49: Reckoning, Part Two

Reckoning, Part Two
by Zanh Liis
71224.23
Following Part One

-=Inside the Temple, Central Assembly Sanctuary; Bajor=-


Jariel knelt before the altar. His robe pooled around him on the floor. As he closed his eyes he held his hands out at his sides, palms turned upward toward the Celestial Temple. Softly, he began to chant.

"Jia'kaja, tre'nu'tol'a rem. La'por i'lanu kos. I'nar tan'a'tali nor."

Suddenly, a strong draft swept through the room. Within an instant after he first felt the breeze brush against his face it changed, turning into a definite, strong gust of wind. Shocking, considering the fact that he was completely secluded in this sealed room, doors closed, and none of the leaded glass windows had the ability to open.

This was not a naturally occurring phenomenon, he decided quickly. This was something intentional.

Something malevolent.

The surge of air whipped past him and made the altar fixtures rattle as they clanged against each other. The small glass chimes just inside the doors sounded louder than he had ever heard them before, then they actually smashed into the stone of the wall next to which they hung and shattered.

All the candles on the altar and around the room were extinguished, leaving Jariel in total darkness.

He instinctively directed his vision toward the Orb on the altar before him. The doors of its case burst open, his eyes blinded by piercing, intense light.

This was the Orb of Destiny.

He was forced to close his eyes, unable to withstand the glare.

"Speak, Jariel Camen." A voice demanded.

Jariel opened his eyes and found himself once again within the realm of the Prophets.

"You will answer to us for your actions."

This time instead of appearing to him as people he loved and trusted, the Prophets chose the appearance of different figures from his past to speak for them.

Authority figures; teachers and mentors. People he respected and had learned from, but also people who intimidated him, some still to this day.

"Answer for my actions?" Camen exclaimed, at a loss. "I have done only what my heart told me to do."

"That," the image of Vedek Timal replied, disapproval etched into his face, "is why you have failed us."

"Failed you? How? I don't understand."

"You have followed the course dictated by your emotions," 'Prylar Chem' replied. "This is not the path of the Prophets."

"You told me to bring Liis to Bajor," Jariel objected. "I brought her to Bajor."

"Yet, still she lives," 'Vedek Shamira' spoke out now, emerging from the shadows. Her anger evident, she glared at him. "This was not the anticipated outcome."

"You mean it wasn't the desired outcome!" Camen grew livid. "Are you really so set on tearing me away from her that her death would be preferable to you than her survival?"

"Her death would have freed you, in what you refer to as 'time'." The Prophet answered. "We were prepared to allow you that 'time' in order to heal. Then you would have looked inward once again and realized that you are meant to serve us alone, without thought of joining your life with another."

"That is where you are mistaken," Jariel whispered. "Time would never free me of her. We are. . .entwined, Liis and I. Our Paghs are one. No amount of time or space between us could change the way I feel about her. Not even death."

"We could terminate the life of Zanh Liis," 'Timal' said to 'Shamira'. "Test him out, as to whether he can be freed of her influence."

"That would turn him away from us forever." Shamira warned. "If we were the reason she was taken from him, he would never accept it. No. She will be allowed to finish out her natural corporeal existence. We will not hasten her exit from that plane." She turned to Jariel again. "We will expect your devotion, however, to be strengthened by this act of mercy."

"Let me get this straight," Jariel was unable to believe what he was hearing. "You expect me to be grateful that you're not going to kill Liis to free me of her?"

"You are enslaved, Jariel Camen. You are tied to corporeal matters, and worlds, because of this female. We would free you from this, if you would only allow it to be so. You have much to accomplish, and much work to do."

"For whom?" Jariel growled. "For the people? Or for YOU?"

"Silence!" 'Timal’ raised his hand, and for a moment Jariel felt as if he were choking. He tried to inhale but he could not. "You are insolent. Disrespectful. This is unacceptable." The Prophet released his hold, and Jariel slowly rose from his knees and looked each being in the eye, in turn.

"Two of your linear years you spent in silence as penance for your transgressions.” ‘Timal’s’ displeasure was obvious.”Still you refuse to yield."

"Yes, I refuse." Camen had never been so angry with the Prophets in his life, as he was in this moment. "It is unacceptable to me that you wanted me to let Liis die so that you could have me entirely. That is not kind, that is not just, and that is not right."

"You have never belonged to us entirely. That is what we desire."

"I'm sorry to disappoint you." Jariel whispered. "I have given you all of myself that I can. More than that, I have tried my honest best to minister to the people of Bajor. Somehow, they always found my efforts to be enough. You never have." He shook his head sadly. "You must know that until I am dead, there will always be a part of me that will belong only to Zanh Liis. Nothing you could do to me will alter that."

"He is flawed." Timal complained. "Linear. Limited."

"It is the nature of his corporeal being." Shamira replied.

"He will not change," Chem warned. "He will never surrender her voluntarily."

"Then he will suffer the consequences." Shamira decided. "Jariel Camen, we have judged you, and found your Pagh to be lacking. You have a choice to make, and a limited amount of this that you call 'time' in which to make your decision."

"What decision?" Jariel was undaunted. He was ready to face whatever he had to now, secure in the knowledge that whatever happened to him, at the very least, Liis was alive. "State your terms."


--=/\=--
Captain Zanh Liis
USS Alchemy NX-53099