All Light Will Fall (27 page)

I awoke, a feverish sweat breaking along my skin. I held my
breath and calmly soothed the throbs of my chest.

Distant shouts echoed beneath a mellow patter of rain. I
tossed the bed sheets aside and hurried out into the twilight.

Turbulence plagued the camp. The
valdor
dashed about
each other, their calls like thunder among the rain. Through the chaos, I
spotted Luna speaking with a small group of
valdor
.

“Luna,” I called.

Their exchange ended and he turned to me. “You heard the
noise,” he said. There was worry in his voice.

“What’s happening?” I asked.

“San-Adais. He cannot be found.”

“And Uway?”

“
Aieti
 has set out to return him to the grounds.
He followed San-Adais’s trail up the mountain.”

“Are you going?”

“I was given the order to watch you.” He paced back and
forth. I watched his concern swell until he could no longer withstand it.

“Follow me,” he said.

The rain fell with haste as we slashed through the jungle.
The Meridian’s name echoed tree to tree, the calls of his people deliberately
unanswered. Luna moved swiftly. He was invisible in the dark, his
bioluminescent markings the only beacon guiding me forward. I wondered where
the midnight light of the forest had gone. Then I remembered. It was the
seventy-seventh nightfall. The vibrancy of the planet was dying. Niaysia was
hibernating.

“
Aieti
is just ahead,” Luna shouted.

There was no need for him to say so. I could sense him
myself. Ever since that night in the woods when the mutations of my body
threatened death, I had experienced an unexplainable connection with the
Meridian, in both body and mind.

“Ahead,” Luna whispered. A blue torch lit the woods,
signifying Uway’s presence. He made no movement when we arrived. He was oddly
still.

“This way,” Uway ordered. He darted into the thicket. We
followed him up the ridge of the mountain, spotting an ominous figure lingering
near the edge of the cliffs.

“Adais!” Uway shouted. Never did I imagine that his voice
could sound so woeful, so wrecked.

My eyes, as advanced as they were, could not track the speed
at which Uway had moved. He was invisible. He was terrifying. He was
impossible. He was a shot of sound, a blaze of light, but impossibly and
disbelievingly lacked the haste to reach the Meridian.

Adais fell, willingly and freely towards a vicious gray sea,
his arms gracefully outspread. His descent was as long and endless as the rain
of the forest. Uway’s cry was the same; suffocating, quaking the jagged cliffs.

The Meridian were beside him in seconds. Uway moved in a
fantastic blur as he wildly stripped himself of his robes.

“
Aieti
, you will fall to your death!” Zurel shouted.

“I care not!” Uway shouted.

“Do not be so rash,
Aieti
!” Zurel insisted.

Uway wrangled against his subordinates until his sense of
clarity returned. The humdrum rhythm of rain was the only sound to be heard. We
were stunned, all of us, our gazes fixed on those dark and vicious waves.
Perhaps we foolishly thought Adais would miraculously rise from the waters, or
perhaps we simply could not gather the truth that he had surrendered to such a
gruesome death.

A lonesome strip of cloth danced above the cliff’s edge,
whirling its way into Uway’s hands. The cloth belonged to Adais. It was the
same bandage that had nurtured his eyes. Uway gripped the stained material,
turning to address his people.

“We find him,” he demanded, “This is not the end of it.”

“It pains me to say it,
Aieti
, but the chance that
San-Adais survived...”

Zurel hadn’t the opportunity to finish. Uway snatched him by
the collar, glaring death at him. “I will not hear another word,” Uway hissed,
“and until we find him, nothing is certain. I shall not abandon my brother
among those wretched waters regardless if his life is lost.” Uway relaxed his
grip. “I can hold my faith in you brother?” he asked.

Zurel nodded. “Always,
Aieti
,” he assured.

Uway turned towards the tree line, issuing orders as he
went. “Zurel, follow the south path down the mountain. I will travel north of
the river. We must be swift. By the end of dawn, he will have washed into
Capira.”

“I shall go with you,
Aieti
,” Luna volunteered.

