The Second Coming
Chapter 17

Theytravelled west for three days, and crossed into Suria on the fourthmorning. Conversation was muted; Rastlinhad apparently run out of things to teach Lia and she had run out of questionshe could answer, particularly as he avoided her questions about where they weregoing. He couldn’t explain to her whothe five old men were or what they stood for, but Rastlin didn’t seem overlyconcerned by that. He rode with a smileon his face, which Lia suspected was because he had achieved what his ancestorshad not.

They rodealong the north stretch of Lake Moor, where the Moorside Mountainsdominated the view to the right, when a thought occurred to Lia. “I am going to bathe for a while. This water is exactly what I need to completethe healing process.”

Rastlinslowed his horse down and smiled at her. “I wondered when you would do that. I thought you would have done it when we passed that river two daysago.”

Sheshrugged. “It didn’t seem that importantat the time, and the pain has been a constant reminder of what happened tome. I don’t want to forget that easily.”

He raised aneyebrow. “Are you looking for revenge?”

Lia glared athim, and her red eyes flashed. “Whyshouldn’t I? Whoever was there capturedme, and would have left me to rot had I not acted. Forcing me to channel through myself wasmonstrous!” She pointed a finger at him. “Isn’t this whole crusade of yours about revenge?”

“No, itisn’t.” His voice was firm andcontrolled. “It is about righting awrong made many years ago and allowing people to choose.”

Lia wasn’tconvinced. “That is purespeculation! What evidence do you havefor this? A prophecy? How can you be so convinced that by doingwhatever it is we have to do will help anyone? Most people in Suria are very happy with what they have; why changethat?”

He snappedback. “They don’t know any better!” Hetook a deep breath. “As for what willhappen, I cannot be sure. What I do knowis that the prophecy has been true so far, and it cannot be coincidence youfound the final part.”

“Except youdon’t know what ‘return thebalance’ means.”

He shruggedand smiled. “I don’t think it would bemuch of a prophecy if it gave away the end-game to every reader.”

Lia snortedand dismounted quickly, which ended the conversation.

She walked tothe shore, undressed, then dipped a toe into the cold water. The burns on her arms looked ugly and werestill very sore, as was her back. Liawalked down into the water, immersed herself and drew on the power, which wasso strong that her wounds healed in a fraction of a second. Suddenly she understood what some theprophecy meant:

Theremainder will provide The Second with resources to return the balance

The lake waspart of the triangle! She looked up andsaw the mountains to the north.

Thetop of the triangle is as old as the world itself.

Instinctivelyshe looked across to the west and saw the Great Forest,which completed the pattern. Quickly sheswam out of the lake and reached the shore. Lia put on her clothes and ran back to where Rastlin and the horses werewaiting.

“Shouldn’tyou have dried yourself first?”

Lia ignoredthat. “I’ve found the triangle!”

Hesmiled. “Well, we are close to the triangle. I believe itis a place where the lake ends and the forest and mountains meet.”

“Why didn’tyou tell me this before?”

“You now knowhow powerful Lake Moor is, yes?”

Lianodded. “It is incredible.”

“And wouldyou have discovered that feeling had I told you where we were going?”

Lia staredhard. “Who knows? It seems a little random to me. You could have just told me.”

Hesmiled. “Prophecy does appear that way,does it not? I don’t know why I didn’ttell you about our destination; I don’t think it was a conscious decision.”

Lia felt arage rising, and changed the direction of the conversation. “How far is thetriangle?”

“It will takeus a day’s hard ride to reach the end of the lake. From there I am hoping all will becomeclear.”

Lia couldn’tresist snorting again. She admitted toherself she still wasn’t sure why she was following Rastlin. “Let’s hope so.” She swung back onto her horse.

*

The town of Frodsby was exactly as Carly remembered it: Surian to thesouth, Lake Moorto the east, the Great Forest to the west and the Moorside Mountainsto the north. They had arrived theprevious evening and stayed at TheBoar’s Head, althoughshe had the feeling that Spicer would rather have slept on the ground thanfrequent an inn other than his own.

Carly feltmuch better after resting in a bed, although she slept poorly. She awoke early, with the sun barely visibleon the horizon, and started her morning prayers. She knelt beside the bed and closed her eyes,but before she had time to mutter the first words she was somewhere else. Carly was standing in a large clearing, aforest to her left, mountains ahead of her and a lake to her right. She took a step forward and suddenly anelegant building appeared in front of her. The architecture was similar to that of the various temples of Revan inSuria, but it was much smaller. Shealso became aware of two figures riding towards her from the east and had analmost uncontrollable urge to defend the building. Suddenly Carly was travelling backwards, tothe south, along a well-used road splitting the lake and forest. Then it was over, and she was back in theroom, on her knees, in front of the bed.

