Chapter 3
Journey
Copyright 2011
Courtesy of Christopher Pelletier and DLJ Publishing, LLC
Ziustros arrived at the Mount Atlas Observatory and de-energized his bronze crystal-powered motor carriage. His eyelids closed and his head bowed low. Then his throat went dry and started to constrict. He slapped the steering lever in frustration. Kylos’s plans of joining the Nereids brought back memories of the hard time, and now this fighting…
What’s becoming of that boy?
He lifted his head and saw the sun was dipping under the ocean, painting the sky a fiery red with deep purple clouds. The last mournful cries of a nearby gull sang, stabbing Ziustros in the heart.
His heavy steps carried him to the gray brick building with the large unpolished bronze dome on the roof. The spacious gas-lit chamber reflected light on the blue-tiled floor. His sandaled footsteps echoed in the silent space. The giant hunk of white crystal in the center of the chamber gave off a warm energy, and scroll-filled shelves, which were as high as two men, stretched along the length of the far wall.
Ziustros made his way to one end and took out a rolled parchment and brought it to his chestnut-stained oak desk. The soft leather cushioning on his chair creaked as he sat down. After his long drive to the observatory, the seat comforted his aching spirit.
Emotions lingered, so he took five deep breaths, like pearl diver’s breaths, to clear those feelings. Now he could relax and try to focus on tonight’s work.
A door to another chamber opened and Galen, Ziustros’s apprentice, entered the observation chamber.
“Oh! Greetings of the evening, sir. I didn’t hear you come in.”
Ziustros shook out the heaviness in his mind and looked at his pupil. “Greetings of the evening, Galen. Oh, could you get me the planetary chart? I think that I’ll take a look at what’s out there tonight.”
The assistant bowed, grabbed the scroll without a pause, and gently placed it on the desk. He took a step back and bowed once more.
“Thank you,” said Ziustros while examining his records from his last jaunt to the
planets.
Galen cleared his throat and broke the silence. “It’s a beautiful night, sir. Perfect for the telescopes.”
“You go ahead and check out the northern quadrant. I know it’s not as exciting as The Chair, but soon you’ll be ready.”
“I can’t wait.”
Why can’t Kylos be like Galen? Ziustros thought. He unrolled the scroll with the planets of the solar system. The chart had been done in color with quite a bit of detail and had many notations written on it. Galen stood by, bouncing on his toes. Ziustros smiled. “Maybe later tonight we’ll do some more cosmic astral training.”
“Really? Thank you, sir,” Galen said, his grin displaing his misaligned teeth. He trotted away to dust the shelves and organize the scrolls.
Ziustros gazed at the chart and eyed Mars, especially since it was so bright in the sky that night. The red planet with its immense canyons, deeply-cut canals, enormous volcanoes, and pristine polar ice had always intrigued Ziustros. Many times he wondered if it had life on it at one point, some time long before he had been born, perhaps when the Gods were young. Inside, he yearned to visit the planet in his physical body. But he was a realist and knew that his dream would go unfulfilled, as long as Atlantis lacked space-faring technology.
Maybe in a thousand years, he mused to himself. Astral projection will have to suffice for now.
He looked up and saw a younger version of himself in Galen. Maybe Ziustros had been a little more extroverted and social-savvy than his apprentice, but Galen’s mind swam in the same pool of star exploration. Ziustros recalled that his own love affair with astronomy had started during his teens. He had often gazed upon them over the ocean. His dream of studying them had come to pass and he could not have asked the Gods for more… except for two things.
But it was not time for relive all of his life’s tragedies. Now was time to explore. A youthful feeling energized him, the anticipation of getting out into the void and unknown. He never grew tired of it, and hoped he could do it for the rest of his life. He wished Kylos would take enough interest to join him one day.
With a push, he got up from his comfy desk chair and made his way to The Chair, which was a longer seat that had a tanned lion’s hide stretched over a frame made from elephant tusks. The tips of the tusks served as legs of the seat, and bits of crystal ran the length of each piece of ivory to enhance the power for astral travel. He had so much reverence for that particular piece of furniture. It allowed his spirit to soar through the heavens. The Chair seemed like a gift from the Gods.
Galen noticed him getting up and scrambled to fetch the astral chime and his own scrolls filled with notes from Ziustros’s previous travels. The assistant put both onto a desk near The Chair.
