by Roy Huff
THE WALLS OF VERMOGEN
Within a short time after leaving the main village in Brackenbone, the Fron and the others had arrived just outside the walls of Vermogen.
“The walls are taller than I expected,” Toe said.
“Why? Is it because we’re so small? Well it’s not our fellow Ubaloo we’re trying to keep out,” Asher said in a high-pitched voice that sounded like a person who had just inhaled some helium. “It’s the creatures from the other side that we’re worried about. Normally, Brackenbone is protected, as with other realms in Everville, but when there is a breach, sometimes one or two of Them can get through. It’s also meant to stop those friendly races who, on rare occasions, may not have the best of intentions.”
“That makes sense,” Sako said.
“There is a small cave hidden at some distance behind these walls. The cave is special. The universe has certain points where energy and power are released. This cave is the most powerful of these focal points. It’s situated behind a waterfall that’s located just beyond the forest that lies in front of us,” Asher said.
“Well, how do we get through?” Toe asked.
“We walk through,” Faine replied.
“Yeah, we walk through,” Felix said as he bounced up and down on Grenmar’s torso, who didn’t seem to mind carrying him along for the ride.
“The walls of Vermogen are made with rare minerals found in Everville, which can sense those with good intentions. All others have to find another way to get over. That is, if they can get in at all,” Asher said.
Asher approached the wall and walked straight through it. The remaining Ubaloo followed Asher and began walking through the walls. The marmooks trailed close behind from the outside of the wall.
“Come on,” Felix said as he continued to jump up and down on Grenmar, who used his tiny hands to cover his large eyes as best he could while he walked through the wall with a cringe of apprehension on his face. Once Grenmar had crossed, he started bouncing up and down and signaled for the others to follow. The other marmooks bounced across, and shortly thereafter the Fron followed suit. As soon as everyone had made it through, a loud muffled noise came from above the trees.
“What’s that?” Toe shouted.
“I’m not sure,” Asher said.
A rustling in the canopy above them got louder, and the wind began to howl.
“Oh, my goodness! Is that one of Them?” Felix said with apprehension.
Grenmar suddenly stopped, his eyes nearly popping out of their sockets, and he started whimpering. Felix was thrown clear of Grenmar and landed on his head.
“Geesh. Did you have to stop so quickly?” Felix said as he rubbed his sore head and looked at Grenmar in anguish.
Grenmar pouted his lips and winced. Seconds later, the sound returned.
“Run!” shouted Faine all of a sudden.
Without hesitating for a moment, the entire group started sprinting forward. The marmooks were ahead of everyone else, bouncing along at an obscene pace. The Ubaloo were not too far back, with the small contingent of Fron falling well behind the other two groups. The Fron ran as fast they as could, which wasn’t that fast.
Kearney was out of breath and had to stop. As he took a few seconds to rest, he looked up at the trees just as the sound returned. Before he had a chance to start running again, a large flock of tiny blue and red birds revealed themselves.
The birds were anything but ominous. They had small shiny aqua-blue eyes and flapped their wings faster than hummingbirds. They had unusual beaks shaped like vases that were larger than the rest of their bodies.
“Hey guys. Asher, Sako, Toe, it’s okay. It’s just a large flock of small birds, nothing to worry about,” Kearney shouted as loud as he could.
The Fron and the Ubaloo stopped and allowed Kearney and the others to slowly catch up before they started moving again. The marmooks, however, were out of range of Kearney’s voice and continued bouncing ahead for a while longer. It wasn’t until Grenmar reached the edge of a cliff and nearly fell off that the marmooks finally stopped.
The Fron and Ubaloo took a few moments to rest while they waited for the marmooks to return. Toe looked up at the trees, which stood higher than a hundred feet tall, and he breathed in several gulps of fresh air from the forest. The air was crisp, cool, and clean, what one would expect from one of the lush lands surrounding Everville.
