“Ray, there are five guards here at the moment.” The priest waved five fingers in Ray’s face. “You cannot see any of them because they are meant to be hidden!”
Ray leaned to his side to look behind the old man. The hall was empty. “Brother, there are only walls here.”
“Not all the walls are actual walls, boy!”
Ray sneered in silence. “True, these bars have an unlocked gate. Not doing their purpose.”
“It is a guest room, not a cell!”
“Right…”
“Anyway, that is not the point!” Brother Cavil sounded about to lose it. “That agent, he saw the guards the moment we came here!”
“Whatever, he’s as crazy as you are.”
“Listen, you oak-headed ox!” the old man stamped his right foot angrily, “He noticed the guards, and asked us to go to the Archives.”
“So?” Ray tried to keep himself from yawning. “I’m not following you, Brother.”
“So, he will have all the witnesses rounded up in the Archives,” the priest explained patiently.
“What does that have to do with him killing us?”
“The Archives, Raymond,” Brother Cavil sounded as if he was about to finish the job for Agent Caius, “is the only place in this building without guards and surveillance. I will be back for you, I promise,” and Brother Cavil rushed for the doors.
“Great. Not only you’re mad, you’re driving me crazy as well!” Ray yelled after him.
“I will be back!” the old priest’s voice echoed from the doorway.
Well, whatever scheme you have in mind, Brother, you certainly know how to make doubts swing into high gear…
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
THE ARINAR
“They have star ports, holographic walls and barrier shields and yet, here I am, sitting under a torch.” Ray sailed in the sea of morbid thoughts, the weak torchlight nowhere near enough to brighten his soul.
The crash, Agent Caius’s role, Consortium’s involvement in his sentence, the weird creature that had attacked him and his crew, the tension between the priest and Grandmaster Ellok—no matter how hard he tried, he wasn’t making any sense of it. His head hurt from trying. Why do I even bother? This planet is mad.
“Halle…” Ray mumbled to himself. “Alec…” He couldn’t bear re-living his friends’ death again. A teardrop fell on his hands and he wiped it, smiling bitterly. He wished himself alone in his quarters on Canaar, docked at some remote mining base, away from everything and everyone. I can’t take it. I never could.
He took a deep breath and straightened himself, decided to take another look for the hidden guards Brother Cavil had mentioned. A good distraction to pass time as any. The pale moonlight didn’t give him much to see by. They use torches! He thought of asking the two visible guards standing beside the entrance but quickly dismissed the idea. Those two were worse than stones. At least the walls echoed his voice.
“Raymond Harris.”
“What!” Ray jumped and turned around to see who called his name, but it was just him and the torches. Oh, and those two mute guards. “Hello?” he called into the dark hallway, louder this time. “You called?” he shouted at the guards. To his surprise, one of them raised an eyebrow, but it was all he got.
Then, something else caught his attention. The dust motes in his cell slowed down and then stopped in midair. He turned his head and saw the torch flames no longer flickered, but stood like amber statues, a slightest hint of motion within their cores.
“Hey, are you seeing this?” he called to the two guards, but got no response. “Well, that, I was expecting.”
“Keep your voice down, Raymond Harris.” A tall figure appeared out of thin air, levitating before his cell.
Ray jumped. “Holy hell of Aunt Marry!” If you go on sleepless like this, sooner or later you lose it. Ray blinked a few times but the figure still stood, or floated, before him. The man—he sounded like a man—wore a black robe with glowing signs on it. Ray tried to read them, but it felt as if the characters moved whenever he tried to focus on one.
“What are you?” he whispered, eyeing the floating man. Ray realized he was more curious than terrified.
“I am the messenger. The luxury of empty chatter is for those without a purpose. Listen and understand.” the figure’s voice boomed.
Ray watched in silence. Shock, more likely.
