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More Than Stars, Part Two

Illumin nearly pulled back in surprise from the sudden kiss, but figured it was fair enough - he (well, Sosi, but she didn't know) had surprised her, after all. Turnabout was fair play. "I see," he managed with a timid smile, when she was done. "I think I've seen bits of the plant around the shop, actually." He frowned slightly. "I bet Khiviance put that up. She seems to enjoy throwing people into such things, when she's not encouraging them to stab their beloved..."

"Oh, and kissing's that bad, eh?" Pana chuckled and withdrew her wing, fluffing and flexing it several times. "I guess I need to work on my technique." The goddess smiled at Illumin, voice free of rancor. Wanna help me practice? She shook her head. No, I think I've presumed too much intimacy for one day. After all, a kiss doesn't mean anything, not here, and not to us.

"I would say don't be too hard on her, but she was involved in something we see as reprehensible, and as much as I want to understand her, I have a hard time not hating her. And Universe for that matter. At least she seems to be willing to review her actions and admit she might be wrong. It's more than a lot of people can do, gods or not," Pana said thoughtfully, then laughed. "Asking Universe for help is going to be... difficult, I think."

"No, not the kissing... just the way she does it, it's more like she's laying a trap for the unwary." Illumin scowled. "And why would you ask Lucius for anything? You shouldn't go near him - if he'd try to kill Lord Harmodius, there's no telling what he might do." He looked up, quickly, as if scanning the stars for the deity's presence.

"Did you know," she said, taking off the mitten hiding Harmodius' pendant, "that Harmodius loved a mortal, Aristogeiton. And that His first children made him a token from His love's first offering, so that they might eventually be reunited in the ages to come?" Pana let the pendant rest in her hand, weighing it.

"I can't help Him anymore. His wings are like molten glass, His hair a blood-soaked rainbow, and the wound through His heart cracks His flesh and oozes black." She looked down and sighed. "He said that it would happen anyway. He said that if I could find Aristogeiton, the balance would be restored. But I don't know where to start looking, even if the token is drawn to the mortal soul. And I hope that if he is the patron of something so vast, Universe would be able to find something, even so tiny, or at least tell me where to look."

Glancing up at Illumin, she smiled half-heartedly. "How do you convince someone to help you find the rival that has already won, except that he is not present to accept his prize?"

Illumin soberly examined the pendant. "Aristogeiton. I heard Memi speak that name a few times, though I never asked her what it meant." Harmodius loved a mortal? Well, that threw one line of speculation about why he had kissed Illumin well out the window. "Lord Harmodius kissed me once, while Lucius was in the room. Universe was... not pleased, though he didn't actually say or do anything about it. I do not think he would react well at all to this Aristogeiton, since he seems far more of a threat." He frowned at Panacea. "He might draw his sword against you to stop that threat."

"I only found out earlier today. Thus the importance of asking questions," Pana said. "But I think it would be an interesting opportunity to see what his feelings are. I told Love that I thought love was action coupled with the desire to see to another's happiness, even if you can't be a part of it. I was feeling very sorry for myself, you see," the goddess told him, an undercurrent of self-depreciation in her voice.

"If he draws his weapon against me, so be it; I will defend myself to the best of my ability. But I cannot stop this now." Her voice was steely and her face set in a serious line. "I won't let Creation succumb to Destruction for any longer than I have to, even if Universe decides that I'd make a better shish-ke-bab than deity." Pana turned to Illumin, face softening with the hint of a smile. "Though I would be sorely disappointed in him if he did."

"Creation, destruction. Two sides of the same thing." Illumin hesitated. "Lord Harmodius isn't dying, is he? Creation will return once Destruction has... done what he intends?" And what was it that he intended? "Judgement?" Illumin smiled grimly at the idea of Lucius cringing before an avenging lord. Universe deserved that, and more.

"He told Panacea that he had been supressing that side of Himself for our sakes--at least that's what I'm getting from the memory," she said, face twisted with puzzlement and the effort of remembering, "though He chastised me for saying that denying part of the self was perhaps not the best policy. Her, I mean. I'll figure out how to refer to myself eventually." She shook her head. "I don't know if Destruction will leave us so easily--I have no information but that which I have seen. If you were wrapped in shadows for some ageless time, would you retire after a single act?"

