BDS: Chapter Thirty-Nine

An explosion of blue and white light spread through the clearing of the Tran Ceiabré as Jalena and the rest of the warriors appeared within the light of the Lumfáinne.

Brogan tumbled across the ground as the light faded. He pushed himself up to his knees, coughing hard. He grabbed the front of his shirt where Gyan had kicked him and looked up, the dirt on his face muddying as raindrops hit his skin. He closed his eyes as he saw Jalena running to him.

"What did he do, Brogan?" she said in a frantic tone. She dropped to her knees before him and put two hands on his shoulders. Her eyes darted across his face, searching for answers within his gaze.

"What did he do?" she screamed as the winds picked up.

Brogan inhaled sharply and shook his head as his eyes filled with tears. "I don't know."

The rain turned to a downpour. Brogan hurried to help Valora move the others beneath a large hollowed boulder.

A surge of blue, silver, and gold light burst across the sky.

Jalena staggered as she struggled to regain her footing. She teleported to the top of the Tran Ceiabré cliff. Gyan! she shouted as she reached for his energy. She started as she heard the blast reverberate across the sky, signaling Gyan's departure.

The air thickened, and the emptiness of Gyan's absence spread through her—her knees dropped into the puddles of water below her, and her breath vanished. She grabbed her chest as her eyes widened in disbelief—she bent to the ground as an unbearable pain took over her as if life was being ripped from her. He left? She shook her head. No.. he wouldn't— She gasped for breath as her thoughts failed. A bright blue glow immediately exploded beneath her Lumsigne mark.

Brogan looked up at the silver and blue glittering lights that fell among the rain and blinked away tears as a weighing sadness flooded his chest and his Lunsigne lit. "Jalena," he whispered as he stood and looked to where she had dropped to her knees at the top of the cliff. His gaze widened as a rush of silver light suddenly zipped across the clearing, cutting through the rain.

Gyan's gladaé appeared as the light faded, hovering in the air beside the Tran Ceiabré pool amid gold pulsing light.

Jalena turned sharply to the light through the wet hair clinging to her face. Her voice turned shrill. "GYAN!"

She skidded through the mud as she bolted down the path at the edge of the falls. As she neared and extended her hand to Gyan's gladaé, a burst of gold and violet shot from the sword and hit her full in the chest.

Brogan and Valora ran forward as Jalena's back arched. She rose into the air as the gladaé's light intensified. The twins shielded their eyes as the gold and violet light swirled in a wild vortex around Jalena until every particle of light from Gyan's sword disappeared into Jalena's body.

The twins moved quickly to catch Jalena as she fell unconscious to the ground.

"Jalena!" Brogan said as he placed a hand on her neck.

"She's okay, I think—just unconscious," Valora said softly as she lowered Jalena gently to the ground. "Her heart is racing though, and her skin is on fire."

She met her brother's eye as her breath caught in a sob. "Brogan." Brogan's face twisted as he looked away. He grabbed Valora to him and they wept as an unwelcomed blue glow brightened beneath their Lumsignes.

"I…can't," she choked, "breathe." She tightened her grip on him.

The two barely noticed the other warriors stirring awake.

One by one they turned their surprised and questioning gaze to Brogan and Valora as the awareness of Gyan's departure filled them. Raindrops glistened with blue as the glow beneath their Lumsignes shaped haunting rays of light around them…

Lorcan sat with his back to the others, his head buried in his hands, the rain mixing with his tears as it dripped from his hair into a puddle between his legs. Danika absently stroked Tarak's face, as he lay, still unconscious, her tears dropping next to him along with the rain. Hoshi and Jarek sat shoulder to shoulder—she sobbed, her face buried in her hands, as Jarek stared at the ground, a mixture of confusion and angry tears on his face.

Despite the noise from the rush of the falls and the pattering of rain, an eerie stillness fell across the group as their hearts sank with the heaviness of the day's events.

The masters blinked numbly as the elder masters appeared nearby within a burst of light sometime later. Each approached the masters in silence and quietly placed soothing hands of blue light on the shoulders of each warrior.

Asia called for two Order workers to take him back to the temple. Danika stood and watched in tearful silence as Tarak was placed on a floating stretcher beneath a dome of blue light and taken out of the clearing.

Syam, a bright aura of light around him, approached Valora and Brogan, his white hair and beard dripping with rainwater. "It's over," he told them softly. "Master Gyan did it."

He bent and touched Jalena's face. "I have her now," he reassured Valora as he put his hand over hers. Valora gently nodded and slowly released her tightened grip on Jalena's uniform.

Syam scooped his daughter up into his arms. He turned his back, and the two disappeared into a bright burst of white light.

The rest of the team slowly joined Brogan and Valora near the pool as the elder masters departed. A heavy silence continued through the group as they leaned against each other in the small clearing among the boulders where Gyan's sword had appeared just moments before.

Hours later, as the rain cleared and evening set in, glittering flecks of silver, gold, blue, and white light still lingered over the Tran Ceiabré.

Jabari appeared in the clearing, the glow of his Lumsigne highlighting his neck and the edge of his face.

Brogan looked up slowly. "Master…Shamira—is she okay?"

He nodded and replied softly. "She is with Jalena. Master Gyan's Reserve created shields around everyone in the Order. The Mandopa have driven the surviving Avehkal out of Elsaria."

"Did anyone see what happened?" Danika asked quietly. "I think I would at least feel—you know—maybe different seeing what he did for everyone."

"It won't feel different," said Lorcan, "but I wanna know too."

"I saw it," Kesól said as he stepped into the clearing. "Drasúl had injured me, but I was conscious. I will share the memory."

The warriors opened their minds to Kesól as he shared what he saw from the time Gyan kicked Brogan into the Lumfáinne. Their eyes widened in shock as they watched the sequence of action up until the moment Gyan disappeared.

"Thank you, Sir Kesól," Valora whispered as her breath caught and a fresh set of tears silently fell down her face.

Hoshi grabbed Danika to her as her breath caught in a sob.

The rest of the warriors murmured their gratitude to Kesól.

"I know why he did it," said Brogan as he wiped his face and took a breath. "He knew we wouldn't be able to keep a shield going around Sade and Shamira, while we helped Marcile and Sir Kesól fight off Drasúl."

Valora sniffed. "He did it for more than that," she whispered.

Jabari nodded, squinting as tears freely slipped down his face. "We will have a voluntary Council early tomorrow at the temple," he said softly. He turned and walked out of the clearing alongside Kesól.

"I will watch over them," Kesól told him. "They will probably be here all night."

As the night progressed, little movement or noise occurred among the warriors other than when they switched into a different position or straightened to lie closer to each other on the ground. Exhaustion finally overtook them, and each fell into a deep sleep.

Glittering yellow light floated across the ground and surrounded the warriors as they slept. The yellow light in Kesól's gaze dimmed as his spell of meditative energy completed. He sighed and leaned against a large boulder at the edge of the falls, keeping a close watch on the master warriors for the remainder of the night.

***