by Pedro Urvi
Kyra spread her arms wide, and the spirit entered her chest and vanished into her. At once everything it had seen and experienced appeared in her mind. There’s the Portal. The temples were a small labyrinth of chambers and tunnels on different levels. Using a searching spirit saved her having to explore the whole place and getting lost more than once in the process. A great trick, Adamis, thanks for teaching me, she thought, grateful to her lover and tutor.
Feeling easier now that she knew she was alone, she resettled her satchel across her back and went down the tunnels which led toward the chamber with the Portal. She found it two levels below. To enter it she had to use Adamis’s disc, just as she would have to in order to manipulate the Portal. Only the Golden could operate their artifacts; she herself could not. She had already tried, but her mind was incapable of deciphering the symbols and hieroglyphs she needed to understand in order to operate them. Adamis had explained that it was the symbolic language of the Golden, and that learning it would take too much time. Time which they did not have. With foreknowledge, he had prepared the discs he had given the four of them with the ability to translate the language so their minds would understand it. In this way they would be able to enter and leave the temples and operate the Portals. But if she should lose the disc, or if it were destroyed, she would be unable to use either temples or Portals.
The Portal shone in the wall with a silver sheen so soft it was barely noticeable. She used the disc and then, once again, Adamis’ map. With it open, floating above the disc, she searched for her destination: the temple closest to the Boundary of the House of Fire. She memorized its location and made the map disappear. Now she had to activate the Portal and indicate the place she wished to go to. She placed her hand on the viscose surface of the Portal, which felt like melted silver, and activated it. Immediately it gave a flash and seemed to wake from a long slumber. The golden rim flashed, and the runes began to twinkle with golden flashes. She had to move the runes and place them in the right order to set her destination. The Portal projected them to her mind as a message, awaiting her reply.
She bit her lip. Not being able to manipulate the arcane object made her angry. The technology of the Golden was more than she could understand. Not even her brother could. We can’t learn everything in just a single day. She used the disc and began to translate the signs. Without very well knowing how, they began to make sense to her, and she let herself be carried away. She knew her destination; now she had to pass it on to the Portal. She visualized it in her mind. There! ‒ and her mind, with the aid of the disc, translated the location into the Portal’s language of symbols. The runes moved and aligned themselves correctly. That’s it. Great!
She got ready to enter. Suddenly the Portal gave a flash, and from its surface issued a strange golden gleam. At the same time waves began to spread from its center, like a pebble thrown into a lake.
“What’s this?” she cried in alarm. She had never seen the Portal do that.
And before she could understand what was happening, a figure came out of the Portal. Her heart nearly burst with the shock. The figure was slender and golden-skinned. It was a Golden! A bloody Golden! What on earth was he doing there? She cursed her luck.
Beside her, the Golden straightened slowly and shook off the effects of crossing the Portal. He turned his head and saw her. His golden face was unable to hide his surprise; his thin eyebrows arched and his small clear eyes opened wide. He raised one hand and pointed at her. She reacted with all her energy, hurling herself head-first into the Portal without glancing back.
She came out on the other side of another Portal in a temple miles away, rolling on the ground in pain. Traveling through the portals was painful for Men. For the Golden it was not, but they could not do it all the time as it affected their Power, so that according to what Adamis had told her, they needed to rest afterwards. When she shook off the pain from her body she cried at the top of her voice:
“Just made it!”
Then she remembered she was in another of the temples and that there might be another God there, or a Guard. The Golden normally placed Guards in important temples, to protect their contents. But Adamis had told her there were no Guards in the temples with portals, only in the main ones. She relaxed an instant, then tensed. Oh no! The God might follow her here just by taking the Portal she had left. And he might do it very soon.
“By Oxatsi! I have to run!”
She sprinted as if a hungry lion were after her. She left the chamber, not knowing the way but aware that she had to get to the upper levels. She ran searching for stairs without looking back. If he catches me I’m dead. She took out the disc as she ran down a tunnel and summoned the Spirit of Search. Get me out of here, fast. The spirit shot away, responding to its mistress’s urgency, and she ran after it.
The mental message was so clear that she had to shut her eyes and withstand its scorching strength.
You will not escape from here alive, came the message from the Golden.
Just my luck! He followed me! She ran even faster, saw a flight of stone stairs and ran up them without stopping to catch her breath. As she was going up them two at a time, the spirit came back to her. She stopped and spread her arms wide. Which way? The spirit entered her body, and in her mind she saw the way. The way out. I have it! She was about to break into a run once again when she had a strange presentiment: one of death. An attack! She glanced at the disc and commanded: Shield! A protective translucent sphere enveloped her.
She was about to turn when out of the corner of her eye she saw a flash of fire coming toward her at great speed. A zigzagging arrow of fire struck her in the back. The shield protected her, but she felt the shock in her body.
Die, you slave, the God said.
“You bastard!” she shouted.
You are still alive? How did you survive my heat-seeking missile?
