The Mirage on the Brink of Oblivion (The Epic of Aravinda Book 3) (15 page)

Torin got up and followed after her. “Yes, your Majesty.”

In a blink, they both bolted away.

Only Asha, Zahn, and two guards remained in the room. The royal guards, whose faces were hidden behind familiar white hoods, zoomed over to the exit and remained stationed on either side of the exit symbol.

Asha sighed. If they moved quickly, the guards probably wouldn’t detect them.

She stopped herself, a realization dawning on her.

What if, with this power, I could feel where the Breath of Life is? What if this power can lead me to it?

Even though she was still invisible, she moved as stealthily as possible, zooming up to Torin’s bowl of unfinished ambrosial soup. She looked down to it, still half-full, and cupped some of the soup in her hand, bringing it to her mouth. It reminded her of a sweet nectar, and as she swallowed it, a warmth filled her body. A new strength came over her, and she lifted the bowl to try more.

More of the power flooded into her. She felt as if she could do anything. Be anything. Create anything. But it didn’t give her any sense of where the Breath of Life was. Still, something that the Empress had said nagged at the back of her mind.

“Look!” one of the guards called out. “The bowl is moving of its own accord!”

“You idiot!” the other guard said. “We have cloaked intruders! Trap them!”

In a panic, Asha zoomed over and grabbed Zahn’s hand. They lurched forward, through the exit and into the hall. Behind, Asha could sense movement and felt a sinking feeling in her stomach. She felt like a fool. How could she have risked that?

She didn’t waste any time, darting back through the halls the same way they had come in. Zahn made sure to anchor himself to Asha’s ident, carefully avoiding sliding into any adjacent rooms as they zoomed ahead.

When they reached the long entrance hall, Asha stopped for a moment and looked behind. Zahn almost flew right through her before she moved aside. Both guards were right on their tail.

“We have a breach!” one of them yelled. “Secure the exit!”

A guard beside the exit zoomed up to it and moved his hands over it in a rapid circular motion. Asha guessed what this meant and embraced Zahn tightly, bolting upward. In a frantic moment, he realized what she was trying to do, and together they lurched toward the circular opening, shattering through a thin sheet the guard had made and through the narrow exit.

Asha’s head ached as they flew out of the monument, and everything appeared upside down as she plunged downward toward the sea. Yet instead of hitting the water, she saw a familiar white robe just below. A wash of white folds enveloped her, and all became darkness.

CHAPTER
26

FRAGMENTS OF MEMORY

Zahn awoke with a gasp, bolting upright with a clear feeling that something demanded his attention. His feeling was confirmed when he realized that a bright thought-nugget was hovering just above the bed.

He reached up and grabbed it.

Even before he opened it, he knew it was from Jyana.

Hello. The Empress wanted me to stop by after the ceremony. However, since neither of you came to the entrance when I knocked, I assumed you were resting, or otherwise engaged. Despite my recommendations, the Empress requests that I teach you both a final skill that may prove priceless during your time here in the Mirage. Since Torin is heading off to an important meeting, I’ll be around for most of this cycle. Shoot me a thought when you’re available.

He released the nugget, and it floated upward.

“What’s that?” Asha reached up and grabbed it.

“You’re up! It’s—yeah, you’ll scan it faster than I can speak.”

He watched as Asha’s expression shifted from suspicion to surprise, until it finally melted into bewilderment.

“Hmm.” Asha turned to him. “I don’t think she trusts us at all anymore.”

Zahn smirked. “Us? To them, we’re just strangers trying to find an ancient artifact that holds the key to their civilization. Who wouldn’t trust
us
?”

Asha furrowed her eyebrows and frowned, saying nothing.

“It’s not like I can blame her,” he continued. “She was right; we didn’t tell her everything, but we have our reasons.” He stood up and glided over to the tall container in the corner that held the energy packets. Even more red oval shapes floated within it than before, and he pulled one out and drank it.

“Everyone
has their reasons, Zahn.”

Zahn glided back over, offering some of the red liquid to her. “Want some?”

