by Trevor Booth
The dome sped through the massive expanse of ocean, in and out of tunnels, then plunged down along the ocean bed.
The dome came to rest at the base of an enormous cave. Solid see-through crystal walls kept the flowing lava at bay. Gorgeous black granite floors shimmered from the light of green gemstones embedded in the crystal, glowing from the energy provided by the lava.
Two large statues of men dressed in silk stood next to a giant, stone, double-doorway, with a golden sword hanging on each door.
Julius stepped out of the dome. Time seemed to stand still as Jade, the most beautiful woman – in his eyes – came running into the room. Her long, soft blonde hair flowed as she ran towards him and leapt into his arms. He stared into her deep green eyes, a colour befitting her name.
“What are you doing here?” asked Jade.
“My father approves of you,” replied Julius.
“He approves?” said Jade curiously.
“Yes, isn’t that great?” said Julius.
“That’s more than great. That’s amazing,” she replied.
Julius and Jade had been in love for a long time. They had kept their relationship secret from the world because they feared the repercussions. Jade’s father was the former chancellor and their families had been bitter rivals for generations. Ethaniol had drummed into Julius from a young age that they were Jade’s family were not to be trusted, but Julius could not help his love her.
Jade’s family also had no idea of their relationship. Julius was very careful to always go to her house when no one else was home. This was to be the first night that Jade’s family would learn of their relationship.
Jade held Julius’s shaking hand and squeezed it tight.
Julius stopped near the entrance of the home.
“What are you waiting for?” said Jade.
“Come with me,” said Julius.
“Where?” Jade asked.
“Let us spend one last night together before everyone knows about us,” pleaded Julius.
The two got in the dome and headed out of the tunnel. “Where will we go?” asked Jade. Julius ran his hand over a silver disc on the floor of the dome. The disc rose up from the floor, then moulded into a steering panel. Julius twisted the panel and the dome exited the tunnel. It slowed down and floated in the water.
“What are we doing here?” said Jade.
Julius pulled back on the steering panel. The dome slowly floated upwards. “Let’s spend the evening, just you and I, alone in the ocean, just drifting,” said Julius.
Julius and Jade floated through the water, without a care in the world. Snuggled closely in each other’s embrace, they enjoyed their last night of peace together. They both knew, deep down, that tomorrow would be a different story.
***
The artificial light that slowly grew brighter crept its way into Julius’s eyes, slowly but surely waking him up. Living so far under the water, his people had created an ingenious way of mimicking a sunrise, to great effect.
Julius sat up in Jade’s bed in the small and unassuming room. The bed was comprised of a large slab of granite with a soft white mattress on top.
Shiny brown silk sheets covered Julius, but the one thing that caught his attention was the stunning Jade, lying asleep next to him. He had almost forgotten that they had spent their first night together. She slept peacefully, almost smiling as she snored. The gorgeous necklace that Julius had given her dangled around her neck, glimmering in the morning light.
Julius leaned down and gave her a kiss good morning. Jade struggled to open her eyes, then smiled when she saw Julius looking back at her. Suddenly her carefree smile turned to panic.
“Relax. It’s still very early,” said Julius, as he stroked Jade’s long hair.
“You don’t understand. My father comes in each morning to wake me up. If he sees you here, well, I don’t know what he’ll do, but it won’t be good,” said Jade.
Julius quickly got to his feet and put his clothes on. Jade kissed him and led him out the front door, telling him to wait there until she was ready.
At the very moment that Jade closed the door, Dengrid, Jade’s father, walked into the entrance hall. He was a brute of a man, tall and stocky with a thick, bristly beard. He was a very mean-looking man.
“What are you doing out of bed so early? Normally I have to tear you out of bed,” said Dengrid in his deep and crackly voice.
“I invited someone over,” said Jade. “Now, don’t freak out,” she said as she opened the front door. Dengrid looked outside, but there was no one there. “You can come in,” said Jade. Julius peeked his head nervously around the corner, then walked in.
