The Children of Calm (26 page)

Chapter Twelve:

The Cursed Ruins of Khragzul

The trip through the Twilight Gate
was nearly instantaneous. After jumping into the spinning yellow sphere, and while his feet were still in midair, Rylek felt like he was being torn apart, rearranged, condensed, stretched, and flattened. He swore his toes were tickling his brain. But the sensation only lasted for a moment, and by the time his feet landed on solid ground he felt completely normal again. His hands were still holding those of his sister and Selenor.

Altan stood off at a distance from them, smiling mischievously. The colors were back to normal. “I am glad to see you are all in one piece,” he called out as a wind was whipping around them. “I’ve heard tales of limbs being lost by people who did not warp properly.”

Rylek looked around and saw they were in yet another cave, standing on an identical dais as before except now the sphere, rays, and runes on this dais were glowing blue. He could see out of the corner of his eye that Selenor’s Twilightstone was also shining blue. Unexpectedly he thought he felt something bump up against his back. Looking quickly over his shoulder, he did not see anything, and hoped that it was some effect from the gate. He did his best to quell the paranoia that told him they were still being followed.

“Are you kidding?” Lana asked. “I thought you said we weren’t in any danger.”

“Of course I am merely kidding you!” Altan said “Step down. What do you think of your first trip though a dimensional gate?”

“It kind of takes one’s breath away,” Selenor said as they stepped off the dais. Once her feet were on normal ground, the Twilightstone darkened again, and the dais instantly returned to its normal static state. The wind ceased and everything grew still. Rylek noticed it was much colder here than it had been in the Forest of Contrary Light. It was also completely dark, so he immediately turned on his starpod torch.

“May I never cease to show you things that take your breath away,” Altan said in the glow of the torch. “As of now we are thousands of leagues from Calabranda, standing in a hidden cave just outside the ruined city of Teravihn’dael. Welcome to the cursed ruins of Khragzul.

“Before we go any further,” he continued, his voice taking on a tone of authority, “I must advise you all to do as I say without question at any given time while we are here. As long as you obey, no one will be in any danger. I can keep us all safe as long as it is within my power. I make no guarantees if you disobey me. Do you understand?”

The others nodded.

“Good. Now, we are about to leave the cave and trek to the actual ruins. At
all
times, do not cease to hold onto my coat. Two of you can walk on one side of me, and two on the other. It will be bitterly cold outside, dark, windy, and snowy. We will go slowly so no one loses their footing and therefore instinctively lets go of my coat to compensate for balance. Staying huddled together will also keep us warm. Do not, under any circumstances, talk out loud. I will speak to you as we tour the ruins, and if you have any questions you can ask me once we are safely back in this cave. Is there anything you would like to know before we leave?”

“Why can’t we talk?” Lana asked.

“Because to the best of my knowledge, there are still descendents of the fallen Aesid dwelling here. It would be best if they are unaware of our presence.”

“Won’t they see us? And hear you speak?” Selenor asked.

“No,” he said.

“How do you explain that?” Tresten asked. “Do you have magical abilities?”

“I most certainly do not have ‘magic,’ as you call it,” Altan said. “We are all created with certain gifts that should be used for the benefit of all forms of life. You must simply trust me that if you do as I say, we will all be safe.”

“It’s not a matter of trust,” Rylek said. “It’s just curiosity. We’ve seen so many crazy things in the last handful of days, we just want to know what’s going on.”

Altan shook his head. “As I have previously stated, I have brought you here with the distinct purpose of educating you about the Aesid. Perhaps some time in the future if we are able to spend a couple weeks with each other, I will tell you my tale. But for the time being rest assured that as long as you obey my instructions I will keep you safe. No true danger will fall upon you.

“If you have any other questions, you must ask now; for once we leave this cave, you must all be silent until we return.”

Rylek shrugged. “Then I guess there’s nothing else to ask.”

