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Fire In The Thickets

Two scholars embark on an investigative journey.

Jul. 25, 2019, 11:30 AM

By Will Street

Izon and the War of Xekakon Extended

Against the arching wind of the forest, the air swayed and breezed forward like an eternal potion. It spoke wittingly to those it met, conversing itself upright as if a potion of love, a potion or kindness or else a potion of all its fallibility.

For it had met them long ago. It had met them while laughing, crying out to the bereft stragglers as they scurried forward to keep the memories still ripe as it could be. But all that was before young Julia that morning was a bumblebee swirling gently in the breeze. The black and vibrant yellow stripes of that flatulent insect caressed the grass like a zebra as it flew fatuously from side to side. It jumped and leapt as if a token gliding solemnly across the air. It was dead to some at that point, who both argued in favour of its ignorance, nor saw the incandescent future stretching out to its wretched soul like a slave. Yet, it flew out of the way of Julia as she inspected the field in front of her.

It was green and wonderful. It was the last written letter of the creator all those billions of years ago. It was the very rainbow she hoped might transport her to a new universe. Her eyesight stretched across to the horizon. The undulating hills seemed to flank the mirage, oscillating the very dreams she was creating inside her. For surrounding her was a very symphony of sensations. Simple chemical compounds, burgeoning forth from their natal selves, shot plant-like stalks from the sand-etched ground. There they gathered, climbing to a height in unity, wrestling to witness the sun like a pride of pelicans.

In a scorched beacon of growth they clambered incrementally, discarding any form of natural obligation. Amidst a party of green and yellow colours, it merely offered a fist, moon-bound like the bully it was. The fist was very much for what was to proceed. The fist was for the seed of men, women, and children, who consumed these high and tall thickets.

Indeed, migrants from south-eastern Europe had travelled, community by community, northwards and westwards, in search of more prosperous lands. Yet, their lives knew many savage and grotesque hardships. What was particularly interesting about this clan, was the development of their bodily features. Initially emerging from the red-haired folk of Italy and Switzerland, they travelled north-westwards, along the western border of today’s Germany.

To these people, night-time fortitude was central to their survival. Forestland spread across the continent, out-numbering them by a trillion to one. That was to say at least for the further troubles of wolves and the melange of rival communities. Years went on, and sadly more hardships were down-cast on this already troubled and down-beaten existence.

They were forced to adapt. They were forced to trudge along the same route as mother nature and develop their own very existence. They were forced to hide away from their ineptitude like a darting fox unable to dig into the ground. As time went by, they developed a reddish, ginger colour of hair. It was a fawn, rudimental colour as if they were the foxgloves of the forest. Yet these new mutants could dart in and amongst the trees with ease, locating a fellow ally against any impending dangers. As such, they community grew strong with their reddish hair and pale skin. Before long, the populations had multiplied. And they were at the point of creating tools and skills to develop a sophisticated community.

Years had passed by when one seemingly eccentric Saxon man began to argue and challenge others amongst his clan. He would insult them as stupid, lazy even, and ignorant of the way to build and strengthen their clan. He possessed a nervous brow and dishevelled demeanour, and would tirade the chieftains vigorously. He did this while gasping to keep his mind steady. As such, he had little success in convincing the rest of his compatriots.

However, unperturbed by their fierce retribution, the man, named Xanthon, persisted in this extreme pursuit. He cried that if no one would come with him, he would go alone with his family. On the contrary, the devilish idea of more journeys only shook more terror in the Saxons. In reply, they simply passed over their declines. In fact, one of the soldiers stood up and decried before the dispirited Xanthon, “Take your murdering and plundering with you!”

Nonetheless, the following day, Xanthon trudged out across the plains towards the north of their settlement. Using his stealth and cunningness, he was able to procure a collection of three white stallions, which he promptly brought back to greet his family. As the seasons gradually moved closer towards late Spring, high on his own insanity, Xanthon packed his stuff and prepared to embark on his journey. He was dishevelled, manic even, and had lost his sensibilities, maddened rather in the cage of his own brain.

He scoured the open skies in front of him. The blazoned rays of the sun beat heavily upon his skin. The decaying pores were red and dry, withered and etching his body like a dry whip. It turned inwards into his own megalomaniacal disturbances, conjured hopes and resolutions in fettered harbours. He would shake his head and beat his furious palm against his suffering brow.

Ensnaring his own delirium, he turned to his wife and two children, who had made it to the encasing military wall of their Saxon settlement, and attempted to soothe them like an aghast pirate. “We will fight for a future!” He cried desperately. “We will find a place where all Saxons can prosper!” Vicious like the maddened man he was, he gathered his family together and collected their belongings. Strapping two dry sacks against one of the horses, leaving the remaining two for the children and the other for Xanthon and his wife, Penelope, he bid his fellow Saxons goodbye and embarked onwards. He embarked onwards amidst the undulating disturbances that were plaguing their eccentric souls.

It had been two weeks before the family found any resolute location. It had been two whole weeks. They pressed along the tracks of the beaten earth, empty souls that were minuscule in the great wonder of the wild. They were bobbling jugs in an ocean, spread eagles in the sky. Their singular footprints across the soil were like the roots of a tree, standing tall amongst a forest of a trillion others.

At last, after two weeks, they came across a river that precluded the way in front of them. Its tall banks and vicious current looked impassable, yet they devised a plan to follow the river westwards until they found a crossing area, bridge or waterfall. Before long, nonetheless, they came to a waterfall. It was a waterfall that looked magnificent and indestructible as the water smashed across it in shimmering droplets. Granite cliffs flanked either side of the water, appearing as if a cretaceous fountain, while the water poured down as if the jug of a giant.

Xanthon was turned on his heels, dumbfounded and aghast by the magnificent spectacle. He cried out to it like a wolf, hunting amidst his fellow compatriots. He lit up a beacon for everyone right there right then. He reached down to his toes and feet and saw the future rushing upon him. He saw a colliding infinity taking all of them into sensations a trillion miles away. For he knew immediately that this was his home.

They snaked down towards the water like a flock of penguins. The crashing liquid burst onwards like a foaming dragon. Water vapour swarmed the surroundings, alive like an electronically charged megaphone. Each molecule of water drove onwards and collided at the trough as if a symphony of white, gushing water.

Xanthon felt his driving ambition within him. He felt his love-lusting to be at this precipice. It was as if he could connect with the water particles. They were inside him – a crash and bang, and a drip and drop. They enlivened him, raising his heartbeat further towards the stratosphere. He could feel his blood pulsating throughout his body, electric code setting him in a simple state of euphoria.

Emboldened in this crusade, he led his family underneath the rock and into the cave behind the water. They congregated out of the way of the downpour, a downpour that shattered across the stone the other side. But Xanthon was still engrossed in his singular prescience. He paced ahead of his three other family members and inspected the granite stone viciously. It was as if he were catapulted in mind and body like an aged monk. It was as if he were sensing his prescient awareness unravel itself in front of him. He ran his hand across the stone and inspected it intensely, humming to himself as his hand moved across the solemn scratchings.

After a while, he stepped back and murmured to his family. “It is marks of meaning!” He cried at last. “Here, before us,” he continued. “Are writings etched upon these slate walls… written memories and tokened engravings of past mysteries!” He turned and stared at his family proudly. “It is the mathematical principles that bind us all!”

It is said that from here Xanthon developed his legendary principles. He could see that water had a life-giving potential. He saw that it could churn the cogs of the human mind and fuel the body. But its potential, he crucially relayed, revolved around strict mathematical principles. It was the “golden equation”, a Fibonacci sequence, and the quadrilateral deduction of the volumes he could see in front of him. Everything, he believed conformed to simple mathematical equations. They could be studied and rationalised and memorialised as universal truths.

These were Xanthon’s principles. And he set them across the dark, grey granite caves around him. He engraved his knowledge upon those four walls and let them flutter into infinity. But rather than floating up an elaborate stairway like a heavenly seamstress, Xanthon’s principles faced a far darker pathway as they passed down the generations. It was bandits and outlaws who were rather entranced by his teachings. They adopted the principles in warfare and were able to gain an advantage. That was to say the least for a speedy exit when seemingly outnumbered.

Scoured and depraved was much of their future legacy. They could even haunt men at times. They could berate the inner souls of men bewitched. Yet years passed and this human species began to evolve and evolve. It evolved so much that a community now inhabited the location. They inhabited the granite rocks and endless waterfalls. They dwelt within the granite walls and high temples.

They had developed a community of roughly a thousand men, women and children. At the forefront, the river gushed down a waterfall on the north-east tip of the settlement. Across from the raging bull that it was, a row of several stone houses, aligned as four with seven stacked above and above, nestled along the plain the other side of the river.

Adjacent to the river, but leant across the granite rock, a proud temple and stately quarters held firm as if an island of reverence. There was a decadent granite bridge, primordial and numinous to many, that had crossed the river for centuries. Other than that, on the far north-eastern tip, a tall temple rose into the sky, from which the sacred Delphic oracle was said to dwell. All other stately affairs were carried out on the southern bank of the river on plateaued plain before them.

