Aftermath

This is a cliffhanger, not a random stop.

Not much else to say. Besides, if you want to vote on what story I will write next, head on over to facebook and friend me (Ayato DeAniege) then 'like' the note with the trailer for the story you like. Voting ends in a day and a half.

Read, Review and Enjoy.






Vera’s temple was another two weeks away. During that time Durth had four more episodes, as Paw began calling them, all of which began in Una’s trailer and ended shortly after he had left it. The timeline wasn’t entirely true, though, after the first week, Paw surmised that the episodes only happened when Durth slept in Una’s trailer. So Durth was shuttled back to Raya’s and Tah’s trailer.

Raya grumbled and Tah did everything in her power to make Durth as comfortable as possible. Which was creepy and weird. The little babe was old enough to crawl around and pull on Durth’s hair and scream very loudly, but that was it. It was like being with the lord’s children, except Shera’s mother was nearby and had no qualms about throwing something at his head.

To get to Vera’s temple they had to travel through a very large forest, a forest the likes of which Durth had only heard of. After a few inquires, it turned out that this forest was the one he had always heard of. During the civilization period, the forest had been called an ancient growth area and had been a national park. Most of the trees were larger around than a trailer was wide, but there was a perfectly straight road down the center of it all. Just a dirt path that was devoid of plants and was nearly perfectly flat.

Raya muttered under his breath about the road even as Tah declared it must be a spell or power of some kind. That was the end of the discussion. Because neither Tah nor Raya wanted to talk about how Una seemed to act differently under the shade of the trees, how he moved more or seemed to be twitchy, itching for something that he couldn’t quite put his finger on.

Durth swore when Una visited him, for the troupe master came to see him before they headed out and as they settled down for the night, that Una’s eyes were different, that the troupe master was more animalistic suddenly.

This Sidhe did not travel with the troupe, as they had been up until that point. They had hung back, saying something about needing permission, and then rejoined in the late evening of the first night under the canopy. After that, the Sidhe travelled through the trees, not on the ground. This delighted them to no end.

It wasn’t until they were at the gates of Vera’s temple that Durth recognised the trees, they were the same ones that had made up the forest they had stopped near to pick up Ayan. Only those trees had been smaller, younger versions of the ancient behemoths the troupe passed by now.

The temple itself was old. Beyond old. Its walls were in ruins, but being rebuilt with stoned larger than Durth was by far. The temple building was nothing more than rubble and a few wooden structures. People scrambled over the site as a black haired, straight backed woman shouted orders and kept firm control over them.

The troupe was through the gates before the woman turned towards them and confirmed Durth’s suspicions. Vera approached, scowling until she turned her blood red eyes to the lead trailer and spotted Una. Then she smiled broadly and opened her arms in welcome. Una pulled the trailers to a stop and dismounted, leaving the reigns with Ayan and he stepped down and took Vera’s hands in his own.

They were directed to a place to stay and told that they could wander the temple as they pleased, but the workers were off limits. It seemed that Rahl-ta had sent out some sort of pilgrimage dream to stone workers and strong backs, to help Vera rebuild her temple. None of the workers were to be touched.

Having set up, Durth did just that; he wandered the temple’s wooden halls and peaked into the stone rooms awaiting occupants. There was little light, but he could pinpoint where mirrors and reflective surfaces would be placed to light up the rooms. Some were completely empty, some had furniture arranged haphazardly. None of the furniture looked new and some even looked like it was in dire need of replacing.

The deeper into the temple he went, the older everything looked. His memories were now at such a place that he could superimpose what the temple had once looked like over the ruins it had become. This was the way of things, Vera allowed her temple to break down almost completely before rebuilding. Allowed her name to become nothing more than the barest whisper before she renewed her image once more and welcomed visitors to her temple.

Where her inner chambers should have been was a massive room, walls had been cannibalized, the ceiling had long ago fallen in and then been all but dragged away. There Vera and Una sat, in a shaft of sunlight, talking quietly. Vera sat on a stone that had been part of the ceiling or a wall, and Una sat at her feet, head on her knee. Like a child would his mother, Durth thought as he watched silently.

“I’ve no clue what to think anymore,” Una said.

“Those two have plans of their own, there’s not much you can do, besides go along with-” Vera stiffened and looked right at Durth, red eyes blinked several times, “Uhn-” and a sound that Durth was fairly certain he wouldn’t be able to imitated, “we’ve a visitor.”

Una sat up quickly and looked at Durth before he sighed, “that’s him.”

“Ah,” Vera stood and straightened her long skirt, smoothing out wrinkles as she approached Durth, “welcome. Durth, I believe your name was?”

Durth frowned, not understanding why she was talking as if he couldn’t have possibly heard what they had been talking about earlier. Then it dawned on him, “were you two just talking in another language?” he squeaked out.

