Lightbringer (Empirium 3)

Eliana.

A chill kissed her neck. She stood slowly, ignoring Ruusa. Splinters of darkness branched off the shape in the air like cracks in glass. She watched them grow, holding her breath, listening to the others cry out in wonder.

Then, the splinters stopped. A hundred spider legs of darkness hung suspended in the air and grew no more.

A feeling tugged at Navi’s breastbone, urging her toward something, or perhaps away. She did not understand what it meant, but the longer she stared at this hovering shape, the sicker she felt.

But she had to look at it. She had to move closer. Something had happened, something to do with the empirium, and this was proof of it. The quake, and now this. Navi had to know what it was. Was Eliana hurt? Had she been killed, and now the world was breaking?

“There.” She pointed. “Do you see that?”

“I see it!” Miro scrambled to crouch beside her, rocking the boat and making Ruusa curse. “Is it a fire?”

Navi retrieved Miro’s oar. “We must go to it, quickly.”

Ruusa did not move. “Whatever that is, we should stay far away from it.”

Navi’s patience had vanished, replaced by a frantic need to see this thing, to touch it. A wild thought came to her that Eliana could be on the other side of it.

“You will pick up your oar,” she said to Ruusa, her voice calm but sharp-edged, “and help me get to that thing before it disappears, or you will condemn yourself to being forever a disappointment in my eyes.”

It was a harsh thing to say, and Navi hated saying it, but soon they were moving, Ruusa rowing in abashed silence. Malik called after her, and Hob too, and Navi heard their splashing oars, but she did not look back at them, because as Ruusa and Taya and Edran and Miro brought her closer to this floating splintered eye, something changed.

Inside the eye, in the midst of those swirling dark colors, shapes grew, like dropped ink spreading in water.

Navi couldn’t look away. This impossible thing had fastened hooks to her heart. If she tried to break away, her chest would open like a crack in the earth. What was it?

“You’re not going fast enough,” she muttered, and then, seeing that the water had grown shallow, she leapt over the side of the boat and plunged into the swamp.

Soon after, Ruusa’s oar hit the ground. Navi heard the bottom of their boat wedge into the mud, heard Miro exclaim in fear, but she could not stop moving forward.

“Navi!” came Hob’s voice. “Stop!”

“Something’s inside it!” she called back to him.

A creature in the water brushed past her leg. She hardly noticed it, climbed up a slight rise in the sucking mud. Past the bruise’s smudged rim spun slow shapes, like whorls of smoke.

Navi yanked her foot free of the muck, found solid ground. From the side, the bruise was hair thin, nearly disappearing as she gazed at it.

But moving around it, she saw that, from a different angle, it was wider, like a suspended dark mirror. Thin, bright-blue sparks crackled around its edges, like small fingers of lightning. If she could only touch this strange blemish in the air, push aside some of its tangled shadows, she would be able to see what lay inside it. She would be able to understand.

Her feet were moving too fast. She tried to slow down, move away, but the very air was tugging her forward. She stumbled over her own feet, reached out to brace herself, but she did not fall. Her arms went rigid, fingers pulled toward the dark unblinking eye. In a flash of terror, she understood that this thing, whatever it was, had a will.

It wanted her to come close.

It wanted her to touch it.

Her fingers brushed the air around it, and a horrible pressure bore down on them, then on her hand and wrist, her arm, her elbow.

She glanced down in horror, a scream lodged in her throat, and then, the darkness mere inches from her face, a crack like lightning flashed before her eyes.

A thousand images became clear to her in that single shocking instant, as if countless lifetimes had been forced into her mind all at once. Strips of skin unfurling from bone like long black tongues. Hands reaching for help that would not come. A million howling voices, a cacophony of fury.

A glittering city that had no end. Beasts with wings like scythes.

A maw immense enough to swallow the world, black and fathomless.

Navi flew back, stumbling. Something had broken her gaze. Hands seized her arms and legs, tugged her back into the swamp. She fell, inhaled murky water, came bursting back up with a gasp.

