When the police finally exited the room, a cooling board was brought in to put Wylie’s lifeless body on. A couple of female servants dressed her in one of the exquisite gowns that Lord McCollum had purchased for her. She was then carried down to the parlor which had been the host to many discussions, cups of tea, and light hearted talks of inventions over the past weeks since they had all arrived at the Octagon Inn.
With her body removed from the bedroom, Adrian was finally able to turn in for the night. At least she had not been carted off to a morgue, and he had bought some time by pleading for the three days lying in. However, the doctor had made it very clear that if they hadn’t determined a cause of death to the emaciated corpse after the three days, her body would be cut open and tested for poisons.
If there was any hope that she may be alive, Adrian knew he had to do everything in his power to figure it out by then. Unable to find her journal, the only hope he had of rectifying the situation was reuniting her with her Dracosinum. He had the suspicion that everything that was wrong with her had to do with that. It was something else he vaguely remembered from her journal, something that Thaddeus had said:
“Though I have referred to the possessor of the Dracosinum as a host, make no mistake that the Dragaleth and the human who animates it are one and the same, for it is the essence of the person itself. It has been discovered that one cannot exist without the other.” That line had stuck with him, almost as much as the word wife had played itself in his mind. He had married her, and she was be a dragon, or at least half dragon.
If they had children, Adrian knew the duty would pass on to them, and he vaguely remembered the journal saying that the gods could use twins to complete the balance and only one Siapheg and Teselym can be alive at a time. It was meant to pass from father to firstborn, but it could also pass between siblings. Wylie didn’t have any siblings. That’s why he knew he was her only hope, and she was the only one who could be the Teselym at that moment.
Adrian had to do what he could, even if it meant finding and killing Lord Ukridge. Just figuring out where to start would be the largest part of the battle.
Chapter Ten
When the doctor finally left, along with the clergy, policemen, and various others, Adrian gave a huge sigh of relief. His weary body had warned him hours before it was time for sleep, but the questions just kept coming at him. The past few weeks in and of themselves had been wearying, but now to have to deal with losing his wife and all the interrogation had taken his last ounce of strength.
We should never have left London. I could have just showcased the Petford Pusher at The Great Exhibition as I planned on doing all along. But no, for the promise of a little fame and a little more money, I traded it all.
“Lord Adrian,” Professor Cornelius said. “I can only imagine where your thoughts are right now. However, as bad as the timing is, there is still much work to be done. The World-Wide Inventors Symposium will take place in October as planned. Professor Langdon will be here in a week’s time to see the Pusher, and I’m afraid he’s going to be horribly disappointed. We must soldier on.”
Adrian couldn’t even lift his head to look Cornelius in the face. Instead, he felt himself sinking even deeper in depression. He was beginning to feel the bed on which he sat would be unable to hold the terrible weight he carried. Cornelius sat down next to him.
“Look son, I know you’re carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders. I doubt if there is anything I could say at this moment that would make it any easier. The problem is, I still need your brilliant mind. Unless…”
“Unless what, sir?” Adrian mumbled out weakly.
“Unless you’re pulling out? And that’s okay too, I just need to know. We have a very short time before the Symposium. I imagine with some major footwork, I could find something else to take the place of the Petford Pusher.” Cornelius rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
“No, no. I can do this. I can. I just have one request.”
“Yes, yes... what’s that son?”
“Well, I realize we may be short on time, but I need a few days. I need the three days until her body is in the ground. Once she’s buried than we can go full steam ahead on the Pusher. I just… I need time to process, and I don’t think I’m going to get anything done while her cold dead body is still on display.”
Cornelius seemed very contemplative for the moment, but then he finally raised his head.
“All right son, I suppose that is fair, considering the circumstances. I’ll send an urgent message to Professor Langdon about the situation. He’ll be traveling by airship anyway, much faster than by sea. I imagine he’s having such a grand time at the Great Exhibition, he won’t be ready to come back just yet, anyway. Perhaps a three day break would be for the best.” Cornelius tipped his hat to Adrian, “Take your time to process, son. I’ll make sure there is someone on guard twenty-four hours a day so that nothing else happens to your invention. We most definitely won’t have any extra time to waste after the funeral.”
Adrian nodded, understanding what Cornelius was implying. Adrian would be allowed his time to grieve, but once that was over, there would be no more time to waste. The invention would be the priority.
“You have my word, Cornelius. Thank you, thank you for understanding.”
The older man nodded at him, a grim half-smile on his face. The situation was too tragic for anything more. He left the room and shut the door. After a few moments of silence, Adrian stood up from Wylie’s bed and walked slowly towards the door. His feet seemed to grow heavier the closer he got to exiting. He stopped, and hot tears gathered at the corners of his eyes. The pain of losing his father, his friend and former fiancée of convenience, Judith. And now the pain of losing the one and only love of his life. So much pain in so short a time.
How much was one man expected to take? In the silent emptiness of her room, he stood quietly and wept. A huge weight of hopelessness pressed down on him, and he felt as if he was inhaling knives every time he took a breath. The pain was overwhelming. He leaned his head against the door, the smell of cherry wood invading his senses. Darn it all if that smell didn’t feel like a punch in the gut.