The visitor started to hum, first an ordinary low humming, and then it developed into a song. New voices added to the chant with each passage, forming a choir to sing the visitor’s tune. It wasn’t music per se but it sounded melodic. One by one the symbols on the visitor’s cloak shone and a bright, bluish light soon covered him. Ray was mesmerized watching the man chant, and levitate higher with each line, reaching the apex together with the music.
The chant crescendoed, climaxed, ebbed, and the man spoke:
“You wonder about your place. You wander the stars.
First, it was only a luscious dream, but now you are in the void.
The past and the future are at a crossroads. The Wheel’s eternal creation awakens.
Your family has broken the cycle and the balance has been disturbed.
They are coming back home to claim it.
But they too are afraid of Her like you will be.”
The glow on his cloak died slowly and the figure descended back as he finished.
Ray blinked like someone woken from a very realistic delusion. Which he’d hoped it was. “What—”
The dark figure raised his hand. “You are chosen by powers beyond your comprehension to protect the Creators’ will. Some things will become clearer on your journey.”
The hooded man took a round stone object from beneath his robe. The thing glowed at his touch, with a dark-blue light. Something swirled within the statuette’s blurry, glass-like surface. Ray could have sworn it was the Milky Way.
“What is this thing?” Ray watched the lights spin, entranced.
“It is one of the five Arinar, the Gate Stones. You will take this Arinar, and will find the other four before they do or all your fates will be doomed. When the time is right and all the remaining Arinar are secured, you will be guided to seal the rift.”
“I’ll seal the rift…Wait, what!” Ray snapped out of his trance. “What gate? What stones? And why me? Gods kill me, is everyone on this damned planet insane?”
The torches flickered as if they were hit by a powerful wind and their lights darkened. “You will do as your destiny dictates!”
Ray screamed in pain, holding his ears. The man had spoken in his head, each word hitting his skull from the inside. “Stop!” he begged.
“You are chosen as the Lohil. You will be the guardian of your plane.” It was as if the visitor was afloat again. He reached for Ray, passing through the metal bars as if they weren’t there.
“The door was open,” Ray mumbled.
The figure grabbed his neck, lifting him into the air. “It is written in your name. It is written in your soul and in your fate. The time has come.” He leaned closer, the light in his glowing eyes ripping Ray’s soul. “Your arrival to this world triggered the promised Nightfall. The events long past and yet to come, written with ancient blood have begun. You must endure for the failure of your ancestors.”
Ray stood paralyzed, unable to look anywhere but the figure’s eyes—he thought he saw swirling galaxies. Impossibly, the robed figure’s tone grew darker still.
“You must understand your role to stop these events. Bloviating will only make it harder in your upcoming trials. You will be tested.” The figure let go of him.
Ray felt his numbness wearing off, blinking. He shook his head to clear his thoughts and felt his temper. “Hey, why me? Why don’t you do something about it! And, bloviating?”
The floating figure shushed him with the raise of a finger, and turned his attention to the door at the end of the hall.
Ray followed his gaze, but saw nothing out of the ordinary.
The flames were still frozen in time and the guards were still themselves.
Ray turned to ask another question, but the mysterious man was already gone. A whispering voice echoed in his cell, “I have already done too much, broken too many rules by interfering. Here comes a friend. Trust him, for it is your family you should fear. You will not see me again.”
“Friend? Family? Who are you? Has something happened to Elaine?” Ray shouted into the shadows.
The familiar face of Brother Cavil appeared. “Raymond? Why are you shouting?” The old man checked the hallway over his shoulder, then looked at him with inquiring eyes. “And where did you get that?”
Ray followed his stare and couldn’t help but laugh when he saw the round, glowing statuette in his hands. He laughed and laughed, plunging into hysteria, tears rolling down his cheeks.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
THE ARINAR: PART II
It took Brother Cavil several minutes to calm Ray down and convince him to put the statue safely on the floor. Ray’s laughter turned into crying and he stammered, “Elaine” and “blue eyes” over and over. The priest watched him with terrified eyes.
