Architecture & Adversity Read online

  “Princess Rodica, we have all been waiting for the delightful pleasure of your enticing presence,” the man in the crown said as the woman in the crown entered.

  “Prince Marku, you know that I have so many lovers, and they also desired my affections. Now I will share my sweetness with each of you, bringing you closer and embracing you with my passion,” Princess Rodica said, smiling.

  Princess Rodica and Prince Marku disrobed and took to each other, indulging in the sensual pleasures of each other’s bodies. Their intimacy wasn’t love, but gave them each great satisfaction.

  “Now, we shall awaken the servants,” Prince Marku said, and he reached out with his mind, telepathically commanding the young female servants around the room – lying on the couches and carpets – to awaken. Princess Rodica telepathically awakened the young male servants.

  Then, Prince Marku began to show his intimate favor to each of the awakened servant women, taking sensual pleasure in each of them over several days. Princess Rodica gave herself to each of the awakened servant men, accepting the physical form of each one in turn, during this same time. There was no sense of purpose other than the purpose of pleasure.

  After thirteen (13) days of indulging in their carnal pleasures, Prince Marku and Princess Rodica stood up, dressed in their regal attire and telepathically commanded the young servant men and women to sleep again. The royals then left the room, closed the bronze doors behind them and locked everyone inside. The various young male and female servants in the room would sleep until receiving their summons to please the prince and princess again. They were not permitted to indulge in each other, because each was carnally the property of the royals, and they were not to waste their most fervent passions elsewhere.

  ~~~

  Prince Marku and Princess Rodica walked through the halls, which were sixty-nine (69) feet high from marble floor to marble ceiling, and one hundred thirteen (113) feet wide from marble wall to marble wall. They passed by many sets of closed and locked bronze doors with identical silver carvings along the way, ultimately leading to another set of doors. These doors were different from all the rest, being made of diamond, having no carvings, and standing far larger at twenty-nine (29) feet tall as opposed to the eleven (11) foot tall bronze doors.

  Prince Marku took a key from his robes and then used it to unlock and open the diamond doors leading to a new room and Princess Rodica followed him. They then closed the diamond doors and Prince Marku locked them. They were in a much taller and narrower hallway of marble walls, floor and ceiling, one hundred seventeen (117) feet high but only nine (9) feet wide. From there, they walked around to the far side of the hexagonal hallway – which was two hundred eight (208) feet long on each side of the interior wall – until reaching another set of diamond doors, identical to the first, but on the interior wall.

  Princess Rodica took a key from her robes and then used it to unlock and open these inner doors. She entered a new room, followed by Prince Marku. They closed the inner doors and Princess Rodica locked them.

  This interior hexagonal room was one hundred ninety-five (195) feet long on each side and two hundred thirty-four (234) feet high. The room was dominated by a lake and they could only walk on a narrow ledge around the outer edges or along the six (6) diamond bridges spanning the distance between the walls and a central hexagonal island. Prince Marku and Princess Rodica walked across the first such bridge, which was eleven (11) feet wide and seventy-eight (78) feet long. When they arrived on the central island, they approached a circular marble basin – twenty-nine (29) feet in diameter and four (4) feet in height. The basin was surrounded by a diamond cylindrical shell that was two (2) feet thick and extended up to the ceiling. The basin held myriad opaque yellow-green gems, piled fifteen (15) feet in height.

  “It is time to restore ourselves, yet again, Rodica,” Marku said. He slid a panel in the cylindrical shell that allowed him to reach into the basin. Next, he took eleven (11) of the yellow-green gems and placed them into a diamond cup he had been carrying on the sash of his robes and then slid the panel to close the cylindrical shell. After this, he then drank anew from the vial of waters of the Gradaken Ocean he carried on a platinum chain around his neck. Prince Marku was energized and he began to mold one of the yellow-green gems, stretching it and twisting it. He then did this to ten (10) more gems, placing each of them back into the cup as he was done with it.

  Prince Marku knew that the Gradaken waters were certainly not the source of the telepathic powers he had used earlier to manipulate his intimate servants. However, they were the source of his power to manipulate plants, animals…and these unusual yellow-green gem-like objects. It should have required the powers of the Kazofen Ocean waters for him to be able to mold them, but they were somehow organic, and subject to the powers of the Gradaken waters in ways that diamonds, rubies and other gemstones were not.

  “You are still the master, I should hope,” Rodica said.

  “Have I not delighted you these past two hundred nineteen (219) millennia? By these yellow-green gems – of which we hold sole possession and knowledge – I will continue to do so,” Marku said.

