by Jeremy Dwyer
We shall boldly explore,
And capture secrets from the weak.
(Refrain)
They shall see nothing of us!
We will blind our enemies with these desert sands.
They shall keep nothing from us!
We will bury our enemies in these burning lands.
Some would weave,
A deceptive web of tales half true.
We shall soon gaze,
Upon great powers hidden from our view.
Some would deny,
That we should know the truth of all.
We shall boldly explore,
And break through their sacred wall.
(Refrain)
Across the oceans,
Whose waters rule every domain,
We shall sail,
To where the mysteries remain.
Across the lands,
Whose harsh terrain will never yield,
We shall march,
To where the answers are concealed.
(Refrain)
Into the hearts,
Of guardians of secret skills,
Our blades shall cut,
Until their blood and knowledge spills.
Into the minds,
Of those who keep wisdom obscure,
Our eyes shall pierce,
Until we learn the arcane lore.
(Refrain)
The calm air turned to a breeze which then became a powerful wind, and this whipped up the sand to create a desert storm, which pummeled the mining town ahead of them. A moving wall of sand over two hundred (200) feet high and two (2) miles wide was formed, and it buried all in its path.
Amaltheia was startled at the suddenness and intensity of the desert storm, but not as much as those within the town.
The display of power by Erikkos also aroused her womanly desires, but she planned on taking him later.
~~~
From inside their castle, Baron Ottokar and Elsa heard the sound of a powerful wind approaching and saw the rush of guards into the castle to warn of the storm.
“Baron! A desert storm is approaching! A giant wall of sand!” a guard yelled.
Baron Ottokar hurried to the main entrance of the castle and looked out to see a fast moving sand wall begin to bury the outer edge of the mining town, with people running in every direction, only to be covered and lost in the sand. Elsa stood beside him, and wrapped her arms around him, knowing by looking that the scale of the storm was beyond survivable.
The sandstorm buried the entire mining town, and none were left alive, inside the castle or out, as it rapidly eroded stones and quickly decimated wooden structures as well as weaker ones.
The castle walls weakened and the seams between its stones admitted powerful and cutting jets of sand that cleaved the bodies of the people inside.
Baron Ottokar and Elsa died locked in an embrace, and then were severed by the powerful sand streams that the storm drove through the castle walls.
Fifteen thousand (15000) guards and two hundred thirty-eight thousand (238000) skilled diamond miners – along with their families – who worked throughout the mining town all perished as well.
~~~
As the song ended, the sandstorm died down and the mining town was gone – buried under the desert sands – except for a badly damaged, partially covered castle ahead of them.
“That was amazing, Erikkos! I was impressed by that! But are they all dead?” Amaltheia asked after seeing the devastation.
“Almost certainly,” Erikkos said, smiling.
“With all that sand, almost everything was buried. Finding the luminary could be difficult,” Amaltheia said.
“We shall be diligent,” Erikkos said.
Amaltheia and Erikkos walked the desert sands and entered the area where the town used to be. She was tired from the pregnancy, so he held her hand the entire way until they reached the castle, which was the only remaining structure.
A mound of sand blocked entry to the castle, and Erikkos looked to Amaltheia and asked her: “Is sand not crystal?”
Amaltheia then drank anew the waters of the Kazofen Ocean from her own vial and was energized. She thus had the power to manipulate crystal, and touched the mound of sand and began to alter its structure, liquefying it. The sand flowed out of the way, making for clear entry into the castle.
“Erikkos! Look! Their bodies were cut in half!” Amaltheia said when she stepped inside the castle with him.
“Concentrated sand – driven by the winds of the storm – was able to cut through flesh easily. Come, follow me,” Erikkos said.
He was looking around for a sign of the luminaries and wandering the halls. Amaltheia followed him, and they searched for hours, until they found a room with five (5) locked boxes and keys.
“Perhaps they are in these boxes,” Erikkos said, taking the keys and unlocking the boxes. He opened the boxes and found black objects inside.
Amaltheia looked at the objects and analyzed their crystal structure at a low level and said: “These are black onyx, and cold to the touch.”
“Which are false, and which are true?” Erikkos asked.
“This one (1) is different from the four (4) others. They all have the same shape – that of a candle. Yet, this is a deeper, darker onyx. It may be the true one (1), and these may be false, but we cannot be certain, because we have never seen or lit a luminary before,” Amaltheia said.
“Then we should take them all, and light them one (1) by one (1), and see if the darkness spreads. If the true luminary is revealed to be the deeper, darker onyx, then that is how we may know the others yet unfound,” Erikkos said.
Amaltheia saw a candelabra with twelve (12) candles in it on a table in the room and said: “These are shaped as candles, and so a candelabra would be a suitable place to hold them.” She then removed all the ordinary candles from the candelabra and placed the five (5) black onyx objects into its first five (5) empty slots.
“This hot desert is tiring you, Amaltheia. We should return, quickly, to the cave,” Erikkos said, looking at her slow and labored movements.
“The child growing within demands much of me,” Amaltheia said.
Amaltheia and Erikkos exited the castle, left the mining town and returned to where they had disembarked from the rented sandship. From there, they traveled back to the seaport where they had first arrived in Volaraden.