Today one of the most important sections was the schoolyard at the foot of the Aurora temple. It was solid yet sanctified dwelling on the north bank of the river Xeon. There, there was a house, perhaps half the size of the tree next door. It could really look amazing if the river sparkled with heat and vapour rose into the land. Beneath the court rooms and civic buildings, the schoolyard occupied a prestigious location. It gleamed with reverence as the citizens… the philosophers that they were… studied and debated the ancient principles of Xanthon.

Precisely, the school building was made from the legendary granite rock beside them. It harked out to all the gazers that admired it, electrified like the lightning bolts of Zeus, built upon statue upon statue upon statue as it whispered its sincerity. From this outcrop, a particular man arrived. He arrived so presciently that even the fertile reeds that snaked the river began to whisper their amazement.

He lunged head-first into his mystical beliefs. He was falling… always falling… into an endless pit. His arms stretched forward, his legs floated behind in the murk, as he let the infinite kaleidoscope rush passed him. He was shouting and screaming. He was bereft of the moderation the laws of physics entailed. The man’s name was Richard, and he was on the periphery of the academic community within Aurora.

The way education operated amongst this clan was strict classes throughout the week and a testing exam schedule at the end of each year. In total the children were required to study up the the age of 20, however the lifespan of these folk could reach 150. This Richard was, however, particularly revered for his staunch traditionalism and obeyance of Xanthon’s academic principles. One day, according to legend, he was said to have hurled a child’s textbook into the river after the insolent chap had called Xanthon incomprehensible.

Most of the children were pin-nosed fools who discarded any form of intellectualism. They didn’t bother to open their books or open their minds. They aspired to no intelligence that might teach them the way to learn further. For them, rather, it was frivolous romance or infatuation with the latest gadgets. They sat idle as the gushing winds of time, nay revelation blew strongly passed them. They climbed no mountain other than their own decrepitude.

One day, unfortunately, Richard was murdered. He was slain whilst meditating in the Delphic temple. The genuine pariah, it seemed, had been killed. Indeed it was said that a band of bandits attacked, him being in deep prayer at the time. They flooded the vicinities of the temple and lunged upon him with daggers in hand.

The livelihood of that chap and the fertile inspiration he offered had thus come to an end. He was passed over to the realm of heaven. With that he also took much of this clan’s legacy with him.

*********

Fifty years later, the same civilisation still existed across the high waterfalls of Zambusa. On this occasion and at this instance, a procession was taking place amongst the school. It was indeed taking place at the primordial stone school at the foot of the waterfall. By now, as a result of a sharp increase in the Xeje’s population, the primordial school was regarded as an ancestral beacon of pride. In fact, its knowledge was legendary, its education shattering and prestige second to none.

Fans therefore much saluted it. They praised its success and ancestry. They wanted to be part of it. They loved it. The graduation that accompanied these people was a yet further instance to feather plume themselves with orchids… a time to smell sweet perfumes.. a time to indulge the senses.

They would serenade joyfully. It became as if they were members of strange enactment of passion… a shared enactment of licentiousness. Glitter adorned their shining foreheads, which in themselves claimed to be burgeoning beacons. The contingents were aloft. They were very much ripe fruit of only the topper echelons of their reality.

The purpose of the occasion was indeed to sign off and congratulate the students for their graduation. There were about 100 students taking part, all positioned on white chairs across the plateau, all swelling up with pride and anticipation at the formal trappings. One by one they would ascend the rostra and gratefully receive their certificate. The ceremony continued in this way until all the certificates had been awarded. The attention of all those concerned thus turned to the ample flutes of champagne on offer.

Ben Harrison, the University’s chancellor, was stood positioned within the side of an alcove just a couple of paces away from the university green and the main event. He turned to his deputy, Emily, who was also drinking a flute of champagne, and stood aside him, casual but very discerning nonetheless. “Have you any news further over what I mentioned before?” He uttered in a form of interrogation.

Emily appeared nonchalant and seemed to dismiss his concerns. “These are dark times,” she denounced regretfully. “You cannot berate yourself with it any more!”

Adamant, Ben persisted further. “It is troubling me most greatly,” he pressed with distress. “I don’t know what else to say!”

Emily took a long, hard gulp of her champagne and seemed to stare down through the glass. She reached inside her jacket to take out a cigarette and promptly lit it up in front of Ben. She gazed up at the blue sky, noticing the disparate white clouds. They were seemingly disjointed and irregular. Yet she found comfort in the therapy setting forth in front of her. Why was he so adamant about this plan, she thought to herself. Why was he persisting with such recklessness when the Xeje was blossoming spring after spring?

Ben intruded further into the conversation. “We cannot turn our back on the provisions Nicholas made those years ago!” He pressed ardently. “The safety of this entire clan will be undone by the simple decisions of arrogant fools!”

“Nicholas never believed in any of that!” Decried Emily profusely. She turned and gazed out towards the students. “And the sooner this clan wakes up to the teachings of others, the less backwards we will all find ourselves!”

‘Poppycock!” Denounced Ben viciously. Yet he grasped his champagne flute tightly in his palm and strolled with irritation back towards the throng of students across the green.

Closer towards the bank of the river, the winds were gradually getting stronger and stronger and perked up the humidity so that it was as if those present were staring out across an ocean. Positioned on the bank nonetheless ecstatically was a particular man called Derek. He was a man unexempt from the sincerity of their kind, nor too audacious to steady the battalions on an event such as this. Passing within the central lawn, as women in cocktail dresses and men in suits brushed past him absently, he by chance headed towards the alcove where Emily remained, stood still and murmuring to a fellow colleague.

Abiding to his sweet, succulent manors, he introduced himself to Emily with a gentlemanly pronouncement. He peered deep within her eyes and took a sip of champagne before beginning to speak. “I understand you’ve just been appointed as deputy vice-chancellor,” he said at last. “What a merry occasion it is to have a History scholar in the hierarchy once again!” He smiled deeply as if with his veins. “I expect you’ll have those scoundrels in the Senior Common Room defeated once and for all!”

Emily leant back and peered at Derek like he were a treacherous villain. “Quite,” she uttered at last. “But I’ll need a couple of months to get fully into the job. You see,” she continued. “I like to set my own mark on these things. And that takes time,” she murmured further. “Time that has been in short supply recently.”

Derek mused to himself and took an idle sip of the champagne. A new appointment… with such fierce ideas… he thought to himself. What havoc was she going to wreak on the university?

He placed his champagne glass on a standing table beside him and gestured to Emily as she occupied the centre of the lawn… occupied his burgeoning prescience. “Here,” he stammered wretchedly. “If you could.” He turned and reached for pen inside his pocket. “If you could write down your availability for next week, I’ll arrange a time to meet you in my office. A time,” he continued. “To introduce myself properly!”

Indeed Emily promptly agreed and the date was set for the following day. The day was set for a tumultuous carnage of dinosaurs. It was taken from the air… taken from the breeze… and passed into written word ready to stun the masses. A choir boy would sing of these things. He would mention them in his passing dreams. He would even cast himself out from heaven when the undulating words took on meaning. They were enough for him to bear. That was all.

Thankfully the knock came on Derek’s office door as they all expected. Derek greeted it with an astute “Come in” and the deputy vice-chancellor entered the room. She sat down with grace and decorum, before Derek placed his cup on the table and began talking. “I’m glad you made it,” he cried firstly. “Because there was something I was most eager to talk to you about!” He arched back in his chair and peered upwards. “It is to do with the transgression of these students leaving this school and reaching their newfound endeavours.” He smirked and questioned himself. “In whatever field and whatever that might be,” he added.

“Is it something you want me to do or is it something concerning you?” Rebutted Emily formally.

Derek arched backwards in his chair and tried to muster the intelligence to decipher his own intentions. “It was just…” he mumbled. “I sometimes feel bereft of hope for these young ladies and gentlemen. It is as if there is an imaginary bridge blocking their directions forward.”

“How so?” Pressed the deputy chancellor adamantly.

“When you look at how this city of Xeje… this sacred dwelling… has changed over the years, twisting and turning like that god forsaken river, how can each pedestal and each future fall so delicately into place? Ask yourself that, my dear Emily!”

Emily seemed nonchalant and offered a simple reply. “I guess it’s just each individual acting upon their prerogative. It’s as simple as that!”

Derek rather looked dumbfounded with a wry smile. “But can it? Can it form into such an equation as mathematically sound as this? Ask yourself that, my dear Emily! Ask yourself that!”

That, in fact, promptly brought an end to the meeting and Derek ushered Emily out of the office door. But he remained caught up in his prescient emotions. He turned and gazed through the elaborate window behind him. He turned and glared fiercely like a wolf.

The window seemed to shine back at him. It took up his momentous gaze and only reflected the light towards him. Incrementally the photons grew and bludgeoned the infinite space between them. Further and further the glass sculpture’s reckoning began to impound itself upon the wretched man’s soul. Beating like a heartbeat, disparate images swept passed the poor man like a torrent of rain. He was dishevelled, dismembered and caste aside the life-giving granite rocks they all saluted.

He could see further into his prescient awareness of the future. It touched and tingled him. Revolving blocks of information collided their way in front of him. The passed gently throughout his body and then glided away into the different membranes of his brain. The future brandished itself across his alert focus. Ecstatic nerves gathered the sensations necessary. The palpitating awareness conjured up all reality surrounding him.

