A Twist of the Tale by P R Glazier
Chapter 33. Elit G’fedrel
As they approached the door-less entrance the T’Iea women stepped through, a wide smile upon her face, her platinum coloured hair loose and flowing down around her shoulders and ending in a point at the base of her spine. Her bright jade green eyes shining, full of life and vitality. She wore soft doe-skin leggings and a matching sleeveless jerkin over a light brown and green shirt that had flowers and plants embroidered upon it. Her feet, like Solvienne’s were bare. She giggled and walked forward and grasped Solvienne’s hand looking deep into her eyes.
“You are most definitely the lady Serinae,” said Solvienne.
The other elf laughed out loud and nodded, she then moved forward and brought Solvienne into a hug. “And you young lady, are most definitely the lady Solvienne.”
Solvienne smiled and looked from one T’Iea woman to the other and in a voice touched with emotion she said, “I am so overjoyed to see you both here, I cannot express my gladness. It all just seems too good to be real, a dream, I have to keep reminding myself that I am awake.”
“Aye, it has been a long road, for all of us I feel,” said Minervar. But there is one other in our little party that needs an introduction before we speak further, come.” Minervar indicated the doorway into the dwelling, Solvienne nodded and passed through.
The interior was as neat as the exterior; it was cool and well lit. Everything was here that Solvienne expected to be present in a T’Iea’Tarderi home. She scanned around the room and walked further in. A movement to her left caught her eye. A figure walked through from another room an elderly woman not a T’Iea but a human female stood there a smile upon her face.
“Deanola?” Whispered Solvienne.
The human woman dropped her gaze and nodded slightly in acknowledgment of her name. “Would you like tea child?”
Solvienne smiled, “that would be lovely, yes thank you.”
Deanola left the way she had come and soon returned with a teapot and cups, “shall we sit outside? The sun is up and the morning is fair.”
The four stepped back through the door and sat on chairs around a table that was set outside the dwelling on the large platform high in the trees.
Solvienne looked around. The wooden platform on which they sat was highly polished, it had the look of ages and many feet must have trod here to polish the wood into such a sheen. Tree boughs passed at all angles, vine like structures grew amongst the leaves and branches displaying large colourful flowers that attracted many bees and other insects as well as colourful birds that made a humming noise as they hovered upon wings moving too fast for the eye to see. These creatures provided the only sound that could be heard other than the occasional rustle of leaves on the warm breeze.
“Where are we? I mean, are we the only ones here?” Asked Solvienne.
Serinae responded, “we are the only ones yes, at least that I have found so far. As for where we are, I don’t really know. Apart from the fact that this is an old place, it is also apparent that it was built by T’Iea, ancestors of ours presumably, a long, long time ago. Why they left never to return, I do not know for sure. This was once a place obviously freely accessible to our people, perhaps like many things that the T’Iea no longer remember, the way in and out has been long forgotten, although the door is still there as you know. I suspect that the world, that is the world we knew and were born into became home. Perhaps it had more appeal for some reason and we abandoned this place. I believe this place to be a sanctuary, a place for the T’Iea to live whilst the world outside recovered from the cataclysmic war that had been fought. This place slowly became myth and legend. But it remained as a link, to those who had the natural skill to use it. We are tied to this place even still Solvienne, there is an unbreakable link to it within each of our beings, an unbreakable cord, you must have felt its presence when you first entered?”
Solvienne remembered the feelings of elation she felt and she nodded slowly in understanding.
Serinae smiled and continued. “As I travelled the world I sort many things that the T’Iea told of, very few I found. I sort the great forests of S’Apli’Baum,” she indicated the trees that surrounded them. “I had all but given up ever finding them. I suspected that they had all been lost from the world. Little did I realise that in fact these great trees never resided in our, that is, the world of man, apart from some deep rooted memory within each of us perhaps, or the wood from these trees that we took with us into the world of man. But the trees themselves, the great forests of S’Apli’Baum, they were here in this place all along. It seems my friends that much knowledge has been lost to us. She indicated the now pure white glowing long bow that Minervar had leaned against the outside wall of the dwelling.
“You can have it back Seri, you know you can at any time.” Said Minervar.
“No. I do not want to become the ranger once more, those days are over for me.” Replied Serinae.
“Wait.” It was Solvienne, “you said that the bow was Serinae’s, yet her bow I remember to be black in colour, this one is far from black?”
Minervar spoke, “it was black, but it became what you see now as soon as we entered this place, it seems to recognise where we are somehow, or at least it reacts to this place. I think this was where it was made, I think that these dwellings were populated mainly by T’Iea artisans who travelled here to make things, using skills and knowledge that we have long forgotten and lost. It still connects here, even when it is in the world of men. Like us it is tied to here, somehow it remembers what was here, how it was made and imbued with the attributes it has within. As long as this place exists the bow carries that memory of its crafters with it wherever it may go.”
Solvienne looked at Serinae, “but how did you come to be here Serinae? Was it here that you went after the great machine was put to rights and you disappeared?”
Serinae seemed lost in thought for a while, then she stood and walked to look over the edge of the platform. She lent upon the balustrade that ran around the edge and said, “no, I did not come here. My invitation extended only to another place. A similar place to this I presume in many ways in that it also resides outside of the world of men.” Then after a minute of or so where she was obviously deep in thought she said, “I went to the city of the ancient fathers via a portal opened by them, or what was left of them. I did not go through the Rift, if I had I might have come here earlier, but then I would not have gained the knowledge I have now, been able to learn so much in the city of the ancient fathers. That city is named At’Lan’T’Ys.” She walked back to where they sat once more and taking her seat remained quietly thinking.” But it is more, much more than that.”
Serinae smiled and nodded her head. “You know Tezrin sought to lead the T’Iea’Neat’Thegoran back here to Elit G’fedrel. His misguided intention was to invade this place, to take it by force. The irony is that he didn’t need to, for this place already belonged to them as T’Iea people. But he never suspected this in his wildest dreams he never figured that out.”
Solvienne was thinking rapidly, “yes, but he did not succeed, you saw to that, you both saw to that. But can’t the T’Iea’Neat’Thegoran still access this place , they have the Rift still?”
