“I pride myself on my strength,” Rusa Gawol said shakily, the light from the torch he bore quivering against the dark cave walls as he failed to control his nerve and calm the fear that made him tremble. He kept close to Pultine in the smothering darkness that was only interrupted by the light from his torch, which illuminated the closeness of the cave walls around them and made Rusa more nervous at the reality that the two were making their way deep into the heart of a mountain and were surrounded by rocks on all sides.
“I am a jeris with a strong constitution, both physical and mental, but this is really trying my resolve…” Rusa stumbled as they moved through the tight tunnel of rock, and Pultine grabbed him before he fell completely. When he had regained his balance, with his back hunched over and his wings tight to his back, they continued forward.
“Don’t speak negatively, pretty boy,” Pultine said. “You’ll just spiral into madness. Tell me a story, tell me what it was like when you first spread your wings and soared over the grasslands of Wiis.”
Rusa took a deep breath. “I was very young then. As soon as my wings reached maturity, I was taking flight, scaring the life out of my mother who was sure that I would crash down and break my neck because I would fly too high and she figured I would overwork my fledgling wings. But watching older jeris fly made me long for it and when I finally could, I never wanted to be on the ground. Before I could fly, it seemed time moved so slowly, I thought my wings would never be strong enough. I’m sure you never experienced that, you were probably born fully formed and flying from your mother’s womb.”
“I don’t remember a time when I could not fly,” Pultine admitted. “I remember being perplexed at learning that there were beings who couldn’t fly.”
“It is strange to think back to that time before I could fly without strenuous effort. And meeting so many different beings of the universe on our travels has taught me to really appreciate my wings. Though they don’t come in very handy here. If only I could retract my wings like an aboatia.”
“I don’t think it’s a common feature of my kind.”
“Of course!” Rusa said, almost joyfully and he laughed. “You are singular, my pristine. It was a good call to cover my wings like we did, I’m sure I’d be bleeding by now…”
“Have you ever fallen?” Pultine interrupted him to change the subject.
“What do you mean?”
“While you were flying, have you ever fallen from the sky?”
“I’m sure,” Rusa said pensively. “When I was able to fly, I used to spar with my friends in the air and I’m sure I fell more than once. Usually when we fought like that, we were over water to avoid serious injury. Which causes counterproductive associations with falling, I guess. I never really feared it like one should…”
With Pultine’s strategic prodding, Rusa continued talking in that way for the hours it took to reach their destination in the tiny tunnel of rock. As they neared the Chamber of the Unseeing All-knowing, the tunnel grew larger and Rusa was able to unfurl from his hunch and spread his wings.
“That’s a relief,” he sighed, “but I guess the way in is also the way out so we have to do it again…”
“It’s just up ahead,” Pultine said.
“There are no lights?” Rusa asked, straining to see beyond the scope of his torch. “I thought you said this was an underground city.”
“It is. What use would the Unseeing All-knowing have for lights?”
“Wow,” Rusa said with genuine astonishment. He had assumed that their destination would be like the other foreign cities he’d visited with Pultine on her journey, strange but recognizable. A city in complete darkness was almost impossible for him to even conceive.
“I told you to sit this one out,” Pultine said as they left the tunnel and entered a vast cave with various sizes of rock formations extending from the floor and roof. “The Fonlands are very different from the existence you’re used to.”
“I am probably the only jeris to ever lay eyes on the Chamber of the Unseeing All-knowing, even though I can’t actually see it.”
“Now that we have arrived,” Pultine said, sounding apologetic all of a sudden, “you have to extinguish the light. The Unseeing All-knowing are very sensitive to it and a burning torch will only draw trouble to us.”
Rusa was speechless. He had only been able to make the journey because he had the light and without it, he knew that his mind would race with imagined dangers that he’d form in the darkness.
