by Jeremy Dwyer
“Time is short, kid. You have to make choices and live with them. Love doesn’t come to everybody. Take it when you can, because even that won’t last forever,” Zoe said.
“That doesn’t mean I should rush. Staying home and raising a family might not be the right answer for me,” Taesa said.
“If you were any other kid, I’d agree with you, and tell you to go study and travel. After all this, though, I think you need to settle down. And don’t forget: a lot of people in this world – and I mean a lot – think you should be dead. With all that hate around you, a little love and quiet might not be your worst option,” Zoe said.
Caroline just found her new best friend in Zoe, because she agreed absolutely with every single word the young woman – however gruff she was – had just said. Zoe had been completely correct about Taesa, and it had to be said.
“A life of adventure and danger isn’t the same as a life of learning. You can be in love, and have a family, and still read and learn. We’re not asking you to turn off your thoughts, but to appreciate quiet and peaceful living, without the excitement. Hidden cities are interesting, but a good home is better. And he’s a good man,” Caroline said.
“Hey! Is this what you want?” Brant asked Emerond.
Emerond was momentarily at a loss for words and then carefully chose them. “We should take time and discuss what all these things really meant. Songs do have power and meaning, and I’d like to understand your thoughts,” he said to Taesa.
Taesa was at a loss for words and a little nervous. “I guess it is time that we talked a bit,” Taesa said.
Judith was excited by the tales of a lost city and a mysterious ocean, but this now gave way to feelings of loneliness from hearing about the romance – or potential romance – of others. Love escaped her, or she escaped it, many times. There were plenty of moments where she didn’t care about her own lack of a personal relationship, yet this was one moment where she did.
CHAPTER 37: Concealing of the Inheritance of Wealth
In the western desert region of the continent of Volaraden, in the mining city over which he was the administrator, Baron Ottokar looked to the sky and saw what he hoped he never would. It was a small but undeniable sliver of darkness partially obscuring each of the suns. The red suns and blue suns showed it more clearly because the darkness contrasted with their brightness. The yellow suns, however, had become faint in recent times. That was another matter that troubled him. Yet, he did not know what the cause of that was or if it was related.
What Baron Ottokar was almost sure of was that the dark slivers were brought on by the most dangerous of lies. He thought back to the significance of it all, and how he was prepared for the difficulties that most assuredly lay ahead of him, by his upbringing.
~~~
Ottokar had grown up in a home of elegance – if not extravagance – surrounded by the finer things in life. Both of his parents strove to fill the many rooms of their large home with books and works of art – crystal and stone sculptures, elaborate glassworks, fine paintings, models of architectural features such as bridges and towers – and these, they said, were the proper surroundings for a young man to grow his imagination. However, where they had raised him was a source of mystery to many people. Tilkraness Island was seventeen (17) miles north of the northwestern coast of Revod and eleven (11) miles east of the Wandering of Shadows land bridge. The island was thus surrounded by the waters of the Ikkith Tar Ocean. However, the island was included in the territory of the Jenaldej Empire and its residents were subject to their laws.
The so-called ‘shadow waters’ of Ikkith Tar shrouded Tilkraness Island in a dark haze that was ever like twilight. All day and evening Ottokar read by candlelight, and candles were the enabler of his studies. The Great Oceans, mathematics, engineering, economics, agriculture and mining – of both crystals and metals – as well as philosophy and psychology, were subjects in which he was immersed. Candles enabled his decades of study, as no one in the house had a Lujladia waterbinding, and the light of the suns entered only faintly.
Ottokar had a keen interest in exploring the world beyond the walls. His parents, however, urged him not to hasten the move from the house, and that there was something ‘about the candles’ they had to tell him when he reached the proper age. Ottokar approached them, numerous times, asking what it was, but they told him that he was not yet ready for the burden. When he was twenty-one (21) years of age and his mother was already fifty-eight (58) years old and his father sixty-two (62) years, he asked them if the time was right to tell him about ‘the candles’ and if they weren’t waiting too long. He was told that, in the event of their untimely death, the secret was written down somewhere in the house, and he would be clever enough to find it.
He never left the home until he was twenty-three (23), when he traveled the short distance to Revod to take the waterbinding trials. His parents were both citizens of the Jenaldej Empire, and he was by birth until determined otherwise. Thus, he had to choose whether to accept their laws and go through the trials, or to renounce his citizenship. That, however, would mean leaving the territory and not being allowed to return even to the island where his parents resided.
Thus, Ottokar underwent the trials and accepted a Medathero Ocean waterbinding. After this, however, he returned to Tilkraness Island and resumed his studies.
~~~
When Ottokar reached the age of thirty (30), his father and mother both approached him and told him the most unpleasant account, the mere hearing of which he regarded as the most disturbing experience in his life. Nothing so terrible would be experienced until the time of the tempest, during which he thought the horror was comparable.
