Page 14 of The Enduring Universe
Glee filled the cosmic creatures.
***
Ahilya wrenched away from the mirrors, but the seed was planted. Relief seized her, even as horror climbed into her throat. The Etherium winked out, and she was back in the jungle. Chaiyya was holding her hand, nearly crushing it. The nurses’ devices were chiming loudly. All activity from the builders and expedition team had come to a standstill. Everyone was staring at her, and Eskayra was marching toward her with concern on her face.
Ahilya realized she was sobbing.
“What happened?” Eskayra demanded of the others. “Ahilya only closed her eyes a minute ago.”
A minute. She had betrayed them all—betrayedherself—in only a minute. Chaiyya was speaking, trying to ask her questions, but Ahilya’s gaze drifted to Kamala and the hologram hovering above the nurse’s wrist. It was an image of Irshar. Misty shapes emerged from the construction. Eskayra’s eyes widened. She knelt down, her face twisted in worry.
“Ahilya?” Chaiyya whispered.
“I lost. I lost, Chaiyya. We have to…”
Citizen rings all around her began chiming. Every single person was connecting to the ashram to check on their loved ones. Holograms flickered everywhere, and the one above Chaiyya showed an image of the council chambers, Basav and Airav’s worried faces flickering. Their voices were distorted, the words unclear. Sinuous smoke entered homes. Pathways changed, as dark fog overtook the habitat. Screams echoed, and distorted views flickered. Trees lurched, swaying dangerously, and a crack echoed from the sungineering devices, a sound that must have been deafening in the ashram.
“What does this mean?” Pari shrilled, pointing at Ahilya. “If the Virohi are infiltrating the city, do we need to return her to the ashram? Are earthrages going to begin now again?”
“What did she do?” Ranjeev said, panic on his face.
Leaves and branches creaked around them. The expedition closed in on Ahilya. The Virohi screamed at her, and she glimpsed Iravan between her brows, a dark shape moving above the jungle toward Irshar, war and purpose in his mind.
Chaiyya arose, stepping away from her, speaking urgently into her bead.
Eskayra lifted Ahilya’s chin up, looking at her anxiously. Of all the people here, only her focus remained on Ahilya. Only she had neither hate nor fear distorting her features. Eskayra wore calmness like acceptance, in what could be their moment of death and extinction.
“I have to go back in,” Ahilya breathed to Eskayra, gripping her hand. “I have to persuade the Virohi to return to the architecture. It’s the only way.”
Eskayra’s eyes grew wide. “Is that even possible without everdust?”
“I have to try.” Full of anguish, Ahilya stared at Eskayra. “Esk, he knows. He’s going to attack them. If I tell them it’s for their safety, surely they will listen?”
“Wait, let me call Chaiyya. We need to talk about this for a minute.”
But Ahilya closed her eyes. Ignoring Eskayra, she plunged back into the mirrored chambers.
6
IRAVAN
He flew toward Irshar, the jungle flashing underneath him.
Wind rushed through his silver hair, slicking it back. The feather-cloak he wore streamed behind, making him appear half-a-bird. Iravan glanced below to see trees and smoke, wood and dust. Green landscape chased his flight. The jungle was motionless, ignorant of the Virohi’s escape from Irshar, but it was only a matter of time before it was destroyed. The cosmic creatures’ escape would have consequences for their world. He knew Ahilya was somewhere down there. Iravan put on a burst of speed.
Darsh flew next to him, sustained by Iravan’s everpower. The boy flew inelegantly—this was only the second time Iravan had allowed him to rise with him—yet there was a raw delight on his face that warmed Iravan despite his grimness. When they had arrived in the jungle from the Garden, Iravan had used Ecstasy to create a nest to wheel them to their destination. The events in Irshar now warranted more speed—but seeing the wide-eyed smile on Darsh, and how infectious it was—perhaps he should have allowed this innocent joy more frequently. Darsh had so few chances at joy these days.
“This?” Darsh screamed incredulously. “This is what I can do if I gain the everpower?”
Iravan merely smiled, tight-lipped.
The first few times he had flown, he had struggled to understand the falcon inside him. Flight had been precarious, subject to his moods, careful and precise one day, a disastrous misadventure the next where he’d crash to the jungle. Over the last few months, he had learned how to manipulate the air with everpower, how to turn his body to the changing wind currents, how to direct the particles around him so he could breathe and hear and see while flying.
The knowledge of flight came from the falcon-yaksha and Iravan embraced his shape in the Deepness: massive wings, glinting eyes, an awareness of profound and complete loneliness. The yaksha’s rage at the cosmic creatures pounded at him,erase, destroy, never split, never again, the emotion spurring him faster.
Dhruv’s face hovered over the black beads around Iravan’s wrist. “The Ecstatics are ready.”
Iravan could see his army in the Deepness, a hundred different architects arrayed in battle formation. The deep, velvety darkness of the Deepness flickered, and beyond that a million worlds blinked in and out, worlds the Virohi had tried to contaminate too.
