The God Chronicles

She stiffened in fear, but then relaxed slightly as she sensed somehow that it was Corr whose mind was touching hers. He tried to send her feelings of confidence, which rolled from him to her and back like waves lapping on a beach. And then he was inside her mind, moving through the world of her imagination, peeling back layers of her consciousness, seeking without knowing exactly what he looked for. It was like stumbling around in a dark room, except he couldn’t afford to crash into anything least he damage her in some way. Still, he was careful, and made his way along, probing gently, looking for something that was amiss. And finally he found it. A deep well, so dark it made the rest of the void seem bright by comparison. He reached towards it, but some wall prevented him from gaining entry. He began looking for some way around or through it, and saw nothing. He reached out and touched it, and suddenly was hurled back violently, the wall seeming to explode towards him. A voice screamed out that was everywhere and nowhere at once. There were no words, just primal madness and fury, and power, such as he'd never felt before. All the power and potential he'd sensed in her was just a drop in the ocean compared to the force of that dark well. He fell back screaming, tumbling through the dark void, burning. He saw her, hanging in a dark room, naked with blood running down her chest from marks cut into her skin; she could have been no more than six or seven years old. He saw her falling in the snow, still naked as the wind roared, her mind a vacant wasteland. He saw her eating, and doing chores, but not here - in a house, in the woods. He saw a man whose eyes burnt like fire, and a woman, who seemed to radiate sorrow. He saw faces, and changing, writhing shapes that had surely never been part of this world – monsters and demons from her imagination perhaps? Wars and battles with strange beasts, and a thousand other things that surely this girl had never seen in her life. Dreams? Nightmares? For just a moment he stared into the eye of madness and insanity and death. He saw the Maelstrom. And suddenly he was himself again, and falling from his chair, fire all around him. There was shouting from the sisters and from the girl, and then he struck the floor. He rolled to his feet, the fires disappearing instantly, and moved towards the child. She was screaming, though for no visible reason, for she was not hurt or burning. The High Sister reached her first, and made to grab her, but a wave of golden light seemed to pour from the girl and throw the High Sister aside. And then the child was crying, and clutching at Corr, hugging him, sobbing deeply into his robes, and he lifted her in his arms. “I’m sorry,” she said again and again.