The Glass Weaver | A Novel #Wattys2018 #Wattys2019

Chapter 2

I woke up, startled, with knocking on my room door. Glancing at the clock on the bedside table, it was only four in the morning. Another hour would do, wouldn't it? My body ached as I slowly fell off the bed. Groaning, I slowly got up, with the help of the side of the bed, and faltered as I made my way to the door. Peeping through the hole in the door, I unlocked the door and let in my bodyguard, Corrig. My chauffeur, Parker, must've arrived.

"Are you ready, Nevada? You know the Gods don't like to wait." Corrig murmured, trying to not awake anyone at this hour.

"You woke me up and I look like a mess, do I look like I am ready?" I tried to laugh but it hurt. What did I take? Do? I leaned onto the wall, thankful for its sturdiness, and tried to become less dizzy.

"Did you take that Moon Water? You know that will only harm you and not bring back your powers any faster than a good night's rest. Look, I will help you. We can get ready on the plane since you insisted that we take your private jet."

"I did?"

"Yes, Nevada. Did you lose your mind as well as your sense of stability? What happened to the artist who defies gravity?"

"Lost my touch I guess. Grab my bags if you want. I am coming back here later anyways."

"After sunset?"

"That would be the only time. Otherwise, the Gods would smite me where I stood. I am still in awe that their temple survived the wreckage of the destruction of our home planet. Chunks were thrown into the stars, their final resting place unknown. If the Gods will let me in, then maybe we have a chance."

"A chance at what? The Gods wouldn't let you protect this world for they have shown nothing but hostility towards us. They wanted our technology, Greka. They wanted to strip everything from our culture just to study it, pick at it, make it their own in order to destroy and obliterate their enemies."

"You think I don't know that?" I yelled, turning around even when everything told me not to. Tears streamed from my eyes, "I know humans have done us wrong, but what did the Book of Ta'Esh tell us? It told us to forgive, but not to forget, to love, but not to hate, adapt, but not change completely. The Gods told us that we need to change for better or for worse. The Ender is the epitome of what we stand against."

He sighed, frustration plaguing his darkened face, "I know what the Book of Ta'Esh said, Nevada. I've read it countless times when all I could think about was if my family was going to get thrown into their games, to appease their crowd, not ours. Our people never ventured into the stars because of the Ender and his wicked comrades."

"Then at least understand this, Corrig, son to the House Falme. Whether the Gods deem us worthy of their help, at least we will know one thing. Our faith in them should not falter, if even for a second, and that should be the only thing we need to focus on. When the Templar d'Forvre landed here on Earth, I was amazed and scared. Our Gods were laid to rest there, but when I first ventured into their sanctuary, I saw them.

I didn't want to stop believing in them, I truly didn't. But when I saw them again, I believed that their power didn't fade, even across the stars and galaxies. When I prayed to them, at first for the strength to not give in to the pressures humans feel that they need to put on one another, I could feel myself rejuvenate and they granted me that wish. But wishes always came with a price. My price to pay was to bring their temple to the surface, which I have yet to do but I feel that they will forgive me for not being haste in it." I breathed heavily, feeling my faith being stripped from me like it had been all those years ago to being shoved back into me like it had been when I found the Templar d'Forvre.

"I...I don't quite understand. How should your faith falter when the only people we have been praying to have abandoned us." Corrig spoke after a minute to contemplate his words deeply.