by Jeremy Dwyer
Potion Voyages®
Book 5: Tiara & Tempest
By Jeremy Dwyer
Copyright 2017 Jeremy Dwyer
All Rights Reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, except in the case of brief quotations for the purpose of articles or reviews, without express written permission from the author.
This is a work of fiction. Any similarity to real locations, objects, events or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental, and not intended by the author.
Potion Voyages® is a registered trademark of Jeremy Dwyer.
(Last Revised Sunday, November 18, 2018)
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I’d like to thank my wife, Rachel, and our son, Ethan, for allowing me to work the long hours required to write this book.
Ebook Cover Design was done by http://www.ebooklaunch.com.
Visit the official website at http://www.potionvoyages.com for more information.
Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1: Awareness of the Existence of the Tiara
CHAPTER 2: Ambitions of a World from Beyond
CHAPTER 3: Master of the Wars of Old
CHAPTER 4: Prepared with a Fleet across Oceans
CHAPTER 5: Guided from Temple to Tower
CHAPTER 6: Waiting in the City of Myth
CHAPTER 7: Mission of the Chroniclers of Diamond
CHAPTER 8: Burning with Eyes of Violet
CHAPTER 9: Warning from the Sage in Hiding
CHAPTER 10: Infiltrated by a Verifier of Lies
CHAPTER 11: Baffled by the City of Myth
CHAPTER 12: Assaulted by the Waves of Water
CHAPTER 13: Retreat of the Advisors of Treachery
CHAPTER 14: Lured by a Tempest of Beauty
CHAPTER 15: Searching for the City of Myth
CHAPTER 16: Hidden by the Sea of Darkness
CHAPTER 17: Frozen by the Ice of Wrath
CHAPTER 18: Rebuked by the Torches of Majesty
CHAPTER 19: Surrounded by a Swarm of Tempests
CHAPTER 20: Following the Stars to Secrets
CHAPTER 21: Poisoned by the Venom of Serpents
CHAPTER 22: Preserved by the Purity of Water
CHAPTER 23: Impeded by the Heights of Evil
CHAPTER 24: Hidden in the City of Myth
CHAPTER 25: Battered by a Wave of Hatred
CHAPTER 26: Rescued by a Fool of Fortune
CHAPTER 27: Memory of a Song of Love
CHAPTER 28: Ravaged by the Power of Tigers
CHAPTER 29: Protected by the Love of Fire
CHAPTER 30: Whispering of the Dangers from Beyond
CHAPTER 31: Taming of the Tiger by Song
CHAPTER 32: Angered by the Outsiders of Old
CHAPTER 33: Lost in a Maze of Light
CHAPTER 34: Architecture of the Towers of Strength
CHAPTER 35: Pursued by a Spirit of Evil
CHAPTER 36: Carried by a River to Mysteries
CHAPTER 37: Burned by the Fire of Stars
CHAPTER 38: Guided by a Song of Clarity
CHAPTER 39: Inspired by the Love of Youth
CHAPTER 40: Killed by the Passage of Time
CHAPTER 41: Puzzled by a Tower of Riddles
CHAPTER 42: Crushed by a Hand of Stone
CHAPTER 43: Escaping from an Island of Stone
CHAPTER 44: Gathering in the Waters of Song
CHAPTER 45: Called by a Song of Love
CHAPTER 46: Calming of the Tempest of Seas
CHAPTER 47: Arrival in the Sea of Death
CHAPTER 48: Battle of the Powers of Oceans
CHAPTER 1: Awareness of the Existence of the Tiara
The old woman, Tanith Orenda, sat upon her chair – which was made of human bones woven into an elaborate design – in her own private room. The room was known as the Matriarch’s Room, and was one of several rooms in the water-worshipper’s temple that was hidden on Av’Tovenka Island in the Ikkith Tar Ocean. The room was lit in the same way as all the other rooms in the temple: at each of its twelve (12) corners, a sixty-five (65) foot long, jagged blue crystal, extending from the floor to the ceiling, gave off a bright glow. Together, these rivaled the daylight. To prepare herself for the events that she was anticipating, and to honor her demonic master, she drank blood from a goblet, taken from a recent ritual sacrifice.
