by R N Skye
Ava picked up the remaining goblet and looked at it curiously. “What is the purpose of the drink,” she asked curiously.
Ahhan nodded his head sagely, “I apologize, Ava. It slipped my mind that you received your pronunciation of lumen from Jahnon and are not familiar with the use of lumen potions and the tradition of the chalice. Most here on Eliom have the experience of the Arc providing the personalization of the instruction glyphs. The Arc process involves a chalice, sometimes two, in order to provide abilities as well as revive the dreamers mind from the intensity of the process. This situation is similar. We are going to visit Kuo’irus. He is a special creature; the same in nature as Kolaria whom you met recently. What is important to note is that we are about to be privileged by a rare opportunity; Kuo’irus has invited us to his home - which in and of itself is an honor indeed. While I’m certain that everyone in the group could no doubt use magic to endure the environment of the inside of a sun, I felt it would take less preparation and free our minds if I provided an elixir to accomplish this for us - allowing us to enjoy a more social experience.
Ava re-examined the contents of the goblet; it looked like water - she took a sniff but there was no odor or smell that she could detect. Seeing no reason not to and curious to see what came next she took a small sip. The liquid was quite cold, the taste slightly sweet; reminding her of the juice from a tart fruit - very thirst quenching - the pleasant citrus after taste lingered pleasantly on her pallet. Placing the empty vessel back on the tray with the others she smiled and asked, “Now what?”
Ahhan smiled, “Follow me please.”
The group entered another doorway opposite of the one that they had used to enter the foyer and were soon in a larger room with many large arched doorways that appeared to be closed and filled with polished stone; each of a different color. Some appeared to be granite or marble, others seemed to be made of pure gem stone. It reminded Ava a little bit of the Library.
In the center of the room was a large rectangular stone block made of marble topped with a stone that appeared to be a gem the color of a fiery opal. Ahhan walked up to the stone which came to slightly above his waist. Touching it with his finger he stepped back. As he retreated a voice echoed throughout the spacious room. “What is your destination?”
Ahhan immediately replied, “The sun of Eliom, residence of Kuo’irus, please.”
The voice spoke authoritatively, “you are expected. It is important for you to know that the conditions of your destination are uninhabitable to your species. Do you require time to prepare?”
“We have prepared ourselves,” Ahhan answered back.
“Very well,” intoned the voice, “please proceed through the gateway with the silver and green border that is flashing to your left.”
The group turned to their left and saw that one of the doors was no longer filled with the polished stone but was a radiant white and the borders were flashing silver and green. Ahhan withdrew a sparkling multi colored feather from within his robe and then one by one touched each of them on the head with it, finishing up by touching the glowing rainbow feather to his own head. As soon as the feather made contact Ahhan began to glow a brilliant golden white from head to toe, Shane looked at Ava and his parents and then himself and realized they were all glowing likewise.
“When on the sun you should always dress accordingly,” he grinned as he pocketed the feather. Shall we go?” He then turned toward the large gateway and walked into the light. With a brilliant flash as he disappeared from view.
Shane reached for Ava’s hand giving it a slight squeeze then followed his uncle with his parents following closely behind.
Shane felt a definite tingle of lumen as he stepped through the brilliant gateway. The light returned to a comparative normal as the entered into a large room. The room consisted of four enormous columns of pure gold that rose so high that the tops were not visible. Looking up he could see into a blue-less sky that consisted of a blanket of stars with a back drop of black. The floor was a yellow white checkered pattern of large tiles that glowed with a comfortable radiance that went off into the distance to disappear into the horizon. Other than the columns there were no furnishings that Shane could see. In front of them stood three gryphons; the largest Shane recognized from his experience at the warball stadium; the other two were slightly smaller.
Ahhan bowed to the larger gryphon. “Kuo’irus, it is an honor to visit your home. May I please introduce my Sister Laura, her husband and one of my closest friends, Soaris, their son Shane and his soon to be wife, Ava.