  “You will...” Rodica said as she drew a long dagger from her many-colored royal robes. “Or I will reveal to you my discontent without delay,” Rodica continued saying, holding the dagger close to Prince Marku, pointing it downward with threatening motions of her hands and eyes.

  “Your beauty will never fade,” Marku said.

  “Nor will my threat falter,” Rodica said.

  “Shall we?” Marku asked, gesturing toward the bridge with the hand not holding the cup.

  Marku followed Rodica as she led the way off the island, across the bridge and onto the ledge along the outer wall. She unlocked and opened the diamond doors, then stepped through into the interior hallway.

  While Marku was still standing on the ledge, he flicked his wrist so that the yellow-green gems were flung out of the cup and into the lake. He then quickly went through the diamond doors and closed them. Rodica locked the doors and then she took Marku’s hand and began to walk briskly along the interior hallway.

  Moments later, a crackling sound was heard, along with the sound of water splashing.

  “It is complete,” Marku said, and he led Rodica back through the hallway toward the diamond doors.

  Rodica looked through the diamond doors and saw that the room on the other side was filled with mist and that the water level of the lake had lowered by several feet.

  “Can we enter now? I don’t wish to wait,” Rodica asked.

  “Of course,” Marku said.

  Rodica unlocked and opened the diamond doors. She hurried back into the room containing the lake and the island, followed by Marku.

  Upon entering, they stood on the narrow ledge and felt the mist being blown about by a breeze. They breathed it in and instantly they were energized with many powers.

  Rodica savored the mist as it penetrated her body, soothing and delighting her in ways only it could. She felt youth and vitality renew within her. Marku felt the same. They also both felt the slowing of time. Their skin became more youthful, and their muscles more toned. Aches and pains faded into nothingness.

  “I feel young, yet again,” Rodica said.

  “I feel strength and vigor, yet again,” Marku said.

  Rodica felt other powers, as well. Thoughts entered her mind – Marku’s thoughts – and they were of carnal pleasures, and she suddenly desired him. They telepathically made love, intimately touching each other’s minds. When this became overwhelming, they approached each other’s bodies, disrobing to be bathed in the mist and soaked in each other’s physical love.

  After their passion, Marku and Rodica dressed again, and felt other powers come to them.

  “I sense the stars…a strange and unfamiliar sound is among them, like cries of pain, yet not skyward like the others,” Rodica said.

  “It is no concern of ours. We have the pleasure of each other, which is all that
matters,” Marku said.

  “That’s all I want to think about, yet this unusual sound – distressed as it is – worries me,” Rodica said.

  “Forget the stars. I now sense the spirits, and they are approaching,” Marku said.

  “It’s the spirit of the topaz priestess: she’s reaching out to you again. She always tries to have her way with you, and deceive you with her religion. You must be careful,” Rodica said.

  “I can see through her intentions,” Marku said.

  “Don’t give in to her temptations. Remember – I am the royal, and she is merely a spirit reader. I have first rights to your flesh – body and mind,” Rodica said.

  “And I have the gems,” Marku said.

  “I have the gems, and they are mine, along with the knowledge of how to manipulate them,” Rodica said.

  “The saraphakadite gems, and the knowledge of how to work with them, belong to both of us. Both keys are required to enter this far, and those keys are divided between us,” Marku said.

  “What remains of the gems belong to both of us…how much longer will they last?” Rodica asked.

  “Millennia,” Marku said.

  “We’ve been alive for two hundred nineteen (219) millennia. How many more? We have less than a tenth of the inheritance,” Rodica said.

  “Live in the moment…our moments last for centuries,” Marku said.

  “We do not have forever. We will need to find more; otherwise, the many powers will fade. They diminish quicker the more we use them,” Rodica said.

  “Given time, we will find more of the gems,” Marku said.

  “Do not think you can delay the search until the gems are gone, Marku. Without them, we cannot divide the Dead Waters to release all their powers. We will only be able drink of the Gradaken waters we are bound to. They won’t give us longevity, and our days will quickly come to an end,” Rodica said.

  “I am well aware of this, Rodica. Soon, I will set out to find more. Perhaps she can even be of assistance,” Marku said.

  “Visit her if you believe you can manipulate her into helping…but believe nothing she says about her religion, lest she corrupt you and you no longer desire me. She has a twisted view of love…that it can only be with one, and she wants you to be her lover. I know this. I have read her thoughts,” Rodica said.

  “I can read her thoughts as well, and I don’t trust her, either. Yet, she is deeply connected with the spirit world, by her high innate potential for the Zovvin waters – the water she is bound to. I am always on guard around her, and that is her only power. You are overly concerned,” Marku said.