Ray shut his eyes firmly. “I don’t know!” he yelled. “I don’t know!”
Brother Cavil gave him the water cask he’d brought and waited for Ray to drink.
Ray waved the cask in one hand excitedly, not aware he was spilling. “He floated! And he glowed! And then—”
Brother Cavil eyed the statuette Ray held loosely in his other hand. “Shut up!”
The abrupt command stopped Ray’s frenzy.
“First, drink the cursed water!” the priest commanded, knitting his brows. “And don’t you dare break that Arinar!”
Ray obeyed. He guzzled the whole cask, welcoming the rejuvenating freshness of the cold mountain water, feeling calmer with each sip.
“That thing, it is an Arinar, a Gate Stone,” the old man said, readying his hands to reach for it in case of Ray dropping it.
Ray focused on the stone he held. The statuette glowed like a glass lamp, swirling stars illuminating his hands like fireflies on a summer’s night. “Unbelievable,” he whispered.
“Yes,” Brother Cavil agreed. “Now, you will tell me how a sacred artifact ended up in your cell.” He stepped inside the cell and firmly held Ray’s shoulders, pulling him close and locking his stare.
“And Raymond, you have to be very convincing.”
***
Ray tried not to miss any detail and avoided looking the old man in the eye, preparing to get a long lecture for coming up with a bad story. To his surprise, the priest didn’t interrupt him, nor did he criticize. And my story is crazy, even by his standards.
“…So, he said I’m to face my fate, and left just as you arrived. He said you’re a friend to be trusted, but I should be afraid of my family reunion.” Ray paused for a minute. “Oh, he also said it’s Her I should be terrified of, just like my family.”
Brother Cavil looked at the statuette for a good long minute in silence.
Here comes the lecture…Almost…Now!
“I thought it was a legend or a story to guide the children, nothing more.” Brother Cavil still looked at the glowing artifact in Ray’s hand, and Ray realized the look was awe, not disbelief.
“What legend?”
“According to our lore, other races inhabited our galaxy long before us,” Brother Cavil paced before his cell as he explained like the teacher he was. “Their ruins inside the city were here long before our colonization. We call them the Ancients. Nucteel, according to the old scriptures.” He raised his finger, waving it as if lecturing a class. “You know that much.” He looked to make certain Ray was following.
“I know we weren’t the first.” Ray nodded. “People fought wars over this, you know.”
“Yes, yes,” Brother Cavil waved his hand, “standard human ignorance. Use your axe instead of your brain.”
“The Nucteel…”
“Ah, yes. The Sun Towers and the Temple of Light were built on these ruins. They were architectural marvels,” Brother Cavil sighed. “There are several other ruins scattered around Bunari.”
“So, what does it have to do with my new-found friend?”
Brother Cavil knit his brows. “What friend?”
Ray rolled his eyes, patting the statuette in his hands.
“Oh, ha! Good one! I have to remember this.” Brother Cavil nodded to himself as if taking notes inside his head. “One of the scriptures talks about five pillars scattered around our galaxy. According to the inscriptions on the stones, these pillars acted as locks, or barriers. They are called the Arinar.”
“Locks for what?” Ray found himself eager to hear more. See, that’s how you tell a story.
“It is unclear. Not every structure found here was intact,” the old man answered. “And no one can guarantee the proper interpretation of what was written. The name Baeal mentioned several times. It meant the Great Evil or the First Evil.” He laughed, shaking his head with nostalgia. “Reverend Marcus always said most of the scribes were disrespectful adventure-seekers, not showing esteem to the actual history.”
“Maybe there are instructions.” Ray turned the statuette in his hands to inspect every detail.
“Raymond, it is not a user’s manual,” the old man scolded him, reaching for the Arinar.
The moment the priest took the artifact from Ray’s hands, its soft glow disappeared, turning back the glassy statuette into an opaque stone husk.
“Interesting,” Brother Cavil noted, rapping the stone with his knuckles.
