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Of Ancient Passages: Chapter 18: Adventure Unlocked

“Now what?” Sol asks.

“Since we can’t go through it, we will go over it.” Alunda decides.

“Will Nighteye hold all of us?” D’ereen asks.

“Barely.” Alunda says scratching his beard.

Nighteye shakes as he is released. A few of the feathers stray to the ground. Groans come as they mount. His legs wobble and for a moment buckling. The great bird ascends into the sky.

“Why do you hate me Alunda?” Nighteye asks with a strained voice.

“Don’t be so dramatic old friend.”

He balks. “Dramatic. How about I sit on your back and you fly us?”

Nighteye banks left over the sand. Particles find them even up here. It stings their eyes and forces them half closed. Everyone’s skin is dry. Mouths are dusty and clammy.

Escaping this desert will be a satisfying release. Thinks Sol.

“You dragged me into the desert Alunda? I hate the desert.”

“Nighteye stop complaining.”

“This is my back you are riding on. So I will complain all I like Alunda. …The Desert of Lost Souls. Not the friendliest name is it. Who do you think gives places names like this?”

“People who do not want anyone in here. Or to find places like the funeral valley. The people at the Highfall Inn said they were coming through here too. Looking for an artifact or relic or something. So I suppose there are those things.”

Tsuk sees it first. A long strand of sand bursts from the ground. He pushes Sol out of the way it narrowly misses him. Tsuk is not so lucky. Tugging him, he goes falling.

Sol grabs his hand. Tsuk gets his sword and cuts at the sand. Nothing happens. Other strings reach out. Nighteye swoops to the right.

“Let go Sol.”

His grip tightens. “No, I won’t.”

The thickness in the sand grows. The weight is magnificent. It pulls Tsuk with quick jerks. Sol’s fingers are sweaty. There is no use. Then he falls to a suffocating death.

The durafan plummets down, down down. Nighteye turns in a flash. A narrow-minded mission moves the actions. Sol reaches out he can almost grab him. Not this time. Suddenly a giant face pushes out of the sand.  It opens its maw and closes around Tsuk in coarse embrace.

Nighteye pulls up sharply. Near to suffer the same design. The face swallows and rises up for them. Strings twinge out, binding the great bird’s wings. The weight is all he can take. The mouth closes around them and they twirl into the gruff heart.

The ground offers a hard crystalline surface to land. What land? What stable place to rest stills? Here there should be the slow crawl of sand. The choking hazards of this wasteland. The burning sensation of the desert heat. Yet, it is not found or discovered.

What they find is stillness. And as Sol opens his eyes, he looks out to the most perplexing of things. It addles his brain completely. The glint of metal prevails in the semi dark. There is some debate about the shape in Sol’s head.

Is it a ship? Or a dragon? A dragon can appear like metal. But they do not exist anymore. Not since the old times.

Slowly Sol gets up. “Is everyone alright?”

“I’m fine.” Says D’ereen and Tsuk.

“I will survive.” Alunda says.

“Where are we?” Asks D’ereen.

It is a question everyone would ask. No one knows. They can only barely see each other. From the metal comes a piercing yellow light. Quickly they shield their eyes.

“What is that?” Sol asks.

“Let’s find out.” Tsuk says with peaking curiosity.

Slowly we start to walk to this thing. What should we suspect. Why am I not dead. I should be dead. I deserve to be dead.

They move to the left of the giant piece of metal and find stairs. A mahogany door stands at the top. For a moment, they stand perplexed. Then Tsuk mounts the stairs and lays his hand on the doorknob. No one has the faintest idea where or when it will lead.

“Careful.” Alunda warns.

The door gives with a turn. He throws it open and it bangs on the wall. The walls are yellowed white. Only they have been splashed with rich colors. The floor is a shag carpet. All of this variety is most unusual to them. With very good reason.

Smoke clouds the air. People lay awake and dreaming on the floor. None hold hope of revival here. Minds twist with inward thoughts and deep clusters. To these, everything is unbalanced and stwemmering.

Tsuk motions them on. They shut the door behind them, good. The durafan keeps a steady hand on his weapon. They know they are near. But they do not know what to expect.

D’ereen walks to the soberest looking man. He stands by the wall, arms crossed. “Do you know where Cruxib is?”
He points ahead down the hall. “He is in the last door on the left.”

I am awaiting their arrival. Even now, I can hear their footsteps. Yes, I am he they look for. I have brought you here too. So that you can watch from your own plane. The doorknob jiggles. Here they come, finally.

They look as I have expected. Only much more tangible. This is almost always the case. I take one long drag from my joint. I will let them speak. People with so tough a road should speak their minds. Even if I do know what they will say.

“What is he?” Comes D’ereen.

Here comes my approach. “My name is Cruxib and I am the first fallen god.”

“Who is the second?” Asks Sol.

I lean forward. Here is the information they will like to hear. “Zaladen.”

If only they knew that, you are watching us through me. No one ever believes it. It almost always ends in a bad spot. That is why I will not tell them now. I take a longer drag from my joint. The effects are starting to kick in.

“Please sit.” They do so.

“You are a god?”

The present tense makes me smile. “I was.”

“But…but…look at you.” Comes D’ereen’s mix of surprise and angst.

“Yes, look at me. I must confess I and Zaladen have very little in common.” This is very true. It is not altogether whole though. “You have all come a long way.” I look to Sol. “Some more than others.” The weed makes me smile. “Now, I believe you have something in your pocket.”

Sol has a revelating jolt. “Oh, right!”

He brings it out. The sight is enough to spin me out of my drug haze. It is ebony. The beauty of it is majestic. Sol scans it over realizing it is not a rock. He has no idea what it really is. The fool.
“What is it?” Sol asks as his fingers brush over it.

“It is an egg. One of the last of its kind.”

