Architecture & Adversity Read online

  Drystan removed his hands from Madame Shelena’s chest and returned to massaging her thigh. She leaned back onto him and then reached behind and above herself to place her hands onto his arms, pulling him toward her. She then moved her hands onto his neck, trying to draw him in for a kiss, hoping that might lead all the way to intimate fulfillment.

  Indigo looked back at the gold jar, comparing the position of the jar and its lid to her memory to be sure that there was no obvious displacement.

  She then tapped Drystan on the shoulder and said: “I think that the massage worked. She doesn’t seem so nervous now. But we have to get going.”

  “Yes, of course you do,” Madame Shelena said, sitting up and calming herself as best she could. She was disappointed at the same time that she was excited.

  Indigo handed over the other thirty-five (35) silver coins and said: “As we promised, Madame Shelena, here is the rest of your payment.”

  “Thank you, my young friend,” Madame Shelena said, accepting the thirty-five (35) coins.

  Indigo took Drystan by the hand and opened the parlor door to leave.

  “Please do come again, so that I can help you some more. My many experiences and knowledge of the spirits will be of further use to you, in these uncertain times,” Madame Shelena said as they were leaving.

  “Thank you, Madame Shelena,” Indigo said. She then led Drystan outside, closing the door behind them.

  ~~~

  “She really is a lonely old woman,” Drystan said.

  “She needed the attention. Thank you for helping her,” Indigo said.

  “I helped her because I thought it would help you,” Drystan said.

  “It did. Now, you’re going to help me a little bit more,” Indigo said. She led him back to the privacy of their rented room and sat him down on their bed.

  “We have some unfinished business. I mean, pleasure,” Indigo said. They resumed their kissing from before, and it didn’t stop at kissing. Their affection led to excitement and she embraced him fully and tightly, accepting him into her body, making passionate love until Drystan was exhausted and fell soundly asleep.

  Indigo waited to be sure Drystan was asleep and then looked closely at the newly acquired luminary hanging on the long chain.

  A spirit appeared in the room – the ghostly appearance of an older man, with flowing robes, who was holding a book – and he spoke to her, saying: “Indigo, I am glad to see that you have succeeded at obtaining a ninth luminary.”

  “Where can I take all of them? To put them away for good and make sure that no one else finds them and lights them to bring the darkness? I can’t keep going on these missions. It’s getting to be too much,” Indigo asked. She was annoyed at the spirit. She was also more than a bit annoyed at what happened earlier: Drystan was hers, and the old woman was a bit indecent, to say the least. Sharing her male companion – even though the affection didn’t go all the way to intimacy – was unsettling and provoked a bit of jealousy.

  “Soon, you will have them all, and then they can be taken to a sanctuary, where no one can rekindle their flames. There is still another, in Javanda, that I need for you to find,” the spirit said.

  “This has to end soon. I have a life. And I want to have a family, not run around collecting these dark candles. I’m not some little servant girl for the royal family anymore. I’m a grown woman, with needs of my own,” Indigo said.

  “This world is more dangerous than you would imagine. The safety of everyone depends on this work you are doing. Life is filled with difficulties, yet you have the strength to overcome them. I will continue to guide you,” the spirit said.

  “You told me before that you are the Prince of Stargazers. You said that you lived when there were more stars in the sky,” Indigo said.

  “Yes, that is true,” the spirit of the Prince of Stargazers said.

  “I think that I heard something different from the stars recently. A strange sound – like the stars were in pain. But these were different stars – not the blue, yellow or red suns. And it wasn’t coming from the sky, moving along paths like theirs. Is that what you meant?” Indigo asked.

  “Yes, there are other stars, and they were taken from the sky. The dark flames of the luminaries weakened them, and they ceased to move along their paths above,” the spirit of the Prince of Stargazers said.

  “Who made these luminaries? Why?” Indigo asked.

  “All that matters is that you gather them, and prevent them from being lit,” the spirit of the Prince of Stargazers said.

  “What are you not telling me more? Please, share what you know. I’m here to help. I don’t want to see the darkness return,” Indigo said.

  “There is danger in having too much knowledge. It can distract from the task at hand,” the spirit of the Prince of Stargazers said.

  “You’re asking me to act without understanding,” Indigo said.

  “I’m asking you to trust me,” the spirit of the Prince of Stargazers said.

  “Yet, you don’t trust me enough to tell me,” Indigo said.

  “These are dangerous secrets. Your mind could be read by a telepath, and then dangerous enemies would learn of your mission, and the true destructive powers of the luminaries. I can tell you at a later time, when you have the privacy you need,” the spirit of the Prince of Stargazers said.

  “Fair enough…for now. I will ask you again later. You can count on that. Just tell me this…when will this mission end?” Indigo asked.

  “Soon. In the morning, leave for Javanda. It will take you time to get there, as the dark waters of the Ikkith Tar Ocean are ever the distraction, forcing you along a meandering path. Yet, this is good, for whoever may be following you may also lose track of you. However, I will guide you when you arrive,” the spirit of the Prince of Stargazers said.

  “Who is following me?” Indigo asked, alarmed.

  “That is not clear. Even spirits have limits – there are places I cannot go, things I cannot see, and powers beyond my own,” the spirit of the Prince of Stargazers said.

  “If I am in danger, what can I do? What can you do to help me, since I’m doing what you’re asking of me?” Indigo asked.

  “Change directions often. Do not travel in straight lines. Fill your thoughts with other matters so that your mind is not easily read. Rest now, and be on your way at daybreak,” the spirit of the Prince of Stargazers said and then vanished.

  Indigo was annoyed but she was also tired, so she rested in bed with Drystan, nestling into his arms, forgetting her troubles for the night, dreaming only of their love.

