City of IF

[ethereal_fauna]

Chapter 16 Eavesdropping

As the night quieted the sleeping tree village, I lay staring up at the sky. Holden had kept me by his side, and spared my being shackled to the bed along with the other slaves. He slept peacefully despite my restlessness. I thought of escape, but to where? I didn’t know how to get to Aetna, and wasn’t certain of how to return to Diasis even. I didn’t feel confident to rely on my sporadic visions, and I felt hot tears flow down my cheeks. I may be aware now, but I remained as trapped and powerless as I had been as Tesla.

I wriggled from under Holden’s arm, and sat looking down at his sleeping form. He had loved me, and he had wanted me. I had feared and rejected him. He had also used me, and he had disregarded my feelings and my life as well. I despised him, and yet oddly cared for him. My eyes scanned along his body, finally resting on the circular scar on his calf where my horn tip had connected as he mastered Oblivion.

I wondered what he knew that I did not. How had he managed to befriend the Miflim, and who was this Corona he spoke of that knew of a magical portal to spirit us over a season’s journey away? I was unaware of my actions as my head slowly sank, my chest resting across Holden’s thigh as I tilted a horn tip down to connect with that circular scar.

I drifted sleepily through my thoughts, strangely dark and disorganized. My memories felt unnatural and unreal, and I slowly began to make sense of these churning colors of thought. I reformed the visions in my mind, and ordered them into patterns more easily understood by me. I did not feel like I should, but I spared no wonder as to why. I knew that I had slipped inside of Holden’s head, as wholly and easily as he invaded mine, and I carefully tread so as not to alert him to my presence.

Skulking about memories that were not my own, I focused as best I could on the patterns of thought that would tell me what I wanted to know. Holden had been angry that I had not chosen him to accompany me to the tree village. He had left soon after Ordoc, Knute and I had departed, following from a distance, watching Knute and me. Jealousy burned within him, and the black emotion imparted a feeling of sickness on me now as I wandered through Holden’s mind.

He had festered in these dark emotions of anger, jealousy and envy, remaining hidden from the Miflim and from us. During those days when we met with the tree people and they enslaved me, Holden had encountered Corona. She surprised me, with her odd appearance and subtle mannerisms. She had slithered up to the edge of the water, emerging in front of Holden like some aquatic goddess, and they had exchanged formal and cautious words of greeting.


Corona had led Holden to a swirling portal, a glassy cauldron of twisted colors resting beneath the surface of the quiet river. She had explained the purpose of the portal, and explained the peculiarities of the Miflim. Holden had watched as our companions were led away in chains towards the city of Aetna, and had been gripped with fear that I was not with them. He then followed Corona’s advice on dealing with the Miflim, and over the remainder of the DryWeather season had befriended the tree people, and Tesla.

Holden had waited, patiently revealing more of Chakra to Tesla, until the time was right for me to become aware. He purposed to take us to Aetna, but not necessarily to find our friends. In fact, our companions were most likely not in Aetna at all, but instead returning to Diasis. They had been told that I was executed, according to Corona, and in the absence of a Thinker had decided to return home without the Great Knowledge. Holden wanted to take me into the Unknown Realm to retrieve the Great Knowledge, and to return with me to Diasis and enjoy my eternal gratitude and admiration.

“So you eavesdrop on me now?” Holden’s voice shattered my concentration, and his private thoughts sped away from me like murky water swirling out of a funnel and into a jar.

I recoiled in fear and guilt, scrabbling away from our connected minds and back into physical reality. His hands gripped painfully at my arms and he shook me violently. “So you don’t trust me? Maybe I haven’t given you much reason to. But you’ve come too far not to finish this task.”

He stopped his brutal shaking of me, and released the painful grip on my arms. “Come, we’re leaving. You know where we’re going now. You saw it in my thoughts.”

I followed him silently from the tree village and towards the river. My mind tried to make sense of the new information I’d fed it, and I still felt at a loss for what to do. Did I go with Holden to Aetna, through the portal? Should I look for my friends there, or trust what Corona had said to Holden? Did I dare travel alone with him into the Unknown Realm?

