The Light birthed Life indirectly, not as a pre-planned idea but rather a distinct consequence of the comingling of matter in configurations that supported it. Elements were the basic structure of matter. Their lattice work of stability resulted in the creation of worlds, the growth of Life, and the eventual capability of beings who would learn to manipulate the elements in unexpected ways.

Chapter 4

Trynneia’s dreams that night took on a different tone, now that she’d borne witness to the gruesome aftermath of a murder. She dreamt of the man walking past her bedroom window with the same expression on his face as he had when she saw him at school. Everything about the dream seemed to be tinted red, but framed by a yellowish-white halo.

Her viewpoint followed the man, passing through the window and trailing behind him. They were in town, and he stopped at the same stall that Ditan had stolen the dried meat from and chatted amicably with the stall-keeper for several minutes. To her it seemed like they were close friends. Trynneia found it weird that he kept repositioning his skull cap, and noted that it seemed gray, so she felt unsure if it were gray or actually a red muted by the distinct colorization of her vision.

The old man led his goat into the alley, where a figure stepped out to bar his way forward. A second blocked his retreat. Both unveiled hatchets carried under their cloaks. Something about the clothes she glimpsed seemed familiar. Her man did something strange then. He tied the goat’s lead to a nearby pole. Trynneia could see his lips moving, but couldn’t make out what he said, or if they were even words at all. The dream provided no sound. From a satchel, he withdrew a small totem, nothing more than some carved twigs bound together with hemp rope, decorated with paint, and set it on the ground.

One of his assailants appeared to yell and charged him. The second joined in. Trynneia could not turn away, fixated on this grisly nightmare her dream had become. She knew the outcome, she didn’t want to see it happen. The assailants struck repeatedly, and the man never raised any defense, nor appeared to call for aid. In the scuffle, the totem seemed to get knocked to the side, and around it another halo appeared for a moment before it was kicked away by the goat as it thrashed during its final moments.

Trynneia jerked awake with a startled yelp, her runes fully ablaze. She struggled to catch her breath, and felt her heart racing. Tears trailed down her face, but when she wiped them away, she noticed it was blood. Rendrys stirred and looked over at her daughter, took in the sight before her, and came awake immediately. Uncontrollable tremors shook Trynneia’s body as she tried to process what she’d seen.

Rendrys rushed over and offered her a kerchief to dab her blood and tears. She traced the runes on Trynneia’s upper arms and face, her hands glowing with Light, whispering words her daughter could not make out. “Tryn. Trynneia. Shhh. It was a dream,” she spoke soothingly. “Wake up, that’s it,” she whispered.

Trynneia calmed, whether at the words or the magic her mother wove, she could not say. The golden cast of her runes faded, and her pulse slowed. Fatigue filled every part of her body, giving her the feel of an unfamiliar heaviness, when it was just weakness that could no longer support her own weight.

Rendrys bunched up some pillows, and helped Trynneia ease back into them. Her daughter’s eyes darted about the room, full of fear and confusion. “I have to get away from here, they’ll get me too,” she said. Everything still felt so real. “I don’t want to die, don’t let them kill me,” she whispered, cringing. Trynneia brought up her blankets, seeking to hide. She heard her mother’s voice.

“It was a dream,” she repeated, embracing her daughter and rubbing her hair. A few more whispers, and she kissed Trynneia’s temple. Runes that led up her temple to her forehead glowed briefly in response. The girl recognized her mother then.

“You’ve had a vision, Tryn,” Rendrys said, wiping away her own tears while trying to smile.

Horror filled Trynneia’s eyes. “That was the Light? All that evil...No…” she sobbed.

“Light bless you, my child. Your awakening has begun. Not all visions are of evil.”

Trynneia looked out the window, hoping to see any sort of distraction. Only a cloudy sky and a waving tree branch to be seen as her mother continued. “I’m not prepared for this. So much to do-”

“Mom,” Trynneia ventured, her voice small. “I watched them kill him. He did nothing wrong. He didn’t even fight it. Why would the Light show me this?”

“I don't know,” Rendrys replied, her normal calm rattled by her daughter’s distress. “The Light shows how to help. It makes no sense why it would show something that cannot be helped.” An uncomfortable silence built between mother and daughter.

“I think I need some time alone, mom,” Trynneia said, grabbing some clothes and beginning to change.

“It’s still a while before first sunrise, Tryn. Where do you intend to go?”

“Outside. I need to clear my head.”

