The Eyebright's Dimension

Chapter Five: A Funeral

The family cemetery, located in the northeast corner of the Vé estate, housed several white gravestones arranged neatly within the high iron fences surrounding the entire graveyard. Mother lay under a marble tombstone near several black, leafy trees, and Radi and Vivele huddled together underneath them, holding hands. Behind Radi stood Clarinda, their mother’s favorite cousin, who sniffled quietly.

A few wilting flowers lay on top of the freshly dug dirt. Valorén, blond and beautiful, stood on the other side of the grave, accompanied by Uncle, who wore a long black cloak, the faint sunlight streaming down from behind the wispy clouds reflecting off his bald head. Traditionally, only a small gathering of family members attended the post-burial ceremony. The oldest male, Uncle, led the ceremony, although leadership wasn’t necessary for this particular ritual. All it involved was half an hour of reflective silence.

Everyone looked stiff and bored, except for Clarinda, who dabbed at the occasional tear with a florid handkerchief. Valorén yawned. She was a young woman now, her long, blonde hair swept elegantly up from her high cheekbones, ice-black eyes glittering in her ivory face.

Vivele, at twelve, looked exactly like their dead mother. Her black curls clustered around her neck and framed her oval face.

Radi clutched Vivele’s arm. As she waited for the ceremony to end, Radi fidgeted a bit and tugged on the ribbons in her hair, which was braided in the style of noble young girls her age. Her stormy blue eyes seemed to possess an uncontrollable power far beyond her seven years.

Her father died when she was two and she could not remember a time when her mother was not bedridden. A year after her father’s death, their Uncle moved in to take care of affairs. Uncle never expressed a strong interest in the welfare of his three nieces as they grew up, and downright ignored the two younger ones. After Valorén’s recent graduation from the Academy, however, he began to forge a relationship with her. They would talk into the wee hours of the night about magical occurrences around the world and current events. At times, he seemed almost fond of her.

“We will miss you, Lady Vé,” announced Uncle, signifying the end of the silence. “Now where are the damn horses? I could have sworn we tied them up over here…”

“On the other side of the fence, Uncle,” crooned Valorén, pointing to two ivory horses tethered to the iron gates.

“Oh, yes!” he exclaimed while rubbing his bald head.

“No need to stand around,” reminded Valorén.

“No, I have important things to attend to. Clarinda, you’ll be taking the girls?”

Clarinda blinked her swollen red eyes. “I suppose so.”

“You don’t know how much this means to me, Clarinda,” he said, a little sneer growing on his face.

Clarinda put her arms around the two younger sisters, pulling them close to her, handkerchief still in her hand.

“I’m not doing this for you,” she retorted.

Uncle shrugged. “It does not matter. Come, Valorén.” He offered her his arm, and she accepted with a disdainful smile. They walked out of the graveyard, untied the ivory horses, mounted them, and galloped away towards the mansion.

Clarinda snorted in disgust and blew long and hard on her handkerchief, freeing the two sisters from her grasp. She started ahead on the path and motioned to Vivele and Radi.

Vivele came forward, tugging on her sister’s hand. “Come on,” Vivele murmured, lagging a few steps behind.

Radi didn’t move.

Vivele pulled a bit harder on her hand, and Radi’s eyes dilated in fright. Their orb-like blue depths overshadowed her entire face. Vivele stopped, looking fearful herself.

“Radi!” she whispered, grabbing her other hand. Her younger sister’s breathing tightened and her body grew rigid.

“Veradien, darling,” Vivele repeated, hugging her sister. “Please, don’t do this...you can control…don’t let it…”

Clarinda watched the two sisters with pity, assuming Vivele was comforting her younger sibling about their mother’s death.

Vivele felt the power welling up within her sister. She held Radi, willing nothing to happen—no more shattered objects, or accidental levitations. It was common for children her age not to be able to control their magical auras, but there were never any physical indications of the small alterations of magical energy. But her sister was special.

Suddenly, the ugly, twisted trees around them burst into flames. Clarinda screamed and fainted. Vivele, on the other hand, sprang into action, conjuring up a stream of water from nowhere. However, the water seemed to fuel the flames; they only grew bigger. A thick, dark smoke filled the air as the crimson flames grew higher and higher. Ash precipitated like darkened snow all over the white tombstones.

“Stop, Veradien! Stop!” Vivele cried, her voice muffled by the smoke.

