Of Starlight and Gold

Chapter Nine

Arlyn was floating. When he peeked his eyes open he floated in a midnight sea, thousands of twinkling lights around him. No. Not lights. Stars. He was surrounded by stars, their bright auras sharp in the sky. The sky was dark, so dark it swallowed everything but the stars, but up close, the black seeped into blue darker than the very depths of the sea. A quick look below and panic spiked his blood. He couldn't see the ground. There was nothing, just the open sky and stars all around him. If whatever force was suspending him in the air let go, he'd be dead long before he hit the ground. The thought wasn't as comforting as he wanted it to be.

Onyx wasn't there either. Arlyn looked around, but his familiar was nowhere to be seen. But that tether that connected them was still there. He knew it was. He kept telling himself that.

But Arlyn wasn't alone. He realized as much as he slowly circled around and found an incandescent light brighter than all the stars combined. The light seared Arlyn's eyes and he hissed, bringing a hand up to shield them. A moment later, the light dimmed. Through spotty vision, Arlyn noticed the figure of a man, or as close to a man as possible. Over seven feet tall with a delicate, serene smile across a stunning face. Golden threads of hair like wheat in the fields with bronze, unblemished skin.

Only the eyes...those haunted, wild eyes blacker than pools of ink made Arlyn shudder.

"Who are you?" he demanded. Try as he might to hide his fear, his voice betrayed him.

The man tilted his head, curls bouncing, those wild eyes glimmering with something Arlyn couldn't quite place. "That is not the question you seek. You already know that answer."

A clear, lovely voice. The kind that commanded attention no matter how soft or loud he spoke. The voice did little to soothe the irritation that flared in Arlyn. There was an inkling that, perhaps, he did know. But a confirmation. That's what he wanted. Judging by the wild gleam in the man's eyes, getting a straight answer was going to be difficult.

"Where are we?"

"Somewhere away from prying ears." The man smiled and raised a hand. "The world is full of spies. We cannot trust you little humans. So destructive. Have you figured out who I am yet?"

Arlyn blinked. The whiplash of the conversation took him a moment to catch up. "You're a god."

"Not just any god?" The god smiled and, in the blink of an eye, he was so close to Arlyn that Arlyn saw the god's eyes weren't as black as they appeared. There were flecks of gold embedded in those obsidian stones. "You sought shelter in my temple. You sought my aid. Surely you know who has you in their clutches." His lips curled in a sharp-edged smile, one that threatened to cut Arlyn down if he wasn't careful. "Come on, little pet. I can smell the intelligence on your breath."

"Right..." The knot in Arlyn's throat bobbed. "You're the Mad God—" the god's eyes flared and Arlyn hastily corrected himself "—Donis. You're Donis. God of prophecy."

"You think I'm mad, just like everyone," Donis sighed, drifting a safe distance back. "Madness is a human state. I see things others do not. Things no one can explain. That is all. Perhaps it is mad, perhaps it is a different kind of sight." He smiled. "But I can assure you, my mind is sound."

Arlyn highly doubted that, if their conversation was any proof against the god. He didn't think arguing with a god was going to go anywhere. "Why am I here?"

"You are here because I need you to be here," Donis huffed, black eyes shining. "You bring news from the north, do you not? News for my High Priestess."

"The attack," Arlyn nodded, "it's heading south...my familiar and I escaped. We heard in the next town we dared stop, that a Donis priestess from Nelan had been there as well, warning everyone. She had prophesied about the attack months ago but no one believed her." Arlyn wrung his hands. "No other place we stopped in heard from her."