“Whakaaro! What happened? Where are you? What did I do?”
There was nothing. No visuals, sounds or smells. I wandered the landscape of his mind, but it was a blank. I finally saw where he was. He had withdrawn his entire consciousness to a small spherical blue flaming ball. As I approached it, I felt the familiar tingling sensation again.
I woke up to ask Whakaaro what had happened. I saw him, lying down. He hadn’t woken up. The tribe members were hurrying him to the tent of healing. I ran after them, shouting, “What happened?”
Kobuk, a young man who often helped me in the cave, waved me off. “Wait outside.” After a while, he emerged.
“My apologies, but we had to hurry. Whakaaro has collapsed from exhaustion. Given his age, we have to make sure that he recovers fast.” I felt terrible. I recounted what had happened in the cave, with my apologies peppered through the narrative. Kobuk was particularly interested in my final creation. He didn’t reveal why. He insisted that Whakaaro told me.
“Don’t worry about it. He will be fine, soon. There was nothing you could have done,” Kobuk said, trying to reassure me. I really wanted to know what he thought. Then something happened. I saw myself standing in front of my eyes. My mind suddenly was seeing differently. It was as if I was suddenly standing in Kobuk’s place, looking at myself. The world looked brighter, as if my mind was happier, more optimistic… naïve. I could hear myself. But it was from where Kobuk was standing.
“I can’t begin to explain the significance of the Phoenix to him, let alone one of such a colossal size,” I felt Kobuk think, in his mind. It was like he was talking, but it was all around, as other sounds drowned out. I was confused by the statement, but more amazed by my newfound ability. I was in Kobuk’s head. I felt everything he did, and consequently was able to read his thoughts. Was this how Whakaaro read my thoughts? I had to tell Whakaaro once he was up. I waited outside the tent till mid-day, when I felt him stir. Not physically, but I felt a mental pressure familiar to my exercises in the cave. I felt his mind, awake and alert. He slowly walked out as I babbled away.
“Hey, Whakaaro! I am sorry for doing this to you. I don’t know what I did, but I don’t want to do anything like this. Let me know what I did and I will stop. By the way, I can read minds like you now! It is…” I stopped as Whakaaro raised his hand as he gave me a weak smile.
“Nothing to worry. You did nothing wrong. I was just tired. And you progressed much faster than expected, so I suddenly lost all my mental strength. And I am so happy for you. That was the objective—you don’t need any further training. You just need to learn to meditate. I will teach you that. Congratulations!”
I was super happy. “Thanks for everything Whakaaro. It has been a privilege to have such a great teacher.”
“You are a great student, Karn.”
This was a happy day. But something still nagged me.
“I had a question. I explained to Kobuk what happened, and he has been particularly intrigued with the phoenix. He didn’t say it to me, but I felt like I was in his mind, I heard the words form in his head. Why was he intrigued by the phoenix? And more importantly, is that how you read minds? You see and hear everything from that other person’s perspective?”
Whakaaro was serious. “Well, firstly the phoenix. It was an interesting choice. It is our tribe’s belief that whenever someone creates a phoenix, especially when it is clearly dominant thought in your mind, the person will fall, deeper and lower than any worldly or hellish pit. Then you will rise again, to the heights of the heavens as a glorious phoenix.”
I was relieved. It was just some silly superstition. “Well, I am glad I wasn’t born into your tribe.”
Whakaaro smiled. “Of course, it is an old superstition we have. Don’t think of it. Now secondly, it was interesting that you felt all sensations of the other person’s mind. Everyone’s mind works differently. I actually have to put in a lot of effort into seeing another person’s point of view and feel all of that person’s senses. Your ease indicates that you are a natural at this. Now, the out of body experience can be quite disconcerting, especially if it is happening involuntarily. You have to actively concentrate and push out the images and the other sounds. Focus only on the speaking voice. It might be difficult, but that’s what you have to do.”
This was amazing news. I felt elated knowing that I was a natural at this. There was finally some potential in me, which would replace the “potential” that the Valantian Imperium had seen in me when I was chosen. This was me, a man who could read the minds of others.
I finally took the whole day to relax. Relax properly. No mind exercises, no mind reading, nothing. Just me, with my thoughts. This was possible because I rode out into the plains, for hours.
When I returned, I found the entire tribe observing something together. And for good reason.
Dev was levitating his sword. I was stumped. The man was telekinetic! I was excited. This was going to be amazing. He was a young telekinetic, I was a budding telepath. Together we could conquer the world!
He moved his sword slowly through the air. And then it dropped. It was clear that he wasn’t able to levitate it any further. People were happy. My excitement dropped a little. He wasn’t at world conquering levels. Right now, he could, maybe, earn a living as a street performer. But, it wasn’t too worrying. We could both work on our respective “world conquering powers.”
I walked up to my partner in crime. He saw me, flashed a wide grin, ran towards me, and hugged me. That was extremely awkward. I hadn’t hugged another guy since… ever. I guess the naïve one didn’t know that men didn’t hug.
He must have felt the awkwardness emanating from me. He let go immediately. He said, “Sorry. I haven’t hugged another guy since… well ever. I was just happy to see you upright, conscious and walking around.”