"We have all been wrapped in shadows," Illumin muttered, his wings rustling beneath his cloak. "So the key to 'fixing' Lord Harmodius is this mysterious mortal, and the key to finding him is Lucius... well. Perhaps you can use that on Universe, that without his help his 'beloved' lord may be lost to him," he said, pouring sarcasm on the word 'beloved'.

"And then what would you say to him if he said "if I can't have Him, no one can?" I can't treat someone whose help I need with contempt, and it feels wrong besides." Pana smiled at Illumin. "I think I am far too innocent in my outlook, still." She pulled her mitten back on over her hand and the pendant.

"Then let Lucius fall before the wrath he has so richly earned," Illumin said, grimly. "Still, you have a point. I have no idea how I could possibly deal with him civilly, but if you can..." He shrugged. "I would offer to come with you, except I don't think it would help at all, and if it came to blows he's already seen my only trick."

"You are sweet to offer," Pana said with a smile. "But I do have a favor to ask: should I convince Universe to come with me, and I don't return, demand an accounting. I don't think that will be needed, but... planning never hurts." She gazed down the street, past the twinkling lights, then back at Illumin, the train set still blazing with light behind him. "Shall we make more progress toward home?"

"Oh, I will," Illumin said, his expression hard. "I do not believe Destruction will treat him kindly for what he has already done, and if he adds more to his pile of sins... well. But if he harms you - Light can burn, you know. It can concentrate, slice, sear away, pierce. I managed to blind him temporarily during that battle, but if he gives me reason and when my powers increase, I will gladly sear his eyes away beyond hope of healing. Then let him come before Destruction's wrath, blinded and grovelling..." Ooh, that was a nice mental picture, and the grin on Illumin's face seemed more suited to Eamnnon's predatory glee.

"Just don't give me too much work to do," Pana chided gently. "Medicine is no longer my entire reason for living, and I will be in desperate need of a vacation when this is done." Illumin's words were unsettling, but the desire to cause pain unsettled her no matter the source. "Some place relaxing..." Not the shop.

"No, I wouldn't do that unless you didn't come back. I think," Illumin added, absently. "At any rate, Destruction should be sufficient judge." He forced himself to calm down and looked down the street at another lit-up house. "Where do you think Lucius is? Or Aristogeiton... if he is mortal, would he not be long dead?" Again, Illumin glanced up quickly, as though expecting to see Lucius silhouetted against his stars.

"Universe awaits his judgement in the gardens. I have seen him from a distance from time to time," Pana said. "And Aristogeiton is continually reborn by the magic bound into the pendant; I know not his location, or he--or whatever guise he wears now--would already be on his way here with my assistance." She breathed a laugh, and smiled at her mitten. "We are born from mortals in so many ways..."

The Age of Destruction

Illumin stared open-mouthed at the downstairs of the shop, frozen temporarily on the stairs by the sight set before his eyes.

No more familiar place marred by the scars of their battle against Lucius - no, what was there now was nothing short of palatial. The god quickened his steps as he moved down the stairs, marvelling at the sudden change. Dark obsidian, light tinted by stained glass...

... and a dais, he realized as he peered towards the other end. A throne, silhouetted against flame.

What had happened here? He had to know, but the throne was a mite too imposing. It spoke of authority, something greater than he - his own dais and lounge above was made of matchsticks and rags by comparison.

Illumin turned his back to the spectacle, somewhat uneasily, and opened the front door.

Immediately, the scent of ashes choked his nostrils. Once again, the god's eyes widened, but this time with unpleasant shock. The beautiful green gardens Memi had so loved were gone, blasted into grit and ash. Here and there, dimly lit pools of lava bubbled ominously.

Destruction.

It was the only option. Nothing else would do this to the gardens under Harmodious' control.

So the god had shifted, then, to his other nature - if it could be called that. Did not fire both warm and burn? Perhaps it was the same with Creation and Destruction.

Sobered, Illumin retreated to the sepulcheral shop, the taste of ashes in his mouth.

Seeking Sacred Song - Part Two

Stay here. I'll be back soon.

