Sunday: 06/23/2030: I wake up in our raft wrapped in my blanket. The pink sun is beginning to peek over the horizon and I sit up, the silver-white light of the Lake illuminating the raft and my hair. Dad is still asleep. Feeling thirsty, I scoop up some of the glowing water in my hand and drink it. “It’s sweet.” “The Lake water?” “Yeah, Mom.” Dad wakes up and I sprinkle some of the silver-white water on his face. “What are you doing, kid?” I break out laughing as he sits up and splashes me back. “Good morning, Dad.” “Good morning, kiddo. Did you sleep well?” “Yeah. Try the water.” “The Lake water?” “Yeah. It’s sweet.” Dad drinks some of the silver-white water. “You’re right, it is sweet.” “It’s like Star-tears.” “So, that’s what the water was in the creek by the old temple? The water I have in here?” I bring out the crystal phial containing the silver apple paste. “I’m hungry.” “Me, too.” I take out three apples and we eat, our hunger sated for now by the sweet fruit. “I just hope TJ isn’t starving wherever he is. I want to give him an apple just to settle his stomach.” Then, the ice raft hits a barrier, lurching us forward. “We’re here already?” I look up past Mom’s wings and see the towering crystalline spires of the sand people’s capital city reflecting the silver-white waters of the Lake. “I’ll signal the Queen of our safe arrival.” Using my telekinesis, I lift up a large blob of water from the Lake and suspend it high in the air. After a few moments, I look to the north to see a bright pink flare go up from the hill where Ænahïta’s rooted throne overlooks the undying Forest of quartz. “Looks like she saw it. Let’s get to work.”
TJ wakes up in a small cell, laying on a berth. Next to him lies a figure, battered and bruised and wrapped in filthy, crude bandages. Crawling over to the person, he sees that it is the Vädish woman who risked her life for him to escape. He tries to shake her awake, her still warm to the touch. “Good.” “Hey. It’s me. The Cheetah. I tried to get away but they found me. I’m sorry they hurt you. I never even learned your name.” She suddenly awakens and winces in pain. “Cheetah? Oh, they did catch you. It’s not your fault, boy. We had to try something.” She tries to sit up, but is in too much pain. “I wish I had something to give you for the pain, or to eat.” He approaches the cell door and tries to look out to see what’s around the corner, if food is on the way.
“The humans have made it. I fear they may go mad from what has lain up in that place.” “Whatever happens, I will not let Them in to touch our lands again, the Memory and Grace of Alÿran-Jakinduria be my Witness.” The Mother Tree’s boughs, leaves, and flowers light up with a great kindling fire-light and all of the other trees follow suit. “Just enough time for them to get that Book and get out of there.”
Mom freezes the boat in place on the shore. We walk up to and through the gates of the dead city, Ænahïta’s words “I went once just outside the gates of the city after it happened, and I will bring no report of what I saw to darken your thoughts” haunting us as we pass through the archway. “She said that as long as we focus on finding the Book, we should be fine.” The three of us split up and go in different directions. The whole city is reflecting the light of the Lake, giving it an eerie glow, but it is otherwise a silent place.
Arctic Fox enters what remains of a large public building, like a library. Everything as far as she can see is covered in millions of years of sand and dust, which she blows away to reveal books and other objects which lay scattered around the place, as if the occupants disappeared in a hurry. “Lindsay, I’m in a library or something like that. There’s a million books around here, but nothing made of gold.” “Ok.” As she goes through, she takes whatever books she can find and stashes them in her amulet, hoping to find the Golden Book.
FireFly enters what remains of another public facility, like an office building. Like the library, everything in sight is covered in eons of dust, which he also blows away, revealing no books but instead he sees roughly a dozen statues of a long-lost civilization all standing in a circle looking outward. Whether they depict men or women he cannot tell. He then hears a rustling behind him and he feels as though he is being watched. “Is someone here with me?” “We’re not in your building, Dad.” As he goes through, he takes the statues and stashes them in his amulet, seeing if he can find the Book.
