Zeke rolled his eyes. "These Medorans have really put their spell on you. They have somehow tricked you into thinking that being selfish and hoarding their wealth is good for the masses."
"Wealth is not a reflection of moral failure, Zeke. Self-interest is not selfishness. If a tailor desires wealth, his desire will end up clothing the masses. If a baker desires wealth, his desire will feed the hungry. If such efforts failed, then that tailor or baker ends up poor alongside the needy. If he has the opportunity to become wealthy, then his efforts benefit everyone."
"You can go on believing those Medoran lies if you want. I won't fall for their tricks. I am here against my will, but you are here helping them because you want to be. That is shameful, and I am ashamed to call you a fellow Vindyri."
Alana snorted a laugh as she turned to walk away. "I'm not interested in your approval, Zeke. I'm interested in getting as far away from your political system as I can."
Chapter 37
Light struggled to reach the floor from such incredible heights. The shafts lost their intensity the closer they got to the ground, but the ambient light still lit the underground world with a dim, eerie blue glow. The walls off in the distance were as black as night, but some of the decorations were silver, offering tiny twinkles of contrast.
"This mountain is completely hollow," Rommus said.
Song nodded. "I don't even know how such a thing is possible. I think there might be some kind of magic here holding everything up. That room over there is where Uritus was crushed with the statue."
Rommus glanced over at the dark doorway surrounded by silver adornments, but the darkness did not allow him to see the fallen statue inside. He instead turned his attention to the unfathomably large room nestled in the center of the mountain. There were colossal statues on pedestals larger than most Medoran homes. The statues themselves were taller than a Thrahk, and carved from single pieces of fine white marble. Each of the statues faced the small doorway where Uritus had discovered the robes of Inshae.
"These are the guardians," Song said.
"How do you know?"
"I have put together the pieces I remember from my visions. A lot is still unclear, but some things I can now grasp."
"I see," Rommus said. "So these statues are the guardians of the void?"
"No, these are just statues, really. They were made to symbolize the guardians of the door. These statues and the great door in the distance were carved by the same people. They didn't know what the gateway to the void looked like, nor did they know what the guardians looked like. This is just their interpretation."
The great statues lined the massive room in two long rows. Between them, far off in the blurry distance was a door. Unlike the tiny doorway behind them where Song had fought Uritus, this doorway was wide enough for a large building to fit though, and about four times as tall. The surrounding frame was lavishly decorated in the typical Medoran fashion, but scaled up to such enormous proportions that it appeared much narrower at the top than at the bottom. The immense doorway towered over everything else in the room, making even the enormous statues look like miniatures.
As they got closer, the fuzzy details of the decorated door became clearer. From what Rommus could tell, it was carved right from the interior of the mountain. The dim light from above did very little to illuminate the area, but it appeared that even the doors themselves were made of mountain stone. The other walls were clad in black marble, but the wall with the door was not.
As they passed the statues guarding the door, Rommus noticed that not all of them appeared to be human. All of them had the basic human form, but some of the faces were more like creatures than man. Some had mighty jaws with sharp teeth. Others had bony spikes down their backs similar to a Thrahk. Several had horns; some jutting rearwards out of their skulls, and some from the sides like the curling horns of a ram. All of the statues, human or otherwise, had a look of fierce determination. They were carved with intent to show their intent to protect whatever was beyond that door.
"Song, do you know who carved these statues?"
"Mages. I don't know if they were Silver Mages or Black Mages, but Mages built all of this."
"You know that because of the words in your visions?"
"Yes. Some of what I know comes from words, but other things come as pictures. I never saw anything about the statues in my visions, but I know that the Mages built this door and everything under this mountain."
"Do you know what's on the other side of the door?"
"The visions always end abruptly and I can never see beyond a certain point. I always wake from the fear."
"But you said you have seen the void, right? Is that what is on the other side?"
"I can only assume so, Rommus. But I have seen the void many, many times, and I am not afraid of that. There's something else in my visions that terrifies me. I have to admit, I am terrified right now. I don't have any doubt that whatever it is I see in my visions is absolutely real and waiting for us on the other side."
"You mean Demeos; the guardian of the void."
"I guess. Like I said, I don't know what's on the other side."
Rommus nodded as they walked toward the distant door. "You don't need to fear the void. I have been there before. I had always assumed that it was a place where there was nothing; a place where entry or exit was impossible. But the Triultti told me that there are other places in the void where things do exist. It's not all inescapable blackness."
"I know it's not all empty. If you think about it, it can't be empty; otherwise there would be nothing to make up whatever the void is. There's got to be something there."
The enormous statues slid slowly by as they walked. The distance to the door was deceiving, as it seemed that no matter how far they walked, it never got much closer. Already they had walked nearly half the length of Brinn, and the far wall was still far away.
But eventually they reached the stone wall. The door was even larger than Rommus had guessed from a distance, but he was correct about guessing the material. Like the Columns of Inshae at the gateway into the Land of the Gods, it was carved right from the mountain. All of the edges were crisp and flawless. No chips marred the surface, and no veins of darker or lighter colored rock ruined the perfection. In fact, it was so perfect that Rommus doubted the hands of man had carved it. He assumed that gods-and not Mages—were responsible for the construction.
