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The Aldermaston stood behind the stone table, his eyes warm and affectionate "Do you have any Gifts?" he asked her

She was not sure what to say, but the Medium whispered to her She nodded her head "I have the Gift of Xenoglossia and the Gift of Courage I also have…the Gift of Wisdom, I believe"

The Aldermaston nodded proudly "You have other Gifts you did not na and the Gift of Recollection These are powerful Gifts If you pass the iven, hts of the mastons?"

She was about to answer more elaborately, but the Medium whispered for her to simply say, "Yes" So she did

"Before you pass the e It will help you to understand the test, for you must pass it alone No one else will be with you This is the lower dungeon of the Abbey It represents the world where we live, not the world we came from Deeper in the Abbey, behind a latticework called the Rood Screen, you will find the Apse Veil The room beyond is a representation of the world of Idu required to enter the Apse Before you pass the Rood Screen, you will be given the chance to turn back If you quit, you will lose your chance to becoain in one year’s time If you succeed, you will receive a shirt of chaen and another Gift"

Lia waited patiently

"Let e I will only speak it this once You will not be allowed to ask questions, but you will be given the chance to ponder what you have heard after passing the Rood Screen Listen carefully and let the Mediuhts the words that I will say It is truth not to be engraved into tohts"

Lia listened with anticipation to every word She was not expecting the truths the Alderht her Some she already knew Most of it was new and filled her with amazeed, filling herin front of her, but there was opened to her thoughts a neorld that went beyond anything she iined As he spoke, she could see in her mind the events he described Not just words, but she could see their representation

The vision dazzled her

All her life she had heard Idumea described as a world, as a person, as a benevolence in the aether that blessed everything with life and health and joy through the intervening power of the Medium Now she learned that Idumea was a place, not a person It was a world filled with a race called the Essaios They were beautiful and graceful beings, perfect in delicacy and strength They looked like raceful and beautiful than anyone she had ever seen Even loith the power of the Medium, for it obeyed theardened cities and ith joy and wonder To her, the Abbey grounds were the ardens of Idumea were a thousand tirand The enormity of therounds of Muirere merely a pathetic attempt to mimic the wonders of Idumea The Essaios ise and powerful and they could never die Fro-mastons and queen-hout a skein of interlocking worlds that was beyond Lia’s coine Millions of little worlds, like hers, spread throughout the infinite expanse The Essaios used the Medium to craft worlds, to command the forces of fire and ice and sea and storm to create and to taered to be like them, to wield the Medium in such a powerful way Then she realized that she could, someday – that she was already a part of them, and that they had created her as well as their worlds

Lia was amazed to learn she herself had come from Idumea It was her home, the place of her first life So many times she had heard of her existence as a "second life" – that she was born as wretched, but it was not her beginning There was a place before that, a place where she lived a the Essaios How could she describe herself? A spark? A floating e the Essaios, so fragile, so delicate An intelligence An awareness clothed in a substance as faint as a shadow To become an Essaios, she would have to leave Idumea Her shadow-self would have to come to a fallen world with no norant None were given the advantage of re their life in Idumea She was promised – they were all promised – that if they would be calm and listen carefully, they would hear thethem back The Medium would aid them and assist them if they allowed themselves to be tamed by it In order to tame it, they must first be tamed by it If they followed the whispers of the Medius of sculpted stone that would become a link back to the world of Idumea and allow their return