The Wizard's Sword (Nine Worlds of Mirrortac Book 1)

by Paul Vanderloos

  Shubek’s explanations had become familiar to the erfin who had grown fond of the meretee, understanding and knowing what he meant. Satisfied, Shubek resumed his seat and let twx take his turn.

  ‘Indeed! What expandening we have here,’ he began, flicking his head about in quicksilver fervour and with a cheerful note to his voice. ‘Mirrortac interests this one, Yes! Shu is a worthy bringer of the expandening to the furry one. If the warrior needed expandening of the Greater Sky, twx will take him to his sisters, the Astellites in the Palace of the Pool Stones upon the Up-way Zu-laire. My sisters know much of the worlds and fire-orbs in the Greater Sky. Perhapsening this be his path, Yes?’ twx inclined his head at the erfin, awaiting a response. The erfin nodded.

  ‘I wish to know much of these worlds. I will come with you when my mind is content with all that you and your brethren can tell here,’ he said.

  Twx smiled a little stupidly and sat down. The next to speak was wo and, as he rose, Mirrortac noticed the pronounced webbing of the aged Ra-finelle’s hands and an air of great calm in his bearing. Wo glanced around him, unhurried and tranquil. When he did speak, his words were scant and cryptic.

  ‘Sufra Mere is everness. That is so. Utlontees are spirit. That is so. The Mistness comes. That is so.’ Wo fell silent and sat down.

  ‘What is this Mistness?’ asked Mirrortac, braving the silence that followed wo’s enigmatic words.

  ‘It is serenetees’ talk!’ erupted yt, glaring at wo as he spoke. ‘Wo is serenetee. Their ancient expanding tells of the Mistness that will divide Mareos into two worlds, each unseen to the other and with the Mistness as gateway. It is old-talk. Nonsense!’ Yt fixed his eyes on wo, looking down his snout at him with contempt.

  ‘Yt! Wo is son to wise serenetees’ explorers. Be calming young one!’ Ix warned.

  Yt was still filled with the naive carelessness of youth and had been warned on other occasions of his behaviour towards the serenetee. He scowled and relented to an apology. ‘Begging my ways, brethren of Ra. Wo has a right to his old-talk. I will say no more on this.’

  Yt folded his arms and bowed his head low to the table. Then as if in admonition of the youth, the pyramid trembled for a few moments before being still again. Mirrortac decided to let the matter rest for now, bowing a little as he caught the eye of the serenetee who sat down the table from him. Wo gave him a nod of reassurance, studying him with the knowing eye of one wiser than many of the Ra-finelles perhaps judged. The erfin acknowledged the nod and listened for Ing who was rising up with much scraping of furniture. It had darkened considerably within the chamber, forcing the erfin to resort to his night vision to discern the faces around him.

  ‘My brethren Ra-finelles!’ Ing said. ‘Be seeing the Pyramid Star of Ra above,’ Ing indicated the domed ceiling, which glowed dimly in the pattern of the star and its diamond wedge. ‘Many sacred ways are within it, brethren. You know of the joining of the twin worlds - the Tumu-Ra wedge which the Utlontees say belongs to the twin keepers of Mareos and Nerthule: the Tumu-Ra and the Dofoons. Only the serenetees are expanded in the mystery of the wedge. Perhaps in this Changing, wo may speak of this.’

  A series of unseeing faces peered towards the shadow of wo who sat silent and unmoved at Ing’s side.

  ‘Tumu-Ra will not be mystery to the one who sees,’ wo whispered at last. A strained quiet followed, lasting some time until Ing spoke again.

  ‘I am seeing but not seeing,’ Ing said, and failing in his attempt to secure an answer to the mystery, promptly sat down.

  There was more scraping of furniture before ti spoke. ‘Ing; on how many of these talkings do you try to discern the Tumu-Ra mystery from wo? At least wo did speak this day,’ ti quipped, and a murmur of laughter circled the chamber.

  Mirrortac wondered why no lanterns had been lit. Perhaps there was some ritual to be performed.

  Wy said: ‘The Tuma-Ra wedge is Ra’s sacred mystery given to the serentees for their keeping. We shall know at the right place.’

