Prophecy of Light - Unleashed

by RJ Crayton

  Akilah nodded. “Yes, our inner light powers the portal.”

  Kady frowned. “Then how did Zygam create a portal? He’s a dark mage.”

  Akilah laughed. “But he’s still a mage. The concept is the same. He used his inner spirit to power it, only he’s fueled by darkness and rage. I doubt his followers would call it an inner light. Perhaps the inner glow of the moon.”

  Kady raised an eyebrow. “So, if mages like Zygam are dark and evil, why do they even have power?”

  Akilah shifted uneasily. She didn’t like where this conversation was headed. Evil was something that she didn’t want to talk about. She’d been called that before. Not here. Not ever here, but when she was on her own and someone had seen her use her power. They’d dropped to their knees right there and prayed to keep her away, to keep that evil girl away from them.

  “Evil is just a name for things people don’t understand,” she said. “Zygam uses his magic to destroy rather than build, and that’s why Master Pylum wants to stop him. Magic can build or destroy, and at times we have a need for both. Sometimes an area must be cleared of all that is ill before you can plant new growth. And other times, you simply need to build something new to have a place flourish. The fact that Zygam chooses destruction, even when it is unnecessary, is why we oppose him.”

  Akilah sucked in a breath, closed her eyes, and then blew out. “Enough about Zygam,” she said. “Let’s work on portals.”

  Kady nodded.

  “Alright, there are a couple of things to know about portals and the temple. First and foremost, temples tend to be safe havens, refuges for mages. You generally cannot port directly into a temple from the outside.”

  Kady shook her head and spoke. “But every time we’ve ported, you and I have come directly to the temple.”

  Akilah blew out. “Yes, that’s true. But that’s only because Pylum was concerned about Zygam. He didn’t want there to be any possibility for ambush, for Zygam to take you, so he created an anchor.”

  “What’s that?”

  Akilah gave her a stern look at the interruption. Kady bowed her head in apology. “An anchor can only be created by the head of the temple, and it’s like a magical exception. It allows the person who is anchored to port directly into the temple. The leader of the temple is generally the only one authorized to make such exceptions, and generally will set an anchor for himself if he is away on business, so he can return to the heart of the building should we come under attack.”

  Kady looked as if she had a question. Akilah nodded for her to ask it. “So, the anchor is for a specific person?”

  “Yes,” Akilah said. “But that’s not important to our discussion at the moment. What is important is that you generally cannot port from the temple to a location outside, or from a location outside the temple into it. However, intra-temple portals are acceptable. Once you are inside, you can port from one location to another.”

  “Why?”

  “Because people who are in the temple are presumed to be accepted, so once you’re inside, you may port freely. Though most people don’t, except when they are learning. Intra-temple porting allows learning mages ample practice. And this is what you need. We will port from here to some other room in the temple. So let’s try going to our room.”

  Kady nodded, then frowned. “How?”

  “Master Asim explained the concept to you?”

  “Yes. Same as you said: use your light to take you to the place you want to go.”

  Akilah smiled, as Kady had perfectly mimicked Master Asim’s matter-of-fact tone. “That’s right, and it’s a bit similar to glyph magic — except with the glyphs, you often have the ketesh to help channel your light. It gives your light form in the glowing glyph symbol we see as the magic disperses.”

  “So why don’t we use a ketesh to create a portal?”

  Akilah paused for a moment, unsure of the answer. It was a good question, and she wondered why no one had ever done so. “I wish I knew,” she said. “But I don’t. All I know is that you need to concentrate on two things — your inner light and where you want to go.

  “Envision creating your own door. A pool filled with your own light that you can step through and be right at the place that you want to be. If you want, you can stick out a single finger and prick the air where you want the portal to start. You should feel the light flowing out. However, the mages who’ve done it a lot don’t use a finger to start the portal. A simple thought, and it will appear.”