To the amazement of Shane and Ava, the large gryphon changed shape; morphing into the shape of a man. The man was nearly as tall as Soaris and wore a robe similar to Ahhan. He was slender with a blonde head of hair and a neatly trimmed blonde beard. Stepping forward he grasped Ahhan by the shoulders and with a smile greeted him like a long lost friend. “Ahhan, thank you for coming I know how difficult it is for you to endure my dwelling. Parents of Shane, what a privilege to meet you – I was honored with the witnessing your sons choosing. I have never beheld such a powerful commitment; he will be a great singer of the world of my betrothed. I have no doubt that it is because of your example.” Laura and Soaris both said thank you and gave the credit to the other. To which Kuo’irus smiled, “your response proves my case.” Turning to Shane he bowed his head with a nod then looked Shane in the eye. “Singer, I am the luckiest star in the heavens. Eno told me in my youth that I would have the opportunity to battle alongside a descendant of my father’s singer. I never thought that I would be your gryphon. It is an honor. Your display of courage and lumen the other day is more than any Lumen creature could hope for could have hoped for.” Grasping Shane by the shoulders he laughed out loud. “By the courtesy of the far-seers I have even beheld some of our battles and they are great, but you and I will prevail; the glory of it will rock the universe. Eliom will reflect well the heritage of Elios. A star couldn’t ask for a better mage and singer.”
Not knowing quite what to say Shane fell back to his days of playing on the warball team. Smiling he clasped the enthusiastic star by the shoulders in similar fashion. “I look forward to it. I can’t think of a better team to be on.”
Kuo’irus grasped he hand and arm in a hearty shake. “I’m looking forward to it,”
Turning to Ava he bowed again and looked her in the eye as well. Cocking his head slightly he looked at her even more intensely. “Ahhan, you did not tell me that the mate of the singer is blessed with the lumen of the Eno.”
“I apologize, Kuo’irus, I didn’t know it was important. Some time ago she was injured by Allyant contamination luckily Shane was able to cleanse her of the poison; almost to his peril – mostly due to his lack of instruction. My self and a far-seer of Eno were asked to heal him. While the singer was recovering the far-seer examined the woman, Ava, and found her not only whole but exceptionally talented in her capacity for lumen. He also saw that she would not chose the ways of the corruptors of Allyant and gave unto her personal glyphs and I the instructor he prescribed for me to give her. She is quite exceptional and is well on her way in singlehandedly restoring much that was destroyed when the Allyant first attempted to destroy the first world of Eliom. If it is of interest to you she is a descendant of your mother’s singer”
Kuo’irus turned back to Ava, “I see that it is more than pride that causes my betrothed to speak so highly of you.”
“Thank you,” smiled Ava in her natural congenial way. “I have seen Elios and I can see that the strength and honor of your parentage are within you.”
Kuo’irus had begun to turn away from Ava as she replied but when she had finished her reply he stopped and turned back to her, “Know this, Daughter of Eno, your life is ever protected by the Sun of Eliom and other than you being called home by the creator of us all, you will never taste death unless I die first. That is the promise that your ancestor obtained from the First Sun of Elios and I can do no less. My parentage demands it; I can do no less.” T
urning to the other gryphons in the rooms the blonde man said, “Please let me introduce you to my other guests.”
“First is my betrothed Kolaria. She is the most brave and patient star in the heavens. Her parentage was tragically slain by the corruptors but in the end she was able to hold them off until they perished. On top of it all she saved her younger sibling. I am honored to call her my betrothed and am honored and grateful that she has accepted the name of Eliom of which we are eager for the world singer to seal upon us as soon as possible.”
Kolaria unexpectedly also transformed into the shape of a human. She was slender and robed elegantly. She had long wavy red hair with alabaster skin and green eyes. With grace and poise, Kolaria approached the group. She shook hands with each of them telling them it was an honor to meet the family of the singer. To Shane she added that he had chosen his mate well; that they complimented each other. When she got to Ava she surprisingly paused and said, “I’m sorry to have deceived you the other day. I felt the need to test you and the words of Ahhan. I have had to relearn trust in the sons and daughters of man because of the deaths of my parentage. I should have known that Ahhan would not lead me astray. The fact that you gave nearly all your lumen to save an injured stranger and refused to take any in return is a beautiful gift. It is no wonder you were selected by the Eno.”