Where are you going, Illumin?

These are the Halls of the Mind. Your mind, my mind. Our mind. Perhaps the answer is here.

... good luck, I guess.

Illumin placed one hand on the smooth wood of yet another door and then leaned his head against it. It was faintly scented, like cedar, and it wafted around him as he closed his eyes to think.

He'd created this place, hadn't he? As a haven for Sosiqui in the subconscious, that she might have an alive and brilliant dreaming before the final end?

Then why, why, why had the gentle halls he'd molded out of the wildness of thought somehow expanded out on the edges? He'd discovered doors he hadn't built, opening onto long, twisty hallways he'd never seen before. All rich woods, all windowless and lit by the occasional clean-burning candle in a wall sconce. Carpeted and comfortable, warm and soft - but undoubtedly a labyrinth.

And the doors went on and on and on.

Of course, he could leave any time - just take off and spin through the ceiling and back into control in his temple, uncurl from his place on the dais and be done with it all. But if he did, would he ever find the hallways again?

It was a challenge, now, in a way.

The god opened his eyes and pushed the door open - only to find himself in a much shorter hallway than any of the others he had yet traversed. Three more doors stood before him, each flanked by tables with pillar candles that sent the smell of incense soaring around him.

And he thought he could hear noises coming from within...

He took a deep breath, though he didn't really need to - this place seemed built more of metaphor and dream than anything else.

Illumin walked forward and placed his hand on the doorknob of the center door. The metal was warm to the touch, and trembling ever-so-slightly.

It's all subconscious. Like a dream, really... I can flee any time.

With that reassurance in mind, Illumin turned the doorknob and opened the door.

Seeking Sacred Song - Part Four

"How long have I been walking?" Illumin groaned, to nobody in particular. There was, as usual, no answer.

The god had been padding along the same, seemingly endless hallway for what seemed like hours, ever since he left the last strange door behind him. Both behind and to the front, the hall stretched onward into blank infinity, with no end visible to his eyes. The candles remained evenly lit, every single candle hovering at the same level, no one burned down more than any other. Sometimes they even seemed to flicker in unison.

It was maddening. Illumin ground his teeth together in frustration. There was nothing he could do about it. Nothing.

Nothing, except leave. But he couldn't do that. He'd have to start over again, he knew, or break his promise. And the idea of doing this irritating trudge through endless thick carpet past eternal identical candles AGAIN was ridiculous.

He sighed, shook his head, and made himself go forward.

And the ground vanished beneath his feet.

Illumin let out a rather undignified yelp of surprise, his wings spreading weakly and totally failing to do anything to stop the fall down, down into....

Light....?

Pure golden light, of an intensity that would have been instantly blinding for any but Light Himself, seemed to rush up from below and envelop him as he fell, slowing him as if it were a physical substance cradling and catching him. The hallway above was gone, swallowed in the light. All around floated a high, heady smell of honey incense, sweet and thick and golden.

Illumin frowned, just a bit. What was this? He moved forward, as if swimming, with barely a flick of his wings.

There were voices in the brightness.

"Listen to me," came a familiar firm tone. "Listen. Bring this to the high priests in their beds..."

"Listen," chirped a sudden cacophony of mimicked voices.

Illumin's feet touched ground, smooth opalescent tile that stretched away into light as endless as the halls above had seemed.

He stared.

In the center of the cool tile, which was patterned in a beautiful sunburst mosaic interspersed with tiles of mirror, was a throne. A gorgeous throne, held aloft and encircled in spiraling crystal outcroppings carved with a skill he could barely understand. The figure on the throne was enrobed in light... and familiar.

But... but this was supposed to be for her...

Illumin stared up at Light in Glory, and at the dozen koratti that were perched obediently on the surrounding swoops of crystal. Revei's creatures... and there he was, dictating dreams to them. Dreams of mystery and glory, messages of cryptic hope designed to hold his clergy in thrall to his power.

"... and that is all," the enthroned one finished, nodding to the koratti.

"That is all," they mimicked, in unison, then bowed their heads and were, suddenly, gone. Gone to dreams, Illumin assumed. His heart was pounding.

