A Division of Souls - A Novel of the Mendaihu Universe (39 page)

Denysia…my Dearest One. You have
Awakened,
she had said.

Not ‘one,’ but One. The One of All
Sacred.

Oh Goddess,
she whispered both aloud
and within.
I am…
Her heart fell…it couldn’t be true! Oh
Goddess, it
can’t
be true! She opened her mouth to scream
but only a tiny, pathetic whimper came out. Hot tears formed at the
corners of her eyes. She couldn’t be here, not now. Not with Amna.
She had to be home — no, she had to be with Caren. Karinna would
know what to do…she caught her breath again, but it was too
late…she was falling. She felt herself pitching forward as if she
were about to faint, only to jolt backwards and hit her head
against the cold tile wall.

“Denni?” Amna’s voice was crystal clear,
quiet and soothing, bringing her back down to reality. “Come on,
girl, I’m here. Talk to me.” She had thrown an arm around her
shoulders and pinned her up against the wall to keep her from
falling. Denni grabbed at Amna’s shoulder, grasping it tight, in
effect pulling Amna along with every move she made. She opened her
mouth to speak, but it was too late. It was all too late. She
gasped for air, each successive breath becoming harder and further
away.

Amna!
She managed to cry out her name
within, hoping she would hear.
I’m…

Denysia, I’m here for you.
Her
friend’s voice echoed in the far reaches of soulhearing.

I…I’m sorry…my sister…she’s coming for
me…

Denni felt a sickening lurch as the floor
dropped out from under her, and all was Light.

*

Denni stepped out of the Light and onto the
grassy knoll of Branden Hill Park.

“Uh…” she said.

Branden Hill Park? How the hell did she get
there? And why there, of all places? She was at her school in
Berndette Corner’s west side just a couple of seconds ago, before
she…before she what? Did she faint? She squeezed her eyes shut then
opened them again, looking around. She was still standing in the
middle of Branden Hill Park, about halfway up the slope to Jamison
Avenue and about fifty yards from Park Street to her right. At
least five miles away from where she’d been just moments ago.

She was facing eastward, in the direction of
the Mirades Tower, and it was in such sharp focus it hurt to look
for any length of time. She tried focusing on something closer: the
grass she stood on. It too dipped and swayed in the breeze as if
she could feel the life force moving through each blade, even those
under her feet. It rushed through her with such incoherent
completeness that her head spun and her knees buckled, her body
dropping to the ground. Not an injuring fall, she thought with some
relief, but a painful and embarrassing one nonetheless. She pushed
herself back up slowly, determined to figure out what the hell was
going on.

She couldn’t figure out why or how she had
traveled halfway across the city, leaving her with a severe case of
vertigo. She tempted fate and managed a look around again, taking
time now to adjust to each object. The edges of the tenement
rooftops at the bottom of the hill were just as sharp focus as the
Mirades Tower a few miles away. It messed with her sense of depth,
but not nearly as much as she’d expected. This was a vivid clarity
of her own soul, of her thoughts and emotions, the physical clarity
a side effect. This perfect eyesight, which made absolutely no
sense to her logically, could only mean one thing, and that fact
made her both giddy and nervous at the same time.

She looked around at the cars and the people
around her.

Light.

She saw university students walking to and
from classes. She saw men and women strolling on errands or on
their way to work. She saw a young couple in love, walking hand in
hand and talking as they headed towards the subway station at the
park corner. She saw commuters in their transports and on their
bikes and boards, intent on their destination. She saw a young
child being dragged along against her will by her impatient mother.
The child abruptly turned and stared at her for a moment,
acknowledging her presence with boggled surprise. In each and every
one of these people, she saw Light. She saw the glittering virgin
white of their souls. She read their emotions, she heard the
thoughts, and she sensed all of them. She sensed All. And
throughout, she remained utterly calm and still. In the midst of it
all, she felt Love. She felt their Light. And she accepted it.

I am the One, she reminded herself…but still
she could not quite grasp the idea. She couldn’t understand what
that meant.

“Ampryss?” She called her name again,
louder.

