Incarnation | Wandering Stars Volume One

Chapter 25

DALEN A-SORGUD

After giving the weapons and armor to the soldiers of the Amatru, Enoch watched them go their separate ways. The Iryllurym took to the air while the Anduarym ran through the fields to the west. The holy Myndarym, who had shifted the soldiers into this realm, disappeared just as the Speaker had done in Haragdeh. The Vidirym, who seemed the most secretive, had come from the Eternal Realm directly into the nearby water. Enoch didn't get a good look at them, but did manage to catch a glimpse of blue-green skin. As they slipped beneath the water, something trailed behind them, disturbing the smooth surface.

When they were gone, silence descended like a thick blanket, the likes of which Enoch hadn't experienced in months. Stranger than this abrupt change was the fact that Enoch now felt lonely. Though he'd always been a recluse by nature, he'd been living with the Myndarym for quite some time and had grown accustomed to their presence. Looking now across the water and the patches of fog swirling over the grass, he wondered what he should do. Aragatsiyr was vacant now, as all the Myndarym had gone to war. And Semjaza's stone city was soon to be a battlefield. Neither place held any purpose for him, which led him to wonder if his responsibilities had been fulfilled.

Immediately, his thoughts turned to his family. He missed Zacol and remembered now the way her eyes filled with tears the day he left. And little Methu, the way he was fascinated by something he'd found on the ground. Enoch even missed his tribe; the usual mild disdain with which they treated him, now seemed comfortingly familiar in light of everything that had occurred since he had left. He missed the feeling of peacefulness that he experienced when sitting in the fields at night, watching from a distance as families huddled together around fires, staring into the flames. He missed the sound of the animals that grazed in the fields of Sedekiyr. And, as strange as it seemed, he even missed the smells that went along with them. It was the smell of home. The air in this place was cleaner, with more pleasing fragrances, but he could almost smell the loneliness behind it. Enoch slowly closed his eyes.

Holy One. Once again, I find myself alone. You have allowed me to see such strange and marvelous things, but now I am reminded of the ache in my heart. I miss my family and my home. Is there more that You require of me? For greater than any other desire of mine is that which seeks to obey Your voice. You know what my needs are. You know what is best for me and my family ... for this world. Is there more that You require?

 

When Enoch opened his eyes, he saw water covering everything as far as the eye could see. He stood on a rocky fragment of land, looking north. And yet, without turning around, he knew it was connected to a larger landmass behind him. It reminded him of the land he had passed over when traveling toward Aragatsiyr for the first time. He had named it Sahveyim, for there had been water on all sides.

Then the vision passed away and he saw only the swaying grass, dancing in the morning breeze. In his mind, a few words remained—echoes of something that he was certain he hadn't heard in the first place. They repeated themselves, so quietly as to make him wonder if they were not his own thoughts.

One more thing, my faithful child.

 

One more thing ...

 

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THE GREAT WATERS

The incoming waves thundered against the rocks, breaking through the narrow slit that separated the open water from the secluded gorge where the officers of the Amatru now sat. On the cliffs high above, two wings of Iryllurym were joined by two companies of Anduarym, keeping watch over the surrounding land. And somewhere beneath the vast stretch of water to the north, two companies of Vidirym patrolled the depths. Though Semjaza's fortress was still quite far away, the officers were not about to take any chances at being discovered by Semjaza's scouts.