Thesila Prophecy - The Journey Home

by Robert Rumble

  This time they choose straight wherever possible. Mashaun leads the way down the darkened passageway past a dozen intersections. The tunnel goes up and down, sometimes curving. There is no telling night from day inside the tunnel that seems to go on forever. Once, they stop and take a long break, giving everyone a chance to nap and eat.

  After hours of walking the passage opens into a large cavern. The walls have many smaller caves, with large square pillars down the center with ornate carvings. They can hear the sound of a waterfall echoing in the otherwise silent, darkened grotto.

  They walk to the pillars in the center of the room, with slow and deliberate steps. They find dozens of pillars around the cavern, each having two archways going through the base in both directions. About nine feet up from the floor, each pillar has a sphere that slowly glows brighter as the party approaches them and dims as they walk away. To the surprise of everybody, there is no dirt or even dust on anything, just like the cave. They find the waterfall, and it must be over thirty feet high. At the base of the falls is a large circular pool that flows out to the center of the room and disappears under an archway. Mashaun is the first to stick his hand into the water. It tastes clean and cold like a mountain stream. They decide to rest, and it isn’t long before they’re asleep.

  CHAPTER 23

  http://www.thesilaprophecy.com/race/

  Thesilarns

  Without the sun or the sound of the outside, the group sleeps for a long time before the sound of lots of scuttling feet wake them. At first, they don’t see a thing, but slowly the shadows seem to move closer. In the dim light, the shadows seem to have a thickness to them. Gradually Mashaun rises to his feet, grabbing Dalistra, asking who they are, and why he slept so soundly. She tells him that they are the Thesilarns and that according to legend they disappeared after I became a bow. How dangerous are they? Mashaun thought. Dalistra doesn’t know, now.

  By now, everybody is waking, and he whispers to them do not move. Mashaun walks to the shadow, which moves away as he advances. Offering a greeting as he moves, hoping that someone will step forward. After a moment, one of the shadowy figures moves out and becomes separate from the rest. However, it’s hard to tell anything about the shadow except for it’s a little taller and thinner. It speaks in Mashaun’s head in a language that neither Dalistra nor Mashaun understands. Mashaun slowly shakes his head, telling them that he doesn’t understand.

  The shadowy figure points at Elina and motions for her to go to him. She rises and walks toward the shadow with slow and methodical steps, and as she approaches, the amulet around her neck begins to glow. Slowly words become visible. She reads them aloud so that everyone can hear. The words who are you appear in her medallion followed by What do you want. She repeats the phrases and looks at Mashaun for an answer. Before he can answer, a new message appears. How did you defeat the demon? Again, Elina repeated the words. Mashaun introduces himself and then the rest of the group, starting with Elina, telling them that they are travelers seeking knowledge. He finishes by asking, “What demon?” The four-armed snake by the lake appears on the disk.

  “Oh, you mean Siguredea. It wasn’t hard. I just sent her home,” Mashaun tells them. The party looks at him with pomposity. From the shadows, there is a low murmur, and the party can feel the tension increase. Elina backs up, and Mashaun steps forward when he hears Elina shout NO a couple of times. Mashaun looks into the sphere to see the word Thesilans appear in red. He looks puzzled at first before remembering what Siguredea told him about a wizard that bound him there to guard the lake. The shadows start to move around them when Elina shouts no.

  A shadow points to Ericka with the staff and the words lightmage, deceiver, and murderer appears in the globe. Again, Mashaun says no while holding his hands up. The shadows seem to materialize before them, brandishing long, narrow curved blades and closing in around them, ready for a fight. Mashaun quickly says that they are not from this world. They just want to go home. “The Thesilans are dead, and they are gone from this world.” They stop, and the word demons appear. He shakes his head, saying, “No, we’re not demons, we’re not Thesilans, we are just people.” The shadows stop moving for a moment before they fade back into the massive blackness of one. Is this true appears? Mashaun nods his head yes as do the rest of the group. “Your thoughts do not lie,” “Apologies,” “Greetings,” then “It has been a long time since anyone has visited us”—she repeats the words, and they nod their heads. The shadow introduces herself as Sabinina of Thesilar’s crystal-growers caste.

