Wednesday: 06/26/2030: It is night. We step out and onto a spire of marble and glass, and we all get soaked in the spray of what feels like room temperature water. “This is the water planet I saw in the dream.” The sky is alive with wind and thunder, and the ocean seems to stretch from all horizons in all directions. The sea is roiling, and the winds are whipping all into a frenzy. “I’m tired, hon.” “Is this planet covered entirely in water?” “Yes, Your Royal Highness. The Book says so.” “Anywhere to sleep?” “I don’t see anything.” We sit down on this balcony-like structure to sleep. Mom raises a dome of thick ice around the exposed area, keeping the rain and wind off us. “Thanks, Mom.” “You’re welcome.” Mom, Oo, and Dad fall asleep quickly, but I stay awake, looking at the stones and thinking about TJ when I eventually fall asleep as the slow motion of the waves rocks the ice. We wake up to the rays of the sun coming through some holes in the dome. “Good morning, Ælura, Oonagh. Did you two sleep well?” “Yeah. You?” “Yeah. That walk through the woods bushed me.” “Me, too.” Dad sits up, rubbing his neck. “I guess I could have made it more comfortable.” “No, it’s ok.” Dad then melts the dome as the weather has calmed. I look over the water and see some other structures barely visible above the surface, through the thick fog, what might be towering spires of marble and glass when I see something moving rapidly through the water. “It’s so foggy.” “What’s that?” “Looks like a fish.” The creature moving through the water looks like it has a big fishtail with pink, blue, and purple fins. Then, a woman with blue skin and hair the same colors as her tail, comes up out of the water, and with muscular forearms, she climbs up over the balcony, frightening the four of us, Oonagh leaping into the air and sending Dad falling into the water. She leans on the end of the ice with such weight that she nearly dislodges it. “We come in peace!” She doesn’t react, but she just stares at us for a few minutes and then just starts laughing hysterically. “What’s so funny?” “Come off that balcony. Have a swim.” “Of course.” She then hands each of us a strange pinkish-purple flower. “Eat this. It will help you four to breathe down here as we do for as long as you are in our oceans. I foresaw your arrival.” “Thank you.” Eating the flowers, we follow the mermaid into one of the buildings exposed to the air. She is wearing a blue and gold halter top and a long skirt of soft material. She reaches a nearby marble spire and swims into a tunnel lined with windows. “Follow me, travelers.” We follow her down the corridor and end up in what looks like a throne room, where she sits upon her throne. “I am Xalixandra X Hwyronya, Empress of Xalexxa.” “My name is Ælura Fulmena, Your Majesty. These are my parents Ignus Volarus and Arctica Vulpa, and this is Princess Oonagh, firstborn of King Orin of Tewira. We are searching for my younger brother. He disappeared from our home in the Milky Way Galaxy.” “You mean, the Via Laxia?” “Yes.” “You have certainly traveled very far, my dear. Farther than most will ever travel. I must say that at first, I didn’t know what species you were, so that’s why I stared at you four.” “I thought there was a large fish in the water, Your Majesty.” “Ages ago, there was more land, and the people walked abroad on legs and feet. Then, all our ice melted, the seas rose, sinking all but a few islands and the highest towers of our old cities beneath the waves. By necessity we moved back into the ocean, our legs fused, and we now seldom leave the water, and often only speak with thought.” Taking a good look at the Empress in her entirety, I see she’s not kidding about the fusion of the legs. Her lower body is that of a fish tail. I am looking at an actual mermaid. An alien mermaid. She appears to be ten feet long from her head to the very end of her tail. “Now, tell me. How and why have you four come to Xalexxa?”
