by Lloyd Baron
He strains his eyes to get a look at them, but they are too far away for his aged eyes. Frustrated and excited, he tells Molly to run up to the temple and call the Council for a meeting. He will join them as soon as he is dressed for the occasion. At his word the girl bounds from the room and races away. He can hear her footsteps pounding up the ramps overhead and he smiles sadly. That was the last time he will ever sit with her and tell her a story; the last time they will just sit and talk; the last time they will ever be together just the two of them; and the last time he will hear her call him “Father.”
His robes are in the wardrobe at the back of the room and he hobbles over to it. He struggles to pull them over his head and wings but eventually he wriggles into them and makes his way, somewhat slower than Molly to the top of the city. On his way he stops to inform a few people of their guests and sets in motion the making of a feast.
He also orders that the guests should be shown to rooms to wait being sent for. Before he can speak to them he will need to inform the Council of his plans. They will object, but he is beyond caring what they think. He will be gone soon and he has to set these young people on the path of Prophecy. He has to pass the torch of his knowledge before it is snuffed out forever. If he does not then the world is doomed to suffer a death so painful and prolonged that every living creature upon it will wish for its life to end.
He finally reaches the temple and marvels for a moment at its beauty. The building is huge and sits in the very canopy of the highest branches. It is made of thousands of branches woven into what looks like a giant basket. The top of it is painted with gold leaf and shines brightly in the sun. It is a beacon which can be seen all the way across the sea in all directions. It is a symbol of peace and faith in the world around them and in the tree.
The massive double doors hang open and he steps towards them. Onoui steps out and offers him an arm to lean on, and he is grateful for it. As he enters the temple the Council stand, and one by one, they lower themselves to the ground, bowing their heads. “They know everything,” his wife says in a whisper. “They know and they want to help.”
Ori stares at the men and woman who make up the power of Gossa-Mesa and tears begin to slide down his craggy cheeks. “Thank you,” he mutters and then in a firmer voice he adds. “Stand, Council of Light. We have much to discuss in the next hour. The fate of the world is about to change. We have hope at last. The darkness will be pushed back and the promise we made to the Elementals will be kept.
“The world is going to be saved, and this will start now. The power of the Angels will be used to infuse the heroes with the gifts they need to destroy the Six and bring the Sorceress to her knees. No longer will we hide and wait. It is time for action. It is time for the Angels to fight back against the darkness.”
He swallows and stares at the faces one by one. Rotu, Ori’s younger brother nods his head once and gives an encouraging smile. Gou, his second brother, husband to Onoui’s sister, looks at him with a stern set to his jaw, but he too nods. Ko’u claps his hands together and looks around excitedly. He is the youngest of the Council and still becomes excited by events, no matter how grand or small. Iso, his sister shakes her head but she does not speak out. Gugu, wife of Rotu glances between Ori and her husband, a nervous glint in her eyes. H'az is unreadable as always, and Nuo stares at Molly, her own tears wetting her face.
It is Uestot that speaks. “You have spoken the words we are most frightened of for we know them to be true. The Angels have always been the guides for peace and that will remain the case. However, we will assist in any way we can to help those the Prophecy has chosen. If that means we have to fight again then so be it. We cannot stand back and let the world fall into the shadow.”
“I do not think we need to fight to insure that, husband.” Gugu stands and takes the floor. She pats Ori on the arm but her expression is dark and unforgiving. “I believe we can help in many ways without breaking the vow never to fight again. We have to respect the wishes of the people. We have to keep peace.”
“Peace is all well and good if the world is not wiped out under this tree,” Iso barks suddenly. She pushes herself out of her seat and moves her bulk down the few steps onto the floor. She too pats Ori on the arm before addressing the rest of the Council. “I do not like this plan of war and death. The Angels are as has been said, already here for peace. However, I am not blind to the needs of our world. We must do this. It is sad, but we have no other choice.” She turns and smiles warmly at Gugu. “Retake your seat as I will retake mine. I think it is time we meet those who will save this world.”
