Chapter 31: Kinsmen

"Construct, are we really here?" I asked, wanting some sort of final confirmation of having accomplished this goal which had remained so frustratingly just beyond my reach for so long. Before Construct could answer, I heard Eru behind me

"Oh, I don't think there's any doubt about that Davey, look!"

I turned my head to look behind me and saw the back of Eru, as he too was turned, staring at what had been behind us when we appeared.

I stood, and walked over to stand beside Eru and stared in wonder into a maelstrom of Light and color and chaos. In the blackness before us there rose a cyclone of madness that seemed to pierce into the very heart of the planet. It shuddered and twisted and writhed within an area defined by a dozen gracefully curving spires, three of gleaming white and nine of glowing blue crystal, that rose around it.

"This is the place and now is the time Davey," I heard Construct say behind me. "All this has been waiting for someone to come and finish the task those two peoples set those many ages ago."

I nodded, and looked Construct in the eye. "Tell me what to do. I'm ready."

"You must be three, Davey. There are three to call home, and we must have arms waiting to comfort each of them."

I laughed out loud. It appears that perhaps I'd been wrong again about where Ginny needed to be. I reached out with my heart and mind and called to her.

<Ginny?>

<Davey?> she replied.

<I'm fine sweetie. It appears I was wrong again about where you needed to be. I am going to bring you to me, okay?>

<Okay Davey, I'm ready.> and I pulled her through and into my arms.

"Davey, I know its only been a couple of hours, but it felt like a lifetime!"

"It will be fine Blossom, we have a little work to do still, is all."

With Ginny at my side, and a new determination to never again assume her place was anywhere else, we began to take stock of our surroundings with a little more attention to detail. It was hard to take our eyes from the maelstrom of Light, but once we tore our gaze away, we saw that we had arrived upon a huge circular platform with the Maelstrom at its center. Radiating from this central platform were four wide roads, each leading to another circular platform. Collectively, all five of these platforms and the roadway connecting them were floating several hundred feet above an endless expanse of black, glassy volcanic rock.

"Oh my God!" Ginny said. "Is everything like this?"

"Yes." Construct said. "The entire planet. The energies which the seekers released, and which the Choctowineh deflected back were so horrific in their intensity that this entire planet was immolated in an instant. Not just the plants and animals and structures were burned. The entire crust of the planet, to a depth of several miles became molten rock in almost an instant. That was what the Seekers found when they returned. A sea of molten rock and the maelstrom jutting into the the sky above it, surrounded by twelve white crystalline spires projecting from the sea of lava. They built the platform on which we stand and raised the crystals from the fiery sea."

"Where were the Choctowineh?" I asked. "You told us before, in your relating of the history, that the Choctowineh were waiting for the Seekers when they returned"

"Davey, may I ask you three if you will first complete the task that has been awaiting you all this time? The truth will unfold in its own fashion when it is done."

I looked Ginny and Eru in the eye.

"Yes," Eru said.

"Of course," Ginny added.

I looked at Construct and nodded. "Tell us what to do Construct. We are ready."

"Each of you must stand before a white crystal. Place a hand on each side of it and hold it firmly in your grasp."

We turned and took our places. I left Eru take the nearest white spire, and Ginny and I walked together to the second. I gave Ginny a quick kiss as we reached it and then I moved on to the final spire. I placed my hands on both sides of the smooth white crystal in front of me.

<Join your minds together now, as we did before. Hold that joining and keep your hands firmly on the spires no matter what happens!> we all heard Construct in our thoughts. I felt Eru reach out to me, and joined him in the cool comfort of his ordered mind. Soon Ginny was with us, and as before I felt Dare and Pearl joining in. Once again I felt the bright silvery thread of Construct join us. With my mind I felt our union strengthen and solidify. With my eyes I saw Construct float up to the edge of the platform and look down.

<Remember. Keep your hands on the spires and your minds locked together, no matter what happens!> then we watched, horror-stricken, as he threw himself into the maelstrom! He disappeared in a flicker of folding Light and I felt that silvery thread that connected him to us snap. The maelstrom was gone, and Construct was gone with it!

I felt, or rather, we felt, the universe explode beneath us. a flash of whiteness blinded me for a second, but I pushed it away with a thought. Agonizing pain like none of us had ever experienced coursed through us in waves. We resisted it, pushing it away with our combined strength, and as we did I managed to wonder how we were able to remain standing.

As the initial intensity of it began to fade a bit, I realized it had not been our pain, or our blindness which we had felt, but theirs. Each of us held a thin, fragile person in our arms.

Within the union of our minds, I felt Eru send out a probe to those we held. Under the guidance of the wise Soul Diver we dipped out consciousnesses into theirs, and there we found their lives, as if we were remembering our own. We experienced them as they lived and grew and learned, and ultimately endured.