by Pedro Urvi
He had no idea what was going on, but seeing his allies there he decided to find out. He lowered his protective sphere.
“Aruma, what are you doing here? What is happening?”
The old witch turned to him and smiled broadly.
“The Prince of Ether has found us, and he is well,” she said. She sounded pleased. “I never believed you would manage to get as far as this, not amid the horror and chaos of this war. It gladdens my soul to see you safe and sound.”
Nobody else turned round; all went on with the ritual.
“Thank you, Aruma. It has not been easy, but in the end I succeeded. I too am delighted to see you. How did you get here?”
She gave him a malicious grin. “Oh, you know we have our ways…”
Adamis imagined they must have used a secret passage or something of the sort. Aruma and her people had many secrets, so he was not especially surprised.
“What are you doing to the Great Monolith?”
“It is a sacred ritual to Arutan, our Mother Nature.”
“You have to stop. You are interfering with the Power of the monolith, and we need it to use the Royal Portal and evacuate the survivors sheltering in my House.”
Aruma nodded thoughtfully several times.
“We had not taken that possibility into account,” she said, sounding concerned. She pondered, then went on: “Unfortunately we can’t stop the sacred ritual. I’m sorry it interferes with the functioning of the Portal, I truly am, but it’s imperative that we continue.”
“Listen, Aruma, if you do not stop it thousands of refugees will be exterminated. The royal palace is about to fall. Asu will not leave anybody alive, you know that. You must help me.”
“I would like to be able to help you, Adamis, you know in my heart I feel it so, but I regret I must deny your petition.”
Adamis gaped at her. “I cannot believe it. You are not being serious, surely?”
“The ritual must continue. There is too much at stake.”
“Aruma, you cannot! You are sentencing them to death!”
“They’re dead already, my dear Prince. We’re all doomed. It’s just a matter of time.”
“By Alantres! What are you saying? Are you all out of your minds? We have to save them! My mother! My father! They will all die!”
“My young friend, the final hour has arrived,” Aruma said, and her face turned somber. “What we predicted would happen has occurred. For long the omens showed us that the day would arrive when our civilization’s greed and pride would lead us to the destruction of Mother Nature. That day has come, and that is why we must acct.”
“What day? Act in what way?” he asked. He was trying to understand what was happening and find some way out of the situation.
“Today is the day the Golden have decided to take an irreversible path toward the end of our existence. Asu and his allies of the House of the Dead will win. They will take power, and it will be the end for our mother. Nothing and nobody will be able to stop them. They will destroy not only the Golden and Men, but Mother Nature herself. Today is the day when the final stage begins which leads toward the end of time. And that is why we must act to stop it. Tomorrow all will be lost.”
“There must be something we could do. Not everything is lost. My father is still holding out.”
“Yes. And he’ll do whatever he can to protect his House and his allies, but in the end he will perish. The Houses of Water and Ether are doomed. Just as the Houses of Air and Earth have already perished. They will all be fodder for the House of the Dead and its corrupt Power. The dead will rise and walk the earth to continue devouring and killing in a vicious, unbreakable cycle. The House of the Dead is an aberration which will corrupt the living. But the one who will really destroy the world is Asu, with his boundless greed. He will use all the technologies that have been developed to exploit Mother Nature and create more Power and become the most powerful being in our universe. He will seek to live eternally, exploiting humans, nature, and whatever else he may find. Like a huge black hole that swallows everything: life, power, everything.”
“Can you not destroy him? Kill him?”
She sighed deeply. “If we could, we would already have done so. We have tried, several times, without success. And in any case, even if we succeeded in killing him, another would take his place. Another with the same ambitions to rule and become immortal, or something even worse, because that’s what the Golden are fed from birth, and it’s all they know how to do, all they aspire to. The technologies for the destruction of our Mother are already working, and you’ve seen them in action. Over time they’ll develop others even worse in their insane pursuit of immortality and absolute power. The root of the problem is the beliefs and goals of our civilization which are now leading us to the abyss. Our civilization will destroy this world.”
“Then let us stop Asu,” he said, trying to gain time. “Then we can think about the future later on.”
Aruma shook her head. “You yourself have been witness to the devastating power of Asu and his new ally. We can’t stop him. He’ll win.”
“What are you going to do?” Adamis asked with deep apprehension.
“We’ve spent a long time preparing for this day. We knew it would come. Whether it was Asu or some other Golden who would drive us to the edge of the cliff. We’ve worked a lot, searching for some way to stop the destruction of this world. I myself have devoted my whole life to it, just as they have.” She indicated the circle of the dozen Elders, with a grateful smile. “And in the end we found out how to do it.”
“Then there is hope!”
“Yes, but it requires an unequalled sacrifice. One that most Golden aren’t prepared to make.”
“What is it? Perhaps I will be able to convince them.”
She waved a hand toward her companions and the base of the great monolith. “This ritual.”
“I do not understand…”
“Do you remember the Toxin I spent so long working on?”
