The Key of Creation: Book 03 - The Temple of Kian

by M. D. Bushnell

  Paden gasped as a blinding flash of pain abruptly exploded in his side. The room spun and twisted as his legs wobbled and gave way, and he collapsed heavily to the hard stone floor. Gasping for air as he clenched his side, he thought he heard a malicious laugh before darkness overwhelmed him completely.

  Chapter 15

  In the distance, the roar of the river continued to mock them as the rushing water made the escape from the box canyon they could not. Despondent, they crouched in a depression in the rock face that was screened from the rest of the valley by a group of large-leafed ferns.

  They shivered in the cool air while they ate a cold lunch and contemplated their grim future. No amount of argument had changed the simple fact that beyond all reason, and across great distance, Jahann had somehow managed to find them. Aldrick could not explain the magic the sorcerer had used to track them to the far side of the known world, passing unscathed through the Haunted Forest of Melkor, but he could not deny his success. The logical conclusion was that if Jahann could track them once, he could do so again. It was unlikely he would be inclined to take the unplanned route they had down the steep cliff, but it seemed certain they would see him again soon enough.

  It had been an extremely tiring day, and Aldrick leaned back against the cold stone and closed his eyes. Warren and Garrick continued to bicker over how to escape the sheltered valley, how long it would take Jahann to find them, how long their food would last; all their usual arguments. Aldrick sighed and tried to tune out their incessant quibbling while he focused on a solution to their current predicament. Growing up, his father had taught him that every problem had a solution, if only one invested the time and energy to find it. But what could help them now?

  Aelianna and the artifact had brought them here, joined together in some inexplicable fashion to draw them ever on. Aldrick did not wish to dwell on just how it was that Aelianna sensed that mysterious pull; so much of what had happened lately violated every belief he had held his entire life. Magical devices, sorcerers with the ability to harness the power of great storms and travel great distances, and kindly old men who seemed to have knowledge and abilities to rival the All Father himself. It was Merrek who had told him to let go of his skepticism and disbelief, and embrace the inevitable change. He was not finding it easy to do so, but he was trying.

  Aelianna joined in with Garrick and Warren as they argued about how to escape the canyon. Smiling in spite of himself at the now familiar bickering, Aldrick leaned back once more and returned to concentrating on the artifact. Perhaps it was the very device that had led them to this apparent dead end, which was somehow the key to continuing their journey. There must be a way; their quest could simply not end like this. Even he could no longer deny that magic had apparently returned to the land, and as he possessed a gift to see visions, it was time to try and consciously use this unorthodox power.

  He took a deep breath, and pictured the pyramidal shape of the artifact in his mind, focusing on the path of their escape. The golden glow of the device steadied in his mind and then slowly began to spin, pulling away from him until it merged into the myriad bright stars of a cloudless night sky. Aldrick watched as clouds of stars slowly churned in a giant whirlpool; it was chaos and order all at once.

  He found himself falling effortlessly towards that immense sea of stars, and watched as stardust slowly coalesced inside an obsidian glowing sphere. He followed the star-filled sphere as it hurtled towards a distant blue and green globe, which grew until it filled his vision. Approaching the spinning, cloud covered orb, he became aware that it was covered with large bodies of water and various rocky landmasses.

  The swirling starry sphere abruptly split into three equal wedges, and he followed one of the sections as it plummeted down through the clouds. With a great boom, the wedge slammed into the ground near a vast ocean while the other two pieces flew off in different directions.

  Time hastened as day became night, and night became day. The seasons began to change at the blink of an eye. Soon, a small village appeared around the crash site of the obsidian wedge, and from his perspective high above, Aldrick could see its citizens scurrying about like tiny ants. The small village grew as the seasons continued to flash by, expanding into a town, and finally a bustling city.

  A massive temple was constructed at blinding speed where the starry wedge had struck the ground, and the city grew to massive proportions around it. Now many times the size of Akkadia, the sprawling city pulsed with life.

  Around the temple, the beaming visage of a man could be seen shepherding and caring for the people. The giant entity emanated power like the sun emanates light. Even from his vantage high above, Aldrick could see he was nothing short of reverential.

  Aldrick was uncertain whether he recognized the man from his studies or his identity was implanted in his mind, but he became aware that the entity at the temple was Kian, one of the three children of the All Father himself.

  Kian, who embodied the power of the land as well as logic and reason, had always been his favorite of the All Father’s children. Being a deity out of legend, Aldrick never considered that he had ever truly existed. Yet he felt certain the entity watching over the temple and the people around it was indeed the Kian out of history.

  Time continued to pass at an incredible rate of speed, and eventually Kian’s vigilance began to fade until his presence diminished completely. Soon after, a great cataclysm struck and the land heaved and the seas boiled, and most of the sprawling city was buried under water and rubble.

