by Matthew Ward
“This is the person I saw today.”
Tkz shook his head.
He asked, “How do you know? There is no face. It could be anyone.”
Maedc pointed to the lack of feet and said, “No. He’s flying the same as the person today.”
Tkz didn’t answer. He just plopped back onto the bed.
“This is too confusing. Just go to bed. Sleep on it. There’s nothing we can do now.”
Maedc knew he was right, but he remained frustrated that he couldn’t read the text without this outside help. He begged, “Please. Just help me through a little, and then we can go to bed. I have to know what’s in this.”
Tkz nodded. “I guess I’m awake now anyway.”
The going was slow. The phrases and words were strange and archaic. The First Age people spoke the same language as Tkz, but much of it had changed. Even when Tkz knew the words, he had to come up with simpler ways to explain it to Maedc. Together they unraveled a story that shook Maedc.
The people in the black robes had mostly lived among the people of the First Age. They were incredibly smart and taught the people of the First Age how to manipulate spior and make structures out of mianl.
Moreover, the mianl shards that formed in the caves were crystalized deposits of spior. This was why it was so hard to work with. It wasn’t merely another type of rock like many of the Second Age believed.
Most of the people of the First Age shunned the sorcery of the black robes as evil that would lead to the fall of civilization. The few that learned from them became known as the Cult of Black. They worshipped these people as saviors. With spior came major improvements to life expectancy and ease of living. The mianl buildings never fell or deteriorated. They could withstand the strongest of quakes.
The cult had good reason to worship these people, but it remained a mystery where these people could have appeared from and how they had the power to fly. One part of the book questioned whether they even had faces.
XXIII
When Drystn and the group made it back to Talamir Center, he still couldn’t believe they had lost the guy. It was their one chance to find out what was really going on and if it could be fixed. The group meandered to the Ruler’s office to confess everything. They figured they were doomed anyway, so they may as well get as many minds on the problem as possible.
As they neared the center of the building, a man in strange clothing walked by. Drystn had the wherewithal to put his hand out and stop him.
He asked, “Who are you?”
The man gave him a confused look and turned to the scholar accompanying him. The scholar spoke in a strange, jagged language to the man, then turned to the group and said, “This is Tkz. He is not from around here.”
First the black robe guy and now this. No new people had entered Talamir in two thousand years. Somehow killing the bairsgn had opened a floodgate.
No one else in the group seemed to be all that concerned, so Drystn continued, “Well, we’re kind of on important business, and we need to know what that means. Where is he from?”
The translator said, “My name is Maedc. What sort of important business? I’ve been assigned a very important task by the Ruler himself.”
Drystn came out with it for the shock value.
“We killed the bairsgn, and now we need to find a man that was in a black robe. He may be able to reverse it. It’s extremely important for us to find out if this man, Tkz, or whatever you called him, was recently wearing a black robe.”
The man looked stunned. He must have been trying to process the fact that the bairsgn was dead.
Maedc said, “It just so happens we’re on the same task. We were looking for the people who destroyed the bairsgn. We’re also trying to figure out who this man in the black robe is. This person, Tkz, is from the First Age. Technically, he’s from a group of people that live outside Talamir who originally came and settled here. Anyway, it’s way too long of a story to tell right now. We must find this person.”
Now it was Drystn’s turn to be shocked. The First Age? Outside Talamir? That was impossible. The man, Tkz, appeared more and more apprehensive as the conversation dragged on with no one filling him in. By now the rest of the group had slowly formed a circle in the middle of the hallway, trying to get a better look at Tkz and his strangeness. Maedc began to talk to Tkz in the strange language.
When their brief conversation ended, Drystn asked, “How are we going to catch him? He’s so fast. We think he can fly. I know that sounds crazy.”
Maedc stood in the middle of the circle translating back and forth for everyone. He said, “That’s not crazy at all. We’ve translated some books from the First Age that say these black robes existed back then, and they can definitely fly. But we still don’t have any idea who they are.”
Ninml jumped in. “Wait. Are you saying there’s more than one of them?”
Maedc said, “Yes, well, maybe. We still don’t know much.”
Ninml said, “What do we even hope to get out of him?”
Tkz surprised everyone by addressing the group.
Maedc translated, “We need a trap.”
Drystn spoke under his breath to Ninml, “He got us into this mess. Maybe he knows a way to get us out of it.”
Maedc heard this and said, “What do you mean, he got you into this?”
They briefly explained to the two people how they killed the bairsgn and what they had discovered since then. They told how the black robe might have tricked them into killing the bairsgn by giving Eidr special powers.
Maedc said, “I have an idea. This person seems to keep going back to the mianl house with the bairsgn for some reason. We both saw him there. He’s clearly doing something. Let’s use the house itself as a trap. If we lock ourselves in, it won’t matter that he’s fast and can fly. He won’t be able to escape.”
~
The group had no trouble finding hiding places to hide in the mianl building. All the objects filled with spior from the fight lay haphazardly around the place. They each built small spaces out of these objects. Drystn built his near the door, so he could block the exit.
