The Second Coming
Epilogue

Once thetremors stopped, Rastlin, Olbane and Spicer picked themselves up from theground, and each man marvelled that he was in one piece. Olbane immediately sprinted down the foyer,and was closely followed by Spicer. Rastlin remained outside, with a neutral expression on his face.

Whatever hadhappened upstairs had caused quite a commotion: there was a lot of noise,followed by what felt like an earthquake and extremely high winds. Olbane ran up the stairs, ignored the smallstudy and sprinted down the corridor, through the dining room to a scene ofchaos. Within the small room four oldmen were crumpled against the wall. Another was lying under the table. Sat at the table was a young woman in white, with shoulder length brownhair. She was apparently in atrance. Lying on the floor was anotheryoung woman, who was blonde.

InstinctivelyOlbane ran to Carly, and ignored Spicer’s cry of grief as he ran to the otherside of the room. “Carly?” The Priestess did not respond, so he put anarm around her, and gently shook her. “Carly?”

Carly turnedher head and looked at him; she had tears running down her cheeks. “It is over, Olbane. The Church as we know it is no more.”

Olbane bowedhis head. “Then Lia and her friend succeeded.”

Carly smiledsoftly. “Yes, but not in the way theythought. They have shown there is moreto Him than we thought.”

“I do notunderstand. What do you mean?”

“He is not Revan, but The One. Revan is an ancient name, chosen by the Circle when they found the connection to Him. The One is everything,and I mean everything.” Her voice almost sang.

Olbane lookedat her, mouth agape. “That isblasphemy!”

Carly raiseda hand and touched his cheek. “Not anymore, Olbane. What we believed was awell constructed faith based on what The Circle wanted. Lia destroyed The Circle and now we are freeto replace a new faith with no barriers between us and The One.”

At mention ofLia’s name Olbane turned around. Spicerwas cradling Lia’s still form against him, and was rocking her slowly. He had tears running down his weathered face. Olbane stepped forward. “Is she...?”

Carly was bySpicer’s side before he could respond. She placed her hands on each side of Lia’s face, closed her eyes andmuttered a prayer: it was the first prayer in The One’s name. Moments later Lia’s chest started to rise.

Spicer lookedat Carly with an incredulous expression on his face. “Did you bring her back from the dead?”

Carly shookher head. “Even The One could not havedone that, Warnock. Lia was very closeto death, but now she is stable. Weshould take her somewhere more comfortable.”

*

Lia awokefeeling weak but surprisingly alive. Sheopened her eyes gently, looked around the sparsely furnished room, and focusedon the woman in white who was sat at her bedside. Lia smiled. “Hello.”

The womansmiled, bent down and embraced her friend. “I wondered when you would finally wake. You have exceeded even yourreputation for sleeping.”

Lia grimacedand tried to sit up, but needed Carly’s help to do so. She grinned. “I think I earned it, don’t you?”

Carly beameda smile back at her friend. “That youdid, my dear Lia.”

Lia took acloser look at the room. “Where am I? How long have I been asleep?”

“The Boar’s Head, Frodsby. We brought you here once it was all over. You slept for three days.”

Lia raised aneyebrow, and recalled the last moments of the conflict. “What happened? Why did you let me through to The Circle?”

“I saw whatThe One wanted me to see. Once I hadseen that, I realised The Circle had run its course and needed to end. A moment later it was over.”

Lia lookedconfused. “The One?”

Carly nodded.“Revan is not the true name of our God. The One needs no such title.”

Lia’s eyesfilled with sadness. “I am sorry,Carly. I have destroyed the Church of Revan.”

Carly heldher friend’s hand. “On the contrary,Lia. What you have done is change the focus of the church. Priestesses canstill connect with The One, but now it is un-moderated,uncontrolled. Those who rode out hereimmediately afterwards have already told me of the joy surrounding thePriesthood. The One is talking to us allpersonally, and it is a joyous feeling.”

Liasmiled. “Rastlin was right then, to adegree.”

“Only slightly. Your friend is an interesting person and Ihave talked long with him in the last days. He meant to free the church of Revan’s strangleholdon freedom and other religions, but he didn’t expect this to happen. There isonly One God, Lia, and Rastlin didn’t bargain forthat. While he is pleased the church of Revan has changed, he is not delightedhe was a mere pawn to creating something even more powerful.”

“Was he a pawn? Am I a pawn?”

“We are allpawns, Lia. I mentioned the prophecies Iread in Surian to him, and he told me what you found in Areza. The prophecy appears to have had some bearingon what happened.”

Lia looked atCarly intently. “The prophecy spoke of restoring balance.”

“Now that TheCircle cannot control the church, the world is more balanced. Other nations will now be explored, and theword will be spread. The Priesthood willgrow, and The One’s love will propagate.”

Lia couldn’thelp but grin. “That doesn’t soundbalanced to me. It sounds more likeworld domination.”

Carlychuckled. “Well, we won’t force anyone to follow, but I replace it hard to believe they won’t. Being with The One is an unbelievableexperience.” Her whole face seemed to glow.

Lia pushedherself up. “What of my power? How does that fit into the great new plan?”

“To be honestI do not know. I have also discussedthis with Rastlin, and it appears your power comes from the natural elements ofthe world, rather than any divine being. Part of me suspects you are actually connectingwith Him when you draw on power, but that doesn’texplain what happened around the triangle three days ago.”

Lia lookedconfused again. “What do you mean?”

“The prophecyspoke of the resources you would need to complete your task.”

Lianodded. “The power from the forest andwater was unbelievable.”

“Asignificant portion of the Great Forest burned to the ground; Lake Moorhas lost nearly half of the water within. I believe you drew on so much power to defend yourself and then destroyThe Circle that even those great forces of nature couldn’t cope.”

Lia’s eyesgrew wide and she started shaking. Carlymoved closer and put her arms around her friend. “We can re-populate the forest, and the lakewill be back to its former glory in time.” Carly squeezed Lia’s shoulders. “As will you.”

Lia lookedup. “Will I? I am a red-eyed freak who destroyed a forestand lake, not to mention an entire religion! My parents are dead, as is the man who loved me. I have also killed numerous people along theway.”

Carlyshuffled back to ensure she had sufficient eye contact. “Without you, The One would still be hidden;to me nothing else matters. Rejoice thatthose you killed are with The One, as are your parents and Michael. You were meant to put an end to The Circle; you are The Second Coming, whatever that means.”

Lia openedher mouth but Carly held up a hand.

“Life willnot be the same again for you, but you must look forward. I give you my word you will have whatever theresources the church has to discover more about your power, but it is importantyou focus on the future. The prophecyappears to be complete, and you are free of whatever was guiding you.” Carlysmiled warmly. “I for one see the future for you as being very bright. You were always a free spirit, Lia. Go out there and do whatever you need to doand follow your own path.”

Liasmiled. “I believe I will, my dearfriend. I might go to The Great Forestand see what I can do to help.” Liahugged her friend. “Will you return toCrossmoor?”

Carly shookher head. “When I was in The Circle, TheOne showed me what I must do. The restof the world needs The One, and it is my mission to make sure the messagespreads.”

Lia smiled.“Well, good luck with that. It won’t beeasy.”

Carlygrinned. “Well, it wouldn’t be any funif it was, would it?”

-- TheEnd --