“We’re here because I had a dream about an ocean and a golden nest. We thought they might help us find my brother, Your Majesty.” “You have the ocean part right, and this is the proper home of the Golden Nest and the Silver Egg which is the totem of the Golden Coven on Xalexxa, but the Nest is not here because it has been stolen by a dark mist. You see, when used alongside the Egg, it has the power to preserve life and protect the vulnerable from harm, but it can create great harm in the wrong hands. These wrong hands came from your galaxy. I’m not accusing you, though.” “We’ll get it back for you, Your Majesty. You did say ‘Coven’, right?” “Yes. It not only symbolizes our protection by the Wandering Light and my place as Reverend Mother of Xalexxa, it preserves our oceans. It was given to us by an ancient goddess during a time of strife when nearly all the oxygen had disappeared from the ocean. That was 10,000 years ago and she has since moved on to other galaxies, through the two dwarf galaxies to yours. But now, most of us, mainly our children and our elders, have had to surface and take to what little land still lies above the waves because ocean oxygen is getting low.” “We promise not to fail you and your people, Your Majesty, Your Wisdom.” “Thank you, Ælura. I am quite busy trying to keep our young breathing and I have been unable to contact the Archmage of our Galaxy.” “We understand, Your Majesty.” “Farewell, Ælura.” “Farewell, Your Majesty.” We leave through the hallway back to the open water where Mom grows a long boat of ice from the water. “I like her, she’s very nice.” “Me, too.” “We should try to find other cities where water oxygen is getting low. I want to see others who can confirm what she says.” “So, we swim?” “Sure.” Mom, Dad, Oo, and I swim through the open water. “Where does this Golden Nest come from? Who created it? It’s not one of the stones, is it?” “It can’t be, Oo. The Book never mentions a Nest, or who or what made it.” “I’m wondering more about how their ocean came to be dependent on the Nest’s power for habitability.” “Then again, there may be more branches of the Guardians Against the Empty.” The sea looks choppy; the swells are between calm and ready to churn. “Guess they haven’t had decent weather since the Nest was taken.” “Possibly.”
Ida enters the basement with her book and calls Silo and Kyle downstairs. “Coming, Grandma.” The boys follow her down and she shows them the chapter of her book concerning protective magic. “What kind of runes are these?” “These are Golden runes, aren’t they?” “Correct, Kyle.” “I thought boys didn’t get runes.” “Your parents thought it best that I place the runes of protection upon both of you as well as Billy when he is brought home. It should guard against the type of curse that was placed on the store from being put on you.” There are three runes on the page from chapter 7: H’tan, which gives protection from corrupted runes and is painted on the palms of the hands, T’lil, which makes all forbidden colors visible to the bearer’s eyes and is painted in between them, and X’deq, which gives protection from insanity induced by evil voices from curses and is painted on the back side of each ear. They are not like Norse runes but are wholly alien in their appearance. “Are you going to draw them on us, Grandma?” “With invisible ink?” “Hold out your palms, boys.” Silo and Kyle hold out their palms whereupon she paints the H’tan sigil with a paintbrush using ink that she perceives as yellowish blue by her eyes but looks plain black to the boys until she is finished, upon which their eyes widen in amazement, doing T’lil between their eyes, and X’deq behind their ears. “It’s yellow!” “No, it’s blue!” “It’s both. There are certain colors that most people can’t detect, the so-called forbidden colors. That’s what Golden runes look like in their true form. To those who can’t see these colors, they just look plain black. Even in plain form, evil runes can still torment whoever looks at them unless they have protection.” “That’s what Dad said happened to the officers who called him the other day. He said one of them looked traumatized after looking in the store.” “That’s why he was tormented the other night when you went with him and Lyral to try and get rid of it.” “How was all this passed down, Grandma?” “It was passed down through all the women in my family, from my mother’s mother’s mother, etc.” “So, if you had daughters or granddaughters, the oldest of whom might become the next Reverend Mother?” “Yes, though I’m sure at least one of you might have a daughter someday. Or, another of my female cousins may become Wander VIII when I go to join my ancestors on the Shimmering Plane.”