Serinae looked at Solvienne. “Yes, they have the Rift, but their use of the Rift does not include its use as a hallway to reach these places. They use the Rift for other purposes for they seek only the power that lies within it, the same power that mankind also sort. But the Rift also contains a corruption of mankind, an evil malice that men intended to fight a war they could never win. The T’Iea’Neat’Thegoran are a product of that corrupted energy and like the deluded malice they missed the true use of the Rift altogether. There is an irony in that they could have fulfilled all their wildest perverted dreams long ago if they only knew what the Rift really did.” Here she laughed. It was not a laugh of amusement, but a laugh in recognition of some deep irony at her words. “Perhaps we have to thank mankind for that.”
Solvienne thought o
f the spinning disks that she had been presented with on entering the Rift. She asked about the one that had the star and the upturned face. “Was that disk not to the one that would lead into At’Lan’T’Ys, the sanctuary of the ancient fathers?”
“The Rift was originally a way that all the elder races could get to and from their homes to their places of toil whilst they helped to build the great machine. What you describe is the access disk for the great machine itself. Only the ancient fathers themselves could provide access to At’Lan’T’Ys.” She remained silent for a moment. “Perhaps the most surprising thing, the one thing that took my breath away when I found out, was that At’Lan’T’Ys is not just a city in the true sense of the world. It looks like a city, has all the buildings and boulevards that you would expect. But it is not just a city Solvienne. Its real purpose is something else. It is in fact a vast ship, an interstellar star ship able to travel vast distances across the outer void, across space and time. It is in that vast machine, that star ship in which we all travelled here to the world of men to start with.”
Solvienne said, “then it is true. The ognods knew this, they have always known it. They knew of the great star ship.” She went on to describe the tapestry that hung in Retta’s private room at the back of the throne in the ognod city. But then she had another horrified thought, suddenly the true ramifications of what Serinae had said earlier hit home. Solvienne stood, she had a troubled expression upon her face. “But the Rift, the Rift gives access here! That is how I got here, that is how we all got here. By the Maker all the T’Iea’Neat’Thegoran have to do is go through the Rift and they can get to here, get to any of the sanctuaries of the elder races.” She placed her hand over her mouth a deep look of shock upon her face.
“Yes they can,” came the reply. “But do not fear Solvi, in their wildest dreams this has not occurred to them. At least not yet. Their thoughts and desires have not shown them this simple thing. They do not yet understand what the Rift can do, where it can lead them. It is strange, for they in their ignorance and greed sort to use the Rift for other purposes, it had never occurred to them to explore within it, only to exploit its power and energy in other ways.”
“But surely it’s only a matter of time before they discover this?”
Minervar then spoke; she had a deep pained expression on her face as she said. “it is possible that they will discover this yes. But at the moment their thoughts lay in other directions. They do not know that the Rift itself is a gateway. As Seri said, they only know it as a source of great power, power that can be used by their leader, the one they call the Gatekeeper to use to create portals and other arcane constructions. But they and their Gatekeeper only seek to pervert that energy for their own satisfaction and use.” She looked at Serinae briefly and continued. “We must stop them Solvi, we must remove the risk of them finding this place, at least in their present state. We have to save them Solvi, save them and then show them the truth.”
Solvi frowned. “Tell me what happened Momma, tell me everything since last we met?”
“Minervar lowered her eyes, it is a painful story Solvi, for me it is a story that is full of sorrow and deep regret.” She paused for a few moments. “I was taken from Amentura, ported into the dark elf city in the east, that I now know. I was frightened, alone, I did not know what to do. I entered the city and was met by the T’Iea’Neat’Thegoran, met by the Guardian of the Gate. He seemed to be expecting me. They called me the Gatekeeper, they seemed to know me. But it was not me personally they knew, it was the position that they thought I held that they knew.”
Here she looked solemnly at Serinae, who smiled back and nodded.
So Minervar continued, “Tezrin was in league with the T’Iea’Neat’Thegoran, he was the Gatekeeper before me. When he did not return and I entered the dark elf city via the route he had created, then the T’Iea’Neat’Thegoran assumed he was dead and he had passed the responsibility of Gatekeeper to me. I had to play along for fear of my life. What I didn’t realise is that the knowledge that the Gatekeeper is required to hold does not come directly from the Rift, but from an evil source that is present somehow within the Rift and uses the vast portal stone. They do not use the Rift itself directly but the energy that is controlled by the evil entity stored and concentrated in the vast black portal stone that stands above the Rift. That is partly why they have not discovered the original capabilities of the Rift itself. They took me to the portal stone above the Rift and performed a ritual.” Minervar shuddered and held her hands crossed in front of her holding her shoulders as if she tried to hug herself, comfort herself. Her face darkened. “Serinae is right, the Rift contains something Solvi, something else. Whatever it is it uses the Rift as a home and a source of power. It is not the Rift itself that has corrupted the T’Iea’Neat’Thegoran it is whatever this thing is, it is a parasite an evil parasite, a blight on the Rift. It got hold of me, held me and told me many things. Told me how to create portals through time and space, told me how the T’Iea’Neat’Thegoran were right and true, told me that by becoming one of them I would help put all the wrongs of history right in the world. It showed me in an instant everything about the world and the people that lived in it. Only what it showed was all a lie a distortion of the truth. But it got into my head and it took me over. I became …….” Minervar held her head in her hands and wept. Serinae and Solvienne stood and came to comfort her.
“It’s alright Mini,” said Serinae. “You no longer have to bare that burden.”
Solvienne sunk to her knees in front of her mother and held Minervar’s hands tightly clasped in her own. “A good friend of ours, a keeper named master Amndo, he guessed much of this momma. I now fear for him, for I think he is with this evil entity within the Rift. I can only hope and pray that he has managed to somehow resist this thing.”
Minervar looked up, tear stained cheeks and red eyes looking directly into Solvienne’s. “The Rift entity showed me terrible things Solvi, it told of the destruction of the world, how man fought man in a terrible war. How they created great machines of destruction that eventually turned on their masters and sort to rid the world of the race of men totally. It showed me how it claimed to have saved the world. I began to love this story, revel in the destruction. I did terrible things, unforgivable things Solvi. I may not be the Gatekeeper any longer; I may not have that burden of which you speak Seri. But I have another burden, the burden of my memory and what I have done. I was studying other things Solvi, I was supposed to heal, not kill, not murder.”
