The Laws Of Elios (Book 2) (22 page)

After much study and thought it was determined that the answer had been provided by the great
Eno.  Interim worlds needed to be constructed.  At first many worlds were set into place for this purpose but the development of these worlds was time consuming and more than once before a world was ready or had developed enough inhabitants with skills in lumen necessary to protect itself the Allyant would strike and destroy the worlds.  Ever on guard we often were able to rescue the star seeds and most of the inhabitants and transplant them to safety thus robbing the Allyant great ones of their spoils and preserving those dedicated to the Laws of Light.

Finally a plan was conceived that a world
would be seeded by Elios lumen masters as well as those from other worlds both magical and non-magical alike.  It was hoped that with the presence of lumen masters and mages in attendance we could keep the planet hidden until it was ready.  The only risk was at one point those that were from Elios would have to leave for in order for the plan to succeed; the inhabitants would have to be native to the new System in order to have its own native protection.

One of the sons of the star Elios was mature
and ready to expand; feeling that the words of Eno required him to find a space of his own he agreed to be the central star of a new system; provided that another star seed could be found and agree to the risk and be his wife.  This great star was named Kuo’irus.  The plan was held up for many years until a young Lumen Master named Ahhan rescued a dying world called Luion.  A star seed of that world named Kolaria and her small brother were all that was left of a dying sun that had lost its heart along with the heart of the mother world in a battle that had ended sadly in the slaying of both the parent star seeds as well as the attackers in a tragic stalemate. 

Lonely and afraid
, Ahhan calmed the two star seeds and eventually introduced them to Kuo’irus.  Kuo’irus held council with Ahhan and Kolaria and she eventually agreed to consider the plan.  Whether still afraid from the loss of her family or wary of the sons and daughters of man; for the soul mages that had killed her parents were indeed of this description, Kolaria was doubtful but said that she would think about it. 

Time for a star is different
than the time for men and there was no knowing how long it would take for her to decide.  Kuo’irus was certain that things would work out and agreed to assume the role of the sun and soon moved to the appointed location and a suitable world was created and moved into orbit nearby should Kolaria make her decision to join him; Ahhan called it Eliom.  The only issue was that without a heart the world would soon die and crumble.  To counter this Ahhan created an Arc of pure lumen.  This Arc not only contained the glyphs necessary to preserve and instruct the non-magical inhabitants of the seed world but would hold it together until a star seed took its place.  It also contained the ability to transfer the world to the star seed Kolaria once she had made up her mind.

The Luion, the Elios, and other refugees lived on Eliom for
several millenniums until the time was determined that the population of the Elios descendants were numerous enough and powerful enough to protect and increase the lumen necessary to create an interim world that could support non-potent men as well as the children of Elios. Before long it was time for the Elios who were not indigenous to Eliom and not sworn to serve here as part of the plan or as immigrants to return to Elios.  Their Luion spouses were by now Lumen Mages and could abide Elios so the day of departure came and except for a few called to be protectors like me,” Soaris pointed to himself,  “The day that Eliom celebrates the great magic is the day that all of the original Elios returned home.”

Soaris took a deep breath and looked from Laura to Ava to Shane,
“Now for the part your mother and I play.  Your mother and I have been in love for quite a while and your mother was not quite ready to immigrate from Elios but I was adventurous and wanted to go and see the galaxy.  So she stayed behind on Elios and I sought the adventure.  Ahhan and I were great friends and I came with him to assist in the care of the world and was given the role of Sicam.  When the time came for the great departure I was ready to go home to Elios and see Laura.  It was then that I was approached by Laura’s father, your grandfather, Jahnon.  Something you should know about your heritage – Jahnon is one of those who bare the mantle of Eno.  It is said that he is a seer.  He has never claimed to be, but sometimes he hints that he might have the ability to see the future.  Jahnon one day out of the blue traveled from Elios and approached me and said that it was of utmost importance that I stay and protect this world. That my son would be born here and that I would need to tarry here until magic had been lost and restored.  I was also told that if I stayed until the magic was restored that the plans for Eliom would not fail.  Not sure what this meant, being in love with is daughter, and best friends with his son I promised I would stay behind.  I was then given the title of Song which in a long forgotten language means caretaker.

After a while the unthinkable occurred.  The Allyant somehow found Eliom.  Fortunately the Allyant soul mage was not fully aware of what he had found and thought that it was yet another seed world like many before and he decided that he could destroy it by casting meteors to the earth from the machine the Allyant refer to as
a starblade.  The element of surprise was devastating but eventually I was able to use the Arc and destroy his craft but not until he had destroyed many of the cities.  Many of the cities were evacuated and moved to areas that we felt to be safe but sadly millions were killed and those that could, fled to Elios.

Somehow this soul mage avoided being destroyed with his starblade and for many years traveled the world killing those few mages remaining and sowing dissidence throughout the world. This caused a
major decline in the world’s civilization. I eventually tracked this soul mage down and regrettably had to take his life.  Sadly he was able to cast an Allyant seed that I was unable to discover until it had infected the prince of Infin and eventually he started the current war.  After I had slain the Allyant, Ahhan came to visit and to my surprise Laura came with him.  We were married in the valley of the Arc where she promised that she would honor my promise and remain with me until the restoration and we moved to Colline Verte.

The years in between I spent trying to keep the knowledge of glyph magic alive and the world was improving until Allion the Thirds reign.  About that time Shane was born and I received word that I needed to separate from my family and continue to increase the knowledge of glyph magic anyway
that I could so that the one who would restore magic could learn what was necessary from the unearthed glyph devices; enough to restore the knowledge of lumen magic and the Laws of Lumen.

