The first light of day stretched their fingers above the horizon of the lake. The morning waters were smooth and calm. They began to stir into motion, then they sparked as if a thousand fireflies had suddenly fallen into their waters, thus announcing the beginning of the new dawn.
As that light hit Jyriad and pressed into his closed eyelids, the breezes began to blow towards the shoreline where he slept. Jyriad opened his eyes and sat up. His emotions began to stir within him. The events of the night awoke in his mind, and thoughts raced forward with the remembering of the tale of the ‘Two Rings’.
He thought briefly, “It figures, riddles, much like all the comes from those whose lives are like the cycles of the seasons that come whether we want them to or not.” He rose and knew he needed to return back to camp to check on Krystina and their injured ward. As he arrived back at camp, he saw that the injured girl was now sitting up. Krystina was helping her with a bowl of soup she had made.
The injured girl’s eyes lifted from the bowl of soup and met his as he drew closer into the campsite. She then said barely in a whisper, “I remember you! My dreams, you were there helping me, lifting me out of the darkness!”
Krystina turned her head toward where the injured girl was glancing and saw Jyriad standing there. She turned back to the girl, said to her, “Do you feel strong enough to hold the bowl for a moment?” The injured girl smiled slightly and nodded her head up and down to indicate that she could.
Krystina rose and turned towards Jyriad; she rushed forward and wrapped her arms around him. She then lowered her head against his shoulders. She said, “I am sorry, I was so worried after everything that occurred last night. You disappeared from the campsite, and I waited and waited but you never returned.”
The injured girl was sitting there watching this scene play out, her eyes never left Jyriad. Jyriad thought quietly, “It’s as if she’s looking only at me and Krystina hugging him wasn’t even noticed.” Jyriad then said to them both, “Yes, last night was a night to be remembered!”
Krystina then pulled back away from him, grabbed his hand, and pulled him to the campsite. She said to him, “Come and sit with us, I’ll get you some breakfast and hot tea. We can talk after you get some nourishment.”
Jyriad sat down and Krystina brought over a fresh bowl of soup, some bread, and a hot cup of herbal tea. She then sat down with them. The three of them sat there together and the two girls waited to see who would speak first. Then Jyriad asked the injured girl, “What do you remember? I mean of last night!”
She looked at Jyriad then Krystina and then said, “First, thank you both for being there for me, helping me after my fall.” Jyriad waited then she continued, “Last night, I remember our minds somehow touching. Actually, not just our minds but our hearts too!” Krystina did not want to interrupt her, so she listened.
Jyriad then asked her, “Anything else?” She then nodded, lifted her cup of tea and took a few sips. She then looked at Krystina and said, “When I am better, can you teach me how to make this tea? It is the best I think I’ve ever had. “ Krystina smiled, then replied, “Yes, of course I will, thank you.”
She then looked from side-to-side at both of them and said, “I remember a strange language being spoken. Those words were full of power and then a bright light surrounded us.” She paused, then said, “I felt the pain lessening, I felt you pulling me up from an Abyss I had fallen into. I don’t know who you are, but what you did touched me, your actions somehow changed me!”
Jyriad thought briefly, looked over at Krystina. Their eyes met and they silently told him you have to talk about this. It’s not just her you changed but me too! Jyriad nodded to her than turned to look back at the injured girl.
Jyriad then spoke, “Your name is Asharlyn, am I correct?” She replied, “Yes, how did you…” Jyriad then asked, “Anything else you remember from last night?” She nodded yes, then said, “Someone came to me in my dreams last night other than you. A lady I believe. She spoke in riddles, a poem or prophecy that tied all three of us together in some cosmic battle that would determine the future of our world.”
Krystina then said to both of them, “I had no such dreams, why you and Jyriad, what about you? Did you also dream this?” Asharlyn replied, “No, he did not dream it, it actually happened to him! It was something that took place after he left. His spirit was…”
Jyriad then replied, “Yes, I was lost within. I knew what I had done would not go unnoticed by one particular being. That she would feel what had happened, the words I invoked, and would come.”