  ‘Well do you say this!’ interrupted a voice beside Mirrortac. Ut was growing impatient with waiting.

  ‘Wy is right. Ra’s way is not always to our understanding but that is because our expanding is not completed. All has been told of this vision and these Utlontees. I wish to hear the furry one here.’

  Mirrortac rose to his feet and looked at the Ra-finelle brethren who were gathered in the darkness. There was a sense of energy descending upon the chamber. He stroked his body nervously, hoping the fur would hold. It did.

  ‘The vision that came to this erfin is in like wonderness to this pyramid, brethren of Ra-finelles. The vision says that the Utlontees are sufficient of flesh to die and sufficient of spirit to bring to us this strange vision. What is this power of gods that can defy the sky? If there are other worlds in the Greater Sky, how many of them are there and how far must one journey to find these? These questions I can nought answer but I do believe that all that has happened is just part of the great darkness sent to devour all the worlds, of which I had been warned, and indeed I am here because of a mission I am on to put an end to this darkness.’

  The Ra-finelles mumbled to each other in stunned whispers until at last, Shu spoke. ‘No expanding is lost my brethren. Ra destroyed the Utlontees because they had forgotten him. All is created of Ra. All returned into the fire for the reforming. The cracked urn returns to its maker who wets it and makes out of it a new urn.’

  ‘Shu! You are speakending in wizening ways, Yes!’ twx blurted.

  ‘This is so,’ Ix said.

  ‘Yes! Yes!’ chorused the others.

  ‘But of your questions, Mirrortac,’ Ix said. ‘The Astellites of the Up-way Zu-laire will be best to answer that of worlds numbered in the Greater Sky. They are keepers of the Greater Sky. We know not of the power that lifts the Celestial Flut but it be of a great light like fire. No part of it is open to the air. Now we must call upon the Sacred Psalming of Ra!’

  Ix strode over to the crystal-covered doorway and placed his hand through it as Wush had done, awaiting the confirmation without. In a short time, he opened the door to Wush who passed a lighted cylinder of wax to him and a small vial filled with an unknown liquid. Ix shut the door after her and returned to the table, carrying the lighted cylinder. A soft yellow glow flickered across the chamber, illuminating the faces of those gathered around the table and creating reflections off the walls. He placed the cylinder at the centre of the table and the chamber was transformed into a hundred lights, with the images of many flames shining along the multiple corridors formed by the magic walls. The vial was unstoppered and its liquid contents poured in a circle upon the platter that supported the cylinder. In the warmth of the room, the liquid quickly evaporated, forming into a white crystalline precipitate.

  Ix began to chant and the other Ra-finelles took up the psalming.

  ‘Cylinder of Light

  Cylinder of Ra

  Shine in the hearts

  of the ones of the Star

  Tumu-Ra

  Pyramid Star

  twelve is the numbering

  two worlds joined

  Nerthule and Mareos

  Plumer-Ra

  Cylinder of Light

  Pyramid Star

  speak to us

  spirits of Ra

  speak to us

  spirits of Light

  Be as the dreaming

  dreaming of sight

  not of the dreaming

  of the night

  Speak to us

  in the Light.’

  The psalm was repeated again and again until Mirrortac was able to recite the words with them. And, as the melody continued, Shubek harmonised in a droning ‘Zooooo ... awwwwww’ that resonated off the crystal walls and into the domed ceiling. The psalm slowed, creating a dull wearying sound that numbed everyone in the chamber. The erfin slumped back into his seat, head tilted back. The flame of the cylinder urged itself up in a vain effort towards the ceiling, consuming the wax, whi
ch dripped to the platter and solidified again. Mirrortac tried to focus his eyes on the pattern of the star above him but his eyes became moist and blurred. The star started to pulse in the illusive realm of semi-sleep. He stared but his eyes were too heavy. The pattern changed colour from red to orange to yellow to green. His eyes were shut now but the image stayed with him - red, orange, yellow, green, blue.

