The Laws Of Elios (Book 2)

by R N Skye

  Suddenly the red lumen ceased its mocking and was instantly calm and accommodating. Voices began to call out to him enticing him to join them and share in the captured lumen of those that did not deserve nor understand the true power of magic and its purpose; all things that someone of Shane’s great lumen capacity and intelligence were entitled to. One particular persuasive, almost congenial, voice encouraged him to look and conjured up a vision of a large palace with Shane on a throne with people of all kinds kneeling and scraping to accomplish his every dream; a beautiful woman at his side happily doing his bidding hinting at what she could offer him. The woman soon became many women all with wistful sighs of adoration and determination to please him; telling him that they loved him; their desire just to be near him. The unseen voice increased in its seeming camaraderie as it announced to the growing throng at the base of the throne, “I give you the master of the masters, and the greatest of the great ones, I give you your emperor – Shane!”

  Suddenly the vision of the throngs and the throne shattered and voice like a thunderclap echoed through the very core of his mind and body. “…AND THEN WHAT!”

  The shattered palace and the throngs seemed to shrink away as if he were traveling away from them at incredible speed and soon were just a distant dim redness in a sea of empty darkness.

  “Turn around,” spoke the voice, this time like a more quiet distant thunder of a springtime rain.

  Shane turned to the voice and was amazed at a burst of stars so vast that to say that they were infinite was inadequate. His heart instinctively yearned to see it all. One of the stars began to grow closer to where he stood in the vast universe of light that he now beheld – as it drew near it was no longer a star but a large lion with the head and wings of an eagle. “I am Kuo’irus; I follow the Lumen of Light. Behold!” The large brilliant shimmering gryphon extended his large wing in the direction that Shane should look. As Shane watched the vast universe of stars he saw that there were patches of red among some of them, sometimes the red overcame the stars sometimes the stars caused the red to retreat. As he watched he saw a world of beautiful trees and forests slowly began to freeze and die. The people of that world did what they could do; some dug caves and moved into the ground some tried in vain to invent ways to leave the world in search for a new world. All the time the once beautifully forested world ever so slowly continued to die. When Shane looked to see the cause he saw a great battle between two gryphons and several of the machines like he had seen in the stadium. The larger gryphon fought valiantly with amazing speed and magic but was eventually overcome by the sheer numbers and brutality of the red lumen and shortly so was its mate. Slowly the star began to dim; he now understood why the planet was dying; the gryphons were the Lumen of the worlds and the suns. As the sun dimmed the world began to quake and the inhabitants were without hope.

  “We must rescue them, “Shane nearly shouted. I know glyphs that could transport them to a safer world.”

  “Behold,” the large Kuo’irus said as a new world came into view. “Behold the Elios.”

  Shane watched in wonder as he saw the Elios work wondrous magic and transport all of the remaining forest people of the freezing world to a new world. The Forest people weren’t the only ones. Similar worlds with similar fates were also rescued, without knowing how Shane knew one of them were the ancestors of the Luion.

  “I ask you again, Son of Eliom. ‘And then what?’ If one has it all, then what? If one has no purpose, then what? Worse yet, why would anyone trade the souls of the universe for empty lives and darkness? You need to know the ‘What’ and the ‘Why’ of creation.”

  The universe of endless stars was gone and Shane found himself back in the sea of red lumen with is grandfather still on the island of light beckoning to him. The voice of Kuo’irus echoed one last time through his mind. “The choice is yours. Destruction of souls or the creation thereof; you must chose for you cannot do both.” He saw an image of a smaller gryphon with a baby gryphon looking longingly at Kuo’irus. Standing at the smaller gryphon’s side stood Ava. The sea of lumen seemed to grow sinister and rose up in a monstrous wave rolling toward Ava and the gryphons.

  “No!” Shane yelled. Without thought he reached into himself and created a massive glyph that formed a shield that surrounded the gryphons and his beloved Ava. As the red lumen crashed upon his shield the shield grew and soon ran from horizon to horizon and as far as the eye could see it encircled the red and soon was a large golden sphere containing the very redness that had but moments before intimidated him. With a groan he willed it to shrink until the lumen was condensed into nothing more than a gold ball the size of his fist. Then with his last strength he began to free the lumen of life trapped within; leaving only the residue. Bit by bit the residue was starved and it withered away. As the golden globe winked out of existence Shane said, “I choose Light.”

  When Shane awoke he felt strong and refreshed. Looking around he found himself sitting on a park bench in a shaded summer time garden. Instinctively he turned to see his grandfather sitting next to him.

  The man didn’t look much older than Soaris or his mother, but he knew the man must be thousands of years old if not more. With a smile he said to Shane, “Good choice my grandson, and spectacularly made, might I add.”

  Shane laughed, “You mean it wasn’t a dream?”

  The part where you were nearly overcome by the backlash of dark lumen? No. The part where you saw the works of the Lumen of Light and the possibilities of becoming an Allyant Great One? Yes. The part where you chose true Lumen over stolen lives that too was a dream but your choice - that was real.”

  “Where are we?” asked Shane looking around.