He began to imagine of a distant lighthouse on the horizon of an ocean in front of him. It looked lonely and obsolete. The sole emotion it was, set within in a tundra of infinite waves and wind, seemed solemn and remorseful. It was as if a sad sign amidst the cosmos. But the palpating ocean seemed to scream back at him. It refuted his gesture to draw back. It gripped and terrified his soul.

From directly above the lighthouse, strange incandescent sparkles seemed to shoot into the air as if whispering in the chaos. But then the mystical happening pounded towards to his face. He thought of a young girl, graduating from the school of the Xeje, but taking forth with her things undiscovered by the clan. They were strange, nefarious principles… things to be kept to hidden… things to be restricted with a lock and key.

These principles began to eat into her mind. They were obsessive, addictive and infected the young girl, named Rachel, with furious emotions. They lit up a beacon within her, a beacon so strong that it was palpitating across the whole cosmos. She became so strong that all the elements abided to her wishes. She could control space and time. She could shoot down an entire planet with the click of her fingers.

Writhing and screaming, these visions were impressed upon Derek with ultimate insanity. The sensations he felt were electrified. It was like he had witnessed the impending doom of humanity. Bereft and bewildered, it was as if they had bound with his soul… bound with his body and mind… and revealed the true mysteries of existence. There must be a young girl out there with superpowers, he thought to himself. There must be a girl with superpowers!

He drew away from the window and focused his intention on Emily, the deputy vice-chancellor. I must be careful, he thought to himself, and act with tact! He turned on his heels and mused to himself some more. I must obscure these thoughts and this discovery from others, he thought further, from others who might well act rashly… from others who might turn against the legacy of our forefathers. But he turned around, bewildered once again. Yet I must seek an alliance and discuss these grave things with others, he thought to himself. Can Emily be trusted? Can Emily be informed and be reached out to for counsel? He was sure of it – he could not do this alone. Something was gonna have to give way. Yes! He thought about it and was certain. He needed a companion. He must find Emily and pass on the revelations. He must pass them on like a sweeping fox!

Later that day he banged on Emily’s door and waited for a reply. Surreptitiously he was out of breath in excitement. Consciously, he was aware of Emily’s quarrels. He was aware of her prickly mornings’ rebuffs. He didn’t want to end up in the dustbin aisle. He knew that he would he have to be coherent… he must set forth his case with cogent discipline. But his breath was still a few paces behind him aside the stairs, inhaling and exhaling nervously.

Somewhat aggressively, Emily opened the door abruptly. Recognising Derek, she seemed to smirk while conveying a melange of emotions. “To what to I owe the pleasure of meeting such an academic on a quiet Thursday afternoon?” She uttered with a cat-like beauty.

Derek burst through the door immediately. “There is something I most urgently need to speak to you about!” He cried wretchedly. He darted towards a chair and unwound his scarf. Emily alternatively continued to smirk at his stupidity. He shut the door behind her before pacing over to the other office chair. She sat down, leant backwards before beginning to address David.

“Speak up! Let’s hear it!” She uttered. “What have you come to speak to me about?” She stretched backwards, before arching across the glass desk, peering at Derek as if she were a tiger about to lunge in for the kill. “Because I’m sure you won’t need me to remind you that you have already been sanctioned twice this year for sexual harassment.” She peered at him devilishly. “And it wouldn’t need me to tell you that you’ve been suspended!”

“Those were well over 6 months ago. And I maintain that in both cases the verdict was inconclusive.” He sat up and gathered his breath. “Nay,” he continued. “What is this university about other than striving for progress.” He smirked himself and took a puff of his vape. “What are we other than caveman trying to break out of the cave. A bit of leeway must be given for the human race to reach the stars!”

Emily coughed wretchedly. “Alright then. Say whatever it is that so concerns you!” She barked fiercely. “Let’s get this over and done with so I can get to the bar before nine.”

Derek arched over the table cunningly. He elucidated his senses and unravelled his inner clockwork. “I have been studying the cohorts departing from this institution.” He uttered at last. “I have been studying them and I am most concerned!”

“Why would you think that?” She murmured in reply.

“How well do we know any of these students?” He intrigued further. “We’ve lost track of where they’re drinking, who they’re talking to, what information they’re consuming.”

“These things have a way of working themselves out!” She replied idly.

“Not this one. Something is seriously going wrong.” He pressed further. “It is like they’ve lost their cohesion.” He stared at her with a wretched grimace. “Vagabonds are turning obsolete. Professors are turning to the dustbins.” He sat up and pronounced his words sternly. “We must act urgently. There are students who might tear away the very fabric of this institution.”

Emily seemed shrivelled by his aggressiveness. Why had he suddenly developed such a heart-aching intrigue? Bored down with the latest of observances, her eyes were already set on the summer vacation. And the mojitos that went with it. Nonetheless, she knew the institution’s code of conduct well enough and uttered a reply to Derek.

Gathering her paperwork and books, she spoke the following words: “ever since long ago a large cohort of our students have moved on to logistic jobs,” she replied firmly. “These are logistic jobs at the quarry of Astantin to the south of Xeje.” Picking through the paperwork, she continued. “You see the quarry likes the students for their thorough intelligence and in return they receive a salary twice the normal amount of the forests of Xekakon. If your heart so desires to find out more about these students, I suggest you venture towards there.”

Derek perked up ecstatically. “And will you come with, my sweet lady??” He cried with a chivalric fortitude.

“Alight. Agreed. We shall both venture there together!”

They moved together towards the quarry of Astantin like an omnibus revolving upon its pedestal. Taking Derek’s space wagon, he and Emily shot into the air as if on a galactic pursuit. They soared effortlessly, admiring the landscape beneath them, engine roaring like a violent sea serpent. Derek didn’t know what else to do, other than scurry through the night shadows, focusing his alertness on the skies. And the grateful destination spot with it as well.

At last they made it to the car park of Astantin’s quarry and settled the space wagon nicely on the ground. Derek and Emily gathered their paperwork and identification cards. They then planned to head towards what they thought was the building’s reception. Gathering themselves professionally, they proceeded to knock on the door.

The two-pair were greeted with all the formality of such an institution. They were asked to sit down on a sofa in the reception and wait for an appropriate staff member to come and speak to them. Gathering together all their documents and plans of action, they waited for a good thirty minutes until a well-dressed official finally appeared in the same room.

He reached over and shook both of their hands. Bemused and excited, they all smiled back at each other. They then glared intriguingly into each other’s eyes. They glared at each other as the shiny white marble reflected behind them. However, the man immediately appeared slender, but straight face and pin-nosed at the same time. It was if he were in tune with the pale, grey armchairs.

“How nice it is to meet you!” Cried Derek first.

“Not at all!” Replied the official.

Derek could notice the pale, black cushions of the seating area nestled astutely behind him. Both the office desk and waiting area were made from white marble. Yet the black, ornate sofas behind appeared like crows waiting in a forest.

“Can I ask your name?” Pressed Emily.

“Why that would be Astantin. Chief Executive Officer of Yark Quarry.” Replied the gentleman.

Emily thought of the tall, grand height of this person in front of them. He appeared like a tall eagle peering over a mountain. The smart black shirt and suit betrayed his ardent discipline, yet his workman-like face was carried through with delightful demur.

“We in fact come on behalf of Xeje University,” Emily announced astutely. “We are here to enquire into some of the features of our graduation policy.” She glared at the man vigorously. The nervousness in her sharp words betrayed her deceit. But she was nonetheless adamant to get the bottom of the problem. “Would you be able to provide the documentation of your last year of recruitment? There is a particular girl we are searching for.”

“Sure… sure… these things are easy!” Cried Astantin jocosely. “But first let me give you a tour around the factory… get to know each other on first name terms.”

Emily and Derek began to follow Astantin’s lead, as they progressed upwards to platform from which they could observe the factory in its entirety. “I always say to these people after they work here each day… drink some vodka… that will help you fall into the sleep of the night!”

“I understand that you have between five hundred and six hundred employees on your payroll?” Interrupted Emily. “Is that correct?”

“Numbers… numbers!” Decried Astantin. “My girl this factory was built with iron!”

Emily looked irritated at his obstinacy. As Astantin strolled to the side further ahead along the platform, Emily stared back at Derek. “Many young adults work here for years.” She murmured remorsefully. “They arrive with high hopes then get stuck in the system. They get so much stuck in the system they can’t escape.”

“Let’s get this old fool to take us to the books!” Derek bludgeoned forcefully. “And then we can get the fuck out of here!”

Emily called out to the man in front of her. “Astantin… this is all very nice… but can you take us to the information records… take us to where we can find the documentation we desire.”

“Yes! Yes! How rude of me!” Decried Astantin. “What furrowed beaks you all have!” He strolled to the end of the platform and pressed a button for the lift. “Just like the birds if I’m not mistaken!”

The retinue of three passed downwards in the lift, before strolling along a corridor towards Astantin’s main office. The door to the office was made of stiff iron, bullet-proof in fact, and took a shudder to open. Heaving it shut was like a bludgeoning tug of war, before Emily and Derek paced over to the sofas on the left corner, Astantin following nervously behind.