Remembering that she had been seeking to create an extremely potent toxin, he felt a deep unease. “Yes… the poison. Did you succeed?”
“Yes, in the end I did.”
“And what are you going to do with it?”
“Not only have I found it, I’ve managed to ensure that it only causes death to the Golden and remains harmless to men, animals and plants.”
Adamis thought that this would give them a chance. “What are you planning to do? Will you use it against Asu’s army?”
“Yes, and no,” Aruma said. There was deep sadness in her eyes.
“Why not? It is a good idea. It could work. How do we use it?”
“Well, you see, once it’s in the environment we can’t control its area of effect. It will kill every Golden it encounters.”
“My mother? My people?”
She nodded heavily.
“They could get to safety using the Royal Portal! They could go to the Great Continent!”
The leader of the Children of Arutan sighed deeply and shook her head. Adamis stared at her, and finally he understood.
“You do not want anybody to get away. You do not want any Golden to reach the mainland. You want to kill them all, here, in Alantres.”
She lowered her gaze. “At last you understand.”
Adamis realized the lunacy of what the Children of Arutan meant to do. “You cannot! That would be genocide! A holocaust!”
“It’s the sacrifice which Mother Nature demands. As long as the Golden rule this world, she will be endangered. And that is a sacrifice our people are not prepared to make.”
“You are going to kill us all! This is madness! Stop!”
“Not all. There are a few among us who are immune to the toxin. They will be spared, the rest will die. It’s the only way to save this world. Believe me, I wouldn’t do it if there were any other solution.”
“You are out of your mind! You are driving us to extinction as a species!”
“No. The f
ew who will survive will begin a new era. One based on the lesson they have learned. They will not repeat the mistakes of the past. They will not seek immortality and absolute power. They will live in harmony with other species and with Mother Nature.”
“You have no guarantee that it will happen like that. They might just as easily follow the same path that led us here.”
“That was foreseen.”
He saw the flash of intelligence in her eyes.
“You have prepared a safeguard.”
She nodded, with a crooked smile.
“You are immune. You will survive,” he said, understanding her game.
Aruma shook her head emphatically. She waved her hand and Sormacus came forward from the shadows.
“No, not me. My disciples will be in charge of making sure that the Rebirth of the Golden follows the course laid out for them.”
At the sight of Sormacus, an image came to Adamis’ mind: the blackened lips he had noticed on several occasions.
“I thought you were sick…”
“No, I was taking small doses of the poison so as to become immune. I’ve been doing it since I was a little boy.”
“Sormacus, make her see reason. You are intelligent, you know this is an insane mistake.”
Sormacus shook his head. “It’s the only way. We’ve studied all the scenarios and alternatives. We’ve been doing that for centuries. No other option except Rebirth is viable. It’s that or else complete destruction.”
“No!” Adamis cried out,
“Remember, we made a deal,” Aruma told him. “I would help you to get back to Alantres, and one day I would ask you for something you would find very difficult to do but which you promised to fulfill.”
“I remember…”
“Today is that day. You must honor the deal. I’m asking you not to interfere.”
“I cannot do it. I cannot let you kill them all.”
“You owe me. You must honor what we agreed.”
Adamis shook his head. “You ask something of me which I cannot do.”
“You knew it would be so.”
“Yes, but not this.”
“Then you will break your word and not carry out what we agreed on, and which you owe me.”
“I cannot…”
Desperate, seeing he would get nowhere with them and that this madness would kill most of the Golden, he was left with no other option. He would have to fight against them and stop them, however much he might hate doing so. He could not allow them to exterminate the Golden, whether or not they were right to do so. He simply could not let them commit such an atrocity. With his eyes fixed on Aruma, he raised his protective sphere and prepared to attack.
“It won’t do you any good.” Aruma said.
Out of the shadows, behind his back, Ariadne appeared. Adamis spun to face her. Her sword went through his protective sphere and the tip of the blade touched his neck.
“Ariadne…” he stammered, utterly taken aback. “You are dead… Lord Erre… the House of Fire…”
“No Adamis, I’m alive. We tricked you.”
“You too?”
Ariadne nodded without taking her eyes off him. “And as you can see, I have a sword like the one Aruma gave you, the one which hangs at your waist. Your sphere is useless. I will not hesitate to kill you if you so much as blink. I owe myself to my people, to the cause.”
“The same goes for those who try to protect themselves from the toxin. I have mixed it with the preparation so as to penetrate protective shields. Everything has been seen to. The Rebirth of the Golden can’t be stopped.” Aruma said.
Adamis felt that he was the greatest fool in existence. He had been part of their plans, had helped them to bring those plans to fruition without realizing. All the time he believed he was being helped, it was really he who was helping Aruma carry out her plan.
“You have used me, from the very beginning, ever since you sent me the pearl.”
“We needed you, we needed Men, to attain our aim. We never lied to you. We explained to you what was happening, what would come later …”
“You never explained about this madness!”
“Because I knew you would not approve. That’s why Ariadne has always been near you. Following you like a shadow.”
