Lore of Sanctum Omnibus

by Elaina J Davidson

  Torrullin inhaled again. “Listen. Have you seen a stone shatter, listener? It would be a remarkable lack on your part if your answer is negative. Assumption, therefore, informs you have viewed the phenomenon. Have you, however, seen the stone’s life force bleed away swiftly? A river of death. Have you heard it scream as its blood vanishes into the dust of destruction? Assumption informs in this you may still be lacking. Return to the stones of your birth, aspirant Timekeeper, and shatter the rock. Watch. Listen. And discover the miracle. Discover also the horror of nightmare.”

  Torrullin ceased quoting and was utterly silent.

  “Sluggish stones versus a river of death,” Elianas murmured. “Yes, it could mean Kalgaia. It is ‘the stones of your birth’ that gets to you now, though, is it not? Now that we know you were born in Lorin time.”

  “Excuse me?” Tianoman uttered.

  Silence.

  “Mountain city or Kalgaia, Elianas? Where was I born?”

  “Neither, for neither existed then.”

  Torrullin straightened. “Then there is nothing to fear. Lead on.”

  “Man, there is everything to fucking fear,” Elianas blurted. “Shatter the rock? Discover the miracle? Discover also the horror of nightmare? All of that is present here, along with a goddamned word of power. This is a bad idea.”

  Tianoman stepped between them. “Then this is why I am here. Not as Vallorin, but as family. Would you hurt me?”

  “Never,” Elianas said.

  “Not ever,” Torrullin said simultaneously.

  “Then I am here for a reason. I stand as a reminder to both of you to curb excess, to awaken only what cannot harm.”

  ‘You think we will awaken something?” Elianas frowned.

  “Don’t you?”

  “A word of power at the very least,” Torrullin murmured, “and it will be your greatest achievement, Elianas.”

  “Right. You lead, Tian,” Elianas muttered.

  Tianoman inclined his head, set boots to the road, and started walking. Bumping shoulders, the other two followed.

  THE ROAD DESCENDED and they walked in starlight across a deserted land.

  Shadowy structures ahead gave the impression of buildings, but it could also be the rock formations of the mountains beyond. No one remarked on it, although three sets of eyes remained fixed there.

  “I smell jasmine,” Tianoman murmured after a while.

  Elianas drew a breath, which contained a clear shudder. “I do too.”

  Whoo hoo.

  The sound rose into the still air with resonance.

  “Owl,” Torrullin said.

  “Nature is present,” Tianoman murmured.

  The two men behind him said not a word, but they closed in to walk together. Tianoman halted and waited for them to catch up. He gestured right and left of him, wordlessly.

  Buildings. Cottages such as they discovered in the Time realm. A row of cottages lined the road leading into the city. Here the smell of jasmine was stronger and overlaid with a host of other rich night smells, as if gardens were tended, growing, and in full night bloom.

  “We need light,” Tianoman suggested.

  “No,” Elianas stated. “If the city is whole, light there will be. If not, I prefer the darkness.”

  “The first hand print plate is near the southern tower,” Torrullin said. “We make a decision based on what we find there.”

  “Agreed,” Elianas said after a moment.

  The hand print plates were the devices that opened doors and structures. Torrullin installed them in ages past, a mixture of magic and technology, to safeguard Kalgaia against unwarranted intrusion. Only his handprint could unlock the city, switch the lights on.

  They moved on.

  Tianoman recalled the rounded tower. Kalgaia possessed no gates, but it served as a declaration of a city’s beginning. Beyond laid stables and inns. Kalgaia, however, was not of stone and thatch. This was a city to rival modernity anywhere, built of glass and steel in such a manner it was able to withstand time itself.

  A monolithic shadow loomed ahead, the kind thrown by a tower. It was there. It possessed solid presence and did not project the sense of a ruin.

  Elianas gripped Torrullin’s arm, fingers digging in. “I think we are building it anew as we move forward.”

  An explosion of breath erupted from the fair man. “That is my feeling also.”

