Elementis 1: The Heir to the Stone

by Jonathan Wedge

  Calyx looked down to the arena and the battle between dark and light. The black-skinned beast swung his mace, knocking away the ring sword from the clutches of the opponent still kneeling on the ground. Simultaneously he swung his mace in one hand and a long-handled battle axe in the other, chopping into the stomach and neck of the white-coated beast and wrenching the weapons back out of his tough leather skin. The white beast slumped with an outward breath, lost of all energy, accepting his death was upon him. The black barbarian threw down his weapons onto the dusty arena floor. He took a step closer and placed his hands around the white neck. He twisted off his head with a violent yank and held it dripping by a scruff of white hair as the body fell away to the ground. He turned to each corner of the arena lifting the head up, and beating his chest with victory. The fantoms erupted in delight.

  "The darkness always wins," the Zohr declared, with an absolute coldness that fed deep into Calyx's skin.

  The Zohr stepped forward as a platform began to rise him up, lifting him high above the arena. He held out two outstretched palms to quieten the crowd. The over excited soldiers hushed to a bumbling silence.

  "My children!" the Zohr announced, opening his arms to them.

  Every fantom in the crowd stamped a foot and stood to attention. "Zohr!" they returned in instant respect.

  "We welcome the lukran amongst us."

  The black beast in the arena let out an almighty roar, returned by the fantoms.

  "He shall be gifted with a metal heart this night and created thousands of times over."

  The soldiers erupted once more; their army was at its strongest. The fear they would bring to their enemy fuelled their thirst for death.

  The Zohr hushed them down to leave them with a final thought. "The war is coming. Blood will be yours!"

  Chapter IX

  The Lesson

  Jonas and Witakker walked side by side down a white hallway. Jonas looked around at the brightness of the high corridor walls, admiring the glass-covered roof which he would always associate with one of the first things he saw when he arrived on this planet. Witakker smiled down at the boy. He looked almost passable as a prince in a clean-cut, blue and white flight-suit with his hair looking neater than usual.

  Jonas caught the end of Witakker's smile. "I don’t see why you can’t just say where we’re going," Jonas frowned to Witakker.

  "Patience is a strong ally in many situations Jonas. Unfortunately you don’t have any," teased Witakker, mocking the poor discipline that Jonas had never been taught.

  The pair walked out onto the landing bay. Hundreds of mark-12 dekapods and an array of space-carriers lined the hangar. Skylark sat waiting amongst them. Spectrum, Menace, Goldheart, Cortex and an energy-chained Willow stood beside the ship.

  Jonas spoke quietly out of the side of his mouth to Witakker. "Please tell me that wherever we're going, they're not all coming!"

  Spectrum heard the mumble. "Wherever you go, we go," he said. He pointed across to Willow. "And wherever we go, she goes!"

  Cortex chipped in. "And since you go where she goes, we all get to spend so much quality time together!" he mused, making it clear to Jonas that they didn't like the fact he had spent too much time with Willow, their enemy.

  "Yes, yes—everyone on board, and do play nicely!" said Witakker, talking down to them all like children.

  Jonas didn't care too much. He was glad that Willow was being held at the palace. He saw something in her that the others seemed to overlook. And besides, she taught Jonas more about the use of his mind than any of the cythereans were able to do, even more so than Witakker. He hadn't nearly mastered telepathy yet but Willow gave him faith that he was doing something right by saying she could hear his voice come and go whenever they practiced. It seemed that the higher the level of brain activity there was, the more effective the transmissions. If Jonas tensed all of his body or flooded his mind with questions while trying to speak through thought, then his words would transmit clearer. It baffled him. It was as if the less he concentrated on the thing he was trying to do, the more success he had in doing it. Willow had taught him that he needed to find the exact frequencies in the brain which caused a reaction of a deeper thought than the simplicity of inner monologue. Once the frequency had been uncovered he would be able to send and receive others thoughts to any degree he wished. It was easier said than done. How does one pick out a frequency in the brain? He'd thought to himself a hundred times already. It didn't matter how, Jonas was determined to find it and he practiced with Willow every spare moment he had. It wasn't his fault that no one else trusted her; they didn't know her, not like he did.

