Page 9 of The Surviving Sky
The Resonance swayed in front of him, silvery, liquid. He retreated, and the Resonance retreated. He floated back another step, and the Resonance did the same.
Then, in rapid blinking flashes that made Iravan think of a wicked grin, the Resonance spun and darted away, shooting through the universe.
Bloody rages, he thought.
Iravan dashed through the Moment, trying to keep his sight on the undulating particle. They whirled through the lights, zooming past constellation lines, startling dust motes. He sped past an architect, felt their indignation. He attempted to cut the Resonance off, but the particle stopped short and streaked back the way it had come. Iravan cursed again and wheeled around, swooping over a star, leaping past long lines of the maze. There was a familiarity in the particle’s movements, like he ought to know what it would do next.
He rounded a golden star and pulled up in front of the Resonance. It drew up, alarmed and amused.
Ha, Iravan thought. He hovered, waiting to see what it would do next.
Bharavi pressed a hand to his shoulder. “Tell me. When was the last time you saw Ahilya?”
The Resonance attacked.
Iravan had a horrified glimpse of fury rushing over its mirrored surface before the particle collided into him.
The stars of the Moment winked out.
He was tumbling through blackness.
He was falling endlessly.
In the temple courtyard, Iravan stumbled into Bharavi, his mouth dropping open. The universe wiped out, all stars gone, just the sensation of plummeting down a black hole. He opened and closed his mouth, trying to make words, staring at Bharavi. His stomach lurched, and he leaned over, heaving.
“What’s wrong?” she said at once. “Did your Two Visions merge?” She gripped his shoulders, holding him up.
He choked, shaking his head. Shooting a glance around them, Bharavi steered him away from the bustle of the courtyard and closer to the base of the rudra tree, where there were no other architects.
In his second vision, Iravan jerked and came to a standstill within an infinite velvety black hole. He spun around in tight panicked circles, scanning for a light, any light, hunting for a dust mote, a star, the Resonance,anything—
The Resonance slammed into him.
With shocking pain, Iravan lurched back into the Moment. Stars twinkled again, familiar and comforting. Nakshar’s maze reappeared, blue-green constellation lines crisscrossing. The floating sensation that always accompanied Iravan on entering the universe returned, but the Resonance flickered in front of his dust mote, still, as though it had not just attacked him. Innocence reverberated in its silvery flaps.
Iravan darted away from it so fast that he bounced into the closeststar—lushgreenpaddy—beforehe dashed back out to hover in the Moment. He spun around, lights whirling through his second vision, but the Resonance had disappeared.
Bharavi was still looking at him with concern, her hands bracing him against the rudra tree’s broad trunk. Iravan straightened, sweating. He nodded his thanks, and Bharavi dropped her arms. She took a step back.
“What happened to you?” she repeated quietly. “Did your Visions merge?”
“No.” His voice came out cracked. “Notthat—somethingelse.”
As horrifying as the experience of tumbling down that black hole had been, at least Iravan had remained himself. If his Two Visions had merged, he would have lost himself within a trajected-upon star, lost himself in a frozen moment of a plant’s consciousness. He’d have no knowledge of a way out, no memory of who he was. Once Two Visions merged, it was nearly impossible to reverse them. Only very skilled architects could lurch themselves back from it.
“Then what?” Bharavi persisted.
“I—Idon’t know.” His voice was still ragged. “There was thisthing—thisshape. No, not a shape. Like a rhythm. An interference within the Moment.A—akind of resonance.”
Bharavi’s frown deepened. Her hands opened and closed like a dreadbud bloom.
The panic of the experience rolled through Iravan in waves. Within the Moment, he dove toward the star belonging to a budding jasmine. He tied the star to itself in a simple trajection, then flew to the homes within Nakshar’s architecture, and into his own home. There, he secured the constellation line to the lush ixora bush. The constellation lines glittered in the Moment and settled. A measure of control returned to him.
He coughed, steadying his voice. “Yes, a Resonance. An interference.It—it—”He rubbed a hand on his face, feeling his bristles. “Bha, I think it knocked me out of the Moment.”
Bharavi glanced around the courtyard but Iravan had kept his voice low, and the nearest architects were several feet away. “That’s not possible.”
“I know what I felt.”