  “A little pocket of existence I threw together in order for you to recover. I’ll tell you where it is another time.” Looking around as if the visit was over, Jahnon stood and Shane followed suit. Jahnon was every bit as tall as Shane and he reached out and embraced his grandson lifting him from the ground. I’m proud of you Shane. I’m confident that you Ari and all of those that follow you will be able to defeat the Allyant that has infested Eliom.” Changing the subject he added, “You have a ball game to organize. Have a good time; I know things look bleak, but tomorrow is another day. One last thing, Shane, when you arm-wrestled the man at the Ox and defended yourself during your escape from Jehhet, you did not ravage their souls; you may have weakened them and removed their energy but you did not cross the Laws and stoop to the stealing of the magic of their spirits.” With those parting words Jahnon faded away as he walked away from the bench.

  The next thing Shane realized is that was sitting on a park bench again, this time in a large field. Standing he looked around and realized he was on the outskirts of Valee. Looking back at the bench he saw a small box with his name on it. Picking it up, he opened it and found a small golden three sided pyramid with a single activation glyph on one side. Also in the box was a simple note: Have fun, Love Grandpa.

  Putting the note and the box back on the bench he examined the small pyramid. With no other options he activated the single glyph and immediately a voice said please toss the pyramid into the center of the field and run; you have thirty seconds. Shane nearly laughed, were all of his relatives from Elios such practical jokers?

  Doing as instructed he tossed the small device far out onto the grass. To his amazement he felt a strong tingle of lumen and soon the grass was a freshly mowed lawn and the circle of the eye appeared in the center. The field soon followed and finally the zone appeared. Then like stalks of corn growing at superfast speed, goals with nets sprung from the ground positioned evenly around the field. Incredibly a full field was in place; complete with score board. Just when he thought it was finished a large shed appeared just off the field behind the benches. Walking over he opened it and found it full of various colored vests and a large equipment bag with a dozen practice balls. “I guess grandpa may have watched a few games,” he said aloud with a chuckle.

  Sitting
back on the bench he admired the newly created warball field. He closed his eyes and reflected on the dream that he had just experienced. He pondered on the significance of the gryphons and what they meant – a thought entered his mind – they are star seeds; they are the lumen of the earth and suns that they represent. Without understanding how he knew, the realization that there were gryphons that represented Eliom and its sun and that he and the Arc and the gryphons shared a destiny.

  He recalled the scene of Ava standing so regally next to the two gryphons and smiled; he was amazed at the fact that such an amazing woman loved him and couldn’t imagine loving anyone else. On a whim he decided to see what she was up to. Using lumen magic he soon had an image that gave him a wide view of her as she was riding in the overland intently watching a set of viewers. The understanding that she intended to test the new enchantments herself dawned on him and from the looks of things from far above the floor of the deep forest floored crater. This impressed him with a feeling of pride; that his future wife was not someone who was without initiative and a spirit of exploration. He watched as Ava donned her equipment that she had put together to repair the overland. He jumped at first as he saw Ava fall through the magical holographic rail but soon sighed as he saw the rope catch and her fall cease. He felt a little guilty as he smiled at the expression on her face as she assessed how to get out of her predicament. Then wondering how he could help without embarrassing her he touched his ear comm and gave her a call. After the short conversation and seeing her suspicious look he hoped the hints that he had given would be enough and quickly disconnected. Watching a few moments longer and seeing her using the magical step to climb back to the monorail car, he was satisfied that she would be fine.

  Grabbing the equipment bag he went to the eye line of the field and poured the balls onto the ground in front of him and began practice kicks to the different goals. When he was out of balls he sprinted around the zone gathering them up jumping up and performing a mock slam once in a while. When he had gathered all of the balls he repeated the process.

  After a few more times of kicking and gathering the balls Shane felt relaxed and began inspecting the grass; pretty good for near winter. A sound of voices interrupted his examination. Looking towards Valee he saw a dozen or so youths walking aimlessly along the outer road that circled the city; shuffling as they went.

  As he observed the group he saw them stop; noticing that each had a handful of colored chalks. Soon they began to draw on the wall of a building. Making himself invisible Shane approached the group and examined their graffiti. “Jehhet Rules Wonstrowd,” read Shane. “That’ll be the day,” he said out loud while laughing. One of the youths nearest him turned in surprise at the unexpected voice but looked right through the spot where Shane stood. Willing his scribe to be invisible Shane unhooked it from his belt and copied the colorful graffiti from the wall and then with a smirk he gently shoved a couple of the boys causing them to start accusing each other of shoving the other. While they were distracted he erased the graffiti and changed it to read the opposite and soon it read: “Wonstrowd Rules Jehhet.”

  As the shoving died down Shane stepped back towards the field and waited for them to notice the change in the wording. What the,” muttered one of the older teens. “Hey which one of you guys reversed this,” Growled the boy.

  “What are you talking about several chorused. Then seeing the reversed wording they once again started with accusing each other. Eventually one, then another, took the initiative and attempted unsuccessfully to erase the now permanently scribed words.

  “Hi fellas,” Shane said from behind them as he made himself visible. You guys play warball?

