Our Little Gods 1: RABATEA, the first World of the Daughters.

Chapter 7.

They saw dawn off the coast of the city of Ziaz on the first island. Etten and Merke had been the only ones to sleep it seem. Terrey and Farenn had kept company to Oneg on the main deck for he couldn't bare to be inside and had been sick. Late in the night, the Balà pilot had pointed to one side of the ship and said 'Sora' in his heavy foreign accent, as they looked over, they saw few twinkling lights lost in the dark expanse where sea and sky had no boundaries. Before going below deck Maasil had explained that the Balà were the only pilots that sailed at night because they read their path in the stars.

"Come on Maaz! That is ridiculous how can one knows where one is down here by looking up there." Terrey had reacted. But the fact is that the only time of the year when Balà pilots do not sail at night, is during festival time. When the three moons are full in the sky together, for their lights are too strong and occult the stars.

At day break Limero and Maasil came back up on the main deck.

"How are you doing, Oneg? Do you feel better?" Limero asked

"I'm ok now. I can't wait to be there and eat something tho." The boy answered.

"We should land in a couple hours. I have just had words from the pilot that we have entered the Gullet, we could make landfall in Oel and travel by land but it would make out trip to Ael that much longer. I am sorry my boys but we are in somewhat of a hurry. You will need to put on your formal dress before landing."

"Can't we wait until we have been shown to our rooms before dressing?"

"No, Farenn. I'd rather you didn't."

"But, there can't be anybody expecting us that early and..."

"Please, Terrey. Go to the cabin and put your formal dress on. You are about to land on the holy archipelago's second island. No one, but monks of the triadic church and novices sets foot there. You will be taken in by some monks that will perform the rituals necessary for you to be allowed on the island. This is very serious and the opportunity to show that you are not mere children but soon men made. Your parents will hear of this, make them proud." Limero scrutinized the now silent faces. "I cannot impress more vehemently how important it is for you to do exactly as you are being told as soon as we have arrived in Ael. There will be time for questions after and for sightseeing. Do you understand?"

The three boys nodded their assent together, subdued by the solemn gravity of their master.

"Off you go and please wake the sergeants while you are at it they could do too, with a little bit of freshening up."

Limero watched them walk to the stairs leading down, then he climbed the short ladder to reach the forecastle. The slanted light of the rising sun was in his back casting fantastically elongated shadows on the smooth waters of the Gullet. The air was crisp and clear and he could see the many white stone dwellings that dotted the cliffs on the coast between the cities of Oel and Ael. Some he recognized for they belonged to his friends and he had been there to share prayers and meditations, in some he had had heated theological debates and in others he had shared wine and food.

His mind raced ahead above the waves and beyond the cliffs to the city. In there and through the maze of white houses bordered streets, there was the college of the Council of Eight and deep in the park of the college the House of the Second Moon. The healing rooms there belonged to the inanites who were monks who choose to dedicate their lives solely to the power of the Heal. Legend had it that they were so gifted, they could bring the dead back to life. Limero only hoped that they could keep one alive for long enough. He was almost there.

The door to the sanctum was exactly as it had been four years ago on the day he took Maasil and left the island for mainland Limore. His friend, Feletones had jokingly called him Limero the limorite and the monk remembered as if it had been yesterday the doubts of his old companion. Today, however, today everything was different. All the others had failed. He was the last one, as he had been the only one to believe in the Limorite solution.

The boys were walking before him surrounded by an escort of acolytes. The white robed shaved heads men and women that had welcomed them from the ship had made a strong impression on the young men and they had behaved splendidly. The first ceremony had been accomplished without a glitch and they had now entered the compound of the college and had stopped before the door of the sanctum. The men and women of the Council of Eight were all present, a clear sign of how desperate they all were.

The elder monk, approached the boys and spoke to them in hushed tones so that they gather their heads to listen to him with the attention needed. Once he had told them what to do inside, he turned back to face the door and it opened silently. The inside was much darker than the sun flooded gardens. Nonetheless the boys walked inside with confidence.

Silently the door closed behind them. At first the darkness seemed complete but soon their eyes picked up the flickering flames of oil lamps burning all around the room. Many Feeders sat all around the room, their back against the walls, their faces blank, eyes closed. At the center a circle of five or six monks, Healer most likely, surrounded what looked like a couch. The acolyte took them to one side and they saw a strange bed that seemed to be covered in shards of crystals on which a man was lying. His body disappeared under many veils only his face, thin and pale and one of his hands could be seen. Ageless as he may look the first impression was that he was dead. But as the acolyte came closer and whispered something to him he opened his eyes, so clear they almost seemed white on white. Ever so slowly he flipped his hand palm up and the acolyte took Terey's hand placed Farenn's on top and Oneg's on top of it too and He placed their hands in the palm of the man's.

He had no time to walk away. In the boy's eyes he vanished, they all did. The only thing left was the face of the man looking at them with his pale, pale eyes and the sensation of a monstrous power being poured into them through their hands.

Outside, in the expectant silence they all felt the charge in the air. Some collapsed to the ground, some stumbled around as if dazed. The build up was enormous, power seeped everywhere, plants shifted, rock started vibrating, the tiles of the roof began to slide and crash down to the stone floor much harder than they should have, sending shards across the area like arrows ricocheting here and there wounding some. Light itself was like sucked in the sanctum, the day turned darker and the sun lost its warmth.

The sound rang like a million giant bronze gongs being hit at the same time. The shockwave blew tiles and slammed doors all over the city.

And then it was gone. Things were back to normal. The sun, the light, the feel of the last day of winter. People were helping each others to stand back up. Limero found Maasil's hand and stood up.

"The door, quick! I must know what had happened." He said with urgency.

"Yes Master."

Feletones even though much older than Limero had beat him to the door and was already pulling the bronze panel open, it groaned and creaked as if it had been warped. Part of the roof had been blown away and light now flooded the room revealing the disaster within. Most the Feeders were dead, their bodies strewn around like dolls, of the Healers most were too and the few still alive were agonizing beyond any help. Of the man on the couch nothing was left but a bed of smoldering crystals sizzling and cracking angrily. Surrounded by all this death and destruction. Shrouded in swirls of smoke and coils of dust, the boys stood still, together. As Limero and Feletones approached they noticed that their skin was darker and their eyes glowed a gloomy green.

Their old master stopped at arm's length and whispered to himself: "What have I done... Sweet Sisters, what have I done..."

The three pairs of glowing eyes converged on him and with one perfectly synchronized voice the boys said:

"What was needed."

There was a silence as Limero covered his mouth with his hands to muffle a wail. The three boys radiated power like embers in a forge would radiate heat. It rippled from them and pooled at their feet.

In the same threefold voice the creatures standing there said an other thing.

"We are incomplete."