CHAPTER XXXVI.
ARJEELS.
I was full of impatience to witness the creation of the magicalisland, where with Lyone I might find ideal delight. It was necessary,however, for the grand sorcerer to make ample arrangements, not onlyfor the generation of sufficient spirit force to create the island,but also a force sufficient for its continuance for an indefinitelength of time. It was absolutely necessary that there should be areserve force of ten thousand twin-souls to take the places of theoriginal legion of souls, when they would become weary of theirecstatic labors. Only once before had Arjeels been created, and it wasthought a most wonderful thing that the sorcerer could preserve itsexistence for a single day. Now it was contemplated to sustain theisland for months, and this required a continuous as well as a lavishexpenditure of spirit power.
The sorcerer had enlisted his full quota of twin-souls, and preparedthem for their heroic duty. The terrelium wand held by each soul wasconnected with the wires of a helic having immense coils of terrelium,that held by a rampant hehorrent of gold, formed an immense spiritualbattery in the centre of another subterranean temple. Wires led fromthe battery underground across Atvatabar to the city of Mylosis, onthe seacoast most remote from Kioram, a thousand miles from Egyplosis.The sorcerer announced a few days after the visit to the infernalpalace that he was ready to accompany us to Mylosis, whither thequeen's golden yacht had been sent to meet us.
The aerial yacht of the goddess flew swiftly over Atvatabar, bearingthe precious Lyone, the grand sorcerer Charka, and myself to the farseacoast, the first stage in our journey.
The brightly flashing seas, the rose-colored sun, and the transcendentconcave of the earth encompassing us, with the near tropical splendorof the country, made a scene of long remembered joy. But theseobjects, so glorious in themselves, were made still more splendid bythe love that reigned in the souls that contemplated them.
In due time we reached Mylosis, where we found the royal yacht and areverent crowd of people awaiting us.
The sorcerer lost no time in connecting the subterranean wires with acable of terrelium on board the yacht, and, this being done, weimmediately set out to sea, followed by a crowd of pleasure ships,conveying a host of people anxious to witness the miracle about to beperformed.
We anchored the yacht at a distance of fifty miles from the coast. Thegrand sorcerer, surrounded by his acolytes, held in his hand a thickrod of terrelium, the extreme end of the cable, whose furtherextremity was connected with the battery in the Temple ofReincarnation at Egyplosis. An exchange of messages along the wireinformed us that the ten thousand twin-souls had already begun theirdance of Pure Being upon the pavement of the greater temple.Immediately a stream of flame leaped from the end of the rod, likewater spouting from a tube under enormous pressure.
"Now," said the sorcerer, "by virtue of the spirit power in thiscable, what I will to exist, will exist. I will that the magicalisland of Arjeels shall rise above the waves."
"I wish the island," said Lyone, "to have an elevation of fivethousand feet in the centre, and at an elevation of four thousand feetfill a crater of the mountain with a lake of cool water surrounded byaerial gardens, and on the shore place a palace of rose-coloredmarble, luxuriously furnished, with servants to wait upon us. All elsemay be according to your own fancy."
"As your majesty wishes," replied the sorcerer, and as he spoke, ahigh mountain rose instantly from the sea a mile away, creatingenormous waves, that threatened the safety of the yacht and thecongregated vessels. A feeling of awe silenced the host of spectators.
Instantly, as quickly as the sorcerer moved his wand, the mountainsbecame clothed with forests, and high up on the shoulder of thecentral peak appeared a palace of rose-colored marble, whosesupernatural architecture seemed a celestial dream. The island wasthirty miles in length and about fifteen in width. From immensecliffs, foaming waterfalls flung themselves downward to the sea.Dazzled with their blinding beauty, we saw ravines engorged withflowers. In green and glorious blessedness the island lay before us,complete, like an enormous emerald in a setting of blue sea. We wereso awe-struck with the labors of the sorcerer, that it seemed asacrilege to set foot on the miraculous shores of Arjeels.
