Osinthaph said, “I’ll remind you that the spheres are merely worlds that are created by human beings, and some of them were natural portals to other worlds that already existed. But a man has to decide what to create and cultivate in the sphere world. Of course, what I heard could be wrong, for much of my knowledge is secondhand. Perhaps other sphere worlds have been created.”
Una-sei was in a distant part of the cave and called out to A-amar and the others. They quickly ran to join him. He had found some food that was only several days old. Some of it was half-eaten, as if someone had been in a hurry.
A question arose—why weren’t the Senetha in the area? Did Nainashari and Etutsha go to the mountains where they were?
Knode advised them to search the cave to find clues to where they had gone.
A matter of days soon passed, and they still couldn’t find Nainashari.
“Could he have visited that desert world you spoke about, Tenashar?” Knode suggested.
Tenashar objected. “It’s not easy to find this world, and Nainashari said he couldn’t go there.”
“The only possible thing is that Nainashari is living in one of those worlds,” said Osinthaph.
Suddenly Una-sei called to them from a secluded part of the cave. Tenashar ran to him and found a man who was very different from the one he had known. He was emaciated, weak, and emotionally unstable. Nainashari was shaking with fear.
With the gentleness of a grandson, Tenashar brought him out of the hiding place and told him that everything would be all right. Marhidium helped to prop Nainashari up and slowly guided him to a nearby cushion. He looked around at Marhidium and everyone else with eyes full of bewilderment. When he was finally resting in a comfortable position, Nainashari passed in and out of sleep. When he gained more consciousness, he slowly started to tell Tenashar what had happened. Since Tenashar was the only person he knew there, the words were only for his ears.
Messengers had come to Nainashari’s cave from the Senetha and Sanashei to tell him about the Orbs. “They said that the scholars of their tribe wanted to understand the secrets of the sphere worlds. At first I didn’t know how the Senetha could have heard about me. Then I realized that my brother Naiena-sa must have told them about your life with the Veazith, and that representatives were sent far to the west to where the Senetha lived, to bring them news of you. I sent the messengers back with Etutsha—it was time for him to go home. At first, he refused and insisted on staying until you returned. He was very worried about you, Tenashar. He had developed a special fondness you. The truth was Etutsha knew what I was doing, and he didn’t want me to be exposed to more unnecessary evil,” said Nainashari.
It had been handed down from the remote time of the Sileizan. Yet there was more than knowledge needed to develop the sphere worlds. The teachings had been passed down among the Sileizan for many generations. The teacher was actually a globe or cube passed down to only a select few Aura-Laei-i.
Unconsciously, an Aura-Laei-i had the skill to make a sphere world work to create whatever environment he or she wanted. Although they instinctively understood the function of the sphere worlds, an Aura-Laei-i went through a phase of practice and learning that sometimes took years. An Aura-Laei-i was like a naturally talented musician who picked up an instrument for the first time and played as if he or she had played the instrument for years. But to use the sphere world, proper practice was needed.
The celestial library would speak to an Aura-Laei-i when the time was appropriate; they could learn a great deal by consulting the celestial library. An Aura-Laei-i could rely on a portable library or teacher to give them the knowledge to build such machines, which in turn would create these sphere worlds. This library had a mind of its own, as if it were alive. Strangely, as a living thing, the library could move around at will without needing someone to carry it from place to place.
At once, Tenashar, Marhidium, Knode, and especially Osinthaph began to simultaneously make a link with the child thing. Suddenly, the emotional stress to their souls simply switched off. Whatever this thing was that unburdened their feeling, it must have been a device that was operated by someone or something that had nothing to do with the child.
Tenashar was feeling a sense of guilt. He should know if this was the child thing they were looking for. So many times, Tenashar didn’t have confidence in his powers. Perhaps he didn’t want to believe that the celestial library could change shape so that it could hide from this child thing.
