“The King sat in his chair stone faced during the discussion contemplating the Prince’s warning. He thought: My son is right, if that happened England would not be able to defend herself and her territories against the transgressor. I wouldn’t be able to stop the traitor from systematically recruiting and training his own secret military in the new realm. If that happened England’s military would be fighting a war against an army they know nothing about. The traitor would then have the advantage because I wouldn’t know where or when he might strike. Virtually I would be rendered powerless. If England fell, who would stop them? What’s to say they wouldn’t be able to take over the entire world at that point? When the King had heard enough he told the Prince to meet with him and his advisors tomorrow. He would have his answer then. The King dismissed him for the evening.
“After agonizing over the Prince’s assessment of the situation throughout the night the King decided to send the Prince to discover the truth about what was taking place within the Secret Seekers’ Society. The next day after his meeting with the King the Prince left the palace and set out on a mission of his own.
“The Prince knew that the kingdom was in turmoil over his father ascending to Queen Anne’s throne. The Prince’s closest confidants had warned him of a political movement plotting to overthrow his father’s reign. He was also aware there had been discussions about wanting to diminish or limit the role of the monarchy. The Prince made a decision that if the Seekers had discovered another dimension then he wanted to be initiated into the Secret Seekers’ Society himself. He wanted to be in a position to learn all of their secrets. Knowing this information would allow him to discover a way to create and reign over a ‘new kingdom’ all his own.
“His confidante had given him the name of a nobleman who would vouch for the Prince and gain him entrance to one of the Seeker meetings. He went directly to the nobleman’s residence. The nobleman was home that evening and agreed to have a meeting with the Prince. The Prince explained why he had come to visit. Upon hearing his reasoning the nobleman agreed that he would vouch for the Prince and that an invitation to attend a Secret Seekers’ Society meeting would be extended to him.
“At the meeting the Prince was formally introduced to the members of the Secret Seekers’ Society. He stood at the podium and addressed the men explaining why he was there. The men all looked at each other shocked at his frankness. A disruptive discussion broke out around the room. The Seeker President banged his gavel on the table in order to regain control of the meeting. Shrewdly understanding the moment, the Seeker President decided to trust the Prince since he had come to them with the truth and confirmed the rumors.
“The Prince’s body language indicated he wasn’t convinced the rumors were true. ‘If you successfully demonstrate this ability to travel to a new dimension to me, I would consider being a member of your Seeker Society. My membership would give your society the status of legitimacy.’
“The Seeker President walked to the back of the room to a large sculpture that looked like a floating coin. He spun the coin and stepped through the Weary Travelers’ Passageway to the other dimension. The Prince got up from his chair and went to the sculpture to carefully inspect it. Seeing for himself they had been successful and in fact the rumors were true, the Prince decided he must protect their secret from the monarchy. Upon his return to the room the Seeker President asked the Prince how he would like to proceed. The Prince agreed to be initiated into the Secret Seekers’ Society.
“He continued to meet with them at their meetings for several weeks before he reported back to the King that the Secret Seekers’ Society was a hoax. They were nothing more than a group of old men meeting in private and telling stories. His conclusion was that they had nothing to do with the mysterious deaths.
“The King was still suspicious. He secretly had the Prince followed.
In the meantime during his father’s reign as King of England the authority of the monarchy continued to decline. There had been a failed attempt to remove him from the throne. Now the monarchy was faced with talks of limiting the King’s influence. The King seemed powerless to stop the limitations put upon his authority.
“Prince George II continued to meet with the brotherhood of Seekers. He was cognizant his father retained spies everywhere. He was vigilant of his surroundings whenever he left the palace. He kept the King unaware of his membership to the Secret Seekers’ Society. When attending meetings he worked with the Seekers’ Society diligently trying to discover a reason for the mysterious deaths.
“The first men who had been successful passing through to the other side of the Weary Travelers’ Passageway were expedition scouts and alchemists. Once they reached the other side of the Passageway corridor they realized they had discovered an entirely new frontier that was like nothing anyone had ever seen or spoken of before. They cautiously examined the new territory. For months the scouts brought back drawings they made of the unfamiliar species of creatures and strange plants that were native to the new dimension. Once the expedition scouts and alchemists felt comfortable enough to begin exploring more of the new realm they quickly learned it was a dangerous place. The unforeseen perils of the new dimension nearly drove the Seekers to abandon their aspirations. The more time they spent documenting the new realm the scouts and alchemists reported threatening behaviors of the indigenous species toward them. They took samples from the different plants and analyzed them in their lab. They discovered toxic liquid was being excreted from many of the plants.
“Despite their warnings, the Prince was eager to see the new dimension for himself. He convinced the skeptical brotherhood to let him travel to the other side of the Passageway corridor. They feared the worst amongst themselves but reluctantly agreed to let him enter with the men who had been doing the research. Everyone was on edge until the Prince’s return. When he emerged through the Weary Travelers’ Passageway he was rejuvenated and immediately began telling stories about his adventure capturing vivid images in their minds of the Hub’s deceptive beauty and all the things he had seen while he was there.
