by Mara Powers
He examined her hungrily. “You are radiant, my queen, even still today. This pleases me.” He snaked toward her, crawling through the pillows playfully.
“There is more to life than beauty, my king,” she answered flatly, poising herself in a warning for him to keep his distance.
He laughed. “On the higher realms of existence, all souls are beautiful to behold. Those of us who have beauty on this plane are closer to our creator.” He sat back in the cushions, choosing instead to invade her with his eyes. She squirmed under his scrutiny.
“You know you are mine now, Brigitte. If I choose to touch you, you must obey. It is your duty now as my queen.” He crossed his arms. “But I shall give you your space. You may be confined to your suites and your courtyards all you wish. I have given you your own palace. I will stay in my palace until I choose to come to you. And I may come at my leisure.”
The food arrived. Delicate aromas from cooked fruits and meats were caught up in the swirling air. She watched him sit up to observe the incoming dishes, nodding as they were placed on the table adorned with flowers. He leaned back to watch her reaction.
Brigitte remembered the previous night clearly, until the moment she had slipped from her body. The horrible things he said would not fade away. She could not be sure what he had done to her. In the morning she could barely move, but the healing waters had soothed the pain. She decided to allow the meal to distract her, and instead focused with feigned delight at the elaborate feast of sensual foods.
Jamarish Ka entered the courtyard, strolling through the scurry of servants.
Kyliron glared at his royal maydrian.
“You must excuse me, Your Majesty. I was coming to see if the feast pleases you.” Jamarish Ka spoke soothingly.
Kyliron smiled at Brigitte. “Only if it pleases my queen.”
She nodded, her face lit with delight from the morsel she was chewing.
Jamarish Ka continued. “I was hoping to update you on your schedule for the upcoming rotations. A king’s work is never done.” Jamarish Ka bowed, awaiting the king’s permission to continue.
Kyliron raised a glass of intoxicating elixir to his lips. “I think my queen can hear my schedule report. It will give her an opportunity to know what I do.”
Jamarish Ka nodded. “Indeed, Your Majesty. She is the queen, after all.” He read off a list of appointments. Kyliron rolled his eyes at each of them. He virtually ignored the list while taking bites of food.
Brigitte, on the other hand, made it clear she was listening.
“And now to the matter at hand,” he began. You are to hear the arguments regarding the Followers of One on the next rotation of the sun. You asked for a report on the goings-on of D’Vinid, the singer, who is accused of spreading their Law of One and causing a stir among the people.”
A surge of adrenalin sent Brigitte’s heart reeling.
Kyliron’s face turned to stone. His hand froze where it was, holding a piece of food. It began to shake.
“D’Vinid has not yet been located, though last night, he played a concert at Dafni’s Enigma.”
Kyliron’s face reddened. In an eruption of rage, he flung the food he held to the table. “He did this to defy me!”
Brigitte tried to seem impartial. But it felt as though her heart pounded louder than they spoke. She could feel herself begin to wither inside.
“If I find D’Vinid is against me . . .” Kyliron looked at her like he didn’t know she’d been there. “What are you looking at?”
“Nothing, my lord.” She cast her eyes down. “I am just confused about the subject you speak of.”
He snorted.
Jamarish Ka interjected. “My queen, the Followers of One have spoken against the laws of the land. They have begun to preach on the street of a foreboding future, warning we are going the way of hubris, and that it will lead to our demise. Of course the king is not pleased with this, though he is determined to give them a fair argument. He will decide whether their words are correct, but until then they are ordered silent, as they are causing unrest.
“D’Vinid is a well-known singer, and childhood friend of the king’s, and it has come to our attention he is in line with these Followers of One, and perhaps even in charge of them. His majesty has ordered the singer silent until he appears in argument to confirm he does not speak against the king.” He turned his attention to Kyliron, whose eyes were fixed on the table in fuming intensity. “As far as we know, Dafni’s Enigma was one of the first places we sent notice to suspend his performances. It can only mean an act of defiance has been made against Your Majesty’s decree by not only D’Vinid, but perhaps the ship’s owner.”
