Chapter 6

Chapter 6
The young man crawled through the underbrush, inch by painful inch. He was looking for El’s people, but he did not know where to look. He knew his life would not last much longer. He longed for release from his cruel, hard existence, but not the one death would bring. Instead, he was looking for love to release him from his deprivation of soul. There! Was that a light? He crawled towards it, and collapsed on the doorstep of a house, too spent to even cry for help. He lay there unconscious, and did not know what happened next.           
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Bryn opened her door, only to find a young man sprawled on the doorstep. Her tender heart turned over, as she beheld the awful sores on his face. She easily lifted his gaunt frame into her arms and carried him into her house. She laid him in her own bed. She sat by the bed and watched his face. It was the face of a man, alone and desperate. She wondered what had carved the lines furrowed in his brow. The only thing she could do was pray. For hours she sat there, watching his face. Praying for his healing. 
“El, heal him. Does he know you? If he doesn’t, heal him so he can know you. He needs you. Be his father.” A solitary tear snaked its way down her cheek. She saw him take a breath, and another. Then to her wonder, she saw the sores close and heal without a mark. She saw his face smooth out, and he slept .
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The funeral was a small affair, but it was pure agony for Jeremy. The father he had only just known, was dead, and he was devastated. He saw the people around him, all ready to express their deep sympathy for him, but he did not want their sympathy. All he wanted was his father, and he was gone forever. He could not bear to see the people around him talk about how they had known him for so long and what a fine man he was . They knew more about Nolan then he did! It was a bitter pill to swallow. It was his own stubbornness that had forced this upon him. And his own father was to be always a stranger.
 He crept from the building, and no one noticed he was gone. He ran, without pause.
“WHY?” He shouted.” Please tell me why.” His voice dropped to a whisper. He lay there, fresh grief flowed over him. There was no answer, perhaps there was no answer to give. Everything was still unresolved, but he knew that he should get back, so he turned to go from his place of solitude. He was in a place he had never been in before. A place of evil and darkness. The darkness was a fog so thick you couldn’t cut it with a knife. Then the clearing was filled with light, but not light as we know it, for it was still darkness. The hairs on the back of his neck rose one by one. People appeared around the circle, swirling out of the darkness. There was a small gap between them that slowly grew smaller. In a desperate attempt to reach freedom, he dove towards the hole, but even as he ran, he knew it was futile. It closed as he reached, and there was an impenetrable wall of dark spirits. He turned and saw Freyja before him, she raised her arm and a flash of white exploded before his eyes. Pain filled his body. He felt himself falling, and then he floated off into peaceful oblivion.
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Zoe turned to speak to her husband, for she had not noticed his absence.
“Copper, have you seen Jeremy? I haven’t seen him for a while.” She said, worried.
“No dear, I’m sorry, I haven’t. I thought he was helping in the kitchen, because I saw him walking that way earlier, but I checked later and he wasn’t there, so I have no idea where he could have gone.
Zoe walked to the window, and looked out. “Is he out there El? If he is, protect him from evil. I can’t lose him. Oh Copper, The Nameless One is out there, and he has sworn to kill Jeremy. We have to find him.”
“Don’t panic, I’ll send some of the boys out to look for him. We’ll find him. El is out there too. Don’t forget that.”
“Thank you.” Zoe said softly. “I must go and look for him too. If I could only wake up from this living nightmare, and find it only a dream. We have to end this, before it destroys us all.”       
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Jeremy woke to pain. He could not move. The place he was lying was cold and wet, but he could not help it. With every move he made, fresh pain consumed him. There was impenetrable darkness all around him. He saw a small light to the right of him, and he turned his head to face it. A white-hot agony coursed through his skull. He screamed in pain. The light came closer, and he saw her, Freyja. Her face was filled with evil. He looked into her eyes, and what he saw terrified him. There was no vestige of humanity left in them. They were filled with almost animallike hatred. Every second he looked into those stagnant, bottomless pools of darkness, his pain increased, but he could not turn away. It grew until he felt no one could live in such torment of body and soul, but he lived still.
“What. . .do. . .you. . .want. . .with. . .me? What. . .do. . .you. . .want. . .with. . .my. . .family?” He struggled for each breath. Each word he spoke burst into white hot shards in his throat, and tore the breath from his lungs.
Freyja cackled. “Why, it is simple. You are an obstacle in my way. I will not have any obstacles in my way to divine power. You must be removed. You will not be in m. . .The Nameless One’s way any more. You will die tomorrow at noon.”
“I. . .will. . .make. . .a. . .deal. . .with. . .you.”Jeremy croaked, barely audibly.
“You are in no position to be making deals. Don’t you realise I hold the power of life or death for you crushed in the palm of my hand?” She threatened.
“Only. . .El. . .can. . .say. . .whether. . .a. . .man. . .will. . .live. . .or. . .die. Your. . .will. . .holds. . .no. . .threat. . .to. . .me. I. . .stand. . .with. . .El. The Nameless One. . .cannot. . .stand. . .against. . .him.”
Freyja uttered a piercing shriek of rage. “How dare you. The Nameless One is a million times more powerful then El will ever be.”
“PROVE. . .IT!”
