A Division of Souls - A Novel of the Mendaihu Universe (63 page)

Father!

Saone’s voice invaded his thoughts with a
vengeance. He pushed her anger away just as quickly.
Not now,
Saone,
he responded.
Be patient.

Father, hear me!

Another wave of anger tore out of him,
stronger this time.
Not now!

Silence lingered in their spiritual link,
Saone no doubt wanting to fight back but knowing better than that.
After a few seconds he felt her grudging acceptance. She left
wordlessly and did not call again.

Janoss finally turned from the window, the
color returning to his face. He took a tentative step towards the
long couches, then another. Finally he paused in front of one, hand
up near his mouth as if to speak, thought better of it, shook his
head and sat down instead, his back to Natianos. Clearly the man
was starting to have second thoughts about their place in all these
rituals, and he couldn’t blame him. Eventually Janoss dropped
heavily onto the couch and sulked.

“I have to admit,” Natianos said, remaining
at the window. “I can’t help but worry about my youngest daughter,
Janoss. You remember Saone, don’t you? Wonderful girl…though she’s
more rebellious than I’d like. I’d rather she not be a casualty if
it comes to it.”

Janoss did not answer.

“Anyway,” he continued. “She’s down there at
the warehouse. Did she get caught up in the Cleansing? Was she part
of the Ascension? Was she even part of the Awakening, and is she
now cho-nyhndah? Who knows? It’s out of my hands, Janoss. She is my
daughter, but I do not own her spirit. And certainly dear Saone is
old enough to live with her own decisions. I just hope she chose
wisely.” Finally turning away from the city, he faced Janoss again.
The man was still stewing in his own juices, arms crossed and stuck
in his thoughts. “No barriers here, Janoss,” he said, joining him
on the opposite couch. “What’s on your mind?”

Could he be having a crisis of faith? The
mere thought surprised him. Janoss had gone in and orchestrated a
bloodbath at St. Patrick’s Church just yesterday, and had done so
without hesitation. Why did he feel troubled at this point?
Certainly not guilt…he was not a weak man. He would accept the
outcome of his own actions, one way or another.

“Something’s…not right,” Janoss said
eventually. There was no emotion in his words. “Nyhnd’aladh, my
Dahné, but I don’t think we should have done that. Not so
soon.”

Natianos bristled. “So soon? What are you
talking about? That was the
perfect
time. Had she achieved
full Ascension right then, this struggle would have ended before it
even began. She was trying to awaken everyone.”

Janoss exhaled again. “I know…”

“Everyone,” he repeated with more force.
“Everyone on this blessed planet!”

“I understand, Natianos,” he snapped.

Natianos shook his head impatiently and
leaned forward in his seat. “You don’t, Janoss, not completely,” he
said. “That’s the problem. What would have happened, then? The
nuhm’ndah and the kiralla would be a moot point, that’s what. Our
beliefs, our lives, our
heritage
would have been wiped
clean.”

“But…the cho-nyhndah—”

“…is a myth, Janoss!” he said, waving a
frustrated hand in the air. “Where is the balance if it exists in
the body of one person? Each person’s spirit would be exactly the
same! This is why I did what I did, do you not see that? The
cho-nyhndah have indeed awakened. The people of this world are on
the verge of awakening to their Trisandi heritage, just like those
here in our city. But the cho-nyhndah, the true twin spirits, still
remain a small percentage.”

“…to maintain the balance,” Janoss said,
eyeing him. “With the awakened.”

“Precisely,” he said with finality.
Now
he understood.

“And what of the One?” Janoss asked.

“Dennise Johnson?” he smirked. “She’s a
fifteen year old girl from Berndette Corner. She might have most of
the One’s abilities, and she shows quite a high intelligence that
some of our previous Embodiments may have lacked…but she’s still
learning. She’s far from ready to lead right now.”

Janoss nodded slowly. “I see.”

“That’s why I caused the Fall,” he
continued. “If the One had ascended at this moment, knowing only
half the truth from the Mendaihu, and hardly anything at all about
the Shenaihu, the war would have been lost from the beginning. She
would have shunned us all eventually, put us back in our cages
before we could even ascend ourselves.”

