Rhuna thought about the deeply respectful Atlan attitude which she had learned during her residence in the beautiful city of Atlán.
“Do you think any of these Atlan representatives know about the other means of acquiring information, such as accessing The Infinite and using Yarqi’s pendulum?” Rhuna felt she already knew the answer before Damell responded to her question.
“We should continue to guard our abilities from our Atlan visitors, and only divulge our various means of acquiring knowledge when necessary,” Damell said firmly. Rhuna nodded and finished drinking her water before leaving the small room and returning to one of the common rooms.
Rhuna heard the scrape of her thickly-padded footwear on the smooth wooden floor as she crossed the quiet room, glancing at the people huddled in groups, silently engaged in various chores. She approached her mother and lowered herself onto the seating cushion beside her, looking at the large ball of yarn at her feet. Kiana continued to work the yarn with the hooked sticks without pausing as Rhuna touched the thick knotted textile that cascaded from her mother’s lap.
“You’ve learned to do a lot of new things while we’ve been here,” Rhuna remarked as she watched the rhythmic motion of her mother’s hands.
“It’s good to keep busy,” Kiana responded, keeping her eyes fixed on her work.
“That’s what you always used to say,” Rhuna said, recalling her sad childhood, alone with her mother.
“Are you excited about the Atlans coming?” Kiana asked after a long silence.
“I’m happy and nervous at the same time,” Rhuna admitted honestly. “So much has happened, and I’ve changed a lot since I left Atlán…” She looked out of the window into the distance as her mind raced to collect memories of all the dramatic events and upheavals of her life in the past few solar cycles.
“Who exactly are they?” Kiana asked. “Until you came to Chinza to get me, the only Atlan I ever knew was your father,” she added, reminding Rhuna of her mother’s lonely life on a faraway isolated island without knowledge of the outside world and the grand Atlan Empire.
“They are representatives of the High Council of Atlán,” Rhuna answered.
“The High Council…Weren’t you part of that?” Kiana asked, frowning as she tried to remember the exact details of Rhuna’s life in Atlán.
“Yes, with Tozar,” Rhuna answered.
“Oh, yes,” Kiana said, slowly putting down her work. “The Atlan man who came to our island and took you away with him,” she said with a nod.
“Yes, he took me to another island where I was safe, and where I could go to an Atlan school until I was old enough to go to the land of Atlán…” Rhuna stopped, recalling her innocent youth.
“Where he then became your husband,” Kiana finished with a slight tone of bitter disapproval. “He was a lot older, and a friend of your father’s.”
Rhuna quickly shook off the anguish she always felt when thinking of Tozar.
“The High Council members are mostly older people with more experience,” Rhuna stated bluntly.
“What do they do exactly?”
“They keep order in the Atlan society, help people with their problems, guide them along the Atlan Ways…”
“Like the Elders in our village,” Kiana interrupted curtly.
Memories of her frightening last day in her childhood village surfaced in Rhuna’s mind.
“Yes, and now I’m afraid that the Atlan High Council will also condemn me for the things I’ve done,” Rhuna said, slightly shocked by her own open honesty.
“You mean like destroying the city taken over by those bad people,” Kiana began.
“That’s probably the main thing,” Rhuna reluctantly admitted.
“But the things you did were to fight the bad one and help innocent people,” Kiana said with rising indignation in her voice.
“Yes, but the Atlan way of thinking…”
“…is stupid, like every other group that makes laws for others!” Kiana snapped as she abruptly resumed her yarn-knotting work. Her sticks clicked loudly as they moved rapidly, and her fingers jerkily twisted the yarn around the hooks.
Rhuna stood up to leave, realizing it was time to go to the Depository of Archival Texts. She was so familiar with the route through the dark passages hewn out of the mountain that she no longer carried a candle when she made her daily visit to the nearby community. As she approached the entrance to the tunnel network, she recognized Damell’s footsteps nearby, and then felt Aradin’s reassuring touch on her arm as he joined her from a nearby passage.