Serinae also knelt, “Mini, if you seek forgiveness, the Maker will grant this to you. Lay your fears and your sorrow at his feet; he will take them from you. Make you whole once more.”
Minervar smiled at Serinae, “I know Seri, I am sure of what you say, but it is all too raw at the moment, too soon, the guilt I feel is still within me. I have undertaken many evil deeds, I don’t know if there is enough forgiveness to redeem me.”
Serinae stood and walked away, “Mini, it wasn’t you that did these things, it was the evil intelligence within the Rift, it is the same for all the T’Iea’Neat’Thegoran. That is why we must destroy the Rift and also destroy the evil entity within it. We will redeem them all Mini, you wait and see. Even those with evil still in their hearts, we will save them of that I am sure.”
Solvienne stood and said, “what are you talking about Serinae? What do you mean? Destroy the Rift?”
It was Deanola that stood and spoke. “The men of the east, my ancestors used energy from the Rift to take over the machines of war sent by the enemy. Many machines fell under its influence; they were sent back to attack their masters. Whatever commanded these machines found out through the returning machines the existence of the Rift, it then desired the power within the Rift, so it came and corrupted the Rift and used it as a source of limitless power. Due to the entity within it, the Rift went out of control, it was too late, we could do nothing to stop it except hide and pray that one day things would change. O
ne day the sky people came, those you call the ancient fathers, they wanted to place a beacon in the world, a navigational aid that they could use in their travels in their great interstellar star ships. So it was long ago the ancient fathers built a machine, you know this. The machine itself has a secondary function it as a safeguard against natural disaster, the ancient fathers wanted to keep their navigational beacons secure so the machine was also supposed to protect the world from many things, to keep everything in balance. This meant that it would protect the world from the evil intellect within the Rift by trapping it there. But the ancient fathers did not foresee the effect the intellect combined with the arcane powers in the Rift can have on the T’Iea race. The entity grew and became a form of malicious intelligence somehow, a remorseless intelligence that sort to destroy, probably like the machines of destruction that fed upon it. The ancient fathers brought the elder races here to aid in the construction of the machine. When construction was finished the elder races stayed here. I don’t think this was intentional. Something happened to the ancient fathers, they disappeared, they were unable therefore to take the elder races back to wherever they came from originally. The result was that the T’Iea along with the other races remained here. They were marooned here and it was inevitable that one day the T’Iea would become corrupted by the Rift energies. Or at least some of them. The T’Iea’Neat’Thegoran came about when a group of T’Iea stayed overly long in the world of men and were subjected to the Rifts influence without returning here to nullify these effects. Long ago this happened. One by one they fell under its influence, they became changed by it. Their minds became changed. Perhaps in a way it was good that the T’Iea’Neat’Thegoran guarded the Rift as they did, for not all T’Iea became affected by its power, for the T’Iea’Neat’Thegoran would suffer no others to get close to the Rift in case they stole their power or even tried to destroy the Rift. Here in this place, the place you call Elit G’fedrel you are protected. On returning here any effect the Rift may have had upon you is nullified, it is partially why the ancient fathers built this place as a sanctuary. All the races, needed a sanctuary to which to return after being subjected to the world at that time, for the world was full of poison and corruption caused by the war. Somehow we must destroy the Rift only then will the corruption within it cease.
Serinae spoke, “it is true what Deanola says Solvi, some of our ancestors got too close to the Rift and they were corrupted by the entity within it. The ancient fathers were not to know this neither at that time were the T’Iea. But because this particular part of the Rift became corrupted during the war then the T’Iea that were here suffered the lengthy exposure to the Rift energy. Neither the Rift or the ancient father’s great machine are evil in themselves as such, it was just an unfortunate side effect of prolonged exposure of the Rift to the war that raged across the world. But now we have a chance to put that right. If we destroy the Rift and the malevolent intelligence it contains. Then I believe we can release the T’Iea’Neat’Thegoran, return them back to the race of T’Iea.”
Solvienne thought for a moment. Something far greater had occurred to her. “You are almost right Serinae, but I believe master Amndo when he said that it is the machine that must be destroyed. There is too great a risk that the entity may discover the machine if it doesn’t know about it already. It would then have the technology of the ancient fathers at its disposal and from there it may well discover the far greater power that is the city of the ancient fathers, the place you called At’Lan’T’Ys. We need to destroy the machine quickly so that the entity does not have a chance to react. If the entity reaches At’Lan’T’Ys then we are lost. For that city contains a far greater power than anything we, or the Rift entity has ever dreamed of.”
Serinae thought for a while before continuing. “I learnt many things whilst I was in At’Lan’T’Ys. One thing I learnt was that the great machines source of power is from something called a Dark Core. This Dark Core is basically pure gravity, so much gravity, so strong that nothing can resist its attraction not even light. It is the most powerful thing in the universe save the Maker himself. If we were to release the Dark Core by causing a sudden and catastrophic failure of the machine, then I believe the Dark Core will suck everything into itself, it will feed hungrily on the gravitational energy within the Rift and consume it, allowing nothing to escape.”
“But what other effects would destroying the machine have upon the world. We already know that the machine malfunctioned when changed by the T’Iea’Neat’Thegoran, by Tezrin. His meddling caused catastrophic disasters. Surely destroying the machine will also cause problems.”
Solvienne shrugged. “Since that conversation with Amndo I have been thinking long on this matter. I’m afraid we cannot be completely sure, but the world existed before the ancient fathers came, so my hope is that the results of destroying the machine will place the world back into a similar state it was in before they arrived. Like Amndo, I don’t believe that the machine is needed any longer to keep the world on its correct path, I believe the natural forces that the Maker created are enough to do this. All that will happen is that the machine will no longer protect the world from other disasters that may befall it. But at least the Rift and the evil entity may be weakened and we may have a chance to destroy them both.”
Solvienne had another thought. “But we would destroy the capability for the ancient fathers to visit this world, we would be affectively marooning ourselves here.”
“Serinae nodded solemnly, “yes, yet that’s effectively what has happened to us anyway. We have been here longer than any can remember. The ancient fathers have not returned to fetch us, if asked I doubt that the majority of the elder races would want to return to a home that they do not remember and there is also the risk that the home of each of our origins no longer exists anyway.”