Dengrid’s eyes turned a shade of red, as he visibly did his best to hide his anger. Julius reached his hand out. “It’s nice to meet you, sir,” said Julius. Dengrid stood, unmoved, with his chest puffed out, ignoring Julius’s hand.
“Father!” snapped Jade. Dengrid reluctantly shook Julius’s hand. He shook it so hard that Julius squealed in pain.
“Does the Chancellor know he is here?” were the first words that Dengrid could bring himself to utter.
“We have his full blessing,” said Jade.
“We?” said Dengrid, in a slightly elevated tone of voice.
“Yes. Julius and I are in love. Isn’t that fantastic, Daddy?” said Jade.
Dengrid looked down at Julius with a cold stare that any father would give to a boy who was trying to take his little girl away. “Is this true?” asked Dengrid. Julius shook so much with nervous energy that he felt like he was going to fall over. Jade grabbed Julius by the hand, which seemed to calm him slightly. “Yes,” Julius murmured.
“Speak up, boy!” said Dengrid.
“Yes, sir. I love your daughter.”
Julius looked across at Jade. “I love you,” he said. It was the first time he had ever told her. It was the first time he had told any girl.
“I love you, too,” said Jade as she jumped into Julius’s arms.
Dengrid looked down from his lofty height, with very disapproving eyes.
For the next few months, Dengrid and Julius learned to have an unspoken truce. Julius would stay out of Dengrid’s way and would follow his rules to the letter. For Jade and Julius these were the greatest months of their lives. They spent all their time together, their love growing ever stronger.
They would spend their days with their friends in the large town square. It was an amazing place with a solid glass ceiling letting the light beam through the ocean above, which filled the room with glorious waves of blue light. But its beauty was lost on Jade and Julius. They were so wrapped up in each other that they didn’t notice anything else.
By night they would ride the domes to each other’s houses, always stopping along to the way to spend time just floating in the water, staring into each other’s eyes. That’s how it began.
One night, whilst floating in the blue waters, Julius had an idea. It was something he had been curious about for a very long time.
“Jade,” he said, curiously, “I want to see what’s outside of our city. I want to see the surface.”
“We can’t. You know it’s forbidden,” said Jade.
“Yes, but why? Haven’t you ever wondered what it’s like up there?” said Julius. “We won’t be caught. I promise. We’ll just go up, have a look then come back down again.”
Jade was not easily convinced and she thought long and hard before giving in to Julius’s charm. “Alright,” she finally conceded. “But do it quickly.”
The dome slowly rose. Julius smiled with excitement while Jade looked around nervously. When the dome broke through surface, Jade and Julius both pressed up against the transparent walls, looking out in anticipation. But they were disappointed; there was just ocean as far as the eye could see. Jade sat back down. Julius continued to look out in the hope of seeing something far away. “I can’t believe there’s nothing out there,” he said. “Why are we not allowed up here if there is nothing out th
ere?”
Jade got to her feet. “Julius!” she snapped as she walked towards the other side of the dome. “Julius. Come over here.”
Julius followed her and peered out in the same direction. Coming into sight was a mighty mountain range with peaks that seemed to disappear into the sky. Wispy clouds floated around the summits of the mountains. The sun beamed out from behind, giving off an array of colours. Lush, green grass rolled out into the distance, giving way to forests at the base of the mountains.
Jade took Julius by the hand. “Have you ever seen anything like it?” she asked.
“It’s beautiful,” said Julius.
That place on the surface of the water became their new home away from home. They would sit together in the dome, bobbing on the ocean, looking out at the mountains and dreaming of a time when the two of them could wander the rolling green grass, hand in hand.
Each time they travelled there they got a little more careless. It seemed so innocent to them that they almost didn’t try to hide their crime. That’s when it happened. As they sat snuggled in each other’s arms, the dome started to move of its own accord. Julius looked around in a panic. “What’s happening?” said Jade. The dome began to descend back into the water as if on autopilot.