Minutes laterCarly banged on the door to the room that Olbane and Spicer shared. “Olbane, Warnock, get up!”

Moments latera gruff voice swore and the door opened. Olbane, who was dressed in his undergarments, rubbed his eyes andyawned. “Is everything alright, Carly?”

She ignoredhim and walked into the room. “We areleaving, now. I know where we have togo, and we have to get there soon; there is much at stake.”

Olbane lookedat her, wide-eyed. “What is it?”

Carly lookedacross at the chair that had his clothes draped over them and then looked backat Olbane. Immediately he starteddressing. Spicer was still in bed, andthe bedclothes were over his head.

“Warnock Spicer! If you wish to accompany us, you will risenow!” It was a command, and Spicer almost jumped out of bed.

Once she wasconvinced they were dressing with the necessary urgency, Carly answeredOlbane’s question. “Someone is coming todestroy the church. There is an oldtemple north of here that is concealed from travellers.”

Olbanecontinued to look wide-eyed. “Who woulddo such a thing?”

Carly’sexpression was one of sadness. “I thinkit is Lia, and I think He is calling me to stop her.”

Spicer snorted. “How could one person destroy thechurch? Lia would never do such athing!”

“I do notknow; I suspect the cult she is involved with is looking for revenge for actsof necessity many years ago. What isspecial about this place, I do not know, but in my vision I felt an enormousamount of power.”

Olbanebuttoned up his shirt. “But the church’spower comes from Him! I don’tunderstand.”

Carly headedfor the door. “Neither do I, but thatconcern is secondary to protecting whatever resides in the temple.” She leftthem and walked downstairs to the inn common room. Moments later she was in the stables, wherefortunately the horses had already been fed and watered. She released her horse, mounted and urged herto leave the stables, and nearly ran down Olbane and Spicer as she did.

“Wait!” Theyshouted in unison, but Carly was already galloping to the north.

It didn’ttake Olbane and Spicer long to catch-up, and the three rode north along theroad that neatly split The Great Forest and Lake Moor. They rode in silence, and Carly never madeeye contact with her companions. Why didshe think the church was being threatened? Surely Revan’s power stretched beyond one building? Perhaps she had misinterpreted thevision? All she knew was that thefeeling she had during the vision was of a deadly threat, and she had anoverwhelming compulsion to stop it. Carly hoped she was wrong about Lia’s involvement, but inside she knewone of the two she saw in the vision was her friend.

They reachedthe clearing later that day, and Carly recognised the area as if she had beenthere hundreds of times. Carlyimmediately slowed her horse down.

“Are wehere?” Olbane did the same, followed by Spicer.

“Yes weare. Wait here please.”

Carlydismounted, and left her horse with the other two. She walked for no more than ten paces beforethe building appeared, and Carly was amazed by how much divine power shefelt. She heard Spicer mutter inamazement behind her, but ignored him. Carly looked to her right and saw two mounted figures approaching fromthe east, as they did in her vision. Sheturned to look behind her. “Quickly, wemust go inside before they arrive.”

Olbane andSpicer dismounted and joined her. “Isthat Lia?” Olbane’s voice rose an octave.

“I believeso, yes.” Carly grasped the handle on each of the wooden doors and pulleddown. They opened easily.

“Who is thatshe is with? One from the cult?”Spicer’s hand gripped the hilt of his sword.

Carly onlyhalf nodded as she stepped into the foyer of the building, which looked similarto the same room in the temple at Crossmoor, albeit on a smaller scale. Once inside the feeling of power wasincredible and Carly had to pause for a second to concentrate on the matter inhand; most of her wanted to fall to her knees and pray.

The foyereven had a desk at the end and there was a single door behind it.

“Thisdefinitely has the look of one of Revan’s temples.” Olbane thought out loud.

Spicergrunted. “Yes, but it doesn’t have theelegance the one in Crossmoor does.”

Carly walkedforward to the door. “I have a feelingthis is one of the oldest temples of Revan, perhaps the oldest.”

“Why wouldthey hide it? Surely we should celebratesuch a building?” Olbane kept close to Carly.

