Divinity: Transcendence: Book Two (The Divinity Saga) (12 page)

Durien was already out of sight
. I could barely hear his footsteps on the stone steps.

She turned to me.
“Durien is really cool and really cute too, isn’t he?” She smiled.

I smiled
, knowing that he was still in earshot and was probably waiting to hear my response.

             
                                                                      ~~~***~~~

The room was quaint. Nothing spectacular or spacious, but with just enough temporary living space for two people— like a dorm room of sorts. Two twin-sized beds sat on opposites sides of the room. A wooden writing desk and chair were positioned beneath a small, square window, and two separate chest of drawers were set at the end of each bed, along with mirrors mounted above each.  Hooks for lanterns were embedded into the wall, above the desk and by the door.

How cozy
, I thought.

“You can pick whichever
bed you want.” Lira said, stepping aside and allowing me to enter first.

             
              I scanned the room again, and this time—something caught my eye. I had apparently missed it the first time. It was a lone, dying flower, sort of floating rather than standing in a small glass bowl on the left chest of drawers.

I paused
.

A
dozen fragmented images materialized, but quickly faded and shuffled away before I could recognize anything.

I walked over the bowl
for a closer inspection. The flower was dying. The petals were edged in brown and almost crushed. Fading colors of dark pink-brushed lines, and speckles on white petals, brought back a quick glimmer of a faint memory.

It had been…
a Stargazer lily.

             
              My heart began to beat with—sorrow.

“Oh, that was found in your hair when they went to get your body from the field. I figured you’d
want to keep it. It’s still clinging to life.” Lira said, moving in beside me.

I didn’t even know what to say or t
hink. Why was I feeling both sad and emotionally nostalgic?

It was just a flower.

“Maybe now that it has some water, it’ll come back.” She whispered.

             
              I nodded slowly, finally snapping out of my trance. I traced a finger along a delicate petal. As soon as I touched it, I gasped. Another flash of memories flooded my mind, like fluttering pictures. Lights, a field of wheat, darkness, and a— really tall, and well-built police officer in a black uniform. That was all I had a chance to glimpse.

“Are you alright?
” Lira’s voice pulled me away from the vision.

I licked my lips and nodded.
“Yeah.” I said quickly, which was a lie.

             
              I looked up at my reflection in the mirror above the chest of drawers.

I assume
d that I looked the same as before, when I was mortal. My hair was full, long and spirally curly; light brown and ash blonde in color. My skin was a sun-kissed, tan shade. I recognized my eyes—navy blue, but the super, bright white haze of light around me was new, and Durien hadn’t been exaggerating.

I blinked rapidly,
rubbed my eyes, and then reopened them. This time, the glowing halo of light around me appeared, even brighter.

             
              I turned and looked at Lira for a moment but saw nothing. When I looked in the mirror again, my glow was gone too. I guess even after seeing the auras of all those other beings out in the darkness, my ability was still slowly sputtering into full fruition.

“I got you a no
tebook and some pens for your journals over there.” Lira pointed to the desk.

“Oh, thanks.” I smiled.

“You’re welcome.”

I looked at
Lira again, surprised to find her staring at me inquisitively, as if she were seeing something else that I wasn’t aware of myself. I admired her child-like features. She looked younger than sixteen and she reminded me of a kid sister. I already felt protective of her, given her small stature and friendly demeanor.

“What is it?” I asked her.

She smiled with a hint of nervousness and shook her head. “Nothing, I’m just…curious.” She said innocently.

I raised a brow
, wondering where her curiosity about me lie.

“About you
r aura is all.” She quickly added, as if she were guilty of something.

“What about it?” I asked.

“It’s beautiful. I’ve never seen one like it since I’ve been here. You’re going to be targeted…a lot.” She said softly. She seemed scared for me when she said it though.

“Good to know. I guess I’d better take this train
ing seriously then, huh?” I smiled to lighten the heavy knot of apprehension that began to twist in the pit of my stomach.

Lira nodded emphatically. “I would.”

What would happen if I decided that I didn’t want to be a warrior? Did I even have a choice? Durien said that I still had free will, right? The free will to choose what though? I was already dead, or immortal. What other choice would there be?

             
              I eyed her curiously. I don’t know why it took this long for it to hit me.

“It was you wasn’t it?” I
said.

Her
eyes widened. “Me? Me what? What do you mean?” She began backing away, as if I were going to jump and beat the crap out of her or something.

“You were there when I was coming up the stairs, after I awoke.” I then told her.

She swallowed, unsure of whether to admit to it, or try to deny it.

“I-
I wasn’t spying on you or anything…I promise!” She said holding her hands out pacifyingly.

             
              I sighed. “I’m not upset or accusing you of anything, but now you have my curiosity. Durien said you were a scout. What does a scout do, seeing as you have no brandings?” I asked her.

She relaxed once she r
ealized that I wasn’t angry with her,

“I
was excited and in awe of you, that’s all. Being that you were the last one to rise and you’re...different. We were all excited— sort of,” She was babbling, an obvious nervous habit. “And a scout is a chosen, who can go above and beyond any physical barrier, or obstacle that a normal warrior can’t go, or pass through. Like small caves, underground, walls, places that are too hot or cold, and really high places.” She went on to explain.