She was accompanied by her scribe, Danielle, a fifty-one (51) year old woman who had a patient mind and who was attentive to detail. Danielle drank the waters of the Elanatin Ocean, enabling her to read thoughts and emotions. Danielle was often tasked with telepathic espionage – spying on the thoughts of enemies, writing all that she detected and reporting it to Tanith Orenda. Danielle drank anew of the Elanatin Ocean waters from a vial that she kept, and she was energized with its powers.
“Hear my mind, and write what you learn, so that you may understand many things, child,” Tanith Orenda thought, knowing that Danielle was reading her. Danielle opened her book and began writing the old woman’s reflections on past events.
~~~
Tanith Orenda reflected on the events of one hundred seventy thousand three hundred nineteen (170319) years ago. At the time, she was already twenty-two thousand four hundred eight (22408) years old. The waters of the Ursegan Ocean that she drank enabled her to live such long years, and she was quite attractive in the past time period that she was remembering: she had the appearance of a woman of a mere thirty-five (35). Her health was robust, as the Ursegan waters decelerated the flow of time around and within her, so that she aged nearly imperceptibly slowly.
She had already had many lovers, giving birth to over ten thousand five hundred three (10503) sons and ten thousand five hundred seven (10507) daughters through the ages.
The sons were used for heavy labors, such as carrying burdens, digging and ship-building. They were also used as breeding stock to continue the family line. None would be given any of the great waters, for then their power would have grown too great and made them dangerous. When her sons reached thirty-one (31) years of age, they were massacred, removing every organ slowly and painfully, eliciting the most delightful screams. Their blood was then drunk in ritual sacrifice to the demonic beings that resided in the Maelstrom of Vengeance. They would see her offering, and, she hoped, would respond one day with favors.
However, twenty-nine (29) of the sons over the years were born deformed, and were found unfit for any service, and so their heads were crushed with stones, their blood was drunk for sacrifice, and their remains were burned. The waters of the Trerada Ocean would likely have healed them completely, but she knew that to give them the Trerada water would have endowed them with both physical and spiritual health, and that would have made them resistant to the sacrificial rituals. Tanith Orenda had no intention of losing the opportunity to secure the demonic favors. She had not yet received those favors, but thought of this as a long-term investment that would pay off many times over in the future.
Her daughters were sacred, however. Over the years, as many as thirty-two (32) daughters were born terribly deformed, and these were cared for and shown only gentleness and love, and given lives of comfort and quiet study. They would be given the Trerada waters to heal them if their deformity was crippling, and thus they would be healed completely. Otherwise, the Medathero waters would be given, so that their minds would be suited for scholarship. She preferred her daughters by far, and gave them all the comforts that she could. The healthy daughters were given many tasks and roles of leadership, both over less-experienced females and over the males. They studied, explored, and learned. They reported many of their findings to the public archives in the city of Emeth, after they were given approval by Tanith Orenda herself, who carefully watched everything.
Some secrets were deemed too valuable and were kept secret by the old woman rather than being shared with the rest of the world.
Tanith Orenda was shrewd, and urged many of her daughters, granddaughters, great granddaughters, great great granddaughters and so on down the line to be devoted students of science. They drank the waters of the Medathero Ocean and their already clever minds discovered and deduced many things using logic and mathematics. They knew many things about the geometry of the world, the orbits of the suns and the structure of the water itself. They had deep insights into crystals, as well, and would often guide some of their sisters – those who drank the waters of the Kazofen Ocean – to bend crystal according to their designs. By this, they devised sharpened gems that could cut through any substance. The Kazofen waters enabled them to purify all waters by manipulating the crystal structures to remove extraneous substances, and also allowed them to dig deeper into the mountains and discover the secrets within their stones.
