“Avenging Angel“
Digital, 16″x10″ wide.
Signed and numbered prints – AVAILABLE
To purchase a print of this item, please click here.
Tag Archive: Orbaratus
Jun 11
In the Company of Angels: Episode 14.2 – Smoke and Mirrors (cont.)
In the Company of Angels, Episode 14.2 – Smoke and Mirrors (cont.)
“He’s the only one who can do that sort of thing, you know,” Luke said, turning to Jill. Brother Azarias had just stepped through the Renderer’s sketch of The Gallery.
“Do what sort of thing, Mr. Luke?” asked Jill.
“Just framerun a sketch of mine like it was his own. Even Sam can’t do that. I wonder sometimes just who and what Azarias — er, Brother Azarias — really is. It doesn’t seem like he follows the same rules as the rest of us mere mortals. And Charles and Brother Aran have both been very dodgy when it comes to answering questions about him — you know, where he came from, how long he has been with the Order, etc. Whenever such issues are brought up, they can both be quite irritating on the subject: they’ll just change the subject.
“But, that is neither here nor there. Azarias told us to get back to our portal, so that is precisely what we shall do.” Luke walked over toward the edge of the Plaza and looked into the seething darkness of the chasm below them once more. Then he walked back to the monolith, stepped over to the unmarked side opposite the sketch he had made for Azarias, and began sketching anew.
“What do you think, Jill?” he asked after about a half hour. “Were the buildings this tall when we were down there?”
Jill had again watched him sketch with wonder. It was a gift she could not imagine having. “Yes, I think so,” she said, somewhat uncertainly.
“And was this how things looked to you when we first came through the painting?”
“Yes, I believe so.”
“Then, we should have all that we need here,” said Luke. “I know I can framerun this sketch, but I may need to help you with it. The key is for us to keep in constant contact, and to go slowly. Are you willing to try it?”
“Sure!” said Jill, although she didn’t feel nearly as confident as she tried to sound.
“Then grasp your crystal,” said Mr. Luke. Jill did so.
“Oh, wait, Mr. Luke! We can’t leave the raven behind!” Jill said, pointing to the basket near where she had been sleeping.
“Right you are! I’ll get the fellow! Now, I’m going to hold onto your hand as we go through the sketch. This may be more disorienting than you’re used to, but I promise you we’ll arrive safe and sound. Ready?”
“Ready!” said Jill.
Stepping through the sketch was much more gut-wrenching than had been the trip from the Gallery or either of her trips to Oxford and back, but Jill clenched her eyes shut, and before she knew it, she found herself once more aware of being at the foot of the buildings and the cliffs — the ones that she had first glimpsed in the painting of Orbaratus in the Gallery.
“The Gallery!” Jill thought, even as she realized that she was confused and disoriented by the jump through the sketch. “Oh, how I wish we were back there again, with Sam, and Mr. Luke, and…and Polly…” She knew the wish was futile, and that she was not thinking clearly.
But when at last she began to more fully recollect where she was, she realized that the wind was not as brisk down here at the base of the buildings. And it was darker. Light trickled down from far, far above them, and pale cyan and purple hues flitted up and down the buildings as high clouds passed overhead. It then dawned upon Jill that she was chewing on something. It was a piece of bittersweet chocolate. She looked up. Sam was there, smiling at her.
“I think you may be even worse than Mr. Luke!” he said, grinning. “Although, truth to tell, I’ve sometimes felt nearly as bad when I’ve had to framerun a Renderer’s sketch. No one should have to do that unless under extreme duress!”
Jill smiled. Sam sometimes trotted out thousand-dollar phrases that he had heard and liked and decided to make his own, and ‘extreme duress’ was clearly a new one that he had adopted recently.
“I think Mr. Luke would say the same thing about mazerunning with you, Sam. My impression is that it makes him feel even worse than I do now,” she said. “Although, frankly, I feel as if I’ve been on the roller-coaster of all roller-coasters, at the same time that I had a bad case of the stomach flu!”
“Well, someday I’ll take you into the Maze, and then you can tell me if that’s better or worse.”
“No time soon, OK?”
Sam smiled. “Yeah, OK. But, even if it makes you feel bad, mazerunning ‘has its privileges’ as the saying goes. Why, it can sometimes allow one to do things that are little short of miraculous, if I do say so myself,” he said, with a gleam in his eyes. He blew on his fingernails and pretended to polish them against his lapel.
“Miraculous?! What on earth have you done that would qualify as miraculous?!” asked Jill.
“Well, first, I must point out that we happen not to be on earth, but, for that, I’ll forgive you. Now, with regard to the question of miracles, see for yourself!” With that, Sam swept his arm out past them both and bowed deeply.
In the direction he was indicating, Jill saw two figures; both of whom looked familiar. The first she soon recognized as Mr. Luke. But he was bending over the second person, who appeared to be on the ground sleeping. Jill was still a bit disoriented, so it took her some time to realize that the person on the ground didn’t look quite right. Whoever it was, he or she appeared to be made entirely out of metal, almost like a robot or a statue….
Jill gasped. “It…it can’t be! Can it, Sam?!”
Sam smiled broadly. “Well, yes it can, and it is! It is Polydora herself, brought back from the very land of the…er…the living dead!”