Janoss grinned at the turn of phrase. “Are
you sure you she’d
shun
us? Come on. She would have given
up, just like all the other Embodiments.”

Natianos shrugged after a moment. “Maybe
so…but the outcome would have been the same. The effects of the
ritual would fade, and we’d be back to square one. No further to
our goals, once again frustrated and lost until the next Embodiment
came along a quarter century later.”

Janoss nodded, and did not speak again. They
both sat in silence for a long time afterwards, each with vastly
different ideas of what that regression would have entailed.
Eventually, Janoss left to return to his own office without saying
a word. Natianos stood up again and returned to the window. He
looked out over the Sprawl, a smile slowly crossing his face.

His reverie was short-lived as soon as Saone
called again.
Father, I demand your attention!

Speak, child,
he said with all the
patience he could muster.
I am listening.

He felt her anger and disappointment in
cascading waves, and had expected as much. Once again she had gone
in not knowing the full extent of the consequences, joining with
the One of All Sacred as she did. She had tried to win his trust
and his faith in her, and had utterly failed.

Father…
she said.
What the hell
have you done?

I have kept our heritage alive,
Saone.
He left it at that. He did not want to have to explain
his actions all over again.
You are nuhm’ndah, Saone. You
are
not
Mendaihu.

I am cho-nyhndah,
she said defiantly.
I am not the daughter you once knew.

You are no such thing
, he growled.
Look deep within and see the truth for once. Stop lying to
yourself.

Saone’s waves of anger faltered, giving way
to confusion.

You are Saone Lehanna si Oktanis si Alnaisu,
a pure Shenaihu nuhm’ndah through three spiritual clan threads. You
are capable of many things, Saone, but you cannot disown your
heritage. It is what you are.

Damn you,
Saone growled at him.
Damn you, father! Why have you done this?

Natianos sighed out of frustration.
You
are free to follow any wind of doctrine you wish to follow. That
restriction I cannot force upon you. I am giving you a chance to
redeem yourself, madin. The choice is yours.

That’s…
she started. Her faith in
herself had already started to wane.
I cannot choose on a
moment’s notice!

He chuckled despite himself.
It did not
seem that way when you met with the One of All Sacred.

She did not answer for a long time after
that. He had become used to these long pauses in their spiritual
conversations.
I am still your father, Saone,
he reminded.
I am still here for you spiritually. But do know that I shall no
longer welcome you in this house until you embrace your nuhm’ndah
heritage.

You—

Enough,
he snapped.
No more talk
of this!

Damn you, father,
she cried.
Don’t
do this—

No more!

With that, he effectively shut off all
spiritual communication with her. If she would not return to the
fold now, then she would not be welcomed again. He had prepared
himself for this ever since his eldest daughter had come of age,
and so he did not feel the slightest bit guilty in disowning her.
The nuhm’ndah heritage was not something to be taken lightly. It
was a sacred following that deserved the same kind of permanence as
the Mendaihu. If she could not embrace it, then she was not
deserving of it.

I do love you, Saone,
he thought.
But you are no longer Lehanna madin.

No longer my youngest daughter.

*

Sheila…wake up, dear.

She woke up, seconds, maybe minutes after
she had passed out. She was no longer falling…but she had no idea
what had happened. She felt someone’s arms around her, holding her
closely and whispering calming words into her ear. She opened her
eyes and saw…stars?

What —?
The dryness in her throat
tickled a gagging reflex and she began coughing violently. She came
close to vomiting twice before she got herself under control and
began to breathe again. Disoriented, she started to move out of the
woman’s grasp, tried standing up, and immediately tumbled. She
braced herself for a hard crash to the floor…and felt nothing.

Steady, girl,
the woman said,
grasping her shoulders from behind.
Steady, now. Shhhh…I have
you. You’re safe, dear. You are among friends.