  Kady nodded her understanding and took a step back. Akilah watched as the girl closed her eyes and concentrated. She stood still and quiet, and Akilah could tell she was intently focused on drawing her inner light, on pooling it into a portal. Akilah could even feel the air shift around her. That gentle humming of magic as it attempted to concentrate in one spot, and then Kady opened her eyes and harrumphed. “It’s not working.”

  Akilah shook her head. “No, you were close,” she said. “I could tell.”

  “How?”

  “Portals — they change the air before they appear. You were close.”

  Kady didn’t look like she believed.

  “Try again. Let’s see what happens.”

  Kady took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and tried again. This time, after a couple of minutes, a small sliver of liquid rippled in front of her. It was the size of a coin, but it was there. It started to widen just slightly, and Kady opened her eyes, a huge grin on her face. She watched the portal widen and grow while still keeping her concentration. When it was large enough to be entered, Akilah said, “Go ahead,”

  Kady looked at her hesitantly.

  “Do you believe it worked?” Akilah asked.

  Kady eyed the portal, then nodded.

  Akilah walked over, and grabbed Kady’s hand. “Then I believe you, too. We’ll go together.”

  Kady hesitated and the portal collapsed, disappearing into nothing. Akilah frowned. That was bad. If Kady didn’t believe it, the portal wasn’t going to the right place. However, it was good that she realized it in time and didn’t go through. A bad portal could leave you stranded someplace you didn’t want to be. “It’s alright,” Akilah said, meaning it. “Portals are hard.”

  “But I need to master this,” she said.

  “And you will,” she said. “Let’s call it for today. I have some things to do. We’ll try again tomorrow.”

  Kady nodded, then turned and left the room. Akilah waited a moment, then she left, too. She had an idea on how she might help Kady.

  Chapter 12 - Mind Invasion

  That night, I dreamt again. Only the second time since I’ve been here, but even that was more than I’d dreamt in the last few years. Dreams were something that rarely found me, and I wondered now if it was because of my aunt’s mind-locking.

  But that night was frightening because I didn’t think it was entirely a dream. First, I floated away to a strange room, dark and foreboding, made of thick, cold, stones. In the center, Auntie lay on a table, painted white and covered in glyphs I didn’t recognize. I ran to her side and called her name. She sat up and turned to me. Her eyes were open, but they were completely white. No pupils. I was so startled I stepped back, and then Auntie spoke. It was her voice, but it was also muffled, strangled, like a cry. “I am trying,” she said.

  “Trying what?” I asked.

  “Release your magic,” she said. “He’s encapsulated me to suppress your magic.”

  “I’m doing magic,” I said to Auntie.

  “Not as well as you should,” she said.

  She was right, and I didn’t know what to say.

  “Do not feed Zygam,” she said. “Do not feed him. Do not trust him.”

  “Feed him? How would I feed him?”

  “Your love for me is admirable, but I have made a mistake. We are no longer together. Live as you are, not as we were. I am safe enough.”

  She disappeared. Or, to be more accurate, I disappeared. I wasn’t in the dark room with my painted Auntie
. I was in the room I was in before. The room I was in last time I’d somehow seen Zygam. It was a library with comfortable chairs, and Zygam sat in one, his eyes closed, his head tilted back slowly, and I could see his lips mouthing words but he wasn’t making sound so I didn’t know what he was saying.

  “Prayers,” Zygam said. I looked around the room, unsure who Zygam was speaking to. “You, Dirah,” he said. “You wanted to know what I was doing. I was praying that I might find you that you would come to me again. And you have.”

  He still had his eyes closed, and I wondered how he knew I was here.

  “Dirah,” he said. “I am saddened that Pylum has taught you so little about your gifts. If you came to me, I could explain it all. I could show you all the magic that Talitha has trapped inside you, all the magic that you have the power to perform. I am not bad, as Pylum presents me to be.”

  He sounded like Akilah now, with his suggestion that somehow he wasn’t evil.

  “This Akilah — and I’m not sure who she is — is right,” Zygam said.

  “Stay out of my mind,” I said.

