A Vision of Fire

“That is why we must leave before it begins,” the old woman continued. “The power the Technologists are unleashing is potentially deadly.”

“And the Priests?” asked a third voice, a young man’s voice. Caitlin recognized it as her own, but not her own at the same time — and not the same voice she had spoken with in Atash’s vision. The girl looked at Caitlin, as did the old woman, but they were seeing him.

The old woman hesitated. “I was once a Believer, but I’m not sure anymore,” she finally said. “In any case, I would rather live now than ascend. Please save seats for us on your ship.”

“You will leave early though? Otherwise, there may not be time.”

“You anticipate panic,” the old woman said.

“When the time comes? I do. Ascent through the cazh requires faith,” the young man replied. “Strong faith. Most people will suddenly discover they want our strong hulls instead. I’ll keep seats for you as long as I can.”

The old woman looked up, gazed at a full moon brightening in a sky nearing sunset. Caitlin thought perhaps the woman would have made a different decision if it were just herself, without her granddaughter to consider.

The grandmother rose slowly to her feet and turned to go into the house behind them but kept her eyes on Caitlin’s young man for a second — and suddenly Caitlin felt she was looking at her. “I know you care for her as I do,” she said. “That is where I must put my trust.”

Unnerved, Caitlin broke the gaze and glanced at the girl, who was flashing a smile, then coyly turning her face to look down at her seal.

Caitlin felt the young man start to move toward the girl. She felt a gust of cool air, only now realizing how pleasantly warm the evening had been. The boy took the girl’s hands and Caitlin felt their connection. She realized then, with certainty, that Maanik and this girl had been merged ever since the visions started. And if this girl’s soul, or transpersonal identity, or whatever it was, was connected to Maanik, then the girl was not going to leave with the boy on his ship. Something else had happened.

Caitlin let go and the boy let go and suddenly she was back in Maanik’s bedroom, with Maanik staring at her. Caitlin quickly took both of the girl’s hands, not to reconnect but to make sure she didn’t get away.

“Maanik?”

The girl seemed confused. She tried to let go of Caitlin’s hands but Caitlin held hers tightly.

“No. Stay with me.”

“I have to go,” the girl said frantically. “I don’t belong here.”

“Where?”

“Alive.”

Horrified, Caitlin almost let go of her. This wasn’t Maanik. This was the merged identity, some strange hybrid — part Maanik, part the other. It was not a split personality, not post-traumatic stress as anyone understood it, not even “possession.” It was something else, something new. More importantly, she suddenly understood why they were merged.

“Listen to me,” Caitlin said. The girl tried to withdraw her left hand. Caitlin gripped it and focused. “Listen. I know you’re trying to complete the ritual, and I know you’re trying to join the others and transcend. But something goes wrong each time your people—”

Suddenly her grip broke and cold wind blew against the back of Caitlin’s head. She felt her hair rising, heard shouts and screams from every side. She saw a sky turning red with fire that was shot from the earth to heights she could not imagine.

The girl before her was heaving sobs. Her hands were trying to lift into the air, not in the gestures of the strange language but with drooping wrists, with the awful helplessness of a child crying inconsolably. Caitlin was crying too now, feeling the girl’s gasping, choking cries in her own body.

The young man was not present. The grandmother was not present. There was just the girl in the midst of chaos. Clearly the crisis had come early. People had not been prepared. The well-planned exodus the young man had spoken of had not taken place.

But this was not Caitlin’s concern. It was not something she could repair. She had only one objective.

“Maanik!” Caitlin called, hoping to reach her. “What you see around you is not happening. It already happened. You are not there.”

The girl shook her head as embers fell and scorched her bare arms. “I… am. I must… transcend.”

“No, you must not!”

“It is already being done,” she said through tears.

This wasn’t working; Caitlin would have to go through this girl to get to Maanik. “Tell me your name.”

“Bayarmii,” the girl wept.

“Bayarmii, you must listen. The ritual is not going to work. I know you want to join with the others, but something is going wrong.”

“Why?” she wailed.

“I don’t know yet. But I do know that this isn’t working. You have to stop taking Maanik back with you.”

“No, I need her.”

“But you’re killing her!”

“Yes,” the girl said, rubbing at her face, trying to see through her tears. “If she dies, we will go together. That is what we were told.”