In All of Infinity

by H. R. Holt

  “Isaac?”

  He felt someone’s hand on his arm and turned to see a man with a bandage around his head that covered his eyes. He didn’t know this man, did he? There was a part of him that thought so, but from where?

  “Who are you?” he stammered.

  “It’s me: Emmanuel. Have you seen my daughter?”

  “Emmanuel!” He couldn’t believe it! He had found not only Reverie but her father too! Isaac began looking around him, scanning all the faces in search of Reverie. He couldn’t find her at first, but then saw her exiting the house escorted by Brornar. “I see her. What happened to you, anyway? I’ve been looking all over for you!”

  “Never mind that. I need you to take me to her,” he said and grabbed hold of Isaac’s arm. “Go on, then. Lead the way.”

  Isaac walked towards them, but paused when he felt a warning shoot itself into his brain. He couldn’t move. Why? He looked around, saw only friendly faces. Why couldn’t he walk? What had caused him to stop? A redhead in a dark blue dress cut in front of him and walked up to Reverie, which seemed to only worsen his panic.

  “Good evening, Saena.”

  Isaac turned around and began walking away, followed closely by Emmanuel, who sensed the same evil even though he couldn’t see. When they thought they were safely away, they heard a cry of pain and froze again, feeling as if the world had ended.

  Isaac looked over his shoulder and saw Saena with her hand on Reverie’s head; a stream of light was entering the redhead’s body while his beloved’s eyes were rolling to the back of her skull. He broke free from Emmanuel and charged across the distance, which could have been miles because it took so long. He felt his hands grow numb, so he looked at them and realized they’d grown black and lightning was coming out of his fingertips. He charged up to Saena and pushed her with his hands, sending her flying towards the house.

  Reverie fell. Keeping a wary eye on the redhead, Isaac knelt beside her and gathered her in his arms. Brornar walked over and picked her up just as the redhead stood and turned towards them, preparing for combat.

  “Need help?” Windrew asked and stood beside him. “It looks as though you could do with some. She looks feisty.”

  Windrew noticed something had changed in the younger man’s appearance. Instead of his normal brown eyes, he had black eyes that possessed no pupils. He thought about those of great evil that he’d battled and those who were in books, recalling the darkness that always seemed to consume their eyes. Windrew knew that he could be wrong, but he felt that there was something changing in Isaac, almost like a day once full of gaiety becoming nothing but gloom. He had never seen this change in Isaac before, so the question troubling him was: why now?

  “Isaac. Don’t.”

  Windrew glanced towards Reverie, who was trying to charge out of Brornar’s arms, wondering if he’d heard her speak because she was quiet. Isaac turned to Saena and smiled nastily, holding his hands merely inches apart. Windrew stared in wonder as a silver ball began forming in the space between his friend’s hands. He looked towards the redhead, saw fear form on her face.

  “Isaac,” Reverie managed again. “Don’t.”

  He felt himself wanting to turn towards her, but another temptation unlike any he’d ever experienced consumed him. He wanted to kill the woman who had nearly killed Reverie, even though she was telling him not to. When he stared at her, Isaac didn’t see flesh, blood, and bone. He saw an enemy. In the back of his mind, he sensed an uncanny mantra forming: annihilate all threats. Saena was a threat and she was going to die.

  Isaac felt the ball of electricity finish creating itself in his hands and released it. When she spotted this, Reverie gave it her all and jumped from Brornar’s arms. She pressed herself to go the distance, even though she felt exhaustion creeping into every muscle and every organ in her body. When she reached the sphere, she jumped in front of it and absorbed its energy. The light filling her body emitted a powerful ray of light, causing everyone near her to shield their faces with their hands.

  When the radiance died, Reverie stared at Isaac, who had returned to normal, and smiled humbly at him. She could feel the static in her hair and her heart was racing, but she couldn’t feel much else.

  “Rev—” Isaac started.

  Reverie fell backwards and stared at the sky, thinking how wonderful it was that she was alive, and then she felt herself growing tired. Although she’d been warned several times not to jump in front of orbs until she was ready, she couldn’t let one of her friends die. Who had told her so? She couldn’t remember. All she knew was that Saena wasn’t strong enough to take the electricity Isaac possessed, even if he was beginning to learn his powers. Reverie didn’t want her to try.

  “Reverie?”

  Isaac was at her right side, kneeling. She looked at him, then at Saena as she stood on the left. They didn’t know each other, but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t keep being strangers in the end. The cause had enough room for everyone, even those with dark powers. As they looked from one another to their friend, Reverie could sense their uncertainty as well as a tint of animosity.

  From a distance, they heard a voice whisper, “We have plenty to discuss.”

