by Jae Vogel
The security guards looked around and saw the crowd of people watching them carefully. There would be no way they could merely vanish and leave the room. Too many people would see it happen up close where it couldn’t be explained. The lead elemental turned and walked back the way he came, followed by the other fire elementals. This time they didn’t shove people out of the way, as they had done before. As they vanished around the corner, the final elemental in their grey suited uniform turned back and looked at Dion before he continued on his way.
“Looks like your uncle will need some new security for this place,” Sean said to Dion. “And he better get it soon because it won’t take very long for every booster thief in town to learn the mall is wide open. The local cops will get tired of doing the job for him real quick.”
“My uncle isn’t thinking past this week,” Dion said. “He wants to keep me away from the tower for a few more days. I don’t know what he’s planning, but it involves this mall and the abyss. I need to get into that clock tower tomorrow, find the grandmaster of the final element, and free my parents. I’ll deal with him along the way.”
The light began to fade around them once again, which meant they were about to be transported to somewhere else. Dion was used to it by now, just couldn’t figure out who made it all happen. If it was his uncle, he needed to be ready for a challenge. But he didn’t think so. There was a limited amount of things a person could do outside this time circle and if his uncle wanted to do him harm, it would happen in this time circle.
“I’m starting to get sick of this,” Sean told to his friends as the light of the mall faded and became dark.
“Me too,” Lilly agreed. “I wonder who wants us this time?”
Chapter 14
No sooner had Lily spoke the words than the light began to return. It grew in brightness and, as Dion expected, he felt the warm sand beneath his feet. They were in the Ancient Egypt of another time circle with the pyramid construction in the background.
Dion looked down and found the clothes of an Old Kingdom court official on his body. His friends were dressed the same, with the girls wearing the sheer wraparound dresses from his time. Their hair was layered and coated with a fine sheen of oil for protection from the hot sun. Lilly held a staff in one hand and had a bright feather in the headband that kept her hair in place.
“You are quite the vision of an Egyptian landscape,” he said to her. “I wonder what time it is?”
“Ask him,” Sean said as he pointed up at the sky.
Dion looked up at the heavens and saw the large beetle pushing along the solar ball. Directly behind it was the boat with several figures in it. He couldn’t tell, but the boat was cutting to the left of the bug, as if it wanted to find a way to get around it.
“Four in the afternoon,” Dion said. “Right on schedule.
“Hello, kids,” a voice said on front of him. It was Mr. Jehuti once again with his wife. They were dressed the same and stood directly in front of them. Mr. Jehuti held a scroll in one hand, while his wife held a case of pens. It had to be something to do with their station.
“We needed to bring you for the final confirmation,” Mr. Jehuti said. “We can’t do this part anywhere near your time circle. It has to be done here.”
“I thought it was all over and done with once I obtained the fourth element,” Dion said to them. “At least this is the impression they gave me.”
“We still have a few more things to do,” he explained. “I know you are ready to go into that tower tomorrow and need to plan for it, but we have to go over a few formalities so the first four elements will be under your control back on your home world.”
“So what do I need to do?”
“You don’t need to do a thing. All you have to do is accept their loyalty.”
“Loyalty of whom?” Dion asked.
“Their loyalty,” Mrs. Jehuti said as she stood next to her husband. She pointed in the direction of the approaching procession.
The procession was made up of all kinds of figures who were barely visible at the distance. The procession was chanting something, but at the distance, it was impossible to hear what they were saying. It was only when they came into hearing range that Dion could hear what they were saying. The column was chanting his name over and over again. In the rear of the procession, three women slapped cymbals together to keep the beat in sequence.
In front of the column were figures made out of dirt, the representatives of the earth elementals. Behind them were the air sylphs who bounced around in the form of dancers. Directly bringing up the procession were the water elementals who appeared to be some kind of river nymphs and were singing in Ancient Greek. Finally, the fire elementals, in their human salamander form, came in from the rear. The cymbal players were salamanders.
“We offer our support to the man who has attained the four elemental powers,” the earth elementals spoke to Dion as they marched forward. They bowed and broke apart as they became part of the sand on the ground. Dion gave him his thanks as he watched the ground break apart and rumble as they continued on their way.
“Just let us know when we’re needed,” the dancers chanted as they bounced on the ground in front of him. Seconds later they took to the skies in their sylph form as Dion thanked them and accepted their support. He watched them travel to the sky as air currents.
“Hello, Dion,” the water elementals said to him. “We’re here for you too. Do you think you can find us some nice young men like you did for our Naiad cousins?”
“How could I refuse such beautiful women?” Dion laughed at them. “I will find you some virile young men who would be clad to offer companionship to you. The world is full of such men.”
They clapped their hands for joy and poured into the ground as they took liquid form. Dion watched the water return to the desert and wondered what would become of the world if every young man knew he could have a companion of such beauty.
When it was the salamanders’ turn, Dion realized they were the same fire elementals who’d caused him such trouble in the mall. They stood there with folded hands until the cymbal players quit clanging their instruments together.