Jill was dumbfounded. “But…but…she went into the passageway! She was locked in the caves with the Masters! How could she…?”
“It was Azarias,” Sam said, “not me, really. We went into the Maze together. He seemed to know things about the caves that I certainly didn’t, and although he wasn’t sure, he hoped that we would be able to find a way into the caverns and a way out again for both us and for Polly. He was pretty sure there were mirrored panels in the chamber somewhere, and once we started looking, we were able to find them!
“Polly was bound by the guarding stones, just as the Masters themselves were, and she was unconscious, and Azarias’ staff kept the Masters from harming her. We were able to pull her back with us into the Maze and bring her down here to the base of the cliffs. We also made sure not to leave the staff behind; without that, Polly never would have been able to drive the Masters back!
“She’s still pretty dopey, but Azarias seemed to think she’d be alright once we got her beyond the influence of the guarding stones.”
Jill, despite her weakness, managed to pull herself to her feet and, with Sam’s help, walked over to Poldyora’s side.
“Hello, little one,” said a familiar voice in Jill’s head. “Did you miss me?”
[ To read Episode 15.1, click here…. ]
May 28
In the Company of Angels: Episode 13.2 – The Aftermath (cont.)
In the Company of Angels, Episode 13.2 – The Aftermath (cont.)
Another hour passed before Jill began to stir. Luke had spent the time touching up the sketch and walking back and forth upon the plaza to keep warm; the sun, far away beyond thick clouds, was apparently setting, and the temperatures were beginning to drop.
Jill sat up and rubbed her eyes. She was startled for a moment as she surveyed the strange landscape around her, but then she remembered where she was.
“Mr. Luke?” she called.
“Yes, dear?” he said. He was a good distance away, near the edge of the plaza and looking down into the dark canyons beneath them.
“I’m sorry, I must have dozed off. Hasn’t Brother Azarias returned yet?”
“No, but he will in due time, I’m sure,” said Luke as he returned to the monolith.
Jill looked at the sketch, now far more detailed than it had been when she had drifted off. It truly was remarkable what Mr. Luke was capable of.
“The sketch is lovely! But what exactly does Azarias need it for?” asked Jill.
“He’ll tell us in his own good time, I’m sure,” said Mr. Luke, as he surveyed the drawing once more, “but there must be a very important reason for him to have requested it. Particularly since he wanted me to reproduce that precise moment, just as we were leaving The Gallery. I can’t imagine why that would be important. But, Azarias…er…Brother Azarias, doesn’t always explain things fully. He holds a lot back. My brother, Charles, has often said so.”
“Oh! You have a brother?” asked Jill. She yawned and stretched her arms.
“Yes. Charles is an artist as well, but he’s not part of the Order.”
“No? But you said he knows Brother Azarias. How do they know each other if not through the Order?”
“Charles works more with Father Hildebrandt and the Benedictines proper. I don’t know exactly in what capacity. It’s a different part of the same family, though, to be honest. We’re all trying to do the same sorts of things, just from different perspectives and with different tools.”
“But, what sorts of things, Mr. Luke? I mean, after today, I hardly know what it is we’re trying to do….”
Luke looked down at Jill. “We’re trying to do what is right, my dear. That’s all. It’s not always easy to tell what that might be, but today, I think we’ve seen what we can be up against. And, I must tell you, you have held up very well: very well indeed! Although I know I’m not someone with whom you are well acquainted yet, I wanted to tell you that I’m very proud of you and very happy that you were with us when…when….”
Mr. Luke turned away for a moment, and Jill again found herself tearing up. But just then they both heard a voice behind them.
“Luke, that is splendid! Bravo!” It was Azarias. “And…are you both sure that that was the precise scene of the gallery when you left it?”
“Yes, I certainly believe so,” said Luke.
“Jill?”
“Yes, Sir. That’s how things looked.”
“Marvelous! Then I intend to make immediate good use of your sketch, my fine Rendering friend,” said Azarias. “Once I am gone, I would like to ask you to begin work on a second sketch: one that will allow you both to return to the portal at the base of the cliffs. That is, the one that brought you here in the first place. Sam could take you there via the Maze, but he’s tied up at present. He will meet you down below, and although I anticipate no problems, if for any reason you should find the portal gone…”
“Gone?! What do you mean, gone?!” asked Luke.
“Do not trouble yourself! It is quite likely that all shall be well. But, on the off chance that the portal is missing….”
“Yes? What should we do then?” asked Luke.
“I’d suggest waiting a bit, and if after, say, an hour, the portal has still not reopened, then you should gather everyone and return to my flat in London. Proceed from there to Rome. I don’t believe it will come to that, but if worse comes to worst, you may need Father Hildebrandt’s help and advice.”
“But shouldn’t we just return to The Gallery?”
“No, not to The Gallery under any circumstances, should you find the portal closed! Do you understand?” Azarias looked keenly, almost ferociously, at Luke.
“Well I don’t understand, not really, but we’ll certainly do as you say.”
