An Abyss of Light (The Light Trilogy) Read Online Free PDF

don’t you tell me what happened?”
    “Oh, Grandpa. Please,” Mikael pleaded, eyes lingering on the bump in Zadok’s shirt. “You tell me. Like you do every year.”
    “I should be glad you want to know,” Zadok said half to himself. “Not very many people do anymore.” A sad reverie came over him. Most Gamant children were stolen away to be trained in Magisterial “Right Schools” before they could be taught the truths of the past. Mind probes turned children against their parents and friends, forced them to believe the facts of Gamant history and religion were false.
    Zadok frowned, an ache invading his ancient chest. Though some thought the Mea was the real sacrament of Gamant religion, he knew it was “history.” The Mea served as a sacrament only to the Gamant leader, leading him face to face with Epagael. But for the rest of the people, history took the place of the Mea. Through history the people saw the face of God and endured. All the words, deeds, thoughts and emotions of history were the bread and wine of the sacrament, which the touch of God—through the Mea —transformed into both the symbol and instrument of his Grace for all time. It was that Grace that the Magistrates stole from Gamant children by erasing the stories of history from their young minds.
    Zadok looked tiredly around him, surveying the dark cliffs and starry sky. “That’s why we live here in the caves, isn’t it, Mikael? To protect you.”
    “You mean …” The boy asked in confusion, “You mean because Middoth made our people slaves and Jekutiel had to save them?”
    “Oh, no, I was thinking something else, but you’re right about that. That’s another reason we live here, secluded from other citizens of the galaxy.”
    Zadok stopped as they rounded a corner. A deep baritone lifted powerfully from within the temple, drifting on the chill breeze to caress him like the hand of God. Squeezing Mikael’s tiny fingers, he plodded forward.
    People milled around outside the cavern, laughing and talking. Zadok’s heart warmed. During great festivals, Gamants came from all over the galaxy to participate. Every year it seemed as though some long lost relative appeared out of nowhere.
    “Papa?” Zadok’s eldest daughter smiled and waved as she saw them approaching. A tall woman with long black hair and huge brown eyes, her silver robe fluttered in the wind. Her husband Mark and others stood clustered around her, smiling.
    “My pride overflows,” he praised, striding forward to gently stroke her cheek. Ezarin had risen through the ranks to the esteemed position of Rev, memorizing the precious ancient texts that had survived the holocausts of the past.
    She lovingly kissed his bald head, then extended a hand to an old woman standing slightly behind her. “Papa, you remember Cousin Shoshi Mekilta?”
    Zadok squinted at her. Hunched with age, the woman had straw colored hair pulled into a tight bun at the base of her skull. Her nose stuck out like a sharp dart point. “Elma’s daughter?”
    “Of course, you old fool,” the woman growled.
    “My Lord. I thought you were dead.”
    Shoshi’s brittle cackle echoed from the cliffs. “You mean you hoped. I still haven’t forgotten the time you cheated me out of my life’s savings.”
    “You have a memory like the government. That was two hundred years ago.”
    She shook a crooked finger at him. “I don’t forget easily. I’m a—”
    “And thirty notes were your life’s savings? You obviously didn’t plan on living this long.”
    When Shoshi’s face puckered hostilely, Ezarin quickly said, “Excuse me, Cousin Shoshi. Papa? You must sing tonight.”
    He grimaced at the interruption. He’d been enjoying bantering with Shoshi. “I’m too old to sing.”
    “He’s too old to do anything,” Shoshi added and snickered when Zadok’s eyes narrowed.
    “You’re an old maid. How would know you what a man of my years is capable of!”
    “Papa!” Ezarin blurted,