The Laws Of Elios (Book 2) (20 page)

Shane scanned the monstrosity with his lumen sight and was rocked at the roiling m
ass of evil tinted blood red lumen that was contained within its structure; with more and more of the precious life lumen being fed into it, or rather siphoned from the masses of people that were herded into the stadium.  Many were prodded by soldiers some walked mindlessly. They seemed to walk a circuit around the outer ring of the “zone” of the now barren grassless warball field and then they were headed back out of the stadium visibly depleted of all of their energy and much of their life lumen.  Herded like animals back out of the stadium either to recharge or to die; the dead were hauled away by soldiers and thrown into a large open grave toward the rear of the arena.

Shane was sick to his stomach.  He released the lumen
that had provided the image and the view misted away and he stood nearly retching in the darkness.  A deep fear struck his conscience. Had that been what he done to the giant man so many weeks ago at the bar when he had won that arm wrestle?  Was he guilty of the same thing when he had killed those soldiers back when they had escaped from Jehhet at the wars declaration?  He shivered uncontrollably as he realized that he may be guilty of using Allyant magic.  The roiling angry lumen within the device in the stadium beyond seemed to laugh at him; the loneliness and the feeling of despair that overcame him drove him to his knees as the living nightmare of the wrung out people and the dead just beyond the walls crushed him like a weight.  Tears began to pour down his face; his chest was so tight he could not breathe and he felt as if he were going to be pulled apart by the very sinews of his being.

“Shane,” spoke a calm voice, soft as a feather but steady like a
flowing river. “Shane the voice spoke again you are being overwhelmed by the backlash of imprisoned souls.  Look away, look to the Lumen of Light and the living; quickly before you are overcome.”  The voice was his grandfathers.  How he knew he wasn’t sure; he had only seen him for the few moments when he had watched the man that had assisted Ahhan remove the lumen poison in a time that seemed so distant and he was later told who it had been. “The voice once again gently spoke through his mind.  Look at the Lumen of Light.  The dark lumen is only a corrupt counterfeit.  Do you see it?  Shane felt as if someone had put a comforting arm around his shuddering shoulders and lifted him to his feet.

Instantly Sha
ne began to feel less and less of the sadness and the redness of the angry dark lumen that had been teeming within the large sinister blade shaped craft at the stadium.  He opened his eyes and he saw his grandfather standing on an island of brilliant light in a storming sea of the red lumen.  You have the power of choice. Chose the lumen you will use,” spoke his grandfather calmly.

Suddenly the red lumen ceased it
s mocking and was instantly calm and accommodating.  Voices began to call out to him enticing him to join them and share in the captured lumen of those that did not deserve nor understand the true power of magic and its purpose; all things that someone of Shane’s great lumen capacity and intelligence were entitled to.  One particular persuasive, almost congenial, voice encouraged him to look  and conjured up a vision of a large palace with Shane on a throne with people of all kinds kneeling and scraping to accomplish his every dream; a beautiful woman at his side happily doing his bidding hinting at what she could offer him.  The woman soon became many women all with wistful sighs of adoration and determination to please him; telling him that they loved him; their desire just to be near him.  The unseen voice increased in its seeming camaraderie as it announced to the growing throng at the base of the throne, “I give you the master of the masters, and the greatest of the great ones, I give you your emperor – Shane!”

Suddenly the vision of the throngs and the throne shattered and voice like a thunderclap echoed through the very core of his mind and body. 
“…AND THEN WHAT!”

The shattered palace and the throngs seemed to shrink away as if he were traveling away from them
at incredible speed and soon were just a distant dim redness in a sea of empty darkness.

“Turn around,” spoke the voice, this time like a
more quiet distant thunder of a springtime rain.