Yes, Denysia?
Ampryss’ voice floated
in somewhere to her left. She turned, but could not see its origin.
She continued to look as she spoke. She knew the answer to the
question she was about to ask, but needed to hear the answer just
the same. If she was correct, then everything that Ampryss had told
her or implied, everything that Caren had told her…then it was all
true. She had been awakened, not just because countless other
people had been in the last few days. It had been done for a
reason. She was the soul of the One of All Sacred in its ninth
revelation, here on Earth.

“Am I…am I in Light?”

Ampryss did not answer right away.
Yes,
Denysia. You are.

“Oh Goddess…” she breathed, the expectant
chill racing down her back. “Then it’s true.”

Ampryss did not answer. She didn’t need to.
“Why?” Denni cried out. It was the only thing she could say, for it
managed to encompass every single question she had wanted to ask.
Why had she been chosen? What was expected of her now? Why was she
here in Branden Hill Park? Why this park in particular and not the
Crest or Ormand Street Park, nearer to her own neighborhood?

I bring you here for your own
protection,
Ampryss said.

Protection? Was there a soulsenser out
there, a nuhm’ndah trying to find her? A wave of panic rushed over
her. Caren’s words may have been truer than she had expected. The
nuhm’ndah were hunting down the One in order to prevent the Ninth
Coming. She realized her own life was in jeopardy now, simply
because she had awakened. Could Mum and Dad have known this? Was
this why she was never told she was Mendaihu? What else hadn’t she
been told until now?

“Why the nuhm’ndah, Ampryss? Why are the
nuhm’ndah attacking?”

There was no response.

“Ampryss, answer me!”

Her voice sounded faint against the howling
echoes of the Sprawl. The voices and sounds she thought had come
from the city’s ambient noise had now become a low, distant thunder
that reverberated in her ears. Here in the Sprawl, the rumbling
grew louder the longer she stayed in the park, and her sharp vision
left a lingering uneasiness in her stomach. She whirled around
again, trying to pinpoint Ampryss’ location. The woman had said she
was on Trisanda right now but she had also said she was nearby, at
least in spirit. And if she was going to find her, it wasn’t going
to happen if she couldn’t concentrate. She’d have to calm down
first.

She’d been placed here in the park for a
good reason, and not for safety. If she really was the One of All
Sacred, odds were good she wasn’t going to find a hiding place on
this good Earth any time soon. There must be a number of Mendaihu
Gharra nearby, already guarding her from a distance, ready to make
themselves available at any given moment. A hollow relief, as she
would never quite know who they were until that moment they were
needed. There had to be a reason…

This has to do with Caren’s case
, she
thought.
The church, the hrrah-sehdhyn…

“Ampryss…?” She could barely hear herself
now.

I am here, Denysia.

“The souls of others,” Denni said. “That’s
it, isn’t it? The nuhm’ndah are taking the souls of others…before
they’re awakened. They’re trying to stop the One of All Sacred at
the source, aren’t they?”

Yes, Denysia.

Denni hugged herself close, chilled by the
cold winds rolling over the park slope. “Why?”

Ampryss’ voice let out a long, slow sigh.
That I do not know, my dear. No one knows as yet. They are
cho-nyhndah, but they are the imbalance in the universe, tamed only
by the Shenaihu, as the Mendaihu have the kiralla. They are both
former soldiers of a long since ended war. It seems this war has
not ended for them at all.

Denni let out her own slow breath, holding
herself close. There was no political, religious, or even logical
reason for the Shenaihu or the Mendaihu for being here, let alone
the nuhm’ndah or the kiralla. The Meraladian race had brought this
otherworldly spiritualism to Earth, or rather, had awakened the
Earth to its ancient fate.

“This doesn’t make any sense at all,
Ampryss,” she said. “These two factions of spirits…these two
energies that are really one in the same. Maybe you’re not asking
the right people. Or maybe the wrong people are asking. If it’s a
balance you want…”

Ampryss sensed her anger and lightened her
own.
I agree,
she said.
But that is easier thought than
acted upon, Denysia.