  “I can only come in when you let me,” he said. “I’m not as gifted as you. You have always been able to enter whatever mind you please. Both of your parents were powerful, but you, Dirah, you leave them in your wake with your mental abilities.”

  I watched him, his eyes closed in concentration but his face resolute, as if he believed in me wholeheartedly.

  “I know you believe the people you’re with, but remember that trust must be earned, and what exactly have they done to earn your trust? Has Pylum even told you the prophecy? Has he told you how you figure into it all, or has he simply tried to hide your destiny from you while painting me the villain?”

  Pylum hadn’t told me the prophecy. He hadn’t told me anything. I stared at Zygam with new curiosity.

  And then I was pulled away again, back to Auntie. Alone in the dark room, she lay still on the table. “Stay away from him,” she croaked. Then I was awake, back in my room.

  I hated these dreams or connections that I was able to make. The Auntie I saw, she wasn’t quite Auntie, and the Zygam I saw, he was reasonable and trying to help. It made me wonder what Pylum was trying to hide from me. Zygam couldn’t be trusted because he’d taken Auntie, but that didn’t mean Pylum could be trusted, because he’d refused to do everything in his power to get Auntie back. And he seemed supremely confident Zygam wouldn’t hurt Auntie. Was his confidence a sign that Zygam wasn’t as dangerous as Pylum made him out to be? Someone you truly didn’t trust, you couldn’t trust to keep your friend safe.

  I got up from my bed, and based on the morning light, it was still early. I wanted to talk to Jasper. He could help me. More than anything I wished I could talk to him right now. Jasper, I thought.

  Kady? I heard Jasper’s voice in my mind.

  Vipers! I’d somehow contacted him, even though I had no idea how. Jasper, I said in my mind. I didn’t know I could contact you this way.

  He laughed in my mind. I didn’t realize you had this skill. Looks like your magic is really flourishing now.

  I wished he hadn’t said that. Anytime I felt good about my magic, it seemed to disappear on me. Can you meet me in the library? I have a question for you.

  Alright, he said. Give me ten minutes and I’ll see you there.

  I took a minute to get up, change from night clothes to a fresh tunic, and head down to the library. The large room had lots of cushions for sitting and reading, and tables for those who chose to write and study. The library was on the first floor of the temple and filled with bookshelves, tall, tall shelves, taller than anyone could reach. I suppose they used magic to get the highest books, but I hadn’t seen them doing it.

  In truth, I’d been to the library very little. Pylum had given me books that would be useful for my lessons, and while I’d been shown the library, there hadn’t been anything I wanted to research until now. For the last couple of weeks, I’d thought the answers had lay in me finding the magic within me, but I now realized Zygam was right. I needed information. Not on the theory of magic, but on what I was meant to do, on why Zygam wanted me. Pylum had been unwilling to share anything concrete, but that didn’t mean that knowledge wasn’t accessible to me.

  After a few interminable minutes, Jasper breezed through the library, doors wearing a dark blue tunic that seemed to be the exact same color as his eyes. It suited him.

  I smiled and waved him over to where I was standing, near a window. I peeked out at the lush grounds and wondered briefly if Zygam’s temple looked similar.

  “What did you want to talk about?” Jasper whispered as he got closer. He towered over me quite a bit, and I wondered why we’d ever been picked for sparring partners. Though I was glad we had been. It said a lot that he wasn’t bothered that I’d tossed him across the room — yes by magic — but I’d still done it. And I’d seen enough interactions among young men on Halcyon’s streets to know many could not forgive such an embarrassment.

  “Thank you,” I said.

  He raised an eyebrow and quirked up one side of his mouth in a cheerful smile. “I haven’t done anything,” he said.

  “You came, and that means a lot to me.”

  He seemed flustered by my praise, but eventually just nodded.

  “Do you know?” I started. “Do you know how I contacted you just now? Is that normal?”

  Jasper shrugged. “Almost all mages have the ability to move things with their minds, and many are adept with speaking telepathically. Sometimes, Master Pylum will call me that way. Most people can receive a message, but some aren’t very good at sending one back.”

