Haunt & Havoc

by Jeremy Dwyer

  “That’s just wishful thinking. Since when has any water given more than one (1) power?” Nina asked.

  “If you play a few different songs at the same time, the sound is wild, like nothing else, even though the songs are regular,” Stephan said.

  “Water isn’t sound,” Tristan said.

  “Stephan’s idea is reasonable, however. The complex wave patterns of multiple sounds simultaneously can seem chaotic – even though they have order. This water may be a complex combination that has to be resolved into components. There are calculations to separate complex patterns into constituent elements,” Tomiko said.

  “Wait! How do we know that it’s even water? Somebody has to drink it, right?” Carter asked.

  “The liquid behavior is the same as that of the other waters: there is no question about that. It’s the energy pattern in the crystal structure that is unfamiliar,” Tristan said.

  “He does have a point: someone will need to drink it,” Tomiko said.

  “Will they glow real bright if they do?” Nina asked.

  “If it isn’t toxic,” Tristan said.

  “Wait! You just said that it’s liquid like the other waters. Why would it be toxic? Explain that one, professor!” Nina said.

  “If it’s water mixed with another, toxic substance, then it could be a toxic potion. Experimentation will be required,” Tristan said.

  “So we’re not rich yet? How long do I have to wait?” Alistair asked.

  “All you care about is money?” Tristan asked.

  “Don’t be so quick to judge me. Isn’t that why you’re in this business of finding things? For money?” Alistair asked.

  “There could be bigger concerns. If the warning about an outside military force coming to steal the ocean water is true, then maybe they’re after this, as well,” Tomiko said.

  “If it’s toxic, let’s give it to them! Maybe they’ll drop dead and we can get a break from all our problems,” Nina said.

  “What about the stars? Is it still dark up there? I’m not sure if you want to try again,” Tomiko asked.

  “Not until I see the sky. I’m not going to try to hear the suns again until I know that I can see them too. I don’t think I’d live through that, and I don’t want to a die without a good kiss,” Nina said.

  “Just say the word, my dear Nina,” Alistair said, smiling.

  “Hear me now: ‘Never’ is the word to you, old man,” Nina said.

  Tofa listened to all of this banter and concluded once again that Alistair was creepy – as in the kind of man she wouldn’t want to be alone with. She knew that he was trouble – they had met several times before over the centuries – and he was no romantic, wasn’t especially handsome, and certainly didn’t have a reputation for good behavior. She actually wondered why Judith had ever spent time with him: she knew that Judith was sad and lonely, and never married or had children, but she didn’t show signs of being desperate or stupid. Tofa had almost asked Judith at one point about her relationship with Alistair, but decided against it, because it might interfere with her decision making. Still, she hoped that Judith never lowered herself to romance with Alistair: it was better to have a decent man with one (1) lifetime than centuries or millennia with a lowlife.

  Tofa thought that Nina had a bit of a foul mouth on her, and would probably not be loyal to any man she ended up with, but she didn’t deserve to end up with a troublemaker like Alistair, who had nearly started wars with his pranks.

  During their travels, Tofa wrote down everything that she saw and heard into her book, both about these liquids – and what Tristan had said about them – and the personal banter.

  The riverboat progressed slowly, over forty-nine (49) hours, finally returning to the cavern from which it had brought them. They left the riverboat, went up the same staircase which they had previously descended and returned to the room with the iris opening in the floor.

  “We’re back!” Nina said, relieved to be out of there.

  “Let’s see about that!” Tomiko said.

  “Do you mean that you entered by this same passage?” Tofa asked.

  “Yes. It’s the inside of a temple in the mountains of the Scholar’s Path land bridge,” Tomiko said.

  “Let’s see if our ship awaits. There are places to go, things to do,” Alistair asked.

  The group walked outside the temple and saw that the world was under darkness like the beginning of dusk.

  “Well that answers our first questions about the skies…they’re dark. Second question: why are they dark?” Nina said.