Kyliron’s face stretched into lines of contempt. “Then they are part of this movement against me. Seize my mother’s ship immediately. Close down the elixir den until further notice.”
“Very well. There is good news. The Speaker Sect has confiscated D’Vinid’s dabrina. Perhaps now he will show up to present himself.”
Kyliron stared ahead, despondent. Brigitte remained as calm and steady as she could, knowing now her actions were well planned out by the Watchers.
“Have the dabrina brought to me in my chambers,” he grumbled.
“As you wish, Your Majesty.”
Kyliron’s eyes glassed over. Something dark began to take hold of him. Brigitte could see it, the same raging beast that had taken him before her very eyes on the previous night.
“Jamarish Ka, you have disturbed my joining meal long enough. You are excused.” Kyliron regained his composure and glared again at Brigitte.
The maydrian added, “Both of you shall be presented in the people’s square later today. Please rest well for this important occasion.”
As Jamarish Ka left the garden, Kyliron took a few bites of food and calmed down. He slipped closer along the soft bench they shared. “Your duty is to please your king, and hear tribute befitting the matriarch of this land.” He grabbed her wrist and pulled her close. “I would have D’Vinid put to death if he ever spoke to you, my sweet, beautiful queen. You will remain the one thing in my life unsullied by him.”
Her face drained of all color. “You’re hurting my wrist, Kyliron.” She twisted her arm away, rubbing the red skin where he had grasped it.
He leaned against her. His tone softened. “I have forgone the traditional mating sequence to present you to the people. Usually new mates are not presented to the public until this period is over. Does this please you? My people will be so inspired by your beauty, they will have no choice but to love me more.”
She nodded, though inside she wanted to scream. They sat quietly. A truce-like peace settled as they watched the morning drift by. She found herself wondering if there was any escape from the palace. Instead, only a theater of deceit materialized out of the churning panic of her thoughts. Her heart sank into despair as he fell fast asleep in her lap.
She began reciting in her mind bits and pieces of the personal credo taught her as Moirae. “I am a warrior of the subconscious. I am the observer, the messenger, the weaver.”
Her face set in cold anger as she developed the understanding that she was helplessly trapped. As the awareness took hold, flowers and plants slowly wilted around them until the king’s garden was completely dead, destroyed by the raw, unharnessed elemental power of the Moirae.
A SINGLE TREE grew from a circle of gardens. Its branches were an umbrella of twinkling lights. Three roses sprung from the ground at its base. Beneath the boughs stood a luminous being, beckoning toward a broad opening in the trunk, which led below to a starlit sky. As the garden slowly wilted, within the opening, Dreamtime swallowed the tree in an eddy of light and sound.
The inky waters of an underground lake stood still as death. A woman sat in a dangling throne over a burning cauldron. Her hair cascaded over the throne, spilling into the water. Her face was old and wrinkled. Her eyes reflected a universe of planets as she held out a rose in her hand. She spoke, but it was the sound
of a chorus speaking in unison. “Where one rose grew are truly three. And only one shall stand alone; its path begets the fourth and final, fallen back to home.”
A gigantic whale breached the smooth black waters, and with a mighty movement, the tail slapped the surface. A high-pitched song resounded through the cavern. The water swelled, creating a whirlpool, sucking everything into itself. The suction swept through an underwater tunnel, twisting and turning, eventually spilling out into the depths of the ocean. Dolphins swarmed in formation and met with a line of oceanids, armed with spears and tridents. A woman swam in the lead of the oceanid army. Her fins danced in the current. Prince Bavendrick floated at her side, exuding elemental power extending through the ocean, rising up into a wall of water and crashing toward the shore.
D’Vinid jolted awake. The dream quickly faded as he became aware of his surroundings.
The sound of many chattering voices blurred into dullness. Light saturated his vision. He sat up, realizing he had somehow passed out in a bed of flowers. He was near a commons area, but he couldn’t be sure where. He rubbed his head, focusing on his last memory. His quest to find his missing dabrina quickly returned. But it had been night, and now it was day. His body ached as he tried to move.
