Land Of The Gods

by Abhishek .

  Daniel led his group from one side, swimming towards the teleporter, while Mathias approached it from the other end.

  “Stop! Stop! Stop right now!” Hamasaki yelled. Everybody, including Mathias, stopped swimming. Hamasaki faced Daniel mustering all his courage. “What are you trying to do?”

  “Taking us all to safety,” Daniel’s face was a face of boredom. “How? Tell me that in clear terms!” Hamasaki pointed a finger at him commandingly.

  “Ask the boy,” Daniel smiled and pointed casually at Mathias, “He’s the one who discovered Noah’s ark and wiped off those aliens by doing nothing but shooting red light!” Daniel chuckled while spitting out some water, bending his head in the tiny airspace left between the water and the glass above.

  Hamasaki looked at Mathias and considered it for a moment. “Where are we going?” He shouted over the sound of gurgling water.

  “We have to go through the teleporter! Only way! Quickly! We can’t wait for long!” Mathias yelled back before diving into the water.

  Hamasaki looked through the water and he couldn’t see anything but dark green depths. “Are you mad? This cannot work! We will drown before we even reach that! This is madness!”

  “You don’t want to come? Then don’t. But I do not like any obstacle in my path,” Daniel said calmly. In the next second, a Glock pistol bubbled up from the water. In the next moment, the four soldiers were all shot in the head.

  Hamasaki turned and shielded his head before being shot through the right shoulder blade. Blood splattered on Vivek and Lifana’s face who screamed at the sight of the red liquid oozing through Hamasaki’s wound.

  Groaning heavily, Hamasaki brought up his other hand. He was holding a grenade in his hand. Sneering through his teeth through the pain he felt, he said, “I do not want to go to Asr-Gawa in this situation. No one leaves this place. Any false move and I release the pin!” His finger was tantalisingly placed on top of the pin.

  Daniel’s gun was down as he realised that if he fired, the grenade would surely go off. Mathias was frozen too far from Hamasaki and Lifana was terrified. They were stymied, and the water was rising. Time seemed to have finally run out.

  Hamasaki’s eyes were dangerously glazing over and if he passed out that would also be curtains for everybody.

  “Come here Hikaru!” commanded Hamasaki. “We are going to leave this place and you are going to tug me away.”

  Hikaru was cowering in one corner of the watery grave, barely managing to stay afloat. He drew himself up sharply and looked at Hamasaki. His hesitation was palpable; and he was weighing his choices.

  “COME QUICKLY,” screamed Hamasaki, “Otherwise I am going to release the pin!”

  “No! No! Please! I’ll come with you! I’ll come,” Hikaru joined his hands and bent down his head, shaking violently and bobbing up and down in the water. He moved towards Hamasaki, and reached the side of the man and stayed still on the water with his eyes fixed on the rest of the group.

  Daniel started to speak just as Vivek made a lunge for the grenade. He was normally much stronger than Hamasaki but the water and the lack of oxygen slowed him down and the lunge did not reach the older man.

  Hamasaki was startled but quickly brought up his injured hand which now contained a hitherto concealed gun. With his grenade-holding hand rested on Hikaru’s shoulder for support, he aimed the gun at Vivek. As he tried to pull the trigger, Daniel tried to aim his Glock but Vivek was in the way. As Vivek closed his eyes waiting for the end, Hikaru moved fast. He could not tolerate this any longer and watch his teacher and one-time good friend Vivek in danger.

  Hikaru jogged the arm on his shoulder, caught hold of the grenade and managed to throw Hamasaki to one side, thereby spoiling his aim. The small gun fired into the water and Lifana and Mathias winced in fear. Daniel did not let go of the chance, and trained soldier that he was, instantly brought up his gun and fired from under Vivek’s outstretched arm and hit Hamasaki straight on the head.

  Daniel stopped the smoking gun’s barrel at his head, looking at Hamaski with stony eyes while he sank in the water with eyes that were radiating fear and hatred in equal amounts.