Us four having dived deeper into the ocean, we see another colorful fish tail, blue and purple with gold on the trailing edges, becomes visible, and its owner approaches us. A girl looking roughly my age stares at us with purple eyes. She bolts back down towards a marble tower like the one where the Empress found us. She approaches us again and bids us follow her. We swim after her, albeit slower than her. When we catch up with her, we find a group of very young children who are sitting and dozing in a pool of water that had to have oxygen added to it. They are sleeping peacefully, and she picks up a young boy so carefully he is not disturbed. “How cute.” She lets me see him and is so gentle. “Is he your brother?” “Yes. Air must be added to their water because ever since our Nest was taken from us, the oxygen level in the ocean, especially Hwyronya Sea, has gotten so low that they would suffocate. His name is Hanix.” “We will find that Nest and we won’t come back until we do.” “Thank you. My name is Xana, granddaughter of Her Majesty the Empress and daughter of Princess Xalixandra. Yours?” “My name is Ælura. These are my parents Ignus and Arctica. We’re from a planet called Earth.” “Earth?” “Hanix, hush. It’s still naptime.” “Sorry, Xana.” “I am Oonagh Rhianh, firstborn granddaughter of King Orin of Tewira.” “Your Highness.” Xana shakes her hand. She gently holds Hanix in her arms and his tail moves around in the water, swimming as in a dream about swimming. She puts him back in the small pool where his gills finally get their oxygen. “Is anyone hungry?” “Sure. We haven’t eaten for a while.” “Hold on.” Xana swims gracefully into one of the tunnels beneath the waves and comes back a few minutes later with a box of prawns. Xana is wearing a wrap of soft material around her body and tail. She has a gold chain around his neck and her purple hair is tied in the back with a string strung with pieces of gold with some streaks of gold. “Enjoy.” “Thank you, Xana. You swim gracefully. Even when the water’s oxygen level is getting low.” “Thanks. I never thought of it that way, Ælura. I guess I’m just used to it now, but he certainly isn’t.” “I can see. I’m sure all the kids on Xalexxa are in pools like this.” “Elderly, too.” ‘Elderly as in 100?” “More like 200. How long do humans live?” “Mortal humans live roughly 100 years. Immortal humans live and half-bloods can live roughly 2000 years before transcending.” “So, you all are immortals?” “Yes, but Oonagh is a Tewir, a closely related species, we believe.” I telekinetically manipulate some water into a sphere, amazing Hanix. “So, you have magic?” “How else would we have gotten here?” “This is amazing. Do all humans fly?” “Not all of them. Roughly a tenth of a percent of us can fly.” Xana’s hair and tail are blue and purple with gold on the trailing edges. We go back underwater. “Where are your parents, Xana?” “Mother is at work with Grandmother, desperately trying to mitigate the crisis. We cannot travel the stars to seek the Nest as we can’t leave Xalexxa’s ocean.” “We can find the Nest, wherever it may be hidden, and we won’t come back without it.” “And, you and your people aren’t the only ones whom the Shadow Queen has stolen something precious from. She stole 53 of my people’s eggs and kidnapped the Queen of Ijen.” “None of the people of Xalexxa have been taken, have they?” “I doubt it. We can’t walk, nor do we have any kind of magic save for our telepathic abilities, and she would likely only want us as pets, if that.” “How old is the technology here, Xana?” “Millions of years old, by the Empress’ reckoning. Our ancestors lived on land, but as more and more territory was consumed by the sea, we evolved to live more and more in the water.” I bring out the Star. “What is that?,” Xana asks as her eyes widen with wonder. “It allows me to protect planets from the Shadows. I used it for Tewira and Ijen to prevent any more of their people from being taken. I can use it to deny the Shadow Queen entry to this world as well.” “Do.” “Ancestors! Protect the great sea of Xalexxa from the Darkness! Guide us to the Golden Nest! Let none of the Xalexxians be taken!” The same flash of white light encompasses Xalexxa as was on Tewira and Ijen. “That was it, Ælura?” “Yes. The Shadow demons have been banned from Xalexxa permanently and except for the stolen Nest, your people are safe now.” “Thank you, Ælura! May all Andromeda bless you!” “Quiet, Xana!” “Sorry, Hanix.”
