All Light Will Fall (25 page)

“How long as it been since my people have been here?” I
asked.

“Far too much time has passed, over
jovi quantums
perhaps.”

Thirty years. That was around the time ARTIKA had first
introduced halos and long after the shift of the galaxies took place.

“We were fascinated. The way you fell down from the stars,”
Uway continued. “You came with a great knowledge and wonderful spoils. You
taught us to build airships and other brilliant crafts. We called you, ‘the
sharers of gifts.’ And in return, you found desire in our way of the world as
well. We gave you a many wealth to return to your people. And all was well
until we discovered your true name.”

“Our true name?” I asked. I held my breath, almost terrified
to hear it.

“The fallen,” Uway answered, “the castaways from the land of
Kurios.”

I couldn’t speak for a moment. Hearing this was too far out
to be true.

“In our harmony with each other, we shared many things. And
among that was our history of creation.”

Uway looked at me strangely, and I supposed it seemed to him
that I was on the verge of death hearing everything he was saying. I must have
been, because it was if I could barely hear him, as if he were speaking from a
distance.

“Did you not know this?” he asked.

I shook my head. His eyes narrowed.

“Do you not know the meaning of Niaysia?”

I shook my head again.

“New Eden,” he said. “The land of the blessed.”

Everything became clear in that moment. He no longer needed
to explain. I knew what it all meant, ARTIKA’s truest desire. And it was not
halos. And it was not longevity. And it was not wealth. It was superiority, a
take back of what once was ours, of what we as a people had lost in the time
before time.

The arsenal was more than a slave, he was the failed pursuit
of perfection, the man’s prototype of the blessed being. He was the redesigning
of an old and undesired world. And I, with my ignorance and my foolish
curiosity, was standing here before the whole truth without a word or thought
to speak of.

“It was all well in the beginning. But as your people
explored, basking in the wealth of the land, we saw something within them.
Greed. Pride. Lust. Violence. A great hunger for destruction. We tried to teach
them the righteousness of our ways. And they were greatly offended. We had
hoped to see them cleansed of their evil, but in return, they shunned our
guidance and mocked our sacrilege.”

“Then the battles began,” I whispered.

“It was a slow and bitter uprising. I went to the
Taiya
with
my concerns of their hostility and they agreed. It was time for your kind to
return from where they came.”

“But we couldn’t leave. We were too dependent on your
planet.”

“Or so they claimed. Your people were greatly offended. They
declared us an arrogant race. They believed that we claimed too high of a power
above them.”

I believed it. There was no doubt that ARTIKA had said it,
because it was ARTIKA’s deepest fear—the evidence of God. Because if God was
real to them, then no amount of halos or power could aid them in their conquest
of destiny.

Uway continued. “We bid them to leave at once, but they were
not so easily moved. I was traveling in the woods of Algas when a mighty cry
came from the west.”

Uway was silent for a moment, and the world fell quiet with
him. And it was not a stillness of peace, but of mourning. “The land reeked of
death. And there upon the ground, lay hundreds of my people . . . slaughtered.
We did not understand the meaning of such evil, the purpose of such death. And
then came war, as vain and wicked as the day they came.”

“Vain?” I interrupted. “How can it be vain to protect your
world?”

“It is simply not our way.”

I had heard those words before, from the Meridian boy back
in Fesafaun. I couldn’t understand it. What shame was there to take a life that
threatened to take another?

“And what of war? Is that also in vain, even with the deaths
of your people?” I asked.

“There is no justification in war,” Uway asserted. His tone
was absolute. “Death breeds death. And all vengeance belongs to
Kurios
.
It is when the heart of the lesser takes it into his own hand that breeds
destruction. If I were to say, ‘I shall slay my brethren for the wings of
freedom,’ or ‘I shall slay my brethren for the staff of justice,’ then do the
meanings of liberty and justice still possess a heart of virtue?”

I did not respond, and Uway continued.

“I see it in your kind,” he whispered. “The manner in which
you have controlled justice as a means to uplift your guilt, and to rob and to
slay nations.”

I was at a blank. I could say nothing. His words cut deep
with truth. I understood why my people were offended by their virtue. It was
impossible to stand by. And even more for us. Greed, and lust, and pride were a
part of our nature, in the breath and voice of our bodies.

“If you don’t believe in taking a life, why do you?” I
asked.

“Our customs have changed. Kurios calls that we take up
arms. If one should seek the blood of another, then his blood too shall flow.”

“I see,” I said. Because wasn’t that justice, an eye for an
eye?

Uway pressed his hand to the earth, the patch of life
glowing between his fingertips “A morning shall come when the beat of war is
silenced. We shall be judged then, even beyond our actions.”

That too was justice, I suppose, that even the righteous
must suffer. It was cruel, but sometimes it took only one man’s sin for God to
raise his hand and strike the entire whole of the earth.

“Let us rest now,” Uway said. “You must heal.”

I closed my eyes. I didn’t wish to think of the truth I’d
leaned. I wanted rest. Even for a moment.

I woke in the dark of night. There was a wicked fire in my
chest, searing all though my body. I turned over, rolling madly in the grass.
The pain was sharp in my head, like a needle. I could no longer hold onto it.

My cry was fierce.

There was darkness, then a flash of blue that stung my eyes.

“
Haya ni jaunei
!” The voice shocked me to life.

Uway moved before me in a blur of white silver. His lips
moved soundlessly. My hand jetted forward, gripping the silk of his shirt.

“...stop ...die,” he said.

A flash of silver appeared and sliced his palm. The dark
closed in, the thuds of my heart rapidly fading. I felt a cut against my wrist
and saw Uway stretch forth his hand. He was bleeding.

