by R N Skye
The king closed the doors to the balcony and stepped back into his room and sat back at the large desk where he monitored the affairs of his takeover of the kingdoms of the continent. Closing his eyes he looked through the eyes of all of his captives at once. This was a feat that up until recently had been impossible but lately as he had begun to absorb more and more lumen from his slaves he found that his abilities to control the captured lumen were increasing as well. Unfortunately he soon felt overwhelmed and he couldn’t look constantly but for a few moments at a time he could see anywhere and everywhere in the world where his wrist banded slaves were, see what they saw, know what they knew. As he watched he saw his many soldiers in various stages of preparation, capturing, or processing more slaves increasing his corps of new lumen slaves.
He now had three types of wristbands in use. The red stripes he used on his soldiers; they gave the soldiers strength and allowed him to control them. The purple he used on those described as magetechs and those with uncommon quantities of lumen; those he used to power himself. The orange striped wristbands he put on anyone who wasn’t a soldier or a magetech; he used them to refuel Brenner’s abandoned starblade; which he intended to use for his return do the worlds of the Allyant Great Ones; once he had bled this world dry.
As he watched he, focused in on a group of spies that he had ordered to pose as refugees aboard a shipping vessel. Somehow there was a lumen shield of some sort that ran the entire border between Infin and Luion from the east to west coast of the great western continent; it had to be the work the shadowy guardian that had tried to kill him so many years ago. The shield had made it impossible for him to smuggle any lumen controlled slaves north. So far he and not been able to use any Allyant magic that could bypass or infiltrate the huge barrier. It appeared to go higher than anyone could climb and deeper than the bedrock beneath it. So far his only success had been aboard ship. Watching through his spies he saw them gather inside an empty warehouse. With dim light they had a map spread out on a rickety table. Through their ears he could hear the sounds of the wharf and the activity of the docks. Suddenly he sensed nervousness in his men.
“Hey I can’t move, I’m stuck to the ground,” exclaimed the leader
“Me either, me too,” Echoed the rest of the group.
Suddenly the light went out in the large room and Pechor could only see darkness which seemed to convey a loud silence only periodically interrupted by the back ground sounds of the wharf; only the back ground noises that his spies could hear. The deafening darkness was broken by a strong voice. “Allion I know you can hear me. Or perhaps I should say whoever is pulling Allion’s strings? I suspect that Allion stopped being Allion quite some time ago. Whatever the case you should be aware that you are going to lose this war. You don’t think that the Elios would leave this world unprotected do you?”
Pechor replied back through his leader, “This world has no protection. A lone protector from the past tried to kill me five hundred years ago and failed. Now that I have infiltrated this world with the full power of the Allyant, no mere artifact mage is going to stand against me. I know the voice of the shadow protector that called himself the song and you are not him. He has either passed away or returned to Elios, in fear of my new power, seeking help. If that is the case he will be too late. This world will be a lifeless cinder by the time I am finished and no one here can stop me. You may have captured these spies but I will send more. Soon the Luion will be part of the Infin and their lumen will be mine.”
“If that’s the case, Puppet King, taunted the voice then I have something you should know. The king you control ordered a man killed. If you still have any memories left of Allion the Third, I’d look up the name “Stafford.” You will find out that the only person that ever beat Allion at all of his deviousness was Stafford. Stafford is the man that stole your prisoner out from under your nose and killed your slave Wendell. Sleep well Puppet King, My name is Stafford and I am many things but foremost I’m an assassin; and I’ve never failed to end my target. I’m coming for you Puppet King.”
A bright light flashed and the connection that Pechor had to his spies was broken. Gasping in pain and rubbing his eyes he cursed. What could any of these mortals do to him; his power was growing greater with each day. Scanning the fading memories of the former king he shuddered without warning as the name Stafford brought a memory that the king had truly feared. Pechor shrugged it off relying on his Allyant confidence but deep inside he wasn’t sure what it was but a small shadow of doubt seemed to nestle like a burr.
Not entirely sure why, he decided that he would expedite the fueling of the starblade, find the star seeds, and then flee; the destruction of the world would have to come later.
~~~~~
Ava loaded the large frame supported backpack with three monorail disks. Her estimation was that she would need three or four and she wanted to take four but there wasn’t enough room. Oh well, she thought, I can always come back for more. With a grunt she attempted to lift it. Not a chance, she said to herself. She was just about to call Shane when she recalled the he had used levitation glyphs on a number of enchantments. A couple of conversations later with her instructor she carefully inscribed the necessary glyphs that soon had the bulky pack light as a feather. Imbuing the new glyphs with lumen was almost an afterthought to her now; she was surprised at the ease that she was now able to accomplish the process. Maybe she was further along than she thought. When she got back this evening she was going to give Shane’s blue Allyant wrist band negating glyph a try.
“All ready to go?” asked Leo as he walked into the room.
“As ready as I’ll ever be,” Ava answered back as she effortlessly slung the bulky but light pack around her shoulders. “Want to come along?”
“Normally I would love a field trip,” the professor answered somewhat distracted, “but Kaysee is not feeling well and I think she needs someone to look after her.”