The milky crystal glowed with a dim light. Ziustros could feel its energy flowing into his blue crystal on his chest and into the crystals surrounding him, due to the proximity to the powerful rock. He eased himself into the lion skin, which had been set at a 45-degree inclination to promote more of a relaxed state.
Traveling through space always sapped energy from Ziustros, as it had done to his many predecessors. He had to mentally and emotionally prepare for the physical drain by clearing away the anxieties that troubled him. He had more today than usual. Galen took his post by the chime and Ziustros nodded. The apprentice then struck the instrument which produced a pure vibration. The pitch resonated in the chamber, perfectly matching Ziustros’s bio-rhythms. He closed his eyes and rolled them back.
It was not long before he felt weightlessness within his body.
Astral projection always started with the sensation of being swept away, as if caught in a fast-moving river. The soul always felt convinced that the body was dying, so once the process began, he had to loosen the reins on his will, which wanted to keep the connection between body and soul. This allowed his essence to slip out.
As soon as he became separated, he saw with his astral eyes that Galen was sitting down at his desk with a stylus and inkwell near the scroll, watching Ziustros’s unmoving body on The Chair. The boy waited with his arm resting on the desk for any words that his Master may say. The crystal glowed with a bright illumination.
After confirming that all was well, Ziustros left the observatory through the ceiling in his astral form. The power of the observatory’s crystal enhanced his vision. He paused in his flight to take in the view of the night sky. So many stars to explore, so little time in a life to do it in.
The orange glimmering of Mars was easy to spot. With a focus of his will, the power of the crystal shot him through the atmosphere and into space. He streaked through the silent void of the physical universe, but he felt the warmth of cosmic energy which filled the space. He had explained to Galen that it was like swimming without the resistance of water, and yet always surrounded by something akin to water.
Within hardly any time he arrived at Mars. He stopped a few hundred miles away to take in the sight of that red world which had sandstorms of such ferocity that the storms of the Atlantic seemed like breezes by comparison. The beautiful sphere in front of him floated like a ball on a black ocean. The scene reminded him of a fresco that someone had painted on the ceiling of one of the rooms in the observatory. But the painting did not match the beauty before his eyes.
If only Kylos could see this. Then I know he’d want to become an—
Something disturbed the cosmic harmony. A pressure was building up in the astral realm, something moving fast.
Ziustros looked around and saw a wake in the astral sea. The trail was easy to follow, and Ziustros soon discovered the cause: an enormous chunk of ice was racing through the void of space. He tried to recollect what it could be. For a few moments he was puzzled. Then realization hit him.
Ah, so you’re Typhon’s Comet. You’ve been away for awhile, haven’t you? You’re a beauty, though, that’s for sure.
All thoughts of Mars disappeared. Ziustros looked at the comet with wonder. Typhon was the first comet he had ever seen. He raced ahead of the Gods’ work of art, appreciating its crystalline structure. The purity of its formation inspired awe. A tail had started to form, which served like a weather vane indicating the direction it headed in as it neared the sun. It was a silent snake sneaking its way through the garden of worlds.
Wait a moment. Where exactly are you going?
He aligned his essence with the direction of the comet’s tail and shot ahead of the cruising ice. He stopped within the area of Earth’s orbital path. He spotted and smiled at his lovely blue planet crawling along on its steady trek. In the quiet of space, it seemed so serene, compared to the bustle on life in Atlantis and—realization struck him like a lightning bolt.
By the Gods…
Ziustros took mental notes on the comet’s path relative to Earth’s position, turned towards his home world, and raced back to the observatory.
This could be serious. I’ve got to check this out. I must get back now!
His astral body streaked towards Earth, and he started to panic with the possibilities. His observations could be spelling out the end of everything on the planet. No time for protocol now. He shot down through the sky and slammed into his body, throwing it out of The Chair.
Galen jumped up from his own seat and shrieked. After a moment’s recovery, he scurried to Ziustros’s side. “What is it, sir? Are you all right?”
Ziustros had a throbbing headache and could taste blood in his mouth. A slow, wet trickle came from his nostrils, too. He clutched his weary head and thought he was saying things. But he couldn’t hear any words.
He staggered about in confusion and disorientation, but by sheer will managed to get to his desk. His leg strength was depleted from the astral travel and from the abrupt return to his body. Despite the drain, he had to press on. This was far too important to stop.
Typhon.
He needed to write the calculations down. He had to figure it out. But his head hurt so much.
Need to find out if Earth will be hit—
Ziustros collapsed on the floor with a stylus in one hand and a scroll in the other. His eyes closed one last time before he was released from the pain.
