Clouded Purity - Book 2 of The Trial

Clouded Purity - Chapter 20

Prism left the memory behind him with wracking sobs, his whole body shuddering under the weight of Grim's nearly unfathomable pain. Despite the link they shared, he hadn't realized how deep the sadness went, how the events of that day had broken Grim.

To his surprise, Ghayle held him, cradling him like a mother would a son. His head rested against her naked breasts, and his tears wetted her dark flesh, mingling with the white veins which pulsed and thrummed across her skin.

Eventually, his sobbing subsided, and he pulled away from her, embarrassed at the way he'd lost control. "He was so cold after that, not to me, but to the world . . . In his mind, he was no longer a Fedain. Losing his father had cracked his soul, but losing Veil ripped him wide open."

Ghayle put her arm on his back, caressing it. "That didn't last forever, though."

"Their relationship never fully recovered." Prism shook his head, staring into the distance at the years which followed that fateful day. "Neither did he. Scar tissue isn't the same as unmarred flesh. Fixing a broken soul is as difficult as rebuilding a mountain stone by stone."

"This is what you feared the most, but you needed to face it," Ghayle said softly.

"I suppose I did," Prism replied, nodding. He sighed, trying to regain the rest of his lost composure. "You're right that I wanted to deny it, that I wanted to believe Grim was forced to take those actions against his nature. That's just it though; he wasn't forced, he chose to save me because he loved me. He chose to save himself because he wanted to live. And he chose to fight demons because he believed they would destroy the world."

"That was their task," Ghayle said, "to reshape the world."

Prism nodded, beginning to understand now, though he hesitated to condone her actions. "So, Grim became the Purity of Stillness? That's why Khalis came to him?"

"Yes."

"But there was one more. The Purity of Form," Prism mused. "I have a hunch who it was."

"Let me show you. Let's see if you were right."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Have you heard about Ultaka, Tagren?" Ibrix asked, stepping onto the rocky shelf, accompanied by Aika and Quay, all three wearing matching frowns. Tagren had heard them approach from a mile away. They could feel the coming destruction as surely as he, and it put them on edge.

"The civil war." Tagren nodded, glancing at them before returning his attention to Ghayle. For the past few weeks she'd moaned as often as she remained silent, her pain finally manifesting as sound once again. "Yes. It's coming, isn't it?"

"Oligan is about to collapse as well, or so my people say," Goden observed from a nearby boulder. He'd taken to meditating there, a pipe in his hands as he blew out large rings of noxious smoke.

"What's happening there?" Aika asked.

"They were about to launch missiles to destroy all of Ultaka's major cities," Nobak offered, joining them from farther up the mountain. "The order went public yesterday, leaked by a government official who is against the action. The mining revolt has turned into a full rebellion, and the Oligani government has already turned its weapons on its own people. One of my few remaining loyal shamans told me so in the wind."

"That explains the earthquakes, and the volcanic activity I've been sensing," Tagren said. "Ghayle must be in agony."

"You can feel some of it through your link with her?" Aika asked.

Tagren shook his head. "Not usually. She dulled the link ever since she started having trouble, but some of it leaks through every now and then."

His thoughts were interrupted by the approaching sound of flapping wings, and he turned as Khalis dropped from the sky. Nobak grunted as the Sendar shifted form, and offered a hopeful, "Maybe her agony will end soon?"