A Division of Souls - A Novel of the Mendaihu Universe (60 page)

“Caren, what’s going on?” he asked again.
“What aren’t you telling me?”

“It’s too complicated right now, but I’ll
explain when I get there. You’re going to be involved, Alec,” she
said.

Poe bristled at the comment, but let it pass
for now. “Did you happen to see our second team, by any chance?” he
asked. “They should still be at the warehouse.” He had been about
to say something else when Christine walked back in, noticed him in
the corner, and lifted her head at him in question. He mouthed
Caren’s name, tapped on his watch, and waved an open palm at her.
Frowning, she nodded and left the shed again.

“Alec?” she called.

“Sorry. Just telling Christine we’re getting
more company. Anyway, last I knew, they were inside the warehouse,
or at least nearby.”

“They shouldn’t have come,” Caren cursed. “I
just came from there. It’s too late to go back now.”

“Don’t worry about it,” he said quickly.
“I’ll try to hail them again.”

“Right. See you in ten,” she said, and
signed off before he could say any more.

“Damn!” He pushed himself up and headed out
of the shed. He cursed again as he strode towards the edge of the
roof, wiping his brow with his shirt sleeve. With the last of the
Rain calmed, the air had gotten humid and uncomfortable. Everything
was a discomfort right now…Denni was off in an otherwhere, Caren
had left the warehouse, Kai and Ashan were too far away, and team
two were in the wrong place. So many things could go wrong right
now. The chances of Nick and Sheila getting out of the warehouse so
quickly were slim and falling. He blessed is luck when Nick
answered after a few tries on different frequencies. He hurriedly
explained the situation to him and tried talking him out of staying
at the warehouse, at least for his own protection.

“Sheila’s right here,” he said. “She wants
to stay.”

“Caren told me to get the two of you out of
there, Nick,” he warned. “Now, I’m hoping that nothing will
happen…perhaps you’ll all be safe there, I don’t know.”

“So what do we do?” he asked.

“Use your judgment. If you think it’s safe
to stay, fine. I just wouldn’t recommend it if you’re not ready for
it.”

Nick did not answer right away.

“We’re all meeting at Christine’s place, on
the roof,” Poe added. “She’ll have the door open.”

“Sheila still wants to stay,” Nick finally
answered, his voice quiet.

“Fine,” he growled. “It’s your own choice
then.”

Nick paused again before answering, leaving
Poe in an uncertain predicament. Had he just broken up the second
team? Had he just put Sheila in danger, inadvertently or not? By
rule of seniority, it had fallen on him to make such decisions. But
this had not been a normal situation, even by ARU standards. He
could only hope he had made the right decision.

“I’ll try to be there as soon as possible,”
Nick said, almost sullenly. She must have almost talked him into
it.

Poe gave him directions and let him sign
off. He cursed one more time, trying to keep a handle on this
rapidly deteriorating situation. He pulled out a cigarette from his
inside uniform pocket and lit it, leaning heavily on the railing. A
moment later Christine joined him. Without a word she plucked the
cigarette from his fingers, took a long drag, and placed it back in
his hand. He pulled another out, lit it, and handed it to her.

“Thanks. A Closing ritual,” she said before
exhaling.

He nodded and took another drag. “I just
signed off the fate of two of the best people I work with,
Chris.”

She squeezed his shoulder. “They’ll be fine,
Alec,” she said. “They’ll be changed…but they’ll be fine.”

“I sure as hell hope so.”

*

Matthew glanced at the multiple security
camera images blinking across one of the leftmost screens. He had
most of them trained on Governor Rieflin’s forces to make sure they
did not act without his say so. Matthew had let him contact each
captain in charge to remind them of that fact, and in retrospect,
he was amazed that Rieflin did not attempt to defy him. Rieflin had
told them quickly and forcefully that they were not to shut down
this ritual, no matter what they witnessed. He was greatly amused
by Rieflin’s self-added threat that those who defied his orders
would not answer to him, but to Jack Priestley and the Crimson-Null
Foundation. It was a bit overboard, but it certainly did its job.
No one dared disobey his orders now.