  ***

  The darkness chased the unlikely group of strangers towards the caves near the Temhae Sea located near Ubroque, which was an island off the coast of Peniolea. Invisible to everything and everyone but those who traveled the sea was the Daonira Mansion, which was the length and height of the cliff closest to the water. Even though the most powerful waves crashed against it, there was never a need to be afraid. One of the residents within the mansion was powerful enough to keep anything bad from happening to it, especially since it was her safest refuge.

  In one of the many rooms, Anekaya, sorceress and mother of two, sat beside her responsibility, trying to keep from staring at her husband. After all this time, he was beginning to understand her true position for the cause. He merely thought she was loyal because he was, never thinking there was a deeper reason. When he spoke of prophecies, sorceresses, and magic, he often thought he was blessed that she wasn’t part of any of it. He didn’t know how often she laughed at his errors when he wasn’t around.

  After focusing on Reverie for a few minutes, knowing that her situation was stable and that she was merely exhausted, she turned to Saena. She was busy explaining to Isaac that she was someone who consumed large amounts of dark magic, otherwise known as a Devourer. Anekaya had searched all over the Cathene Continent for the remaining members of the assembly, never thinking they were living in Ubroque. She was originally from that vicinity, long ago when the world was pleasant and pious, but it had been the last place she looked. After all, she had lost everyone there. How could she have known she would find someone instead?

  Anekaya turned to the man standing in the doorway, who was getting used to seeing since he’d been blind for two years. She didn’t know him as much as she knew his situation. Madame Frost had explained it to her in a dream, told her that it was vital that she find him, which she did by chance.

  She let her expressive pale gray eyes look around her, take in her surroundings, and try to find something normal about the situation. Her two boys, Herauz and Kevnar, were placed in a different wing for the time being. Since they respected their mother and feared their father, they didn’t ask questions. Herauz, the oldest at sixteen, was sure that he understood what was going on; Kevnar, at twelve, understood the situation better than his older brother. Anekaya had a feeling that she knew Herauz would end up, more or less, with Windrew’s powers; as for Kevnar, she was sure that he was destined for greatness. Even his birth had been magical!

  Anekaya was familiar with the bed on which Reverie lay and knew that Windrew was as well. It was the bed they had spent countless nights upon in the throes of intimacy when she had saved his life years ago after his travels to the Temple of Idenia. Since she wore a mask, he thought she had been someone else, and, when they met again, she knew he was close to
the truth when he said, “I feel as though I know you.” He knew more about her now. Although she brought Herauz and Kevnar with her when Windrew was away, they had been sworn to secrecy and never told him. After all, she knew that he wouldn’t be able to take the truth from his sons. She knew there was a time and place, and that was now.

  For a moment, she recalled her quickest enchantment of the evening, which had come only moments before the townspeople began attacking. Windrew had been unable to hold them back, but then he’d been unable to focus when he saw her and lost his concentration. She didn’t blame him, but this told her that he wasn’t ready for the truth. She wished she’d had time to tell him, but such was never the case when battling the darkness. Since they were safe for now, she had to take that as a blessing and hope there were more in their future.

  “Nice place,” Tanner said and popped his head in. He looked around at everyone, who seemed disturbed at his intrusion. “I’ve never seen such a large cave.” He backed out when he saw Windrew staring at him, then left the room, nearly stumbling over his feet.

  Anekaya looked at Windrew. He met her gaze and she expected him to say something. She sensed he was going to say “I cannot believe you kept this from me” but instead he stood up and walked out of the room. She had wanted him to speak, but realized it would take a while for him to get used to the idea of her being a sorceress. She had to accept that. Instead of being offended, she turned back to Reverie and smiled as she came around.

  “How do you feel?” she asked, wanting to comb the younger woman’s unkempt hair but it was still filled with static. Instead, she combed her own blonde hair behind her ear and scooted her chair closer and smiled. “You look horrible.”

  Reverie touched her hair and laughed when it crackled. She yawned and wanted to ask the sorceress where her husband was, and then turned to Isaac. He was standing at the foot of the bed, smiling at her. Saena was doing the same. Reverie wondered if they knew each other better than before, but didn’t need to ask. They were getting along.

  “Is she gone?”

  Reverie looked back at Anekaya and nodded, finding tears streaming down her cheeks. After all this time, the dark magic that was Ediniah had disappeared. Reverie no longer had to wait and emerge at night when the moon lulled the dark magic within her to sleep. She was all there was... and all there needed to be… at last. With a heavy heart, she wished that she had grown stronger before she’d met the sorceress. If she had, she would have been able to live her life and have others live theirs without worrying about her.

  “Reverie?”