Nainashari pointed to the floor near the wall of one section of the cave and said that the library was hidden there. Promptly, A-amar found a loose section of the floor that hid a door. He lifted it up and found a brightly lit, transparent, egg-shaped object that almost blinded everyone with its overwhelming light. The moment A-amar touched it, the egg turned into a cube. When he handed it to Tenashar, it transformed into a pyramid.
Nainashari was shaking and slowly pointed to the object while Marhidium helped to steady his arm. “It’s important to understand that this library was a place where I received most of the answers to my questions. In my ignorance, I created more Orbs, believing that most of them were only sphere worlds. But some turned into Orbs.”
“Then why didn’t you stop it, if you knew what you were doing?” In that moment, Tenashar’s faith in Nainashari vanished.
“At first I wasn’t sure what was happening.” Nainashari paused to lick his dry lips. Then he continued. “I should have relied on my own inner being. But I used the part of the library that is encased in the soul of an artificial being—one who brought the destruction of his own world, and the ones who originally created him.”
As he continued, Nainashari told them of an inner knowledge that is already set in each Aura-Laei-i to build sphere worlds and all the wonderful things to help life on this planet. The passing down of instructions from one generation of Aura-Laei-i to another through words was unnecessary because the knowledge automatically became part of each generation. There was a whole library stretching back many eons that was part of an Aura-Laei-i’s being, and which must be discovered for themselves.
Now Tenashar understood why his father told him little or nothing concerning the sphere worlds or such things as transparent waterfalls and mountains. He needed to find the answers on his own; otherwise his skills would lay dormant. There were still mysteries to make sense of.
“We have the child within. We can send this library back to Sahaynaivium to have the council decide what to do with it,” said Tenashar.
Osinthaph reminded him that the child or Asigonth was capable of fleeing, if threatened. The key was to entrap it in one of the Orbs.
Tenashar turned to Osinthaph. “I didn’t hear this before.”
“You never asked,” Osinthaph explained. “I believe that this artificial being has to be entrapped in an Orb. If the Orbs and the child thing work in unison, then without each other, they will fall into disuse. The Orbs wouldn’t die right away, but in a few years, they would be gone. This is the knowledge and the strength we need to fight the Orbs.”
In the confusion that Tenashar and Osinthaph caused by their argument, Nainashari was almost forgotten. Then he started to speak again. “Yes, what this nice girl is saying is correct. I agree with her. Yet to entrap Asigonth will be difficult, because it requires cunning and patience to imprison his spirit.”
Nainashari was quiet for a few seconds. Then he spoke again. “What this means is that Asigonth or the child thing are a confusion of electrical changes racing in all directions without purpose. And the body of the child thing changes constantly. In one moment, it’s composed of plasma, then photons, and at another time electromagnetic energy, and finally cells of energy composed of light of many frequencies. Perhaps this is how an Orb gains consciousness. They aren’t only made of energy.” Nainashari then pointed out, “Tenashar, you, like other Aura-Laei-i, have the wisdom to block the energy from the Orbs—thus making them unable to function as a threat. Perhaps the child is in this
library, but you must enter it through your mind together with the other Aura-Laei-i. I am too weak.”
“What about Cadica?” asked Tenashar.
“She is not of this time, so she is unable to help. As you saw, she and Ilaythesia have other pressing problems. You must attend to your own time, and Cadica to hers.”
Tenashar felt that he was in a dilemma. He would have to take the library back to Sahaynaivium. Tenashar looked straight into Osinthaph’s soul. He smiled and recognized her as an Aura-Laei-i, though perhaps she didn’t know it herself.
“Osinthaph, you’re an Aura-Laei-i,” said Tenashar.
Marhidium, Knode, and Siytai looked at one another. “We are not surprised,” said Knode.
“Put the library between you and merge with each other, and perhaps you’ll find the answers,” said Nainashari.
As they merged into one, Tenashar found that he was in another world. He was now inside of the library with Osinthaph who was near him. At first they found their minds in a muddle of confusion. A blank white mist surrounded them, broken only by the occasional blue string.
