"Hi... This is Jessica Sandford, I'm quite busy now... Please leave a message."
"Her cell phone has been unreachable for the past two hours and she is not home... What is happening?" Ethan lets out his frustration. He has been trying to reach Jessica since he discovered he had missed her several calls. He read her message too.
"Hi hon. I just left your apartment, I need to quickly meet Sarah at the library. Please call me. I've got news for you... Love you..."
"The stupid phone must have dropped into the box while I was packing my stuff," he had muttered.
"Is there no one you can call, someone who can verify her whereabouts?" Mrs. Alger suggested. "Yeah... Sarah, her colleague at work... ah... I should have her number. She was supposed to meet her at the library." He said as he leaves for the living room. "Tdong... tdong... tdong," Ethan could hear Sarah's phone ring from his end.
"Hello Ethan, is Jessica there with you? I waited for her at the library until it was almost dusk... where is she?" Sarah had barely picked her phone before she started asking the same questions Ethan had called to inquire of her.
"That's why I called Sarah. I've not been able to reach her on her mobile phone for some hours now. Did she tell you if she wants to go somewhere else before she joins you at the library?"
"No, when I called her in the afternoon, she told me she was on her way and she sounded like she was heading for the library immediately. After I waited for about four hours or so, I tried reaching her through her cell, but it was to no avail. And she never showed up. I had to leave when it was getting dark."
Ethan and Sarah talked for a little longer, the latter suggesting places she could have likely gone to. Ethan eventually thanked her and ended the call.
"Did she know anything?" His grandparents are now standing behind him, waiting for some good news. Ethan shook his head.
"She was supposed to meet her at the library but they never met. She suggested that she might be at the laboratory, either back at her apartment or working on some unfinished assignment. She thinks she might have gone back to Worcestershire, which I doubt.
CHAPTER FIVE
THROUGH THE PASSAGEWAY
Ethan went straight to Jessica’s residence which was within the laboratory facility when he left his grandparents’ abode. He drove into the parking lot; one leg was already out of the door as he switched off the ignition. He walked spryly into the staff quarters and headed straight for Jessica’s apartment. Jessica had not been there, the apartment is still exactly the same as he had left it the last time he was there? Jessica had asked him to help her send the details of a file she forgot to take with her. Ethan headed for his apartment.
Looking at the couch, he knew Jessica had been there. The different drafts he had written while preparing a resignation letter had been removed. His closet was also open, she must have been looking for evidences that he had travelled. Ethan sat down on his bed; he didn’t know what else to do now. Ethan's phone started vibrating in his pocket,
SARAH
INCOMING CALL
...was boldly on the screen. "Hi Sarah... nothing, I just left her apartment but she has not been there since she left for Worcestershire. She must have headed straight to my apartment… yeah… okay… I’ll do that. Alright, thanks Sarah.”
Ethan thought he heard a rumbling somewhere below the building. As he approached the living room, the noise got louder. It’s coming from the kitchen. No, it’s the other room, the basement! He ran back into his bedroom to get the house keys and his torch. Holding the keys in one hand and a light-silver torch on the other, he headed for the basement. There was a pin drop silence again as he got to the basement entrance. Ethan quickly grabbed a fat wooden stick lying behind the kitchen door before inserting the keys into the key hole. The rumbling noise started again, Ethan had almost forgotten he was still holding a torch; the darkness that enveloped him in the empty space reminded him. The light beam from the torch made Ethan realize he wasn’t just standing in a basement. It’s a sort of underground library- a large library. Ethan quickly walked towards the direction the noise had been coming from. “It could be a big fat rat; it’s got a match here.” He thought, but what Ethan saw made him drop the stick, an oil lamp floating in the mid-air. He used his light source to investigate what he was seeing very well, but there was nothing holding it. It was dancing softly in mid-air. "You've got to be kidding me." He said. Ethan could now see the outline of a man…a short aged fellow. He approached the man slowly, who stood like he’s been transfixed to one spot.