“After hearing the Prince’s story there was growing concern for the safety of the individuals who would ultimately travel in the future to the new world. It seemed chilling and too dangerous to most of the elders in the room who now realized they wouldn’t be able to make the journey. A heated discussion broke out amongst the Seekers between those who now believed the dangers outweighed the discovery of the new territory, and those who wanted to continue exploration in hopes of finding answers and solutions to any problems that were bound to arise. The elders demanded that the Seeker President take a vote on terminating future explorations.
“However Prince George II once again had another plan. He stood up and asked the brotherhood to give him some time to find solutions for the problems before they voted. He presented a persuasive and passionate argument to the elders who yielded to his request.
“The Prince knew that his father was trying to eradicate the sorcerers and sorceresses from his kingdom. He went to visit with the most powerful sorcerer within the kingdom. He requested a meeting be set up with all sorcerers to discuss his plan. The sorcerer was skeptical and thought it might be a plan on the King’s part to eradicate them forever, but he agreed to take the request to the others.
“At the sorcerers meeting the powerful sorcerer explained why he had gathered them together. He analyzed the Prince’s proposal before his colleagues. They agreed to meet the Prince at an undisclosed destination of their choosing in order to give him a chance to explain his proposal in more detail. On the night of the meeting a sealed message was delivered to the Prince through his window by a raven. The Prince read it and immediately left the palace on horseback following the directions on the message to a place deep within the forest. The sorcerers were all there silently waiting for him around a large fire they had made for warmth.
“The Prince dismounted his horse and explained why he had requested to meet with them unde
r those circumstances. He proposed that if they could create magical eternal borders to keep the creatures and harmful plants out of designated areas, then they would be granted immunity to live within the ‘New Kingdom’ that he planned to create with their help and expertise. They summoned all of the sorcerers’ clans together and voted. Their vote was unanimous to go to the new land. They agreed to conjure up and cast spells that would create eternal borders surrounding the new territories and they agreed to relocate, when the time came, to the ‘New Kingdom’.
“The Prince returned to the Seekers and explained to them the plan he had proposed to the sorcerers. This ‘cockamamie scheme’ seemed outlandish to some of the elder Seekers. They hastily resigned their offices and left the organization. Those who were left were dedicated to the cause. They took a vote to implement the Prince’s plan. It passed unanimously.
“It took months for the sorcerers to be successful. Many of them died attempting to create the magical borders. Once they were successful they gradually began to transition temporarily to a designated area deemed safe in the new dimension.
“Gradually materials were brought in to begin building structures. Some of the Seekers able to go to the new dimension during this time were taught simple enchantment spells by the sorcerers. When they returned to England they would cast spells on the objects currently called Seeker tools. (To this day there are Seekers who still use those enchantment spells.)
“Once the Seekers were safe from the indigenous dangers, they began to travel back and forth frequently to bring supplies and to explore deeper into the new dimension. Several major discoveries were made during the Era of Discoveries: First, the Time Warp Tunnels were found within the mountains. They were explored and mapped. Second, the designated ground was approved for the heavier materials needed to be brought into the Hub in order to build the large structures they envisioned for the metropolis. (Most of the structures in the Hub today are original to that era.) Once they began to dig into the ground they discovered crystals that were underlying part of the rocky surface. In other parts of the Hub, natural springs of pure water were discovered. Water fountains were placed over the natural springs.
“The Seekers began bringing the strange crystals back through the Passageway with them. An observant Seeker, who had brought some crystals back with him, noticed that the crystals would glow only for certain people when he placed them in their hand. He shared an idea with fellow Seekers. Seekers who held a crystal in their hand, and it glowed, were the ones who could travel through the Weary Travelers’ Passageway safely. The crystal would not glow, when held, for those who couldn’t Seek. Unfortunately after several more casualties, they knew they had discovered a foolproof way to ascertain if an individual could travel from one dimension to another.
Charles interrupted, “I remember when you did that magic trick with us! That’s how you knew…”
Carson said, “Yes, that’s how I knew for certain you were able to Sojourn and the rest of your family was not able to.”
Now it was beginning to make sense and come together in Charles’ mind.
Carson continued, “Eventually the Seekers’ Society grew and they decided to create more Passageways for the Seekers who wanted to travel to the Hub. Some of the Seekers once they arrived decided they didn’t want to abide by the rules the Seekers’ Society had put in place. The Seekers began to notice with their growing numbers traveling to the Hub some individuals were becoming lawless and careless. A vote was taken to form the framework of and to put in place a Seeker Government. As soon as those who were opposed to a government being implemented heard the vote had passed, a conflict broke out amongst Seekers. The Seekers in opposition to the government cut ties to the pro government Seekers. They refused to be documented by the new Seeker Government because they didn’t want to be ruled over by any form of government. They became known as the Revolutionaries. At this time the society changed its name to Sojourners as a precaution. The Seekers believed they needed to change their association’s name once they began their new government in the ‘new’ dimension, because the King was aware of their prior name.