Cherry wood was Wylie’s favorite wood. The girl had good taste, that was certain. The memories made him smile. Slowly the hopelessness lifted from him and was replaced with a fierce resolve. If there’s anything that can be done to save her, I’ll do it! I don’t care if it means I have to sacrifice my own life. So be it!
Finally, Adrian stood tall and turned around, staring fervently at her bed. If there was ever a look that could save someone, in all the history of creation, that was it. Only Wylie wasn’t there to feel it. Wylie wasn’t there to see it. Wylie wasn’t there, period.
“Please, please. I beseech thee.” Adrian fell to his knees, his heart thumping rapidly against his ribs. He turned his eyes heavenward. “I beseech thee, if you have any compassion at all. Please. She needs help.” A gentle breeze ruffled the curtains in response to his cry. “If everything she told me is true, if everything I’ve read is true, then, then, then if she doesn’t return, the balance of evil will take over. It’s already started. Don’t you see?” He raised his hands, palms up, in desperate petition, “I beg of you. Help her. Help us. Help the people. We must restore the balance. We must!”
There was no response, only the gentle rustling of the curtain. He fell face down on the carpeted floor.
“Then there is no hope, and none of us have anything left to live for.” Every limb in his body drained of strength. He had nothing left in him at that very moment. Nothing but a deep emptiness that threatened to consume him entirely.
In the corner of his mind, he heard the softest tinkling of bells, so faint he could only wonder how he was imagining such a thing. With each passing second the tinkling expanded into a blend of heavenly harmonies, more exquisite than any sounds he could have imagined. Had he died of a broken heart? Was he now in the celestial palace? Maybe he was imagining everything h
e was hearing? He raised his face from the ground if only to reassure himself that he wasn’t dead. It felt like being at the cusp of dawn where the light of the sun hits the end of the Earth. The radiance bounced off every corner of the room, every surface, every crinkle, every imperfection.
It was a luminescence unlike anything his eyes beheld before. That must be it. I’ve died of a broken heart. Perhaps this is the hereafter. Maybe Wylie is here? Adrian stood up abruptly, taking in the glimmer of his surroundings. I was wrong, the light isn’t bouncing or touching anything. Everything is made of light! He waved his hand in front of him, and what he could only describe as light particles danced and glided off his fingertips.
“Wylie. Are you here?” He called out. “Wylie!” He took a step forward, enraptured by what he was experiencing. Everything sparkled and glowed with the bright particles. The ethereal music continued to rise and fall around him. It was as if beauty and love had become music, and the universe had composed a song of the two of them.
The sound of it made him feel as if his heart would shatter. The music flowed around him like waves on an unseen ocean. He wanted to pluck it from the air and hold it in his hand to be treasured forever.
“I’m afraid that’s not possible, dear one.” The music flowing around Adrian now seemed to originate from one place. He turned to face in that direction. At first, the figure that stood before him was hazy, like a mirage or a reflection of someone in a foggy mirror. Then his eyesight began to expand, and he could make out the physical form of a woman? Or was it a man?
He couldn’t clarify in his mind what he was seeing, for much like the music that seemed to make up the air and the light particles that seemed to make up the entire physical world he existed in, the figure before him seemed similar to what he’d always thought an angel would look like. Then something new kicked in. A sense he never knew he had, and just as the angel-like being stepped in front of him, he saw two more similar beings behind it. The three of them made a perfect triangle, with the front one being the point. They were the most remarkable things Adrian had ever laid eyes on.
“What am I seeing?”
The tinkling bell voice laughed so joyfully, Adrian felt like he may shed tears from the beauty of it.
“My beloved one, so pure and strong in heart. I’m afraid your human brain could never comprehend what you are seeing. One day you shall, but until then….”
“Am I dead? Will I get to see Wylie again?” His voice was quaking.
“You mustn’t fear us. We are here to protect you. Yes, you will see Wylie. Just not here, not now.” The tinkling voice seemed to swirl around him like the kiss of the softest breeze. “You are not dead.”
“Then where am I? What is going on, who are you?” The white light particles now swirled up around the one who spoke to him, looking like the rise of angel wings. “Why can’t I see you clearly? And who are they?”
“My, my. So many questions, broken one. You are exactly where you were. Your location has not changed. Human words are not adequate to describe who I am, but Wylie, or at least her journal, refers to us as ‘the gods.’ Does that suit you? Or you may call me Immortal One if you like.”
Adrian nodded his head in agreement. Surely losing Wylie had shattered his spirit, after all. He was hallucinating and imagining voices. It had to be all in his mind. However, the Immortal Ones remained unmoved.
“I can’t seem to process things correctly, right now.”
“Then allow me to explain why we are here.” The tinkling voice of the god immediately brought him such peace that he was sure he had never experienced anything like it in his life. The god held its hands out in front of its body, palms up. The other two beings did the same. Then the Immortal One brought its hands up under its softly glowing chin, in an attitude of prayer.
