by Gentry Race
The Greek fire flickered violently in the rushing wind, but never extinguished.
An ambient light began to fill the space around Arthur, coming from below. He could see the stratified rock whizzing past him as he fell. As he hit terminal velocity, he felt his body adjust to the fall, and he leveled out. What seemed like falling before now felt like flying as he came closer the light.
And then he saw it. His nightmare was in front of him. A small patch of murky water at the end of the tunnel that felt like it was two thousand meters long. It would only be seconds now before impact.
Will it hurt? Will a mermaid save me?
The light became brighter, and then eye-piercing, only to fade to black.
Arthur awoke on the ground. He was in darkness, save for the ever-burning Greek fire from the codex, just a few feet away from him. He grabbed the device, using it as a torch. The light revealed that he was in a small cave no bigger than a house. All around him, stalagmites were climbing to meet their slimy counterpart, the stalactite. They hung from above, caused by the mineral deposits from the karst limestone.
I must be deep within the cenote cave system under the island, he thought.
About twenty feet away, he could see a small pond of water, gently rolling with small ripples. His body shivered, thinking of the lack of oxygen and the amount of carbon dioxide building in the cave. He needed to get out.
Where’s a mermaid when you need her?
The water in the pond was still now. Soft, ambient light scattered along the surface, extending a silvery shimmer to the limestone wall. Arthur saw something moving below the waterline.
That has to be a mermaid. He smiled, waiting for the reveal.
A figure started to emerge from the water, slowly, like she was swimming up a series of steps to reach the cave floor. Her wet, slicked back, black hair clung to the side of her face, accentuating her thin neck, and then began to dry, forming wavy locks that were just long enough to fall over her breasts, cupped in a purple seashell brassiere and blue decal connecting to a blue gem. A purple raccoon-like banded tattoo fell over her face. She arched her perfect eyebrows upward as she took in Arthur’s humanly form.
He smiled at her as he watched the water fall from her tight, naked body, perfect in every way. Ancient alchemical symbols ran over her shoulders and down her stomach, and the water dripped over the sides of a small pooch nestled between her thick, pert hips. He watched her scaly, iridescent lower half gradually transform into soft, human legs with each step. She had a goddess’s body.
It wasn’t a coincidence that she looked like Autumn or even Summer, but she seemed more rigid in personality than the other two. She was a sobering kind of beautiful, reserved and moody.
She walked toward Arthur with a switch in her step that could tame a lion. And right then, he couldn’t help but feel that he was the prey. He tried to scoot back, but was already pressed against the cold, wet cave wall.
“You are him, aren’t you?” she asked, still making an approach, her deep black eyes unsociable to the say the least.
Arthur laid where he was, unable to speak to the commanding goddess of a woman. He only watched her indirectly, making sure to look away as she asserted her dominance. He remembered these tips from his expeditions to Africa, where he’d studied gorillas. The dominant male would always challenge the visitor; as the visitor, Arthur had known to stand still and avoid making direct eye contact. And running was never an option.
“Who are you?” he asked the mermaid now.
“To ónomá mou eínai Cheimon,” she said as she turned back around, her sexy figure silhouetted gracefully against the background light.
“Cheimon?” he repeated, now getting to his feet. “Right, you must be Winter.”
“Yes, in the modern tongue, my name is Winter. Now, Seeker, what are your intentions?” she asked with a pessimistic tone. She pointed to the everlasting flame. “I see you have met my sisters.”
“I have,” Arthur finally said, unsure of how she would react.
The inky black-haired diva spun around on her heel, clenched her fist, and extinguished the flame in the device with a burst of air. “We won’t be needing her element any longer.”
The cave was now only illuminated by the soft green light coming from the bioluminescent organisms on the rocky walls.
“I… I want to help you. Help your sisters,” Arthur offered hesitantly.
“Help us?” Winter asked. She held up her hand and created a small whirlwind effect in her palm. “We have so much power. What could you bring to us?”
“Love,” he said, standing tall in an effort to exude a stronger attitude. “The quintessence of all life.”
“Rubbish. Love is but a emotion left by the gods. Here, and only here, do we have the power of the elements themselves,” the sultry maiden said, lowering herself to the ground and unhooking her bra. “You crave one thing.”
“But this is not true,” Arthur admitted. He thought of Autumn. “I… I have feelings for your sister.”
Winter placed her hand over his heart and felt his blooming affection.
“What you speak is true,” she said, her attitude shifting in tone.
She gently touched Arthur, and his heart fluttered. He was torn. As silly as it seemed, he wanted to see Autumn again. Or even Liz. How many women must a man know before he felt satisfied? Arthur liked the thought of many women, but so far, one had pleased him fine.
He looked at the maiden again. She was nearly identical to Autumn, save for the hair color. If these creatures were the true four elements, then he could unlock the stone — the quintessence — a fifth element.
“I have feelings for another.” His stomach sank as he said the words, and he hoped he wasn’t sabotaging his quest.
Winter smiled, stepped closer, and placed her hand on his head. She closed Arthur’s eyes and felt him from inner soul.