“No. Actually, I feel really good. Not drained, at all.” Her eyes widened. “Zahn, the ambrosia! I didn’t get much, but even two drinks was… indescribable.”

He grinned. “It looked like it! I think its power was the main reason we broke through the barrier the guard was creating over the exit. Come to think of it, what happened after that? How did we get back here?”

Zahn suddenly felt embarrassed at the realization that there was a gap in his memory.

Asha looked around. “Manu must have caught us and left us here to recuperate.”

“Good point.” Zahn took another drink from the energy packet. “Next time though, could you please be more careful when we’re invisible?”

She sighed. “Sorry. I guess I shouldn’t have messed with the ambrosial soup. If I hadn’t, we probably could have gotten out of there without much hassle. I endangered both of us.”

Zahn turned to her and took her hand, admiring her warm brown eyes. “No, that’s not what I meant. I’m glad you took the opportunity. This ambrosial energy could be really helpful later on.” He massaged her hand. “Just be careful, okay? And try not to be so hard on yourself.”

She looked up to meet his gaze. “Okay, I’ll try not to.”

“We’re in this together, Asha. You don’t have to do it alone. Remember that.”

“I will.” Asha stood up and took a deep breath. “So, are you ready for me to call Jyana back?”

“Let’s see what she has to say.”

Asha nodded and closed her eyes for a moment before a ball of light shot out of her head and through the wall at great speed.

“I should get a reply soon.” Asha looked down to the half-full energy packet that he was holding. “May I?”

“Sure.”

She took it and drank the rest of the red fluid.

“I don’t really need it, but it calms my nerves.”

Another ball of light zoomed through the walls and back into Asha’s head. “Wow. She’s already here.”

Zahn and Asha glided over to the exit and flew through, finding Jyana clad in a shimmering indigo dress that glowed at the edges.

“Hello,” Jyana said. “I want to be perfectly clear that I am only here by request of the Empress. Whether you two will regain my trust remains to be seen.”

Asha winced. “Ouch. I’m sorry to hear that. But I hope you realize why we couldn’t tell you everything. We were under orders. But the good news is, we found our friend.”

Jyana’s expression stiffened. “I, too, am under orders, and I want to be transparent with how I feel. In the Mirage, feelings become obvious quickly, and I would rather speak them first. I’m sure you understand. May I come in?”

“Sure,” Asha nodded.

Inside, Zahn noticed how Jyana glanced around before taking one of the large cup-like forms in the corner and sitting inside it, making it quite clear that what he had mistaken for art was actually a chair. All the while, Zahn got the feeling that Jyana did not want to be there.

“Pull up a cup,” Jyana said.

They each did, and Zahn found that with some effort, he could make the cup-like chair spin around.

“Forgive Zahn,” Asha said. “He can’t help himself.”

“Hey!” Zahn said. “It’s a fun chair.” He slowed it down and faced Jyana. “Okay, I’m done now.”

Asha rolled her eyes before turning to Jyana. “I’m ready.”

“Well,” Jyana narrowed her eyes at Zahn, “since you both seem comfortable with communicating with thought-nuggets in the
present
moment, the Empress believes it is time you both learn how to share information from your
past
experiences.”

“Memories,” Zahn said. “You’re talking about memories, aren’t you?”

“Yes,” Jyana nodded, “complete with full sensory information. Everything you heard and felt—everything is included. At least, if you can recall it clearly. Observe.”

Jyana closed her eyes, and a white ball of light, much smaller than the others, formed in front of her face and hung in the air. Her eyes flashed open once more, and she took the ball of light and offered it to Asha.

“Handle it carefully,” she said. “Memory nuggets can be some of the most densely packed information you’ll come across. Start by making a cursory scan of the nugget. Then, when you’re ready, you can go deeper.”

“Got it.”

Carefully, Asha brought the sphere up to her forehead.

When it touched her skin, Asha shivered, and Zahn wondered what images and sounds were flooding her senses. Still, she kept her calm.

Abruptly, Asha jerked her head, and after another moment, she slowly opened her eyes.

“What happened?” he asked. “Are you okay?”

