Free Darkness Risen (The Ava'Lonan Herstories Book 4) by Ako Emanuel Page A

their hormones while weakening their bonds. Some of them were
too docile - they had been broken, and they followed every direction their
handlers gave them. Others fought their bonds, screaming their defiance and
laughing at their punishment, raging against the bars and chains of their
cages. Gavaron had studied the defiant ones before, sometimes weakening their
shackles and the bars or locks to their prisons at moments of disobedience. And
a few, upon discovering this aid, broke loose. One or two even made it all the
way to freedom.
    He pondered his fellow and sister captives as he
pushed the limits of his strength. Should I plan to take others with me when
I finally liberate myself? he wondered. It was riskier and infinitely more
difficult to try to free all of them. Besides, what did he owe these others?
The captives were not allowed to communicate at all, but some of them found
ways. He had tried with those nearest him, but they had been unresponsive. If
they have given up hope, are they worth freeing? Should I jeopardize my chance
just for their sake?
    His thoughts were disturbing to him as he ranged out
past the villa grounds and the out-buildings and the surrounding wilderness.
Before, he might not have given a second thought to freeing others. Have I
given too much sensitivity to Varo? Or have I always been so distant from
others besides Jenikia and Jeliya that I would have always contemplated leaving
the helpless in their straits?
    No, he had always tried to help those in need,
before, to the best of his ability. Perhaps a part of him sensed that the
freeing of others was beyond his powers?
    He turned his attention completely to the
surroundings for a moment. Far to the weste, beyond the wilderness were farms
and fields. The forest in between was old, alive, with deep roots. The trees of
it quivered at his touch, gently feeling his presence with their roots. He
tickled them back and moved on. Mapping these features in his mind, he turned
back to his ponderings.
    Perhaps he could free some of the prisoners, and
they would help free others? He considered the notion, probing deeper, when his
awareness suddenly expanded not just down, but out, spreading faster than he
could assimilate. Like parched ground drinking water, the earth soaked him up,
leaving his body far behind. Through the soil and stone he rippled, like a dark
stain spreading, blazing black mountains breaking out upon the surface of his
mind like blemishes, covered with pale hairs like trees and shallow sweat
filled pits like seas and rivers. Below, the black bedrock sucked him in even
faster, down and out, filled with unexpected pockets of creamy air and gray
water, and still farther, down and out to the white-gray chaos of the magma
layer...
    No, I...! Ripped apart! his mind cried, can’t, spreading too thin, I...
    YOU ARE A CHILD OF LORO, the earth sang. ALL
THE WORLD WILL KNOW YOU AND ANSWER. ALL THINGS OF LORO AND DIO WILL HEED YOU.
LOR’SON, KNOW THAT YOU HAVE BEEN NAMED.
    And like a nova dwindling to a tiny star, his
consciousness winked out.
     
    the light
turned...
     
    ...Gavaron
dreamed. In his dream, Jeliya was on a path of gold, bathed in platinum light.
She trod the path, her skin glistening, while willowy trees lined the path,
waving gently in a welcome kiss of breeze. She looked beautiful, tall and regal,
walking slowly and stately upon the smooth gold sand.
    The
glittering drops of moisture that so defined and highlighted her velvet skin
turned to tiny rivulets. The light upon her seemed to congeal, gradually
putting more and more weight upon her shoulders, and he saw that the sand was
not so smooth. There were harsh, hard-edged grains of grit that seemed to cut
right through her sandals, just enough to prick her feet. The trees, with the
faces of multitudes in their trunks, gave no shade, but seemed to stir the
light with their branches, making it thicker, and churning the grit with their
roots, turning up the sharp points.
    But
she