Chapter 9: The Flame Keeper

Three days later the imperial marines arrived in their tilt-rotors. Strange craft with stubby wings ending in pylons which could rotate straight forward or straight up. The propellers mounted on the pylons were comically large, far too big for the thing to land like a normal airplane, however when the pylons were configured to face up the thing could take off and land vertically.

They came and they took Reese away and Ingrid did not see her again for six months. Vaska continued to work on the design for the HY-10 fighter jet and soon the entire Heylin Society of Aeronautical Engineers was involved. Thankfully they saw reason and they rejected the name Showgirl in favor of the name Showstopper. It took a full month for the design to be finalized.

They built seven of the craft at the foundries in Heyl and they painted them in the White Ravens livery. Ingrid's two-seater was the number one jet and Natasha flew in the number seven jet at first. At the end of five more months performing airshows around Taisia with the White Ravens, the emperor summoned Ingrid to the lodge at House Varelion and when she arrived Reese had returned.

But Reese was not alone. She brought another woman with her, a middle-aged woman with salt-and-pepper hair and a face filled with disapproval. She wore bright red robes under a black fishnet shawl and there were huge rubies in her silver earrings.

"Ingrid," Reese began. "Please allow me to introduce Flame Keeper Claire. I cannot get into all the details right now, but the important thing to know is that she carries the bond with a High Daughter, like I do."

"Nice to meet you," Ingrid said. The woman scowled at her.

"We must go somewhere private," Claire said. "Just me and the two who have taken bonds with the Twin Fates."

"There are empty rooms in the manor," the emperor said. "I can send the servants away."

"And then you will leave us alone," Claire added.

"As you like."

They crossed the veranda into the manor and they went to the library tower, a lofty cylinder of fine bookshelves cased in glass and spiraling staircases and clerestory windows at the very top. Reese sealed the door and that left Ingrid and Vaska alone with her and the woman named Claire.

"First High Daughter of the Queen of Fire," Claire said. "Show yourself."

The child-like elemental appeared in a flash of red light. Like Titania and Erika, she had extremely long hair that went down below her bare toes. Her dress seemed to be made entirely out of flames.

"First High Daughter of the Queen of Water," Reese said. "Join us please."

The second child-like elemental appeared in a flash of blue light. Her dress appeared to be made out of flowing water and glaucous ice.

"Please summon your High Daughters," Claire said.

Ingrid summoned Titania, bringing that sickly mother-of-pearl light to the chamber. Vaska's creepy elemental Erika appeared in an explosion of deep shadows.

"I believe that this is the first time in the history of our universe that so many High Daughters were brought into the same place," Claire said. "But I suppose these are strange times for all the elementals. Ingrid, do you know the story of how our universe was created?"

"I know a little bit," Ingrid said. "Just what Vaska taught me."

"I know the full story," Vaska said.

Claire nodded to her.

"In the beginning there were seven goddesses, and three of them conspired to create the universe. The first goddess was the Goddess of Chaos, and she bisected herself into the divine powers of Fire and Water. The second goddess was the Goddess of Foundations, and she bisected herself into the divine powers of Stone and Wind. The third goddess was the Goddess of Connections, and she bisected herself into the divine powers of Metal and Lightning.

"The world had no life and the world had no seasons or stars, until the fourth goddess came. She was the Goddess of Order and she bisected herself into the divine powers of Life and Heaven. Life spread across the world and this life was subject to the absolute tyranny of the seasons and the stars. There was no free will.

"Finally the fifth goddess, the Goddess of Freedom, bisected herself into the divine powers of Darkness and Light. This gave humans free will and the ability to inspire each other. There is a sixth goddess, the Goddess of Wishes, and she has not bisected herself yet."

"That is correct," Claire said. "What do you know of the seventh goddess?"

"She is aloof," Vaska said. "Not interested in joining the universe."

"That is incorrect."

"That's what my books say!"

"I was the one who wrote your books," Claire said. "Me or my companions throughout the ages. But before I can get into that, there are a few preliminary facts which you must understand. Let's start at the beginning.

"All seven goddesses originally came from the World of Ideals. It is a perfect world and the creatures who live there are perfect. Some beings are very powerful, like goddesses, and some beings are less powerful, such as souls. The first goddess to join the universe was the Goddess of Imperfection. She bisected herself into two divine powers and she created two Elemental Domains. These are the Domain of the Queen of Souls, and the Domain of the Queen of True Death."

