No one understood that. Not even John.
Two days later, Ken walked into the vault behind the bank manager. After exchanging pleasantries, the woman left him to probe into his box in peace.
A package, wrapped in aged cloth and tied with twine, caught his attention first. He picked it up and shook it, inclining his ear. A clunky object thudded on the inside. He set it aside and studied the next item. It was a tiny drawstring sack with odd writing on it. Setting it next to the first object, he picked up the envelope and tore it open.
Kiku Aoki’s familiar scrawl touched a chord in him. Ken swallowed his misery and focused on the contents of the letter.
Ken,
Your father gave these items to me. I do not know what they are. At times, I suspect your father didn’t know either. However, he made sure to keep them safe based on a promise he made to his grandmother.
I hope you will do the same.
Keep moving.
God bless and love.
The short letter did nothing to alleviate the mystery surrounding the items, but with gentle hands Ken folded the paper and placed it into his pants pocket. He reached for the small box first. Carefully he untied the twine and removed the outer wrapping.
It was a box made out of dark blue clay. The lid was covered with dust. He brushed at it and saw a dull gold design inlaid on the surface. The top had a large symbol. It may have been an animal, but he could not point out which one.
He took off the lid. Nestled in the interior was a large, grayish, hollow half-shell. He pulled it out and studied it closer. The texture of the shell had a leather feel to it, smooth and with the merest hint of flexibility. Along the inner surface, vein-like demarcations spread along the cavity. The markings led to the stem-like appendage that jutted at the apex. Ken hefted the shell in his hand. It weighed less than a pound. The rounded half was smooth and dark green. Ken shifted it back and forth in his hands. What was it?
After a minute, he placed it back into the box.
Next he reached for the sack, pulling the ties apart. He tilted the baggie, and out rolled a fist-sized rock. Along its surface, a dark stain, somewhere between dark brown and black, was merged onto it.
“A rock? Mom left me a rock?” Ken spoke aloud in the space. He ran his hand along the surface of the object.
The next instant, he was under water. The ocean flowed around him. He sank further down, his body weightless, but with a specific destination in mind. He felt the water swish around him. On the sea floor, a wide mound caught his eyes. Ken drifted further down. Something moved under it.
Ken opened his eyes, only now aware he’d closed them. He backed away, gasping. What just happened? What in the world just happened?
CHAPTER TWO
Rhychard!
The name, the essence of it, shattered the centuries of darkness that buried Ludo under the ocean floor. Through the hibernation cycle, he sensed Rhychard’s presence, despite the fact he had not fully awakened from his self-induced slumber. His coma-like state grew more alert with each passing second. Awareness came in degrees. Memory crashed onto his consciousness like the earthquake caused by Mars. Thousands of images darted in his mind. Each one incited him further into cognizance. The rage that had lain dormant now simmered within him.
Rhychard!
A slow burn warmed his cold body. The heat crawled into his veins, and tiptoed up his spine. It eroded the lethargy that encased him. His atrophied muscles pulsed from the scorching sting of his awakening. Within him the burn continued. It plunged into his lungs and filled them with air. Rhychard’s presence pervaded his mind. He could almost feel the other in the small chasm with him.
Ludo continued his efforts. The ground beneath him sank a little as the earth moved. Then he pushed at the barriers with his hands, clawing at it. Patience provided an escape from the lair and he stood, the dirt drifting off him to the ocean floor.
Rhychard, or rather his descendant, was alive.
Ludo squatted down, digging his hand into the ocean floor. His fingers searched for the object that his mind could see.
For a frightening moment, only dirt and displaced rock met his seeking grasp. Then he connected with a smooth surface and he exhaled. Carefully, he withdrew the object from its hiding place and clasped it in his hand.
All was well. Ludo closed his eyes as the dull sense of fright seeped into oblivion. Then he opened them and surveyed his surroundings.
.
Rin Uchida’s breath came out in short spurts of air. Her heart thudded against her ribcage almost painfully. On automatic mode, her graceful body ran down the passageway in the cave. She had to get to the Elder. He had to know.
