Nearly four-hundred-thousand Penticorian lives were lost in the twelve-day battle that followed. But in the end, Wasshont Halsshik, claimed his prize. Penticore Prime was one land, a unified race under one banner. Yet as the smoking corpses burned in the pyres that darkened the skies for over a month, the warlord began to feel remorse over the loss of so many of his fellow citizens. And as the story is told, he toured the battlefield each day, refusing to leave until all the bodies were laid to rest.
Then one morning, as he walked the ground that was still saturated with the blood of both friend and foe alike, the Goddess appeared to him. Already stricken by grief at the numbers that had fallen upon the sword, the Goddess cursed Halsshik. She declared him a fool, deceived by wayward dreams that poisoned his fadosh, or soul. She then called upon the bodies of the dead. And in an instant, she raised their souls to stand before her, and pass judgment upon Nophte Halsshik for his many sins.
Even before reading the text, Candor knew that the dead were always critical of the living. Their judgement would be harsh and brutal, as unforgiving as Nophte Halsshik on the battlefield. So, it came to pass that the Goddess punished him, and the entire Penticorian race to a life underground. It was also written that he witnessed the sky change color from a deep red, to a dusky blue.
There were many other texts written by Seiss Nophte Halsshik, but Candor always returned to that one. There was something about the flavor of the battle that he could visualize in his mind. He could feel the agony of the soldiers, and the brutal slaughter that lasted day after torturous day, with seemingly no end in sight. Added to that was the extreme agony that Nophte Halsshik felt, with the blood of thousands on his hands.
It was one of the most compelling stories Candor had ever known, and the beginning of the end for the powerful Wasshont. Yet not because he gave up his prestige or power, in fact he lived to a ripe old age. Instead, it was because after the battle, and his curse by the Goddess, Nophte Halsshik relinquished his authority willingly. Under his direction, the precursors of the Senedos Seiss were born. They were not to govern by fear, or military might, but to serve the citizens of Penticore Prime in earnest humility. And after completing that task, Nophte Halsshik retired from public life. He became a recluse, and a religious fanatic, even as the first underground catacombs were being constructed. During that time, the Chains of Ascension were formed. The rituals were intended for those like Nophte Halsshik, Penticorians that wanted to appease the Goddess, show submission to her will, and beg for forgiveness.
The first Chain was called, Path of the Sinner, whereby a citizen confessed five sins they committed in five ceremonies, on five consecutive days. These ceremonies, presided over by a Devasshik, or Priest of Halsshik, concluded with alternating periods of fasting and meditation.
The second was simply called, The Way. It marked the path that Seiss Halsshik took on the day that the Goddess punished him, and by proxy, all Penticorians. Both he and Thalia wore specialized breathing suits before they could go outside. And Candor developed a new respect for his ancestors, because from flora to fauna, nearly every living organism tried to eat them, or defend themselves through violent means.
The third Chain was called, Words of Knowledge. It was a grueling two-year course of intensive study, prayer, meditation, and testing. It was during this time that Candor learned all the nuances and legends of Penticore Prime. Lessons that were intended to provide him and Thalia with an appreciation of all life, and their place before the Goddess.
The fourth Chain was called, Love of the Goddess. Initially, Candor hated the mere thought of it. In fact, it nearly caused him to back out, until Thalia reminded him that there was much more to look forward too, than just her kisses. What was required, was that on the last three days of each month, for six consecutive months, Candor and Thalia were to stand at the steps of Seiss Halsshik’s ancient home in the underground precinct. And then for ten consecutive hours they were to sing, recite poetry, or tell tales about the history of Penticore Prime. In and of itself, that was not a problem for Candor. What bothered him was that their voices could never go below the robust tenor of a town crier. With his movies widely acclaimed in all fifteen cities, Candor was a well-known figure. So, being the home of the legend himself, citizens came out by the thousands just to visit the historic site, see a famous tale-smith, and get a free show. Candor figured that this exercise was more about entertainment, and a dose of humility, than it was about love for the Goddess.
And the last Chain… In many ways, Candor was still recovering from that one. It was called, Fadosh Elas’ Tumess, meaning, Souls of the Cleansed. The ritual was extreme, letting citizens experience the severity of the punishment inflicted by the Goddess. With a fully suited guide for each of them, Thalia and Candor left the dome for two hours, wearing no protection. Without a suit, any more than three hours meant death by asphyxiation, but Candor heard stories of Penticorians who died in far less time. By facing death together, Thalia and Candor were cementing their love for each other, as there was a very real possibility that they would die, and need to be rejuvenated. Which was not an issue for Thalia, but it terrified Candor. He couldn’t bear the thought of losing his memory again, or Goddess forbid, wake up in another nightmare.
Yet he did it for Thalia, and once outside, it was like sucking air through a flattened straw. After a half an hour, his body felt like liquid fire, as each step became more agonizing than the last. Their destination was the spot on which it was said that the Goddess appeared to Seiss Halsshik. By the end of the first hour, they could only walk for a few minutes before they were forced to rest, which was pure torture. And by the second hour, while on their way back to the dome, mental acuity degraded, as carbon dioxide was diverted to their internal organs. It was a physiological reaction to keep them alive, even though it shunted carbon dioxide away from their brains in a reverse form of hypoxia.