She hit something solid, and there was Malik, knee-deep in the muck, Hob and Ruusa just behind him. The men helped her and Ruusa climb into their boat and then shoved it away hard, away from the rise of land and the black seam crowning the air above it.

Then Malik and Hob scrambled back into their own boat, which had pulled up just beside hers, both of them dripping and breathing hard. Miro took off his shabby coat and draped it tenderly around Navi’s shoulders.

She clutched it closed at her throat, and only then did she realize that her fingertips were coated with a thin sheen of blood.

Watching the darkness glide away from them as her friends rowed hard in the opposite direction, Navi began to weep.

Malik watched her gravely from his boat. “What was it? What did you see?”

Navi could not begin to describe it. Her head ached as the images buried themselves in her mind. She felt them crowding the walls of her skull, too big for her, too ageless.

A fleeting thought came to her: If this was even a pale echo of what Eliana felt, living with such power, then it was astonishing she had not yet shattered.

“It was the Deep,” Navi whispered. “I know it was, though I cannot explain how. The things I saw, how they pulled at me…” She shook her head. “That shape, that thing, it is a tear between here and there. Something has opened, and I don’t know why, but beyond it, past that seam, is everything we have ever feared.”

Ruusa stared, her freckled face gone horribly pale. As he rowed, Hob’s mouth was set in a grim line.

“Eliana often spoke to me of the Gate,” Navi continued, locking eyes with Malik. “You know of it too. Father and Papa—they told you, just as they told me. Most people in our world think it only a rumor. They look at their black-eyed attackers and convince themselves there are no angels still living. But we know better.”

Malik looked grim. “And you think that…that thing is another Gate?”

“I think it could be someday. I think the quake we felt was something much bigger than simply a shift in the earth. I think it was a shift in the empirium, that Eliana is still alive and fighting.” Navi stared at the distant black eye, hovering half-hidden in the trees. Fear tickled her throat. a.

A chill kissed her neck. She stood slowly, ignoring Ruusa. Splinters of darkness branched off the shape in the air like cracks in glass. She watched them grow, holding her breath, listening to the others cry out in wonder.

Then, the splinters stopped. A hundred spider legs of darkness hung suspended in the air and grew no more.

A feeling tugged at Navi’s breastbone, urging her toward something, or perhaps away. She did not understand what it meant, but the longer she stared at this hovering shape, the sicker she felt.

But she had to look at it. She had to move closer. Something had happened, something to do with the empirium, and this was proof of it. The quake, and now this. Navi had to know what it was. Was Eliana hurt? Had she been killed, and now the world was breaking?

“There.” She pointed. “Do you see that?”

“I see it!” Miro scrambled to crouch beside her, rocking the boat and making Ruusa curse. “Is it a fire?”

Navi retrieved Miro’s oar. “We must go to it, quickly.”

Ruusa did not move. “Whatever that is, we should stay far away from it.”

Navi’s patience had vanished, replaced by a frantic need to see this thing, to touch it. A wild thought came to her that Eliana could be on the other side of it.

“You will pick up your oar,” she said to Ruusa, her voice calm but sharp-edged, “and help me get to that thing before it disappears, or you will condemn yourself to being forever a disappointment in my eyes.”

It was a harsh thing to say, and Navi hated saying it, but soon they were moving, Ruusa rowing in abashed silence. Malik called after her, and Hob too, and Navi heard their splashing oars, but she did not look back at them, because as Ruusa and Taya and Edran and Miro brought her closer to this floating splintered eye, something changed.

Inside the eye, in the midst of those swirling dark colors, shapes grew, like dropped ink spreading in water.

Navi couldn’t look away. This impossible thing had fastened hooks to her heart. If she tried to break away, her chest would open like a crack in the earth. What was it?

“You’re not going fast enough,” she muttered, and then, seeing that the water had grown shallow, she leapt over the side of the boat and plunged into the swamp.