Shane turned to the voice and was amazed at a burst of stars so vast that
to say that they were infinite was inadequate.  His heart instinctively yearned to see it all.  One of the stars began to grow closer to where he stood in the vast universe of light that he now beheld – as it drew near it was no longer a star but a large lion with the head and wings of an eagle.  “I am Kuo’irus; I follow the Lumen of Light.  Behold!”  The large brilliant shimmering gryphon extended his large wing in the direction that Shane should look.  As Shane watched the vast universe of stars he saw that there were patches of red among some of them, sometimes the red overcame the stars sometimes the stars caused the red to retreat.  As he watched he saw a world of beautiful trees and forests slowly began to freeze and die.  The people of that world did what they could do; some dug caves and moved into the ground some tried in vain to invent ways to leave the world in search for a new world. All the time the once beautifully forested world ever so slowly continued to die.  When Shane looked to see the cause he saw a great battle between two gryphons and several of the machines like he had seen in the stadium.  The larger gryphon fought valiantly with amazing speed and magic but was eventually overcome by the sheer numbers and brutality of the red lumen and shortly so was its mate.  Slowly the star began to dim; he now understood why the planet was dying; the gryphons were the Lumen of the worlds and the suns. As the sun dimmed the world began to quake and the inhabitants were without hope.

“We must rescue them, “Shane nearly shouted
. I know glyphs that could transport them to a safer world.”

“Behold,”
the large Kuo’irus said as a new world came into view.  “Behold the Elios.”

Shane watched in wonder as he saw the Elios work wondrous magic and transport all of the remaining forest people of the
freezing world to a new world.  The Forest people weren’t the only ones.  Similar worlds with similar fates were also rescued, without knowing how Shane knew one of them were the ancestors of the Luion.

“I ask you again, Son of Eliom. ‘And then what?’ 
If one has it all, then what? If one has no purpose, then what?  Worse yet, why would anyone trade the souls of the universe for empty lives and darkness? You need to know the ‘What’ and the ‘Why’ of creation.”

The universe of endless stars was gone and Shane found himself back in the sea of red lumen with is grandfather still on the island of light
beckoning to him.  The voice of Kuo’irus echoed one last time through his mind. “The choice is yours. Destruction of souls or the creation thereof; you must chose for you cannot do both.” He saw an image of a smaller gryphon with a baby gryphon looking longingly at Kuo’irus.  Standing at the smaller gryphon’s side stood Ava.  The sea of lumen seemed to grow sinister and rose up in a monstrous wave rolling toward Ava and the gryphons.

“No!” Shane yelled.  Without thought he reached into himself and created a massive glyph that formed a shield that surrounded the gryphons and his beloved Ava. As the red lumen crash
ed upon his shield the shield grew and soon ran from horizon to horizon and as far as the eye could see it encircled the red and soon was a large golden sphere containing the very redness that had but moments before intimidated him.  With a groan he willed it to shrink until the lumen was condensed into nothing more than a gold ball the size of his fist.  Then with his last strength he began to free the lumen of life trapped within; leaving only the residue.  Bit by bit the residue was starved and it withered away. As the golden globe winked out of existence Shane said, “I choose Light.”

When Shane awoke he felt strong and refreshed.  Looking around he found himself sitting on a park bench in a shaded summer time garden.  Instinctively he turned to see his grandfather sitting next to him.

The man didn’t look much older than Soaris or his mother, but he knew the man must be thousands of years old if not more.  With a smile he said to Shane, “Good choice my grandson, and spectacularly made, might I add.”

Shane laughed, “You mean it
wasn’t a dream?”

The part where you were nearly overcome by the
backlash of dark lumen? No.  The part where you saw the works of the Lumen of Light and the possibilities of becoming an Allyant Great One? Yes.  The part where you chose true Lumen over stolen lives that too was a dream but your choice - that was real.”

“Where are we?” asked Shane looking around.