. . . . .
Sleep was the last thing that Kylos could do. His ribs hurt with every breath. The bleeding had stopped, but the memory of the afternoon’s ordeal with Ballero kept on acting itself out in his mind without stop. His vivid dream of a week ago had come true on two accounts now, thanks to that beating from that damned Ballero.
In the darkness of his room he stared at the ceiling. Flickering orichalcum stars and constellations, which his father had put up when Kylos was an infant, glowed from the dim light of the gas streetlamps that crept in through a gap in the curtain. He tried to take his mind off the events of the day and lose himself in the thoughts of the Gods.
As he suppressed his tears, he half-uttered a prayer to Kronos asking for revenge against his enemy. He wished Ballero’s death.
Warmth flowed from his crystal and spread through his chest, so he opened his mind. The familiar feel of Peleus’s thoughts came through. “Hey, Ky. Are you awake?”
“Yeah, it’s kind of tough to go to sleep after what happened today.”
After a long pause Peleus asked, “Do you want to meet tonight and go on a prowl?”
Kylos gave it half a moment of thought. “Yeah, I’ll meet you in thirty minutes.”
The merge ended and with a sigh from pain mixed with exasperation, Kylos sat up and went to his boudoir. He rummaged through his tunics, and pulled out his dark one that was to be used during somber holidays and events, such as funerals. The window was his only way out, so he opened the curtains and unlatched the lock, like he had done many prowls before in the dark of night. He pushed the panes open, and the cool night air swirled around him. He jumped up from his bed, pulled himself to the window sill, and dangled his feet outside. The full-moon showed the sleeping city and the gas lamps lit the streets.
Kylos could not hear any sentry patrols nor any midnight rovers, so he dropped to the flagstones like a cat, scurried away from his house, and made his way to the rendezvous point.
Kylos thought about his other nocturnal excursions in the past and the near run-ins with sentries. He and Peleus always managed to hide in the shadows like thieves. If they had been caught, the sentries would have turned in the pair to their parents, creating more of an awkward situation for Peleus. Kylos doubted his father would even have noticed if his only son had been locked away in prison.
Prowling heightened all of Kylos’s senses, especially since sight could not always be relied on in the dark. He liked to imagine he was on a special Myrmillo mission, maybe as a spy. He focused on the sounds and smells that he would ordinarily not pay attention to. Every noise indicated possible capture, and a good Myrmillo does not get captured.
The journey was quiet, and soon he arrived at the meeting point, but Peleus was nowhere to be seen. A large shadowed recess of a building provided protection, and from there he looked and listened. As he focused his mind on Peleus's psychic frequency and started to transmit his thoughts, a hand grabbed Kylos's shoulder. His heart nearly stopped! Kylos spun around and saw the smiling face of Peleus.
"Gods, don't do that! You scared me half to death."
"You should have seen your face,” Peleus said with a chuckle. “I'll make a good Myrmillo, yet. You didn't even know I was here."
"Well, if you keep eating those pastries, you won’t fit into the armor," said Kylos with a jab to his friend’s belly.
"True enough," Peleus said smiling. "Where to?"
Kylos thought about it for a moment. "Let's see the main crystal."
"That'll be a challenge, but sounds fun."
The hurt in Kylos's body melted away with the thrill of adventure. The sharp aches turned into a dull throb as he and Peleus scurried through the streets.
The pair came to the first bridge, and Peleus said, "That's a bit of luck. No guards."
"We're not at war, remember. But I’m sure that some patrols will make their rounds. Let’s get across as quickly as possible.”
They scurried with heads low over the first bridge. Kylos half-expected to be stopped on the other side by a couple of guards with a group of cold-faced Automatons, but their luck held. A nearby building gave them some cover as they stopped to catch their breaths.
“One crossed, two more to go,” Kylos said.
Their journey through the gas-lit city was a bit time consuming, but they proceeded unchecked. In time, the Fourth Tier was theirs.
Kylos tried to remember where the Great Crystal Omphalos, navel to the world, was housed. Of course, the palace grounds needed to be avoided, as its guards could easily be seen from the pair’s position. Kylos scanned the taller buildings and found the smaller step pyramid with no top. That was it.
His index finger pointed to the stone structure, which sat between Oceanus’s temple and the Royal Palace, and he merged with Peleus saying, “There’s the crystal. Let’s go around behind it and climb. That way, we'll be out of sight of the Royal Guards.”
