Page 66 of The Enduring Universe (The Rages Trilogy #3)

TOGETHER

They raced toward each other across time and space. She staggered through the debris of the city, and he left the moorings of his body to tumble into her arms.

Something chased the both of them, a gaping black hole that ate away at everything. Light bounced in all directions, faces distorted, shapes meaningless. Still, they constructed meaning with the failing bindings of their minds, holding each other, though neither of them had bodies to do this with.

Layers of reality tumbled around them, the entire edifice of meaning crumbling. They found each other, but they couldn’t remember. They seemed to be in the mirrored chambers, and

* * *

He looked within and saw She looked inside and felt

the falcon the vriksh

Nidhirv the Virohi

Bhaskar architects

Agni non-architects

Iravan Cohesion

He saw nothing. She saw everything.

Time and reality froze.

They stared at each other, and into each other.

The broken shards of the Moment echoed, needing to knit together, seeking to know.

Who are you? they thought, a question to each other and themselves.

* * *

He blinked. She breathed.

I am not I am

the falcon the vriksh

Nidhirv the Virohi

Bhaskar architects

Agni non-architects

Iravan Cohesion

A great consuming power shifted, and their two consciousnesses connected within the Moment. Separate and part of their selves, yet belonging to something greater.

Who are you? the Moment echoed, with their wonder.

* * *

The mirrors cleared.

* * *

Nothing, he wept. Everything, she sobbed.

Neither this. Nor that. This too. That too

They saw themselves within each other.

And the universe reflected back.