Long tresses of burnished ginger hair lapped against her back. They reflected the firelight from the sconces lined along the rocky façade of the passageway. Shadows danced on the wall as she made her way. They taunted her with their silent laughter as if to say, “There is nothing you can do.”
Rin shook her head in denial at the traitorous thought. Another bend to her right sent her to the Elder’s quarters. His two trusted aides, Callen and Michel, stood outside of it, their thin wiry frames and dark hair and eyes fixed on her. Callen, the one to her left, nodded. Pushing aside the animal skin curtain nailed along entrance way, she darted in and stopped to catch her breath. The Elder’s quarters greeted her like the mouth of a large creature. The room was several hundred meters in depth, and long, irregular-shaped stalactites studded the roof. Flowstones gleamed under the brightness of the firelight pirouetting in the center of the gallery. A clean scent permeated the room.
In the center of the room, the Elder sat atop more animal hide rugs, his back facing the entrance. Rin forced herself to calm down. She knew the old man preferred docility over excitement, so she took the time to gather her hair and braid it into a long plait down her back. It had the desired effect of stilling the blood leaping in her veins. Once done, she retained a modicum of self-control.
“Come, Uchida—chan,” the Elder commanded formally.
She had long decided the Elder had eyes in the back of his head. She accepted this and obeyed him.
“Sit with me by the fire.” He extended his hand.
Rin came forward and kneeled before him. She bowed in deference and he acknowledged it with a nod. Then she scooted until she sat cross-legged beside him.
“Uchida—chan, what is it you have to say?”
“Senpai, Venus and Mars have taken formation against—”
“I know,” he interrupted her softly.
How could the Elder be so calm? Her mind worked furiously to regulate the emotions she’d thought she conquered, but which surged underneath the weak restraint in place. The event the juusha of Rhychard had all been waiting for with trepidation and bitten nails had arrived. Druid’s Spear would appear this year. Her breath hissed between the miniscule spaces of her teeth. Wasn’t the Elder as disturbed by this as she was? Did he not grasp exactly what happened today?
The old man took her hand and caressed the back of it in a gentle, fatherly way. Warmth spread along her skin and her rushed breathing slowed. He had always been able to soothe her back to herself. She didn’t look at the Elder but knew he studied her with an intent gaze from his crow-like eyes.
He let go of her hand. “What else is it you have to tell me?”
Rin clamped her lips down as if the very action would hinder the words from finding voice. The vision repeated itself in her mind. Mars glowed red in the obsidian backcloth of space. Its fury touched Earth and wreaked havoc on her waters. Earth splintered open and shook the foundations of the sea.
Legend had it the Creator had taken the water from Mars and given it to Earth as punishment for his disobedience. Eon upon eon, he watched with a disdainful eye the royal blue purity of Iethiga. When the Children of the Sun aligned to attack Earth every two hundred years, Mars sought its vengeance on her through the very medium that had been stolen from him.
Yet old myths and legends woul
d not have sent her to the Elder.
“I’m afraid to tell you, Senpai,” she whispered in the silence that engulfed them.
“Speak clearly, Uchida—chan.”
Rin shifted her gaze from inner contemplation to the charcoal dark regard of the Elder’s eyes. They had an unnatural gleam to them, the abnormality a desired and much-needed constant in her life.
“Ludovicus has awakened.”
The Elder released her hand. He said nothing for a long while, and she sat in stillness. Sounds of activity drifted around them. The hum of rushing water from the small stream touched her ears. Bell-like dripping noises from the stalagmites above them filled the interior. Various unseen animals that lived in harmony within the caves scurried about. She had the impression of the unseen creatures’ thoughts penetrating her mind. The beasts were sensitive to the charged atmosphere in the room. Rin knew they wondered why.
“It is time to begin the mission Rhychard—sama would have us to do. We must find his Descendant.”