When Arthur opened his eyes, he saw that her hair had changed to a deep brown color like her sister, Autumn’s. Her face, however, was slightly different.
Then it dawned on him. Liz.
He couldn’t believe it. He lightly touched her skin, as if to justify the fantasy he was seeing. She was making this happen. Liz was here now with him.
“Come lay with me now and I will show you how to be with her,” Winter said.
Arthur lowered himself to the ground and laid back on his elbows. Winter leaned over and pressed her lips against his. She tasted like the insatiable quenching nip of snow on the tongue. She gently slipped in her tongue, and instantly, his worries were washed away.
She worked like a master craftswoman, caressing him all over his body. He felt her strapless back and the soft skin just under her hair. She had a hard body with tattooed skin that slightly indented with each touch. She was as real as any woman he’d had before.
As she lowered her head, she pulled his pants down, exposing his hard cock to her, the gifted goddess. She anchored herself over him, just rubbing his tip against her muff. Her juices sopped over him, and Arthur felt he could burst any second.
Her thighs lowered her perfect body down and pressed all of him inside her. She felt tighter to him than a normal woman—then again, he’d never been with a mermaid before.
Winter rocked back and forth, swinging his cock inside her. He could feel every motion, every groove of her insides. Flashes of ecstasy hit him, followed by imagery.
The cave walls began to melt all around him like some kind drug induced fantasy. He couldn’t believe how good it felt.
He now saw the familiar three-sided room. This time, in a formation opposite of the symbol for fire, with a line cut through its lower half. Arthur recognized the representation as the universal symbol for air.
On the first wall, below a carved number three, a winged dragon with a coiled tail and pointed tongue stood in a landscape with high mountains in the background. On the left, behind the dragon, a fox had run off with a bird in its mouth, possibly a hen, and was attacked by
a cockerel riding on its back.
Three, Arthur took a mental note. Winter threw her plump behind harder onto him. He was as deep as he could go.
On the middle wall, below the number eleven, two lions approached each other, one from the left and the other from the right. The lion on the right seized the other’s muzzle in its mouth. On the back of each lion rode a woman holding in her hand a heart, from which sprouts a plant blooming both a sun and a moon. The woman on the left has this heart in her right hand, while the woman on the right holds it in her left. Behind the woman on the left, a knight stands with sword raised as if to strike her. Behind the lion on the right is a parade of four cubs.
Eleven, Arthur noted again.
On the last wall, right behind the goddess riding him for everything he had, was the number seven. Below that, a woman holding scales in her right hand and a sword in her left, standing behind a large flask. On the neck of this vessel, Arthur recognized "the Seal of Hermes" from the green tablet. Inside the vessel, the word "CHAOS" was inscribed in a clockwise ring, and within that, the names of the four seasons were written in Latin around a square marked "Salt of the Philosophers", also in Latin, inside of which was a triangle inscribed with the Latin word for "Water".
Three, Eleven and Seven, Arthur repeated to himself.
Winter rocked harder on his shaft, and then stopped. She spun around, never releasing him, and he could feel every movement. She was now positioned away from him. She began to buck again while lifting her hair off her back. Arthur was in heaven when she began to translate the passage pertaining to the Third Key.
“But, after the water has vanished, the fiery life of our sulphurous vapor must triumph, and again obtain the victory.”1
Arthur tried to pay attention, but was lost in his pleasure. He grabbed onto Winter’s hips, and she slowed down, continuing on to her translation of the Seventh Key.
“The rays of the Sun are tempered with the air by passing through it so as to operate by the medium of the air, as the air operates through the medium of the fire.”2
Winter grabbed Arthur’s right leg and pulled it up. She maneuvered her leg under his, effectively executing a scissor formation. Easing herself down and he above her, stretching his cock downward. He felt a slight pain, but saw that this was her spot, that this would be her center of climax.
He began working her slowly. She huffed and puffed, barely able to take the angle. As she moaned, she uttered the Eleventh Key.
“When Phoebus had thus spoken, he winged his flight heavenward. In the morning the knight arose and did the bidding of the celestial messenger, and God gave to him and to his wife many children, who inherited their father's glory, wealth, and knightly honours from generation to generation.”3
‘His flight heavenward’, Arthur caught from the long passage she’d spoken. Air.
He couldn’t contain his excitement any longer. The pressure was building, and he was fascinated by the lore — hearing her long-winded explanations while he was pleasuring her. Without another moment’s notice, he pulled himself out, just above her, and shot hot spunk into the air.
The cum vanished into thin air. Arthur looked at the young maiden, now in a rolling shock of orgasm, until she, too, vanished.
Arthur reached for his codex and felt a gentle breeze begin to swirl through the cave. The water began to crest in small waves. The breeze became powerful gusts, and Arthur could barely stand as he quickly put his pants back on. The rush of air was intense and began pushing down the nearby water.
He fell to his knees and clawed his way to the edge of the pond to see the receding water leaving a path through the cave for him to exit. The wind calmed, and he shook his head, wondering what the other powers were capable of.
He jumped down into the pit, but to his surprise, he did not hit the ground; instead he was caught by a soft, pillow-like substance. He looked below himself to see a gust of wind carrying him.