  Tofa sketched out a rendition of the early evening sky, and found it almost romantic, if it weren’t so irregular. She thought of Mitchell, and wanted to speak with him again, hold his hand, and enjoy his youth and the tenderness they once felt. She regretted moving on, and was intending to go against her own personal principle of never going back. She then sketched out a picture of the temple, and the alcove in which it was situated.

  “Let’s make our way back to the ship,” Tomiko said.

  “It’s a long walk back in the dark. We’re going to need a torch…and that sparkling water,” Nina said.

  “Fifteen (15) days walk,” Tomiko said.

  “If we don’t get lost in the dark. This luminescent water is powerful, but there’s only so much of it in this vial,” Genevieve said.

  Tristan held up his own vial and they used the glowing waters within, along with Tomiko’s torch, to give light as they made the trek through the mountains and back to the eastern edge of the Scholar’s Path, over fifteen (15) days.

  When they arrived at the coast, they saw the Escapade where they had left it and Tomiko said: “There’s an encouraging sign.”

  “At least you have one (1) valuable asset, old man,” Nina said.

  Tofa bit her tongue before correcting Nina and saying: “at most one (1).” Judgment was forbidden by the Chronicler’s Oath, but she couldn’t stop herself from thinking it.

  The group boarded the Escapade and then Tomiko asked: “What course should we set?”

  “Can’t help you there. Sorry. Lethal headaches really don’t help with navigation,” Nina said.

  Thinking he could get at least some sense of the environment – the spiritual one, anyway – Carter drank anew of the waters of the Zovvin Ocean from his vial and was energized. He felt something horrid of immense size and said: “Not west! We can’t head west! Stay away!”

  “What are you talking about?” Tomiko asked.

  Tofa looked at Carter’s vial and saw the classical symbol carved on it indicating it was filled with the Zovvin Ocean waters.

  “What did you sense?” Tofa asked.

  “Evil! Ancient evil! And lies!” Carter said.

  “The spooky west is out. That leaves north, south and east. Which do you recommend, Carter? Don’t make us guess!” Nina asked.

  “East of here is Waderav, where I’m from. If you can handle it – and it’s a bit rough at times, with a poor economy – I have a place there, with my lab notes and equipment,” Genevieve said.

  “Can you tell us more about what you felt, Carter?” Tomiko asked, because he was not past the initial concern.

  “There’s something in the west. I don’t know what it is, but it’s pure evil, and we have to get far away from it,” Carter said.

  “Chroniclers are usually the ones who go headlong into danger, because that’s where it’s interesting. Tofa here may need to go west,” Tomiko said.

  “I will follow you, and not dictate your course. When the time is right, then, under the authority of the Oath, I will return to Emeth, and you – or someone else – will be obliged to provide transport. Now is not that time, so you are free to choose your own course,” Tofa said.

  “With that out of the way, we can sail away from the spooky west into the rough east with a poor economy. Great choices! I vote for north,” Nina said.

  “I’m interested in your experiments, Genevieve. We need to test these waters,
and add the results of the new experiments to your lab notes,” Tristan said.

  “East it is,” Tomiko said and planned the course east. He drank anew of the waters of the Medathero Ocean and was energized. He had the power of calm and rational thinking enhanced by the waters, and began making the mental calculations for their course and drawing them on a chart with a pen. There were crew on board the ship – under Alistair’s hire – who took the wheel and sailed the Escapade east across the Ursegan Ocean toward Waderav according to the charted course.

  After five (5) days of travel, they arrived on the western coast of the continent of Waderav and made their way inland by hiring transport on riverboats.

  “Why is the land burned? Forests and villages look like they’ve been decimated,” Tomiko said.

  “I think I know,” Genevieve said.

  All eyes turned toward her, waiting.

  “A creature of fire and anger fell from the sky, and unleashed flames. He killed my husband, Count Perceval, many months ago, and forced me to abandon my castle in the northeastern territory,” Genevieve said.

