Free Souls of Aredyrah 2 - The Search for the Unnamed One by Tracy A. Akers Page B

piles of books
that surrounded her. In all likelihood they were the last remaining
documents of her people. The stacks also included writings by
Tearians and other societies, some extinct, others assimilated into
the masses. The writings she found most fascinating were from a
race of people to the north, a region burnt into the sea during the
event that became the catalyst for the Purge. They were the ones
who had told the story of the child. It had been such a favorite of
hers during childhood that she had asked to be its transcriber. As
she flipped through the pages now, she became determined to find
it. If she could lay her eyes on the story of the child one last
time, perhaps she could find the courage to do what needed to be
done.
    She sat on the bench at the table and
searched the pages until at last she found what she was looking
for. There it was, tucked between a tale of a sinner’s redemption,
and the musings of a long dead philosopher. The story of the child
revealed no author, nor did it indicate a title, just some lines
that at first glance seemed inconsequential. But from the moment
she had first lain eyes on it in the dim light of a cave all those
long years ago, until the moment when she would read it one last
time, she knew it would bring salvation to this world and a golden
path that would take her into the next. Perhaps she had not lost
hope after all.
    Tenzy ran her fingers lovingly over the
lines, her eyes glinting as they traced the familiar words:
    He breathed his breath and cried with
Joy,
    but Love was stolen from him.
    Into the Darkness he was cast,
    O crooked child of Blindness.
     
    Hunger, Terror, Pain, and Sorrow;
    all wrapped him with abandon.
    ’ Til secret hands did raise him
up,
    and bathed his heart with Gladness.
     
    His spirit was as pure as Light;
    and Fire dared not harm him.
    Vast Water drew him to its arms,
    to place its kiss upon him.
     
    The Earth saw not child’s winged path,
    and sought to keep him planted.
    But Starlight showed his destiny,
    and paved his footsteps God’s way.
     
    Child’s Goodness gave forth sustenance,
    all creatures gathered round him.
    Upon their shoulders he was raised,
    all Evil banished from him.
     
    The World was lifted into Day.
    The Night its calm companion.
    For Child laid claim to Purity,
    and blessed the World around him.
     
    Tenzy wept as she realized her love for this
child, this crooked, beautiful, unnamed child. He was more than
words on parchment; he was a part of her deepest self. They were
entwined, he and she, like a mother and unborn child, their blood
mingling as one, the breath of their souls in perfect unity. For
too many years she had abandoned life, allowing herself to be made
a prisoner. And in so doing, she had kept the child a prisoner,
too.
    She bent and kissed the page. “Child of my
heart,” she whispered. “I will free you from this place.” Rising
from the bench, she gazed one last time at the knowledge and
history that surrounded her. The writings contained power, and she
could not risk the Priestess learning of it. Even more importantly,
she could not risk the child. Were the Priestess to touch him, she
would thrust him into a darkness from which no hand could ever
raise him.
    Tenzy shivered, for she realized there was
only one way to save him, and in so doing she risked the world ever
knowing him. There was but one other record of the child that she
knew of. Had it, too, been confiscated? Or was it still buried in
the mountainside, never to be found? Tenzy hesitated, realizing the
selfishness of her plan, but she vowed to protect him, no matter
the consequences.
    She set her jaw, then lifted a candle from
the table and gazed into its flame. With shaking hands she tilted
it toward the tome. Wax plopped onto the cover, obscuring the pale
symbols tooled into the leather.
    “Forgive me, dearest,” she said. “But if the
world perishes for the want of you, so be it.”
    She touched the flame to the book, watching
as