Tiara & Tempest Read online

“Consider this. When exactly one (1) person is in a room, they have no one else to whom to speak. When a second person enters, they have one (1) other person to whom to speak. Thus, there is one (1) relationship. When a third person enters, the have two (2) other persons to whom to speak, thus there are two (2) new relationships, for a total of three (3). When a fourth person enters, they have three (3) other persons to whom to speak, thus there are three (3) new relationships, for a total of six (6). Likewise, a fifth person adds (4) relationships: one (1) to each of those persons already there, for a total of ten (10). This number grows proportional to the square of the number of people,” Nov’Talod says.

  “How does this counting tell of an approaching quiet?” the monk asked.

  “Each new person beyond one (1) further erodes the quiet. By its very design, the gathering of people in this place denies the quiet for which the temple is named,” Nov’Talod said.

  “Would you call the Temple of Quiet Purity by another name?” the monk asked, intrigued at the line of thinking. The other monks deferred to him, in the interest of focus…and of being quiet.

  “No. Not at all. In fact, I would preserve its name by changing the tradition. Mathematics is eternal, and so counting cannot be changed. Therefore, in order to preserve the quiet, I must change the very nature of how people here relate to one another, so as not to erode the quiet,” Nov’Talod said. At this, he took a fresh drink of the Ursegan Ocean waters from his vial.

  “What change would you make? Each of us relates to knowledge, and to each other, for greater understanding. Quiet has its time, as does communication. A mind that is forever silent is as lost as one that is forever filled with noise. There must be balance,” the monk said.

  “Why, then, is this not called the Temple of Balance and Purity?” Nov’Talod asked.

  “It is through quiet that we allow in purity of thought. The thoughts, then, are shared with others,” the monk said.

  “I rather do prefer the Temple of Quiet Purity. It expresses an ideal which I seek,” Nov’Talod said.

  “You would have us all be silent, then, and not share that which we have learned in our quiet times?” the monk asked.

  The Ursegan waters that Nov’Talod freshly drank renewed his energy. He exercised his powers, slowing the flow of time. The thirteen (13) monks were all functioning in normal time. However, everything was slow motion for him. He moved with incredible speed, from their point of view. Among the many things he had collected in his studies were a series of small cutting blades, and he delivered them to the throats of each of the monks, dealing fatal slashes to all thirteen (13). They fell quickly, and were then permanently silent. The students around Nov’Talod ran away from him, screaming, and called out to those still in the Temple that they might flee such a brutal killer. He was disturbed by the momentary lack of quiet as hundreds of students and monks fled the temple – they all sought survival rather than enlightenment or conflict.

  Finding himself alone, Nov’Talod spent his time at the Temple of Quiet Purity where he had many experiences that felt, to him, like spirits were reaching out to him and giving him a taste of knowledge from beyond. He thought this to be strange, as the spirit world was supposedly the domain of those who drank the waters of the Zovvin Ocean. However, he was certain that something was reaching into his mind and leading him somewhere.

  There was a place he knew that he had to go – it came to him in a series of dreams, each dream leading him to a different part of the world, where he would dig in the ground for a silver box. The silver boxes were always locked, and after great struggles, he would open them and find nothing. He would then wake up on the stone floor of the Temple of Quiet Purity and find that he was surrounded by snakes, which he would quickly catch and kill, because of his powers to slow time and move more quickly than them.

  These dreams went on for the next twenty-five (25) years, until he reached the age of fifty-four (54), when he had a dream that the silver box he found did have something inside – another silver box. That inner box, which was locked and filled with traps, eventually admitted him entry after a slow and careful maneuvering of movable parts. Inside the inner box was a crown with thirteen (13) diamonds. There was a woman there waiting to wear it, and he just knew that he should give it to her. The location of the waking world that was referenced in the dream where he found it was the land bridge known as the Road of Kovoxotu, which extended northeast from the northern coast of the continent of Ihalik to the southwestern corner of the continent of Revod.