“To what?” Asks Alunda and D’ereen both.

I take another drag before I tell them. Smoke smooths from my lips. “A dragon.”

“A dragon!”

“Yes Tsuk a dragon. Of the few remaining. Do not worry it will not hatch now.”

Sol puts it on my desk. As if, it will hatch. Did I not say it will not? “Sol you can keep playing with it. It will take a long time yet to hatch. Besides it takes a great deal to smash a dragon egg.”

“No, I am fine.”

“How do you know our names?” Asks D’ereen.

I shake my head. “Shall I keep repeating things? I told you I was a god. It is my right to know.”

“We have come to find our next destination.” Alunda finally talks.

“Yes, I know. It will have to wait. You will rest and relax.”

“But we—“

“No. You will stay. If you want to learn the information you seek, you will stay. Every one of you stayed for the malaphants. Therefore, you will stay for me. People today, always in a hurry.” I extinguish my drug.

“Maybe we should.” Says (almost always) timid Sol.

“Sol. Do you really?” Asks D’ereen.

“Seems we have no choice.” Tsuk says.

“That is the spirit.”  With a clap of my hands, a tray of drugs is brought to me. “Now, everyone have some.”

“No.” Alunda says for everyone.

“I already know you will say yes. I am not asking I am telling. It will prepare you for what you will have to learn for your next stage. Your journey Sol will not be easy. Only by understanding the past will you handle the future. So join me.”

“What if you are trying to kill us?” Says (the more barbaric) Tsuk.

“Please. I could have already.” This place allows me to go outside of my own laws. Otherwise I could not smoke. I could not help them at all. “I see no purpose in killing any of you.” My laws are as a watcher. Out of these confines, I cannot help or hinder. I am more like a ghost. “Trust me. Would Exezla have sent you here if he does not?”

“Cruxib seems to know a lot, maybe too much. Either way he makes a good point.” Alunda finally sees reason.

I bring out my pipe. To you what I stuff in it would look like wet greens. Lastly, I uncork a bottle and add a dash of liquid. When I light it, it makes a clattering sound. After a few seconds, the flames go out. In a couple puffs, orange smoke ghosts out.

The smoke wraps around their nostrils. I pass it to Sol. He takes a deep drag. The embers smolder. Smoke escapes in coughs. It passes to each person until everyone takes a drag.

Come on not again. Wait hold on. You should not escape me. Do not go. Just wait a second I can—

***


Did the room just ripple? I think it is starting to affect me. People’s faces move strangely. D’ereen laughs so hard she falls from the chair. Now we all laugh.

My hands start to blow up like pumpkins. “My hands! Oh my gods! My hands!”

It’s okay. I am okay. The world is just fine. Where am I? This room is different. I was in another room. There is no table here. Pillows lay around.

I can stand up. I am so full of energy. I am alive! Around the room. Around the room. Running, running around the room.

D’ereen is behind me. SHE IS TRYING TO KILL ME!! I have to run faster. I have to get away. My heart hurts. It is on fire.

Ouch! My face! I must have run into the wall. If I don’t breath, I will choke. Easy breaths in and out. I’m okay. That is it, in and out.

Cruxib stands over me. “Okay, you need some of this.” He places it near my lips and I drag.

It is relaxing. A kind of ecstasy in sleep but without sleeping. I am so tired. I try to ask a question. I need it to be answered. It takes forever to get to my lips.

Finely words come. “What is it?”

His words come slow too. “A bit of this a bit of that. The most identifiable thing in it is opium. The rest are many many trace elements.”

Where is the pillow? Ah, here it is. I have to strain to mooooo. Laying my head on the pillow, I cannot moooo anymore. Arms pull me away from my pillow. I am paralyzed. I am in stasis.

She places a finger over my mouth. “Shhh, don’t let them hear us or see us.” The drug has her too.

Her hands vanish inside her garment. She makes little rhythmic taps in the cloth. A deep moan escapes D’ereen. I cannot move. Lost watching and unable to look away.

She grabs my hand. The strength is sapped from me. She replaces her fingers with mine. I can feel her eyes on me. My fingers touch warm wet flesh. Her moan is in my ear.

D’ereen pushes fingers inside. I feel warmer wetter softness. A cute and naughty expression moves her face. Back curves, eyes roll back. A tantric release borders on enlightenment.

She pulls my fingers out and lays down in exasperation. The arms hug to me. Lips kiss mine. Body is skeletal. Blood drips from empty sockets. The kisses are to my chest, my stomach, then to my cloth line. I scream in ultimate terror. I awake from my haze with a stricken start.

Was it real or not? I cannot help but shutter. Is it day or night? Time is lost to me. D’ereen does not rest near. It cannot be true. It must not.

Cruxib comes in with a large black polished rock. It is as big as my fist. He puts down a small pot and lights a fire under it. It sizzles and pops. A white smoke raises it spirals to the tip. Here the image of a longhaired woman rises, arms raised up.

Cruxib gives a comforting smile. “Sleep now. All is well. Sleep and dream.”

The woman in the smoke moves around Alunda’s nostrils. Then to Tsuk and D’ereen. It does double tracks around me. It clouds around everyone rising from the pot. When it seems to disappear, it reappears, stronger and more fragrant. My eyes droop.

He comes up to me and gently brushes my hair. “Dream sweet dreams young one. But be aware that you need this. Without it, you and your friends will be weak. Let dreams come and kiss you sweetly.”

It was not real. I am okay. I go over to D’ereen and snuggle next to her. Cruxib’s words repeat in my head, like an echo. Sleep is overwhelming. I feel safe and happy. If only for a little while let me have sweetness. I need it.
Written by MrE (C. R. Powers)
Published
All writing remains the property of the author. Don't use it for any purpose without their permission.
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