The Redemption - World of Ranicke 3

Chapter 2

A/N:  This is somewhat shorter but I hope you enjoy it.

A voice came from the center of the brightness, “Where am I?  Who am I?  What am I?”  The voice was almost emotionless yet there were hints of loss and pain.  The voice started asking other questions but they made no sense.  All there was to see was an endless ocean of a golden light.  Finally the voice spoke one last time, “Who are you?  Can you tell me what and where I am?”

The young boy bolted upright in his bed and was heavily sweating.  His body was shivering though he was coated in sweat from that damn dream.  It had started when he was just a hatchling and came and went through the years.  Now that he was close to his minority it seemed to be getting stronger.  The voice had never asked who he was before and that terrified him a great deal.

As he stumbled out of bed and over to a side table that had a large pitcher of water and a bowl for washing in.  He splashed some water on his face and the downy feathers covering his head and felt some relief.  The water was cool which felt good against his sweaty skin.  Once he was done with that he poured a glass of water and quickly drank it down to slake his thirst.

He stopped to look in the mirror and his eyes were haunted and terrified at the same time.  His father had taken him to the Augers and mystics concerning the dreams.  They had all taken a look and were unable to say much more than it was real, the voice that was.  Why it was talking to him he wasn’t sure but there was some sort of connection between the two of them.

His father hadn’t been all that pleased about not getting an answer and had even gutted one Auger that had angered him.  As the Auger lay dying it gave a cackling laugh.  “You are cursed to see your empire fall apart evil man.  All that you have wrought will be laid low before you die and all because you think you are better than the fates and gods and goddesses.”  He was still cackling as the breath left his broken body.

His father had ordered the body be taken to the jungle and left for the predators after removing the eyes and manhood.  By removing the eyes it was thought that the wronged spirit couldn’t see their way back.  By emasculating the corpse it was thought to render the spirit impotent and unable to cause problems from the afterlife.  All the boy had gotten out of watching his father was revulsion at the act.  Augers and Mystics were sacrosanct and to lay hand on one was a curse of its own.  To kill one as his father had was a second and much stronger curse.

He had to wonder if this was the work of the curse, bringing the bodiless voices to him.  It kept asking the same thing over and over.  It would change once in a while when it would speak in a different language.  He assumed that it was much the same though.  What was he supposed to do with it or about it?  What did it mean?  He knew his father was cursed since he hadn’t had any children since killing the Auger.

That and things just seemed to happen around him such as his heavy throne chair breaking when he sat in it for a critical ceremony to welcome the rains.  Small pieces of his empire were starting to split off and as soon as he quashed one rebellion another started.  This was making his father angry, angry enough to make rash decisions and declarations.  His father had always been a hard man but in his own way a just man.  Now he was ruthless and saw nothing but enemies trying to take him down.

Now that he had calmed down some he crawled back into bed and hoped that the dream wouldn’t come again. 

~~~

Everyone could only stare at the smoldering remains of the funeral pyre for Jim.  The others were still burning but Jim’s was almost down to ashes.  Several of the shamans staggered from the sudden surge of energy and then the removal of the energy.  Nang shuddered slightly and was glad when Dan wrapped his arms around her and supported her.