by Jeremy Dwyer
~~~
After Pandaros followed the spirits out of the cave and to the coast, he booked transport back to the Colossal March Warpath land bridge. Once there, he made his way to the cave and met with Abrax, Amaltheia and Erikkos.
“You let him die, didn’t you? For what?” Amaltheia asked, burning with fury when she saw that he had returned alone.
Pandaros held out the two (2) black onyx crystals he managed to obtain.
“Are they real?” Erikkos asked. He was troubled at the obvious loss of someone as useful as Seleukos, but now he believed that he would have Amaltheia’s sensual favors all to himself and no division in the child’s loyalty, regardless of the true paternity. Because of these anticipated advantages, it was easy for him to switch focus to the matter at hand.
“Let us light them and see what we can see,” Pandaros said. He took the first new black crystal and lit its wick with the torch on the cave wall and looked outside, seeing that the sky had grown darker still.
“This one (1) is true,” Pandaros said, and he placed it into the second candelabra, making for a total of sixteen (16) lit luminaries.
Pandaros then took the second new black crystal and lit its wick with the torch on the cave wall. Then he looked outside and was pleased that the sky had darkened further yet again.
“This one (1) is also true,” Pandaros said, and he placed it into the second candelabra, making for a total of seventeen (17) lit luminaries.
“You killed a man who brought light so you could have the power of darkness. Is that what an explorer is supposed to do?! Or is it what a homicidal idiot does?!” Amaltheia screamed.
“You have so little understanding, angry and empty woman,” Pandaros said.
“I am not empty! He was a father to this child!” Amaltheia screamed, now four (4) months pregnant and worried that she might lose Erikkos as well to the next scheme that Pandaros might suggest.
“You don’t know that. You’re too distracted by lust and illusions of love,” Pandaros said.
“Are you going to kill Erikkos, next?!” Amaltheia yelled.
“I don’t plan to kill anyone. I explore – and do what I must to find answers. That is a calling which you’ve obviously forgotten, as it requires the letting go of emotional attachments and distractions,” Pandaros said.
“The dead don’t explore! We can’t kill each other. Are we expendable to you?” Amaltheia asked.
“I make the most of those who join me. Still, there are risks. An explorer must be bold,” Pandaros said.
“We have been bold, and we were rewarded. Still, it may be best that I remain with Amaltheia, so that the child has a father for guidance, to learn the skills necessary for exploration,” Erikkos said.
“If your courage and curiosity have faded, it may be for the best that you remain and guard the luminaries, so that we may keep what we have earned,” Pandaros said.
“You brought back two (2) luminaries. How many escaped you?” Abrax asked.
“There were eight (8) in the catacombs, and we were not alone. It is likely that all the others were taken, perhaps to be hidden elsewhere, and to be found later,” Pandaros said.
CHAPTER 39: Hatred of the Schemes of the Betrayer
Cassius and Fantine returned to their laboratory in Sebastian’s mansion for a period of five (5) days and made a smaller version of the constructor – a set of four (4) small stone pillars, each seven (7) feet in height and two (2) feet across – that were capable of manipulating crystals quickly.
“We shouldn’t exert too much energy for this exercise in vanity. It doesn’t help anyone. Our time would be better spent renovating the existing structures: dams, houses, retaining walls and other useful features,” Fantine said while they worked.
“Consider this to be publicity, and nothing more,” Cassius said.
“People build and live with machines and structures – that’s how we survive and thrive. Monuments and symbols of any sort are worth less than the material that goes into them,” Fantine said.
“There are many necessary artifacts of society, of course, but there are psychological factors that affect the decision to do one thing or another. Sometimes, people make irrational choices based on feelings or symbols. It would be best if the attractive symbols coincided with the most essential functions. We should keep that in mind when doing this,” Cassius said.
“What did you have in mind?” Fantine asked.
“We should construct trellises and arches for the farmers to grow their vines. These can be given his insignia so as to serve as a focal point for distracting from the allure of the king – should he ever come here – and reminding the people of who deserves credit,” Cassius said.
“Do you think that anyone would actually believe that this king has anything to offer? The world knows what this tyrant is doing: they’re not going to run to him,” Fantine said.
“No, but he is coming to them, and they need to disbelieve his message before they are subdued by illusions or music or whatever other deceptive influence he exerts. It is far better to tell a small lie that makes a good thing seem great than to allow a large lie to make a terrible thing seem good,” Cassius said.
“A small lie will grow into a large one. That’s why I don’t deal in tricks. If the truth is unpleasant, it’s best to deal with it, and build a better reality to overcome it,” Fantine said.
“That is only if you have enough power to do so; yet, we do not. This King Xander has fleets of ships sufficient to take three (3) continents. That they cannot fly as high as the continental wall is all that protects us, so putting an end to his deception is not something we can do. It would be better to use effigies and symbols to lure people here to protect them – and thus secure their services for the betterment of this region of the world – than to allow them to fall into the hands of a greater deceiver who will squander their potential and turn them against us,” Cassius said.