Ava smiled not sure how to take the compliment but thinking of her mother’s example of always being there for her and her family she replied, “I only emulated my own mother. She taught me that we should help one another. I saw a need and did what I could. No thanks are necessary.”
“None the less,” Spoke Kolaria, you have proved yourself worthy of the lumen you bare. I will always grant you mine if you ever have need.”
Kuo’irus turned to the smaller of the gryphons, “May I also introduce you to my adopted son Solaris. As I have indicated he is Kolaria’s brother but he has accepted the parentage of Eliom and will live among us until it is his time.
After the introductions a large table appeared with decorative chairs. The table was filled with a large multi course meal with food that was foreign but with flavors and smells that were delicious beyond anything that Shane and Ava had ever experienced.
Laura, Ava, and Kolaria spent most of their conversation talking about the wedding they were planning. Kolaria was keenly interested. She commented that it was different for stars. Stars spoke and agreed and then it was accomplished. Once the two agreed it was done. The only thing formal about a marriage of stars is that it needed to be sealed by a mage with sufficient ability and lumen potential to perform the magic. Those that followed the Laws of Lumen taught by the great mage Eno followed the ceremony of sealing but there was no ceremony beyond that.
Turning to Kuo’irus, Kolaria stated simply, “I should like to have a marriage like unto the Singers wife to be, Ava. We shall be joined when they are - it will be a notable,” the female gryphon spoke not asking.
The blonde Kuo’irus cocked his head in a bird like fashion. “Will that not interfere with the marriage of Ava?”
Kolaria turned and looked at Ava questioningly.
Ava reached across the table and clasped the hand of the gryphon in woman form. “We had already planned on asking you if you would consider that very thing. I must be honest it was because of the war and how little time we have available. But if you want a marriage with ours, that will be perfect. We can have it be a double wedding. The more they discussed it; it wasn’t long before they decided that the sealing of Kuo’irus and Kolaria would be part of the wedding of Shane and Ava.
“Then it is agreed,” Kuo’irus said without any other discussion and turned back to Ahhan to continued their previous conversation.
Ava, Laura and Kolaria continued to discuss wedding plans – while in most instances Kolaria seemed to grasp the human nature it of the concept was plain that due to her long life and alien nature she would require a lot of instruction.
Down the table Shane, Soaris, Ahhan and Kuo’irus busied themselves with conversations about the dangers of the Infin king, Kuo’irus began sharing with them what he knew of starblades, and Shane explained his blue glyphs that he was trying to get in place to halt the leeching of lumen and how to shield the massive forces that the Starblade could wield.
The two conversations soon joined and the procedure to perform the sealing of the stars came up. Ahhan explained it. “It’s really quite simple,” he said as if describing the weather. “The Sealer inscribes the pure lumen glyph of the eternal circle – a lot like your feedback glyph, Shane – just multiply it by about a thousand. The Glyph is made in two halves and half is given to each star, the holder of each half imbues their halves and this bonds them to their half. Both stars touch their halves together then the Lumen Mage imbues the circle with lumen provided to him from both stars and then it is done.”
“Thanks, said Shane. “I hope I have the energy. I only have about a million of these to make in the next day in order to start saturating the king’s army and slaves so that I can disable his soldiers and start draining that starblade.” He casually created a small blue dot and flicked it on to the table for the others to inspect and explained it purpose.
Kuo’irus picked it up and studied it. “Very compact,” he said.
As the Gryphon spoke a thought came into Shane’s mind, “Think of how you make these and I will copy them. While my Lumen and Power are great, I do not have thy intelligence and the knowledge that you have. If you teach me the patterns to make these I can make many more than you can at one time and will have no need for rest in between.”
Kuo’irus spoke so the rest of the table could hear, “Would you mind if I made some for you?”