“Hey!” Ray stopped the old man as he raised the artifact to his mouth. “Don’t bite it!”
“I wanted to be certain.”
“About what, the taste?”
“Humph. Touch it, Raymond.”
Swirling lights appeared again when Ray took the artifact back. The Arinar glowed in the dark cell, first like the gentle fire of a lantern. Then, the power of the light intensified, illuminating the whole prison block. Even the two guards—Ray had been convinced they were made of wax—took a step forward but stopped short at a gesture from the old priest.
“The Arinar reacts to you,” Brother Cavil said, nodding to himself.
“Really? What gave that away?”
The old man snorted.
“Great gods…” Ray focused back on the swirling lights. Prophecies were tales told in fantasy books, or religious bogies to blur people’s minds in his book. Ray neither read fantasies nor believed in any deity. He was simply a freighter captain and preferred to stay one. Yeah, like they would trust me with their cargo after my recent resume update.
“Ok, let’s assume that this is really an Ariar—”
“Arinar,” Cavil corrected him.
“Arinar, yes,” Ray repeated, trying to remember it. It was foreign to his ears no matter how hard he tried to like it. “So, who was that mysterious guy and how did he know where to find me?” He decided to leave to the next phase questions about how the apparition had managed to float and stop time.
“Five pillars to focus their light, five guardians to keep heaven safe. Five angels to hold the line and bar Them from invading life,” Brother Cavil said softly, as if quoting some text.
“What was that?”
“A saying from our midday teachings.” He still inspected the artifact but his eyes were looking beyond the Arinar. “This was one of the translations of Reverend Marcus. He was the utmost expert in ancient ruins. However, he had always his doubts whether it read Them or Her.”
“I’m guessing experts are hard to come by these days.” Judging from Brother Cavil’s words, it had been some time since the Children of Light taught anything about ancient civilizations. How typical of religious dogma…
Brother Cavil’s tone was regretful. “Grandmaster Ellok cancelled the teaching of Ancients and retired Reverend Marcus almost thirty years ago. You can still find some notes of his studies in the Archives, but nothing specific.” Th
e old man took a kumat from his pocket and absently bit it. “Nowadays, it is more about not letting your own judgment cloud the teachings of Light and all.”
“They don’t want the younglings to question their authority.”
“Yes.”
“Seems like it was more than a course for you.”
“Yes, it was, Raymond.” The priest’s voice brought the discussion to an abrupt end.
Raymond and Brother Cavil examined the glowing stone. No matter how long they looked and how many times Brother Cavil repeated what he remembered from the scriptures, they couldn’t make anything of the artifact. It was just a stone with lights and a scary tale behind it.
At least the guards aren’t disturbing us, Ray thought. After Brother Cavil’s order, the two visible guards—although he still doubted the existence of invisible ones—left Ray and his visitor alone. It must look weird, a crazy priest and a failure of a captain scattering beams of light in a cell without a lock. The guards seemed didn’t dare to interrupt their exchange. No matter how humble or ignorant the priest appeared, Brother Cavil had more influence than he admitted.
“All right, we need to get you out of here,” the old man concluded, breaking the silence.
“To the Archives? It’s time we end my trial.” Ray needed closure. He wasn’t interested in fulfilling a mad prophecy, especially when he was in line for the gallows. Perhaps I should choose running naked in the forest.
“No, out of this compound, and then off the planet,” Brother Cavil said, nodding to himself with that look he got whenever he had a bright idea. “I will get the key from the guard in charge for the main hall doors.” He turned and beckoned to the guard at the entrance. “They are awaiting us in the Archives, but we will not go there,” he whispered under his breath, still faking a terribly, well, fake smile.
“What? Why?” Ray demanded. “This is a prison break, Brother. Maybe the Grandmaster will give a full pardon after the investigation.”
The priest looked at him and sighed. “He will not.”
“How do you know? Did he say anything?”
Shadows Bear No Names (The Blackened Prophecy Book 1) Page 12