OrbSoul (Book 6) (14 page)

  Into Leth's mind sprang an image: the Imprisoned Souls clad in their metallic casings, dotted in their scores and scores across the bare plain beyond the far reach of the Shore of Nothing. With a flash of comprehension, he knew suddenly what it was they were trying to achieve.

  
They make sacrifices of themselves as embodied Souls, substitutes for the Soul that has gone. The Godsoul, the Worldsoul. It is that, as much as the God, that they await. It is your unity! 

   'And that is what you must strive to bring them, Leth, so that those who still suffer may step free, and so that no others will be drawn to follow in their wake.'

   Are you truly saying that with the return of the Godsoul all suffering in the world will end?

   'I am saying that without it the world cannot survive. It will destroy itself, slowly and certainly, even if Urch-Malmain does not do so first.'

   Leth stared again into the unbearable emptiness before him. He felt himself gasp with the shock of it, as though he was witnessing it for the first time, and his sanity was once more assaulted.

  
Orbelon, when I step over into the void, what lies there for me? Is it Death?

  
'I can give you no sure answer, Leth. Your consciousness enters the world's unconsciousness. Mine also. You will be entering the unconscious Dreaming of Becoming. Together we will in some way alter what is, or perhaps what is not and what is yet to be. Together we will initiate change. Now, Leth, delay no longer.'

   Leth steeled himself. Then, before another conscious thought could arise to weaken his resolve, he stepped forward into the void.

v

   He was rising, or falling. He could not tell. There was nothing to judge by. No ground supporting him, no sky above, no sound, no contact, only the vertiginous sensation of motion. He twisted his head to see back over his shoulder. The Shore of Nothing had gone. There was only the void.

  
And himself.

  
'Leth, Nothing is to be relied upon. Nothing is
real
!
'

  
Rely upon? How? Where am I going?

   'Focus upon the Soul, Leth. It is the one reality.  Bring yourself to it!'

   Where? I do not know where.

  The
sensation of motion increased dramatically. He was rushing, headlong and blind, spinning, twisting, without sense of direction. He felt sick and disorientated, a wild churning in his gut, a pressure upon his skull as though a giant hand had closed around it. It seemed his innards were being sucked out of him.

  
'Orbelon!'

   'Empty your mind, Leth. You have closed yourself to me. Cease resisting. Open yourself and allow me in!'

   It was as though a silent, powerful gale raged, tossing him back and forth in the immensity of Nothing.

  
'Direct the Nothing, Leth. It is the Dream of Awakening. Allow it to Become!'

   With a
n effort of will that strained him to the limit of his abilities, Leth forced his mind to dismiss the terror of what was happening to him. He focused until he was concentrating solely on his own thought, his own inner vision. Gradually a calmness came over him. The buffeting ceased, the motion slowed.

  
'I am with you, Leth. Do not let go. Focus upon the Soul.'

   Leth directed his mind, allowing nothing but the thought of the OrbSoul to intrude. All was still now. He felt himself gently rising. Surrounding him, emerging from what had been pure emptiness, vaccuum,
Nothing, was light. White, brilliant light that sparkled like diamond glints on snow or a million tiny stars. There was nothing else, but light was everywhere. And into his mind came the thought that this was all there ever was. This was the true reality behind the illusion of the world. Behind trees, behind rocks, fields, sky and ocean, there was only the energy of
light
. Forever. Eternal.

   He experienced a sudden, empowering sense of freedom. Nothing troubled him; nothing could hold him back. He was exhilarated, exalted, expectant, and charged with a renewed sense of purpose.

   The experience lasted for no more than a few pulsebeats. The light passed from his perceptions, though Leth knew in his heart it was still there and would be always, unchanging, lying behind everything, whether realized or not.

   All was still. Far, far below him was Orbelon's World, and he was suspended. He could not move. His arms were outstretched, his ankles locked together. He twisted his neck, saw the chains that bound him, yet could not see to what he was bound. He realized he was naked, and did not know how: a man in chains against the sky. And he knew, in some uncanny wise, that he had been here before, that he had been here for long, long ages, throughout eternity,
awaiting this moment.

   He wept.

  
The Dream of Awakening.

   He strained, to no avail, against his bonds.

  
Nothing is
real
!

   A distance away, across the wide sky, the radiant Orb of the Godworld. He stared at the brilliant sphere, until his eyes hurt and he was forced to look away. And he thought: two bodies rest in the firmament of Orbelon's World.

   Two bodies.

   Above him, high above, he could make out now the vague, unreal landscape of the sky.
Twisting folds and impenetrable canyons, dark gorges and shadowed vales, impossible highlands bald and encompassing, stretching beyond the limit of his vision.

  
Two bodies. He understood, there was only one place he could be.

  
It is the World's Agony that binds me!

   He struggled. The chains held fast.

  
'Leth, that is not the way. To flee the World's Agony is to deny your purpose here.'

   What must I do?

   'Turn around.'

   I can
’t move. I am bound fast.

   'You are bound only for as long as you resist. Turn around.
You are struggling to escape yet you do not even know what from. Accept the World's Agony. It is yours. Face it and it can no longer bind you.'

   He turned.
Inexplicably the chains no longer restrained him. As he gazed into the World's Agony they fell away. He was drawn inwards. A sheet of darkness rose and cast itself at him. Consciousness fled.