“But Seri, you were with the ancient fathers, they could tell us what we need to know. Couldn’t they?”
Serinae laughed, “yes I was with them, but you have to understand the place where I was, in At’Lan’T’Ys, well it was not as you think, the ancient fathers themselves no longer lived there. It may have been a place where the ancient fathers did live and may live again if they ever came back from the void. But the people I met there were generated images, not real flesh and blood. That is why we viewed them as spirits when they walked upon the world.”
“Solvienne looked up, “so if we destroy the Rift, we will lose access to Elit G’fedrel and the other sanctuaries?”
Serinae sighed, “I do concede there is a chance if we destroy the machine, we may destroy the Rift and if we destroy the Rift then the portal to these places may also be destroyed, but all the sanctuaries were created before the ancient fathers built the great machine so there is also a chance that these places will remain independent of the machine, as long as At’Lan’T’Ys survives.”
Minervar looked at Serinae and then said, “so Tezrin, somehow he found some of this out, he was planning on invading Elit G’fedrel with his T’Iea’Neat’Thegoran, he planned to take it over for himself and them, he then hoped that the great machine would then destroy the world?”
“Yes, Mini. Although we didn’t know it at least not then. Tezrin knew how to get into Elit G’fedrel, but thankfully he didn’t know about At’Lan’T’Ys, thank the Maker.”
Solvienne thought for a while, she remembered once again the elation she felt on entering here. She smiled and then asked. “Exactly how big is this place?”
I tried exploring north and south, west and east. On each occasion I turned back after walking for several days. I did not find the end of the land in those directions. I followed the river to the north there lies a mountain range, snow-capped, it is from where the river flows. To the east and west the forest extends as far as I walked for several days. To the south there I came to an ocean that extended beyond the horizon. There are soft sandy beaches there and cliffs that have caves set with in them. I spent some time exploring the caves,
but they extend a long way and interconnect. I did not go that far into them for fear of being lost. In any event it is safe to say that this place is big, probably at least as big as the continent of Dahl’Ambronis, if not bigger. It rains here to and this place also has two seasons a hot summer and a warm wetter season, it is really quite pleasant.”
Solvienne nodded, she remembered the coloured disks with their depictions of different places upon them when she had first stepped into the Rift. She then asked, “then it makes sense that the ancient fathers, they could have created similar places for the Grûndén, the Pnook, the ognods even?”
Serinae smiled, “yes they did, I can confirm that, they also created such a place for the keepers, as you know it is called, TeraT’Inu’Itil. The keepers still reside there. For some reason the other elder races decided to live in the world we abandoned the void places like this created for us. The keepers stayed in TeraT’Inu’Itil however.”
Solvienne was thinking of what Retta had told her. She had said her father threw himself into the Rift like the ognod monks of old, yet there was no sign of him or them here. But if they had a separate place created for them then surely they would be there now? “The Rift is the link to here, it also will allow access to the places designed for the other elder races, it gives you the choice, as to where you want to go. We came here because we are T’Iea and recognised the picture of the great tree. Ognods would go, well to their own place.”
Solvienne thought of the depiction of Grouund and Gruoond on one of the other disks. She then looked at Deanola, “why then did Deanola end up here with us?”
“Serinae nodded and said, “that’s easy, Deanola just followed Minervar, she guessed that Minervar would choose the tree above all the other options. Of course the ancient fathers did not design a void for human kind because they are native to the world. They would feel more at home in the world itself. Because Deanola dropped into the Rift with Minervar an elf, she naturally was directed into the T’Iea portal from the Rift and ended up here with Minervar.”
Deanola laughed and said, “I am thankful for that, I doubt I would like the place where the ognods came from, or the Grûndén for that matter and I don’t think I would like the Pnook’s home world as much as I like this one.”
Minervar then spoke, she had a terrible feeling, “but Seri if we destroy the Rift we may also lose the ability to come to this place. Maybe even destroy this place as well.”
“I do not know Mini, I’m sorry. But we did not need the Rift to access TeraT’Inu’Itil all those years ago. I think then that the keepers may also hold the secret to coming to these places, these other voids as well. They are the experts, we could just ask them? As to whether or not these places will be destroyed, I think not. I can’t believe that the ancient fathers built these voids based on the existence of the Rift. I think the Rift in actuality is nothing more than a convenient large multi-directional pathway leading to many different places. All that would happen is that access using the Rift would be stopped if the Rift were destroyed. I agree access would become more difficult and be controlled by the keepers. But no, I don’t think these places would actually suffer because the Rift was no longer there.”
“So,” said Solvienne, “we are forgetting two things. Firstly how do we access the machine hall and secondly how do we destroy something as vast as the great machine, I’m thinking that the ancient fathers built in safeguards and other processes so that the machine could not be destroyed easily?”
Serinae smiled broadly, “The first is easy, we can get into the machine hall from here, there is a dual-way portal to the north, I have used it many times to keep watch. You Solvi used the portal system to get here.”
Solvienne nodded in affirmation. “But I jumped into the Rift that opened into a temple in the ognod lands.”
Serinae nodded, “Yes, when the machine was under construction and many of the elder races lived here in these sanctuaries, away from the world and the knowledge of men, the portal system was set up by the keepers to allow transit to and fro. I don’t know how, but I believe some of the elder races learned rudimentary knowledge from the keepers about the portals and were able to redirect or even create their own transit portals for their own use, probably by tapping into the Rift. My guess is that the ognods had such a secret portal which took them into their mountain home. This must have been created after the ancient fathers seemed to have abandoned them. Who knows perhaps the other elder races after seemingly being abandoned also created similar pathways after they decided to move out of the sanctuaries and go and live in the world of men.”
Again Solvienne nodded in agreement as she thought about the many spinning disks she perceived after jumping into the Rift. Then something occurred to her. She got excited as she said, “the disk, the one with the star and little face upon it?”