“Nothing serious I hope?” Ava asked with concern.
“No, just tired I think, she said that she was having some bad dreams. It might be from the trauma that she endured just before Soaris brought her here. Something she saw during one of the refugee extractions may have set it off. She’s sleeping like a baby on the couch in my office so I’ think I’ll stay here and keep an eye on her; I hope that I’m not working her too hard.” He added with a clearly worried expression.
“Tell her I hope she feels better,” offered Ava as she bent and picked up a small satchel containing her notes and scribe and a canteen. “I’ll drop by and say hello when I get back this evening if you two are still here.”
Ava’s first stop was the overland station. Instead of entering the station she walked to the far side and stopped near the end of the long building. The sun shone brightly in the early afternoon but the air was cool and crisp; it wouldn’t be long before the rains would become snow. This thought increased her determination to get the transportation system up and going before she found herself in a situation where she would have to wait for spring. Removing the large pack she set it carefully down near the wall out of the way. Retrieving her notebook from her satchel she casually flipped through a few pages, pausing and continuing until she had read the notes she was looking for. Creasing the notebook so that it would stay open more easily she held it in her left hand where she could read and with her right hand she began tracing glyphs in the air next to the wall of the station. Once the glyphs were completed she imbued them. The glyphs began to glow and a rectangular section of the wall opened up revealing a glyph covered control panel and a view screen. Returning to her notebook she read a few more lines and she began touching various glyphs, reading some more then more activation.
Ava felt a surge of lumen and energy as a large glowing track appeared traveling several hundred cubits into the distance running the opposite direction of the Valee route. She couldn’t help but giggle at her feeling of satisfaction that she felt whenever she was successful in any new enchantme
nt or experiment. Turning back to her notes she activated a handful of more glyphs and another surge produced a large monorail car at the platform next to her.
Now for the tricky part, she said to herself. Referring back to her notes she followed the glyphs that she Soaris had shown her to use to make sure that the Valee Station monorail would not go north past the Yllyan station as well as keep operating normally – the last thing she needed was unknowing passenger taking a dead end trip to where she would be working and run out of track. She began pressing glyphs in what appeared to be a random and complex order. A depiction of the track appeared on the screen showing the segment of track that ran from Yllyan to Valee as green and the track that she had just activated showed as yellow except for a spot that appeared to be two thirds of the way to Coh Y Nord where it was red for a short distance then it was yellow again until it terminated at Coh Y Nord at what she hoped was a station. That must be the crater where the track is gone, she thought glancing at the red section. Lastly she pressed a final glyph and touched the screen at the station icon the represented her location and two dots of light appeared – one on the Valee route side green and one on the Coh Y Nord side a red dot. Satisfied that the overland was active now she waved away the glowing glyphs and the wall misted back into place.
Stuffing her notebook back into her satchel she picked up the pack and entered into the empty car. Like the other monorail cars that she had ridden previously the car was clean and comfortable. A clean citrus smell seemed to permeate the comfortable air flow that silently blew from the ventilation ducts. Unlike the regular monorail this one did not move on its own. Opening the pack she retrieved a small rectangular brass plate with a slider control not unlike the one that Shane used for his propulsion unit for his boat; in fact that was the design that she and Professor Wetz had used when the created it. Walking to the front of the multi section car she was soon all the way to the front. Using her glyph mastery once again she drew a set of glyphs in the air near the wall about chest high near the large window that faced forward on the monorail car. Activating them she was rewarded with a chair and a control panel on the right hand side of the car and a large doorway that could open up into the front of the car that would allow one to exit to the front if they so desired. Sitting in the chair she inspected the control surface and saw a square plate similar to the panel that she and Leo had made. According to the manual that she had had her instructor print, the currently installed panel would allow the operator to activate or deactivate the monorail car but it had no variable or directional control. Carefully she recalled some of the lumen from the glyphs that held the current controller in place. Pulling it free she set it aside and placed the modified controller in its place. Fastening it with the same glyphs that had held the previous panel in place she put the old one into her pack and with a deep breath placed her hand on the slide glyph of the new controller. Slowly she moved it forward and the car responded by leaving the station.
The overland glided away from the station silently and smoothly. Ava increased the speed until she was comfortable that she could stop in time if she saw that she was running out of track. While the car was traveling at a significant speed it wasn’t traveling at anywhere near its optimum. Ava soon grew tired of continually staring ahead waiting for the moment of when she would be out of track. She had to keep thinking of ways to pay attention and not be distracted by the ever increasing forests and the large trees. Finally she decided that she could use the location finder on her portal device as a long range viewer. She quickly set it up so that she had a bird’s eye view of the farthest edge of the forward track plus several milos beyond. This gave her a cushion of nearly twenty minutes or so before she would run out of track and when she would need to stop to begin her repairs. Feeling comfortable she began to take in more of her surroundings and less of the track – only glancing at the portal viewer periodically.