  Onboard Skylark, Goldheart piloted the ship out of the docks and flew out above the roofs of the city. Everyone sat facing the windshield except Witakker, who stood directly behind the group.

  Witakker played with a couple of buttons on a bangle he wore around his wrist, bringing it closer to his face for his old eyes to see what he was doing, "Now, the story of the cythereans is primarily for Jonas—but you all might learn something if you listen… Lucas," he said, throwing his last word towards Cortex who was busy buffing a de-activated pulsar-blade. Everyone looked at him as he finished wiping the cloth to the end of the sword and slid it into the empty sheath behind his back. He crossed his arms and sat up to listen.

  "I shall begin from the beginning," said Witakker, tapping one last button on his bangle.

  An image of an old-fashioned cytherean family working a farm appeared across the windshields data-screen, the clear sky of Aquilla made up a blue backdrop behind the image. The family of a man, a woman, a boy and a girl, all wore elegant and simple wrap around red and white robes. The father and mother carried electronic-staffs, ushering pigs across a ploughed field as the children chased them through the mud.

  Witakker began. "Cythereans and many other races had lived in peace on Aquilla for thousands of years. Life was simple for us, we reproduced, developed technology, grew crops and most of all we lived a life free from fear. All of this changed 1200 years ago when a young therean by the name of Oreaus Antani wanted us to become stronger, more intelligent beings."

  A perfect looking family of four dark-haired cythereans appeared on screen; strong, handsome and dressed in smart, modern semi-armoured uniforms.

  "As a boy," said Witakker, bringing an image of a sweet, bright-eyed boy onto the screen, "Oreaus was obsessed with the secretive race of esla, the undisputed masters of the mind. At the age of twelve, Oreaus travelled to the esla's home planet of Siah, where he lived for two years studying the eslanic ways until he had himself become the Esla Maven, the highest mind of the esla masters. And then he killed them."

  Jonas turned back to look at Witakker. "A fourteen-year-old boy, killed an entire race?"

  Witakker nodded and pointed to the screen for Jonas to face forward. "Yes. All of them. The mastery of his mind drove the entire race to hate each other and they killed themselves. The deepest secrets of the esla died and Oreaus’s mind became by far the most powerful in existence. He returned to Aquilla and began to take control of the minds of every race on our planet."

  Witakker tapped his bangle, and images of the ancient races of Aquilla flashed across the screen with the name of each race listed below; kulks - a small eyed humanoid with no nose to speak of and large cupping ears; lidens - a fierce looking reptilian with strong legs and smooth pebble dashed skin; firgo - a large humanoid with fangs and not a sign of hair on the body or head; warico - a fur skinned man, with chilling black eyes, his drooping ears pierced with sharp wooden stakes and his arms were as thick as his legs.

  Witakker continued. "Oreaus soon had the best scientists across the galaxy pushing the boundaries of biology and physics to their limits, until finally he had created his perfect race, the dydrid."

  A naked, silver-eyed, silver-eared and silver-veined cytherean came onto the screen. The perfect body, the most symmetrical face and cold, pale-looking skin. The old races of Aquilla flicked acro
ss the screen once again, only this time with silver ears and a soulless look on their faces of being lost within their silver eyes.

  Skylark burned out of Aquilla's atmosphere with a little turbulence and burst into the darkness of space. A diagram of a dydrid silver heart replaced the flickering images of the newly created dydrid race. The silver heart spun around as if it floated in space against the backdrop of blackness and stars.

  "A liquid carbotanium-blood and vein structure, stabilized by a high-pressured osmiridium heart chamber, gave the dydrid increased strength. The perfection Oreaus craved fell somewhere between madness and genius. He is undoubtedly both in my eyes."

  A large silver ear faded in over the silver heart.