Peleus nodded and the friends ran through the streets using the cover of shadows and royal buildings until they reached the foot of the pyramid. Smoothed blocks made a staircase rising to the night sky. The steps were about three feet high, so it was more of a climb then a walk for them. But they went up the cool stone slope like mountaineers. The thrill of what waited for them at the end of their ascent spurred them on.
Passing clouds cast a veil over the moon, which helped their stealthy approach. Kylos uttered a short prayer of thanks to Ouranos for his assistance. No guards would spot him and Peleus now, unless those guards were looking for them.
Winded from the climb, they took a rest before the last five steps. Peleus gasped for air and said, “I didn’t know it would be this much work. I’ll choose the spot next time.”
“Oh, it’s good for you,” Kylos said slapping his friend’s shoulder.
“Well, let’s sit here until I catch my breath.”
“Sure.”
They sat looking out at the three tiers below. The orange-ish yellow dots of gas lamps were regularly laid out, glimmering like fireflies and following the curve of each tier. Kylos tried to find his house, but it was too dark, and most roof tops of the residential dwellings looked alike anyway. Kylos smiled at the night view and inhaled the cool, fresh air.
“About this afternoon,” Peleus said with a nervous cough, “I—I want to say thanks again.”
Kylos’s smile turned to a somber scowl.
“Ballero is such an elephant turd,” Peleus continued.
“Yeah,” Kylos said, remembering the beating he got. “I wish I had Myrmillo training. Then I could have held my own much better.”
“Have you thought about joining the Myrmillos, then?”
Kylos scratched his chin. “Yeah. I think my father wants me to join him in the observatory on Atlas. But that’s not for me. No. I have to see the world. Maybe get on a marine detachment or something. How about you?”
“My dad wants me to take over the business someday. I guess that’s why he’s got me going to Chiron’s school. When I come of age next year, he wants me to start trading.”
“Well, you could get on a ship and trade.”
“I think he wants me safe at home and do accounting or something like that. But won’t he be surprised when he finds out I’m a Nereid,” Peleus said with a gleeful chuckle.
Kylos felt he had the closest, truest friend that anyone could ever have. Kylos looked to the block at his feet and said, “My father already found out about the tryouts. I can’t understand why he was so against the idea. But I’m going to get in anyway, despite his disapproval.”
“We’ll get in,” Peleus said, nudging Kylos.
“Of course. We’ll get in and be Lords of the Sea!”
Laughter and camaraderie kept the conversation going. Great deeds were planned and exciting scenarios were created. Their crystals linked their thoughts and imaginations. Together they rode their dolphins on the ocean waves in search of distressed mariners.
Their dreams and ambitions simmered into smiles. The moment allowed Peleus to change the subject. “What about her?”
“Her? Her who?”
“That girl. What’s her name?”
Peleus’s smile was contagious, and soon Kylos could not suppress his smile or his feigned ignorance. “Her name is Ellena.”
“She’s pretty.”
“Yeah. She’s all right.”
“Come on. I know you. You like her, don’t you?”
“Kind of.”
“Kind of? You were looking at her so much during the game that I was surprised you could get the ball at all.”
Kylos laughed. “No, no. She just showed up, and I was surprised. That’s all.”
“So, no feelings?”
“Maybe.”
“In that case, maybe she could fall for a merchant’s son like me,” Peleus said with a broad grin.
“I think she came to see me.”
“It could have been me.”
A hint of doubt stabbed at Kylos’s heart. He fumbled for words.
“Ah,” Peleus said. “Got you! I could smell that jealousy inside you.”
Kylos smacked Peleus in the arm. “Yeah, I like her.”
“She’s nice, even though she’s just a baker’s daughter.”
Kylos thought of Ellena. He had just seen her earlier that day, yet he had a hard time picturing her face exactly as it is. Maybe he never looked at her. Maybe he looked into her soul. There was a glow and warmth within her that enticed Kylos, drawing him in.
“Let’s check out Omphalos now,” Peleus said.
Jarred back to the moment, Kylos nodded, and they climbed some more. When they reached the top, there was an opening shaped like a square about ten feet by ten feet. They edged towards the opening and peered down. Their eyes scarcely blinked.
The inner walls of the pyramid sloped at an inward angle, following the exterior of the pyramid. The smooth, sheer walls had images: Atlas supporting the heavens, dolphins frolicking in the ocean, elephants roaming grassy plains, bulls standing proud in lush fields, along with great Atlantean heroes bearing swords, spears, and shields. Orichalcum highlights on the pictures reflected the gas lighting, creating a magical effect.