His father had said: “It is the finer things, my son, of the most elegant proportions, that control the coarser things, on the grandest of scales. These small candles give the light by which you read, and discover the light of knowledge. The candles add what the darkness of these ocean waters all around us take away.”
His mother then said: “Yet some candles may burn too brightly, and take away rather than adding.”
His father then said: “There are candles that give off darkness, such that the suns in the sky will not shine through them; rather, their darkness will cloak the suns.”
His mother then said: “Each one, when lit, burns with a bright darkness. Together, as their number grows, so too does the reach of the night, and the sounds of the stars will be like the raging of the rapids, and those who listen to the sky will hear not of their places or paths.”
Ottokar then asked: “What are these candles? What is their number?”
His father then said: “They are the luminaries. Their number is a secret unknown to us. Each is a danger unto itself. Most don’t know these exist, and in that darkness their minds should remain, so that the world may not plunge into the greater darkness.”
His mother then said: “If the locations of these luminaries are discovered, a seeker of the everlasting night will come to gather them together and light them, and the light will bring darkness.”
Ottokar then asked: “Why are you warning me of this danger? What would you have me do against it?”
His father then said: “We have great wealth, which affords both comfort and the pursuit of knowledge. Our holdings are many. Yet, among the precious stones and metals, the works of art worth small fortunes by themselves, there is a piece that is most dangerous.”
His mother then said: “One of the lost luminaries is hidden among our family treasures. It is yours, and your wisdom is needed to protect it from the seekers of the everlasting night.”
Ottokar then asked: “Who are these seekers?”
His father then said: “They can go by any name, and they will tell any lie, with the most elaborate of designs, so as to deceive or destroy anyone who stands between them and that which they seek. They want to bring the night. The days – and the suns of the skies – are their enemies.”
His mother then said: “In th
e darkness they will commit acts of depravity, and the screams of their victims will not be heard. They will contact the most terrible spirits from beyond and summon the most dreadful of them to bring ruin to the world so that they can have dominion.”
His father then said: “They are said to be in search of the Quiet Sea, which symbolizes an ocean of darkness in which their enemies will be drowned and their voices will be heard no more, and where the sight of them will be lost forever.”
His mother then said: “Yet, they may have other names, by which they hide themselves and their intentions.”
His father then said: “Let us take you.”
His father and mother led him into a hidden room in the house wherein they kept a small metal box with many locks – Ottokar counted twenty-nine (29) locks on the box, some using keys and some using numbered combination dials – and they slowly unlocked it. Inside was a small black crystal with the wick of a candle protruding from it.
His mother then took the small black crystal and held it out to him.
Ottokar felt the black crystal and said: “It is cold to the touch. Why would that be? Is it from the darkness it can bring, perhaps?”
His father then said: “Correct. This luminary, when lit, will bring a darkness and a freeze. Even now, when unlit, the chill of its touch hints at the power within.”
His mother then said: “When you leave, which is to be soon, you are to take it to a faraway place, where you will find for it a different location that is a secret.”
His mother then added: “You will be surrounded with great power, and circumstance and authority, as you are a wise and clever man, fit to lead, and given to a reserved manner of speaking.”
His father then said: “We have arranged for you to be the administrator of a wealthy territory in a distant land – a holding of the Jenaldej Empire. There you will exercise your learning and adjudicate all matters, legal and technical, for the proper conduct of that territory. Considerable land will be under your control, and you will conceal the luminary and guard it with your shrewd judgment and knowledge both broad and deep.”
His mother then said: “We have identified a proper spouse for you. Her name is Elsa. She is a good woman who will trust you and not pry into matters. You only need to be faithful, and give her no reason to doubt you, and act wisely so as not to be surrounded with suspicion. Let there be no questions about your conduct.”
His father then said: “You will meet Elsa tonight, and you are to be wed in a month. Soon after that, you will take up your appointed position and take the luminary with you.”
As promised, Ottokar met Elsa and they were pleasantly engaged and married a mere month later. The relationship was kind and he was both soft-spoken and gentle toward the girl, who was timid. Ottokar and Elsa resided on Tilkraness Island in private quarters in his parents’ large home. Their marital intimacy brought joy, but no children, however.
“I must leave you, for I have failed and disappointed you, by not giving you a child,” Elsa said to him three (3) months into their marriage.
“My dear, for some, the marriage itself is the joy, and children come later, or in another way. You are the proper one for me. You have not failed. Nor will I fail you, but keep you close, and remain faithful to you, that I should not be the darkness in your life,” Ottokar said.
Six (6) months after the marriage, Ottokar was summoned to meet with a resource coordinator of the Jenaldej Empire, who directed him to move, along with his wife, Elsa, to the continent of Volaraden. There, he would be the administrator of the diamond mining city and be given the title of Baron.
The night before he left, his parents took him aside and gave him the small metal box with the luminary.
His father then said: “It is locked only thrice, and here are the needed keys.”
His mother then said: “Do not return. Conceal this secret without delay upon your arrival.”