  "The silver ear is partly used to heighten telepathic transmissions and can in fact be pre-programmed with both memory and intelligence. There was no limit as to what Oreaus could control. By the time the Cytherean Council of Justice had decided to put a stop to the work of Oreaus, it was too late. The dydrid were too strong, their numbers grew quickly and the fortified city of Mercron could not be overcome."

  An image of the metal city of Mercron came onto the data-screen. This was the first time Jonas had seen it. His eyes lit up with the cruelty of the clawed structure.

  "It became apparent, however, that there was one thing which Oreaus could not fully control—us." said Witakker, waiting for a response from Jonas.

  Jonas promptly turned. "The cythereans?" he asked.

  "We could not understand why until we discovered much later that we are in fact distant descendants of the esla. As fate would have it most of our minds had developed a resistance to being controlled, even by Oreaus. This made his hate for us grow beyond obsession. Greed and power consumed him—a troubled mind indeed. He needed materials which he didn't have to expand and improve his race. He demanded the mining of essential resources from planets across our system and beyond."

  Mercron disappeared and a working mountainside quarry came onto the windshield. Oversized digging and drilling machines ploughed into the side of the rock, collecting and sifting through every grain.

  "One day, in a mining field on the baron planet of Lapia, a small, orange stone was uncovered, the make-up of which could not be identified on site. The stone was analysed and found to contain the atomic structures for every single element in existence."

  An orange stone appeared on screen, spinning around. Jonas recognized it instantly; it was the stone his father wore on his wrist.

  "After date testing and so forth, scientists believed it possible that this stone was created at or even before the very moment of the birth of the universe. Oreaus had found the oldest object ever uncovered. The scientific community named it the element stone, but Oreaus soon came to rename the stone, the Elementis. Word soon spread from system to system about what wonders such a stone might hold. Eventually, one of Oreaus's scientists, in an experiment which sent an electromagnetic pulse into the stone, noticed that the mass of the atmosphere in a controlled chamber had grown by 58.9332 atomic mass units."

  A voice called out from behind Witakker, "Cobalt!"

  Everyone turned around to see Twain holding his hand over his mouth, "Sorry," he said, "I didn't want to miss anything!"

  "Yes, cobalt," Witakker said, waving him across to join them, looking almost as un-amused as Cortex, who Twain came and slid in comfortably next to.

  "The scientists discovered that when they altered the frequency and intensity of the electromagnetic pulses, the stone would produce different elements in different quantities. It wasn't long before they had realised its full potential and how to control the stone. Almost overnight the element stone became the most powerful thing in our universe. And its owner, Oreaus could do with it as he wished."

  Jonas kept his eyes glued on the spinning stone, "And what did Oreaus do with the power?"

  The stone faded from the windshield; behind it a dusty brown moon came into view.

  "That!" said Witakker.

  "He made an entire moon?" Jonas questioned in disbelief.

  "Seven entire moons," Witakker added. "What we know today as the trade moons. With the power of thought alone, the Elementis was found to be capable of turning any existing element into any other element which the master should choose and all with the power of the mind. Oreaus transformed the moons cores from solid rock into precious stones and he added the atmospheres to match the composition of the air on Aquilla. He created mountain ranges with solid rare metals and rivers that flow with exotic liquids, with which he would use to build his armies and expand across the universe until he had dydrified every race for himself to control. If any race would not submit he would destroy them. Oreaus wanted eternal life to see his vision through from inception to the very end. He re-constructed his body so that he could replenish any part to keep himself alive. He named himself "the Zohr" and swore to his race that they would one day rule the entire universe. The Zohr became unstoppable. The cythereans were the last race of our planet remaining, he intended to dydrify those which he could and destroy the rest of us."

  Skylark delved into the brown moons dust filled atmosphere. Beneath a layer of gritty cloud came air as clear as the mother planet. They flew above a shimmering mountain of pure silver rock with rivers of golden liquid flowing through the valleys.