With no sense of direction, Tenashar and Osinthaph decided to walk in a random manner to try to find what they needed. They hoped to find the child thing hidden someplace. It was as if a continuous wall of mist blocked them as they moved forward. They felt like they were getting nowhere. The mist started to form a tunnel as the interweaving blue streaks formed shapes of haze that they began to see as they walked. The surrounding walls of mist began to solidify into an almost blue transparent material.
The tunnel gradually transformed into interlacing branches of blue and clear liquid. Tenashar touched it, finding it wet. Osinthaph found that it tasted like water. She remembered that the child thing was supposed to be encased in liquid.
They continued to touch everything, trying to find a door or some other entry. Tenashar climbed up one of the interlacing branches of the tunnel. He went as high as he could, but again he found no entrance to any place. A voice called to both of them. “Go to the central area where the branches grow from. Come and just continue on.”
Where did the voice emanate from? Was it from Nainashari? Eventually they were led to an area where all the branches had originated. The core was dark, as if burnt. The tubes of various colors seemed ripped away. Someone had clearly removed something from here.
If the child thing was there, had it escaped? Osinthaph wanted to continue exploring the core. As she walked into its center, Osinthaph found herself inside a broken sack of liquid. The remains of a control panel were there as well.
Tenashar looked around. “I saw this! Do you remember what I described?”
“Yes, this is the very place,” she agreed. “I think this is what you saw. I hope. But the child isn’t here.”
“Something has happened—as if someone stole the child thing by savagely tearing everything apart,” Tenashar said.
What came to their minds was that Geithelasa might have been here, but they dismissed this concept. How could she know about Nainashari and his cave?
Tenashar suddenly realized something. “When we all met at Cleiadomph’s home, Feiadysium was there. Osinthaph, did you see him doing anything?”
There was a pause as she put her brain to work. “No, he was just there. He didn’t let us know what he was. We found out later that he was an Aura-Laei-i. I didn’t know about him yet.”
“Feiadysium! I sensed that he was working for Geithelasa, and being an Aura-Laei-i, he could have taken the child thing!” said Tenashar.
It was time to return. They joined their palms, and their minds returned to the world.
Gently and quietly, Osinthaph and Tenashar turned to Nainashari, who was now sitting alone in his thoughts, even though there were people all around him. It was as if nothing outside of his head could matter. Tenashar wished that Nainashari could be the person he once was.
Nainashari turned to Tenashar and told him what happened before the events in Sahaynaivium. Tenashar sat on the ground and listened attentively.
“While Etutsha was helping me with some projects, there were some strange sounds in the distant sky. We both ignored it at first and went on with our work. The sound became louder and closer. A huge volume of warm air swept by us, disturbing the leaves of every tree. Then there was a calm, and we continued to work. It remained quiet for most of the day.
“Then Etutsha alerted me to a light in the distance that blinked on and off. He wanted to investigate what was causing the blinking lights, but I decided to hold him back, saying that it wasn’t necessary. If they were people, they would have come to the cave to visit us. We believed that they were messengers or visitors from the Veazith, so we waited until sleep came upon us. As Etutsha and I lay down to sleep, good dreams came to me like a stream.
“I was suddenly awakened by faint footsteps that I thought were Etutsha, but he slept on. Obviously there was someone else walking around. The noise came from the direction of the sphere worlds. As I got up to see who it was, someone suddenly grabbed me from behind, and I was thrown to the floor.
“I saw a hand. Rays of light emanated from it and hit me on the forehead. All kinds of images started streaming into my conscious mind, things and events long forgotten. Even though I was confused, I was sure what the strangers had come for. They wanted the library. I resisted the interrogation, knowing it came from an Aura-Laei-i who was reaching into my brain. There was a lot of pushing and pulling—resistance that almost tore my mind apart.