Then he drew me in. I was blinded by the bright of his eyes.
And then the pain was gone, slowly ebbing away at the command of his words.

I could sense it, my body unraveling, rearranging,
strengthening. I wandered the realm of light. Colorful patterns burst through
the dark. The shapes shifted endlessly, weaving in and out of each other until
a white blaze exploded in the deep.

I saw images, visions of the marsh, the jewel casted murals,
and the glass statues of the north. I saw it all, everything moving, everything
alive until the darkness came and the light was no more.

Soft winds whispered against my face. They carried the warmth
and spirit of a newborn spring. I felt the sway of the earth, my body moving to
the drumming of the forest. It reminded me of Fern, that sweet and soulful
crooning.

I opened my eyes. The morning woke me. I was being carried,
and looking up, I saw a familiar face staring down at me.

Uway Levíí.

Seeing as I was awake, he gently set me on my feet. I
unwound my arm from his shoulder. We were close, and I soon noticed that
something about him had changed. Every bodily detail seemed sharper to the eye.

My fingers unconsciously searched the air. I reached for the
bend of my neck. Uway grabbed my wrist.

“Do not,” he ordered. “It must heal.”

As we touched, I could feel the rhythm of our hearts strum
in flawless accord. It was as if they were revealing our secrets without our
consensus. I jerked my arm away, unnerved by his touch.

“I feel different,” I said. And to my wonderment, Niaysia
had changed too.

The whole forest was saturated with color. I could feel the
planet beating; the trees in bloom and the small life forms that scurried
through the thicket. Every sound and twitch of nature echoed in my mind, like
it was inside of me, a part of me.

“Are you well, Celeste?” Uway asked. His tone lacked
concern.

I faced him. “What did you do to me?”

Uway blinked impassively, his blank expression unchanging as
I glared at him.

“I spared your life,” he said simply, “yet you do not
express your gratitude.”

I clutched my shoulder and tried to avoid the urge to
inspect my wound. “Spared my life?” A rush of darkness swarmed my thoughts.
“The other night?”

Uway turned and began through the forest. “You were nearly
lost.”

I jogged after him, gaping at the bright flower stems
shrugging tall against the tree stumps. The dangled buds curled towards the
forest pathways, creating a canopy of low-ceiling petals.

“I want to know what you did to me.”

“I spared your life did I not?”

“Obviously.”

“Very well, you can express your gratitude by not asking
such questions.”

He broadened his stride. I quickly matched his pace.

“I have the right to know. I feel... strange.”

“Is that so?” Uway replied.

“Yes. Now answer me.”

Uway paused. He spun on his heels, the lengthy strands of
his hair flaring like a silver fan. Before I could exhale, he was before me.

“You misjudge me, Celeste,” he warned. “I am not so easily
moved or intimidated. Sparing your life was a risk beyond explanation, and that
sacrifice must never be revealed.
Hia’ne
, as I have already spoken, be
grateful and speak of it no more.”

I shook at his words, at the fire in his eyes, and being so
close to him again, I could hardly keep my eyes from wandering. I stared at the
incline between his jawline and shoulder. The skin was too unnatural for that
of a human—too polished and far too radiant.

“Alright,” I told him.

Uway sighed. “Do not be troubled, Celeste. I only wish for
you to understand.”

“I understand,” I said sternly. But in truth, I did not. I
wanted to know his secret, and anything else he had to hide. Because I was
curious, I was so foolishly curious of him.

“
Ell’may
,” he whispered. “Shall we go?” He began
away. “We are very near. Once we pass the brooks of Hallis, we will have
arrived. But first, there is something you must see.”

I hustled after him as he began our journey northward. I was
curious as to what he might show me.

There was a modest quietness among us until Uway indulged me
with conversation. He spoke easily, as if he had known me for some time. But I
suppose he had no reason to be cautious. If the moment called for it, he could
overpower me without question.

Uway pushed through the underbrush, holding back the
branches until I passed.

We came upon a nearby brook, the azure waters overflowing a
ledge of white rock. A flock of
lulu
birds groomed their feathers along
the velvety bank. And deep in the mossy grasses, large blue-dappled eggs rested
among a bed of shrubs.

“Do not mind them. They will do you no harm,” Uway informed.
He treaded into the stream, his silken cape drifting among the current. I
followed his lead.

Uway hiked out of the stream. The
lulus
scattered. He
ignored them and extended his hand to me. Hesitantly, I took it.

He hoisted me onto the bank, the
lulus
squawking as
we eased by. Their wings expanded in attack.

“I thought they were harmless,” I said.

“They only wish to draw fright. They will not attack,” Uway
assured. “Come.”

I trailed behind him, a
lulu
bird thrusting me
forward with the crown of its beak. After I had gone, it relaxed with a shake,
flattening its peacock-like feathers.

“Not very kind, are they,” I complained.

Uway forced his way through the tree line, clearing a path
for me to follow.

“As kind as any other form of nature when undisturbed,” he
replied. “Imagine the harmony of this world and of the worlds beyond if one
could look without the urge to touch.”

He was right. That was exactly ARTIKA’s desire. Mankind’s
desire. To touch what he could not reach. To build what he could not create.
And to kill what he could not control.

A wall of overhanging shrubs kept us from advancing any
farther. The twine fell in thick braided cords as one smoothly flowing drape.
Gentle screeching rang within the shadowy woods.

“I will show you now, the sight that you must see.” Uway
disappeared into the woods. I followed him and on the other side, I stopped
still in my tracks.