Gorinthians by Justin Mitchell

there is a
bond that was created of which every human descendant of this
Mountain land is a recipient. Had he been suggesting that she was
inhuman? With his mind buzzing with unanswered questions, Celdic
followed the other two up the side of the mountain. They were
headed toward the Altar of Guardia, or the Altar of the Guardian,
as most people called it now.
    It was said the Altar of
Guardia was created as a token to the founder of Chasel Ri’ Aven.
Some of the Elders claimed it had existed before the city was
built, however. Celdic and Lendel had visited it for the first time
the previous summer. It had been an odd experience that left them
both arguing about the true nature of the Altar for months. They
had set their blanket rolls out next to it that night and had a
fire crackling in a worn fire pit other youths had used when they
visited the site. Lendel had suggested the proximity to the Rajan
gardens might be affecting Celdic in some way, resulting in his
inability to use his yar . They had decided to try a few
exercises before going to sleep for the night since they were so
far from the Rajan Gardens. Celdic had felt an odd resonance in the
area as he opened his mind to the matter around them, as if there
was a river nearby. As he probed deeper for the cause, he realized
it was coming from the Altar and seemed to be going straight down
into the ground. Lendel had said that he could not feel anything.
Celdic had tried to push out with his yar to touch the source of the
resonance. As his yar touched the object, there was a sudden detonation from
thousands of feet beneath the hill. The entire hill began to shake
and Celdic hurriedly pulled his awareness back. There were a few
more slight tremors and then the hill was still again. Celdic had
looked at Lendel and saw his own shock mirrored in Lendel’s
expression. They had left the Altar and camped a couple of miles
away instead. It had stretched chance a little too far to pass the
occurrence off as a coincidental earthquake that happened at the
same time Celdic probed the Altar with his yar . They had spent months talking
about the possibilities of what the Altar might be. The fact Lendel
could not sense the Altar’s resonance had them both speculating as
to why Celdic could when Celdic could not even use his yar the way everyone else
did.
    Celdic brought his mind back
to the present and realized they were nearly to the top of the
hill. He could see the Altar of Guardia now and suddenly realized
why it had been given that name. It consisted of a large slab of
basalt lying horizontally across two vertical sides of basalt.
Engraved on the lip of the six-inch thick top slab was a depiction
of an armored warrior with his head thrown back and his arms raised
to the sky where lightning bolts were shooting into his upraised
palms. Celdic had not noticed the depiction the last time he and
Lendel had visited. As they approached the Altar, Celdic once again
felt the same resonance he had felt the previous summer. He
motioned to Selindria as they all stopped next to it. She walked
over to him with an eyebrow raised questioningly.
    "What is that resonance
coming from?” he asked curiously.
    "What resonance?” she
replied blankly.
    Celdic gestured toward the
Altar. "It seems to be coming from underneath that. It almost feels
like a river is running under it."
    Selindria looked at the
Altar and Celdic could sense her reaching out with her yar . After a moment, she
turned back to Celdic. "I don't sense anything."
    "You can sense yara ?” Terrance asked
suddenly, looking strangely at Celdic.
    "What?” Celdic asked in
puzzlement.
    " Yara ,” Terrance replied, still
watching Celdic intently. "It is the planet’s yar ."
    "The planet’s yar ?” Celdic said, still
feeling confused. "I thought that people could no longer feel
it."
    "It can't be felt,” Terrance
said slowly, “by most people. There are a few living that can still
sense it. There will be more over the next couple of