He was flying. The wind below him being controlled by the codex.
The wonders of the Air Gate were at his mercy for the time being, there to help him obtain the last piece of the puzzle. He held the codex and thought of Liz and his encampment. When he was on his way back to them, he thought of the ways the world could change because of the magnitude of this discovery.
The world is on the brink of an impending glacial period, on the cusp of a technological singularity… is it ready for legend? For myth?
8
The Arrival
A loud horn bellowed just north of the island shore as the sun rose to high noon. Crewmen could be seen gathering near the abandoned ship that had given them passage. In the distance, two large freighters edged closer, with two smaller vessels in their wake.
“Ahoy!” the captain said cheerfully from the shore.
Standing tall on the bow of the small vessel was a stout, rugged man. His beard was long, holding onto his weathered face, and he had an eye that glinted red ever so faintly, giving away his bionic enhancement. He wore seals of silver medals that crested a slim, green jumpsuit, signifying he was a decorated officer in the Enconn Corporation. The boat slowed as waves sloshed around the men’s feet.
“General Malick, sir!” The captain shot into a salute.
“Captain Ellis.”
Malick hopped from the boat, his footing steady and agile on the slick, rocky shore. He scanned the surrounding environment, turning his attention to the crashed vessel with a ragged hole in its stern.
“Ship troubles, Captain?” he said lightly.
“Sir, we are not sure what to make of it. We didn’t expect to find—” Captain Ellis said but was interrupted.
“Captain, where is Arthur?” Malick interrupted.
“He, well… we had an accident, sir,” Captain Ellis explained.
“Another accident?” Malick’s eyes lit up in surprise.
“A man was killed,” Captain Ellis said. “Charny, sir.”
“Dammit, Ellis, the board is going to have our asses for this!”
“Sir, it was Arthur,” Captain Ellis pleaded. “Another senseless experiment.”
“Arthur is one of the most brilliant scientists I have ever met, but give him an inch and he will take a mile,” Malick said as he walked toward the encampment.
Captain Ellis followed. “Sir, I’ve sanctioned him to audits.”
“He’s going to need more than audits when I am done with him,” Malick thundered.
Malick watched as his dutiful cyber augmented soldiers secure the vessel they arrived on and carry off large, white duffels. A tall soldier that led the pack prompted for the General’s attention.
“General, shall we set the camp?”
“Yes,” Malick said, walking off to a freshly stomped trail. “We will start construction of the White Matter Condenser immediately. I assume you are on your last reserves?”
Captain Ellis nodded.
General Malick looked back at the four cyber augmented men dumping a white bits of powder sized sand on the ground before them. With a flick of the lead soldier’s wrist, a vambrace he wore started a reaction. The captain caught only a glimpse of the top of the shelter assembling upward as he continued onward.
Arthur sat by the fire, absentmindedly feeding it chips of bark he’d collected from the surrounding jungle. The bark crackled and smoked, and he took a sip from the cup of tea he held in his hand. It was a smooth, rust-colored tea with a chalky aftertaste. Elizabeth’s personal blend.
Despite being fully blamed for Charny’s death, the problem with the nanites and the fourth key still consumed Arthur’s thoughts.
What could be the antithesis to my tech, and how do the elemental keys play into all this? he thought. Is it the white matter? The white matter reserves were made in a small particle collider and was the equivalent to the mythical prima materia. It was the stem cell of matter. It’s what made voxelizing possible, but why was it affected here?
Arthur took another sip of his tea, now hearing a crackle much more
intense than what would come from the fire. It came from the bushes behind him—someone was walking fiercely his way.
Looking over his shoulder, Arthur found Malick, casting his shadow over him.
“General!” Arthur said, surprised. He rose to his feet.
“What did I tell you before we left?” Malick said.
“General Malick, I…”
“What did I tell you?!” he demanded.
“It… It was an accident!” Arthur blurted.
“I said that if your science—if your clockspring bullshit—harmed this expedition, I would consider it sabotage. Do you remember that?” the general asked.
“General, you must believe me. I never intended anyone any harm,” Arthur pleaded.
“A man has died! His soul has suffered. You know Neology shows us the soul is real,” Malick preached. “I won’t risk this expedition any further at the expense of your technology.”
The general stood taller than ever, with five men following behind him.
“Take him,” Malick ordered the men.
“Wait, General! There is something you should know!”
Malick held up a hand, and the men stopped and stood at attention. He trained a keen eye on Arthur. “Spare me your assessments.”
“But there is an aberration in the nanites and wondrous creatures below us! You must help them. Mermaids—”
Malick grabbed Arthur by the neck in a swift movement and then twisted Arthur’s arm around, commandeering his mechanical armband to type in coordinates. The hologram projected a large space station encircling the Earth labeled Annulus.
“This is the only reason we are here, and, by Allmother, I will not let you inhibit its progress.”
“There are errors, General. Errata,” Arthur pleaded. “And mermaid protectors of gates. With the power of the Philosopher’s Stone, its said to bring the dead back to life. We can bring Charny back.”