Serinae nodded and smiled. “Yes, you guessed correctly. That one takes you into the anteroom of the machine hall. Getting there is in fact easy. I suggest that we make preparations and undertake that journey sooner than later. As for the second point Solvienne, the one of destroying the machine, that is a different matter altogether; there you have me at a loss.” Serinae scrutinised each of the faces around her before she spoke again. “Out of all the people in the world; I am gladdened to be making this journey and undertaking this task with you assembled here rather than anyone else I can think of.” But then her face took on a look of great sadness.
Minervar walked forward and took hold of Serinae’s arm a concerned look upon her face. “What? What is it Seri?”
Serinae looked into the eyes of her friend. “There is one thing that I have not mentioned, I have been a coward, skirted around this single fact, but I must tell you, must warn you. There is no guarantee that we will be able to escape the machine hall once the destruction of the machine is started. If the machine dies in such a way that the portals we may use to escape become closed then we will be trapped. The machines destruction may well herald our own death.”
Both Minervar and Solvienne hugged her once again and she knew at that moment that she had the support of her friends whatever the consequences of their actions. Serinae thought for a while, she wiped the tear that was slowly making its way down her cheek, then added almost as a whisper, “but there is one other who I would have with me, perhaps a selfish desire to share this final act with someone who has played an important role in all this so far, someone that I could not have accomplished so much without, yet she most probably doesn’t know she has played such a part. But do I have the right to ask it of her? Yet perhaps the Maker will see to that dearest wish before this is over.”
As they approached the door-less entrance the T’Iea women stepped through, a wide smile upon her face, her platinum coloured hair loose and flowing down around her shoulders and ending in a point at the base of her spine. Her bright jade green eyes shining, full of life and vitality. She wore soft doe-skin leggings and a matching sleeveless jerkin over a light brown and green shirt that had flowers and plants embroidered upon it. Her feet, like Solvienne’s were bare. She giggled and walked forward and grasped Solvienne’s hand looking deep into her eyes.
“You are most definitely the lady Serinae,” said Solvienne.
The other elf laughed out loud and nodded, she then moved forward and brought Solvienne into a hug. “And you young lady, are most definitely the lady Solvienne.”
Solvienne smiled and looked from one T’Iea woman to the other and in a voice touched with emotion she said, “I am so overjoyed to see you both here, I cannot express my gladness. It all just seems too good to be real, a dream, I have to keep reminding myself that I am awake.”
“Aye, it has been a long road, for all of us I feel,” said Minervar. But there is one other in our little party that needs an introduction before we speak further, come.” Minervar indicated the doorway into the dwelling, Solvienne nodded and passed through.
The interior was as neat as the exterior; it was cool and well lit. Everything was here that Solvienne expected to be present in a T’Iea’Tarderi home. She scanned around the room and walked further in. A movement to her left caught her eye. A figure walked through from another room an elderly woman not a T’Iea but a human female stood there a smile upon her face.
“Deanola?” Whispered Solvienne.
The human woman dropped her gaze and nodded slightly in acknowledgment of her name. “Would you like tea child?”
Solvienne smiled, “that would be lovely, yes thank you.”
Deanola left the way she had come and soon returned with a teapot and cups, “shall we sit outside? The sun is up and the morning is fair.”
The four stepped back through the door and sat on chairs around a table that was set outside the dwelling on the large platform high in the trees.
Solvienne looked around. The wooden platform on which they sat was highly polished, it had the look of ages and many feet must have trod here to polish the wood into such a sheen. Tree boughs passed at all angles, vine like structures grew amongst the leaves and branches displaying large colourful flowers that attracted many bees and other insects as well as colourful birds that made a humming noise as they hovered upon wings moving too fast for the eye to see. These creatures provided the only sound that could be heard other than the occasional rustle of leaves on the warm breeze.
“Where are we? I mean, are we the only ones here?” Asked Solvienne.
Serinae responded, “we are the only ones yes, at least that I have found so far. As for where we are, I don’t really know. Apart from the fact that this is an old place, it is also apparent that it was built by T’Iea, ancestors of ours presumably, a long, long time ago. Why they left never to return, I do not know for sure. This was once a place obviously freely accessible to our people, perhaps like many things that the T’Iea no longer remember, the way in and out has been long forgotten, although the door is still there as you know. I suspect that the world, that is the world we knew and were born into became home. Perhaps it had more appeal for some reason and we abandoned this place. I believe this place to be a sanctuary, a place for the T’Iea to live whilst the world outside recovered from the cataclysmic war that had been fought. This place slowly became myth and legend. But it remained as a link, to those who had the natural skill to use it. We are tied to this place even still Solvienne, there is an unbreakable link to it within each of our beings, an unbreakable cord, you must have felt its presence when you first entered?”
Solvienne remembered the feelings of elation she felt and she nodded slowly in understanding.
Serinae smiled and continued. “As I travelled the world I sort many things that the T’Iea told of, very few I found. I sort the great forests of S’Apli’Baum,” she indicated the trees that surrounded them. “I had all but given up ever finding them. I suspected that they had all been lost from the world. Little did I realise that in fact these great trees never resided in our, that is, the world of man, apart from some deep rooted memory within each of us perhaps, or the wood from these trees that we took with us into the world of man. But the trees themselves, the great forests of S’Apli’Baum, they were here in this place all along. It seems my friends that much knowledge has been lost to us. She indicated the now pure white glowing long bow that Minervar had leaned against the outside wall of the dwelling.
“You can have it back Seri, you know you can at any time.” Said Minervar.
“No. I do not want to become the ranger once more, those days are over for me.” Replied Serinae.
“Wait.” It was Solvienne, “you said that the bow was Serinae’s, yet her bow I remember to be black in colour, this one is far from black?”
Minervar spoke, “it was black, but it became what you see now as soon as we entered this place, it seems to recognise where we are somehow, or at least it reacts to this place. I think this was where it was made, I think that these dwellings were populated mainly by T’Iea artisans who travelled here to make things, using skills and knowledge that we have long forgotten and lost. It still connects here, even when it is in the world of men. Like us it is tied to here, somehow it remembers what was here, how it was made and imbued with the attributes it has within. As long as this place exists the bow carries that memory of its crafters with it wherever it may go.”
Solvienne looked at Serinae, “but how did you come to be here Serinae? Was it here that you went after the great machine was put to rights and you disappeared?”
