by Tom Hoffman
“Excellent. Let the Fourth Monk know when you and Sophia are ready to return to Muridaan Falls. You may stay here as long as you wish. When you return you will arrive outside the Book Emporium the morning after Master Marloh sent you through his spectral door to Periculum.” Before Orville could say a word the Thirteenth Monk faded away into nothingness.
Orville was more confused than ever. The Thirteenth Monk’s whispered secret had not made the slightest bit of sense to him. “I don’t understand what dreams have to do with unlimited power. Dreams aren’t real, they’re just in your head.”
Sophia was equally as puzzled by the Thirteenth Monk’s riddle as Orville was. “It doesn’t make sense to me either. But he did say you won’t understand it until you really need to, so I wouldn’t worry about it. When the time comes you will understand it. Anyway, we can stay here as long as we want. Let’s walk down to the ocean and skip a few stones. Whoever makes the biggest monster pop out of the water wins.”
“Creekers! That sounds scary but fun. Proto can be the judge – you know how much he loves those big scary monsters. Let’s go!”
Sophia and Orville spent two lazy weeks at the monastery, strolling through the orange grove, having long conversations beneath the mysterious blue tree, and taking relaxing walks along the coastline. Sophia had ultimately won the stone skipping contest when an immense worm creature covered with long purple spikes had burst out of the water and snatched her stone out of the air. The creature’s enormous yellow glowing eyes had focused on Orville and it let out a terrible piercing shriek. Sophia grabbed Orville just as he was toppling over. He adamantly insisted he had not fainted, but had simply tripped over a large rock. Proto declared Sophia the winner since she had attracted such a terrifying creature that it caused Orville to ‘trip over a rock’.
Finally the day came when they decided it was time to return to Muridaan Falls. Orville found the Fourth Monk sitting in the garden and told him they were ready to go home.
“The Thirteenth Monk would like you and Sophia to wait in the main monastery building. The Blue Monks will sing for you.”
“They’ll sing for us? I don’t understand.”
“Their song will carry you back through the Void to Muridaan Falls. The Thirteenth Monk will explain this more fully to you before they sing.”
After one final stroll through the glorious orange grove, Orville and Sophia headed to the monastery. As they approached the main building the Fourth Monk appeared, opening the blue door for them. “You may enter. Please stand in the center of the room.”
This was Sophia’s first glimpse at the interior of the building. “Orville, this is amazing. It’s so old, and I feel such enormous power emanating from the stones, as though they have a life of their own.”
“Perhaps they do.” Sophia whirled around to see the Thirteenth Monk standing behind her. He smiled brightly and took her paw. “It is a pleasure to meet you, Sophia. Your father Rowland was a wonderful friend of ours, offering his kind assistance to us on numerous occasions. You should be very proud of him.”
“Thank you, I am very proud of him.”
“Wonderful. Orville, don’t worry yourself about the secret to unlimited power. When you come to understand my words you will see it’s really not much of a secret after all. When you gain this power you will be exactly the same mouse you are now, but your perspective of the universe will have taken a rather unexpected turn. Now, if you are both ready, I will join the other Blue Monks and we will sing for you. In some ways our songs are similar to shaping, in some ways they are not. We will be singing a song known as the Ocean’s Wordless Song of Incomparable Beauty. All the elements of our world have their own song, but it is the ocean’s song which will carry you home. You will both enter the Void, the space between all worlds. Once you are in the Void all worlds are only steps away. I will create a tear in the Void opening to the precise time and place of your arrival on Earth. When you see a sliver of light in the distance, simply will yourselves toward it and you will be there. Jump through the rift and you will be safely home. Oh, one last thing before you go.” The Thirteenth Monk held out a round blue leaf. “Please take this. If you ever wish to return to Periculum, hold this leaf and ask for my assistance. You will soon find yourself within the Void and on your way back to our monastery.”
Orville couldn’t help himself. “What is that tree? There are no leaves on the ground anywhere around it.”