  “I’m not so quick to dismiss a concern. The topaz priestess is a danger to both of us. If she steals you from me, and seduces you to love her alone, she will come to control your powers through you. Then, she will have your share of the saraphakadite gems and all the powers locked within the Dead Waters. Do not think I will let you go to her unguarded,” Rodica said.

  “Then we will go together,” Marku said.

  At this, they left the hexagonal lake-and-island room and Rodica closed and locked the inner diamond doors behind them. The royals walked the narrow hallway around the outside of that hexagonal room and returned to the outer diamond doors.

  Marku unlocked and opened the outer diamond doors, and he and Rodica went into the main hallway. Marku then closed and locked the outer diamond doors just before Rodica took his hand and they walked the main hallway until they reached a small wooden doorway, only six (6) feet high and three (3) feet wide.

  Marku opened the wooden door and entered. Rodica, holding his hand, followed.

  A beautiful woman adorned in sky blue silk robes and headscarf, all glittering with embedded topaz stones, greeted them.

  “Greetings, Prince Marku, I could not be more pleased to see you. I sensed your spirit approaching,” the woman in blue silk and topaz said, bowing as she spoke.

  “I felt you reaching into my spirit, Leslawa, beckoning me,” Prince Marku said.

  Leslawa drank anew of the Zovvin Ocean waters from the vial she wore on the topaz-studded chain around her neck. She was energized and then reached out again, touching Prince Marku’s spirit, attempting to entice him.

  “I was reaching out to you…and I am now, Your Majesty. We must connect, spiritually, to understand each other, if I am to serve you to the best of my ability,” Leslawa said.

  “And when we connect, what will happen?” Prince Marku asked, curious and aroused.

  “We will be one with each other, in a deeply personal relationship, and I will be your guide to the spirit world in ways far beyond your experiences, Your Majesty,” Leslawa said.

  Princess Rodica drew her dagger and traced its tip along Leslawa’s forehead, right below the sky blue silk headscarf, progressing down to her throat.

  “You are not a royal, yet I am, and therefore I have first rights over him. You cannot make him yours alone,” Princess Rodica said.

  “I will introduce him to the authorities in the spirit world, that he may know and understand. I will show him their loving might, and he will be protected by their blessings, Your Majesty,” Leslawa said.

  “Do not think you can use spirits to capture him. Your flesh is weak and I can destroy it, Leslawa. Your beauty does not compare to mine, so he will tire of your bland appearance before long. Then, he will seek mine, to which he has grown accustomed over millennia,” Princess Rodica said.

  “I never doubted your power or your beauty or your authority, Your Majesty,” Leslawa said.

  “Then, if you believe in my authority, what authority in the spirit world would you have him come to know and understand?” Princess Rodica asked.

  “Why, it is the topaz spirit, Your Majesty. He is the magnificent and glittering one,” Leslawa said.

  “What is the name of this spirit? What authority does it claim?” Princess Rodica asked.

  “The illustrious spirit is known as Dajazameril.. He is the great spirit who blesses our Citadel, and has always protected it from destruction, since the first age,” Leslawa said.

  “Can the Citadel even be destroyed?” Prince Marku asked.

  “I doubt that. Yet, even if it is possible, what does this spirit demand in return for its supposed blessing of protection?” Princess Rodica asked, drawing back the dagger.

  “A ritual of intimate worship, performed through me, while I make contact through the spirit world,” Leslawa said.

  “I wish to be intimate with you,” Prince Marku said.

  “If you will worship Dajazameril today – and receive his blessings – then I invite you to enter me, Your Majesty, and feel my passionate embrace and his dazzling, brilliant spirit,” Leslawa said.

  “I desire you right now, Leslawa,” Prince Marku said.

  “Yet, you will belong to me, until I release you, when the spirit commands it, and not before,” Leslawa said, as she made a motion to open her robes to receive the prince.

  “He will not touch you! I will not have you take possession of him!” Princess Rodica said. She then reached out and projected a shroud of darkness around Leslawa, so that the woman was blinded and her beauty unseen. Rodica then reached her hand into that darkness, took Leslawa by the throat using only her left hand and lifted her off of the ground.

  “Watch yourself, spirit woman! I will keep you covered in darkness, so that you cannot see him, and he cannot desire your beauty, if you continue to tempt him. Be thankful I do not snap your neck this very moment,” Rodica said.

  Leslawa became angry but knew that she was outmatched – she had only powers of spirit, but Princess Rodica was clearly capable of using many powers.

  Rodica then released Leslawa, dropping the woman to the ground, and ending the shroud of darkness she had projected around the topaz priestess. After this, Rodica took Prince Marku’s hand and pulled him away and out of the room, closing the wooden door behind them.

  “I warned you about her. She has the same story as before, and the same story as t
he priestess that came before her. Avoid them all, or they will ensnare you, forcing me to destroy you and them. Don’t let her come between us, Marku. I am warning you,” Princess Rodica said.