She turned to Zahn. “It was the ceremony seen from Jyana’s perspective. But I felt her emotions, too. And Torin was there.” She turned, locking her gaze onto Jyana. “You fear that Torin is growing distant, don’t you?”

Jyana’s expression fell. “You can
infer
that?”

“No, but I think I felt it.”

Jyana turned away to break her gaze. “Let’s continue.”

“But what did you see?” Zahn asked.

Asha turned to Jyana. “Can he see, too?”

“Fine,” she said and closed her eyes again.

With a sharp inhale, a small ball of light once again formed in front of Jyana’s face, and she handed it to Zahn, who took it without hesitation.

He closed his eyes as dozens of sounds and images flooded his senses, and he took a couple deep breaths to balance his mind. Within his mind’s eye, he saw fragments of memory floating around. Within one was a short glimpse of the ceremony, and Zahn watched the proceedings from Jyana’s perspective. He noticed how Jyana had looked over and saw him and Asha sitting at the far end. But there was much more here then mere sensory data. As he watched, a feeling of anger mixed with surprise within Zahn’s heart.

Abruptly, the memory ended, and Zahn peered within another memory bubble nearby. Inside, he saw Asha near the pedestal being honored by the Empress.

A wave of anger washed over him again, but that feeling also faded, replaced with a twinge of guilt.

In the final bubble, Zahn saw Torin floating just in front of him, explaining that he had to go but would send a message when he knew more. As Torin skipped away, a sadness came over him, and he closed his eyes and pushed the memories away.

Zahn opened his eyes once more, feeling sadder than before.

“I see. In a memory, emotions are just as important as what you see and hear.” He turned to Jyana. “I think I know what Asha means, but I want you to know something. Torin
does
love you. It’s there. I can see it in the way he looks at you.”

“Thank you, Zahn, but that wasn’t the point of the exercise. I’m trying to show you both how powerful this ability is. It’s one of the primary tools for education in our society, and learning this skill will be necessary if Asha wishes to stay here.” She turned to Asha. “Your turn. Choose a memory to share. Consider your choice carefully, choosing something that rings vividly in your mind. Then, I want you to slowly roll your focus over that memory. Once you’ve completed the portion of memory you want to share, imagine it pressing down, ever smaller, into a ball of light. And everything will become clear.”

“All right.”

Asha closed her eyes and slowed her breathing.

As Zahn watched, he got the distinct feeling that she was doing the breathing meditation that they’d learned during their last adventure and tried to be as silent as possible. As she meditated, he felt a new calmness permeate the space around them, and he couldn’t help but close his eyes and meditate along with her for a moment.

When Zahn opened his eyes again, a hazy glow had formed between her eyes. The glow grew brighter and brighter until a ball of light, a bit smaller than Jyana’s had been, popped out of her forehead.

“Good,” Jyana said. “You are a fast learner, Asha.”

She blinked her eyes. “And that’s it? That’s my memory?”

“An energetic copy, you could say. Your memories are always woven into your being, inseparable. This process merely renders them into a sharable form so that others may experience them.”

Zahn laughed to himself. “Incredible. And could you experience another person’s whole life this way? I mean, do people trade memories often? How far does this go?”

“Memory is part of our shared wealth.” Jyana turned to Asha. “I shall open your memory now.”

To Zahn’s surprise, Jyana popped it into her mouth instead of her forehead and closed her eyes. After a few moments, she opened her eyes once more.

“Stunning place.” A look of surprise filled her face, brushing away the pained expression that had been there before. “Thank you for sharing that with me.”

“Of course,” Asha said. “I thought it would be a good memory to start with.”

Her face grew serious once again. “Still, you would be wise to be circumspect about which memory nuggets you delve into. They can contain any memory, ranging from a nightmare to sheer bliss. Now, there is another memory I want to share with you, something of great importance should you choose to stay here, Asha.”

Jyana closed her eyes for a long moment until another nugget drifted out of her head. It looked identical to the last, and Jyana placed it in her palm and offered it to Asha.