  “Sorry to hear that. Still, I wouldn’t mind lighting a fire under a few of my ex-boyfriends,” Nina said.

  “It was time to move on,” Genevieve said.

  After alighting from the riverboat at one of its stops, the group made their way to the small cottage Genevieve had previously occupied and found it to be intact and all went inside.

  Tofa looked around and saw vials and tubes and books and became curious. Tristan went along with her, and they both reviewed Genevieve’s notes. Tomiko looked over their shoulders and read the calculations and experimental results and was impressed.

  “Your work is intriguing, Genevieve. We’re going to help in any way that we can,” Tomiko said.

  “Can we start with a sketch of the crystal structure of these luminescent waters? I think we’d all like a closer look, before we use up our supply to experiment with it,” Genevieve said.

  Tristan drank anew of the waters of the Kazofen Ocean and was energized. He began looking into the glowing waters in his vial and in the vial that Genevieve brought.

  Tofa drank anew of the waters of the Ursegan Ocean and was energized. This slowed down time within her, and both continued the extension of her long life – one thousand three hundred fifty-three (1353) years – and gave her the ability to perceive fast-moving events as if they proceeded slowly. This would enable her to observe the details of the upcoming experiments. First, however, she quickly transcribed Genevieve’s copious lab notes at a speed that was startling – she was done before anyone knew she began. Part of that speed was the Chronicler’s shorthand notation, and the rest was the powers of the Ursegan Ocean waters.

  Tristan looked into the crystal structures of the glowing waters at a low level and began sketching out what he saw.

  “Genevieve, see how these energy patterns are so very different from those of the Lujladia waters in your own notes,” Tristan said.

  Tofa recorded all that she saw Tristan writing and what he said. She did not compare the sketch – even though she had a copy of the sketch from Genevieve’s notes – because analysis was not the domain of the Chronicler. The alchemy of the waters was not something that she was expert in understanding – not that it wasn’t interesting, but the chemical equations were outside of her areas of study. At times, she thought about spending more time studying analytical subjects like alchemy and mathematics, but this would take away from gathering more information as a Chronicler. No person can have all powers, after all: you choose only a single water, and gain only the powers that it gives. Tofa made the choice of Ursegan, and lived with it, and was glad that she did.

  Over days and weeks, Tristan and Genevieve experimented with the waters, constructing carefully controlled experiments, and Tomiko wrote down calculations based on the outcomes, building equations that described what he saw when different amounts of the luminescent water were mixed with other waters. Tofa recorded everything, and asked Tomiko to carefully label and explain his formulae and variables and he did so.

  A common result was that these luminescent waters were extremely corrosive in any experiment that involved combinations with either the Nabavodel or Gradaken waters, but no one understood the underlying reason. It was describable, but not fully explainable in any way that satisfied Tomiko, Tristan or Genevieve. A combination with the Ursegan waters appeared to diminish the corrosive power – by simply slowing them down – however.

  During these times of experimentation, Carter occasionally drank anew of the waters of the Zovvin Ocean to sense what was occurring in the spirit world, and he sensed only evil. On one night in particular, after everyone rested for the day, Carter said: “I think I know who it is, or what. There was an ancient king, who died, but came back, died, and came back again, and again. Each time, he dealt with a demon, to bargain for souls. He can’t die forever, but I don’t know why. I think the king in the west is him, again.”

  “How does somebody come back? Once you’re gone, I thought you were gone,” Stephan said.

  “I don’t know how. But there’s marks on a spirit when they’re born…when they enter the material world. And he has several such marks,” Carter said.

  “Before I ask what these marks are, I want to know, how many does he have?” Tomiko asked.

  “Nine (9). He has nine (9) marks,” Carter said.

  “This is all very interesting, but what use is it? What’s so evil about him? You scared us back there, but we don’t know what’s going on. Evil king. Don’t go west. What is all this? Now the rest of you are splashing in the water for weeks. Have we learned anything? Science is important, and this could all make a great book…for a scientist to read,” Alistair said.