"The priests will hear well, Radiance," came another voice, and Illumin jumped as what seemed to be a young man, dragonwinged, walked past him without seeing, and knelt before the throne.

"Yes... they will. This alliance with Dream is proving most profitable, Eliam." The figure on the throne gestured in benediction, and the man rose, then bowed low.

"The other Aiode have gone out to the outlying temples of those lands ruled by you, Radiance," Eliam said. "Only I remain to serve you here for now, but their appearance as messengers in the flesh will prove most fortifying."

"Yes. I can feel the belief flowing strong.... and what of my High Flame?"

"Eibhilin? She has gone to your Temple in Glory, there to animate the statue of you. They require more miracles lately."

"Foolish." The exalted god steepled his fingers and frowned. "Prayers answered, miracles, and the daily duties. One would have to be a god to do half those things. They require much, Eliam."

"Radiance."

"Too much... next time one of my kind falls, do capture some of their Aoide for me and baptize them into my service?" The command was indolent, pleased. "I cannot do this alone, and I do not have enough."

"I will do so, exalted lord." Eliam bowed again, then stepped away from the throne and into the light.

The light seemed to follow him, licking at his heels, then cresting into a wave that crashed over Illumin, swallowed him, and tossed him about...

... and resolved into flickering candleflame. Illumin found himself laying on the floor on his back, staring up at the heart of a candle's fire.

There was no pit in sight.

A dream?

The god got to his feet slowly, visibly shaken.

Seeking Sacred Song - Part Six

Illumin moved forward - and suddenly the hall opened up into natural light, with the faint distant sound of birdsong drifting in as breezes stirred the curtains.

He was in the Hall again, and Sosiqui was there with her back to him, head down on a table, apparently asleep.

"Mine host?" he said, quietly, trying not to scare her as he gratefully left the now-irritating carpet behind in favor of smooth flagstones.

She sat up, blinking sleep from her eyes, turning to him. "Illumin?"

"Everything you wanted was right there," he chided her, pointing back behind him.

"Where?" Her brow furrowed, and when Illumin turned to actually look, the hallway was gone.

"There was a door... and halls... candles..." Illumin attempted to explain, then shook his head and let his hands fall to his side. "I thought all I was making when I formed this pace was a sanctuary for you, not a labyrinth."

"Everyone has mazes inside," she replied, grinning wryly. "Did you find something?"

"Several somethings..." For a moment, Illumin pondered how exactly to explain it, then shrugged. They shared a mind, sort of, didn't they? He strode forward and placed his hand on her forehead, then let his eyes drift closed as he felt her own thoughts open to him like a familiar dog-eared book.

There were the pages - his own thoughts and being were beginning to write over them and change them utterly, but she still had her own self still. Not until he chose to would the story become wholly his own, and all her feelings and self fly away like dust in the wind.

There were blank pages, he felt them, and felt the memories he'd seen clamoring to cover them. So he let them flow out and into place like water into an empty glass - a very strange sensation indeed.

When he opened his eyes, they were both surrounded by his own glow, but soon the light around her faded away. She blinked owlishly at him, then raised one hand to cover her mouth as she became aware of the memories returned.

"Oh..."

He stepped away from her, pulling a chair with him and sinking into it gratefully, letting her have her peace to come to terms with what he'd brought her.

After what could have been a few moments, or perhaps a few hours - time flowed strangely here - he felt a touch on his shoulder and looked up. Sosiqui was standing there, her eyes red from crying, but no longer actually weeping.

"Are you all right?"

"Yes... I am." She looked away as though embarrassed. "I remember... now. The school... it was called the Spring of Five Circles, for 'mancers... people who could do elemental magic." Sosiqui turned and pulled her chair over to his before sitting down and turning earnestly to him. "I have to tell someone, to make sure it's right, outside my own head...."

Illumin nodded. "Go ahead." He'd walked down the interminable halls far too much to protest being made to sit down for longer.

She took a deep breath. "The 'mancers... pyromancers, those who touch fire. Aquamancers, those who handle water. Aeromancers, those whose breath becomes the wind. Terramancers, those who shape the earth... and chronomancers, those who twist time itself. All equal, all balanced. The five elements."