Adrian couldn’t make himself move an inch. He wasn’t afraid; his body was simply frozen to the spot.
“You should feel thankful that is all that you are experiencing, for surely if your human eyes could behold us completely, you would go blind. If your ears could behold my voice in its fullness, from a human standpoint, you would go deaf. I am only allowing you to see, hear, and feel just the tiniest inkling of who and what I am. We are.”
Adrian felt the strongest urge to fall on his knees, his body seemed to understand more than his mind did right now. It was turning out to be the most awe-inspiring moment of his life.
“It’s for the best, young Adrian. Thinking clearly is not a requirement for what comes next.”
“What are you going to do, immortal one?” The tiniest bit of fear nagged at the back of his mind, like he should turn around and run away before it was too late. Too late? Too late for what?
“It means, broken one, that your gallantry and brave heart will now give you the strength to overcome your next chapter. Your brokenness will now fuel your rise.”
“I… I don’t understand? My rise to what?”
“Not to, brave one. From. Your rise from the ashes. You said yourself you are willing to do anything to save her. You said you would even sacrifice your life.” The god waved its hands about as if it were conducting an eighty-piece orchestra. The other two gods did the same. As they did so, the white particles around their hands began to dance and change. Shifting into shapes that again he couldn’t make out clearly.
“What are you doing?”
“Well, you made an excellent point. The balance of good on the earth needs to be restored. The problem is, the Teselym still lives. While she still lives, there cannot be another. We cannot break our own rules. That would disrupt the balance, however, we made no rule about some other kind of creation for balancing the good. Also, you are not of the bloodline of the Dragaleth. So, we reached a compromise, especially after your heartfelt plea earlier.
“We care compassionately about humanity, despite their ability to make the most harmful decisions for themselves and against their fellow beings. We had hoped with the creation of the Dragaleth, one to balance the good, and one to balance the evil, that all would be well.”
“Why create the one to balance the evil? Isn’t there enough evil in the world?”
“Oh, our dearest Adrian. You have no idea how wholeheartedly we agree with that. We have always known the potential of evil in humans. We have also always known the potential of good. If humans could only see it themselves, they would never want to do evil again. At the same time, the purest of good could not exist without evil.”
“That doesn’t make sense.” Adrian huffed. The god leaned forward, placing the tenderest of touches on his shoulder.
“Beloved, imagine this world with no night time where you could never turn the lights off or close the curtains, that the windows were always open. No matter where you went, you could never get away from the brightness.”
“Do you mean a world without darkness?” Adrian asked hesitantly.
“Yes, what if you could never escape light?”
“I suppose we would grow tired of it.”
“Not just that, Adrian. Every plant would die with continual sunlight, people and animals would die if the earth couldn’t cool off from the heat of the day and some would die if they couldn’t hunt their prey in the dark. Essentially, everything would cease to exist.”
“So even in a world where light is essential, we still need some darkness?”
The glorious being nodded, its hands never stopping the gentle movement it made while it talked to Adrian. The light particles that danced and moved in front of the god now formed a bird shape, a bird that flapped its wings in place. The immortal one nodded its head at Adrian.
“Yes, and why do you suppose that is, Adrian?”
Adrian searched his mind for an answer, but it felt too simple. So simple, it had to be wrong. What if the being struck him down for not thinking more intellectually?
“I think... I think it’s because we can never truly appreciate the light without a bit of darkness for comparison.”
The god
actually twinkled, and though it had yet to reveal a face to him, he knew the twinkle was the beginning of a smile.
“So, if we had not created the Siapheg, what do you think would have happened?”
“Hmm, I suppose we would not comprehend the true purity in something that is good. In essence, good itself would lose its meaning. Perhaps, we would end up destroying good, by making it into something evil?”
“Although, I know you could never comprehend it completely, you have a good idea. By balancing the evil, goodness retains its purity and value. Without knowing how much we need good, you would never understand your need for us. Does that make sense?”
A need for the gods? A need for good? His mind felt so very small in that moment that the truths felt crushing. The god took its hand off Adrian’s shoulder, and its whole form twinkled and flickered. Its hands continued their air dance and the bird shape that had appeared from the light particles now grew larger.
The bird’s wings extended out, like a man spreading his arms wide. Soon it had grown so large that if Adrian were to step forward, to come closer to it, he and the light-bird would be the same height. As he watched in disbelief, the extended wings slowly began to catch fire, and the white particles the bird was made of began to change color. Every part of its body was now a brilliant golden red.
The color was so extraordinary, Adrian could barely internalize it. What was happening that his mind could no longer comprehend what he saw? He watched the large man-sized bird continue to change. In place of its tiny white tail, large luxurious plumes of fire and feathers unfurled, spreading out from the bird much like a peacock spreading its tail feathers. The wings of the bird which were soft and twinkling like the light around the god now also burst into flames as they grew.
“A phoenix!” Adrian exclaimed. Like a dragon, the creature was something he had only seen in a Greek Mythology book.
The Phoenix Lord (The Dracosinum Tales) Page 8