In the Alvearium, TJ and Dagmar are working themselves to the bone moving eggs into the underground lake, each egg making a big splash as it lands in the water. Dagmar plunges into the water to settle more eggs on the lake bottom and also to keep herself fed between handouts of stale bread. The Queen’s gills only filter out gasses in the air, so she must come back up every few minutes for air. “You have power over plant life, don’t you?” “Among other things, Your Majesty.” “You have not been able to use your power to escape this place?” “Ever since I was brought here, something has been draining my power, weakening me. I have had limited control since then.” “I must show you something, Cheetah.” The Queen climbs out of the water, TJ follows her into a small recess in the hill where he sees more pearlescent eggs. He counts another dozen, and Dagmar makes 24 tally marks on the wall of the Alvearium. “How many eggs to find again, boy?” “53, Your Majesty.” “29 more to go.” “Less than a week before they hatch.” “What is this ‘ritual’ like, that the goblins have spoken of?” “Something that’s supposed to corrupt them to her service, as they are not born evil, Your Majesty.” Then, they hear a group of goblins talking at the top of the hill, their voices echoing obnoxiously through the cavern. “It’d be nice if we could have some real meat!” “Like that Crawford boy the Goddess has in the tower!” “Quiet!” “You’re not supposed to discuss what she’s got up there!” TJ’s ears stick up straight at the mention of the Crawford name. Billy?! He tries to listen closer to them, for any more information on Billy’s whereabouts. “What is it, Cheetah?” TJ sits back down behind the eggs by the Queen. “They’re talking about one of my mortal friends from Earth, my planet. They’re saying he’s up in the tower.” “There is a tower atop this mountain where they say the Shadow Queen keeps favored prisoners, especially for information, giving them unbelievable food. Where in this Ijen-forsaken place you’re put depends on how she regards you and your kind. And your station within your kind also seems to play a role in where she puts you. If you’re high-status, like me, she puts you in here. I’m a Queen, and you’re a living god.” “We need to get up in there somehow and find him and get him out of there and find the rest of the eggs. If we can find our way to the hangar, we could stow away on one of the ships and find a way to contact your people and Billy and I can find my sister.” “Might it be that your sister will come to us, boy?” “I don’t know, Your Majesty. I haven’t heard from her in many days, at least not since I was put in the mines.” TJ and Dagmar move to another part of the ‘shore’ of the lake and they find 12 more Tewir eggs, whom TJ quickly stores away. “36 now.” “17 more.”
“I have heard from my father that the Empress intends to invite you for dinner at the palace at sunset tonight. We should set out for the palace now.” “Am I going tonight, Xana?” “Yes, Hanix. Mother said the Empress wishes me to bring you with them.” “Tell your parents to inform the Empress that we accept the invitation and that Xalexxa has been secured against further intrusions by the Shadows.” “I will, Ælura.” Xana picks up Hanix and we follow him back towards the capital where the palace lies. We are greeted by guards at the entrance. “Good evening” “Princess Xana, Prince Hanix. Good on you for bringing them.” “The Empress has been made aware of your securing our planet against the dark forces and she is grateful.” “Come inside. Her Majesty and Her Highness await you with dinner prepared in your honor.” We then follow them into the palace and into the great hall we were in this morning when the Empress found us. Seated near the throne is a younger Xalexxian woman with blue and purple hair and tail wearing silver robes holding a shimmering Silver Egg. “I am Xalixandra Hwyronya, Crown Princess of Xalexxa. The Empress is my mother. I hear the Silver Guardian is here and has secured our world against further intrusions.” “I have, Your Highness. I also wish to introduce my parents Arctica Vulpa and Ignus Volarus and my friend Oonagh Rhianh, Princess of Tewira.” Everyone is amazed by the seemingly immense size of Oo’s wings and by our legs, for no legs have walked the scant tiny islands of Xalexxa for millions of years. The Empress herself then enters the room followed by others carrying enough food for a great banquet and takes her place upon the throne. “Let us honor the arrival of a legend and celebrate her securing our world against the Darkness. And let us give her our blessings as she recovers our Golden Nest from those who have stolen it. Let the feast begin.” The food is passed around: prawns, fish, and what looks like fruit that must have grown close to the shore of an island. Eating, socializing, and celebrating ensue for many hours, well into the night.
