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The Enigma of The Lost

éLISA

élisa’s question hung in the air for a long moment.

Zane sighed. ‘His name is not Ankis but an anagram of it.’

‘I don’t know how we missed it.’

Ki’Remi’s face was stunned as he stared at the man at their feet.

Zane pushed a hand through his hair, misery crowding his handsome features. ‘It couldn’t be imagined. Everything about Ankis was unfathomable.’

He turned to élisa. ‘To answer you, his name is Kisan. He was, is, one of us, a Rider. A Sable squadron member we thought died during our five years of captivity with the crats.’

élisa’s breath hitched in shock, even as Riv snarled in frustration as his fellow Riders surrounded the fallen man.

The heart-wrenching form on the ground was skeletal, from his jutting bones to his hollowed face with skin that molded to his skull like thin, worn papyrus.

The Riders strung arms around each other as the truth of who they were looking at flooded over them.

Xion pounded the air. ‘ Fokk ! He came hard for us. Why?’

Zane made a calming sound in his throat, wrapping a hand on Xion’s neck to embrace him. ‘If he’s alive, he may have thought we abandoned him on the crat’s ship.’

Riv groaned. ‘But he was dead. We witnessed it happen. They tortured him to death and took his body away. If we’d known he was still living, we’d have searched all corners of Pegasi to find him. It’s what we do for our loved ones,’ he added, flicking angry tears from his eyes.

A sorrow so deep hit him, and he punched the ground beside the unconscious man. ‘Damn, why did he think we’d do him like that? We would never abandon our own!’

élisa’s heart broke as she witnessed the Riders’ utter despair.

She and Killen stood back in respect, giving them the space they needed.

‘Is he alive?’ Riv thought to ask.

‘ Naam . I sense, though, that his consciousness that shattered it will take a while before it is untangled by medical means alone.’

Zane’s utterance was heavy with sadness.

The Riders mulled his words.

After a few long moments, Zane stirred. ‘There is one thing we can do for him. We can petition a psionic restoration to his former self.’

Riv jolted. ‘How and from whom?’

‘I happen to have a way of speaking to Shards.’ The sapphire-eyed Rider rose to his feet and stalked toward the still whirling, spiraling finger of the nebula touching the ground. ‘But it’ll be challenging to unravel it from the storm it’s in.’

‘I’ll help.’

Zane whirled around at Killen’s announcement. ‘You will?’

‘ Naam . I have a complementary power. I can stabilize whatever emotions it’s giving out, so you focus on connecting to it psionically.’

Zane studied Riv’s son. ‘Perhaps then we can ask it to heal you three together.’

Killen nodded. ‘This was foreseen in the hereafter.’

All this time, élisa had stood to the side, and now she stepped forward. ‘Are we sure this will be safe?’

‘Nothing’s assured, Mother. I only lean on what I feel.’ Killen tapped the glowing jewel on his forehead.

She touched his arm, concern all over her features. ‘The hawkstone speaks?’

‘It does. It agrees.’

élisa retreated. ‘Then that is all I need.’

Riv rose to his feet and looked at Zane. ‘So? What now, brother.’

Zane took a breath. ‘We summon the Lost Shard and entreat it.’

He nodded at Killen, and the pair tracked towards the nebula’s touch point.

Riv reached a hand for élisa, and she wrapped her hands around his waist as the group followed. Leaving Ki’Remi behind, monitoring Kisan.

Zane and Killen stopped and stood close to the whirling celestial tornado.

The Rider’s glowing blue eyes flashed as his psionic vision extended into the sky. Wild sapphire arcs shot out of them. He tipped his head further back as the lightning-like bolts arched into the air, searching an unseen realm.

His mind traveled between dimensions and crossed different planes of existence.

The bands reached into the nebula roiling above them.

Killen reached a hand toward the nebula, and his action amplified the energy Zane was sending into the entity.

