Deep inside the heart of Mount Ekar, wafts
of evil emanating from the bombs that had been lodged in the mountain caverns,
drifted through the underworld passages into Aquilla's lair. This was a darker
evil descending upon her now, she could smell the poison in the air, she was
having premonitions too, premonitions that the entire mountain was going to
come down. The premonitions and evil odors weren’t the only things bothering
her, either. She was very sensitive to the energies of the aribu, she had been
very worried about them lately, for a moment it felt like they were doing
better all of a sudden and now it was as if they were gone. She hardly dared wonder, did the unthinkable actually happen?
She
circled the cave, stressed, angry that the Archonic Spirits were closing in
from the rock around her, she was powerless against this sort of magnitude,
there was nothing she could do, her lair had become toxic and uninhabitable.
It
was time to admit it was over. If the aribu were gone, then she would no longer
be needed to guard their way, she would be needed inland now, she already had a
cave in mind, in fact, she had been dreaming about living there one day, it was
an ocean view property close to Anur. Aquilla took one last look at her home,
snorted a shower of sparks across the ground one last time and crawled down the
passage towards Lemuria, clambering her way through the long dark tunnel with
rapid ease.
When
she arrived in Kergal she emerged from the cave with caution, prepared for the
worst, but all was calm. She sniffed the air, it was crisp and cool. She could
hear the Dogons and their musical celebration… Surely if there was trouble they
wouldn’t be singing like that? She heaved a sigh of relief and gazed up at the
moon, unable to shake her doubt. The moon was almost full, the energies were so
powerful in the sky tonight, it was easy to fear the worst.
She
scanned the valley below, illuminated by the moon she could see for miles. Off
in the distance, the golden glow of the Crystal Temple assured her the Solstice
party was in full swing. Unable to contain her joy, she opened up her fiery
jaws and let out a joyful howl.
"Did you hear that?" Neter stood up when he heard the howling, faint over the music playing inside the temple, nevertheless, unmistakable.
"Hear
what?" Jasun put his instrument down. Everyone listened…. But there was
silence.
"Nothing...
I'm sorry" Neter apologized and waved everyone on, feeling a little
foolish, at the same time he was sure
he heard Aquilla...
"Aquilla."
Mina had heard it too.
Feeling the rush of freedom, Aquilla slipped through the bushes along the trail that led down the back side of the mountain through the forest toward the Lunar village. She galloped through the underbrush, giddy with pleasure, filled with hope for a new era without the Atlan Empire. If they levelled the mountain, their pyramids would fail, the ground beneath was a honeycomb that was much, much deeper than the Underworld they thought they could rule. In her heart, she felt certain that along with the mountain, Atalon would fall too, he just didn't know it yet.
High
on emotion, she clambered up one of the local hills to an old gold mine with a
lookout over the An Valley. From there she had a good view of the Crystal
Temple, glowing in the village below, radiating with the energy of Love and
music that nursed her tortured soul. The scent of aribu was strong here, had they fled the walled city? Did Neter rescue them? The
conclusion filled her with hope, she could feel their celebration, confirming
her hunch! Unable to contain herself again, she opened up her jaws and let out
a joyful howl, sparks flying like a fireworks display around her.
"There! I heard it again! Did you hear that?" Neter stood up and headed for the door.
"It
is Aquilla!" Mina heard it too.
Neter rushed outside but the sounds had stopped again.
"What's
going on I wonder?" Mina and Nulu questioned as they followed him outside.
"I
don't know" he replied, searching for signs above. "I'm sure that was
Aquilla howling" Nulu joined the debate.
"She
knows…" Neter knew now why she had been crying, that she had left her lair
was good news.
"What
are we going to do?" Mina urged.
"It
didn't sound like a distress call" Neter replied.
Jasun
emerged from the temple next, like the others he was concerned and for the same
reasons. The friends stood in silence, listening for more signs of the ancient
goddess, but the hills had returned to silence.
"It
sounds to me like Aquilla left the mountain" Neter offered in condolence.
"This is good. We don't have to worry about her getting buried in any
rubble."
"Hopefully
she'll stay away" Mina replied, lifting the Vision Stone to her eye,
studying the comet shooting across the sky. "Maybe everything is going
according to a much grander plan.... I wouldn't be surprised if Atalon's using
the astrological alignment as a cover story for his Coming War" she
advised after giving the sequence of events a little more thought. "It’s
not a coincidence the comet points to Ebar."
"From
the sounds of things, Ebar is their new Heart of the Atlan Empire" Neter
remarked.
"I
heard Atalon's being replaced by Halios" Jasun added his latest Nefilim
rumor. "It's going to be the Halios Empire, that's why there wasn't any
military action when we showed up. We helped."
"What?"
"We
helped?" Mina couldn't believe
what she was hearing. Suddenly memories of Halios and the Book Heist returned.
"How?"
"You
saved him some Useful Breeders" he replied.
"WHAT?"
"WHAT?"
"Yeah,
right" Neter wasn't buying it. "How is Halios supposed to bring Atlan
back from such a huge disaster? Removing a mountain from a skyline isn't a
simple task."
"He's
not, he's relocating to Gora and plans to rebuild the lab for the New Nefilim
race. Hence the Culloom
Disaster."
"We
helped him?" Mina was horrified,
now she was beginning to see the big picture, now she knew it hadn't been a
coincidence that Zara had found her way to Lemuria.
"This
time we're a step ahead of them, and it sounds like Aquilla is too, obviously
she feels they are capable of doing such a thing. This time we know what
they're up to. We'll pack the temple for the worst, just to be safe."
"I
can't say I'm glad Halios is taking over because as far as we're concerned,
he's just as bad! Worse!" Jasun confessed, just as howling pierced the air
again.
"That's
not a distress howl" Neter felt reassured. "She's okay, maybe she
likes the idea of moving here and is just saying hello?"
Mina
noticed his fists clenching in spite of his reassuring words. The fire in his
eyes was bright, she put her hand on his arm but it hardly relaxed him.
The
group stood together contemplating the new rumors and realities with heavy
hearts, listening for more howling, their world so suddenly poisoned with dread
left them feeling rotten inside as the night returned to an eerie calm.
"We'd
better pack well" Neter warned. "Goats, food, fabric, wine, firewood,
you know the drill: pack it all, wall to wall."
Everything
he had seen before this moment now painted a grim picture. This was a genocidal war, the incidents at Culloom
and Fina were no coincidence, they had been part of the New Empirical plans.
"I
really hope the Panthers made it to Kergal okay."
The torches blazed bright on the Villa balcony, the gods had heard Aquilla too, her howling couldn't be missed even from across the water.
Atalon was pacing, furious, when he
stopped to listen again; still no sound.
"It's
stopped!" He finally announced the obvious. "You assured me he would never leave the mountain!" In an
outburst of rage he grabbed Halios by the collar and pushed him against the
wall.
The
assault was aggressive, but Halios kept cool, standing his ground against the
king's might.
"He
hasn't done so in over a hundred years" Halios protested in self defense.
"Those Serpents lured him out of the cave with their sorcery just like
they lured the aribu away. I told you not to let them off the ship!"
"SHUT UP!" Atalon bellowed, veins
bulging, fist raised, clenched. "Where’s Bakkon!"
The
argument was interrupted by Torus as he strode out onto the balcony, saluting
the king with great enthusiasm. "Your Honor!"
"Where's
my Storage Scrolls?" Atalon welcomed a new outlet to vent frustration.
"The
Storage Scrolls" Torus handed him a roll of scrolls. "The bunker is
ready for lockdown, all duplicate records are on the cargo ship to Ebar as
requested. We just need your final approval." He held out a pen.
Atalon
snatched the pen out of his hands and unfurled the extensive lists, verifying
the adequate storage of assets was critical, but there was a more pressing
issue at hand. "Where's Bakkon?"
"Bakkon?" Torus echoed. "Why,
he must be in the Temple, has anyone checked there?"
"FIND HIM!"
"But
we have to inspect the storage before the ship leaves" Torus gestured to
the harbor. "I have crews on the
clock."
"NOT NOW!" Atalon shrieked. "FIRST I NEED BAKKON!!"
"Yes,
Your Honor!"
That Aquilla had left the mountain was a huge blow. Halios was pouting over the balcony, the tension that had built up between his brothers was toxic, nothing was going right it seemed.
Halki
sauntered over to offer some brotherly support, noticing his melancholy mood.
"Soloha?" He offered the pipe, but Halios waved it off.
"Don't
worry, I'm not worried" Halki reached into his pocket, pulled out a small
package and handed it to the pouting General. Halios inspected the contents and
slipped it into his pocket.
"At
least something is going according to
plan!"
"Don't
forget the bombs" Halki smiled.
"Right."
Halios pondered the recent events, still concerned about the way things worked
out, still leery of said bomb experiment. Up until a short while ago, he was
still confident the plans would carry through, but now it seemed there was
something else going on, too many strange occurrences, was Bakkon's
disappearance part of this unfolding puzzle? He began theorizing instantly.
Were Bakkon and his Panthers using the Crystal Skulls to wage some sort of
psychic war on them? Had they joined forces with the Origians? Was Vikkar a
two-faced player secretly vying for world domination? Did Vikkar just steal his Breeders in broad daylight?
The
smoldering coals, still glowing in the Grand Courtyard were a sore reminder,
the Dog Show had been a complete disaster. Now he questioned what Halki, the
so-called god of Intelligence didn’t know.
"Do
you
know where Bakkon went?"