Carly openedthe door. “I do not know the answer tothat, but I suspect Lia and her companion do.” The door led to a corridor running left to right; to the left and aheadwere doors and to the right a staircase. The power seemed stronger from above, so Carly turned right.

“Shouldn’t wecheck out the other doors first? I don’twant something coming up behind us.” Spicer continued to grip his sword hilt.

Carly keptwalking. “We are not in any danger here,Warnock. This is a holy place.”

He gruntedbut didn’t object.

Carly had anurge to proceed without the others. “Imust go up alone. You two remain here.”

Spicerobjected to that and stepped forward. Carly held up a hand. “As I said, this is a holy place. I of all people will be fine.”

Olbane’s eyesmet Carly’s and he nodded. “We will waithere in the foyer.” He touched Spicer on the arm. “Warnock, we should guard the door.”

Spicerappeared more comfortable with that notion, nodded and walked back into thefoyer. Olbane remained for a moment. “Becareful, Carly.”

She noddedand turned quickly away. At the top ofthe stairs was another corridor. To theright was another door, which was open, and showed a small room which lookedlike a study. To the left was a longcorridor, which Carly stepped into. Atthe end of the corridor was another door, again open. The room inside was very ornate, with a largedining table, ten chairs and very expensive looking tapestries on the walls,which depicted various religious events. Across the room was another door, which was closed. As Carly approached the door, the feeling ofpower was completely overwhelming and she staggered to her knees. Carly gasped for breath, rose and opened thedoor; it led to a small room with a round table with five chairs. On four of the seats sat old men in whiterobes, and their hands were joined except across the empty space. As soon as she stepped across the thresholdthe power was intoxicating, and Carly was forced to sink to her knees and pray.

“Rise,Priestess.” One of the men commanded. His tone was measured and strong. Carly did so, but kept her head bowed.

The man spokeagain. “We are the original clergy of Revan, the founders of the church.”

Carly hadenough courage to make eye contact and ask a question. “Is this real or another vision?”

The man gaveher a fatherly smile. “It is real,although you are the first to set foot in this building for hundreds ofyears. Until now we have been able toexist alongside mortal life and have not had to reveal ourselves.”

Carly relaxeda little. “Apologies for asking this,Priest, but there is no mention of you in the church history. I don’t recall anything about male Priests.”

The mannodded wisely. “We serve to ensure Hispower is properly channelled, and that the Priesthood continues to bewise. All links to Him come throughus. That is our only purpose, and hasbeen since the start of the church. Long ago we decided to exist alongside the day to day running of thechurch.”

Carly’s eyeswidened. “Are you saying that each timea Priestess connects, it passes through you?”

He noddedagain. “That is correct. When we five first realised those with faithcould connect, we decided for the good of the church that weshould act as a go-between.”

Carlywondered if she was dreaming. “So we don’t connectto Him at all? How is that for the good of the church?”

Hisexpression didn’t change. “The mostimportant thing at the time was order; society was primitive and chaosreigned. By carefully controlling whatthe Priestesses did, we were able to create and maintain order.”

Carly couldfeel her face reddening. “Control? Why would you need to control us?”

“Those whoare chosen as Priestesses have a certain quality, a goodness and instinct tocare for others that could lead them astray. We could not give chaos an opportunity to lead them down a differentpath.”

“But how candoing good acts cause chaos?”

“There areplaces in this world where chaos completely reigns, and our Priestesses maywish to spread His word to those places. He is ours, and we cannot permit that.”

Carly waslost for words, until her eyes focused on the empty chair. “You said there were five of you.”

“One of ournumber was murdered by the one who approaches, and she intends to murder theremainder. That is why we called youhere, Priestess Carly of Crossmoor. Youmust take his place and complete The Circle. We fear she will destroy us, and the church, if The Circle is notcomplete.”

“Why me?”

“You are themost powerful Priestess alive; we have felt this as you have grown in your useof His power.”

Carly wastaken aback by that comment and took a few moments to respond. “Surely if you cease to exist the Priestesseswill connect to Him directly?”

The oldPriest nodded. “That they will, but arethey prepared for that? Most likely theyare not, and the foundations of the church will collapse. We cannot allow that to happen.” He lookeddeep into her eyes. “This is a command,Priestess Carly of Crossmoor. CompleteThe Circle and ensure the Church of Revan continues tothrive!”

Compelled toobey by her training, Carly moved to the empty space, and took a seat. Instantly the Priests either side of hergrasped her hands and The Circle was complete once more. Pure joy and enlightenment struck Carlyimmediately, and she knew complete peace for the first time.

