Within These Tangled Tales

Chapter Forty

—Shadowlands, Valdornne—

Ori smiled as George fluttered down onto her shoulder. He nudged her gently, dropping the letter he held in his beak into her waiting hand. As she took it, opening the neatly written scrawling of Avalas' message, George left her for Adix, who gave him the affection pats he seemed to want. Her eyes passed quickly over the letter. It would seem Avalas and Altara had found something after all.

"What's the Beginning?" she asked over her shoulder, gaze searching for Rhiorr.

The Dark One's face conveyed surprise at her question, but it quickly transformed into something more somber as he looked away, deciding how he would word his answer. "This world...it is the only surviving piece of what you call the Grave, the Void. The spell that was cast to create a new world, a new universe, took place here, on this world in the Grave, and from it, sprang a new universe abounding with life."

"And the Creator," Kailus asked quietly. "Is He the one that...created everything?"

"In a manner of speaking," Rhiorr seemed almost to snarl at the thought. "When we arrived here, new life was just beginning to sprout. We watched as a barren reflection was transformed into a verdant paradise for us. It might've been the most beautiful thing I had ever seen if I hadn't just watched all Emma'Shalaar fall to ruin. When the worlds burn before your eyes, everything is hollow by comparison."

"Something...destroyed your entire universe?" Kailus couldn't keep the horror from his expression. "I thought...from the little you spoke of, I thought it was just one world, but..."

"Not one, but a thousand, million, billion. All gone. Every world. As the Silence descended upon us, we tried to flee, tried to run. All ran to the only place where we felt safe, to the world with those who could save us all, or so we hoped."

"This world?" Zenn'a asked, her emerald eyes fixed upon Rhiorr's face when he talked. There was a distant look in his eyes, but he was more expressive than he had ever been. "What was it called?"

"Velara, just as it is called now. We felt no need to change it. It was home to the dreamers, the most powerful sorcerers to ever live. And stronger than them all, a hero who outshone the very stars themselves. Everyone knew of her."

"Aer'Avyn," Ori chanced a guess.

Rhiorr shook his head. "That was not her true name. Dreamers do not share their names with just anyone. They only share it with a single person in their entire lifetime. The one they love above all others. To us, the rest of the universe, she was, first, the Hero of Velara. Later, the Hero of Saad'yna, and to those of us who survived, the few that remained, she became Aer'Avyn, our Savior."

"And did she?" Kailus frowned. "Did she save you?"

"Yes, one of several heroes who gave their lives so that we few could live. Though, at the end, as the final worlds burned, only two were worthy of the title. Aer'Avyn and Ylessra, sisters who carried with them power to make the heavens tremble."

The mention of the name conjured the woman in the red dress anew. She stood upon the horizon, pointing into the distance. Ori ignored her.

"We stepped through a tear in the fabric of reality and watched as life was born anew. That place where we emerged, we called it the Beginning. The door to the other side, to the Grave itself, is there. It is the thinnest point in the universe."

"What do Avalas and Altara have to say about it?" Kailus turned to her.

Ori glanced down at the letter in hand. "They found an old letter somewhere from Queen Namera to Queen Korintha regarding some sort of ritual or some such. They were going to the Beginning with their crowns to act as some sort of foci perhaps. They were all fitted with these gems of Angra'savonon. The letter didn't say what they were going to do, just that Namera was feeling guilty over having hurt someone."