Part of her still oscillated at the decision she was about to make. The aspect of Xisa in the photograph, her hateful gaze in the past next to her mother, made her think she would bring no good. But too much of her wanted to do this, so she erected a shield and grasped the Sphere. As soon as she lifted it, the whole of Imathrin began to rumble. The three arms of the Cup of Allkthea ignited in blue flame, and all those in the streets and homes of Imathrin fell to their knees. She raised it up, held tightly in her hands.
“Ti dioma farra Xisa!” she shouted. “Ti dioma farra Xisa!”
The ground shook more violently and the atmosphere grew thin. Lightning flashed in a now darkened sky, as tendrils of power extended from the Sphere to Melissa and back again. The scent of sulfur and death intermingled in toxic quantities, making the air thick and difficult to breathe. Those around her, the Freilux included, sank to their knees with fear. Melissa could feel her strength evaporate, as a column of light appeared around the Sphere. It slowly moved off, pulsed once, and faded, revealing a very familiar-looking young girl with a sneer for a smile.
“Xisa?” asked Melissa, taking a tentative step towards her. It was like looking into a temporal mirror, for it reflected a younger version of herself. She had the same red hair, the upturned brow, but was slightly smaller, with thinner limbs. “Is that . . .” Melissa fell to the ground, as she no longer had the strength to stand.
The Freilux rose, and spread his arms wide. “Welcome back, love.”
Xisa ran into the Freilux’s arms and they embraced and kissed each other deeply. Melissa sunk within herself, dreading what was to come, but somehow, she felt different. It was as if the act of creating Xisa expanded her knowledge and her consciousness. She felt more than she had been ever before, but still didn’t know what to do with the power.
“Is it any wonder I couldn’t keep away from you, dear Melissa?” asked the Freilux.
Xisa’s presence was stifling to Melissa, who gasped not only for air, but for identity. Xisa was so confident, so complete, that Melissa felt unworthy to even be alive. But she kept up a brave front, knowing too many people’s lives depended on her strength.
And too many people have died so I might survive.
“What an amazing thing this idelfada is,” said Xisa, as she slowly examined Melissa from head to toe. Xisa was dressed in a thick black robe with ornate golden lettering in a tongue Melissa couldn’t decipher. Her long hair danced on its own accord, becoming wound into a ball in one moment, flowing back behind her head in another. Melissa could see traces of slate in the corners of her eye as she looked on Xisa, and behind her hung the shadow of what were probably immense black wings. “She played her part perfectly, bringing me back at the right moment, pulling Toby and the rebels out when we wanted.”
The Freilux nodded. “I still am in awe that you predicted that an innocent soul was needed to use the full powers of the Sphere.”
Xisa haughtily laughed. “To think, there is a version of me that is actually innocent.”
“How could you do this?” demanded Melissa, with a voice that suddenly seemed weak and squeaky. “Why are you with him?”
“You dim little girl -- I am the cause of the Second Apocalypse!” cried Xisa. “I killed all those Archsussa, at father’s insistence.”
“But . . . why?” begged Melissa, still wondering how they could be the same person, when she was so thoroughly evil. “How could you kill mother; how could you do this?!”
“I have seen the future, and tried to make it real today. I saw not just Levitating Cities, but an entire shell of a world spinning around another. I saw layers of civilization living on top of one another, all because of the joys of living, cold metal. Metal that could talk and walk -- even sex like us. It is called ‘science,’ and one day it displaces sussa. One day it shifts the entire world back out of the cold, one day it renames this word as ‘Novan.’“
“I have met the scientists of this world,” said Melissa, “and they are good people, much like us. They possess power few can understand, except I feel they might be better at governance than us. Why not just let the future be?”
Xisa paused for a moment, betraying a malicious grin. “Call it vanity, call it what you will, but I endeavor to break this world’s destiny, and bend it to my will. For the first time, what was seen shall not be, and it will be because of me. I, born mortal, shall break the plan and the will of Holis.” She raised a hand. “All that’s left is your disillusionment.”
