The Chronicles of Heaven's War: Burning Phoenix by Ava D. Dohn Page B

to
her, but she languishes in doubt and despair. The ruin of Michael
was but one of Asotos’ many victories that day. Our age of
innocence perished in fire and smoke at that time too, destroying
so many hearts. It was said by the Ancients that countless years
past, at the beginning of life, the Lady and Chrusion – Asotos -
were of only one mind, heart, and soul, at least in spirit, Mother
making it so when the two first shared their dreams. But that all
changed long ago when Lagandow was consumed in flaming storm,
bringing a demise to the only truly innocent age for our kind.
Chrusion brought about that end by destroying the Lady’s heart with
the lifting up of another to replace her. For countless millennia,
the Lady clung to a wistful hope for a returning to the old
ways…that is until the day that monster ruined Michael.”
    He sadly shook his head. “Then all hope she lost,
along with her will to live. If not for her love for Mother, she
would have cast her own flesh into the Deepening Pits to be
consumed by the forces of that universe.”
    Symeon asked again. “So, who is the Lady, and what
are the Deepening Pits?”
    Drorli glanced up at a giant timepiece hanging on a
distant wall, and then turned away, motioning the others to follow.
“We must hurry along, we’ve a ways to go and the hour is getting
late. There are still many wonderful things I wish to show and tell
you about.”
    Journeying along the grand cathedral hall of this
immense temple complex, the trio passed countless darkened, quiet
chambers. They finally exited the hall and turned left, entering a
wide gallery filled with numerous buzzing and clicking machines
scattered about the room with seemingly endless banks of lights,
their array of gages radiating a rainbow of colors and dials strewn
along the walls.
    Drorli rattled off names and operating properties of
one machine after another while Symeon and Hanna dumbly nodded as
if understanding the things he was saying. Finally he stopped,
sweeping his hand wide. “You see how all the levers and buttons are
designed to be worked by human hands? These machines existed long
before Chrusion’s birthing, though he did idle away many an hour
here.”
    “Well!” He put his hands on his hips. “It has been
said by the Ancients that the Maker of Worlds chose to walk these
rooms in a body of flesh such as that of her coming children. She
designed this place so that she could share with her children the
joy of creation, a gift she gave first to Chrusion. Sadly, Chrusion
eventually turned the knowledge gained within these chambers into
making creations for the control of his siblings - creations he
used to infect Michael.”
    He interrupted himself, quickly changing the
subject. “Here, come over here and see some of the marvelous
secrets of creation! Take a look-see through these lenses.”
    Pressing their eyes against padded lens tubes,
Symeon and Hanna peered down upon the strangest of wiggling and
jumping animals they had ever seen. After listening awhile to their
excited remarks, Drorli explained, “ This is the secret of
secrets to the power of life! What you are observing are not
animals, but the very essence of life that comes from the Web of
the Minds.”
    “ No! ” Symeon exclaimed, he looking up from
the lenses and at Drorli.
    “ Yes! ” answered Drorli. “Only through these
lenses, built by the Ones who Came Before can we, the children of
this universe, see into the world of the Web of the Minds.” Waving
his hands about in gesture, he added, “It is this essence that
binds all life together. All life, from the smallest of invisible,
tiny creatures to the greatest of sea monsters, depends on this
material to exist.”
    He stepped back, pointing toward himself. “For you
and me, Mother bonded this essence with our other genetic structure
and then, through her magic, forged them together as one so, should
any of her children suffer a fate that delivered death to the
flesh, the essence of