That brought a smile to my face. “Happy to be walking around as well. So, you can levitate stuff. That’s amazing! You are really something, you know that. How did you figure it out?”
He was excited to talk about it.
“Well, the first two weeks, I was too weak to move. I think I was pretty much wrapped up in that energizing gel all the time, and tied up to allow my healing to progress fast. I took a couple of days after that to return to normalcy. You know, walking around, lifting items. Then Whakaaro, after he was done with your sessions, spent a few days with me too in the cave. The experience was surreal.
Now, thanks to you, we zeroed in on the right memory straight away. It was when I had hallucinated in the forests right beside Villasboro. During this particularly distressing hallucination, caused by a drug called Blue Haze, I saw a vision of my dead parents. And as I collapsed due to extreme anxiety, starvation and anger at the state of the hallucinations, I emanated some sort of energy wave that destroyed the trees around me.
Then, Whakaaro did something amazing. We slowed down my memory! We could see the explosion take place at one hundredth of the normal speed. Then we also expanded the images to the extent my mind had captured them. I also told him all about Villasboro and the special properties of that place. That’s when we pieced it together.
I had the ability to move Azmoq. The forest trees had Azmoq running in their veins. In my distress I inadvertently moved it, destroying all the trees around me. Once we realized that, we started to slowly work on my abilities. I tried to sense and move whatever Azmoqian weapons I had. They didn’t have specialized training for me, like they did for you, because, well, apparently they haven’t come across anyone who had a power like this. But I managed. And well, here we are.”
That was definitely nice, but I was internally disappointed. He wasn’t telekinetic, he could only move Azmoq. Which was amazing, although probably not world conquering. And well, reality had sobered me up. My telepathic powers weren’t really world conquering either. No one conquered anything by just reading minds. I could probably stand beside Dev during his street performances, to earn an extra coin by reading minds.
“That’s amazing,” I said, “But do you know how you got these powers? Do others in your village have these powers too?”
“I really don’t know. As I said, Whakaaro has also never seen anything like this before, nor has anyone in the history of his tribe. I don’t think anyone else can do this in the village either.”
It was amazing to see that this kid had a never before seen power. Telepathy, although rare, was an ability that theoretically all humans with a brain could master. But this, this you had to be born with. I was now glad that I ran into the kid when I did.
I decided to test out the youngster by asking him for a friendly spar. I was a little rusty, having not held my blades for over a month. I went to Arion. My swords were strapped to Arion. I took just the four side blades, and created the X for defense and offense. Dev seemed intrigued as I approached. He then had a realization. “Your hilts are made from Azmoq!”
I nodded. It was true. While the back swords were mine from the days in the High Seat, I had four additional ones made from an Azmoq smith in Amurazon. While they had a miniscule amount of Azmoq, they did add to my skill set, allowing me to have weapons that could be used defensively in a melee fight with limited ranged use as well. My back swords didn’t have any Azmoq in their hilts, but all these swords helped me create multiple sword combinations easily, significantly increasing my offensive and defensive abilities.
“Your ability is impressive. It will be useful, when we fight more powerful opponents,” I said, as I created an X, and signaled him to attack. He levitated his sword and tried really hard to move it. It came as fast as a leaf in a mild wind. I didn’t even have to use my sword, I just caught in my hand.
“You need to develop your powers a lot more before you can use it to attack everyone. You should include it in a more indirect way.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, you could throw it the way you usually do, and change the direction of the attack using your new-found skills.”
Dev liked the idea. We tried again. He threw the sword the regular way, and as I moved my sword to block it, he curved the sword into me. It still was an easy block, but I did have to use my sword. We kept trying this, with increased success. Then we really got into the heat of it. Dev continuously threw his sword, bending it at the last minute to attack.
He used the power to return his sword more accurately to his own hand, getting ready faster for the next attack. Once again I blocked it, waiting for him to take it back. But then, he whipped the sword using the wire like a whip. I still managed to block it, but just. He did it again, but this time, to break his concentration, I threw a back sword at him. He blocked the attack easily with his glove, and whipped the sword again. We continued sparring like that for a while. I realized that the kid had improved considerably. It was difficult to imagine anyone learn so much in less than a couple of months, especially after spending many weeks of that time incapacitated.
After another week of training with Dev, I could sense that he was getting anxious. He was back to his former fitness. He now wanted to resume his journey. We both went up to the tribe to tell them this. I could see the sadness in their eyes. We had grown close to this elusive tribe in the past months. Whakaaro walked up to us and sat us both down.
“You have both learned all we could teach you. I can sense your anxiety about something, Dev. So it is time you made a choice. We too have never stay in the same area for this long. We stayed here this long, so that we could help you recover and train. Like you want to move on, we have to move on as well. I know what your choice is going to be, but I still wish to offer it to you. You can choose to travel and live with us, or continue on the path you had originally chosen.”
It was a difficult choice to make. I knew what my answer was, but it was still a difficult one to make. I felt Dev also faced the same thing.
