The Tessellation Saga. Book Two. 'The One' (43 page)

As he walked
back toward the living accommodation, he looked at the fledgling
forest around him. All of the plants and trees brought as seeds
from the dying planet of Arotia, from home. Parts of the mature
forest Thaddrick knew would so resemble his old home he would find
himself venturing back there, repeatedly as he sought for news of
the one, or some sign that the prophecy would soon, come to pass.
Then, when ‘the one’ finally arrives, I don’t recognise him,
he thought, angry with himself for not seeing the truth before
this.

‘Think on this
Themos,’ he said as he continued to discuss the situation with his
imagined brother and finding the process helping to settle his
train of thought.

‘Gideon carries
in him the blood of two great lines, one evil and one good, surely
that should mean the balance would be satisfied,’ Thaddrick said
aloud, the imagined Themos snorted in disdain.

‘Providing that
the boy can learn to control his power of course,’ Themos
answered.

‘Jed has
instructed him from the beginning about love and life, respect and
honour. Could I have done a better job preparing the boy for the
choices and the sacrifices he must inevitably make?’ Thaddrick
retorted. Themos said nothing as he slowly faded leaving Thaddrick
alone once more; comfortable at last with what he knew he had to
do.

The long low
communal building came into view with the sun setting behind it,
turning the white walls black in silhouette against its brilliance.
Streaks of red and gold fanned the sky with long white trails of
wispy cloud reflecting back the red and orange hues as the sun
seemed to blend into the rooftop of the house. Thaddrick loved the
sky at sunset, the colours always more intense and brilliant than
they seemed to be at dawn, a grand finale of colour before the
world turned, twilight gave up her dance and night fell revealing
the millions of tiny stars twinkling in the blue-black sky. For too
many years before arriving on earth, the Arotian people had
suffered under the choking and cloying atmosphere of their dying
planet, heavy, sulphur filled clouds and toxic rains fell from the
heavens as the world they had lived in slowly blew itself
apart.

‘Ahh Themos, if
only you could have seen such a night.’ Thaddrick mused aloud,
thinking sadly of his last days on his home planet and wondering if
any of the tiny pinpricks of brilliance were Arotia. He had no real
notion of whether Arotia had survived the cataclysm following their
escape through the gateway, only a deep feeling that it was so. He
had been in on the planning of the Gatherer’s downfall so long ago
and had certainly felt his brother during the time of his healing
after the colonists’ arrival but not since.

‘Are you still
out there Themos, is our world healed?’ Thaddrick asked the
twinkling stars; a shooting star suddenly flew across his field of
vision trailing a mighty tail. In reality, he knew a shooting star
was nothing more than a meteorite forced by gravity to enter the
earth’s atmosphere and its tail was the meteor itself burning up as
it passed through from the death of space to the life on earth, but
he smiled anyway. ‘An omen Themos, home is still there, I am sure
of it,’ watching the shooting star as it quickly faded from view
Thaddrick turned and entered the low building closing the door
quietly behind him, he saw Roidan standing alone and went to stand
beside her.

‘I know you
won’t approve but I released the constraints on the magic,’ she
said, adding, ‘Gideon and the others need to learn control now.’
Thaddrick smiled.

‘As always my
love, you are right,’ he said.

Jonus was in
the centre of the room before the fire with the travellers standing
behind him. All eyes fixed on him as he slowly lifted one piece of
wood after another using magic and set them aflame before guiding
them slowly back to the hearth.

‘Now, your turn
Gideon…,’ he said as the flames took hold. ‘Using the balance
carefully you can do most things. I mean, I can light the wood
using magic with no harm to the balance as the flames eat the wood…
see…,’ he continued as if he were the adult and Gideon the child.
‘The wood becomes its own balance. To control the strength, think
of a candle forever alight in your mind, you can control the magic
using the candle by not letting it burn out too fast or too
strongly,’ silently, Thaddrick watched as the young boy gave basic
instruction in use of magic and balance, the key behind the root of
magic’s ultimate power. Sonal and Varan on noting Thaddrick’s
presence quietly joined him at the back of the room.