  ~~~

  Madame Shelena longed for love and sensuality, yet this would be like every other night: lonely and empty. She would have no womanly pleasure, and she returned to feeling cold after having her hopes of intimacy dashed abruptly. She was envious of youthful women, including the one who left earlier and would likely have a joyous and fulfilling night of passion with that handsome young man. Shelena wondered if her Zovvin Ocean waterbinding was a mistake – she could have chosen the waters of the Ursegan Ocean, and lived for ages by slowing time through herself, so that she would still appear young and actually be energetic. Then, she could love and love again, taking the finest man of each decade for herself, replacing him when his age and frailty impeded their conjugal love. Yet, the laws of the oceans forbade her from changing that waterbinding decision. Now, spirits were her only companions, and they were wily and dangerous, mysterious and unlovable.

  Resigning herself to her fate, she occupied herself with menial tasks, hoping to calm her desires. She began organizing the various books, scrolls, decks of cards, water vials and jars within her parlor. She came across her only copy of the secondary deck of cards – the cards were numbered from one (1) to fifteen (15) in each suit just like the primary traditional deck, but it only had six (6) suits, with none in common with the primary, and these were: Books, Wheels, Hourglasses, Diadems, Shadows and Dice. This secondary deck – also known as the mystic
al deck or the confusion deck – was sometimes used for more involved future knowledge readings or more complex games by professional gamblers; however, it was rarely brought out. The rules for the future readings using all thirteen (13) suits of a combined primary-secondary deck were very sophisticated, involving a complex set of interactions between suits of cards and the relative numbers. They were hard to remember, hard to understand, and very uncertain. And when the Dice cards were drawn, dice certainly had to be rolled to determine their ultimate significance. Just as the spirits guided the card shuffles and draws, they guided the rolls of the dice, and some numbers could be very dangerous.