Rieflin’s face appeared on the main screen,
worn and sweat-streaked. “Everyone is accounted for, kid. Now do
you mind telling me what the hell is about to happen?”

Matthew smiled. “Greatly appreciated, sir,
and of course I will. That storm you see out there, the Rain of
Light, has been grounded. Excess spiritual energy has been
harnessed, calmed, and sent back to the warehouse, where it’s still
collecting. The ritual in question…” He paused, thinking of the
best way to put it without stirring Rieflin’s doubts or fears. “…is
what’s called a Cleansing. Physically, it’s harmless.”

Rieflin seemed to soften a little. On a
separate monitor he saw Nandahya Mirades biting her bottom lip, her
face growing paler by the moment. She knew what this ritual
entailed, but she did not dare tell Rieflin. Matthew, who felt he
was somewhat a better judge of character than Nandahya, had
maneuvered Rieflin to the point that he could sway him to his side,
but he did not want to chance it so soon. Instead, he continued
with a softer version of what was going on.

Nandahya must be cho-nyhndah,
he
mused.
That has to be why she’s holding back.

“There are, however, some physical
side-effects to the ritual…I’m going to warn you now, sir, that
there may be some people who will find some of this a bit
disturbing.”

“Okay,” he said unevenly. “How so?”

“No one will be harmed. That I can promise
you. They will be changed, spiritually and emotionally…but
physically no harm will come to them.”

Just then, to Matthew’s right, a flash of
light on a screen caught his eye. He turned to the monitor, stopped
in his thoughts, and shivered. Caught by the security cam outside
the warehouse, a pinprick of white light had pierced the roof and
shot skyward. He tapped at the monitor and zoomed out, showing the
beam slicing clean through the clouds above.

“Huh,” he said, lifting his brows. He hadn’t
expected that so soon. “Sir…” he continued, and turned back to
Rieflin’s image. He cleared his throat and started again. “Sir, I
repeat. No physical harm will come to anyone. All I ask is that you
understand…this is not an offensive or defensive move. It’s merely
a closing. An endgame.”

Rieflin frowned at him. “What are you
talking about?”

“Sir,” he said. “Look out the window.”

Matthew watched as Rieflin craned his neck
to the right, his brows pinched together. A second later his whole
face went slack and pale. A word, possibly a curse, died on his
lips.

“Welcome to a new reality, sir,” Matthew
said. “Keep in touch. I trust your judgment.”

Matthew tapped a single key, and all of
Rieflin’s connections flickered back online. Rieflin had not
noticed, for both he and Nandahya had risen from their chairs and
moved towards the windows, where they stared at the beacon of light
coming from the Waterfront district.

He did not bother to check on Rieflin’s
forces. They were smart enough not to move in on something this
enormous. Instead he pushed himself out of the chair, stretched the
kinks out of his muscles, and left the room. He stopped in the
kitchen to grab a bottle of water and left the apartment for the
roof.

He saw the beacon of light shooting through
the Rain of Light as soon as he passed through the door. He chose a
spot near the edge, sat down in a lotus position, and began to
meditate.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Awakening

Denysia?

Denni opened her eyes to the brilliance
enveloping her body. She felt nothing...no wind pushing at her, no
temperature to scald or freeze her, no gravity to pull her down, no
objects for her to touch. The only other sound besides her own
breathing was that of Ampryss, quietly but anxiously calling her
name. She twirled in midair and let herself stop in what she
thought was the direction of the voice, and leaned forward ever so
slightly until she felt the sensation of moving towards it.

Ampryss,
she called back.

Denysia,
she repeated, a tone of
relief in her voice.
I am happy to hear your voice again. You
have initiated the Cleansing?

I have,
Denni answered.

Despite the freedom, despite the boundless
knowledge she had acquired, she still felt something had kept her
from knowing precisely why all this was happening. It had remained
unattainable, even through her transformation, and she knew she was
not the only one feeling this frustration. Caren had voiced hers
quite a few times throughout this ordeal…she, of all people,
deserved some sort of answer.

