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"Kuan, Qwinn, we must go, now!" The voice was that of the woman with
Hian.
She was standing to the side of Qwinn, looking down at Kuan.
Qwinn looked up at the woman her dark hair and eyes flooding the
moment.
She, like everyone he had seen so far was so young and full of
energy, like himself, but there was strong emotion setting fire to her
words.
"You're right, Mag, we need to go," said Kuan as she pulled
herself to her feet, leaning on Qwinn's arm as she breathed deep, her
eyes closing for a time as she reached within herself for something.
Once again, Qwinn was struggling to understand the actions of
these people in this place, but felt that she was drawing in some
presence.
"Can you feel him?" asked Mag, "he can't be all that far away."
Mag was confident and strong. She approached Kuan closely
and pulled her to her chest, arms wrapping around the taller woman.
"Yes, I can sense him," Kuan said suddenly, her dark eyes
quickly alert, as she broke from the trance that Qwinn had felt within
her.
"Has Xilotl prepared the Ceffylmôr?" Kuan to Mag as she
pulled away from Mag's embrace.
Mag nodded and turned toward the shore where the Ceffylmôr
waited, with the others positioned on it's back.
Mag and Kuan both looked back at Qwinn.
"We must go," said Mag, "Hian wants you with us."
Qwinn followed Kuan and Mag as they broke into a run.
He gathered up his own speed marveling at how his body seemed to
float upon the grass beneath his feet. So this is what it was like when
he was young. It had been so long.
As they arrived at the shore, Kuan stepped onto the back of
the Ceffylmôr, who had spread wide and thin upon the sea.
It seemed so thin to be holding six people plus himself, but he,
too, stepped over and on to the Ceffylmôr, after Mag.
Kuan moved to stand beside the flutist, whom Qwinn assumed
was Xilotl, now that he had heard Kuan use that name.
Xilotl was standing close to the Ceffylmôr's head, which lay
flat upon the sea, not moving. Even the movement of those on its back
didn't cause disturbance, as he would have expected when stepping onto a
boat floating on lake on earth.
Although the sea appeared to Qwinn as water when he looked at it
from a distance, it was apparent that this sea was not the same as
oceans and lakes and ponds he was accustomed to.
There were no waves, no rippling rings, no sound, only silence,
and what his eyes could draw from observation. To his bare feet the
Ceffylmôr almost had no texture, no defects, no attributes that would
set it off against another, should there be more.
This was in contrast to the six people whom he had joined on the
Ceffylmôr, who were each and every one distinct, male and female,
just as they would have looked on earth, except for the scars and wear
of life itself.
The man he saw meditating on the island was smaller than
himself, with a thin beard and long strait, black hair, pulled back and
tied, dropping down his back, his genitals drawn into dark pubic hair.
He, like the others were oblivious to Qwinn's curiosity.
Qwinn didn't feel compelled to look away, pretending to not be
taking notes.
On earth he would have been trying to look in other directions,
never wanting to be staring at skin that would be hidden underneath the
fabric and modesty of public interchange.
For that matter, they were watching him as well, but they seemed
more interested in who he was, where he lived, maybe even when he lived,
than they were in taking measurements.
The man with the straight, black hair was alone, as far back as
he could sit upon the Ceffylmôr, once again folded back in thought,
moving his head slowly, gently letting the situation reveal itself.
The woman with the red hair was sitting next to her companion in
the center of the Ceffylmôr's back, surrounded by dozens of Meithrin
fruits that they and the others had managed to quickly gather before
stepping off of the island.
They seemed to be responsible for the food supply.
Her hair was strongly curled and thick, but it looked soft and
she let it flow down her back, across her shoulders and upon her
breasts. It framed a small face with blue eyes with thin lips.
His hair was dark and thick as well, but even more tightly
curled, making it very difficult to tie back, and his beard brew heavy
upon his face, which was entangled with the red locks of his companion
as he leaned onto her, his arms around her.
They are all so quiet and tense.
Qwinn was reluctant to say a word, not sure what to expect.
Mag had walked up to where Kuan and Xilotl stood.
There was a brief conversation which he could not hear but he
could feel the urgency of their words and he was tempted to look inside
of each of them to listen in, but he quickly thought of Kuan's
rebuke, so he puled back within himself, sitting down, remaining silent.
Then Xilotl's flute began to sing and her fingers formed a dance
of melody upon the holes of her instrument. It was a slow, dreamy tune
that swelled up softly within Qwinn's chest, but he felt no movement
within his body and would not have realized they were moving if he had
not turned his head to see his island moving away.
He felt strangely disconnected as the Ceffylmôr moved swiftly
from the only place he knew within this strange new life, so far.
Chapter 11
Pursuit
Mag left the front of the Ceffylmôr, allowing Xilotl and
Kuan to guide the Ceffylmôr to their destination.
Qwinn assumed that Xilotl was directing the Ceffylmôr was and
he also sensed that Kuan played a role in this process as well, but
he couldn't discern that yet.
Mag approached him, sitting down at his side. Then she looked
directly at him, her dark, dark hair and eyes holding his attention.
Placing a hand on his knee she said, "Kuan has seen Hian in
her spirit and she knows where the rogue Ceidwad is taking him."
Momentarily, she paused, then she continued, "he is being taken
to an island controlled by the Alliance."
The way she uttered the word 'Alliance' had a sinister air about
it. This was the second time he had heard this word and it was always
spoken in grave tones.
"Alliance?" Qwinn asked.
"Yes," said Mag.