“Good. Do not fear! All shall likely be well! And if that is indeed the case, l shall see you both again very shortly!” With that, Azarias clenched a sapphire in his hand, and, with no hesitation whatsoever, stepped into Luke’s sketch and was gone.
o o o
When Azarias arrived at The Gallery, Luke was just disappearing into the painting of Orbaratus. Azarias moved toward the painting and briefly saw the four figures silhouetted against the ruined landscape of Polydora’s home world; then they faded and the painting looked once more as it always had.
Azarias glanced around at The Gallery. Everything appeared to be in order, but he knew that, within minutes, someone would almost certainly be breaking into the warehouse. Whoever it was would not be subtle, for within a very few hours, news of their work would have already traveled overseas and been reported to Father Hildebrandt. “And to myself,” Azarias thought, remembering the tricky position he was in. At this very moment, he was not only here, in The Gallery, but also in his London flat.
Time travel was always a bit unnerving, even to him. It was never something to be taken lightly.
All that Azarias could do was to await the Amenta and their agents, and to watch for them to make the first move. But he could at least try to sense whether anyone else was currently in The Gallery, or just outside of it. He closed his eyes, listening and “feeling” as intently as possible. All yet seemed quiet.
The Gallery, Azarias knew, was guarded against the Amenta themselves: the spirit creatures that were the bane of the Fratrum Simulacrorum. But the Amenta could recruit agents of their own: flesh and blood men and women willing to carry out their wishes whenever physical action was required. These they corrupted by whispering to them and persuading them to become agents of evil. It was usually a long and slow process: corrupting souls was not always easy. Yet every generation gave rise those who were more or less susceptible to the lies of the dark agents.
The Amenta themselves were always drawn to the crystals. Because the Gallery was protected, they were unable to enter it themselves, even if no one was present within. But their agents could. And what their agents were about to do, Azarias knew, was to burn the Gallery, and all that was in it, to the ground.
The Gallery, along with all of the paintings and other archives stored within the warehouse, would be a mass of charred rubble within a few hours. The loss of the paintings alone would be devastating to the Order, but what would ultimately be even worse, Azarias knew, was that whatever crystals were still in the warehouse would be taken. Whether their theft was planned for before the fire was started, or to be left for afterwards — when the stones could be sifted from the ruins of the building — Azarias did not know. He only knew that they were the primary target.
The framerunning sapphires were the key to reaching all worlds drawn or painted, whether those images existed on earth or in another universe entirely. The crystals were absolutely unique, and they could only be found on earth. The location of the mine that yielded them was kept as secret as the existence and location of the stones that had been recovered and safeguarded. Without them, there was no known way to framerun to another world or another time.
The Amenta, in order to be able to move their agents into other Iconic Realms, needed the crystals. And the Fratrum Simulacrorum was formed, in part, to prevent their obtaining them.
The long battle between these two adversaries had now spanned millennia. “And the battle will likely span even more before the final end of all things,” thought Azarias. He listened again and thought he heard noises coming from the stairwell that led up to the main floor of the Gallery. He looked around and found a full-length mirror near him. Grasping his crystal, he stepped into the mirror.
When the Gallery had been built, great effort had been made to insure that there were many, many mirrors scattered throughout the building. Mirrors were even placed on the inside of the safes that held crystals that were not currently in use. As a result, the first thing Azarias did once he was inside the Maze was to sift through the swirling, multifaceted panes that surrounded him, looking for the one that might open onto the crystal safe. It would be small, he knew, and dark, since no lights were kept on within it. He soon found one or two likely panes, and reached through these to feel around just outside of them. The second was the one he sought: within, he felt jewelry and loose stones. These he carefully retrieved and stored in his pockets.
Now that the sapphires were safe, he turned his attention back to what was happening elsewhere within and without the Gallery. Searching through pane after pane, he finally discovered one in which he saw two figures creeping up the fire-escape at the back of the warehouse. The men were dressed like construction workers, but each was carrying a large jerry can. “Likely filled with paraffin or petrol,” Azarias thought. Then he saw two more men in the stairwell; they, too, were carrying jerry cans, and they were climbing up the last steps to the second floor. Through a third pane he saw a large van with at least one man in it, sitting behind the wheel. It was parked in the alley behind the Gallery.
“As I thought, these men are going to be none too subtle,” thought Azarias. “I have no weapons, but if I’m to stop them at all, I haven’t a moment to lose….”
[ To read Episode 14.1, click here…. ]
May 07
In the Company of Angels: Episode 12.1 – The Crucible
In the Company of Angels, Episode 12.1 – The Crucible
As Polydora stood before the first of the Masters, in the midst of the seething cyclone of the Amenta, she saw a flash of lightning and heard thunder crack nearby. The first of the Masters had advanced a step toward her, and she knew of no weapons with which she might defend herself. But she felt a sudden change in the air that whipped around her, and sensed, rather than saw, that there were beings surrounding her other than just the Amenta. She shut her eyes for a moment and reached out to discover what new horror might be joining with the demonic hosts already present.
But all she sensed was light. These beings, whoever they might be, cast a pale, very faint glow, like the glimmer of lightning bugs in the gloaming, and they were gathering around her. She listened past the roaring of the wind and the evil spirit howlings, and she heard music. She recognized the singing: these were the voices of her own people, the chorus of the Ferrumari that she had last heard when she and Jill were standing side by side in The Gallery back on earth.
