Deep in the realm of the Aelythian Ones, the Alyi convened. What their words were in their native tongue were beyond the comprehension of mortals, yet one thing was for certain: some of them weren't happy with Dyiij, calling into question her actions and motives, along with the fact that Mokallai still walked the face of her world.
Some time after their gathering had ended, and her supernal cognates returned to their respective domains, Dyiij peered into the affairs of her Flesh Beings.
Seven months had passed, almost down to the day, since Ashenzsi had taken on the taalwumetes. His body was accustomed to them, and their constant tumbling brought forth no reaction from him.
One of the older kojae set a bowl before him. Ashenzsi wasn't sure of the contents, only the rank, nostril-stabbing stench. He flattened his ears and backed away from it. "You're sure this is necessary?"
"Tsche," the koja nodded. "The wryms have been in for too long. This will remove them without giving you pain."
A mounting pressure had developed within him, and was only getting worse these past two months. He had figured that, soon enough, the wryms would come out on their own. Evidently not.
He took a deep breath, lifted the bowl to his lips, gulped until the noxious mixture was no more. Immediately tears trickled down his cheeks. He grasped his burning throat and stuck out his tongue that had turned bright white. He choked, toppled over, and lost all sense of the world around him.
Now, Dyiij had turned her attention to Ashenzsi. She watched as several kojae lifted his near lifeless body from the floor and carried him into one of the rooms and lay him in the ysi.
The kojae stood around him, their expressions wrought with pity, as though they thought it was likely Ashenzsi was going to die. In that moment, she made her presence known: a brilliant flash of iridescent light, with translucent arms like tentacles; a formless creature hovering over the unconscious kyuosa.
The other kojae jumped at her sudden appearance, and with reckless abandon departed the room by any means that they could.
With an amused chuckle, Dyiij lowered herself to Ashenzsi's side.
— You don't mind if I borrow your spirit, do you?
No response.
— Good.
Within an instant, what was unconsciousness became radical awareness. She knew the shock and confusion that permeated Ashenzsi's ethereal mind, while he stood and stared at his yet-living body.
His eyes were plumes of jade fire, and his flesh had become like polished brass. Not a single joint connected his parts, and he marveled at the smoky trails of aelyth between the segments of his fingers.
? Am I dead? he asked.
— You are as much alive as you were a second ago. Only now you're Aelythian for the time being.
He hopped over his body like he was playing a game.
— You don't have forever to dawdle.
? I'm sorry. He stepped over himself and went to her.
— Come, take a walk with me. She passed through the wall, and he hurried to fall in stride beside her.
To Dyiij, the whole world from an Aelythian point of view was nothing new. Yet she often caught Ashenzsi marveling at mundane things, like how he was beyond the restraints of physical boundaries. He passed through a number of structures and beings. Of course when he passed through a person, they'd stop and shiver as if a winter's wind had spontaneously caressed them.
She took him to a secret place, the comparably tiny world that served as a safe haven for Rollond and his family. Together they perched on the railing of the terrace that extended from the master bedroom. As soon as Ashenzsi spotted his brother, his whole heart soured.
? Why have you brought me here?
— Because there are many things I want to say, and this is where I want to begin: Please do not hate your brother.
Even in this sanctuary the chielde offered, separate from the world outside, time flowed as it normally did. He observed Sanci while she prepared for bed. In the mean time, Rollond was comforting his sons. Neither one wanted to go to sleep. They wanted to stay up half the night and play with Tensten. But the nijuan had sucked and curled up on a headrest of the ysi.
? You shower him with everything a Flesh Being could ever want. You built a refuge around him, and your own hand protects him. He hasn't a single care or fear in the world. As for me, what have I been given? Nothing! Not anything like —
Some time after Rollond turned out the lights he crawled into bed beside his tyiha. She was in a randy mood, but he couldn't bring himself to entertain her.
She lay beside him. "There is something wrong?"
He hesitated. "I've been thinking… I'm doing what Dyiij directs me to do to the end that the world changes. But what if, in bringing forth the new world, everything from this one is also changed?"
"What do you mean?"
"We are where we are because of the things we've experienced and the choices we've made. If there is no Mokallai, my home nation doesn't get destroyed. I don't roam the planet for two-hundred forty years, or get picked up by Ielase, and ultimately I never run into you. I won't have Lucein, Gnyovante, and Tensten. That's what I mean." Tears welled up in his eyes.