“Er… er… who are ye?” asked the old man- he should be about seventy years old or older. He had a piercing look that made Ethan uncomfortable.
“I should be asking you; you are in my house, remember?” Ethan said, scrutinizing the haggard looking figure. “How on earth did you get in here...? What are you looking for...? Who the heck are you...?” Ethan interrogated him further, unable to hide his irritation.
“This is Professor Henry Alger’s house… Professor Henry Alger’s library… Right…? I need to see the present owner of this property.” The old man said, without giving Ethan much notice or any answers to his many questions. He paced the small expanse from one shelf to another, sizing each shelf over and over.
“Look mister, whoever you are. Henry Alger is dead and I am the owner of this property now... What do you want?” Ethan informed the man, who had stopped pacing and was looking at him.
“Aye...! Sad...! Sad! I know that Professor Alger is dead… What a tragedy...! What a great loss...!” He started wailing; he gave Ethan a quick glance and asked “Are you Mr. Ethan Alger?”
“Ye-s... I’m Ethan Alger, Henry Alger’s son. And I want some explanations.” Ethan said, quite surprised but he wore a stern countenance.
"Er... er... You will know all you need to, when it's time."
"What do you mean...? When it’s time…? Now this is my house and if you don’t want us to involve the police… start explaining what this is about or just get out and I'll forget this ever happened." Ethan threatened him.
"Er... I'm a mage... calling the police is of no use, I have come to lead you to answers. I can hurt you if I wanted to." was the reply, Ethan's heart felt like a clump in his chest. He was looking at him with some bewilderment. Ethan didn't understand what he meant.
"What's a mage?" Ethan was lost.
"Er... you don't know what a mage is? Sorcerer, wizard..." He looked at Ethan to see if he understood what he just said; Ethan nodded to show he did. "Your father was an expert in knowing these things, how come you don't..." It's his turn to be irritated, he started pacing again.
"Because I'm not a professor of history, interested in sorcery, magic and other freak show stuffs, I guess..." Ethan replied, showing that he wasn't particularly proud of anything his father was or did. Ethan watched him pace again, with the dangling lamp right above his head and casting his shadows either left or right as he paced.
"A young woman was here in this house, dark hair, dark eyes... Your wife…?"
Ethan's heart raced. The old mage had seen Jessica! He is the only one who has mentioned seeing her since yesterday. "Yes... I mean no, she's my girlfriend... Jessica, did you see her?" Ethan was expecting some relevant information about her where about.
"An evil mage took her. Migol, he is Cryptmaw’s errand boy. He took her before I got there-"
"But what does an evil sorcerer want with Jessica? Why would he kidnap her?" Ethan interrupted. He was breathing louder and faster.
"We could smell her from Lonus, our planet. She was very close to the secret passage way, we knew the Prophesy will soon be fulfilled. There's a Prophesy: there will be balance in the magical planet through someone without magic. The ashen dragon, Cryptmaw made his move before we did. A balance will avert evil; Cryptmaw's tyranny will come to an end." The mage explained.
"What prophesy are you talking...? How does this concern me or Jessica...? What is he does he want with her?" Ethan asked, somewhat do
wn casted.
"I don't know for sure. That is why we need to find the passage way your father uses, it's somewhere in this library. It leads straight to the archive," he said as he moved towards the farthest shelf. "We will meet the archivist there. He holds answers."
Ethan followed him. The floating lamp was ahead, its light beaming brightly. Ethan saw where the rumbling sound had been coming from. A section of books had been completely removed. The old mage must have been looking for something. "I need to move this shelf, the passage way is behind it... but the books are too heavy.
"Why not use magic then? Aren't you a wizard... or m-age?" Ethan asked.
The mage gave him a nasty look, "And who says I haven’t...all these many books came reeling on my head. So I went that far (pointing to where they had earlier stood) but when I tried, my magic wasn't stro-...er... it just didn't work!" He almost yelled.
