‘The un-light takes many forms,’ a voice said, Zanufey’s voice that was also her own voice, answering her own thoughts.
Issa understood intrinsically that the battle had never been just for Maioria and her soul, but for all. Maioria was the battleground, but the war was the entire cosmos. And it is an ancient war.
Issa’s consciousness expanded and lifted away from the darkness, moving higher and higher until she saw that it was small in comparison to the radiant light flowing between the solar systems. There were many patches of darkness, but they were mere specks in comparison.
‘What is beyond the darkness?’ an eternal voice asked.
Issa knew the answer and her soul cried with joy. ‘There is light; there is infinite light beyond the darkness! We cannot fail, I see that now, but we can always choose.’
‘Then choose wisely,’ said the eternal voice. ‘Choose love, and then choose freedom.’
Issa couldn’t hold on to her singular point of consciousness as she understood it. Her being and her observation expanded until it was all light and sound and intention, and the One Light engulfed her.
It was a subtle change that directed her consciousness and focused her attention. Beings passing through her body of light. Aralans - and they were also a part of her.
In this place of radiant light and sound there wasn’t really a clear distinction between this and that, or what was her and what was not. She was a portal to the light and of the light, and the beings were moving through her at her guidance.
‘I am Zanufey, and the Guardians of the Portals are moving through me,’ a thought or a voice echoed around her, the voice of her higher self, the voice of Zanufey. ‘Finally free after eons in the darkness. They’re going home to the One Light and I know you understand fully that I have always been a part of you, within you, beside you, all ways.’
‘And Ayeth?’ Issa thought aloud.
‘Gone into the darkness to be the light unto it. Nothing can heal Baelthrom, other than himself. That is the way of all healing.’
Issa, sighed, wisdom and understanding setting her free. Only the self can heal the self. ‘The darkness exists because freedom exists, but it does not have to be chosen.’ She smiled. In this place there was nothing but divine perfection and there was nothing but the light eternal.
41
The New World
Asaph flew in darkness.
If there were mountains in front of him he would crash into them without ever having seen them. Perhaps he hurtled towards an ocean, or a forest where his body would smash apart on the ground. There was no Flow to see into, there was no keen dragon sense of wind or tide or anything at all, just a swirling mass of black, ravenous energy surging around him.
He turned his mind and his senses to Issa. Knowing that she suffered this tormented darkness gave him the only reason to go on. Things moved in the darkness and distorted voices reminded him he was not alone.
An enormous black and red cloud mushroomed before him. Light Eater! He knew what they were and dipped his wings, trying to fly lower, but a Light Eater bloomed there too.
‘Issa!’ he roared, but could feel nothing, not even the flame ring.
Sharp rays of light cut through the darkness, blinding him, and he rolled in the air uncontrollably. He sensed horrendous darkness battling against the eternal light and incredible cosmic forces ripped through him, tearing at his wings, shuddering his heart, scattering his mind.
‘Come into the light, Dawn Bringer,’ a beautiful voice called to him, cutting through the din.
Feygriene! He didn’t need to move for the light reached out to him. He couldn’t see for the sudden brightness and the wondrous pure energy that engulfed him. All that he was melted into that powerful light.
Time passed, but it was not linear time. Change had occurred, he corrected himself, for his consciousness had returned to him, or rather, reduced itself into something he could manage, something he could define and comprehend.
Before him, Issa floated on a field of light swathed in robes of indigo; but it wasn’t Issa, it was Zanufey—and yet it was also Issa for her hood was pushed back and the face was the same as his beloved’s.
Asaph dipped his head in reverence. The light of the Night Goddess could no longer destroy his physical eyes; not here in this place of pure light.
‘Let’s go home, Dawn Bringer,’ said Issa.
‘Yes, my Goddess,’ Asaph replied.
The light spiralled down taking them with it, and the incredible ringing noise lowered in pitch. Everything slowed and became denser, heavier. The light refracted into physical objects and a cool wind blew, carrying the scent of the sea and something else his delicate nostrils could detect. Spring.
