ve heard of you.” He looked him up and down. “But you look nothing like your stage persona.”
“Thank the gods for that!” Kyan said wryly.
“All this is fun and all that,” Ari said suddenly, tearing his eyes off Kyan. “But can someone please explain what the Xanos I’m doing here? Last I checked I was Sahati, you two were seekers, and you,” he pointed at Sena. “Well, I don’t even know what or who you really are. So the question is why am I here?”
“Ah, the impatience of youth,” Lyli sighed wistfully. “Very well, let me explain. You came to retrieve the prophecy, correct?”
Ari nodded, more hesitant now under her hawklike gaze.
“According to the Dohar, you need to return with the prophecy so that you can save Xanos,” she mimicked his master’s voice almost perfectly.
“I can’t comment on Sahati matters,” Ari retorted.
“Young man,” Lyli advanced on him, eyes glowing. “I was not asking. I already know exactly what your precious Sahati are up to. I was merely stating the facts, at least as you know them.”
“What does that mean?” Ari asked angrily.
“Think carefully young one,” Lyli urged, her voice gentle once more. “Do you truly believe that we,” she said, indicating herself and Kyan. “Are here to harm you or any other Xanian for that matter?”
Ari looked torn, mixed emotions in his eyes.
“Have you ever stopped to question why the Dohar has taken such an interest in you?” Lyli asked.
Ari bristled. “He is a good man! He took me in when I had no one and nothing. He educated me, trained me, he is fighting for the good of Xanos!”
“Is he? And just who is he to decide what is for the good of Xanos?” Lyli retorted.
“Rumours are that many of the young men who have joined Sahat recently have vanished, never to be seen again.”
Ari fought the urge to wriggle under her steady gaze. “Why did you bring me here?” he demanded.
“You sought the prophecy,” Lyli nodded towards Sena. “Well, there she is.”
No one spoke for a few seconds, all eyes turned to Sena who was calmly sitting watching events unfold.
“The prophecy is a person?” Kyan asked in disbelief. “You always spoke of it as a thing, not a person!”
“The Dohar must not know either. I was sent to retrieve a scroll.” Ari frowned.
“There is a scroll, or was a scroll, should I say,” Lyli coughed violently. “But what was written there, though important, was not the point of all this.”
“Oracle, are you all right?” Kyan knelt next to her, concerned.
“Listen carefully all of you,” Lyli rasped as her body began to turn a deep scarlet orange. “In order to stop what is coming, you must work together, trust one another.”
“Lyli,” Kyan tried to ease her back down, as she grew more agitated. “You must rest.”
“No dear friend,” the oracle pushed him away gently. “It has begun.” Her body began to flame as if to emphasise her words. “I have moments left, so listen carefully. Ari is important. You must help him find his lost memory. You must become as you once were. And once he is whole again, you must help Sena find the tree of stone. That is where your true journeys will begin.” She panted as more flames licked at her body. “I will be reborn, but until I return, you must protect Sena. She is the radiant, the true prophecy. Now that she has awoken, they will all come for her.” A dazzling ball of light burst in the room and Lyli imploded, her ashes sparking brightly in hues of golds and silvers before gently floating to the floor.
The unlikely tri
o sat in silence, watching as the last glimmers of evidence that Lyli had ever existed vanished without a trace.
“So,” Kyan turned to Ari, trying not to focus on the loss of his friend and mentor. “Are you with us? Will you join our quest?”
Ari looked from him to Sena. They were on opposite sides of whatever was coming, but a feeling deep inside of him was pushing him to see this through. Solemnly, he nodded. “For now,” he warned.
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