“We are sorry if there were any misunderstandings,” their designated leader said. “We were only doing what we knew how to do to protect our own interests. Know that you will always have our support in the future.”
“All misunderstandings are in the past,” Dion told him. “Let’s move onto the next level.”
He watched as the salamanders burst into flames. The individual fires merged together and rose to the sky in a series of pillars, which were soon blended into the sky in a rainbow of brilliance. Dion sat there and watched the fires turn into flaming rockets as they rose higher than the solar boat chasing after the sun bug. The flames reached up to heaven and soon were beyond the visual range.
“But you know,” Dion said as he turned to Mr. Jehuti, “this still leaves one more series of elementals which I need to reach. And I have to encounter them tomorrow. What form will they take?”
“The aether elementals have the form of a sphinx,” Mr. Jehuti explained. “They are ferocious and the ancient pharaohs used them to guard the tombs and treasure. For some reason, they disappeared in your circle of time and the remains of the kings of Egypt were plundered. That has not happened here. Come with me. It is okay to leave your friends alone for a moment?”
Dion turned and looked at them. Lilly was playing with the ring he gave her. Sean shrugged.
“I don’t see as there will be a problem leaving them here,” he told the newsstand owners.
The couple came over to him. Each took a separate hand. Dion flew across the sands of the desert. He flew across the Nile River and passed more barges with building material headed up the river. They passed over the sands where the traders rode their camels across the hot sun to deliver their goods to the remote settlements across the Northern African landscape. The colors melded into endless patterns of yellow and red. This was
not the same smoke-filled polluted landscape you would find on Earth, but an entirely new place that was outside the realization of normal humans. Dion closed his eyes and felt the wind rush on his face as he flew along with the couple who carried him aloft.
“What are you?” Dion asked them. “Are you from Mt. Olympus too?”
“No,” Mrs. Jehuti told him. “We are from another place. We are from the Abode of the Blessed. It’s the same idea for a different class of immortals.”
Soon a vast necropolis rose up on the ground before him. The couple who held him flew down to circle around it, as they searched for a particular location.
Dion could see many of the tombs below him were intact, although there were a few locations, which were crumbled into dust. For some reason, this vast tomb complex was not plundered like the ones back home. Dion felt they were about to show him why this was as the two found a large tomb and began to circle it. Satisfied, they swooped down to the ground. When the ground was beneath their feet, they let loose of Dion and allowed him to relax for a few minutes so he could see the landscape in front of them.
“Where are we?” he asked.
“Where you always wanted to be, Dion,” Mrs. Jehuti said. “The very place where history began. Here it stays the same. Every day the sun raised in the sky in the form of a solar ball pushed by a small beetle and pursed by a holistic boat. The civilization stays the same.”
“What did you want me to see?” he asked her. “There has to be something important here or you would not have brought me to this location.”
“I want you to see what you will encounter when you go into that tower tomorrow. You need to see what sort of creatures are found in the aether. This is one of the deadlier ones, I admit, but you need to be aware of the worst that can happen. It has been my experience that the worst that can happen is the worst that normally does happen.”
They walked to the tomb, which rose high in the necropolis. It was night for some reason. They had left in the middle of the afternoon, but the place where they now stood had no relationship to time. It could be any point in the past or present, as in this time circle, all were equal. Dion heard the sand whisper at his feet as they slowly walked to the tomb.
Around the tomb was a short wall. It was more of a line of desert plants that grew in a definite pattern around the tomb. The tomb itself was nine feet high and ten by ten feet at the base. It was covered with intricate hieroglyphs, which displayed important events in the life of the court noble who’s been entombed thousands of years ago. Dion couldn’t tell how old the tomb was since the dry weather made the degradation of the tomb a slow process. If it were a wet climate, he would be able to notice the crumbling stone and moss which grew across the walls. But here, that was not a factor in the destruction of the tomb.
They stopped at the hedge line and waited. Dion wanted to ask them what they were waiting for, but he had an idea they would soon find out.
There was a loud thump as a large object fell off the roof of the tomb and landed in front of them. It wasn’t easy to see what it was in the dim light of the moon and Dion was forced to strain his eyes to get a better look. The object rose from the sands and looked up at them.
At first, he thought it a lion. The creature stood on four legs, but it seemed to be made of the parts of four or five animals. To his shock, Dion realized he was staring at the face of a human. It was a human head but it was attached to the body of a lion which had wings folded across its back.
“Do you wish to enter?” it asked him. “You are welcome to enter the tomb and abscond with whatever treasure you might find. However, to do so you must answer the question I put to you.”
“What happens if I don’t want to enter the tomb?” Dion asked it.
“Then you may go in peace. I encountered you before you sat foot on my territory. You are not my responsibility.”
“And what happens if I do want to answer the question and am proven wrong?”
“That is so very simple,” the creature said. “I get to eat you.”