The ocean formed as an impeccably calm blue-grey sea, and an endless horizon reached out before him. Above it, a ribbon of blazing orange burst between the blanket of clouds. The setting sun reached out to him, caressed his body and filled his heart with awe and reverence.
But what he cared about most was that which he held in his arms.
‘Issa,’ he whispered, stroking her cheek. She stirred and opened her eyes, and they blazed luminous white, like the eyes of Zanufey.
‘Asaph?’ she whispered.
Tears filled his eyes. ‘I thought I’d lost you forever,’ he said. He pulled her against his chest and sobbed for joy and sadness and exhaustion.
When the tears subsided, he looked down at her. Her eyes blazed less fiercely, and she wiped her own tears away.
‘You came,’ she said.
He nodded. ‘It was my destiny.’
She laughed. ‘Tell me what happened.’
Asaph took a deep breath. ‘The ravens came, and with them, legions of ghosts. There was terror amongst the Feylint Halanoi but the ghosts did not attack them, instead they attacked the Anukon. I couldn’t see too well, I was too far away and heading for you. Then Baelthrom’s magic and the power of the Dark Rift took hold of me and dragged me into it. I would have gone anyway, to find you, even if I lost myself.’
He smiled at her and she stroked his cheek. ‘You came for me in the Dark Rift.’
He nodded. ‘I tried to find you, but there was only darkness and Light Eaters. Then Feygriene guided me.’ He paused remembering the awe he’d felt.
Issa’s breath caught in her throat and she pointed at the sky. ‘Look, Asaph, look!’
The blanket of clouds had broken apart and beyond them twinkled thousands of stars.
‘It’s gone,’ he gasped. ‘The Dark Rift has gone!’
They stared up at the stars—far more than he had ever seen before.
Issa sighed. ‘Maioria’s free, praise the Goddess. The Dark Rift has gone from here, but I guess such a thing will always exist for those who choose the long and lonely path away from the light.’
‘Maioria is free,’ Asaph echoed, considering her words. ‘Do you think you’re ready to tell me what happened?’
Issa took a deep breath and nodded. ‘It won’t be easy explaining it all, the human language is so limited, but I’ll try.’
She looked into the distance, and Asaph didn’t say a word as she spoke and began to relive the events once more. ‘I knew I had to go into the Dark Rift. I knew I had to go with Baelthrom, to keep him distracted long enough while Maioria reached for the light. I couldn’t tell you, but I had chosen to give myself to him and the Dark Rift so that all others had a chance to reach for the light. When the moon exploded, I…I knew it was time. It was a slim chance with little time, but it was worth taking.
‘You see, there were the orbs, and there was Yisufalni—she still lived but trapped within the Orb of Life—but that’s another story—and then Murlonius came. Well, he and Yisufalni combined the orbs, and that healed Maioria’s broken magic and set it free. That, in turn—and I think I’ve got this right—allowed Woetala to awaken and set her free. Oh, and before that Baelthrom’s magic grew beyond anything…Ugh, I’m explaining it all wrong, there’s just so much!
All right, let’s start with when I entered Maphrax…’
Asaph pieced it together as Issa fumbled her way through events. He could tell she held some things back when she paused to swallow and tears filled her eyes. He didn’t want her to lose momentum though, so he listened until she came to a long, thoughtful pause.
‘Ayeth came?’ Asaph said.
‘Yes, but he could not have had I not gone into the Dark Rift. Only there could he reach me. Only there could he reach Baelthrom. I feel it has something to do with the alignment of planets I kept seeing, something to do with the creation of the Dark Rift in Ayeth’s time, and its destruction in our time.’
‘But in the end,’ Asaph spoke slowly as he reasoned it through, ‘this would not have been possible had Freydel not reached Ayeth.’
Issa thought about his words, her face shining with awe. ‘Spirit really does guide us.’
‘So it was up to Ayeth,’ Asaph said. ‘He could have chosen differently in that moment, but he chose to reach for you, having seen what will become of himself, us, and his whole race.’
Issa nodded. ‘In a way, yes. Only he could heal Baelthrom, or at least stop him. You see, only the self can heal the self and no other. There was this deep sorrow in his eyes. I guess it was for Lona, I guess he realised what she was, what she had become, and that he could not help her.’ Issa trailed off quietly.