“
Nai
, Luna,” Uway rejected, “return to the grounds
and have San-Ryuel take lead in my absence. I hope to return before first
light. If not, continue the march to the west. San-Eris awaits our arrival and
I will not jeopardize the lives of his company with such a delay.”

“The
Zurr
will be expecting you,
Aieti
. If you
should be absent, what shall I say in your stead?”

Uway tied the cloth around his forearm then looked up at
Luna. “The truth,” he spoke. His words lingered in the quiet as the league of
valdor
departed into the forest. Once they had gone, Luna and I stared over the ridge
of the cliff where Adais had fallen. It was a horrifying plunge. Dark waves
clashed against the mountain side, consuming the rock in long and greedy
swallows.

“We should return to the grounds,” Luna sighed. He did a
particular sign with his hands, in respect of the fallen Meridian. He whispered
under his breath. The words flew softly, vanishing beneath the sea.

The rainfall had softened by the first light of sunrise.
Upon our return, Luna was swarmed by questions. The interrogation was cut short
as the second in command came and dispersed the crowd.

Ryuel was not as I expected. To my shock, the general was
female and bore a masculine name. She was a brilliant body of art, the perfect
embodiment of beauty and power. The light of her armor fired into my eyes. And
when she walked, the earth bowed beneath her in willful submission.

“Is what you say true, Luna? Will San-Adais not return to
us?”

“I cannot say San-Ryuel. But
Aieti
shall search the
depths of this world to recover our Lord.”

“I do not doubt that he shall,” Ryuel replied. She glanced
my way all of a sudden. “What is this?” she smirked. “The enemy of the enemy,
perhaps?”

She stalked towards me. “Under
Aieti
’s decree, she is
not to be harmed,” Luna defended.

Ryuel observed me with a look of suspicion. “We shall see,”
she scoffed, “but a beast shall always remain a beast. No matter where it may
graze or who may alter its name. It is still a beast. And that is simply
nature’s way.”

Luna said no more, his silence an indication of the truth.

Ryuel raised her hand. “Round your goods before the fall of
light. Luna, Queda, Sasun, see that it is done,” she ordered. “We shall soon
depart. Let us pray that our Lords do so beside us.”

The crowd disbanded, filtering back among the tents. “I must
leave you for a moment,” Luna said. “Remain here. If you wander, it will only
agitate them.”

“I understand,” I told him. Then I watched him disappear
like the stunning shadow that he was. I stood alone in the rain, finding myself
lost among a strange and beautiful people.

I returned to the tent and found that a suit of armor had been
laid out for me in my absence. It was a masterwork of rose gold, with bright
lines of sapphire beautifying the elegant metal. I felt too much of a stranger
to wear it. And sitting here, waiting in this native armor on this native land
reminded me just how much of a stranger I was. No matter how time passed, I
would not belong here. My home was beyond this world, and the longer I waited
to return, the more restless I became.

Time passed slowly. Morning vanished into noon, noon
blending to a late midday, and still Uway had not returned. The camp grounds
were nearly vacant. Only a few white-gold tents stood among the falls. Maroon
rays of light shot from the waning sun, grazing the east highlands and painting
the rolling blue hills a deep violet. It was there I saw the hand of God at
work. He had to have been there, between those mountaintops and that celestial
glint of sky, for I could simply not conceive the possibility of such an
accidental and coincidental work of art.

“In there!”

I turned to see Zurel storming across the campsite. A band
of
valdor
followed from behind. A black-hooded hostage wrestled against
her captors. The
valdor
shoved her into a nearby tent. The girl was an
arsenal, neither a red nor green tag by the looks of it. In other words, she
was here for a very specific purpose, and I found myself curious as to what
that purpose might have been.

I spotted Luna as he rushed over to the tent. I hurried onto
my feet and intercepted him.

“What was that?”

“You will not be pleased to hear it,” he warned. “It is also
not my place to say.”

I should have known. In some ways, he had more virtue then
Uway. But there were ways around it, the same way I had used that boy in
Fesafaun to point me towards the red wood. I would have to use that virtue
against him.

“Do you not trust me?” I said sternly.

Our eyes met, and there was a certain hardness in his eyes.
“Trust, is too fragile and costly to grant so simply. I hope you understand
this.”