Illumin frowned, because there was no Light - but then again, he would have been more annoyed if silly humans had been permitted to play with his element. "Go on."

"The 'mancers are useful in our society, I remember that now too. Pyromancers control fire so it will not destroy houses... terramancers can aid in mining and calm earthquakes. Aquamancers break droughts and tame the sea, aeromancers sweep the weather as humans willed it. And chronomancers could change things. Not a lot, not more than a few minutes or seconds, but with an alert chronomancer around a child hit by a vehicle could live as time was turned back and... changed." She looked at him with wide, pleading eyes, waiting for his verification.

"The city I saw was prosperous. No doubt because of that skillful integration of power," Illumin said, politely, hoping that was what she needed.

"Yes... very prosperous." Her eyes lost focus as she dug into the memories. "But I... had something more. More than chronomancy. They call it kairomancy, the ability to touch time far more deeply than any chronomancer. A rare gift, and those with it are taken to be trained by their fellows... the guardians of time across worlds, the kairomancers of the Nexus, the meeting place of all worlds... I remember the final test, the circle breaking..." A tear snuck down one cheek. "What happened, I was horrified. Terrified... Tanith was so angry, he never wanted anyone to be better than he was. He was so full of himself... so angry. I... don't think I ever saw him again..."

"Go on," Illumin said, soothingly. Maybe with this running start, she'd remember the rest on her own.

"... I remember meeting my teacher... my teacher, her name was... Aeina... yes, that was it... and I took her name. Sosiqui to Aeina, that's my name..." She shook her head, violently. "But that's all. That's all."

"Is that all you wanted to know?" Illumin asked, hopefully.

"How did I get here? How did I lose this?" Sosiqui said, desperately, and Illumin's heart sank. Damn. "Illumin, you've done so much..."

"It is my sworn duty," he said, gallantly, even as something inside grumbled and cursed at the idea of going back into those stupid, stupid eternal halls looking for more trouble. "I will bring you the final pieces. Then you can rest peacefully."

"I can, I'm sure... thank you." And she slid off her chair and onto her knees, bowing her head so that her forehead touched his own knees, and he felt the dampness of her tears. It was startling.

The only thing to do was an automatic, ancient reflex - the laying of one hand lightly on the back of her hair in a gesture of benediction. "You are welcome."

Seeking Sacred Song - Part Eight

The hallway had dead-ended.

Dead ended into a door far greater than any of the others Illumin had yet seen - a true dread portal, the face of the wood scarred by nailed boards, chains, and every manner of bolt and lock imaginable. But there was a sense of rust and decay around all of it. A door so tightly barred - but the protections were failing.

Illumin took a deep breath. This had to be it. There was no other explanation, when all other doors and halls had looked the same - but this one, and the hall leading to it, were different, and the entrance shrouded in shadow.

"I am Illumin," he said, standing up straight, gathering in what small power he had managed to regain. "God of Light, the Piercing Radiance, He Who Shatters Secrets... open to me! Show me the hidden truth!" His eyes blazed, and he reached both hands, searing with light, towards the door.

The light hovered around the boards for a moment, as if seeking purchase, then flared into hot, holy flame as the aging wood caught fire. Aided by the power of a god, the inferno raged upward in an instant, so hot that the nails fell red-hot as the wood around them burned away into ash. The flame burned hot and deep - and then dissipated away, leaving nothing but ashes filled with cooling metal.... and the doorframe, empty.

Empty, with shadows within.

Illumin took a deep breath and gathered his light around him. He wafted some of it off of his fingers and fashioned it into a globe much like the one he had used to blind Lucius, then sent it ahead of him before stepping through. "Shadows, fall away, reveal your secrets...." he muttered, as his feet crossed over the threshold and into darkness.

And then, light. Light that spread up and down in twinkling glory. He was standing, floating, in a place like a great hollow tree with no bottom or ceiling, with great lit caverns in the walls - a great cylinder, stretching away into infinity...

And then, before him in one cavern, a cavern lit with a glorious flame, the light refracted in crystal ball and glinting off the tumbling fall of sand within an hourglass, was his host. He moved inward, wings fanning the air, until he landed on the warm floor - it wasn't wood, more like stone, but it was warm as though alive - and crept up to overhear. Sosiqui was there, standing with an older woman...

