The Paladins of Naretia

Chapter 8

It was neither cold, nor was it warm inside the dome. There was no breeze, but yet, Olórin felt a distinctive prickle of his beard as though gravity itself had lost its grip on it. His old joints moved fluidly as he stepped into a world where pain had been expunged. A blanket of calmness wrapped around his shoulders, and it felt like home. Streaming in from the walls themselves, an opaque light bathed the air in a niveous haze. There was no snow underfoot anymore, no trees or rocks in sight, just an endless landscape of white that Olórin both walked and floated on at the same time.

Somewhat disorientated, Olórin took a few tentative steps deeper into the dome. It struck him as odd that his footfalls made no noise, nor did his clothes rustle as he moved. He tried to speak, but heard only silence. Tucking the glass bottle under his arm, Olórin clapped his hands together as hard as he could, but still there was no sound.

He didn't know how long he had stood there before something moved in the light and a figure slowly emerged. Olórin didn't hear himself suck in his breath, but he knew he had. A tall, slender woman glided through the brightness with the same ease that a cloud would soar through the sky. The lady's long straight hair glimmered silver and mirrored the same silver that shone brightly in her pupil-less eyes. Her porcelain skin was unmarked by imperfections and shone the same irradiances as the haze around her. Her features were delicate; a small pointed chin, thin silver eyebrows, and lips of an intense azure blue.

She did not wear clothes, as such, rather she wore the blinding whiteness as a misty gown. But still, the silhouette of her naked body could be seen. 'An alluring vision for most men,' Olórin thought. 'How could Dantet not have fallen in love with her?'

Quickly realising that he had been staring, open mouthed, at the Goddess for longer than was polite, Olórin bent down on one knee and bowed his head as low as it would go. He wasn't expecting to meet the Goddess Edwina herself, but instead find a small stream or spring from which he could gather the waters of life. Although the very idea of meeting his Goddess had riddled him with nervousness in the past, having finally met her, his heart thumped patiently and his mind became oddly clear and calm.

"My beloved Olórin," a strange voice said.

It was certainly female, but instead of sounding in his ears it whispered all around him. Her voice was powerful, but quiet, like the ominous rustling of leaves before a raging tempest.

"Stand," she said.

Olórin rose to his feet and stood before his Goddess. In the minutes that passed while they stared at each other, he wondered why he felt so at peace and began to think that perhaps he might have died. The thought of it, and the warm feeling he got as he stood next to Edwina, lifted a weight from his shoulders and eased a heaviness in his chest. His worries about the world outside the dome, about Aramus, who was waiting in the cold, melted into a serene feeling of bliss. He could have stayed that way forever.

"You have come for the waters of life, my child."

She tilted her head gently, but her blue lips never moved. Her voice emanated from everywhere around him and inside of him, and it filled him with joy to hear it. He tried to speak, but again, no sound came from his mouth.

"Your voice cannot be heard inside these walls," she said, taking slow, graceful steps deeper into the dome, Olórin followed. "It is not time for you to speak, but rather to see and listen."

She glanced at Olórin with a knowing look in her silver eyes, as if she could feel the wave of questions that was trying to burst from him.

"I have watched you carefully and have seen the sacrifices you have made. Some of them were selfless, while others were only a convenient excuse to not be truthful," she said, continuing to walk. "Love is love, Olórin, and I do not frown upon any of it. But I do not come here to talk about love. I have come here to help you see, and to strengthen your resolve as I fear that you will need it in the end."