Still, that didn’t answer the question as to how the woman had created a sword from light—if Ahrek was right in that she couldn’t be a Lightbringer, then it must be an ability from the lightbinding power, and if Daylen’s powers were of the same type as hers, then Daylen should be able to do it, too.
Daylen tried to recall what he had sensed as she did it. Such a specific thing was hard to remember. If only his memory were better…
Daylen rolled his eyes, smiling to himself, and channeled light through each of his bonds into his memory.
The clarity was crushing. Everything he had ever done in his entire life was before him in full and awful comprehension; and considering all the horrific sins he had committed, the utterly perfect recollection of every instant within every instant of those sins caused Daylen to scream in agony and turmoil.
He let go of the bonds as soon as they had formed and fell to the ground, crying.
He had just relived his entire life in flawless detail, every crime, every mistake. He had seen the face of every person he had ever murdered, every girl he had raped, their tears and cries for mercy, the sorrow of their loved ones, his heartless carelessness for anyone or anything apart from his own power. His memory had returned to normal, but the clarity that had just been inflicted upon him remained. It was the most profound proof of how wretched his life had been: for what could condemn a monster more than reliving his own life?
Daylen wailed in heartbroken agony. To go on living he had forced himself to not think of his past sins. He hadn’t forgotten them, he never could, but recalling even a few at a time had overpowered him with guilt. Now, having every sin come before him… No, it was worse than that, for the clarity was so strong and perfect that he had just relived his entire life.
And now, with all that, it was too much.
Daylen cried in unbearable pain and anguish, writhing on the ground as if assaulted by some terrible force. Wherever his mind turned it was confronted with one of his past sins, and he recoiled both mentally and physically, only to be assaulted by another. His back arched and his whole body tensed, his face growing red from the mental anguish. He screamed and screamed.
It was an assault on the mind and the senses too torturous to bear. Daylen could feel himself swinging the sword that took off the nine-year-old princess’s head, and even worse, he could remember how he had felt about it, how he had felt that it was actually the right thing to do. He remembered his feelings and hatred for the people of Daybreak when he ordered the city’s destruction, he remembered watching on with satisfaction as he murdered millions. Some vile, dark part of himself back then had actually enjoyed performing those heinous acts.
His body tensed and writhed even more, reflecting the torment of his mind to the point that blood began to seep through the pores of his skin. And then, in that instant, Daylen’s mind snapped, unable to cope—and Daylen Namaran died.
Death has many stages, yet they happen so fast that most people don’t realize this. The heart stops and blood is no longer pushed through the body; then, with a lack of oxygenated blood, the brain suffocates and shuts down. Yet even then there are vestiges of life in every cell of a person’s body, though many would still call this—the stopping of the heart, the shutting down of the brain—death.
Yet if those cells have an unbidden reflex to draw in light to heal, if enough of them are still alive, and if the light they can draw in is strong enough, death can be prevented from taking over.
Thus Daylen did truly die when his mind snapped under the unbearable load of all his memories, and he would have died completely, for the body cannot live without the mind as the mind cannot live without the body. But his body pulled in light through the four paths that existed within Daylen and were bonded to his mind, healing it. Four healing bonds of light are powerful indeed, and after a few seconds, Daylen’s eyes, though already opened, moved with life.
What just happened? Daylen thought, sitting up.
His whole body ached, but the ache was fading. He was healing himself for some reason.
Daylen wiped the sweat from his brow to find it tinged red, like it had been mixed with blood.
Daylen wiped again and, thanks to it being mostly water, it came off easily.
There was something in his mind, something locked away, a memory; yet the very moment Daylen even considered recalling it, fear overwhelmed him. Whatever he did, he couldn’t allow himself to remember it. The odd thing was that he knew what it was, as if it were a basic point of academic knowledge, without truly remembering it. It was the knowledge of what had happened: he had bonded light to his memory and accidentally relived his entire life. He knew it without truly thinking of it or recalling anything in regard to how it had felt. The memory was locked away tight, and for good reason; it had almost killed him, hadn’t it?
Daylen climbed to his feet. What had he been doing? That’s right: trying to figure out how the female Archknight had created a sword from light.
Daylen’s light sense had felt what she was doing, and in fact Daylen thought he had sensed something different from the woman when she had summoned the sword, but he couldn’t remember… Yes, that was why he had bonded light to his memory in the first place. To try and remember more clearly what the woman had done.
Well now he knew that, for him at least, bonding so much light to his memory could be extremely dangerous, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to try again. Daylen had never claimed that he was incapable of being a reckless idiot.
This time, Daylen started with one bond, focusing specifically on the event he wanted to recall. It became clearer instantly. He could remember finer details, and even what he had felt from his light sense during the fight.
Daylen could tell that he had the capability to remember other things from other times, but he didn’t want to remember any other moment apart from the time he was focusing on. With that focus, the memories didn’t overwhelm him. Daylen tried two bonds, and the events he was focusing on became clearer while everything else remained safely locked away.