For a moment, the nebula boiled and raged. Luminous flares emitted from it, and thunder roared over the white brine lake.

With a roar, a mighty wave of dissonance burst through the nebula and over the plain.

‘No need to duck.’ Zane raised a hand to throw up a shield as the surge went over the party.

élisa, who’d thrown her face into Riv’s chest, opened her gaze to a vision like nothing she’d ever seen.

The storm had disappeared.

The view was clear to the stars and skies beyond for the first time in years.

In its place, high above the white lake, floated a ragged-edged, mirror-like entity with mist trails dancing over it.

Within the transparent veneer were slowly shifting scenes like passing ships through time.

The group gasped as they spotted the most bleak panoramas flickering across the entity’s surface.

From otherworldly glacial valleys to uncommon, sulfuric pools to a coastline littered with shipwrecks lost in an ever-present fog.

Unmoved, Zane extended his hand as if clutching the entity’s energy and pulling it toward him, psionically plucking it from the sky.

It descended at his will, settling on the surface. It shimmered in vibrations and ripples, indicating a squall was still flowing through it.

Zane was using enormous power, and his head was thrown back, revealing his powerfully corded neck. élisa also caught a flash of wild, luminous colors churning over his skin.

He turned his glowing eyes to the Shard.

His pulsing bands shot through the surface, where more vicious ripples skated.

After a beat, the agitation abated.

‘What do you want from me?’

The group started as a translucent silhouette stepped out of the Shard and onto the salt pan.

Before them was a disheveled creature, tiny and winged.

Their gossamer silver skin was scaled, smudged, and filthy, cheeks red and blotchy.

Dull red, weary eyes crusted with muddiness and roiling with angst stared out from an indignant face. Its dark hair was stringy, matted, and knotted, its unruly waves with a mind of their own.

Its crystalline vestment was wrinkled and weathered. Its body trembled, smeared with clouds of dirt, brown dust, and grime.

Plex-like steel chains, long, thick, and unwieldy, were strung across its arms and legs, their lengths disappearing into the mist of the shifting scenes behind it.

The creature extended its shackled fists with a wail. ‘Leave me be! My heart throbs; my strength fails me, and the light of my eyes also has gone from me!’

The being’s cry carried echoes of a wildfire out of control; its deep inhales a vortex of wind and screams.

It was the sound of desperation, pain, and sadness. It lifted its arms, rattling its constraints, making the most clattering noise.

Zane faced the entity, softening. ‘We mean you no disservice.’

The wretched soul paused, studying the tall, lean Rider who loomed above it.

‘Who are you?’ It trembled with unease and paranoia as it took a tentative step forward, its clanging chains agitating behind it.

‘Zane Sable.’

‘How are you able to command the Shard?’

Zane, who’d long since come to terms with his unusual abilities, jerked his chin at it. ‘I am a Nigh High Omni Psi. Among many other things. I’ve come to help ease your anguish.’

The creature bucked like a serpent had torn at it. ‘In exchange for what?’

The Rider ignored the creature’s question. ‘Why are you so distressed?’

It sniffed and looked away, moving as if to return to its silvery confines.

Killen made a sudden and unannounced statement. ‘Peace is yours for the taking, only if you listen.’

The Shard soul paused midstep and whirled around, its eyes fixed on the Katánian colossus. ‘You’re different. Not an Omni Psi.’

It gasped. ‘You’re the power I’ve been seeking. I did not know what, who, or where you were except that your presence was palpable over this planet. I was so lonely in this mist-forsaken land and tried to reach out to you, to connect with you.’

Killen grunted, his voice taking on a set edge. ‘You sought to commune with me. However, I lost sight because your search and forceful pull on my hawkstone were desperate.’

The creature clapped a hand over its mouth. ‘I didn’t mean you any harm.’

It spoke with such deep sorrow that Killen’s face softened. ‘No matter. Why did you need me?’

‘I sensed the power of the hereafter in you, of the eye. I thought that if we worked together, we could search for where the other sections of my whole had disappeared.’