“Tomorrow. At noon. The Nameless One will bring the sun back. I will first give your El a chance to prove himself. Then we will see who is powerful. I will let you go for now. If you do not come at the proper time, your wife mother, and child will all die. And you will be my slave for eternity.”
Jeremy fell into a darkness so deep that all light was devoured by it, and he knew nothing more.
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“Jeremy.”  Zoe called her husband’s name for what must have been the thousandth time. Her voice was hoarse from shouting, but no trace of him was yet found. She sank to the ground in hopelessness. She feared she would never see her husband again. Tears of despair formed in her eyes and ran unbidden down her face. But just as quickly, hope was kindled in her heart again. There was a faint glow from a clearing among the trees. She ran forward and there found Jeremy on the ground, encased in a glowing orb of luminescence. She saw his face illumined there, could see the pain etched so clearly on his features. He was there as only an image, no depth. A flat two dimensional picture of his body was there, but the depth his soul gave him was in another place. She looked into the light and could faintly make out a gloom beyond him. From this mist appeared the face of a woman, whose countenance bespoke of vile evil. Jeremy’s lips moved, but she could not hear the words he spoke so haltingly and painfully. He gasped for every breath, and Zoe gasped with him, willing him the strength to speak what he must, for El’s sake. Beyond him, she could see the glimpse of a loathsome smirk on the face of his enemy. She saw the tears on his face, and her tears fell with his. His pain was hers, and the darkness he fought, she fought with him.                   
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Freyje spoke to the Nameless One.  “I may have done something rash.”
“I heard you, daughter.  You should not make promises you can not keep, even in your rage.”  Freyje trembled at his disapproval.  Suddenly, she couldn’t breath.  Something had grasped her throat and was choking the life from her.
Tears streamed down her face and she wondered if he could see the repentance in her eyes.  After an eternity, he released her.
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“I have no intention of bringing back the sun, not now, not ever.  I like the darkness; it keeps the people deceived.  Yet this is not entirely unfortunate.  Think of what the girl will suffer when we betray him.  I wonder if it will cause her to lose heart entirely.  We will give them hope and then we will snatch it away.  Now listen closely and I will tell you what to do.”
Freyje looked up at him with rapt attention, looking like a starving puppy, her eyes filled with adoration and despair.  She waited.
Bryn watched the sleeping face on the pillow. It had been over an hour since she had seen him healed. He had slept since then. He had not even woken up to say his name. His face looked so young and vulnerable in sleep, like a child. But she could see there was more there. A sense of maturity. The lines of sorrow etched so deeply had smoothed out, but still she wondered what had caused them. He could not be much older then her, but then, in a world of The Nameless One’s making, the pain could be much deeper then she had ever dreamed.
He stirred and opened his eyes. They were confused, and full of fear.
“Who are you, and why am I here?” He asked afraid.
“You are in the house of a friend. My name is Bryna.”
“B-but tell me. Why am I here?” He stretched out his hand beseechingly, then caught a glimpse of it. He stared in amazement.
“When I came here, The sores were still here, but now they are gone. There is no trace of them. Did you do it? Have you healed me?”
“It was not me, but El. He has healed you.”
“El? Do you know him? I have been seeking him for so long. Would he love me? Weak and ugly as I am?” he begged.
“He loved you enough to bring you to this place. El was with you.” She said softly.
“How may I know him?”
“Ask.”
“Can it be so simple.”
“Just ask.”
He sank back against the pillow, and shut his eyes. He stayed in that position so long, Bryna thought he was asleep. She turned to walk out, but then he opened his eyes.
“He did it. I’ve been saved. I know him.” Tears ran unashamedly down his face, and he could not conceal his joy.
Bryna stepped forward and embraced him. She was as happy as he was. . .almost.
“What is your name?”She asked.
“Ahead. How did I get here? All I remember is falling in the forest. I woke up here, healed.”
“I found you in my garden. You were unconscious, and feverish. You have been lying here for about seven hours.”
“Thank you for bringing me in. You have shown me healing.”
“It was El who healed you. I had no part in it.”
“You were his vessel. I would not know him if you had not told me who he was.”
“Then you are welcome.” Bryna smiled softly. “Rest now, you must be very tired.”
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The glow faded. Jeremy and Zoe were alone in the clearing. Jeremy groaned and slowly opened his eyes.
“Love, what are you doing here?”

“I was looking for you.”
“ We must get away from this place. The Nameless One’s power is great here.”
“Can you stand up?” Zoe asked.
“Yes, of course, I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me. There were no unpleasant side effects this time. I don’t think she really wanted to hurt me.” Jeremy said. “She wanted to keep me alive, Why? She didn’t have to offer me this chance. I am less dangerous to her dead. If The Nameless One is truly going to bring back the sun, why would she let this contest go on. She knows El’s power.”
“Please darling, we must leave. I know this place.”
“Where are we?”
“It has the feeling of the temple. I can only think it is the secret place of sacrifice. No one knows where Freyja goes when she is alone. No one can find her, and I can only think this is one of those places. It feels the same as the temple in Zada.”
“Then let us not stay here any longer than we have to. I do not feel an inclination to stay here any longer than necessary.”
They left that place behind them.