Julius frantically tried to take control, but it was like it had a mind of its own. Julius sat down next to Jade on the floor. “I think we’re in a lot of trouble,” he said.
The dome descended further into the water. That glorious glimpse of the world above the ocean became a fuzzy memory. The dome went deep into the sea bed, through a maze of tunnels and then surfaced in a dark and dingy room, which was very different to the rest of the city.
The door to the dome opened and standing side by side for the first time in their lives were Ethaniol and Dengrid. Julius and Jade got out of the dome and were immediately seized by their fathers.
Julius loosened his father’s grip and stepped clear of him. “It was all my idea. Jade played no part in this,” he said.
“Julius, no,” beseeched Jade.
“If you must punish anyone, punish me,” Julius said bravely.
“Don’t worry. You will be punished,” said Dengrid. “Take her home,” he snapped to one of his servants. Jade was rushed out of the room with no chance to say goodbye. “As for you … Put him into the holding cell until we can think of a suitable punishment,” Dengrid instructed the guards, who immediately took Julius away. Ethaniol was unmoved, never making eye contact with his son.
For hours, Julius was trapped in the cell with nothing but grey walls and a small bed to look at. He watched Dengrid and Ethaniol argue over his fate through a small window in the door.
Eventually, Dengrid opened the door to the cell. Ethaniol still couldn’t bring himself to look at Julius. “Come with me,” said Dengrid. Julius was getting a lot more nervous. In the past, his father would have gotten him out of trouble by now. ‘What’s the worst that can happen?’ he thought to himself, unconvinced.
Julius was taken by the guards and shoved into a dome. They travelled for miles through the tunnel system – in and out of caves, through great expanses of water, until they reached an enormous hall with massive high ceilings devoid of markings. The only objects in the room were two small lamps that hung over what looked like a concrete coffin in the middle of the room.
Julius was hurried out of the dome by the guards. They were joined shortly after by Dengrid and Ethaniol. Ethaniol got out of his dome and walked straight to the coffin. Dengrid joined him. At the head of the coffin was some sort of control panel. Dengrid waved his hand over it, lighting it up. He slid his fingers downwards on the panel and the clear glass lid opened. “Do you know what this is?” Dengrid inquired.
“No,” said Julius tentatively.
“This, young man, is an isolation chamber. After many hours of debate your father and I agreed on a suitable punishment and, let me tell you, you are lucky you are your father’s son,” said Dengrid.
“Isolation chamber? I don’t understand,” said Julius.
“You are hereby sentenced to one year in the isolation chamber, where you will hear nothing and see nothing. In there, you will be lost in your own mind. You will have one year to ponder what you have done,” said Dengrid, with a smile on his face.
“Father, please?” said Julius. Ethaniol turned his back on Julius.
“You should be grateful to him. The standard penalty for breaching the surface is ten years’ imprisonment,” said Dengrid.
Dengrid motioned to the guards. They took Julius by force and pushed him into the isolation chamber. The guards walked away. Dengrid and Ethaniol stood above the chamber. Julius stared at his father pleading for compassion. Ethaniol was unmoved. The glass lid of the chamber started to slide up. A loud hissing noise began to ring through Julius’s ears. The noise got louder as the glass neared the top. Finally, the glass stopped moving and the almost deafening noise stopped. The glass lid frosted over, the world went dark and there was nothing but silence.
***
A gentle tremor shook the dust off the walls. Rubble lay scattered across the floor. The room was dark and musty. The lamps that had once lit up this place lay smashed on the floor, but the isolation chamber was undamaged.
Again and again, the room shook as light tremors rocked the surrounding area. Small pieces of rubble fell down from the roof, crashing into the floor below. A larger tremor rocked the room, causing a chunk of the roof to break away. The chunk smashed into the side of the isolation chamber, destroying the control panel.