They then booked transport on a ship sailing westward across the Nabavodel Ocean. During their voyage, Amaltheia lusted for Erikkos while in their private cabin, but their passionate play was short lived, as she tired quickly from the pregnancy.
After two (2) days of travel, they returned to the Colossal March Warpath and made their way up the mountain, slowly, and returned to the cave. Erikkos supported Amaltheia by holding her hand while he carried the candelabra in his other hand.
“I see you have five (5) new candles. Yet, which are true?” Abrax said, though only his voice could be heard, as he was under a cloak of darkness.
“Perhaps this one (1), which is made of the deepest, darkest onyx. Yet, we will test each to find out,” Amaltheia said.
At this, Amaltheia took a torch that was mounted to the cave wall and lit the first of the new black onyx candles. Then, she and Erikkos looked outside, seeing no change in the sky.
“Nothing changed – it’s no darker than before,” Erikkos said.
Amaltheia then drank anew of the waters of the Kazofen Ocean from her vial and was energized. She extinguished the black onyx candle that failed to deliver by pressing its wick onto the ground. Then, she used her powers over crystal and liquefied the black onyx candle, spilling the liquid crystal onto the ground.
Amaltheia then lit the second new black onyx candle and she and Erikkos both looked outside, seeing no change in the sky.
“No change. Another false one,” Erikkos said.
Amaltheia likewise extinguished and liquefied that second black onyx candle.
Amaltheia then li
t the third new black onyx candle and she and Erikkos both looked outside, seeing no change in the sky.
“We went all that way for three (3) false candles! I’d kill the baron for wasting my time, if he weren’t already dead,” Amaltheia said.
“We’re not done,” Erikkos said, but he was also annoyed.
Amaltheia likewise extinguished and liquefied that third black onyx candle.
Amaltheia then lit the fourth new black onyx candle. Afterwards, she and Erikkos both looked outside, initially nervously, but they were then relieved at seeing that the sky had now grown darker.
“Yes! Finally! It’s darker!” Amaltheia said.
“And colder. There’s a slightly stronger breeze,” Erikkos said.
“Good. Now check the last one, for some luminaries are found together,” Abrax said.
Amaltheia then lit the fifth new black onyx candle, and then she and Erikkos both looked outside, seeing no change in the sky.
“It’s also false, like the first three (3),” Erikkos said.
Amaltheia likewise extinguished and liquefied that fifth black onyx candle.
“At least we found one (1) true luminary,” Erikkos said.
“We succeeded where Pandaros failed,” Amaltheia said.
“Yet, he succeeded many times before you succeeded even once. Do not think yourself to be his superior. I will guard this as well,” Abrax said.
Erikkos placed the recently acquired one (1) true and lit luminary into the candelabra with twelve (12) candle holders and then handed over to Abrax. He already watched over the first candelabra, which had thirteen (13) candle holders with twelve (12) of them already occupied by lit luminaries.
“We now have thirteen (13) luminaries lit, giving off their darkness,” Abrax said.
“Which means that we’re one (1) luminary closer to the deepest darkness, and, perhaps, to the Quiet,” Erikkos said.
Amaltheia soon recovered her energy and said: “Now, I want you to get closer to me.” Then, she began to kiss Erikkos passionately. She pushed him down onto the floor of the cave, straddling and consuming him to satisfy her deepest womanly desires, while Abrax merely watched, concerned that their true loyalty was to each other, rather than to the cause of the Explorers of the Quiet Sea.
~~~
On the planet known as Votteus – at the core of the Caval’Rukero’Nyptic Empire – Admiral Quin’Va’Pitar watched from his observation room, looking out on Thalariveth through a powerful telescope. He saw that the suns around that planet had darkened even further.
Ordinarily, the burnpath trailblazer that was used to cut through the fabric of space created a hot trail along which to travel, and the burnpath heat seeker that each unit or ship carried on them was used to follow the hot trail. This allowed for instantaneous travel over unlimited distances. The many hot suns that surrounded Thalariveth, however, posed a serious problem, except for a brief time before when the single yellow sun had disappeared and the other yellow suns had all but vanished. The problem was that the heat seeker would find the suns’ heat instead, and the unit or ship relying upon it would end up inside of a star and be incinerated.
Now, however, with the darkening of all the suns around Thalariveth, the heat seeker would be almost completely reliable again. The telescope worked similarly to how the transportation mechanism worked, and it had the advantage of being able to measure the deflection that the suns would cause for the heat seekers, so he knew the level of reliability for transportation.
Admiral Quin’Va’Pitar decided that it was very nearly time to launch the procurement operation, and his forces – both the ground support and the cargo shuttle – were ready to leave at any moment. He just needed the suns to darken a few percent more, before he would be willing to issue the order.
CHAPTER 17: Captives of the Castle of the Spirit
It was now pitch black inside the maze of caverns that wound through the mountain in the Trerada Ocean which contained Duke Hagan’s castle.
“With the cave sealed, it’s too dark to see,” Desmond said.
“Or to move safely,” Celio said.
