The Artifacts Of Elios (Book 1)

by R N Skye

  Shane enjoyed the closeness for a moment before turning and giving her a kiss in return. “We better get you home and I need to get to my bunk before I miss curfew two nights in a row.”

  They quickly gathered up their notes and left the lab locking it up behind them.

  The rest of the week continued like a routine. Ava catalogued while Shane engraved. By the weekend Shane was only done with a third of one of the four edges of the miniature scrollwork glyphs.

  By Venri morning Ava had been in touch with her family and they whole heartedly approved of her trip with the expedition. Ava formally informed the magetech professor that she was definitely in. While Shane informed him that due to his athletic scholarship that he needed to remain with the team and wouldn’t be able to join the expedition.

  “I’m sorry to hear that, Shane, You are such a diligent student I sometimes forget that you are obligated to the warball team. Not to worry, I’m sure there will be other expeditions and I can use you here to assist with the research that will undoubtedly be sent directly to the collegium,” the Professor assured him.

  “As for you miss Desmond, I suggest you meet with the rest of your professors and let them know that you will need to schedule your finals early. The expedition leaves in thirty days.”

  The thirty days leading up to the time of the expedition evaporated like dew on a hot summer morning. Shane continued to engrave but his pace was slowed due to little time. Finals were approaching and the warball team had made the playoffs. Between Homework practice and Ava’s own rushed schedule they only had brief moments together. They most often were only able to meet for dinner at the cafeteria near the magetech lab or at the lab itself.

  The Venri morning before Ava was to leave; they both had finished their finals. Ava had finished hers early because of the expedition and Shane because of the upcoming warball playoffs. They met at the quad just outside Ava’s dorms. They had two days and then Ava would leave for the mysterious island.

  “I can’t believe finals are finally finished,” Shane let out a whoop as he picked Ava up in a big hug spinning her around. Putting her gently back on the ground he smiled and said, “Better yet we’re going to the championship, “he said excitedly. “The Luion Aggies were tied in the standings with University of Jehhet; they lost in the play off so it will be us and University of Jehhet for the championship. We have the conference home field so we will be playing here.”

  “I heard,” Ava responded a little glumly. “The game is next week and I’ll be gone.”

  “How’s the engraving going,” Ava changed the subject. I haven’t seen you for nearly three days.”

  “Pretty good actually,” Shane replied. “I only have about a quarter left of the final side. I could finish this weekend or I could spend it with you. Looks like I’ll finish next week.” He sat down on the grass then lied down on his back. “What would you like to do?”

  “Well,” Ava said haltingly. “There is this dance tonight and I was hoping that you would take me.”

  Shane sat up straight smacking the palm of his hand on his forehead. “I completely forgot, Ava, please forgive me, I’m so dumb. I meant to ask you several days ago, I just got caught up in everything.”

  “I forgive you,” Ava said with her most mischievous smile. “And since it appears that I am going to have to be the planner in this relationship, here is our schedule for the weekend.”

  They both laughed as she mentioned that they would be going to a nice place for lunch and he could pick her up at seven for the dance. “And tomorrow morning we will be meeting my parents at the coach station, followed by lunch and then we will be having a nice dinner with them at their hotel. They are in town on business that just happens to coincide with their daughter’s departure on an expedition. We have all of Dima afternoon to ourselves I will be doing my final packing Dima evening; I expect you to assist.”

  “I wouldn’t miss it,” Shane said as he took in the barrage of details that she was rattling off. His biggest concern was not doing something stupid when he met her parents.

  “I’m hoping you can see me off at the harbor with my mom and dad on Lundi morning,” Ava said giving him a full dose of her green eyes. “You don’t have practice do you?”

  “I don’t have practice until the early evenings all week next week and we have play reviews in the afternoons. The mornings are ours.” Shane informed her, “I wouldn’t miss it for the world seeing you off. I’m missing you already.”

  “Shane,” Ava suddenly blurted. “I just thought of something. How are you going to activate the instructor artifact once you are done?”