“We are accompanying you,” Goram called from a short distance behind them. Rhuna spun around in surprise and saw Goram approach them holding a small candle which shed just enough light for Rhuna to recognize Yarqi and Mohandu behind him.
“We wish to see some maps,” Goram reluctantly added when Rhuna continued to gaze at him questioningly.
“We already have maps,” Rhuna replied.
“You have maps for our journey to the Black City,” Goram grumbled. “Yet I wish to see different maps.”
Rhuna noted the closed expression in Goram’s face and wondered what he was holding back from her. Her pondering slowly turned to unease and mild alarm as they walked in silence through the dark tunnel.
Finally, the narrow passage led to a wooden shaft of steps, and then a walkway of creaky wood that whistled with each blast of cold air from outside. Rhuna always felt better when they passed through the wooden section of the connecting tunnels because she no longer felt hemmed in by the solid rock of the massive mountain all around her.
Their footsteps began to resonate on the floorboards, and Rhuna knew that they were in the abode of the League of Record-Keeping Masters who inhabited this hostile Land at the Top of the World. She thought of the old Master who explained that this inaccessible place was chosen in order to keep the Depository of Archival Texts secret and safe from unworthy persons.
Ahead of her, Rhuna heard the giant wooden door of the Library open smoothly on well-greased hinges, and she welcomed the familiar scent of old, dry parchment mingled with the odour of people gathered closely in a sealed room.
As usual, The Chief Custodian greeted them with a quick bow of his head as he led them to the open area where the scriveners worked. Rhuna was still awed each time she looked down the long, narrow rows of tomes and shelves holding various scrolls and text collections. After passing several corridors of archival texts on each side of her, Rhuna stepped into the circle of bright light where the scribes sat on the floor doing their work.
Goll jumped to his feet, grabbed a heavy tome and stepped around his fellow-scribes as he nodded his greetings. Rhuna smiled at the unusual man with a rare condition that made his skin appear almost transparent and his eyes pinkish red.
“Has there been another significant change in the texts?” Aradin asked, looking at the tome in Goll’s ghostly pale hands.
“Yes, indeed,” Goll answered almost breathlessly. Rhuna was startled by the intensity and excitement in the calm scrivener, and she quickly gathered alongside Aradin, Damell and Goram around Goll’s tome.
Goll’s pale fingers nimbly opened the heavy book, its thick binding groaning and the coloured parchment pages rustling as he found the place.
“The first reference to The Immortal One,” Goll whispered with awe as his finger pointed to a line of squiggles and loops.
“It’s him!” Aradin exclaimed. “The Dark Master!”
Rhuna heard the eager shuffle of feet behind her as Yarqi and Mohandu gathered around Goll and the tome on his lap.
“He continues to achieve immortality by finding a new host for his Extended Consciousness,” Damell stated gravely. “There is no end to his nefarious power!”
“Did he find a new body to inhabit, or has he found a way to prevent a body from expiring?” asked Yarqi.
Rhuna and the others turned their heads to look at the dark-haired woman. She noticed Yarqi’s discomfort at the attention,
and how she nervously grabbed her silver jewellery underneath the thick overcoat.
“In Judharo, the Master was trying to prevent his physical body from expiring in death,” Yarqi explained. “Perhaps he achieved it over time.”
Goll’s pinkish eyes widened as Yarqi’s words impacted on him and the other scribes of the Depository.
“How do you know this?” asked the Chief Custodian.
“I was…I was misled into joining an Order to serve The Master when we were in the city of Judharo during the last solar cycle,” Yarqi answered, tugging at her silver chains.
“Then you have special insights which might assist us!” The Chief Custodian’s face lit up with excited interest. “Why do you come to the Depository only now?”
“She has been working with me,” Goram interjected. “In fact, we have come to the Depository today to request the viewing of certain maps.”
The Chief Custodian appeared surprised, then puzzled and finally suspicious. “Do you not work with your fellow-Atlans here?” he asked, gesturing with his hands towards Rhuna, Damell and Aradin.
