The Second Coming
Chapter 15

Beyondthe old stone door it is dark, which makes the younger man hesitate.

“Youhave to go in first, William. Only TheSecond Coming can enter. Once you havepassed the test, I can then follow.” The older man’s voice is encouraging.

Williamdoesn’t look comfortable, but nods slowly. “Give me a torch; it is dark inside.”

Kiranhands his companion an unlit torch, but William frowns. “How are we to light it?”

“TheSecond Coming does not need a tinderbox to make fire, William. Use The Blood!”

Williamgestures towards a nearby bush and the torch lights. A moment later, the bush bursts intoflames. William looks down andflushes. “I am sorry, Kiran; I must benervous.”

Withinthe hill is a cramped chamber, probably no more than two horses square. William holds the torch up, attempting to geta better glimpse of what lies ahead, but the darkness may as well be avoid. William looks behind him to theopposite side of the room, regarding the sunlight with longing.

Kirantakes hold of the arm not holding the torch. “Here lies your destiny, William. You are The Second Coming, and inside you willprove it.”

Williamswallows, sweating profusely. Kiranmoves his hand to William’s back, gently urging him forward, and the two menwalk into the darkness.

Withinmoments, the door closes behind them and an unlikely breeze blows out William’storch. “Kiran! What is happening?”

Kiran’svoice wavers but remains passive. “Youare prepared for this, William. Use youremotions to prove you are the Second Coming!”

Williamtakes a step forward and suddenly there is silence.

“William?”Kiran’s voice raises an octave.

Kiran’scry is greeted by more silence. He turnsto flee, but the door will not open. Kiran bangs on the door, alone in the darkness. He screams in frustration. “William!”

Lia screamed,and involuntarily jumped to her feet. She felt what was by then a familiar surge of power. “No!”

Rastlin ranover to her, but hit an invisible barrier and fell down to one knee. “Lia! What is it?”

Lia lookeddown to see him on the ground in front of her. “A dream, I think. All I recallis a scream of terror.”

Rastlin gotup, and dusted himself down. “Keepexactly where you are, and continue to hold the power.” He walked around her, and held his hands out. “You have created a barrier around yourselfout of instinct.” He smiled at her. “And what is more impressive is that you areholding it in place effortlessly.”

When sherealised what had happened, Lia felt a banging in her head. “I am not sureabout effortlessly. My head ispounding.” She released her hold on thepower.

“That is mostlikely because it was pure instinct.” Helooked around them. “What did you use tochannel?”

Lia realisedshe had no idea. “I am not sure. I didn’t plan on doing this, so I didn’tconcentrate on anything.”

Rastlinchuckled. “Fortunately for me I wasn’tclose enough for you to grab hold of. Ibelieve you may have used the environment around you to grasp the power, ratherthan any specific object.”

Lia lookedstunned. “I thought that took years of practice, and only certain people coulddo it?”

Hesmiled. “All true, but you are not certain people. You are theSecond Coming.”

Lia didn’tunderstand. “The Second Coming? What is that?”

“It is yourofficial title, so to speak. A prophecytold of your coming, to restore the Order.”

Lia’s laughwas sarcastic. “A prophecy? This just gets better. Not onlyam I descended from some ancient bloodline, but also subject of some lunatic’sramblings. Why didn’t you tell me thisbefore?”

Rastlin gaveher a disarming look. “Because you wouldnever have believed me; to you I have sounded insane ever since we met, and Idecided to take things one step at a time. Does it change anything?”

For a momentLia looked like a lost child. “To behonest I am not sure what anything is. Iaccept I have this power, and I believe you are sincere in what you say, but Istruggle to accept I can be that important. Surely there are others with The Blood out there? Why me?”

“There areundoubtedly others out there, but at this stage they are not important, andtheir blood will have been diluted over generations. As far as I am aware you are the only onedirectly descended from The First Coming, which means your blood cannot becorrupted. Since the First Comingperished at the hands of Revan, my line has been bound to yours, and yoursalone.”

“How long agodid the First Coming die?”

Rastlin’sexpression grew dark. “Four hundredyears. The Priestesses murdered him; itwas the act that almost obliterated our order. Since then, there has been a constant search for you and it has takencenturies for you to arrive.”