  Daniel replaced the gun in his holster and dived down into the water which had turned a cloudy crimson around Vivek, Lifana and Hikaru. The Japanese boy slowly raised his head and sighed heavily. He had chosen in favour of his friend and guide, and in his own mind betrayed his uncle and his country while trying to choose right over wrong.

  Together both parties swum down towards the lit body of the teleporter, glowing like the floodlights of an underwater research submarine. Vivek had his protective arms around the smaller and weaker Hikaru, unspoken thanks in his gesture. No sooner had the water filled the entire first tier than both parties reached the teleporter. Already feeling the burn in their chest, Mathias gesticulated at Daniel to arrange themselves right over the circular space inside the torus. When they were all suspended in their positions, Lifana found herself now on Mathias’s back, heading further down to the control pad of the teleporter. Mathias’s shrugged her off his shoulder and held her firmly by his side, motioning her to activate the teleporter. As the feeling of going back home settled in her mind, Lifana smiled and forgot the embers kindling in her lungs. She took to the control pad and did something that Mathias could not make head or tail of. She turned a glowing oval ball in a receptacle and pushing buttons and sliding across digital surfaces that completely escaped my comprehension.

  Suddenly, the teleporter started to vibrate, resonating throughout the watery landscape. Just as Mathias had envisioned, the vibration reached its peak before the teleporter fired up.... and time stood still.

  Mathias looked up at the threesome suspended over the swirling sphere of blackness and distortion—perfect statues. Mathias looked at Lifana and as he was half-expecting, she remained unfazed. For a moment, Mathias noticed the suspended bubbles near the surface, the frozen ripples creating a distortion near the large dark gaping hole which filled the cavern, the furniture and machinery just staying where they were, the world becoming static.

  However, as Mathias swam upwards, he noticed large irregular bubbles of vacuum forming wherever he displaced the water, as the rest of the water didn’t move to fill up the vacant space. Inspired by the science involved in hydrodynamics, Mathias shook his head as hard as he could while swimming upwards, and sure enough as the water started displacing, he found his head in pockets of dry space. Yet, he could not breath well since these pockets contained a negligible quantity of air. However, the water molecules moved only when they were in contact with Mathias and Lifana, so he found almost no difference while swimming.

  As soon as he reached the top of the teleporter, swimming over the chilling inky blackness of the spherical hole, Mathias shivered slightly, feeling as if he were moving over nothingness, that one small slip would be the end.

  Lifana dismounted from Mathias’s back. Mathias raised his palms and indicated that he would manage everything. With that, he pushed her into the sphere grudgingly, feeling as though he was pushing her over the edge of a cliff into an endless abyss. When she froze too and started to redden, Mathias swum above each person and pushed them into the sphere, fighting an urge not to do so himself.

  Vivek was the next to go and seemed quite composed when he passed through the teleporter.

  Before he pushed the soldier and Hikaru, he pondered for a few seconds. Should he bring them along too? Why should he? They meant nothing to him? But the angel on his shoulder advised him to push them too. The soldier after all had helped him save his friends.

  I can’t just leave them here to die. Anyway, Asr-Gawa is no secret to them.

  Suddenly, Mathias could hardly move. He felt like his lungs were ablaze and craved for a bit of air. Grotesque images of drowning and water filling up his lungs crossed his mind. Gathering the miniscule remainder energy, he pushed both of them down into the void before swimming towards it. Vivek and Lifana had already disappeared, and he
feared that the teleporter would close before he could reach it. He had a strange thought swirling, as if the events of the past few minutes were haunting him—something had happened which did not seem quite right or proper—yet he could not put his finger on to it.

  He shook his head and tried breathing in the empty space around his head, but the burn in his lungs was not alleviated. Nothing filled his lungs. He was losing consciousness. In the last precarious second he thought of Ram. There was this one slim chance of meeting him again but that too seemed out of grasp. His eyes closed and lungs burned when unknown to him, a pair of legs pushed him towards the sphere. The old Asurian Technician was pushing him, his eyes burning red, his own lungs trying their best to give him the strength. On one hand he held the Chiemsee Cauldron which was glowing strangely and with the other was pushing Mathias hard by his legs. Concentrating his strength in one final push of his legs, the Technician pushed Mathias, on the verge of unconsciousness, into the sphere a second before it evaporated out of existence.