“Yes,” Goram answered firmly. “Yet at times we also work on our own individual projects as well.”
“What are you talking about?” Aradin asked, his voice raised in anger.
Goram’s green eyes flashed indignantly as he squared his shoulders defensively. “Supplemental studies to support our united effort,” Goram articulated slowly.
“Such as?” Aradin urged.
“Such as the study of the planet’s grid of energy lines,” Goram retorted.
“That is a fundamental teaching in all Atlan schools,” Aradin scoffed.
“My examinations reveal deeper, hidden knowledge in the grid patterns.”
“Request the maps you require, then explain your discoveries to us,” Damell said with strained politeness.
The Chief Custodian signalled to one of the Depository’s attendants who listened to Goram’s instructions, and then obediently scurried down one of the long corridors of tomes, scrolls and texts.
“What is the nature of your research?” Goll asked politely with genuine interest. Goram looked at the unusual scribe as he hesitated to answer.
“It is my firm belief that not all confluences of energy lines are equal,” he said at last. “In fact, I surmise several different types of intersecting grid lines, each with a special purpose.”
“What kind of special purpose?” Rhuna asked, suddenly very curious.
Goram relaxed his stance and began to enjoy the discussion about his theories. “It appears that certain confluences around the planet serve exclusively to the facilitation of time manipulation.”
Before Rhuna could grasp the full meaning of Goram’s words, a giant roll of fine textile was held out in front of them by the eager Depository attendant.
“Ah, the world map!” Goram beamed as he took the roll and stepped towards a nearby table. Rhuna watched as the delicate textile unrolled to reveal beautiful colours and finely-executed lines and markings.
“So beautiful,” Yarqi said breathlessly.
“Several of our most skilled scriveners accomplished this work,” the Chief Custodian said proudly.
“It is outstanding workmanship,” Damell remarked.
“All those fine lines in different colours,” Rhuna observed, pointing carefully to very thin straight and curved lines that covered the entire map like a giant spider’s web.
“It is precise and accurate,” the Chief Custodian added with even more pride.
“Then it shall indicate the exact location of the most effective time portals,” Goram said as his eyes scanned a particular section of the large map.
“Time portals?” Rhuna repeated.
“You saw the Dark One enter such a portal in your vision, only moments before the destruction of Judharo,” Goram replied.
“I saw him make a large doorway of crystal blocks, like I made on the special site outside the city of Judharo,” Rhuna clarified.
“The special confluence for time manipulation covered the entire region around Judharo,” Goram explained. “Certain points became more conducive due to lunar and cosmic energies which are in constant flux.”
“You are very knowledgeable,” Goll observed with a tone of deep respect. “How did you acquire such advanced knowledge?”
Goram hesitated a moment as he looked at Goll and then the Chief Custodian.
“The Great Secrets of the Pyramids was passed on to me by Possessor of Discernment before he expired.”
“The Great Secrets?” Goll repeated with awe, his pinkish eyes bulging. “You are the inheritor of such profound wisdom?”
“It cannot be!” scoffed the Chief Custodian in disbelief.
“It’s true,” Rhuna interjected. “It was his knowledge of the pyramid’s secrets that caused the destruction of Judharo.”
Rhuna looked at the astonished faces of the Chief Custodian and several scribes seated nearby, and then saw an expression of deep reverence in Goll’s whitish face.
“Tell us more about the time portals on the map,” Damell said, shattering the silent and invisible body of tingling energy that had developed between Goram and Goll. “How do you find them?”
“By certain mathematics,” Goram answered. “By studying measurements, alignments with natural earth formations…”
“Look!” Goll shouted, letting the large tome on his lap drop to the floor with a resounding thud.
Rhuna jumped while others gasped in surprise.
“The writing is moving!” Goll exclaimed. “Like the first time.”
Rhuna moved forward to see the page more clearly as Aradin held her arm and Goram pressed alongside her.
“What is happening?” asked Mohandu, trying to peer between Goram and Yarqi.
