CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Falia

 

Falia enjoyed the view from the window of her office whilst meditating on the logistics of the Temporal Freeze she would put into effect in only a few hours. She had paused all other thoughts, disconnecting from any possible distractions, and focused entirely on that single task before her.

The sun, sitting low in the sky, looked down on Lenora like a loving parent. In the beginning it had been there with its life affirming rays. Fitting that in the end it would be there lighting the way into an existence yet unknown.

She had spent a lifetime contemplating only that which could be known. As the sun arced upward through the sky she wondered how long it would be before her people saw another sunrise. Falia found solace in the knowledge that somewhere in the ever expanding Universe there lived a Dimension of Lenoreans who would wake in the morning. However, that did little to assuage the sadness she suffered for the equal number of worlds that would not.

Even Falia could not comprehend the amount of life lost every second through the Universe. The inconceivable complexity of the Universe reminded Falia of her people’s insignificance in its grand design.

A subdued flash of light flickered in the corner. Falia turned in time to see Mineal materialize in its place. The young woman panted softly as the molecules of her body reassimilated.

“Madam Leader,” Mineal said, gasping for air. The color had blanched from her smooth, rounded cheeks. “I have urgent news.”

“Yes?” Falia terminated her meditation period and resumed the list of thoughts and programs typically consuming her mind. In reconnecting her mind to the web of thoughts spun by invisible threads across Lenora, knowledge came instantaneously, even before Mineal could respond.

Something was missing. A line of thought she had been running for hundreds of years had vanished, and with it, every connection to Ryol was severed. The void filled Falia with an emotion she had not felt since childhood.

Panic.

Falia struggled for air against the invisible hand tightening its grip around her chest. Her scattered thoughts searched desperately for understanding. A scream shattered the silence of the room, traveling the eternity of Falia’s mind in an instant. The shroud of fear lifted. The Madam Leader blinked to clear away the confusion and found Mineal convulsing on the ground.

“Mineal.” Falia dropped to the unforgiving floor on her knees and cradled the girl’s head between trembling hands. “I’m so sorry.”

Mineal’s eyes came in and out of focus like beads of glass staring into the unknown.

Help. Falia thrust the thought out of her mind and into the world.

This was her fault. She should never have allowed her emotions to spike. Her mind could kill if her emotions were left unregulated. She had carried that knowledge with her since childhood, a lesson learned in the hardest way imaginable.

Now, she would relearn that lesson because of a single moment of weakness. Poor Mineal didn’t deserve to suffer. Didn’t deserve to share in the sea of panic that had temporarily overwhelmed Falia.

She called out to Mineal’s mind, but the girl’s fragile consciousness retracted into itself, taking shelter from the fear that stalked her thoughts.

The Madam Leader did not notice the Healer suddenly appear beside her. It wasn’t until the other woman knelt and held a hand to Mineal’s temple that she became aware of the woman’s presence.

“She is suppressed beneath great fear,” the Healer said.

“Yes,” Falia said. “My own.”

“Her mind is fractured beyond the skill I possess to repair. Many Healers will be required to coax her mind from its cocoon.”

“Do what you must to mend her.”

The Healer nodded and a layer of smoke obscured her eyes. In a flash of light the woman disappeared with Mineal’s body, leaving Falia alone with the icy drip of dread coursing through her blood. A shiver rippled down her spine. The vibrations penetrated to the depth of her being.

She stared at the sun, the sole source of light, of hope, in a world that closed in tighter.

Frantically, she scattered her thoughts across the Universe in search of her daughter.

The world clenched tighter.

Her heart pounded its unrelenting march in an attempt to break free from her chest. No response came from Ryol’s mind, no familiar touch.

Tighter.

Anxiety seized her throat with bony fingers, trapping the blood rushing through her body so it pooled in her throbbing brain.

Aurora whispered, but Falia couldn’t understand.

Tighter.

The sun flickered behind black dots. Falia screamed against the darkness creeping in.

“Ryol, where are you?” she gasped.

She’s gone, Aurora said.

It was true.

Tighter.

With a final gasp for air, the Madam Leader collapsed.

Tighter.

The world ceased to exist. The darkness became absolute.