"Are those scrolls?" Ethan said as he moved towards a section with four or five scrolls in it. The one in the middle looked different- it was thick and rigid. He tried to pull it out, but it got stuck at the rear. It was a mechanism Henry had put in place, to move the shelf. The whole shelf moved towards Ethan's left side immediately, knocking off the slimy old mage, who was busy removing books from the shelf. Behind the shelf was a steel door with no key hole or door handle.
"Oh... aye...! I must have forgotten that's the way it works," said the mage. "I was here only once... Now let me show you some magic Mr. Ethan Alger."
"Vone-teuq…!" He cried, but the steel door refused to oblige. He looked over at Ethan as if to observe how disappointed he might be. Ethan only shrugged, his arms folded. "Er... it happens like that sometimes." He turned and moved towards the steel door and he shouted so much his voice echoed in the far distance. "Vo-ne-te-uq!" The door was violently bolted out completely, knocking the old mage right in the face! He passed out.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………....
It took Ethan about twenty minutes to resuscitate the pale looking old man, who had been knocked out by the steel door. His head was already swollen and had turned pink on one side of his snowy-white face.
"Oh…! What happened?" The mage said, holding his head tightly with both hands. Ethan told him how he was knocked out; his magic was very strong this time maybe, but he didn't mention that his head was swollen.
"Mr. Alger, I can actually use magic to stop the pounding in my head you know..." The mage does not want Ethan to see him or his magic as... weak.
"No, no...I know you can alright, but you might actually set your head on fire or blow it up, you know..." Ethan urged. The mage was disappointed; Ethan is beginning to see him like some weakling. He remembered Henry telling him on one of his visits to the archive- after one of his spells went wrong while practicing, "you should take your time Cyclux, and you don't have to cast all the spells in the universe in a day. You might blow up the house, you know."
"You look a lot like your father," he said, smiling softly.
"No, I don't think so. I don't look anything like him." Ethan said, probably because he had gotten his looks from a mother he had only seen in the family album or he resented the fact that he looked anything like a father who neglected him.
"Er... indeed... you might look like your mother but-"
"Did you know my mother?" Ethan cut in.
"Er... no, I never met her. I once heard your father petitioning the archivist to help him meet her again at the mystic falls- where the living can meet the spirit of the dead."
They have walked for almost an hour now in what looked like an underground tunnel. The flickering lamp still gave enough light for them to see through their path. They soon reached an iron door with a huge ring, fixed to the center. Seeing Ethan's look, he needs not tell him not to use magic. "I... er... do not have need of magic here." The mage said, walking briskly towards the door. He tried moving the ring anti-clockwise but it was too stiff. Ethan joined him to turn it and they were soon inside a long passageway. Ethan now knows where the floating lamp came from, there were about ten of them here, and the one that has helped them through the tunnel seemed to be happy to join the others. They entered what appeared to be a long corridor, but like the library they just left, it's got shelves on either sides but filled with scrolls in the stead of books; and space is not a luxury here either but it is wide enough to accommodate the two of them, such that they can walk side by side conveniently.
"This is a place where prophesies and secrets are kept. It might be devastating if any of the information here gets to the outside world, because of evil creatures like Cryptmaw." The old mage explained, as they walked. "However, you cannot use magic here... if you do, everything in here vanishes... yes, in a twinkle of an eye. That was why I did not use magic when we got to that iron door, I would have opened the door this time..." He said, with a wide grin, but quickly added "…er ... without being knocked out."
Reaching the end of the secret archive which served as their passageway into Lonus seemed like forever. Ethan had become weary long before they got to their destination. By the time they reached the end, there was an opening into a much larger room- the shelf that separated the secret archive from the main one has been unclogged. The archivist himself, a stout old man, was already waiting for them. His long beards elegantly sitting on his chest area.
"You must be Mr. Ethan Alger..." He said, smiling broadly. "I have been expecting you... I am Grusav, the keeper of the archive. I hope Cyclux have not given you much trouble... has he?"
"Ha...Cy-clux hun..." Ethan nodded in the direction of the mage who had brought him. "...not as much trouble as he has given himself," Ethan replied.