*

Lia andRastlin approached the clearing at a gallop and it was the Arezan who slowedhis horse to a trot to take a look at the area. “I believe we are here, Lia.”

Lia alsoslowed down. “But there is nothinghere. If this is the triangle, what arewe supposed to replace?”

He dismountedand looked around. “To be honest I amnot sure. Whatever it is we seek is here, though.”

Lia slidelegantly down from her horse when a snorting sound across the clearing drewher attention. She walked brisklyforward for a few metres, and saw the origin of the sound: a horse, which wasaccompanied by two others. All tetheredagainst a tree. Rastlin joined her asshe moved closer to the beasts. “Itlooks like we are not alone.” He dropped onto his haunches and started lookingat the ground. “I am no expert, butthese tracks are fresh.” He movedforward for approximately ten paces and then stopped. “The tracks end here. It appears they just disappeared.”

Lia raised aneyebrow. “How is that possible?”

“Perhaps theywent somewhere else, somewhere that we cannot yet see. Can you use the power to see where theywent?”

Lia’s eyebrowstayed in place. “How am I supposed todo that?”

Rastlinsmiled. “You were meant to come here, Lia. The power ofThe Second Coming must be the key; remember you used it to replace the missingprophecy too.”

Lia lookedsceptical but nodded. “I will give it atry.” She spread her arms instinctivelyand grasped the power, and her head spun at the resources at her disposal: thevast forest and great lake provided her with exceptional forces to channelthrough. Lia blinked a few times toclear her vision, and looked ahead. Withthe power in her grasp, she could see the outline of a building, although itwas hazy, ghost-like. She felt that the naturalresources around her would give more, so grasped harder: the power wasincredible and she fell down on one knee. She looked up, and saw that the building had a wooden door. Despite the disorientation, she stood andwalked the few paces to the door, grasped the handle and pulled; the doorwouldn’t budge, but Lia knew what to do. She channelled the power through her hand, and a burst of wind blewforward, which blew the door off its hinges. Instantly the whole building became visible, which was shock enough forLia to release the power. She fell backto her knee, and breathed heavily.

Moments latershe became aware of two men looking down at her from within the doorway. One of them was middle-aged, burly andweathered. The other was younger, withsandy hair and a handsome face; both had swords drawn and looked shocked.

“Lia?” Theyounger man stepped forward. The olderman took a step back.

“Olbane? What are you doing here?” She then lookedbehind him at the older man. “Warnock? Now I am dreaming.”

Before any ofthem could speak further, Rastlin appeared at Lia’s side. Olbane raised his weapon and lunged forward.

“No!” Liagrasped the power, and held a hand in front of her. Olbane slammed into an invisible wall of air,and staggered backwards. Lia rose to herfeet. “You will not fight here. Rastlin is my companion, not my enemy.”

Olbane wasincensed and pointed his sword at Rastlin, although he didn’t moveforward.

Spicer glaredat the Arezan. “What have you done to myLia?”

Rastlin kepthis arms down and his face impassive. “She is your Lia, believe me. Underneath the power she is still the girlyou knew.” He looked at her and smiled. “However, she has found her destiny, which has changed her life forever.”

Spicer raisedhis weapon. “Her eyes are red!”

Lia steppedforward onto the threshold of the building. “He is right, Warnock. I wassupposed to come here. I have somethingto do, and the colour of my eyes is of no consequence.”

Spicermumbled a curse and lowered his weapon; Olbane followed suit.

The young manlooked at Lia with interest. “Are you aPriestess, Lia?”

She shook herhead. “No; this power is in my blood,and comes from our surroundings.”

Olbane’s eyeswidened. “But that is blasphemy!”

Lia’sexpression was sad. “I know,Olbane. I have learned a lot since weparted that challenges our beliefs. Inow believe there is more to the world than what our people considerimportant.”

Spicer glaredat Rastlin again. “He has poisoned yourmind! He is absolute, everything!”

It wasRastlin’s turn to respond. “I do not believe that is true. The more time I spend with Lia, the more Ibelieve there is something else at work, something better.”

Spicer nearlyexploded. “What could be better thanHim!”

Rastlinshrugged. “That I do not know, but thatis why Lia and I are here.”

“Well perhapsPriestess Carly disagrees with you!” Spicer’s smile was triumphant.

“Carly ishere?” Lia’s eyes filled with compassion.

Olbanenodded. “She heard you, Lia.”

