38. Chapter 38
The cloud that appeared above Rida was different this time, so unlike Myaella's that, at first, I was unsure if it was the Divine at all.
Where Myaella had appeared before Malik and I with nothing but the wind under her, what I saw before me was a cloud of unending light, so bright it burned my eyes, and still, I could not look away.
Even in the face of the unknown, I felt a peculiar calm as the cloud grew above me, the panic I felt during the Black Shroud nowhere in sight.
Maybe it was because I had survived so many interactions with the Divine up until that moment and knew I could again.
Or maybe it was because now that I knew more about the Divine and what had been done to Yllsora during the Black Shroud—now that I knew the truth of this world and how it came to be—I knew I could stand in the wake of whatever might await me.
Whatever it was, it was odd watching what I once thought was the end of everything and feeling nothing but peace.
The mainland men felt differently. I watched them scatter, their weapons discarded behind them on the ground as they ran for safety.
The Shroud had affected us all that day, and even steel and titles could not stop a man from meeting his fate.
In that moment, even with the supposed upper hand in the battle beneath the shade of Rida, they knew they could not face the wrath of the Divine.
"Calyn," I said to my brother. "Get out of here. Find somewhere safe."
I did not want him to be near when the Divine landed, for there was no telling what they would do.
My brother released me, and Malik appeared at my side as the light drifted down from the Caelium.
But as it grew closer, I saw that it was not light at all, but thousands of the eir that ordinarily surround Rida, now delivering a new kind of light.
Malik and I were the only ones who did not move as the cloud of eir settled before us, did not feel the need to.
At that moment, I knew people would retell this moment for centuries—the moment when the Divine came down to the earth, baring themselves to us mortals—because there is so much more to this story than a great tree and men vying for power.
Even at the beginning of the world, the Divine did not appear as they did now, for the Mother made this world of her essence, existing elsewhere—in the trees and vegetation—never to walk Yllsora's surface.
Until that moment.
The Caelium opened wide, a swirl of eir surrounding her as she appeared before us, as solid and real as Malik and I.
With Myaella I felt a sense of apprehension, but no fear. But with the Mother, I felt myself trembling, the reality of what I was witnessing not lost on me.
She looked around the field, taking in the destruction that had found her once peaceful world, an impassive expression on her face.
It wasn't until she looked to me that her face softened with recognition.
"Allyra Alsunia," she said, her voice an echo in the space between us.
Her voice was the same from that night in Sorrel, when everything changed, and again, the night I heard her in Malik's camp.
Yet her physical form was different from what I would have imagined.
Where Myaella's hair caught the moon, Mirelda's absorbed it, her hair a dark black to Myaella's white.
She stood tall, almost looming above me, somehow more Divine than her sister.
You could see it in every part of her—in the way she blinked and the way she took in the soldiers on the field.
There was a preternatural otherness about her that no one from this world would ever be able to achieve.
Words left me as I stood before Mirelda, the Mother and creator of this world. What did someone say to the creator of the world when they stood right before them?
"I'm sorry we have to meet on these terms," she said when I did not respond. "I'm sorry I did not come sooner, that it had to get to this point."
"But you are here now," I breathed. "You have come to help us?" I was hopeful, for I could think of no other solution. It was either the Divine intervened, or the end of the Mother Blessed as we knew it.
She nodded, looking at the destruction around us. "I cannot risk the loss of you. The loss of the Mother Blessed."
Where I had hoped to feel reassurance, I felt something crumble within me.
Something about her words made me pull back, looking at her more closely.
I remembered all that Myaella had said, that some Divine are just that, creating worlds in order to cherish new life, while others only work in their own self-interest. I did not want to believe that about the Mother, yet as I took in her disdain as she stepped upon her creation for the first time, I finally realized what we were to her.
That Yllsora, the Mother Blessed, all of it, was just exactly what Myaella had said—a way for her sister to immortalize herself beyond the Caelium that she had helped destroy.
