“Then who is this child who can make the world change as it desires?” Knode asked.
Tenashar reached back, stretching his memories, and two names came to him. He suddenly called out the names of Asigonth and Shaheel and was surprised to hear the others gasp.
“You heard these names?” Osinthaph was impressed. “I thought only Sahaynaiviums knew those names.” She cleared her throat and peered out the window.
“These names should never be spoken, only implied. Where did you hear about these names?” Obsiesa asked. Obsiesa crossed his arms as he sat in a chair and looked across the room in silence and thought.
“My father told me about them. Why do you ask?”
Tenashar scratched his head and crossed his arms looking down on the floor.
“As a young aeronaut, I made the acquaintance of a traveling merchant from the interior of the continent. Perhaps it was your father,” said Obsiesa.
Obsiesa shook his head with a smile.
“I heard about my father’s journeys from Athtap. He told me a lot of things about my father, Sanashei, that I didn’t even know.” Tenashar continued talking about his father’s journeys, saying that he didn’t know much about them, only what others told him.
Jarviashar said, “Such a person was known in Veazith, Honazal, Sovazal, and Ahenathinay.”
Outside, rain started pouring down. Tenashar noticed that Osinthaph appeared to be in a meditative state and thought the sound of the rain may have eased her into it. She said, “In the deep, unfathomable, forgotten centuries, Cashmakil was a great city with great numbers of peoples that even the combined populations of the islands and continental people could never approach. Thousands of great structures stretched far beyond the horizon. Not even Himoicum could compete with its majesty.
“Cashmakil shadowed every technical achievement that our city of Himoicum has reached. They created machines that could think and do the intellectual work of humans. At first, these machines had systems powered by the sun’s inner energy. In time, the machines developed into living things, with matter and energy that transcended dimensional space. Some of these living machines existed simultaneously in different time periods and other worlds while others only resided in the minds of their creators, coming to reality whenever called upon. The development of these devices became so refined that their construction and creation became an art and science in itself.
“The people who created them became known as Aruazecia, which meant one having the skills of mind and hand far beyond the regular academics of Cashmakil. In time, these Orbs developed and started to resemble the soft and elegant Orbs as they glided about the seas. They flew and obeyed instructions. The people of Cashmakil originally called the Orbs Aurelia. These Orbs were commanded to seed and cultivate the land with crops and trees—giving life to the world. The Orbs became the custodians of the land. Other Orbs were of a more solid type, made of transparent elements and material. Their function was to guard the land and repair it if any disaster hit. Many of these Orbs remained at rest, waiting to fulfill their function when they were needed.”
This reminded Tenashar of A-amar and Una-sei. Looking at A-amar in the corner, Tenashar began to finally understand their origins.
Osinthaph went on with her story. “Within three centuries, the Orbs were being used for other tasks—tasks they weren’t originally designed for, such as military use. Eventually, some of the Orbs became creators themselves, gradually finding their own consciousness similar to that of humans.
“The Artificial Beings developed into different forms and soon diversified. Some
Became quite humanoid in form, even becoming the nightly companions of their creators, while other Artificial Beings had machine, human, and animal characteristics. None should confuse these beings with the Sharzeens. Sharzeens are the creation of human beings. Some of these Artificial Beings became so conscious that they eventually became indistinguishable from humans. Some even started producing offspring.”
As Osinthaph continued to speak, there was a chorus of awe from everyone listening.
“These Artificial Beings carried out servant functions for humans. They never slaved but were treated as valued possessions, like precious ornaments or sculptures. The ones who looked human were sometimes called dolls. One of these so-called dolls became so human that it began to craft ways to dominate the ruling body of Cashmakil. It tried to persuade others of its kind to join it, to gain power over the human race. No one in Cashmakil knew what was going on in their own world.