“Movement will be a calculated risk. We can tread carefully and possibly retrace our steps toward the mesa on which the castle stands. However, walking the road leading to the top will be much riskier,” Anan said.
“I’ve hunted in the jungle, in the darkness, and know the secrets of the night,” Jaguar said.
“There are natural patterns in the jungle – the lay of the trees, the sounds of animals – that enable you to track prey. Those cues won’t be here,” Anan said.
“We can retrace our steps, however. I’ve worked many archeological sites and had to be keenly aware of the winding passages,” Desmond said.
“As have I – and I’m old enough to know that this is even more dangerous. It’s too dark in here. If only one of us had a waterbinding to Lujladia, we could navigate clearly,” Anan said.
“The spirits will guide us. I will call to them,” Lady Ismene said.
She drank anew of the waters of the Zovvin Ocean from her vial and was energized. Before she called out to the spirits, she sensed something reaching out from the north.
“No! We are all in great danger!” Lady Ismene said.
“Beyond our present predicament, you mean?” Celio asked.
“There is a powerful and ancient spirit of evil in the world. I can sense that it is to the north, in Ihalik,” Lady Ismene said.
“Whose spirit is it? Is it of the sun gods?” Jaguar asked.
“No. It’s the spirit of an ancient king. He ruled long ago…I can sense that much about him. Yet, I do not know him. He is not of the sun gods: he is much more evil,” Lady Ismene said.
“Sun gods? Ancient kings? This is even more outlandish than talking to the spirit of the dead duke,” Desmond said.
“It seems that absurdity surrounds us, and follows us every step of the way,” Celio said.
“Yet, we did talk to the duke’s spirit. You cannot deny that, even if your personal superstitions and skepticism deems it absurd or outlandish,” Anan said.
“You still doubt the power of the spirits. Beware the danger when they make their power known,” Jaguar said.
“How does any of this help us?” Celio asked.
“Admittedly, there is little or no good we can do in this place, in the darkness. If some action is called for, our circumstances afford us little opportunity. When we cannot see the ground in front of us, we are the greatest danger to ourselves,” Anan said.
Lady Ismene reached out into the spirit world and sensed the spirit of Duke Hagan inside the castle. A powerful line of spiritual energy was visible to her and she began to follow it, despite being in a physical darkness.
“Place your hand on my shoulder, then follow me, very closely,” Lady Ismene said.
Jaguar was the first, placing his hand directly on the old woman’s shoulder. Anan followed Jaguar in like manner and then Desmond followed him. Celio was the last in line, following Desmond.
Ismene faithfully adhered to the path laid out by the spiritual energy – which was only visible to her because she drank the Zovvin waters. By this method, they found their way to the top of the rocky formation upon which the castle was constructed, and then to the castle’s main door, in the space of an hour.
“We are at the castle, but the door is locked,” Lady Ismene said, trying her hand at the door.
“If the spirit powers led you to it, can they open the door for you?” Anan asked. He merely accepted spirits as yet another form of life, and did not doubt them or consider them to be a matter of superstition. Yet, he didn’t find them to be nearly as helpful as logical thinking, and many other waters were at least as useful as the Zovvin waters.
“Yes. I sense that there are spirits on the other side of this door. I will ask them again. I have done so in the past, and they granted me entry,” Lady Ismene said.
“That’s encouraging,” Desmond said.
“
If not for being outlandish, yes, it’s encouraging,” Celio said.
Lady Ismene reached out to call the spirits and said: “Spirits by the castle gate, please grant us access again, I must request. In the darkness we cannot complete the task set before us.”
The castle door did not open, however.
“Spirits can tire of too many requests. You may need to make a sacrifice,” Jaguar said.
“We have nothing to sacrifice. Unless you mean one of us,” Anan said.
“Isn’t there a nonviolent way?” Desmond said.
“Is there an intelligent way?” Celio asked.
“Not all spirits want sacrifice. Some want worship. Some want knowledge,” Anan said.
“Ask what the spirits want,” Jaguar said.
“Spirits at the castle gate, which is it you would have us give, that you should grant us entry now, while in the flesh we still do live?” Lady Ismene asked.
A voice spoke to Lady Ismene such that only she could hear, and it said: “More luminaries have been found. Extinguish each one without fail. Beware the harmonious sound. End the darkness that consumes stars so frail.”
“The spirit has spoken, and said that more luminaries have been found, and we must extinguish all of them…and beware the harmonious sound,” Lady Ismene said.
“How? We are standing in pitch black!” Desmond said.
“Our exit from this cavern has been blocked. We have nowhere to go,” Anan said.
“Can the spirit tell us how?” Jaguar asked.
“What of the harmonious sound? How are we to beware it? What does it even mean?” Celio asked.
“We seek the counsel of a spirit wise. In this darkness, guide our eyes. Take us to where we can serve the skies. Show us the candles that the suns despise,” Lady Ismene said.
The door to the castle opened and they could all hear it.
“That sounded like it worked,” Anan said.
Lady Ismene then entered, followed by Anan, Celio, Desmond and Jaguar, and they found themselves in the great hall of the castle, lit by candles on holders around the room as well as a chandelier of candles on the ceiling high above. A familiar stairway led to an upper room.
