A Division of Souls - A Novel of the Mendaihu Universe (62 page)

“Put that way, sure,” Anando smirked. “I
wouldn’t believe it myself. But the five thousand people are
cho-nyhndah, twin-spirited Warriors of the One, the Light is full
of millions of awakened spirits…and the teenage girl is the One of
All Sacred herself. A goddess and her army.”

Poe shivered. “For what battle, though?
Isn’t this supposed to balance the Mendaihu and the Shenaihu?”

“Eventually,” Anando he said. “But there’s
more to it than just balance, Alec. She must know this, if she’s
gone this far to awaken everybody on the entire planet.”

Words died on his lips. He glanced at Caren,
astonished by her lack of concern. In fact, by the look on her
face, she felt nothing but pride right now. Perhaps he needed to
rethink this…perhaps he needed to understand just how dire the
situation had to be in order for Denni — for the One — to do
something this drastic. He was cho-nyhndah himself, yet he did not
understand.

Anando had returned to looking at the beacon
of Light with avid interest. Though its luminosity gave the
surrounding area a whitish glow, it was still muted enough that it
could be watched with the naked eye. If Poe concentrated enough,
over the sound of stalled traffic and hushed voices, he could just
make out the beacon’s slow rumble.

Wake up,
he thought to himself, to
the twin spirits he held within. He felt no response, however, and
his barely concealed agitation began to reappear. He ignored it by
reaching into his uniform and taking out a cigarette. He didn’t
light it right away, deciding to twirl it between his fingers
instead.

I give you Peace, Love and Light,
he
called out to Denni, wondering if she could hear him.
I’m proud
of you, kid. I may not really know what you’re doing…but I trust
you. Know that I love you, Den.

He almost didn’t feel the faint ripple of
energy washing through him in response. But the ripple started to
expand, doubling then tripling in its intensity. It expanded a
fourth time, so intense he could barely contain it. There was no
question...she
had
heard him.

Thank you, Alec…
she said.
I love
you too.

“…Denni…” he whispered, so low that not even
Caren heard him.

The wash of energy — of Love — crested, and
then slowly ebbed until it remained only as a subtle pleasant
reminder. He knew Denni well enough that she would have hidden a
secret note for him somewhere in that wash if she’d wanted, and
most likely did. He’d look for it in time. He relaxed for the first
time in days and smiled, wiping tears away.

*

For the first time in her life, Sheila
Kennedy knew she was truly at peace. She no longer felt the hard
concrete of the floor below her, nor did she feel the cooling
breeze at her back that came through the open dock doors. Instead
she felt the vague sensation of floating above the city. She opened
her eyes, tears bleeding from the corners, and knew instantly that
she was seeing with Lighted sight…the heightened senses and
perceptions of everything around her, entering her mind and her
cho-nyhndah spirit with a new radiance she had never before
experienced.

She chanced a look down, and recognized the
Waterfront area immediately. She frowned at the blind spot in her
vision that obscured Moulding’s Warehouse, which lay directly
below. She was outside and above with the others from the
warehouse, nearly half a mile up and still climbing.

You are a Protector,
a young,
bodiless female voice called to her.
I know you. You are one of
Karinna’s closest friends. She cherishes the friendship, but only
recently has she been able to show that to you again.

Sheila wavered. Denni? Pashyo, that was
Denni talking to her right now! She sounded so different, so
mature! She shivered, first with awe, then with delight as she
called out to her, thanking her profusely for accepting her into
the fold.

No need to thank me,
she laughed.
I should be the one thanking you. You’ve sacrificed so much to
become a Warrior of the One. Peace, Love and Light to you, Sheila
Kennedy.

Sheila opened her mouth to speak, but found
no words. This young girl she loved and watched grow up over the
last ten years, all this was her doing! The reality of it all was
too much. She felt her body sway and tremble, and it took nearly
all of her own energy to maintain her position.

“Why are we here?” Sheila called out.

You, Sheila, are here to protect not only me
but also my followers. You’re in good company…you will remain close
with Alec Poe and my sister.