My brows furrowed w
ith suspicion when I thought of what she meant.

“
Being a scout is my essence. Essentially, we’re spies,” She then offered, after reading my expression.

A disquieting thought
slithered into my mind just then, and I instantly narrowed my eyes at her.

“Spies?
I’m going to guess that there are male scouts too, right?”

Lira shifted from foot to foot
, and nodded with wide eyes.

             
              I sighed and threw my arms out in annoyance, “Great, lovely. What kinds of things do you spy on?” I then asked with a hint of agitation.

She
held up her hands in a placating gesture. “It’s not like you think, believe me. We all have a high regard for integrity and honor. No one would ever try and spy on you like that here.” She eased.

“Really?
And how do you know that?” I replied with my arms folded across my chest.

“
It’s forbidden. The angels can see all, and the elementals are everywhere. They all watch all of the time. Anyone abusing their essence has it immediately taken from them. It was ingrained in all of us, at least to me when I first got here.” Lira then explained.

I paused and studied her for a few more moments. She was sincere and it eased my irritation a bit.

When I finally relented and accepted her explanation as truth, she
gave a relieved smile.

I glanced over at the lily again, briefly. “So, how do you spy from here? Durien said you don’t leave the hall.” I then inquired.

She smiled
, skipped over to one of the beds, climbed onto it, and scooted towards the middle, sitting Indian style.

             
              I watched as she got comfortable, rolling her neck in slow circles, before closing her eyes and commencing to breathe slow and rhythmically. She looked like a mannequin to me. I wondered if she were still breathing at all after a few moments had passed. It was as if she were in a trance, or deep sleep.

After about five minu
tes of simply watching her— do nothing, I sighed heavily with a hand on my cocked hip, feeling as if she were trolling me.

“Lira?”
I called out sharply.

She didn’t move or speak.

That’s when something light brushed the back of my hair. I gasped and spun around. My eyes darted from one corner to the other but there was no one there.

I felt cold air and
the light scent of ozone. The scent was more prevalent— above me, so I inhaled deeply and followed the scent with my eyes first. I tilted my head back to look up. I had to back up in order to get a full view of the transparent, holographic mirage of Lira— floating near the ceiling, and doing a pirouette, followed by a curtsy.

Holy…my mind reeled.

                            I looked over at her inert body, still sitting in the middle of the bed with her eyes closed, and then back up at her ghostly form. She was gesturing for my attention, wanting me to watch her hands.

She pointed to herself
, tapped her mouth, then pointed to me, and animatedly shook her head no. Then, she pointed to her mouth, and then my ears, shaking her head no once again. I took those to mean that she wouldn’t be able to speak to me, and I wouldn’t be able to hear her. Then she pointed to my mouth, then her ears and nodded, meaning that she would be able to hear me.

             
              A smile of amazement crept across my face, as I watched her do the backstroke from one corner of the ceiling to the other. She did a somersault, and then drifted down to where I stood, levitating a foot above the ground.

I could see
right through her ghostly image. I slowly reached out with my index finger. Naturally, my finger passed right through the her and she giggled. She finally did a graceful, backwards swan dive back into her physical body. I watched in amazement as her muscles twitched, flexed, and then her eyes blinked open, as if she had simply been sleeping.

She grinned when she looked at me, expecting a comment.

“That is incredible!” I mused.

She scooted off the be
d with a coy grin. “It comes in handy. The shadows and other spirit beings can see me, but they can’t touch or hurt me…unless they get a hold of my physical vessel, which is why scouts don’t leave the hall.” She said.

Well, that makes obvious sense.

“Vessel?” I
then questioned.

“Well, we all refer to the physical body as simply being a vessel. Who you are
, is in here,” She pointed to her head, “And here,” She then said pointing to her heart.

I smiled with a nod.
“Well said.”
“It sucks that we can’t communicate back and forth though.” I then replied.

“I know, but hand signals and gestures
work just as well too. You’ll be learning those in training.” She explained.

Lira waved
me forward to follow her. “Come on, let me take you to the supply room, so you can get your own toiletries. You should go to tailoring first thing tomorrow. They’ll get you sized so you’ll always be able to get clothing made when you need it. I can show you where they are now, if you want.” She offered.

I nodded
, meeting her in the doorway and we entered the corridor once again.

“
Sounds good. Let me ask you something, about that Devlin girl.” I began.

The curiosity had always been at the back of my mind since dinner.

Lira stopped and turned around to face me, already appearing somber. “Sure.” She said, and it barely came out as a whisper.

“How was she taken
, and by what?” I then asked her.

Lira licked her lips in hesitation, staring down
at the toes of her canvas shoes. “A fallen. They’re everywhere, and the majority can cloak themselves. When they do that, you guys can still scent them but they’re invisible to your eyes. I can see them when I’m scouting…and…” She seemed flustered and saddened.