"It's so... fresh, clean..." Sosiqui laughed, polishing the gleaming crystal ball with one trailing bell-sleeve. "I've never seen a newborn world before."

The older woman chuckled, shaking her head. "They don't happen very often, the birthing and dying of worlds." She had the air of a teacher around her - perhaps this was Aeina?

Sosiqui looked almost enviously at the bright flame, dancing small and hot in the brazier. "Oh, Aeina, I wish I could go see it. A new world must be an amazing place. Fresh clean air, wide-open spaces..."

"This is wide-open," Aeina pointed out wryly, gesturing above and below the world-niche, where the strange place they were in opened up in an infinite column.

"Not like that," Sosiqui said impatiently. "Like.. you know, fields. Forests." She pressed her nose longingly to the crystal again, then swiped away the smudge. "I miss that. You know I do."

"The time for fields and forests is past," Aeina said brusquely. "Now is the time for crystal, sand, and fire."

Crystal, sand, and fire...

The memory sideslipped, disorientingly. Illumin caught a glimpse of figures moving about, up and down in the central open column, flying and leaping and dancing from niche to niche, their forms blurred and indistinct like ghosts. And then, it solidified again.

Sosiqui was there, standing in front of the globe, staring at it, shifting from foot to foot as though unsure of herself. Like a child trying to decide whether or not to go for the forbidden cookie jar.

"I want to see," Sosiqui said softly. Illumin could barely hear her.

Then, as if making a sudden decision, she moved. She opened the hourglass' spout and removed a pinch of sand, then took a step back and closed her eyes, pulling a strange wand from her belt.

"I set myself into time again," she murmured, holding onto the wand so tightly that her knuckles turned white. And something, some bizarre light, flared around her in a way Illumin could barely understand.

A smile spread across her face, and she opened her eyes. Sosiqui stepped forward, tossed the sand into the air above the flame, and gathered her skirts - then lifted one foot as the flame flared up to the size of a man. She placed one boot on the edge of the brazier, and - to Illumin's astonishment, stepped into it. Stepped into the fire, but did not burn.

The flame crackled, spit, but it did not devour her or anything around her except the sand she'd dropped. For a moment it waited, licking around her clothes and wand and fingers as if curious.

"SOSIQUI!"

The yell made both Illumin and Sosiqui turn around. Through the now-intense heat of the flames, he could see Aeina standing there, at the entrance to the niche - one hand outstretched towards Sosiqui as if in supplication, entreaty, a deep hard pain written in her eyes.

"You didn't do it ri-"

Before Aeina could finish, the sentence, the flame expanded... and something flared inside. Something odd, knotted, wrong-

And then, with a cry, Illumin was pulled into her, dragged into his host as memory shut down and became nothing but horror. All around him were the flames, and the feeling of utter wrongness. It was something to do with time, he knew somehow, something she'd done wrong... the flame was the pathway to another world, and-

Something snapped.

And then, something broke. Something deep, deep down at the core of the soul shattered in an instant.

Illumin screamed along with his host, joined with her in the memory of terror. The echo of the pain beyond the physical that he was feeling was quite bad enough... he could not imagine what it must have been like for her... as though her very soul was breaking.

The thought hit him like a bolt of lightning. It was, it was - if there was one thing besides light he was familiar with, it was the soul and being of his host.

It was being torn to pieces. Torn, and scattered across a plane he could not fully comprehend...

And then there was light again. Sunlight, natural light.

A woman wearing purple, curled in a fetal position so tight it seemed her muscles would break under the tension, breathing hard, eyes screwed shut. Curled up in utter terror on the flagstones of a street in Barton Town.

"Hey! Hey, miss, are you alright?" A man came up to her, knelt, shook her as Illumin stepped away, shaken to the core.

"Who... where..." she croaked. Her eyes opened.

And, without warning, the flame, Illumin's own lightborn flame, came again, eating at the edges of the scene, burning up first the shadows, and then everything else... leaving the god standing there in the middle of the light. Alone.

"What...."