The Circle Of Ten

Complexities

    As she traveled through village after village Fayala was seeing the devastation first hand and it troubled her greatly to see the ground littered with so many human bodies.  How could it have to come this she thought, everything she did was for the betterment of humanity and somehow it had all gone wrong, so terribly wrong.

    The eerie silence that pervaded the land was oddly disturbing, what were once bustling settlements of people working, communing and living were now deathly quiet.  People from the temple complex were just starting to reach the survivors of the rebellion and Falaya wanted to be gone before Ohas and Mira arrived. Exhausted and weary, the remaining humans simply watched as she walked away without the recognition or sign of respect as was her due in the past.

    She came across humans  making the rounds of the villages informing and consoling the surviving children,  many of them were now orphaned.  They would look at her momentarily before turning away and resuming their sad mission. Her help was not requested yet Falaya considered using her psychic abilities to sooth the anxieties of the aggrieved. However, she thought maybe that has been the problem all along. All of this psychic energy saturating their brain cells practically every moment of everyday.  Perhaps it was time to turn off the emotional regulator and let humans handle the problems of life on their own accord.

    As she walked through one lifeless village after another she tried convincing herself that she was not responsible but it became more and more difficult to ignore the stark truth.  Fayala could no longer dissociate herself from the reality of what she was seeing.  Then she began to see children, those of whom Fayala had placed the hope of humanity's future, now they too were searching among the dead looking for their parents. 

     As Fayala neared they would stop their grisly quest and look up at her with blank expressions etched into their faces. No joy, no happiness, they were emotionless, some holding hands, others sitting next to a body and weeping or even shaking it as if trying to wake up a sleeping parent.  It was becoming impossible for her to ignore the awful truth that she was responsible for this catastrophe. 

Fayala passed a Spirit Priestess Shrine and  came across a heap of  human bodies,  she stared at the gruesome scene, beneath them lay a Spirit Priestess, her blue robe torn, her pale white skin streaked with her blood and that of her attackers, her body torn and broken apart, pieces of her still clutched in human hands. Fayala now saw the utter brutality that her humans, yes her humans, had been driven to. Mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters willingly sacrificed themselves to rip apart with their bare hands that which had tormented them. 

No longer could she hide behind the facade of good intentions ...  She did this. Fayala dropped to her knees and broke down sobbing, she bent over at the waist and let her head rest on the cold ground, she pounded the earth with her fists crying aloud in her wretchedness. She wished at that moment it would all end, she wanted to die and stop this horrible pain she felt.

Then a hand lightly touched her face.   She turned her head without rising up and opened her eyes, standing before her was a human woman, ragged, dirty and covered in blood, Fayala rose up to her knees, the tears lay wet on her cheeks as she stared down at the small forlorn creature.

The woman walked to the pile of bodies, Fayala watched as she looked down upon a headless corpse, she knelt and took its hand. "He was my husband," she said, "we have a daughter," then looking up at Fayala, "she will be free ..." 

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As Ohas and Mira, accompanied by people from the temple complex, approached the human survivors they were at first met with angry glares and resentment. However as food and water were brought forward and the people began to refresh their exhausted bodies the bitterness passed. The children began arriving and those few whose parents were alive celebrated their reunion. However, they soon realized most of their friends were not as fortunate and the mood became more somber. 

     Mira asked about Fayala, her query was generally met with looks of antipathy but one person raised an arm and pointed off in a general direction.   Mira quickly located Fayala's footprints in the ground and after telling Ohas to take everyone back to the temple complex, started off at a fast pace to find her friend.  She could only imagine the trauma Fayala was going through, she knew Fayala blamed herself for this, this madness, and knew she would take it personally.  Fayala was a strong woman and had seen much during the centuries but even a sixty five foot tall Goddess has vulnerabilities. For her it was the humans, her humans as she often referred to them. 

     Fayala would not be able to ignore the countless bodies littering the ground and she would eventually give in to the anguish she must be feeling.  Mira found Fayala in an open meadow surrounded by a grove of tall trees. She was sitting before a small pond, bent forward her elbows resting on her knees, her face buried in her hands. 

As Mira approached, Fayala raised her head, wiped the tears from her face and welcomed her old friend. "This pond reminded me of the day we first met. I was so frightened of you, standing there, towering above me so tall and beautiful, I really believed you were the Earth Goddess."

Mira sat on an old tree stump, she knew Fayala needed to open up, she was there to listen.

Fayala took a deep breath, "I thought you had come to reward us, that we had done as you wished, and that you were pleased with us and that, maybe, maybe you would even fix my ears and make it so that I could hear." Fayala looked at Mira, "how could I, a deaf peasant girl, have possibly imagined the wonders that awaited me." Fayala cast a glance at the bodies lying in field, "or the horrors."

Mira approached Fayala, "you never stopped being that little peasant girl Fayala, any more than I did a Miorpean, we both ... played at being a God ... and neither of was up to the task it seems." 

  Mira placed both of her hands on Fayala's wrist, "I know you are hurting now but  you must not blame yourself for everything that happened, we all share in the responsibility."

Fayala smiled, paused for a moment then said, "I am going to go with them Mira."

"Go with who, where," replied a confused Mira.

Fayala stood and looked down on her dearest friend. "They are waiting for me at that craft, the researchers from the Miorpean ship that is in ... space ... Melete was her name, she contacted me and asked if I would go with them, to the stars."

"You're leaving us then," said a despondent Mira.

"Humanity no longer needs, or even desires a Goddess," replied Fayala. "But they will need you and Ohas."

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"Remember," Sativia cautioned Idiyanale. "Fayala believes us to be the Miorpeans she met before, Melete and Aphaea, use the blocking techniques I taught you, she must not discover who we are until we are off the planet and on our way to the main vessel."

Idiyanale shifted nervously, "she is so strong, I am not sure I can pull this off."

Sativia looked impatiently at Idiyanale, "you can and you will, or I will cook your brain to a cinder, understand?"

"Yes ... yes I do," stammered Idiyanale.

Sativia glared at Ceraon, "what about you, you have to prevent her from sensing your thoughts as well."

"I have had practice with Melete, if I can block her I can block anyone," he responded.

"What about our little hostages," asked Sativia.

"Melete and Aphaea are in a storage unit and they no longer have any telekinetic abilities and will not be able to contact her," responded Ceraon.

Sativia turned and looked out across the open field, "she is here."