Page 100 of The Enduring Universe
IRAVAN
He existed in a place beyond the body, for his body was not his own. It was an object, being controlled by other versions of himself.
Still, he heard her through ears that were now someone else’s. He saw her through eyes that were no longer his own. Beyond the collapse of stars, and the breaking of language, he recognized her.
It was not his body anymore, but he reached forward with an intention, a will, that was still his.
He did not have arms to call his own, but he reached for her, because she was calling him, and she was a memory of trust and home. He might be nobody anymore, but like always, he was nothing without her.
67
TOGETHER
They raced toward each other across time and space. She staggered through the debris of the city, and he left the moorings of his body to tumble into her arms.
Something chased the both of them, a gaping black hole that ate away at everything. Light bounced in all directions, faces distorted, shapes meaningless. Still, they constructed meaning with the failing bindings of their minds, holding each other, though neither of them had bodies to do this with.
Layers of reality tumbled around them, the entire edifice of meaning crumbling. They found each other, but they couldn’t remember. They seemed to be in the mirrored chambers, and
***
He looked within and saw
She looked inside and felt
the falcon
the vriksh
Nidhirv
the Virohi
Bhaskar
architects
