Ascension (24 page)

Laura’s thoughts were interrupted as an enormous tremor shook the earth, hard enough to knock her off her feet.  She landed on her back ungracefully, and was immediately tossed up again.  A loud groaning sound bellowed beneath her.  She caught herself in the air this time to land in a crouch.  She looked at Gray, who was not standing on the ground anymore, but rather,
floating
a good foot above it.  The tremors didn’t touch him, but Laura wasn’t sure if he was really here anymore.  His reflection wavered, turning to mist and back, and he didn’t seem to be seeing anything around him.  Suddenly, his whole being winked out of existence.

That was the breeze that started the avalanche.  As soon as Gray disappeared, the whole world began to shake.  And it wasn’t just the tremor of the earth that contributed to it.  Every single part of the environment, from the sky to the air to the trees, started to shake violently.  Tree trunks split in two and then rebounded back.  The air pushed down on Laura’s shoulders and retreated threateningly.  And the sky itself began to fall.

Laura had never seen anything like it.  She watched, entranced and terrified at the same time, as pieces of the sky fell toward the earth.  They fell in chunks, like old paint chipping off a surface.  And behind them, the pure darkness of the ethereal matrix was revealed.

One of the pieces rocketed toward Laura.  She started to run.  As she did, the shaking around her only got worse.  Pieces of the earth fell away, leaving a black abyss in their wake.  Laura ran, and everything crumbled around her.

Gaps formed in the ground before her.  The terrible booming of destruction continued all around.  She had to run, because she did not know what else to do.  The forest behind her erupted upwards and then sunk into the ground.  Dirt and earth sprayed her from all sides, but she kept running.  She took a step, and narrowly avoided falling into a newly-formed gap as the earth gave way.  She jumped, barely managing to clear the gaping hole.

More and more pieces of the world started to break.  A crevice rippled across the ground in front of her and tore open the earth.  The horrible sounds continued all around her.  She turned to avoid the gulf and kept going.

In front of her, behind her, and all around her, more sections of earth gave way.  When they fell, there was only darkness left.  An enormous crash sounded just to her side, and Laura whipped her head that way.  The first of the enormous pieces of sky had hit the earth, leaving a chasm beyond comprehension.  Laura ran for her life.

All around her, the world was being swallowed up.  Laura knew that if she fell into one of those holes, there would be no escape.  It was not just darkness that prevailed there, but also a red, ominous aura that radiated menacingly.  She did not want to think of what it was.

In mere moments, Laura found herself jumping from island to island.  The ground was not connected anymore, so she could not just run across.  It was like trying to navigate a churning river of ice without falling into the water below.

Even worse, the islands of land that remained were dropping into the abyss by the second.  Laura could do nothing but run.  Destruction wreaked havoc all around her.  She reached the edge of the land she was on, and jumped to the next island.  Just as she landed, though, the earth beneath her crumpled away.  Arms flailing, she grabbed desperately at a small rock that was still solid before her.  Her fingers caught, but the impact flung the figurine
torrial
out of her hand. 

She glanced down to see it fall into the abyss and disappear in the darkness.  A sickening bulge of red ballooned out toward her, and she scrambled up, desperate to get away.

She ran, but could see the remaining islands falling to the black, one by one.  She did not know what to do.  Gabrielle was supposed to be watching over her.  He was the one supposed to bring her back.  She’d already done what she came here to do! 

“Gabrielle!” Laura screamed at the top of her lungs.  “Get me out of here!”  Her voice was swallowed up by the cataclysmic sounds all around her.

There was absolutely no indication that Gabrielle heard her.  The destruction raged on.  The sky fell away, and sunk into the abyss.  Laura ran and jumped, ran and jumped, driven by fear and the instinctual need to survive.  The remaining pieces of land were getting sparse, and Laura knew she could not avoid the looming abyss much longer.

The air began to shimmer in violent slashes of red and black.  This world was dying, and Laura had no idea how she was to get out.  The elder’s death precipitated the death of this world.  She yelled for Gabrielle again, and again the sound she made was swallowed up by the cacophony around her.  She felt desperation rise up within her.  Islands all around her were crumbling away into nothingness.  She did not know which would go next.  She felt hers start to sink, and raced to the edge to jump to the next one.  The gap was wide, but Laura propelled herself just enough to make it.  Just as she was about to land, the island before her turned to dust and crumbled away.

Laura fell.

Chapter Eighteen

~A Return~

Laura fell through darkness.  She fell, without knowing which way was up or which was down.  Time became irrelevant as she fell, forever through the black.  The air around her solidified and melted.  She fell through darkness, and the world started to whirl around her.  Slowly, the faint light of the stars Laura remembered started to appear around her, the representation of all the living beings in this ethereal realm.  Their familiarity afforded her a measure of comfort.

She couldn’t control where she was going, though.  She continued to fall, and the stars sped by, blurring into streaking lights.  Suddenly, she hit an elastic sort of resistance, rebounded back, and was flung unceremoniously out of the
torrial
.

She hit the back wall of the repository and crumpled down.  The pain in her foot seared into being.  She felt it here so much stronger than in the elder’s dream, which worried her about how bad it must now be in the real world.  But it was only a momentary thought.  What she saw in front of her was much more alarming.

Gabrielle stood sagged over the
torrial
.  He looked weary.  The female angel across from him did not look any better.  They were both haggard, tired.  Exhaustion crossed their faces.  And their angelic grace was gone.

“Welcome back, Laura.” 