She embraced him, only making his holding back harder.
"I get that it's for the better, for everyone's good, those who remain and those who will return. But, too, what if I don't turn out to be the same? I know it somewhere between my hearts that I'm going to change — I won't be the same. Then what? I won't be the man you love."
"Taelluigh," she said, "to me it is unthinkable that the Alyi would not see to it that all things are made right."
He sat back and regarded her with painful, wet eyes.
"You may never be around when I have to beget an entire species. But I swear to you, and may Dyiij hold me to it, that no matter what, I will love you again."
They cradled one another.
Ashenzsi was stark silent.
— His time is short.
The supernal kyusoa went into the bedroom and plopped down on the edge of the ysi. He tried to find his physical voice. When that didn't work, he tried to reach out to Rollond with the internal one. Neither got through.
Dyiij hovered over Rollond, who lay staring at the ceiling, unable to sleep. Through her aelyth she revealed the blackness in his hearts.
Ashenzsi stared, alarmed.
? What is this? Though his words were soft, an undertone of urgency marked his voice.
— He's always had the potential to do great evil. The blackness within Rollond was steadily maturing.
Ashenzsi stared at his brother, dispirited, now that he knew.
? How long does he have? His voice was hushed.
— Shortly after the beginning of the Third Epoch, which is soon.
He put his hands on his hips, shook his head, growled.
? If it's that much trouble, why not take Mokallai out while he's still at the estate? We can do it, you know we can!
— The more important thing is the birth of Amonthe, my second Champion. That's another reason why I've tasked Rollond with these affairs in Prisbeald, to keep clear of Mokallai. Also because he's a stress-breeder.
Ashenzsi snorted.
She passed through the bedroom, and he went with her. Together they tread on air. The dark of night had blanketed the city. The two Aelythian Beings wafted against the wind, invisible even to the perceptive, subconscious eyes of dreaming intellectuals. They stopped, hovering over the roof of the Junction's transit station.
? Is it hard on you? he asked. I mean Mokallai and all that.
— The hardest part is giving up someone that I love. At once she knew that his mind raced to the conclusion that her use of 'love' implied the romantic sort hardwired into all Flesh Beings. I am quite fond of you quirky people. I hate watching you die — and the pitiful followers of Mokallai are like walking corpses in my eyes. But as far as that goes, I keep looking forward to the restitution of all things; the cessation of torment.
? I
f everything is wrong, why don't you just fix it already?
— I'm going to catch Mokallai in his little game. She paused. An inclination to bear a secret to him coursed through her mind. Ashenzsi, I'd like to put my faith in you. You won't abandon a sworn oath, right?
His aelyth went from a soft white-green to a startled, intense reddish color.
? Of course not. Then he mulled over the gravity of her words. Why swear an oath?
— Because I want to entrust you with one of my Secrets.
She paid attention to what went on within him. When her words came to fruition in his mind, the fire of his eyes flared. The Secrets of an Alyi pertained to many things, including the very foundations of the universe. Their Secrets meant knowledge and power, also wisdom and discernment for those who were shrewd.
Ashenzsi's excitement was palpable. But so was his dread. His body shook and he averted his gaze, turning his head and looking out over the city, away from the precious, iridescent light embodying the anti-god.
It was a weighty obligation, an exclusive privilege, one that he could never share. And especially not with Rollond. At the same time, there was no greater honor than to be trusted that deeply by an Alyi.
? I — I'm… He couldn't find the words to express himself. Then he managed to choke together something coherent: You've always operated through Rollond. Why now… me?
— You've been this loyal to your brother, even to the point of bitterness. Ashenzsi, I know you're a stalwart kyusoa. How much more so will you stick fast to me? That's all I'm asking, that you do not betray my trust.
The proposal sounded simple enough. Confidence resounded in Dyiij's voice, and that alone reinforced Ashenzsi. He straightened and squared his shoulders.
? I swear it on my Rou'u, your Secret is safe with me.
The radiance stretched, the same as someone might after a deep breath. Dyiij gathered her words carefully.