There were words unspoken here. “Denni,
what’s happening?”

The nuhm’ndah and the kiralla. They have
returned.

Goddess, if that were true…! “Are you
sure?”

Quite,
she said softly.
I’ve
sensed them for some time. You should know who they are, Sheila.
You were at St. Patrick’s yesterday.

The shiver turned into a steady tremble. “Oh
Goddess…” she whispered. “Then…then the nuhm’ndah weren’t Shenaihu
at all…”

Those in charge
were
in fact
Shenaihu,
Denni said.
But those who broke through Reverend
Miriam’s barrier…they are the ones we must watch. They’re the
primal spirits, the original, pure spirits. They’re strong, Sheila.
Incredibly strong, even more so than anyone realizes. They want
something…but I don’t know what it is.

She looked down at her hands; they were
shaking terribly. She held herself tightly and felt the world below
her fading and evaporating into white. Into Light. She’d dreamed
about this place, this otherwhere that she never completely
understood, yet had wholly trusted it with her heart and her
spirit. This Light was a sanctuary for souls, a middle ground
between spiritual and physical realities. The Light curled around
her body, warming her, soothing her. Cradling her.

“…I’m afraid,” she whimpered.

Don’t be,
she soothed.
You are a
Warrior of the One, and a Mendaihu Gharra, Protector of Earth.
You’ll have the strength. It is why you decided to join me,
Sheila.

“I joined to get some questions answered,”
Sheila started, felt her words too harsh, and started over, slower
and calmer. “I joined because I felt the need, Denni. Not because
of any overwhelming devotion to the One of All Sacred. That’s all I
can say. It was purely an instinctual move in the spiritual
sense.”

Because your soul sang to you.

“Yes.”

An even better reason,
Denni
hummed.

“I only wish that Nick were here. Or
Caren.”

I wish Karinna were here as well…but her
fate is different than mine. I will not go against that merely
because I want her here.

Sheila looked around the air tentatively.
“And what is Caren’s fate?”

She is the Protector of the One. The closest
one to me, in spirit and body, and she’s my focus point for it all.
I cannot risk losing her. That isn’t to say I’ll risk losing you,
Sheila…far from it. As both Warrior and Mendaihu Gharra, you
fulfill the dual role of…well, intelligence, I suppose. I need you
here to witness it all. You are Mendaihu, my friend. You always
have been.

Sheila nearly argued that point, but stopped
herself. Denni was right; she had always known, somewhere in her
own spirit, of her True Self, yet for many and varied reasons she
always refused to completely believe it. She was first and foremost
Sheila Kennedy, a female member of the human race living on Earth.
She would never forget that, regardless of who she was
spiritually.

I admire you, Sheila,
Denni said.
You know yourself better than others would. That is your
strongest form of protection.

She shuddered at the idea and pushed it
away. It was several minutes before either of them spoke again,
though she could still feel Denni’s presence. She was literally
everywhere. She could sense the young girl’s boundless spiritual
energy reaching out, web-like, over the entire city, and making its
way to each horizon, without hesitation or depletion of
strength.

“How do you do that?” she asked.

Do what?

“I don’t know…reach like that. It’s as if
you’re a soulhealer in the most extreme sense.”

Denni laughed.
Perk of the job, maybe?
I’m not pushing myself, but I’m not holding back either. I’m
just…setting it free, without any boundaries.
After a moment
she added:
I still don’t know how I’ve become so omniscient,
either.

“Can’t be a deity if you aren’t, kid,” she
said. Denni was years ahead of everyone else in maturity…and yet so
young and naïve at the same time...

It’s strange…I thought I’d be overwhelmed by
all this information at my disposal. I’m just not conscious of
everything all at once. It’s like I hold the keys to everyone’s
Akashic library.

Sheila cocked an eyebrow, amused by the
obscure reference. There was truth in Denni’s words; in the many
religions on this planet, and under many names and versions, the
Akashic library was the spiritual collection of every person’s
memories, thoughts, actions and emotions, over many lives and
universes. It was a living, ever growing temple of the soul.
Perhaps Denni was right…maybe she could tap into this resource
after all.