  Mashaun introduces the group to Sabinina, who each nods their heads.

  Sabinina asks about the creature outside, and Elina says that it is gone, “He sent it home,” pointing at Mashaun again, and the shadows nod. The group is excited that they found the Thesilans; however, the shadows remind them that they are Thesilarns. The shadows continue asking questions about the outside for some time, and Elina would answer until Sabinina asks them to follow. The Thesilarns slowly surround them as Sabinina leads them across the expanse of the cave. Like the waves of an ocean, the shadows flow in and out, sometimes touching one of the party members in a curious way.

  Sabinina leads them to a large room off the main cavern with several large circular tables with an open center, with about a half dozen chairs on the inside and over a dozen chairs around outside each table. At one side of the table is an opening about two chairs wide, allowing passage to the inner chairs. All of it grown from the rock itself. The light in the room is a little brighter, like a clear night with a full moon. They can clearly see that their hosts have large bat-like ears and noses while their eyes are slightly smaller than normal. The shadows invite each person to sit on the inside of a different table. A meal of cold fruit and vegetables is set down in front of them. Each of them has a sphere placed in front of them that acts as a translator, sending words both ways.

  Up until now, the questions focused on the outside world and their own world. This is really the first time that the group can ask their questions. Sabinina tells them that they have lived underground for dozens of generations ever since the Thesilan summoned all the rock shapers to the capital. Shortly after that, the demon showed up and trapped them in the caves. When Berg asks why they tell him that they don’t remember. For hundreds of years, the three castes that made up the Thesilans lived peacefully together. “We worked as a team to improve the lives of all, the Thesilar, or crystal growers, the Thesilau, or water shapers, and the Thesilay, or light benders. We would grow the rocks or the holes in the rocks while the water shapers created the waterfall that supplies us with an abundant supply of clean freshwater, and the light benders harnessed the powers of light. They’re that created the light spheres, but they need the sunlight to recharge, and we have not been able to recharge ours.”

  There used to be four Thesilan cities: Thesilau, the city under the water, where the water shapers lived; Thesilar, here, the city under the mountain; Thesilay, the city of light in the desert; and the fourth and most beautiful, Thesila, the city on the mountain, the ruling city of all the lands. It was the most glorious of all the cities, with its crystal edifices reaching toward the sky. “Even though each city is built for each caste, all lived harmoniously, but slowly we went our own ways, and that is when the council called all the rock shapers, supposedly to find a way to bring everybody together again, but they never returned, so we had no way to get out and have been here ever since.” When the group hears this, they realize that this is not Thesila, and their hearts sink.

  About halfway through the meal, Sabinina leans forward, touching her head to Mashaun, asking about the bow and if all bows can speak with their owners. Before Mashaun can answer, Dalistra tells them that not all weapons have the ability, and they choose their partners. “We are not own. We are a team,” she says in a stern and almost condescending voice. Her response startles Mashaun with several other of the sender sitting a few stools down from him. Mashaun hears, “I meant no disrespect but when we were
sent here, they were trying to make more spirit weapons.” Dalistra’s tone seems to mellow, and the two talk about spirit weapons for a long time. When Sabinina leans back, Mashaun still has to use the globe to talk with any of their hosts, realizing that by touching his forehead, it became a private question.

  The meal drags on, and Mashaun is running out of things to talk about while Mai and the twins are talking a mile a minute, and at times, they are carrying on a conversation with several different Thesilarns at once. The problem with using the globes is you can’t tell who is talking. Mashaun excuses himself and gets up to leave, and Sabinina joins him as he walks out the door. The rest of the group are involved with their conversations that only Elina sees him leaving.