The Thirteenth Monk smiled. “You are quite perceptive, Orville Wellington Mouse. I suspect you will make an excellent Metaphysical Adventurer and one day you will discover the answer to this marvelous puzzle. For now, please give my best regards to Master Marloh when you see him. We will sing for you now. It will help if you hold paws.” The Thirteenth Monk turned and walked slowly to the far end of the huge stone room.
Orville took Sophia’s paw. They waited silently for the Blue Monks to begin.
Sophia saw the line of thirteen Blue Monks appear out of nothingness. She gripped Orville’s paw tightly. “I’m kind of nervous.”
When the first monk sang it was not at all what Orville and Sophia had been expecting. It was a clear and perfect sound, soft and smooth and full, and though it was barely audible it seemed to echo through the room for an eternity. Sophia gave a slight gasp. “Oh, this is so beautiful.”
Two more Blue Monks joined in the song, forming a complex and exquisite melody, swirling and soaring through the echo of the first monk’s voice. The resplendent harmony seemed to flow through Orville and Sophia, flow through the walls and floors of the monastery, flow through the vast empty spaces between all things. A thought popped into Orville’s mind. “I am no different from the stones that form this building, I am a field of flowing energy just as the stones are, just as the song is that passes through us all.”
Nine more voices joined in and Sophia and Orville were lost, carried away by the whirling joy of the song. They were the song now, they were the stones, they were the air, part of the vast and infinite universe. They swirled and flowed within the racing harmony of the song, flowing into a warm infinite darkness filled with the ocean’s wordless song of incomparable beauty. It had become the song of the sky, the song of the trees, the song of life. Orville felt Sophia’s presence but couldn’t tell if they were still holding paws, or even if they still had paws. He had no voice, but her thoughts whirled about within him. “Orville, what is this place?”
“He said it was called the Void, the space between all worlds.”
“It’s so strange, I can’t tell where I begin or where I end. I feel as though we are moving a thousand miles an hour, and yet standing perfectly still in absolute silence.”
The Thirteenth Monk’s voice entered the song, its sound filling Sophia and Orville with a deep and profound joy, the voice merging with their essence, carrying them forward through the infinite darkness of the Void. A sliver of light appeared in the distance.
Orville sent his thoughts to Sophia. “We just have to will ourselves toward the light.” Before they had even begun, they were already there, gazing down into a crevasse of brilliant blinding light. Orville could see beautiful sunlit grass gleaming through the light. “Sophia, we’re home.” They tumbled down through the tear in the Void, landing gently on the soft green grass of a small meadow only a few hundred feet away from the Book Emporium.
Orville jumped to his feet, grabbing Sophia’s paw and pulling her up. “We need to get to my house as soon as we can. I have to get the letter I wrote to Mum before she reads it!”
Chapter 32
Home Again
The two adventurers took off across the pasture, hopping over a wooden rail fence and dashing through streets and alleys until they reached Orville’s home. Orville ran up the steps and into the house. He heard his Mum’s footsteps coming down the stairs as he darted into the kitchen. “It’s still here!” Orville grabbed the letter and stuffed it into his pocket just as his Mum walked into the kitchen.
“Orville
, if you don’t want to be late for work you’d better get going. Hello, Sophia. Any news on your application to the Institute of Mechanistic Studies?”
“Oh, umm, nothing yet, I’m afraid. Hopefully I’ll hear from them soon.”
“You must be a bundle of nerves waiting to hear what they say. It must be quite stressful.”
“Yes, I’m kind of nervous, but I’m also hopeful.”
“I don’t think you have a thing to worry about, Sophia. Orville tells me you’re the smartest mouse he’s ever met.”
“Really? Is that true? I’m the smartest mouse you’ve ever met?” She gave Orville a wide grin.
Orville snorted. “I don’t recall saying any such thing. I guess you’re a little bit clever though. Sometimes.”
Orville’s Mum laughed, waving them out of the kitchen. “Off to work! You need to earn lots of money so you can support me when I’m old.”