Boredom descended on the room as a half-day passed with no sign of the black robe. Eidr had a strong urge to relieve himself. Then a gentle creak sounded. Eidr listened for steps from a person walking, and only when he didn’t hear any did he remember that the man flew.
Loegr yelled, “Now!”
Drystn sprung out of his enclosure and shoved the nearby boulder in front of the door. He stood next to it, ready to fight. Eidr joined Drystn from farther away as planned.
The creature flew around the room, trying to find a way out to get free. It seemed to realize the only escape had been firmly blocked, and it finally settled on the far side and looked back, though it had no eyes.
Eidr still hadn’t seen its face. He couldn’t believe the shadows covered it so completely. The creature at least put on a show of seeing out of his face like the rest of them.
Ninml said, “There’s no use trying to escape. Why not just tell us who you are and what’s going on. Why did you trick us into killing the bairsgn, and how do we bring it back?”
The creature hovered closer.
Its deep voice said, “There is no bringing it back.” Eidr felt a thrill run through him. He knew it was telling the truth, but he didn’t want to believe it. They would all die now because of what he had done. He killed the life force of Talamir.
The creature said, “Don’t look at me that way. I’m the one in trouble now. My name is Ooliminr, roughly translated into your language, and I’m stuck here in this wasteland now.”
Ninml said, “Stuck? What do you mean by that?”
“I’m not from here. It’s difficult to explain, because your civilization has no concept of the universe outside of this tiny crater on your planet.”
Drystn said, “’Universe?’ I don’t know that word. What is it?”
The creature flew to a window, and several people lunged forw
ard, afraid he would try to escape when they had come so close. The thing just stopped and pointed to the sky.
It said, “All those stars you see at night are suns and planets. Some have life on them like this one. But it’s more complicated than that. You only experience three spatial dimensions. We don’t travel between those planets the same way you all travel by moving around. What you called the bairsgn was a portal.”
The creature paused, apparently understanding he had used another word no one understood.
He continued, “Er, it was a sort of door we could use to get from our planet to this one and back again. You already partially understand this, because this is what you do when you create a link between mianl crystals. Sound doesn’t travel between those two areas. What you are actually doing is bending space so that the two mianl shards are both in the same location at the same time. It’s complicated, and impossible to describe to you. It is very strange that the evolution of life on your planet resulted in your limited perception of the true universe.”
Eidr’s head reeled at this information. Nothing it was saying made any sense. Evolution of life? People lived on the stars? They used the bairsgn as a door to these places? The two mianl shards were in the same place despite being separate? It was all too much, too fast. Eidr plopped to the ground and felt like he would cry. He wanted his parents back, his life back, and the days of simplicity back.
Drystn seemed to be the only one keeping his wits enough to think of the important questions.
He asked, “But how did it get here, and what does spior have to do with any of this?”
The creature let out what he could only interpret as a sigh of frustration at having to explain all this.
“A few thousand years ago, my people noticed your planet had life on it. We sent the bairsgn here like we always do. The ship it was on crashed into your planet, which is what created this crater you live in and call Talamir.
“We taught the people of the First Age many things. Too many actually. They got close to figuring out the truth, so we had to destroy them. We left enough alive that they were able to repopulate, but we made sure the survivors knew very little. They couldn’t read or write. They didn’t know much about spior or how to craft with mianl.”
Ninml staggered against the wall. “I can’t believe it. I feel sick. Your people committed genocide? What was wrong with them learning the truth? I’m not sure I want to know the answer to this question: but how did you even do it?”
Ooliminr said, “It was quick and painless. We had the means to pull the spior from them. With the power to travel between worlds comes great responsibility. Your people were still too ignorant to safely use that power. So we stayed separate for what you call the Second Age. Well, until now.”
Ninml looked both devastated and confused at the same time. She asked, “But why now? What did we do wrong?”
“You didn’t produce anything of worth. Plus, other beings had started to seep through the bairsgn. I believe you call them phantom spior. Those materializations in the corner of your eyes are actual beings trying to get through.
“We treat planets like this as experimental grounds. We let civilizations advance and see if they produce useful things we can steal. Unfortunately, you have not moved on from the most primitive point. You were never going to get there, so there was no purpose to keep the door open.”
Ooliminr looked at Eidr. It said, “Now I’m stuck here because of you. I was supposed to go back before you destroyed it. I gave you a little boost in power knowing you’d destroy the bairsgn once you realized you could do it. I just didn’t realize you’d do it so fast. I was supposed to stick around to give you more prodding if needed. Now I’m stuck in this backward world forever.”
Drystn said, “Backward? Stop insulting us. What do you have that’s so good compared to us?”
“They are things you cannot even imagine. Space travel for one thing. For another, you’ve given us many moral conundrums. We had to deliberate on whether to intervene at several points. Luckily, you’ve worked through many of them.”
Ninml practically shouted, “You committed genocide, and you’re worried about our morality?”
He shook his head. “You can’t understand. We needed to do that. It was the lesser of two evils. If your primitive civilization started exploring other worlds, there’s no telling what destruction you would have caused.”
Eidr stood, and his legs almost gave out from their weakness. He whispered, “So are we all going to die now that we don’t have the bairsgn for spior?”
The creature let out something that might have been a laugh.
It said, “No. You’ll go on just fine.”
Eidr asked, “But how? You just said if you remove the spior from us we’ll die.”
It fluttered around in agitation and said, “Yes. I keep trying to tell you. You’ve figured out some basics, but it’s all very much more complicated than you’ve been thinking.
“You need spior, because you were born with it. The next generation will be born without it. They won’t need it to survive. You survived without it before we came, and you’ll survive without it now that it’s gone. Talamir will continue, but I have my doubts you’ll ever progress enough to travel between worlds. You certainly won’t ever gain access to spior again.”
Drystn asked, “But what is it? Where did it come from? Why does your planet have it but ours doesn’t?”
“It’s like everything. Your planet has many natural resources that ours doesn’t and ours has many that yours doesn’t. Spior came from a place on our planet.”
The people scattered around the mianl structure looked off in various directions, none daring to make eye contact with any other. The lull in the conversation gave the impression that no one had any more questions.
Ooliminr asked, “May I go now?”
No one answered, but Drystn moved away from the door.
Drystn called out, “Where will you go?”
“It doesn’t matter. There are places I can get to easily by flying that you cannot.”
Ooliminr sped out of the room, and they were alone.
“What do we do now?”
Eidr didn’t look up to see who had voiced the concern. It didn’t matter. A palpable despair filled the room with the silence. After a time, an overwhelming sense of relief washed over him as he realized he could now go live a normal life with his family.
Eidr announced, “I’m going home.”
Drystn gave him a look that said he understood. “I’m coming with you.”
The two walked out of the building, and the others stayed behind. The rest would go back to Talamir Center and inform the Ruler eventually. Most spiorists would have tried to move spior at this point, so they already knew a change had occurred. The rest of the population needed to be told. Or maybe they didn’t. That was a decision for the Ruler.
Epilogue
Eidr had grown up too fast, and with that, Conl grew old. All these years later, Drystn still couldn’t believe how young Eidr was at the defeat of the bairsgn. The thought gathered a lump in his throat as he closed up shop for the night.
Drystn headed to the church. Eidr and Conl greeted him at the door and handed him grasspaper with the program for the night. Across the top read: Transference of Power Ceremony.
Eidr had become a brother to Drystn, and Drystn took his seat in the front row reserved for family. The ceremony began as all ceremonies do: with the call to spior.
Few people knew what had happened. The day the black robe disappeared they had all decided to let the knowledge of what had happened die with them. It was a secret that would cause too much harm to let out. Belief in spior, and all the associated rituals, persisted.
Eidr took his vows with his circled hands, and the community unanimously voted his approval. Drystn stood with the rest of community and cheered the joyous occasion. As the beautiful ceremony concluded, Eidr solemnly walked through the pews and out the doors to the reception area.
/>
Eidr became the official Aithr of the Ahm River branch of the Third Ring Spiorist Church. A surge of pride welled in Drystn’s chest as the new Aithr took his place as the guest of honor by the bonfire. Conl creaked along beside Eidr, his aging body slow.
Drystn knew Conl would still be around, but it saddened him to see his close friend retire. He followed the crowd out the doors of the church and watched the interactions with Eidr from a distance.
He saw a deepness in Eidr’s eyes—their lives burdened with too much knowledge. The days had cooled, and the crackle of the fire warmed Drystn’s face. As First Sunset came and went, he let the others give their congratulations.
The gathering dissipated until few remained. Drystn walked over to Eidr and said, “You’ve done well. I’m proud of you.”
Eidr nodded in agreement. They hugged and watched as the fire turned to embers, enjoying each other’s company. Contentment washed over Drystn as this chapter came to an end and a new one began.
A gentle mist fell upon Talamir: the cool moisture a cloak against his face, renewing his confidence. Eidr reached out and squeezed Drystn’s warm and comforting hand, secure in the recognition that Talamir would go on; the grass would grow, the people endure.
About the Author
Matthew was born in Syracuse, NY, where he spent most of his childhood. Throughout high school, he took a strong interest in music. He self-taught himself at least nine different instruments and composed pieces for his high school band to perform.
He went to college at Youngstown State University on the Leslie H. Cochrane University Scholars scholarship. He soon changed majors from music to math and completed a B.Sci in math with minors in philosophy and physics. In 2008, he won the Barry M. Goldwater prize, the highest award in the U.S. for undergraduate academic excellence in math and science.
He moved to Seattle to pursue a Ph.D. in mathematics. During his time as a graduate student, he developed a love for writing. He completed a draft of a novel, numerous essays, and maintained between one and three blogs. He completed his Ph.D. in 2014.