Read The Persistence of Memories - A Novel of the Mendaihu Universe Online
Authors: Jon Chaisson
Tags: #urban fantasy, #science fiction, #alien life, #alien contact, #spiritual enlightenment, #future fantasy, #urban sprawl, #fate and future
The Persistence of Memories - A Novel of the Mendaihu Universe
A novel of the Mendaihu Universe
Jon Chaisson
Smashwords Edition
Copyright 2016 Jon Chaisson
Other Titles in the Mendaihu Universe:
A Division of Souls
The Balance of Light
Smashwords Edition
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Contents
‘The Persistence of Memories’ by
Kelley James
Life is but a piece in the
grander Goddess of things...
We are all part of it, just as it is a part
of us.
We choose to ascend ourselves with knowledge
of this deity each day,
To transcend the material for that which is
Love, Peace and Light.
For without an Ascension, there is no
eternal savior.
Without an eternal savior, there is no
eternity.
Without eternity, time ceases to exist.
And we are all left in space.
Here lies fate, my friend.
Here lies fate.
And the persistence of memories.
--Kelley James, 'The Persistence of
Memories'
CHAPTER ONE
The One of All Sacred
Earth.
Gharra.
Home.
Denni Johnson held herself close, gazing at
the impossible beauty and serenity of the Earth’s surface below
her. She truly felt at peace in this otherwhere. This was her
solitude, her lumisha dea, where no one could find ever find her,
not unless she let them in. No Mendaihu, no Shenaihu. No
Meraladhza
or
Gharné
knew where she was. Tigua Space
Station lurked some thousand kilometers away to her right, but she
was off their boards, not quite in Earth reality but not quite in
Lightspace either. It was her one hiding spot in this universe.
If she wanted to, she could focus on the one
place on this planet she’d known all her life, Bridgetown Province,
and listen to the souls calling out. If she willed it, she could
listen to them beckoning her, waiting for a word or action from the
One of All Sacred. Or she could close everyone out completely and
try and remember how it was before. Back when she was just Dennise
Jeannette Johnson, age fifteen, an honors student at Ormand Park
Senior Basic.
But that was the past now, just memories, and
she understood that all too well. She could still be that young
girl, going to school and hanging out with her friends, but that
innocence was gone. She was the One of All Sacred, the benevolent
deity sent to protect each and every living thing on that planet
down there.
Or rather, she embodied the spirit of the One
of All Sacred. Did that mean she
was
the One, or was she
just a physical vessel for that divine soul? Both, she decided,
just to be contrary. She wasn't about to relinquish her
individuality just because she was a revered and long awaited deity
of the human and Trisandi races.
This, of course, meant every sentient human
being down there, Meraladhza and Gharné alike.
Nearly three centuries ago, the Meraladians
contacted Earth to bring them up to date on the happenings within
the universe, followed by their arrival almost a century later.
What they neglected to inform humans right off was that this wasn't
First Contact at all, but a reunion of sorts. They were in fact our
spiritual and physical ancestors, having come here so many
millennia in the past it was lost to our own history.
Everything would have been fine if it had
stopped there.
Five days ago, she'd been awakened as the
Ninth Coming of the One of All Sacred.
It was something she hadn't expected, didn't
want, and wished had never happened. Her life had changed
drastically in those days that followed: she and her sister Caren
had inherited the strength and powers of the Mendaihu from their
deceased parents. They'd survived attacks from the Shenaihu. They’d
averted a disaster by calming the spirit-laden Rain of Light
hanging over the Sprawl.
And in she'd nearly gotten herself killed in
the process. The calming ritual had been corrupted by someone
outside, and she’d nearly lost all the spirits in the Sprawl. The
Dahné Shenaihu nuhm’ndah, Natianos Lehanna, had known exactly when
to make his move. She’d sensed that man’s appearance at that
critical moment and had stopped the entire ritual, simply by
inserting
doubt
into the equation.
She’d doubted she could complete the ritual,
and that had been her undoing.
Natianos could have eradicated all those
spirits, hers included. But she had woven herself into their
threads, every single one involved in the ritual, and had saved
them by bringing them temporarily into this Lightspace, then
dropping them safely back to Earth reality. She hadn't bothered to
ask
how
she'd come up with that idea at the last possible
second. It had saved lives and souls, and that was enough for
her.