Her people had come, at least in spirit. Those who had lived on this planet thousands of years before her had returned here, now, to bring her hope and courage.
Then, too, Polydora heard a shout from the open plaza behind her. She turned and saw, through the swirling whirlwind of the Amenta, two human figures sprinting toward her. The first of these, the tallest of the two, seemed to glow silver in the twilight, and he held before him a staff upon which was set a blue star that flashed and flared. Lightning struck the staff, and the blue fire then became so bright that she could not bear to look upon it, and the Amenta near it shrieked and fled. Then Polly recognized Azarias, but in a form she had never known before; the fury of his approach and the expression on his face were those of an avenging angel, and he was not to be withstood.
Thus came Azarias and Luke to Polydora’s side, and with their arrival, all three turned their gaze once more upon the first of the Masters, who had remained just a few paces outside of the gateway. Behind him they now discerned new shapes mustering, with horns and wings and claws grappling as they strove to exit from the cramped passageway. But they could go no further, for the first of the Masters — who was clearly their leader — stood his ground before this trio of beings that dared to withstand his liberation.
Yet, they were all at a stalemate. Azarias lifted high his staff, and the blue crystal atop it blazed forth. The Master flinched, but he did not retreat, and the Amenta redoubled their howling. Although they could not come near Azarias and his staff, the Amenta yet clustered around the gateway and the three standing before it, attempting to seal it off from the rest of the plaza. And Polydora soon sensed why.
For, past the sound and the fury of the demonic forces surrounding them, she felt another presence: two, in fact. But the one that most brought her joy was the certainty that Jill had returned and that she was making her way forward to the gateway. Sam she also felt, and she could even detect the slight stirrings in her consciousness that spoke of the raven in his arms. But Jill’s coming was, like Azarias’, one of light and of hope to the last of the Ferrumari.
Polly did not turn to watch the approach of Jill, nor of Sam. Rather, she called out to the singing throng of her own people and asked for their protection for her friends. And they answered her, in waves of emotion, assuring her that they would beat back the Amenta and allow the two safe passage to the gateway.
But now the leader of the Masters spoke out once more in a single word of command, and the howling of the Amenta diminished to a low moan. In this lull in the storm’s fury, Azarias spoke.
“You have no place in this world, Osor, nor in any other!” His voice was like thunder. The language he uttered was of the Masters themselves, and only Polydora and this creature whom Azarias had named Osor understood his words.“Return to the place prepared for you in the twilight of your people, for you shall not to wield your will here nor upon any other world!”
Osor retorted: “I know you, shaman! You have no authority over me nor mine. This planet belongs to the Imperaferrum, not to some toddling mage from an infant world. Begone, lest you, too, be destroyed, like all of those who have yet stood against me!”
“All of those, Osor? Did I not thrust you down into your pit after you destroyed your own world? Did not the Ferrumari throng upon this very plaza to cast you and yours into perpetual shackles? You have no place here, broken soul. Go back into the darkness and make reparations for your sins!”
At this exchange Polydora was dumbstruck. She gazed in wonder at Azarias. How could the leader of the Masters know Azarias?! But there was no time for questions. Osor spread his leathern wings, swept them down so as to lift his body a few feet above the plaza, and then he crashed down upon the paving stones, his iron-like cloven feet striking the earth like twin anvils. Where he landed, fissures formed and spread. Flames leapt up from the cracks, and these soon surrounded Polly, Luke, and Azarias.
By now, Sam, Jill, and the captive raven had pressed their way forward through the wall of Amenta howlers, and they caught their breath as they came up behind the others. Jill had come first, led, as she felt, by invisible hands. And despite the threatening swirl of blackness that was the host of the Amenta, none of them interfered with Jill or Sam; in fact, they parted before them as if driven back by unseen assailants.
“We’re right behind you!” yelled Sam through the roar and the crackling of the flames that had just sprouted up and encircled the others, “and we have the Guarding Stones!”
Azarias turned and saw Sam through the flames. Then Polydora heard Azarias’ voice in her head telling her, “They have retrieved both of the stolen stones. We must now find a way to drive the Masters back toward the mountain. Only with the door fastened behind them and the stones once more secured will they be subdued.”
“Begone, Mage, if you would live!” roared Osor. Azarias and all of the others turned and looked at the hideous creature once more. “You are of no concern to us…yet. But we have much to say to our slave, this pathetic Ferrumari who dares to stand before us!
“This creature belongs to us. She is the last of her cursed race, for so our messengers tell us. But we are ever merciful to our servants. We shall end her life here and now. And when she is gone, Orbaratus will be rid of our failed experiment. We shall rebuild our armies anew on this world, and then we shall conquer yours, Shaman, as well as many others! Great will be the wailing of your women and children when the Imperaferrum claim them, as we will claim the lives of all of you here if you remain!”
“Sam, give one of the two Guarding Stones to Luke, and the other to Polydora,” said Azarias. The flames had now died back and the five of them, plus the raven, were gathered together in a knot, around which the Amenta swirled in an ever-tightening circle.