Which brings us to you two,” Soaris indicated Ava and Shane.  “Today Shane was spying on the Allyant possessed King and discovered a stockpile of stolen soul lumen.  Like any true practitioner of Light Lumen he was nearly crushed by the ill effects of the corrupt magic.  Jahnon had foreseen this and was there to guide him away from this perilous encounter.  Knowing that Shane was to be the Last Song, Kuo’irus also stepped in and when the red lumen began to tempt him Kuo’irus offered the other side of the coin and the joys of Light Lumen.  Shane not only chose the Lumen of Light but he crushed the tempting Lumen.  The defeat was so complete that there is no one that could ever tempt him again
; even an Allyant great one. 

Because of his choice something happened to you, Ava.
While you were repairing the overland today you were visited by two very peculiar birds, were you not?”

Ava nodded.

“I don’t know what you did but you impressed Kolaria.  You impressed her so much she not only travelled to the valley of the Arc, but she committed to the plan and agreed to be the bride of Kuo’irus; she also filled you so full of lumen you can now endure Elios without protection.”

“I healed her little brothers broken wing.”  Ava confessed.

Laura smiled, “Ava darling, it was surely a test and you passed perfectly.  Gryphons are magical in nature; they are pure lumen, they do not break.”

Ava blushed, “Wow it’s good to know that I made the right choice even when I thought no one was watching.”  Shane reached over and gave her ha
nd a squeeze.

With a sigh of a man after a very, very, long day’s work, Soaris concluded.  “
With the accomplishment of these two things Laura and I are now free to return to Elios.  The Plan of Ahhan and Eliom is nearly complete.  Shane has restored magic and is ready to stand before the Arc and physically promise to live the Laws and pronounce Kolaria the bride of Kuo’irus.”

“There
is only one thing that could keep me on Eliom for a few days more,” smiled Laura.  “I would love to attend the wedding of my son and help my future daughter-in-law prepare for her wedding with her mother and aunt.”

“Oh would you,” Ava burst into happy tears. As both her and Laura stood and hugged each other fiercely.”

“This begs the question,” pondered Shane, “What about Allion and the weird red lumen filled tower craft and the war.  Are you saying that it’s my entire problem now?”

Soaris reached over and patted his son on the shoulder.  “It always was son, it always was.”

“Not to put a damper on anything here,” Shane said somewhat judiciously.  “Judging by what the Allyant possessed king is doing we probably need to get the wedding done sooner than later.  What do you say Ava?  Will you marry me in the Valley of the Arc? It’s quite beautiful.”

Looking out at the stars Ava smiled, “Shane, I knew from the moment that we met that things with us would be unpredictable.  Looking out on this wondrous sky I can’t imagine a more beautiful and romantic place for a proposal.  Knowing the circumstances like I do, nothing sounds better than a small wedding anywhere as long as it’s with you.  My answer is yes.”

~~~~~

After sleeping the morning away in
Leo’s office, that afternoon Kaysee managed to get some work done and felt like she had had the best sleep she had had in weeks.  By the end of the day Leo insisted that he walk her home or at least to the trolley stop.

On a whim he had invited her to join him for dinner at a local small café that he often frequented.  Having nothing better to do she soon found herself having a good time with the professor and many of the local refugees that had been there for about as long as she had
; some she realized she knew as they greeted her as one of the group.  Before long several of the small tables were pushed together in the center of the room and all were having a good time. She felt a little envious at Leo’s popularity among the many magetechs that frequented the café; especially the women that seemed to be very complimentary to him.  The envy soon wore off though as Leo casually put his arm around her shoulder and took multiple opportunities to compliment her and boast to the group about how he wouldn’t be able to do half of what he did if it wasn’t for Kaysee and her contributions to his research. 

T
he conversations went from topic to topic until they circled around to the war between Infin and Luion.  “I think that with the return of the glyph mages that that king better rethink is strategy,” guffawed red haired middle-aged magetech that she recognized only as someone she had seen around but didn’t know his name.

“What I can
’t figure out is why he started in the first place, “commented a grey haired woman across from Leo.  “I worked for Tanners for over eighteen years and one day the building caught fire.  We were told to go home and would be told when to return to work.  Three days later the war was declared and two weeks after that, soldiers and the CSS were breaking down doors hauling people off.  If the glyph mages hadn’t shown up and rescued us I don’t know what I would have done.

“What I want to know is why Allion just declared war on Luion,” said another.  “I have a brother that is in the government
in Lu Y Onton and Luion and Infin have been great neighbors for hundreds of years.  I could see if he declared it on the Sea Pirates of the southern oceans, but Luion?  That’s absurd.  Half the people from both countries are related.  He may as well wage war with himself,” The man concluded uneasily.

A memory that she was positive wasn’t her own flashed through her mind.  She saw the king of Infin laughing and joking with someone she couldn’t see on how they were going to consume the lumen of the entire world.

“I think that his intentions are to go beyond Luion,” she interjected solemnly.  “I think that he has found some very dangerous artifacts and he intends to control the entire world; He just started with Luion.”

Her words while spoken softly seemed to momentarily silence the ebullient group.  “What makes you think that” asked Leo?

“I’m not sure,” She paused thinking for a moment.  “I’ve gone on a few of the refugee gatherings with the mage Ava, and Allion isn’t just capturing and imprisoning Luionese, he’s incarcerating and conscripting his own people and is doing things to them with artifacts that seem to control them.  I just think that Luion was closest and too little is known about the island nations so out of convenience to misdirect his intentions he declared war on Luion but his goals may be to be king of the entire known world.”

“
Well I for one am glad to be here on Coholo in Yllyan.  The mage craft that I’ve learned here has been tenfold compared to what I learned at Jehhet University; I’m hoping soon to pass my exams to learn true glyph magic,” he added looking at Leo.