Serinae seemed lost in thought for a while, then she stood and walked to look over the edge of the platform. She lent upon the balustrade that ran around the edge and said, “no, I did not come here. My invitation extended only to another place. A similar place to this I presume in many ways in that it also resides outside of the world of men.” Then after a minute of or so where she was obviously deep in thought she said, “I went to the city of the ancient fathers via a portal opened by them, or what was left of them. I did not go through the Rift, if I had I might have come here earlier, but then I would not have gained the knowledge I have now, been able to learn so much in the city of the ancient fathers. That city is named At’Lan’T’Ys.” She walked back to where they sat once more and taking her seat remained quietly thinking.” But it is more, much more than that.”
Serinae smiled and nodded her head. “You know Tezrin sought to lead the T’Iea’Neat’Thegoran back here to Elit G’fedrel. His misguided intention was to invade this place, to take it by force. The irony is that he didn’t need to, for this place already belonged to them as T’Iea people. But he never suspected this in his wildest dreams he never figured that out.”
Solvienne was thinking rapidly, “yes, but he did not succeed, you saw to that, you both saw to that. But can’t the T’Iea’Neat’Thegoran still access this place , they have the Rift still?”
Serinae looked at Solvienne. “Yes, they have the Rift, but their use of the Rift does not include its use as a hallway to reach these places. They use the Rift for other purposes for they seek only the power that lies within it, the same power that mankind also sort. But the Rift also contains a corruption of mankind, an evil malice that men intended to fight a war they could never win. The T’Iea’Neat’Thegoran are a product of that corrupted energy and like the deluded malice they missed the true use of the Rift altogether. There is an irony in that they could have fulfilled all their wildest perverted dreams long ago if they only knew what the Rift really did.” Here she laughed. It was not a laugh of amusement, but a laugh in recognition of some deep irony at her words. “Perhaps we have to thank mankind for that.”
Solvienne thought o
“The Rift was originally a way that all the elder races could get to and from their homes to their places of toil whilst they helped to build the great machine. What you describe is the access disk for the great machine itself. Only the ancient fathers themselves could provide access to At’Lan’T’Ys.” She remained silent for a moment. “Perhaps the most surprising thing, the one thing that took my breath away when I found out, was that At’Lan’T’Ys is not just a city in the true sense of the world. It looks like a city, has all the buildings and boulevards that you would expect. But it is not just a city Solvienne. Its real purpose is something else. It is in fact a vast ship, an interstellar star ship able to travel vast distances across the outer void, across space and time. It is in that vast machine, that star ship in which we all travelled here to the world of men to start with.”
Solvienne said, “then it is true. The ognods knew this, they have always known it. They knew of the great star ship.” She went on to describe the tapestry that hung in Retta’s private room at the back of the throne in the ognod city. But then she had another horrified thought, suddenly the true ramifications of what Serinae had said earlier hit home. Solvienne stood, she had a troubled expression upon her face. “But the Rift, the Rift gives access here! That is how I got here, that is how we all got here. By the Maker all the T’Iea’Neat’Thegoran have to do is go through the Rift and they can get to here, get to any of the sanctuaries of the elder races.” She placed her hand over her mouth a deep look of shock upon her face.
“Yes they can,” came the reply. “But do not fear Solvi, in their wildest dreams this has not occurred to them. At least not yet. Their thoughts and desires have not shown them this simple thing. They do not yet understand what the Rift can do, where it can lead them. It is strange, for they in their ignorance and greed sort to use the Rift for other purposes, it had never occurred to them to explore within it, only to exploit its power and energy in other ways.”
“But surely it’s only a matter of time before they discover this?”
Minervar then spoke; she had a deep pained expression on her face as she said. “it is possible that they will discover this yes. But at the moment their thoughts lay in other directions. They do not know that the Rift itself is a gateway. As Seri said, they only know it as a source of great power, power that can be used by their leader, the one they call the Gatekeeper to use to create portals and other arcane constructions. But they and their Gatekeeper only seek to pervert that energy for their own satisfaction and use.” She looked at Serinae briefly and continued. “We must stop them Solvi, we must remove the risk of them finding this place, at least in their present state. We have to save them Solvi, save them and then show them the truth.”
Solvi frowned. “Tell me what happened Momma, tell me everything since last we met?”
“Minervar lowered her eyes, it is a painful story Solvi, for me it is a story that is full of sorrow and deep regret.” She paused for a few moments. “I was taken from Amentura, ported into the dark elf city in the east, that I now know. I was frightened, alone, I did not know what to do. I entered the city and was met by the T’Iea’Neat’Thegoran, met by the Guardian of the Gate. He seemed to be expecting me. They called me the Gatekeeper, they seemed to know me. But it was not me personally they knew, it was the position that they thought I held that they knew.”
Here she looked solemnly at Serinae, who smiled back and nodded.
So Minervar continued, “Tezrin was in league with the T’Iea’Neat’Thegoran, he was the Gatekeeper before me. When he did not return and I entered the dark elf city via the route he had created, then the T’Iea’Neat’Thegoran assumed he was dead and he had passed the responsibility of Gatekeeper to me. I had to play along for fear of my life. What I didn’t realise is that the knowledge that the Gatekeeper is required to hold does not come directly from the Rift, but from an evil source that is present somehow within the Rift and uses the vast portal stone. They do not use the Rift itself directly but the energy that is controlled by the evil entity stored and concentrated in the vast black portal stone that stands above the Rift. That is partly why they have not discovered the original capabilities of the Rift itself. They took me to the portal stone above the Rift and performed a ritual.” Minervar shuddered and held her hands crossed in front of her holding her shoulders as if she tried to hug herself, comfort herself. Her face darkened. “Serinae is right, the Rift contains something Solvi, something else. Whatever it is it uses the Rift as a home and a source of power. It is not the Rift itself that has corrupted the T’Iea’Neat’Thegoran it is whatever this thing is, it is a parasite an evil parasite, a blight on the Rift. It got hold of me, held me and told me many things. Told me how to create portals through time and space, told me how the T’Iea’Neat’Thegoran were right and true, told me that by becoming one of them I would help put all the wrongs of history right in the world. It showed me in an instant everything about the world and the people that lived in it. Only what it showed was all a lie a distortion of the truth. But it got into my head and it took me over. I became …….” Minervar held her head in her hands and wept. Serinae and Solvienne stood and came to comfort her.