Xisa raised her hands, and Melissa could feel she was steeped in great power and experience. The tendrils of sussa that emanated from her fingertips were fine and detailed, appearing as vines that twisted and pulsed with life. Her eyes pulsed with blue power, and a mist formed around her lips. Her manipulation of sussa made her stunningly beautiful, and for a moment, Melissa was transfixed by her power, even though it was bent on her destruction.
“Wake up, Lissa!” shouted Toby.
She roused to life, and threw up a shield, which proved to be of little use. Xisa easily brushed past it, with the tendrils now coiling around Melissa’s limbs.
Do I want this, or have I decided to live, on my own terms.
Melissa reached out to the batteries of sussa from all Levitating Cities across the ovoid. She reached into Imathrin itself, draining its power, determined to rebuff Xisa’s assault. Though ensnared in Xisa’s sussa, Melissa held her own, channeling all her strength into pushing them out and away from her body.
“Perhaps I made you too well,” said Xisa, as she began to show signs of strain. “But you cannot resist me; I am your root!”
“You may have spawned me, but I shall rise above you, stronger than you, better than you!”
For a moment it appeared as if they were caught in a stalemate; Xisa could tighten her bonds no more, and Melissa was unable to extricate herself. Then in an instant, Melissa let out a primal cry and brought her fists down, breaking through the bonds of sussa and knocking Xisa far back into the chamber wall.
Xisa flailed about in the rubble, unable to stand. “How can this be?” she asked, aghast.
“Accept it; it is. Besides, who are you to decide if I am to exist?”
“I am the original, and I will suffer no copy to exist whist I live and breathe.” Xisa tried to get back on her feet, but was still too weak. “How are you as strong as I?”
The Freilux knelt beside her. “You have just woken, love, and she is fresh from learning.” Slowly he stood, and came over to Melissa, who still pulsed with power. “There is a place for you, here, at my side -- well, my other side,” he said with a leer. “Otherwise, we’ll just have to banish you from our fair city.”
“I am not as strong as you, I am stronger!” Melissa turned the air surrounding Xisa to rock, and struck the Freilux to the ground with a thunderbolt. She still drew on the batteries of the combined Levitating Cities, and it began to cloud her judgment. “You have used me, used all those people, to bring yourself back from the dead?” She bent over Xisa, looking deep into her hateful eyes with a piercing gaze. “You killed mother!”
“So what?” she managed, pressing her face above the rock that entombed the rest of her body. “She was weak, and deserved to die.”
Melissa stepped back. “Then . . . it was an idelfada that rescued me? Whose body I wept over?”
Xisa laughed. “Wish I had been there to see that.”
Melissa grew angry, for the first time in her life she felt the desire for vengeance return, and knew she could easily take Xisa’s life. In her hands manifest two great fireballs, and she lifted them high over her head.
“Die, Xisa; let the original die!”
“Lissa, wait,” managed Toby. “You are so different from Xisa -- don’t become like her. You still have the Sphere, and with it, power beyond dream. Use it!”
“What . . . what would I use to for? I brought back Xisa, and look what it’s done.”
Toby struggled in his bonds to come closer to Melissa. ?
??Look deep within yourself,” he said mentally. “What do you need, what do you want more than anything?”
What do I want more than anything? Who do I want more than anything? I made my own man, seduced another woman’s man, but neither made me very happy. She began to softly sob. I just want my mother. She took a deep breath, and said; “Ti dioma farra Esoica.”
“No!” screamed Xisa, struggling to break through the stone. “Don’t you dare bring that harpy back. Don’t you dare!”
Melissa summoned all her remaining strength, as she could feel the Centric Sphere build in power. The ground rumbled once more, bringing chunks of stone down around them.
“Ti dioma farra Esoica!”
Another surge of light blinded Melissa, knocking her back flat on the floor. Her strength sapped, she was about to pass out, when the figure of her mother solidified before her.
“Mother!”
Melissa fell to blackness, elated to see her mother’s face one more time.