Series: Echoes of War — 3: Family and Fire «

Survivors

Home Sinesu waits, the home planet of the Jiku. Makish and I watch it on the viewer as Keesha’s ship completes its first orbit.

I’ve never been there, but I can feel its soft dirt beneath my feet, and taste its sweet air.

How? I can’t explain it, but the memories are [...]

Birth

Geyfal’s Children “Identical twins, born thousands of years apart?!”

“I asked Sindar the same question,” he says. “He answered me with a gift of memories, taken from his father, and himself.” “It’s the story of how the brothers were born, in a universe that you and I have never seen.”

“I don’t have Sindar’s [...]

Choices

Illusions “I became the king that Benzu always wanted to be,” says Botzar, as the memories end.

“Why did you leave Makish behind when you became king?” I ask him.

Botzar glares at me. “The memory is finished, but the story isn’t complete.”

“When I left the silver falls, I didn’t know what to [...]

The Lost Jiku

The Curse of Visions Botzar sits, emotionally exhausted by reliving the memory.

“I faithfully followed my vision,” says Botzar, “and it destroyed my life.”

“Why was I given that vision?” “Why did my life move that way?”

“Fate has cursed me,” he says. “It led me to abandon Makish, and destroy the world.”

“Fate?” [...]

Beast

Orphans Wisten and I walk together, while Makish and the others move among the crowd. On Siksa, we no longer celebrate Sindar’s day, but here, on Sinesu, it’s the happiest day of the year.

The town square is filled with every type of food and entertainment. We wander from place to place, enjoying the [...]

Spiral

A New Vision I have no flesh, but I still taste the sweet light of the sun. The sun’s energy fills me with great waves of color, and the rhythms of the energy’s ebb and flow come to me as music. The sparks of my strength rise into a great fire, and the Feldin [...]

Gifts of War

Dream Hunter Dilasa sleeps in a green guesthouse near Wisten’s home. The bed and the room are round, and the house is full of windows.

A gentle breeze blows through Dilasa’s long, black hair, and across the dark red sheets. She sleeps for hours after the fire that took her guardians. I can do [...]

Visions of the Future

Balance and Love The ground near us is covered with a colorful, living layer that is softer than moss. We sit together, almost floating, on this ocean of red, green, orange, and blue. And listen.

The forest around us is quiet, except for the wind, as it moves the thick canopy of leaves above [...]

Miracles of Childhood

A Small Child The forest is too quiet with Sindar gone. Dilasa and I sit together on the soft ground, holding hands, surrounded by a thick, grey fog. I hear the light rain, far above us, as it falls on the forest’s dense canopy of trees. The quiet is broken by a gentle sobbing, [...]

Childish Wisdom

No Return Makish, Dilasa, and I stand naked in the transition chamber as it fills with warm seawater. The only sounds we hear are the movement of the water, and our breathing.

The three of us seem helpless as we stand here, but we can all bend the energy web to our will. Even [...]