*

   The dark passed by slow degrees, until at last - and he did not know how long - he opened his eyes and peered dazedly around. Disoriented, he brought himself slowly and weakly to his feet. He was clad in the sapphire armour again. Freezing sweat soaked his flesh within. His body ached. He could see nothing, nothing at all, though the floor had been solid beneath his supine form and was solid still beneath his feet. Though his mind spun, he crouched and touched his fingers to the floor. It was hard, cold, solid, smooth as beaten metal. He straightened, drawing the Orbsword. He felt a tremor run through the mottled blade.

  
Ascaria is within
.

   'And now she must return, to be absorbed into what she has done.'

   Where am I?

   'You are
within the World's Agony. Leth, step forward!'

   Something resisted, as though invisible hands pressed against his breast. He leaned against the force as if into a determined gale, and pushed
ahead, though he still lacked perception of what lay before him.

  
'Somewhere here, Leth. It is close.'

  
The OrbSoul?

   'I sense it, yet we remain apart.'

   This place oppresses me. I ache and my strength is gone. I can see nothing. I do not know where I am going.

  'Let the Soul guide you, Leth. It has been imprisoned for so long. It awaits us and w
ishes to be found. Focus upon it. Do not falter. Let it reveal to you where it is hidden.'

   'A door!' said Leth aloud. 'A door has appeared.'

  In his mind Orbelon's voice was cautiously jubilant.
'At last!'

   The door, narrow and arched, stood no more than ten paces ahead, the sole feature in the obscuring
gloom of the World's Agony. Leth pushed himself forward but the unseen resistance became stronger. He could make no headway and was in danger of being pushed back.

   Leth was forced to his knees, dragging himself forward though there was nothing to grip on the smooth floor. He was weakening.

  
What is happening here?

   'You have lost the focus, Leth. Concentrate upon your goal, not the distractions that lie between you and it.'

   Though he was pressed now almost prone, he pushed his attention away from the force that resisted him and attuned his thoughts to the Soul of the Orb. Almost immediately the resistance ebbed. Though exhausted, Leth was able to rise again and stagger forward.

  
'Sometimes our most sombre adversary is our yearning for distraction, our need to look elsewhere.'

   Leth reached the door. He grasped the iron ring that was its handle and wrenched the door open. Something seized him and hauled him through, sucking his breath from his lungs. He was high, high above the world, and falling.
Orbelon's World beneath him, the strange, embracing sky above.

  
'Focus, Leth! Focus!'

   Somehow, as he tumbled, gasping for air, he found the presence of mind to dismiss his terror. He gulped in cold air, filling his lungs, and cast away all thoughts of the ground that rushed towards him. He envisaged again the single objective of the OrbSoul. As he did so, as if the very act of focusing was enough, he ceased falling. His direction changed. He was borne at breakneck speed across the sky, the piercing wind whistling past his ears. The world slid by beneath. Ahead of him something loomed, vast and brilliant, throwing out light that blinded him.
The Orb of the Godworld, radiant and reflecting, growing ever larger as he rushed towards it. Now it filled his vision; there was nothing else. His speed did not decrease. He yelled out in terror, shielding his head with his arms as he hurtled towards its bright metallic surface.

  
Sealed in a crucible of shining adamant . . .

   And he thought: The Orb that gives light to this world. It is there that the Soul is hidden!

   Of course!

   Where else?

   He sped, ever faster, directly into the Orb . . . and passed to his surprise through its outer shell, without impact or resistance. It gave as though composed of nothing more than air or mist or some other insubstantial thing. Now he was floating down in a haze of watery blue, and around him, all around and above, was the wall.

   Half-disbelieving, half-despairing yet filled with wonder and questions, Leth descended slowly through the eerie semi-twilight towards the ground far below. What did this mean? Somehow he had entered the Orb of the Godworld again.
The Orb that was formerly the prison domain of Orbelon, where Orbelon had endured, separated from his world and only vaguely knowing of its existence. And it was here that he, Leth, had wondered alone with Galry and Jace, believing that Orbelon had abandoned them. The Orb that was also the blue casket which he carried now in its wooden chest inside a pack upon his back.

  
How can this be? What does it mean?

   Before he could dwell any further on this h
is attention was drawn by the sudden realization that this time he was not alone within the blue domain. Not entirely. Below him as he descended, and some distance away, he perceived a dim wash of pale orange pigment staining the blueness. A small island of concentrated colour which, as his descent brought him nearer, became a single bright flare upon the surface of the Orb, piercing the blue. He stared in perplexity, unable to make out details beyond an intense orange-yellow flickering. When at last his feet alighted upon the ground he began to advance warily towards it, gripping the Orbsword.

   Dimension could not be determined initially, for there existed nothing to measure it by. Leth had the disconcerting sensation of not knowing if he was close or far away; was this flaring thing tall, as a
n ancient tree, as a man? Or was it no greater than a small post or shrub?

   Drawing closer he was able to divine by his motion and the thing's apparent increase in size that it was in fact approximately man-sized. But what was it? Its brightness and the haze surrounding it prevented him from making out its form, beyond the fact that it had the appearance of an upright column seeming to break into two extensions or wings which branched from its upper part. It remained motionless, and he presumed inanimate,
a burning statue radiating its light into the surrounding blue.

   Then Leth gasped. He saw now that the bright form was an almost human figure, and the extensions that spread from its upper back were indeed wings. A winged human, fabulous, molten, incandescent and
literally ablaze!
He stood still in awe: a winged guardian, perhaps, in flames, garbed in bright armour of breastplate, vambraces and helmet, around which the fabulous flames licked. It gripped a flaming sword and kite shield.