Julius opened his eyes for the first time in eight hundred years. The little light that was in the room caused his eyes to ache. His muscles were weak; it took all his effort to simply roll himself out of the chamber. He looked around confused. He held his head in his hands. The last thing he could remember was the lid of the chamber closing. His mouth was dry and parched, his stomach rumbled with a desire for food he had never felt so strongly.
Julius spied a flickering light from the corner of his eye. Next to the chamber was a small plaque, and hanging around that plaque was the necklace that Julius had given Jade. Julius picked up the necklace and held it tight; he looked down at the plaque, which read:
Here sleeps Julius, son of Ethaniol, sentenced to one year in isolation. His chamber tragically damaged in an accident, here he will forever sleep, unable to be woken. Forgive me, my son.
Julius stepped back from the chamber. Panic set in and he ran out of the room. He ran as fast as his weakened legs would allow him, down the tunnels that once housed the amazing dome transport system, further and further he ran, in complete darkness. His legs were buckling beneath him, but he kept going. Out into the depths of the ocean he went until, finally, he collapsed with exhaustion.
Julius lay on the tunnel floor, staring at the ocean depths below, his heart aching with the one constant theme, Jade. He rolled over and looked at the ocean above. His muscles were quivering from exertion, but the last thing he wanted to do now was rest. A drop of water landed directly between his eyes. He crossed them, trying to see the bead of water, when another fell in the same spot. Within moments, the water was dripping down at a constant rate. Julius got to his feet and noticed a small crack in the roof of the tunnel. Then, with an almighty crash, the roof of the tunnel came smashing down and, with it, thousands of litres of water. The water smashed straight through the bottom of the tunnel like it was nothing, whisking Julius out into the ocean.
Julius looked on in terror as the ocean poured into the tunnel he had just been swept from. Suddenly, a thin film of plastic melted down from the tunnel roof at either side of the break. The tunnel was repairing itself, locking off the damaged area, but also locking Julius out. He looked up at the surface in the distance and started to swim up. He swam faster as the urge to breath grew stronger. He exhaled all of the air from his lungs, but the surface was still a long way away. His face began to turn purple, his heart rate slowed and his vision became blurred.
He treaded water for a moment to get his bearings. In the distance, he could see a large ice shelf that lead to the snowy fields at the base of the mountains. He ever-so-slowly swam his way over to the ice. Every stroke was agony; he was exhausted. He dragged himself up onto the ice shelf and collapsed.
“Sometimes we will never know the purpose of our sacrifices; that doesn’t make them any less important.”
Chapter 8
The Path of Yen-Dori
The cold and lifeless eyes of Antastus, king of the dragons, looked down over the valley of Yen-Karley. He waited atop the hillside as the snow fell more heavily around him and the wind howled past his mighty form.
Three heavily armoured men bowed down at Antastus’s feet. They shivered in the cold as the windswept snow blew hard into their freezing faces.
Antastus looked down at the men with disdain. For a long time, he had hated men and even to be in their presence made him angry.
Antastus rose onto his back legs and spread his wings as wide as they could go, blocking out the sunlight. The men stared at the ground; they dared not look up at him. The dragon wrapped his wings around the men and began to speak in a strange, foreign language which echoed throughout the valley.
The snow started to swirl around Antastus. It spun around, creating a tornado of snow directly over him. His voice grew louder, so loud that it could be heard for hundreds of miles. The tornado gained more strength and the dragon’s wings started to freeze over, creating an ice cave around him. The ice crept higher over him until he was completely engulfed.
The valley fell silent, the snow cleared and the wind stopped. The sun peeked its way through the clouds and the ice that entombed Antastus glistened.
Suddenly, the ice shattered into a million pieces. Antastus spread his wings out wide and roared with a booming, powerful voice. Standing at his feet were the three men, but they were no longer ordinary. They had grown to an astonishing nine feet tall. Their arms and legs had grown so big and strong that the heavy armour that had encased them had burst apart like it was nothing more than cloth. Their eyes had turned dark and cold. Blue, icy veins ran all over their body. The shivering gone, they now stood in the snow, ready to serve their master.