“As the Sojourners began bringing materials over to the Hub to build structures the Revolutionaries would sneak over and steal crystals from the dig sites and hoard them. It was discovered that some of the Revolutionaries were creating havoc by going through the Time Warp Tunnels and performing criminal activities in the past. By changing the past it created unexpected dangers for those wanting to time travel. The Sojourners used their materials and began building boundaries around the mountain where the Time Warp Tunnels were located. They did this in order to gain control over the time travelers.
“The Revolutionaries became furious when they no longer had access to the Time Warp Tunnels. Fights began to happen throughout the Hub. That is when the Sojourner Government began recruiting their civil servants to protect innocent Sojourners as they traveled to and around the Hub.
“When all the crystals had been excavated, because they were finished building structures, a bloody war broke out in the Hub. The Revolutionaries banded together to confiscate a portion of the Hub, which is now referred to as the ‘Unknown’ Sector. They thought that crystals could be mined under the structures. When they began digging they discovered all of the crystal veins were on the Sojourner side of the border. This is why thefts occur so often in the Hub.
“The Sojourner Government has tried for centuries to get the Revolutionaries to join them. They have a standing Amnesty Doctrine for anyone who wants to become documented and abide by Sojourner Law. A majority of the Revolutionaries wanted to do as they pleased and they continue to remain undocumented. From the Revolutionaries another Seeker group emerged and split off. They became the ‘Unknowns’ or the Labyrinth Seekers. They control an undisclosed portion of the ‘Unknown’ Sector where the Stygian Market is located somewhere within its boundaries. They cross the border in search of crystals that they can steal from Sojourners to sell them at a premium price on the Stygian Market. They also steal and sell: Passageways, Sojourner tools and travel papers, coins, etc.
“The legend states that by the time the Prince learned it was inevitable that the monarchy was not going to have unlimited power within the new kingdom, he had dispatched enough to have his closest allies, the sorcerers, across the Hub’s eternal borders to scout for an area within the new dimension to create a kingdom with it’s own eternal borders. Little by little the sorcerers transitioned to the new kingdom in the dark of the night. (To my knowledge no one followed.) The natural surroundings were too dangerous for Sojourners to try to locate where they created their kingdom. Later a rumor circulated that the Prince had somehow created an enchanted Seeker tool called a Marble Track in which to travel back and forth to the new dimension. It is thought that a Marble Track Seeker can circumvent the Time Warp Tunnels in order to travel to a limited number of destinations throughout time. It is possible the story is true since the Prince was an original Seeker he would have had access to the original Weary Traveler’s Passageway. Shortly after that the King of England died, George the II ascended to the throne. The royal family to this day are registered documented Sojourners.
“As the population of Sojourners grew within the new dimension, the Sojourners formed their own interest groups within the Hub. Those groups are very numerous and they all have to be documented with the Sojourner Government in order to exist. However they are not as strictly regulated as most Sojourners agree they should be.”
Charles said, “That explains a lot. I now have a better understanding about Sojourner history.”
Carson asked, “Do you have any questions?”
“Yes. Did the King of England ever find out about his son being a Seeker, and then later a Sojourner since he had him followed?”
Carson answered, “No. He never did to my knowledge. When his father died the Prince became King George the II. He then had two dimensions to reign over. My guess is that most of the time he left his closest
confidant to rule in his absence in the other dimension. When the King died, I believe his confidant may have taken over the kingdom for the monarchy. Possibly he would have become King since he was a relative of King George II.”
“That makes sense. Does anyone know how the Time Warp Tunnels came to be in existence? How do they transport Sojourners to another time?”
Carson had to think about that question. “I don’t really know the answer to that question. I believe when they explored the mountain they found the Time Warp Tunnels just as they had existed since the beginning of the existence of the universe. Quite possibly the dimension itself is just a coordinate located in the vast universe and the tunnels are a loop in that coordinate and a continuous continuation of eternal time. I think they both were just a natural phenomenon within the universe that waited to be discovered. No one really knows for sure how the alchemist made his scientific discovery. That wasn’t documented in our journals. After the alchemist died it was discovered his scientific notes and journals had all disappeared. To my knowledge he never revealed the coordinate within the universe to anyone. He set it just once through the original Weary Travelers’ Passageway. All of the other Passageways that followed had to be created from it.”
Carson asked him, “Would you like to learn about how our family began Sojourning.” Charles nodded. Carson put his hand on the first journal, “Let’s begin with Nana’s family. Nana’s family can trace their beginnings to a lady named Genevieve Alistar. Genevieve was married to Admiral David Alistar. When Genevieve’s father had become very sick he had a correspondence sent requesting her to come home. When she arrived at her father’s estate she realized how sick he had become. The pneumonia had caused a high fever and the strange stories he uttered seemed to prove that he was delirious. For days the only sleep Genevieve received were the times the Admiral would drift off to sleep. The only comfort she had was that he recognized her presence and took comfort in the fact she was at his bedside. As soon as her father awoke she would come and sit beside him on the bed. He would ask Genevieve over and over again if she remembered what he had told her. She would reassure him that she had been listening and remembered his words as she wiped his forehead with a cool wet washcloth.
The Xidoran Prophecy Page 38
