The Fallen God

by Gary Mark Lee

  “And if I refuse you will kill me?”

  The Holy Man shook his head, “no, I will kill the Almadra”.

  From the look in Vitranius’s eyes he knew that it was not an idle threat, if I give him what he wants he will have great power, he thought, if I do not he already has the power to fulfill his warning. “You would kill thousands to gain your end?” he asked.

  To this the High Priest laughed “thousands, millions what does it matter? They are small lives unworthy to be lived”, then he stopped laughing, “give me what I want or listen to them scream as their hearts are offered to the Gods”. And ending his speech the High Priest smiled, He will obey, he has no choice.

  I have no choice, Osh thought, he can call for a holy war against the Outlanders, I cannot risk the deaths of those I care for. “What do you want me to do?”

  With a smile the High Priest motioned to the strange chair, “as I have said my mind has been weakened by the Tran, I no longer possess enough mind-power to activate the machine, but you have”, he pointed to the chair, “sit and place the upper device over your head”.

  The Old man did as he was told and slowly sat down in the uncomfortable seat, then he watched as Vitranius put the medallion into an indention on the machine.

  A key, he thought, the medallion is a key.

  And after a moment or two he felt a tingling sensation as if he had touched a Spark-Eel, but he let it pass and tried to concentrate on the task ahead. When he was seated he reached up and pulled the cone shaped headgear down over his skull, then he waited.

  At first there was nothing, and when the High Priest saw no results he moved close to the old man. “You are holding back, focus mind-lock interface on a level two platform and clear external interference”.

  It had been a long time sense Osh had contact with one of the powerful Tollacian computers that were used throughout the Outer Rim but being a Callaxion and bred for such work he had no problem activating is inner mind and begin to reach into the machine.

  It is hard to describe the workings of a Callaxions mind for mere words are insufficient, the closest anyone can come is to say it’s like seeing music in the air or falling into a perfect world were all things touch in a pattern without end. And it was within this world that Osh now floated, but he was not alone for the whispering still remained.

  Hello? He spoke without speaking, but he found no reply for he was still within his own mind and the voices he was hearing were mealy an echo from the outside. So he concentrated harder and moved forward to a place that he knew as the ending of his mind and the beginning of another’s. He now drifted between a world of light and one of darkness and no matter how much he tried he could not pass over.

  He tried every numerical progression he knew hoping that it might trigger some reaction from the dormant machine and gain him access, and when that failed he tried the entire standard interface Mindlock patterns, but still he received no response.

  There is not enough power, he told himself, the machine is sleeping. But as he turned his mind away from the darkness an image flashed before him, he saw a moving mountain of steel and bone, it bellowed smoke and ash and it roared like a thousand demons. And as he stared at it he at last heard a voice.

  “Atos is coming” it said. And then he felt a pain that shook him to his very core.

  “yaaaaaaaaaaaa!”, the Old man screamed as he opened his eyes and tore off the Mindlock covering from his head, he bolted from the chair and fell to the floor of the chamber and lay there drawing in deep gasps of air. The pain slowly faded and when it did he saw the wrinkled face of Vitranius looking down at him.

  “What did you see?” the Holy man asked. “Tell me what you saw?”

  But Osh did not speak and continued to stare into the cold eyes of the ancient Callaxion.

  Chapter 34.

  The Child.

  Nigor the First of all females was the mate of Arm-Ra the First of all males, and for milleniums they were content to rule the universe and hold each other in their eternal arms. Then Nigor became sad for she wished a child to hold to her breast, but Arm-Ra forbid her from creating one for he was jealous of her love and did not wish to share it. But Nigor tricked him by saying that she wished to create an ocean so that she could look at it as they lay together and when he gave her his seed she took it and fashioned a daughter instead.

  And she called the girl child Isarie whose name means Light of the Heavens.

  But when Arm-Ra saw what she had done he became angry and vowed that he would someday kill the child.

  And hearing her mate say this Nigor shook her head and said. “You will not, for I am a mother now and I will guard her till the end of time”.

  Old Norgonie story.

  Andra drifted in a world of soft memories, there was no pain and all thoughts of spiders and death had vanished from her mind. It was the first time in a very long while that she had felt so content, and she wished that she could go on dreaming for eternity.

  This is a good world, she thought, here I can stay and there will be no pain, then in the soft darkness of her contentment an odor filled her nostrils and in an instant she recognized the wonderful fragrance.

  Kurlock pie, my mother’s Kurlock pie!

  At first she did not want to open her eyes for she thought that she would see the world she left behind and not the world that she wished to be in, but slowly her eyes did open and she looked around.

  In the warm sunlight that filtered in to the small room from an open window she saw a wooden set of drawers painted a sky blue with a round mirror sitting on top of it. The plainly fashioned mirror was cracked in one corner and the wooden frame that held it was in need of repair. Beside the mirror was a small box that seemed out of place because it was made of very fine silver, but it too was in need of care for the fastening lock was broken. Also in the room sat a small chair, a worn storage chest with a dozen books upon it, but it was enough to tell Andra exactly where she was.