  Once outside the room, he notices that it seems to quiet down as though he could vaguely hear the other conversations. He wonders how he could talk with her without a talking globe, when she tells him, “just think and she can understand just like Dalistra. I know that you are a little uncomfortable with that, but I am sure that you trust Dalistra to keep my thoughts straight.” Dalistra gives him a firm yes. “OK,” he thinks, “the first thing I want to know is where did you get the food?” Sabinina tells him that it is quite a way, but if he wants her to, she will show him. He thinks about it for a brief moment before telling her that he would like that. During the tour, Mashaun asks her, “Why did you go private to ask me about Dalistra, instead of asking through the globes?” Sabinina tells him that she gets the feeling that the others do not know about Dalistra before asking why. All he would tell her is that it’s complicated, and she lets it drop. She leads them down a long tunnel that branches into five other tunnels before opening up into a large dome room with light coming from the ceiling.

  Rows of plants cover the ground. On the far wall, a steady stream cascades down the wall from the ceiling, splashing in a pool on the cave floor. Then the water flows among the plants then out a second hole. Parts of the ceiling have windows where gentle light beams pierce the darkness as though they were underwater. Sabinina tells them that this is just one of many such rooms. But there is not enough light here to charge the globe as they walk through the cavern. She takes him through the garden, showing him the different vegetables between the furrows for water as butterflies flutter about. Have you considered getting out through the holes in the roof? he asks. She lightly chuckles as she tells him that a magic barrier lets the light through, but not the water from Upper Chanvin Lake. Ah, so that explains the filtering light, he thinks, and she says yes then apologizes for reading his thoughts.

  ***===***

  Back at the meal, Berg asks how the moons and the staffs are connected. The room becomes as quiet as a churchyard. The group nervously looks at one another, their hosts, and the door, not knowing what to expect. At the same time, the Thesilarns look at one another, and the spheres become cloudy even though Berg and rest of the party know that the Thesilarns are talking among themselves. Finally, Ericka asks “WHAT?” They all turn and look at her before the globes clear up, telling them that they will have to let Sabinina tell them since she is the keeper of the past.

  After the meal, they show the group to a small round room. There is nothing but the floor, walls, and the ceiling. They are told that will be their room while they are visiting, and it is clear that they’re not invited to stay. Mai looks at the opening, asking about a door. The Thesilarn looks at the doorway and says, “That is the door.” Mai shakes her head and thinks of a door that closes the opening. He shakes his head, telling them there is no need for a door here and that they are safe as he walks away.

  None of them likes not having a door, especially when there’s a Thesilarn just outside. When the girls want to go to the pool to wash up, the person at the door makes them wait until several Thesilarns show up to escort them. They say that it is so they don’t get lost, but Mai thinks that there is more to that, and one of the Thesilarns tells her that is the real reason. She feels silly forgetting that they read minds. The four wash up in the pool as the two Thesilarns stand like statues, almost invisible in the faint light. Once they return, Berg goes to clean up with one of the Thesilarns. He tries to start up a conversation, but the Thesilarn’s demeanor is almost opposite from that during the meal. It is quiet and almost cold and when he does get an answer, it seems terse and callous.

  The Thesilarn doesn’t take him back to the room. Instead, he leads Berg in a different direction. When he tries to protest, he gets a searing pain in his head, so he nervously follows his silent guide. They go down several tunnels before it opens up into a dimly lit room with rows and rows of thin stone tablets. The Thesilarn motions him to enter, which Berg does, asking if he can touch the tablets. The Thesilarn tells him to be very careful with them, as they are the history of the world before the imprisonment. Berg’s face beams with excitement and curiosity, hoping that he can fill in some of the missing pieces.

  The tablets are not much thicker than a magazine. Yet they are about one meter by a half meter, leaning on marble-like stands, as one would display a decorative plate. Upon a close examination, he finds the writing carved through the stone, seeing the stand behind it. He gently picks up the tablet, finding it lighter than expected and easy to hold. Turning it toward one of the light globes, he can clearly see the writing. The letters look more like foreign symbols. He tries to find some recognizable characters with the few that he had studied but to no avail. His excitement soon fades to disappointment as he gently replaces one stone after another. He walks up and down the aisles, passing hundreds if not thousands of tablets, stopping periodically to examine the writing, hoping to find something recognizable. Disappointed, he leaves with the Thesilarn, returning to the room where the girls are glad to see him.

