The Persistence of Memories - A Novel of the Mendaihu Universe (60 page)

“A change of battle plan, then?”

“If it must be thought of that way.”

“That's what I needed to hear,” Natianos
said. “I had planned to take this event to a whole new level. Why
should it be a battle of whose spirit is stronger, whose beliefs
are more justifiably moral? Why should it end there?”

“Watch your thoughts, Natianos,” he
warned.

“Trust me, I am!” he said gleefully. “I've
just had a revelation, Dahné, and I owe you thanks for pointing it
out for me!”

Miriam rose from the couch. “By the Goddess,
if you plan on
killing
anyone out there —”

“Nothing so extreme,” he said, waving his
hands excitedly. “But I now see that Saisshalé is right. If the One
of All Sacred was able to awaken the entire world to its spiritual
consciousness, if she's able to wake up all those Mendaihu out
there, then it's equally possible that someone will be able to wake
up the Shenaihu, don't you think?”

Miriam frowned at him, saying nothing.

“Do you agree with me or not, Dahné?” he said
softly, leaning across the couch towards the man. “Is there a
possibility that someone equally as powerful as the One could
awaken the Shenaihu?”

He tried to sidestep the question, but could
not. He would have to answer that one straight and quick. “In
theory...” he started, then looked up at him. “In theory, yes, you
are quite right. It is possible that someone such as Saisshalé
could perform a mass ritual just as the One had. But you must think
of the consequences, Natianos. Remember that the Rain of Light
became chaotic once the spirits began to awaken and meld. Once both
sides are affected, there's no certainty that you or anyone else,
even the One, could control what happens next.”

“It would be up to the soul of the individual
to control the outcome,” Natianos said. “I wouldn't have thought of
that, not until now. But what if the sequence were controlled? The
One of All Sacred managed to affect the entire planet. It's been
nearly a month and there have been no riots or heavy violence.
Who's to say that it won't be the same if the Shenaihu
proceed?”

“I do not know, Dahné.”

“It's never been done?”

He shook his head. “The Shenaihu and the
Mendaihu have always avoided such situations. I would guess that
the only possible recording of any kind of mass awakening would be
within someone’s sehna lumia, but I do not know of anyone who has
acquired such knowledge. I am aware that you have visited Trisanda
in the past, and if you knew of the availability of this knowledge,
you would most definitely have acquired it by now.”

“As it is,” Natianos said, “I know precious
little about mass awakenings. It's new to all of us. Unless there
are some ancient souls about...”

The reverend shook his head. “...and I doubt
they'd want to go out of their way to talk to either of us,” he
said.

“Looks like you and I will have to dig it up
ourselves.” He pushed himself up off the couch and stretched. He
glanced over at the windows as he did, looking out over the
northernmost reaches of the Bridgetown sprawl. Despite the
industrial stillness outside, within he could sense the presence of
millions of spirits out there, in all their extremes: strong and
weak, ecstatic and lethargic, at peace and full of vengeance. He
sauntered closer to the windows, taking in the full view of the
city proper.

“I'm feeling optimistic,” he said over his
shoulder to the priest.

CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

Cognizance

There is much more to this equation,
Crittiqila Nayélha said from within.
It is more than just
equalities.

Her voice sang within Poe's spirit and
resonated deeply and pleasurably within it, causing his heart to
race. In his new kiralla form, all of his senses were heightened,
his focus keener, his mind sharper. It was an ultimate form of his
soul that he’d suspected was there, but until now he had never
chosen to acknowledge it. Now, with Crittiqila as his sehndayen-ne,
he could ignore it no longer. Every now and again their eyes met
while they spoke, but for the most part they avoided eye contact,
their gaze landing on different parts of the floor. It was a
kiralla instinct of having a constantly moving focal point to
remain fully aware of their surroundings.

“You're talking about
dehndarra Né hra
nyhndah
, aren't you?” he said aloud, preferring to speak with
words rather than thought. He listened to the tones of his new
voice, lowered nearly an octave and reverberating off the stone
walls. It was a voice that commanded attention and respect.