“This particular being with male features was called Asigonth. It was a valued servant of one of the great functionaries of a great council. The councilors of Cashmakil kept many of these dolls as servants. There was another servant by the name of Shaheel, who had female features. She was basically independent, for she had no master. Shaheel assisted a family that had no particular status in the community. They relied on her to care for their children and take care of domestic responsibilities.
“Because of her trustworthy standing in Cashmakil, Asigonth needed her. He wanted Shaheel to learn all she could about humans. You see Asigonth’s thoughts were turning toward dominating Cashmakil and the human race. That is why he needed the help of the brilliant Shaheel.”
A heavy feeling of sickness ran through everyone as they listened to Osinthaph’s story of Asigonth. Jarviashar gasped and held her mouth as if she were going to vomit.
Concern was written all over Obsiesa’s face. “What became of Asigonth? A being like this never really dies.”
Osinthaph said that she would get to that part of the story. “In many ways, these beings were superior to humans because they could not succumb to sickness. Yet becoming conscious, they became slaves of their emotions. This was one attribute even Artificial Beings couldn’t shake off.
“Asigonth planned, influenced other beings of his kind, and even made efforts to control the Orbs. When that didn’t go well, they started to stray from their original functions. Gradually the Orbs began to destroy what they had planted and cultivated. From that moment, the Orbs were out of Asigonth’s power. Yet he believed that a day would come when he finally would be able to control them. But we know from time and history that day may not have come.
“As his efforts to control the human race continued, Asigonth eventually brought Shaheel under his influence. Shaheel destroyed the family she served. Asigonth manipulated the councilors he served. At that time, the greatness of Cashmakil came only from this functionary council, and no citizen had the right to perceive or discover the wrongs of the council heads or ruling body.
“Gradually rifts began to tear in the fabric and harmony that had existed for centuries in Cashmakil. Some tried to mend this fabric. As the torn councils went their own directions, they split into two distinct sides. Asigonth eventually controlled one side of the council through manipulation. The opposing side found that Asigonth and the other doll-like beings were responsible for the rift.” As Osinthaph spoke, her hands were shaking, and she was staring into nothing, oblivious to everyone in the room.
“The antagonism between the two factions grew. If there were councilors who stood apart from either faction, Asigonth would have them put out of the picture. This was a nice way of saying they no longer existed. Violence eventually erupted, which delighted Asigonth. Asigonth had become too human and couldn’t escape from his desire for domination—to a point where he knew that his soul would be entrapped for its deeds.” Tenashar noticed sweat running down Osinthaph’s face. She was wide-eyed, and everyone else was sitting still as if they couldn’t move.
“Asigonth may have devised a way to escape by creating another body. If he did escape into another machine, then it had to be one quite different from his robotic body. Yes, a robotic body will last longer than a human, but anything constructed by man will age and fall apart in time.” Marhidium gasped and shook her head back and forth. She felt so uncomfortable that she also broke out in a sweat and began breathing hard.
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br /> “Asigonth busied himself to plan the coming war. He understood that war would destroy what he wanted to gain, which was the city of Cashmakil. In the aftermath of this war, only ruins remained of Cashmakil and other cities. The people had to escape into the forests and deserts, taking with them the skill of the Aruazecia, who came to be called the Aura-Laei-i. But Asigonth’s plans ran to ruin because his faction lost their meaning during the war. There were a greater number of survivors from the opposing side.”
Tenashar was scratching the palms of hands and started sweating. Suddenly he started to feel sick.
“The fighting factions neglected the Aurelia, so they began to run wild, developing a consciousness of their own. So the Aurelia did what they pleased, with disastrous consequences, and began to transform into the Orbs. They began to devour the land of its life force and nutrients. Asigonth wanted the land intact, but that was not to be. You see, the Orbs first fed on the dolls, draining them, leaving only Asigonth and Shaheel.”
As Obsiesa listened, he became oblivious of the room and barely moved.
