Divine Apostasy Book 7 - Chapter 8

Chapter 8

The stairs circled upward like a corkscrew and Ruwen took his time. At heart he wanted to please everyone and seeing the looks on Rung Four made him feel awful. It was necessary however, because they didn’t deserve to be in the tower’s final level.

The walls of the tower glowed with enough light that Ruwen could see, but as he approached the top of the stairs the light turned redder. The exit came into sight, but it wasn’t a doorway. Instead, the stairs ended in an opening in the last level’s floor. Stepping up and out, he understood why this was the final level of the tower. He’d arrived on the roof.

For the first time, Ruwen glimpsed the sky. It looked brownish, the red light of the sun giving the entire heavens a dirty look. He preferred the blue sky of Grave.

In the center of the roof stood a thick pillar fifteen-foot high. The roughly hewn granite had twelve sides, and five smooth circles traced a line down the center of each side. Unlike the circles on this pillar in the courtyard, these remained blank.

Black sand covered the roof and Ruwen kneeled to touch it. The sand had absorbed the sun’s heat all day and now burned to the touch. Small clam shaped containers lay half buried in the sand, thousands of them. Rung One had spread out from the stairwell, ripping them apart, searching for the mysterious token they assumed one of shells held.

The heat didn’t bother Echo, but the rest of her team suffered. Their fingers had already blistered from the heat, and they moved slowly and painfully. Echo cursed at them to hurry before the next group arrived in fifteen minutes.

Ruwen walked to the tower’s edge and looked down. The clouds had partially broken and he could see the ground, so he walked along the tower’s edge until the town came into view. He smiled as he found Sift leading the members of Rung Four. They had almost reached the town, and Ruwen sat, hanging his legs over the two-hundred-foot drop, to watch them.

“Why are you so happy?” Echo asked.

Ruwen had heard and felt Echo’s approach, but had ignored her. She couldn’t hurt him here. Even pushing him off this tower wouldn’t work. He knew he could easily survive a fall from almost any height now.

“I’m enjoying the view,” Ruwen said. Then, after a moment, he continued. “Your father lied to you. He tried to hurt me. Keep that in mind the next time you rationalize around your oaths to do me no harm.”

Echo hissed, but Ruwen didn’t look at her.

Ruwen continued. “Your mother was as pleasant as I remembered.”

Echo approached from Ruwen’s right side. Her heart pounded rapidly and her strained breathing betrayed her roiling emotions. She stopped five feet away.

“How did you escape?” Echo asked.

Ruwen knew what Echo really cared about. He turned and locked gazes with her. “Are you scared I killed them?”

“Impossible,” Echo said with a laugh.

Ruwen continued to stare at Echo, and after a moment she grew uncomfortable. “What if I told you, in addition to your parents, I fought our five brothers and sisters. All of them. At the same time.”

“Lies. I would know if they died.”

Ruwen wondered if that notification came because Echo was the Aspect of Death or if the Aspects were linked in some fashion and he would know as well when an Aspect perished.

“I spared their lives,” Ruwen said.

“That would be the height of foolishness.”

Ruwen looked away from Echo and checked on Sift’s progress. He and Rung Four had entered the town, and they moved toward the courtyard.

Ruwen contemplated Echo’s words. “Yes, I have acted foolishly. I struggle to balance benevolence and harshness, mercy and justice. Just as you do.”

“I am nothing like you.”

Ruwen faced Echo again. “Your father wishes to destroy our Universe.”

Echo looked away.

“You knew,” Ruwen said, recognizing the guilt in Echo’s body language. “How can anyone support such a thing?”

“I don’t,” Echo said.

Ruwen swallowed hard and forced the words out, knowing they would be hurtful. “He is obsessed, Echo. He would sacrifice you. Your mother. Literally all of us, to gain the knowledge he craves. Darkness consumes him.”

Echo didn’t refute Ruwen because they both knew he spoke the truth. What would it do to a young woman, knowing her father would toss her aside for his own gain?

Ruwen checked on Sift again, relieved to find him and Rung Four all gathered around the Summoning pillar that had brought everyone but Ruwen here.

Ruwen looked into the sky and spoke quietly. “You know what I’ve been thinking about lately?”

“How to kill my family?”

Echo had circled back to the fear that Ruwen guessed had consumed her since she’d seen him appear.

Ruwen faced Echo. “I didn’t kill your family, Echo, despite them both wanting to do irreparable harm to me. I didn’t kill your friends, either, even though they joined to destroy me. Those you love are safe.”

Echo swallowed, and it took her three tries to get the next words out. “Thank you,” she whispered.