I find myself inside a domed building and shockingly, the interior is completely clean of sand, and I find a large book on a podium in the center of the rotunda covered in what looks like a full inch of fine silvery dust. Positioned in recessed spaces in the walls of the rotunda are 18 crystalline statuettes depicting male and female figures, all of which I stash in my amulet. Turning my attention to the book in the center of the room, I push a gust of air at it, blowing away the dust in a shimmering cloud that I take into a bottle I pull out of my bag. The book seems to glow with a soft golden light, like in the iconic scene from “Raiders” where Indy is about to take the golden idol. “Is there a rolling boulder about to chase me?” Drawing closer to the Book, I see that it’s indeed made out of gold as Ænahïta said. “I found the Book! It’s in the rotunda of the domed building in the city center.”
“They’ve found him, All-Mother! They’ve found the Golden Book!” “Now they just need to leave before whatever’s still lurking there finds them.”
Observing the front cover, I see the words “Wisdom of Xilanti” engraved into the metal surface. “What’s Xilanti?”
“̴͔͚̰̻̗̟̘̀͊T̸̗̯̗͚̘̍o̸̬͛̀̓͗̕͠o̷̧̧̞̹̜̯̿̓̆̚ ̴̢̪̝̘̗͎̤͌̿m̷͙͉̬̝͇̚ą̵͙̠̤̊͋n̸͇̄͂̽͜y̸̛̻̣̱̻͇̒͑ͅ ̵̧̖̥̜̮̩̒̀̌̉̇q̶̪͚̻͇̪͐̒̈́̔̎͘͠ủ̸͔̹ë̵̬̳̬̹́̂s̶͇̺̺͖͗t̵͎̜͇͚̋̾͒i̷̻͖͖̞̾̂͌͘͠ͅͅô̴̜̹̳̍͊͒̅ͅň̷̻̼̣̩͉͊s̸̪̑̀!̷̝͉͇̈͝”̷̛̙̿̂̕͠ͅ
“Who was that?” “Not us.” “Oh, good, you’re here. Did you hear that voice?” “The one that yelled ‘too many questions?’” Then, a shriek, shrill and vicious, erupts at us from all directions like the cry of a banshee.
The scream is heard by every quartz tree on the planet. A chill runs through Ænahïta’s very being. “It’s happening again!”
“Let’s get outta here!” A bell, deep and dark, tolls throughout the ruins, shaking the city to its very foundations. We run out of the domed building with it crumbling just behind our hurried steps and then lift ourselves up into the air, me carrying the Book, which I stow in my sack. We land back at the lakeshore just as the once solid crystalline spires shatter with the clatter of a million tons of glass and the great capital city of the lost sand people crumbles into oblivion. “You got that Book?!” “I got it.” We are now coated in dust from the collapse of the city. Dad sneezes and Mom spits dirt out of her mouth. “What does it say on the cover?” “Wisdom of Xilanti. Carved into the gold. It’s like we were escaping the idol temple in Indiana Jones.” “You can say that again.” I wade into the Lake to clean the dust off of myself, the silver-white water making my hair and tail shine brightly like the full moon on a clear night as I swim.
Kyle throws the rubber ball across the back yard, the dog and cats chasing after it. “Go! Go!” The cats catch it first and run it back to him with Red Baron following close behind.