  Soon after Berg’s return, Sabinina shows up with Mashaun. Sabinina asks Berg if he found the annals from the past useful. He thanks her but shakes his head no. She tells them to get some rest. They will be going outside around sunset. Ericka starts to ask about the staffs and the moons, but Sabinina cuts her off, telling her it will become clear this evening when they go outside, and walks off, looking at the guard as she leaves. Mashaun and Berg spend a few moments catching everybody up on what they saw before resting.

  As they lie on the floor, they try not to think of anything for fear that it will be overheard as they try to get some sleep. To their surprise, the floor warms up to each of their taste and soon, each drifts off to sleep. Ericka intended to stay awake for fear they would take her staff while they sleep. Even she succumbs to warming floor and silence. Before they know it, they wake to the sound of soft voices and shuffling feet outside. After a meal of fruits and juice, they all head up to the surface. It is a lot shorter than they remember, and they are at the entrance in no time. Mashaun and Tera scan the cliff for archers but don’t see any and move out into the open.

  CHAPTER 24

  The New Empress

  The entire pit is in shadow as the steam rises from the lake. Mashaun jumps from rock to rock until he reaches the far shore. Sabinina starts to follow when the rock starts to sink. She jumps back. Watching the rocks, Berg sees that the rock wobbles and sinks but only a little way. He jumps to the first rock and stops. It is unstable and sinks to just under the water then stops and is stable, making him chuckle at the irony. He jumps and waits; the same thing happens. He continues across the lake with the same result. The acidic boiling water in neutralized when covering the rocks for a short time.

  The rest of the group follow shortly with the Thesilarns, who look around and down before each jump, but they slowly make their way across the bubbling lake. This is the first time the group sees that the Thesilarns’ eyes have skin grown over the sockets, leaving them blind. It is a little uncomfortable to look at the blank faces, and then Sabinina feels their uneasiness. The group senses relief and happiness from the Thesilarns as they begin to gather at the shore. Sabinina tells them that she has dreamed of this day since she was a child. The previous elders said that it w
as a foolish dream as she smiles.

  The air quickly cools as the sunlight gives way to the darkness before the moons rise in the western sky. Sabinina asks what color the globe and the staff are. Everyone at once said red, and they see the shock on her face. “What is it?” Mashaun asks.

  “That is the staff of the rock shapers, the staff of our ancestors,” she replies for everyone to hear.

  Ericka holds on to the staff even tighter, fearing that they might want it back. Sensing her fear, Sabinina tells her that none of them can use it. They don’t have the ability. Besides, the staff is just a holder for the disk, which is the real power of the mage. At that, Elina begins to back away, clutching her red disk under her shirt.

  “What! They are not together?” Sabinina said, surprised.

  She knows from their thoughts that they are the youngest members of the group and only now realizes that they are alike in many ways. Up until now, they had been quiet and did not draw any attention to themselves. Suddenly they are the focus of everybody, including a group of men on the cliff, watching under the cover of night.

  “May I have a closer look at the staff?” Sabinina politely asks Ericka.

  At first, Ericka refuses, but with some encouragement and assurance from Sabinina that nothing will happen, Ericka reluctantly hands the staff to Sabinina. She runs her hand up to the basket that tells them “it’s broken here so that the disc could be removed!” She looks puzzled as if she were asking herself, why would someone do that? Returning the staff to Ericka.

  The moons begin to rise, becoming visible over the edge of the cliff with the red moon being the first to peek into the basin. Sabinina asks to see the disk, and Elina is a little less reluctant to hand it over. “Yes, this is full of magic,” returning it to Elina. Dalistra tells Mashaun that she doesn’t like Sabinina’s tone when handing the disk back. The red disk brightens and begins to pulsate in Elina’s hands. Sabinina tells Elina to hold stone up and face the moon if she wants to see some true magic. Elina isn’t sure if she is ready for this but does it anyway.