“Four hundredyears? I don’t understand; why now? Why me?”

Rastlinopened his palms. “To be honest I do notknow why it took so long for The Second Coming to be born. Why you? Again, I cannot answer that; my line has searched for yours for a longtime, and within that period the two lines have crossed on many occasions, butonly now are we sure The Second Coming has arrived.” He smiled at her. “As to how I know you are The Second Coming,which was of course your next question, is related to the prophecy.” He reachedinto the folds of his cloak and pulled out a scrap of parchment, which hehanded to her.

Lia read withinterest:

TheSecond Coming will be born in the heartland of the destroyer of The First.

TheSecond Coming will descend directly from the lineage of The First.

Lia lookedsceptical, but Rastlin continued. “Asfar as I know, the First Coming only had one child. Do you have brothers and sisters, Lia?”

She shook herhead. “No.”

“Did yourfather have any siblings?”

“No.”

He smiled avictorious smile. “If you trace backyour line, you will see that the parent descended from The First Coming was always an only child. That is why yourblood is pure, and why you are The Second Coming.”

Lia continuedto look for flaws in his logic, and found one. “But if all of my ancestors with The Blood were only children, wouldn’tthat mean that any of them who were born in Suria could be the Second Coming?”

Rastlin hadto concede that one. “On the face of it,yes, but through the generations it has been fairly easy to tell thedifference, and there haven’t been that many of your linage born in Suria. It is true that my ancestors have oftencrossed paths with yours, and those that were born in Suria were tested, so tospeak.”

She couldn’thelp herself. “So did your line alwaysresort to murder to achieve your goals?”

He shook hishead. “No. Remember I tried to approachyour parents on a neutral footing. Itwas their decision not to allow me to talk to you.”

Lia felt hewas implying her parents’ murder was her fault and flew into a rage. She channelled on instinct and didn’t flinchwhen the power surged through her. “Myparents’ deaths are on your hands, not mine!” Her eyesflashed, and Rastlin recoiled in fear. Abolt of lightning singed into the ground three feet to Rastlin’s right, and seta bush on fire. Thunder cracked andstrike upon strike of lightning crashed down around them.

Rastlin shookhimself free of his fear and shouted at her. “Lia! Release the power or youwill destroy yourself!”

The rush ofpower was incredible and Lia felt invincible. More lightning fell and the entire area became dark due to the overheadconditions. Rastlin pointed to her feet,and his voice was barely audible over the noise. “It is already happening!”

Lia lookeddown; the ground around her was covered in flame and her feet were onfire. The flames started flowing up herankles, and Lia cried out as they burned her legs. Rastlin yelled again. “Let it go!”

Lia screamedand severed the link between her and the surrounding environment. As she collapsed to the floor, Rastlinremoved his cloak and doused the flames. Within moments the flames were extinguished and Lia’s screams changedfrom those of exertion to those of pain. Rastlin pulled what remained of her shoes off, ran to his horse, andpulled two waterskins from the saddlebags. He poured the first over her feet immediately, then looked Lia in theeye. “Look at me!” he hissed. “Take this waterskin and continue to pour itover your feet. We passed a stream notfar back, and I will retrieve more water.” She forced herself to meet his gaze, dumbly took the gourd, and did ashe said. Rastlin ran to his horse,mounted and drove the animal back in the direction they had come from, whichleft Lia to contemplate what had just happened. Part of her was in agony but another part was exhilarated by the powershe had just demonstrated. The feelingshe had when the power was flowing through her was incredible, but she neededto learn to control it; Lia realised Rastlin was right when he said she woulddestroy herself if she did not.

She pouredthe water onto her feet slowly as she waited for him, and considered everythinghe had said. Was the church of Revanreally to blame for the decline of The Dragon Order, or was Rastlin merely aheretic? True, he had found her, and sheclearly had power, but he had not explained a great deal of what was to happennext, which led Lia to question his wisdom. Perhaps she should part ways with him, knowing she could defend herself,and travel the world? Even if theprophecy were true, there was no guarantee she was the one itspoke of, and there were holes in Rastlin’s logic that only his faith couldfill; his faith, not hers. Despite the pain, Lia smiled to herself; once her injuries healed, andafter he had helped her to further control her power, she would leave him; onceshe had more experience, he would be powerless to stop her.

