She was a youth, afraid, the lume inside a girl, a girl in two worlds—one which she shared with her family, one that was invisible to all others, a world vast, wondrous, a world she could not understand. A world she knew she had always belonged to.
She walked up a dirt path, seeking solace, seeking some understanding with her sister, and she walked toward an old, dying dog, and she saw him die, and she walked back toward a home that fell, a sea that stormed.
She walked toward a city of ancient generations, a city whose stones whispered to her, a city of lume, of grace, of copper and gold, of song and sadness, of iron and sand, gold and rust, splendor and shadow.
And she walked away from her mother. She walked into the desert. She walked into a home that had fallen.
As she walked down this dark tunnel through the mountain, Maya walked all those paths again, and she realized now that all those paths—the beaches of her childhood, the hills of her youth, the desert of her exile—all those paths had always led here. She had always just walked this one path, a path that would lead her to shadows under a mountain, to darkness, lead her into the city of kings, the city of the dying, the city of shadow and of Luminosity.
"The city weeps," Maya said, walking down the tunnel. "The city cries out in fear."
Abishag walked a step behind her, holding her hand. "You will bring them hope. You will bring them light in darkness."
As Maya walked, the lume filled her—rich, ancient, the lume that had always flowed from this mountain, from Beth Eloh. Maya breathed it, let it wash across her, so much more concentrated than the lume she had found in the east. With every breath, she could feel the city above, the children of Zohar gathered within the walls as the legions tried to break in. She felt the antiquity. The beauty. The beauty that brought tears to her eyes—of sunrise on limestone, of palm trees in the good air, of her people's song that flowed from desert to sea. Maya could not stop it; without even meaning to, she kindled the lume, and the luminescence flowed across her, lighting the tunnel, lighting her form.
After what seemed like the passage of eras, from the first tribes of Zohar to the greatest kings, she reached the end of the tunnel, and she faced an archway.
"It leads into the Temple," said Abishag. "Into the Holy of Holies."
Maya paused, the light intensifying, wreathing around her, gentle, loving. Luminosity was love. Eternal.
"This place is holy," Maya whispered, her voice flowing through the ages, flowing in countless waves, across countless dunes. "Here is the spring of Luminosity."
When she had left her home on Pine Hill long ago, her family had given her three gifts. Atalia had gifted her a dagger; Maya had used it in the house of Luminosity, but she would not use it here, for she would not shed blood in this city. Her brother had given her a ram's horn, like the horn the priests blew in temples. Now she took this horn from her pack, and she handed it to Abishag. Jerael had given her the most precious gift—the prayer shawl he had sewn for Mica, sweet Mica who had lived for only a day. Now Maya took this holy garment, and she wrapped the white cotton around herself, a vestment of Eloh for his Temple, for his hallowed ground.
Standing at her side, Abishag blew into the horn—a high cry, a song of hope. It was a call that Maya knew he could hear—the man in the shadows, her adversary, the one she would have to face here. Wreathed in her brother's shawl and the light of Luminosity, Maya stepped through the Gate of Tears, entering the city of despair, of prophecy, and of ancient hope.
The story continues in Halls of Shadow (Kingdoms of Sand Book 5).
Click here to read the next book in the series:
DanielArenson.com/HallsofShadow
AFTERWORD
Thank you for reading Temples of Dust. I hope you enjoyed the novel. Want to know when I release the next Kingdoms of Sand novel?
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I've written many novels in other series too. Find a list of them all by flipping the page.
Thank you again, dear reader, and I hope we meet again between the pages of another book.
Daniel
NOVELS BY DANIEL ARENSON
KINGDOMS OF SAND
Kings of Ruin
Crowns of Rust
Thrones of Ash
Temples of Dust
Halls of Shadows
Echoes of Light
EARTHRISE
Earth Alone
Earth Lost
Earth Rising
Earth Fire
Earth Shadows
Earth Valor
Earth Reborn
Earth Honor
Earth Eternal
THE MOTH SAGA
Moth
Empires of Moth
Secrets of Moth
Daughter of Moth
Legacy of Moth
REQUIEM
Dawn of Dragons Requiem's Song
Requiem's Hope
Requiem's Prayer
The Complete Trilogy
Song of Dragons Blood of Requiem
Tears of Requiem
Light of Requiem
The Complete Trilogy
Dragonlore A Dawn of Dragonfire
A Day of Dragon Blood
A Night of Dragon Wings
The Complete Trilogy
The Dragon War A Legacy of Light
A Birthright of Blood
A Memory of Fire
The Complete Trilogy
Requiem for Dragons Dragons Lost
Dragons Reborn
Dragons Rising
The Complete Trilogy
Flame of Requiem Forged in Dragonfire
Crown of Dragonfire
Pillars of Dragonfire
The Complete Trilogy
ALIEN HUNTERS
Alien Hunters
Alien Sky
Alien Shadows
OTHER WORLDS
Eye of the Wizard
Wand of the Witch
Firefly Island
The Gods of Dream
Flaming Dove
KEEP IN TOUCH
www.DanielArenson.com
Daniel@DanielArenson.com
Facebook.com/DanielArenson
Twitter.com/DanielArenson