They continued their work, with Fantine drinking anew of the waters of the Kazofen Ocean from her vial, thus becoming energized. After this, she was able to shape the crystals atop the four (4) pillars to enable them to form any desired structure when the miniature constructor was operated. After they spent an additional three (3) days on assembling the parts – for a total of eight (8) days – they believed the work was finished.
“It is time that we tested this,” Fantine said. This time, she held up a crystal rod and twisted it, so that a beam of blue light shone forth from it toward the crystals atop the four (4) new constructor pillars, and they each lit up blue.
Two (2) beams of light formed on the diagonals in between the crystals atop the four (4) pillars and they began to rotate. Water from the channels in the room was drawn into the rotating beams and the water vapor crystals were spun around in a mist until it formed a definite shape – that of a statue which appeared in the shape of a ten (10) foot tall man holding out his hands with staves, and in between the staves were eleven (11) horizontal rods.
“A trellis, and a tribute, all at once,” Cassius said, taking pleasure in the success of this smaller scale constructor. His thoughts were to build several of them – with Fantine’s help – and sell them to the different mining and construction companies and to governments of kingdoms and continents. The secret of their design was one he was not planning to share unnecessarily, so he feared that he would have to split his profits evenly with her, rather than having Fantine take the knowledge she had and go off on her own, where she might disseminate the intricate details of the constructor to everyone.
An even split would still yield greater profits than he would receive if the constructor were available to everyone, he reasoned. It was quite clever – and very configurable, being able to produce innumerable different designs – so that he planned on even selling the configuration process as a service. Each design that a constructor was to produce – be it a wall, or a castle, or an arch or even a small village filled with buildings – required effort to configure the
crystals and the internal linkages in the machine, and this entailed some sophistication. As a partnership – once he could win over Fantine – Cassius believed they would be very successful.
“Only two fifths (2/5) of the mass is useful, the rest is wasted on the likeness, whereas a simple beam would do,” Fantine said.
“Such structures will simultaneously be useful and alleviate the risk that this King Xander could lure people away. He has certainly developed a reputation for deceiving people into wasteful activities and executing them if they do not cooperate. Their outcome will be better if they are here, and they will more likely be here if Sebastian seems trustworthy, and likable and memorable,” Cassius said.
“Now it is a matter of getting this outside,” Fantine said.
“These columns are segmented, and the stone is light,” Cassius said, and he began taking apart the constructor pillars and carrying them. Fantine did the same, and they had the entire machine outside and reassembled in a day.
~~~
Sebastian traveled in one (1) of his smaller airships to meet with farmers in a nearby village. He was accompanied by one (1) of his hired hands – a twenty-six (26) year old woman named Camila who drank the Lujladia waters – and she used the powers of those waters to generate light by which Sebastian could see when they were further away from the luminous continental wall. He found her unduly attractive, especially for a woman who did not drink the Trerada waters: if she had, it would have been too much, as he was already attracted to her, and even burning for her. Yet, Camila was hired for her powers of light, and not for her companionship, so he held his own passions in check.
When Sebastian arrived at the village, he first waited on board his airship before walking down its boarding ramp and setting foot on ground. From there, he saw that there was considerable murmuring about the sky having grown even darker recently. Although many people were working the fields, others were waiting for help from those who drank the Lujladia waters to provide light. Some of these arrived from neighboring villages, but they were not as numerous as hoped for. The crystal walls surrounding the entire continent were luminescent, but this village was too distant to benefit fully – more light was needed to work.
Sebastian drank anew of the waters of the Elanatin Ocean from his vial and was energized. He then began reading the thoughts and feelings of those in the village. They spoke their concerns out loud, so he listened to the words in their heads as they listened to each other’s speech.
“Are we even safe here? The skies are not safe – no wall can keep out the night,” a woman asked as she was harvesting some wheat.
“Sebastian’s doing the best he can, but he’s only a person. Don’t expect the world of him,” a man said.
“We have to put our faith in God, and the darkness will come to an end,” a second man said.
“What’s God waiting for?” a second woman said.
“Probably for us to trust Him,” a third woman said.
“Stop spreading these stories of yours. You’re just giving people false hope,” a third man said.
“The darkness is real – that’s no myth,” the second man said.
“I know it’s not a myth – we can see it. We can’t see your God, though. You’re not even making any sense: what’s the one got to do with the other?” the third man said.
“Just pray and have faith. Things will turn good again. More real than the darkness is the reality of His Light,” the second man said.
“I’ll trust in the waters before I trust in your fables,” the third man said.
“I’ll trust in anyone who gives us light,” the second woman said.
“The lights given by the waters can be banished by darkness. God’s Light cannot, so trust only in that,” the third woman said.
“It’s hard to see my farming work – which means it’s hard to feed people – in this darkness. It’s practically night time all the time. Where’s this God’s Light?” the third man said.
Sebastian was upset at all of this doubt and anger, and upset by the religious references, which he felt were misleading.