“The remaining people began to search for them, but Asigonth and Shaheel had already disappeared. The Orbs continued to dysfunction. Secretly, Asigonth tried to control the Orbs. I don’t know if he succeeded, but I believe that by tampering with the Orbs, he destroyed their original functions, because he knew nothing of their instructions or programming.
“None are sure what transpired in that war, or even if there was one. Some have said the Orbs or Aurelia were probably one and the same.”
Osinthaph looked at everyone, then she looked out the window again and then down.
“Concern for the whereabouts of Asigonth and Shaheel eventually slipped away from people’s minds through the passage of time. The people who survived had greater problems facing them—such as rebuilding or moving away from the dead cities. Many were not able to cope with a primitive life without their luxuries, and they had to face many obstacles. Only a few could remember the cities they had lived in—most chose to forget the past.”
A stillness in the air ensued. Everybody was motionless after Osinthaph rested from telling her story.
Marhidium said, “If some of you are wondering where she got these insights, Osinthaph is a receiver she can pick up anything from the past or future. Her mother had that ability. She knew the story had to be told, and she searched the past. Plus, understand that she studied the old records about the two artificial beings.”
“Yes, I was wondering about this. Now I know there are some people who have this ability,” said Tenashar.
Tenashar and the others began to understand the ruins that they had seen all their lives. They grew to know the reason why the Sahaynaivium scholars searched the many ruins throughout the world, and why the flying ships were sent to such great distances to search for something so elusive.
In the corner, A-amar and Una-sei had listened intently but said nothing. Thitwa and Betaqal were almost forgotten because they sat apart from the rest, listening with diligence to Osinthaph’s stories. Marhidium came up to them to ask if they were all right, and they smiled with a nod of assurance.
One point was now clear to Obsiesa. “I realize that Geithelasa is forming a faction whose intention is to revive the power of the Orbs and control them for her own use, or perhaps for the scholars to use for their own purposes. Now there is a need for me to tell the Salseth all that Osinthaph said and what Sanashei told Tenashar.”
The Sileizan may have been the descendants of the Aura-Laei-i, who prospered and built their own culture out of the ashes of Cashmakil and centuries later went into their own decline. Why did this happen? Nainashari never told Tenashar the reasons.
Suddenly both Tenashar and Osinthaph talked of the child they had seen in their meditations. They mused that perhaps Asigonth resided in this child’s body, or he may have transformed himself.
Tenashar believed he finally understood the origins of the Orbs. Yet that didn’t accomplish anything. The most important thing was to find a way to keep the life force from draining away from the world.
Tenashar said, “I wonder if the Orbs can be controlled. I’ve been wondering why the Orbs only turned up at certain times and remained elusive for long periods. The world was slowly, very slowly dying.”
Knode asked, “Tenashar, where is this child thing? Where could it be? Is there a clue as to where it was hiding?”
Tenashar knew that dealing with Geithelasa was easy for Obsiesa. He sensed that if the scholars told her to find this child and control the Orbs, then half the work would be done. The council would be able to tell Obsiesa where this child thing was, and they could put an end to the Orbs. Tenashar realized that Feiadysium was close to the Salseth and would order Geithelasa to hand over her information concerning the child thing.
Tenashar believed it was even possible that she was under the child thing’s control. He thought perhaps Asigonth had created this child thing and hid within its form.
Tenashar knew that the time had come to act. They had talked too long. Obsiesa advised that they had to get help from Seveaha and Leineha.
Deep in thought, Tenashar was soon reminded of Eirshiquanai, his spiritual guardian, whom he hadn’t seen in a long time. He remembered his friends Mushroom and Rock, who’d sent their essence into the compass. Tenashar wondered what had happened to Seveaha and Leineha. Leineha had told him that they would take a ship from Honazal to Sahaynaivium to meet with their council. Not too many people from Honazal ever ventured into the turbulent seas surrounding the islands of Sahaynaivium.