*

Days laterCarly sat in the temple library, and was despairing at the lack of progresswith her research. She had learned muchof The Dragon Order: the seemingly random organisation and its demise at thehands of the Priestesses, who were forced to act to prevent its leader and hisarmy from advancing into Suria and enslaving innocents. It was also clear The Dragon Order was evil,as it drew people to abandon their faith and offered an existence with noconsequences. What Carly founddisturbing was what happened to the souls of those who followed: they weredrawn away from His love to an eternal limbo. Even worse, the souls of those who sacrificed themselves so those withThe Blood could channel power were believed to suffer eternal torment for theirwrongdoing. Carly found it verydifficult to comprehend why individuals would make that choice and spent manyhours contemplating the notion. Sheprayed and hoped that the souls of those who turned their back on Him wereactually saved, and that the views of those who wrote the historical texts weremisguided. Surely Revan would interveneat the very end, acknowledging that those involved had been misled, orcontrolled by unnatural means. Carlysighed and stood to return to her room, and wondered if she would ever replacewhat she was looking for. It was thenshe noticed an acolyte standing a short distance away, who was studying herintently.

RealisingCarly had broken her train of thought, the acolyte approached. She was holding out a letter. “Excuse me Priestess, this arrived for you.”

Carly inclinedher head and took the letter. “Thankyou, acolyte.”

The acolytenodded and left the library. Carly satdown once more and opened the letter.

PriestessCarly,

I wasin the wealthier district of Surian shortly after my return and I came acrossthe charred ruins of a house. I made adiscreet enquiry, and it happened to be the property of Rogen Flaun. The property had burned completely to theground, and when I spoke to the watch they said a number of people died in thefire.

Thatin itself should not be worthy of a Priestesses’ attention, but the fire hadclearly disturbed the watch. Apparentlya number of the dead were outside the property, and there had been some kind ofconflict.

I amnot convinced this was arson, because the guards wouldn’t have burned to deathoutside the house with weapons drawn. Iinvestigated further and discovered that a young blonde-haired woman had beenseen leaving the scene shortly after the fire started.

No-onehas seen the woman in the local in the area since, but the circumstances of thefire were suspicious enough for me to make enquiries of my own. I wasn’t able to replace her, but a young womanmatching her description was seen leaving the east gate two days later, alongwith an older man of Arezan descent.

Ihope this is of some use to you.

MayRevan bless you now and keep you with Him always.

PriestessCatherine.

Carly re-readthe note twice, then sat back to contemplate what it meant. Lia did survive the fire, although it appeared Michael maynot have. Who was the Arezan man? Was it him Carly heard talking about TheBlood in her latest vision? Where werethey going? Carly had assumed that Liawould return to Crossmoor, but the more she considered it she realised herfriend didn’t have much left. Lia probablybelieved Michael and Olbane were dead, and of course so were her parents. Carly herself was dedicated to the church, soshe knew Lia wouldn’t feel compelled to return to rejoin her. Despite the circumstances, it seemed odd Liawould go as far away as Areza.

Carly readthe note once more, smiled to herself at Priestess Catherine’s directness, andreturned to her room to pray for guidance.

*

Lia sat bythe fire Rastlin had made, and picked at the bandages on her feet andankles. Once the initial burning hadceased the pain was bearable, particularly as Rastlin had put a salve on thewounds. The soles of her feet had beenunaffected, which meant at least she could walk, but progress by horseback wastortuous as whenever her ankles collided with the horse’s flanks the pain wasconsiderable.

They hadspent the days since the initial pain subsided refining Lia’s control of thepower, which was difficult to say the least; despite knowing what it felt like to have the power, Liastruggled to grasp hold of it unless she was experiencing severe emotions, muchto their frustration. For three days Lianearly killed Rastlin on numerous occasions, and what worried Lia the most wasthat as the days went on she seemed to need more and more emotion to draw onthe power. Rastlin was also concerned,and every time he looked at her there was an expression of doubt on his face.

As they satby the fire Rastlin gazed at her. Liafelt a surge of resentment; he wasn’t able to help her, she knew that; whateverwas happening was beyond his skill. “Youcannot help me, can you.” She said the thought aloud.