Sam shoved his hand into his pocket to retrieve the two gems. He couldn’t quite reach them, so he turned his pocket inside out, spilling the sapphires onto the ground along with one of the pieces of fruit that he had plucked when chasing the raven. The gems bounced on the ground and came to rest beside him, with one of them nearly tipping into a crack that had formed in the stones of the plaza. Both of the blue gems were now glowing with an electric light, just like the crystal atop Azarias’ staff. Sam grabbed them and handed one to Luke and one to the Ferrumari. Then they all turned back toward the leader of the Masters, holding the gems aloft.
The creature paused, and seemed to be struggling to move. His mouth opened and closed like that of a fish gasping for oxygen out of water. His forked tongue flicked out of his mouth. Then the flames that had erupted around him were suddenly quenched, and the moaning of the Amenta ceased completely, leaving only the roar of the wind and distant peals of thunder.
Osor struggled, and then he roared! The sound of his voice appeared to loosen, for a moment, whatever it was that was beginning to bind him. The other Masters came up from behind him, but they, too, were struggling against some unseen force.
“The Guarding Stones have slowed them, but the Masters’ strength is growing fast,” shouted Azarias to the others. “If we had the third stone in hand, we might be able to drive them back, but it is still embedded in the framework of the gateway.”
“Brother Azarias,” shouted Jill, “we brought back the raven that stole the other stones in the first place. Would it help if we could get the bird to steal the last of the gems?”
“Not if he’d just try to take it back to Oxford!” Sam yelled back.
Azarias looked down at the basket and then at Polydora. “The guarding stones bind and hold,” he shouted for them all to hear. “We dare not risk the removal of the third, even if is not situated exactly where we might wish it to be. The stone atop my staff repels, it does not bind. With it we might drive the Masters forward, but we can never drain them of the energy that has already built up within them. For that, the Three must remain, and they must be set amidst the gateway to hold the Masters in place once the door is closed once more.
“But how can we drive them back?” Azarias asked aloud, as if consulting his own memories, “For even now the combined strength of the Three plus my staff seems insufficient….”
They all looked once more upon the misshapen creatures before them. These remained subdued, but it seemed clear that this was only a temporary stalemate. Even now, the leader of the Masters shook his head and roared again. The Amenta returned his roar by resuming their howls and shrieks. They began diving around and between the five who yet held the Masters in check.
It was then that Jill, desperate to find something, anything, that she might be able to do, happened to glance down at the surface of the plaza….
[ To read Episode 12.2, click here…. ]
Apr 28
Polydora Alone
Apr 28
Azarias on Orbaratus
“Azarias on Orbaratus“
Digital, 10″x6.2″ wide.
Signed and numbered prints – AVAILABLE
To purchase a print of this item, please click here.
Apr 23
In the Company of Angels: Episode 11.1 – The Broken Gate
In the Company of Angels, Episode 11.1 – The Broken Gate
“There is a tendency to dismiss the events on Orbaratus as an anomaly. ‘Surely’, the historians will say, ‘the catastrophe on Orbaratus was simply an aberration on a world that had nothing whatsoever to do with our own.’ Yet, it was not so. The near cataclysm on that planet — distant in time and in space from the earth — came closer to destroying our world than any historian may ever be willing to acknowledge.”
Brother Azarias, The Orbaratus Chronicles.
When the second earthquake on Orbaratus began, Polydora had spread her glittering silver wings and soared twenty or thirty feet above the Plaza of the Masters. There she circled above both the monolith Luke had sketched upon and the portal into which Jill and Sam had vanished. She soon was very glad that she had taken the precaution, for this earthquake was much more violent than the first. New cracks appeared on the plaza floor, and additional stone monuments were heaved from their pedestals and toppled. Among these was the very one that Luke had sketched upon. But there was nothing Polly could do but wait out the calamity, so she continued to circle above the plaza while the ruined city of Cenurbus trembled and buckled beneath her.
Debris exploded and fell into the shadowed streets, and rumblings like distant thunder heralded the collapse of structures that had been abandoned for centuries. At length, the roaring of the earth began to subside and the ground ceased its convulsions. Only then did Polydora glide gently back down to the plaza’s surface. She alighted near the fallen monolith upon which Luke had created his sketch. She was relieved to find that the stone had fallen on its side, and that the sketch was still visible and intact; if it had been otherwise, Polly knew that Luke would have been unable to return through that frame.
Polly turned her attention to the other portal. It still remained suspended in space near the edge of the plaza; she noticed nothing different about it, and could see no sign of anyone when she gazed through it. She wondered where Jill and Sam were, and how they were faring in their quest to capture the raven.
She then turned her gaze upon the gateway into the mountain. It appeared not to have suffered from the earthquake, but she strode toward it to make sure. With each step the feeling that there were other beings stirring beneath her feet increased; that feeling had ceased when she took flight, but now that she was walking once more upon the surface of her planet, it was back, and now much stronger than before.
She approached the gateway and saw with dismay that now two of the three sapphires were missing from the mirrored surface within which the stone slab door was set. She ran to the gateway and began searching through the rubble, hoping that the gem might have been accidentally dislodged by the earth’s heavings. But it was not so. The sapphire was gone.
Polly looked across the plaza at the distant portal and wondered. Had the raven come back during the earthquake, unmarked by her while she was aloft? It was possible. But now only a single stone remained, and she was unsure what that meant. She shut her eyes and tried to sense with her whole being, attempting to learn through her empathic powers what might be happening behind and below the gateway.