Yes,
she said from within.

“What is going on, Elder Nayélha?” he asked.
“This is not the same as the other Seasons of Embodiment, is
it?”

That phrase is not only used to describe
our connection with the One of All Sacred, Alix.
Crittiqila
shifted her talons, scraping them quietly against the floor in a
random pattern as she spoke.
It is the interweave of everyone we
know and everything we see and everything we are. It is the God
Answer, the Eternal Truth, the ultimate Anjshé, the Word of the
One. The reason for our existence.

“To exist among each other?” he asked. He
shifted in his own position, reaching out with his long, muscular,
scaly limbs to stretch the kinks out of his back. He had adjusted
to this new dragonlike kiralla body surprisingly quick+, and in
fact had begun to enjoy it. He liked the dusky brown color of the
scale, the slight discolorations and patterns in the pads of his
front and hind paws, the charcoal black of his talons. Vanity hit
him for a moment, deeply curious to see what he looked like.
Knowing he was distracting himself on purpose, he cleared his
throat and settled back down on his elbows, crossing paws and
lifting his snout towards her. “Is that the ultimate reason? That
we are here simply to exist among ourselves? What is the point of
that?”

An oft-asked question with an
oft-misunderstood answer
, she said.
If we were to 'simply
exist among ourselves,' as you put it, the lives on this planet
would have died a long time ago. As it is, we found Gharra to be
fertile, not only in soil, air and water but also in spirit. The
Rain of Light contains the indigenous people of Gharra. Did you
know that as well? They are the originators here. They welcomed the
Trisandi to their homeworld in the same manner that we hear today
when we bless someone: 'peace, love and light.'

He frowned and huffed air out of his
nostrils, unintended reactions to her words. “The Rain of Light is
the original form of life? Then that would mean that their actions
during the Cleansing and Ascension rituals were genuine!”

Crittiqila huffed in amusement, bobbing her
snout.
I think we need to back up a bit more if we want the
complete answer, Alix. Then we will know what will happen in the
future.

Poe nodded. “Okay...but one question: is it
the same with every Season? Is this how it always pans out?”

Crittiqila nodded.
Aside from the change
in players and the time it takes to play itself out, yes, it is
more or less the same process.

He let the events play out in his memory. “It
began in September, when Nehalé Usarai started the mass Awakening
ritual. In the process he affected the Rain of Light. He must have
wanted to, since its confluence is at the Mirades Tower. With a
ritual of that magnitude, he must have wanted the Rain to become
aware of what was going on. He awakened all those spirits,
including the One of All Sacred’s, and connected the Rain with
them. The result was a dispersion of Rain souls into many of those
awakened, making them cho-nyhndah. This merging released excess
spiritual energy...the dark reddish cloud we were originally sent
to investigate.”

Awakening,
Crittiqila said, flashing
her back teeth in what must have been a smirk.
The First
Cognizance.

“Nehalé knew the One of All Sacred had been
awakened, as did many others directly affected, including Dylan
Farraway. He called Karinna and I personally to investigate the
ritual. He also called in two Mendaihu, Akaina and Ashyntoya
Shalei, to help in the investigation. They weren’t sent to assist
us. They were sent here to watch us. Karinna, Denysia and myself.
They nudged us closer to our fates, all the while making sure that
we didn't stray from the path or fall into harm’s way. We needed to
awaken further and sooner than the others, so we’d understand what
we had to do.”

The Second Cognizance,
Crittiqila
said.
The discovery of knowledge.

“Now that so many were awakened, the Rain of
Light began to gather its knowledge of everyone affected. A sort of
sehna lumia of its own, I suppose. And it began to gather itself,
mostly around the Tower. Concurrently, the Shenaihu responded to
Nehalé's ritual with their own, the hrrah-sehdhyn. They chose an
old five-point attack, just like they always did back when they
were spacefarers.

“Saisshalé had been summoned at that time,
though I'm sure he hadn't made any moves yet. And if he did, they
were inconsequential.