“So what happens now?” Sheila asked after
another long silence.

We awaken everybody else.

Sheila frowned. “That’s it?”

That’s all I can do, for now. The nuhm’ndah
and the kiralla are spirits I cannot read or control.

“How very sacrilegious of you to say that,
Denni,” she smirked. “So you aren’t fully omniscient?”

Denni let out a frustrated sigh.
I can’t
explain it very well, Sheila. They’re…I want to say that they’re a
heightened version of us, maybe an alternate one. All I know is
that they did not evolve here on this planet, and that they are
much stronger than the Mendaihu and the Shenaihu. I’m not even sure
of their origin. It’s…maybe they’re from an alternate
Trisanda.

“That doesn’t make sense!”

Of course it makes sense, Sheila,
she
countered.
Did you think this was the only universe in
existence?

Sheila blushed and didn’t answer.

I’m sorry. Didn’t mean to scold you like
that. But now that I’m here in this otherwhere again, amongst all
this Light, I’ve been thinking. It’s been about twenty-five years
since the last Embodiment, yes?

“Just about,” Sheila said. Suddenly and
unexpectedly her body quivered, sinking down then lifting up again,
as if she’d just temporarily slipped out of Denni’s grasp. It
unnervingly like an earthquake tremor, and it scared the hell out
of her. “What the hell was that?” she yelped. She wavered in the
air again, drooping much lower that time. “Denni?”

I…I don’t…this isn’t the Dahné. I’m not sure
what this is—

Her body began to fall again. This time, she
did not stop.

“Oh Goddess…Denni!”

Sheila! What’s going—?

Denni cried out in pain and suddenly she was
gone.

Sheila could not feel her anymore. She could
not feel anyone. She was no longer within the Light, either. She
was back in reality, hovering in the sky above Bridgetown,
completely alone.

“Denni!”

…falling.

“
Denni!”

There was absolutely no way of saving
herself. The blind spot below her had vanished, revealing the
rectangular flat roof of Moulding Warehouse, the exact target where
she would die horribly and violently within the next few
seconds.

Denysia,
she cried into the silence,
her body gone completely limp. The spirits surrounding her had
vanished, leaving her utterly alone.
Denysia…

Denni, sweetest Denni…where are you…?

CHAPTER THIRTY

dehndarra Né hra
nyhndah

“Perfect,” Natianos said, clasping his hands
behind his back.

The beacon of Light stuttered, sputtered,
and vanished out of existence within a few seconds, leaving the
city in an unsettling silence. He cast a sensing thread over the
immediate area to gauge the reaction; the overwhelming feeling was
that of shock and dread. Too early to tell if anyone would take
action after that, but he doubt anyone would want to, not after
that spectacle. He and the One of All Sacred had both come to the
same unspoken conclusion: for every action, there was an opposite
reaction. He had to shut down what Nehalé had started. It was the
only way to do it right. The only way to do it justice.

This young Embodiment was more intelligent
than he’d expected her to be. This season was going to be
interesting.

He turned to Janoss, who’d remained at his
side during it all. The color had drained from his face, the
creases in his forehead and near his eyes folding into deep
furrows. “What…just happened?” Janoss muttered. “I know you’d sent
out a hell of a lot of energy just a few minutes ago, but…was that
supposed to happen? Wasn’t the beacon supposed to, I don’t
know…fade, instead of die out like that?”

“I did two things, Janoss,” he said quietly.
“The Cleansing ritual was completed by way of my willing it closed,
which you witnessed yourself. And in a much more dignified way than
Nehalé and his Awakening, I should add. I only had to connect to
the spirits and direct them to stop, with a little help. And in
doing so, an Ascension was neatly corrupted. I couldn’t let the
young One make a move I consider hasty. I merely caused a
Fall.”

Janoss nodded slowly. “Angel metaphors,” he
said, and cocked an eyebrow at him. “You didn’t pull her wings off
then, did you?”

Natianos chuckled. “No, Janoss, I didn’t. I
merely clipped them a bit. I’m sure they’ll grow back.”