Gallel's Heir

Chapter 3.1: Death's Power

Instead of being given the opportunity of walking firm upon the world, he was denied this  and sealed up into the void. He was old when the world was young, infinitely wise; now the world was old. He has spent this time waiting for Hallel to enter the world so that he might conquer his brother and seize his own destiny.
---Minara Elkek of Toopek

Dylin stood in rainbow mists, exhilarated as though she flew on the wind. Brilliant cyan hung outside the mists, like she hung within a sphere. A golden-lavender thread stretched from her navel; she touched the shimmering umbilical cord. It sparkled with an energy she recognized as her own, tangible wari. Following it a few steps — time and distance seemed arbitrary — she came to a forest path. Though she stood above the path, the trees and autumn foliage failed to impede her view of two bodies lying below. Her thread connected to the body on the right. The body on the left lay pale, with a bloody, mangled chest.

"You do not belong here," said a voice with all the love and tenderness of distant thunder.

Startled, Dylin turned around. Three lights suspended above her in mists of silver and gold. She squinted; focus elucidated.  Amara and Gizelle smiled at her. A silvery thread connected Gizelle to her mangled body. The third light shined like a fearsome blaze, like lightning; Dylin took a step forward and the third figure clarified. It was the Escort, a man appearing in his prime, with eyes as ancient and confident as the stars. This figure had spoken.

"What happened?" she said.

"Minara took your life," said Amara. When Dylin had last seen her in Feer, she assumed her trainer had been in her fifties; now she could have been only a little older than Dylin. Gizelle also. Both shared a look, as though they were sisters or close relatives, with the same  hair, eyes, and exotic bluish tint to their pale skin. They shared a look with Minara also, only where Minara's air evinced arrogance and spite, theirs showed love.

"I'm dead?" Cold filled her chest: Lianna would grow up without a mother, no one to protect her from the wolves in Gallel, the people who would destroy her soul in order to be privileged enough raise the heir.

"Your spirit is disconnected from your body," said Gizelle.

"The thread which stitches you to your body remains intact," rumbled the Escort. It was a powerful voice, not unkind, yet she would not want to be on the receiving end of his anger. The vibrations alone could rattle her spirit, if not her disconnected bones. "I have yet to cut it. You do not belong here."       

"Minara seeks power over death and life," said Gizelle.    

"You must live and find happiness," said the Escort. "You must raise Lianna, for if you do not raise her, someone else in Gallel would. You have just cause to fear, for Minara would influence her nursemaid, and Lianna would grow and never find her true worth. A woman influenced by darkness would not instill within her the love and stability Hallel needs from her."

"You make it sound like I have no choice," said Dylin.

"I merely tell you the consequences of your choices," said the Escort. "You may remain here and let your body rot and the world fall into chaos. Or you may return to your body and experience the joy and sorrow of your life. You have yet to touch many, whom Hallel will need to free him from the bondage Tavaris has planned." He pulled iridescent shears from his golden belt; the shears shimmered as did her thread of wari.  "This is the Kal Tai, which cut the thread connecting the spirit to the body. I will not cut your wari at this time, whether you stay here or return.  With your wari connected to earth, you may not enter the Otherworld, but you may remain in this void between the worlds until your appointed time."