“I will, Mum. I promise.” He headed for the front door with Sophia right behind him. The moment his house was out of sight they dashed into a nearby grove of trees.
“Whew, that was close! She was just coming down the stairs. How do you think the Thirteenth Monk sent us back in time like that?”
“I’m not sure, but I think it has to do with the Void. If the Void is outside of time and space, maybe you can enter it and then come back out at any place and any time. I think the hard part is entering the Void. That’s what the Blue Monks’ song was for, but it’s way beyond anything I understand now.”
Orville felt Proto moving around in his pack and unbuckled the flap. Proto poked his head out and looked around.
“Ahh, I see we’re safely back on Earth. While you two have been gallivanting about I have been quite busy in the Cube working on my project. It’s nearly complete, only another day or two and it will be done. Very exciting, I must say.”
“You can’t give us even a hint about what you’re doing?”
“Oh, dear, I think not. That would ruin everything. Are you off to put a stop to the dastardly schemes of that dreadful scalawag, Draken Mouse? I would offer my services but I’m otherwise occupied at the moment.”
Orville heard a loud whining noise coming from the glowbird. “Proto, what’s that whining noise I hear?”
“Whining noise? Oh, nothing to be concerned about, I assure you. Well, I’d best be off now. Do give that horrible Draken Mouse a piece of my mind when you see him.” Orville felt the glowbird slump down into his pack.
Orville gave Sophia a puzzled look. “What is Proto up to?”
Sophia grinned. “Whatever it is, he’s having fun, and I’m happy to see that. I’m glad our friend Proto is spending less time on tasty snacks and has moved on to more enjoyable endeavors.”
“He’s right though, it’s time to put a stop to Draken Mouse. Now that we have proof of his guilt, how do we go about this?”
“Let’s go visit Master Marloh first. He’ll know the best way to handle it.”
“It’s too bad we can’t change our appearance with shaping so Draken Mouse won’t recognize us. What’s that called again?”
“It’s called formshifting. It’s a really advanced shaping skill. The concept is simple but it’s difficult and very dangerous. You understand what blinking is, right?”
“Yes, the shaper converts their body to a thought cloud, then wills it to travel at enormous speed to another location where he converts the thought cloud back to his body again.”
“Right, but the shaper can’t stay in thought cloud form for more than two or three seconds or his consciousness enters a different state and he can’t convert back to his physical self again.”
“Yikes. That sounds scary.”
“It is scary. That’s why only the most advanced shapers can blink places. Formshifting is basically the same thing except you don’t travel anywhere, and when you convert your thought cloud back to its physical form you create a new form that doesn’t look like you at all.”
“Huh? So I could turn myself into a rabbit?”
“Exactly. If we could formshift we could turn into any creature we wanted to. Master Marloh told me that Bartholomew the Adventurer once formshifted into a fly so he could sneak into the Fortress of Elders when evil King Oberon was still in power.”
“Creekers. I don’t think I’d want to be a fly.”
“It might be fun to be a bird and soar over the mountains.”
“That does sound fun. We could both be birds and fly to Pavorak Gorge to visit Proto.”
“I guess we’d better go find Master Marloh. We can’t formshift, but we could make some disguises, like big floppy hats and dark goggles or something.”
“Umm... I think maybe two mice wearing big floppy hats and dark goggles might attract more attention than just wearing our normal clothes. The only mouse we have to really watch out for is Draken Mouse, and he thinks we’re inside the belly of a carnivorous centipede on Periculum.”
“You’re right. We’ll go in through the back door of the Book Emporium and find Master Marloh. We’ll have to scout it out first to make certain Draken Mouse isn’t there.”
After a twenty minute walk Sophia and Orville reached the old barn behind the Book Emporium. They slipped into the barn and Orville peered out through a crack in the wood at the back door of the Emporium.
“I don’t see any movement. Maybe we should sneak–” He let out a small gasp. “It’s him! It’s Draken Mouse! He’s coming out the back door!” Sophia dashed over and peeked through the crack.