  “Are you a child who is easily bored? Do you not understand that life is an exploration of deep mysteries and complexities? Not everything is games and excitement,” Tomiko said.

  “He’s old and cranky. Maybe it’s time for a bottle of rum and some cheesecake and he can go off to bed. Too bad I don’t have either one,” Nina said.

  “I want to go out there and see what’s going on. I’m disappointed in you, Tofa. You’re a Chronicler, and you’re here playing it safe, watching them study while the world is happening around us. You should go west…I’ll go with you, and we can see what it’s all about,” Alistair said.

  Tofa lifted her hand and nearly smacked him and then thought about it and said: “I believe that it’s time for me to go. I’ll travel to the nearest port and find transport from there to Emeth and turn over my book, according to the Oath.” Her tone of voice, however, did little to hide her disgust with Alistair’s rebuke, which she knew was meant to get her to escort him into the danger rather than out of concern for her duties. Still, she had a lot of valuable notes, including about Thalkalana and these unusual waters, and her report would be met with great interest.

  “That’s the spirit! Let’s go!” Alistair said.

  “What do you know about spirits? If you go anywhere near that king, you’ll be destroyed,” Carter said.

  “I’ll travel alone, thank you,” Tofa said and she left and made her way across Waderav. She was given free passage on riverboats, as per the authority she had under the Chronicler’s Oath, which guaranteed her transport. After two (2) days, she reached the seaport of Oxatrissa, and was given free passage to Emeth, which took three (3) days traveling northwest over the Ursegan Ocean.

  When Tofa arrived in Emeth, she gave her book of recorded events to the Verifier Alyona, who was waiting outside of the Library of Tedorik. Alyona then returned to her own private chamber within the library and analyzed the contents of the book, looking for information that increased or decreased her level of confidence in the report.

  While reviewing Tofa’s writings, Alyona was intrigued by the notes about Thalkalana and the water experiments and said: “He will want to see this, now.”

  A dark cloak formed over Alyona and she was escorted by a p
air of hidden figures through the darkness into the same hidden location as before. She emerged from the darkness in the presence of Sava’Tzefanya, the old one, who said: “Verifier Alyona, what news of worth brings you back to me so soon?”

  “I bring news of Thalkalana, and its location, and of the ocean within, containing a distinctly different water, with luminescent properties. That water appears to be the source of the light that illuminates the city within the cavern that contains it,” Alyona said. She then handed over the book that Tofa had given to her and Sava’Tzefanya began to read it.

  CHAPTER 15: Burning Thirst of the Outside World

  The core world of the Caval’Rukero’Nyptic Empire was the planet Votteus, which orbited an orange sun. The military headquarters for the imperial navy was a vast complex of buildings, some towering above ground and some extending deep below the surface.

  The division of scientific research was headed by Lieutenant Zilara’Rasina’Nuatium. She was a brilliant mathematician and chemist, and was expert in the design of poisons and antidotes, which were essential in combat. Here innate talents brought her to this position, elevating her through the ranks such that she reported directly to Admiral Quin’Va’Pitar. He recognized her aptitude and assigned her other, more difficult tasks as well.

  Lieutenant Zilara’Rasina’Nuatium worked in her laboratory, deep underground, analyzing the samples of ‘waters’ – they were liquids with water-like properties, at least – that the initial scout, Xal’Kativok, had brought back from Thalariveth. There were fourteen (14) such vials, and their liquid contents were remarkable in many ways. Zilara’Rasina’Nuatium examined small quantities of each, discovering strange crystal structures and energy patterns moving through them, and she began to formulate models of their behavior. According to the reports she had been given, any single water, when consumed, would bind the drinker for life – meaning that to drink any other was instantly lethal – and the water would instill in them power associated with some form of matter or energy, such as light, or sound or darkness. However, darkness was not a form of energy in any model of physics that she knew.