As the flames which brought the great statue of Medel's hollowed eyes to life, burned out, the Opening Ceremony wrapped up and the VIP's returned to the Villa on the hill in their golden litters, leaving the invites to celebrate the night away in the
comforts of the festive tent city. Torches blazed brightly along the courtyard
walls illuminating the night life with a sense of security, helping to propagate exciting visions of a brighter future on the horizon. The drummers stayed behind, eager to drum their favorite beats
from the Green Serpent in the acoustical grandeur of the courtyard, juicy hamburgers were served from the BBQ stands, food and libations were on the house. Soon enough, the dance floor of the Grand
Courtyard had become a sea of warm, happy, sweaty bodies, the finest DNA of the
Atlan Empire.
Full of optimism, Josh wove through the crowd with his new
recruit. "Watch
and learn. Just follow and don't ask any questions."
Eager
to please, the new recruit followed attentively as Josh demonstrated how the
deal was done. They hadn't travelled very far before a merchant intercepted
them with a low voice and suggestive body language. Josh returned the gestures
with a nod, followed by his own subtle gesture to follow him, and kept walking.
Few words were needed, both parties understood the nature of the sale, disappearing
in and out the crowds was a cover act. The recruit followed as best he could,
watching for the exchange maneuvers as they dodged sweaty dancers, swinging to
the beat. It took only seconds for the deal to be made, it happened so quick
the new recruit would never have spotted it had he not been following and
watching and learning. The merchant then darted into the crowd and Josh
continued to lead his apprentice through the sweaty sea.
"You
can you handle that, right? Just keep moving and you'll be fine. let them come
to you, you'll only have to offer it once or twice, word of mouth will do the
advertising for you." Josh handed him a pouch of portioned foil packs. "Meet
me at the Skin Club after wrap. If your numbers add up we'll let you sell twice
as much tomorrow."
Zara
tossed around in her bed, unable to sleep, her mind spinning round and round,
trying to imagine the planets at war... She reached for the emerald tile laying
on the table beside her and studied it's ominous image, playing with the facets
reflecting the candle light almost brought it to life. It was a magical tile, as was
the last one. But what did it mean?
'You will understand what the image means as
you discover the journey it speaks of…' Mina's cryptic words didn't help at
all, nothing in the image seemed like a positive sort of journey to discover. A
burning tower? She didn’t know of any towers except the bell tower of the
Temple of Medel! The truth about Medel was on fire?
Feeling
lost, she clutched the tile tight, pulled the blanket up over her shoulders and
tried to sleep. She thought about the strange story they were selling her, the
elaborate presentation, the big deal they made over telling it. The entire storytelling ceremony
was bizarre, the black cup was so odd and she didn't really believe it was
magic water… And she certainly wasn’t going to buy their moon story.
Waves of sleep began to lap her thoughts as they rested on the story once again.
Absurdity aside, she liked it, she liked them, regardless of her doubts and
fears. And there were some things about the story that seemed to ring true,
that even gave her answers, even if only mythical ones. Like the gold. There
was something about gold... Gold was the most important commodity in Atlan for
a reason...
A
smile broke out across her face as she thought about the Golden life she had
left behind... It was all about gold and she only could see that now. The gold
beads... Her golden wardrobe... She chuckled, now she could laugh at the
tragedy that befell her that day... Then she thought about the golden wig...
She couldn't laugh about that. Was it really just a coincidence? What about her
gold medal?
Thoughts
of medals were followed by images of Orien's blood pouring into the Golden
Goblet again. Tormented so deeply inside, Zara tossed in her bed, wide awake again, forcing the
images out of her head. Some of the Golden memories were just too hard to think
about.
She watched the
candle light flickering across the crystal walls, they seemed to help in distracting her from these thoughts that haunted her mind…
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