“What is it?” Asha said. “Is it traumatic?”

“Yes,” she said. “But it is pivotal, so I made it completely immersive. You
must
experience it, Asha.”

She furrowed her eyebrows and took it. “All right.”

CHAPTER
27

PRICELESS INFORMATION

With a single flick, Asha threw the memory into her forehead and plunged in.

To her surprise, she found herself hovering above the seabed, many meters below the surface. She felt a tingle in the space between her eyes, and a new sensitivity came to her. Now she could clearly see that she was gliding over a field of stony tan coral that stretched on for hundreds of meters in every direction.

Something caught her eye, and she stopped and zoomed down to a patch of the coral. To her dismay, it was almost completely covered in dark sediment. Asha felt a sinking feeling in her stomach and zoomed over to another patch. Like the first, it was lifeless, suffocated by layer upon layer of sediment. She checked several more, and soon realized that less than ten percent of the coral appeared to be alive at all. Images of indra fish, striking in their cyan and orange stripes, and a school of blue alpa fish, flashed into her mind. Somehow, she knew that many of them had died here.

A frantic feeling grew within her, and she searched with renewed vigor until she finally found a single golden crab hiding within some of the coral branches. The realization that she could only find one crab in this once dense habitat made her heart sink.

Asha shook her head in disgust and looked around once again. A burning thought flared into her mind: if someone didn’t find out what was happening to the sea soon, the damage would be irreversible.

The seafloor dimmed as the memory ended, and Asha gasped as she opened her eyes once more. The thought-nugget fell out of her head and onto her lap.

Her eyes felt wet.

“Now do you see what we face?” Jyana said. “Asha, I’ve been studying the sea for over 67 mirage years. The food web is complex, but at this point, I can finally say with confidence that if we don’t do something about it soon, the sea’s entire ecosystem is in danger of collapse. Thankfully, Advisor Kathini is forming a committee to address this issue, but I’m afraid that we may not even have enough time for that. We need to make the difficult decisions
today
, not months from now.” She paused, regarding Asha carefully. “If I’ve seemed on edge lately, that’s why.”

“Can I see the memory, please?” Zahn said. “We might be able to help.”

Jyana nodded, and Zahn picked up the memory.

Asha glanced over and watched Zahn’s expression fall as he experienced the memory with closed eyes.

Echoes of the last few weeks came into Asha’s mind. She closed her eyes and recalled their encounter with the massive fissure the Vakragha had created to consume Zahn’s world, carefully rolling over the memory of the dark maelstrom. The thought sent a chill up her spine, and she moved onto the volcano on Hataaza Darad and the bodies within. To finish, she recalled the rainbow halls of Amithya. The mere thought of them gave her hope.

Asha turned around with a new memory in her hand. “I’m sorry this is happening, Jyana. But to be honest, that isn’t the worst of your problems. I have a memory for you, if you’re open to it; and it concerns your entire world.”

“All right,” Jyana said.

Asha handed her the glowing ball, and Jyana brought it to her forehead, diving in without hesitation.

Just as Jyana had sunk into the memory, Zahn’s eyes shot open. “I can’t believe it!” He turned to Asha. “We’ve got to help them. Their entire—”

He glanced around, realizing that Jyana was submerged within another memory. “Oh, sorry,” he whispered.

“It’s okay,” Asha said. “I don’t think you disturbed her.”

“What did you give her?”

“The reality of why we’re here,” Asha said, pursing her lips. “I gave her the memory of the Battle of Rodhas and our experience with the Amithyans. I think she deserves to know what we’re up against, what we’re
all
up against.”

Zahn’s face went blank, and he leaned in to whisper. “But you don’t want to tell her about seeing Torin and the Empress, right? I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Of course not.” Asha winced. “I feel like she’s finally starting to trust us. Telling her about sneaking into the monument would undo all of the progress we’ve made today.”

“But if you’re showing her everything, don’t you think she deserves to know?” Zahn’s expression darkened. “Asha, I’m not sure how much you picked up from her memory, but studying the sea is this woman’s life. If she knew what we knew, she might be able to change things. She deserves to know.”