The Keeper pressed upon me now, an inopportune moment to offer a vision, and I stumbled blindly after Holden across uneven terrain. So many unanswered questions, and I needed guidance from the Keeper. Did I dare take Holden’s hand and allow him to lead me while I accepted this new vision? I struggled at my own helplessness.

*Luis Royo image retrieved online

Chapter 17 Aetna

My tiny hand clasped Holden’s as he led me through the darkness towards the portal. No need for explanation existed, and although I chafed that Holden felt pleased that I needed him, I soothed my ego by reasoning that this was solely my own choice. Unmindful of stumbling feet, I accepted the vision that the Keeper pressed upon me.

The city of Aetna spread out before me, a sprawling ugly blight teeming with life but devoid of beauty. The edge of the Unknown Realm pressed against the city, jabbing cancerous tendrils of foulness into what must have once been a lovely home for the citizens of Aetna.

The Keeper took us far beneath the surface city, into a poorly lit underworld that made my skin crawl. Twisted creatures inhabited this domain, and distorted people scurried through darkened corridors. I saw Knute there, strapped to a table in this odious place, cut open. I was too stunned to look away from my inner vision, and too horrified to scream.

“Their changes are innate,” a distant voice said. “Changes brought on naturally, by the proper use of the magics.”

A feminine voice responded. “Then these people come from a land untouched by the Evil. There are still places left, beyond Mifli, where people still harness the energies. Is there a way to harvest the energies from the others?”

“If there is I will find it,” the first voice answered. “And then what? It will still not be enough.”

The female speaker remained silent for a pace, before speaking coldly. “Not just from them, no. But I’m sure that they came from some city or village.”

I could hear the echo of her footsteps retreating from this place, and the Keeper followed her through the constricted corridors beneath the city and onto the surface. My vision continued climbing the structures Aetna, a point of view that followed this cold-hearted speaker and must have afforded me a glimpse of what she saw. When she stopped my vision panned out, taking in the smoking pinnacles of the city’s buildings once more, and a clear view of her grim face.

The Keeper did not leave me just yet. My eyes skimmed over the tortured earth, deeper into the Unknown Realm. Surrounded by nothing, piercing the glowering skies, a tall spire pointed a surly finger accusingly. The Keeper spoke to me then.

“Here is where you must go, Chakra. Climb to the top, to the Window Between the Worlds, and I will give you this Great Knowledge that you seek.”

With that my vision left me, and I stood bewildered beside a slowly moving river. Holden and Corona whispered uneasily between them, before noticing I was coherent.

“We need to go now,” Corona hissed. “There will be time for discussion once we reach Aetna.”

Holden agreed, and we quietly slipped beneath the surface of the water and dove into the depths. My eyes strained against the murky darkness, and I followed closely on Holden’s feet. We passed beneath the hazy form of what appeared to be a stone arch, and then began to surface.

Our heads broke water into a dim chamber, and I recognized the dark corridors of Aetna’s underworld snaking off in all directions from this location. My friends might still be alive down here, somewhere, although I had no idea how to go about finding them. The Keeper had offered a clear direction from the surface city and into the Unknown Realm, to the base of the Black Spire and source of the Great Knowledge.

*Image retrieved online

Chapter 18 The Great Knowledge

Holden and I crawled from the pool, and following Corona’s instructions we made our way to the surface. Dark life sulked about us in the dimly lit underworld, but nothing tried to confront us. For this I was glad. Once reaching the city above ground, I scanned the tallest buildings until I had a clear bearing of where we stood in relation to the Unknown Realm, according to the vision the Keeper had given me. Holden and I started our trek to the Black Spire.

The Unknown Realm closed on the borders of Aetna, slowly consuming the outer fringes. It stretched out from Aetna in a wasted expanse of tortured earth, and in the distance we could see the shimmering form of the Black Spire against the backdrop of the rising sun. We had reached the base of the tower by midday.

Taking leave of Holden, who anxiously watched while I climbed the Black Spire, I made my way to the source of the Great Knowledge. Nearing the top, I pulled myself up onto a small ledge. A large void confronted me. The darkness loomed, blacker than a starless sky. Darker shadows moved within the unfathomable darkness, blackness swirling amidst blackness, the Window Between the Worlds. Before my astonished seeking eyes an image took shape. A dimly lit room materialized, housing all manner of machinery far advanced beyond that of Diasis, or even that of the city of Aetna. Sleeping forms lay encased in gels, people unlike any we had encountered on our journey. The voice of my visions spoke to me through my budding horns.