Buck’s cell phone rings and he picks it up. Ida and Binky are discussing the family’s General Store’s revenue goals when Buck hangs up and abruptly slams his hand down on the kitchen counter. “That bastard!” “What happened?!” He then storms off, gets in his truck, and drives down the road to the family’s business, Crawford’s General Store. There, he finds two county police cruisers parked out front. Inside, he finds the entire place ransacked; shelves and displays lay in shambles, merchandise and candy scattered all over the floor. But the part that frightens the man more than the destruction of property is when he sees symbols carved into nearly every surface, each one exuding unspeakable evil and hatred. He then walks back over to the officers. “Who called it in?!” “We couldn’t make out his voice. It didn’t even sound human.” “He even taunted us before hanging up. We tried to trace his call, but the attempt to do so corrupted and bricked our computers.” “Of course! Best you cordon off this area. Don’t want anyone else seeing that graffiti.” “Don’t remind me.” The officer shudders at the mention of the unspeakable horror of the symbols, having been the one to see them first and call Mr. Crawford. Said officer is huddled in his car, trying desperately to forget what he saw. Buck sits down on the bench outside the front door, one of the few surfaces to survive the attack untouched. He rubs his chin, trying to get the immediate horror of the symbols out of his mind before he dares get behind the wheel of his truck again. “How would we get rid of them, sir?” “Are they,” he pauses, “dark magic?” “Maybe the Immortals can purge the evil from the premises.” “I don’t know, just have it cordoned off. I need to figure out how my employees are going to get paid until the store can re-open.”
Ida and Lyral are in the Forest near where Billy was stung. The Book is open to Chapter 8: Summoning Divine Beasts. “I have an Imperial Apple, Your Wisdom. Picked it this morning.” “Good.” Ida, wearing the Wanderer’s Mask, rings a bell, made of a strange silver metal, nine times in nine places around its rim, its tones reverberating through the trees. “Hzanûmë of the Mycelium, Celestial Mushroom, sent your servant forward. We beg the help of a White Stag to fight the Dark Tree’s curse.” As the last of the reverberations echoes away into the distance, the surrounding mushrooms send mycelial threads upwards, forming an ethereal White Stag which approaches the women. Ida bows her head, offering the apple to the stag, who accepts it and offers itself. Ida, with a long dagger, strikes for the heart and it drops before her. “Thank you, She of the White Mushroom.” “Let’s get this back home, the boys will help us.”
Just as we finish washing up, we hear someone rushing through the water towards us. Looking up from my drying hair, I see Ænahïta rising out of the Lake, looking worried and scared. “We have the Book, Your Majesty.” I show her the Golden Book and the several statuettes I found with it. She then looks on towards the crumbled ruins of the city, the dust still not quite having settled since the collapse this morning. “So, that’s it for that city, then. No more bells, no more crystal spires, no more anything. It took all our strength just to keep ‘them’ from escaping and ravaging the world.” I didn’t even need to ask who ‘them’ was referring to. I figured the Others had something to do with the fall of the sand people. “Did the sand people create the Book or these figures?” “No, Ælura. The Book is older than they, but they did use its knowledge to build their society.” “I reckon that the wrong knowledge from it also destroyed them.” “Yes. Or they learned the forbidden knowledge from a source more foul.” “Now that the Book and all these other things have been taken, won’t they, whatever those things were, come after us, especially since we destroyed the abandoned city?” “I doubt it. They are powerful, but also cowardly. Only dangerous for those who invoke their names out loud, especially if they’re bestowing a curse.” Drawing attention to the glowing lake, I ask the Queen: “Why does the Lake water glow, Your Majesty? Is it from Star-tears?” “No, Ælura. Just as the Book is older than the sand people, the silver-white light of the Lake is older than the Horror when the Stars wept for the old gods. I might be wrong, but I think Alÿran-Jakinduria herself blessed this Lake after we reached maturity and emerged from our rooted bodies to dance and swim for the first time. I see it’s made your hair shine with the light of the first Stars. I was not yet born then, but I know that the Lake certainly absorbed the pale light of Izarra-Hautsa’s Firstborn children, short-lived yet the mightiest stars to ever shine. Take as much of it as you and your family see fit, Ælura. It may eventually be of use to you down the line.” “Would you like to look in the Book, Your Majesty?” “Just once, Ælura.” I hand Ænahïta the Book and she opens it and looks at it longingly for a few minutes, finishing with “I loved her” before handing it back to me. The “her” she’s referring to is most likely her long-exiled sister, banished from her home and her twin for billions of years. “Be careful, Ælura. Agents of the Darkness may have been alerted by the scream of ‘them’ when you took the Book. They could be here any day now. You all best leave Xilanti today. My people and I can fend them off if what they seek is already long gone. I’ll be returning to my roots. May the memory of the old gods keep you safe as you find what has been taken and return them all home. Farewell.” The Queen disappears back into the water, going back to her rooted throne. I am about to pack the Book away when Mom asks, “Who is the Darkness that Ænahïta refers to?” “Ask the Book. It should know everything.” “I suppose.” I open the Book, the pages all blank except for gold trim along the periphery of each side of each page. “Who is the Darkness that Ænahïta spoke of?” The Book makes no sound, but then, text appears on the page as if written in gold: “The Shadow Queen is the name of the Herald of the Horror, slave of the Inanis, She Who Goes Bump in the Night, and Mother of all the Shadow demons.”