“Wondrous!” Altan said. “Now two of you on one side of me and two on the other. Stay close and hold on tightly.”

Rylek stood on his left in the back with his sister in front of him. Selenor was in the front on the right, leaving Tresten in the back. As they began to walk away from the dais, Rylek noticed the sounds of their footsteps seemed to be a little muddled. Then he realized that there was no discernable opening to the cave. Altan led them to a wall and continued on as though he would walk through it. Indeed, just as in the hidden caves in Perdeisolen, they passed through the wall into an immense dark area. A fierce cold wind howled in Rylek’s ears and tried to tear through his coat. However, the coat proved to be well insulated and kept the deathly fingers of the air away from his skin.

He looked around and could not see much of anything. Far to his right was a dull throbbing red light. It trickled just enough light to give a very dark maroon shade to the ground and horizon. Apparently they were walking in a shallow dusting of snow, and the source of the light looked to come from a great mountain.

“Behold the fires of Khrag’leMae,” Altan said softly that somehow Rylek was able to hear perfectly clearly, even with the wind drowning out every other sound. “This insatiable volcano housed the great city of the Aesid, Teravihn’dael!”

They made their way towards the light. Rylek looked up into the sky and saw nothing but black. No clouds, no stars, and no moons. He then looked behind and saw something most peculiar. It was as though some invisible thing were walking about two feet behind them and erasing their footprints. Alarmed, he thought again of the uneasy feeling he had been experiencing of being followed, and wondered if he ought to say something to Altan or not. He chose to tug on his coat, which prompted him to stop and turn towards him.

“What is it, Rylek?” he asked. “Use no words; gesture if you can.”

Rylek walked in place for a couple of seconds and then pointed behind them at their footprints, while mouthing the word
“Where?”

“Ah,” Altan said. “I should have told you so you would not have been alarmed. Our footprints are disappearing behind us so they won’t give us away. It is merely something I am able to do.”

Merely something you can do?
Rylek thought to himself.
Who can do things like that?

Altan started walking again and gestured upwards with his hands. “I am sure you have also noticed the sky is entirely black. It is unsettling, is it not? Part of the punishment the Aedaar imposed on the surviving Aesid was to place a dome-like barrier around Teravihn’dael. Its purpose is two-fold. First of all, it completely cuts off the Aesid from all of Mira, save for the hidden Twilight Gate that allows access for the knowledgeable few. No Aesid can fly, swim, or sail away from this ruined island. They are imprisoned here as in a cage. Secondly, the barrier prevents any natural light from falling upon the land. However, the reason they chose this punishment I will not go into at the moment. For that will come later in our lesson.”

It seems an awfully cruel punishment for a group of people that were seemingly brainwashed by Fornrihgula,
Rylek thought.
Why didn’t the Aedaar merely kill them off instead of torturing them in such a harsh manner? Why should their descendents be punished for the crimes of their fathers? And how in all of Mira have they been able to survive without plant life? What do they eat?

As they drew closer to the lights of Khrag’leMae, more details could be seen. There were a large number of small buildings clustered around its base on one side, and Rylek thought he could discern movement among them.

Altan also seemed to think so. “It appears the Aesid are still surviving,” he said. “That still gives us hope,” he added very softly, which made Rylek wonder what he meant. “It is imperative more than ever that you remain silent and hold on to my coat. The potential for harm rises with every step we take.”

Rylek’s heart raced within his chest. He noticed Lana was clutching Altan’s coat with both hands. This prompted Altan to put his arm around her shoulder and draw her in to him so that she rested her head against his side. Rylek found these gestures surprising but endearing.

A few more minutes of walking led them to the outskirts of the ruins. The buildings were half-heartedly piecemealed together from stone rubble, and flameless torches lined the “streets” between them. Only a few heavily garbed Aesid walked around but took no notice of the Aenosh group. Altan did well by steering them away from anyone who looked to potentially walk towards them. The dodging was light but still made Rylek feel extremely nervous.