They barely made it back. And although their guides could not assist them physically, they could point, or nudge them in the right direction as their vision began to fail. Once inside they were met by Zyphon, who immediately put them both into a carbon dioxide pressure chamber, along with administering a potent dose of Healers to repair the damage. After that, although Candor recovered physically, he was still outside the dome mentally. He couldn’t begin to imagine that time long ago. When day after day Penticorians died from oxygenation, coupled to a decrease in atmospheric pressure. The result was a painful and debilitating paralysis. One that gave way to madness, as oxygen molecules bonded to carbon dioxide in their bloodstreams like an inverse form of the bends. At that point, they knew that the extinction of their race was close at hand.
And yet, Nophte Halsshik had more contributions to make in his quest for atonement. After relinquishing power to the Senedos Seiss, and retiring to his underground manor, he employed a contingent of scientists to work for him. As penance for his crimes against the Goddess, he believed that it was his solemn duty to save his race from extinction. They began working in secret, dedicating vast resources to finding the means to survive, while transforming their lives in a way that the Goddess would find pleasing. His motives were selfish, as he wanted redemption, plain and simple. Yet whether it was for redemption, or if he truly cared for his fellow citizens, is still a matter for historical debate. Yet in the final analysis, Candor felt that it didn’t matter. What did matter was that two of the scientist in his group, Kasshonn and Dyphoss, developed technology that was centuries ahead of their time.
Dyphoss was the first. He was a Penticorian who thought small, extremely small, and developed the Healers. While Kasshonn, was an opportunist. Taking what Dyphoss developed, she modified the Healers to manufacture lightweight and incredibly strong materials. Those materials were then fashioned into domes, and all manner of pressurized structures. Plus, with the Healer’s speed, construction times were cut by more than seventy percent, when compared to their current technology.
Lastly, there was Halsshik, Candor’s ow
n ancestor, and the progenitor that made all he knew possible. Having retreated to the realm of his writings, and the formation of religious doctrine, Candor was surprised to learn that as a youth, the young Penticorian was a skilled engineer. Once he discovered the breakthroughs in new materials and construction methods, that part of him emerged with a vengeance, even if it was only for a little while.
Taking what Dyphoss and Kasshonn developed, he devised a solution to three of Penticore Prime’s most fundamental problems. Those being energy, a self-sustaining system for processing food and water, and a means to farm the atmosphere for the carbon dioxide that was required to live. Early generations of Healers required vast amounts of energy to sustain their activity, and the fuel for nuclear fission was incredibly scarce. Yet another war was barely averted, as the fifteen cities began taking shape. And it was Nophte Halsshik, the former warlord and ruler of Penticore Prime, who devised the solution.
He proposed a massive engineering project, the construction of two towers that were anchored to the planet, and penetrated geosynchronous orbit. He then travelled to all fifteen cities, demonstrating how an endless supply of energy was created by the passage of the towers through the planet’s electromagnetic field. As a side benefit, the mass of these towers would allow them to farm the carbon dioxide they required. In turn, excess energy could then be used to power systems that purified water, and harvested food. At that time, Penticorian’s were dependent on the sea, because most plants were toxic, and contained high concentrations of oxygen. While the ocean contained grasses and plankton that evolved as they did, through the absorption of carbon dioxide.
A fierce debate erupted, with arguments over everything from the feasibility of such a daring project, to the allocation of resources. Most importantly, what city would test this new venture first? In the end, Nophte Halsshik ended that debate. For as the scientists labored, and the Senedos Seiss quarreled, it was Nophte Halsshik that wielded true power. He secretly amassed refined plutonium, enough so that the Healers could build towers in three of the fifteen cities. He used that commodity as a bargaining chip, leveraging the Senedos Seiss, and forcing them to break ground near the fields of Hessock. There, he founded the first city to use this new technology, and he named it Tulacoss, meaning, “in remembrance,” or, “to remember.”
The towers are the crowning achievement of their race, having provided new life in the face of extinction. Although after reading the texts, Candor felt that there was one piece of motivation that the historical writings missed. As Seiss Halsshik grew older, he never spoke of a time when the Goddess absolved him of his sins. He knew that he was going to die eventually, and without ever having earned forgiveness. That is where the character flaw comes into play, because in Candor’s mind, the towers represented more than just a mechanism for survival.
In his writings, Seiss Halsshik noted that the Goddess cursed their race to live underground as, “Beasts of the field.” In Candor’s opinion, the towers represented Seiss Halsshik’s thumbing his nose at the Goddess. In fact, an ancient gesture of insult, or anger, was to extend two fingers upwards, a phallic gesture which represented the shaft and velvety fur of a Penticorian penis. So, in vulgar human terms, he was giving her the finger, and not just once, but fifteen times. The rest is well known, as the first towers produced a surplus of energy and atmospheric stability. Other cities quickly followed suit, and shortly after that, scientists and engineers developed generators that could manipulate the gravity inside the towers; amazing advancements that continued until today. Even though today, over six-hundred-thousand years later, they found themselves facing extinction once again, although in a different way.