— Amid the Schyiqarae, there will be no one like you. I'm granting you authority like mine over all kyusoakin in this world, to the end that you may protect those whom are vital to the destruction of Mokallai. Of all the powerful kyusoas, you will be without rival, your aelyth will be unmatched. Though Mokallai is dilapidated, he is still very inviolable compared to any Flesh Being.
She probed through Ashenzsi's thoughts. Just as he was about to voice his acceptance, she continued:
— In the Third Epoch he will come for my three heroes: Amonthe, Schiirin, and So'yi. You will know when to act by this: at the last hour, before Schiirin's potential is realized in the world, a woman of Destiny will turn everyone dear to her into instruments of destruction. Whatever you do, see to it Schiirin escapes. Amonthe and So'yi will see to themselves. I am speaking of things yet to come.
She could tell that he grasped the immediate fulfillment, what she was going to give him. But when it came to Amonthe, Schiirin and So'yi, he wasn't sure. He wanted to ask how far into the future was she speaking, but decided against it.
There were things he didn't want to know. Rollond was still close to his heart, and he didn't want to imagine what kind of person his brother would become, or when he would become it. In fact, sentiments similar to those Rollond had expressed to Sanci ran through him.
He was having doubts. What if the future, the resolution of all these things, proved to be so vastly different than the lives they all had known thus far? Would it really make a difference? Or would some remnant of themselves as they are now surface and torment who they would end up being then?
Unlike Dyiij, Ashenzsi couldn't wrap his head around it. None of them could, and she was well aware of it.
In fact, that was another Secret for someone else, reserved for the proper time.
Dawn peeled the cover of night back, peeping over the horizon like a curious child.
— I'd keep you longer, but if I don't get you back to your normal self soon, you're going to be a pile of ash.
? Ash?
— Your body's dead. They're about to burn you.
His green fire-eyes shrank in their sockets.
? D-dead… but you said I am alive!
— Well you can't have two bodies, Ashenzsi. You're living by means of the Aelythian one. It's only natural that your physical body would give one last breath then die. It has no spirit in it at this point.
Dyiij started for Ashui-hilo. Ashenzsi went ahead of her. By the time she arrived, he was on his knees, his hands gripping the back of his head. His aelyth was blue with desperation.
They had dug a pit overnight and filled it with wood, oil, and kindling. Whatever there was to say about Ashenzsi had already been said, and the torch-bearer held the fire at an arms length above his head. Then he flung the torch at the base of the oiled, wooden poles erected around Ashenzsi's body.
The fire burst up from the oily pit.
? My body… Ashenzsi wanted to sob, flattening his ethereal face to the dirt.
— So, we'll keep in touch, Dyiij said. With that touched Ashenzsi with one of her translucent arms. His Aelythian body dissolved and the aelyth that had flowed between his segments streamed into the burning corpse.
Yet he was just that: a dead body.
Until, at the silent command of the Alyi, the fire became nebulous. With her finger she wrote marks on his flesh that in the haze radiated so brightly that the attending kyusoakin had to shield their eyes.
Once the luminosity subsided, he arched his back, gasped, opened his eyes. When he got up, nearly every kyusoa laid on their bellies, save for the eldest tyiha. She approached him as he stepped out of the smoldering pit, his skin glistening from the oil.
"Qaanitaed Mau Gyischelle, teinaud Alyi vyllen reimoult au chebachtouni," she said: 'You are the Most Beloved, because the Alyi saw fit to bring you back.' She slipped the heels of her hands around his face and kissed his cheeks.
What an Alyi's authority was truly like eluded Ashenzsi's comprehension. But the mere sight of his kin flat to the dirt, the males and especially the females, made his abs tense with pride.
Then after the hushed moments of awe, the elder tyihai took him to the place where the Tsamiiq and the Schyiqar once dwelt.
The structure had been abandoned for centuries, ever since the fringes of the two societies had merged and became the Junction. Yet it was very well maintained. Not a single aspect of the structure, nor any item within it was allowed so much as a layer of dust.
It was as if they had anticipated the rise of a new leader, but had no idea if and when that would happen.
While the old tyihai fitted him, he sensed he was a welcome creature. The society — the praeuuit — had lacked direction for too long.
