The Call of Eternity

76 | THE CALL OF ETERNITY

Silence surrounded Istara. A burst of brilliant light exploded outward. She looked down. Wonder filled her. The light came from herself. It spiraled out from her torso, circling her, intricate, a dance, poetic, beautiful.

Istara.

She turned. Baalat stood before her, radiant, stunning, wearing her disked crown. Starlight cascaded down her long, black hair and over her silver gown, continuous. She gazed at Istara with her golden eyes, a goddess once more. She smiled, soft, and touched Istara's cheek, sending a shower of white stars bursting outward in total silence. A tendril of golden light stirred within Baalat's torso, swirling, growing brighter.

My love. A voice called, laden with longing. Baalat looked behind her. Through the mists a man appeared--tall, powerful, elegant--wearing an immaculate kilt. On his chest, golden designs rotated, forming into endless patterns. Horus. He stopped, a soft smile spreading on his lips, and held out his hand to Baalat. Her eyes lit up, joy erupting from her.

Come to me, he said. The Creator awaits.

It is time, Baalat said, opening her arms and embracing Istara. Take the last of my light.

The tendril within Baalat brightened. It blossomed out from her, surrounding them, a sun. A flare of golden light. Warmth filtered into Istara, gentle, soft. A kiss fleeted against her brow. Baalat's embrace faded. At the edge of her hearing, the sound of Baalat weeping, tears of joy.

The light dissipated, melting away, altering, hardening, becoming the curved walls of a ship, bathed in the brilliant light of cerulean blue.

Pain slammed into Istara. A thousand fiery blades sheared her heart and mind. She screamed, agony scorching its path through her; her existence turning against her, wrong in this place--this awful, brutal, disconnected place where she couldn't be--a place which hungered to destroy her, to rip her mortal body apart.

"Go, go, go!" Urhi-Teshub bellowed, his arms coming around her, holding her pinned against him as she writhed, desperate to escape the torment of her being.

The ship lurched toward the brightening glow of the portal. Long tendrils swept out from its core, sinuous, sliding into the ship's interior, tugging, calling to her.

In Urhi-Teshub's arms, she panted, streamers of blazing heat and blistering cold razing through her, vicious, relentless, clawing at her, tearing at her muscles, organs and bones. She thought of Sethi, of how he had managed to suffer for so long, when she couldn't bear it for even a single heartbeat. She clung to Urhi-Teshub, shuddering, enduring, thinking of the ones she would save, who would live because of her and Baalat's sacrifice. The ship's nose touched the portal's surface. A surge of hope rammed into her. On the other side. Sethi. They would find each other again, immortal, eternal. Gods. Pain ambushed her, and her hope spiraled away, lost in the torture of her body trying to rip itself apart. Fight, she willed her body. Hold on. For him.

"That's my girl," Thoth said, patting the ship's panel, affectionate, the walls of the ship turning transparent. "Let's save this world, shall we?"

The portal thundered, wide awake, sentient, its pounding thrum, dense, low, a heartbeat, calling to Istara. Her body vibrated, caught in its thrall--the pain searing through her mind and body lessening as the boundaries between the two universes blurred. The enormous stone sides of the portal slid past, suffusing the ship in the glow of blue, misty light. The light darkened as they progressed, the mist deepening, tenebrous. A tug shot through the ship, yanking them forward. Urhi-Teshub staggered, his arms tightening around her, instinctive. The ship slipped from the portal, and tumbled, slow, into a silent, inky black void, supported only by the tendrils pulling them toward a brilliant rotating sphere of white light, its radiating beams sliding through the ship, hypnotic, matching the steady beat of her heart.