Dead,
she thought.
I should be
dead!
With a sickening rush, images of the fall invaded her
mind. She staggered, tripped over her own foot, and fell again,
though this time she anticipated it and rode with it. She and her
guardian tumbled slowly and gracefully in this otherwhere. She
breathed in deeply and slowly, whispering her own calming mantras,
until her heart slowed to a quieter, safer pace. Her throat no
longer parched, she took several more deep breaths until she was
both centered and fully aware. Seconds passed before she felt the
hardness of an imaginary floor underneath her feet, put there to
calm her balance.

Welcome back, Sheila,
the woman said
behind her.

Sheila turned to thank her, and nearly
fainted again at the sight of Denysia — no, it was not her but an
older, more mature, and strikingly beautiful Denni. She was draped
in a loose and flowing dusk-colored robe with a formfitting black
bodysuit underneath — the uniform of Elders of the One of All
Sacred. She appeared as old as Caren now, her youthful features
still there but worn by time and action. Her brown eyes still
sparkled with fascination and her high cheekbones framed a wide,
addictive smile. She looked so much like her mother Celine! She
beamed at Sheila as if she hadn’t seen her for decades, the reunion
filling her with joy.

Denni?
Sheila blinked at her.
Is…is that you?

I am the One of All Sacred,
she
replied.
And I am Denysia.

She shivered, understanding her words all
too clearly. All this time, they had seen her as the young teenage
Denni, with the spirit of the One within her…a young girl with a
special power within her. The woman before her now was the same
Denni, but vastly changed. This woman was no longer the Denni she
knew...this was the One of all Sacred, in both spirit and body. The
Daughter of the Goddess. A goddess herself...!

She felt weak. This woman so like Denni in
so many ways…this woman, revered and sainted, who now stood in
front of her, who had caught her, who had saved her life. The One
of All Sacred had heard her cries for help as she fell. She had
answered her prayers.

She was talking to a savior.
Her
savior.

Weakened and humbled, Sheila fell to her
knees, tears forming in her eyes. She bowed her head deeply and
dared not look this beautiful woman in the eyes again, no matter
how much she resembled Denni. She admittedly had not been a devout
Follower of the One…but in her presence, all doubt had escaped. She
believed.

The One...the One of All Sacred,
she
sobbed
… dehndarra Né hra nyhndah
. It had been the only thing
she knew to say to her at this moment.

She heard the One let out an embarrassed
giggle. Denni’s self-conscious yet amused laugh. At the corner of
her sight, Sheila saw the robes fold to the floor as she knelt down
and touched her again, this time a palm at the top of her head.

Stand up, Sheila,
she said warmly,
and brushed Sheila’s unruly auburn hair out of her face. She held
out her other hand under Sheila’s lowered eyes. She stared at it
fearfully, pursed her quivering lips, and took it. Warm, inviting.
Calm. Loving. She did not let go as she stood up. Despite her
fears, she found herself staring at the One again, completely
entranced. Why...why did she look so old now? Why did she bring her
here? She yipped in surprise; suddenly they were moving again,
floating towards the starfield she’d seen earlier.

Let me show you something,
she
said.

I am yours,
Sheila responded.

Look out there,
she said, pointing at
the starfield.
What do you see?

She stared out into the heavens. Light and
energy from such immense distances she could not even fathom. An
expanse of life so vast it frightened her as much as it had humbled
her.
I see…a universe,
she said. And in that universe, she
found herself drawn to one point in particular. A smudge of light,
a cluster of white energy and life, no different than all the other
starfields she could see if she spun around to look, and yet she’d
immediately felt a kinship with them, a connection that made more
sense than anything else at the moment. In this impossible vision
she knew to be the universal reality she lived within, here on
Earth — on
Gharra
— she focused on that one elsewhere
because it had called out to her. So far away, a frightening
distance away…yet so close! The gathering of stars had called her
true name, a string of Light that had resonated within her own
spirit and made it sing out. The starfield began to revolve in a
strange and predetermined pattern she could not quite comprehend.
It was only with another shift of focus that she began to see that
pattern. The circular, pulsating revolution of an infinite number
of stars revealed itself to her, as simple as a circle but
impossibly complex as a...