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knew, with an instinctive certainty, who it was they were searching for and
what they were to say. They were to find the One, a human named Jael, and
they were to call her to return with them. Their purpose in life, and the
totality of their being, were dedicated to that task. If anything came
between it and them, their own existence was secondary.
As they swept downward into the misty atmosphere of their destination, they
noted other beings bobbing and darting in space just like them, moving as they
moved, perhaps even following in their wake.
But the iffling-children gave no thought to whether the beings might be friend
or foe; the distinction never occurred to them. They focused all of their
thought upon the faint but brightening glow before them, the underglow that
stood out from all the spirit-presences on this world, the glow of the one
called Jael. As they drew closer, the urgency of their mission buzzed ever
louder in their souls, drowning out all else.
Dropping across space-time toward Jael, they were nearly close enough to call
out. And that was when the beings that so resembled them abruptly reappeared,
speeding into their paths like blazing sparks of fire. They had no time to
think.
-Veer away!-But they are like us -No!The new beings swerved and flew
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at the iffling-children with a flaming fury that sent the ifflings reeling in
shock and confusion.
What was happening?
-Flee!-Find safety!They flashed outward in retreat, circling to reunite. But
one of them was slow-and it was taken from behind by something that swooped
and hissed and collided with the iffling with a blaze of orange fire. As the
two separated, the iffling-child cried out, once, then flickered and vanished
into darkness. The others called out: come back!-Do not-leave us!But it was
gone. Stunned, the ifflings fled from their attackers, from the ones that
looked like ifflings but were not. There were only four true-ifflings now.
Bewildered, they flickered with sorrow and fear and mourning.
They peered back at their goal, blocked from them by the cluster of
false-ones.
-Killers!-Killers!-Killers!-Do not let them close-Keep sight of the
OneAs they watched from afar, the false,ifflings seemed to forget them,
turning instead to spiral inward toward the glow of the human, Jael.
They too were seeking the One, then! And they were calling out to her now,
calling in voices that made the true-children tremble with fear as they
listened-not quite able to distinguish the words of their adversaries, but
hearing in the undertexture of the voices the untruth that was in them.
The ifflings cried ahead to the human, their undervoices wailing.
They tried to call to her from a safe distance, but they were too far away,
and the false-ones had begun circling the One possessively.
The human's glow pulsed, as if she felt the false-ones' presence with her
undersense, but only dimly, perhaps not consciously. If she heard or
recognized the true-ifflings' cry, she didn't answer. They had to do
something-but what? One of them was gone, and their goal had been taken from
them.
The need was clear.
-We must-Cannot retreat-Our duty-Our livesThey must risk everything to reach
her, to fulfill their purpose. They must challenge the
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false-ones, silence their lies ... perhaps even deny them life altogether.
Kill them.
The iffling-children barely knew how to grasp the thought of killing.
But they had just witnessed the extinguishing of one of their own, and it
appeared that the same thing might have to happen to the false-ifflings.
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