“It’s alright Mini,” said Serinae. “You no longer have to bare that burden.”
Solvienne sunk to her knees in front of her mother and held Minervar’s hands tightly clasped in her own. “A good friend of ours, a keeper named master Amndo, he guessed much of this momma. I now fear for him, for I think he is with this evil entity within the Rift. I can only hope and pray that he has managed to somehow resist this thing.”
Minervar looked up, tear stained cheeks and red eyes looking directly into Solvienne’s. “The Rift entity showed me terrible things Solvi, it told of the destruction of the world, how man fought man in a terrible war. How they created great machines of destruction that eventually turned on their masters and sort to rid the world of the race of men totally. It showed me how it claimed to have saved the world. I began to love this story, revel in the destruction. I did terrible things, unforgivable things Solvi. I may not be the Gatekeeper any longer; I may not have that burden of which you speak Seri. But I have another burden, the burden of my memory and what I have done. I was studying other things Solvi, I was supposed to heal, not kill, not murder.”
Serinae also knelt, “Mini, if you seek forgiveness, the Maker will grant this to you. Lay your fears and your sorrow at his feet; he will take them from you. Make you whole once more.”
Minervar smiled at Serinae, “I know Seri, I am sure of what you say, but it is all too raw at the moment, too soon, the guilt I feel is still within me. I have undertaken many evil deeds, I don’t know if there is enough forgiveness to redeem me.”
Serinae stood and walked away, “Mini, it wasn’t you that did these things, it was the evil intelligence within the Rift, it is the same for all the T’Iea’Neat’Thegoran. That is why we must destroy the Rift and also destroy the evil entity within it. We will redeem them all Mini, you wait and see. Even those with evil still in their hearts, we will save them of that I am sure.”
Solvienne stood and said, “what are you talking about Serinae? What do you mean? Destroy the Rift?”
It was Deanola that stood and spoke. “The men of the east, my ancestors used energy from the Rift to take over the machines of war sent by the enemy. Many machines fell under its influence; they were sent back to attack their masters. Whatever commanded these machines found out through the returning machines the existence of the Rift, it then desired the power within the Rift, so it came and corrupted the Rift and used it as a source of limitless power. Due to the entity within it, the Rift went out of control, it was too late, we could do nothing to stop it except hide and pray that one day things would change. O
Serinae spoke, “it is true what Deanola says Solvi, some of our ancestors got too close to the Rift and they were corrupted by the entity within it. The ancient fathers were not to know this neither at that time were the T’Iea. But because this particular part of the Rift became corrupted during the war then the T’Iea that were here suffered the lengthy exposure to the Rift energy. Neither the Rift or the ancient father’s great machine are evil in themselves as such, it was just an unfortunate side effect of prolonged exposure of the Rift to the war that raged across the world. But now we have a chance to put that right. If we destroy the Rift and the malevolent intelligence it contains. Then I believe we can release the T’Iea’Neat’Thegoran, return them back to the race of T’Iea.”
Solvienne thought for a moment. Something far greater had occurred to her. “You are almost right Serinae, but I believe master Amndo when he said that it is the machine that must be destroyed. There is too great a risk that the entity may discover the machine if it doesn’t know about it already. It would then have the technology of the ancient fathers at its disposal and from there it may well discover the far greater power that is the city of the ancient fathers, the place you called At’Lan’T’Ys. We need to destroy the machine quickly so that the entity does not have a chance to react. If the entity reaches At’Lan’T’Ys then we are lost. For that city contains a far greater power than anything we, or the Rift entity has ever dreamed of.”
Serinae thought for a while before continuing. “I learnt many things whilst I was in At’Lan’T’Ys. One thing I learnt was that the great machines source of power is from something called a Dark Core. This Dark Core is basically pure gravity, so much gravity, so strong that nothing can resist its attraction not even light. It is the most powerful thing in the universe save the Maker himself. If we were to release the Dark Core by causing a sudden and catastrophic failure of the machine, then I believe the Dark Core will suck everything into itself, it will feed hungrily on the gravitational energy within the Rift and consume it, allowing nothing to escape.”
“But what other effects would destroying the machine have upon the world. We already know that the machine malfunctioned when changed by the T’Iea’Neat’Thegoran, by Tezrin. His meddling caused catastrophic disasters. Surely destroying the machine will also cause problems.”
Solvienne shrugged. “Since that conversation with Amndo I have been thinking long on this matter. I’m afraid we cannot be completely sure, but the world existed before the ancient fathers came, so my hope is that the results of destroying the machine will place the world back into a similar state it was in before they arrived. Like Amndo, I don’t believe that the machine is needed any longer to keep the world on its correct path, I believe the natural forces that the Maker created are enough to do this. All that will happen is that the machine will no longer protect the world from other disasters that may befall it. But at least the Rift and the evil entity may be weakened and we may have a chance to destroy them both.”
Solvienne had another thought. “But we would destroy the capability for the ancient fathers to visit this world, we would be affectively marooning ourselves here.”
“Serinae nodded solemnly, “yes, yet that’s effectively what has happened to us anyway. We have been here longer than any can remember. The ancient fathers have not returned to fetch us, if asked I doubt that the majority of the elder races would want to return to a home that they do not remember and there is also the risk that the home of each of our origins no longer exists anyway.”
“But Seri, you were with the ancient fathers, they could tell us what we need to know. Couldn’t they?”
Serinae laughed, “yes I was with them, but you have to understand the place where I was, in At’Lan’T’Ys, well it was not as you think, the ancient fathers themselves no longer lived there. It may have been a place where the ancient fathers did live and may live again if they ever came back from the void. But the people I met there were generated images, not real flesh and blood. That is why we viewed them as spirits when they walked upon the world.”
“Solvienne looked up, “so if we destroy the Rift, we will lose access to Elit G’fedrel and the other sanctuaries?”
Serinae sighed, “I do concede there is a chance if we destroy the machine, we may destroy the Rift and if we destroy the Rift then the portal to these places may also be destroyed, but all the sanctuaries were created before the ancient fathers built the great machine so there is also a chance that these places will remain independent of the machine, as long as At’Lan’T’Ys survives.”