Feeling much more secure, Daylen channeled light though all his bonds to his memory, focusing specifically on that one time, which became vividly clear. He remembered things he hadn’t even realized he’d noticed—in fact, it was as if he were walking through that fight as a third-party observer while it played out at a fraction of the speed.
It was amazing.
Daylen focused on his light sense as the woman called forth the sword. The first thing he realized is that he sensed a separate light within the woman; there was her inner light, which shone with pure brightness, revealing how good a person she was, but there were other lights inside there, separate but present. What were they?
Then one of those separated lights moved when the woman stretched out her hand, and it flowed out, forming into her sword. Daylen sensed the action in exactly the same way as he had when the woman had bonded light to one of her abilities, like her strength. It was then that Daylen sensed something different about the bonds she was using with her strength—they were twice as big as his own. He could sense two of them, and the light they could channel was easily twice as much as he could with any one of his own bonds. Her third bond, the one she was using to channel the sword through, was the same size as normal, and then Daylen had realized what he had just thought. The only way he could describe what he was sensing in regard to the sword was that the sword was being channeled through the woman’s third bond, the exact same way as light was channeled.
Daylen released his memory bonds, which was like stepping out of another world but as soon as he did this his head burst with pain.
“Ouch!” Daylen said stumbling forward and cradling his head. It wasn’t the worst headache of his life, but light it had come on suddenly. He quickly channeled to heal himself, the pain subsided but didn’t disappear completely.
“That’s not good,” Daylen said, for never had his powers failed to heal him fully, and why did enhancing his memory give him such
a headache in the first place? Yet that wasn’t the first time he had gotten a headache after using his powers. His head had hurt after enhancing his perception back in Blackheart’s hideout, too.
“But it’s also not the time to worry about it,” Daylen added as he cast his mind back into the interactive memory he had just walked through.
“How could that sword have been channeled like light?” he asked out loud, and in answer to that, Daylen asked another question. “What had Ahrek said about the miracle of creation?”
He had said that all things were technically light, which was why he could absorb them.
“Well, I can draw in light, and if all things are actually made of light, shouldn’t I then be able to draw any object like Ahrek?”
Daylen pulled a coin out and focused on it. Yes, he could sense it—very faintly, barely noticeable in fact—but he could sense it. There was light in it.
Daylen tried to draw in the coin as if it were normal light. Nothing happened, and it felt like trying to walk through a solid wall.
It really seemed like Daylen could only channel and bond normal light, whereas Ahrek could channel, just not bond, anything that was light, even light that had taken form—or adopted identity, as Ahrek had put it.
Then how had that Archknight done it?
Well for one, she hadn’t channeled a normal object. It was a sunucle.
Daylen paused as the difference dawned on him, a difference that should have been obvious: a sunucle was an object that had light bonded to every cell of its structure to the point that it was a solid light object.
That fact struck him a little strange now, for according to Ahrek all things were made from light, and Daylen’s light sense seemed to confirm that otherwise he wouldn’t be able to sense inanimate objects. So a sunucle was an object which was light, and one that had more light bonded to it—maybe that was why sunforging was possible. So could a Lightbinder who could draw in light draw in sunforged objects?
There was an easy way to find out.
Daylen drew Imperious from its sheath. He could sense the sword as it was linked to him, but now he realized there was something profoundly familiar about that sense. It felt exactly the same as the light he could sense anywhere thanks to his lightbinding powers; just stronger and focused into a single location, the same as the light within people. But he knew the light he sensed was Imperious, and for some reason he couldn’t mistake it for something or someone else.
Holding Imperious, Daylen tried to draw on it in the same way he could draw in normal light. Imperious suddenly lost its form, turning into bright white light that flowed inside him, disappearing.
Daylen stood there, amazed.
He had just drawn Imperious into himself. Indeed, he could feel it inside, a separate something, which seemed to indicate that the sword had not actually merged with him, but rather it had only been stored. If it was anything like Ahrek’s own ability, Imperious’s weight would still be present.
Daylen tried to draw the sword back out—the problem was that he didn’t know how. Willing the thing to leave him did nothing. He stretched out his hand and tried to draw on the light inside that was Imperious. Nothing.
Then Daylen realized that he was still thinking of Imperious as light that he needed to draw in, but it was already within him. What did he do with light already drawn in? He channeled it into an ability. Okay, so what would happen if he channeled it into his hand? Daylen did this and light suddenly shone from his hand, forming into Imperious’s shape before fully materializing.
This was how the female Archknight did it. She didn’t have any lightbringing powers—she couldn’t create or absorb inanimate objects—it was simply an extension of lightbinding, a remarkable and extremely useful extension at that.
Daylen turned over the sword in his hand. When he had been Emperor and had just ordered the destruction of Daybreak, one of his worst atrocities, the Archknight that was his advisor had attacked him upon seeing that Daylen was set on committing such a terrible act of genocide. Daylen recalled that the knight had been unarmed one moment, but when Daylen looked again he’d had a sunforged sword in his hand.
This was how that knight had hidden his sword: Lightbinders could absorb and store sunucles within themselves!