“What we are really interested in,” announced Derek casually. “Is your recruitment data from last year.” He peered at the man sinisterly. “That would be year 2946 by my estimations.”

Astantin shot forward, as if suddenly enamoured by this strange mewling. “Why… my friends… that was the year of the wolf!” He clamoured excitedly.

“Is that of any importance?” Replied Derek.

“My friends,” he continued fervently. “The year of the wolf was legendary amongst all of us. It was legendary for all the drinking that took place… for all the sheer unabated revelry that coloured the skies."

“We are not here to discuss drinking,” discarded Emily in frustration.

Astantin rose to his feet. “My friends… these things are not something to be forgotten.” He turned from side to side, before clamouring towards them. “They enrich our veins, fuel our minds and give us a reason to live. In fact,” he turned around viciously. “I still have some Diamante left over from last year.” He strolled over towards his drinks cabinet. “Let me get you both a glass!”

Emily glanced aside at Derek. “A small glass won’t hurt!”

Derek could only scoff a decline, before Astantin brought all three of the glasses over. Emily and Derek immediately smelt the liquid, before questioning the rancorous man about the pyretic potion. “Derek and myself are quite discerning,” uttered Emily frankly. “It is unusual that we taste a liquid before the host. Just in case,” she continued. “We fall foul to any treacherous attack!”

“Very well,” uttered Astantin in reply.

Down with a slurp the furtive potion fed through Astantin’s mouth. He seemed fine at first. He seemed like he had been enlightened by a flavoursome drink. Yet within a moment the effects began to kick in. It smelt of a redolent trap. Suddenly he was gasping for breath. He was gasping for breath as if were being strangled at the throat.

It pounded across his throat louder and louder. Wretchedly it wrapped around him and suffocated him. He was a mere fruit. He was a mere fruit being intoxicated by a snake. He had assumed the role of the lamb… life taken… robbed from him at a young age. He continued choking and choking until he collapsed over dead.

Resolute, Derek peered over and tried to examine the poor, wretched bloke. After several seconds, he uttered a verdict. “He’s gone, bud. He’s fucking gone!” He murmured solemnly.

Emly and Derek stared helplessly, both completely dumbstruck. “We must get out of here!” Exclaimed Derek.

“Aie!” Cried Emily. “We must leave like our lives depend on it!”

*********

Derek and Emily fled the scene. Rushing out of the room, they fled the scene like the flight of the falcons. Passing only grimaces or slim morsel-like smiles at the group of receptionists, the exited through the barrier and found themselves aside the grim, cocked building.

Emily turned around, infuriated like a frenzied polar bear. She pulsated her anger at the hateful place… muttered profanities… hoped wretchedly to land Infractions against the sordid company it was. At last, she gathered herself and turned to the opportune Derek, who had sat down across the concrete.

“It seems I was right!” He announced with a gasp. “It seems this affair does need to be investigated!” He continued proudly. “Who is the madman in the jungle now! And who has the keys to the universe!”

Emily turned around and scoffed at his face. “The success lies in the completion of the task, I think you’ll find!” She muttered adamantly. “Anyway,” she continued. “It seems there is no way we are going to solve this mystery by only following one strand of interest.” She stared upwards as if with resolution pulsating from her heart. “I think we should split up and go our separate routes.” She looked at Derek firmly. “Maybe one of us might find what we’ve been hoping for!”

Derek and Emily thus agreed to go their separate ways. Going solo, they were left to their own, individual devices and in charge of their own means to track down the legendary girl with superpowers. It was now two teams of one. It was a solo bird pecking at each of their mental temples.

Derek turned towards his lacklustre ambition and thought of his indeterminate provisions. What particularly fascinated his brain with ardent passion was the legendary sports complexes within the Hulu lands of Baldron. These were lands rich with party-goers… lands rife with nighttime entertainments… filthy with sexual courtesans.

They had entranced many over the centuries since their origin. Places like these would commonly seduce any stable individual and leave them mesmerised. They would become trapped by the licentiousness, incarcerated in a dream, yet, after the drunkenness that ensued, thrown back in the trash can from where they came - launched into a pile a shit like a projectile wasteman.

Nonetheless, Derek returned Emily to Xekakon before embarking on his own towards Hulu. The journey was roughly two hours and flew across the expanse at a sprightly altitude of about two hundred metres. He flew over the expanse preparing himself for the debauchery that was about to come. Yet staring at the rolling hills and forests beneath him, he thought with a subdued sadness at the plight of his lands. He must return order to Xekakon, he thought to himself. This troubling problem must be solved.

Within ten minutes, he could see the entertainment complex stretch out in front of him. It appeared like a gigantic monolith. The majestic structure pervaded the land. It was like a new city built out of one structure. Its delicate architecture and sheers size swarmed his sight for hundreds of metres to come.

He directed his space wagon towards the landing dock. The docking station appeared as a square block constructed out of vigorous alloys that were black and grey in colour. He hovered over his designated bay before coming to stand-still. Shoving the door open, he immediately presented his wrist-watch and heard a stark beeping of the electronic machine. Coming towards the barriers, he could look back and see his space wagon being shovelled underground.

First on his trajectory were the outdoor bars and nightclubs aside the sports stadiums. As it happened, there was about to be a cricket match taking place in Hulu’s main stadium, the main stadium that was called Exodus. However, Derek first strove towards the complex of outdoor bars and nightclubs. He was hungry and thirsty, and also wanted to delve initially into what this populace knew about the legendary girl.

He arrived along one of the main partying streets. The sky was dark but the neon and electric lights pulsated through the area. Beautifully constructed bars lined the pedestrian zone, rich with plant-like imagery and sophisticated architecture. Aside each entranceway, representatives offered fliers and drinks deals, yet they were representatives that appeared sophisticated and mature.

After strolling for a couple of minutes, Derek came across a bar that was called “Wahiti”. Its beautiful façade was the colour of the rainforest. There were plants adorning the entire building, entrancing the guest in exotic paradise. Their amor was equally met with the chocolate mountain that was the drinks deals on offer alongside. At the entranceway there was a collection of roughly twenty scantily dressed courtesans, who tried to draw in customers and offer drinks deals.

Derek caught sight of its magnitude and enticing vibe. He passed through the collection of courtesans waiting at the entranceway. Each female was wearing leopard-print outfits. They sneered and stared at his professionalism, pledging themselves rather to a code of seduction.

The man sat down one of the tables outside and waited for a waitress. Before long, a tall beautiful lady, with tanned skin and blonde hair, arrived beside him… they arrived beside him like a sexually empowered tiger.

Taken aback by her beauty, Derek initially stumbled. He stared at her figure and felt a shakiness inside him. He couldn’t evade her gaze, and he was dumbstruck by her vibrant skin, tender curves and perfect bosoms.

“What I most want,” uttered Derek with dishevelled idiosyncrasy. “It is to enquire about the mystery of a girl, who departed from a university I work at.”

The waitress seemed unperturbed, but Derek continued further. “She is roughly the age of twenty-five and we believe there is a prophecy about her. We believe there is a prophecy about her that could shake the very fabric of this universe!”

The waitress cared more about the adoption of a child… a child that was soon to be enlisted to her. She worked at this bar every evening, five days a week. Sure, it wasn’t the busiest schedule – she had each morning to do what she wanted. But it was consumed by enjoying the latest legal narcotics most days, attending the cinema or thinking about social tenets such as becoming an adoptive mother.

She was rather looking forward to heading to Dojo bar, which she usually went to after work. There, she would normally drink enough shots of Xeon to give herself a heavy hangover in the morning. The atmosphere was relaxed and she had a few other friends who she wanted to catch-up with.

She simply replied. “I’ve never heard of that ever in my life!” She reached over and seemed stern as well. “And if you’re not gonna pay for our services, please can you vacate this table!”

Derek realised his efforts were going nowhere. Both the waitress’s sinister stare and the wild licentiousness of the whole complex were too much for him to bear. Yet he pondered to himself some more. Maybe I must look to darker scenes, he thought to himself. Maybe I must visit one of these legendary cavernous nightclubs. And find out if any information can be gathered amongst the underground in this dazzling city.

He reached forward and asked the waitress. “What would you say is the most popular nightclub nearby?” He postulated intriguingly. “Where can I find a place to let go of my soul?”

The waitress seemed ready to make sure he left the club. Whilst gathering the menu from the table, she twisted her head back around and looked off into the distance. “There,” she muttered irritably. “There’s a place over there on the corner of the road called Xenon. There’s usually a guest performance every night.” She glared back at him obtusely. “That should satisfy a boring man like yourself!”

Derek gathered his things together and paced over towards the nightclub. At this point it was already midnight and the club was in full throttle. Drunken revellers stood at the bar, hunched in office suits, while beautiful candy-laced girls most commonly stood in the smoking area, inhaling the latest edition of Bliss.

Derek, himself, pushed closer to the bar, eager to buy himself a drink at the outset. Ahead of him in the queue he could see a tall, muscular man with tattoos etched across his body. He was hunched over as if the hunch-back of Notre Dame. Derek called out to him. He reached forward and called out to him as he stood a couple of paces in front… vigorously as if he were a beacon of illumination emanating from the soul.