These are the Dreamers. I am Aayii, the Keeper of these. The Dreamers pass into the Beyond, and no new Dreamers come to replace them. Soon my purpose ends, and with it so do I. I bring you here to the Windows Between the Worlds to ready you for the impending doom. I need you to share my sorrow.

In this manner the Keeper passed the Great Knowledge to me. I found the Knowledge not so great, and rather wished I had not made the horrible journey here. This was a burden I could not bear. The Windows Between the Worlds grew black once again. I looked over the edge at the small upturned face of Holden so far below, and imagined falling to my death at his feet, taking this terrible truth with me. Instead I slowly climbed back down to the base of the spire.

We left this forsaken land and began a silent journey towards Aetna once again. Holden did not pressure me to speak, nor try to invade my mind. Our weary souls weighed heavily in our weary bodies, and we stopped to rest upon reaching the darkened corridors of the underworld. Despite my former loathing of him, I sought comfort in Holden’s arms. My world had just been shattered, and I clung to any familiarity or comfort.

His soft caresses eased my troubled mind, and I returned his kisses with fervent passion. Despite our depleted states and the ever-present tension between us, our intimacy came naturally, and with panting breaths we spent our last energies on each other. As we held one another in the wake of our union, Holden broached the subject that I would rather forget.

“What did you glean from your trip up the spire?”

Tears welled in my eyes, and unbidden they fell onto Holden’s fur. I brought his hand to my abdomen, still flat despite the life that I knew grew there, Holden’s child. He sensed the life within me too, and squeezed me tighter to him.

How do I tell him that we will never hold our child? How do I tell him that if by luck we should witness the birth of our child, then that same child might never hold children of his own? With crushing heaviness on my heart, my mind connected with Holden’s, and I shared what the Keeper told me.

These are the Dreamers. I am Aayii, the Keeper of these. The Dreamers pass into the Beyond, and no new Dreamers come to replace them. Soon my purpose ends, and with it so do I. I bring you here to the Windows Between the Worlds to ready you for the impending doom. I need you to share my sorrow.

Long ago before the measure of Turnings, the Creators charged me with the safety of the Dreamers. The Creators are a merciful and benevolent people. They sought to safely house wayward citizens that resist rehabilitation, until they could create more advanced rehabilitation techniques.

Murderers, rapists, the criminally insane- all manner of deviants the Creators brought to me to keep until their time. The Dreamers wait, suspended and dependent on me. I monitor their life force and supply them with energy to sustain life. Despite this, after billions of Turnings, the Dreamers began to pass. I do not know why the Creators do not bring more Dreamers, nor why they do not return to take the Dreamers from me.

Before the time that the Dreamers began to pass, I grew bored, and tapped into the minds of my charges. The dreams appeared violent and chaotic. I directed these dreams, and guided all the Dreamers into a single vision. My Dreamers lived in a land of beauty and tragedy, challenging and restful, a world where the MotherSea drowned all violence.

The MotherSea began to evolve, and with fascination I watched as the history of a world unfolded. Life crawled from the MotherSea, changing and adapting, and eventually civilizations formed.

I love these people of the Dreamers’ world. These people are you.

The form of the world grew large and complex, and then the Dreamers started to pass. With each Dreamer’s passing, a part of the world fades. This you call the Unknown Realm, which encroaches on the civilizations with every Dreamer’s death.

Now only a few Dreamers remain. I do not know how long I can sustain their life force. Once the final Dreamer passes, I will no longer have purpose. I cannot sustain the vision of the Dreamers on my own. I will shut down and await the Creators’ return. I need you to share my sorrow.

Holden pulled me closer but remained silent. I would have been furious that he had nothing to say, if only my apathy allowed such an emotion. I wondered if he could use his magic against us, and target us for utter annihilation. I had journeyed all this way for a great knowledge, but that knowledge would only shatter the hopes of my people. I doubted that returning to Diasis with what I know would really be worth the effort.