When they dressed him, they put him in something called a kuira: a flowing garment from his waist down that resembled a skirt when he stood, but were actually pants. The material was intentionally too long for his the legs, so that the cuffs folded over his feet and covered his toes. The kuira was finished with leather soles, and when laid out looked like a long, loose-fitting pair of pants that ended in finger-snipped gloves.
Once they were finished, and he had donned his tunic, the tyihai knelt beside the walls.
"Schyiqar," one of them said, "what will you do?"
He imagined there were duties that all Schyiqars were expected to fulfill. Perhaps the most fantastical of those roles was the proving of the rayihann between the ages of 15 and 24. Being the one in charge, he had the exclusive right to prove the daughters of whomever he wished.
Yet, when he grinned at she-who-asked, the tyihai deduced that he wasn't bent on proving the young females.
"We're moving into the Junction," he said.
The tyihai exchanged curious glances.
Melvas, the 41st day in the month of Doryil
Ashenzsi's directive to migrate kyusoakin dealings into the Junction was met with raised eyebrows from all three intellectual pools.
On a large scale, Men knew very little about their Kojae counterparts, and vice versa.
&nb
sp; Since Man's discovery of the species, the Kyusoa were depicted in two ways: they were animals; and when put in cabaret costumes, boy, did their females have overwhelming sex appeal. Their incomprehensible propensity towards submission didn't help alter their image as a species, nor did their knack for dancing.
Though, during the weeks of their hesitant migration into the Junction, the gray-area between the two cities became the liveliest place in all Ashui-hilo and Prisbeald.
What was even more baffling to their human counterparts was the fact that all business dealings among the Kyusoakin and the Xei were absolutely free. Businesses ran, and not a penny was exchanged; products were produced and given away without so much as a thought of return. This attracted the most basic of human socials by throngs.
And at a round table under a large umbrella in Sunburn's patio, Ashenzsi sat with Marqisian, Jaselin, and Rollond.
The tallest of them, Marqisian, hooked his arm over the back of his seat. Though he leaned forward, sliding a flat-panel holo-display across the table towards Jaselin and Rollond. "If only you had Ashenzsi's initiative," he said. "We would've gotten to this conclusion earlier."
"I have many things on my pallet," Rollond said, glancing over the hovering text.
"Oh? Do tell." Marqisian leaned back.
"Three boys, a wife, the duties of Rynaelt, and whatever else the Alyi throws at me."
Ashenzsi watched Jaselin's face light up. He mustn't have known that the lot of them had dealings with Dyiij. The man remained quiet until Rollond got to the end of the file.
"We're going private?" Jaselin asked.
"It's the simplest solution," Marqisian said. "If we base a private network here in the Junction, no Rynaelt can touch the station. All the more so if Rollond can persuade the Rynaelt who tentatively presides over this district to either hand it over or join him in the cause."
"What cause are we looking at, again?" Jaselin asked.
"A proper integration between Kyusoakin, Xei-kind and Humanity," Rollond said. "I'll get the 4th Rynaelt to confer the Junction to me." He slid the panel to Jaselin.
The man's face flushed. "Never thought I'd get my own network." He scrolled through to the bottom, then looked at Marqisian. "And you're sure we can do this?"
"Of course," Marqisian said. He propped his ankles up on the table, stretched back. "I'm the best lawyer in all Prisbeald — we can do whatever we want. And especially with Rolly-boy over there duking it out with them political douches."
"I hate flattery," Rollond muttered.
"And what about things on the Kyusoa end?" Jaselin asked.
"You let me worry about that," Ashenzsi said, his voice replete with suave confidence.
"Then we've reached an agreement?" Marqisian asked.
Jaselin and Rollond exchanged glances, then the two of them signed the document.
"We have an accord." Marqisian signed his name to it last, packed up the flat-panel, stood, nodded to the lot of them, and departed.
Shortly after Marqisian left, Rollond stared Ashenzsi down. The kyusoa kept the man's stare, and the air became galvanized.
'So what does this make you?' Rollond asked.
Too long had passed since Ashenzsi had last heard that internal voice. He almost knew what Rollond wanted to know by that question. Yet he wasn't absolutely certain. 'What do you mean?'
'Since when do you handle things?'
'Since a few weeks ago.'
'You're still full of wryms?'
'Nai'ii, we got them out.'
'So you're official now…' Rollond leaned back, narrowed his eyes.