  Witakker continued. "Now you must understand, back then our people were not used to being leaders, planning attacks, defending against armies, or fighting in wars of any kind. We had merely become a small thorn in the side of Oreaus's plans to rule, and he wanted us eradicated forever. He and his fantom soldiers stormed Enterra killing our people and burning our city. He personally evaporated and petrified our ancestors with the Elementis, smiling as he brought us to our knees. We had no choice but to fight. And in the depths of war we formed the Cytherean Guard to protect us. But it was a losing battle. The Zohr had all but wiped us out, when he realised he found humour in the idea that there may be a use for the cythereans that remained. He enslaved survivors, mainly old men, women and children, putting them to work on the materials he fabricated with his precious element stone. The slaves built many things for Oreaus, parts for ships, parts for weapons, the fantoms uniforms and whatever else they were told to do."

  Jonas needed to know more. Question after question flooded into his thoughts. "But how did we survive when everyone had been enslaved or killed?" he said, staring at the metal mountain peaks below.

  "Not everyone was killed. Of the hundreds of thousands of Cytherean Guard, we had five men remaining. Those five men of the Guard saved us from certain tyranny, which would no doubt have lead to the extinction, or permanent enslavement of our race. They showed such courage and bravery in their actions that every man and woman of cytherean origin owes them their lives. In fact, the king's four protectors are a long-lasting symbol that pays a great homage to these five men. Their plan was uncomplicated but intellectual in its simplicity. One of the men volunteered for the toughest part of the plan—Valdoor Krestwell, the eldest of the five."

  An image of Valdoor appeared on the windshield. A strong, older-looking man, thick brown hair, showing his age with a well-set, wrinkled face. Jonas could see a part of his father in the mans face. It was the blue eyes which flared with all the troubles of the world. Jonas gazed at the man on the screen, feeling some kind of distant connection to him. Then it dawned on him. He was related to one of the five men who had saved his race. He felt a great sense of pride, history and purpose chill through his body. He couldn't take his eyes from the image of Valdoor but listened on as Witakker continued.

  "Valdoor was purposefully captured and put to work on munitions where he secretly trained the old men, women and children in combat and defence. Valdoor's slave army made and stowed weapons readying for a large-scale attack on their captors. The other four men of the Guard were entrusted to ready a ship, the Utopious, and to gather supplies ample enough for the two hundred or so slaves, to escape and disappear into deep space, in a final at
tempt to restore stability back to our race."

  Valdoor's image faded and a deep-space transporter ship replaced him. An odd shaped ship in the form of a decagon with boosters covering each of its ten sides. Jonas had seen nothing like it before. A beautiful ship, he thought, an ingenious design for movement in the unlimited dimensions of space.

  "It was win or lose. They were unmistakably fighting for survival. The Guards agreed that on the night of the next pure black fall when Aquillas largest moon, Natwi had waned into full darkness, they would attempt the most important deed the cythereans had ever encountered. And so the plan was put to action. No sooner had the slaves fooled their keepers that they were asleep, when an almighty barrage of lasers, forged by their own hands broke the heavy prison doors free from their hinges. And with their new-found courage and a leader in which they trusted implicitly, the fully armed, two-hundred strong Cytherean Guard fought their way out of the Zohr's capture to save their own freedom. There was one happening however which was not a part of the cythereans acute plan. Valdoor was the last of our people to escape the factory when he realised that the all-powerful destron and element stone had been left unguarded."

  The Utopious dissolved on screen and a destron appeared; a machine with a raised clasp in the centre where the element stone sat.

  Jonas had seen the element stone inset on his fathers bracelet but not heard of a destron before. "Wait, there was no energy-star?" he asked, having heard the term spoken about and realising that it was the connector between the stone and the mind.

  "The stone, when it was first used by Oreaus would sit in a destron, only he could control it and it was heavily guarded by fantoms. But the Zohr's confidence in his own army's strength was his eventual undoing. Valdoor stepped over the dead bodies of the fantoms and removed the element stone and the primary mechanisms of the destron. He knew that with the stone in their ownership, perhaps peace could one day be restored and the Zohr’s reign be stopped for ever. One hundred and twenty two cythereans disappeared deep into space that night. The survivors of the great war mourned for their people and recuperated physically and mentally. We had survived."