"The One Beloved: Ch02 What is Revealed" by Emma-Jane C. Smith

        “It is good that you have both joined me.” the First Priest told them as they walked out onto the high lookout, as if trying to ease the silence. Neither of them replied but Ameile smiled at Whatiuk, trying to ease the precarious situation. She felt that if she spoke out loud, she would tell him about who she believed Dalon really was.

When they finally reached the highest reaches of the great statute temple, and looked out onto the view, it took their breath away. Before them lay a landscape that was beautiful. There was the ocean to the east and the great forest before them to the north, stretching out like an immense green carpet. The force of the wind against them was tremendous, it whipped Dalon’s heavy cloak about him.


        “I did not know anything had ever been built this high.” Ameile told the priests.


        “Well my dear, now you know.” Whatiuk replied warmly, relieved that one of his companions at last had spoken.


        “How can this statue not be seen except when you come to its base?” she asked inquisitively. “And yet here we stand and can see nearly everything.” Her eyes roamed the horizon.


        “Ah, it is naught but a trick this rock around us does. It hides itself from prying eyes. For that we are grateful.”

They both fell silent and the priest’s gaze travelled to Dalon, hidden beneath his cloak. Dalon felt uncomfortable under the priest’s stare, Whatiuk had an uncanny ability to seem as if he were looking into your soul. Quietly, the priest came to stand next to him.


        “I was wondering when you would return to us. It has been many long years.”


Dalon merely nodded.


        “You are the beloved aren’t you.” the priest stated quietly, taking Dalon by surprise.

Suddenly, as if Whatiuk had bid it to do so, the wind whipped up with a force that knocked them all back against the cliff save Dalon. Instead his cloak was ripped from his shoulders and went flying up into the sky. Dalon watched it for a moment in a startled silence before realising his new form was exposed.

Dalon backed away from them, towards the edge of the cliff. Tears started forming at the edge of his eyes, unbidden.


        “I knew that you, the beloved, would return to us.” Whatiuk told him with a smile.


        “I’m not- can’t be-“ Dalon told them, and then without any other warning, he turned towards the cliff’s edge, opened out his arms and stepped off.

        “DAAALLLOOONNN!! Ameile screamed in fright. But Whatiuk seemed unperturbed at his flight and yelled after him.


        “Beloved! Fly and greet the lands given to you by your creator!” he roared with glee. “Take flight upon this wind and take with it your destiny!”

Dalon flew through the air, higher and higher and far across the land, searching for somewhere to be alone with his grief. Now that the First priest knew, he would do anything to try to catch him, ensnare him because he must forfill the prophecy. And now that Dalon could not longer hide who he was, he wept. For he must journey alone on a path only made for his feet.

After Dalon had so abruptly left, Ameile declined Whatiuk’s offer to continue the tour. She made her way back to her room. As she entered she noticed a small fire had been lit in the fireplace. It gave little more than added light to the room.

Ameile lay down on her bed, and thought through what had unexpectedly unfolded since she had arrived. She lay there until she noticed a small light at the edge of her vision. Focussing on it, it turned out to be a glowing letter of what must have been another language, chiselled into the stone of the wall. It was a strange letter that she thought was perhaps one of the ancient symbols that the gods used.

She rose from the bed to inspect it more closely. She felt drawn to it, and when her fingers lightly brushed it, it sent a tingling sensation through her fingertips. Then, all of a sudden, Ameile became aware of a grating noise.

He flew up into the great expanse of the sky, willing himself higher and higher, wishing to break free of the earth. The air frosted about him, clouds showering him with light rain as he flew through them. And so, miserable at being unable to escape his earthly bounds, Dalon returned to the earth.

He found himself in unknown territory, having flown further than he had expected. There was nothing except the great ocean beneath him, blue and sparkling. Dalon circled lower on the thermals, trying to spy land. And then he saw it, a small island like an emerald jewel beneath him. Landing gracefully he looked about himself. There were strange trees, dark and mysterious standing there, still, in the slight breeze. Suddenly, there was a dark figure flitting around behind the trees. It let itself be seen for no longer than a moment before disappearing into the dark, only to reappear somewhere else in the next second.