“He’s leaving. This is perfect. Now we know for certain he’s not here and we can talk to Master Marloh.”
The pair of adventurers waited until Draken Mouse was out of sight then slipped out of the barn and over to the back door of the Book Emporium. Orville lifted the iron latch and they entered the shop.
Master Marloh was standing next to the blue door, a look of grave concern on his face. He looked up when he heard the back door open, his jaw dropping with stunned surprise at the sight of Sophia and Orville. He had sent them to Periculum only hours ago and there they were, standing in front of him.
“How did... how could you...” He stopped, quickly looking around to see who else was in the store, then waved them forward. “Come with me, both of you, right now!” He dashed over to the blue door and opened it with his ring paw. He slammed the door shut behind them and they hurried down the long stone staircase.
“Master Marloh, we did it! We have proof that Draken Mouse killed Papa.”
“I knew it! I knew he was behind it. Sophia, this is wonderful news, and your timing couldn’t be better. In two days the High Council and all the members of the Metaphysical Adventurers will meet to elect the new Supreme Counselor. Draken Mouse persuaded the council to hold the election, an election he is confident he will win. If he is elected he will make the use of lethal force an option for all members. That’s the beginning of the end, the first step toward war and the ultimate destruction of Symoca. He must be stopped, no matter what the cost.”
Safely down in the Metaphysical Adventurers Headquarters, Sophia showed Master Marloh the evidence they had against Draken Mouse and told him about their meeting with the Blue Monks. Proto projected onto a wall the moving images of Draken killing Rowland Mouse with the deadly beam of light. Orville had never seen Master Marloh so enraged, his paws clenched tightly as he watched the projection, his face grim and taut.
It took almost a full minute for Master Marloh to regain his composure. “Your father Rowland was one of my dearest friends, Sophia, and Draken Mouse shall pay dearly for this horrific act of treason. We must be careful however, for he does have a following among the members of the Metaphysical Adventurers. He has lied and cajoled and blackmailed many members into promising him their support and their vote in the election. The timing of our revelation will be absolutely critical. It must be done in front of the entire membership and Draken must not be allowed to interrupt the projection. He is a powerful shaper and the full weight of his fury w
ill be unleashed when he realizes what is happening. He is capable of anything, and he would kill either one of you without hesitation if it would save even one hair of his own fur. We need to formulate a foolproof plan. The election is in two days and that is when we must present the evidence against him. I must admit I am at a loss as to how we can prevent him from interfering with the glowbird’s projection. Your friend Proto is familiar with the glowbirds. Do you think he might have any ideas?”
“He might. He’s busy working on some kind of secret project, but I will talk to him. I’m certain he will help us any way he can.”
“Excellent. Both of you must remain in hiding until the election. It’s vital that Draken does not know you have returned from Periculum. He would kill you both in an instant.”
“Master Marloh, what about formshifting? Could you formshift us into something else?”
“Just what I was thinking. I can change your faces quite easily, and make you both a little taller. That way you could move about freely, and if Draken did happen to see you at the Book Emporium his suspicions would not be aroused.”
Orville said, “I’ll tell Mum I’m going on a book hunting trip for three days and then hide out down here in the headquarters until the High Council meeting.”
Sophia nodded. “I’ll stay here with you, Orville. Together we can come up with a good plan. Let’s talk to Proto tonight and see if he has any ideas. He knows a lot more about the glowbird’s projection system than we do.”
Master Marloh nodded. “Hurry back, we need to get you and Sophia safely formshifted as soon as possible.”
Sophia grinned. “Any chance you could make Orville’s big ears a little smaller?”
Chapter 33
A Beautiful Lesson
Orville was back in less than an hour, having told his Mum he was going to be visiting book stores in northern Symoca for three days. Master Marloh was waiting for him at the counter and they hurried down the stone stairway to the Metaphysical Adventurers Headquarters.