As Qwinn struggled within himself to ask the obvious question
Mag proceeded to answer it for him.
"Kuan tells me that you are new here, which also means that
you are familiar with recent events on earth."
Qwinn wanted to nod in agreement, but he simply watched Mag as
her hands moved in sync with her voice.
She brushed hair from her face then continued, "Have you ever
heard of the one-truth people?", Mag asked.
Qwinn twisted his face, trying to figure out what she was
referring to.
"I'm not sure I understand what you are asking me," Qwinn
responded, "but I think I know what you mean," Qwinn assured her.
Mag continued, "As people show up here there have been many
different reactions to life here. Most just accepting what is here and
adapting, but the recent arrivals have been quite different from those
who came before."
"In what way?" Qwinn asked.
"They seem to have arrived here expecting something very
different," Mag stated.
Qwinn smiled. It wasn't hard for him to think of the people he
grew up with in Mississippi, with their specific ideas of heaven and
reward and how they would react to all he has seen so far.
"You are smiling, Qwinn." Mag stated, a bit confused, "did I say
something funny?"
"Oh no," Qwinn confessed, "I was just thinking of all the people
I knew in my life who had very detailed ideas about the afterlife, and
this is not it."
"But why would they expect anything?" Mag was genuinely puzzled,
as though such a thought had never occurred to her.
"They thought that they would get a reward for living their life
a certain way," answered Qwinn, as a matter of fact.
"Reward?" Now Mag was the one trying to learn.
"Over many years the idea developed that the afterlife would be
better than life as we knew it and that grew into something which was
quite different than what exists here."
As Mag thought about this, Qwinn asked, "What are these
one-truth people doing?"
"They have decided to wage war on the creator, in an effort to
build for themselves what they were expecting in here."
Qwinn waited for Mag to continue, but she became preoccupied
with something, so Qwinn asked, "Are these one-truth people having any
success?"
"Yes, much success." sighed Mag, "They have managed to take over
many islands and organize many people in their effort, even taking over
Ceidwadaid, like the one which just took Hian."
"They seem to feel that there is only one truth for all people,"
Mag continued, "and they seem determined to force everyone to accept
this idea, did you encounter such people on earth?"
Qwinn frowned as it became obvious that the people he ran away
from throughout his life have made their presence known here.
'Yes," Qwinn responded, sadly, "I'm afraid that I knew far too
many people like that back on earth. Is that who this 'Alliance' is?"
"They call themselves the Alliance of Truth," Mag answered, "and
they have become very powerful, and I'm afraid that they have now taken
Hian."
"But why Hian," Qwinn asked, "Why not you, or Kuan, the one
who meditates all of the time. Why not someone else?"
"Because Hian is very important to them. And he is important to
us as well, which is why we will try to rescue him."
Qwinn wanted to ask more questions but he was getting hungry and
tired.
"Does this place have a name?" Qwinn asked.
"Yes," said Mag, "it is called Addewid."
Qwinn stepped away from Mag and approached the woman with the
red hair and her companion.
"Hi Qwinn," she said, "my name is Thrace and this is my
companion Sayed"
Qwinn sat down next to Thrace as she handed him one of the
Meithrin fruits.
"You've had a rather eventful introduction to Addewid," she went
on to say, eager to talk with him.
Qwinn nodded as he took the Meithrin fruit in his hands and
started to break the skin and deliver nourishment to his lips.
He was about to speak to Thrace when his eyes became overwhelmed
with a looming presence to the side of the Ceffylmôr, a large raft
made of long cylinders stacked several high, with hundreds of bodies
lined evenly along the edges.
Each body was completely nude, but still, as though they had all
just died and were laid out on the raft waiting to be buried.
The raft was many times longer than the Ceffylmôr and it
moved more slowly than the Ceffylmôr, allowing Qwinn to watch as
creatures similar in color to the Ceffylmôr, but much smaller, walk
back and forth on the raft, checking bodies, shifting them if necessary,
carrying long ropes strung the length of the raft.
As their Ceffylmôr moved in front of the raft Qwinn could see
that the raft was being pulled by three Ceffylmôr's, which looked
just like the one they were on, but they were tied to the raft by the
long ropes being held by some of the creatures walking on the raft.
Thrace remained silent as she watched Qwinn try to understand what he
was seeing.
As their Ceffylmôr pulled ahead of the raft, Qwinn looked at
Thrace, thoroughly confused.
"That is what we call a drone ship," Thrace said.
"You probably recognized the Ceffylmôrs pulling the ship. The
creatures on top of the ship we call drones. They are very much like
Ceffylmôrs, but they serve a different purpose."
"And what purpose is that," asked Qwinn.
"Well, this is where it will take a little explaining," Thrace
said, taking a deep breath.
"You've probably figured out that this is the afterlife, which
you now know is called Addewid."
Thrace paused for a moment as she gauged Qwinn's reaction.
"Those bodies you saw on the ship are newly arriving people who
have been given new bodies for their lives here in Addewid, but their
spirits have not been quickened yet.
That won't happen until their bodies have been delivered to the
islands made for them.
There will be on island for each body, just like your body was
delivered to your island."
"So I was delivered just like that to my island, as a body lined
up on the edge of a large ship, like cargo."
Thrace chuckled briefly then answered, "Yes, just like that."
"How do the islands get built?" Qwinn queried.
"There are drones like those on the raft which construct the
islands, but that is done in advance of the body's arrival."
Qwinn could do nothing more than lift the pieces of Meithrin
fruit to his lips, thinking.
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Fractured Paradise (Volume III)