Like an apparition, Valorén glided up the path, grabbed Radi up by her hair and slapped her three times in the face. The spell broken, Radi screamed, tears running down her face. The flames stopped. Valorén murmured some words under her breath and the smoking trees knit themselves back together, bark growing over their burnt branches and leaving the black trees looking much the way they did before, except now without their leaves. Still dangling her youngest sister with one hand, Valorén funneled the smoke and ash high into the air, until it dissipated into the atmosphere.

Vivele gasped, “Put her down.”

Valorén obliged, dropping her youngest sister on the floor.

She crawled, sobbing, to Vivele, who held her against her slim chest and wiped the tears and soot from her face.

“You can’t control her,” Valorén announced. “The power the Orb gave her is too strong. I’ve learned, Vivele. I could help you.”

“No,” Vivele said, coughing. “No. I’ve got it under control. She’ll be going to the Academy soon and they’ll teach her everything she needs to know.”

Valorén looked her younger sister over as she would an animal in a laboratory experiment. “You’ll die before that happens. Anyway, the Academy doesn’t know how to handle ancient power. You gave her a piece of true Control when you made the sacrifice, Sister, and I can tell you know that I learned more in my two years alone than my seven years in the Academy,” she said. “In any case, there are still two more years until Radi will be old enough to attend the Academy. She’ll have to forget how to use it for now before she does something really dangerous. This is a warning sign, Sister. The magical outbursts will only get worse from here on. I’ve told you before. You wouldn’t listen. If she doesn’t forget very soon there could be severe consequences—”

Vivele’s hysteric laughter filled the air. “Forget it? Forget that she has access to the greatest power on earth? Forget the ritual? The years of training? Forget this?”

“It could be completed with my help,” Valorén insisted, flipping her pale hair over her shoulder. “I could do it. I taught myself to control the ancient power, and I could make it so that it is no longer accessible to her. That does not mean she cannot use it later. You win with this proposition. Veradien gets to keep it without the…side effects. You get relief from at least part of your pain. You are starting to feel the effects of the sacrifice already, aren’t you, Sister?”

“I gave up my destiny so Radi would have this. I forsook my own name to set her free from destiny,” Vivele murmured, rocking her sister back and forth. “My sacrifice will mean something, Valorén. It just has to. It can’t have been for nothing.”

“Not for nothing,” Valorén snapped. “The power will not be taken away from her. You know it must be done; she could kill herself if this keeps going on. She is too young to comprehend this sort of magic. Give her time – a couple more years, and she will be ready for true training. However, until the time is ripe, it probably is beneficial for everyone if she doesn’t have the power to incinerate every living thing in a five mile radius. Besides,” she smiled, baring her teeth, “Your sacrifice has been beneficial to me, too.”

“I was foolish to try to stop fate,” Vivele murmured, “Especially because I know that the Orb gave you the power to change it.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Valorén growled. “You place too much emphasis on your stupid destiny. I am going to make my name known in the world—beyond the world. Vivele, I want the assurance that the little monkey will not be using the magic at the same time I am. Her little outbursts are very annoying when I am conducting my…ah…experiments, for a lack of a better word."

“I know what you’re trying to find, and it’s wrong,” Vivele announced, still looking unconvinced.

Valorén shook her head with an exaggerated sigh. “Achieving immortality is human nature, Vivele. Enough of this talk. I tire of discussing my affairs with an uneducated girl who knows nothing of the world. Vivele, unless you are murdered, you will still be around for at least the next five years or so, perhaps even longer if we don’t have this monkey here wasting power. You know the spell to forget, to change the past of the consciousness—memory, put simply. You know what it takes. And you also know how easy it is to recall the memories back. Even with the use of the ancient magic, I cannot create a spell that you cannot undo. I don’t see why this isn’t a win-win situation.”

Behind them, Clarinda moaned.

Valorén twirled around towards her, and Clarinda gave an odd shudder and collapsed once more.

“She won’t remember this,” Valorén said, motioning toward Clarinda. “Tell her she passed out, and nothing more. Well, I don’t have all day. I need an answer. Shall we?”

Vivele looked from Valorén to Radi, still whimpering, and nodded. “I have no choice,” she replied in a hollow voice.

Radi sniffled and wiped at her nose, smearing soot and snot all over her face.

Valorén winced as she glanced at her. “To think that brat has part of my ancient power…” Then she turned back toward Vivele. “Be ready for the reversal in a fortnight. Right now, dear Uncle requires my attention. I had to tell him I forgot something to get back here in time to keep the entire graveyard from going up in flames. The Vé don’t believe in cremation, you know.” She smiled at her own joke and strode away.

Vivele watched her go with clenched fists as Clarinda again stirred behind them.