“A little pocket of existence I threw together in order for you to recover.  I’ll tell you where it is another time.”  Looking around as if the visit was over, Jahnon stood and Shane followed suit.  Jahnon was every bit as tall as Shane and he reached out and embraced his grandson lifting him from the ground.  I’m proud of you Shane.  I’m confident that you Ari and all of those that follow you will be able to defeat the Allyant that has infested Eliom.”  Changing the subject he added, “You have a ball game to organize.  Have a good time; I know things look bleak, but tomorrow is another day.  One last thing, Shane, when you arm-wrestled the man at the Ox and defended yourself during your escape from Jehhet, you did not ravage their souls; you may have weakened them and removed their energy but you did not cross the Laws and stoop to the stealing of the magic of their spirits.”  With those parting words Jahnon faded away as he walked away from the bench.

The next thing Shane realized is th
at was sitting on a park bench again, this time in a large field.  Standing he looked around and realized he was on the outskirts of Valee.  Looking back at the bench he saw a small box with his name on it.  Picking it up, he opened it and found a small golden three sided pyramid with a single activation glyph on one side.  Also in the box was a simple note: Have fun, Love Grandpa.

Putting the note and the box back on the bench he examined the small pyramid.  With no other options he activated the
single glyph and immediately a voice said please toss the pyramid into the center of the field and run; you have thirty seconds.  Shane nearly laughed, were
all of his relatives from Elios such practical jokers?

Doing as instructed he tos
sed the small device far out onto the grass. To his amazement he felt a strong tingle of lumen and soon the grass was a freshly mowed lawn and the circle of the eye appeared in the center.  The field soon followed and finally the zone appeared.  Then like stalks of corn growing at superfast speed, goals with nets sprung from the ground positioned evenly around the field.  Incredibly a full field was in place; complete with score board.  Just when he thought it was finished a large shed appeared just off the field behind the benches.  Walking over he opened it and found it full of various colored vests and a large equipment bag with a dozen practice balls.  “I guess grandpa may have watched a few games,” he said aloud with a chuckle.

Sitting back on the bench he admired the newly created warball field.  He closed his eyes and reflected on the
dream that he had just experienced.  He pondered on the significance of the gryphons and what they meant – a thought entered his mind –
they are star seeds; they are the lumen of the earth and suns that they represent.
Without understanding how he knew, the realization that there were gryphons that represented Eliom and its sun and that he and the Arc and the gryphons shared a destiny. 

He recalled the scene of
Ava standing so regally next to the two gryphons and smiled; he was amazed at the fact that such an amazing woman loved him and couldn’t imagine loving anyone else.  On a whim he decided to see what she was up to.  Using lumen magic he soon had an image that gave him a wide view of her as she was riding in the overland intently watching a set of viewers.  The understanding that she intended to test the new enchantments herself dawned on him and from the looks of things from far above the floor of the deep forest floored crater.  This impressed him with a feeling of pride; that his future wife was not someone who was without initiative and a spirit of exploration.   He watched as Ava donned her equipment that she had put together to repair the overland.  He jumped at first as he saw Ava fall through the magical holographic rail but soon sighed as he saw the rope catch and her fall cease.  He felt a little guilty as he smiled at the expression on her face as she assessed how to get out of her predicament.  Then wondering how he could help without embarrassing her he touched his ear comm and gave her a call.  After the short conversation and seeing her suspicious look he hoped the hints that he had given would be enough and quickly disconnected.  Watching a few moments longer and seeing her using the magical step to climb back to the monorail car, he was satisfied that she would be fine.  

Grabbing the
equipment bag he went to the eye line of the field and poured the balls onto the ground in front of him and began practice kicks to the different goals.  When he was out of balls he sprinted around the zone gathering them up jumping up and performing a mock slam once in a while.  When he had gathered all of the balls he repeated the process.

After a few more times of kicking and gathering the balls Shane felt relaxed
and began inspecting the grass; pretty good for near winter.  A sound of voices interrupted his examination.  Looking towards Valee he saw a dozen or so youths walking aimlessly along the outer road that circled the city; shuffling as they went.