‘Is that what upsets you?’ Killen asked. ‘That your other parts have vanished?’

The creature’s eyes fell. ‘We were once one. Imagine being a single body and then having your limbs torn from you. Imagine the suffering you would feel knowing part of your very being and soul was taken from you. I was so alone and abandoned in this expanse. The pain became so unbearable that I began to go mad. Until I sensed you. I refused to heal anyone, to deal with anyone else unless I could speak with you.’

‘I believe you.’ Killen made sounds of commiseration. ‘The worst poverty is loneliness.’

It nodded. ‘You understand. I want to return to companionship. Away from this agonizing solitude and constant disappointment.’

Zane shot it a small smile. ‘We may have good news for you. I’ve met one like you.’

The Lost Shard’s embodiment gave a little clap and gasped, its tiny face unfolding into hope. ‘Where are they?’

‘We can take you to them. They reside somewhere safe after I found them abandoned under our moon’s surface.’

For the first time, the ethereal creature’s eyes brightened. ‘That will be a gift I cannot repay.’

‘Perhaps you might be able to help us instead, ‘ Zane murmured. ‘We have a friend with us who is gravely ill. There’s also Killen, whom you turned blind, and his mother, whose sight is receding. They need your healing touch.’

The Guide peeked at Zane with earnestness. ‘You promise you will return me to my missing piece?’

‘To your Eden Shard? Absolutely. Probe my psi-mind and confirm the truth for yourself.’

The Lost Shard guide closed its eyes and reached a hand to grasp one of Zane’s blue energy bands.

It sighed, and a smile unfurled on its face.

At the same time, the bleak realms within its undulating surface shifted into calmer, beautiful vistas.

Gardens, vineyards, and sun-drenched hills of such beauty that they elicited gasps from the gathered party.

Even more impressive was when the thick, dangling chains on its feet and hands fell away, the metaphorical prison it had put itself in vanishing from sight.

Riv tilted his head in wonder. ‘It’s returning to wholeness.’

The Shard’s guardian also transformed. From its chaotic form into a beguiling nymph, its features, gossamer robe, and face cleared to reveal an endearing creature with a shy smile.

‘I apologize for my tantrum.’ Its voice was now silken and soft. ‘An existence without hope is torture.’

‘You had a good enough reason,’ élisa said, taking an instinctive step toward it. She reached out, and the nymph-like Guide placed its hand in hers.

In that instant, élisa felt a jolt through her body.

‘You’re the one who needs healing?’

élisa stared at the creature, captivated. ‘I do.’

The nymph pulled off élisa’s eye patch. Placing her cool fingers on élisa’s eye, she pressed her eye shut.

élisa jolted as a current of energy flowed through the Guide’s hands, suffusing her with light flashes and heat that seared behind her blind eye. The zinging effect lasted for minutes before the nymph withdrew their hand.

‘Open your eyes. Both of them.’

élisa took a breath and opened her eyes to the wonder of sight in both.

She flinched as more light than she’d expected flooded her optics.

Riv was by her side as she blinked in rapid succession. ‘élisa? Love?’ he rasped, his voice imbued with concern.

She turned to him and clutched his arm. ‘I can see, Riv.’

Turning to her son, she rushed to him, embracing him. ‘Killen, both my eyes have sight.’

Gratitude poured from her lilac eyes, which were now both shining bright. ‘Thank you so much, Shard guide. I mean this from the bottom of my heart. Thank you.’

The silver creature smiled. ‘My pleasure. It feels good to alleviate your suffering after years of not being much use to anyone.’

élisa ventured forward and touched its arm. ‘Will you help my son?’

‘It would be my honor.’

The nymph beckoned to Zane and Killen. ‘Come with me and bring your wounded friend with you.’

Zane reached down for the still-unconscious Kisan, and leading the way, the trio approached the Shard.