"Two new Elemental Queens?" Vaska asked excitedly.

"The two original Elemental Queens. One brings souls from the Ideal World into this universe, with their consent. The other allows souls to leave the universe and return to the Ideal World. The universe you have always known is intentionally imperfect. It is a way for souls to escape perfection."

"Why would souls want to escape perfection?" Ingrid asked.

"We cannot know. Nor can we know what souls bring with them when they come to this universe. In either case, the other goddesses joined the universe in the order you have described. The Goddess of Wishes would have joined the project by now if it had not been for the efforts of your ancestors. If it had not been for the corruption of the Queen of Light."

"We are trying to undo that," Vaska said.

"The next thing you need to understand is that souls bonded to elementals cannot pass through the Domain of True Death. The elemental bond creates fractures in the soul and these fractures mark the soul as being part of the universe. These fractures are also wide enough for memories to be stored within.

"When a person dies, normally their souls will go to the Queen of True Death where they can either leave the universe or consent to be reincarnated. The person will not remember their decision in the latter case. I have no idea what happens in the former case. However, when a soul is bonded to an elemental they skip this step entirely. They will be eligible for reincarnation immediately and when they are reincarnated they will have access to some of the memories of their past lives.

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"I have been bonded to the First High Daughter of the Queen of Fire for at least ten thousand years and I have memories that span these vast ages."

"Why does the Queen of Fire not give you an immortal body?" Vaska asked.

"All Elemental Queens do things differently," Reese said. "The Queen of Water gave me an immortal body because ice is more-or-less permanent. Fire is more transient."

"That makes sense."

"The important thing," Claire said, "is that every time I die I am reincarnated in the Domain of Fire. And since I am bonded to an elemental I cannot leave this universe. Do you see the problem?"

Ingrid and Vaska both remained silent. Then they shook their heads.

"Your ancestors argued that they could make the world a better place with this banking scheme. They believed that they had a small probability of being reincarnated in one of the Elemental Domains, and a large probability of being reincarnated into the physical realm. They reasoned that a small number of people would spend their lives suffering for the benefit of the majority of souls.

"However, souls bonded to elementals cannot leave the universe and they will always be reincarnated in the same Elemental Domain. In other words, they spend an eternity in slavery to the souls in the physical realm."

"That's terrible!" Ingrid said.

"The situation is so bad that the divine power of True Death is considering unraveling the whole universe and starting over."

"That doesn't sound very good," Vaska said.

"This universe might be imperfect," Claire said, "but I do not believe it is hopeless. There are still births. The world is filled with love and happiness and beauty."

"That's why we are trying to cleanse the Queen of Light," Ingrid said.

Claire turned to Reese. They both nodded to each other. Then Claire sighed.

"I'm so sorry."

With a flash of red light a dagger appeared in Claire's hand, blazing with the same color and texture as the High Daughter of Fire. With a flash of blue light Reese also held a dagger, with the same glaucous and icy look as the High Daughter of Water. Without warning and with remarkable speed they both lurched forward and rammed the daggers right into Titania's chest.

Titania screamed. Ingrid screamed louder.

The pain was far worse than the pain she felt the day Titania came to her. It was a combination of cold so penetrating that it seemed to crawl through her blood, her muscles, her marrow. Simultaneously it was a fire so hot that could have transformed her entire body to ash in an instant. And in an instant it was gone. Everything was gone.

Absolute nothingness in every direction. Ropes hanging from some unseen place in the nothingness overhead, and hanging by the ankles from each rope, a corpse, rotting away and yet alive, watching her. A thin layer of mist about her feet which went off in a pale plane forever. Somewhere far away there was a stairway leading to a vast gateway, perhaps the size of a world or a galaxy. Looming in the threshold there was an enormous man with two swords, silhouette against the perfection beyond.

The sound of gentle bells ringing nearby. A crone approached, tall as an Elemental Queen and clothed in a shroud of raven feathers. She held a knotted wooden staff crowned with human skulls from which the bells hung.

"I see I got you in time," the woman rasped.

"Where am I?" Ingrid asked.