  Madame Shelena noticed something askew with a gold jar on a shelf and she looked at it more closely. When she removed the lid, she saw that it contained a bar that was roughly the same size, color, shape and cold feel as what should have been in the jar, but it was definitely not the same. The cold, black onyx candle that she kept in the gold jar was missing, and she had seen it recently. Someone stole it only a short while ago, she concluded. There was a single, likely suspect – the young woman who had just left with the handsome man. Shelena realized that she had been seduced and robbed, and so she became angry, then tearful, then bitter.

  ~~~

  Someone else – an entity from the spirit world who was present in the parlor to guide the arrangement of the cards for the reading – also realized that Madame Shelena had been robbed of something quite valuable, and this entity hurried away to give a report to higher powers.

  CHAPTER 9: Dominion over Spirits and Gems

  The diamond-covered figure, Polyxene, glided across the crystal floor of the room that was her fortress. She faced the first of the eight (8) ruby spires that had a swirling blackness within it. The energy within the ruby spire was alive, and she previously feared that living energy – until she captured it within the complex crystal structure she had designed quite carefully. Now, it feared her. And it loathed her.

  “Evethixomar! Stand at attention!” Polyxene said.

  The swirling blackness in the first ruby spire came to a standstill in response to her words.

  “I have a mission for you,” Polyxene said.

  “What will you have me do?” the voice of Evethixomar asked, vibrating through the intricate, inescapable crystal structure of the first ruby spire. The voice was angry, but Polyxene was no longer frightened of it.

  “You are to take command of many vessels – both galleons and frigates – by possessing the spirits of their captains and crew. Then, sail them across this ocean to the western coast of the Glivoran Trail. There, they will await my further orders,” Polyxene said.

  “You are planning a war, then?” the voice of Evethixomar asked through the first ruby spire. Now, the voice was more agreeable, seeming to enjoy the command.

  “Among my other designs, yes. That is why I have called to you – the demon of war,” Polyxene said.

  “When your fleet is assembled, against whom will you have me do battle?” the voice of Evethixomar asked through the first ruby spire.

  “I shall reward you with that knowledge only when you have obeyed my first command. Do not have the ships attack unless they are attacked or you are directed by me to initiate an offensive,” Polyxene said.

  “My binding within this crystal inhibits me. I cannot easily control my own minions. This will take much more time in my present captivity,” the voice of Evethixomar said through the first ruby spire. The voice expressed annoyance, yet it was tempered with a polite tone to suggest a bargain.

  “Time is on my side, little demon. I have defied age and lived for eons by my designs, so do not raise that false concern,” Polyxene said.

  “Yet, you are not immortal. However long from now is your death, it is certainly less than eternity, and a number can be put to it. Then, you will be made to suffer at his hands,” the voice of Evethixomar said through the first ruby spire. The voice was threatening and angry again.

  “You’re worried about my suffering? Nonsense. Worry about your own. Are you suffering right now?” Polyxene asked.

  “Immensely. Captivity denies the purpose of existence…even for a demon,” the voice of Evethixomar said through the first ruby spire. The voice was filled with urgency and anger and seemed to beg for release.

  “Yet, are you suffering as much as you could be? I can make it far worse, by changing the ruby spire into a place of torment rather than of mere captivity. With the Kazofen Ocean waters flowing through me, I can alter the crystal structure in devious ways, to architect a prison of brutality and agony far beyond your imagining, such that you question the meaning of your existence. Or, I can give you a comfortable, purposeful existence, about which you do not complain,” Polyxene said. She formed an aperture in her diamond-covering around her mouth and, through it, drank the waters of the Kazofen Ocean from her vial to be energized. Then she closed the aperture to reseal her diamond-covering.

  Polyxene then touched the first ruby spire with her diamond-covered fingers and began to manipulate it, twisting the low-level structure of the crystal. The ruby spire distorted passing light in mind-bending – and spirit-bending – ways due to the bizarre-yet-calculated deformations she made. Despite the indirect contact – her fingers only touched the inside surface of the diamond-covering and the outside surface of the diamond-covering touched the ruby spire – she was able to alter the demon’s prison, while leaving intact the diamond-covering that protected her.

  “Enough! I submit! What you command shall be done!” the voice of Evethixomar screamed through the first ruby spire. The demon reached out – slowly – through the spirit world to summon lesser spirits so inclined to obey and carry out his orders.

  Polyxene then glided across the crystal floor toward a second ruby spire, wherein she saw another swirling blackness.

  “Rivixiled! Stand at attention!” Polyxene said.

  The swirling blackness in the second ruby spire came to a standstill in response to her words.

  “I have a mission for you,” Polyxene said.

  “What is it now, my beloved queen? How may I delight you so?” the voice of Rivixiled asked through the second ruby spire. The voice seemed seductive, yet Polyxene was not aroused.

  “You shall command the stone worshippers who live in the mountains of the Glivoran Trail. They are to extract more diamond of the highest quality, in great quantities, and bring them to the western coast, awaiting the ships that I will send,” Polyxene said.

  “Will this bring you the greatest pleasure, my queen? Do you not want more from me?” the voice of Rivixiled asked through the second ruby spire. The voice was sensual and powerful, being overtly seductive.

  “Yes, it will bring the greatest pleasure, little demon. Do not delay in obeying my instructions. You know what I can do,” Polyxene said.

  “If you allow me, if you release me for a mere moment, I can do so much more. I can enter you and bond with you in ways that will bring unimaginable ecstasies. You deserve so many wonderful things – such pleasures befitting a queen,” the voice of Rivixiled said through the second ruby spire. The voice was filled with the most urgent lust.

  “I have no need for love or lust. They are worthless distractions in life. I build, I endure, and that which I build shall endure. You are a mere servant to me. I bond with myself,” Polyxene said. She never felt desire throughout the eons she lived. She admired – and longed for – only herself and her structures.

  “I will do that which you command. My captivity is not why I serve you. Know that I do everything for you out of love, willingly and joyfully,” the voice of Rivixiled said through the second ruby spire.

  “Then you have your purpose – and a better life than if you were wandering the world, or smoldering in the Maelstrom of Vengeance. Now, carry out your assignment,” Polyxene said.

  Rivixiled reached out through the spirit world and summoned lesser spirits, commanding them to make contact with a civilization of stone worshippers living in the mo
untains of the Glivoran Trail and direct those people to extract more diamonds of a high quality.

  Polyxene glided across the crystal floor to a third ruby spire, wherein there was yet another swirling blackness.

  “Dajazameril! Stand at attention!” Polyxene said.

  The swirling blackness in the third ruby spire ceased its movements in response to her words.

  “I have a mission for you,” Polyxene said.

  “I am weak, my lady. If only I had the strength to serve you, it would be my honor”, the voice of Dajazameril said through the third ruby spire. The voice sounded faint.

  “You keep complaining of weakness. Yet, you live, you speak, and you persist in your struggle to escape,” Polyxene said.

  “My powers are not without limit. None has given me worship for eons. The traditions of the topaz priesthood have been lost, such that I receive no adoration,” the voice of Dajazameril said through the third ruby spire. The voice was faint and sounded desperate.

  “You are a pathetic specimen of a demon. Yet, you have potential. In time, I will find worshippers for you. I will bend the topaz like any other crystal, into exotic forms that inspire adoration. Then, the topaz priests and priestesses will call out to you, and you will make them serve me,” Polyxene said.

  “If you make them worship me, I will worship you,” the voice of Dajazameril said through the third ruby spire. The voice sounded faint, yet joyful and hopeful.

  “I have no need for worship – only obedience,” Polyxene said.

  “I will obey when I can – when my strength has grown,” the voice of Dajazameril said through the third ruby spire. The voice sounded faint and despondent.