She wanted to answer. Even more than that, she wanted to kill that scum. But she thought better of it. She would gain nothing by confronting a God. Not there, in a Golden Temple, on his own terrain. And what would be the point? No, her friends needed her. Fighting a Golden would only delay her, and the odds were that she would die. She was not ready. Not yet. She would have given anything to have turned back and defeated him, but that was not the wisest choice. She controlled the rage burning in her stomach and took a deep breath. What on earth was a God of the House of Fire doing there, anyway? He could not be on his way to the Boundary. The Gods did not deign to set foot in the boundaries; it meant lowering themselves. Was crossing with him simply bad luck? No: Ikai always said that in most cases there was some reason for bad luck. At that moment she had no way of knowing what that reason was, but there had to be one, and probably something that was bad news for them.
She looked back and thought it over. He doesn’t know I’m a Hybrid with Power. He must be puzzled. Let him stay that way. It’ll give me a chance to escape. Without a word she leapt toward the exit as fast as her legs would allow.
Who are you?
She said nothing and went on running. At the end of a tunnel she found a flight of stairs. The way out was at the top, and somehow she had to reach it. Suddenly something struck her in the back, so that she almost tripped and fell. The sphere had blocked it, whatever it was. She recovered and began to climb the stairs.
You have a shield, yet you are not one of our people. What are you?
The blow had been some kind of test-missile. Now the God was really confused. That gave her a chance. She was almost there. A few more steps and she would reach safety.
Very well, as you please. In that case it will be your dead body we will study.
She knew that death was on its way to find her, but she concentrated on the door in front of her, the way out of the temple. With the disc in one hand, panting from the exertion, she commanded the disc to open it. It flashed and carried out the order. The door rang with a rocky crack and a sliver of light came through at one edge. A moment later it began to move to one
side, with the light from outside illuminating the entrance to the tunnel. “Come on, come on, quick, come on!”
Instinctively she turned to glance behind her. Something gripped her throat so that she could not swallow. Rolling up the stairs at great speed came a huge ball of fire, filling the entire width of the tunnel, consuming all the air in its passage, illuminating the walls with the brilliance of a fiery death.
“No!”
She turned toward the door. The ball of fire hit her squarely. The brutal explosion filled both tunnel and stairs with fire. The door finished opening and she was thrown outside. She rolled along the ground violently and ended up lying on the grass. She had lost her shield, which had been swallowed up in the explosion. An unpleasant smell of burning made her reach for the back of her neck. It and the back of her head were burnt, part of her long hair was gone and the pain in her back warned her that it had reached there too. The swine’s roasted me!
Rage made her stand and face the temple entrance, which was carved out of the base of a hill of black rock. She took a step toward the entrance with her fists clenched, ready to face the Golden. Then she stopped. No. Think. This is not the time. There’ll be another opportunity, when you’re stronger. She convinced herself. She turned and ran in the opposite direction like a gazelle chased by a lion.
The God of the House of Fire came out of the temple and scanned the plain. There was no trace of the slave girl. He sent an impulse of power to find life around him, but could find nothing.
Interesting, very interesting. Lord Asu will want to know about this odd incident.
Chapter 16
Adamis gazed at the unparalleled beauty of the Eternal City, while the ship sailed the waters of the main channel towards the center of the city. They were leaving behind the pier of the fifth ring, their point of departure. The sea breeze caressed his face and he sighed in gratitude. Alantres was as beautiful as he remembered it, although when he looked at it now with his own eyes and not those of memory, it was even more so.
“Stand straighter,” came the mental warning from Ariadne by his side.
Instantly he grasped the urgency of the Healer’s message. He straightened and raised his chin. He endured the stab of pain that followed by clenching his jaw tightly.
“Remember that you are a Golden Lord and you are among Golden.”
“I know, I am sorry.”
They were standing on the stern of the graceful ship, a little behind the rest of the retinue. Ariadne gestured ahead. The hundred Golden who made up the entourage of the House of the Fifth Ring were listening to the moving words of their Prince. From the prow, the heir of the kingdom of Water was addressing his people on the subject of the glorious day of celebration and the wonders they would all witness. Adamis recognized Prince Saxti of the House of Aru, the House of the Fifth Ring. A shiver ran down his spine, because he would be recognized if they came face to face. He had to avoid that at any cost.
He nodded back to Ariadne. “We must be as careful as we can.”
While the Prince of Water boasted about the intellect of the Erudites of his House and the great technological advances they had achieved, Adamis stretched forward and took a good look at the members of the retinue who were traveling on the single-sailed ship. All of them wore white tunics with golden hoods, as tradition dictated for that day. The wide blue sashes around their waists marked them out as members of the House of Water. He looked down at himself: he was wearing the same, as were Ariadne and Sormacus.
“Today is an important day,” came Prince Saxti’s clear mental voice. “Today is the Celebration of Intellectual Enlightenment, and all the Houses honor it. It is an important celebration for all the Golden, for through technological advances we continue to evolve and approach immortality, day by day”
“Today we celebrate the great advances of our glorious civilization,” Ariadne commented sarcastically.