He paused fora long time then shook his head. “I donot think so, no. Why you are unable tograsp the power without acute emotion is beyond my knowledge.”

“I am a dangerto anyone around me.”

Rastlinnodded sadly. “I know, but that is notmy concern at the moment. What concernsme is that when we reach our destination, you might not be able to get throughwhat it is you have to do. The onlycomfort I have is that you are The Second Coming and I believe you will fulfilyour destiny.”

Part of Liawanted to get up, run away and never return. Another part of her dreaded the results if she did that. “You have never said what my destiny is,Rastlin.” Lia stopped and realised she hadn’t used his name before; perhaps shefinally felt an equal, if not a superior.

Hesmiled. “You have never asked, Lia.”

She realisedthat was true as well.

“Once youhave entered the final resting place of The First Coming and proven yourself, youwill be given what is necessary to restore the balance and allow The DragonOrder to flourish once more. Only TheSecond Coming can gain access, so I cannot tell you more.”

“By restoringthe balance, you mean something will happen to the church of Revan,don’t you?”

He nodded.“It is likely, yes, but as I said before only you will know.”

Lia wasn’tcomfortable with that notion at all. “Why should I do this? Why wouldI want to risk upsetting a balance that works so well for the people of Suria?”

Rastlindidn’t put up any kind of logical argument. “Because it is your destiny to do so; you can neither avoid it or hidefrom it.”

Later thatnight Lia decided to leave, and she sneaked away while he slept. Her burns hadn’t completely healed but shecould not wait any longer; the longer she stayed with him, the closer she wasto wherever he was planning to take her. Lia picked a random direction in the dark, walked for half a mile, thenbroke into a run. She ignored the painfrom her wounds as she did.

Lia ran untildawn, and her feet felt as if they were on fire once more. She paused on the outskirts of a wood, andnoticed a stream ahead of her. Sheapproached, removed her shoes and plunged her feet into it. After a short while she felt surprisingly goodand could almost feel a glow around her feet; instinctively she focused on theglow with her mind and a moment later she felt the power enter her body. For the first time in days, however, she feltin control of it, and not at all angry or frustrated. The tingling in her feet remained and Liaimmersed her burnt ankles at the same time, which also tingled. She focused the power under the water andsuddenly her feet and ankles started to itch uncontrollably. Without thinking, Lia pulled them out of thewater and began to scratch them. As shedid, she noticed the burns had diminished somewhat. Grasping an idea Lia put her feet and anklesback in the water and re-established her connection with the power. That time she ignored the itching and withina short time it stopped. She thenremoved her feet from the water and was delighted to see they were completelyhealed. Severing the link to the power,Lia laughed out loud, and savoured the first moment of joy she had felt in whatseemed an eternity.

Lia bent downand washed her face with the cool water, then paused to look at herreflection. She cried out, jumped backinvoluntarily, and the moment of joy was gone. She nervously moved forward again, bent down and looked at herselfagain: her irises were crimson; all traces of their previous colour hadgone. Lia blinked and washed more waterover her face, but when it drained away her eyes were still the samecolour. Lia’s mind raced: was this new,or had Rastlin omitted to tell her it had happened? Was it a result of using the power? Lia sat back, brought her knees up and huggedherself. She felt like a lost child.

Lia wasn’tsure how long she sat, but after running all night, she needed rest. The faint murmur of voices jolted her fromthe trance-like state, and she jumped to her feet. The voices seemed to be coming from thesouth, but Lia didn’t wait to replace out more. She ran as fast as she could north, and was oblivious to the burningsensation in her chest and the pounding in her head from lack of sleep.

Hours later,she encountered the edge of a field. Ashort distance ahead she could see a barn. When she reached it she tentatively opened the door, then exhaled inrelief when she realised there was no-one inside. Lia entered, closed the door behind her andcollapsed on the hay. She fell to sleepinstantly.

“Miss?” Asmall voice barely registered in Lia’s mind. “Miss?”

Lia groaned,sat up, and rubbed her eyes. Disorientated after being woken from a deep sleep, she realised she wasin the barn she found earlier. In frontof her was a little boy, most likely Arezan. Lia suspected he was no more than six years old.

