Prophecy

by Gregory Cholmondeley

  Veronica said, “I think you should press the button, Shon. After all, don’t the stories all agree that Janus is the one who destroyed the world?”

  I knew she was joking, but I agreed. I didn’t want to press that button.

  Shon grinned and said, “No way! I am sick of taking all the blame, so I rewrote the story. This time we wipe out the world’s evil and bring magic to it together. You did say I was part of the team, didn’t you?”

  I couldn’t argue with that and realized how much always being considered the bad guy must wear on Janus. Shon was right. We are a team, so this has to come from all of us.

  She handed me the phone and said, “This is where it all begins.”

  Chapter 31

  How Magic Works

  April 27, Mearth

  Stavius opened his eyes and stared at the wooden ceiling above his head. He had been sleeping in one of the hero cottages in the training village. This might be the last time he would ever wake up in this world, so he spent a few minutes savoring its pure air and rural sounds. Sunlight was streaming in the cottage window, and the clatter of people eating breakfast in the communal dining area softly echoed in the room.

  Stavius sighed and climbed out of bed. He was the last one to get up, and the rest were finishing their meal when he sat down at the table. No one was rushing him, though. Ops still wasn’t back, and the others seemed to be in similarly reflective moods. No one was talking about the battle or about their impending task. They were trying to make these final moments last as long as possible.

  Janus broke their reverie by noting that there were still things to prepare before either Ops or the unicorns and their army arrived. The group pushed themselves back from the table and headed for the cave. Saturn grabbed one more slice of toast with a thick spread of blackberry preserves on top as he left, and Versera shook her head.

  “What? This might be the last time I ever get a chance to taste food this good,” lamented their portly instructor.

  They spent the morning building as much of the magical motor/generator as they could. Janus had managed to fit the parts together, but they were missing one crucial element: The Crown of Helios.

  Janus had removed the jewels and ornamentation from the other talismans to reveal their actual purposes. The Spear of Mars was the motor/generator shaft, while the beads on the Necklace of Venus were its bearings, and the Jewels of Luna were the brushes. The Ring of the Air was the commutator, the Core of the World was the rotor coil, the Cradle of Terra was the motor/generator housing, and the Crown of Helios contained the stator magnets.

  The assembled device looked quite similar to the motor sitting in the middle of Great Saltpeter Cave back home. However, it wouldn’t do anything without the stator magnets from the Crown of Helios. Nevertheless, the team hoisted it from Merlin’s workbench. They then carried it to the stand constructed by Janus in the center of the training room.

  Janus connected two thick cables he had fashioned, which extended down into the ground and gave the fan a little spin. The motor spun smoothly but ground to a stop after a few seconds. Janus explained that it should draw magical current through the leads, continue to turn, and create the portal, once the magnets were in place. Until then, the device was nothing more than a decoration.

  Elisa noted the seven mattresses positioned around the generator in the same arrangement as on Earth and asked what they meant. Merlin agreed, noting that he hadn’t done anything like that when he built the portal.

  Janus snorted, “And, maybe that’s why it didn’t work. Listen, I don’t know how much of this is ritual and how much is necessary, but we need to anchor these two worlds together. Jissika claimed this was important, and her portal worked, so I just followed her instructions.”

  Jissika, who’s image was standing nearby looking like a ghost, explained that this configuration was necessary. She said that everything about The Prophecy involved prime numbers and centered around prime number seven, in particular. She then asked if anyone knew the most common element in our atmosphere.

  Veronica moaned that back home, it was smog, and Nariana joked that it was the gas from Saturn’s last meal. Their instructor had just let loose a particularly stinky fart. They all laughed at her joke before Elisa said that everyone knew that our air was primarily oxygen.

  Jissika said, “No,” and everyone stopped laughing.

  “Earth’s atmosphere is only twenty-one percent oxygen. Seventy-eight percent of our air is nitrogen, with the remaining one percent consisting of argon, carbon dioxide, and Saturn’s last meal.”

  “Wow, that is a surprising, and completely useless bit of trivia. But do either of your observations have any bearing on Elisa’s original question about our sleeping arrangements?” asked Nariana. She disliked Jissika and her riddles.

  Jissika simply smiled a mischievous grin and asked, “And, what is Nitrogen’s atomic number?”

  Nariana screamed that she had no idea because none of us had studied chemistry yet when Elisa cried out, “Oh, great gods! Nitrogen’s atomic number is seven! It has seven electrons and seven protons!”

  That shut everyone up. The group stared at Elisa before looking at Jissika, who was silently clapping and saying, “Very good. The seven talismans in your device are the protons, and you are the seven electrons. Specifically, the four heroes are sublevel-s electrons, while Janus, Ops, and Saturn are sublevel-p electrons. Furthermore, the two heroes closest to the device are in Principal Energy Level 1. The rest of you are in Principal Energy Level 2.”

  None of this made sense to any of the heroes other than Elisa. She asked, “But, what about the seven neutrons found in Nitrogen?”

  Jissika smiled, “They don’t have a charge, so they don’t have an effect on the transfer. However, you are correct in that they do have counterparts to bond the atom together. The roles of the seven neutrons are played by Saiph, Betelgeuse, Rigel, Bellatrix, Alnitak, Alnilam, and Mintaka.”