His father then warned: “Remember us. But do not visit or inquire about us. The voyage of this terrible construct must not be known.”
His mother then warned: “We do not know when someone may travel here, having followed a trail of secrets revealed by others through missteps or betrayal. May it cease here, for we do not know where you will go next, only that it is far from here.”
Ottokar and Elsa left the following morning and arrived in Volaraden after a three (3) day journey, taking up residence in the castle in which he still resided.
~~~
Soon after Ottokar left, his mother said: “The burden of the dark secret must end abruptly.”
“Our knowledge shall not be taken from us, so that they do not find him or his bride and bring the death and the darkness,” his father said.
“May the Quiet Sea never rage, and its waters be boiled away by the many suns of true light,” his mother said.
“May we, by our next voyage, take away one small part of a far larger danger,” his father said.
They held hands and kissed. While still holding hands, they each drank a potion of two (2) waters, knowing that it would bring their deaths, such that the secret location of the luminaries could not be discovered by probing their minds. The waters crossed within them, burning their organs and devastating their blood cells, even within their bones. The pain was immense and terrible; fortunately, it was also quick. They fell to the floor, yet their hands were still locked in death.
~~~
Upon arrival in his new appointed residence, Ottokar moved quickly to conceal the small metal box while Elsa was preparing the many rooms in the castle. He found a suitable location, and identified several alternatives.
An entourage of two hundred twenty (220) people – miners, surveyors, farmers, metal workers and other skilled persons – arrived at the castle to greet the new administrator.
Ottokar and Elsa greeted each of them and listened as they told of their skills and how they were sent to this city in the desert by the Jenaldej Empire, because they had asked to be stationed in a land of new opportunities.
After the visitors left, Ottokar turned to Elsa and said: “This castle is to be our home. And everyone in this city our children, in our care.”
“Is this what pleases you? Is our marriage all you had hoped it would be? I still have not given you a child, so are you satisfied with me?” Elsa asked.
“You have given me yourself. In what way should I be displeased? For what should I hope that you have not already provided? There is no reason to doubt my love or the strength of our marriage,” Ottokar said.
~~~
Baron Ottokar, and his wife Elsa, were both now fifty-five (55) years old. Their marriage had remained pleasant and childless. No infidelities occurred, or were thought to have occurred.
The secret of the metal box – and the luminary within it – was still his alone. He had not seen his parents since that night, and had not inquired of them, and none ever told him. Therefore, he did not know whether they were well or ill or departed. He thought only of his duties to conceal the luminary, honor his marriage and administer this city.
~~~
In the northeastern region of the continent of Waderav, Pandaros was hiding in the cave secluded among hills and trees. He waited there, along with Abrax and Hesperos.
“There are yet more luminaries, and the secrets of their locations must be disclosed,” Pandaros said.
“Will the spirits reveal it?” Abrax asked.
“Perhaps, if we should please the proper one,” Pandaros said.
“How do you know which spirit is proper?” Abrax asked.
“I cannot read the minds of the spirits; yet, I can learn the secrets of the minds of the living,” Hesperos said.
“Of the flesh, I seek only a fitting sacrifice, that a powerful spirit may be summoned, and its knowledge be given to me,” Pandaros said.
“What is a fitting sacrifice?” Hesperos asked.
Pandaros drank anew of the waters of the Zovvin Ocean from his vial. He was energized and went to the
back of the cave. He reached into the spirit world and spoke: “Most powerful Havatissa, reveal to me, that I may know, where yet another luminary is, that it may be lit and bring the Quiet and its darkness, in which you can devour your prey.”
“Sssacrificcce to me the blood of thirteen (13): the blood isss to be drunk from their ssskullsss in my sssight in thisss placcce where you now ssspeak,” the voice said.
Pandaros then stood up and spoke to Hesperos and Abrax, saying: “In the darkness, hide. From the darkness, speak into the minds of thirteen (13), and summon them here. I shall sharpen the blade that will end them, and please the spirit.”
Hesperos drank anew of the waters of the Elanatin Ocean from his vial and was energized with the powers of the mind. Abrax drank anew of the waters of the Ikkith Tar Ocean from his vial and was energized with the power of darkness.
Abrax created a cloak of darkness about himself and extended it to Hesperos. Thus concealed, they traveled about the nearby village and Hesperos used his powers over the mind to call to various persons who were standing at the edges of the village. He summoned these – seven (7) men and six (6) women – to follow them into the forest where the cave was.
The control that Hesperos had over their minds was irresistible, but it was still done secretly from the darkness and while many other people were busy or resting or otherwise not given to noticing. They wished to have the opportunity to deceive and manipulate the other villagers in person at a later time, and not cause a panic in the meanwhile. Being Explorers of the Quiet Sea did mean that they should not cause undue disturbances that would only trouble them later by interrupting their journeys.
Once inside the cave, Abrax eased the powers of darkness over himself and Hesperos, so that they reappeared. The thirteen (13) captive villagers they brought with them were still under the telepathic control of Hesperos.