The man turned around and muttered some disgusted words. “What do you want?” He barked aggressively.

The room seemed dark and sinister, hijacked of remorse. The bewildering lights above scoured like vultures. The beautiful neon lights behind the bar seemed to be obscured by the hegemony in front of it. Even the floor underneath no longer felt solid but cracked and crooked instead.

Derek immediately set about rushing to the smoking area. He brushed absently passed the revellers, almost invisible in the smoke and haze. From the smoking area, however, he looked out across a great valley. The night sky was dark, but he could see cities and settlements along the plateau beneath them. The red sky above almost appeared like a raunchy message from the heavens, ushering all to partake in the revelry…to cast aside their inhibition and party through the night.

And then his prescient awareness came to him. It was a sudden awakening tune that chilled his mind. It knew of the location now. It knew of the devilish insides of his mind. Out there, far off in the distance, sheltered ice kept the secrets still, as if in a time-lapse. They were burgeoning forward, furrowing to reach the light… to escape the cave. Heat would induce them. Heat was their very secret.

He imagined of a young girl again. She was dressed this time in a white fur coat. She sparkled around the snow like an angel, shining light from her eyes as if in a vortex. Yet her eyes shone vigorously back at Derek. They pulsated through his mind, torched his soul… brandished him with anger and dismay. The force kept flowing and flowing until Derek was held flagrant in an impenetrable stand-still. Wretched and dishevelled, he was at the mercy of the mysterious spectacle.

He turned aside, dumbstruck. He regathered himself and stared in awe around him. It had all evaporated in an instance. He looked out to the plateau that seemed to fade away from him. This must have been of the girl’s doing, he thought to himself. It was yet a further sign. He pondered up at the moon in front of him and thought some more. The girl was reaching out to him, he knew it, and, yet further, she was canvassing for a meeting. Well, he thought to himself, best he return to Emily and report the good news.

*********

Meanwhile and far away, gathering her intelligence to find a way, Emily was devising her own plan of action. She knew her own strengths and usual methods to obtain a victory. Cunningness and guile blossomed from her wind-swept brow, and she thought objectively as if a willow tree swaying in the breeze. Go to where all the these vagabonds meet, she thought to her herself. Go to the breeding ground where they conjured their eccentric views… where they devised their prophetic ideas.

She knew the northern regions past Xekakon deeply within her mind. She had ventured there thrice over the past year. However, she realised that the drunken harbours of those realms were not enough to pledge a rebellion. No. What she deduced was necessary, was a journey out of these realms… out of these lands and into space… into space, she deduced… to one of the neighbouring moons that orbited this planet.

The most famous one, and the moon most famous for its insurrections, was Orion. This was a moon about a twentieth of the size of Earth. Consequently its gravitational pull was minimal and its was renowned for its hedonistic and liberal gatherings. In fact, it acted as a party destination for many seeking an intellectual vacation.

She gathered her stuff together and planned to travel into space alone… alone once again with only minimal knowledge of the destination. It would take three days to reach the distance and required a special space wagon that had the necessary propulsion to travel through a void. However, her sturdy grasp of the controls knew the history of her many galactic battles.

Before long, she was travelling through space and about to reach the momentous moon in front of her. The docking station was an open landing space in this case, more of an outside suction device compared with the planetary utensils. She directed the space vehicle onto the designated pad and sat calmly as she and the vehicle were both drawn underground.

She swayed delicately underground before reaching a stand-still about five metres below the surface. A beeping sound boomed out, directing her to vacate the vehicle and pass up the pedestrian stairway. Having buzzed her identification, the space wagon was slotted into the underground carpark.

She paced towards the communal station. Sharp electric lights beamed overhead, roughly twenty metres above her. There was a monumental glass wall behind the entranceway, showcasing the electric light illuminating the lunar expanse outside. The building was an enormous rectangular warehouse. Travel information and times were brandished through a holographic display in front of the window. There were also a few food stalls the other side, utilising the latest holographic gizmos.

Emily knew straight away where she wanted to head. Deceit and obscuration most commonly dwelt within the shadowy regions on the east side of Orion. Most people knew this and they had been famous for these things for many years. Principally, she wanted to reach the “Quagmire” ranch, which both grew cops in the lunar soil and acted as an education bastion for much of the surrounding area.

She therefore ordered a taxi from outside the docking station and informed the driver of the area code. The space taxi swept up into the lunar sky and catapulted the both of them onwards, onwards in a tumultuous whirlwind. The desolate lunar expanse and minimal light kept their nervousness surging. Their appetites were on knife-edge… reaching out to any form security… finding themselves in a foreign land… amongst dangerous men… in a requiem of the occult.

After a few minutes, having remained silent in the back of the taxi, Emily could see the bright lights of the Quagmire ranch approaching in front of them. It looked like an electrified power station, with tall pillars rising into the sky, yet farms spreading out flat across the land beside them. In its entirety, the ranch beamed out towards them viciously. It beamed towards them with the sheer might of all the electric lighting.

The taxi slotted down on the lunar landing. It was more of a helicopter pad, singular and empty on its own, acting as a flat space amongst the dusty ranch. A couple of men, wearing cloaks and a helmet to breath, rushed out from a building as the wind blew viciously across the sand. They immediately grabbed Emily at the arm, struck a helmet over her face and ushered her into the stone dwelling.

“Sorry!” Uttered one of the men first. “We have to act swiftly for safety precautions.” He shoved his mask to the side and looked optimistic. “You don’t want to spend too long on Orion without a breathing mask!”

Emily stepped up and tried to assert her ambitions. “I am here on behalf of Xeje University,” she uttered at last, still shaken from the lunar chaos. “Please could you direct me to Berun so I can have a formal conversation with him!”

The man rather looked at her emptily. He possessed an obsolete circumspection as if the place was a ghost-town. “I’m afraid Berun is out with the farming brigade.” He sat still and stared flatly back at her. “They are several hundred miles away from here.” He turned and flicked on his wrist-watch. “Managing the cultivation of lunar minerals in the Eskard basin.”

“When will they be back!” Barked Emily viciously.

“Not too soon, if I know Berun rightly,” the man continued absently.

“Well this is madness,” shot forward Emily aggressively. “I need to speak to him immediately. It is a matter of the most importance!”

“All I can suggest is that you wait here until the weekend,” replied the man apathetically. “There is a dinner party arranged for his return! Nay,” he continued. “You are welcome to stay in the guest quarters until then.” He smirked to himself. “I’d hate to see someone go out on the lunar expanse on their own!”

Emily reluctantly agreed and paced through into the confines of the farm. It was a red-dipper of an outcome, a solemn incarceration in solitude, but not before she found herself in the dinner party three days later. The congregation gathered within the main hall, the ecstatic chandeliers blessed them form above like an angel and the crowd paced around, talking to each other like an energised pod of penguins.

Emily emerged amid the throng of people among the main entrance hall. The crowd was roughly comprised of twenty people, some important officials of the lunar government, others businesspeople concerned with the crop fields and mineral cultivation, and a small collection of Berun’s close friends. To the right of them was a large, ornate dining room with a grand table that stretched most of the room.

Sipping on flutes of light Diamante, a butler strolled forward and ushered the crowd into the dining room. Shuffling into place, they sat down, many deep in conversation, and waited for Berun to announce himself.

Berun stood up at the end of the table. He held a single champagne flute in his right hand and gathered himself before speaking. “As you know, ladies and gentlemen,” He announced with a resonating bellow. “This is the second consecutive year the Quagmire ranch has exceeded its annual profits… exceeded itself in fact bifold.”

The whole dinner party banged their glasses on the table. “Where there was dampness running through our crops, there is now bountiful corn.” Continued Berun. “Where there were droughts plaguing the land, there are now greater and greater numbers of fields!”

The whole dinner party banged their glasses on the table once again.

“It is a majestic harvest… the like of which we have never seen before!” He extolled as if almost shouting. “So… my friends,” he continued. “Feast yourself upon the most luxurious banquet this station has ever witnessed!”

That did induce all the guests to begin tucking into the bountiful banquet that was before them. After several minutes, with the conversations having been rampant, Emily decided to dive into the foray and press her concerns. “My dear Berun,” she muttered politely. “I come on behalf of Xeje University.” She took a bite of her food and then gazed further across the table at him. “What I am looking for is a girl… a girl we believe might be of extreme importance to this entire universe.”

“There have been rumours of such a girl,” Berun replied astutely. He wiped his mouth with a kerchief and adopted a serious tone. “Those among the Guild hear of legends.” He paused and mulled over his words. “They hear of legends that stretch through the transient workers of the north and from there into the rivers that lead to Xeje.”

His words were greeted by a mumbling pervading each side of the table. The guests either parried their concerns onto their neighbours, or chomped down at their food, abject to this staunch deceit.

Another woman shot forward from across the table. “But my dear Berun,” she announced sternly. “These are just rumours amongst beleaguered proletariats. They are the begrudging words of itinerant sailors. That is all.”

“How so?” Decried Emily in reply. “It is the very people such as those who might possess the secrets to the mystery of this young girl!”