  Mirrortac opened his eyes and found himself seated on a rock platform jutting out of a great endless lake. Birds the likeness of puscha, the white bird of the sea of Sufra Mere, drifted in the air currents around him while the sky expressed a subtle alien feel about it. As he gazed down into the waters below, he saw the shapes of tumu-Ra or eeeps, tunnelling through the turquoise depths. They came to the surface together and lifted up their heads before rolling their smooth shining grey backs into the waves again. Suddenly, Mirrortac was within the waters yet not drowning. The eeeps laughed at him as they swam around him in play and the erfin realised that he was in that strange space beyond the dreaming place. As he watched the playful creatures around him, he noticed something different about them. The diamond pattern was absent and the fins on their backs were small and unlike any fins he had seen. These were stiff like bone with a fleshy covering and there were no filaments on the tail flukes. The odd eeepish creatures knew he was there and had halted in mid-water, standing motionless against the current. Their eyes met his. He acknowledged them and was immediately aware of feelings that radiated out from them. The Dofoons smiled at him with eyes filled with laughter and a wash of love and serenity. He smiled back at them and was surrounded by the mists of dreaming.

  ‘Mirrortac! Mirrortac!’ Ix’s voice echoed into the void.

  The erfin took his consciousness down and opened his eyes, looking up into the grinning face of the Ra-finelle.

  ‘You have been Within. What did you see?’

  Mirrortac yawned and sighed.

  ‘I was with the Dofoons. They are as the Tumu-Ra only possessing fins of a differing likeness.’

  There was a jumble of excited voices as the erfin fell silent, scanning the faces of the Ra-finelles around the table. Wo nodded to him and smiled.

  Chapter 11 – Visioning of the Lost World

  The Night of the Pyramid is a strange phenomenon that the Ra-finelle brethren attribute to the nature of the shape of the pyramid itself and the concentration of the Ra-force at the centre of the world of Mareos. In short, the force changes the time aspect as it relates to the physical world outside the pyramid, creating a time anomaly between the inner pyramid and all that is outside. Mirrortac did not realise this until his first return to the outer-courts of the pyramid where he was surprised to discover that many more days had passed outside than he had encountered within. For each night of pyramid time, there would be a passage of two full nights and a day in the meretees’ world. Day within the pyramid showed no such anomaly but as the Night of the Pyramid drew into the outer day, all within remained in darkness.

  Since Mirrortac’s vision revelation to the Ra-finelle brethren he had become the centre of interest, accompanying many of the Ra-finelles on their tours of the pyramid and to the outer-courts where the Children of the Divine Green worked on various tasks from the moulding of urns for holding water and juices to the fashioning of robes, pouches and baskets. He took a great interest and delight in discovering the methods utilised in creating these things, storing this knowledge in his absorbent erfin mind.

  As the days swept past, he was beset by a series of startling and often frightening visions that became more frequent and irregular, striking him at any moment. He could be examining the crafting of an urn when he’d experience a sudden stabbing pain in his lower ribs, preceding a vision that flashed in his mind’s eye before fading away. He could be bathing, questioning a Ra-finelle or feasting. The visions were no respecter of occasion. They conveyed scenes of an alien world that seemed certain to be Nerthule. At first the visions were pleasant images of dofoons at play in the waters of the alien sea but as the days passed, the images gathered a sense of urgency and desperation. Spectres of drowning Utlontees screamed in an unintelligible tongue; seas boiled with superheated steam and many lands were swallowed in the angry spitting fire of Ra’s rage. Sadness filled the normally laughing eyes of the dofoons that leapt clear of the waters in frantic displays of helplessness. The whole face of Nerthule was changing. Images came of tribes of many upon many hundreds of warriors who violated the living places of peaceful folk, claiming the land where these people lived as their own and binding them like less than animals, forcing them to yield to their aggressive wills. The warriors were fearsome demi-gods who wore plumed crowns and robes of alien metals, raiding villages with their terrible swords and pointed shafts.

  These visions were as disturbing to the Ra-finelles as they were to Mirrortac who was openly upset at the destructive dark powers of the warrior tribes. Visions of warring counter tribes haunted his days and nights, accompanied by the images of terrible creatures that the warriors kept within bondage for the purpose of entertainment. They would set the creatures loose to savage the living flesh of helpless captives left trapped in large public arenas. This was so distressing to them all that the Ra-finelles convened a Sacred Psalming of Ra in order to beseech Ra to save Nerthule from the dark peoples who had abused the places of those who knew Ra.

