Chapter 31 Feather #2
The final piece of the puzzle slipped into place. Lightbearer. Gavriel Lightbearer.
It was almost too easy; the solution had been there, in his name, all along. Our identities, our names, were the only key we needed.
Revel, I whispered in my mind, but he couldn’t hear. His conversation with Gavriel had turned into a telepathic shouting match. I could see, over Gavriel’s shoulder, a gathering darkness. The shadows were approaching.
I needed to touch Sanctuary. Needed some connection to the ground. But the burlap underneath me was just thick enough to keep my body from connecting with it, and I couldn’t even move my hand to reach down. I was helpless.
Hopeless.
As I thought the word, Gavriel turned, his foot bumping against my side, and the burning feather inside my toga slid out, drifting gently to the floor.
As it fell, I felt an odd sensation. A tiny, sour note of energy from somewhere—I thought it might be the swirling darkness inside me—like I’d touched my tongue to a nine-volt battery.
As if there was a shadowy filament leading from that feather to me…
and just enough juice, when it landed on the marble below Gavriel’s feet, to connect me with my realm.
Sanctuary! I called out. I need you. I need all of you.
I didn’t have to explain myself. I didn’t have to ask twice. The realm was mine, and it may have been loaning Gavriel some of its power, but when I demanded it obey my call, it leaped to comply.
Instantly, power shot up through me, electrifying my body.
Electrocuting me, more like. It blazed up to the feather on my chest and shot out in a beam to Gavriel, who was now staring at me with a mixture of consternation and dawning comprehension.
He opened his soul, reaching to communicate, but instead of his mind entering mine, the power of the entire realm poured into him, lighting up everything around us. Burning us.
The shadow that had been around my shoulders burrowed deep into my toga, making a cool spot on my lower back, but the rest of my body was feverishly hot. Melting, almost.
Faster by the second, the power surged through me, stripping away everything that had made me Feather, rather than a connection. All the parts of my former self were blown into dust, into a sparkling glitter that filled my sight.
The world was made of glitter. And every particle sang.
And so did Gavriel. His voice, which had been raspy and ruined from centuries of abstaining from music, was so glorious. It had been ever since I woke next to him in the Maker Hall. I wondered what had effected that sudden change.
The power of a Great Sacrifice, Revel murmured solemnly. He gave his wings to protect you.
Gavriel glowed brighter and brighter as he sang, as power flooded from Sanctuary to me to my soulmate through the connection.
He turned his face my way, and if I had still been the old Feather—who didn’t know he would only ever look at me with love—I would have been afraid.
His eyes were beams of golden fire, and his skin roiling with flames, like some strange sun.
He lifted me with one arm and reached out with the other, directing a fountain of power at all the shadows who had been massing behind him, preparing to attack us again.
Something cool crawled even farther behind me: my helpful shadow, protecting itself from immolation.
Not many of the others had time to find a hiding place.
Some fled down corridors to escape the blast, but thousands of them were restrained, as if a web of light had been thrown around every shadow within range, catching them.
It caught them, and set them afire. But instead of burning or killing them, the fire refined the shadows.
The thick smut that not only coated them, but had worked its way into the very weave of their souls, burned out like flash paper, almost instantly.
Bright red and blue and violet sparks flew into the air, bizarre fireworks going off too close to the ground.
The conflagration didn’t smell like burning flesh or sulfur this time.
Now, the air was rich with wildflowers and honey, rain in the desert, and soft forest loam.
It was heartbreakingly beautiful to watch.
And horrifying, because Gavriel had just drained a large portion of Sanctuary into himself, and his body was now beginning to bulge oddly, as if he might blow apart at any second.
He was the Lightbearer, but maybe I was wrong. Maybe he couldn’t hold this much power.
Maybe I’ve killed us…
Before I could finish my thought, Gavriel was aiming one hand at the gate. “Open!” he commanded.
It won’t work! Revel shouted. It’s not yours to sacrifice. My lock requires a Great Sacrifice, Gavriel! You know this.
NO! Gavriel’s mental voice was so loud, I felt my eardrums almost burst. IT IS NOT HER SACRIFICE TO MAKE.