“The text is changing,” Damell answered gravely. “History is changing.”
Rhuna watched with awe as the squiggles of handwritten text moved like little worms, forming new letters and filling the remainder of the blank page. An eerie silence fell upon the Depository of Archival Texts as every person stood mesmerized around the tome on the floor.
“Ugh!” Mohandu shuddered and stepped back. “It is horrible! Abominable!”
Rhuna suppressed a sudden urge to also recoil in horror and scream in terror.
“The Dark One is altering the course of history,” Goram uttered breathlessly. “How supremely omnipotent!” he gushed.
“Do not admire him so!” Yarqi snapped at Goram in a hoarse whisper.
“It is impossible not to do so,” Goram whispered in response.
“You are not unlike him at times!” accused Mohandu, still shaken from his lapse into fear.
“Desist from your petty squabble!” Damell hissed angrily. “Let us ponder the gravity of this abomination, and the weight of responsibility that now falls upon us and the Atlan representatives.”
Silence once again fell upon the group, and Rhuna looked down at Goll and the tome at his feet. The scribe with near-translucent skin had begun to read the new text, and his pinkish eyes widened with alarm.
“What does the changed text say now?” Rhuna asked.
Goll moved his ghostly finger to follow the text that had appeared moments earlier.
“The Immortal One has lived many lives, it says,” Goll began with a slight tremor in his voice. “His first lives were in the land of Atlán, where he quickly became The Supreme Master of all the Powers. His superior endowments caused deep envy among his contemporaries, and these jealous Atlans followed him across lands and seas until the great showdown at Axla, the Atlan settlement half-day foot journey from the Black City. There, The Immortal One demonstrated his Supremacy once again by destroying his enemies with great speed and ease.”
Goll let his finger slide off the tome and slowly raised his eyes towards Damell, Rhuna and the Chief Custodian.
“Supreme Master? Atlans jealous of him?” Aradin repeated incredulously.
“This is the manner
in which he advances his position and gains favour,” Damell commented, and then groaned in dismay. “He killed Atlans who journeyed to the Black City in an attempt to stop him.”
“That’s what I saw in my un-summoned mental vision just before we were trapped here by the snow,” Rhuna remarked. “In my vision I saw about twelve Atlans killed.”
Silence fell upon the group once again, and Rhuna was once again saddened by the cruel loss of life at the hands of the Dark Master.
“We have a big job ahead of us,” Aradin said gloomily.
“May I suggest that I accompany you,” Goll said. “My knowledge of the languages spoken in that region could be of great assistance to you. Furthermore, I can continue my work as recordkeeper of events, seeing with my own eyes, not merely hearing reports from various sources,” he added eagerly.
Rhuna looked at Damell, who in turn looked at the Chief Custodian.
“And this event,” Goll continued persuasively, “…- the Dark Master going back in time to create a city that literally grows and changes each day in our present time due to the changes in the past - is truly unique and worthy of a firsthand account for our Archives!”
Goll looked at Damell and then Chief Custodian for approval.
“He is a valuable asset to us, of course,” said the Chief Custodian. “Yet if he can assist you in this important matter, he may go.”
“Yes,” Damell responded. “He is welcome.”
Rhuna smiled at the pale-skinned scribe as he bowed his head in gratitude, and then carefully returned the giant tome of recorded events in its place. Goram returned his attention to the beautifully-crafted giant map, and then requested a copy of a large portion be made on soft textile as quickly as possible. The Chief Custodian selected various scribes and attendants, ordering them to commence immediately and continue working through the nights until finished.
Rhuna returned to the common rooms wondering what purpose the detailed map would serve, and what plans Goram was devising. She passed through the room where her mother and several other older woman sat together preparing food while sipping steaming hot tea. Then she continued through the corridors once reserved exclusively for the Masters of Ancient Wisdom. She peered through the open doorway and saw Shandi’s round and rosy face smiling in expectation. Her elderly tutor beckoned Rhuna with a gentle bow of her head.
Rhuna- Black City Page 3