Berun looked peeved at the front of the table. This young woman, Emily, certainly had intelligence. He could see that she rose above her base-like concerns… her degenerate desires… and fought for the well-being of her citizens.

“There a reports, also, my dear friend,” interrupted Berun. “That great houses gather in the outer universe ready to launch an attack. But,” he continued. “It is said that the young girl alone has the power to defeat them.”

Most of the table began to mumble again. They huffed and puffed at the mere mention of the ordeal. They were train-drivers rather. They were train drivers seeking safe and stable lands. What could they do, in the face of such an underhand treachery? What aged sentiment could possibly surmount the occult?

Such a scheming was, however, interrupted an hour later. With the dinner having come to a close, all the guests ventured towards the main gallery. Berun, it seemed, was eager to make a statement. He stood at the front of the room and addressed them solemnly. “My dear friends,” he cried heartily. “What I want to talk to you about this evening is something I have not yet broached as a farmer. He bellowed up into the air with a devilish grin. You see,” he continued. “Crops come and go… land comes and go, eventually everything perishes away.” He paced from side to side with a ferocity within. “That is except for one thing,” he barked loudly. “That is except for gold!”

Feverous murmurs broke out across the crowd. Good heavens, they all thought. What yet was this latest outlandish scheme! Bridled by no chains, it would mean the ultimate descension to revelry!

In fact the whole room was held silent, dumbstruck in fascination… dumbstruck in fascination for gold. Yet how the prophetic words set off a landslide. To this meagre race, gold was too strong an emblem to remain steady on their shoulders. Absent of enough soul or culture, they were caught… they had been caught and found wanting. They knew it would be a downhill spiral… one that smashed into a riot as the guests launched and threw furniture across the room

It was a mob. It was a descending to thuggery. Each fancily dressed diner was rife with bloodthirst and vengeance. They trashed the room completely. Bottles were thrown through the windows, chairs set on fire and decadent, ornate furniture used as further weapons amongst the chaos.

In the absolute madness, Emily knew she had to get away. She fled towards the garage of Quagmire and broke through into the large hanger. Finding a space wagon unlocked, she thrust open the door and assessed the controls. Fortunately they were the standard edition. She shoved down on the leaver with all the venom she could muster. Gliding out into the lunar blackness, she swept off away in escape.

*********

Two days had passed. Two lacklustre days had passed as Emily and Derek both tried to make it back to Xekakon. It is, at moment such as these, that the whole cosmos seems to reverberate with a longing peace. Bouncing off an obsolete leaf, deep with the autumn dullness, Emily swayed from side to side in her life like a drunken moon. Her parochial treachery, a stillness of the mind, captured the free-flying essence she was trying to build… it caved in on a lonely soul.

Back and forth she would calmly breathe to herself. Noticing nothing around her, nothing other than the stillness of her mind, she breathed up and down like a timing metronome. Her gentle mind carried further to a brief image of the Xekakon forests. They were calm and lacklustre. The simple melody pleased her mind, and she remained still, focusing on the image.

Breathing back and forth, she felt herself travel to a dream world… a safe haven… a happy place, where she could let her mind rest. Feeling the warmth and tranquillity relax her mind, eventually she breathed deeply and casually opened her eyes.

Derek had arrived in Xekakon. She could see his towel hung up in the spa waiting area in front of her. He, it seems, was also getting in some rest and relaxation. She strolled through the spa quarters, noticing the sweet smell of warm water vapour, the delicate perfumes and soothing warmth, the resonating bubbling sound and trinkling of water. Eventually she paced towards the hot tubs where Derek normally gathered himself.

Derek was sat reclining within a foaming hot tub. The water and bubbles gushed around him as if he were completing a rebirth. The hot tub, was in, fact in the corner of the complex, beneath a bamboo-thatched roof and wooden palisades. It looked out across the tranquil gardens of Xeje below.

Emily strolled forward and chucked some water to the side. “So it seems we both have been fighting our demons!” She cried profusely. She looked at Derek’s absent guile and despondency and continued further. “Have you managed to find the girl, or are you just treating yourself to a spa treatment?”

“You see I ran into trouble,” replied Derek idly. “I was outnumbered and had to make a quick escape!”

“Well it seems we both have been brainwashed!” She chuckled to herself. “By those across the land seeking to hide the truth of this girl!” She gazed across with a sterner look. “When you finally get out of that godforsaken bath, meet me in the foyer where I can inform you of our next plan of action!”

Derek promptly presented himself within the foyer several minutes later. They were both dressed in dressing gowns and were appreciating the mild autumn. Derek had been conjuring thoughts of a leisurely retirement, a new job in easiness amidst the fertile gardens. He could see the wretchedness plaguing the northern shores, but saw rather a recompense for himself at least deep in meditation among the sacred grottos.

“I think we should consult the ancient oracle of Jahwaka!” Burst Emily immediately. “It is times like these only the mysteries can help us!”

Derek took a puff of his vape and spat on the floor. “That son of a bitch hasn’t been awoken for twelves cycles of the moon!” He denounced in reply. He shook his head from side to side and looked at her adamantly. “It is mere murmurs in the shadows now… disparate signs and obsolete chaos.” He continued looking despondent. “There is no order to the voices anymore … they have become mere tears with no sense nor reason. That place only breathes sadness!”

“Poppycock!” Denounced Emily viciously. “If you won’t come with me, I’ll go on my own!”

Derek seemed shaken, as if amazed by her bravado. “What if you fall to your death by going alone?”

“I have seen thousand more battles than you could ever dream of!!” Spat Emily angrily.

“Battles… or coffee mornings with your friends!”

“Go shag a bush you insolent little cunt!”

“Okay, okay. Don’t knock yourself out!” He pondered to himself for a moment. “I, in fact, am by no means a novice when it comes to such an underhand plan as this!” He wrapped his dressing gown across his body. “Let me just spruce myself up and I may yet consider your proposal!”

Derek, in fact, decided to accompany Emily. He decided to accompany her like the dangers he knew of so readily. The oracle was dangerous for corrupting the minds of the populace. It was seen more as a last resort rather than a continuous dialogue. Many had fallen down from the beguilement of their souls.

However, they climbed the rocky mountain and prepared to summon the oracle. There was a beaten-down pathway, a collection of stones that demarcated the route. Aged rocks trickled down the summit. The arid landscape grew more fierce as they climbed higher and higher. This place had seen little rain… little rain that hadn’t gushed down to the rivers in an instant.

Standing tall into the sky, the isolated mount defied all around it. It appeared more alive and real as they got closer. Gazing up at it in its true self, it appeared as if a numinous beacon reaching above the mountains and into the sky.

Derek and Emily trudged up the final few steps and arrived on top of the plateau. There the temple resided, and it was shining with awe and numinous wonder. The curtains on all fours sides flapped vigorously in the wind. In between the four palisades, the marble interior seemed solemn and cold, yet foreboding nonetheless. The space was empty, save for an ornate statue in the middle. Positioned proudly on the edifice were two hands, one holding a golden scroll and the other holding a tall candle that was ready to be lit.

Emily strolled into the space and muttered some words. “It is said that a devotee must light the candle to summon the oracle,” she announced proudly. “And remain steady to wait for the effigy to appear in its majesty .”

“As you will,” murmured Derek absently in reply. His mind was rather focused in awe at the ornate, solemn temple. It was rich with iconography… deep in mystery and proverb. It was where they built the ratman that he was.

“I believe the candle must be lit once. And only once!” Continued Emily. “And when the effigy has answered your questions, you must leave swiftly.” She scanned the palisades to herself. “Or fall down quickly with disease!”

“Years of history built and built upon themselves,” murmured Derek quietly again. “This place knows both time and infinity.” He turned and ran his hand across one of the pillars. “It will reach out to us. I’m sure of it!”

Emily pulled out a match and prepared to the light the candle. Within an instance the job was done. They stood back and waited nervously. The wind continued howling around them, enlivening the curtains in a clamour. Derek glanced across at the golden scroll, mesmerised in suspense. It seemed to remain still, yet beam out energy at the same time, as if all time was concentrating on the single object… its simply molecules.

And then, striking the core of their hearts, an effigy blazoned up into the space in front of them. Muttering its words viciously, it spoked down at the duo with the following words:

“Proud scholars of Xeje!” It pronounced in a clamour. “You are the lifeblood that first gave your nation their veins. Trickling down the stream of eternity, you have served your forefathers like a bountiful fountain. But I see strain and anguish in your hearts. I see strain and anguish in your hearts. These merry thickets should meet you in gentle tranquillity. Yet both of your souls seem wretched, as if they have missed their counterpoint. Look to the beacons of the East that lie in the uppermost parts of the human soul. Discard your anguish and look to the hope that rains across these lands… look to the merriment that will solve your predicaments. I shall answer the question over what you seek. There is very much a girl out there who has supernatural powers. It is written that you will encounter this girl, ripe and virulent, in the forests east of Xekakon. You will meet her, satisfy your searching and bring peace to the cosmos once again. So go forth, both of you, go forth and continue your searching!”