"I am the Elemental Queen of True Death and this is my Domain. Titania chose to partake of the divine power which was not hers and this pain must be hers alone. I see no reason to make you suffer on her behalf."

Ingrid said nothing for a long time. Finally she asked, "When can I go back?"

"When Titania has learned her lesson. Come. There is someone you should meet ahead."

"Who?"

"Come."

Ingrid followed the elemental to the stairway and then up the stairway to the top. The hulking man was waiting for them between the pillars of the gate, barely clothed in human flesh and bone. His huge butcher blades were stabbed deep down into the rock on either side.

"Allow me to introduce my only immortal worshipper," the elemental said. "This is Kai, and he carries the bond with my only daughter. Kai, meet Ingrid."

"A pleasure!" Kai beamed.

"He gets very lonely here," the elemental said.

"I can't imagine," Ingrid said.

"Kai, dear. Ingrid carries the bond with Titania and she is going to work toward unravelling this mess. However, even if she succeeds that is no guarantee that the divine power will be satisfied."

"It will not be satisfied," Kai said.

The elemental nodded sagely. "It comes down to the rate at which souls pass through the gate. If the rate is too high, the divine power will begin to unravel the universe. We cannot allow that to happen, Kai. I want you to leave here with Ingrid and make sure that the souls in the other Domains are kept… preoccupied, so that the rate never crosses the critical threshold. Can you do that?"

"I will do as commanded."

"Good. Ingrid, it seems that Titania has learned her lesson. I am sending you back now. Kai, please go with her."

Experience suddenly returned. Vaska was sobbing with her head on Ingrid's chest. Ingrid stirred and Vaska gasped.

"It seems like she survived," Reese said.

"You!" Vaska hissed. "You knew this would happen!"

"We didn't know what the hell would happen. Nobody in history has ever used one High Daughter to attack another."

Titania too was sobbing, which was strange because Ingrid didn't know an elemental could show so much emotion. The sickly mother-of-pearl sheen was gone. All that was left was a light so pure and radiant that Ingrid found it hard to look at the elemental. Erika floated nearby and her face was filled with a type of resolve Ingird had never seen before.

"I will hold onto this power until Mother is freed," Erika said. "She did not give me permission but she will understand the circumstances."

"We have been deceived!" Titania screamed.

"The thing about deception," Claire said dryly, "is that you don't know you are being deceived."

"Ingrid! Ingrid I remember… forgiveness! I remember it! Oh Mother, what have I done?"

All this was happening and Ingrid was still dazed. She reached up and hugged Vaska and they remained quiet for a long time. Then she stood and went over to Titania.

"Promise me you won't let me forget again," the elemental said.

"How can I promise that?" Ingrid asked.

To this the elemental did not have an answer.

"Do you remember anything?" Reese asked.

"I remember everything," Ingrid was forced to say, the brands compelling her to tell the truth. "The Queen of True Death took my soul into her Domain and she sent her immortal worshipper back with me."

Both Reese and Claire looked astonished by this.

"So where is this worshipper?" Reese asked.

"I don't know," Ingrid said.

They looked at each other, deeply concerned.

"We will deal with that problem later," Claire said. "For now, we will need to use Titania's new power of forgiveness presently."

She produced a pouch which she opened. Then she dumped the contents on a library table and the contract crystals came clattering out. Four sets of three crystals.

"You must now decide which of you will get the High Daughters."

"What do you mean?" Ingrid asked.

"You must use Titania's power to forgive the bonds at the other end of these contract crystals. This will allow you to establish your own bonds with the High Daughters. Me and Reese will not accept bonds with the High Daughters of other Elemental Queens, as this would betray our oaths. That means the High Daughters must fall to either of you."

"New High Daughters?" Vaska asked excitedly.

"Do you want them?" Ingrid asked.

"I wouldn't mind the High Daughter of Metal. It might help me with my engineering tasks."

"And I'll take the other three. They are all useful for flying fighter jets."

The room filled with pure, pale, coppery-gold light when Titania forgave the contracts. Then with four flashes of color, turquoise and emerald and blue and silver-white, the four High Daughters appeared. They were all child-like, like the other High Daughters. Vaska bonded the metal elemental and Ingrid bonded the other three. Then they left to consult with the emperor.