‘He is a far
better teacher than I would have been,’ Sonal said nodding toward
the youngster guiding Gideon’s first, knowing forays into the art
of balance. ‘I would never have found such a simple explanation,’
he explained.

Lemba took hold
of a piece of wood and stared hard at it. Suddenly she felt as if
she were part of the tree itself, she could feel the pain as its
limb tore off during a powerful storm and the aging of the wood as
it dried, she dropped it quickly and it burst into flame. Glancing
around to see if anyone had noticed she kicked it swiftly and
grinned as it flew into the fireplace. Picking another log she
tried again this time not only managing to lift the small log using
magic but to maintain its altitude as it burst into flame and
slowly move back into the grate.

‘Show off,’
young Jed nudged her arm, pride at her achievement making him glow.
Mayan smiled as Gideon winked at her and Thaddrick frowned as he
watched Gideon preparing himself.

‘Watch this
then…,’ called Gideon as he reached for the largest of the logs
with his new found skill, he felt the shape and contours of the
heavy log in his mind and willed it lighter, slowly the log before
him moved a little and began to rise. He grinned quickly at Jed and
the log wobbled, immediately he turned his full attention back to
the lump of wood hovering unsteadily above the ground. He looked
harder at the misshapen log seeing its knurled bark and tight
knots, looking deeper, he saw the trees rings of life and felt the
seasons as they had turned. The seasons seemed to run swiftly past,
each one showing the tree from which the log had been cut, bare for
winter, cloaked in a green mantle for spring, full of flower for
summer and the glorious autumnal reds and gold’s for autumn. Faster
and faster, the seasons whirled past until Gideon was dizzy with
the speed. Suddenly surrounded by darkness he felt power growing
inside him, a tiny seed bursting with life, building and filling
him. He stopped, waiting for the sickness and the blinding headache
that usually accompanied this feeling in him whether he knew he was
doing magic or not.

He turned his
head looking for a light in the darkness and as before with the
lady, he could see his body standing with that of his friends far
below, a log balanced carefully with a tiny lick of flame trying to
rise from one end. The power continued to grow as the darkness
intensified, Gideon reached forward to see if the darkness was as
solid as it looked and immediately saw a glow following where his
hand had been. He moved his other hand and watched amazed as the
movement also left a trail of colour more vibrant than he had ever
seen. He moved his feet creating a dance of colour, feeling like an
artist creating a magnificent picture, reds, green and gold’s burst
through from his fingertips creating rainbows of light, purples,
greens and shades of pale pearlescent pinks, white and soft lilacs
blended in harmonious accord. I need music, he thought as the
darkness around him already filled with light and colour added
sound, each shade and hue of colour singing a different tone, each
note in total and perfect harmony with the other.

He reached up
into the ether sending the symphony of colour and sound high and
wide creating a glorious crescendo of intense power flowing thought
his veins.

‘
I am doing
this, me… I’m a magician… I could rule the world,’
he shouted,
elated as his voice added cadence to the body of the song.

‘
You could…,
we could,’
an oily voice seemed to answer him. Giddy with power
and emotion he continued his dance.

‘
How can
I?’
He asked the voice,
‘I get sick if I try magic away from
the forest, I, get sick if I’m away from the forest,’
he
corrected himself.

‘
I will show
you,’
the voice answered and led Gideon’s song in a new
direction, the colours slowly began to change, darkening and
becoming more dense, the music grew louder and here and there a
note of discord slipped in, creating a jarring sound in Gideon’s
ears. Like a child learning to play an instrument for the first
time, the music slowly became harsh and grating and with the
conflicting clashing notes ringing shrilly in his ears, Gideon
began to feel nauseous. The notes became low and threatening as the
same sickness that had made him ill when he had left the confines
of the forest, threatened him once again. Suddenly he
understood.

