Page 93 of The Enduring Universe
The false-Iravan smiled, its lips rising in mockery. Tattoos curled on its skin, and he read the intent of cruelty on its face.
Desperately, Iravan clutched the stone blade dangling fromhis neck. The everpower responded to him, and a massive branch conjured itself from the debris and dust floating around. It hardened into an axe, and Iravan swung it at the projection. The false-Iravan disintegrated into powder, the ghost of a smile still lingering in the air.
Do your worst, he thought.I will destroy each of your minions.
The falcon merely laughed, a cackle that seemed to reverberate around the strange maze.
Breath heaving, Iravan moved forward through the labyrinth of his consciousness.
55
COHESION
Awaking.
A curious stillness, like vibrations emanating from rock.
Stability that washed over it like a wave—dampening its chaos and reviving its peace at the same time.
Hands, fingers, tongues, roots, seeds, fruit, it was everywhere, it was everything. With the last consciousness returned to it, Cohesion ballooned far above its bodies caught in the tree. It saw with a thousand eyes, it breathed with a million mouths. Neither humans, nor cosmic creatures, nor tree, nor animals—it was nothing at once, and all of it, a sum greater than its parts. Joy, exhilaration, acceptance, grief, hunger, curiosity, despair, it saw everything in all their little minds, and it wept because all it felt was a vast and drowning love,love, LOVE.
Sentience was enormous, beyond anything that could be captured in thought. It could only be felt, through every pore of skin, through every leaf that whispered, and every scent that washed over it.
Being alive—existing—This had always been the purpose of life.Life meant experiencing, witnessing, participating. The sip of nectar from its bee-mouth. The inhale that was deep enough to burst a lung. Rain against its bark-skin. Wind raking the serrated edges of an elm leaf. The laughter of children chasing each other through sun-baked streets. Vapor rolling off its bird wings. And within it, the quiet of mind watched in wonder. Each instant precious, each instant filled with awareness. So deep that it was impossible to distinguish between Cohesion that watched, and Cohesion that was being watched. To finally do this—it was so deeply reassuring that its little bodies hurt with how much they were releasing.
I know myself, it thought to their little minds.Because I know you.
Cohesion danced, reveling in its existence. Looking inward and outward and seeing everything.We are one, it thought.We are I, and I am one.Its hive-like body buzzed with glorious perception, and a melody emerged uniting all of its pieces into a singular purpose. It knew the melody—the raga of harmony, but it was also the raga of indivisibility, of accord, recognition and identity. Not a single melody but a symphony of voices and thoughts, of little waves moving together like schools of fish, making a singular ocean. It was aware of every flutter, every whisper, and all of those were its own.
I am the whole world, it thought—but then the world rumbled.
It felt it in their feet, in its roots. In each striation of muscle and each spasm of heart.
Cohesion looked away from its wonder. It saw the approaching storm, trying to annihilate its remarkable existence. Now when it had finally found itself, a great sense of tragedy filled it to be destroyed.
A vast denial erupted from it, the raga of harmony growing sharp like a blade, emerging like a shout.NO!
The planetrage came.
56
IRAVAN
He realized his mistake only several minutes after leaving the projection behind. Iravan hefted the everdust axe in one hand, while the other came to fumble around his neck to feel the blade of pure possibility. Had he used all of the everdust within his pendant to create a weapon against the false-Iravan? He knew he could not infinitely convert possibility from one thing into another. Now that the axe was made, it would remain so. The only reason his stone blade could be used as everdust was because he had always wished for it to be the strongest, most malleable substance possible. Yet in using it now, had he depleted all of it?
His fingers clutched the blade, and Iravan shivered. The blade was smaller, and though some everdust remained, he could not waste it. This was the last everdust on the planet. He would need it to repair the Moment. He had acted desperately—and maybe that was the falcon’s plan all along—to force him to use pure possibility in this fight. It would not be the first time the falcon had tried to make him lose what was important in his distraction. It had doneso before when Ahilya had needed him to help fight the Virohi. Iravan could not let it win this way.
The mirror panes around him changed, blinking, but Iravan tried not to look at them. He would find no clue to the falcon’s intent there; he had to imagine the falcon was showing him this deliberately as a way to disorient him. No hidden messages in the windowpanes. Only more of the falcon’s assault. He clutched the axe in both his hands tightly, and floated forward, ignoring the images on the glass walls.
Around another corner, a different projection awaited him.
The light from the blinking bio-node reflected around him, making any shape difficult to see. The figure looked familiar—was it another Iravan, sent by the falcon to unmoor him? He knew himself. The falcon would not be able to seduce him with lies.
The projection was not him.
Askavetra stood there, leaning casually against a mirror pane, watching him come. Iravan slowed down. He tried to remember everything he knew of this life of his. Born during a time when yakshas were considered dangerous, yet Ecstasy was not yet outlawed, Askavetra had always been curious about the jungle creatures.
He approached, and she spun to him swiftly, her arms shining in silver—but this time Iravan was prepared. Instead of waiting for her attack, he swung the blade at her neck. He threw all his weight behind the swing, but she moved quick as lightning. Her hands came up to seize the axe from him, but Iravan resisted—and the pull between them sent out spikes of silver, illuminating the maze. They both tumbled into her memory.