  Shane chuckled as once again true to her nature she unexpectedly changed the subject, “I’ve already thought of that,” he answered; still laughing to himself. “The voice from the pyramid seemed to indicate there was a way for me to do it. But in case there isn’t, my plan is to see if I can take a field trip to the IDAD with the artifact team and see if I can activate it there; but that is my last resort.”

  The weekend was a blur. Shane had enjoyed the meeting with Ava’s parents. Gerard was a medium built man with light blonde hair that was threatening to go grey, very energetic and prone to smile. Ava’s mother Louisa was likewise energetic but brunette unlike her daughter and always trying to make sure that everyone was taken care of.

  He knew he had a friend for life in her father. They had hit it off right away, particularly with sports. Evidently Ava had been highly persuasive in regards to how much she cared for him; he also felt very accepted by her mother as well. Ava’s mother reminded Shane a lot of Aunt Leslie, both in looks and in the intelligent way her eyes seemed ever observant. The resemblance was very evident.

  The most memorable part of the weekend was when Shane arrived at Ava’s dorm to take her to the graduation dance. He had only ever seen her in casual attire or a lab frock. When he saw her in formal-wear he was stunned by her beauty. Her hair was tied up with a few long gentle curls left to cascade down her temples. The gown she wore was properly cut and trimmed just above the ankle with a modest neckline that enhanced her curves without being too revealing. He knew he was in love and that he had found someone that was not only able to put up with his absent minded nature but was intelligent and the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in his life.

  The morning of the expedition’s departure came and went. Shane had joined Ava with her parent’s early Lundi morning and after many hugs and a few clearing of the throats from her parents as they said their last fare wells.

  “See you in six months,” Shane said as they un-clung from a final embrace. The season and semester will be over and I’ll be graduated by the time you get back. If I’m not at the IDAC or still at the university, I’ll leave a message with your Aunt Leslie where to reach me. Hopefully I’ll have a lot to show you regarding the, you-know-what.”

  Ava’s eyes glistened with tears. “Love you Shane.” And she turned and fled up the gangway to the ship.

  “I love you too,” He whispered as he watched his best friend and most favorite college experience disappear over the rails onto the ship.

  IV

  After bidding goodbye to Ava’s parents Shane was back to work on his instructor artifact attempting to make a dent in the remaining engraving before he had to go to the warball lockers for team meeting and then practice.

  By mid Mercre morning he had finished the final glyphs and it was complete. He checked them over carefully and verified that they were exactly like his notes except for the two glyph changes that the voice had told him to make. He was quite pleased with his work. It looked like a real artifact, even better than the original as his was solid brass and the original had been part ceramic.

  “Now,” he thought, “how do I activate it?”

  The voice from his dream echoed as if it were his own thoughts. “…When it is complete activate it with the light within your mind…”

  “What light,” he wondered aloud.

  Shane closed his ey
es and concentrated. He recalled the glow that he had experienced in the dream of the pyramid. “Is this the light?” He again said to himself aloud

  “YES,” said a voice in his head.

  Shane felt more than heard that he should touch the sun glyphs on the bottom corners of the Instructor and let the glow that he was visualizing in his mind flow into the artifact. With a burst a tingling coursed through his chest and arms all the way to his finger tips that were touching the sun glyphs; he could suddenly feel that the artifact was alive with energy and glowed brightly for a moment then it was a normal shiny brass sheet once again.

  Wondering what to do next Shane carefully touched the actuation circle that he had etched into the brass. Immediately a ball of white light appeared above the blank space within the square formed by the miniature scroll work looking glyphs. Amazingly the etched circle now slid along the line with the movement of his finger; causing the light to increase in intensity as he slid his finger back and forth along the line.

  “Now what,” Shane said with a slight giddiness as he wondered if he could activate any artifact using the same method.

  Recalling the dream he remembered that he needed to be bonded to the instructor somehow. He tried concentrating; he tried flooding it with the magical light he had discovered within himself, still nothing. Then he remembered the glyphs on the pyramid and the instructions to change the two corner sun glyphs to kero glyphs. In his dreams he had touched the large kero glyph on the pyramid and was transported within, could it be that simple? Carefully he touched the corner kero glyphs; still nothing.

  Humph,” he grumbled. Thinking a minute,” He thought to himself, maybe I need to put some magic into this.”

  Again he reached out and touched the kero glyphs, this time mentally allowing the magic to flow into the glyphs. This time something did happen. A tingle flowed from his core through his arms and hands to the glyphs, although not as forceful as when he had activated the device.

  The sphere of light suddenly changed into a globe of glass. Around its equator rotated symbols and words that Shane didn’t understand. As suddenly as the words and symbols had appeared a voice called out a short sentence in a language that was as unfamiliar as the symbols. After a few orbits the symbols changed to yet another set of unfamiliar characters; the voice changing into another unfamiliar language. Shane watched curiously for nearly five minutes when the symbols became glyphs and letters that he understood. The Voice was instantly recognizable. Both the letters and the voice both said, “Please place your right hand onto the globe.”

  Shane complied, slowly at first, but then fearful that if he didn’t do it while it was speaking his language he might end up bonding to it in the wrong language he quickly slapped his right palm onto the clear globe.”

  “One moment please,” said a voice sounding suspiciously like an old kinder school teacher he had had in his youth. After a moment Shane felt the tingle of magic course through his hand. “Please state your name,” the voice said.

  “Shane Chason,” Shane said slowly.

  “Bonding is complete. You may remove your hand. How may I instruct you today?” the voice asked pleasantly; the voice seeming to adapt to that of a wise folksy old man.

  Shane removed his hand and the glass globe disappeared and morphed into a large cubit square glass pane with a menu consisting of words, pictures, and glyphs. “What are you?” asked Shane.

  “I am not a “you”, I am an “it”. Specifically I am not sentient; therefore I am not an “I”, either; although it is in my instructions to refer to myself as “I”, to provide a more personal experience to my user. The device that you are conversing with is an instructor.”

  “What exactly is an instructor,” queried Shane.

  “The instructor that you have activated was designed for remedial through advance training of glyph mages,” answered the instructor. “This device has multiple capabilities. It is recommended that you receive the device operations overview in dream mode while you sleep this evening. Is that satisfactory?”

  “Yeah, sure,” Shane replied, “whatever you say.”

  “Prior to your going to sleep activate the device and state what instruction you require and it will be provided while you sleep.”

  “Thank you,” said Shane.

  “You are welcome,” answered the device.

  Shane touched the actuation circle on the device and the glass screen disappeared and the brass sheet with the glyphs was all that remained.

  Shane reached and touched the circle again. The pane of glass reappeared but not as large as it was previously. He slid the circle along the line and as he slid it the square grew in size. Shane giggled a little bit at the success he had had in the morning’s endeavors. He had so much to find out and couldn’t wait to begin. “Instructor, can you hear me,” asked Shane.

  “How may I instruct you?” queried the device.

  “Do you have any way to secure yourself to this room so that you cannot be stolen?” asked Shane.

  “There are numerous ways to prevent the loss or unintended lending of this device. It is recommended that you receive the device operations overview in dream mode while you sleep this evening. Is that satisfactory?”

  “No,” Shane replied back to the instructor. “I need you to secure yourself to this room until I return this evening.” You are very valuable to me and I can’t afford to have you lost or stolen before I can receive as much training as possible regarding your uses and the knowledge of what a glyph mage needs to know.”

  “Might I suggest some possible solutions,” offered the instructor.

  “Please, “Shane answered.

  “I suggest invisibility, disguise, or attaching to something immoveable.” The device responded.

  Fearing that if the device became invisible he might not be able to locate it later and surmising that attaching was self-explanatory, Shane asked, “Please explain what you mean by disguise.”

  “The instructor has the ability to blend in to the surroundings either by camouflage or by acquiring the shape of common items in the area, such as a clock, a shoe, or a pillow on a bed.”

  “How do I deactivate the disguise,” asked Shane.

  “Simply instruct it to resume normal form.”

  “Disguise yourself as a framed picture of my girlfriend Ava and then attach yourself centered on the wall above the head of my bed,” Shane said proud of his inventiveness.

  “What dimensions of the picture frame would you like to use?” the instructor asked.

  “Two cubits tall by two cubits wide,” after all why go small if you can go big Shane thought to himself.

  The device morphed the glass pane back into a glass globe again. “Please place the palm of your right hand on the globe so that an image may be acquired.”

  Shane followed the instructions. He felt a brief pulse of magic and the instructor responded with,” Image acquired.”

  Without further comment the instructor morphed into a large framed portrait of a smiling Ava in the dress that she had worn to the dance they had attended prior to her departure with the expedition, and flew across the room and attached itself to the center of the wall above the head of his bed.

  “Awesome,” thought Shane glancing at the portrait.

  Looking at his clock Shane realized that he had used up the morning. He grabbed his pack and hurried out the door to the cafeteria to grab lunch before he had to attend team meeting and then practice.

  Pechor knew he had been defeated; but how. Only the Elios had the power or ability to defeat an Allyant. Yet this shadow, that was so un-Elios-like, that wielded a lumen sword, had tracked him down and defeated him like child’s play. Once again the planning of the Elios had provided a defense, this time for the mysterious pyramid; their beacon and world light. I should have known Pechor thought as he glanced at the darkness that was his slayer.

  Now as he breathed his last he thought back fifty years previously and wondered if his final emergency
message had even broadcast. He had triggered the release just as the crushing force of the Elios protector field had destroyed his starblade explorer. He recalled the moments falling from the sky as he jettisoned from the obliterated remains of his vessel.

  The Elios had gone; from what he had learned after being shipwrecked on this world they had been gone for well over a thousand years before his arrival. While exploring the far reaches he had discovered a spinning blue world; out of place among several gas giants. It wasn’t long before he realized that this world was a world seeded by the enemy and when his attempts to destroy it had failed he had spent the last fifty isolated and dreary years carefully eliminating the knowledge and heritage of the Elios. Now he lay sprawled and bleeding with his opponent sitting on his heels silently watching him.

  The lone man that appeared more as a shadow than a man squatted beside him, a hand still on the sword that had pierced his abdomen and spine, did not appear angry nor acted triumphant as most would be watching the life flow from the vanquished; was it sweat from the fight or was it a tear that barely glistened on his cheek in the periodic moonlight as clouds moved through the night sky.

  Pechor coughed as he fought the growing weakness an odd curiosity and lack of recognition pervaded his mind as he glanced at his nearby severed arm. He returned his glance to the glowing lumen blade holding him pinned to the ground he knew his death was near. The sound of the night crickets had ceased and the silent shadow that was his death spoke.

  “Why do you seek to destroy the good of the Elios,” the shadow asked calmly.

  “Who are you to talk to me of my enemy?” coughed Pechor.

  “I am the “Song”. I am the guardian of the Arc of Wisdom created by the Elios,” responded the shadow.

  “Then you are indeed my enemy; not just my death,” spat the Pechor his breathing grew more labored. “My death will only be temporary I will still finish my work,” Pechor closed his eyes in concentration. He then smiled at a memory. “I considered it luck when I found this world and began to destroy it with my meteors.” The smile vanished to a grimace. ”My mistake was that I neglected to prepare for the defenses the Elios had placed. When the web of lumen engulfed and destroyed my starblade I was still alive as I fell from the sky. It took a lot of my lumen but I preserved myself and made it my purpose to walk the land and sea and remove the cancer that they had placed on this world; either until my brethren would find me or until I went the way of the ghost; it appears it will be the latter.”