As if reading her thoughts, Ampryss spoke
into the void:
This is the way it has always been, Denysia. For
you alone, to awaken as the One of All Sacred, all you needed was
to comprehend the infinite power of knowledge. For you, it was the
simple task of equating comprehension with Meraladian sensing.
Because of that, it became instinct for you. You do not feel
intimidated by your godlike status, because you trust yourself. You
have simply accepted that You Are. That’s all it is, nothing
more.

For others, however…for untold numbers to
awaken at once to their True Nature, we as spiritwatchers have
found it necessary for a life-changing event to trip people up, as
it were. When Nehalé Usarai initiated the First Awakening ritual,
the psychic blast caused a great number of people to see life with
different eyes. When he brought you back to the Crest, you learned
to achieve clarity by stepping away temporarily. Down there, in
your city, those most affected were also the most changed. Their
ancestral link to Trisanda had become strengthened by both your
awakening and by the Rain of Light.

Denni let a long silence go by before she
answered.
That doesn’t answer my question,
she said.
Why
is this happening?

Perhaps that is not the question you want
to ask,
Ampryss replied,
because it is too vague. You are
asking for a meaning to life. Perhaps if you narrowed your question
down?

Denni growled in frustration. Ampryss was
right, she needed a sharper focus. What would Caren have asked? She
would have been able to get a straightforward answer out of anyone
if she was angry enough.
Okay, then,
she huffed.
What,
exactly, was Nehalé’s motive for starting the Awakening? Are we
awaiting — no, let me rephrase that. I understand the concept of
Return, Ampryss. Countless religions, myths, what have you…most all
of them have some sort of Return. It could be a soul’s return to a
higher plane of existence…or a Messiah’s return to the mortal
world.
She let out a satisfied chuckle.
I suppose I can be
viewed as the latter. But all of this? Nehalé’s psychic blast…the
Rain of Light…the hrrah-sehdhyn…the ongoing animosity between the
Mendaihu and the Shenaihu…just so we can all achieve some sort of
personal godhood? That’s not the full story. If Nehalé caused all
that just to Awaken us, I’m sure he could have done without the
sacrifices. Something scared him. Is that it?

Nehalé Usarai is a reality seer,
Ampryss said.
What he sees in the future is only one of a number
of possible realities, all of which hinge upon the events that
happen before it. He saw the possibility of your Awakening and
moved on that without question. That tends to be his weakness most
of the time, but truly, he had honorable intentions. As for the
cho-nyhndah ritual, to bring the Mendaihu and Shenaihu souls
together…

Ampryss left her in an uncomfortable silence
as she gathered her own thoughts together. Denni squirmed in the
sea of Light, already becoming restless and wishing that she were
back on Earth, with her sister, with Amna, with her friends…with
anyone now, in the physical plane. But to leave this Light now
would be to leave the thousands she watched over as the Gathering
and Cleansing rituals took place. It was her selflessness and love
for them that kept her from leaving, but it was her own youth and
individuality that screamed to let go. These were her own twin
spirits manifesting themselves.

Ultimately, he believes he is building an
army of Warriors of the One, Denysia,
Ampryss said finally.
He is readying Gharra for another war of the spirits.

“He can’t!” she barked. “I won’t let him,
Ampryss! We cannot have another war between the Mendaihu and the
Shenaihu!”

No, we cannot,
she answered.
That
is why you must stop him from falling into the same trap again,
Denysia. You’ve calmed the spirits now, but they need rest. They
need direction if we are to avoid another war. It is your duty as
the One of All Sacred to ease this tension and find a peaceful
balance again.

Denni wanted to answer that, but she could
find no words right now. Why was Nehalé trying to destroy
everything he’d been working so hard for? And why was Natianos
Lehanna responding to every peace offering with violence? Why was
any of this happening? She already knew the only way to end this
Cleansing ritual was to have Natianos interrupt it. He had to close
the cycle, just as Nehalé had opened it.

She shivered, saddened and angry at the same
time.
I feel so…so frustrated, Ampryss. We’re all doing our best
to be at peace, and yet our spirits wish otherwise. It’s like we’re
victims of our own dichotomies.