  “Our dragon friends,” Versera and Nariana sighed together in amazement.

  Elisa asked, “But who, or what, are the neutron equivalents back on Earth?”

  Jissika scowled and admitted, “I really don’t know. We didn’t have any, and it didn’t affect the transfer. That is something which I’ve never figured out, and it has always bothered me. Your Janus, however, wants to try a modification, which I don’t believe will have any effect.”

  Nariana seemed particularly pleased that know-it-all Jissika didn’t have an answer. The dragons, who had somehow all crammed themselves into the cavern as well, seemed delighted to have their role confirmed. And, the room was suddenly echoing with a half-dozen simultaneous conversations. Everyone turned to look at Janus.

  Janus said, “Well, neutrons are packed next to protons in an atom’s nucleus and have roughly the same mass as protons. So, there is no way to cram the dragons on top of the generator, especially Juice.”

  Everyone laughed, and Juice tried to take a little bow in the now-cramped room.

  “So, I did the next best thing. I had the dragons donate seven gastroliths, and I placed them around the generator here on Mearth. On Earth, I placed seven similarly-sized stones around our motor. I figure that these unrefined dragon stones contain the dragons’ energy and are roughly the same mass as the device. They won’t add much power but should balance the equation and might give us a smoother ride. Jissika agrees that they won’t hurt anything, so it seems worthwhile to give it a try.”

  Janus noticed Elisa frantically trying to get everyone’s attention and nodded in her direction. She thanked him and turned to Jissika. She asked, “Pardon me, but this business about balanced equations, dimensions, and energy levels is sounding more and more scientific. I’m starting to think that magic and prime numbers are more related to physics and chemistry than mysticism and numerology. Am I right?”

  Jissika nodded and seemed to settle into teaching mode. Stavius felt a lecture coming on, but it seemed as though it would be more exciting than mat
h class or even Ms. Datta’s Club S&M lectures. Besides, they were still waiting for Ops to return with her Crown of Helios so they couldn’t do much else anyway.

  Jissika began, “Magic is only magical to you because you don’t understand how it works. Do any of you know how matter and energy are related?”

  Stavius knew this one and was the first to reply, “Sure, e = mc2.”

  Jissika smiled and said, “You are so cute, but I am referring to matter, while your equation relates energy to mass. Your equation is correct, but matter is more complicated than mass. You should also learn the equation s = f(e, k) or matter is a function of energy and information. And, before you ask, we use ‘s’ for matter and ‘k’ for information because the variables ‘m’ and ‘i’ are already widely-used.

  It was evident that none of Jissika’s students understood what she meant, so she began explaining as though they were small children.

  “Mass and matter are fundamentally different concepts. You can have a kilogram of water and a kilogram of lead which have the precisely same mass but are very different forms of matter. The same is valid with energy. Light, gravity, and magnetism are all forms of energy, but they behave very differently.

  “Consider the dirt, cloth, and smear of blackberry jam on Saturn’s shirt. They all have mass, but what makes them different?”

  Saturn wiped at the stain on his shirt and replied, “They are constructed from different combinations of molecules, of course.”

  This wasn’t quite the answer Jissika wanted. She said, “Yes, yes, and molecules are constructed from different combinations of atoms, which are built from various combinations of subatomic particles. But all mass is formed from the same subatomic particles. So, what causes some of these particles to form carbon atoms while others form hydrogen?

  Urtish softly answered, “The difference is in how those atoms are constructed.”

  Jissika shouted, “Exactly! All atoms break down into protons, neutrons, and electrons, which break down further into a fundamental soup of 42 subatomic particles. The differences between matter and mass, and between structured energy and pure energy is information! A novel would be a good metaphor. The entire story consists of nothing more than a small number of upper- and lower-case letters and symbols. Vocabulary, grammar, and plots are all information for combining those characters into a compelling tale. Thus, our novel and our universe would be pretty dull without information.

  Stavius interrupted with a chuckle. “Forty-two!? Really? As in ‘the answer to life, the universe and everything’ from Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy?”

  Janus was the only other person laughing, and Nariana sarcastically observed, “How very odd. Forty-two is not a prime number. I thought every important number in the universe was supposed to be a prime number. How can this be?”

  Jissika was not pleased with the interruption and glared at Nariana, Stavius, and Janus as she continued.

  “I am not familiar with this Adams fellow, but I suspect that he was some forward-thinking physicist from your era. And, while you are correct that forty-two is not a prime number, it is the sum of two significant prime numbers: 29 and 13.

  “There are 29 subatomic matter particles in the universe. These include various neutrinos, electron particles, quarks, anti-particles, and the Higgs boson. There are also 13 force particles, which include photons, gluons, and weak force carriers. Finally, there are various forms of information. These differentiate pure matter and energy into the 42 particle types and drive them to combine into the myriad of elements and forces forming our universe. Mass and energy are the building blocks of physics, and information is its rules.”

  Nariana interjected, “But what about dark matter?”

  Jissika replied, “Dark matter and dark energy are not real and are not important to this discussion.”