Gugu nods her head reluctantly and hurries back to her seat. Iso smiles sadly at Ori and then gives the order for the guests to be brought up to them.
Ori swallows his nerves. The Prophecy is about to be revealed.
The Council stares at the eleven who now stand before them. They had introduced themselves and their talents one by one. All except the woman in the middle. She has kept her head down and her mouth closed. The Dark Clan had introduced her as Riochald the Grand Summoner.
Ori had miscounted when he saw them being brought in. His eyes had not seen the tiny girl, Canace, and he had thought the big warrior to be a sack. He had smiled to himself when he realized his mistake but at the same time he was saddened, his eyesight was getting worse by the day. As for the boy with the dangerously hollow eyes, Tye he believes, he had been carried shortly after the others and even they seemed to be surprised to see him.
Ko’u motions for them to take seats and then asks Ori to explain the Prophecy. Many of them within the Council only know the basics of the Prophecy, it has been Ori’s work to learn as much as he could, and the others busied themselves with matters of the world and the city.
Ori takes the floor, Onoui leading him by the arm. Before he begins he asks Molly to join the guests as she is involved with this too. He notices the looks from all of them as she approaches. They recognize her and one of them, Darwin’t even holds out his hand for her to take. She allows him to help her sit and he mutters something in her ear which makes her smile.
He clears his throat to silence the room even though it is already and he begins.
“This is a long tale. Please do not interrupt or ask questions until I have finished. It is hard enough keeping my mind focused as it is. I will start where all stories do, at the beginning, in a world far away.” He shifts uneasily but motions for his wife to leave him and to join the Council. She eyes him in a way that only a wife could be allowed and only a wife could achieve before nodding slightly and stepping away. Some on the Council even smile with amusement as she sits and mutters something to his sister. He ignores it of course and begins his story.
“There was once a world made of light. This was a world of paradise where no-one died of anything other than old age. There were no wars, no famine, and no murders and there was no loss of hope. It was a perfect world in every way. The Creator of this world, or so he calls himself, was loved and he loved back. The people worshipped him and he gave them his love in return. The books do not tell us why or by what but this world was suddenly destroyed by a darkness so strong that every living creature died.
“The Creator was driven mad by this and he tried to bring back his world. Hundreds of times he attempted it and each time the darkness beat him down. There was nothing he could do, and with the last of his power he sent a message into the heavens: a call for help that was never answered.
“This is the first mention of the darkness in any tale. The book it is from is so ancient that it predates even the Angels, perhaps even this world. It came to be here during the suns of the void-works. I will explain what that is in a moment: I must carry on from the beginning. The Creator cast his mind from his body and traveled to a new world, a world where he would be powerless in every way except in his knowledge. He warned them of the darkness, but they did not listen. He wrote the book and left it with the king of that world, but the king did not want it. A tale of an un
known darkness that could sweep from nowhere and destroy his world was absurd. He had the Creator executed and ordered the book to be burned. However, on the morning of the execution the darkness came. From text of that world it was described as a cloud that moved against the wind that could lower itself and form into a man.”
“This world was called Hurnst and it was not strong. They had no Mana or technology to speak of, and the darkness simply swept over them on its way to somewhere else. But on its journey it killed and destroyed everything.
The armies of Hurnst, old enemies many of them, joined as one to bring an end to this terror—to no avail. In a mocking twist, the darkness did not destroy them. It changed them into beasts and left them to fight amongst themselves. This world we would discover three thousand suns ago, when the then King planned to bridge the void and join many worlds together. This is the world we call ‘Gelast’.” He pauses to let the shock to settle. Gelast is the bastion of evil in every child’s story told. A place said to be twisted and where bad people went when they died. Once the mutters have subsided he continues. “But I am getting ahead of myself again.”
“Somehow the darkness became trapped within the void: the place which exists in the gaps between one world and another. It is unknown how this happened, as there were none left to report on the events that occurred in Gelast.. What is known is that even from his prison in the void he could project his will and speak into the minds of men in different worlds. One of these worlds was the Earth.”
