Page 142 of The Surviving Sky
He had seen his origin, the face of the earthrage.
The being that caused the earthragenow—onceupon a time, he had been a being like it.
This separation, this aching loneliness that had burned within him all his lives, the cataclysms that had plagued the planet formillennia—
Once upon a time, he had wrought it too.
Theyhad wrought it.
They had been creatures of infinite power, tied to the planet, yet they had willingly fractured themselves. Iravan had never known himself; the yaksha had spiraled through a lost existence, unheeded, in agony. They had forgotten the storms they’d perpetuated, forgotten what they’d done, forgotten themselves.
How could they haveforgotten?
Shock and horror raged through him in all his visions. In his bones he felt the pain of tearing himself apart, the pain of the planet. It ate at him like teeth gnawing his insides. This was worse than excision; this was worse than death. They hadn’t merely sliced away a part of themselves; they had reached inside with broken fingernails and clawed their very being out, smiling as they did so. They’d rained down destruction, unleashed the earthrages,brokenthe world, and done it knowingly, in blind arrogance.
Iravan could see it, all the million deaths, all the ashrams crashing down as thousands of people screamed, trying to escape. He saw the architects that had been excised, drooling in their chairs; he saw Nakshar even now awaiting its doom in resigned terror. He,they, had thought to trade their immortality for a perception of longer life, but they’d only ruptured the planet in an attempt to flee its obliteration. They had destroyed everyone else for their own survival.
They were monsters.
And another monster like them was going to break the earth again.
No more, he thought.We end this.
As though that thought were a command, the Etherium changed. The avalanche of rock transformed into a maze of stars.
Iravan stared.
The Moment. The Etherium was showing him a specific place in the Moment. The rift where the earthrage was occurring.
Iravan recognized this place; he had seen itbefore—backin the jungle, during Ahilya’s expedition, when he’d tried to hold together the magnaroot nest. He had seen the Moment as a raging storm, intent on annihilation—thiswas what he had seen—thisspot, the rift where the being behind the earthrage had pushed against the Moment to rupture it.
The Etherium had shown him what to do to end the storm. Iravan had not understood then.
He understood now.
The Etherium evolved again with his understanding, showing him one step at a time, like a vision of guidance.
A maze appeared init—themost complex labyrinth Iravan had ever seen, a million billion constellation lines intersecting in intricate patterns he could barely fathom. A maze that used the Resonance, used himself, used the sheer possibility of the green dust somehow.
This was what he needed to build to end the earthrage.
NOW, he thought, an order to himself.
Iravan and the Resonance dove into the Moment from the Deepness. He approached the stars at the rift, wielding his constellation lines. Powered somehow by the Resonance, his constellation lines had never been as strong, as elastic. He intersected them with the stars of the pure green dust in the Moment, steadied himself; the constellation lines pulled at him, wanting to bereleased—
Iravan spun through the Moment, unleashing them, whirling in and around the stars by therift—
The linesshimmered—
Andshattered.
Iravan staggered back, his dust mote careening through the Moment with the force of recoil. His constellation lines burned at the edges, charred. Pain radiated through him; the Resonancescreamed, a high-pitched whine.
Frantic, Iravan tried again. He returned to the point of rupture in the Moment. Exerting his will, he generated more constellation lines, layered them in the dust, but the Resonance was tiring next to him, unable to give him more power. His constellation lines vibrated, weaker.
The face of the earthrage mocked him.
, it said.