Tanith Orenda wanted endless knowledge, and discovered it through multiple means. Among her many female descendants, there were also drinkers of the waters of the Elanatin Ocean who were sensitive to the thoughts of others. They could spy on her rivals throughout the world, so as to discover what they may know. They learned the secret locations of deposits of diamonds, rubies, sapphires, platinum and other valuable materials. However, not all places were open to them, and the secret war rooms in the ancient empires certainly did not welcome strangers from distant lands to learn of their plans.
Yet, the waters of the Ikkith Tar Ocean granted the powers of darkness to those who drank of them. The drinkers could go under the cover of deep darkness and hide, and this is how some of her many great granddaughters could infiltrate the castles and fortresses and temples and other hiding places of the world, bringing back knowledge to Tanith Orenda.
In the Bazavadoran Isthmus – which was the land bridge that extended from the northwest of the continent of Waderav and separated the Ursegan Ocean on its southwest from the Nabavodel Ocean on its northeast – there was a small castle that belonged to a noble family. The nobles ruled over the towns and villages around them, who were mostly sun-worshippers, and there were many temples and sundials in the region built by those worshippers.
One of the many great granddaughters of Tanith Orenda spied on the nobles and discovered that someone was secretly living in that castle – a man by the name of Serfex-Paveden-Agrotto. He had a concubine – a young woman named Clarice. The girl had no standing – she was a peasant and a housekeeper. Nor did she have a waterbinding, as the noble family who employed her did not want to have powerful servants, so they denied her access to the great waters, and she only drank of the Dead Waters.
The spy discovered that Serfex traveled the world and communicated with ghosts and spoke to stone statues. Serfex was observed drinking the waters of the Ursegan Ocean, which suggested that he was already ancient. As a person could only drink one of the great waters, it was then clear that Serfex could not drink the Zovvin Ocean waters. Thus, after hearing these reports, Tanith Orenda wondered how Serfex could communicate with ghosts or any other denizens of the spirit world. That was the exclusive province of the Zovvin drinkers.
Tanith Orenda found this Serfex to be of interest – if he had somehow harnessed the powers of more than one ocean, then he was powerful and dangerous. She would have to learn his secrets, so she continued to send spies – several at a time – to track his movements and his studies.
The spies learned – by reading his writings in various books – that Serfex was searching for the mythical lost city known as Thalkalana. They also learned that Serfex possessed a brilliant mind – or, perhaps, he was advised by one – and he constructed an object that looked to be royal headpiece. It resembled a tiara, having a silver metallic band with thirteen (13) blue diamonds in it, and he gave it to Clarice. This suggested that Serfex was planning to use the young woman as a symbolic queen in a bid for takeover in some sort of political maneuvering that he was planning, but it was difficult to be sure. Still, the spies watched over the course of several weeks.
One evening, Serfex and Clarice left the castle and made their way, by horseback, to a point on the coast of the Bazavadoran Isthmus facing the Nabavodel Ocean. They dismounted, and Clarice walked into the water, so that her feet and ankles were covered. She then put on the tiara, while Serfex stood on dry land a few feet away. Clarice then reached out her arms to her sides and the blue diamonds of the tiara became bright, and a powerful breeze soon picked up around the young woman and could be felt at a distance.
The spies watched all these things. However, as they were not knowledgeable about alchemy, they did not know what made the gems in the tiara glow. Nor did they have the knowledge to explain why a large area of water was suddenly lifted what seemed like a thousand (1000) feet into the air in front of Clarice. At this, they became frightened. When the waves of water around that area moved violently in many directions, sinking ships out at sea and flooding villages on the land, the spies thought their own deaths were imminent, yet the storm waters did not seem to come in their direction. Instead, they were able to see portions of the Nabavodel sea floor become visible underneath the lifted area of water.
“With the power of the tiger, crush, and rend, and break,” Serfex called out. Clarice walked further out into the ocean, and openings were ripped into the sloping sea floor on which there was only a thin layer of water remaining.
Serfex walked to be next to Clarice and then walked into one of these openings, and disappeared completely.
Then, the girl’s head disappeared, and reappeared on the sandy shore next to the spies, having been severed and flung a distance, as if by a quick sword strike. The tiara was then removed and disappeared. The powers of the waters of the Ikkith Tar Ocean were such that a person who drank of them could hide in the darkness. Yet, they could not see that others were also hidden in the same darkness. That night, there were some very significant others: the Hidden Paladins.
