Free From The Ashes by Ian Alexander, Joshua Graham Page B

of a classic Sojourner coronation faded as Ying quietly slipped away and off the stage.   No one noticed that he had gone to a dark corner of the citadel, transformed into a natural sized eagle and flown over the walls and into the woods.
    He returned to that same fallen tree trunk where he had first encountered Valhandra the night before.   Sitting in his human form, sorrow filled his heart as he thought of Mei Liang.   Why, after all this time, had destiny brought them together but only for so short a time?   It was unfair!
    For the hand of a princess, a man will risk all.
    And he had.
    But lost.
    For he had gained nothing; Mei Liang was gone.
    Ying put his face into his hands, and heaved a dolorous sigh.   There were no words.   He only sat there until the sky turned dark and cold, for night had fallen.
    “If only I could be with her once again, if only for a moment.”
    A strong gust blew through the trees and sent a pile of fallen leaves into the air.   It hissed like steam from a rice pot, but to Ying’s surprise, the wind felt warm.   Ying looked up but, the wind started to blow so hard he had to shield his eyes from the debris.
    While he did, the skin on his hands grew warm.
    Golden light entered through the space between his fingers.
    Before he heard any sound, he felt an overwhelming presence.
    // MY SON, WHY ARE YOU SO DOWNCAST? //
     
    Ying arose, removed his hands from his eyes and beheld a column of fire, stretching up from and burning in the middle of the ground, but there was no wood, no fuel of any sort.   The column swirled and pulsed with each word.
    “You know all things, O great Valhandra.   Surely it is no mystery to you.”
    // TELL ME YOUR TROUBLES //
     
    “Did you not mean for Mei Liang and me to be together?   After all, against all odds you brought us into each other’s lives after so many years.   It could not have been by chance.   And yet, she has died.   And I, good as dead without her.”
    // MY SON, YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU SPEAK OF.   MEI LIANG HAS FULFILLED HER CALLING AND HAS CROSSED THROUGH THE GREAT VEIL.   SHE IS ONLY NOW BEGINNING TO LIVE THE LIFE FOR WHICH SHE WAS CREATED //
     
    Ying wanted to be angry but somehow in Valhandra’s glorious presence, he could not.   There was simply too much peace to feel anger, or sorrow which had filled his heart until now.   But his desire remained still.   For in His presence, Ying understood that the ultimate desire of anyone’s being was to be in the presence of his creator—it was wholly clear to him.
    As was his desire to be with Mei Liang again.   “Sire, I humbly abide by all You decree, for Your will is perfect.   And yet—”
    // YOU DESIRE TO BE WITH HER AGAIN //
     
    “Yes.”
    // COULD YOU NOT WAIT EVEN A SHORT WHILE? //
     
    “What does the Creator of all that is consider a short while?”
    // I CALL ALL TIMES A SHORT WHILE //
     
    “Please, Sire.   I have never desired anything much in all of my life, short though it may be.   But to see Mei Liang again…I would do anything.”
    // YOU MAY SEE HER AGAIN, YET.   BUT THAT PATH WOULD BE ARDUOUS.   ARE YOU WILLING TO walk IT, THOUGH IT TAKE FIVE HUNDRED YEARS? //
     
    Ying did not permit himself to consider the implications.   “As You have called all times a short while, and as it is written, “ A thousand years is like a day in Your eyes ,” I am willing.”
    At that very moment, the pillar of fire changed into the form of Valhandra’s countenance which, for the rest of Ying’s life on this side of the great veil, he could never quite describe as anything but pure glory.   Valhandra smiled and enveloped him with the warmth of a father’s embrace.
    “ YOUR WISH SHALL BE GRANTED .”
    From that day forward, Ying remained as a hermit in the hills of Xingjia.    It is said that he lived for over four hundred years and had never tasted death. Through the rise of the Sojourner Kingdom, the many struggles to overcome the forces of