Buck comes back to the house while the police cordon off the area. “My brother just vandalized our store!” “What kind of curse, Dad?” “The cognito-hazardous kind. The police have it cordoned off so no one will get in there and go insane.” “Who called it in?” “My brother. The cops told me that that rat bastard taunted them during the call.” “I will go back with you tonight to try and cleanse it.” “And I’ll come with you.”
TJ, after several unsuccessful attempts to use his cloaking ability, finally makes himself invisible enough to slip through the bars of the cell and wander through the dungeon. He comes upon a couple sacks of what look like meat and fruit, from where on this planet they come, he knows not. He tries to take just enough to satisfy his and his friend’s hunger, but not so much that whoever else who came along would notice anything missing. He grabs enough meat, but as he reaches for the fruit, he fumbles it, tipping the sack over and causing a few other things to fall down, making no small racket. Deciding he’d better scram, he turns the mess invisible, rushes back to the cell, throwing the food in where the woman catches it all, and he manages to squeeze himself back in between the bars and turn the food invisible in a corner just as one of the orc-like sentries turns the corner into their corridor. “What was all that racket?!” The foul creature comes to their cell and, glaring at TJ and the Vädish woman, demands to know the origins of the noise and of the mess in the hallway, threatening further pain on TJ’s already bruised friend if he doesn’t answer. “What’s all this, you scum?!” A tall female, adorned in black, not so much in appearance like the hobgoblins, approaches the lesser creature in a foul mood. “I- I’m asking ‘em about a mess, ma’am.” “A mess? Where?!” “I think it’s down the hall and ‘round the corner to the left, m- ma’am. These two won’t tell me who did it.” “Well, let’s see this mess!” The foul creature takes his superior to the place where he thought the noise came from and they find an apparently empty hallway, which enrages the Shadow woman. “What are you playing at, you little rat?! You think you’re being clever?! I should bruise you up worse than I did to that cheeky Vädish beast for thinking you could waste my TIME!!!” “But, I thought” “Thought what?! That you could toy around with a member of the SHADOW QUEEN’S COURT?!” The Shadow woman grabs him and proceeds to give him the same battering as she gave the Vädish woman and drags him off, presumably to wherever the Queen is, to mete out his final punishment for wasting her time. The sight of her carrying him off frightens the other hobgoblins, who bow their heads submissively. TJ looks down at his Vädish friend. “We need to find another way out of here, and this time, you’re coming with me.”
Following both dinner and sunset, Buck, Ida, and Lyral go back to his vandalized store in secret in an attempt to cleanse the premises of the Eldritch curse placed upon it. “To save our minds, we should keep our eyes closed. The less we see of it, the better.” The three blindfold their eyes as Lyral opens a back door without setting the alarm off. Ida, wearing the Wanderer’s Mask and holding her book directly in front of her face, turns to the section dealing with removing cognito-hazards. She then enters a trance state where she invokes her gods in the golden language.
“Divine Daughters! Cleanse this place of the curse! Seal us off from the corrupted Others! Let not our people be made to despair! Ward off all those who invoke their Nameless power!”
Though his eyes are covered, Buck can still feel the incomprehensible malice and terror emanating from the carved Eldritch symbols.