“I’m not interested in entering your tomb.”
At that moment, Mr. and Mrs. Jehuti stepped up to the level of the hedge line and spoke. “Hello, Frank,” they said to the sphinx. “We wanted you to meet Dion. Dion, this is Frank the Sphinx. He’s guarded the noble’s tomb for the past three thousand years.”
“Why hello to you too,” the sphinx replied. “I wondered what this youngster was doing running around by himself so near to my line of control. He didn’t have the look of the average tomb raider.”
“What does the average tomb thief look like?” Dion asked. The sphinx was busy pawing the ground.
“Oh the usual,” it said to him. “Desperation. Hunger. Fear. It takes a combination of all three for someone to work up the courage to get past me.”
“Has any one ever made it past you?” Dion asked him.
“Not since I’ve had this job. Every few years some idiot thinks he can get past me. I’ve had people show up with dictionaries and scrolls to look up my challenge questions. They never succeed. I’ve been at this a long time and do my homework. I like my work and intend on keep this position. The contract won’t run out for another two thousand years. I plan on staying here as long as I can.”
“How has the valley been since we were here last, Frank?” Mrs. Jehuti asked him. “It has to be, what, five hundred years since we were here the last time?”
“About that. I lose track of the years. If I didn’t have to punch a time clock I’d forget how many hours I put in each week.”
“Someone else watches the tomb to spell you?” Dion asked.
“Oh, no, just me, but they want me to keep track of my hours just the same. I think someone down at the central office keeps track of the hours I put in so they can do some kind of rate study. The bean counters will always end out on top. They keep telling me I need to be more efficient in my work, but I don’t know why. There hasn’t been an intrusion attempt in the past hundred years.”
“What about the other tombs,” she asked him. “Any problems as far as they are concerned?”
“Not really. We had a break-in last month when some fool decided to go in for the treasure in a pharaoh’s tomb. The tried to use some kind of battering ram. I sat outside and watched it all come down. These casual break-ins relieve the monotony. You always know when they are about to happen, because the local thieves will start to show up and cruise around the outside of the valley trying to find an entrance point. I’m sure they have plenty of information on what’s inside here. They keep it in a library or something. Each year one of them gets a little bit closer to a horde and it forces us to keep up on what they’ll try the next time. Every now and then, a civilization falls and they go back to zero. But they’re clever enough to keep trying. I give them that; they never do give up over the years. I suppose a fortune for an emperor or is enough to tempt most people. Keeps me employed at least.
“Do you know of anyone who’s come around lately trying to get the guardians to break contracts and work for them?” Mr. Jehuti asked him. “We think someone has hired a bunch of your kind to work for him in our time circle. I wanted Dion to meet you because he needs to know what he might run up against.”
“You sure know how to pick your targets, kid. What is so important that you need to go up against one of us?”
“My uncle is holding my parents prisoner to keep me from interfering with his plans. He’s also kidnapped the Aether Elemental Grandmaster. I have full powers on four of the five elements. My uncle has the fifth, but he lacks any of the elements prior to it. I need to rescue the fifth elemental grandmaster so I can obtain the power of it and rescue my parents.”
“Tough assignment. Good luck. Humans don’t last very long when they run up against us. I hope you have a good memory because we always pull that “question” trick before attacking. Gets them every time. I only know of one case where someone answered correctly and he was an outlier. You have any aether abil
ities?”
“No,” Dion said. “Power over the aether is the one ability I don’t have. I don’t think it’s a natural talent. I’ve never heard of anyone having that ability.”
“You have a task ahead of you I don’t envy,” Frank said and turned to the Jehutis. “Hey, this chat is nice, but I have to get back to work. Come by before the next five hindered years are up, could you?”
“What do you have to return to?” Mrs. Jehuti asked him. “I thought you said no one is stupid enough to break into your tomb.”
“Okay, you caught me. There’s a game on tonight. The company got me a TV to relieve the boredom and I’m a Cincinnati Reds fan. Johnny Bench is looking very good this year. The Big Red Machine might make it to the pennant.”
“We’ll stay in touch,” Mr. Jehuti told him and the couple took Dion by each hand.
Dion found himself airborne in seconds and the tomb retreating in the background. The moon was high in the sky as they flew over the sand. Soon the sun returned to the sky and they were coming down to the same location he’d left before. Dion’s three friends waited for him as they touched down on the ground.
“That was fast,” Sean told him. “Where did you go?”
“We went to see a friend I thought Dion should meet.” Mr. Jehuti said. “He can tell you about it later.”
“Do you want us to send you back to the mall where we took you?” Mrs. Jehuti asked him. “Or would you like us to advance the clock a little bit and deposit you by the van after sunset. I can’t think of any reason you’d want to spend more time in the mall, unless you need the hours to plan.”
“Drop us off at the van after sunset,” Dion said. “Do you know where it’s parked?”
“In that groove of trees. I don’t think it’s been disturbed. Any other boons you’d like?”