The blistering cold wind blows across the frozen landscape, sending many tons of snow through the air, obscuring the sky, creating near whiteout conditions. The only structures in view are blink-and-you’ll-miss-it systems of caves and burrows hewn into the ice sheets, with some having broad domed roofs. The howling of the wind is punctuated by screeching, which sends scores of energetic bursts shooting up from the surface and into the clouds followed by hundreds of arrows, spears, and other missiles trying to knock whatever is threatening them out of the sky. Then, a dark spirit, fleeing from the surface-to-air fire, flies over a wide crevasse in the ice sheet when it is struck by a shining arrow of frost fired at it by a hooded figure in thick furs, who then sees a softly glowing gold object fall from the dark spirit’s grip into the crevasse as the demon flees, howling with the wind. They approach the edge of the crevasse, but then they hear the shouts of their kind and turn back towards them.
“That was good salmon, Grandma.” “Thank you, Kyle. Glad you liked it.” “Grandma?” “Yes, Silo?” “I bet it feels weird being able to see forbidden colors all the time, doesn’t it?” “Yes. Why?” “Because I can see someone in that spectrum walking around outside the house.” “Who? Man or woman?” “A man, I think. I can’t see his face very well, but he seems evil. Nameless, even.” Ida rushes over to the window and sees the man in Other colors and recognizes him as her rogue younger son. “Get in the basement, you two!” “What’s going on, Mom?” “Your brother’s out there! Lyral!” The others go down into the basement while Lyral and Ida go outside to chase away this evil sorcerer. Nameless runs away when he sees the Other runes tattooed on Ida’s forehead, collarbones, and arms. Once she is sure that he has been driven off, she takes her book and draws a boundary of protection around the property. “I haven’t seen him out during the day in years.” “How did he learn Other magic? He couldn’t have learned it from that missing chapter in my book! It was torn out of there even before I was born! My grandmother told me that she destroyed the pages when my mother was a child because someone defiled them. She did that after they drove her father mad. I have no clue how he could have learned it, if it’s the case that he got hold of that chapter.” “I think it’s possible that your grandmother tore out the chapter, intended to destroy the pages, but lost them or they were stolen by someone, but she must have lied.” “She probably didn’t want Grandma to be scared.” “Goddess only knows what really happened to that chapter, if it was not destroyed.” “Is he gone, Grandma?” “He’s gone, boys.” “What in the depths of R’lyeh was he doing here? In broad daylight, no wonder?” “Yeah. What has him crawling out of his hole?” “Even though I may not be able to discern his exact motives, though they are certainly not good, I can still keep him away from us.”
The feast concludes with blessings from the Empress and her people. “I swear by every Star in the sky that I will not return to Xalexxa without the Nest in my possession, Your Majesty, Your Highness.” “We will hold you to your word, Silver Guardian.” We leave the palace, with Princess Xana and Prince Hanix following us. “Thank you for all you have done and have sworn to do, Ælura.” “All of Xalexxa will sing of your deeds for generations.” The two youngsters go back into the palace but not before they wave goodbye to us. The sun has long since set, and Mom makes a flat sheet of ice on the water roughly a few inches thick. “Ready to go find that Nest?” “Yeah.” “We’re ready.” “Very well.” I open the Book and the Bridge shows an image of the next planet, a veritable snowball except for a temperate zone around its equatorial region. We step through and return to the Milky Way.
Previous Episode: A Missing Queen.
Next Episode: Ice Planet.