The nearby commons area was overflowing with citizens. He tried to remember what day it was. He knew it was the day after Ka-Ma-Sha, when citizens usually stayed at home recovering from the three-day festival. He crept out of the flowers, picking leaves from his clothing and brushing off the dirt. He found his feathered hat nearby and beat the dust out. Thankfully, his hover-disc was nearby, as well. Soon curiosity lured him to the commons. It didn’t take long to realize the crowd was gathered eagerly around the viewer-crystal screen.
VCs were assembled from cubes of selenite crystal, and fitted within frames built to receive images from the Crystal Grid. The image of a woman faded into view, a speaker everyone knew as the palace communicator. She had become famous in the land. As her lovely face materialized on the screen, a hush fell over the crowd.
“Greetings, fellow Atlanteans,” she said. “The Queen Impending arrived in the palace yesterday before nightfall from the Oceanus Dreamclan to take her place at King Kyliron’s side.” The speaker’s face faded away, and to D’Vinid’s chagrin, the VC showed exactly what happened when they met just moments after D’Vinid abandoned her. The crowd gasped at her wild beauty. The speaker appeared again. “King Kyliron and his new queen were joined under the last moon of Ka-Ma-Sharri. The king is taken by the beauty and wisdom of his new queen, and has decided to present her to you by the bidding of the Watchers. But first your king and queen ask for us to perform illumination ritual together at the resonance of nodesong.” The palace communicator closed her eyes and placed her hands in mudra positions.
D’Vinid felt his stomach turn.
Nodesong began. Everyone in the commons turned to face the crystal-node and shaped their hands in mudras. D’Vinid did the same. He wanted to walk away, but somehow felt the urge to stay. His mind wandered, and though he participated in the ritual, his hands merely made the movements. He was losing interest in being part of anything anymore.
“YOUR MAJESTY, YOU were right.” Jamarish Ka greeted the advancing royal processional as they prepared to present Brigitte to the people. “More citizens are attending illumination rituals today than in cycles. You have managed to increase our power stores tenfold.”
“Then maybe they can fix my gardens.” Kyliron glanced suspiciously at Brigitte.
She looked away from his blaming gaze. The plants could not withstand the distortion caused by her emotions. And if she was not careful to maintain her equanimity, she would destroy much more than that.
In the final moments of evening nodesong, double-doors glided open. Sunlight poured through the opening, bathing the advancing processional in its glorious radiance. The crowd’s thunderous sound spilled into the entryway. Everything shifted into slow motion. It was time for the people of Atlantis to meet their new queen.
Along the extended platform, the royal entourage joined with the High Council. The high priestess had taken a place of honor on an elevated podium. Wordless and meditative, her eyes followed Brigitte.
When she met the gaze of the priestess, Brigitte’s eyes filled with bitterness. She knew the priestess had sensed her pregnancy the night before, and wondered if she could have sensed their incomplete joining, as well. The priestess inclined her head slightly, and Brigitte knew the child would be acknowledged as Kyliron’s. The foundation to the house of cards had been laid with terrifying potential for disaster.
Wrapped in their joining ensembles, Kyliron and Brigitte walked past the high priestess onto a balcony. Below, a massive plaza extended wide enough to encompass throngs of citizens, who traditionally gathered to hear the words of Atlas’s line in person, rather than on VC screens. It had been decorated for the Ka-Ma-Sharri festival, which had now come to an end, though its splendor remained as if it had truly been created for this spectacle. A deep roar filled the air as they came into view.
The high priestess raised her staff, uttering a blessing in old Lemurian. Her voice poured across the plaza. The crowd gradually fell silent. She caught the staff up in a sunbeam, and its refraction through the staff’s crystal ball cast shards of rainbow lights over the king and queen. A gasp rippled through the gathering.