“The Rain grew agitated from all these
spiritual changes happening at once. It knew that both sides were
just going to react off each other rather than work with each
other. They had to learn from that mistake. And that was when the
Rain began gathering energy over the city, slowly turning into a
storm.”

The Third Cognizance,
Crittiqila said.
The Soul's interaction with the Other.

“So...” Poe began tapping his claw on the
floor again, working everything out in a linear fashion rather than
the jumbled mess he was used to. He found it surprisingly easier in
this kiralla form. “Nehalé's followers sensed this storm coming,
and gathered at the warehouse. They were gathering for protection,
otherwise the Shenaihu and the cho-nyhndah would not have been
welcome. They were gathering to make sure that the Rain of Light
did not destroy everything. They knew that someone would harness it
and bring it back, disperse it among everyone.

“But that was the first major diversion from
the past: it was Denysia who fulfilled that role, not Nehalé or
someone else. The One had never performed that ritual in the past.
The Rain would disperse among everyone and give each person their
eventual fate. And Christine and I walked straight into that one,
when we used the Benjamin's Key to ground it. The hrrah-sehdhyn
attacks served a dual purpose; the Shenaihu knew the Rain's fury
had to be contained. It was used as a barrier to keep it confined
to a specific area rather than the entire city. And once the Rain
dispersed, people's fates were cast. Including mine.”

The Fourth and Final Cognizance,
she
said.
The Soul finds its Divine Purpose and acts.

“It was then that the One of All Sacred was
supposed to Ascend.”

And here the paths diverge further,
she said.

“The Dahné Shenaihu nuhm'ndah summoned
Saisshalé in order to keep that from occurring. He still believes
this is just a fight between spiritual extremes, a game of
balances. This puts everything in a whole new perspective: the One
has not Ascended, leaving her with only the powers granted to her
through the Goddess, to be used on Gharra. She cannot access the
previous Dearest except through her sehna lumia. But this problem
gives her a unique perspective: she's able to see and understand
what is happening both as the One and as Denysia.

“Backing up a little bit: Denysia must have
understood Nehalé’s plan by this time, to have her awaken the
entire world and not just Bridgetown. She must have had some
reservations. After the failed Ascension, though? She must have
realized it was worth pursuing, via an alternate route. She
accepted this, and managed to connect even more spirits into the
realm of the Goddess, both Mendaihu and Shenaihu alike. More and
more, cities are becoming 'enlightened' to the Divine.”

The First Divine Act,
she said.
The
shepherd gathers its flock.

Poe snorted in amusement. “Interesting choice
of words, coming from a kiralla.”

The meaning is the same, Alix,
she
said with equal humor.
Regardless of belief.

“One thing is dogging me, however. Does this
mean that Saisshalé is gathering his own flock, now that he's taken
spiritual control of the Shenaihu?”

Perhaps,
she said.
That is
inevitability, and is not your concern. Your focus should be on
yourself, Alix.

Poe reared back his muzzle in confusion.
“Why? It's the fate of Gharra I'm talking about!”

So you were...but did you not notice the
subtext? Did you not notice that you have followed the Four
Cognizances and ascended yourself? You are kiralla now! You
knew
you had a Divine Purpose when Denysia awakened, and that
purpose is to protect her with your life. But you knew there was
more to it than that, didn't you? Once you discovered you had a
cho-nyhndah spirit, you
felt
it. You could touch it, this
kiralla state of being, but you didn't know what it was.

“So how am I to fulfill my so-called Divine
Purpose, if I focus only on myself?”

Faith, Alix. Faith. You've said it
yourself, time and time again. 'I have faith.' Have faith in your
kiralla soul, Alix. Trust it. Care for it. Show yourself that you
understand and accept who you are. It is a pity that most Gharné
cannot or will not do either, but
you
are blessed. You have
fully lifted your veil, enough that it can be torn away. All you
need do is make the choice.

Poe dropped his jaw slightly. “Are you asking
me to become an Elder?”

Crittiqila bobbed her muzzle.
The choice
is yours, Alix.