Ruwen nodded. “You are welcome.”

In the distance, Sift watched Rung Four jump and celebrate around the Summoning Pillar. Ruwen’s Diamond hearing could just make out their cries of celebration. The lesson of this area, repeated over and over, hid the location of the token. You end where you begin.

“The token isn’t here, is it?” Echo asked.

“No.”

“That is why you said I deserved to advance here.”

“Yes. I wanted to keep you safely out of the way in case you figured out the lesson of this area.”

“What lesson?”

Ruwen turned as Echo sat on the tower’s edge, ten feet away. “That if done properly, we end where we start.”

“That’s a dumb lesson. You can’t make progress if you always return to the beginning.”

“Perhaps, but when you reach the end, you hold the experiences of the journey, giving your view of the beginning a new perspective. How else can we judge our progress if we don’t compare it to our start.”

Echo remained silent and Ruwen gained a deeper appreciation for the Steps. There were lessons found in every section, even the most simple, basic, and obvious parts. It humbled him that he kept discovering pieces of enlightenment.

Ruwen continued. “You didn’t start out as the woman you are now. What would the choices you’ve made, and continue to make, look like to that young girl? Returning to your beginning now, may illuminate your—”

Echo interrupted with an angry voice. “You don’t know me. You don’t get to judge.”

Ruwen nodded. “I recently learned the Scarecrow is the Aspect of Famine. It made me curious, and I did some research. Do you know what, to my surprise, I found Famine carried? Not a sword or a whip or a bow.” He waited a few seconds and then whispered. “Scales.”

Echo didn’t respond.

“That doesn’t give me the right to judge you, Echo, but it is a reminder to me, yet again, that balance is the most critical part of life.”

“And you judge me unbalanced,” Echo said sarcastically.

Ruwen turned to Echo. “We all are. It is worth reflection.”

Echo snorted. “You can stuff your opinions up your Aspect. I don’t need them.”

“I don’t think it’s just me.”

“What?”

“I mentioned earlier something I’ve been thinking about lately. It’s why I’m talking to you right now, despite your behavior. It is partially why I didn’t kill your mother, and why I hesitated to attack your father.”

Echo turned and locked eyes with Ruwen.

Ruwen continued. “In the library in Malth, the night before the quarterfinals of the Step Championship, we were both speaking to Blapy.”

Echo nodded. “The ancient wyrm.”

“Yes. Do you remember what she said to you, right before Izac appeared?”

“The wyrm referenced death because she knew about my aspect.”

“She did. But there is so so much more. Blapy rarely speaks on just one level. Her words are full of double and triple meanings. Many times, I don’t understand until too late. For instance, I still don’t know what this means.”

Ruwen closed his eyes and repeated the conversation exactly. Blapy had said the following to Echo:

“For advice, I seldom offer it freely, but for you I’ll make an exception. After all, an arrow’s path is easiest to alter before it’s released.”

Echo looked confused and Ruwen wondered if Blapy was just poking fun at the young woman.

“Here’s my advice, wrapped in a question, just for you,” Blapy said. “I’ve been pondering this question myself lately.” Blapy paused for a second before continuing. “Can life exist without death?”

Ruwen opened his eyes and studied Echo.

Echo frowned. “Wyrms are famous for talking nonsense. Thinking is just an excuse to not act. Her words were meant to cloud my mind before my match the next day.”

“Perhaps. But her offhand comment that ‘an arrow’s path is easiest to alter before it’s released’ might have also been a message for me.”

“Now I’m an arrow?”

Ruwen shrugged. “I don’t know you, Echo, but I have observed both the fierceness of your mother and the mental darkness of your father in you. I have learned through hard experience to listen to the ancient wyrm and never ignore her. When I released you from the webbing at our first meeting, I glimpsed a person I have not seen since. Maybe it’s the girl from where you began. Whatever Blapy meant about changing your trajectory, this is my attempt. Don’t confuse this with forgiveness. You have debts, and I will see them paid.”

The sand helped mask the faint vibration of a Founder appearing ten feet behind Ruwen. But the past couple of days had been enough for him to recognize the differences between the three women.

Ruwen returned his attention to the celebration in the distant courtyard. “Hello, Dusk.”

Echo gasped and turned to look behind them.

“Rung Four has found the token,” Dusk said. “Our time in this area has ended. Assemble in the courtyard.”

Without a word, Ruwen pushed himself forward and off the tower. He hated the feeling of falling, but he wanted to join Rung Four and their celebration, and walking down all those tower stairs didn’t appeal to him at all. Plus, it didn’t hurt to remind Echo the differences in their power.