Gorinthians (18 page)

Celdic laughed at Terrance’s
final definition of what the world regarded as evil: stupidity. He
wondered what Tarya Ellis, the teacher of morals and ethics, would
have to say about Terrance’s logic.

“
Unfortunately, there are a
few exceptions to the rule,” Terrance continued when Celdic’s mirth
subsided. “There are individuals out there who have an
understanding of what most people would regard as a person’s right
to happiness within their sphere of existence, but intentionally
fight to dismantle this self-evident right and supplant it with
cruelty, coercion and destruction. The ones that fall into this
category are what those of the Derinian Order termed as The Enemies
of Life.”

“
Gorinthians,” Celdic
guessed quietly.

“
Gorinthians,” Terrance
agreed. “They are one of the most dangerous Enemies because they do
not die. They can only be destroyed.”

“
Who is the most
dangerous?” Celdic asked curiously, wondering what could be worse
than something that possessed your body and corrupted your
spirit.

“
A being
that once was a man,” Terrance said and for the first time Celdic
saw hate in his eyes. “He forsook his flesh claiming it was
weakness that begged for death. I am not sure what he is anymore.
He is more than just a spirit, but much less than human. It was he
who created the Gorinthians and marshaled the armies of Elementals
that assaulted the living before the cataclysm. The world was
woefully unprepared for such an onslaught. Hundreds of millions
died, or worse, before any kind of resistance was formed. People
were more civilized at that time than any other time in history,
even now. They created wonders that make this paradise a pale shade
in comparison. Scholars studied
yara
as a science instead of a
despised art as it is in the Great Cities today.
Yara
could create light,
weather, transportation, food and so many other things that I
cannot even start to describe them all. Within a century, ruins
held the only fragments of history relating to how the people once
lived. Even the rulers that fought the invasion fought each other
for the right to lead as much as they did the enemy. The world was
on the verge of becoming a living nightmare when the Derinian Order
struck the planet’s spine, cutting off the ability for
yara
to reach the
surface. The armies of Elementals and Gorinthians drew most of
their power from
yara
. Once it was no longer available, they had no power over the
physical realm.”

“
And now the planet is
healing itself,” Celdic finished hollowly, feeling an ominous chill
run down his spine as Terrance nodded grimly.

The two of them walked
through the lush landscape quietly, allowing Celdic to absorb the
new information. Celdic suddenly felt as if time itself was one of
their enemies as the planet healed itself, enabling the Enemies of
Life to return with a vengeance.

“
Is there a way to keep the
planet from healing itself?” Celdic asked, the very idea of keeping
the planet wounded making him nauseous.

Terrance shook his head
firmly. “The first time was a desperate act where we knew that
there was a very real possibility that all life would simply cease
to exist,” Terrance replied with a pained look. “We dare not try it
again, especially when we have had some time to prepare for their
return.”

Celdic glanced at him
curiously, “Who is included in we?”

“
The leaders of several
nations and the entire Zeran race are aware of the imminent
danger,” Terrance replied. “We have sent a few emissaries to the
Talons, but we are not sure what they will decide. Most humans do
not even know the Talons exist.”

“
But
without
yara
, how
is anyone going to fight against these creatures?” Celdic asked
worriedly.

“
They will have four very
gifted leaders to fight with them,” Terrance assured him, winking
slyly.

For the second time that
day, Celdic’s mouth worked while no sound came out.

“
First, we
need to teach you how to use your
yar
.” Terrance said, rubbing his
hands together.

Celdic blinked. “What,
now?”

“
Yes, now.” Terrance
replied with a grin. “What better place to learn about your
abilities?”

Celdic nodded, feeling a
sense of eager anticipation. “Where do we start?”

Terrance reached up and
touched Celdic’s head. “In here. I am going to begin a series of
tests that will give me a better idea of where your block is
located.”

Celdic frowned worriedly,
“One of the teachers at the Tar Ri’ San tried this once, and it
killed him.”

Terrance nodded
unconcernedly, “I do not doubt that it did. He did not know how to
control something as powerful as
yara
, so when he released the flow
through you, it just ran wildly.”

Celdic felt a sudden
disorientation, as if he were looking through a window, instead of
through his own eyes. He reached out and touched his other arm, and
it felt like he was touching another person’s arm. He looked
questioningly at Terrance.

“
I am
overriding a few of your fundamental senses so that you do not
accidentally stick an oar in the water while I am rowing.” Terrance
explained, his eyes slightly out of focus. “You are going to feel
my thoughts merge with yours in a few moments. I am going to be
showing you the path to reach your
yar
. We will probably have to do it
several times before you can find the way on your
own.”

Celdic felt his father's
thought connect with his own. At first, it just felt like the
thoughts were his own. After a few moments, memories began to seep
across the link, and Celdic could see the images of faces that he
only recognized because of the familiarity that was in Terrance’s
thoughts. It was a very odd sensation, because it still felt to
Celdic that the thoughts were his own. His thoughts began analyzing
the tree next to him. It was a mix of visualizing the tree, as well
as feeling it. It seemed little more than his imagination of what
the tree should look and feel like, but a moment later, as his mind
was directed by Terrance to imagine one of the leaves at the base
of the tree floating into the air, he watched in astonishment as it
obeyed.

“
So far, we
have only used your
yar
.” Terrance told him, his eyes still out of focus. “Now we are
going to connect to
yara
.”

Celdic felt Terrance direct
his mind toward the ground beneath his feet. His eyes felt like
they were strained, as if he were trying to push his
yar
into the ground with
his eyes. Once again, it seemed like his imagination was the
driving force for what he sensed. He could feel the rich loam give
way to a dense bed of granite far beneath their feet, which in turn
gave way to a pocket of coal laced with veins of iron and lead.
There was some kind of energy source that his mind was drawing
closer to. It almost felt like the warmth of a fire, but without
the scorching heat. As his
yar
reached the glowing energy, Terrance pushed out
with his thoughts, and then retracted them with an almost jerking
motion. There was a suction like sensation, followed by a river of
warmth that rushed toward Celdic at an alarming rate. Celdic felt
the first fringes of panic begin to take over his mind, and just as
suddenly the panic was squashed by an overwhelming sense of
confidence as Terrance suppressed Celdic’s instinctive fear.
Yara
connected with his
mind in a flash of warmth, with the force of a river that had just
burst its damn. If he had been left to try and control the force on
his own, it would have crushed him. Rather than trying to seize the
power of
yara
that
was surging through Celdic, Terrance guided its flow like a captain
steering a ship.

Terrance began
directing
yara
into complex arrays of energy that shot into the ground around
them. Celdic could feel the different wavelengths of energy molding
small particles that were far too small for his eyes to see. As the
particles merged and joined with still more particles around them,
small protrusions appeared in the ground. Within moments, the
protrusions grew into pillars of rock that reached into the sky.
They were shaped more perfectly than an expert craftsman could mold
them, and still they continued into the sky, hundreds of feet and
growing. They grew downward into the ground as well. With a grunt
of satisfaction, Terrance slowly redirected the flow of
yara
, until it was
channeling back into itself.

“
This is
the part that requires the most concentration and strength.”
Terrance commented, “You have to hold the conduit of
yara
in on itself without
letting the conduit split from the pressure, until it is pushed
back into the main body of
yara
again. If it splits, bad things can
happen.”

Celdic nodded, knowing that
this would indeed take a lot of practice. “What about my block? Are
we going to take care of that?”

“
I already
did.” Terrance replied, severing the flow of
yara
from Celdic. A moment later
Celdic felt his mind return to its normal state of consciousness.
“The block was programmed into you before you were born so that you
would not be able to use your
yar
until a member of the Derinian order found you and
taught you how to use it. You are somewhat different from your
friends, because once you learned to use your
yar
, you would have eventually
used
yara
accidentally, which would probably have killed
you.”

Celdic reached out with
his
yar
experimentally, just to see if he could still effect objects
around him. He imagined the force connecting him to a leaf on the
ground, and tried pulling it toward him. It obediently moved toward
him.

“
That’s all
there is to it?” Celdic asked incredulously. “Why can’t the other
humans use
yara
if
it is so easy? I mean, they would almost accidentally use it
without knowing it I would think.”

“
Some do.”
Terrance agreed, nodding his head, “but only a few, and they
usually think that it is some kind of spirit or good fortune that
caused the phenomenon. Most humans have lost the ability to use
their
yar
. The
ability has to be used for people to retain possession of it. If
you stopped using your arm, the muscles would atrophy and weaken to
the point that when you finally did use it, everything that you did
with it would be an effort. The same thing applies to
yar
. During the time
immediately after
yara
was repressed from the surface of the planet, people had to
learn how to use their physical bodies to accomplish their daily
tasks. After a time, their
yar
became weaker as their bodies became stronger
because they did not often use it. Very few people are born that
can effect very much outside of themselves with their
yar
. When
yara
was available, all a
person had to do was connect to it and they had all of the power
that they needed, regardless of how strong their own
yar
was. They still had
to use their
yar
to connect to
yara
though. The problem with most humans now is that
they do not have the ability to use their own
yar
anymore.”

Celdic nodded. That made
sense. “What was that suction thing that you did to make
yara
connect to
me?”

“
In order
to pull
yara
to
yourself, you have to create a kind of siphon.” Terrance explained,
watching Celdic to see if he understood. “It is similar to how a
water hose can be used to create suction from a pond that will
cause the water to flow. Of course, this is different than water,
because you can’t siphon water uphill. All that we are doing is
giving
yara
a
little momentum. It does not recognize up, down, right or left. It
is unaffected by gravity, so once you create the momentum, you will
have a steady flow of
yara
. The harder you pull initially,
the more powerful the flow of
yara
.”

“
How did you make those
pillars?” Celdic asked, staring curiously at the towering stone
pillars in front of them. They seemed far too thin to be able to
stand as tall as they were without falling over.

“
All physical matter is
just a form of energy that resonates at a certain frequency.”
Terrance gestured at the pillars, “Each element that makes up this
pillar is bonded to other elements with an interlocking resonance
that causes the two elements to be attracted to each other. Once
you understand how the bonds work, you can create extremely strong
materials by creating highly attracted bonds.”