Page 47 of The Enduring Universe
Life in the skies was a lie. Here, amid the jungle, there was honesty.
Were the little ones scared? What would it take to sanctify the jungle for them? The Virohi were trapped within the core tree, but in some ways they were more a part of this planet than they had ever been. At least when they’d been part of Irshar they had simply been trapped within buildings—structures that could be destroyed. But within the core tree they were rooted to the planet. Is that why the small creatures did not trust the jungle? Perhaps in their own way, they knew how wrong the Virohi were. Perhaps the yakshas did too, continuing to elude him further because of it.
Iravan rolled his shoulders and began his hunt. The land gave wayto him, trees and branches withdrawing from his path, responding to his everpower. Roots uncurled in front of him, and grass sank back, leaving a barren trail where he walked. Trees shifted, and he swept a hand, making the drooping leaves in front of him retreat.
Inside his mind, Agni laughed.
He could feel the other architect watching the jungle from behind his eyes. Never before had Iravan felt the presence of his past life so acutely—but he could do nothing to push the impressions away. Neither could he control that it was Agni now as he marched, striding with longer steps, his gait changing, his shoulders rolling the way Agni had once done.
He grew nervous that it was Agni behind his eyes. Any other life would have been manageable, but Agni had always been a little feral. They had lived in a time right before the war had occurred between all the Ecstatics, outlawing Ecstasy. Iravan could feel their presence as though they were stretching his own limbs, wondering at his body, his life. Could one of his past lives take over his body, if he let them? He grinned—then clacked his teeth together—for it was not he who had smiled, but Agni. It was imperative that he hold onto himself.
But he had felt something from Agni, a knowledge of the jungle he did not have, that would lead him to the yakshas. After all, Agni had known of the yakshas. Perhaps they had known of the falcon too. They might know how to track the others, and any secret knowledge to be gleaned from jungle plants. Iravan lifted a hand, and a tree crumpled, turning into ash.So much power, Agni whispered, and just for an instant, they lifted Iravan’s other hand.
He yanked control back violently.
The falcon-yaksha laughed with morbid amusement.
Agni retreated, and Iravan came to a standstill within the jungle. A terrible fatigue took over his limbs, as though suddenly his bodywas unsure who it belonged to. He crouched, touching his fingers to the grass, hanging his head.
The Etherium had become a dangerous place. Each time he entered it, he was pulled into a memory of a past life, the sensation so vivid it took over his mind for long seconds. The only time he could hold on to himself in the Etherium was when Ahilya called to him, but that was no safer.
Could it be that this third vision was becoming an alien landscape altogether? Once he had feared that the Deepness would become so, his entry to that space restricted because of the threat of the falcon. If his past lives locked him out of the Etherium, how would he learn how to destroy the Virohi? How would he find the yakshas?
Slowly, his one hand came to grasp the stone blade of pure possibility he’d hung around his neck in a twine necklace. It was amazing how different this search for yakshas was compared to the one he had been on with Ahilya. That expedition had started it all for him—but hadn’t he been on this path all along? A fight with Ahilya had led to that moment; they had fought about children, and Iravan had withdrawn to Nakshar’s temple for seven months, before seeing his wife again. That time in the temple, trajecting nonstop—that had finally alerted the falcon-yaksha to his presence. The Resonance had appeared, and if Iravan had simply reconciled with Ahilya before, he would have been as unaware of the falcon as the others were of their own yakshas. He would never have been trapped in the pursuit of making amends endlessly if that had been his life.
His fingers still touched the slightly-damp soil, and a small bee alighted on them then flitted away. The jungle was reluctant to sustain life like it once had in the time of the ancient ashrams, but it must still have memory of it. Irshar had limited seeds and resources to grow food again; it was why they desired the Moment repaired. Their sungineering was already working. What if he could simplygivethem food? Could he grow things with the everpower? Would that be enough perhaps to make amends, and silence the demands of his past selves? Would it be enough that Irshar did not insist on finding inventive ways to take away his Ecstatics?
Agni was infiltrating his mind, but if he could find another way to fulfill his capital desire, he would never need to fear the Etherium. He wouldn’t need to repair the Moment, his promise to Ahilya fulfilled. They could all find a way to destroy the Virohi together. Either way they could all be rid of this absurd game of power-play, needing to be the one in control.
Silver suffused his skin. Iravan trajected, and underneath him soil moved. He sensed the deep plates of the planet shift, sensed the seeds from the trees and plants lying dormant in the jungle. He could make them bear fruit. He could not operate outside of the realm of possibility, despite using the everpower, but this should be as easy as a Junior Architect’s trajection. Irshar would not have to—
The soil underneath his hand burst, sharp spines rising from it, impaling his palm.
Iravan cried, wrenching his hand back, extracting himself.
His hand bled, but already it was healing, the skin knitting itself. He stared at the thorns protruding from the earth, and an image came to him through the evervision, of the smoky Virohi screaming. Of the falcon-yaksha thrumming its wings in panic. Of the rage of the planet in a silent echoing scream.
The ground he stood on caved in.
His feet slid, and Iravan folded the air with everpower, hovering as he saw the exact area he had been standing on turned into rubble. Somewhere deep beneath the planet, he heard a terrible roar.
He had one second of realization about what was going to occur.
Panicked, Iravan ascended, as trees came crashing down toward him.
25
AHILYA
They walked back to the infirmary in silence.
Ahilya had tried to make conversation, an observation here, a question there, but Kamala moved woodenly, speaking only in sparse words. The nurse had been from Nakshar, and though Ahilya only knew her from their association in Irshar, it was not hard to imagine what rumors Kamala had heard about her from her time in the airborne ashram. What did she make of the near-kiss she’d walked into, between Ahilya and Eskayra? The thought embarrassed Ahilya. How bizarre to think that once she and Iravan had tried to keep the problems of their marriage secret for the sanctity of material bonds. Now, their broken marriage was at the heart of the troubles for humanity, and any secret was meaningless. Kamala had caught Ahilya in a compromising position, and Ahilya felt intense dislike for her radiating from the nurse.
Each decision Ahilya made in her personal life now, whether to accept Eskayra’s proposal of marriage, whether to finally divorce Iravan, whether to let herself feel innocent attraction, all of it had consequences for the citizens of Irshar. Iravan might not careabout their marriage anymore, but he would not take kindly to her rejection. He would make Irshar pay in some way, consider it an insubordination. What kind of rationales would he make, trying to justify further violence, because of her actions?
Ahilya had never thought him a vindictive man, nor was jealousy his weakness, but she could not trust what she’d once known about him. He had changed, and several lives dictated him, each once tied with a material bond. She had no business kissing Esk, throwing the thin bond of her marriage in his face. She dropped her attempts at conversation, and kept steady pace with her nurse, trying not to give into fatigue.
Irshar spread out under their feet as they climbed a small hill that led away from the council chambers. Three months ago, when Ahilya and Chaiyya had made the city together, Irshar had been centered around the vriksh, the core tree rising from the center of a stone-paved plaza, the office chambers to one side, and homes and schools and other structures radiating miles in every direction. The constant assault of the cosmic creatures had eventually turned the flower-filled valleys into dangerous rubble, and far-flung residences into unmanageable zones. The council had ushered most citizens closer to the plaza, letting the outskirts remain unoccupied for a time for easier management—yet despite these changes, and the Virohi’s interference, the ashram had remained largely the same.