Rin bit her lip. She’d wondered whether this day would come in her lifetime. The juusha of Rhychard waited for hundreds of years for this event to come, when the Children of the Sun attacked their sister, Iethiga, and the Druid’s Spear slashed the skies. Rin’s time to retrieve the Descendant had come. Was she up to the task? Could she really fight against Ludovicus and remain unscathed?
“We must tell the others about this, although I sense our people already know.”
Rin cleared her throat. “The people are aware, Senpai.”
“And you, Uchida—chan? Are you aware?”
Rin pulled her legs up and rested her chin on the top of her knees. The Elder’s words penetrated deep into her skull. Being aware was entirely different than being ready. She’d trained her whole life for this mission. Known what she would have to do. Aware? Yes, she was. Ready? That was a cavern unexplored. Yet her resolve remained to do what she must in order to bring about Ludovicus’ end.
“Hai, Senpai.”
The Elder patted her head. “Good. No one is more suited to bring about Ludovicus’ end than you, Uchida—chan.”
Rin’s eyes widened at the unexpected accolade. Quickly she knelt once more before the Elder, head prostrate to the ground. “I am humbled by your praise, Senpai. But how can you be so confident about my abilities? I am but a child.”
She heard the Elder stir and then felt the rough, soft caress of a gnarled finger lift her head. His black eyes sparkled in the fire-lit cavern and held her own with a rare intentness she’d only seen once before in her life. “Let us just say I am more confident in your child-like weakness than my son’s adult strength. You will succeed in bringing about Ludovicus’ end because you were born for such a time as this.”
Ludo swam upward until he reached a cleft of rocks, then took a moment to see the changes time had wrought.
The canals under the ocean teemed with life. Fish of all color assortments swam past him, their eyes empty of intelligence, instinct driven to eat and procreate. Near him, a bed of algae bloomed as tiny bubbles made their way upward. He turned to his left. A school of jellyfish made its course through the water, the mushroom shaped heads flapping. Something touched his foot and he glanced down.
Next to his three-toed foot, a giant crab walked along the ocean floor. Ludo stared at it for a moment, his eyes honed in. Then he reached with his dark scaled hand and grabbed the crab, studying it. He observed the way its legs moved in protest, how the claws snapped at him in ferocity. The black beady eyes, empty of intelligence but filled with instinct.
Instinct, Ludo mused, looking intently at the captive in his hand. Animals all over were possessed by it. Breeding, mating, protection. A powerful force to be reckoned with. In that regard, little had changed.
The next moment, Ludo shoved the crab whole in his mouth. He chomped on the hard shell that splintered like glass under his teeth. A gush of the crab's insides assailed his tongue, the meat spongy and soft. In the crustacean's fight for survival, a claw clamped onto the side of his mouth. Ludo used his split tongue to flick the claw into the channel that led to his stomach. An antenna from the crab floated out, and he grabbed it and sucked it down with the rest of the body.
So much for instinct.
Ludo stretched his body, a mass of diamond hard scales that sheathed sinewy muscles. The dim light from the surface highlighted his skin, gleaming iridescent in hues of indigo. He took stock of his body and saw that in the last century or so, algae had attached itself to him. It must have made its way inside of the cocoon, although he had been buried under the ground.
The green stuff peeked through his scales like mold. He scraped at his scales. It gathered under his talons, so he cleaned them and flicked it away from him to float into the waters.
A rumble in his belly indicated he needed more sustenance than the crab provided.
He leapt up and started to swim in the ocean. The pressure of the water assaulted his scales, but it did not deter his path. Fluid as any native to the water, he moved past currents and ripples. Searching, searching for food. After all, in his own way, he was a creature of instinct.
Soon, he saw a giant white shark in the water make its way further afield. It was nine feet long, and bare fringes of light flowed over its body. The pearly, luminescent skin glowed. Ludo’s eyes gleamed.
He swam to it, his feet a mere blur in the water. Without warning, he crashed into the shark, hurtling it off course. The shark turned around, its black eyes filled with bewilderment at what attacked it. Ludo saw the rows of razor teeth and the giant maw that came toward him. He waited.