  Kapittel 68

  Asr-Gawa

  March 16, 2017, Thursday, 1210 hours EET

  Baldr removed his right glove, rolled up his sleeve and rotated his right arm behind the wall of secrecy created by his feet resting lazily on the Council counter. A frown creased his face, lips inflating into a small pout as he noticed a scarlet patch blemishing the back of his hand up to a little above the wrist. As he looked closer, the skin appeared to be wrinkled, like the frail, loose skin of a withered old man. Some parts were gradually peeling off, and as he touched the sore epidermis, he cringed in pain as if thousands of needles had suddenly pierced his skin. It felt like a burn, even though he never came remotely close to flame recently, but Baldr of course knew what caused it. Nothing too serious, he hoped. “Baldr?”

  Baldr kept examining the strange nature of his malady. “Baldr?” Odin called more firmly. Baldr looked up and quickly rolled down his sleeve and gloved his hand, a little edgy.

  “Huh?”

  “Today was supposed to be the day when the largest portion of the Mandaa element was shipped to Asr-Gawa, correct?” Odin’s hologram asked him, taking his time to articulate every word with a smile that never left his face.

  “Oh yes, yes. I believe word of that is already waiting for me. I’ll check my projector when I go back home,” Baldr nodded sincerely. He kept swaying his foot sideways on top of the table, nearly touching the holo of the clan member next to him who sat facing Odin with tight lips and cheeks.

  “Very well! We shall be waiting for the updates on that operation. Then, fellow Asurians, our solution has proved fruitful! With the Mandaa element here, we will be able to replenish our Makto reserves and bring an end to this dreadful energy scarcity issue. Let this day go down in history as the day our society was pulled back from the edge of doom!” Odin declared and the clan members clapped their hands on their thighs. Baldr joined in, beating his thigh softly, avoiding his right hand.

  “Then let’s call it a day for today.”

  Baldr entered his room in time to see the holographic projector light up. Eagerly, he sat on his chair a second before a three-dimensional projection of Migdur’s bust materialised in front of Baldr.

  “Greetings, my Lord,” Migdur bowed curtly.

  “Greetings, Migdur. How did it go?”

  Silence befell them for a few moments. Migdur swallowed nervously. Baldr was instantly alert. Something had happened.

  “What went wrong?”

  “Everything, my Lord. The conduit is destroyed and the teleporter is submerged under deep waters. A short circuit seems to have drained it of its power and a vast quantity of the element has been lost in the flood,” Migdur looked down as he spoke, talking quickly almost as if to get it over with, as fast as possible.

  Baldr turned away from the projector, inhaling deeply and checking his rage. Problems, he knew, could not be bulled through. What one needed was a clear, rational mind.

  “What, in all the dimensions, can cause a disaster like this?” He asked patiently.

  “It was the boy, my Lord. Mathias Thorson,” Migdur said and explained the whole story of Mathias the saboteur.

  Baldr’s left eyebrow rose. Even through the mist of rage threatening to cloud his mind, he was clapping for the boy in his head. After escaping him in the mountain range, Thorson had returned with an explosion. He checked a final box in his mind, feeling strangely satisfied in the boy’s abilities. Destiny, Baldr thought, had its way or working things out. Destiny works in a way that eludes mortals, but ultimately, after many forks and bypasses, the path of two individuals intertwine as planned.

  “You’re saying they might have escaped through the teleporter? When it was underwater?”

  “Yes, my Lord. While it still had some power before the circuitry fried up.”

  “So they are coming here to Asr-Gawa?” Baldr asked him, his eyes lighting up.

  “That’s where the teleporter had been directed to.” “But they are Mandaas. How’d they operate....”

  “We believe they had an Asurian among them. A girl. We do not have the database to find out her identity, my Lord,”

  But I do, Baldr thought gleefully. Things looked grim for the planet of Asr-Gawa, but not necessarily for him.

  “I see... fix the damage and get it up and running quick. Time is of the essence. Guess I’ll have to cover this up as another delay in the council. But this can’t go for long, Migdur. You know what happens without Makto.”