Thus spoke the ancient oracle of Jahwaka. Emily and Derek both seemed dazzled at the celestial wisdom of the pre-historic ruler. They acknowledged the effigy with an accustomed bow and exited out onto the rock, pondering to themselves over their next step.

Wandering butterflies seemed to sing to them as embarked down the mountain. Melodious tunes congratulated their efforts. They whispered salutations as if invisible objects pervading all reality. It appeared as if a religion of the cosmos, a force-field under everyone’s control.

Emily mused to her compadre as they embarked further down the hill. “He spoke of a forest,” she clamoured subjectively. “I was quite sure it!”

“This may in fact be good news,” uttered Derek in reply. “This may I fact be our best option to find the girl. Our grateful success may soon be on the horizon!”

Emily digested such wonders as they passed casually down the hill. Such a saviour of the universe now no longer looked so far away, she thought to herself. Her bridled brow and aging gasps should – with all going well – be drawing near to a spectacular ending. Her optimism increased within her. It increased inside and soothed her gentile esprit with a relaxing euphoria.

The moon adorning the sky beside them swelled effervescently. It swelled as if with a red sky rewarding their efforts. Yet it was a single dot; a single dot in space and time. And through this, an infinite weight could be lying underneath. At a single point, a gravitational pull so infinitely strong could conceal the realm attached to its belly. It could thus hold another realm of infinity.

Enormous whales would swim through its folds. They would swim through its oceans. It was a universe of infinite liquid. It was a water universe comprised of a liquid that was say Mercury, or any other that was sufficiently dense to induce the gravity. Yet the whales that swam through the infinity were geniuses. They had the sonar capabilities of modern-day dolphins (or even better), sophisticated means of communication and socialising, and a wide-reaching intelligence so advanced that they could operate quantum computing with ease. The colour of their realm was a dark red and they performed amazing acts within the infinite tank.

The mere dream of this projected itself across the moon above Xakakon that evening. It sang sad tales of regret. These were tales of what could be waiting out there… lying wait for them to discover… if only Emily and Derek could prove to be successful. The grand ideas of the moon that evening, singing with an aged pride, wrapped and concealed it for another day. It wrapped and concealed it until this society became more advanced.

*********

Drip struck the water molecule against the aged vestibule. Dripping from its heart it engaged itself in warfare. A moaning dripping came across it. It dripped down into the mudded floor. A drip and drop. A drip and drop. A drip and drop.

The room was empty, save for a lonely bed in the corner and a deluge of decay lying in the middle. The roof had caved in, and water seeped on to the floor in the middle. Yet the temperature of the room was warm. This particular escapade was happening in the equatorial region of the world, vibrant and warm like the tropics were.

Lying within the building, stretched across the metallic bed was a mysterious girl. She was a girl unlike her compatriots… unlike her predecessors. Her mind was wild… wild with mysterious capabilities. She had been cast out of her community, retrograded and shoved on the sidelines. They feared her bloodthirst. They feared her almighty power.

No one knew how far she could go. They wretched at the sight of her, tried to keep her hidden in an attempt to salvage the universe. It was written across the ancient liturgy of the forest-dwellers that distant texts proclaimed her “Shar-huddun”. It was a mystical, legendary label that extolled her infinite power. It spoke of a prophecy, a prophecy that her, and her alone, was stronger than all the forces of the cosmos.

Yet she lay waiting at this point in time. She remained still, unharnessing her birth-right… not yet conjuring up the thoughts to launch her battalions. She was an explosion in waiting. She was a grenade about to shatter time and space.

Various devotees congregated and provided her with food and water. They kept her sustained for a good few months. Yet the surging tide was raging within her. On the second day of the fourth month, something irretrievably broke down. Her seismic restraint was swaying and the devotees noticed a change within her as they offered her food and water. Something was beckoning out of her. Something was beckoning towards a new force a trillion of miles away.

On the third day of the fourth month, something cataclysmic finally happened. Electric energy, attracted to the electrons of her body, seized the confines of her soul and encircled her in an endless maze. They shot forward and lit up her corpus, red with fire, white with infinite energy. She was empowered. She was an entirely new entity.

She floated in the air, solemnly in the middle of the room. Immediately information fed into her mind about the surrounding location. The room was reasonably large, but it was derelict with moss and tropical plans growing liberally. Aside the far wall was another room, currently occupied by a single devotee casually watching a hologram display. Out of the windows she could see further overgrowth, overgrowth that was also seeping through the windows.

She called out to the single devotee who promptly entered the room. Standing up tall, the girl announced herself to the mesmerised devotee. “I am Shar-huddun!” She proclaimed majestically. “I am the bright light of salvation for all who live amongst the cosmos! I am both the dawn of a new era,” she continued. “And the setting sun of existence!” Her eyes seemed to glow with bright light. “I conceive of the awakening of time in my mind. And set forth infinity for the future of all humanity!”

Her eyes stopped glowing white and she relaxed herself. “But I require one thing,” continued the young girl emotively. “I require a droplet of sacred liquid from the temple of Bekun! I must find it before the dawn. I must drink it to complete my transformation into the true Humarat of this universe!”

The devotee swiftly gathered together her computer screen. To the lives of the devotees, pilgrimages were often a common feature. She had, in fact, visited the temple of Bekun some time long ago in the past. It was a place rife with mystery, numinous with sanctity. It was known for its special powers, the special powers this mysterious girl was so desperately clamouring for. They therefore migrated to the nearest space wagon. They set themselves onwards as if enslaved now in one pursuit, a pursuit that would decide the fate of the universe.

They shot into the air and left the green thickets and tropical wilderness beneath them. The rolling hills of trees seemed like an obsolete rainforest. It was like a rainforest that could encompass all life within it. Yet they were to climb higher. They were, they were. They were destined to climb higher into the sky. They were destined to climb into the rocky, mountainous regions of the globe beyond all others. These were areas where the intelligible could be harnessed, areas where the numinous could bind with the soul. It was the true centre of spirituality.

They parked the space wagon down on a patch of grass near to the summit on which the temple rested. The journey up to the summit would take roughly forty minutes, a time that seemed like whispering murmurs beside them as they traversed mostly in solitude. Before long they arrived in front of the temple.

A towering stone cliff rose emotively on the left. To the right, the temple jutted out across the mountain, leaving an enormous drop against its side. Its entranceway was a narrow climb up some steps, into what seemed like a towering castle jutting out into the netherland.

They arrived dutifully at the door to the complex. Yet legend had sent them another tribulation. It was said, in accordance with the texts of Humarat, Shar-huddun must discard her powers to be allowed to freely pass into the temple. It was a strict regulation, stemming down from the prophecies of Isiah, and must be obeyed or face instant death.

Shar-huddun delicately unwound her cloak and passed it causally to a devotee beside her. She then whispered to herself affectionately and sent a beckoning prayer into the cosmos. Mustering her courage, she passed into the sacred foyer, sensing the impending weight of the universe caressing her shoulders.

The room was dark, other than a majestic, shimmering pool in front of her. The dim light reflected off its surface. She strolled across and gazed at its sight. She strolled across and looked down at the infinite mysteries.

In front of her was the lifeblood that ran through her veins. A speckled image of someone smoking a cigarette flooded the space in front of her first. It then faded back and was replaced by two people drinking beer to themselves, a man and a woman, enjoying some ecstatic revelry. She felt a cathartic awakening within her. It was as if the image was urging her to live freely, to drink liberally and cast aside all that was opposed to the ecstatic muses of Bacchus… the sacred lord of drinking.

Yet suddenly thunder struck! A crowd of bandits launched themselves into the room. Stemming from either side, they swung into the chamber. The devotee didn’t know what to do. They soared across, wreaking havoc throughout the tranquillity. Sweeping from side to side, they hurled themselves against Shar-huddun and her devotee. They shoved both of them and then wrestled them under cloaks, under their cloaks to be taken viciously away. The two girls had been captured. They had been kidnapped. And Shar-huddun without her powers! In fact, the bandits put an electronic necklace around her throat, prohibiting her powers anywhere and at any time.

The next moment they opened their eyes, they found themselves in a dark, empty prison cell. Both of their hands were tied behind their backs. The devotee, named Anna, felt like a wretched pile of grain, hunched to the side. The mystical woman, Rachel, lay confused and weary across the prison cell. It took Anna a couple of minutes to waken herself up, before she looked forward ahead, dejected with the pain of her hands behind her back.

“Is there any way you can work your powers?” Begged Anna despondently. “It’s the only way we are going to escape!”

Rachel remained half unconscious… dreaming absently of a way to escape their current hardships. She appeared like a wreck across the room… a muddied and lacerated heap of decay.

“Can you dislodge that necklace,” Anna continued urgently. “Can you cut it against these metals bars?”

There was no reply from Rachel. Her body remained flat against the wall. Waking her up would be the biggest problem.

“Wake up! Wake up! Wake up your godforsaken princess of the night… you legendary lady with supposed mystical powers!”

Rachel’s eyes slowly opened as if a new awakening from their defeats. “Who goes there!” She clamoured first. “I come as the light in the darkness!” She looked around her at the shithole that was the cell. “I am the spirt of all life concentrated throughout the cosmos!” She sat up straighter and her eyes seemed brighter as if they were those of a tiger. “I cannot be defeated in battle nor know no legend that can’t be turned to flames!”