“Little is known of this world. We have never been able to travel there but one individual has traveled here. She does not speak of the world she came from, but the woman in the star is from this mysterious place. She brought with her here to Atlantia the knowledge to bridge the worlds and of the darkness. She spoke to King Darlonious Diln Damicas and gave him the knowledge to stop the darkness forever, to keep it sealed away. They would need to travel into Gelast, something that was unknown, a technology unheard of. Three thousand suns ago they did not even know that other worlds existed. They spent many suns building a device that could bore a hole from our world through to that of Gelast. The desire was to put in place a lock of some sort there and we would have one here, they would prevent the darkness from entering our world. So that is what they did. Hundreds traveled into Gelast but only a handful returned. One carried the book written by the Creator.”
“However, King Darlonious was not finished. He tried to use the device to travel to this Earth. What happened almost destroyed Atlantia and freed the darkness; but the bore was sealed by the King himself before too much damage was caused. The result of this was that he had become infected with unknown power. He was not the only one. Mana has always been here; however, what he did made it so powerful that nearly everyone could touch it. This was known as the Age of Mana.” Ori wobbles on his legs and his wife rushes to his side.
“You need to take a break,” she mutters firmly into his ear. “You look on the verge of passing out.”
He had not noticed the pain in his joints or the difficulty he is having breathing until he had almost fallen. With a quick glance at the Council, their faces painted with concern, and then another at the heroes of this age, he shakes his head and eases his arm free from Onoui. She narrows her eyes and shakes her head slightly but she respects his wishes and returns to her seat beside the Council.
“This is now where the Prophecy begins. For everything before is just a warning of what will happen if we all fail.” He watches the faces of the guests and is satisfied with the determined fear which shines back at him. He continues.
“With his new power, the King declared himself a god. He took the world by force and ruled it for hundreds of suns. He was not a bad King, and he treated his subjects fairly, but he would crush any who stood against him. After a hundred suns or so he created six colleges to study the different magic’s of Atlantia. These would be what began the end of his rein and plunge our world into chaos.”
Darwin’t shudders as the elderly Angel tells the story of darkness and Mana, traveling to other worlds and of a Godking ruling for hundreds of suns. He would not have believed a word of it if it was not being told to him by an Angel in the greatest city in the world. The long walk up the many levels of Gossa-mesa had been a shock to his senses. Stories of the Angel city, built within the branches of a holy tree in the middle of a sea were legendary, but he had never truly believed that it would be as real as the legend. The branches on which they had walked were wider than the streets of Atlant and the buildings seemed to have been grown beside the paths instead of being built. Waterfalls cascaded down around them and rivers flowed through rocks brought up from the network of caves below. It was truly the most beautiful thing he had even seen.
They had been sat around a fire outside the shrine when Derry’n first saw the Angels flying towards them. Tak’arshi had stood ready to fight, even if his voice shook with fear and he had commanded they be ready also. The Angels, it had turned out, had been sent to collect them to meet with the Council of Light in Gossa-Mesa. They seemed disgruntled to have been sent to fetch and carry humans and a Dark Clan like dogs and had been blunt and somewhat rude. They had only shown any sign of friendliness towards the healer and to the girls, apart from Riochald whom they shied away from and argued over the transportation. They were beautiful though, he was not ashamed to admit. They all had perfect pale skin and large blue eyes that shown with light, framed by long blond hair. It was only the arrival of a last Angel, a large well-muscled man with a single black feather in his wings that had ended the argument with muttered apologies and shamed faces. This new arrival had swept Riochald into his arms without hesitation and took to the sky without a word to anyone else. He did not seem to mind or perhaps he could not feel the taint surrounding the woman.
