by Jeremy Dwyer
The fifty-one (51) year old admiral commanded a fleet of one hundred ninety-seven thousand (197000) fast, maneuverable warships from over sixty-three (63) different inhabited star systems. All of them were part of the Caval’Rukero’Nyptic Empire, over whose worlds he had dominion, and he could have had even more, but he chose not to pursue them. This choice was because the other worlds were nearly worthless to him, as the people in those places were too intellectually primitive to train efficiently, and a geological survey of their planets indicated that they had scant natural resources, making them not worth the effort of invading or defending when he inevitably conquered them.
The world he now saw through his telescope was orbited by sixty-nine (69) suns: nine (9) of them blue, twenty-three (23) of them yellow and thirty-seven (37) of them red, and their glare blocked his view of the planet’s surface. The distant world was known as Thalariveth, which was the name given to it by the interstellar surveyors who traveled among the nearby galaxies and freely shared their knowledge of every world they explored and catalogued. The surveyors had recently visited Quin’Va’Pitar and given him a record of Thalariveth’s coordinates and holographic images they had managed to capture of its surface only after they personally teleported to it. They could not directly reach the planet using spacecraft because of the intense heat of its suns – there were seventy (70) suns at the time they took the image, over three hundred fifty (350) years ago, when the world was found – which they encountered on their travels, three (3) centuries before Quin’Va’Pitar was born. Some astronomical event had clearly happened in the time in between, as Thalariveth was now missing one (1) of its former yellow suns.
Furthermore, he saw, from those holographic images of the surface, that the planet had (13) oceans, each of which was a source of enormous and different energy. The oceans were separated by continents and land bridges such that no two (2) ever met. The surveyors gave him a record of what they knew of the oceans: the people in Thalariveth could drink the waters of any one (1) of them, and thus become somehow bound to what they drank, such that drinking the waters of any other ocean would then be lethal. Yet, the powers they gave were tremendous, such as the slowing of time, the controlling of light or darkness, great strength and speed, dominion over nature, mastery of stone, enchanting music, powers over spirits, knowledge of the stars, sharp minds, telepathic powers and robust health. There was one ocean whose waters did nothing but quench thirst, however, much like every other ocean of every other world of which he knew.
The interstellar surveyors were curious about all worlds of all galaxies, and that was their only apparent motivation. They were pleased to share what they learned, in return for the opportunity to tell their tale, and free fuel for their ships. Perhaps it was their ego, Quin’Va’Pitar thought, and he would gladly heap adulations upon them for their intrepid exploration and cunning at gathering information. He also gave them small rations of fuel – in the form of volatile crystals which were good for short bursts of high speed travel – which were an adequate, if low quality waste byproduct of a process that produced a far better fuel that was reserved for his own ships.
Admiral Quin’Va’Pitar had listened intently whenever any group of surveyors visited – and many different ones did – always treating them as welcomed guests. On occasion, they provided marginally useful information or even information of interest. This new world, however, was a prize to be had, and Quin’Va’Pitar began making designs to attain it.
Like the interstellar travelers, he had the technology to travel long distances using teleportation. This was achieved by means of either burning a new pathway through the fabric of space or finding a burnpath that already existed. Transportation was instantaneous, although the endpoint coordinates needed to be known with tremendous precision, and the energy required was proportional to the product of the volume of the payload to be transported and the distance of transport. It worked using a high-quality crystal that was similar to the one used in the telescope lens, although the teleportation crystal had propulsion and attraction to it, so as to allow travel in both directions, rather than mere observation. It could be precisely controlled, but no one seemed to understand how it worked – neither the scientists who served under the admiral nor the interstellar surveyors could explain its natural function in more basic terms. This, however, was not a concern to the admiral – it worked in a controllable way, and that was sufficient.
After the surveyors told him of the world of many oceans, Quin’Va’Pitar gave them praise to soothe their egos, cheap fuel crystals for their ships, and let them be on their way. Then he made a point of looking through his telescope and seeing Thalariveth for himself. With the precise coordinates at his disposal, he decided to send a scout – before risking a ship or a fleet of ships, and paying the high transportation cost. To that end, he called for one of his agents to assign him the duty.
~~~
Xal’Kativok spent his youth killing and stealing on his way to achieving superiority over others. He had no compassion for those he saw as useless or otherwise inferior – especially the ill or unintelligent. He attracted the attention of the military by his effectiveness against their troops, as he was able to infiltrate bases and steal munitions and rations, just to prove that he could. Although missions were launched against him by irate troops bent on teaching him a lesson, he evaded their maneuvers through speed, cunning, stealth and superior combat skills that were almost never put to the test because of his speed and cunning and stealth. The fact that he knew how to properly utilize highly lethal contact poisons also helped. He led this life of violence from the time he was seventeen (17) to the time that he was twenty-seven (27) years old, specifically tormenting the military troops for three (3) of those years.