“This way,” Asher said as he turned towards the west exit of the forest.
Everyone continued, but followed at a much slower pace, especially the Fron who were still winded from their earlier sprint. They came upon a large series of waterfalls that extended for miles to the east, west, and north of them. At the base of the falls, a deep river stretched several miles wide and as far as the eye could see. Spray extended above the falls and all the way to the bottom several thousand yards below. It obscured much of the view below the edge of the cliff.
“Follow me,” Asher said as he continued to walk towards a small trail that scaled the side of an enormous cliff and led to another large waterfall about half a mile to the west. The Ubaloo took the lead. The trail was no more than a few feet wide, which gave the Ubaloo plenty of room to maneuver, but the Fron and the marmooks were not so lucky. It took some coaxing, but Kearny and Sako were able to convince the marmooks to follow.
The trail was covered in grass and was rather slippery from the spray that provided a constant source of moisture for the plants near the cliff’s edge. The top of the cliff was a lush green and covered in small shrubs until just before the edge of the waterfall.
They continued walking, mindful of the steep drop-off to their immediate right, but about halfway to the entrance of the waterfall, Grenmar slipped on a narrow portion of the trail and started to slide over the edge. The marmook directly in front of Grenmar was able to grab his arm just before he fell over the precipice.
“Careful back there,” Sako said.
Grenmar trembled in fear from his near-death experience. Kearney walked back behind Grenmar to reassure him and trailed the marmooks the rest of the way to the edge of the waterfall.
Suddenly, Asher jumped over the side of the cliff, and then Faine jumped, followed by Felix. One by one, each of the Ubaloo jumped over the cliff just short of the entrance to the waterfall until all of them were gone. The Fron gasped. The Marmooks made grunts and moans, winces and whimpers.
After a few moments, Sako jumped, too. Toe jumped next, followed by each of the Fron, who one by one followed the lead of the Fron in front of them. Only Kearney and the marmooks remained. Grenmar, who was the trailing marmook, turned in the opposite direction and started to run. Kearney stopped him, picked him up, and threw him over the edge. Kearney jumped after that, and one by one the marmooks which remained jumped over the cliff, albeit at a much slower and more hesitant pace.
“Glad to see you made it,” Asher said to Kearney.
“Same here.”
Everyone had landed safely on the lower level that was hidden by the spray of the waterfall. A much wider ledge of about twenty-five feet extended from the edge of the cliff and sloped down to the cave underneath the main falls just ahead of their current position.
Asher led the way and everyone else followed. The rushing noise of the water made it almost impossible to hear as they walked underneath the waterfall. The trail led directly into the side of the cliff and several hundred feet behind the falls.
After a nerve-wracking journey, they had all made it to the hidden cave without any serious incidents and no losses. Asher and the other Ubaloo began inspecting the walls and pools of the element that collected at the bottom near the base of the walls. The element looked like a thick, opaque, shimmering liquid. It sparkled like diamond water and moved like thick molasses.
Asher, Faine, and Felix approached the small liquid pool of the element and they each took out a small measuring stick and placed it in to determine its depth.
“This is not good,” Asher said.
“What’s wrong?” Sako inquired.
“Well, you see, this pool of the element contains enormous amounts of spent energy that’s collected from all over the multiverse, but the energy is not like normal energy. It’s concentrated from inanimate objects as well as the thoughts and desires of every living creature, both good and bad. Whoever gets access to the element in this pool gains the ability to wield tremendous power; they gain the power to see the thoughts of everyone in existence, both past and present. If they gain access to very large amounts, they can even walk across worlds and make other changes.”
Before Asher had a chance to continue, Felix interrupted, “Yes, both past and present, past and present!”
Several of the marmooks started jumping up and down with great big grins on their faces. Felix once again climbed on top of Grenmar and proceeded to jump up and down, raising one of his muscular arms in the air, extended as far as possible from his twelve-inch body.
