Resurrection {NaNoWriMo}

Chapter 22

His senses were overwhelmed by the deafening light, by the sheer power of what surrounded him before he had even opened his eyes.

His mortal body did not ache, although he knew it had been ripped apart and then re-stitched. It felt lighter, easier to move and breathe. His chest felt lighter, as if he had been granted more space to breathe, to laugh. His heart beat wildly in his chest, faster and crazier than it ever had before. He felt abundant, as if he was something that extended out to something much more than the confines of his body, no matter how much weight had been lifted off of him.

A push did, however, began to press on him, to urge him to rouse and move. It was impatient and persistent, a nagging at the edge of his awareness. He felt himself slowly exhale, and allowed his eyes to peel open. He flinched as his pupils were seared by the brightness, his skin tingling as the sensation of the light gripped his vulnerable flesh. His mortal body was no accustomed to this brilliance, to this strange place or presence, and he began to wonder if it was Acacia, if she was had elevated to, but into her true form, and it was her magnificence stunning him as always.

He probed for the presence of the bond, but it was not there. It was not numbed or silenced, but gone, having dispersed. He felt his panic rise, felt his heart quicken further as horror seized him that somehow that beast had destroyed her, or another, perhaps having attacked them when they lied vulnerable and burned out. But she was stronger, more brilliant, than to cease in such a manner, but something was different. Something had shifted. She wasn't there, and that was what petrified him.

He struggled to open his eyes again, searched for his strength, his magyk, to call upon, and it came, but it was something much different than before. It was bright and brilliant and doused him in heat, in wholeness. He felt complete, alive and ready. He was so much more than before, and he channeled that inner power that leaked from a place within his heart to withstand the brilliance that threatened to shut down his senses. He used it to focus his eyes and calm his singing skin.

What surrounded him was pure light, bouncing off mirrors that only served to absorb a small portion of the power. It pained his eyes to look at first, to study the details around him. He turned in a slow circle, noting the mirrors that surrounded him in a circular structure, at the soft glow that cause the place to seem hazy. The mirrors revealed no reflection. There was no evidence that he really stood there, nor was there evidence that the being he stumbled upon was there either.

The man was composed of light, of a searing brilliance. And Alias wasn't quite sure that he should've addressed the being as a man because he held the same heavenly power that Acacia did. He was a god, some higher divine life form that stood before him, eyes a gripping and disorienting stream of colors and hues. He couldn't distinguish most of them, had a hard time looking at them and an even harder time trying to pull him away as he became lost in the eyes' mirage.

He inhaled sharply as he was finally able to pull back and look at the larger details of the being, of the things that weren't so maddening. His skin was white and wasn't entirely solid as it held a softer edge to it, as light and magyk hummed and swirled beneath its surface. Ancient carvings, a few which reminded him of ones he had seen the elders use and call upon at certain moments, traced his skin in gold shining lines. He had no hair, just a bald scalp that was traced in the same unhinging tattoos of gold ink.

Alias wasn't sure whether he was to kneel or bow, what decorum he was supposed to follow. He remained frozen in place; his eyes entranced on the god in front him.

"You are here only because of her, lowly mortal, because she wishes it," the being rumbled, a voice that was a song entirely of its own, but crackled like thunder, almost deafened his weak ears.