"Come, Ethan..." The old man said, leading him through very tall shelves, such like he has never seen before. Ethan noticed he was limping on one foot. The odiousness of the archive made him sick in the stomach. It felt like he was going to throw up. He followed the archivist into an inner room. It is similar to a moderately large office but doesn't look like any one Ethan has ever stepped foot in, not even Jessica's office- with all the 'archy' stuff. A crystal ball sits on the only table in the room, there were several creatures preserved in large glass bottles. Several broomsticks on one corner, packed beside a greenish-brown cupboard. A skull was floating in mid-air like the lamps in the archive. The only light source in the room was housed inside the skull, which was beaming through the eye sockets and other openings in the nose and mouth area. The fragrance that enveloped the room was like that of a natural garden... like the one on his grandparents' farm.
"Allitroe," the archivist said, looking towards the fire place. Fire started burning in it immediately. Ethan noticed a glow in his eyes as said the word and he did so with such gracefulness Cyclux does not possess. And in the same lithesome manner, he said another spell and a large pumpkin appeared on a low stool beside a large armchair, by the fire place. A fat long straw was dangling in the juicy content.
"Cyclux is a very pleasant young man." The archivists said, as he gestured towards a wide leather armchair- two fat people will comfortably sit in it. Ethan plumped into the armchair gleefully and took a grateful swig of some chilled juice from the large pumpkin- exactly what he needed, after an exhausting walk and a sickening smell.
"How do you mean? I came here with a man that should be about sixty... seventy or thereabout. Or are you so ancient, Cyclux is a young man if compared to you?" Ethan was confused; he looked steadily at the old man who now stood opposite him, both hands crossed, right beside the table with the crystal ball. Cotton-like, long beards, a rumpled face, and the way he limped- evidences of ancientness.
"Cyclux has gotten on the wrong side of magic a few times. He had a fight with Migol, he was no match for him. Migol cursed him with an ageing spell. Only the sorcerer that placed such curse can lift them... except he dies."
"Oh, that's... pathetic." Ethan said, sympathetic.
"Aye, I wish there was
another way." The archivist said, smiling again.
"But, what am I doing here? My girlfriend is missing and Cyclux told me she has been kidnapped and brought here. What's going on?" Ethan urged, looking up at the calm old figure still standing in front of him.
"Ethan, how did you think your father died?" The archivist asked. The room seemed to be smaller and the atmosphere- more tense.
"There was a fire outbreak in his office, he was working late..." Ethan answered, shifting uneasily on his chair. Bringing up the subject of his father's death made him uncomfortable. "What if he was murdered..." he thought.
"Your father was my very good friend. He had an unquenchable thirst to know the history of sorcery. Not many people know for a truth that magic once walked the surface of the earth. Not many people in the universe know of the existence of this magical planet. Not many people know magical creatures existed and still do... inhabiting a whole planet today," said Grusav, wearing his usual smile, with both hands crossed behind him. He looked briefly at Ethan and stroked his beards blandly- as if to register Ethan's attentiveness. "We had a conference on earth, organized by the ministry of magic: earth division," he continued. "We looked into ways we can promote, protect, and preserve magic on planet Lonus primarily and then on earth. I met your father there... he was one curious being, we became friends afterwards."
"My father wasn't a mage, was he?" Ethan asked curiously.
"No, he wasn't but he was an integral part of our world before his unfortunate demise," answered the archivist, who is now standing in front of the fire place- beside the armchair. "I should give you a background history. A major disagreement erupted when we came to Lonus. We left earth because we wanted to live and be governed by magic. On earth, magic had become quiet; we were governed by the system. We only had few mages in governance- and we still do, and setting up a secret ministry of magic is to ensure that our interests are not trampled upon. We also resolved to carefully use magic amongst non-mages, and must only be used, if the situation demands so. We had to reach this consensus with the non-mages in power, who were believers- your father became one... years later. We needed to maintain balance and some sanity. A court was also set within the ministry of magic to adequately chastise erring individuals.
Dragon and Prophesy Page 3