  The Night of the Pyramid was in the phase of the moonless sky and all the Ra-finelle brethren, Shubek and Mirrortac were together in the Chamber of Ra, awaiting the moment that the Astellites calculated to be governed by the supreme spirit Ra. The cylinder of wax had been lit and placed on the table with a special cloth cover bearing the pattern of the twelve-pointed star. The brethren wore grave expressions as they psalmed together the rare “Invocat du Ra” - Invocation to Ra.

  ‘Light of Cylinder

  Light of Ra

  join at Ra-Los

  and Plumer-Ra

  Be of the forcing

  absorbed within

  Ra be within us

  Pyramid Star

  Pyramid Light

  fill the Night

  fill the Chamber

  the Chamber du Ra

  Be Yarg

  Be Yarg

  Be Yarg De Hargur

  Force of Ra

  Fill the Star

  fill

  fill

  fill the Star’

  As the invocation was repeated, the 12 Ra-finelles extended arms across the table and placed their palms onto the 12 points of the Pyramid Star design. Mirrortac and Shubek were instructed to place their arms around the nearest Ra-finelle shoulders as a sign that they were part of the ceremony.

  The first indication of the increasing of the Ra-force came to Mirrortac as a tingling that shot up his arms and down into his body. The sensation rose in intensity until the whole room was immersed in an invisible stream of energy. Mirrortac expected them to witness some vision but none came. Instead, mu fell into a dreaming-daze and spoke out in a clear voice uncustomary to his normal speech patterns.

  ‘Speak my Ra-ling children. I am Minsun of the Sacred Guardians of Ra. In what need am I called into your presence in this place?’

  ‘Blessings Minsun,’ Ix said. ‘We are in need of your help for the world that Ra leaves to the dark ones. Terrible warriors are violating the world of our twin, Nerthule where Ra has thrown his Utlontees into the waters of fire. The furry one named Mirrortac is visioning of the terrible deeds of these warriors who spit upon Ra and bind the people in their own places. Is there no saving these wretched ones?’

  The form of mu breathed deep and gazed around him with an unworldly composure and serenity.

  ‘Ra is aware, my Ra-ling children. The Changing is etched upon the Sacred Wall of the Betwixt-Way. Do not concern yourselves. This already IS even before you have said that it IS. All must enter the Changing now. This one naming itself Mirrortac must know more visions howsoever these are less in number so he nor you will be over-stressed. Mareos shall be
shielded with the void whilst Nerthule is in speed. All within Mareos will be as the still calm of a pond whilst Nerthule gushes as an angry stream toward the Great Changing when all the worlds will be ending and the children of Ra will be in the new worlds of Ra, psalming in the Palace of Light.’

  ‘Does this mean that Nerthule is destroyed?’ Ix asked, concerned.

  Mu swallowed and it appeared that the spirit was adjusting itself within the form of the Ra-finelle.

  ‘My Ra-ling children. Old worlds will be no more but for the children of Ra, all will be as new. You may say that the Mistness shall come upon Nerthule and all worlds within the Greater Sky shall be divided between the Light and the Darkness. Beyond the Great Changing, all changing will come to an ending. But for the children of Ra, this is merely the beginning.’

  ‘Why must this erfin be vexed with such terrible visions oh wise Minsun?’ Mirrortac asked.

  ‘Mirrortac Ra-ling son. You have accepted this task that is before you. Many are called for the task of preparing those who live upon Nerthule for the Great Changing. The Changing IS. The Great Changing awaits you upon the completing of the journey.’

  Mu was gasping and illsome as the Guardian Spirit, Minsun, framed his last words. ‘Be calming my Ra-ling children. Continue with your living. Minsun must leave now. The Meretee is weary. I have come as from a distance beyond your mind. Mu must rest. Blessings my Ra-ling children.’

  Mu slumped down to the table exhausted and the chamber emptied of the force. All within were in awe of the event and Minsun’s talk of the Great Changing. Mirrortac and Shubek trembled with awe and fear.