“I will let go of my aspect,” Pultine offered as she slowly reached for the touch and removed it from Rusa’s hand. She smiled sympathetically at the fear on his face and then she put out the torch. As she did, a glitter of lights began to emanate from her body and there was a dull, yellow white glow that allowed the two to see one another’s faces.
“Where does this Queen live?” Rusa asked. “Is it close, please say it’s close.”
“Compared to how far we’ve come,” Pultine said as she grabbed his hand and led him into the Chamber, “it’s really not far at all.”
Pultine’s aspect was not enough to illuminate much of the Chamber before them, but her vision allowed her to navigate the darkness. She could see the pathway out of the tunnel that was worn into the rock floor and it was like a road that led into the city with its dark skyline of rock formations from above and below. They were on the outskirts of the Chamber, most of the Unseeing All-knowing made homes in the rock formations that were about a few hours away on foot. There were a few entrances to the Chamber accessible by tunnels in the mountain and each had roads that led to the city center.
As they walked, Rusa wielded his retractable long staff. He was nervous in a different way now that he could walk upright. The complete darkness was just a foot outside of the glow of Pultine’s aspect and he wondered what manner of being could seize on them from that darkness. They mostly moved in silence, Rusa too distracted with the darkness and Pultine focused on the road ahead.
“Should we fly?” Pultine asked Rusa. She wanted to fly, they would arrive at their destination much faster, but Rusa seemed to be very affected by the darkness.
“The darkness is playing tricks on me,” he said unsteadily. “But if you want to, I’ll keep my eyes on you and follow as closely as is safe.”
Pultine’s black wings emerged from her shoulders; Rusa watched as the elaborate, dark skeleton of each wing unfolded as it filled out with thick black feathers. And then he followed her up from the ground and then forward into the darkness that he had to ignore for fear that he was flying into something solid.
They closed the distance between the tunnel and the city center formations quickly and Pultine slowed to hover in place.
“Remember what I told you,” she said, “the Unseeing All-knowing are the leaders of all cave dwellers of this disc. They command respect. Even if you can’t see them, know that they can sense you in such a way that they more than see you. Fill yourself with reverence, all here command and deserve respect…”
She stopped talking suddenly.
“Why’d you stop?” Rusa asked. “You love to give me instructional speeches, it hypes me up.”
“Be serious now,” Pultine whispered. “I didn’t realize Grootslang would be in the Chamber.”
“You’ve never pontificated about a Grootslang before,” Rusa whispered in response.
“I hoped there wasn’t a need to tell you about Grootslang,” Pultine sighed. “I timed this journey specifically to avoid him.”
“What are you worried about?” Rusa asked, feeling his nerves begin to agitate.
“Pultine!” A voice boomed loudly in the darkness.
“Was that Grootslang?” Rusa stammered.
Pultine’s body tensed as her aspect stopped, and everything was dark.
“Pristine?” Rusa whispered and began to breathe heavily.
Then three loud cracks and pops sounded loudly, echoing up to the roof of the cave, and three balls of light exploded from Pultine’s body, arching up and away from her like flares and leaving a trail of glittering essence in their wakes, illuminating the darkness in a soft glow. The sharp rock formations of the center Chamber came into view as a skyline behind the very large body of a snake in a coil with its head at the same level where Pultine and Rusa floated in the air. There were two glittering jewels on the face of the large snake where the eyes should be and they eerily reflected the dull glow of the flares.
“So good to see you again, Pultine,” the large snake said in the glow of Pultine’s flares. “I wonder what it is that brings you back to the Chamber?”
“My old friend Grootslang,” Pultine yelled at the large beast. “I didn’t know you’d be here.”
“Come, we have much to catch up on,” Grootslang said as the light from the flares died away.
“Is this a friend of yours?” Rusa asked as he followed Pultine forward and towards the ground.
“Remember what I said,” Pultine whispered to Rusa. “Fill yourself with reverence. It’s best that you say nothing while we are with Grootslang. He has a fascination with things with wings.”
Rusa nodded nervously in the darkness.
PRL Serials 