  Some of the youth looked ready to run while others who were older and in their late teens seemed to decide that there was only one of Shane and felt secure enough that there wasn’t anything a lone man could do against them combined. “Take off mister, this is none of your affair,” spoke the largest and apparent leader of the group said.

  Ignoring the belligerence in the youth’s tone Shane replied half mockingly, “I see you guys are Wonstrowd fans. That’s awesome. They sure kicked the Lions arse in the playoffs this year, didn’t they?”

  “We aren’t fans. Wonstrowd just got lucky. If the Ref’s hadn’t of red flagged us twice at the end there’s no way they would have beaten us,” rebutted the leader.

  “I don’t know, laughed Shane, “they were caught cheating using military energy bands. Who’s to say that if they hadn’t had them that it wouldn’t have been so close? I’m willing to bet the Wizards would have blown them out rather than it coming down to couple of kicks like it did.”

  “You sound like you were there,” the older boy admitted so I guess I can’t argue. We’re all just Lions fans and we had to watch the game on crystal because none of us could get tickets.” The older teen grimaced, “it was so close if Wonstrowd didn’t have the best handler and receiver in the league we would have won… they just got lucky.”

  “Well if you can take time away from your artwork,” Shane nodded over his shoulder. “I have a regulation field set up behind me and we can put together a couple of games. There are fourteen of you so we could do a seven on seven – one ‘ceiver one handler. I’ll Ref.”

  “Whoa, “chorused the group where’d that come from?

  The smallest of the group kept eyeing Shane suspiciously but the distraction of the field pulled his attention like a moth to a flame. With a yell he ran for the field, “I got first pick and I call handler!”

  “In your dreams squirt,” hollered an older copy of the boy and then led the stampede after his little brother.

  Two furiously competitive games later Shane called the game. Gathering up the balls and vests he showed the group where the equipment was kept and said that as long as they made sure that they always put everything away then they could play whenever they wanted.

  The young boy that had been watching him closely earlier asked Shane, “Have you ever played warball?”

  “Practically all my life and I played in college” Shane replied. Looking at the sun that was setting Shane cut the conversation short. “You fellas probably need to get home and do your chores or eat your dinners or something. Bring more friends next time; I probably won’t be around so you’ll need your own ref too.” And one more thing,” he added as an afterthought. “No more drawing on city buildings. I’ll build you an art wall over here by the ball field. Just promise me that you won’t put anything on there that you don’t want your mom’s to see.” The young men all laughed.

  After the boys left Shane looked around and then began looking through his lumen notes on what would work for wall construction. Finally he decided on a design and behind the scoreboard he built a large five cubit high wall that spread in each direction from the score board for fifty cubits each way. With a wave of his hand the graffiti that he had scribed on the building faded away. Seeing it was almost dinner time he headed home.

  Chapter VII

  Shane entered his parent’s home in Yllyan where he had been staying since he had left Jehhet; he saw his mother and father getting ready to leave.

  “Son,” his mother greeted him with a hug. “Ugh, you’re all sweaty,” His mother stepped back quickly. “You need to get cleaned up. I know its short notice but your father and I would like to have dinner with you and Ava this evening if possible.”

  “Sorry, been playing ball this afternoon with some of the refugee kids in Valee. Hey dad,” He added, patting his father on the shoulder as he stepped past into the hallway leading to his room and the shower. “I don’t know if Ava is available. She was pretty adamant about getting the overland restored to that fishing port up north of here, but I’ll go with you; I’m starved.” Noting that they were dressed in nice clothes, he added, “Are you guys going somewhere fancy? Guess I better put on something nice too.”

  “Something very nice would be appropriate, “agreed his father.

  “Don’t worry about Av
a, you just get cleaned up; we’ll talk to her. You might consider bringing that dear girl some flowers or box of confections; you need to woo her more,” his mother admonished him. “We are going to go see if we can meet up with her at Yllyan station when she gets in. If she’s late then we will just eat later. Now get moving,” she asserted in her motherly take charge manner. “Just be at the Valee station around eight.”

  Shane appeared on the Valee station platform just before Ava. He had on his best dark blue jacket with a yellow cream colored shirt and dark blue slacks. He was carrying a pink rose corsage that he had purchased from a green house in Luion and taking his mother’s advice had picked up a small box of candied lemons; one of Ava’s favorites.

  Just as he was getting ready to step into the station he sensed a tingling of lumen right behind him. Turning he looked just as Ava’s portal opened. His eyes widened as he took in her appearance; she was gorgeous. She had on a set of fashionable high heeled Luion shoes and full bright green mid-calf skirt with a white long sleeved jade buttoned blouse and a shimmering green wool shawl; accented with silver bracelets and a silver choker and matching earrings. Her hair was tied up in a way that showed of her attractive neck; Shane was speechless.

  “Hey you,” Ava winked slyly as she stood on her tip toes and kissed him.

  Shane finally found his voice, “I just can’t get over how beautiful you are. I see you all the time in a lab coat and you drive me out of my mind and then you dress up and its like, like,” Shane was once again at a loss for words. “You’re radiant I can’t describe you any other way. You look amazing.”