Asha remained silent, unsure of what to say.

Beside her, Jyana inhaled sharply and flashed her eyes open. “Such nightmares you two have faced. I’m impressed you lived through it, and without the benefits of the Mirage to support you.” She shook her head in disbelief. “Remarkable.”

“Well,” Zahn said, massaging Asha’s hand, “we had a lot of help, too.”

Asha squeezed his hand in return and let it go. “Now do you see? What you call the scourge have ravaged the galaxy. And it’s not only Zahn’s world. The Vakragha threaten Tavisi, too.”

Jyana winced. “We have faced them once before, you know, and they couldn’t even land. Our world is blessed, Asha. The longer you remain here, the more you’ll realize this.”

“No, Jyana! They have one of the Chintamani stones, and with it they can conquer death itself.” Asha shook her head in dismay. “They’ve revived Durazha, one of their greatest generals who is hellbent on unifying all of the Vakragha factions. Jyana, they won’t stop until they’ve brought every civilization into their dominion. We’ve been across this galaxy and back
more
than once, and journeyed to realms even stranger than this one, so please, trust me on this. Only the third Chintamani stone will bring us all victory. The last stone we recovered called it the Breath of Life, and it’s on this world, hidden somewhere.” Asha gently took Jyana’s hands as shock slowly spread across her face. “You wanted to know our real mission? Well, that’s it, all of it.”

Zahn raised a hand between them. “And I think that’s all Jyana needs to know for now. The Confederation is pretty picky who is allowed to—”

“No, Zahn. It’s time.” Asha lowered Zahn’s hand and turned back to Jyana. “You already know we were sent here to find a man named Manu. Well, we came here to help him retrieve that stone. Once we have it, we’ll use it to reveal the locations of the hidden Vakragha autarchs, the pinnacles of their command structure. With this information, the Confederation will finally end this war, Jyana, and the attack on this world,
our
world, will at last be avenged.”

Jyana frowned. “If the stone is as important as you say, then what if it’s the only thing keeping Tavisi safe? What if it’s the reason the Scourge were never able to land here?”

Asha’s expression hardened. “That’s conjecture. But what we know for certain is the stone’s power. Jyana, this is much bigger than our world.”

“And from what we’ve gleaned,” Zahn added, “your world would be unaffected. The stone only facilitates out-of-body experiences; so it wouldn’t change Mirage City itself. Those thought-forms are already well established.”

“Zahn’s right. By our best estimation, if we returned the stone within a standard Mirage day, there should be almost no effect.” Asha’s gaze focused onto Jyana. “We are so close to finding it, Jyana, and once we do, we’ll finally have a chance to end their reign of terror and finally bring peace.”

Jyana inhaled slowly. “So, what do you want from me? Why tell me any of this?”

“Because we’re running out of time, and our one shot for information has failed.”

“The truth is,” Zahn said, “you’re probably the only Tavisian who understands us. And in just a few planetary hours, my world is going to be attacked and millions of people are going to die, or worse, be enslaved by the Vakragha dominion. But you can help us stop that.”

Jyana frowned. “How?”

“Your partner, Torin,” Asha said. “He just had a confidential briefing with the Empress. In his new position, he has access to priceless information. If we could learn some bit of info,
anything
about where the Chintamani stone is, it would be vastly helpful. At this point, any lead would be appreciated.”

“I’m not sure he’ll tell me anything. He seemed guarded about the ceremony in the first place.”

“Jyana.” Asha peered into her eyes softly and spoke her name as if it were the most beautiful name in the world. “I wasn’t sure if now was the right time, but I feel that the present moment may be my only chance.” Asha paused, her expression hardening. “Your suspicions are correct. The ambrosia production is the primary reason the sea is dying. If you want to know more, then ask Torin. He knows, but he has pledged an oath to keep it secret. The question is, what is more important to the lives of the people? His oath? Or the health of this world?”

A look of cold shock washed over Jyana’s face.

“Please excuse me.”

In an instant, she jumped out of the chair and bolted through the nearest wall, out of the room.