Anna shot forward, relieved by the goddess’s survival. “We need you to free yourself of the necklace so we can both fly off in escape!” Cried Anna exuberantly. “Simple happenings from the forefront of your powers could set us free,” she stretched forward as if begging. “If only we could rid you of that necklace!”

Rachel frowned then chuckled to herself. She chuckled to herself like a proud but absent solar system. “They do not know the secrets of my power!” She cried absolutely at last. “They think this necklace can cajole me!” Her face assumed a devilish grin. “Well they are wrong!” Light began to shine from her eyes. “I am Queen of the Cosmos, Sacred Guard over Olympus, Lady of all summers and Beatrice of beauty! There is no way mere bandits could stop such an existential force such as me!”

“Well get us out of here!” Barked Anna.

“Just give me a moment.” Cried the goddess. “Let me assess this decrepit cavern for what it is! Let me assess it so that way we can send back a postcard for any other unfortunate fool who might end up in shithole like this!”

“Enough! Enough!” Clamoured Anna. “Let’s just get on with escaping!”

“Put your hand on mine and I shall do you the deal,” she cried resolutely.

Indeed Anna and Rachel both shot through the roof and into the night sky above. They flew traversing the air effortlessly, gliding in circles, dipping and diving endlessly. At last, they came to a forest and sat down, ready to rest for the night.

*********

Fluttering forest moths, swaying through the trees, touching upon the wildlife and enlivening each and every one of their senses, speckled and reverberated amongst the darkness. Below their solemn permeation, two boars were accustomed to rush in between the tree trunks, engaging each other in a joyous dance.

The collection of towering pine trees reached up like they were pillars of a cathedral. All that could be seen amongst their grasp was few birds, and an odd owl. The void in between formed into austere, dark grottos in the shadows. The space was dumbstruck, silent even, in the mystery of the forest.

Anna and Rachel seemed to smell the seed of the forest. They were enlivened by the heavenly spectacle. They wanted to traverse further and further into its darkness… its mysteriousness. They gripped a-hold of the moths fluttering forward. They gripped a-hold and hoped it would lead them to paradise.

After a few hours, they could see the signs of a fire. The sky glowed red as if there were a bonfire somewhere, raging its fumes into the sky. It was as succulent smell, a comforting awakening, as if a beacon was reaching out to all vagabonds. They trudged further, nervous and gripped on edge. They trudged further hoping to happen upon whoever and whatever was pervading this nightly charm.

Slithering in between the tree trunks, silent other than that the creaking of twigs and leaves beneath their feet, they began to discern murmurs coming from the campsite. Whispers here and there, but noticeable cries and talks from what seemed like two people, rushed to their ears like the vampires they were. They both withdrew their swords and prepared to lunge upon the unfortunate forest dwellers.

They leapt into the space beside the fire and announced themselves emphatically. Armed with swords drawn forward, they stared at the two inhabitants. They stared at the two inhabitants with blood pulsating through their veins. Yet what was before them was rather a scene of calm and sophistication. It was poem, singing songs of love and gentle fireside revelry. Anna and Rachel were instantly mesmerised and drew back their swords.

Derek recoiled backwards and immediately announced himself. “Fear not, my young friends this nightly gathering.” He cried heartily. “We are mere itinerant professors… searching for an elusive treasure!” He took a gulp of his cuplet and continued further. “We have followed our investigations to this great forest surrounding us. For it is said,” he cried with vigour. “That the treasure we seek shall manifest itself before us in this very den of thieves!” He looked and smiled. “We only have to wait!”

“What is the mystical treasure??” Blurted Rachel forcefully. “Is it gold, silver or just another means for to get intoxicated!”

“Rubbish, rubbish!” Denounced Emily. “What we are looking for,” she continued fervently. “Is a girl with supernatural powers!”

Anna and Rachel immediately recoiled nervously. They seemed stunned and dazed as if their darkest secrets had been unravelled. They knew of their secret, they thought to themselves. These people seemed to know fully aware that someone could possess such gifts. They looked shifty and nervous for a couple of seconds, before Anna stepped forward and divulged the infamous secret.

“Okay! Okay!” She said at last. “Keep a hold of your tits… but I am here to say that my friend beside me, Rachel, is, in fact, the legendary girl with supernatural powers. She has recently evolved into a superhero, so strong in fact that her powers are galactic.”

Derek and Emily seemed flabbergasted. “So you’re the legendary girl!” Murmured Derek euphorically. “Well it’s taken an inter-planetary search to find you!” He smiled casually to himself. “But good heavens… the job is now done!”

Emily, however, could perceive a shrouding darkness encasing the young girl. Her face seemed pale and meagre. Her bones jutted from her body like a frail apparition. She reached forward sympathetically. “So tell us,” she cried. “What it is like possessing these magnificent powers? Does the power bring you warmth or dismay? Does it set your sights on infinity or lock you within a cage?”

Rachel seemed blessed to hear such soothing words. She crumbled in her body but pronounced the following words. “I am in fact Shar-huddun, Queen of the skies!” Cried the girl with a mesmerising vigour. “For years I have traversed between the kingdom of Heaven and Earth, serving all who flock to my temple… all who beseech my mysteries.” She recoiled but the bright light continued shining from her eyes. “I have done this for seven-hundred years… seven-hundred long years! I am the Dame Mistress of heavenly potential and infinite might!” She finished speaking and collapsed in a huddle.

Derek interrupted into the melee as if perturbed by the glowing apparition. “Yet do you not see the treachery these dark powers will cast over us!” He cried at last. “They are frenzied mysteries… occult and nefarious evil… trudging towards our shores! They will take us apart if we are not careful! They will rip us open and steal our insides!

Emily seemed apathetic at Derek from across the campfire. “These may be dark, twisted powers,” she clamoured at last. “The northern tales of Berun spoke of such a happening. They forewarned of breach in the fabric of the universe. It was a breach in the Xin and Xan as if Keino was unravelling itself. Say,” she continued. “Rachel, where did you first hear of the prophecy?”

“It was in the North. I found it concealed within a nightly temple!”

“Then I must advise that you cast these powers aside!” Clamoured Emily again. “They will only bring suffering!”

Derek reached forward sympathetically and offered the girl some kindness. “I shall accompany this ritual,” he mused gently. “With some merry whispers in the form of song.” Indeed he brought forward a guitar and began singing in the darkness. To-and-fro the melody resonated amongst the cosmos, breathing joy into their cumbersome minds.

After several minutes the song reached its end and Derek placed the guitar on the dusty ground. He then turned and stared at Rachel with a precise vigour. “You must cast aside these powers, written like etchings, archaic symbols of the occult!” He uttered profanely. He remembered the deep rituals within his mind. “For it was Xanthon,” he continued. “That taught that no one should broach further than the way of Keino! Everything,” he pressed further. “Is stuck in a mathematical equation. Everything is but a numeric cog in a machine… a machine that cannot be undone!

In an amazing turn of the events, Rachel’s powers seemed to flow away. They flowed away from her like a profuse waterfall. They floated up into the air and then disseminated in the darkness. Rachel was left naked. But alive nonetheless. She was uninhibited. She was unbroached by any overbearing force.

A sharp gale blew suddenly across them. But they didn’t care. They had been emancipated. And had all eternity with which to enjoy it. They all pulled out a bronze cuplet and handed the wind flagon around generously.

It had been several minutes enjoying this Bacchanalian revelry… enjoying it with a totality of merriment… that something shook them from the surrounding forest. A sharp, rustling noise beamed across them, as if there were a fox were hunting beside them. Yet a moment later, all terror broke loose. Instantly the party of four were lunged upon by a band of bandits… a band of bandits that outnumbered them two-to-one.

Derek withdrew his sword fiercely. He staggered around him trying to fight the shadows. Yet there was no hope in defence. They were surrounded. Emily fought off two dark figures on the left side. Derek could see her exploits. But to his right Anna was being man handled by much more powerful gang of bandits.

Rachel’s eyes shot around the entire melee. They were being massacred, deranged with the sword as if the incumbents of an attack from wolves. It was savagery. It was gonna reap death on all of them. She stared up towards the top of the trees. Battered and bruised, she mustered all her might to scream into the ceiling. She screamed to summon the arrival of the angels.

In fact, immediately, the angels appeared electrified within the sacred grottos of the forest. So strong was their force that they evaporated the bandits into nothing. They disappeared in an instance leaving the group mesmerised at their wonder. The angels gave a solemn nod, before fading back into the distance.

The group of four stood up straight and awoke to see their victory. They had been saved! They had been saved by the veritable miracle workers! Emily patted herself down and strolled lovingly over to Derek. “It seems I do need to offer you a new position in the university,” she murmured sensuously as the chaos subsided around her. “I hope we’ll be seeing plenty more of each other.” She murmured yet again sensuously. She paced towards him casually and looked up at him. Proud and alive, she then stretched forward and kissed Derek emphatically.

Indeed, the two pairs went their separate ways, returning to the different parts of Xekakon. How the search for the legendary girl had troubled them. But, at last, they were able to relax in slumberly repose.

THE END

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