When the shark was upon him, he reached into the cavernous mouth, dug his hands into the roof of it, and yanked. The shark wriggled in frightened confusion. Ludo continued to pull, hooking his hand under the meaty lining of its teeth. The gums spurted out blood as he began to separate the teeth. The shark struggled to get away. It bit down in a futile endeavor to rid itself of its predator.
But it was no use. The razor sharp teeth didn’t make a dent on Ludo’s body. Before long the top row of teeth were stripped away. In a murky swirl of blood and dislocated teeth, the shark tried to get away, but Ludo reached back into the mouth of the animal and did the same to the bottom row. The taste of blood, sweet and coppery, sent Ludo into frenzy. A bloody cloud drifted around them in the water.
The shark swam away from the site. Ludo caught up with him. With a vicious tug, he pulled off the shark's fin as easily as tearing cloth. The animal jerked in the water, helpless as an eel, but still trying to get away.
The instinct to survive is strong, Ludo thought, chewing on a fin as he watched the predator flailing. He did not go after it. It would not be long before the animal was destroyed by those that liked carrion, dead or alive.
Moments later, another shark, bigger than the nine foot, made its way in the murky, blood-soaked waters. Ludo watched as it swallowed the shark whole, its orifices as impressive as its twenty five foot length. Yet, it wasn't any different from the shark Ludo had destroyed.
The instinct of opportunity was bred in all life. The colossal shark saw the dying animal as a meal. Regardless how it happened, it had taken advantage of it. Ludo finished his meal and made his way up and up to the coming light. After two centuries, his senses and his instincts were sharp as ever. It was time to return to the surface and to the world of men.
Ludo surfaced from the water, rivulets streaming down his body and cascading over the leather-like skin. His claw-tipped toes dug into the earth. He reveled in the sensation of the dirt between them, alive once more after two centuries of sleep.
The shark meat digested in his belly, and he rubbed his stomach in a gratified way.
Ludo took in the scenery around him. The moon glowed in the sky, a luminous pale sphere of infinite beauty. Blessedly, the night was clear. The stars studded the sky like gems. However appreciative of their beauty, he focused on what he wanted to see. The celestial phenomena that had awakened him.
There in the sky, the formation of the Druid’s Spear. Mars shone angry in the vivid blackness of the sky. The marker of his life. The sight of the planetary bodies sent a surge of hope through his veins.
At last. At last.
The wind blew across his face, and he inhaled deeply.
Then gagged.
The stench of humans permeated the air like a rotting carcass. The scent of their flesh, stank, dank, and putrid, entered his nostrils with invading force. Ludo bent over, gasping. He took in deep breaths to adjust his nose to the rancid aroma.
Minions or not, he would always hate that first whiff of human flesh.
It took long moments to adjust as he stood there. When he straightened, the smell became bearable. Purposely, he put one foot in front of the other.
An hour after moonrise, Ludo entered the cave. The unique, less offensive scent of Gilon’s descendants led him to this place. His juusha met him at each awakening, their eyes filled with the reverent fear he expected.
Large and medium-sized rocks littered the entrance. Ludo stepped on them and they disintegrated on impact, resulting in a billowing dust cloud at his feet. Further into the cave he came upon a sinkhole filled with crystal clear water. The ever deepening darkness within the interior carried with it an atmosphere of stagnation. It had been over two centuries since he last visited this place.
As he made his way, he heard the flutter of small winged rodents flying overhead. A rodent flew close to Ludo’s position. He reached out and jerked it from its flight. In one fluid movement, he shoved the animal down his gullet. A squeal of pain rose from the rodent but Ludo used his tongue to shift it around his mouth. The still-struggling rodent irritated him. Once the head was placed under his back teeth, he crushed it with the downward force of his jaw. Blood, hair, thin membrane, and bone moved back and forth in his mouth.
The Druid's Spear (Ascent of the Gem Bearers Book 1) Page 3