But it is. It’s literally who I am, I thought desperately. I’m the Beautiful Sacrifice. Open, Revel. Take the key and let us out.
Yes, sister, Revel replied. We’ll do it together. He sent me a sliver of thought, tied to song. The key I needed. When he reached for it, I felt a trickle of power in my center, finally. Enough to do what I needed to.
In my mind, I sang my name and the Celestial word for opening, like Revel had told me to. Immediately, there was a small click in my innermost being, and then an outrushing of power, even as Gavriel screamed a protest.
I ignored him, caught in the glory that was streaming from me and toward the gate.
It was every note ever sung by a joyful heart, every infant’s first laugh, every loving embrace.
It was a universal love that had no limits, no boundaries.
There was no earning it. It was a gift, freely given.
It was all the good that existed. All the light of every star, and sun, and candle flame.
Using the tiniest hint of that power, though it felt like dipping my finger into a stream of magma, I opened my soul wider to make sure it all went to Revel, and sang my name into the gift.
I hoped that maybe, if there was enough, he could use the excess to get himself free and find his way to the Celestial Realm.
I’m so proud to be your brother, Revel murmured as he accepted it.
My cheeks tightened in a smile as I sang. Stop saying that. I polished your knob. I’m in love with Seraphiel. I refuse to be your sister… But I would be proud to call you my friend.
“Revel, open, I beg you.” Gavriel’s brow creased, though the expression was odd, as his face was swelling.
He was barely holding onto the power of Sanctuary that he’d assimilated.
It was no longer only bulging, it was starting to leak through where the shadows had cut him, tiny rivulets of fire on his golden skin.
We needed to get him out of Sanctuary, get the energy of the realm away from the shadows that I knew would come back—I could feel them racing our way now, leaving Rumple to go toward the brighter light, the more significant feast of power.
Make it fast, I thought, but there was no answer. Revel was already draining the last of the key’s energy from me to swing the gate wide faster than I had imagined it could move.
Not a second after it opened, the shadows that had been changed into light by Gavriel’s blast rushed out into the void, zipping as if pulled on a line toward the Celestial Realm. Heat encompassed me; my skin felt crisp, my eyes like they were seared open.
The gate glowed like an ember, and blazed on both sides. With each soul that fled Sanctuary, though, it grew cooler.
The malignant shadows that were farther behind surged forward as well now, drawn to the light of the redeemed ones, and to us. Snarling, Gavriel lifted his face and sang at them, keeping them at bay.
I still couldn’t move. In fact, I wasn’t certain if I was alive. Or if there was even a me left. I was a bridge of power, spanning Revel and Sanctuary and Gavriel.
I’d heard people talking about how life-changing Gavriel’s voice had been before he’d stopped singing.
I knew now what they meant. The song he made was power and light, magical and miraculous.
We were a captive audience, as Gavriel protected the new golden souls flinging themselves through the only way out of Sanctuary, down a thin blue strand of Celestial fire, with nothing but the strength of his voice. Amplified by me.
Revel whispered into my mind, his tone strangely subdued, Show me who you love?
Suddenly, an image of the entire universe began to unspool. Galaxies, planets, puppies and baby goats, individual blades of grass and one particularly ugly hairless cat. Then all the cats, and… My head spun. Revel’s laughter was filled with humor and more. I want to see who Feather loves.
Feather? I tried to remember who I had been when I was more than a conduit.
I concentrated, and suddenly I was thrust into a strange dream, if a dream could be harnessed to a roller coaster made of light.
I blinked and saw the Limen approaching, then the Celestial gate.
The Celestial Realm. At last, my mind spun us into a blue room.
The sleeping faces of my mates flickered past, then Precious, who was lying on the bed along with her puppy, in between Mikhail and Righteous.
Who were both still alive. They looked dead, their chests moving imperceptibly if at all, but the room was filled with people who were singing to them, talking to them. I saw Sunny, then Hope and Haneul, Sabriel and Percy. This wasn’t a memory; this was a vision. Is this a prophecy?
No. It’s a gift. You’re seeing with Her eyes. And She sees everything. Thank you for showing me.