“There’s a chill, want me to warm you some tea first?” Rendrys asked, resigned.

“I don’t think tea is going to help anything,” she replied, pulling on her second boot and heading out the door.

Trynneia made her way north to the Chapel of Light. She had a few reasons for this decision. The first was that the Chapel was sacred ground, and having been hallowed by her own mother it was the only other place she felt she could be safe from harm. Her second reason was that if she’d truly had a dream from the Light, perhaps being in a place of Light might help her to understand what she’d witnessed. Solitude happened to be her third reason. After so much mental and emotional trauma she just wanted to be left alone to her thoughts.

As she got closer, she observed that something or someone was casting shadows about the structure. Eternal Light never dimmed, even in the Chapel, and this confused her. This late at night, or perhaps this early in the day, she expected no one to be here. Regardless, she hoped to be left alone with her thoughts. Trynneia could go elsewhere if she were wrong.

A man squatted in the center of the Chapel, facing the light. Without even looking, he half turned his body and beckoned her to approach, never taking his eyes from the Eternal Light.

“Welcome, Trynneia,” he called. Despite the gaps in the wall of trees surrounding him, his words had a slight echo to them, reverberating off the staggered trunks.

She sensed no malice, but her runes began to glow soft white at her unease. Perhaps privacy could wait for another time. The man sensed her hesitation.

“Are you coming or not? I don’t have all night,” he stated impatiently. A crown of stringy gray hair fringed his bald skull. His unkempt beard ended just at his clavicles if he kept his head up. By his side a thick, twisted walking stick lay ready to support him. Or defend him. His clothes were non-descript, natural (or dirty) brown tunic and trousers. Perhaps he might be mildly handsome, if he shaved and put on shoes.

“I wasn’t expecting anyone here,” she said warily.

Instead of standing to turn around, he toddled about his axis, maintaining his odd crouch. It seemed like some sort of duck walking, if humans could do that.

“This is a chapel, is it not? Worship takes place in many forms, some in the light, some in the night. I think perhaps what you expected and what you got do not match. Oh what to do, what to do?”

“Fine, let me know when you leave so I can come back later.”

“Hrm, I think not,” the man said. “You’re here for me. Or I’m here for you. I think. Either way, would you defy the Light?

“You’re here for me?” she repeated his comment..

“Didn’t I just say that? Why else would you and I come to this place on this night, if not to meet?”

“I wasn’t trying to meet anyone.”

“So you were trying to meet no one. And thus I am.”

“Whatever are you talking about, sir?”

“Whatever you are here to talk about, miss.”

Trynneia sighed and turned to go. “I came here to be alone, so if you’re going to be here a while I’ll find someplace else to go.”

“The darkness is no place for a young woman like you.”

Her runes blazed with her sudden anger. “I walked all the way here in darkness, so if that’s where I need to go to find some Light blessed silence that’s where I’ll go.”

“So quick to turn in anger, to run or flee. You cannot escape your memories, Trynneia. Wherever you go, there they’ll be, so why confront them in Darkness, when you can expose them to the Light?”

“Who are you?” she asked.

“Brilliant question, I’m glad you asked. I’m the one who will teach you who you are.”

“Quit dodging my questions and throwing them back at me. Why should I stay here any longer?”

At that, he giggled, then reached into a pouch at his waist. From it he withdrew the exact totem from her nightmare. “I can think of no more convincing argument than this. Art’s value exceeds the spoken word.”

“Where did you get that?” she asked.

“Where you think I got it,” he replied. “Take it, that’s what you were searching for. Even if you didn’t know it yet.”

Trynneia approached the old man to take the totem. His rancid stench told her he probably hadn’t cleaned himself in days at least. Braving his odor, she took the totem and backed away.

The runes on her body flared to life, a very metallic golden sheen, and her skin prickled everywhere. To her astonishment, she nearly dropped it, keeping a hold of it through sheer force of will. Trynneia made a fist about it, covering it entirely. This totem had no physical weight, but its power thrummed in her hand.

“I believe a certain friend of yours might be quite interested in that item. Or maybe not. You know, at this point I really don’t know.” He looked at it resting in Trynneia’s hand with sadness in his eyes.

He stood up and clasped his fists about her hand. She felt a similar power through his hands too. It felt unnatural, and a different chill ran up her spine.

“Pity my brother died. Ditan might have liked to meet him.”

A vision of the man from the window arose in her mind, and she shut her eyes to try and close out the sight. When she opened them, both the Eternal Light and the man were gone.