Ashenzsi didn't flinch. He knew that Rollond understood who had the upper hand in a confrontation between the two. While Rollond had unnatural strength, Ashenzsi was still an Orisoa. By his reflexes alone, he'd shred Rollond like a scrap of paper. 'I'm still your Brother.'
Rollond didn't let up.
'I swore an oath to you, and now you're suspicious of me because I gained power?'
'Because you almost hate me.'
'Oh please!' Ashenzsi puckered his lips. 'My oath to my ma'aukja comes before my personal feelings. Besides, you have everything. What's not to be jealous of? If anything, I wish you'd be happy for me.'
Rollond crossed his arms. 'You're right. Look, I'm sorry. I've been through a lot lately.'
Ashenzsi resisted the inclination to cant his head at his brother. He knew, from what Dyiij had revealed, that Rollond was hard-enduring a gauntlet. Also that the white-haired man's trials weren't over yet. 'I understand,' he said, having chosen his words carefully.
They had forgotten that during all this Jaselin was still seated at the table, awkwardly watching the exchange of expressions and gestures. "Well this is weird."
"Hm? Oh." Rollond straightened. "I was just about to leave anyway."
"Seems to me like you two were having a really weird staring contest," Jaselin said.
"Right." Rollond rose from his seat.
"A'omanje au uulo a'a tusiini," Ashenzsi said: 'Remember you always have an ally in me.' He remained, watching his brother's backside as he disappeared in Sunburn's lobby.
Jaselin laced his fingers and rested his chin on them. "I wish I could understand your language."
"You want to know Va'vaa-ii?"
"Va'vaa-ii…" Jaselin rolled the sound under his tongue for a moment. "That's 'Tswaa'ii' in Tswaa'ii, right?"
Ashenzsi grinned. "Hang around and you'll learn quick."
The man remained with the kyusoa for the rest of that day, and he quickly grew fond of them. For that matter, many who were suspicious of the other gradually came to accept one another. The similarities between the three were great. Only their manifestations of the same inborn natures were different.
It was like what Ashenzsi had once thought: Humans needed better values. Though he also realized that his own species needed to stand up for themselves; and the Xei, level-headed and pacifistic, were somewhere in between.
Unity was possible.
When the cloak of night enveloped their side of the planet, Jaselin finally returned to his home. Ashenzsi retired to his new dwelling that was at the peak of Ashui-hilo, the place reserved for the Tsamiiq and her Schyiqar. He lingered at one of the circular windows, overlooking a portion of the pryuuit and on into the Junction.
His heart skipped a few beats. Was he doing the right thing?
Just as his thoughts were culminating, the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. A smooth warmth lay over his skin, and he knew what this familiar sensation meant.
— I appreciate your initiative, Dyiij said. I'm used to having to tell Rollond what to do. Too used to that, in fact. Your taking action is a refreshment to my soul.
He glanced over his shoulder. She didn't manifest in his presence. Still, her voice was clear. "It is the least I can do."
— Your 'least' is great. I want to tell you, though, that the time for the Third Epoch is near, and you won't be staying in Prisbeald for much longer.
"Tell me where to go and I'll be there."
— West, to the far ends of Phiiva, where the two peninsulas meet like the pincer of a crab. Send kyusoakin ahead of you. I want you to be ready to depart.I never intended for a full desegregation to take place in Ashui-hilo and Prisbeald. The plan is to get it started here, and then relocate once the momentum spread.
"And there's a place at the far west."
— Not yet. Frankly I've been carefully carving out land in the middle of the Tehmanj ocean. Ten domains, one kingdom; a central mainland guarded by nine land forms.
"Then — should we acquire boats?" He frowned, turned away from the window into his room, wanting to address her face-to-face. Still, she wasn't there. He ran his hands through his thick, stringy mane.
— You won't need boats. In fact, don't worry about it, just be ready and make sure you're all there by the end of the Second Epoch.
"Right. I will," he said.
The end of the Epoch was near. The thought ran through
his mind repeatedly. He lay in his ysi, staring blankly into the space between him and the ceiling.
Treasonist.
Schiivas, the 1st day in the month of Tyijenn;
Regarding Lucein;
Summer of the 701st year in the Second Epoch of Dyjian.
The Kingdom of Ecstasy Page 14