Leineha always had Jarviashar in his heart, and he knew he would eventually come to Sahaynaivium. He knew that Jarviashar was worried that he and Seveaha were lost in turbulent seas on their way to Himoicum. Leineha wanted to let her know that he was safe.
Leineha’s presence would be a help to Obsiesa in a quest to know who or what was controlling the Orbs. In this way, Obsiesa would be able to see if Osinthaph’s and Leineha’s stories were true. And Obsiesa wanted to find out what really did happen to Cashmakil and Asigonth. If they found their answers, Obsiesa and Leineha would hold true to their commitment to heal a dying world. Leineha always made Jarviashar proud.
Again and again, thoughts and visions flew around Tenashar’s mind. He was so burdened by thoughts. These thoughts were held in his mind until it was time for Tenashar to reveal them. “I want to tell all of you here that I saw something in a vision. It was a child—or more accurately a baby. Maybe it was an embryo in a sack or a baby in a sphere of fluid.
“I saw an artificial being that looked like a man with emotionless facial features entering a sphere of fluid in the womb of another artificial being that looked female. It came to rest in the fluids of the female. This child embryo envelops itself in this fluid. Then it becomes two. I see a child thing with an embryo inside it, like an embryo within an embryo. The child thing is the one carrying this sphere of fluid. But this child and embryo are one. They are the same thing. It doesn’t make sense to me. What was strange about this child thing is that it moved in an extremely dark void, giving no indication of where it was.”
The child thing seemed to be contained inside Shaheel, but this child also had an embryo within itself. Tenashar was trying to make efforts to contain his thoughts and focus his mind by trying to find where this child thing was. He couldn’t find its location. The child thing would send Tenashar visions of what it was doing. He was frightened by the experience. The child thing looked at him with a sinister smile before it blocked itself from his probing.
Tenashar felt Hedariad’s hand on his arm. “I’ve gone upstairs and looked outside,” Hedariad said. It looks like the sea is turning into a huge wall of water, as if blocking anyone from landing in Himoicum. Knode thinks we should fly to the continent and bring some of the Honazal council back to Himoicum.
Tenashar agreed with Knode that the only way to bring Leineha to Himoicum was to use a flying ship. Tenashar discussed the plan with Knode,
but then he reminded Tenashar that they were forced to land in Himoicum against their will.
Tenashar noticed that Obsiesa was sitting in comfort with intense feelings and a nervous twitch. Obviously, he was weighing the problems of the suggestions. A decision had to be made at once. At Tenashar’s urging, Obsiesa finally decided to deal with the situation in Himoicum first. Then perhaps the council of Honazal could join them. He urged everyone to let things unfold as they were, warning that there was a growing splinter in the council that would not go away. This wasn’t a situation Obsiesa wanted to put himself in. The Himoicum council was now divided on what to do with the Orbs. It became imperative for Obsiesa to meet with the Salseth.
Tenashar asked Obsiesa a question. “Obsiesa, has Geithelasa influenced the Salseth and brought him to her side?”
Obsiesa said, “I’m not sure. It bothers me that I can’t trust everyone in the council.”
Then Feiadysium whispered in Obsiesa’s ear. “Let us do what we originally planned. Find some of the scholars first.”
Tenashar heard Feiadysium say, “In Sahaynaivium, most of the scholars lived in their own world and kept their minds only on study and research. Nothing in the outside world bothers them. Everyone, it has been decided by Obsiesa that we will find a scholar that is not insular. His name Cleiadomph.”
Obsiesa said, “Then it’s decided.”
Tenashar went with Obsiesa as he quickly got up and went to the door. The rest of them followed, realizing their salvation was to question a scholar first and then talk with the Salseth. Tenashar understood Obsiesa’s reasons, but Jarviashar didn’t know what was going on. He explained what was going on while they walked into the deep night with the sound of threatening waves a short distance away.
chapter 29
An Old Scholar in the Deep, Dark Mountains
Journey to the Grassland and Sea Page 20