A new wave of anxiety washed over any hope I had felt at her arrival, fear for what would happen to Yllsora if we continued with the way we had been doing things. How does one ask a Divine to reconsider what they think is correct? How does one tell them that they are wrong?
Looking around at the destruction that had already occurred, I knew something needed to change. We had been wrong all this time, that much I knew, yet I saw no solution in front of me.
Mirelda began to speak once more when a sharp gust of wind stopped her words, Myaella appearing next to me as quick as a lightning strike.
"Sister," Myaella said, a serene smile lighting her face.
Mirelda stiffened at the appearance of her sister, turning to face her.
Seeing them next to one another, I now saw the resemblance. They were two sides of the same coin, so similar yet vastly different.
"How dare you show your face here," Mirelda said.
"It's a surprise to see you here too, Mirelda, seeing as it's been so long since you deigned to even let those who dwell here know of your existence."
"I spoke with Allyra before she left on this journey. She knew what was at stake."
"Ah yes, sending your loyal follower on a quest that could kill her because you were unwilling to do it on yourself."
"You know I could not interfere—"
"But you could," Myaella said, sneering at her sister as she cut her off.
"You just did not want to. Tell her, Mirelda," she said, nodding to me.
"Tell her that the Divine can easily make changes to the worlds they create.
That you did not have to let it get to this point.
That you put the duty of the Divine on women like her, giving them a title so that they feel bound to perform, when they needn't do it at all.
Tell her that you created this world for vanity, to be remembered somewhere when you were erased from the Caelium. "
I watched as Mirelda shook with barely contained anger, Myaella's words sinking in.
"So you thought infecting my world with a sickness would help them?"
"I have given it a chance to live. Something to thrive off while your Mother Blessed drain it of its power."
"Allyra." Mirelda turned towards me. "Don't listen to the words she is saying, the lies she is spinning. It is what she does."
But I did listen. I heard what Myaella had said about the roots, how we had been hurting them, how they finally bit back after the Shroud, and I had seen firsthand that what she told me in her temple was the truth of this world.
I knew what I had experience living on Yllsora, all while Mirelda existed elsewhere.
"You knew," I said to Mirelda. "You knew we were killing Yllsora but did not want to stop us from doing it."
Mirelda looked taken aback, betrayal painting her face.
"Of course I wanted to stop it," she said. "I went against everything the Divine stand for when it comes to creating worlds to create Yllsora. I did things differently and—"
Myaella scoffed. "And that is exactly why Yllsora was bound to fail before I got involved. Because you refused to care for your creation."
"But is it not that easy, Myaella. You wouldn't know. When the Divine create worlds, we are giving a piece of ourselves up. Once Yllsora began to die, I knew there was nothing I could do."
Myaella scoffed. "The Divine can always find ways to be present on their planets. But when the Shroud happened, she abandoned Yllsora entirely. Not even allowing her acolytes to find her when she was needed the most."
The sound of wood splitting caught all our attention then.
We turned and found the base of Rida crumbling in on itself, her lower branches beginning to sag as flames set by the mainland men began to climb up her trunk, forgotten in the heat of the battle and the appearance of the Divine.
While we had all been distracted, hundreds of mainland men surrounded the base of Rida, torches held high, lighting the wood.
Watching them, I knew what had to be done, despite the risk I knew it would be.
I dropped down once again, digging my fingers under the soil still warmed by the fire, feeling the very top of the roots that sat just beneath the surface.
I felt their movements, their desperation to escape the fire that would kill them.
But I also felt their resilience, the way they communicated with one another, warning one another of what was happening, trying to preserve themselves.
It was in witnessing this that I had found the part of me I had been searching for in the last ten years. It was there I found the strength to do what must be done, no matter the cost. It was there, in that moment, that I knew sacrifice must be made in order for there to be peace.
I pushed my power into the ground, hoping to wrap it around the roots beneath Rida from within, protecting her from the fire that threatened to burn her down. I willed my power to move forward, inching its away along the roots in the field until I reached Rida's base.