“I continued to refuse to tell this strange Aura-Laei-i anything, but eventually they found what they were looking for deep within my mind. After this ordeal, I fell exhausted, almost dead, to the ground. Meanwhile, Etutsha awoke and was quickly knocked out.
“When I woke up, there were some figures trying to find the library, and with a lighted rod they started transferring all of its information into a cube. Obviously these strange people had a deep knowledge of the sphere worlds and the libraries. After a few days, both Etutsha and I awoke to finds large parts of the cave in disarray. As we came more to our senses, we realized something had been taken. Of course everything else was taken too, but it was mainly all the information on the sphere worlds and the Orbs.
“Then I turned to the part of the cave wall that hid the secret library. I never understood why these unknown people wanted the library. Etutsha remained at my side to comfort me until the Senetha arrived. They brought us the news of the events that were happening in the Sahaynaivium capital. The Veazith later came to relate a similar story about the council meetings in Himoicum.
“Some of the people from Senetha and Veazith stayed with us to help us clean up and figure out what had happened. Reports were sent to Sanashei, and he sent more people from Senetha to build preliminary caves and houses for the other tribes. When the Senetha arrived to work on the caves, the pace quickened, and with the influx of more people, the work went even faster. With the addition of other craftsmen, things became even smoother.
“Even in my weakened condition, they still considered me a leader. I tried to direct the plans for the underground construction of villages and cities. Etutsha was my second in command. He had learned a lot while living in the cave. He was welcomed by all the other craftsmen and workers as an advisor. Now instead of being a warrior, he was an artist or craftsman in training.
“The work continued apace. But soon it had to be discontinued—the people needed to return to their tribes so that they could prepare and build more underground shelters. For a long while, everything lay dormant. But the men promised to return later to complete the work here. I sent Etutsha home because the Senetha needed his help.”
Tenashar had felt ashamed at what he had previously thought—that Nainashari was the one controlling the child thing. He told Nainashari that he had known of the child thing for a long time. He had learned that it was very difficult to put this child thing under human control. And if those people who had taken something from the library thought they
could control it, they would be in a lot of trouble. It would soon try to dominate them instead.
“This child thing isn’t a fool. It blocked your searches, keeping itself hidden and sending the wrong messages,” Nainashari said.
“But, Nainashari, where is this child thing? Was it hidden in the library?”
Nainashari thought about Osinthaph’s question. Then he spoke. “What do you think?”
She frowned. “I don’t know. Why do you play with us?”
“If the child thing was in the library, I would have known a long while ago. I found ways to unblock this thing and find it.”
“Then where is it?” Tenashar was anxious for the answer.
“In the library, the child thing created a duplicate of itself. It had anticipated the moves of those who came here believing they could capture it. I felt great pity for them.”
Tenashar believed that if the child thing made a copy of itself, it could control anyone who took it. Nainashari agreed.
“The child thing is in the transparent forest. It resides deep under the surface where it is difficult to find. I know what you are thinking, Tenashar. It can’t find a way into Cadica’s world. That doesn’t mean that it hasn’t tried to reach into another time. The child thing is of this time and can’t go to the future. Perhaps it will have to wait to enter the future as each year becomes the past.”
Tenashar asked one question that bothered everyone. If Nainashari had known where the child thing was, why didn’t he destroy it?
Nainashari looked at Tenashar. “Don’t you know the Orbs feed the child thing? It depends entirely upon the Orbs. That’s why these Orbs drain the life force of the land. If the Orbs die, then the child thing will also cease.
“To dig up the child thing would be a lot of hard work—and dangerous. It protected itself with heat, electrical charges, and high-energy plasma.”
Knode frowned at Nainashari. Tenashar tried to stop him, but Nainashari said that it was all right. He understood what Knode was trying to say—that if he knew of the child thing a long time ago, why didn’t he tell others of its whereabouts. Nainashari said he only recently learned the location, and if he told others, they would try to use it to control the Orbs.
Journey to the Grassland and Sea Page 25