  My room, she thought, my room when I was a child. She sat up and saw that she was indeed lying on her old bed and wearing the favorite pale yellow dress that her mother had lovingly sewn for her so long ago. This can’t be true; she told her mind and rose from the bed. She stood there trying to understand how and why she had returned home the pleasing smell of warm Kurlock pie once more filled her head and with it she heard a familiar voice calling from another room.

  “Hurry you lazy girl or your pie will get cold!”

  She knew that voice for she had grown up with it, Niana my mother! But Andra knew full well that her mother was long dead and her world destroyed so it was surely an illusion.

  This is some kind of trick, she assured herself someone has given me Boda to eat.

  She knew of the hallucinatory mushrooms because Arn had given her some so that she would not be scared when they journeyed into the deep caves during the Burning Time. But the Hollow Hills were a long way from the forest of Caltarine and even further from the Haunted City that she knew she must be in.

  Someone is doing this to me, she told herself, and because she was a soldier she instinctively looked around for a weapon but the only thing that she could see was a well-used hairbrush and the stuffed lap-kitten that she had received for her tenth birthday.

  She heard her mother’s voice calling to her again and this time it was louder.

  “What’s the matter with you, are you coming or not?”

  Slowly Andra followed the voice and walked from her room towards the well-scrubbed kitchen where she knew the voice was calling from, and as she walked she kept telling herself that it was surely a dream and she would awake at any moment. But she also understood that never had a dream seemed so real, every detail was correct, the faded rug on the hallway floor, the oil lamp on the wall with the cracked wind glass, the sound of meadow birds calling out to each other, it was perfect.

  And the more she looked around the more she wished it all to be real.

  If this is a dream, let me remain h
ere.

  She entered the kitchen and standing at the cooking stove was a woman of average height with long braided hair and wearing a simple dress of grass green, her back was towards Andra as she cut a large portion of the Kurlock pie that she had just finished baking.

  “Mother?” she asked softly.

  The woman turned and smiled at her daughter with warm eyes, “of course silly girl” she said with a laugh “who else would spend so much time baking a pie just for you?” She placed the pastry on a clean dish and handed it to Andra who looked at it for a moment and then put it down on a table in the center of the room. Her mother frowned at her then shook her head, “what’s the matter, you’re not hungry?” she asked.

  But Andra did not hear her words and put her arms around her mother, she hugged her tightly and her mother hugged her back, then after some time had passed with them both just holding each other Niana let go of her daughter and looked into her eyes. And seeing that they were filled with tears she spoke to her in a soft voice. “What’s the matter with you my daughter are you ill?”

  But Andra said nothing and wiping the tears from her eyes she smiled at her mother, “No, it’s just that I haven’t seen you in a long time”.

  “A long time?” Niana said with a quizzical look, “but we went to the market square yesterday, don’t you remember?”

  And not wanting to tell her that she was dead Moonbud simply smiled, “yes you’re right” she said then she sat down at the table and taking up the warm pie in her hands she took a bite. And tasting the sweetness she forgot about spiders and warriors and all the faces of another world, all that mattered to her now was her home, her mother and the warm embrace of memories.

  Let me stay here forever, she asked, here and now is all I need, and she took another bite of contentment, and when she had finished her mother poured her a cup of milk and she drank it all down. Now she sat and watched as her mother cleaned the dish that she had eaten off and listened to her sing softly to herself.

  “Flowers of morning that bring the dawn.

  Birds that flutter and frogs that yawn.

  Wind of the meadows that blows from the west.

  Home is the haven that I love the best.”

  It was a song that Andra had forgotten but hearing her mother sing it once more she remembered more of her childhood and those that loved her. And as she did the images of faraway Gorn were slowly replace by images of her past, war and death now became summer and life, smoke and flames vanished and visions of green meadows and cool winters took their place. Shadowmen, Whiptails, Norgonie drifted away, the dream became real and the real became a dream.

  Let me stay, she pleaded, let me stay forever.

  Niana put down her washcloth and turned to look at her daughter.

  “You had almost forgotten haven’t you?” she asked, and then she drew nearer and looked deep into her daughters eyes. “We can never be forgotten as long as you love us,” she said with a smile, “you are my child and I am your mother and that bond can never be broken, but now you must go”.

  “Go, go where?”

  “This place is not your home now”, Niana spoke, “your home is waiting for you, and there others will hold you and care for you, and you will care for them”.

  Moonbud shook her head, “but I don’t wish to go”, and tears once more began to fill her eyes, “I want to stay here with you”.

  But her mother shook her head, “you must go, you have someone waiting for you”.

  “Arn is strong he will find another”, Andra replied.

  Again her mother shook her head, “no, the King will find you, but you must find another”.

  “Who?”

  And taking her daughter into her arms she looked deep into her eyes, “all you have to do is remember”.

  And as she heard those words Moonbud felt the arms of her mother’s slipping away and no matter how hard she tried to hold her she suddenly felt herself falling again, and the world of her past became a swirling vortex that drew her downward into empty darkness.