“̸͖̹͖̥̜̳̐́̊̽ͅL̵̲̙͇͈͙̱̺̕o̵̪̅ͅo̵̢͐͒̊k̴̢͔̣̫̱̍̊̀̕͝ ̴̜̫͍̞̍̆ä̸̱̘͍́̽́̄͋t̷̢̠͓͇̅̈̏̔̓̀͝ ̸̡̞͔̃͑͜u̴̘̺̫͍̫̪͗s̴̢͍̜͍̊̌̿͌͘ ̴̭̹͖͛͝ä̷̼͕̤́͑̓͋̄ͅg̶̢̡̥̱͕͚͈̎̈́͆̊̀͝ả̴̛͎͈̝̉̽̒͐̍͜ḯ̷̢͚͑̓̐͊ǹ̷̝̜̙̙͖̱͐̃ͅ!̷̨̣͚̺̙̌̇”̷̙͔̬̟̙͊̊͝ ̵̭͓̝̽͑ͅ
“Did you hear that?” “Hear what?”
“̸̫͈̀L̶̥͂̀ǫ̶̪̮̳̪͙̝̕̕ó̷͔̪̱̙k̶̢͖͔̮̋͂͑̂̕ ̵̧̯̪͉̫͚̿͑͆̂͝a̶̢̟̜͇̬͍̓͂ț̴̢̤̯̻̰̫͌̐̌ ̵͍̯̽̃͋͠͝u̸͕̬̻͈̹̗̓̕s̷̼̹̞̿͐ ̴̬̋̓ȃ̴̢͚̫ͅģ̸̨̢̠̝̱͆a̴̤̋̏i̶̢̛̳̤̊n̴̗̟͆̀̔,̵̣͆̎͑͌͋͘ ̶̢̛̮̉̓̿͌̕B̴͖̭̈́͛̎̈́̍́r̵̛͍̜̙̤̜͇̓́ä̴̝͓͖̹͔́d̵̜̲̔͗̌͝l̵̗̺͕͎̲̬̪̇̌͒e̴͔͋̽́́͋͂̆y̸͕̦̪̌͒͠,̸̳̺̖͐̐̅̚͜ ̸̛͚̦̯̥̩͇̉͑́͆͗y̶̡͉̯͈̿͋̀̓͆͋́o̴̺͇͈͕̠̗͋̓̈́͠u̸̠̯͖̤̟̱̎̄̅ͅ ̸͓̀̔̌͌͜ị̵̧̠̼͎̥̼̇̓͘d̸͈͆̍̈į̸̥̺̍ò̸̮̾̋͆̚͘͝ṱ̷̢̨̞͇̖̣͆̽̔̇̓͠!̸̟͇̿͐̌̈́͐̍̓”̴̯̇̄ ̷̟̱͓͠
“Who are you calling an idiot?!” “Don’t respond to them, son! Don’t encourage them.”