  “’The miracle’,” Tianoman whispered.

  “Gods, yes,” Torrullin said. “And ‘shatter the rock’ refers to …” He lapsed into silence and moved to the tower structure in the darkness, reaching out with his right arm.

  Elianas, still attached, came with him.

  “Refers to?” Tianoman echoed.

  “Hand print,” Torrullin responded. “If I break it here …”

  “… all others will release simultaneously,” Elianas said, his fingers digging in deeper.

  “And Kalgaia will arise anew. A true miracle.” Torrullin audibly swallowed. “Gods, I hope so.”

  Elianas hauled him back as he was about to touch the ancient concrete. “Do you hope so?”

  “Don’t you?”

  “I do, Torrullin, but that is not my question.”

  “Truth? I hope, if it is to restore to glory in this time, it happens in one action. This here. Shattering this locking device. Do I hope for Kalgaia’s rebirth? An absolute miracle? I am not certain. I do not know whether to fear this or rejoice.”

  “Then why do it?”

  “For you. However I feel is less than what you need.”

  The painful grip lifted and fingers settled on his cheek. “Thank you. Do it.” The sense of touch vanished.

  “Do it,” Tianoman whispered.

  Torrullin reached out again. If memory served, the device faced the incoming road to the left of the arched window. He moved slightly left, felt the sill under his hand and shifted some more. The cold feel of steel. The indentations of a hand printed into metal. Drawing breath, he placed his hand into the recesses created for it. And pressed down.

  Light beamed instantly from the arched window beside the device, a yellow glow of welcome to travellers on the road.

  Beyond the device a creeper unfurled purple flowers to the balmy night air.

  A cricket chirruped.

  Somewhere a nightjar sang.

  The flap of wings revealed an owl coming to investigate. A spotted bird settled on the peaked roof of the small tower.

  In the shadow of the building, nothing more was evident, but Tianoman’s astonished “All gods” told the two men a miracle had indeed come to pass.

  This time Torrullin’s fingers dug into Elianas and he hauled the dark man into the light with him, after smashing a fist into the plate device. Dumbfounded, they stood together on the road entering Kalgaia.

  The city was massive and everywhere lights came on, blazing out into the night to declare its miraculous presence.

  Graceful glass soared into the heavens.

  Silvery metal glittered.

  Low lanterns lit one landscaped park after the other.

  Streetlights snaked throughout the metropolis.

  The sound of running water was the signal for an awakening city to commence the orchestration of welcome. Wind whistled harmony. Insects created the background chorus. Bells pealed declaration. Wind chimes weaved in. Birds of the night launched into song. Leaves rustled. Water gurgled.

  Kalgaia, city of light.

  Kalgaia, city of music.

  Elianas sank to his knees.

  Tianoman had seen it before, but this was a city living in the present. A city restored to a world now restored. He kneeled beside Elianas, his face rapt.

  Torrullin braced behind them. Kalgaia was beauty personified, of light and air, and love. He created it of the best in people to be a shining example of prosperity and hope. It was his crowning achievement then. It would be regarded as such in this time also. How could anyone deny what now lay spread out before them?

&
nbsp; He hated the place.

  Too much of himself went into this city, until he was depleted in the completion. Here hope had sundered and darkness came, evil, manipulation, suffering. Here he lost love and discovered night.

  He drew breath.

  For Elianas he would hide his hate.

  The dark man had craned around to look at him. He smiled and held a hand out. “Let us see it. And when we know it is unassailable, I shall say your name.”

  Elianas smiled with such relief, he nearly choked.

  All gods, help me now, for this is the stuff of my nightmares.

  Chapter 38

  True power lies only in the heart.

  ~ Arun, Druid ~

  Kalgaia

  “THE HAND PLATES ARE gone everywhere,” Tianoman murmured as they approached the heart of the city.

  “That stone is shattered,” Torrullin said. “Kalgaia is now free and open.”