Yet she understood his actions, even before
she’d performed the Cleansing. She’d triggered an Awakening of
unknown limit, starting a global chain reaction. If she wanted to,
she could watch the Light show from up here; billions of sentient
beings, human and otherwise, suddenly becoming aware of their place
within the universe, and of the powers they had within themselves
to change that universe if they so desired. Each spirit glowed with
the Light and Love of the One of All Sacred. All this, despite the
Dahné’s interruption. She’d actually used his actions to her
advantage; as he had stopped the Rain from bonding with the newly
awakened, she had given the Rain the freedom of choice: they could
bond with whomever they pleased, whenever they pleased, if the
target was willing.
It has taken nearly everything out of her own
spirit in the process. Right now, what she needed was Peace.
Denni curled herself into a fetal position
and closed her eyes. Here, above the land, she could be truly alone
with her thoughts. No spirits approached. None recognized her, and
none threatened her. She could still connect with anyone, or
everyone
, if she wished. If she wanted, she could just as
easily reverse all Nehalé Usarai had done, in just one breath. Of
course she knew its consequences. In her last five days of solitude
she’d been tempted to do just that, but each time she reminded
herself just why she’d awakened so many people in the first place.
There were many and varied reasons, yet the one that stood out
most, she found the hardest to admit to herself.
She had awakened them in a purely selfless
gift of Love. She had done so as a way to show them the Truth, that
all were luminous beings in the eyes of the One of All Sacred. She
wanted to give them that knowledge. The human race on Earth — the
Gharné — had earned that right. This Love transcended all
boundaries, including the rift between the Mendaihu and the
Shenaihu. As the One of All Sacred, she loved all without
question.
Trisanda wished upon its living beings the
power of not only obtaining knowledge but understanding and
retaining it. From Trisanda came the two spirits, the symbiotic
spirits, the Mendaihu and the Shenaihu. Denni knew both well, as
did Caren. They, along with plenty others in Bridgetown, had been
Awakened into both realities, as cho-nyhndah. It was now up to them
to awaken themselves.
Denysia.
Denni shuddered and opened her eyes. She had
turned in her place and was now facing the black expanse of the
universe, and with a yelp she twisted herself back around. Who had
just called her?
Denysia!
“Ampryss,” she muttered. The one person she'd
been avoiding the most had finally found her. The Watcher of
Worlds, emha-sehndayen-ne Eprysia Kaalen, or Ampryss, had been her
spiritual guide once she had come into her role as the One. Ampryss
had first called out to her mere minutes after she had saved those
people and disappeared from the warehouse. She had called again a
few hours later, frantic in her search. Denni had conceded then,
briefly telling her that she wished to remain alone and anonymous
for the time being. Ampryss granted her that wish, but only for a
short time.
Denysia,
the woman called from within.
Please answer me!
Denni groaned in frustration. Certainly she
couldn’t give her a few more hours, a few more days to rest and get
her bearings? Yet she could not dismiss Ampryss so easily. She had
watched over her when Caren could not. She had taught her so much
more than anyone else in the world could have, and in so little
time. And she had shown her this hiding place...
Ampryss,
she called out from within.
I am here.
Denni immediately sensed a wave of relief
emanating from Ampryss, light years away…her spirit knew no time
nor distances.
Dearest One, thank you for answering
.
I've been worried.
Worried?
Denni hid her amusement. To
cause one of the strongest reality seers in the universe to worry
was no mean feat!
I'm well, if that's what you mean. I’ve been
resting. And doing a lot of thinking.
Noting the silent response, Ampryss hadn't
found her respite such a good idea. She’d been disconnected from
the world for nearly a week, so she wasn’t entirely sure what was
going on down there right now.
You must come to Trisanda when you
can,
Ampryss said.
There is much you need to know before you
face the Dahné again.
The request was unexpected. Was there more
she needed to learn as the One?
Could Natianos inflict more
damage than he already has?
Dahné Natianos Lehanna is stronger than we
expect,
she said
. There is nuhm’ndah within him, but I fear
there is more to the situation that we originally thought. There
was more power in his actions that day than was possible.
Denni shivered, thinking back to that moment
when she’d almost lost control of the Cleansing ritual. Natianos’
power had indeed been much stronger than she’d expected. It felt as
though he’d added someone else’s strength to his own.
You're
expecting this to escalate further, aren't you?
Denni asked.
It has been a quarter century since the last Embodiment. I
started an Awakening of global proportions, and that won't hide the
fact that the nuhm’ndah still want to destroy everything we’ve
created.