“̷̺̺͂̃͠Ǫ̵̡̤͍̲̫̈͋́̈́͝p̵̼̰̲̲̉̾̾̍͊̉̕ě̷͇͙͉̉͒̓̑̄̚ǹ̵̘̯̙̖͆͂̈́͆̆ ̵̰̈́̓̀y̸̡̗̟̰͐͂̎͝ő̸͍̪͈̟͎̬̻͑̀ủ̷̱̲̗̱̼͚̗̿̃͌̑̋̐ȑ̵̤͇̲̭̫̬̈́ ̷̡͓̼̝͉͚̕ͅe̵͔̩̘͙̕y̷̭͍̯͗e̵͍͕̗͔̠̐͂͐̈́͝s̸̡̻͑̀̊́̎ ̵̰͇͖̍ȃ̴̤̓̈́̋͜ģ̶͚͋̐̔̀͐̕a̵͇̝̭͉͈͖̍̀͗ī̶̧͚̭̥̳n̶̢̡̦̤̖͖̏̈́͜,̶̛̬̬̦̥̲̟̀͜ ̴̼̻̂̀̅͆̓̿B̸̪̊̎͆͠͝r̸̤̺̬͠a̶͉̙̥̝͛̎͘ḓ̸̞̬̗̤̭̩͛̽̈́͆̈́̅ḽ̶̮̳͈̺͚̐͂̀̾͒͛e̸̜̿͆͋͂̈́͠y̵͕̻͙̮͛̍́̿̈́̓̚!̴͚̖̳͇̫̭̊͜”̸̥̫̂̕ ̵̫̙̤̯́͒
The tone is now one of mocking and cruel amusement. Ida hears it too, and she can see his clear distress. Unable to bear their screeching and mocking laughter any longer, he decides to leave the store, and though he has a hard time of it, through blind stumbling and nearly giving in to their demands for him to open his eyes again, he finally makes it out the back door, falling in a shaken heap. After a final round of invocation, Lyral and Ida feel the malice of the symbols seemingly fading away, and when they open their eyes, the symbols are gone. Hearing Bradley’s incomprehensible mumbling, they run back outside to find him in the fetal position, mumbling “I won’t, I won’t” repeatedly. “Son, we did it, they’re gone.” “I won’t, I won’t.” Ida shakes him out of his trance. “It’s over, son.” He snaps out of it. “What happened? Why are we outside? Did it work?” “Yeah.” “Let’s go home, then.”
The Crawfords arrive back at the James house where Ida and Lyral finish carving up the White Stag as Binky lays Buck down to bed. Taking the long bones of the Stag down to the sacred space, Ida carves the most powerful protective runes into them and places them into a pot of herbs and spices set over a fire to roast and smoke. Her book is open to Chapter 3: Potions to Cure Malefic Ailments. “It says to let the bones roast and smoke in the herbs and spices for 24 hours, turning them over every 6 hours. Halfway through the final hour, we must steep the sun-dried silver petals in boiling Star water for 30 minutes. Then, we uncap the bones and add the marrow, uttering the Invocation of the Wandering Light.” Lyral then sets a timer for 24 hours and then 23.5 hours for the ingredients and 6 hours for the bones. They then go to bed on the floor of the temple as the bones continue to roast.
We came to the marble plains where I first came to Xilanti. We already took as much of the silver-white water as we needed, though my hair and tail are still shining from being washed. “Did your dreams ever tell you the names of the planets we’re going to?” “No, no names of any of the planets. I suppose we’ll find out when we get there.” “Do we go to them in the order that they were shown to you?” “Maybe we should, Dad.” I open the Book and ask it about the forest planet with the winged humanoids.
The Book answers:
“The winged natives will speak the name of their home.”
“What about the two stones on that planet? Rock and Wood?”
“They are close to the home of the King and Queen. Use the figures of Percec-Ikasi and Sendoa-Lurreko.”
Remembering the fulgurite cat figurine around my waist, I use it to summon a portal in front of us. “How did you do that, Lindsay?” “I found this in the hidden temple complex before I went across the Bridge.” I stand in front of the portal with the Book floating near my hands. “Show me the land where Wood and Rock dwell.” The portal, working with the Book, then shows an image of the forest world just as it appeared in my dream. “Guess we best get on, then.”
The Forest is filled with dread, a struggle rages between unknown, incomprehensible powers. Terrible, depraved thoughts abound in and around the trees and clearings. Meeting them are mysterious, but benevolent forces, just as invisible and indescribable to the mind. Then, with a frightening suddenness, a voice, likely of a man, utters words of terror and wicked power, echoing through the already tormented woods. The voice speaks not in any known language, not even in the Immortal speech, or even the secret language of the children of the Shadow Queen, which was corrupted from the old Immortal speech, but is far older than almost anything else that can be imagined. The echoing of the voice reaches Crawford’s General Store. The symbols, hideous and unspeakable, shed their invisible disguise and glow with this sickly light in a color no normal eye can see and which no normal brain can comprehend, truly a color out of space.
Previous Episode: Voices in my Head.
Next Episode: Wings.