Soon after, Ruusa’s oar hit the ground. Navi heard the bottom of their boat wedge into the mud, heard Miro exclaim in fear, but she could not stop moving forward.

“Navi!” came Hob’s voice. “Stop!”

“Something’s inside it!” she called back to him.

A creature in the water brushed past her leg. She hardly noticed it, climbed up a slight rise in the sucking mud. Past the bruise’s smudged rim spun slow shapes, like whorls of smoke.

Navi yanked her foot free of the muck, found solid ground. From the side, the bruise was hair thin, nearly disappearing as she gazed at it.

But moving around it, she saw that, from a different angle, it was wider, like a suspended dark mirror. Thin, bright-blue sparks crackled around its edges, like small fingers of lightning. If she could only touch this strange blemish in the air, push aside some of its tangled shadows, she would be able to see what lay inside it. She would be able to understand.

Her feet were moving too fast. She tried to slow down, move away, but the very air was tugging her forward. She stumbled over her own feet, reached out to brace herself, but she did not fall. Her arms went rigid, fingers pulled toward the dark unblinking eye. In a flash of terror, she understood that this thing, whatever it was, had a will.

It wanted her to come close.

It wanted her to touch it.

Her fingers brushed the air around it, and a horrible pressure bore down on them, then on her hand and wrist, her arm, her elbow.

She glanced down in horror, a scream lodged in her throat, and then, the darkness mere inches from her face, a crack like lightning flashed before her eyes.

A thousand images became clear to her in that single shocking instant, as if countless lifetimes had been forced into her mind all at once. Strips of skin unfurling from bone like long black tongues. Hands reaching for help that would not come. A million howling voices, a cacophony of fury.

A glittering city that had no end. Beasts with wings like scythes.

A maw immense enough to swallow the world, black and fathomless.

Navi flew back, stumbling. Something had broken her gaze. Hands seized her arms and legs, tugged her back into the swamp. She fell, inhaled murky water, came bursting back up with a gasp.

She hit something solid, and there was Malik, knee-deep in the muck, Hob and Ruusa just behind him. The men helped her and Ruusa climb into their boat and then shoved it away hard, away from the rise of land and the black seam crowning the air above it.

Then Malik and Hob scrambled back into their own boat, which had pulled up just beside hers, both of them dripping and breathing hard. Miro took off his shabby coat and draped it tenderly around Navi’s shoulders.

She clutched it closed at her throat, and only then did she realize that her fingertips were coated with a thin sheen of blood.

Watching the darkness glide away from them as her friends rowed hard in the opposite direction, Navi began to weep.

Malik watched her gravely from his boat. “What was it? What did you see?”

Navi could not begin to describe it. Her head ached as the images buried themselves in her mind. She felt them crowding the walls of her skull, too big for her, too ageless.

A fleeting thought came to her: If this was even a pale echo of what Eliana felt, living with such power, then it was astonishing she had not yet shattered.

“It was the Deep,” Navi whispered. “I know it was, though I cannot explain how. The things I saw, how they pulled at me…” She shook her head. “That shape, that thing, it is a tear between here and there. Something has opened, and I don’t know why, but beyond it, past that seam, is everything we have ever feared.”

Ruusa stared, her freckled face gone horribly pale. As he rowed, Hob’s mouth was set in a grim line.

“Eliana often spoke to me of the Gate,” Navi continued, locking eyes with Malik. “You know of it too. Father and Papa—they told you, just as they told me. Most people in our world think it only a rumor. They look at their black-eyed attackers and convince themselves there are no angels still living. But we know better.”

Malik looked grim. “And you think that…that thing is another Gate?”

“I think it could be someday. I think the quake we felt was something much bigger than simply a shift in the earth. I think it was a shift in the empirium, that Eliana is still alive and fighting.” Navi stared at the distant black eye, hovering half-hidden in the trees. Fear tickled her throat.