And this is what she experienced:
Deep, deep down through the crust of these high places her awareness drifted. At first she felt the presence only of cold stone, but then pockets of warmth pricked her. Scattered like the tiny chambers crafted into the immensity of an Egyptian pyramid, these pockets were few, but each was filled to overflowing with white linen-wrapped bodies. They were seeds within an otherwise empty and lifeless sea of living rock. And within each of the pockets there was growth; wild, malignant growth: of consciousness; of hatred; of violence. Each pocket was reaching out in diseased flailings as it found its bonds weakening and falling away.
Polydora pulled back her awareness and opened her eyes once more upon the Plaza of the Masters. She then understood that the forces that guarded the gateway were failing, and that some great horror must soon be unleashed unless…unless what?
In her centuries alone upon her planet, Polly had learned the dead languages of her people, and even snippets of the older language of the Masters. To the extent possible, she had absorbed the culture of the Ferrumari: their understanding of themselves before the end times had come; their understanding of what goodness, and truth, and beauty meant in a world that could still be controlled by evil. She remembered what we might call prayers, and these she began to recite aloud, as she had done, alone, whenever her heart had quailed and trembled during those earliest years of her life.
Polly stood before the gateway, reciting the prayers of her people, over and over again. She had remembered a litany against fear, against evil, against cruelty and hatred. And as she said the words aloud in the tongue of her people, she felt calmed and uplifted, as if the prayers themselves were calling forth the life force of all of those that had ever stood upon this plaza, generation upon generation, perhaps knowing what was behind the gateway or perhaps not. But Polly was comforted, and she resolved to continue her vigil, and to continue her prayers, as long as was necessary.
She stood alone, upright before the gateway, and the darkness increased. She knew not the time of day, but this darkness seemed unnatural, and she felt that there must be much more to it than simply a change in the weather. She felt new rumblings beneath her feet, and understood, she knew not how, that some Thing of great power had thrown off the last of its shackles and was now making its way to the surface, intent on finding a way out of the prison that had held it for so many thousands of years.
“The Light is my guide and my refuge,” Polydora said under her breath, “I shall not fear. Fear is the tool of the darkness; it is the mote that mocks the meek. I shall breathe in my fear; I shall allow it to wash over me and through me; and I shall breathe it out again. Then, my fear shall be no more, and only I and the Light shall remain….”
Now the darkness had increased so that the Plaza of the Masters appeared as it might have at twilight. And Polydora could sense movement in the air above and around her. She looked up and saw shadows flitting between her and the high clouds above, and she understood that something evil from beyond her own world had found a chink in the continuum of space and time, and was flooding through that chink to gather around the plaza. This was, she suddenly knew, the culmination of some grand design that must have been in progress for many ages. That she was alone, here, standing before the gateway, could not be coincidence. She must be there for a reason, and that reason could only be to stop what was about to happen.
But how could she? She did not know the nature and power of the forces beneath her, nor of those creatures swirling around her, although the latter she suspected must be the spirit beings, the Amenta, of whom Luke and Sam and Brother Azarias had spoken so often. Alone in the Gallery, she had never encountered them; she had only heard the tales told by others, as one might hear ghost stories told around a campfire.
But these were no ghost stories. These were malignant spirits blotting out the sky. And she alone might be able to hold the gate; if she only knew how!
Rumblings beneath her feet heralded the approach of yet another earthquake, and this one, she knew, would likely be greater yet than the two that had come before. She could but wait for it to burst upon her here in the open, before the gate; she dared not rise above the surface lest some new evil be allowed to pass in her absence. She felt the rumblings and the heaving waves of fluid rock beneath her feet. And she saw cracks form in the frame around the gateway. At the peak of the earthquake, the stone slab of the gateway itself began to yield; it moved forward as if thrust from the inside. Around her, more of the monoliths toppled, and Polly heard the cracking of stone, glass, and metal around and below her. She looked wildly to her left and her right, watching all the time to make sure that none of the destruction might rain down upon her.
Then, a single voice rang out, as deep as the very roots of the earth. It was a voice of command, and at its words, the earthquake ceased.
Polydora swung her gaze back toward the gateway. The stone slab had been thrust forward. A crack in the center had appeared, and the slab, now in two pieces, swung outward and toward her on unseen hinges. Polydora saw blackness behind it: not emptiness, but blackness; and there was motion there, as of some monstrous convulsion in the shadows.
A form emerged from that blackness. Coppery red it appeared in the dim twilight, and the fleeting forms of the Amenta gathered toward it as blackbirds flock together. The reddish shape emerged, and Polydora saw first the horns, and then the leathery black wings and the clawed arms. She recognized this shape; it was one she had seen in paintings on earth: of demons, and of the Devil himself. She knew not what to think of such a form appearing here, on her home planet, unless….
…unless this was some universal form of evil, one transmitted by dreams and myths between all worlds and all peoples and times. But now this creature literally stood before her, stretching its clawed arms out to embrace its newfound freedom.
Then the creature’s fiery eyes turned downward and focused upon her, and the monster paused, for just a moment. Then it chuckled. The chuckle grew into laughter, and the laughter into a maniacal howl of glee. The Amenta joined their howling to that of this, the greatest of The Masters, in an unholy chorus.