The words of the Moirae’s credo taught by Indrius appeared in Brigitte’s mind as if programmed to activate at the right time. Their meaning finally became clear as she stood before the people of Atlantis. “I am trained within the dream world, a warrior of the subconscious. My awareness lies beyond that which is clouded by personal identity. I am created to bring reflection to the masses. I am that which lies between what they see and what they feel. I am the connection of inspiration. I am the observer, the messenger, the weaver, the judge. For this task I am humble and I am prepared.”
IN A DAZE, D’VINID wandered away from the commons area, allowing his feet to carry him where they would. He felt perhaps he was at the lowest point of his life. He was so weary, surrendering to the Triad was beginning to sound like a relief. His heart ached for Brigitte, for his dabrina. Kyliron now possessed everything he loved. A flashing light glimmered up ahead. Aimlessly, he gravitated toward it.
The road emptied into a courtyard. An old woman sat on a stairway, striking a rock on the stone of the steps. Every once in a while the impact made a spark. A closer look revealed she was using the rock to try and destroy a piece of quartz crystal. He sat down next to her.
She had the look and feel of the madness, muttering unintelligibly. She didn’t bother to look at him. Everyone who passed quickened their pace to avoid her. D’Vinid sat there for a while, trying to organize his priorities. In a sense, he felt a bit like her. He watched, trying to reach for any shred of motivation. Nothing presented itself.
“They say if we destroy all the crystals, we can have our minds back,” the woman muttered.
“Excuse me?” D’Vinid tried to catch her distracted eyes.
“Destroy Belial. Destroy the crystals. It must be done. This crystal stole my mind. This crystal stole my mind. We are slaves to the Grid. The crystals are evil.”
“What did Belial do to deserve to be destroyed?”
Her eyes clouded over. She stopped her work and scratched her head. He could see her fingers were bloodied by her difficult task. “I don’t know,” she shrugged and continued. Chips of crystal fell to the ground. All at once, cracks formed in its façade, and it shattered. Letting out a cry of joy, she quickly stood up and swept the pieces into a bundle she created with her tattered dress. Her mood visibly shifted as she scurried off. D’Vinid followed. She shuffled to one of the great walls overlooking one of the water rings. Seeing the copper wall, he finally knew where he was on the central Ring of Learning.
“The end is near,” she whispered. “All of Atlantis will crumble into the sea.” She stood on the wall and emptied the contents of her
tunic into the water ring. She spread her arms and leaned back as if her sacrifice would magically restore her mind. After a few moments, she realized she was still the same. Her expression contorted. “Nooooo!” she screamed. “You promised me!” She clutched at her head.
D’Vinid tried to reach out to her.
She pulled away, and finally looked at him with raging hatred. “You!” she pointed. “You must take your place with them! They are waiting for you!” she panted, clawing at her face as if being swarmed by bugs. “The longer you wait, the worse it will be.” Her voice changed. “We won’t stop here. We will kill until you sssssurrender to ussss,” she hissed. And then without another word, she convulsed and threw herself backward into empty space.
D’Vinid cried out, trying to reach for her, but he was too late. Her cries mixed with laughter fell with her, and disappeared with the splashing impact of her plunge into the water ring. He began shouting to passersby, but they quickened their pace, ignoring him like he had the madness. Given his shabby appearance and intensity of his outburst, he couldn’t blame them.
He began to run. Tears escaped his eyes. Anger built a wall around his heart.
He waded through the crowded esplanade in a daze, dodging the festive feeling around him. The happier they were at the sight of their new queen, the heavier his heart weighed. A dark shadow closed in on him. He thought again of surrendering to it.
Ahead, the crowd parted, and Lukias stood in a space created by his presence, waiting. His dreamseer eyes landed pointedly on the Prophet Singer.
D’Vinid approached the queen’s brother, unsure if he would suddenly disappear.
“I have something for you,” Lukias announced, and slid the crystal pendant over his head, reaching it toward him. “I believe it is yours.”
Absently, D’Vinid accepted it. A jolt passed between their fingers. Visions flooded their minds. Lukias recognized the download of a dozen dream images all at once. He knew they would now be connected, and perhaps that was the effect of delivering the crystal. He accepted that this was what Indrius wanted.