“That’s bullshit and you know it, Ampryss!”
she cried, and didn’t care if anyone heard her. “If we can set
aside differences for peace treaties during wartime, then for
Goddess’ sake
spirits
can!”

…
I’m afraid that’s not—

“Give it a shot, my friend Ampryss,” she
said acidly. “You don’t need the One of All Sacred to iron out
petty differences. All you need is your
own
spirit to do
that.” The temperature suddenly dropped significantly. Denni could
see the people around her — bodies illuminated by their own auras
and waveforms — speeding up in their motion, heading for the
nearest cover from an oncoming rainstorm that had not even reached
them yet. She herself had started pacing, waiting for the end of
this conversation so she could return, if she could, to the warmth
of her own body and the school in Berndette Corner.

Close your eyes, Denysia,
Ampryss
said.

“Why?” she frowned. “What are you going to
do?”

Please. I beg you. I must show you this.

“Now what?” she said. “Ampryss, I really
need to get back. Caren’s probably looking for me — ”

Denysia! Now!
Her rough tone took
Denni by surprise and she shut her eyes instinctively, and
immediately regretted it. She lost her balance and flailed her arms
again, expecting to hit the ground, harder this time. Her feet
kicked out from under her, but when she didn’t feel the ground
right away, she screamed.

“Ampryss!” she cried.

There was no answer.

Karinna,
she breathed.

*

Denysia…

Denni woke up with a snort. She felt her own
body and nothing else. “N-no, I won’t,” she said, her voice a
pathetic whimper.

Denysia!

“No!” she cried. “Leave me alone!”

Open your eyes, child.

“Ampryss!” she screamed. “Stop it! Stop this
now! Take me back!”

No harm is coming to you…please! Open your
eyes!

Denni cursed. A cold pain stung her skin and
she could not regain her balance, as if she had continued falling
into poor Amna and fell further into a black ocean. She
inhaled…pure oxygen. Its chill combined with her weightlessness
disoriented her, mind and body. Her throat began to convulse in dry
heaves. She was coming back into consciousness. Perhaps she had
fainted after all? She reached her hands out for some solid object,
a bed or a wall or even the floor, but felt nothing. Her eyes had
remained closed, and she would keep them that way until she knew
where she was. After a long moment, however, she felt a strange yet
comforting warmth, behind her and to the right. It enveloped just
that side of her body, and for a moment she felt the sensation of
moving, or being moved. She tried to focus on it, but it had
stopped as soon as she had noticed it.

“Where am I, Ampryss?” she called out.

In solitude, Dearest One. Nothing shall harm
you here.

Giving into skepticism and a wavering trust
in Ampryss, she opened one eye.

Then, in complete shock, the other.

The first thing she saw was the curvature.
Far off in the distance she saw the intricate cloud patterns
stretching over the central American provinces, the clear, flat
farming plains, the dark waves of the Appalachian range…then
finally the eastern shore, directly below. There, about halfway
down that coast...Bridgetown, her home.

So small, so beautiful.

Earth loomed before her. The warmth behind
her had been the radiant energy of the sun, unhindered by the
atmosphere.

“Oh…” She could not finish her words.

I am with you, Dearest.

She flailed with little success to move —
down? Away? Anywhere other than where she was! A violent chill
overtook her body as she tried turning away from the impossibility
of what she was seeing. The Earth! She shut her eyes again,
refusing to believe any of this. The Earth! She was
above
the planet. So high! So high…

“Ampryss…” she said.

I am with you,
Ampryss repeated.

Earth,
she thought. She breathed
deeply, then once more.
Goddess…!
She opened her eyes again.
Earth.
Peace and Light,
she reminded herself.
Love,
Peace, and Light.

Such a small planet in the universe. Such an
impossibly beautiful world.

Denni exhaled a third time, then wiped away
a stray tear. Earth.

“Home,” she whispered.

Gharra,
Ampryss said.
Home of the
Trisandi lineage. It is yours, Dearest One.

“Goddess…!” Denni said in exasperation.