“In its prime, Teravihn’dael was a marvel to witness,” Altan said. “The city was lush with fragrant gardens, crystal clear pools, cascading waterfalls, and towering spires. The Aesid became master workers with obsidian, of which the volcano supplied near infinite amounts, and they used it to great effect throughout the city. They lined everything with the black glass: buildings, streets, statues, anything they could find. Of course you can see it has all been stripped away since that fateful day of doom. What use they could have for it now I cannot imagine. During my times here I have never seen a hint of it. But before that day, when the sun shone on the city, a dazzling dark sparkle would set off a brilliant contrast to the deep green gardens that covered any area not occupied by a building. And their gardens were filled with their favorite flower - a little bloom called a
daeleie
. It has six white petals, and each petal has a violet stem at its base. ‘Little star,’ they named it, and thence
Teravihn’dael
received its name: ‘Garden of the Star.’”

By now they had ventured into an area apparently abandoned by the Aesid. Rylek had not seen one for a couple of minutes anyway. It was incredibly dark here, as the dull red light of Khrag’leMae was dimming. He could only make out hints of large shadowy forms. Thankfully, Altan somehow knew exactly where he was going, and the way he was leading them was steadily going uphill.

“Fornrihgula, in his vainglory, took the Blessed Artes and twisted them,” Altan continued, “conjuring up methods to manipulate creation in ways that The One had never intended. Life itself surrendered its secret mechanisms to his Forbidden Artes, which resulted in his discovering ways of bending the laws of nature themselves to his own end. He taught these to the Aesid, who used the knowledge to devise incredibly advanced technology. They built massive machinations that drew out the life energies of certain lifeforms to fuel their city. First it was plant life, then animals, but these only ever supplied a limited amount of fuel. Fornrihgula longed to have a source of eternal power similar to the sun, and after many long and cruel experiments he discovered it: the soul.”

A chill ran down Rylek’s spine that was not caused by the weather. The turn of conversation was unsettling, but he also felt a growing ominous presence. As they had been walking up the hill, the light from the volcano had slowly been increasing again, until it was bright enough for him to see details once more. There were a few unadorned large rocks around them that at one time must have been parts of buildings. But it was what was on the horizon that caught his attention, and seemed to be the source of his unease. At the crest of the hill they were climbing was a colossal dark crimson dome. Nine tall and thin spires lined its perimeter and pierced the lightless sky, catching the light of the volcano and splitting it into myriads of prisms. Rylek realized it was so bright because the light of the volcano’s fires must have been more direct here.

“The structure we approach is the realization of Fornrihgula’s schemes,” Altan continued. “It is here that the crowning pinnacle of Aesidian technology lies, and the chief cause of Teravihn’dael’s curse. It is what enabled Fornrihgula to rip the city from the earth and suspend it in the heavens, far above the clouds in endless sunlight. It is Marsahlahvihn’kyura:
The Devourer of The Eternal
.”

They had reached the summit. Rylek’s skin was now crawling as he looked upon the building. His gut told him there was something, or something
s
, inside that he had no desire to encounter at the moment. Two large doors stood closed in front of them.

“Countless Aenosh were slaughtered in the process that ripped their souls from their bodies,” Altan said, and there was no denying the anger in his voice. “The soul is eternal, and is in its own way energy in its purest form. Normally at death, the soul will slumber, awaiting the end of all things to then be awakened by The One. But the souls of the Aenosh that were ravished from their bodies were kept awake, as the machines fed off them and provided more than enough power for all of Teravihn’dael. Even now, because of the technique the Aesid used, the souls of the unfortunate Aenosh are painfully aware of time’s slow passing and have been trapped inside this structure for several thousands of years now. The structure has been sealed by the Aedaar, so no mortal thing can enter to disturb the waking dead. However, it is said that one shall come who will lead them out to their rest before the end of all things comes to pass.”