‘
I
see…,’
Gideon began,
‘if I forget the harmony I become ill.
My magic, my music needs…colour and life, it needs light and dark
but in balance…,’
Gideon laughed as he realised this was how to
overcome the sickness and stop the build-up of power, like the
overload that had killed the soldiers in the woods outside his
grandparents’ home.

‘
Thaddrick
was right after all,’
he said laughing. Suddenly the music
changed once more and Gideon immediately felt as if his mind was
tearing apart, the song now jarred constantly, he held his hands to
his ears to stop the noise from entering his skull and he felt the
chill in his bones and his mortal body shivered violently.

‘Gid, you ok
man?’ Jed asked as he watched his friend intently, Gid shivered
again despite the warm evening; Jed threw another log manually onto
the fire. ‘Be a little warmer now,’ he added as his friend remained
still.

In the ether,
Gideon watched as the colours became a sickening mix of oily
yellow, green and black and he felt as if he were somehow detaching
from himself, disappearing.

‘
Join with
me or die,’
he heard as the throbbing in his head intensified,
‘join me…’
he heard as the pain made him light headed, every
bone in his body jarred with the colours and the notes of the awful
song, he felt his belly churn as his body far below became weak.
I could let go
, he thought
then it would not hurt
anymore.
His thoughts continued as his physical body fell to
its knees, his skin turned ashen and his lungs refused to work.
Every breath came as if drawn over hot and acid coals burning his
throat and he felt death close by him. He saw stars bursting far
away in the darkness, stars beautiful and true, if only they could
reach me, he thought, somehow knowing help was out there he just
had to find it.

‘
Stop
please,’
he begged as the pain continued and mounted, finally,
as he could take no more he felt something in his mind give. Before
him suddenly was the lady, slowly fading away, tears rolling down
her face and as she vanished, Mayan appeared, naked and looking up
at him with large bruises on her body, she opened her mouth to
scream but as she did he saw a stump where her tongue used to
be.

‘
No,’
Gideon said, shocked as he looked at his beloved,
‘no,’
he
said again as he shook his head attempting to rid himself of the
vile unwanted image of Mayan and he thought of Toby smiling as he
raped her on the dirt floor of the wood and the pain she had gone
through for him. He felt something holding him, trying to shake
him, part of his being, his soul, that which made him who he was
loosen and he realised this was the thing that would hurt his Mayan
and this was the thing ready to steal his body and his power.

‘
Jed help
me…,’
he screamed silently as Jed in the real world worriedly
placed his hand on Gideon’s arm.

‘Gid…,’ he
began, as he felt something drawing on him. Gideon’s white face
flushed with colour as Jed himself felt suddenly weak, he wanted to
pull his arm away from his friend but held on, knowing somehow,
Gideon was in a struggle, perhaps for his very life.

‘I’m here fer
yer bro,’ he whispered into his friend’s ear remembering how he
himself had very nearly killed the man before him. ‘I’ll always be
here fer yer,’ he whispered again as he fell to his knees weaker
than he had ever felt in his life. Mayan, ever sensitive to her
twin grabbed him in terror not knowing why but knowing she had to
hold on. Gideon felt the sudden rush of strength and power building
up in his head.

‘
NO,’
he
shouted,
‘NO…,’
he screamed again as the accumulation of
energy was finally released throwing the usurper out of his
head.

The song
disappeared as Gideon found himself back in his body with the log
crashing to the floor. Tears rolled down his face as he looked at
his friend and Mayan, who stood beside her brother and her
fiancé.

‘What ‘appened
Gid?’ She asked, confused and worried, her hand tenderly stroking
his head. Thaddrick crossed the room walking slowly toward the
young men still kneeling on the floor.

‘My dear, dear
Gideon,’ he said sadly, as Gideon turned his head toward
Thaddrick’s voice unconsciously putting Mayan behind him. ‘You have
fought your first battle with a terrible foe, he may never be able
to best you alone but you must always be on your guard and keep Jed
near you,’ he said, pulling the young men to their feet and helping
them inadvertently complete their turn away from Mayan. Varan and
Sonal who had also been silent watchers of the battle in the ether
smiled in encouragement.