Garden of Embers: Beneath Devouring Eyes #2

Chapter 3, Part A

"After what we have witnessed these dark and terrifying days, there can be but one conclusion: We have defied divine will and been most bitterly rebuked.

"When we shattered the History Stones and slew the Chief Terraformer as our oppressor and the sky darkened, it was a warning. When we then slew her brother and sister as enemies of Humanity and toppled the Restoration Tower and the sky rained flame down upon us, it was a just punishment.

"Now the Eternal Radiance who brought us here within Her sacred belly, placed us upon this alien soil, and instructed us to obey those entrusted with making this dark world a Garden of Light has given us a second chance in this beautiful Chief Terraformer child. The Trellis upholding our world shines in splendor once again under her command.

"Bow down and accept the holy gift we have been given O Humanity. I witness to you today that this child is the Divine Light's chosen one, the Keeper of Heaven and Earth, our Princeps, and the Holder of our World."

-- Tibulus Fortis,
Leader of the Pyrrhaei Rebellion,
49th year before the Restoration,
from A Garden of Fragrant Heresies

"The Ancients were wrong; the truth will not always set you free. The unaugmented now know how dangerous bearers of b-tech can be and how dependent they are upon the p-tech we command. They will keep us bound in chains of sacred duty forever."

-- Princeps Worldholder Aura Adurere,
upon the occasion of her anointment
as Keeper of Heaven and Earth,
49th year before the Restoration,
from A Garden of Fragrant Heresies

*~*~*~*

For a moment when the crimson light surrounded him, Valens thought it was the pleasure of completion making him see strange things.

But Arbita's gasp beneath him was no longer one of enjoyment, but fear. Her eyes, unfocused a moment before as she and he had both sought to do their duty with more enthusiasm than either had ever expected, were suddenly sharp and pinned to the window.

Dread washing through him, Valens followed his wife's gaze and froze. "Shit."

The Trellis was dimming. Yet Dimming was still several hours away.

Golden Trellis-light had already given way to weak crimson sunlight. He and Arbita sat up, lovemaking forgotten. "Is the Princeps conducting a test?" his wife asked.

Searing white light sizzled into the room then, and they both yelped, jerking their arms up to shield their eyes. But the blinding light was already fading anew. It flared three more times with thunderous explosions in the heavens, then dimmed once more with a rippling crackle like thin ice buckling under a weight. The whole world shook beneath, and then the skies rumbled above. Rain began to cascade, and the wind shrieked outside the windowpane.

"I don't think it's a test," Valens said, his heart leaping into his chest even as he rose to his feet. He had seen this once before, years ago. He hoped he was wrong. "Come with me, please. I have a bad feeling you're needed."

"What? Where are we going?" She caught her tunica as he tossed it to her and reached for his own. There was no time for a paenula. "What do you think this is? It can't be..." Her eyes widened. "You don't think—"

"This is exactly what it looked like fifteen years ago," Valens said, pulling his tunica over his head with a hard yank. He had only been ten years old when a terrorist killed the Princeps Worldholder and the Trellis tore through one dying heir after another, but those terrifying hours when the sky had turned into an incandescent firestorm and freak weather patterns tore across the land were burned forever in his mind. "Do you remember?"