  After waking from this last dream, Nov’Talod left the Temple of Quiet Purity and sought to travel to that land bridge and find the place where the silver box was hidden. His plans, however, were thwarted when he learned that military conflicts among various powerful yet primitive warrior tribes were ongoing and that entry into the area was unsafe. Although he easily dealt with those monks in close combat, the large numbers of primitive warriors would have been overwhelming in conflict, and they were quick and powerful. Airship travel was possible, but to get onto the ground, where he needed to be, was extremely dangerous, as the area was densely populated and highly mountainous. Surveying it from the air did not reveal what he needed.

  Nov’Talod took the long view, however, as he was capable of waiting out the tribes and would live for ages. The primitive peoples of the area, he knew, were drinkers of the waters of the Nabavodel Ocean, which made them strong and fast. However, their intellects were not very highly developed, and without drinking the waters of the Medathero Ocean to enhance them, they had little sophistication or regard for life or learning. Their way of existence was to kill for territory, without any deep consideration.

  He needed them out of the way, and devised a means of slaughtering them in large numbers so as to clear the area and enable his search for the crown.

  Nov’Talod turned his keen intellect to the engineering of weapons of various sorts – ones that could utilize the ocean waters in new and terrible ways, such as to make all the women in an area become barren, or to eliminate entire fleets of ships. He did not leave records of how the weapons were designed, but was able to sell the constructed weapons to different established governments in the continent of Ihalik, who were all too eager to use them to eliminate their enemies, which included the primitive tribes occupying his target area on the adjoining Road of Kovoxotu. He kept his distance from the battlefield, and brokered his deals through hired messengers. It was important to shed a great deal of blood in the target area – except for his own blood, of course.

  In only a matter of a year, the primitive peoples living on the land bridge were massacred and the area was left largely unpopulated except for a handful of contracted workers mining the area for diamonds. The sparse population made it far safer for his travels.

  Nov’Talod, now fifty-five (55), was able to travel the Road of Kovoxotu, and traverse its mountainous paths and he ultimately found a stone structure in the mountains, three hundred ninety (390) feet tall. Forming its base was a large stone disk, thirty (30) feet high, with steps leading up to its top edge. The stone disk was four hundred eighty (480) feet in diameter. Above that was another, smaller disk, and above that, another, for a total of thirteen (13) stone disk layers that made up the structure. It had an appearance almost like that of a coiled snake, he thought. There were multiple sets of steps leading up to the top, but something he remembered from the dream suggested to him that it was not simply a matter of walking up any steps. He surveyed the structure, looking for some sort of indication of what he should do.

  While he did this, two other people surveyed him, from the darkness brought on by the waters of the Ikkith Tar Ocean which they drank. One of these spies was a servant of Tanith Orenda, and she had heard rumors of a man who designed and sold weapons to governments. Another was a spy working for one of the clients who purchased his weapons – the Brilkian Kingdom in the Ihalik continent. The Brilkian spy was curious as to why this weapon engineer was wandering in the mountains.
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  Seeing that the structure actually had complex geometry and movable parts, Nov’Talod realized that he needed to walk up the stairs in a spiral fashion – he would walk up one flight, and then walk around the disk a quarter turn and walk up another flight, and so on. The Brilkian spy decided to pursue him, but walked directly up the steps, holding back only to avoid being seen by Nov’Talod as he came around in his spiral path. Upon reaching the highest stone disk of the structure – which was only one hundred twenty (120) feet in diameter – Nov’Talod was able to see that it was, in fact, open on the top, and it was possible to descend into its interior. The spy who had pursued him did not get to see this, however, as he had pressed down on a number of the steps on his ascent up the structure, and apparently set a mechanism into motion, which made the steps collapse into a flat incline, sending him falling backwards to the ground, snapping his neck and killing him. Upon his death, his powers of darkness eased, and his corpse became visible.