  Elianas led them. As he walked, his head went up, down, side to side, as if he sought to see all at once. He remained utterly silent, but his eyes spoke for him. Watching him, following, Torrullin knew where the man headed, even if he did not himself understand where he led them. Then it was before the trio and Elianas finally stopped moving.

  The Danae Guild Hall.

  This structure was of black glass akin to obsidian. From the outside it appeared lightless, but all of Kalgaia’s light pooled into the great dome inside. It reflected light, while drawing light.

  Blue and silver stars adorned the outer shell; the sparkles from beautiful buildings all around.

  On tall metal poles, banners flapped. On a black background, a silver sickle moon cradled an emerald star.

  Elianas glanced at the banners. “An emerald,” he murmured. “I had forgotten; it has been so long since I have seen our coat of arms.” He lowered his gaze to Torrullin. “Now I understand about the emerald.”

  Torrullin stared up. “Funny thing. I now wonder which came first; the banner or the method. Which inspired the other?”

  “Here I studied sorcery until my fifteenth year,” Elianas murmured, moving his attention to the dark dome. “It is as it was. Nothing has changed.”

  Everything has changed, Torrullin thought.

  Tianoman faced them. “This is the place.”

  Elianas froze for a moment. “What if my name destroys it?”

  “Then we have been given the gift of sight this night. And we shall treasure it,” Torrullin stated, and took the man’s shoulders to propel him towards the arched entrance. “Your name is great and it deserves its freedom also. Inside, Elianas, where you once made the choices that changed your future.”

  Dark glass panels recessed and they entered. A long corridor of shining black stone stretched before them.

  “The centre,” Torrullin said, nudging Elianas.

  After a moment the dark man nodded, and started walking the length of the corridor. Tianoman, after glancing anxiously at Torrullin, followed.

  He brought up the rear and wondered if anyone could hear how hard his heart beat in his chest. Elianas might be aware of what he was, but he, Torrullin, did not. Would this place and this city survive the uttering of this name, the staking of this claim? If it crumbled, would Elianas survive its death?

  The entire city was as a nightmare to him, but if a name brought it down now, the nightmare would intensify. It would mean nothing had been forgiven, no echoes from another realm had reached out, and Elianas would shrivel inside. Torrullin understood now the miracle and the potential nightmare. Almost he desired to shout at the dark man to maintain the status quo, but understood also it would be worse in the long term.

  What exactly did ‘horror of nightmare’ refer to?

  They reached the centre.

  A rounded space with rising concentric benches along the perimeter clearly mirrored the transparent dome overhead. A metal podium waited in the centre of the space.

  “It seems I based the Dome somewhat on this,” Elianas murmured, coming to a halt. “I did not quite understand that before.” He rested a hand on one of the black marble pillars spaced around the circle. “Sacred ogives.”

  Torrullin closed his eyes, praying destruction here did not herald destruction of the Dome. When he opened them, he noticed Tianoman looking at him, and knew the young man had made a related connection and was now similarly worried. He shook his head, telling his grandson that this had to play out to an ending, no matter what that ending was. Tianoman looked away, tension clear in his form.

  Elianas wandered into the space, looking up. Kalgaia’s light created prisms upon the dome overhead. No lights came on inside this space - there was no need of them.

  It was ethereally glorious.

  Torrullin’s hands gripped together behind his back.

  Elianas swung in a circle, arms thrown wide.

  Water started running and swiftly the stone-lined channels along the edge of the rounded floor filled musically.

  He swivelled again, and amber and scarlet creepers shot up along the pillars, leaves uncurling to reveal pure white blooms.

  Tianoman put a hand to his mouth, entranced despite his anxiety.

  Torrullin watched only Elianas.

  He turned once more and a silvery pool appeared around the podium, a mirror that reflected the sparking hues overhead. Elianas stepped onto the mirror. And then he was unmoving.

  It was time to say his name.

  Tianoman wanted to speak then, but Torrullin clasped his shoulder and squeezed significantly. He left Tianoman between the two pillars of entrance and wandered into the circular space.