On the tiled mosaic floor directly below the opening rose Omphalos, the Great Mother of power to all Atlantean crystals. The translucent rock glowed, according to Chiron, with power pulled from the earth, sea, sky and even Atlanteans.
“It’s amazing,” Peleus said. “Have you ever seen it before?”
“No, never. I’ve seen a hunk of crystal at my father’s observatory many times, but this is a giant compared to that puny bit of rock.”
The crystal was formed as only the Gods could make it, with a slight conical shape. No Atlantean dared defy its purity of form by applying chisel and hammer to it.
Kylos could feel the power in his own crystal grow in intensity just by being within close proximity to Omphalos. But something was not quite right about the Great Crystal.
“Hey, the crystal is not as bright as I imagined it would be,” Peleus said.
“What do you mean?”
“It looks like it’s a bit dark inside.”
Kylos squinted at the crystal and confirmed his friend’s observation—it did have a haze within it, lurking like a gray cloud in the sunlight. Had that always been there? Were they the first to notice it?
Despite the late hour, four bearded men came into the crystal chamber, their red robes denoting their office as the mystical Royal Crystal Attendants. They stood around Omphalos and bowed to it with deep reverence.
One man—presumably the leader—raised his arms and held a golden scepter in his right hand. The group hymned a prayer to Kronos, Oceanus, and Atlas and then continued with a hypnotic, droning chant in meditation.
The group’s deep tone shrouded the space in an ominous atmosphere and sent chills rippling across Kylos’s skin. Something was not right. His mind was starting to feel dizzy, and a headache was setting in.
“Hey, are you OK?” Peleus said.
“I don’t feel so good. We should go.”
Peleus nodded and they took one last look down at the crystal. Just as they did so, the chanting stopped and all four men thrust their arms upward. Both Kylos and Peleus felt a burning in their chest around the crystal area.
The robed men dropped their arms slowly and looked each other. One of them pointed at Kylos. They were spotted. Chaotic dashing about and shouts for guards erupted from the Crystal Attendants.
“Time to go!” Kylos said.
They flew down the steps as quickly as they could, sacrificing safety for speed. If they were caught now, it would mean big trouble. They probably saw something that no non-religious official had ever seen, perhaps was never ever supposed to witness. Who knows what the punishment would be?
Instead of going straight down, Kylos lead them at an angle which would take them closer to the protection of buildings to make an escape. He could hear the clatter of armor and the heavy clunking steps of the fearless Automatons. It seemed everyone had been alerted, and things got more complicated.
From the last drop, then they hit the ground and ran for all they were worth, seeking the safety of shadows. A dark alleyway gave them an escape route that would take them close to the bridge, so they followed it. At the end they stopped and could see the bridge. But a pair of guards denied them an easy escape.
“What do we do?” Peleus said starting to panic. “We can’t wait here until dawn. Our parents will kill us if they find us missing, if those guards don’t find and kill us first.”
Kylos’s mind raced through possibilities. They could try to jump over the bridge and plunge into the dark water below, but that would be a long swim to the Main Canal in hopes of finding some ladder to let them out, all the while praying that guards would not be waiting to question them, or worse. No, there had to be another way.
The crystal resting on Kylos’s chest still surged with power and felt warm. He felt connected with a strong force, one that he could nearly make out with his eyes, as if he were looking through thinly woven gauze. The two sentries’ psychic-frequencies became known to him just by looking at them. Kylos visualized himself and Peleus darting in front of the guards and running towards the pyramid.
The two guards watched two phantoms running by and gave chase. Peleus looked at Kylos and said, “Wow! They’re gone. Let’s go.”
Kylos barely heard Peleus’s words and just followed out of instinct. The boys barreled towards the bridge and did not stop to look back until they were nestled safely in the shadowed recess of a nearby nobleman’s manor.
“Gods, that was lucky,” Peleus said between breaths. “They must have seen someone else and thought they were us.”
“Yeah, maybe they did,” Kylos said. The haze of the astral realm was fading away, and his crystal no longer stirred with energy. A buzzing headache continued to build, though. He could not understand what had just happened with the sentries, but he knew that somehow he was the cause. The thought scared him.
How did I do that?
If you have enjoyed the story so far, you can enjoy Chapter 4 Hope at:
