3.8 Going Home

This time as Zara rode up the hill towards Anur the crystals hanging in the trees along the road made her smile. Even though she had only been in Lemuria for a short while, it seemed like a lifetime already, it even felt like she was going home. The Winter Solstice party preparations at the Crystal Temple were in full swing now, everyone was helping, even the new refugees were put to work in anticipation of extra guests from Atlan.

         Zara found Nel at the kitchen table, learning how to be a chef. Nel handed her a knife and showed her how to prepare the potatoes, she had learned so much already, the Lemurians had wasted no time in telling her their Long Story too, just like they had told it to Zara, she was eager to discuss this new world with her old school friend. But Zara was full of new crazy stories from her trip to Mu.

         "WHAT?" Nel couldn't believe what she was learning. "They call us LOCUSTS?" In the deepest layers of her gut she didn't doubt it for a second but the reality was a tough pill to swallow. She let out a heavy sigh and returned to chopping. "It just adds up to everything else I've just been told!"

         Zara knew now she wasn't the only one drawing painful conclusions, it seemed like their lives had been played in a giant game of Make Believe. It wasn't the great stone walls of Atlan that had kept them inside, it was fear, fear of their beliefs.

         "Did you have a nice time in Mu?" Nulu asked, taking a seat across the table from the girls.

         "Yes…" Zara noticed she was clutching the obsidian vessel of reflected light. "It seems like everything has been reversed in Atlan" she observed. Like night and day, her whole world had been a giant reflection of theirs. The puzzle pieces just naturally snapped into place. "Elon..." she gestured to the dark goblet. "The Great Reflector."

         "That's right" Nulu smiled. "As Elon's power was intended."

         Nel smiled as the words played out in her freshly awakened mind, she was having a much easier time with the story than Zara. For one thing she wasn't suffering the traumatic flashbacks that Zara was inflicted with. She had never been lashed, she had never given birth to or lost a Product. Instead, for Nel, a trip to Lemuria had been like going home all along, it was as if she had known she was missing the ancient knowledge of the heavens and earth, without being conscious of it. She had often seen spiral shimmers of light like the Unicorn horn in the sky over Lemuria and had wondered if they were the elusive Light Serpents, but then the Prefects and Priests insisted she was imagining things, or that she was somehow 'malfunctioning' if she claimed to see them. And she had always, secretly been confused and troubled by the sacrifices in the courtyard, even though they weren't her Products. If Medel was a Creator god, wasn't it an insult, an act of evil to kill his precious and most beautiful creations?

         For Nel the Long Story just made a lot of sense, she already knew the Firmary was built on deception; she had been penning the lies in the sacred books of Atlan ever since she graduated from Culloom, she had just never dared to ask why.

        

         "I brought you a special gift from Mu!" Bearing a wrapped flask, Nahash joined the friends at the table next, he sat down and proceeded to unravel the wrapping to reveal an exquisite looking clay urn. "One of the best reserves on record, this one is over forty years old!" He popped the cork and filled Nulu's goblet, gesturing to Zara, next. "Would you like to try some? I called it Sleeping Embers."

         Zara was still lost on the introduction. "Its forty years old?"  She couldn't imagine how this wine he had created was almost twice as old as she was! How old was he? Dare she ask?

         "Zara? Would you like to try some?"

         "Yes!" She offered her goblet, warming to the vintner from Mu in spite of his age, attractive in his own special way. It felt like they had bonded somehow on the ride back from the musical town by the sea, as if he was an old friend from home, somehow.

         While Zara was gone, the villagers had told Nel the Long Story, they had brought her up to speed, but the story wasn’t over. As the wine poured forth, desire to tell more of the story unleashed once more.

         "Who want's to tell the story of The Great Revolt?" Nulu held the Obsidian Goblet up on offer.

         As Nahash reached for the vessel of truth, Zara found herself once again pondering the old vintner as he clasped his hands around the mystical goblet, closing his eyes just like the others had done. Nahash was intense, like Neter, they all were in their own way. Yet they were all unique in their own way,too. Nahash didn't braid beads or crystals into his hair, instead he kept it combed out, it was silky, flaxen like Nolan’s hair was. He wore only a few simple pieces of jewellery; a silver serpent coiled around his arm and a crescent moon pendant that hung around his neck on a fine silver chain. She studied his face, noticing the telltale signs of age, the white hair and wrinkled skin assured her the forty year wine could be true, these were physical conditions the Gens never lived long enough to have... How old was he? His hands were webbed like Jasun's, stained from the berries and wine of his trade. Even though he looked ancient, much older than she was, he seemed so youthful in many ways. 

         Nahash opened his eyes to capture her gaze and smiled, knowing. "The Origians were a disaster" he began. "Sending the Origians out into the city was like sparking a thousand fires in a tinder dry forest, their flames of love, wisdom and truth were like embers in a field of decay, the Origian Word spread like wildfire. Vina's failures left Atalon spending his entire reign trying to control and harness the flame of love" he began, "little did he know how powerful a flame the new Origians had, kindled and nurtured in secrecy by the ancient Solarian King’s allegorical tales. As the slaves learned the truth and reunited their families in love, they too grew wise, they knew they had to reclaim Solaria and make Sapparu king once again. 

         And so the Great Revolt was born. Using Sapparu’s teachings and allegorical techniques, the Origians spread their plans of revolutionary change through story and song, igniting the Phoenix in even the most broken hearts of Atlan. Their plan was to infiltrate and overcome the Firmary to reclaim Solaria. But before they could stage an assault, they had to free the dissenters and save the children from harm. The Panthers made a plan to do just that. They would rescue the children and free the imprisoned dissenters because they had access to the Underworld. 

         The escape plan fell into place with divine grace. They found the Underworld guards who were defecting, they were able to locate the dissenters but no one knew where the children were. No one could find them and they were running out of time. 

         And as the plans were unravelling below, trouble was brewing in the Palace above. Atalon could hear the crowds outside singing, he could see the slaves amassing, the poor recovering, the youth returning to their families to teach them the new language, he didn't need anyone to point it out. And so, rumours that King Atalon was planning a war against the slaves began to spread just as rapidly as the new songs of freedom.

         Atalon was so furious with Hedena for the Origian disaster" Nahash continued, "he sentenced her to death by burning her at the stake. But having witnessed Hedena at work himself, Malodon spoke in her defence. He had suspected something was askew and had conducted his own investigation. He couldn't prove it, but suspected Sapparu was some sort of Sorcerer, that he had infected the Origian programming with evil spells, unbeknownst to Hedena.

         Atalon was furious with Malodon for keeping things from him, but he knew better than to execute him. He would execute Sapparu instead! But before executing the ancient Solarian king, he ordered Sapparu to teach him all he knew of this art of casting spells. Posters soon began popping up on power poles" Nahash continued. "Sapparu was to be executed in the Grand Courtyard, it was to be a national affair.

         The people of Atlan were devastated, a conflict was becoming inevitable, they desperately wanted to save Sapparu and rescue the children before it was too late but every search party that had ventured to find them returned without any answers, some never returned at all.

         The Execution Ceremony was the only chance to save Sapparu, somehow they had to seize the opportunity and distract the king. Thus, the Origians offered to throw a concert for the sentenced king, calling it a Farewell Celebration."

         "WHAT?" Zara and Nel chimed in unison.

         Nahash nodded, with solemn assurance. "Atalon liked the idea of this Farewell Celebration, not only was it was the perfect answer to his most pressing problem of how could he reprogram the slaves to celebrate the death of their beloved king, it assured him the Origians were all right, that they were perhaps salvageable after all.

         On the eve of the Winter Solstice, the concert was held in the Grand Courtyard and the king attended with his royal entourage. With the gods occupied in the courtyard concert, the rebels were able to penetrate the palace with ease, the residential suites were the only place they hadn't managed to search so far. With half of the staff secretly involved with the underground revolution, they quickly took control over the building and combed every room, every passage and every stairwell. They searched from the highest turrets into the deepest dungeons yet found no trace of the children, not even a lost shoe.

         And when they set about releasingthe dissenters enslaved to the labs, there was another problem. All of the cells were locked and the guards were denied keys, so even if the guards did want to defect, no one could set the prisoners free. There was only one very far-fetched solution. Vikkar, one of the rebels in the search team remembered the teachings of the ancient sword that had been banished into the palace well. He wondered if perhaps it was still there? And if so, could they retrieve it? The legends told of Phoenix powers the magical sword could harness. Could he summon them to raise it from the well?

         It didn't take long for the rebels to locate the ancient well, hidden in the bowels of the underworld. It was exactly as Sapparu had described it. Vikkar closed his eyes and knelt before the well. He held his hands over the deep dark hole and chanted some Solarian wisdoms which spoke to the Phoenix, taught to him by the ancient king. The powers of the Sword were alive, he could feel the energy radiating from the depths as he spoke... Light filled his mind, spinning, twisting... He concentrated harder, believing, envisioning, feeling the magical sword in his hands when suddenly, in a blinding flash of light the sword exploded from the depths of the well, blowing him backwards before falling to the floor with a loud metal clang. Cheers of joy erupted from the cells as he picked himself up off the ground, and as he reached for the elusive handle and held it up for all to see, the blade flickered with lights. We all knew at that moment, the legendary Sword of Lightning was real!"