Page 9 of The Enduring Universe (The Rages Trilogy #3)
AHILYA
What was the Etherium? Ahilya had never truly understood.
Iravan had once explained it as a place of guidance, a third vision where he had seen probabilities of the future convert into true possibility. To Iravan, it had looked like a maze, a mountain-path, and a way to see behind the falcon-yaksha’s eyes. He had seen events occurring far from him, and looked into his past by focusing within it. As Iravan changed, so did the imagery of the Etherium, evolving at the pace he evolved. He had tried—desperately and failingly—to explain it and fit it into his world vision.
Ahilya had always thought of it like a many-chambered house.
She was familiar with only two chambers—one where her vision merged with Iravan’s, and another where she met with the cosmic creatures. One had been created out of an explosion of her desire with Iravan’s, and the other with her acquiescence to let the Virohi take her. She had not understood the Etherium, but she had relied on it to understand her changing world.
Yet now all the chambers of the Etherium, even those that were unknown, were out of control, and she ran through a crumbling edifice, all meaning crashing around her. She slipped and fell, and shards of mirrors scraped her as she righted herself and moved over uneven ground.
Something beckoned to her, the leaves of a core tree within a chamber she recognized.
Ahilya lurched and grabbed a passing branch. She skidded to a halt—and there she was, in the chamber where she had once spoken and understood the rudra-tree’s command.
Awe filled her, momentarily eclipsing her terror. Memory rushed into her of a time when she had returned to Nakshar after Iravan had transformed the Conclave into a many-spoked wheel. Back then, she had communicated with Nakshar’s rudra-tree to return the architects their permissions by channeling her desire into the core tree. When the Conclave had crashed to the jungle, Nakshar’s rudra had merged with all the core trees to become the vriksh. The vriksh had always anchored her communication with the Virohi, and it bloomed now in the chamber. Ahilya found herself touching its great trunk, staring up at the foliage, only to see a sky full of stars peeking between moving leaves. The Etherium still wobbled, but she held on to the tree, planting her feet.
If it was an explosion of her desire that gave her control over her connection with Iravan, and the mirrored chambers to speak to the Virohi, then could such desire help her commune with the vriksh too? After all, she held all the tree’s permissions. She tried to ask the tree to help her again, and as if sensing this, the writhing of the cosmic creatures stilled. The rumbling of the earthrage shivered, pausing for a brief instant. The Virohi watched her, reading her intent.
Ahilya’s heart leapt in hope. Return, she thought to the cosmic creatures, inviting them back into Irshar. Return.
The cosmic creatures pulled at her, hovering around the tree, feeling her call them. Iravan snarled, yanking them toward him. He could see what she was attempting, and she felt his attack as if it was on her body and mind. She felt his fury with her.
Ahilya did what she had always done. She anchored herself in the tree, rooting herself to become immovable, and desired for the cosmic creatures to bind themselves back into the ashram. They filled her mind, swirling toward the vriksh. Above, the universe spun with a million stars. Hold, she thought to herself, as Iravan attempted to pull the cosmic creatures from her grasp. Hold.