“Miss? Why are you in our barn?” The little boylooked at her intently.

“I was tired,and I needed somewhere to rest.” She said it more sharply than she intended,and the boy stepped back. Lia took adeep breath. “Is that alright? I amsorry if I shouldn’t have done that, but I didn’t have anywhere else to go.”

The boy’sbrown eyes looked up at her, and he looked more comfortable. “It’s fine; I won’t tell anyone if you don’twant me to.” The child studied herintently. “You aren’t from round here,are you? You look different.”

Lianodded. “I am Surian, although I don’tthink the border is that far from here.”

The childlooked at her in bemusement.

“I’m Lia;what is your name?”

The boysmiled. “Olver. What’s a Surian?”

It was Lia’sturn to smile. “Surian is a place a fewdays ride from here. I was born there.”

“It must beboring; I’ve never heard of it.”

Lia chuckled.“You’re probably right.” She strainedher eyes to see through the crack in the barn door. “How late is it?” She said it at the sametime her stomach rumbled.

Olvergrinned. “Nearly suppertime; Mother letsme come and play here before supper.”

The thoughtof supper made Lia’s stomach rumble again. She realised she carried no coin. “Do you think your mother and father would mind if I worked forfood? I haven’t eaten for a day.”Healing her feet through the water had made her feel extremely weak and she hadbeen near exhausted when she arrived at the barn.

Olverpaused. “I don’t know… Mother doesn’tlike strangers, but you are very pretty, so Father may say yes, and Jensendefinitely would.”

“Who isJensen?”

Olversnorted. “My brother; he spends all daychasing girls.”

“Olver, I’dlove to meet your family; can you take me to them?”

Henodded. “If mother shouts, it is not myfault though.”

Lialaughed. “I promise if they don’t wantme to come, I will leave straight away.”

Olver laughedtoo. “It’s a deal.”

The farmhousewas a short walk from the barn and on the way Olver chattered about his familyand what they did on the mostly arable farm. The farmhouse itself was a fair size and the smell coming from the openwindow made Lia’s stomach rumble once more. She thought about uttering a prayer to Revan that the family would takepity on her, but for some reason she couldn’t force the words out. Instead she did her best to look asunthreatening as she could.

Olver led herto the farmhouse door, opened it, and called out. “Mother! Father!” He stepped inside, andLia followed. The room immediatelyinside was a kitchen, and the smell of supper grew stronger. Lia waited while Olver ran forward to a door,which appeared to lead into a hallway. “A girl is here!”

“A girl?” A male voice sounded out and Lia heard footsteps down a set ofstairs. Moments later a tall adolescentArezan entered the kitchen, and his eyes searched out Lia. He grinned, while his eyes took in her wholeform, until they stopped on her face. The rather pathetic leer disappeared, and the young man backed into thehall. “Father!”

Olver lookedup at his brother. “What’s the matter,Jensen? She is my friend!”

Jensen didn’trespond. Moments later a middle-aged mancame through the door. “What is thematter, Jensen? I’ve told you not towake me during my nap.”

Jensen lookedtowards Lia, who backed towards the door. The man turned his head. “Who areyou?”

Lia clearedher throat. “Your son kindly offered tohelp me. I have been without food allday.”

Suddenly amiddle-aged woman appeared. “What isgoing on here?” She turned and noticed Lia, and gasped. “Her eyes! What is wrong with her eyes?”

Liainterjected, and spread her hands. “I donot know. I do not know why they arered, or when they turned red.”

Jensenstepped forward. “She is a witch! I’ve heard stories of such people!”

Liainvoluntarily jerked back. Unfortunatelyshe couldn’t deny the claim; to the ignorant, what she could do may have beenconsidered witchcraft.

The farmer reachedbehind a cabinet, took out a large cudgel, and moved towards Lia. “Leave, witch, or I will kill you. Leave my family alone!”

Lia forgother hunger and ran. Once she left thefarmhouse, she turned to see the farmer waiting on the threshold, with thecudgel still in his hand.

Lia ran untilthe farmhouse was no more than a distant building. When she felt safe, Lia slumped to the groundand despair took her. She raised herarms in the air, screamed, and tears ran down her face. She barely noticed the raging thunderstormthat followed.