  Coming to rest directly before Elianas, he locked gazes with the man, allowing him now to know his fear.

  Elianas blinked, but he did not in any way retreat.

  It was definitely time to say his name.

  He whispered it first, a testing. “Elianas Danae.”

  Light skittered more swiftly overhead and danced from the reflection beneath their feet.

  Taking a deep, filling, expanding and great breath, Torrullin held it, watching the man. Elianas remained unmoving. He was aware Elianas could himself say his name in this space and thus lay the spectre of his true self to rest in one way or the other, but the man had chosen to allow him the gift of speech. How could he deny the gift of this sharing?

  As he released his pent up breath, he shouted this extraordinary name to the multiverse itself.

  “ELIANAS DANAE!”

  Tianoman thudded to his knees and words of prayer tumbled from him.

  Time froze then.

  Matter stilled.

  Energy disappeared.

  Music silenced.

  Light vanished.

  The only sound was the words Tianoman whispered, words of hope, of serenity, a calming for the spaces. And two pounding heartbeats thudded in unison.

  Time unwound, hurtling forward, springing far back, in whorls of colour, tick, tick, tick.

  Matter animated. Tiny atoms of everything floated around them.

  Energy snapped in sizzling flashes.

  The music of the multiverse soared and it was beautiful.

  Light returned, absolute and blinding.

  It dissipated and an amber glow suffused the spherical space.

  Elianas threw his head back and laughed.

  Torrullin did not dare move.

  Then the dark man was looking at him. “I am Elianas Danae and never do I have to be afraid again to say my name.”

  His legs gave way. He stumbled to his knees. Thank you for this. Torrullin did not know who or what he sent the appreciation to, but it did not matter.

  Elianas lowered to his knees and lifted his head. “Torrullin.”

  Everything he was then, felt then, he put into the gaze he offered the dark man.

  “Gods.” Elianas dragged him into his arms and held on. “We are safe.”

  Tianoman was there and both pulled him into their embrace.

  They did not move for a fair while.
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br />   Music soared around them.

  Chapter 39

  Gods may believe they have the right to choose life or death for a penitent, but I ask you, where are the gods? Do you see them wandering around the streets of destruction, choosing life for one, death for another? I tell you, sentience makes those choices in action and reaction. Gods? Do they exist? Are we not gods in our choices? Cease searching for a greater answer or someone to blame. Look inside yourself.

  ~ Scroll of Wisdom ~

  Kalgaia

  THEY DRANK FROM THE water in the channel and all three were refreshed.

  “I am going to be devil’s advocate now,” Tianoman said. He clasped his arms about his raised knees.

  They sat together near a pillar vanishing ever more under the spurting growth of the gloriously alien creeper, refreshed, relieved and unwilling to leave the amber space. Magic was all around them and it absorbed into flesh and spirit.

  Elianas glanced at him. “You have the ability to reason and I trust that. Ask your questions.”

  “Do you trust my insights?” Tianoman asked of Torrullin.

  “You and Quilla are the only two I trust completely,” Torrullin murmured.

  Tianoman smiled. “Thank you.” He quirked an eyebrow. “Tristan?”

  Torrullin heaved a sigh. “Tristan becomes more and more like me. Soon he will be as contradictory in his reactions and thought processes.”

  “What the Dome needs, right?”

  “I hope so,” Torrullin muttered.

  “Poor Tristan,” Tianoman sighed. “Does that mean you do not trust yourself?”

  “Not always.”

  Elianas gave a skewed grin, hearing that.

  “Do you trust yourself?” Tianoman asked Elianas.

  “Not always,” he responded on a laugh.

  “Then I am deeply honoured by the trust you both gift me. First question. Has this changed you, Elianas?”

  “Of course,” he said immediately. “I have my name returned.”

  “Beyond that.”

  Elianas shrugged after a moment.

  “Can you not answer, for you do not yet know, or do you choose not to answer?”