‘I think you’re going to have to go over this again some time,’ Asaph said.
‘I think we have time,’ she giggled. ‘I should write it down, so much knowledge was given to me, a great gift to our people and planet that must not be lost or forgotten. Hmm, do you feel different? I feel rather…odd. Better, but better than I’ve ever been.’
Now that she mentioned it, he did feel odd. ‘Yes, I do, I feel stronger. More complete in some way.’ He couldn’t quite describe the feeling of wholeness and contentment that filled every part of him.
‘And look, everything looks more alive, I can feel the life-force in even the rocks.’ Issa pointed to the sand; it had a beautiful pale shimmer all over it. The rocks had a soft aura too, even the ocean shimmered faintly with blue light.
‘The magic is whole,’ said Issa, ‘and it pulses within all things.’
Something flashed in the sea just beyond the shore. It flashed again, and he saw it clearly – purple and silver fins that were soon joined by many more.
‘Oh, my!’ he said, rising to his feet.
‘Wykiry!’ said Issa, jumping onto her own.
The Wykiry lifted their smooth, shining heads out of the water, and then the rest of their long, aquatic bodies appeared as they moved into the shallows.
‘Look, Asaph, they’re changing!’ Issa squeaked.
Their bodies began to shimmer and morph as they emerged from the ocean. Long caudal fins shortened into arms and legs, round snouts shrank to become delicate noses, and recognisably human eyes and mouths formed.
With each step, on graceful, trembling legs, the Wykiry became humanoid. Their skin remained shimmery, like fish scales, and their hands and feet were webbed but they were as tall as humans, just more slender and fine-boned, like elves with large, round, golden eyes. They stared at their limbs and flexed their fingers and hands, as in awe of their changes as their onlookers were.
Issa and Asaph looked at each other, then back at the Wykiry.
‘Your curse has lifted, you are free,’ Issa whispered, only half-believing the transformation that had just taken place.
The nearest, a tall, masculine-looking Wykiry smiled, then touched his cheeks as if feeling his smile for the first time. He wrapped long fingers around his throat and in halting, difficult words, spoke. ‘Welcome home, Raven Queen and Dawn Bringer. In our visions we knew you would return, but you have been gone longer than you think, and much has changed.’
The other Wykiry nodded and smiled. They moved awkwardly, uneasy in their land form despite their obvious fluid grace.
‘We went into the Dark Rift. I had to…’ began Issa. ‘Yes, much has happened, I can barely come to terms with it myself. I need time to…to think it through and remember. Asaph came for me. When the pure light receded we found ourselves here. Where is here? How long have we been gone? What happened?’
‘There will be plenty of time, Raven Queen,’ the Wykiry continued, speaking slowly. ‘It will be hard to explain with our voices as they are right now, but I shall try. Feel for the images I’m sending you; it will be easier. The Dark Rift came down to us, we thought it was the end, then there came this incredible light, a beautiful powerful energy, a purifying cosmic wind that swept through Maioria. It came from above and from below, closing all vortexes. How much time passed when the light came to us, we cannot say.
‘After the light, the ravens came to us and told us what had happened. They said that the Anukon could not withstand the light and retreated or died, and the Maphraxies fell under it and disintegrated. The demons fled back through their portal to the Murk. Even the humans and dwarves compromised in their choices fell fast to sickness and death. How long this took, we do not know, it maybe moments, maybe days.’
Issa blinked back tears as he spoke, seeing everything clearly in her mind. She saw dark dwarves and red-robed priests collapsing and choking as the light cleansed them. She watched the demons fleeing and the Anukon howling and clawing the air as their flesh peeled from their faces. She forced herself to look away, to look into the light which was only nourishing to her.
‘Only those true races of Maioria could withstand it,’ the Wykiry continued. ‘The light made us strong, all of us—all wounds it healed, all rage it soothed. Then the black vortex lifted up into the rift and the Mountains of Maphrax vanished. The ravens said that Woetala has awoken now that the life-magic is made whole again, and Maioria grows strong now her guardians have awoken.