The Hidden Paladins were all drinkers of the waters of the same Ikkith Tar Ocean, and they hid in the darkness and enforced justice. They watched this place as they were troubled by the sun-worshippers, whom they knew to be revelers in wicked things – no one who deified the suns could be trusted, as this was a road to demonic worship. The suns were not, in fact, demons, and the Hidden Paladins knew this very well. However, veneration of any power other than the One True God was an invitation to doom for oneself and destruction for those around you. The Hidden Paladins did not stop the rituals of the sun-worshippers, but they were there to fend off the consequences, which could include the summoning of evil forces.
The Hidden Paladins were unseen by the spies of Tanith Orenda, who were likewise unseen by the Paladins. The spies suspected that the Hidden Paladins killed Clarice and took the tiara, as they were known for using sudden and lethal force against what they perceived to be threats. Yet, suspicion wasn’t proof.
~~~
The Hidden Paladins removed the thirteen (13) blue diamonds from the tiara, and scattered them throughout the world in places that the spies did not know. The silver metallic band that was the empty tiara itself was also taken, as the Hidden Paladins were unable to break it. Their finest weapon – the Vague Blade, which could cut nearly any stone or metal or gem – could not so much as dent it.
~~~
The waters of the Nabavodel Ocean settled down and covered the sea floor once more. Several witnesses to the storm went to the noble family, and blamed the sun-worshippers, who were later rebuked and threatened for causing the tempest by their rituals.
~~~
The spies returned to the water-worshipper’s temple and reported the news of the tiara to Tanith Orenda.
“A un-waterbound peasant woman, by the name of Clarice, was the concubine of the followed man, Serfex. He constructed a tiara with thirteen (13) blue diamonds. The peasant woman wore this and stood in the Nabavodel Ocean. A storm appeared, the ocean waters
rose to the sky, the sea floor became visible and tunnels were bored into it. Serfex entered one such tunnel, and then the woman was beheaded, by agents in darkness, and the tiara was taken,” one spy said.
“The Hidden Paladins, no doubt,” Tanith Orenda said.
“Serfex was searching for Thalkalana,” another spy said.
Tanith Orenda knew that, according to the myths, Thalkalana was the very first city that was built in the entire world, and that it had many secrets for the astute to discover. Yet, some myths were just that, and one had to be careful before spending too much of one’s life pursuing such things. Still, Tanith Orenda had ample time, and numerous clever and loyal descendants, so she could afford to deploy some of them to pursue the matter further.
Tanith Orenda called some of the wisest of her many great granddaughters to appear before her, next to the spies.
“Use your wits, many great granddaughters, and scour the world. Find and bring me this tiara, as well as any secrets about its design. And learn what you can of Thalkalana. It may just be more than a myth,” Tanith Orenda said.
~~~
Danielle wrote all of these telepathically probed memories down into her book, as well, because she was aware that the old woman liked to preserve certain records.
One day, Tanith Orenda knew, she would be unable to continue her own life, for her innate potential for longevity was not an infinite resource. The waters of the Ursegan Ocean could slow down time – and therefore, aging – greatly, and enable hundreds of millennia of life, but one’s own finite innate potential for utilizing the water’s power limited the effect to something less than eternity.
CHAPTER 2: Ambitions of a World from Beyond
In a large observatory in the center of the mile-wide hexagonal steel fortress that served as his primary military headquarters on the planet Votteus, Admiral Quin’Va’Pitar looked through his navy’s most powerful large telescope at a distant world, over two hundred ten thousand (210000) lightyears away. The image of the world was crystal clear, and was not delayed by the speed of light over the distance, for the key lens was made of a particular material that could alter light, and make it burn through the very fabric of space quickly. It was not clear where the material originally came from or precisely how it worked, but his scientists had access to it, and had learned to harness its far seeing powers in their military conquest of their world and dozens of surrounding worlds in nearby star systems.