And Polly stood there in dismay, quailing in the roar of the hideous din….
[ To read Episode 11.2, click here…. ]
Apr 02
In the Company of Angels: Episode 9.2 – The Renderer (cont.)
In the Company of Angels, Episode 9.2 – The Renderer (cont.)
“Yes, I’m afraid I do,” said Azarias, his brow furrowing. “What is it about the Jonsson family? Well, we can’t overly concern ourselves with that issue at present. Pray continue.”
Luke picked up the tale, including Sam’s loss of one of the crystals and its recovery by Jill. Both Azarias and Father Hildebrandt were alarmed to hear that it had been out of Sam’s possession for as long as it had, and they were not surprised to hear that the Amenta had gathered to try to take the gem.
“Sam calls them ‘spooks’, or just ‘howlers’ of course, but we all know that they are the vanguard of a much greater Darkness,” said Azarias, “That was a close call! But thereafter, you invited Miss Jonsson to visit you at the Gallery. Why in the world would you do that without consulting me?”
“Because Sam knows her,” said Luke, “and he was sure she had seen too much to dismiss without a great deal of additional explanation. He also, I believe, has good instincts for people, despite not being an Empath himself. In addition, Polydora believed that Sam would have great difficulty dissembling over the events at Jill’s home, since they are such good friends. I took a chance; and it paid off, as you’ll soon hear.”
Luke continued his tale, explaining how Jill had come to the Gallery and had been instantly identified by Polly not only as an Empath, but as an extraordinarily gifted one.
“Polly claimed she had never encountered anyone other than you, Azarias, who had the ability to see as far or as clearly.”
Azarias and Father Hildebrandt looked at each other, and Luke suspected that a quiet telepathic exchange had taken place. But it only lasted a moment.
“Please, Luke, do continue,” said Father Hildebrandt, turning back toward him.
Luke described the trip to Orbaratus, Polly’s recognition that things were amiss, the trip to the Plaza of the Masters, and the discovery that one of the three guarding stones was missing. At this both Azarias and Father Hildebrandt became alarmed.
“It is, then, as we feared,” said Azarias. “The events here have been a diversion; the real drama is about to play out on Orbaratus, and we will have to do everything in our power to get that stone back into place if we are to avoid catastrophe.”
“Then you know about the stones?” asked Luke.
“Know about them? Yes indeed! But tell us what happened once you had discovered that a gem was missing.”
Luke mentioned the earthquake, the raven, and his decision to allow Sam and Jill to try to follow the bird and retrieve the stone.
“I understood the risks, but we could not leave Jill alone with a crystal on her; that would have put her in danger, since she has not yet been placed under protection.”
Azarias looked up at Father Hildebrandt. “We’ll need to remedy that as soon as possible.”
“Agreed,” said the Abbot.
Luke continued. “I believe that Sam and Jill, working together as a team, should be as capable as anyone of finding the bird and the guarding stone. I also felt urgently that I needed to warn both of you and seek advice. For I could only deduce the gem’s significance; I could not be certain of it. The situation called for us all to split up in order to save time.”
“But what of Polydora? Did she accompany Sam and Jill, or did she return to the Gallery?” Azarias leaned forward with an anxious look on his face as he asked the question, as did Father Hildebrandt. Luke wasn’t sure why the issue was so important to them.
“She remained on Orbaratus,” he said.
Both of the older men appeared visibly relieved. “She should certainly be able to keep anything worse from happening on her homeworld, and much better so than anyone else under the circumstances,” said Azarias, “But she doesn’t really understand what may be coming, and we mustn’t leave her there alone for too long, particularly if the Masters are indeed showing signs of stirring.”
“So that is what is happening?” asked Luke, “The Masters — the ones behind the stone gate — are awakening because the guarding stone was removed? As I said, I deduced that something of the sort could possibly occur, once Polly had fully translated the verses above the door for us. They were certainly a warning, even though they were written onto the stone lintel thousands of years ago.”
Azarias smiled. “Indeed, you surmised correctly. And that is precisely why the verses were left over the gateway in the first place. Yet, the Masters should remain restrained as long as only one of the stones has been prised away. They may stir, and they may even be able to regain a small measure of wakefulness, but the gate will hold against them — at least for a while.”
“But there is still much that you do not know, Luke, and at this point, despite our need for haste in returning to Orbaratus…”
“So you will be coming with me?” interrupted Luke.
“Yes, yes, certainly! That is a necessity at this point, but for reasons I’ve yet to state. In the meantime, I think it time to acquaint you more fully with the early history of Orbaratus. In fact, that also is imperative, so that you know what it is we may be facing.
“What I am about to tell you,” Azarias said, rising from his chair and pacing before the Abbot’s desk, “is now known only to myself, Father Hildebrandt, and the Masters, although their perspective on these events would be, as you might imagine, considerably different from ours. Not even Polydora knows all of what you are about to hear.
“When we first explored Orbaratus and discovered Polydora there, it was clear that her world had been victimized by the Amenta. After Polly came back with us and began her work in The Gallery, I took the opportunity to make many trips to her world so that I could better understand what had happened there and to try to determine whether her world was truly as empty and abandoned as it first appeared to be.