  A man stepped up and stood beside Anekaya. Reverie looked at him, unsure who he was. He had light gray hair with white at the temples, a weather-beaten face, and pale blue eyes. She knew these eyes, even though they’d once been on a younger face.

  “Father?”

  She sat up and he rushed to her, throwing his arms around her. As she cried on his shoulder, he felt his heart racing. He’d found her! He’d searched for her forever, it seemed, but she was with him again and that was all that mattered. He didn’t think about the miles he’d traveled, the faces he’d searched, or the nightmares he’d had of growing older and older without her. For a moment, thinking wasn’t important. He merely took in what he knew and that was her in his arms alive.

  When they pulled apart, she saw tears streaming down his face. They laughed and hugged again, not realizing the other occupants of the room were slowly departing. As if from the back of her mind, a picture emerged. It came from a time Ediniah had forced her to witness, and then had attempted to take when Saena demolished her.

  Reverie pulled away and stared into Emmanuel’s eyes. They realized Anekaya was still in the room, seated at a chair near the fireplace beside the bed. She was whistling a tune and had her arms crossed. By the expression on her face, they could tell that she was planning something.

  “Do you know how to get there?” Reverie asked. “You were once a servant—”

  Anekaya turned to Reverie and hushed her, then rested her head against the back of the chair. She remembered being a servant of Nadia years ago when Esme was captured, had actually been the one who gave the woman her baths. Despite this, she didn’t want to go back just yet. She was savoring one victory at a time, and she sensed that her next was just around the corner.

  ♥ Part Four: If Anything, a Soul ♥

  The sunrise painted itself across the horizon, then began pouring itself across the calm sea and into the large floor-to-ceiling windows that were spread throughout the front rooms of the Daonira Mansion. Within the large meeting room on the second floor, seated on one of the couches, Isaac slouched with a steaming cup of ivena in front of him on the table. He didn’t like the liquid much, which was stronger and more bitter than coffee, but he hadn’t been able to sleep. He needed it to see him through the day, which he could feel was going to end in disaster.

  “Why the long face?”

  He turned and saw Reverie standing only inches away, dressed comfortably in a pair of jeans, a shimmering pale brown blouse, and a pair of tennis shoes. Her hair was combed into a ponytail, no longer filled with static. Isaac couldn’t help feeling terrible that he had nearly lost her because of something he’d done.

  Still continuing to sprawl across the couch, he looked into her eyes and realized that the person addressing him was Reverie. Last night, though, he’d doubted it. She wasn’t the girl he once knew, no matter what he tried to do to bring her back. After four years, she had changed, and he knew that he had too.

  Reverie sat beside him, placing her own cup of ivena beside his. Her leg touched his slightly, which caused him to jolt and scoot over. She tried to keep from thinking bad about his reaction and smiled at him. He had an elbow on the couch’s arm, holding his head up with that hand while he watched the sunrise intensely. She knew that her presence was disturbing him, detested being ignored, so she picked up her cup and stood.

  “Where are you going?”

  Reverie looked down at him, saw that his eyes were still focused out the window. For a minute, she recalled the boy he had once been. He would smile, laugh, talk, and make at least an attempt for her to know his intentions. He used to follow her around, even though he would never admit it, and that had always made her feel special. She never confessed it did. Perhaps that was why they would never truly connect? Because they hid so much from one another.

  “I’m not going anywhere,” she said and looked towards the sunset. To avoid her feelings, she recalled what Anekaya had once told her: that looking at the sun from within the mansion would never hurt a soul. Reverie had once felt like the mansion, unable to feel anything for anyone, and now she was feeling everything all at once. She couldn’t avoid her feelings, and she was actually pleased that she had them back.

  “I thought you asked me a question. Don’t you want to know the answer?” he asked and looked at her profile. He realized she was crying and sat up straight. “What’s wrong?”

  “It’s nothing. I just… I haven’t felt anything in so long.... It’s as if I were a shell and…” she looked at him and wiped her eyes. “I don’t want to bore you.”

  “God, no,” he said emphatically.

  Isaac pulled gently on her hand and she sat beside him. How could she think that she was boring? Had she been able to sense how he was feeling? Surely he hadn’t been thinking so negatively?

  “I really and truly felt like a shell. I mean, there were these emotions surging through me, but I couldn’t express them. At first, Ediniah was in charge. When we were alone, she would tell me what she was going to do. I fought her. Hard. Her temptations for… well, you know… men… were especially hard. I knew I had my own powers from day one, but I never knew how to use them. After all, I had never been taught how, until I met Anekaya. Before her, thought, there were times when I felt so… alone… afraid. Oh, great. I’m crying again,” she began digging into her pockets, searching for a handkerchief. “I need a tissue or something. I thought I had one
, but I guess I was wrong…”