Xal’Kativok caught the attention of Admiral Quin’Va’Pitar, who at first considered the young man a nemesis, but then decided to put him to use as an assassin and a saboteur. The admiral issued a challenge: if the infiltrator could capture one of his warships, and single-handedly bring him the severed head of the chancellor of one of the nearby worlds, he would be given a position of authority and great opportunity.
Xal’Kativok succeeded in this, by impersonating a military officer on guard duty and decapitating the chancellor in his sleep. He gladly told of this. He never told anyone, however, how he managed to obtain the warship. Quin’Va’Pitar secretly assigned many of his security officers to probe their systems for the weakness that Xal’Kativok must have exploited to take the warship, but they could never be sure.
Xal’Kativok had served eleven (11) years as a direct report to the admiral, carrying out various missions for assassination, sabotage, espionage and other special operations.
The thirty-eight (38) year old agent was waiting in a small room, studying a book on genetics, looking for ways to alter his own structure so as to take on the appearances of others at will. It was his ideal to become a sort of shapeshifter – he did not know if such things existed, but he could conceive of such power, and desired it. He received a summons delivered by another officer and when he saw that it was from Admiral Quin’Va’Pitar, he responded.
~~~
“What do you know of the oceans?” Admiral Quin’Va’Pitar asked as the agent entered the room and the large metal door was closed, sealing them in and preventing all sound from escaping.
“They’re teeming with varied marine life, serve as a source of hydration and food and participate in the water cycle, influencing weather. They cover fifty-seven point two nine (57.29) percent of this planet’s surface,” Xal’Kativok answered.
“You’ve just described our oceans – mundane as they are,” Quin’Va’Pitar said.
“To which world’s oceans are you referring?” Xal’Kativok asked.
“There is a world with rich oceans – varied in power, giving great abilities to those who drink of their waters,” Quin’Va’Pitar said.
“What world is that?” Xal’Kativok asked.
“It is
known as Thalariveth. Located two-hundred ten thousand (210000) lightyears away, surrounded by sixty-nine (69) suns, previously seventy (70), which make it unapproachable without direct teleportation,” Quin’Va’Pitar said.
“We have teleportation – the burnpath generators and trailblazers. When is the invasion?” Xal’Kativok asked, knowing by the admiral’s words and tone that this was a target for takeover.
“First, you will scout this world. To learn of the true nature of its powers, and to measure them. You will take instruments, and you will draw samples of the waters of all of its oceans, each being different,” Quin’Va’Pitar said.
“What do the surveyors know?” Xal’Kativok asked, correctly assuming that the admiral learned of the target world’s existence and features from them.
“To drink the water of one of these oceans is to bind to it – you can never drink the water of another, or it will prove fatal. The powers of the waters include the manipulation of light and dark, stone and spirit, and many other elements,” Quin’Va’Pitar said.
“Which would you have me choose for binding?” Xal’Kativok asked, eager to grow in power, and intrigued by such a place.
“None whatsoever. I will decide who binds to what water. First, you will bring me the samples and measurements. You are to leave in one hour. Dismissed,” Admiral Quin’Va’Pitar said.
~~~
Xal’Kativok left to go to his private quarters and prepare.
Xal’Kativok was a clever chemist and knew some genetics, having experimented on animals and some unfortunate disabled persons for whom he could find no other use after he abducted them from nearby villages for the sake of his own curiosity.
To carry out his experiments, he kept many small tubes and flasks and measuring instruments in his private room in the military fortress. He gathered several of these and placed them into the pockets of a travel coat, next to daggers and poisons and a handheld light beam projector that could provide illumination and serve as a weapon, and other tools that he routinely used. Xal’Kativok then reported to the teleportation chambers and met with Admiral Quin’Va’Pitar.
“The target planet is surrounded by many stars, creating a distracting haze of heat and light. The trailblazer will not be affected, so we can still generate the burnpath that reaches Thalariveth. But you will have to act as your own heat seeker, so you must focus carefully and you must not deviate from the trail. However, I cannot guarantee you will find your way and arrive safely,” Admiral Quin’Va’Pitar said.
“Are the automated heat seekers on cargo ships not significantly more reliable?” Xal’Kativok asked.
“Yes, but the cargo ships and crew are significantly less expendable. You have your orders, officer. Enter the burnpath chamber, and focus completely on your mission,” Admiral Quin’Va’Pitar said.
Xal’Kativok was then directed to stand in the center of one of the cylindrical chambers that was twenty-one (21) feet in diameter and twenty-one (21) feet in height. An overlapping cylinder then turned and enclosed him.
Admiral Quin’Va’Pitar used the spatial coordinates he had been given for Thalariveth and took seven (7) silver cylinders, each three (3) inches long, yet of different widths – whose radii corresponded to the digits of the spatial coordinate numbers – and placed them into depressions in the wall of the cylindrical chamber that his agent had just entered.
From inside the cylindrical chamber where Xal’Kativok stood, eight (8) green beams of light shone out over his head, crossing the width of the chamber. The beams rotated, rapidly, and started to heat the fabric of space, and they created a new burnpath. A fiery walkway now appeared before him, and Xal’Kativok walked along it for just a few steps.