I looked at him, and he nodded. I spoke. “We love you, Whakaaro. We will always be grateful for all you have done for us. From saving our lives, to helping us unlock our gifts. We will always be in your debt. But we have to move on. We are committed to the journey we have undertaken.”
Whakaaro gave a little bow. “It was my honor and privilege. Fate will bring us together again someday. I am sure. Until then, may the sun give you strength to reach your goals.”
Chapter 17: Welehölla
We were full of optimism about our new-found skills.
We bid Whakaaro, Kobuk, Wahnita and the others farewell as we started to travel again on the path to Welehölla.
As we travelled, both of us tried to expand our skills. Welehölla was still a couple of weeks away. I tried to hone my mind reading skills, practicing by meditating, as Whakaaro taught me. He had also given me a large vial of the cave’s drug, to be used once every month, to try and exercise my mind. Only, as I was alone, I had to push and pull my mind on my own. I still hadn’t tried it. I wanted my mind to be relaxed and drug free for some time.
Dev practiced as well. He was able to move sword well at lower speeds. But striking with the sword as it levitated was proving difficult. He kept the sword hovering in front of Dyaus almost through the day, to get used to the strain. It was fine in the open plains, but as we got closer to Welehölla, he couldn’t continue to look like a street magician with a levitating sword. It would attract too much attention.
We slowly came close to the gigantic city of Welehölla. Even though we had been able to see them for quite a while now, the Halls of Welehölla were staggering to look at from the edge of the city. A series of concentric circular halls, each taller than the outer one, with the central one at least four times taller than the immediate next ones, it was a man-made wonder. It served to show the world the power of Morgenia. It also served a practical purpose. The communication tower was built within the external walls of these halls, allowing the Morgenian royalty to alert all military at least a hundred kilometers around in case of any emergency.
The rest of the city was spread out around it. The walled part of the city was extremely organized, with everything structured in concentric strips around the halls. Nowhere was the Morgenian efficiency and eye for detail more apparent than here. The schools, hospitals, roads, farming centers, everything was perfectly aligned and organized. The suburbs outside the city walls, however, were a different story. This is where a lot of the immigrants and refugees, who had come to Morgenia in search of the Morgenian dream, stayed. These suburbs were more or less unorganized, allowing for many, less than savory elements, to thrive near the center of Morgenian power.
Most of the military and political might of Morgenia lay within the halls of Welehölla. Entry and exit were strictly controlled and monitored, so I would have preferred to avoid it if possible. However, I didn’t have such luck. I asked Dev to tell me what direction we were to travel to for the Yerin’s secret base.
“The map that Grim gave me indicates that we need to enter the central hall and search for the pillar marked with three black flutes on its west side. It would be near a regal statue of a majestic ‘bearded’ man. The pillar will be in the 107th row from the east entrance. We need to trace the path from the pillar to the 35th western exit, and follow that direction to get the heading towards the Üzilis.”
Well, we had to infiltrate the center of Morgenia, the colossal central hall itself. We entered the city from its North-Western gate, where we had to show our papers. I had almost forgotten. I still had Dev’s papers. I handed it to him. His expression when he saw his own name was… priceless.
“Papuun Von Tuul,” he read out the name on the papers. “What… what sort of a name is that?” he said, completely bemused. He was actually confused and angry at the same time, because he didn’t understand the name, but was sure that the name was a terrible one.
I laughed. Jakob had created a winner with his last piece of work. The man had always been a hoot. As we entered the gate, the gate keeper looked at Dev’s papers, and laughed.
“You parents must really hat
e you,” he said, as he waved us in, still chortling. It didn’t get Dev in any better mood.
We entered the city, and started to meander towards the halls, trying to figure out a way in. And then we hit upon it. There was a lot of buzz around the market. When we asked around, we realized what was happening. Our entry became easy because of it.
As we entered the halls of Welehölla searching for the pillar that would give us the direction towards the Yerins, we saw the large crowd that had gathered. Welehölla was probably the most important city for the Valantian Imperium besides the High Seat. This afforded Welehölla a protection detail, second to only the High Seat. It consisted of a few members of the Final 100, who rotated in and out of Welehölla every year. Rotation was needed so that none of them got used to, and fell in love with any city other than the High Seat.
The time we had entered the city was the time for the ceremonial change of guard in Welehölla, with current group from the Final 100 returning to the High Seat, and a new group entering to protect Welehölla over the coming year. We followed the crowd in for a while once inside the central hall, but then took a detour, to one of the upper levels. It was easy. No one wanted to just see these mighty warriors, they wanted to be near them. So the upper levels were pretty isolated.
The central hall of Welehölla was like a hollow mountain. It was a massive cylindrical building, but it functioned as an independent city by itself. It had its own water supply, food supply, schools, hospitals, roads. It held the top Morgenian army units, the complete Valantian army provided to Welehölla, including the Final 100 members. And, of course, the top Morgenian administrators and its royal family. There were many buildings and structures within the hall to house all of these people. But the center part, right under the tallest section of the structure, named “Heart of Morgenia,” was clear of all structures. It loomed over all who entered, to remind all the colossal might of the Morgenian mind.
Age of Azmoq: The Valantian Imperium Page 20