‘As for how long you’ve been gone, well, it has been many days since the black light left and the pure light healed all. However, you must understand that in that time, new lands have arisen, right before our eyes. Old lands have gone, and some lands remain, but there were no earthquakes, no tsunamis, no devastation … there was only change. We do not know why or how, but Maioria is not the same as before. It’s as if she’s been born anew, arisen.’ The Wykiry tired of speaking and paused.
Issa struggled to believe they were talking literally, and yet in her mind she saw lands emerging out of mists, rising up through the oceans, and other lands fading away, much like the Elven Land of Mists faded away when she’d left it.
Seeing her expression and the other Wykiry’s weariness, a smaller female Wykiry stepped forwards. She also placed a hand on her throat as if it somehow helped her speak, and struggled with the words.
‘I will speak, for he tires. We cannot say how long because when the Light of the One Source came, all darkness receded, and a deep sleep swept over all Maioria. Even the fish, even the coral, slept—but we all dreamed the same dream and it confirmed what the ravens had told us. Here is that dream.’
In Issa’s mind she witnessed what the Wykiry and all Maioria had dreamed as she spoke.
‘The evil energy of Maphrax, which we have long seen in our visions, lifted into the Dark Rift as six orbs of light fell down to the earth. When they struck, Maioria’s life-magic burst alive and became whole. We saw Woetala arising from her endless sleep.’
‘Before I was taken into the Dark Rift, I saw Doon, and Woetala awakening before him,’ Issa said quietly, remembering when Doon acknowledged her.
The female Wykiry smiled. ‘The light of Maioria spread through us, nourishing us, healing us of all wounds. You can feel it even now. We are strong and whole, like never before.’
‘Yes, the darkness within me is gone,’ Issa said, tears filling her eyes. She could feel no trace of the black drink or the hating rage it brought. She looked at her right hand and saw it was no longer grey and demonic but smooth-skinned. There were no traces of the fine scars about the wrist, and her skin shimmered the faintest
blue, like the Wykiry’s skin shimmered. She looked at Asaph and noticed he had more of a yellow glow around him. Was she able to see aura’s clearer now? Maioria is not the same as before!
The Wykiry male spoke again, the wonder in his eyes mirroring her own. ‘In our shared dream we saw the vast armies of menfolk and Maphraxies fall to their knees in darkness. Then came the pure light. It came from the sky, beyond the Dark Rift. In moments it engulfed the rift and Maioria. In that light, all things were revealed, laid bare, made true.
‘When we awoke from that deep sleep and dream, Maioria was anew. This place we are now is west of what was Maphrax and east of Frayon. Our brothers and sisters tell us Atalanph, Drax and Frayon remain, but changed. And vast new lands and oceans…’
The Wykiry trailed off and lowered his eyes. Warmth and yellow light came from behind Issa and Asaph, spilling over them like honey. They turned to see a portal of golden light open, and within it, two beings walked.
Surrounding the light was a forest that Issa hadn’t noticed before. Ancient oaks and sycamores with rich green leaves and birds singing in their branches. Bluebells and buttercups blanketed the forest floor and deer stepped gently between the bushes. It was as if the forest had sprung up in response to the light.
The first figure took on defined edges; a woman in shimmering white robes, long bronze curls cascading over her tanned shoulders, and her eyes blazing forest green. In her hands she held a golden bow, and beside her walked the beasts of the forest, deer, foxes, even a bear. The other figure towered to her right, the golden light spilling over Doon’s antlers and broad shoulders.
At the edge of the forest they paused and beckoned. Issa and Asaph looked at each other then walked hesitantly towards them.
‘That which was broken has now been made whole,’ Woetala’s voice was strong and vibrated powerfully through Issa. ‘Now Maioria can heal. You have served her most honourably, Chosen of Zanufey and Chosen of Feygriene.’ She nodded to Issa then Asaph in turn. ‘For as you have come to understand, nothing exists in isolation and we—all the beings of the higher and lower realms—had to stand against darkness smothering us. We all had to choose.
War of the Raven Queen: The Goddess Prophecies Fantasy Series Book 6 Page 47
