Excerpt: The KINFIRE Tree - Lifesource
Purity. Life-givingwater. The Lifesource.
Thousands of years agowhen the Valleur settled Valaris, they came to this place. Water and itslife-giving properties were and remain extremely important to the Golden. Waterwas their collective soul, respected, worshipped as a living entity. Thus theydid not name rivers, for naming something worthy of worship was consideredsacrilege. They came here to acknowledge Life.
Although Valaris hadlarger and broader rivers elsewhere, here the water was vibrant, trembling withjoyous life within the core of the planet, bursting forth into the light andfreedom of the world in splendid glory. Water gushed powerfully from the deepestcaverns of the old rock mere feet from him, to fall hundreds of feet to pathsbelow.
Here they built a templeof transcendent beauty, infused with the earth’s telluric currents; smallwonder the monuments to death were located in the neighbouring valley: life anddeath, inseparable.
Torrullin knelt andleaned over the sheer precipice to touch the icy water, marked the violentpower it contained, and drew strength. He straightened and licked his hand,becoming for a second one with the power of Life.
He put his back to thedangerous drop, and faced east, the direction the planet received the firstrays of light from day after day without fail, only local cloud coveroccasionally interfering with that sublimity. He shouted into the wind, heshouted the words Kylan shouted when faced with Infinity, the words Rayne usedto protect them on an angry ocean, the words of protective enchantment. “Mykia lan shuldra ka! Invin ka!”
Considering hisprecarious perch on the narrow strip of land, in the fury of the mother of allstorms, he would need the protection when he called forth the LifesourceTemple.
He raised his hands onhigh and shouted the uncloaking, “Ma numeka shunl, ma nume ka shunl, ra shu donl ken, nume ka! Nume ka!”
Effervescent colour,glittering bright as day, transformed the deep night into a carnival offireworks. Music burst forth, symphonies, but not of this world or any world,rather the harmonies of legends and angels, once heard forever yearned for.
This is Valleur? Torrullin questioned in profound amazement, and tears were on hischeeks, of joy, of sadness, for so swiftly did the music find the soul, and hewas not ashamed of his reaction.
A force pulsed outward.Without the protective enchantment, he would have cartwheeled backward into thevoid, for even with it he hit the ground, his tears now for physical andunexpected jarring impact.
The music softened to abackground whisper of continuing bliss.
“Invin ka! Ra shu len Vall rin!” he ground out, his shout a whisper.
This was the seconduncloaking, for the Temple laid hidden layer within layer. The pulsing forcepetered out, and Torrullin rose with a groan, rubbing his left elbow. From thenarrow land bridge, a path of white illumination shot into the dark over the voidto the east and, at its end, the Temple.
It shimmered upon anisland of imagination, suspended in the air, its tenuous connection to realitythe path of light. He held his breath, awed by the ethereal beauty. The Templewas pure light, silver sparkles, and almost he stepped onto the path of lightin his urgency to get to it.
In time he rememberedthe third uncloaking, the one that created out of fantasy solid reality. Thiswas the trap, the narrow line of a truth test. Only a Valleur, or an initiateaccepted by the Valleur, could know the three words of the truly ancient tonguethat would solidify the light in the dark. Without those words, the Templeremained a dream vision, and to step onto the bridge of light to it resulted ina screaming descent into the eastern void.
Vicl manna vann loosely translated meant simply I am able, and Torrullin whispered them. He was able, and hestepped onto the lightbridge. His feet met the resistance of reality.
Slowly, fascinated, hewalked the path of light. The Temple increased in size and magnificence thecloser he came. It was the span of a small city, chamber within chamber,seemingly random and without thought and the walls were transparent moonlight.To gaze on it was to see into its heart, while seeing only a portion of thewhole. It had been built by the master-builders, yes, but of undiluted sorcery.It was real, but to touch meant one’s senses, one’s fingers, could find noequivalent. It was a fantasy, a religion, a thought, a soul-vessel, and it wastangible. It was inspiring, magical, angelic and of true beauty.
Kin is Everything
We return to theLand of Skies. One battle is already behind the team, the disastrous eventsupon Ardosia; time now to concentrate on the stability of Valaris, or the samefate awaits her.
Hidden from humankind are fourteen sacred Valleursites, built upon nodes of power. Vannis Valla advocates unveiling them torestore balance to the earth, which will aid in the fight against Margus. TheDarak Or has other ideas, and unleashes his soltakin …
In the north, Averroes discovers her true past and sheand Kylan run the Maze gauntlet. Kisha, Mordan, Cristi and Samson prepare theclans of old for eternal night. In the south, Vannis, Rayne and Saska, alongwith the charismatic little Falcon, Phet, move from site to site. Taranis andthe Guardians delve arcane ritual in the Dome to find the answers to the endingof soltakin, while expecting Infinity to bring her Darkling Horde into the mix.Meanwhile McSee, unmasked as traitor, meets the crazy Lanto and they hatch abold plan, involving a pirate and ancient loot.
Rayne begins the internal battle that will change all.It began for him on Ardosia when he touched Vannis only to release blue sparksbetween them. The ruling house is almost extinct. How, therefore, does a Vallarecognise the blood for the future? By the blue flame of trebac. Kinfire. Thelegendary Vannis is kin, but there is more in store for Rayne than the realityof this profound connection.
The Kinfire Tree has many branches hidden in itsfoliage, a condition Rayne suspects, a greater truth he must reveal …
THE KNFIRE TREE
