The Younger Gods

Ara was still very concerned by child Balacenia's discovery that Aracia was almost totally under the control of one of the servants of the Vlagh. Lillabeth would be safe, though, and that was all that really mattered. Ara smiled faintly. Aracia—and her buggish priestess—were likely to be very surprised when they encountered what appeared to be the child Lillabeth, but in reality was the younger goddess Enalla. With Enalla and Balacenia there to block them, Aracia and Alcevan wouldn't have any chance at all of achieving their goal. Dahlaine had been more than a little reluctant to admit that Aracia wouldn't be around much longer, but his sister was quite obviously out of her mind, and very soon she would almost certainly cease to exist.

"Good morning, dear heart," Omago said as he came into the kitchen.

"You finally woke up, I see," Ara said. "Here it is almost daylight, and you're only now getting out of bed. Aren't you feeling well?"

"Not really, dear," Omago replied. "I had a very peculiar dream last night."

"Oh?"

"You and I were drifting in a strange place where there wasn't much light at all."

"What exactly do you mean by 'drifting'?" Ara asked.

"We seemed to be just floating up in the air," Omago replied, "except that there wasn't any air."

Ara put down her large spoon. "I think that maybe everybody has one of those 'floating' dreams every now and then." She smiled. "I suppose that it might mean that we're all secretly envious of birds. They can fly, but we can't."

"I wasn't really thinking about birds, Ara, and I've never had a 'floating dream' before. Anyway, everything around us seemed to be moving toward an extremely bright light—so bright that it hurt my eyes just to look at it."

"It must have been the sun, then."

Omago shook his head. "It was even brighter than the sun, Ara—much, much brighter. Anyway, everything kept moving faster and faster as it rushed toward that bright light. Then the light started to shrink down, growing smaller and smaller until it wasn't any bigger than my thumbnail, but it was still growing brighter. Then everything went darker than night, and for some reason that I couldn't understand at all, you and I both said 'Now!' and the light was there again, but it definitely wasn't shrinking anymore. It was growing larger and larger so fast that I couldn't even keep track of it. The light almost seemed to be exploding and spreading out, shoving the darkness aside as it went."

Ara was suddenly cold all over. This wasn't supposed to be happening. "Just how long did that last, dear heart?" she asked, trying to keep her voice calm and ordinary.

"I couldn't really say, Ara. It was still expanding—or growing, maybe—when I suddenly woke up. Something very strange was going on. It's very, very cold in the sleep chambers of this fort, but I was covered with sweat as if I'd been out in my fields in the middle of summer."

Ara smiled. "I'd say that your dream was very useful, then, dear, dear Omago. You were feeling cold, and your dream warmed things up for you."

"It definitely made me feel warmer. Anyway, before I woke up, that immense light had started to spin off bits and pieces that whirled out in bright little chunks, spinning and flying. They seemed to remind me of stars, for some reason."

"Maybe you should talk with Dahlaine, dear Omago. He might be willing to pay a lot for a dream like the one you just had."

Omago smiled faintly. "Will it be long before breakfast?" he asked. "I think I should walk around just a bit and see if I can shake off what's left of that dream."

"You have about a half hour, dear heart," Ara replied. "Go out in the open and throw the dream away. Don't forget to put on your fur cape, though."

Omago nodded and went out of Ara's kitchen.

"How did he do that?" Ara demanded out loud. "We agreed that he wouldn't remember any of this for years and years. He's supposed to be an ordinary man, hut no ordinary man is going to have dreams about something that happened millions of years ago."

There had been a certain practicality in Omago's decision to transform himself into an ordinary human with no memories at all of his real identity. The man-creatures were a recent development, and, unlike most other creatures, it appeared that they were able to think at a much more complex level than the other living creatures on this particular world. Omago had decided that the best way to understand the man-creatures would be to duplicate their experiences and abilities by living out the life of an ordinary human here in the Land of Dhrall. He might have been able to try it elsewhere, but this world and this particular region were most important right now.

Omago's description of his dream had raised certain memories for Ara. Her mind went back to the time before time when she'd been awareness only, with no body. Her awareness had moved about the universe through endless eons, searching, searching for something—anything—that might dispel her dreadful loneliness.

And then Omago's awareness had reached out to her, and she'd no longer been alone.

For eons uncountable they had drifted together, growing more attached to each other as they searched for other awarenesses. But as far as they'd been able to determine, there were none.

And then, with no warning whatsoever, there was light—a light so intense that Ara could not bear to look at it. "What is that thing?" she demanded.

"I couldn't really say, dear heart," Omago's awareness replied. "I've never seen anything like it before."

"Make it go away."

"How? It's millions of times larger than anything I've ever seen before, and other things that are also bright seem to be joining it. I think that something very important is about to happen."

"Why now, and not before?"

"I'm not sure that there's a difference between now and before, Ara."

"That just changed, dear Omago. That bright thing makes 'now' very important."

"I think you might be right, dear Ara. Something just started that didn't exist before."

"Is it my imagination, or is the bright thing growing smaller—and even brighter?"

Omago gasped. "Come away!" he shouted in the silence of her mind. "We can't stay here! We'll be destroyed if we do!"

"We'll be what?"

"We'll cease to exist. Come with me—new!"

And quite suddenly, Ara was no longer only thought. She had a tangible body, and Omago had one as well. He reached out and took her hand in his, and they turned and fled from the now tiny bright light.