Minervar looked at Serinae and then said, “so Tezrin, somehow he found some of this out, he was planning on invading Elit G’fedrel with his T’Iea’Neat’Thegoran, he planned to take it over for himself and them, he then hoped that the great machine would then destroy the world?”
“Yes, Mini. Although we didn’t know it at least not then. Tezrin knew how to get into Elit G’fedrel, but thankfully he didn’t know about At’Lan’T’Ys, thank the Maker.”
Solvienne thought for a while, she remembered once again the elation she felt on entering here. She smiled and then asked. “Exactly how big is this place?”
I tried exploring north and south, west and east. On each occasion I turned back after walking for several days. I did not find the end of the land in those directions. I followed the river to the north there lies a mountain range, snow-capped, it is from where the river flows. To the east and west the forest extends as far as I walked for several days. To the south there I came to an ocean that extended beyond the horizon. There are soft sandy beaches there and cliffs that have caves set with in them. I spent some time exploring the caves,
Solvienne nodded, she remembered the coloured disks with their depictions of different places upon them when she had first stepped into the Rift. She then asked, “then it makes sense that the ancient fathers, they could have created similar places for the Grûndén, the Pnook, the ognods even?”
Serinae smiled, “yes they did, I can confirm that, they also created such a place for the keepers, as you know it is called, TeraT’Inu’Itil. The keepers still reside there. For some reason the other elder races decided to live in the world we abandoned the void places like this created for us. The keepers stayed in TeraT’Inu’Itil however.”
Solvienne was thinking of what Retta had told her. She had said her father threw himself into the Rift like the ognod monks of old, yet there was no sign of him or them here. But if they had a separate place created for them then surely they would be there now? “The Rift is the link to here, it also will allow access to the places designed for the other elder races, it gives you the choice, as to where you want to go. We came here because we are T’Iea and recognised the picture of the great tree. Ognods would go, well to their own place.”
Solvienne thought of the depiction of Grouund and Gruoond on one of the other disks. She then looked at Deanola, “why then did Deanola end up here with us?”
“Serinae nodded and said, “that’s easy, Deanola just followed Minervar, she guessed that Minervar would choose the tree above all the other options. Of course the ancient fathers did not design a void for human kind because they are native to the world. They would feel more at home in the world itself. Because Deanola dropped into the Rift with Minervar an elf, she naturally was directed into the T’Iea portal from the Rift and ended up here with Minervar.”
Deanola laughed and said, “I am thankful for that, I doubt I would like the place where the ognods came from, or the Grûndén for that matter and I don’t think I would like the Pnook’s home world as much as I like this one.”
Minervar then spoke, she had a terrible feeling, “but Seri if we destroy the Rift we may also lose the ability to come to this place. Maybe even destroy this place as well.”
“I do not know Mini, I’m sorry. But we did not need the Rift to access TeraT’Inu’Itil all those years ago. I think then that the keepers may also hold the secret to coming to these places, these other voids as well. They are the experts, we could just ask them? As to whether or not these places will be destroyed, I think not. I can’t believe that the ancient fathers built these voids based on the existence of the Rift. I think the Rift in actuality is nothing more than a convenient large multi-directional pathway leading to many different places. All that would happen is that access using the Rift would be stopped if the Rift were destroyed. I agree access would become more difficult and be controlled by the keepers. But no, I don’t think these places would actually suffer because the Rift was no longer there.”
“So,” said Solvienne, “we are forgetting two things. Firstly how do we access the machine hall and secondly how do we destroy something as vast as the great machine, I’m thinking that the ancient fathers built in safeguards and other processes so that the machine could not be destroyed easily?”
Serinae smiled broadly, “The first is easy, we can get into the machine hall from here, there is a dual-way portal to the north, I have used it many times to keep watch. You Solvi used the portal system to get here.”
Solvienne nodded in affirmation. “But I jumped into the Rift that opened into a temple in the ognod lands.”
Serinae nodded, “Yes, when the machine was under construction and many of the elder races lived here in these sanctuaries, away from the world and the knowledge of men, the portal system was set up by the keepers to allow transit to and fro. I don’t know how, but I believe some of the elder races learned rudimentary knowledge from the keepers about the portals and were able to redirect or even create their own transit portals for their own use, probably by tapping into the Rift. My guess is that the ognods had such a secret portal which took them into their mountain home. This must have been created after the ancient fathers seemed to have abandoned them. Who knows perhaps the other elder races after seemingly being abandoned also created similar pathways after they decided to move out of the sanctuaries and go and live in the world of men.”
Again Solvienne nodded in agreement as she thought about the many spinning disks she perceived after jumping into the Rift. Then something occurred to her. She got excited as she said, “the disk, the one with the star and little face upon it?”
Serinae nodded and smiled. “Yes, you guessed correctly. That one takes you into the anteroom of the machine hall. Getting there is in fact easy. I suggest that we make preparations and undertake that journey sooner than later. As for the second point Solvienne, the one of destroying the machine, that is a different matter altogether; there you have me at a loss.” Serinae scrutinised each of the faces around her before she spoke again. “Out of all the people in the world; I am gladdened to be making this journey and undertaking this task with you assembled here rather than anyone else I can think of.” But then her face took on a look of great sadness.
Minervar walked forward and took hold of Serinae’s arm a concerned look upon her face. “What? What is it Seri?”
Serinae looked into the eyes of her friend. “There is one thing that I have not mentioned, I have been a coward, skirted around this single fact, but I must tell you, must warn you. There is no guarantee that we will be able to escape the machine hall once the destruction of the machine is started. If the machine dies in such a way that the portals we may use to escape become closed then we will be trapped. The machines destruction may well herald our own death.”
Both Minervar and Solvienne hugged her once again and she knew at that moment that she had the support of her friends whatever the consequences of their actions. Serinae thought for a while, she wiped the tear that was slowly making its way down her cheek, then added almost as a whisper, “but there is one other who I would have with me, perhaps a selfish desire to share this final act with someone who has played an important role in all this so far, someone that I could not have accomplished so much without, yet she most probably doesn’t know she has played such a part. But do I have the right to ask it of her? Yet perhaps the Maker will see to that dearest wish before this is over.”