Lia recalledthe moment of ultimate despair, and her cry for help. Nausea came over her; had she brought Carlythere? She couldn’t bear the thought ofher friend being in danger because of her. “How did she know to come here?”

“She hadanother vision.” His eyes motionedupwards. “She is upstairs.”

Lia lookedpast Olbane and Spicer to the end of the foyer, where a single door wasopen. “Then I must go to her.” Shestepped forward into the temple for the first time and was immediatelyoverwhelmed by a force which almost pushed the air from her lungs.

Rastlin put ahand on her shoulder. “What is it?”

Lia turned toface him, with fear in her eyes. “They are here. Their power is muchstronger than when I last met them, but one of them is different, almostfamiliar.” Lia’s jaw clenched and her eyes flashed. “Carly is with them. She has joined those bastards that capturedme. She has replaced the one I killed.”

Rastlin’seyes grew sad. “Your friend’s destiny isclearly tied to yours, Lia, but don’t let that distract you from going forward. You are stronger than they are, and they knowit.”

Lia noddedand composed herself. She drew on thepower of the trees, air and water, and walked forward again. The other power attacked her again, but thattime she repelled most of it, and felt only slightly out of breath.

Olbanestepped in front of her, with his sword raised. “Carly said you are planning to do something terrible. I cannot let you pass.”

Momentslater, and with an anguished expression on his face, Spicer joined the youngerman. “Lia, turn back; whatever it is youhave become involved in, it is not too late.”

Lia smiledsadly at her two friends, then took a deep breath and filled her lungs. “When I went to the place that showed us theway here, I didn’t know what to expect or what to do. What happened there I will never forget. They would have left me to starve, orworse. What happened to me that daywasn’t the bidding of a God who cares, my friends. Whatever is up there is not what it seems.”

Spicer seemedto waver, and his blade dropped. Olbanestood resolute, and waved his sword in Rastlin’s direction. “That man has brainwashed you! He has turned you into a blasphemer!”

“What I thinkand feel is all personal, Olbane. Rastlin’s role in this is complete. Please, step aside.”

Olbane’sexpression was full of anguish and tears were running down his face. He lowered his blade, bowed his head, andrefused to make eye contact. Liahesitated for a moment, shared a brief look with Spicer, then walked forwardtowards the door.

Inside thecorridor Lia immediately made for the stairs. At the top, she shuddered when she recognised the small room to herright, which was the same room she had materialised in after entering the hillin Areza. She looked to her left, andrecalled the long corridor with the door at the end. As she walked towards the door, sheinstinctively rubbed her back and arms where the self-inflicted burns hadappeared. The room with the diningtable was also similar, although Lia didn’t recall the rich decorations fromher previous experience. Lia crossed theroom and placed a hand on the door handle. As she did, the suffocation became almost unbearable and Lia had to stopand grasp more power to force it back. Instead of opening the door by a more conventional method, Lia blastedit off its hinges, and stepped through the entrance immediately. Inside was the same table as before, withfive seats. Lia immediately focused hergaze on Carly, who was dressed in a Priestesses’ robe. She had her head down, and her hands werelinked with the two men either side of her.

“Carly? What are you doing here?”

One of thePriests spoke. “She is part of The Circle now, witch. You caught us unaware before; we did notanticipate anyone could escape our trap. That will not happen again, and you will die here.”

The force ofwill that hit Lia was incredible, and far stronger than that of the Priest shehad killed before. Unable to defendherself, she was flung back against the wall of the small room, and crumpled tothe floor. The impact caused her torelease the power, and immediately the suffocating force grew around her, whichmade it impossible to breath. Liareached out to grasp the power once more, but found it extremely difficult to doso. She was able to grasp just enough tomaintain some air, but it left her extremely weak and unable to stand. “Who are you?”

“We are theoriginal Priests of Revan, guardians of the faith. Our sole purpose is to ensure continuity ofthe church.”

Lia’s eyesblazed. “By ensuring other faiths do notflourish!”

The Priestnodded. “If necessary, yes. Our faith and the fate of Suria areparamount.”

Lia forcedherself to relax, but kept talking. “The fate of Suria? What about the rest of this world? Are you saying He doesn’t care for everyone?”

“Everyone wasnot our concern when we started the church. Suria had to survive and prosper.”

“And it did,some time ago. Why would that stop thefaith being carried to other nations?” Lia glanced at Carly, who had not moved.

