Chapter 8

Chapter 8
 Aidan ran. It seemed he could feel evil breathing down his neck. Someone was not pleased that he was now free. He was still afraid. Tears marked a path down his dirty face. He glanced around, but he knew he was lost. The sky was overcast, hiding the stars from his searching eyes. He could get no direction from them.
He gasped the cool night air into his starved lungs, and kept on running. His foot hit a raised root that covered the path he was running on. His head hit a rock, and almost gratefully, he lapsed into unconsciousness. He lay there, safe from all watching eyes.
Aidan sat up suddenly. How long had it been? How long had he been lying on the path in oblivion? A sharp pain thudded through his head as he stood up.
Despair flooded through him. He had lost much time lying on the path, and he was still no closer to finding his way home. Yet even through his despair, there was a ray of hope. Jeremy was still alive, but even as that hope began to thaw his frozen heart, it died. El was dead. Was there anything that he could do, or would this charade end now? They could not fight against the power of the Nameless One, could they? Aidan did not understand El’s  purpose in dying for him, but he had trusted El all his life. No matter what happened, he WOULD believe in the power that had kept him and his family, his brother, safe thus far.
He got up again, stronger, and though he still had no idea where he was going, he began to run again. His breath came harsh and panting. His muscles threatened to collapse, and yet he ran on.
He saw the same light that had led him on before, but he ignored it. He was not about to be tricked again. The light beckoned to him. It called him to follow, to forget those he ran to. Aidan would not follow. He saw the light in every place, yet he turned away from it and ran in the deepest part of the dark.
He began to stumble in exhaustion, and knew that he would collapse again if he did not lie down in sleep. Though his mind screamed for him to run on, his body refused to carry him. He found a flat place to sleep. A part of him wondered if he would ever wake again, but he trusted in El’s power, El’s will would be done. He was out even before his head could reach the forest floor.
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Zoe woke up. The house was still sleeping, but she was wide awake. She knew something was wrong. She got out of bed and sat by the window, and she prayed. She knew someone was in need of the help that only El could give. Her prayers did not go unheeded. A presence was there, watching Aidan as he slept.
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Aidan woke up, disoriented. He was now rested but it did not help him find his way. All he could feel was the darkness around him; it was completely devoid of anything comforting. A strange light shone in the air around him.  At first he thought it was the same light he had followed before that had led him astray, but this light was different.  It was neutral, neither comforting nor foreboding.  It did not crush his hope, but neither did it heal it.  It was simply there.  He looked up in the sky and saw the moon for the first time in his life.  It frightened him.  When and how had it returned?  Where was the sun?  Aidan grew more frantic to reach shelter, but he could not tear his gaze away from the moon.
Suddenly, shadows appeared on the surface of the moon. The all seeing eye of the Nameless One appeared out of the shadows, blood red and evil. Aidan wished to look away, but his eyes were held to the moon by some unseen force. The eye faded, to be replaced by a lamb, perfect and innocent. The eye returned to do battle. They fought for what seemed like hours until the lamb fell, bleeding from numerous wounds. The eye turned away to celebrate its victory, and did not notice the lamb rise behind it. The lamb stood and trampled the eye. The eye was vanquished. The lamb’s wounds disappeared. It had the victory! The moon shone brighter and brighter, until the forest was as bright as the dawn. Aidan was finally comforted, although he did not understand what he had just seen. The light disappeared and Aidan was still alone in the forest, yet not really alone. He now felt the all pervading presence of El. Suddenly, he knew which way he needed to go.
Aidan woke up from the deep sleep that had held him for hours. The warm feeling from the dream still with him. Had it really been only a dream, created from Aidan’s fear. Or had it been a true vision sent by El? Aidan did not know. He did not need to know. El was with him, that was all that mattered. It was only a matter of time before his dream? Vision? Came true. He only hoped that the time would be short. He was filled with certainty that the spirits of darkness could not conquer El. They could not destroy his worship.
Aidan now knew which way he had to go. He ran, he could not let Zoe wait any longer for the news that would give them all hope. He knew that every second counted if they were going to be a part of El’s plan. Every moment the darkness would draw closer. El was powerful, but the danger was still real.
Aidan stood and began to walk. The forest looked no different from the way it had before, but he knew he was going the right way. He had not walked long when he saw a lighted window. He ran the rest of the way and burst gasping into Zoe’s kitchen.
“Aidan, Oh Aidan!”  Cried his sister.  “I was worried sick about you.”
Aidan was too exhausted to say anything but “Jeremy. . .alive!”  Then he fell in a dead faint on the floor. Zoe was numb with shock. Could it be? Was Jeremy really alive, or was Aidan too tired to know what he was saying?
Aidan was carried in to Zoe’s bedroom. Zoe tucked him in with all a mother’s care. She realized who needed her at that moment. Jeremy was in El’s hands. She must trust him and care for Aidan now with all her ability.
He looked much older than he had when she had first met him. The Nameless One had not been kind to him. He was not kind to any that came in contact with him. Zoe longed to smooth his troubled face, to heal the wounds that had sprung from his treatment at the hands of Freyje. She wept for all the innocence that he had lost, but knew it was necessary. El was preparing him, through trials and terrors, yet she knew that Aidan would only come out refined.#  She# wished# he would wake# up, to# tell her news of Jeremy,#but she did not dare wake him.  He slept the sleep of the exhausted.  Zoe sat beside him for long hours, forcing herself to put aside thoughts of Jeremy#, praying only for Aidan.  She was there when his eyes finally opened.  He smiled and almost seemed the same boy he had been before the nightmare had begun, but she could still see the newly gained maturity that looked out from his eyes.
    “Jeremy is alive!“  He said; delighting in how her eyes lit up.#  “They do not intend to kill him yet, only to make us despair.  You see, El has used this for good”  He fell asleep again.  His face was relaxed now.  Zoe brushed his hair away from his face.  She smiled and thanked El for his faithfulness to her and her husband.
    “Your father is alive little one.  We do not have to be alone" Zoe spoke to the child in her womb.  The child moved in response.  He kept her awake all that long night.###
    In the morning, Aidan told them what had transpired.  He told them of the sacrifice of El and of his dream.
    The end of the darkness will come soon.  El has given us new hope.  He has told me many things.  He taught me love.  Do not hate; do not fear.  The Nameless One‘s power comes from hate and fear, but they will always be conquered by love.”  Aidan smiled at his sister.  She had sat next to#him since he had woken up.  She hardly let him out of her sight, so grateful she was to have him back again.
    Yan watched Samara.  She was the only one there who had not suffered a loss of innocence as the rest of them had.  He knew that she had a part to play.  She was an instrument to the end, but she, unlike the rest of them, would not grow up too fast.  She would be allowed to keep her innocence, or so he hoped.  He turned and looked at Bryn sitting next to him at the table.  He was afraid for her.  She had come through so much, just as they all had, but would her trials prove too much in the end?
    She looked back at him.  Her eyes radiated an emotion he had never seen before.  He did not know what it was.  He smiled at her.  She reached under the table and squeezed his hand.  It felt like a promise.
    “When this is over,” she whispered.