There was silence then Krystina asked, “And did she? Did this being come to you last night? I sensed something happening out near the far edge of the lake. There was a melody singing sweetly on the breezes last night, then a light from far away, then I think I fell asleep here next to Asharlyn.”
Jyriad replied, “Yes, she did but there was another, one who has existed since the first chord of life was sung into existence. She came and told me of our purpose, how important both of you are to me now.” His eyes then drifted to Asharlyn, and she felt the impact of their message, “To you, there was something more. Something intimate, a binding between us.”
Krystina then looked at both Asharlyn and Jyriad and said, “I am so lost. What is happening to us? Who are these beings? Also, Asharlyn, what was that you did to me? You know, something happened within me when you reached out and asked me to trust him. To trust Jyriad before he had even arrived?”
Tears began to roll down her cheeks and Asharlyn reached out to place her hand upon her cheek. As the tears rolled between her fingers a light rose from her hand and spread, and a story began to be told to them all.”
Krystina then asked, “How did you do that? Who are both of you? Asharlyn and Jyriad, you are both different than me. I am just an ex-soldier, healer, hunter. A girl born in a small village to pretty normal parents. But these stories, these powers that both of you have, are beyond me!”
Asharlyn replied, “No, Krystina! A part of who we are has become part of you now. You are changed! Do you not remember what happened when I reached out to you?” Krystina responded, “Yes, I sensed things around me I would never had been able to before you touched me.”
Asharlyn said, “Yes, you have changed! Your heart, spirit, and mind expanded. I am so sorry, I did not mean to do that, but it cannot be undone!” After Asharlyn spoke it grew quiet amongst the small group. Only the water lapping up on the shore and the breeze rustling through the trees could be heard.
Then Jyriad spoke, “We’re in this together now, our world, our fate are all tied to each other. I suggest we get some rest and allow Asharlyn some time to recover more. We can pick this conversation up later when we’re not all so raw from the events of the last day.” He looked at both Asharlyn and Krystina and they both nodded in agreement.
Krystina stood up first and went over to her tent, stooped down and crawled into her bedding to let sleep restore her. Krystina thought to herself, “Hopefully, she will wake up with a more grounded perception of the world and some ideas of what they should do next.”
Jyriad had remained there until Asharlyn said to him, “I do not understand the why behind this! Who are you, really? What were you at some far away place in your past Jyriad?” Asharlyn’s mouth stretched slightly into a gentle smile, then she continued, “However, I do know you were told or asked to come to me. I was told by another it would be so. I also sense that the three of us meeting is only the beginning.”
Jyriad interjected at that moment, “Yes, we are the pebble that was dropped into the water. From that single point, a series of ripples have begun to spread outwards to create a connection of moments each becoming an event, evolving outward until they reach that final point in which singularity occurs and the world as we know it today changes.”
Jyriad then said to Asharlyn, “Get some rest, I am going to as well. I’ll help Krystina come to terms with this, but I will need you as well! Of course, you’ll need to feel comfortable enough to lend a hand.“ He rose and closed the shelter that Asharlyn had been placed in to keep her warm and protected. He then took up a seat next to the fire. He let himself drift into a state of restful meditation watching over both his wards now, Asharlyn and Krystina.
Once Jyriad had settled in, he heard a shuffling coming from Krystina’s shelter. Then he heard her sit down beside him. Krystina laid her head against his shoulder and said, “Jyriad, I am so scared, this is not how I imagined my life would be. I don’t understand why? I mean I am just trying to help, not be a hero!”
Jyriad quietly said, “I know! I think it is because of your capacity to care, to sense what is right and wrong that she chooses you. I am here for both of you. Just lean on me if you feel yourself falling. I’ll never turn you away.” She raised her head. The she leaned forward and gave him a soft kiss on the cheek. She whispered, “Thank you Jyriad for being there!” She then lay down and rested her head in his lap. He lifted his left hand and placed it on her shoulder as if to say get some sleep now.
He returned to his quiet state of watchful meditation and let his senses expand outward to alert them if anything or anyone approached them. Of course he need not worry about that because high above glided “The Teacher” watching over them all as she gently glided around the island as her three charges were all resting far below.