  Aldrick plummeted down towards the ground. A moment later he hurtled away from the ruined city, until reaching a place where the ground had thrust up to create a walled barrier. Without warning, he plunged into a small lake collected at its base. In the watery blue depths, his strange flight brought him to a dark cavernous opening. Before he could enter the gloomy cleft in the rock, his surroundings evaporated and Aldrick was left staring at Garrick, who peered at him with a concerned look on his face.

  Before Aldrick could sort out what he had just seen, Garrick said, “Aldrick, are you alright?”

  Aldrick blinked and looked around. “I’m fine. Why?”

  “You were in some kind of bloody trance,” Dathan explained.

  “Your eyes were open, but you wouldn’t respond,” Garrick finished.

  Aldrick stood and stretched. “I had another vision. It was the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen. I’m sure it was a clue.”

  “What kind of clue?”

  “I’m not certain,” Aldrick strode out of the protected depression, in the direction of the water.

  “Where’s he going?” Warren muttered, reaching into his pack for another piece of dried meat.

  Garrick frowned. “I don’t know, but I think we should follow.”

  The others quickly retrieved their belongings and hurried after him. They caught up with Aldrick at the edge of the river a short way from the spot where the rushing flow plunged into the crack in the rock face. Aldrick leaned over the edge of the water, gazing down into the depths.

  Garrick peered over his shoulder. “What is it?”

  “I’ll let you know in a moment,” was his only reply before he unexpectedly dove into the fast moving water.

  Warren called out “Aldrick!” as he disappeared from view. The others stood about helplessly peering into the water. It was several long moments before he returned, and they rushed forward to help pull him out of the churning, choppy river.

  Aldrick sputtered, ignoring their questions as he caught his breath. At last he muttered in a tired voice, “I found a way out.”

  “A way out!” Warren blurted. “Why were you in the river? How did you find the way out? We thought you would drown for sure!”

  Garrick cut off his babbling with a hand on one arm and a stern look. “Take a deep breath Warren.” Glancing back at Aldrick, the king continued, “Care to explain?”

  “In my vision I saw what I believe to be the history of this land. I al
so saw some of the landscape, which lies before us. Below us is a second crevice in the rock, which leads north, rather than west. Much of it is underwater, but straight, and not nearly as turbulent as the outlet over there.”

  “And then what?”

  “I only went as far as I needed to see we could make it out of this canyon.”

  Garrick nodded. “Does everyone know how to swim?”

  The others nodded, but Warren had a very nervous look on his face. “Uh, I can swim a little, but not very well.”

  Aldrick spoke in what he hoped was an optimistic tone. “It’s not far.”

  He quickly described the location of the hidden escape tunnel and the route to take once they were below. A few moments of trying to convince Warren he could make it, and they were as ready to attempt the escape as they were ever going to be. Warren took one last look around at the hidden box canyon before muttering a quick prayer to the All Father. Climbing into the water with the others, he gasped in shock at the cold water.

  Once Warren acknowledged his readiness, they took deep breaths and dove, following Aldrick down into the depths until reaching the hidden opening in the rock. They swam into the dark split in the rock and into an underwater tunnel, the light from above dwindling as they went deeper. They swam through the ruins of two columns, which flanked what appeared to be a staircase descending below them. Strange dark fish eyed them curiously as they struggled forward through the underwater cavern.

  Aldrick finally swam upwards, and surfaced. He sputtered and coughed as the others came up behind him, and they spent the next several moments gasping for air, with their hearts pounding in their chests.

  “Let’s…never do…that again,” Warren managed after a few moments.

  Garrick coughed. “It wasn’t pleasant, but I’d still prefer it, to dying back there in the canyon.”

  “Can’t bloody argue with that,” Dathan grunted.

  They found themselves in a dark natural cavern lit solely by a diffused light from a distant opening; too dim to discern any specific features of the tunnel. They slowly swam forward, until discovering that the water was shallow enough to wade through. Their progress was slow as they forged ahead cautiously to avoid tripping over hidden obstacles. Their struggle through the cold, dark water-filled cavern seemed eternal, but eventually they arrived at the far end of that section.

  The dim light had given them the impression that once they reached the end of the tunnel, they would be back outside. Instead, they were surprised to find themselves at the bottom of a vast chasm. To both sides, the steep stone walls soared high above them, and they could see that the dim light streamed down from where the top of the chasm walls met the sky in a majestic apex.

  Everyone but Aldrick––who guessed what lay ahead of them from his vision––was surprised to see more remnants of an ancient civilization scattered about them. Thin dust-filled streams of sunlight randomly penetrated the eternal gloom, dimly illuminating the chasm.

  Partially obscured by dark shadows and knee-deep cold water were the decaying remains of broken stone blocks, sections of fluted columns and paving stones, all scattered around the floor of the gorge. Dark wet moss, as well as creepers of ivy and other dark grey vines covered the visible remains, and a dank stale odor permeated the still, humid air.