To properly understand it, Candor often thought of it this way. In his nightmare where he was a human being, global warming was taking shape in the collective consciousness. And aside from being an unwilling assassin, Candor was a teacher, and a geologist. So he could grasp the scope of the problems they faced through a common frame of reference. In terms of the levels of carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere, that level was approximately three-hundred-and-eighty-five parts per million. By comparison, when Penticorians evolved, carbon dioxide levels were roughly eighteen-times higher. On the order of seven-thousand parts per million, and with an average global temperature of thirty-eight degrees Celsius, or one-hundred degrees Fahrenheit. Certain death for a human being, but perfect for a species that breathes carbon dioxide.
And not a single Penticorian scientist, six-hundred-thousand years ago, would have predicted that the decrease in carbon dioxide levels would persist. Yet Candor discovered that not only had it persisted, it had intensified. Today those levels were nearing two-thousand parts per million, and falling rapidly. What made it even worse was that they were feeding the problem, as their respiration emitted oxygen. If you add aggressive farming of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere for generation after generation, it’s easy to see how oxygen content in the atmosphere was increasing at an alarming rate.
For them, the choices were simple. Leave the planet and find another home. Travel to a future where the geologic clock favored them. Or, start burning carbon dioxide from ore deposits to combat the change. Given their devotion and their fear of the Goddess, to include the history of Seiss Nophte Halsshik, the last solution was rejected immediately. The only choices that remained were to leave the planet, or go into the future. What Candor realized is that none of them believed that they could do both, until recently.
Candor’s thoughts returned to the present, as Seiss Theniass grinned at him and said. “Well, my boy. It looks as though my daughter will be contrary today. You might as well do as she says.” He added a wink, knowing that Thalia was only being mischievous.
“I suppose that you are correct, Seiss Theniass. Would you please relay my most humble and earnest regards to the lovely and beautiful Thalia?”
Theniass suppressed a chuckle as he patted Candor on the shoulder and replied. “I most certainly shall, my son. May you have health, and long life.”
Candor, who by this point was playing his role very well, bowed to Seiss Theniass. He began making his way to the door, which opened for him as he approached. Then, quite abruptly, a voice called out from directly behind him.
“Just where do you think you’re going, tale-smith?”
Candor knew Thalia was there before she spoke. He could smell the fragrant and alluring perfume she wore, and hear the soft rustling of her footsteps against the marble floor. Yet it was more than that, because with his new ability he could sense her. It was a wonderful and slightly disorienting sensation, but he could literally feel her electromagnetic aura as it got close to him. It felt like an echo, or a twin of his own soul, and he wondered if there really was such a thing as a soul mate. Was being someone’s soul mate just a hyperextension of the electromagnetic fields surrounding two distinct individuals?
He looked at her and smiled, and Thalia bounded the distance between them and embraced him. With her father in the room her kiss was brief, much too swift for Candor, but he understood.
“Etts esstoné,” said Thalia, favoring Candor with a bright smile that melted his heart. Some time ago she traded in, “my dear,” for the phrase, “etts esstoné.” In the ancient tongue it meant, “my heart.”
For Thalia, that phrase held deep meaning, because her heart had been closed for many years, due to the sadness that permeated every facet of her family. Candor knew that at times he could be a little naïve, but by no means was he ignorant. He understood the significance of the phrase, because it went beyond a simple, I love you. To delegate him to the depths of her heart meant that Candor was a part of her, and she of him. He smiled again as he thought of the phrase. He was often a little envious of his parent’s use of the term, fadosh. Yet considering Thalia’s smile, and the declaration of his place in her heart, that wasn’t the case anymore.
“Etts imád,” Candor replied. Taking a page from her, Candor used the old tongue of their ancestors to declare her,
“my love.”
“Oh my,” said Seiss Theniass. “Looking at you two, I think that you could hardly wait to be bonded.”
“Father,” replied Thalia. Her laugh was pure joy, and her eyes contained a gleam that warmed her father’s heart. “Can I show him?” she asked.
Theniass nodded, her smile making it impossible for him to do otherwise.
“Not before greeting me,” said Shajin Kythonia. She was wearing a luxurious gown that accentuated her new body. Yet it was regal with its flowing train, and gold lace.
“Shajin,” said Candor, as he acknowledged her. “It is my honor and pleasure to see you again.” Kythonia blushed as Candor gently kissed her cheek.
“My son, you are always so polite,” replied the matriarch. “You know that you can speak plainly with us, you’ve always known that.”
“I know,” Candor replied. “Yet how can I be otherwise, in the presence of such beauty and grace.”
“He is a true tale-smith. Isn’t that right, Mother?” said Thalia.
“Oh, I don’t know,” replied Kythonia, her playful smile revealing mischievous intent. “He is correct, I am beautiful.”
“Thalia,” said Theniass with a grin. “Take your suitor away, before he takes both of you from me. For he has a soothing tongue indeed, and I think that my lady likes his praise a bit too much.”
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