“Past and present,” Felix continued chanting.
Faine chimed in and looked at Felix with a stern eye. “The decision was made a long time ago that the pool could not be allowed to collect too much of the element. If it did, the element might one day corrupt the person who gained access to it.”
“So what was done to prevent it?” Toe asked curiously.
“Well, over the course of hundreds of years a great waterway was constructed. The waterway that flows into these falls and the river below dilutes the power of the element in the pool, but only while it remains in the water. The element sticks together and exits the waterway as a small stream of heavy liquid deep below the river. It is then sent through a portal that is connected to The City of Worms across the expanse.
“The concentration of power is so great that only certain objects or beings can hold more than a few drops of the element. In The City of Worms, giant worms with special attributes consume the element, and over the course of a millennium they dissipate its power. The material that makes up the bodies of the worms consumes the energy and converts it back into the foundational energy of the multiverse, which is then transported evenly to all times and places and all persons and things. Without the return of energy the system starts to breakdown.
“The worms are the only known method to dissipate more than a few drops of the element. All others are simply collectors. Only the glass found in the walls of the catacombs of Everville can safely hold the element, and the size is restricted to prevent access to too much power. All other collectors have certain consequences.”
“What kind of consequences?” Kearney asked.
“Well,” Faine continued, “the consequences can be unpredictable. It depends on what is used to collect the element and how much of the element is stored in the collector.”
“How was the energy dissipated before the waterway was constructed?” Sako asked.
Asher interrupted. “I’m not clear on all of the details, but I do know that the element would collect and then break off into chunks and transport itself to unknown nows and thens when it got to be too large.”
“It looks as if the pool is being dissipated too quickly. The depth of the element is too low. This can only mean that someone has found a way to divert tiny amounts of the element from the pool using makeshift collectors,” Fain said.
“I think our task is clear, then,” Kearney replied.
“Indeed. We must find out how the element is being diverted and stop it. After that, we need to find the location of the makeshift collectors and destroy them,” Sako added.
“Sako, we need to split up into two groups. We need a few people to exit the walls of Vermogen so we can notify The Keeper. In the meantime, the larger group can start looking for the location of where the element is being diverted.”
“I agree,” Sako said to Asher.
Toe said, “I can take Felix and a few marmooks, and we’ll notify The Keeper.”
“All right then. It’s settled. Get there as quickly as you can, and we’ll find out how to stop whatever is diverting the element from the pool,” Sako said.
The marmooks took off bouncing in the direction of the wall’s entrance. Felix was happy to catch another ride on Grenmar’s back, and Toe did his best not to fall too far behind.
CHAPTER 7:
DINNER
Back at Cleophas’s home, Anika said, “Let me help you with that,” as she picked up one of the larger trays of food from Cleophas’s hands.
“Thanks, Anika.”
Just then, the doorbell rang, and Owen went to open the door.
“That must be Avery and Jack,” Cleophas said as he took off his apron and rushed towards the door.
“Owen. It’s good to see you.”
“It’s good to see you too, Jack,” Owen declared as he reached to shake Jack’s extended hand.
“Avery, it’s good to see you as well.”
“Likewise,” Avery said as he walked in behind Jack.
“Hey, old man. It’s good to see you up an about,” Jack quipped as Cleophas embraced him.
“Who ya callin’ an old man, Jack? My family members always live well into their hundreds, so I’ve got at least another twenty good years left.”
“And you, my friend,” Cleophas said as he embraced Avery equally as hard.
“I brought this for you,” Avery said to Cleophas, holding a large clear dish covered with aluminum foil.
“I hope that’s your famous cheddar corn casserole that I love so much.”
“Absolutely.”
“Well, just set it down there on the table. I’m starving. Why don’t we all just dig in,” Cleophas bellowed.
Owen and Anika set the table while everyone else took their place.
Once the table was set, Cleophas reached over and grabbed the dish of cheddar corn casserole and scooped out a heaping portion onto his plate.