The voice startled her.  It was Gabrielle’s, but it was not in her mind as she was used to.  He was actually
speaking
, using his mouth, just like anybody else would.  She could hear the fatigue in his voice. 

“You’re speaking,” Laura said, amazed.  “Why?  How? Why did you not before?”

“It takes a certain strength to communicate through the mind.”  Gabrielle did not shift his gaze from the
torrial
.  “Strength I cannot spare anymore.”

Laura looked around, and for the first time realized the repository was empty.  Aside from Gabrielle and his unnamed companion, she was the only one there!  “Where are the others?”

“You are the first to return,” Gabrielle answered.

“The first?” Laura was shocked.  “But I was there for so long!”

“Success came to you easier than it comes to the others.”

“So everyone’s still there?  What can you see?  How are they doing?”

“Not… well,” came Gabrielle’s reply.  He looked like a man, and a tired one at that.  None of the grace he possessed from before remained.  Controlling the
torrial
 had taken all that out of him.  “We are trying to assist them as much as we can, but our powers are spread thin.  There’s only so much we can do from here.  The elders are strong.  They will not fold easily.”

“Is there anything I can do?” Laura asked.  She had succeeded, but that did not matter if the others did not.  Logan was in there, going through his own battles.  As were Madison and Alexander, and four other angels who were doing all this for her.  The lies the elder told her in a desperate attempt to save his life meant nothing to her anymore.  The doubt he tried to instill in her about Gabrielle’s intentions was gone.  Her friends were in there, her love was in there, and she couldn’t let them face everything alone.  She had to help.

“I was not about to ask, given what you went through.  But if you are willing…”

“Yes!  Of course, yes!”  She ignored the sharp pain in her foot.  “Anything I can do, I will.”

Gabrielle exhaled heavily.  “Believe me, I would not ask you to do this were there any other choice.  But there isn’t.  Time is running short.”

“I will do whatever is required!” Laura insisted.

“Very well.  You need to go back into the
torrial
, Laura.  You will see the stars of the elders once in there, as you did before.  You need to
destroy
them, all at once!  But you cannot go into their dreams.  You have to do it from the outside.”

Laura’s eyes widened at the suggestion.  “How… how can I do that?”

“You are the prophesied one, Laura.  You will see the way when it is revealed to you.”

“That’s so vague.”  Laura shook her head.  “So you don’t know how I can do what you just asked?”

“Not in any way that can guide you,” Gabrielle admitted.  “I know it can be done, though.  The
torrial
gives you enough power.  You will need to… to sap the life energies from all the elders’ stars.  All at once, and without being detected.”

Laura shivered as she remembered the threatening nature of that undefined space within the
torrial
.  Just trying to move there, it felt like she could lose herself for eternity.  How would the abyss react to her trying to alter its very fabric? 

“What about all the others?” Laura asked.  “They’re inside the elders’ stars, aren’t they?  Wouldn’t this be dangerous to them?”

“We will alert them to your coming,” Gabrielle said solemnly.  “If they can get out in time will be up to them.”

“
If
?” Laura demanded.  “What do you mean,
if
?”

“We cannot pull them out ourselves.  Only they have the power to do that.  But if they leave too early, it will gives the elders time to escape.”

“So there’s a chance,” Laura began, thinking, “that, assuming all this works, when I somehow destroy the elders’ stars, everyone we know may get caught in there as well?”

“A very real possibility,” Gabrielle said slowly.  “Are you still willing to go forward?  This is a last resort, because I… I cannot see any other way.”

Laura thought.  If the situation was as dire as Gabrielle suggested, none of them would survive anyway.  But the way to victory was lined with pits of snakes.  Venomous, enormous snakes.  Would any of it be worth it if Logan got trapped in there, and wasn’t able to get out in time as she destroyed the stars?  Or Madison, or Alexander?  Or any of the angels?

“The clock is ticking,” Gabrielle said.  “You must chose, Laura.  I will not have the strength to transport you into the
torrial
for much longer.”

Laura gritted her teeth.  Either way she chose, her friends could all die.  But if this one way enhanced their chances of survival slightly…

“I’ll do it,” Laura said through gritted teeth. 

“Then come over, and hurry!” Gabrielle urged.  Laura stood up, and limped over to the
torrial
.  She was glad neither of the angels in the room were looking at her to see that.  The pain in her foot had become worse, so that even the slightest touch of pressure felt like a thousand needles piercing her skin.  But she could not pity herself now.

For the first time since she’d gotten back, Gabrielle lifted his eyes from the
torrial
to glance at her.  It only lasted a second, but in that sliver of time she understood even more just how much the
torrial
was taking out of him.  His eyes, which had always shone with a lustrous intensity, were now red and tired.  Even his eyelids were drooping.  She knew he could not hold onto the
torrial
for much longer. 
That
was the real reason for the urgency.  If his control slipped, everyone she knew would likely be trapped in there forever.  Trapped in the elders’ drams, with no hope of escape.  She could not let that happen.

“Ready?” Gabrielle asked.

Laura inclined her head slightly.  “Yes.”

Gabrielle moved his hands over the
torrial
, looked across to his partner – who, from close up, looked to be in even worse shape than he – and extended an arm to Laura.  “Just like last time, now.  Close your eyes.”

Laura did so.  Again, she felt that strange distortion occur in front of her.  She felt a pull start to form, but it took more time to build up than before.

“One more thing,” Laura asked quickly, suddenly remembering.  “I never found out what happened to Rafael.”