“She has a Chameleon Ring like the one you gave me, does she not?”
Aruma nodded. Ariadne showed him the palm of her left hand with the ring in it, while the right grasped the sword-hilt firmly. She put it away in the folds of her robe.
“She received the same gifts as you. With different aims in mind.”
Adamis bent his head. “I cannot believe it.”
“We are doing it for the good of all,” Sormacus said, “Golden and Men. If there were any other way we wouldn’t sacrifice so many of our own, believe me, Adamis.”
“I think you believe it is the only option, but you are wrong, I assure you. Very wrong!”
“I knew you wouldn’t understand,” Aruma said. “I can’t blame you for not seeing the greater good.”
“There is no good that could justify this! Stop!”
Aruma bowed her head and sighed. “If he moves, kill him,” she said to Ariadne.
The young woman nodded. There was a tacit threat in the stare she turned on Adamis.
“Sormacus, the hour is come. Activate the mechanism,”
“No! You will kill thousands of innocents!”
The hundred Children of Arutan began an ominous chant. Sormacus went to the great transparent container and pulled the side levers. From the top of the pod issued an enormous golden needle. The liquid in the container began to boil, and an instant later it began to turn into gas, which issued from the needle under pressure toward the base of the Great Monolith.
The Children of Arutan in the outer circle concentrated all their power on the base of the monolith. The toxic vapor began to penetrate it. Adamis did not understand what they were trying to do, but then he saw it through the crystal ceiling. A huge toxic cloud, circular in shape, was forming around the monolith like a silver-green ring. The more power the Children of Arutan sent, the bigger and denser this cloud became.
“No! Tell them to stop!” he pleaded. He tried to move, and the sword grazed his neck. Ariadne shook her head. Her eyes told him clearly that she would kill him if he tried to stop them.
Aruma’s gaze was condescending. “They’re all sacrificing themselves here today. They’re sending forth all their Power so that the toxin reaches the boundaries of this world. They won’t stop until all their Power has been consumed.”
Adamis shook his head in disbelief. They were all insane.
“Send it forth!” she said.
“No!”
“Nothing can be done now. My children are giving all their Power and their Life. They will die consumed. They are sacrificing themselves for a new beginning, for the Rebirth of the Golden.”
The Children of Arutan in the outer circle were now using all their power, and amplified by that of the Great Monolith the toxic ring began to spread and cover the land around it. As they died, the cloud expanded in the form of a damp mist which sank as far as the inner spaces of the earth.
“Let me save them!” Adamis pleaded.
“If you leave this chamber you will die,” Aruma said. “The toxic cloud will spread over all Alantres. They will all die, you included.”
“How long?”
“A day.”
“Even so, let me go.”
She shook her head. “You are condemning yourself. You could be part of the Rebirth if you choose to stay.”
“I owe myself to my people. I must go to them. They are my family.”
“You won’t be able to save them.”
“Grant this to me. For the friendship we shared.”
She sighed. “I’m sorry that this is your choice. But I’ll grant you your wish. Let him go, Ariadne.”
The young woman looked at Aruma, who nodded. She lowered her sword.
; Adamis ran out of the chamber.
“Goodbye, Prince of Ether,” Aruma murmured as he left.
Chapter 37
Adamis went back to the dock in the first ring and leapt off the boat. A sharp pain in his side left him slumped on his knees with his hand on his ribs. He cursed the weakness of his battered body. He raised his eyes ready to go on and at that moment he felt it: a damp feeling with a sour taste to it which soaked his whole body from head to foot. I am doomed. He looked up at the sky and saw that the great poisonous cloud had passed over him and was spreading towards the First Ring, covering everything it found in its path.
Everything around him was now a toxic mist. He was aware that there was no hope for him now. But he was not afraid, perhaps because he was already under sentence of death and living on borrowed time. He had now received a second death sentence and would be dead within a day. I will get up and fight to the end, he told himself, and gathering strength from his royal pride he got to his feet and went to look for his people, and try to save them.
He arrived in the throne hall in the midst of the din of the battle. He found his father lying on the ground surrounded by the last of his loyal subjects, who were defending him. Part of the wall and ceiling had collapsed, and through the gap the enemy Warriors were trying to make their way in. The soldiers of the House of Ether were doing all they could to repel them in one last suicidal defense. The noise was deafening.
Teslo, Champion of the House of Ether, was leading the defense, fighting in the front line. Like a demon of the mist he was killing every enemy who dared to come into the chamber.
Adamis saw that his father was badly wounded.
“Father!”
“Adamis, my son.” His smile was twisted in pain, and he grimaced as he spoke. “It is nothing, just a scratch.”
Adamis looked inquiringly at the two ancient healers beside the High King of Ether. They shook their heads, deep sadness in their eyes. A little further away, wearing a strange white-hooded robe trimmed with gold, a Priest was waiting solemnly. Adamis remembered that this was a Guardian Priest. His Father was dying, and there was nothing that could be done for him.