Still, this didn’t answer every question Daylen had. The female Archknight had pulled on her sword through the natural link with far more strength then she should have been able to do.
Daylen hefted the sword in his hand, its weight being far lower than a regular sword, and felt the link. It was prominent, and he tugged on it, feeling the sword pull back in his grip.
Daylen walked to the back of the terrace where another level of the building loomed over him—a penthouse by the look of it. Daylen threw Imperious over the lip of the roof and then pulled on the link. He heard Imperious drag a little forward before hitting the small brick barrier at the lip. Daylen felt himself get tugged up but with nowhere near enough force to lift his weight. Sunforged links only ever had enough strength to pull on the sunucles themselves, and only if one was close enough.
Daylen tried to pull harder, but nothing changed. He lay on the ground and pulled. His chest rose a little, as if an invisible rope were pulling on him, but there was still nowhere near enough strength to lift him off the ground, let alone overpower Ahrek’s invisible force—which had been enough to pick up full grown men and throw them about like ragdolls.
Well, this appeared to be the extent of his link in its normal state, but that woman wasn’t a normal person, and neither was Daylen.
“The question now,” Daylen said, “is can I bond light to my link with Imperious?”
Daylen tried. Light seemed to flow into the link. Daylen’s awareness of the sword became far stronger; in fact, he could feel the roof. Not the ground where he lay, but rather the roof where Imperious was. He could feel the breeze and hear the wind that hummed over the building. It was like he had another set of ears that picked up noises from his sword’s location. Daylen channeled his other bonds to the link and it became even clearer. In fact, a double image appeared in his vision. Daylen closed his eyes and found that the image was a view from the perspective of Imperious itself—like a second set of eyes that sat inside the blade. He was able to gaze out from his sword and even turn his view to look in other directions.
“Incredible,” Daylen said. He was constantly finding new possibilities for his powers. Channeling light to a linked sunucle meant one could see and hear out of it at a distance!
Then Daylen gently pulled on the link, and he rose a little off the ground. He swung as if tied by a rope to the closed door of the penthouse.
Lowering himself, Daylen stood and stepped away from the penthouse to yank on the link. His whole body shot up into the air, and Daylen crashed into the lip of the penthouse’s brick roof chest first—Daylen’s ribs shattered. Gasping in pain, he fell back down to the terrace, his head cracking on the tiled patio, knocking him out.
Daylen regained consciousness as his powers healed him. “This is becoming a habit.”
He rolled onto his back. “Looks like I need a bit of practice with that one,” Daylen added before getting to his feet.
Stepping away from the penthouse, Daylen channeled two bonds to the link, one to his reflexes and another to his strength. He yanked on the link, which again pulled him into the air with half the force as before—yet it was still very fast.
With his agility enhanced, he easily raised his hands to grab the lip of the roof, his enhanced strength absorbing the impact, and he let the momentum carry him over, where he flipped in the air, pulling Imperious up into his hand and landing on his feet feeling rather happy with himself.
Daylen was about to sheath Imperious, but then smiling to himself he absorbed it instead and walked with a skip to the side of the building. No wonder the knights hid this little trick.
Daylen leapt from the building to go and buy another sword, a fine steel one. Daylen did have an empty she
ath at his side, after all, and it was always good to keep one’s options open.
Chapter Thirty-Six
The disorganized city states of Ma’queh didn’t bring me much value—they simply fought the other Ma’qains, as they have been doing for centuries.
Azbanadar, on the other hand, brought a mighty army.
For my part, I had the combined strength of the old kingdoms of Sunsen, Lumas, and Daymark, as well as the larger nations of Jentry, Daymon, Delavie, Mayn, and Frey. The Dawn Empire had grown mighty indeed, but to wage war on six fronts against Zantium, Tuerase, Lee’on’ta, Toulsen, Orden, and Lourane, I needed all the resources my people could produce. I believed that it was for them and their safety, not realizing that I was constantly sending their sons to die in my battles, squeezing them for every drop of productivity and coin I could get.
The fighting went on for many years, though I made sure to take Tuerase as fast as possible, attacking them from Azbanadar—which provided the perfect staging platform.
* * *
Daylen soared through the air. His mass-manipulated jumps were so great that they felt like flying.
Instead of reducing his mass, which wrought havoc on his velocity, Daylen found that he could land much easier by increasing his strength. Sometimes he would land on the side of a building and enhance his grip, which let him stick to it as if he were covered in glue.
Daylen leapt again, arcing through the sky, his gauntleted left hand holding his new backsword to prevent it flailing too much at his side.
He had guessed it would take a while for Ahrek to sort things out at the docks, so Daylen had taken his time looking for a new sword. The one he had now was a fine spring-steel backsword with a broad blade, a different sword type from Imperious, for steel functioned very differently to sunucles. Daylen was a traditionalist and felt swords should be carried in case of Night; the dueling culture was just a byproduct, not the reason. Thus the backsword he purchased could easily cut a Shade in two, as all swords should.
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