  “And you?” I asked. “Are you good at it?”

  He shook his head. “I’m alright, but I’m not adept at navigating the mind. It’s very complicated, but I figured it out enough. But you’re very good.”

  I shook my head. “I’m not sure how good I am, but I’m glad there’s something that works without a lot of practice.”

  He smiled at her. “You are doing very well,” he said. “Don’t underplay your ability.”

  I didn’t want compliments. No matter how well Jasper thought I was doing, it wasn’t good enough for Pylum, who seemed never to be satisfied. I needed an alternate plan. “I need your help,” I said to Jasper. “What do you know about the Talisman of Elpida and the prophecy surrounding it?”

  He shook his head. “Not a ton. The talisman is an ancient and dangerous object. Mages have been warned against touching it, even looking at it. It’s got great power, but it can darken a heart and instill a lust for power. It’s supposed to have the ability to spark imbalance, to bring darkness to overwhelm the light.”

  I stared at him. That wasn’t what I’d heard in the memory Pylum showed me. Zygam had talked about the talisman restoring balance. “And the prophecy that goes with it. Is there a book that can tell me about it? Can you help me find it?”

  He shook his head, his blonde locks wiggling as he did so. “I mean, I think the library has some basic books on the talisman, about how dangerous is, but the prophecy, according to the few books it’s mentioned in, is dangerous. Its exact words are only available to scholars at the master level because there is the belief that the prophecy can be easily misinterpreted.”

  “Who cares if it’s misinterpreted?”

  “People can get hurt. They can try to use the talisman when they’re not supposed to. It’s a dangerous object.”

  I sighed and shook my head. The information I needed wasn’t here. “How do you know so much about the talisman?”

  “I wouldn’t say I know a lot about it. But it is from the Northland,” he said. “I thought that’s why you asked me. It’s a Northland talisman. It was forged there by a Midlander and brought back to the Midlands to be used for good. Only, it needed the light of both lands to work properly. That’s why it’s dangerous. That’s one reason why so few mages of the Northland come here. We’re not entirely trusted because our land forged t
he Talisman, even though it was created by a person of Midland.”

  I stared at him and wondered if my locked brain had known all of this. Was that why I’d reached out to him? I needed to see the prophecy. But that would take some finagling. “Are you sure it’s dangerous to read it?”

  He nodded. “My parents read it. They died soon after.”

  And before I knew it, before I could stop myself, I was seeing a flash, an image of Jasper’s parents. They were packing and telling him it was going to be alright. They were needed to find something. It had been prophesied, and Master Pylum foresaw that it was dangerous, but if they were to succeed, their only chance was to go now and to go together. “You’ll be safe here at the temple,” his mother said, pulling Jasper, who couldn’t have been more than eight or nine, into a hug and kissing his forehead.

  His eyes were wet with moisture, and he said, “I don’t want you to go.”

  His mother kissed him once more and said, “Sweet Jasper, all will be well. Stay here and be a good boy for us.”

  His father walked over and patted his son on the head. “Yes, be brave for us. Will you, my little shaejan?”

  With that, Jasper wiped his tears and nodded, but his face was still melancholy.

  And then the images stopped abruptly. Jasper was staring pure venom at me. “How could you?”

  I realized what I’d done. Inadvertently, I’d mined his mind for a memory of his parents. My eyes widened with shock as the depth of what I’d done sank in. “I’m sorry,” I said. “I didn’t mean to. I didn’t know I was doing it until …”

  He glared at me, and I felt horrible. “There are rules when you have power, Kady. We don’t invade other’s minds and pick through their private thoughts, even if we have the ability to,” he said in a loud whisper yell, owing to our surroundings.

  “I’m sorry,” I said again, trying to think of a way to mitigate what had happened. There weren’t many people here I had connected with and Jasper was one of the nicest. “I’ll figure out how I did it and I won’t do it again.”