“It was not.
“The Amenta had conquered the original peoples of Orbaratus, the ones we now know as the Masters. But in those earliest days, they called themselves simply the Ferrubene, or the ‘Blessed Ones’ in their own tongue. They were a brilliant people, skilled in crafts, the arts, and philosophy, and as their ultimate achievement, they brought into being a servant race of creatures that, at first, were simply clever automatons. But these were gifted with learning algorithms that ultimately, and in a manner beyond the wildest hopes of the Ferrubene craftsmen, resulted in their awakening into a fully sentient race. This, of course, was far beyond the Ferrubene’s own skill; it was a gift granted by One greater than themselves, and it was ultimately to a greater purpose of its own, as you shall see.
“But, the Ferrubene liberality in learning, and their untempered love of tolerance and diversity, led to their downfall. After the awakening of their servants, their educators and leaders allowed evil ideas to creep into their prosperous and peaceful world, and these ideas remained unchallenged. Prosperity ever breeds excessive complacency and misplaced tolerance toward evil, Luke, as you should always remember. Ah, there have been so many civilizations destroyed by their own successes! But, I digress….
“In the case of Orbaratus, the seemingly benign tolerance and the weakening of a societal moral compass — all made possible by wealth and abundance — extended even to the point of defending evil doctrines in their many guises. In such a setting, idleness also encouraged dangerous experimentation among the elites, and the Amenta, who are able to travel unfettered into any world that invites them in, found their opening and quickly exploited it.
“The Amenta, once they had come to Orbaratus, whispered into the ears of the rulers among the Ferrubene, promising ever greater riches and glory if they promoted what was in effect a new religion: one that would ultimately serve to destroy their world. The tenets of this religion are unimportant, but it cloaked its adherents in a mantle of victimhood and injustice that they used against the greater Ferrubene society itself. The religion was quietly taught to those with less education and skills: these were convinced that they were victims of societal injustice, and that the new faith would avenge all the wrongs they had suffered. Others were converted through promises of more power, or, as a last resort, by threats of violence to themselves or to their families.
“The worship of novelty had become so widespread at this time, by the urgings of the Amenta, that common sense was utterly abandoned, and anyone who challenged the teachings of the new religion was labeled a bigot and a hater of the coming ‘New Era’. Societal disruptions increased, and eventually these reached the stage that stopping them and prosecuting their instigators was impossible. Killings and riots in the name of the new religion became widespread. Whole cities were burned and looted, and the Ferrubene people turned against themselves in open civil war after civil war.
“In this setting, the Ferrubene’s servants strove against the teachings of the new religion, and even while the Ferrubene killed themselves off, the Ferrumari ever sought to save the lives of their creators. But they were largely unsuccessful, for the Ferrumari numbers were too few. In the end, most of the Ferrubene died, leaving behind only the worst and the most corrupted of their rulers. These the Amenta had preserved, knowing them to be their greatest servants.
“Now that there were so few of the Masters left, the Ferrumari captured and imprisoned them, fashioning for their onetime creators a place where they could be held harmless. But the prisons were incapable of holding the Masters, until, ultimately, when the opportunity was offered them, the Ferrumari put the last of that twisted master race into a state of biological suspension. This was done in the hopes that a day might come when they could be cured of their madness, for the Ferrumari were and are a very compassionate people.
“The gate to their resting place was sealed with three crystals whose power was both to sustain the Masters’ suspension and to keep the gate that sealed their prison strong and inviolate.
“Without the Masters to breed further strife, the Ferrumari themselves at first thrived, but they, too, many thousands of years later, also became victims of the Amenta. In the end, they, too, turned upon themselves, ultimately destroying all members of their own race save Polydora. She and the Masters who remained alive — although suspended behind and below their stone gateway — are now the only living inhabitants of Orbaratus. You, Luke, are already familiar with this latter history, as I recall.”
“Yes, I am,” said Luke, “and I related it to Jill and to Sam earlier today. But I was certainly unaware that the Amenta had claimed both of the planet’s sentient races, rather than just the latter one.”
The room was silent while they all considered Azarias’ words.
“But how on earth did you learn all of this?” asked Luke. “Polly lived for thousands of years on her planet, and she was unable to fully decipher anything other than fragments of the history you’ve just related.”
“Ah, yes, that is true,” said Azarias, “but Polly did not have the one tool she might have used to discover the full truth about her planet’s ancient history.”
“And what tool was that?”
“Why, the ability to framerun, of course. I was able to learn much, much more than she ever could in all her years on Orbaratus; but that was only possible because I was able to travel to her world through both space and time.”
“So are you saying you went back to Orbaratus during the earliest times of the Masters and directly witnessed much of what you have just related?”
“I not only witnessed it, but I did what I could to minimize the sufferings that I encountered there; at least, to the extent I was able.”
“What do you mean?”
“Simply this; that it was I who taught the Ferrumari how to contain the Masters. And it was I who placed the three guarding stones upon the gateway in the first place, sealing them within!”
[ To read Episode 10.1, click here…. ]
Mar 09
Jill’s First Flight
“Jill’s First Flight“
Digital, 11″x7″ wide.
Signed and numbered prints – AVAILABLE
To purchase a print of this item, please click here.