Elven Legacy

Chapter 126

Noah

He would later recall the next few moments through intense flashes of memories that would induce an exhilarating rush, and yet it would pale in comparison to the real thing. It couldn't possibly compete. Nothing would ever feel like the first time he embraced it all.

It was, quite appropriately, a cataclysm inside him. An event so vast and powerful it expanded the edges of his being until he had no notion of what he was anymore. Like sandstorms rising, and tempests hailing; it was a colossal tsunami carrying him higher and higher, until there was nothing left to anchor him to the ground.

He forgot his own name. He didn't know whether he was crying or laughing. He trembled with the sheer potential and the unfathomable possibilities. He shuddered with the terrible destructive violence that could be unleashed at any moment.

It traveled across him and changed him in ways he couldn't make sense of. It swam through his blood, chittered along his nerves, enhanced his senses, and formed myriad new connections in his mind. New gates slamming wide open.

He experienced this incredible distance from his own thoughts. They seemed small and meaningless, curious and fretful, they tried to understand but couldn't, and it was comically easy for him to ignore them and pay attention to what mattered.

So he looked down to meet Kili's gaze one more time. She was panting with the effort of time standing still, but somewhere deep inside her dark eyes he saw exultation. And then he saw her, really saw her, down to her core.

Her plan had worked, at least so far, and thus she felt both the satisfaction of accomplishment, and the relief that it would soon be over. He knew this somehow, he understood her perfectly in this moment, beyond body and mind. Rather, he was able now to look into her heart and soul, to see, dwelling and lurking in there, the deep-rooted desire to redeem herself. To give her own life meaning. To matter.

But there was more. He saw everything, even her flaws, her lies and deceit. The subsequent guilt that ate away at her. But also, her steadfast belief that she was doing the right thing. That she was helping people, ultimately. And finally, her faith in him. That he'd see this through to the end. For her, with her. Together.

In that tiny, suspended moment in space and time, inside of that stretched-out second during which he connected fully, wholeheartedly, with the elves' amazing creation, he remembered his own name and he remembered who he was. And he felt only compassion for himself. He felt only compassion, also, for Kili. And love.

It flooded him like an ocean of tears, and then was unleashed outside of him in a blast of pure energy that colored the world all around them, basking it in an aura of his own effortless creation. He and the world vibrating to the same intimate frequency. Sharing the same infinity.

Kili must've felt something, because she startled in his arms and gasped faintly through her panting.

"Noah" – she looked at him with love in her eyes – "you're so beautiful."

He couldn't fully grasp what she meant, because inside of that hovering, incredible moment, everything seemed so obviously beautiful to him. Like he'd finally, properly woken up and was looking at the world with his heart rather than his mind. Even motionless, everything shimmered and sang to him through a series of notes he was perfectly attuned to.

Kili, the dark mages, their animal-shaped companions, the blades of grass and the petals of wildflowers, the fierceness of the sun just perceptible behind the dense particles of water that hung between Noah and its life-giving light.

He discerned intricate patterns in all things, felt endless love for them too, even the Chyulin warriors he'd considered enemies just moments ago. That concept seemed silly now.