  The spy who had been working for Tanith Orenda saw the collapsing steps, and the corpse on the ground. Although she did not see him fall – he was still alive when he slid backward – she surmised what must have occurred. Therefore, she did not make this mistake. Instead, she climbed up the steps using the same spiral pattern that Nov’Talod did. She reached the top, in the darkness, only to see what his next actions would be.

  Nov’Talod looked down into the structure and saw that it was a cylindrical shaft that was ninety-nine (99) feet across, all the way down. He could also see that there were three (3) metal blades that looked to be large swords. They were rotating at different speeds, but all quite rapidly. Descending into this, even with a strong rope – which he had brought – would be a deadly undertaking. He could not time his descent to safely pass the spinning metal blades.

  Except that he could time it, for the same reason that he could live for ages.

  The waters of the Ursegan Ocean give long life to those who drink of them – but not by improving their health. Rather, they enable the slowing down of time, and thereby aging. They also allow one to slow down one’s relationship to the surroundings, and see fast moving objects go more slowly. He could, in fact, time his descent. The rope could still be cut by the spinning blades if it passed through them, of course, but he would not allow himself to pass through the blades. The key was to not let the rope pass through them, either.

  Nov’Talod secured one end of the rope by using a small grappling hook and wedging it into a crevice between the stones that made up this top disk of the structure. He then drank anew of the waters of the Ursegan Ocean from a vial he carried and was energized. He could slow down time within him, and change his relationship in time to those events and objects that were around him. He could see where the fast moving spinning blades were, and descend past them at the perfect moment. His rope was thin enough and there was a large enough gap that the spinning blades did not touch it, or they would have sliced through the rope and sent him falling, uncontrollably, to the ground. He could slow down time to control his fall, but this did not mean that he could fly or disregard gravity altogether.

  The spy watched from above, and was unable to follow, however.

  Nov’Talod found his way to the floor of the structure, and saw that there was a five (5) foot high stone pedestal, about three (3) feet in diameter. On top of the pedestal, there was a crown, with thirteen (13) empty settings that were clearly designed to hold precious stones. Around the circumference of the pedestal were thirteen (13) blue diamonds, and he picked up the crown and the diamonds and placed them into the settings. He placed the crown into a small satchel that he carried, and made his way back up the rope, much as he had come down.

  The spy saw him return, but did not see that he had gotten the crown, as her vision was not long range and the lighting inside the structure did not admit clear sight of his actions.

  The spy followed him to see where he went next, and he trekked through the mountains, heading east, to the coast facing the Kazofen Ocean.

  There, a beautiful young woman was waiting, who was like the woman Nov’Talod had seen in the dream. She was adorned in a robe that was white, and she stared at the waters, seemingly in a trance.

  When Nov’Talod approached, she looked at him and said: “I had a dream. In it, a man from the mountains came and gave me a crown, and I wore the crown and became queen of the oceans.”

  Prompted by the dream, which Nov’Talod could not fully explain, he reached into his satchel, pulled out the tiara, and handed it to the woman, who wore it. The blue diamonds in it became bright, and she reached out her hands to the Kazofen Ocean.

  A large area of the ocean waters rose and revealed the incline down toward the ocean floor. Driven by his curiosity, Nov’Talod walked down the slope, where the water had been moments ago, and saw an opening in the ground and entered into it, disappearing from view of the spy and of the woman wearing the tiara.

  The spy who worked for Tanith Orenda saw Nov’Talod disappear and was now certain that this was the tiara of old. She moved to take it from the woman, but someone else moved more quickly.

  This time, as before, the Hidden Paladins, from the darkness, struck out at the wearer of the tiara. They severed her head and removed the tiara. As a result, its power over the ocean ceased, and the water came crashing down, just as one Hidden Paladin was removing the blue diamonds from it to disable it.

  When the previously lifted water crashed down, a powerful wave knocked the tiara – and all the blue diamonds that were part of it – into the ocean, and out of the reach of the Hidden Paladins. They could not find it, despite a careful search. However, the spy paid close attention to what she had just seen, and had at least some faint idea of where the tiara might be. She could not find the tiara, either, but she returned to the water-worshipper’s temple and reported these events to Tanith Orenda, who dispatched several of her other servants to scour the ocean for it.