  Migdur nodded courteously and the projector blanked out shortly before another projector adjacent to it lit up. Baldr conjured up another mask for himself when the hologram of his wife materialised.

  “Hello, darling,” Baldr smiled, resting his cheek on his fist.

  “Hello, Baldr. Listen, umm, I might be a little late today.”

  “What is it?” Baldr frowned petulantly.

  “You know, dear. It’s official.”

  “What official?”

  “It’s classified, Baldr. I can’t tell you.”

  “You don’t trust me, Nanna? Your husband? Whom will I tell any of this classified information. I just want to know why my dear wife will be late.”

  Nanna looked at him askance, waiting for a few seconds. “Unauthorised entry.”

  “Must be an uncouth Lok Vve member. The trouble that they cause is just appalling!”

  “I don’t think it’s them. I’ll contact you once I’m done. I’ll see you again,” Nanna cut the connection and the projector went blank, but not Baldr’s eyes. He slurped his saliva in anticipation. If it wasn’t Lok Vve, they were here.

  * * *

  “Hilsener, Herre Baldr,” Heimdallr nodded. With everybody else, his nod was perfunctory but with his brother-in-law, there was something else. He never took his eyes off Baldr as he bent his head, as if he were carefully watching him. “Hilsener, Heimdallr.”

  “Where to, my Lord?”

  “Hel, Heimdallr.”

  Heimdallr walked over to the control pad, adjusted the location finder on the Chronoscale and fired up the teleporter. As he was tweaking the gauges and control factors, he said, “It’s one terrible place, Hel.”

  Baldr, who was facing the scenery beyond the torus of the teleporter shot a glance at Heimdallr before turning back.

  “After the frightful event that took place there, because of Lok Vve, I wonder how much Makto is even left there to be profitably extracted.”

  As the distortion started to appear, Baldr grinned and turned to completely face him. “What does your code of conduct say, Heimdallr?”

  “Well, it says a great many things, my Lord.”

  “No. What about questioning the motive of the minister of external affairs and Makto enrichement?”

  A quietness settled briefly. “I was just giving voice to my thoughts. This job of mine has a reputation to be quite lonely, my Lord. The teleporter is up,” Heimdallr pointed.

  Baldr turned his body but didn’t move his eyes, his gradually
red shifting body still staring icily at Heimdallr.

  * * *

  Baldr opened his eyes and found himself in a tiny sealed room, painted a dull grey with walls that seemed to close down on him, hiding the outside world completely. He walked to the single thick door in front of him and grabbed a sleek black mask from a hook on his right. The surface was glossy black with a protrusion for the nose and slightly dented cheeks. It didn’t have any eyeholes, just beads with a faint green glow, two set into the nostrils and a dozen around the jaw.

  As soon as he donned the mask, the lower edge clicked into microscopic grooves on Baldr’s collar. A black serum seeped out of the mask, every molecule finding its way to the gaps in the fibre, the void between the atomic particles that made up Baldr’s attire and seeping into all parts of his clothes to turn them ebony black. He always felt embarrassed to wear this in front of his personnel, feeling that he wore a jacket made out of soaked sponge from where the liquid never fell away.

  For a few seconds, Baldr felt helpless as he saw nothing save pitch black inside his mask. Hailing from one of the most powerful clans in Asr-Gawa, he liked to try and put himself in the shoes of the beggars on the streets, a rather steadily increasing populace now. He found an unexpected amusement in doing so, not only opening his mind to different perspectives of looking at life but also igniting a certain humanitarian fire in him. Baldr considered this a vital aspect of development as a leader, a ruler or... an almighty dictator.

  As soon as the displays came on Baldr exited the sealed room and walked down a corridor with transparent walls and ceilings.

  His nostrils dilated and his brows furled as he saw the desolate landscape around him. Baldr was always disheartened to see the sky overcast with unforgiving dark clouds, black barren lands and a ghastly red haze hiding the distant horizon. No trees grew towards the sky, no animals frolicked around the hills. Before him was a wasted stretch of land. This was what the end looked like.