When they reached the wall they knew they had a problem. The doors were a carving, and not actual doors. Even if they were real, they certainly weighed more than several buildings combined, and would be impossible to push open. Rommus ran his finger down the crack between the carved doors, and he felt solid stone.
"These aren't really doors, Song. They can't be opened."
"That can't be. These are the doors I saw in my visions. I know it."
"Well, as you can see, it's just a carving. Without a hammer and chisel, we're not getting through here."
Song ran his hands over the stone, hoping to see something more than dusty rock. He examined it carefully, looking over every inch for some kind of flaw or a trigger to trip some grand mechanism. He tapped it in many place, listening for differences in the sounds.
There was a carving that looked like a flower at the center of each door, at about chest level. After inspecting each of them, Song moved on to the decorative moldings on the left side of the doors. Rommus investigated the other side.
After a while, Song yelled over to him. "Rommus! Come here."
Rommus jogged over to see what Song had found, and arrived to see him blowing dust out of letters carved into the stone. He was familiar with the look of the words, but most he had never seen before. It was clear that the language was Old Medoran, and Rommus only knew a little.
"Can you read it?" Rommus asked.
Song examined the words carved into the molding and nodded. "Yes, I know all the words."
"Well what does it say?"
Song read the inscription
out loud:
All mankind must heed this warning: The guardians of the deep lie beyond the doors that only hands of god and man may open.
Rommus rubbed his chin in thought. "Hands of god and man. That reminds me of the Song of the Valley poem. It says something about earth moved by hands of gods and man."
"Yes, it does say that," Song said. "I wonder what it means."
"I took it to mean that the circular lake of the Itherians was drained by both the gods and by man to turn it into the valley that the poem talks about. For whatever reason, the gods and men needed to work together to accomplish the task. I assume there was a great level of importance for draining the lake if it required gods and men to do it."
Song nodded. "Yeah, I guess that makes sense. But why would the gods need man for anything? Couldn't they just drain the lake with their power?"
Rommus traced the letters as he thought. "Perhaps there are certain things that are so important that neither god nor man alone can have the final say in the matter. I have learned that there are safeguards placed on everything. There are ways that humans can kill gods if it ever becomes necessary. It happened to Arius and I replaced him. Perhaps there are situations where gods and humans have to agree to set things in motion. That poem and that valley itself ended up being very important, since it set things in motion for you to go back in time and found Medora. It also played an important role in defeating the Triultti and saving Medora in our time."
Song nodded as he looked for any more words hidden in the stone. "That makes sense to me. But some might call that blasphemy. To elevate humans to the level of gods to make important decisions is an idea that would not be widely accepted."
"I don't really care what's accepted, Song; I am trying to figure out what I can do to save the people. I have met the other gods, and yet I still have to admit I know nothing about them. If my ponderings are considered blasphemy, then so be it."
"Yeah, I agree. And we have very little to go on. It's not like the gods have written out what truth we are supposed to subscribe to. All we have are ancient poems and words carved into stone."
Rommus tapped the stone door with the handle of his knife to listen for anything hollow. "And let's not forget that carving words into stone does not attest to their validity. Any man can cut rock with chisel, but he cannot create truth where there is none."
Song nodded. "Very true, Rommus. That is a point I shall remember for my whole life. For any greater being than man must surely value the churnings of reason in the human mind over blind allegiance to an unknown power."
"Very wise words, Song. See to it that you apply such reasoning to government as well. It is no less absurd to swallow whatever poison offered to us by those who lead us simply because we must respect their position of power. Always question. Always hold your leaders accountable for their intents and their deeds."
"Your words ring clearly in my mind, Rommus. I will never forget them and I assure you I will apply these ideals when it becomes my time to lead. But for now, we have this door to deal with. We must discover how to open it, and then we must decide if we should."
Rommus shot him a glance. "Why wouldn't we open it? That's what we came here to do."
"Yes, Rommus, but you were sent here by a god. Is it your duty to follow him?"
"Questioning the gods does not mean I do not believe, Song. I truly believe that Terinopus was helping to protect me and the rest of the gods when he told me how to get my powers back. I cannot risk being assassinated by the gods of darkness, so I have to go on this mission. I was inspired by a god, but this in my choice."
"Okay, but there is also the warning. The inscription warns us about what is beyond this door. If we open it to go in, there is no telling what may come out."
Rommus gripped his chin. "I didn't think about that. I wouldn't want to unleash some terrible doom on the world. But, there is always doom of some kind lurking in the world. We have some serious problems to overcome, and on the other side of this door is some kind of answer. We don't really have much choice. We have to open it."
"Okay, how?"
"I don't know. I was hoping you could summon some magic or something. Don't you have any ideas?"
Song chuckled. "Magic? I am little more than an accidental amateur. However, the inscription says that hands of god and man are able to open it. You are both god and man, Rommus. Perhaps you have the power within you."