At a sign from the sorcerer, the captain of the yacht fired onehundred guns, and the vessel moved toward the romantic island. We cameclose up to a white marble wharf, and Lyone and myself alighted uponthe sacred retreat. Everything seemed so natural, that we couldscarcely believe the solid rock to be sustained by self-sacrificinglove.
"BY VIRTUE OF THE SPIRIT POWER IN THIS CABLE," SAID THESORCERER, "I WILL THAT THE MAGICAL ISLAND OF ARJEELS SHALL RISE ABOVETHE WAVES."]
The adorable sorcerer remained on board the vessel, as it wasimpossible for him to leave his post of duty for a moment, while thedazed yet happy inhabitants of Mylosis departed homeward in theirvessels.
It was arranged that when the spirit power that sustained the islandwould become exhausted, owing to the utter weariness of thetwin-souls, the firing of a gun on board the yacht would be a signalthat Arjeels would disappear from upon the sea.
The moment both Lyone and myself stepped upon the magical soil we feltan instantaneous increase of health and vigor. We did not at first useour magnic wings for flight, but walked along paths that wound aroundthe beach of golden sand, shaded by towering palms.
After remaining for a time on the margin of the sea we rose on ourwings, and, like birds, encircled the island, rising ever higher untilwe alighted before the palace created for Lyone, a gem of the rosiestmarble, covered with a dome of gold that flashed around it the lightof the sun. The architecture was broad and heavy with splendidcarvings, and surrounded by a pillared portico. The palace stood onthe shore of a beautiful sheet of cool water; elsewhere its shoreswere thickly clothed with tropic foliage and aerial gardens of thegreatest beauty.
We had reached at last the holy of holies of ideal attainment, aretreat of bewildering beauty. The weird and splendid proportions ofthe palace, with its domes and towers ornamented with sculpturedarabesques, rising from the soft waters of the lake, a veritableFountain of Youth, all surrounded by the green and gleaming forest andgardens without end, filled our souls with a new rapture. Everythingwas so perfect and peaceful, so rich with life and beauty, so freshand sparkling, so unspeakably happy, that I said, "This is the end ofall toil and ambition, this is the perfect flower of life. Here is thelake of immortality, and here the fabled gardens of the Hesperides."
Rayoulb, the chamberlain of the palace, and his acolytes, who receivedus, were also the product of spirit power, the reincarnation of formerinmates of Egyplosis. They awaited us before the palace, announcing afeast had already been prepared for us.
The interior of the palace revealed new wonders. Wide and loftychambers were hung, some with woven and painted tapestries, and someplated with sheets of gold, illuminated by electricity withmany-colored designs in precious metal. Others were decorated withtender and brilliant frescoes, in which the transparent plaster seemedto hold in its depths the tones of gold, of ultramarine and vermilion,in fabulous scenes. Woven and painted tapestries clothed the walls ofstill other chambers, representing in entrancing colors the mostoccult mysteries of Egyplosis. The banqueting chamber had a dome ofenamelled glass, that softened the light with many a caressing color.Porcelain vases, gorgeous in depth and richness of color, containingplants of the richest bloom, added to the apartment their decorativegrace. There were also an art gallery, a library, and a museum ofjewels.
On one side of the palace a square cloistered arcade surrounded amarble court. In the centre of the court lay a square pool of crystalwater, whose basin had been chiselled out of the solid rock. The poolwas fed by a wide water-fall falling down a precipice on the pavement.Here also were several pagodas containing chimes of bells and largeoblong vases of stone filled with blooming flowers.
Amid such splendor I began to realize that love has the power ofspiritualizing all things, of interfusing them with its own rapture.Under its
flame all colors brighten, all movement becomes divine, alllabor seems holy. The sea attains a deeper blue, the shores a brightergreen, the beloved one becomes more beautiful, more delicate andsupernatural. Love, indeed, is an ultramarine and ultramontane joy!
"This delight," said Lyone as she lay in her boudoir, plunged indelicious blessedness, "fills my soul with universal peace. Hithertopained with the chagrin of life, I welcome this unwonted repose. Oh, Iam supremely happy!"