  Nariana scoffed, “I think the physicists in our time would disagree with you. They are pretty confident that dark matter exists. I think you’re just making all this up.”

  Jissika shouted, “I am not making this up! I am just trying to keep things simple for you. Of course, dark energy and dark matter must exist to create a stable universe.”

  Versera said, “But you just said that dark matter isn’t real. Which is it? I agree with Nariana. I think you’re a fraud. You can’t seem to keep your story straight.”

  That insult was more than Jissika could bear. She said, “Very well, I will answer your question. But you will not understand my remarks, and I am not going to take the time to explain.

  “You see, all of the incredible variation and complexity in our universe is governed by seven vector variables in six, simultaneous equations. The coefficients of the variables in these equations are the mass and energy levels of the forty-two subatomic particles.

  “Of course, you cannot solve for seven variables with only six equations. Also, anyone who understands even a little about Eigenvalues and Eigenvectors knows that you cannot have a stable system unless it is a square matrix.

  “Thus, we need a seventh equation with seven additional coefficients to create a square seven-by-seven matrix. Those additional seven coefficients are the mass and energy levels of the seven dark subatomic elements. There are five dark subatomic mass particles and two dark force particles.”

  Nariana said, “But…”

  Jissika held up her finger and continued. “But, while mathematics demands that these subatomic particles and forces exist to balance the equations and create a stable system, they cannot be measured. The reason for this is that their masses and energy levels are not real. Dark subatomic mass particle and force values are imaginary numbers.”

  Everyone in the room was utterly confused, and the only one who appeared to be happy was Stavius. He was grinning from ear to ear because, for once, he wasn’t the one whose question initiated a confusing math lecture.

  Jissika resumed her talk. “As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted, the Law of Conservation of Mass and Energy prohibits either mass or energy from escaping our 3-1 universe. However, that is not the case for information. Information can be transmitted across temporal dimensions as instructions. It can be how to combine matter and energy to create the forty-two real and seven imaginary particles. It can also be a new universal rule defining how to combine particles into specific forms of matter or energy. Or, it can simply be a message.”

  Janus complained, “But Mearth has magic. How can it be the same world or even the same universe?”

  Stavius guessed, “Because magic isn’t magical.”

  Janus stared at his friend with a questioning look, and Stavius continued. “I don’t pretend to understand this, but I think that magic is simply energy combined using different information. The reason why Mearth has magic is that it has information on how to form it that Earth doesn’t.”

  Jessika shouted, “Yes! Magic is nothing more than a different way to combine the thirteen force particles into a new form of energy using additional information. And someone is broadcasting that information on a multi-dimensional sine wave with a 1,231-year temporal period and a 1,033-mile physical period. Oh, and, Nariana, both of those cycles are prime numbers whose digits add to seven.”

  Saturn gasped, “That is the link between God’s word and science! Louis Janus was right. The Prophecy is a message from God sent from the future!”

  Jissika scowled and replied, “Yes, a religious person might interpret it that way. Or, perhaps someone in the future is playing God and transmitting a signal backward through time which alters the physics of our corner of the galaxy.”

  “I did not know that,” came a voice from behind them. It was Mars. The gods had returned.

  Stavius grumbled, “Nice to see you’ve come back, guys. I assume that you’re here to watch the show. It would’ve been nice to have some help yesterday in Septumcolis.”

  Goddess Terra answered, “There was nothing we could have done, and yes, we came to witness The Prophecy’s fulfillment
. You are about to become the gods of your world, just like us.”

  “Well, not just like you,” laughed Janus. “They have bodies. You’re just spirits.”

  The heroes weren’t laughing, and Stavius cautiously asked what became of the four gods’ bodies. The gods claimed they couldn’t remember, but Jissika knew. She stared at the ground as she pointed at four shapes standing in the shadows. The Soul Reapers had also joined the group.

  Jissika whispered, “Teleporting the generator to the Earth’s core ripped my heroes’ minds from their bodies. Both aspects survived and became eternal but separate.

  “The gods’ spirit forms can manipulate magical energy at a primitive level to shape the world and to create new forms of life. However, they can’t perform magic any better than Stavius.

  “The gods’ bodies are the Soul Reapers, who resonate with The Prophecy signal but who have almost no consciousness. They can identify hero candidates and teleport them to the training ground. And, they are the ones who recognize new geographic focal points and teleport the training facility to the new area every millennium. Beyond that, they are merely mindless husks awaiting their next instruction.”

  Stavius felt nauseous. He was about to become one of the very creatures he had most feared his entire life. His body was destined to roam the Earth as a Soul Reaper for eternity while he became a ghost. This was not what he expected. No one had explained that this was a part of the deal. He wasn’t allowed to wallow in his new-found misery for long, though.

  There was a huge commotion at the entrance as two more dragons squirmed into the room. Bea and Reggie had arrived. The once-cavernous training room was now cramped with seven dragons, six travelers, four Soul Reapers, four god spirits, two memory images, and the generator. Janus was glad that Granny had decided to go back to her own cave for a nap.

  “Hi guys, whatcha doin’?” asked Reggie.