Vera’s eyes went wide, Una sighed loudly and said, “he’s been doing that quite often. It’s as if he hears a language once and then can speak it the next time he hears it. Or, understand it at the very least. He’s never tried speaking in the other language.”

“Una, go tend your flock,” Vera murmured, eyes never leaving Durth. The woman was silent until Una left, then she made an approving sound at the back of her throat, “They don’t recognise what is going on, because they’ve never seen it before. You, my boy, have been gifted by the gods.”

“You mean, like, blessed with good luck?”

“No, a blessing disappears after one lifetime, or a month, year, decade. Gifts are for all eternity. Illuva,” she pointed to him, then tapped her cheek, “yes, she would be the one to give you the blessing of languages, I suspect that will disappear over time. Una prides himself on being able to teach a person. Your blind luck, that would be her gift.”

“What about the memories?” Durth asked, “someone else’s lifetime driven into my mind without my consent.”

“Tyz’s memories. Oh, you are the same soul, you were once he, but these memories are not him taking over, they are flags, milestones as the pieces of your soul merge back together. These flashes will continue until you are whole, and by then you will likely have a fuller comprehension of what Tyz and Una had. Your powers are not unlocked yet, that, I find interesting.”

“My powers?” Durth squeaked, “Una said that Tyz had powers and Ayan mentioned something about fire.”

“Ayan?” One of Vera’s perfectly kept eyebrows arched ever so slightly, “is that what he is calling himself now? Surely, if he keeps this up, he will come to be called a trickster. Not that it will matter soon. Tell me, Durth, what exactly does it sound like …” the briefest pause, followed by an eye roll, “Ayan, plans to do with you?”

“Uhm, sounds like make me immortal and something to do with Deaths and Whispers and healers and a high priest.”

“A filter,” the immortal looked surprised, “by the gods, he truly means to do it. I thought him joking or perhaps making brave statements to save face at the council.”

“Council, what council?”

“The one between the gods and higher spirits about what to do about,” Vera wafted her hand around and scrunched up her nose, “the power that is oozing about. If he succeeds at this, the lands will become wild once more. I lived in them, when they were wild, one can learn to survive in such a place but it is tricky, to say the least.”

“I’m sorry, as the person who is apparently about to be used as a filter and may or may not be smashed to bits by being turned immortal, I think I deserve an explanation.”

“Ayan plans to use you to filter out the power of the world, thusly rendering everyone else powerless.”

“I got that part.”

“As a filter though, you need to allow certain power through, which is the power given to Whispers, Deaths, healers and high priests.”

“Oh. Won’t that-”

“We’ve used temporary filters in the past,” Vera said quietly, “a lifetime or a few generations. But if we gift it to a specific line, all of a sudden they die out. Ayan surmised that by attaching the filter gift to an immortal, we could succeed where we had failed in the past, we could remove the blight that is this power.”

“Why is it a blight?”

“Can you hear Mother speak?”

“No…”

“Neither can any people, Sidhe, immortal or god. Immortals and gods, we can hear something and understand the tone, but Mother no longer speaks to us. Because of that power.” Vera paused a moment, then sighed once more, “you probably think we are crazy, and you can stop it at any time, simply by saying no.”

“If I’m immortal,” Durth said, “will I die?”

“No, not technically, anyhow. If the world ends, yes, you will die, but in general, no,” Vera shook her head, “nothing can kill you and, given that you fully recover, your powers will return and no one will be able to hurt you.”

“So I can do whatever I want?”

“Not. Whatever.” Vera stressed, “but in a general sense of the idea, yes. You would not be confined by mortal desires or law.”

“Is there a downside to this all?”

“If you obey the laws of the gods, no, there is no downside. Besides the people no longer having power, but I’m sure you can tell that we are all very excited about that.”

Durth frowned and looked Vera up and down. The immortal looked as calm as could be, there was no hint of an expression anywhere on her face or her body. So really, the answer to her statement was no, Durth could not tell that Vera was excited, let alone if the gods were excited.

“Oh,” she waved a hand at him, “I forgot you people are accustomed to seeing obscene expressions of emotion. There is one thing I need from you, do not mention the council to Una. We didn’t tell him about it due to the involvement of your soul.”

“Not to mention the fact that he’s against taking away the power of the people.”

“He still believes that, with time, the people will come to use their power with respect and restraint. I wouldn’t call him a fool, but he is forever an optimist. So, no word to him on that?”

“No, I won’t speak a word of it.”

“Good, now. I’ve heard a rumour that the Aniege are searching for the one who ended the world, is this true?”

Durth squeaked out a surprised sound, not understanding how she could know that he was part of the Aniege. He hadn’t said anything to her, hadn’t given himself away, had he?

“Come, now,” Vera said, “out with it.”

.