  Arn and Ishea moved silently through the dim tunnels of the forgotten city, they did not speak for they understood that danger was ever present and a whisper could bring instant death. They knew that they were heading downwards but to what end they did not know? But the King vowed that he would find his mate and nothing was going to turn him from fulfilling that task. And the Queen would stay by his side for she too had made a promise to the Gods, and she understood that even if she could not see the sky they were still watching her.

  They moved carefully in shadowy light but there was still enough Starfall to keep them from tripping over the broken stone pathway that lay before them. It was not steps that lay under their feet but rather a sloping ramp and looking at it one could see it was well worn from ages of use. The curved walls had sections indented with thick glass that at one time must have been some kind of illumination but that had long sense vanished along with any other power source, now all that remained to light the way was the glow of the clinging moss.

  They did not stop to eat for they had no food, but as they descended they found that the walls began to drip foul smelling water and the floor became a slippery quagmire filled with crawling things of all kinds. And feeling hunger in his belly the King picked a fat Bloodworm from off the wall and ate it without complaint, and not wanting to show weakness the Queen did the same.

  “It is not Rimar”, Ishea whispered “but it is better than nothing” and then she smiled, “but I am sure your Half-Soul mate feeds you well”.

  Arn did not want to travel down that bumpy path of words, “I did not mate with her because of her cooking”, he said as he began walking again.

  And having no fire to fan with her jealously Ishea moved with him.

  They continued down the dripping hallway and as they did the webbing grew more frequent and now and then they could hear stirrings in the darkness and they knew that the Wormrow were following them. Why they did not attack they did not know. Perhaps they were few in number of maybe they were waiting for a better place to launch their offensive? But either way Arn was grateful for the time, and he hoped that he would find Moonbud and together they could face whatever came.

  But he also knew that he had much to atone for, I have betrayed her love, he told himself, and someday I must pay for my weakness. But he knew that he must first find her and take her back to her people, after that he would ask her for forgiveness and pray that the Gods would do the same.

  They continued downward for what seemed like hours, and the more they walked the more filthy water they found, soon they were moving knee deep through a dark muck with an odor like rotting flesh. The foul aroma was overpowering but they still moved forward. Twice they felt something move passed their legs, something that raked the skin and caused the flesh to burn, but the pain was tolerated and they continued on.

  The tunnel opened up into a large chamber whose walls were carved in strange patterns set with massive supporting beams of dark metal. Before them was an entrance with an enormous iron door the height and width of two tall Nomads, it was pitted and rusted with age but still it blocked their way. Arn ran his hand over the rough metal then took his ax and with powerful blows he cut the hinges away from the hatchway and pushing with all his might the door tumbled into the dank water.

  When the King and Queen passed through the entrance they found themselves in another vast chamber, but unlike the last one it was many times greater in size. They could now see clearly for hanging high above was a glowing crystal the size of a Trofar, it was suspended by heavy chains and emitted a bright greenish glow that filled the huge room. There were great stone and steel columns supporting the vaulted ceiling and at one end of the cavern chamber was a tremendous statue seated on a base of black rock. They could not see the figure clearly but from its general shape it seemed a thing of nightmares and not the proud image of a God.

  At one side of the chamber the stone walls and part of the ceiling had collapsed a
nd there was a wide crack that must have led into another room. The stones that had fallen had formed a primitive causeway of sorts that rose a bit above the putrid water and led from the opening to the statue.

  The floor was covered in a layer of stagnant water and it surface teamed with crawling insects feasting on rotting flesh. The odor that they gave off was overpowering and in spite of herself the Queen raised her hand to her face and fought down the urge to vomit, but fighting back the foul taste in her throat she kept her dignity.

  Arn was the first to enter the great room, but Ishea did not hesitate and followed close by his side, together they slowly waded through the waist deep mire and made their way towards the strange statue at the far end of the room. As they moved the water seemed to waver as if something large was hiding just below the surface, but knowing that the floor was shallow they did not pay it any mind. Above them hung more webbing and the gossamer strands were pitted with the cocoons of large insects and small animals, they did not see the owners of these morsels but they knew they were surely hiding just beyond the crystalline light. As they moved several large multi-legged insects crawled up the bodies of the duo, but they crushed them with their fists and their mangled bodies fell into the foul water to be eaten by others of their kind.

  Eventually they reached the other side of the room and stood gazing up at the monstrous statue, and looking at it they could see that it was not the image of anything human. It had a great oversized head that must have housed a colossal brain; the face of the thing had small slanted eyes and only a slit for a mouth. There was no nose to speak of just a series of holes that must have been for intake of air and there was no sign of ears. The body was bulbous and seemed to be more reptile than anything else, it also had several arm like extensions but not what you might call arms, at the end of each of these tendrils were several finger-like grippers that held strange looking devices. It sat on a platform that was above the foul water and at the front of the base were a set of worn steps, these led up to a large flat stone that was finely caved with strange images. The stone was dark in color not from the material that it had been fashioned from but from what had been washed over it.