  Warren wrinkled his nose. “What is that smell?”

  “It’s bloody awful,” Dathan agreed.

  “Rotting things,” Aelianna suggested. “It is wet. No wind.”

  With a collective grumble they waded forward, weaving their way around collapsed walls of stone and ruined blocks of granite and quartz of various hues, which were scattered among natural rock formations. They sloshed through the dank water, clambering over fallen posts and piles of debris, as strange large-eyed rodents peered out at them from cracks and crevices.

  “Where are we? What are these ruins?” Warren whispered, breaking the near silence of the deep chasm.

  “I believe these are the ruins of the capital city of Melkor,” Aldrick surmised, skirting a large boulder, which thrust up out of the dark water.

  “I thought the forest was Melkor?”

  “The forest was named for Melkor,” Garrick explained, “but there was once a large coastal city here, or so the ancient texts say.” When Garrick saw Warren giving him a flat, incredulous stare, he added, “Hey, I did read a book once in a while.”

  “Garrick is correct,” Aldrick said with a smile. “I saw a city in my vision like nothing I’ve seen before. Not only was it massive, many times the size of Akkadia, it was perhaps the largest city this world has ever seen.”

  “What bloody happened to it?” Dathan asked.

  Aldrick gestured around them. “A great cataclysm struck. Now there is nothing left but ruins.”

  “This is not so big,” Aelianna glanced around doubtfully.

  “This is only a very small section,” Aldrick replied. “If my vision was correct, this city was immense.”

  They continued on for the rest of the afternoon and into early evening, Garrick and Warren debating whether ancient Melkor had been larger than Kishen, and Aelianna interjecting with stories of how grand the coastal city of Ae’lax Andretta was. Often they quieted to grunts and curses, concentrating in the near darkness so as not to trip over rocks and detritus hidden in the water, or slip and fall on slick sections covered in dark green moss.

  Their surroundings were occasionally dimly illuminated by random spears of sunlight striking down from far above, but then plunged back into darkness where bends in the rock blocked the sky. As evening approached, the angle of the sun grew sharper and they lost most of what little light they had. Without their torches, which had been left back with the horses, their progress was increasingly slowed.

  Just before they were lost in complete darkness, the chasm narrowed and opened out onto a hard beach. The setting sun peeked over the distant western horizon to illuminate a wide area of devastation, which sprawled as far as the eye could see. Ruins of the great city lay in every direction, littered with boulders and stones of every size and description. They could hear the roar of the surf on their left pounding against the beach, and a strong salty smell permeated the air.

  “The ruins seem to go on forever,” Warren observed, squinting against the dying light.

  “Which bloody way are we going?” Dathan asked.

  Aldrick turned to the warrior. “Aelianna?”

  Retrieving the Clavis from a pouch, she closed her eyes and began muttering to herself. Raising an arm, she pointed to the north. “It is this way.”

  “Can we take a break?” Warren sighed. “I’m exhausted.”

  “It is close,” Aelianna said.

  “We should keep moving,” Garrick decided.

  Long shadows stretched across their path as they clambered over boulders and crumbling rocks, fallen structures and loose scree. They kept walking north until the round disk of the sun had nearly slipped below the watery horizon. Following the pull of the Clavis was bringing them ever closer to the edge of the water, until they rounded the corner of a partially intact ornate archway, and were confronted by a thoroughly unexpected sight.

  A prodigious marble temple appeared before them, illuminated by the last rays of the sun. It appeared perfect and unblemished in form, in stark contrast to the rest of the ruins around them. The brilliant white marble gleamed in the dim light, and for a while, the stone clung to its luminescence after the sun had slowly dropped below the horizon. Finally, the glowing stone succumbed to the gloom of dusk.

  Two massive golden doors, ornately carved with a heroic scene depicting a statuesque, heavily muscled champion, were centered in the front of the temple between towering marble columns. They saw no other means of entry, and in the dim light of dusk they could barely make out the finely carved friezes and decorations adorning the rest of the façade. They ascended the immaculate white steps and looked around, marveling at the grandeur of the building.

  At their approac
h the magnificent temple doors swung open of their own accord with a whoosh of escaping air. They blinked as a mysterious bright light suddenly emanated from inside the building. Mystified, they approached cautiously and saw the bright illumination originated from burning torches set in equally spaced golden sconces, which lined both sides of the hallway.

  “How could this temple remain untouched amidst these ruins?” Garrick wondered aloud.

  “And who lit these bloody torches?” Dathan added.

  “This is the temple of Kian,” Aldrick speculated based on his vision. “This must be what we’ve been searching for.”

  “We must go inside,” Aelianna said.

  “Inside?” Warren hesitated. “How do we know it’s safe?”