  ~~~

  A man wearing a hooded robe with splotches of black and red stood in the middle of the forest in the continent of Javanda. His hood was hanging back revealing his bald head. Ten (10) other men, likewise attired and bald, stood nearby.

  They all watched as the tower of swords – a torture device, as they understood it, meant to bring suffering and, therefore, character-building – began to turn slowly. At its base, a green-yellowish liquid began to seep out and trickle toward nearby animals and trees and even toward the eleven (11) bald men in black-and-red robes.

  “Step back, so that we may first have knowledge,” one man, standing in the middle of the others, said.

  A family of deer were foraging nearby and the green-yellowish liquid headed their way, though they were oblivious to it. When it touched them, they shrieked, and then ran, but soon fell down dead. The green-yellowish liquid then crept toward three (3) different redwood trees, all of which began to wither before their eyes.

  “Borislav, is this the plague of judgment upon nature?” one of the other bald men in black-and-red robes asked.

  “Without a doubt, it is the first plague in the judgment of all! We are Pilgrims in an unholy world where thirst is quenched by poison oceans giving wicked magic. We are Pilgrims in a world of lies and lust. We are Pilgrims in a world of vanity and greed and gluttony. We are Pilgrims walking along a burning road, whose fires purify the wicked souls with suffering before they can enter the Kingdom of God!” Borislav, the man standing in the middle of the others, shouted.

  CHAPTER 8: Knowledge of Future and Sky

  Indigo and Drystan awoke in their rented room near the main river running through the Prince Jalvin’s Crossroads land bridge. Drystan immediately drank anew of the waters of the Trerada Ocean from his vial to become energized, reinforcing his health and good looks. Indigo smiled at her handsome companion, and then drank anew of the waters of the Atrejan Ocean from her own vial to become energized. She concentrated and listened for the sounds of the stars, and the blue, yellow and red suns were all accounted for, moving along their ordinary paths. She heard only a faint hint of the strange sound that was like a cry of pain, and it frightened her.