“That would be would be greatly appreciated,” replied Shane hopefully. “That will give me time to come up with a better way to deploy them. At the moment we are doing it by hand. My Sicam is doing a test run right now trying to get them put on at the enemies manufacturing facility. I still need to come up with a way to get them attached to those already deployed. Our plan is to get these on all the bands that the Allyant have deployed so we can start rescuing the innocents, stop the flow of stolen lumen, and then implement the battle plan to rid this world of the Allyant influence.”
~~~~~
Captain Ren D’roe was not sure what to think about what he had just heard from the invisible man. As fantastic as it sounded, tactically it made sense; provided the man behind the voice was as capable as he claimed. If he could only be certain that the wristband had actually been nullified. He stood up, gambling that the voice wouldn’t employ the knife again. “I’ll tell you what, whoever you are. I’m going to go to my horse and saddle up. A piece of paper is going to drop. After we‘re gone you feel free to pick it up. If you do what it says on the paper and are able to prove it, I’ll be more inclined to entertain what you have had to say. I’ll be taking my time to get to the magetech facility and after we get loaded up I’ll be bivouacked in a large field two milos west of the Jiri River Bridge. You get with me any time between now and when we resume marching in the morning, with proof that my note has been followed, and I’ll throw in with you.” Turning back toward his company he began walking back to his horse. With a commanding voice he hollered for his sergeant and told him to get the troops formed up.
Ari and Shew watched the company march out of the park and continue on their way. When they were out of sight Ari removed the invisibility and carefully unfolded the paper he had retrieved almost as soon as it had hit the ground.
On the piece of paper was a carefully written address and a list of names and a message that read: Get my family out of Jehhet. Bring my little brother with you when you come and he will be the proof.
“Well Shew,” Ari sighed, “What do you think?”
“I think having the Captain and his company as an asset is critical, but I don’t know how we are going to move that many people out of Jehhet by morning.”
Ari scratched his chin. “We may be
able to,” he smiled. “You forget we have magic as part of our arsenal now. Take a look at this location,” Ari said handing the paper to Shew. “I even think I know where we can put them. Come one lets go give it a look.”
A few minutes later Ari and Shew walked out of an abandoned building near the piers of Jehhet harbor where many of the fishermen worked. After a quick survey of the surroundings Ari approached a group of men, women, and children, that were doing everything from cleaning a pair of large fishing boats, to mending nets, and sorting a recent catch into bin laden wagons soon to be headed to market. As they got closer they were watched carefully by several large men; from their size they were likely brothers or other close relatives of the captain. Seeing a tall grey haired man; slightly stooped - as if he had acquired the posture from pulling in a life time of fish laden nets. He was barking orders to the others so Ari assumed he was the head of the family. Greetings master fisherman, is this by chance the family D’roe?”
“Aye,” responding the man questioningly. “Who’s ask’n?”
Ari held out his hand and was answered with a rock hard grip. “I’m Ari, this is my partner Shew.
“I’m Oscaar D’roe. What can I do for you?”
“Is there someplace more private where we can talk?” Ari looked around the somewhat busy pier.
The old man replied without pause. “These work’n hard by be my kids and kin. No one be talking about anything I don’t tell em to,” the old man explained as if Ari should have known better than to ask.
“Fair enough,” smiled Ari. Proceeding carefully he continued. “I recently had a chat with a Captain Ren D’roe – by looking at you and those around I see a family resemblance and I’m going to assume he is your son. I and my friends need his assistance in – Let’s just say – causing pain and anguish to the king. Unfortunately the king has been telling him that if he doesn’t keep serving as a loyal soldier he will bring harm to his family – that means you - but not just you; your wife, all these grandkids, your sons, and their wives as well. I believe that he would have done something about it himself but for the fact that he’s also been tagged with a constraint that the king uses to control him magically. I’ll be blunt, “Ari said in as serious a voice as he could. “At the moment I have the king distracted. If you or any of your family wants to help your son then I suggest that you let me get you the enfer out of Jehhet.”