  CHAPTER 6: Waiting in the City of Myth

  Tanith Orenda turned her mind from reflection on the past to matters of the present. She knew that the time was approaching for her reign over the world to begin. Yet, the timing would have to be right, as she would need the power of her old master to be aligned with her purpose. The tiara was in her possession and Victoria, having no waterbinding, was capable of wearing it. However, it was essential to gather all the available powers, at their greatest intensity, and focus them so as to have the greatest opportunity for domination.

  “Leave me now, scribe. I have private matters,” Tanith Orenda thought. At this, the telepathic scribe, Danielle, left the room and returned to her own quarters, in the Scout’s Room, where spies and scouts both rested and awaited the commands of the old woman.

  Tanith Orenda left the Matriarch’s Room of the water-worshipper’s temple and entered the Master’s Room, where she began meditating. At times she knelt on the stone floor, and at others, she sat on a small chair made of human bones, which were taken from prior sacrifices made to the demon. This was like the bone chair on the Matriarch’s Room, albeit less majestic, as she was not the highest authority when she entered this room. Like all the other rooms of the temple, this room also had fountains of all thirteen (13) waters. However, the center of this room was dominated by a pyramid of human bones that reached to the ceiling. This display of the remains of these prior sacrifices was to please the demon to whom they were made.

  Time passed, and she waited days, weeks and months. Having been alive for over one hundred ninety-two (192) millennia, these were relatively brief moments. Yet, the ancient woman suffered through them, as she was hungry to rule once again, albeit through the power of her many thousands great granddaughter, Victoria.

  In time, she heard the voice of the demon, Matatirot, speak to her: “The yellow suns have dimmed, as my enemy is weak. Now, the world is dark and cool, and for power it is time to seek. Have Victoria take the crown, and then bring her to me, so that I might prepare her to rule every single sea.”
r />   “What of the young girl with the powerful voice?” Tanith Orenda asked.

  “Send her to the hidden city and its secrets she will learn. She is to wait there until summoned, and serve us upon her return,” Matatirot said.

  “As you direct me, master, so shall I go,” Tanith Orenda said. At this, she stood up and left the room and returned to the Matriarch’s Room. She sent one of her servants to summon Victoria, who was in the Great Granddaughter’s Room.

  ~~~

  The servant went to the Great Granddaughter’s Room, and saw that Taesa was there with Victoria, and they were speaking of the young woman’s thoughts on music, and on the loss of her father, and her endless search for knowledge.

  “The power of music – from the Pirovalen Ocean waters – can do so many things. But there’s so little time to do them,” Taesa said.

  “The Ursegan water drinkers have all the time they want. They live for ages,” Victoria said.

  “I can only drink one water. Sometimes I wonder if I made the right choice. The others offer so much,” Taesa said.

  “Many people have searched for a way to have power from more than one water. They’ve never found it. Even the smartest people – the ones who drink the Medathero waters – don’t seem to have an answer to that,” Victoria said.

  “I wonder if it is possible, even if it’s incredibly difficult. Perhaps it is possible, but no one has thought about it in the right way,” Taesa said.

  “If you’re curious about it, maybe you could search for the answer yourself. That could be a worthy pursuit for such a fine mind as yours,” Victoria said.

  “I pursue knowledge to understand, and to help others. In the process, I keep finding danger, and it gets in the way,” Taesa said.

  “You’re always going to find danger in this world, unless you can change the world, and everyone in it. Don’t let the danger stop you from searching,” Victoria said.

  “It doesn’t stop me, but it takes time away from the search, and I never know how much time I have, or how to get more. My father read many books and searched for answers to many questions in life, but nothing he found in them saved him from the cancer. When he first got sick, he even found it hard to focus on reading, which slowed him down,” Taesa said.