“After a hundred suns or so he created six colleges to study the different magic’s of Atlantia. These would be what began the end of his rein and plunge our world into chaos.” Darwin’t looks up, suddenly aware that he had let his mind drift away from the old Angel standing in the centre of the great room in which they are seated. It is a massive woven chamber, filled with sunlight that reflects from countless mirrors fastened into the weave. The floor is polished so it gleams, and in its centre, directly below the elderly angel is a pair of wings in shining gold. One of the mirrors is angled so that a beam of sunlight always hits the wings and makes them glow casting a radiant golden light about the dome. He casts a glance at the young girl sitting beside him, the girl from his dreams and for an instant he sees those wings of light upon her back.
“The first of these colleges was for the study of air. It was located near here in the mountains of Senteluneu and was home to those who wanted to study air. It is the weakest form of Mana and so many wanted to learn there.”
Pain flares inside Darwin’t’s temples so suddenly that he almost screams, but something takes the sound from him. He clutches his eyes tightly shut and grits his teeth. Ori’s words echo through his mind but another voice whispers madly over them and an image flickers behind his eyes. A huge white tower reaches into the sky, mountains surrounding it on all sides. The tower is all one solid piece as far as he can tell with no joints and as smooth as silk. Clouds swirl around the very peak and the endless whistle of wind floats throughout the structure. She was there, a voice like a hardened breeze mutters angrily. The image flickers and fire covers everything for an instant before it flickers again and only mountains remain. The temple of the Word of Wind. So beautiful. I should never have left her there. My love. My Clanna. Gone. Gone. Lost forever. The voice subsides into madness and the pain in his head lessens. He opens his eyes and sees only the inside of the chamber of the Angels, and Ori is still explaining about the temple of air. He takes a shuddering breath and glances around him, but everyone is focused on the tale being told. What by the light of the goddess had just happened?
“Nestled deep within the volcano mountain of Kracket in the Northern Island,” the Angel sa
ys, and Darwin’t realizes he has missed something that had been said. He tries to listen, but the pain seizes him again and he squeezes his eyes shut.
Flashing behind his vision set within a blackened landscape is the temple of fire. A large mountain cracked down its side; spurting thick putrid ashen smoke, tinged red by the flames hidden within the crevice. Deep within the craggy rocks is a short but wide palace, seemingly carved from the volcano itself. Thousands of torches make a path up a steep slope to a set of iron doors. The temple has no windows and no other ways in or out. Heat pours from the split which runs alarmingly close to the palace walls. I should have destroyed this place, this Burning Desire, the mad voice shrieks sounding frightened. The image flashes and the mountain erupts with fire and bright, glowing hot liquid cascades over the temple. I always hated coming here. He said I should listen to her. She lied. She killed them all. My son. Twyford. My beautiful son. Why?
Darwin’t sits forwards and his vision clears. That voice, it was his voice and not his at the same time. The man from his dream, the one who was him and not him. He had warned him. He had made the dream move into the future and somehow he had entered it; the Darwin’t of that time. But he did not look the same, and it was not just the clothes or his voice. His eyes were different, so was the set of his features. It had taken him almost upon waking to figure it out who it was; surely he should have recognized himself at first sight.
“Temples of water and of the earth were built side by side,” Ori continues.
Why? Haken, I listened and they came. Gytha, you trembled in my arms though I could only think of Clanna. You should have listened to me. I was right. I was right. The voice screams anguished pain and a huge waterfall opens up in Darwin’t’s mind. Set within a cliff face surrounded by lush forests and seemingly floating within the very white spray are three large stone rings one atop the other, connected by what seems to be glass walkways. The image flickers closer to the rings and he can see that they are circular buildings; constructed so that the water from the falls plummets through the heart of them. Between each ring is a platform of glass with a curved dome-like roof. Flowing Embrace. My very own sanctuary from the world. Unyielding Embrace the strength of me. My dear friends you should never have listened and you should always have listened. You did not have to do this! The voice fades as the waters crash over the stone rings, and within them lightning bolts flash the very earth shakes. His image snaps away from the falls and they stand dry and barren with no sign of the stone rings, not even crushed rocks.