The trees seemed to fly past and they grew taller and taller, appearing as if they were meant to shade giants. Although most of the trees were deciduous she periodically passed groves of monstrous reddish brown barked evergreens towering two hundred or more cubits high with massive trunks that were the size of houses. All of the trees in the now thick forest appeared to be larger than the norm. Turning back to the front of the monorail she was amazed at the way the overland was able to maintain a straight line of travel through the random trees. The canopy was growing thicker and to her astonishment the forest didn’t seem to be darkening all that much. Soon she discovered why. Among the ferns and other growth there were gigantic mushrooms of various colors; from browns and tans to pale yellows. Mixed in was a number of a bluish green variety, not unlike that of a robin’s egg, which seemed to be speckled with a white fluorescent camouflage pattern. The white dots and blended swirls glowed giving the appearance of softly lit pathways through the forests. The more she observed, it seemed to still appear as if it were still summertime and not approaching winter.
As she watched the mystical scenery flash past her she glimpsed a platform not unlike the one she had found near the gorge on the route to Valee. Quickly she reached to the control panel and decelerated the monorail. Pulling the control downward she began slowly backing up until she was even with the platform. When the monorail came to a halt the doors opened and she stepped out onto the platform.
The first thing she noticed was the earthy smell of the forest mixed with a gentle smell of evergreen. Initially everything sounded quiet, but as she stood taking it in she was soon aware of a myriad of sounds; mostly a blend of birds and insects and that of the swaying branches high above her dancing in the scarce breeze.
Seeing the platform controls with its familiar glyphs she stepped up to it and began examining it to see if it had been disabled or if it too was malfunctioning do to age and lack of maintenance. As with the prairie platform near the gorge the glyphs on the plate were worn and no longer complete. Carefully she used her scribe and soon had the glyphs restored. In short order she imbued the glyphs and a small projection appeared in a language that she hadn’t heard before. “Infin please,” she stated and the images and audio immediately changed. She was soon made aware that this station had been down for over five hundred years due to pathway failure further down the track and to please contact Yllyan or Coh Y Nord records center for assistance.
“Hello Lumen Master!” rumbled a deep voice from behind her.
Ava shrieked as she turned with a jump; nearly falling over. To her surprise what she found was pair of men with curious expressions dressed in leather trousers and vests with plaid cloth shirts. Contrary to their gigantic voices they were only three quarters her height and nearly twice as wide.
“Sorry, we didn’t mean to startle you, but you seemed busy and we didn’t want to interrupt,” spoke one of the short men wearing a red shirt and a wide friendly smile.
“Aye,” offered the other who was wearing a green shirt, “When you flew past in… your…” The man paused, then with a perplexed look scanned the monorail cars and then glanced at his companion with a shrug, “…giant metal worm? We hurried here as fast as we could. We haven’t seen one o’them since we were knee high to a short sheep. Way back when our great grans and gramps used to travel to the fisher-lands and to the gateway centers. Droddy has sworn for years that the lumen masters would come by to restore things as they were before the sky fell; her be’n a mage and all. You are a lumen master, are you not?” The green shirted little man asked, his glance narrowing with the appearance of looking down his stubby nose while still looking up at her suspiciously.
“Of course she is, Edgar. Don’t be such a pinecone. You saw the way she redrew them magical scrollettes – or whatever Droddy calls em, and the lumen that flowed into them,” chimed in that redshirted man. “Not like that red mage years back; he couldn’t put lumen into a light stone on a sunny day – some mage he turned out to be. What a dungus, I still remember that one, tried to take life-lumen from the glungus stools.” Both of the m
en burst out laughing, slapping each other on the back.
The green shirted man evidently named Edgar was near tears. “And Droddy was there begging him…’ no please don’t take the lumen from the glungus’ like they were a poor defenseless mushrooms. You never saw such a sight. If Droddy hadn’t a called em off he would have been fungus food fer sure. O’course he did Kill D’reason’s Giant Spruce with his red orb… it’s probably a good thing he was a mage or I think D’reason would have chopped him up for fertilizer. Just as well he ran away like he did.”
Ava held up her hand as the green shirted man was about to continue. “Just a second, s'il vous plaît messieurs,” Ava said hurriedly as she began to get an idea that the little men were no strangers to magic but having questions of her own and feeling that the comical pair of short husky forest folk were likely to continue talking if she continued her surprised silence. “First introductions if you please. My name is Ava.” She held out her hand.
The two men attempted unsuccessfully to stand taller as they took turns shaking her slender hand with their own disproportional large calloused thick fingered hands. “Please forgive our rudeness rumbled the red shirted man contritely. My name is Rogg and this is my brother Edgar. We are of the forest tenders of The Red Oak Glen. We have a cone seed farm up the hill; we were fix’n to do some harvesting when ole Edgar here sees the worm fly’n through the forest and says, hey Rogg take a look at that giant metal thing. You ever see anything that fast go through a forest and not crash into a tree? Then all of a sudden it stops and starts a back’n up so we clum down d’tree and got here just as you was a fix’n the scrollettes,” the short man nodded towards the platform panel. “And here we are.”
“It’s nice to meet the both of you,” Ava replied. “I’m sorry to have disrupted your work. As you have surmised I am indeed working on restoring the infrastructure between the cities of Yllyan and Coh Y Nord. When I saw the platform I stopped to see if it needed repair. As it turns out it did so I have taken the liberty of repairing it.”