“Are you sure this is a good plan? It is very risky.”
“It is the only way to make you understand the aberrations the five houses are creating and the abyss they are leading us to as a civilization. I need you to see for yourself. It is very risky, I know, but I can assure you it will change your vision of the future of the Golden.”
Adamis sighed and nodded. He had never attended this celebration, even though his father had explained the true importance of the event to him. It took place every three hundred years, and although it celebrated advances in knowledge, it was merely another form taken by the dangerous political game between the Houses. Each one boasted to the others of the advances they had achieved. At the end of the ceremony the best of these were chosen and the houses received prizes accordingly. Those who could boast the most exceptional advances gained positions and power. And those with the least notable advances were relegated and lost face before the winners. Adamis knew that even though the Erudites achieved great advances in all fields every few hundred years, from healing to warfare, what was really being celebrated was something completely different: which House was the most powerful in the field of technology. And that was nothing other than the dangerous game of seeing which House was the most powerful. And politics and power were synonymous with blood and death.
Prince Saxti went on with his speech: “…and from among all the Erudites of the five houses, ours are the wisest and most intelligent. Their achievements will lead us to the longed-for immortality. The advances they have made will leave the other Houses baffled and speechless.” He waved at his Erudites, signaling them to join him at the stern. About twenty aged Golden, who had been standing in front of a group of large bundles which had been covered with white canvas to hide their contents, joined the Prince of Water. Adamis wondered what could be hidden there as if it were a great secret. Secrets were not usually good news.
The Prince’s boasting and praises of his Erudites went on. The whole entourage was listening, hanging on his every word. Adamis, on the other hand, was drinking in the unparalleled beauty of the city of the five rings on the emerald-blue waters as the ship moved on along the great central canal. They were level with the fourth ring: the House of Idnem, House of the element Earth. He gazed at the sober, regal buildings of rock and granite typical of that ring. Streets, buildings: everything was of stone and earth. The whole area had an orange-brown tone. Great ramparts had been built around colossal buildings, at different levels along the ring. On those ramparts grew what little vegetation there was.
Four huge monuments stood out from the rest at each end of the ring. To the north was a proud pyramid over four hundred feet tall and eight hundred wide, constructed from great blocks of granite. If the pyramid was an incomparable feat of architecture, no less was the Great Sphere at the south end. Adamis could not understand how it had been built, for it was perfectly spherical and built from blocks of pure granite. Rivaling it in perfection, to the east rose the Great Needle, whose girth was no more than forty-five feet. It seemed impossible that it should stand, yet it did not fall, not even under the force of the worst hurricane winds. Finally, to the west rose the Rectangle, an imposing structure in the form of a stadium where the tournaments of the House of Earth were celebrated.
He sighed, saddened at the sight of a large group of slaves working on the building of a reinforcement. How many thousands of slaves must have died raising these mammoth buildings which only serve the vanity of one or other despot? They passed the pier, and he saw the elegant ship which carried the retinue of the House of the Fourth Ring leaving the dock to follow them toward the Great Monolith, where the ceremony would take place. When he saw the entourage of the fourth ring approaching on the ship with its decoration of brown and gold motifs, a question came to his mind.
“How did you manage to get us included in the ceremony?” he asked Ariadne.
She nodded to her side. “Not me. He was the one who managed it.”
Adamis’ eyes turned to Sormacus, who nodded to him in acknowledgment. “I have certain contacts and some influence within the
fifth ring.”
“He is the personal aide to the First Priest,” Ariadne explained.
Then Adamis understood. The First Priest was the most powerful figure in a House, apart from the royal family itself. He was in charge of all the ceremonies and many of the royal projects, as well as other more delicate matters.
“The First Priests have contacts and power both inside and outside the Houses. That allows us to arrange certain things. Attendance at this event, for example.”
“The First Priests talk with each other, and they are very dangerous,” Adamis warned. “They devote more time to the political game than to the Golden Dogma. You should be very careful, they are ruthless.”
“Your concern honors me, but you need not worry,” Sormacus said. “I know my neck is in constant danger. I have witnessed truly “unpleasant” things. The abuse committed in the name of the Golden Dogma, and the wellbeing of the Houses, are the reasons why I am with the Children of Arutan.”
“You take many risks, both of you,” Adamis said. He knew very well what the First Priests were capable of. They were nothing but treacherous political animals who did not hesitate to do whatever might be necessary to win the favor of the royal family, and most of all, to improve their own position.
“The Children of Arutan have been working in the shadows for a very long time,” Ariadne said, “watching, protecting our Mother Nature Arutan devotedly and loyally, respecting her principles, acting as her children, which we are. We are all aware of the risks we take, and of what is coming. Many of us will not survive. But it is our duty to save our civilization and our Mother Nature, since no-one else is going to.”