“Nothing hasstopped other nations receiving His goodness. However, we have kept the connection to our Priestesses for risk of diluting it.”

Lia noticedthat the suffocating force appeared to be easing. “How is that possible?”

“Wediscovered the connection to Him, and only our church is clean enough toexperience it. Every Priestess connectsto Him through us; that is how it has always been.”

“And you havewiped out any threat to that through the ages, whether in Suria or not.”

“You speak ofThe Dragon Order. Somehow your lineagewas able to replace its own power source and we could not allow that toprosper. Many years ago we destroyedyour order and put preventative measures in place to destroy any resurgence. Until you arrived, we were successful.”

Lia thoughtof her own experience and grew angry. She grasped more of the power but it didn’t go un-noticed. The suffocating force returned in fullstrength but she had grasped enough power to overcome it. Lia decided to choose her moment to strikeback, and she remained on the floor, to give the impression she wasweaker. “How did you miss mylineage? I would have thought allpowerful beings such as you would have had no such difficulties.” Lia’s expressionturned into a sneer.

The Priestsnarled. “That is rich coming from a linethat murders to draw power. We cannotexplain how the last lineage disappeared from view, but it has been extremelywell hidden. How your kind uses powerfeels very similar to how a Priestess does, so it is not easy to detect, unlessit is used recklessly and often. We werefirst alerted to your presence in Surian, but you were only a brief disturbancefollowed by nothingness. We have hadPriestesses sub-consciously looking for your kind for generations, but itappears those who guide you are cunning.”

Lia finallyunderstood why Rastlin had done what he did. A peace washed over her and she realised her parents had not died invain. Lia felt as if the weight of theworld had been lifted from her shoulders, and stood up. She easily deflected the suffocating power,and was able to breathe completely. “Itends now. I believe the Priestesses should be able to connect to Revan directly, and you will no longer control them or hinder themfrom taking the message further.”

The Priestlaughed again, and the other Priests and Carly joined him. Lia grasped even more power. “Release my friend. Her piety and purity deserves better!”

The Circlestopped laughing and the Priest snapped back. “Do you believe you can stop us,witch? You are powerful, but not comparedto a fully joined and alert Circle!”

The femalemember of The Circle was only partially aware of the conversation between oneof the Priests and the witch. When sheheard the female name mentioned, it barely registered with her; she was moreconcerned with being connected with Him, The One: it was a feeling of completejoy, peace and humility. The voices grewangry and The Circle tensed, which triggered them to draw on His power, andthey struck outward with incredible force. The witch, however, was strong, and the blow hit a shield of air and wasrepelled backwards. The Circle continuedto add force, and drove the shield of air back towards the witch, who criedout.

“Carly!” It was a shrill cry, and within the humanpart of the female member’s mind there was a flicker of recognition: not fromthe name, but the emotion of the cry itself. The Circle’s power flickered briefly, and the witch’s own power pushedback, almost reaching The Circle. Thefour other members of The Circle seemed to sense this, and the female membersuddenly lost any feeling outside of The Circle itself. Completely at one, The Circle regrouped, andsent out a backlash of power.

Lia felt thebacklash instantly and it took all of her will to stop it destroying heroutright. She sank down to one knee,with her arms outstretched in front of her, and used every ounce of her beingto repel The Circle. Lia would havescreamed, but she didn’t have the spare energy to do so. In a last desperate attempt, Lia filled hermind with one image: a triangle of trees, mountains and water. For a few moments she was re-energised, butThe Circle was too strong and their power began forcing its way through herbarrier of air.

With thebattle won, the female member of The Circle turned her attention back toHim. She reached out to The One and wasshown the wonders of His goodness and grace. She saw a world filled with worshippers, and nations coming togetherunder one common faith. Suddenly she hada feeling that something was wrong: what she was doing was not what The Onewanted.

The leadPriest of The Circle smiled as the witch’s barrier began to fail. They were going to succeed, and His powerwould remain with those faithful to them and their history. The Circle pressed home its advantage and thewitch went down on both knees, and had a look in her eyes of a woman who wasabout to take her last breath.

Lia knew itwas over. If she had the energy, shewould have wept with despair; she knew that she had failed and that the worldwould likely never know Him in the way Carly did.

It was thenshe felt a gap in The Circle’s attack. Lia threw all of her will forward, and thrust through. She sent every fibre of her being with it.

A moment after TheCircle realised they were no longer five they were thrown from their chairs,and crashed against the wall. The lastthought of the lead Priest was one of shock: how could He want it to end?