“Now that’s what I’m talking about,” he said in a burly tone after savoring the first bite of food of the evening.
For the next few minutes, the only noise that could be heard was the clanking of utensils on the plates and the lifting of the dishes as each person took their turn getting a portion of food. Jack broke the silence.
“This is some really good food. Thanks for inviting us, Cleophas.”
“Think nothing of it, Jack. I consider all of you family, and with all that’s been happening recently, it’s nice to have family around.”
“I couldn’t agree more,” Avery said.
The silence settled over the table once again as everyone’s focus turned to finishing their meals. By the expressions on their faces and the occasional muted moan, they were all equally enjoying it.
After most of the plates were empty and before the silence became too awkward, Cleophas asked, “So who’s ready for dessert?”
“I think I saved a little room for dessert,” Jack chimed in.
“Yeah, I could go for some dessert too, but just a little bit,” Owen declared.
Cleophas went into the kitchen to retrieve what had been chilling in the refrigerator and returned with two dishes.
“Well, we have my family’s secret recipe of Hungarian shortbread and Anika’s chocolate truffle cake, which looks equally as delicious.”
“I’ll try both,” Avery said.
The dishes were beautifully displayed. The chocolate truffle cake was composed of subtle shades of brown that hinted at just the right composition of moisture. The Hungarian shortbread had two layers of crumpled tans and yellows, and sandwiched in the middle was a deep maroon layer of the raspberry jam, which was the main ingredient.
Everyone else proceeded to get small portions of both as well, and they took their time to enjoy it.
“Anika, this cake is fantastic,” Owen praised.
“I’m glad you like it. It’s also a secret family recipe.”
After everyone had finished their dessert, Jack said, “Well Cleophas, it’s been great seeing you again, but I really gotta get goin. I’ve got a lot of clean up to do i
n my yard, and I promised my neighbors that I’d help them as well. I really enjoyed dinner and seeing everyone again.”
“Think nothing of it, Jack. Our thoughts are with you and Dante,” Cleophas said.
“That means a lot, Cleophas. Thank you,” Jack replied.
“Well, Jack’s my ride,” said Avery, “so I have to get going, too. Thank you again for the lovely evening.”
“It was my pleasure,” Cleophas insisted.
“Bye, Jack. See you later, Avery,” Anika and Owen both said.
Cleophas closed the door behind them and went to the table to start clearing the dishes.
“Let me help you with that,” Owen said as he grabbed his share of plates.
A short time later, after the dishes had been cleaned and the leftovers had been put away, Cleophas sat down on his living room couch. Anika and Owen sat down on the small couch next to him.
Just then, The Keeper transported Owen back to his workshop in Everville.
“I’ve just been informed by Toe that someone’s been diverting a source of power in Brackenbone behind the walls of Vermogen. They’ve been using a collector to gather its energy. They’re trying now to find the source of the diversion, but I can see that the collector is in the possession of Oldrik, who at the present moment is in the middle of a standoff between the Giants and the Fwaylan. With Oldrik in possession of the collector, there’s no way that we can destroy it.
“What needs to be done now is to find out how the source is being diverted. If we can stop the source of the diversion, we might be able to take the collector from Oldrik and return it to Everville, where it can be properly destroyed. Collectors made from the hearts of the impure have terrible consequences. I suspect that the collector is responsible for much of the happenings in Everville and the earthly realm. If it can be destroyed, I think your friend Dante can be returned to his former state.”
“Really. That’s fantastic news! So how do we go about finding the source of the diversion?”
“Well, therein lies the problem. The source of the diversion has to be either behind the walls of Vermogen, where I cannot see, or somewhere in the earthly realm, which also presents some limitations to my abilities. We will have to rely on what we know, and on the findings of the Fron and Ubaloo behind the walls of Vermogen. Talk to Cleophas. He will be able to help you the most in the earthly realm.”