Rommus stared at the massive doors for a moment before walking over to the carved split between them. His own mind laughed at him as he thought about pushing open solid stone doors that were only a carving—but stranger things had happened. He pulled in a deep breath and heaved with all his might, but the mountain in front of him refused to budge.
Then he got an idea. It was just as ridiculous as Song's idea, but it was worth trying. He walked to the right and placed both hands on the carving of the flower on the right door. He waved Song over and gestured for him to do the same on the left door. Even though he knew he was no longer officially a god, it was worth a try.
"Hands of god and man," Rommus said.
The sound of thunder cracking rumbled through the underground chamber as the mighty doors swung inwards. The rock had separated cleanly, and a bright blue light shined between the doors. With the light came a piercing sound that annoyed but did not hurt his ears. Both of them looked away from the light as they pushed, not wanting to be temporarily blinded in the darkness. The doors moved easily, and felt only as heavy as an ordinary door.
When Rommus opened his eyes the magical light seemed to have dissipated like mist. It rolled on the air briefly before completely extinguishing along with the piercing ring. When the light had gone out, darkness could be seen on the other side. There was no hint of anything inside the doorway at all, and Rommus thought that he was perhaps staring right into the heart of the void.
But some light poured in from the chamber behind him. A few steps in, he could see stairs. He looked to Song for a moment to see if he wanted to go on, and then they both took a few careful steps beyond the enormous stone doorway.
At the top of the stairs was a single silver tile set next to other tiles made of mountain stone. When he stepped on the metal tile, torches all over lit by themselves. It was not the ordinary orange glow of fire, but instead a dimmer, purple color that lit everything and yet still left everything in soft shadow.
The stairs went on and on, deeper and deeper under the mountain. For a long time, Rommus thought that there would never be an end to them, and he briefly considered the idea that he was tricked into some eternal trap between realms. But eventually, far beneath the city of Brinn above, the stairway came to an end.
At the bottom was a huge circular room, lined with the same magical torches that lined the stairs. A ghostly glow illuminated the room as the purple light flickered and danced. There was no pop or hiss from the torches, and the room was as silent as death. It created an odd feeling, and it truly made Rommus feel as if he had crossed over into the worlds beyond.
The circular room was ringed with doorways. At first glance, Rommus estimated probably 30; although he did not officially count. Each doorway was carved from the surrounding stone, but unlike the doorway at the top of the stairs, there were no doors at all. Instead, the doorways were entirely black holes with nothing but seemingly infinite emptiness beyond.
At the center of the room was a circular altar of some sort. Hovering over the center of the stone alter was a massive, round ruby jewel. The purple light shimmered in its surface, and bounced occasional rays across the room. Beneath the floating jewel, carved into the stone altar was an intricate diagram made of straight lines and odd symbols. The lines were filled with brilliant, polished gold, and the light playing across its surface was a truly dazzling effect.
As they cautiously approached, the ruby gem began to glow with a scarlet light. A grinding sound could be heard as the altar began to turn, aligning the gold patterns on its surface with different doorways. Ro
mmus suddenly realized that if he wasn't careful, he might lose his bearings, since every door was identical—including the one they came through. He looked behind him to see if the stairs could still be seen through one of the doorways, but they all were black as pitch. He had a guess as to which one would lead them back to the surface, but it was only a guess.
Song approached the altar and looked at the golden design. "Do you know what this thing is?"
Rommus shook his head. "I can only assume it's some kind of directional device to point us towards one of the doorways. I can't understand any of the symbols. Can you?"
"No, I don't recognize any of them. Old Medoran has almost identical letters to the ones we use now. These symbols are something entirely different. I have no idea what any of them mean."
"What about the pattern? Does the pattern make any sense to you?"
Song examined the pattern a while before he answered. "It's not symmetrical. There are lines that are longer than others, and a few of them end at intersecting lines. Other ones don't, and connect right through to other lines. I don't know what that means, but I can see the flaws in the pattern."
"What about these empty spaces here without any gold lines? What do you think those mean?"
Song looked at the areas lacking any gold lines or symbols and then placed his hands inside them. The red jewel began spinning rapidly and it lowered to just a few inches above the altar. When it did so, a bright red glow inside of it intensified, although it did not spread bright light outwards into the room. A female voice shook the chamber, although Rommus could not understand the words.
"Please tell me you understood that," Rommus said.
Song nodded. "It said destination. I believe we are being asked where we wish to go."
"Tell it we wish to see the guardian of the void."
Song blurted out words that Rommus could not understand, and immediately afterwards, he became dizzy. It was as if the entire chamber was spinning while the ruby gem stood still, but it was impossible to tell. Soon after, the gem elevated to its original position and the light inside it went out. On the altar, however, the red glow remained on some of the gold lines. Although it did not point to a doorway in a single line like an arrow, it was clear enough to both of them what doorway the jewel's magic seemed to point to.
Soul Under the Mountain (Legend of Reason Series) Page 23