Instead of arguing, he continued probing their minds, and he found that the first woman was lonely, and filled with fear, so he approached her. He was followed by Camila, who continued to give him light.
“You are safe here. Don’t worry about that. Being filled with fear and doubt is not what you need. Believe that better days are ahead, and that the light of day will return,” Sebastian said, looking at the woman and then at those around her, and then back at her.
Everyone in the surrounding fields of the village looked at Sebastian, surprised that he had come to visit them.
“How is this darkness even here? Do you know?” the first woman asked.
“No, I don’t know what makes it dark, but I know that it will end,” Sebastian said.
“How do you know?” the first woman asked.
“Remember the inferno? That ended. Remember the tempest? That ended. All of these terrible things eventually end. The darkness, too, will end,” Sebastian said.
“I wish I believed you,” the first woman said.
“What’s your name?” Sebastian asked.
“Samantha,” the first woman said.
“Samantha: come with me, and I’ll convince you that everything will get better,” Sebastian said.
Samantha followed Sebastian and Camila and went back to his airship.
Sebastian then took the airship and piloted it toward the northern section of the wall of glowing crystal surrounding all the land in Baradaxa. The wall towered over them, and was far higher than a ship could safely fly, even with the darkness from the suns.
“Samantha, believe me: No one will get through this wall – or over it,” Sebastian said.
“I don’t want to doubt you. I know that you were the one who had the wall built. It’s just that there are powerful forces at work – more powerful than people – and they’re killing us. The inferno and the tempest – just like you said. They ended, but they killed millions of people before they ended. This is just another way to die. It’s like somebody powerful wants us all dead,” Samantha said.
“Who is that somebody?” Sebastian asked.
“I don’t know, but they’re too powerful for us. They can fill the skies with darkness and send storms and burning heat. Is a wall really going to stop them?” Samantha said.
“Yes, it will. They can’t tear down this wall: it was built by someone better than them,” Sebastian said.
Sebastian probed Samantha’s thoughts and found what he expected: she was in need of reassurance, and companionship, and love.
“You’re sure confident. I wish I were,” Samantha said.
“Follow me,” Sebastian said, and he set the airship’s course to return to his estate. Soon, the airship touched down on the ground around the mansion. Camila waited on board while Sebastian and Samantha stepped down the boarding ramp and onto the ground, approaching the mansion. There, they found a twenty (20) foot tall statue standing in the courtyard. It was in the likeness of Sebastian, was made of diamond, and was holding staves and rods, crisscrossed like the lattice work of a trellis.
Sebastian looked at it, surprised at its elegance and splendor, and it appealed to him so that he wanted more of them.
Sebastian and Samantha saw Fantine and Cassius operating the constructor as it built an archway – thirty (30) feet in height – also made of diamond. Samantha marveled at how the air became filled with a mist and then the machine seemed to transform the mist into the structure.
“Is that how the wall was built?” Samantha asked.
“Yes, only with a machine that was much larger,” Sebastian said.
“They use the machine. Did they make it?” Samantha asked.
“Yes, but with material supplied by me. I was the one who told them to do this, to protect everybody here,” Sebastian said.
While Sebastian spoke, he was actively scanning the thoughts of Fantine and Ca
ssius and became furious. He knew that Fantine thought it vanity and wastefulness to make something that resembled Sebastian instead of expending the materials and energy on monuments to him. Cassius planned to sell replicas of the constructor and partner with Fantine to operate them, although Fantine did not know this.
“I’d like to meet with them,” Samantha said.
“Yes, let’s do that,” Sebastian said, and they approached Cassius and Fantine.
“Cassius. Fantine. Someone would like to meet you. Perhaps you could tell Samantha a little bit about how we built this city, this sanctuary, and how it keeps everyone safe,” Sebastian said.
“The walls are twice the height that an airship can fly, and far too thick to be penetrated by a collision,” Fantine said.
“The walls are luminescent so that the darkness is a small concern,” Cassius said.
“It’s still a problem in my village. We’re not close enough to see the wall, so it’s still dark. Not enough light benders are nearby: mostly just farmers,” Samantha said.
“Perhaps we should build additional segments to the wall, although that will take a change to the configuration,” Cassius said.
“You can change what it builds?” Samantha asked.
“Yes, with a reconfiguration of its crystals,” Fantine said.
“The constructor is quite versatile, just as we’ve designed it to be,” Cassius said.
Fantine and Cassius began explaining to the woman how the machine could be changed to make other structures. While they did this, Sebastian began formulating his own plans – he probed the thoughts of Fantine further, to determine what she knew and did not know, and he scanned Cassius’ mind to see if he had withheld knowledge of the constructor from her. Sebastian had no intention of losing access to its power…or of sharing it with those who did not pay the price.
After Samantha had heard enough about the constructor, Sebastian said: “It’s time that I showed you something else. Cassius, come with me. Fantine, please remain here and oversee the constructor.”