"This expedition," I replied, "is not to observe the transit of Venus,but the possession of Venus, to weigh each other's souls and read thepoetry written in every fold of the heart. It would be the perfectionof life if such reality of the ideal could surround us forever, but ina world where the worm doth conquer, where the storm wastes the flowerand herb, such felicity is purchased only by the sacrifice ofourselves or of others. But while it lasts let us prize its ineffablejoy. Hitherto," I continued, "philosophy has said that if we do notwant to be undeceived we should never visit the haunts ofimagination, for the fruits thereof are ashes, but we will create anew philosophy, that will assert that the haunts of imagination areideally real, that the veritable Fountain of Youth has beendiscovered, that Eldorado may be won."
The following day found us floating on the lake before, the palace ina beautiful magnic boat. Musicians occupied a pagoda overlooking thelake, and made the air sweet with their music. The lake seemed to fillthe crater of an extinct volcano, and miles away on its further shorerose the lofty precipices of a mountain crest. It was most delightfulto float on its profound wave, at an elevation of four thousand feet,and yet see the sea beneath us, and we surrounded with all the gloryof the interior world.
Birds, gorgeous as humming-birds, resplendent in burnished hues ofpurple, garnet, and green, would flash amid the flowers, or chase eachother over the water. As for ourselves, we no longer feared our ownholiest emotions. Our deepest feelings were then in the foreground.The mysterious carmine on the palpitating lips of Lyone was the symbolof a warm, delicate, superexcited soul.
Lyone grew day by day more and more beautiful. She resembled the colorof a deep and mysterious gold. I crowned her brow with flowers andwreathed her azure hair with wistful daffodils.
Another day we rode on soul-created horses to discover the odoriferousretreats of the island. The pathways wound through flowery ravines,that looked out upon the sea. The sweet cool air that filled thesplendid gloom of the palm woods seemed the essence of gladness. Whatglorious vistas opened amid the luminous green of the forest! Themurmur of music filled the infinite ways of the island as ourcavalcade wound round its peerless hills or plunged into its abyssesof flowers. The spell of an ideal land was upon us, and we experiencedsensations hitherto unfelt in life.
"This," said Lyone, "is the ideal climate. Everything has becometransfigured; even the light of the sun is softer and more blessed."
"And the goddess of Atvatabar," I replied, "has become more delicate,more supernatural, and more holy."
The island was one vast garden of tropical fruits and flowers, withoutthe malaria of decay. Everywhere nature, carefully assisted by art,assumed the rarest beauty. Everything that savored of ruin and decaywas non-existent. There were no wild or poisonous animals. No deadlyserpent was coiled upon the branches, nor did poisonous insects crawlon leaf or flower. Forests of trees of a strange tropical vegetationabounded. There were the fruha, resembling dates; the caspariba,resembling bananas; the dulra, resembling limes; the jackle,resembling lemons; the congol, resembling oranges; the velicac,resembling bread-fruits; the persar, resembling custard apples; thephyorbal, resembling cocoanuts; the gersin, resembling mangosteens;the huflar, resembling coffee; the solru, resembling plums; andpresuveet, or tamarinds lining the route. Fruits such as the troupac,or citron; dewan, or guava; orogor, or mango; and ryeshmush, orplantain gleamed amid the embowering foliage, and gardens of squangsand the pineapples, aloes, nutmeg, cloves and spices of Atvatabar,were on every hand.
One day, when floating on the lake, we heard with surprise andinfinite sadness the discharge of a gun, the signal that the islandwas at an end. Spreading our wings, we awaited the catastrophe.
Suddenly a roar of thunder startled us, and Arjeels, with its majesticcliffs, its green forests and rivers of flowers, fell in onedissolving crash, and faded from sight. The lake and boat fell frombeneath us so rapidly, that we would have fallen headlong into the seahad not our wings saved us. There flowed where the island had stood acircular wave rushing to a focus. There was an upward spouting pillarof foam, and all again was placid sea!
We flew downward to where the yacht awaited us, and alighting onboard, soon reached Mylosis.
The Goddess of Atvatabar Page 39