Killen turned to élisa, staring at her with his sightless eyes. ‘I’ll be back, Mother. Very soon.’

She stepped up to him and embraced him, kissing his cheek. ‘You’re the apple of my eye. I can’t live without you. Return to me, my beloved. Soon.’

She returned to Riv’s side as Killen and Zane, with Kisan in his arms, walked into the threshold of the Shard following its ethereal Guide.

Its mist shrouded them as they wandered up the path through a cloud-filled garden and disappeared into the distance.

Riv directed Glimmer to land close to them.

He led the remaining party into the ship to wait for the trio inside the Lost Shard.

It floated above the white lake, its facets shifting between views of a beautiful paradise garden and wondrous cities of crystal-like gold, gemstones, and precious stones. Darting within were rivers flowing with water clear as glass, flowing from distant thrones.

élisa sat on a chair in the open hold of Riv’s ship, waiting for her son to return.

She studied the phasing Shard hovering over Devansi, enraptured by its beauty. ‘It’s strange how much peace I sense from it now,’ she told Riv, who sat beside her. ‘I think its anxiety was affecting me all along. Unusual reassurance remains, even if Killen, Kisan, and Zane are deep within it.’

Riv brought her hand to his lips. ‘I feel it, too. It’s a peace that passes all understanding.’

A few hours later, as they sipped a cup of kahawa , the Shard rippled, and three silhouettes stepped out.

‘They’re back,’ élisa called out, clutching Riv’s hand as they strode from the ship.

Xion and Ki’Remi rushed down the stairs into the hold, and together, they dashed towards the Shard.

Zane led the trio exiting the entity.

Kisan walked alongside him, leaning against him with Killen in the rear.

élisa ran to her son and wrapped him up in her arms. She pulled back to look at his face and exclaimed at the clear silver eyes staring down at her.

Killen held her shoulders and smiled. ‘Mother, my sight is restored, and my whole body is full of light.’

‘I’m so happy for you,’ she said, lifting a hand to stroke his temple and run her hands over his brow. ‘How was the experience inside?’

‘Incredible. The eyes of my heart have been enlightened. Enhancing the purpose to which I have been called. Giving me even more clarity about the journey I’ll undertake, the battles I’m to fight, and the inheritance waiting for me.’

He said the words with such solemn gravity that a shiver snaked up élisa’s spine.

‘Worry not, Mother,’ Killen added with a soft smile. ‘I am more than ready for what lies ahead.’

She wrapped her arms around him, hiding her worry, for Killen had much more to learn.

Riv approached, and with a silent smile, father and son hugged.

Moments later, the reunited family untangled from each other and moved towards the man leaning on Zane’s arms.

Riv stepped forward.

‘Kisan?’ he asked, his voice tentative.

The stranger turned, and élisa caught sight of the handsome, dark-skinned man.

He was prepossessing, from the top of his tight curls to his bronzed body and feet.

His gold-brown eyes glowed with life and vivacity.

His chiseled face, while still drawn from his mental anguish, was a masterpiece, and his lips, full and lush, were upturned.

He was nothing like the broken creature lain on the salt sands a few hours earlier.

‘Riv? Brother?’

The silver-haired Rider’s voice broke as he stepped forward to grasp the man in his arms. ‘We had no clue, brother. We were in the dark about your existence.’

His ordeal had weakened Kisan’s hoarse whisper. ‘I’m aware of that now. I’m not proud of how I outworked my pain and the hurt of being abandoned, or so I thought. I have many amends to make.’

Xion, Ki’Remi, and Zion pushed in, and together, the reunited Riders stood silent, lost in an embrace for a long time.

‘Let’s continue this discussion inside, people,’ Zane urged after a beat. ‘I also want to lift off this plain so we can cloak the ships, and I can wake the sleeping monks. We need to get a sit-rep on the incoming Katánian fleet. ‘We only have just over a day before they arrive.’

Riv nodded, his timbre hardening. ‘Let’s get to work.’