Not as much as ten (10) seconds later he appeared on the other end of the fiery walkway, on an island which was inside of a cavern and in the middle of an ocean. The walkway vanished as soon as he stepped off of it. There was no obvious source for the illumination in the cavern, so he could not explain how he could see inside of it. He looked in every direction around him, but could not see the cavern walls, as they were too far off in the distance, and no illumination was coming from their direction. He then looked toward the ceiling – which was around five hundred (500) feet up, as far as he could visually estimate – and he did not see any sign that it was luminescent.
The island had many large structures on it, but he was not sent here to investigate these at this time. Knowing the mission’s priorities, Xal’Kativok then walked to the edge of the island and found a fifty-two (52) foot long primitive boat with a tattered-looking sail on a good mast. The boat appeared seaworthy. He knelt down at the coast, took the waters of the ocean into one of his vials, and then boarded the boat, which set sail after a few minutes, with no other action on his part.
The boat moved slowly at first, then quickly, then very quickly, despite the near complete absence of wind. Xal’Kativok saw no perceptible signs of an ocean current as the boat carried him across the ocean, traveling perhaps two thousand five hundred (2500) miles in only three (3) hours, based on a rough visual estimate of which he could not be sure. The means of propulsion was intriguing to him, and entirely unclear.
Upon reaching the rocky coast line at the wall of the cavern, the boat stopped and Xal’Kativok disembarked from the vessel, where he found five (5) different cave entrances. He looked into each of them and found rivers, with three (3) having small, unoccupied boats, also with tattered sails. Not knowing which to choose, he randomly selected one and boarded it. Like the larger boat that took him across the ocean, the smaller boat on the river carried him on its own soon after he boarded it. However, the boat on the river was moving uphill, and much more slowly, so he was again intrigued by what might be propelling it and where it might be taking him.
CHAPTER 3: Master of the Wars of Old
Tanith Orenda continued to reflect on the events of the past. Her telepathic scribe, Danielle, continued to record the old woman’s thoughts, as she had been directed.
~~~
Tanith Orenda reflected on how her direct female descendants had pursued the tiara for some seventy (70) millennia since learning of its existence. They had abstained from the waterbinding, according to her orders, so as to be able to wield the tiara, just as the woman, Clarice, had done. The old woman immediately understood, upon hearing of it originally, that the tiara would not otherwise give its power. Because they did not bind to any water – not even the waters of the Ursegan Ocean – they lacked power and longevity. Many of her hundred (100) times great or even thousand (1000) times great granddaughters knew the old woman long after their own mothers and grandmothers had passed on due to their ordinary lifespans.
Tanith Orenda also had many dozens of loyal female servants, not of her direct bloodline, who did take on waterbindings of every sort. She insisted that some drink of the Ikkith Tar Ocean waters for the powers of darkness that it gave, enabling them to become effective spies and assassins.
She insisted that others drink of the Lujladia Ocean waters for the powers of light that it gave, enabling them to bend light to use as a weapon and to give quick sight of fast moving objects and to see long distances, around corners and into the darkness where enemies could be hidden. Some were even capable of using it to create illusions, and deceive enemies of other empires and steal their wealth and knowledge.
She enjoined some of her servants to drink of the Kazofen Ocean waters, which enabled them to bend stone and gems, and this was used in their attempts to mine the world for some of the thirteen (13) blue diamonds that went into the tiara. Yet, during this time, they did not find so much as one of those diamonds, or the tiara itself. She also used their stone bending powers to design and build a temple of stone, with many fountains, on the island of Av’Tovenka in the Ikkith Tar Ocean. This was their primary location, although other smaller temples were built on other islands in other oceans.
Tanith Orenda required some of her servants to drink of the Gradaken Ocean waters, to gain
control over animals to use as beasts of burden or war fighting animals. They also gained control over snakes, spiders and scorpions and could use them to poison foes. Additionally, they could manipulate plants and trees, causing them to grow more quickly, and produce herbal medicines and food.
She identified those servants of a stronger intellectual potential and suggested to them that they drink of the Medathero Ocean waters, to have the powers of logic and mathematics at their disposal. These would work to devise ways to find the tiara and its constituent diamonds.
Tanith Orenda led some of her servants to drink of the Nabavodel Ocean waters, to have speed and strength to serve as warriors for defense and conquest.
She insisted that some of her servants drink of the Elanatin Ocean waters, to grant them telepathic powers to read the minds of enemies and learn their secrets. Knowledge of the location of much wealth and scientific learning was gained this way. Additionally, some could even control the thoughts of others, which enabled sabotage of her enemies.
Tanith Orenda had only a very few of her servants drink of the Atrejan Ocean waters to let them hear the movements and positions of the suns of the sky. This enabled them to navigate the seas, which had some use. However, it seemed to have little other use.
She had a small number of her servants drink of the Ursegan Ocean waters to let them live through the ages for many millennia, or even tens of millennia, to serve as historians. None were actual Chroniclers of the Oath, however, because there were truths she did not want them to reveal.