I grabbed ahold of him as he turned to leave.

“I only need to see if she is someone I know. I’ve lost many
of my comrades out here. And they were far more innocent than me. I only need a
moment.”

“She cannot be saved. San-Ryuel and San-Zurel have the
authority over her fate, and I must confess, that they do not share
Aieti
’s
mercy.”

I sighed. “And what if it were your brother in arms? Would
you not have any final words to say to him? And would you not fight to say
those words if given the chance?” I urged.

Luna looked away, watching the lavender falls as if they
possessed the answer. “You are quite clever,” he said. “I know this and yet,”
he faced me again, “you spared my life before. Perhaps I owe you this single
deed.”

“You will help me then?”

Luna nodded. “But remember this... if you abuse my
compassion... I shall become an enemy unlike that you will ever come to know.”

“I would never,” I swore.

“You will not have much time,” Luna said. “I will preoccupy
San-Zurel, but only for so long.” Luna scanned the campsite before spotting his
target. Zurel stood beside the tent, most likely giving the order to guard the
hostage.

“Wait here,” Luna ordered. “Once I have drawn his attention,
take the back entrance.”

I nodded then watched him walk off. Luna and Zurel shared a
few words before he persuaded the general to follow him. Once they disappeared,
I slipped unseen into the forest. I could have escaped then. I could have been
halfway on the path to home. I should have been, but I found myself moved in a
dark direction. I couldn’t ignore it. I wandered a few paces through the trees
then trailed back the way I had come. From a distance, I could see the rear of
the tent shrugged against the wood line. I forced myself between the trees and
reached forward, clutching the tent’s material and ripping it in half.

I stepped inside. The hostage tilted her head towards the
sound of my steps. She stood chained to the wooden post of the tent. Her rugged
breaths seeped through the dark hood. My fingers ghosted across it. She
flinched, and I gripped the cloth, nearly shredding it from her face.

From the moment I had entered the tent, I knew that she was
a stranger to me. I didn’t know of her and she didn’t know me, yet some strange
and uncontainable urge forced me to pursue her. Her dark eyes were on me, and
from the stone look on her face, I could tell that she had recognized me.

“Celeste 2102,” she scoffed. “This must be fate.” There was
a bite to her tone. Her eyes were cold and fierce and analyzed me detail by
detail. “So you’re one of them now?”

“You know of me?” I asked.

She rolled her eyes, the chains rattling as she moved. “I
was assigned to find you... dead or alive... many of us were.” Her glare
deepened. “You must really be something special.”

“It was a wasted effort,” I said.

The girl tossed her head back, chuckling. Her laughs were
soft, sad, and broken, as if she were choking on her very own agony. “No shit,”
she growled.

“They’re going to kill you,” I told her.

“Of course they are,” she said, “but I won’t tell them a
thing. The Meridian have been searching for New Eden for a long while now. But
you and I both know they will never ever find it.” She paused, eyeing me.
“Unless... you’ve told them,” she sneered. “But if you had, they would have
discovered it already.”

She was quite perceptive, and far more insightful than I
originally assumed. In fact, the more she recited her thoughts, the more
endangered my goal became.

“There must be a reason why you haven’t said anything,” the
girl continued. Then it struck her, the sudden clarity blooming across her
face. “You want to go back,” she gasped. “For some strange and senseless
reason, you want to return to Earth.”

“You’re wrong,” I lied.

“I don’t think so, Celeste. They didn’t design me to be
wrong,” she said. There was a smugness to her tone that fueled my resentment
towards her. “Perhaps I’ll change my mind,” she said. “Perhaps I will tell them
everything they want to know.”

“And betray ARTIKA?” I growled.

The girl chuckled again, but it sounded more like a sob.
“You think I give a damn about those greedy, savage, bastards!” she hissed.
“You think I actually care about code, and service, and some bullshit pledge?
Why should I? Why should I give a damn about anyone when no one gives a damn
about me?” She calmed herself. Her chest heaved strongly as if she were
suffocating. “I’ve suffered all this shit, and for what?” Our eyes clashed.
“And it would just feel really damn amazing for someone to suffer right alongside
me, you know?”