        “Who goes there?” Dalon called out to it. Only the heightened breeze answered him, lifting up tendrils of Dalon’s long hair. He began to walk towards where the figure seemed to have stoped. He moved cautiously, wondering what new nightmare would now reveal itself. Then, without warning, it appeared right in front of him no more than three feet away.


        “Daaalllooonnn…” it whispered at him, almost like a hiss.


        “How do you know my name?” he asked the creature. It laughed back at him.


        “You are the beloved, and I am the one who will destroy you.”


        “I don’t know what you are talking about.”


        “Then read the texts dear boy, the texts of the prophecy and then you will know. I will rise up soon and have flesh and blood.”


        “Are you a ghost?”


        “I am more than a ghost. I am more even than most humans. I have power and with that power I will have my revenge upon you. Oh yes, my revenge that will leave you in torment for an eternity.” the figure laughed hideously before disappearing, the hollowness of its voice made Dalon’s heart quiver.

Dalon, shaken by the encounter prayed that he would wake. In this new world, in these new circumstances, he felt as though he were drowning. He had no idea what to do next, for there was nobody to guide him. If he was truly the one the whole world had been waiting for, then this being, this evil creature would try to destroy him. Dalon had no escape, and the dark tendrils of fate had snared him, giving all his enemies the power to alter events, the shape the future. He was a pawn in a world was crumbling beyond control. His tiny fragment of life was caught up in a whirlwind. Now that Dalon had been named, he was the only one standing between the evil of the world and its conquest.

Suddenly, the trees about him began to smoke, black billowing smoke that choked the air. Hurriedly, Dalon took flight. He flew up into the upper reaches of the atmosphere to escape but the smoke followed him, ready to swallow him whole. The air turned to clouds of black smoke, and no matter how high he climbed, the poison smoke followed. The last thing he remembered before he blacked out, was the intense rush of acid air, choking him.

A part of the wall slid forward like a draw opening. Curiously, and with in trepidation, Ameile looked inside. The content of the hidden compartment was simply a small, folded, piece of parchment. There was note even dust encased in the opening, which reinforced her notion that it had been somehow shielded by magic. As Ameile unfolded the parchment she noticed that while it looked old, it was far from frail. On it were intricate, geographic designs. A map. She thought, admiring the way the parchment had been painstakingly inked.

As she took the map from its hiding place, the section of wall retracted, leaving no trace that had been there. Even the letter, carved into the stone diminished until it was, once again, bare stone. Her hand felt the wall again but there was nothing.

Ameile was excited about having found an ancient artefact to study. Perhaps it would help her piece together the long, mysterious prophesy of the Beloved.


        “The prophesy of Dalon.” she whispered quietly.

Dalon woke as if in a dream. He was lying on a cot in a small wooden room. There was a distinct smell of salt water in the air. Suddenly, the world tilted and Dalon fell from the bed. The thud of his wearied body hitting the floor brought a stranger into the room.


        “Thank the goddess you’ve come around me boy!” a rough sailor announced at seeing Dalon pick himself up from the floor.


        “I don’t understand. How did I get here? What’s happening?”


        “Calm down boy! You’re safe for now and under the protection of Adetwa’mat’eu’s sailors.”


        “Adetwa’mat’eu?” Dalon replied, not understanding.


        “Aye, our goddess. Indeed, she is your goddess too! For you were created by her, you are her only flesh and blood to walk the mortal lands. And sail the mortal seas.” He added with a wink.


        “There must be some mistake. I was not made by any immortals.” Dalon told the man, shaking his head. The sailor laughed.


        “If that’s what you think me boy, I think you’d best get yourself to a mirror to see what you look like!” It was then that Dalon realised that the sailor saw him, with naught hiding the strangeness of his body.

The sailor produced a small pendant carved from the rare stone he had seen a lot of in recent times. It was shaped with startling detail into the form of a lady, but this was no human woman. Like Dalon, she had pointed ears, strange almond eyes and beautiful wings splayed out behind her.


        “This is Adetwa’mat’eu. And she is the reason you took on her shape. You are her beloved and you were made in her image.” He handed the pendant to Dalon. The figure was made of the green blue stone that the statue at Adetwa.


        “She is beautiful.” Dalon said quietly, admiring the stone crafter’s work.


        “It is said that Adetwa’mat’eu herself carved this for the nine months she spent on earth as a mortal, to birth you.”


        “If only she had birthed another.” Dalon murmured to himself.