| Subject: A Long Descent |
Author:
Wesimbi
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Date Posted: 12:37:08 07/05/05 Tue
In reply to:
Nashota
's message, "Re: Entrance" on 08:44:55 06/24/05 Fri
Wesimbi glanced over his shoulder at the gate, which from this side was only a hazy outline, and smiled to hear the shrieking frustration of the guardians. "I am glad that you did not hurt him, little sister. I don't fancy explaining to my father why his son bashes up the gate-guards on his first visit. Come - we shall seek audience with the Old One."
The little Jellicle flanked Wesimbi as he walked along, the talons of his feet clicking quietly on the smooth rock beneath them. There were no lights here but the tunnel was enormous with a domed ceiling and a smooth straight floor that descended gently into the rock. Despite the ease of the path, the darkness was unnerving to Nashota even though Wesimbi kept his wingfeathers touching her shoulder to guide her along. After a few minutes of walking in utter silence, the phoenix spoke.
"I will tell you now of the Dragon King, Nashota, so that you may have some idea of what to expect. I have never beheld him of my own self, but as I have told you, what my ancestors have seen and known, so do I see and know. It is in this way that I remember the King, the great one, the World Rock.
"Know this, child - he is a great being. He is the greatest of beings. If he was created within our timeline at all, then he must have seen the beginning, the first stars leading to the first sunrise, must have felt the first breeze. He did not cause the world to be, yet all that lives within it was created by him, and they all belong to him. You do yourself, Nashota, though you have never known him. You can be certain that he knows you. Though he has taken much less interest, of late, in the dealings of mortals. They have forgotten him.
"The Dragon King is the largest being in this world, even in his physical form, for the older a dragon is the larger he grows. The great hunter you saw above the Valleys would appear a child standing beside him. He is the source of all life on this earth, and he has the power to destroy it all with a thought. He allows life to continue out of complacency, I think, but if he should be roused...he might wipe the earth clean, or he might make himself known and demand worship, or he might simply leave - which might be the greatest tragedy of all. We shall hope against it.
"We must be bold. Bold, Nashota, but never irreverent. He is a king, after all, and he is jealous, and he is wise but he is also arrogant. Or so my memories tell. When we meet him we must kneel - even I, his son - and I must ask you not to rise unless he specifically asks this of you. Stay close to me at all times, and do your best to control that fiery spirit and speak only if he questions you." He smiled at her briefly.
"Ah - here we are. Be brave." Wesimbi came to a halt, drawing Nashota a little closer with his wing, and they both watched as the lights grew clearer - two silvery lights far down in the blackness ahead of them, flickering at first but quickly growing steady. And then it was apparent that the lights had definite edges...and as they watched, they blinked, and Nashota realized that the lights were a pair of eyes.
WHO COMES THIS WAY ON MORTAL FEET?
The voice was huge, a rolling wave of power, but the tone was neutral. ::Salimunde,:: Wesimbi replied, ::unarwe, great brother! I am Wesimbi phoenix-fire-prince of the long mountains, come to seek audience with our father.::
"He is guarding the city proper," the phoenix whispered to Nashota.
There was a pause. THERE ARE ORDERS, the guard replied. WE ARE GIVEN YOUR NAME AND TOLD NO ADMITTANCE.
Wesimbi grew tense. ::The gate-guardians said the same, but they could not stop me. I bring a matter of some importance that requires consultation of the Old One, and I will not be turned away.:: His voice was strong, and in the darkness his clear blue eyes flickered with a deep light of their own.
Another pause. ANOTHER WALKS WITH YOU.
::This is Nashota of the Jellicles, my companion, a great warrior of her people. Where I walk, so does she.::
YOU ARE BRAVE, FIRE-BROTHER. BUT HERE YOU WILL FIND WHAT YOU DO NOT EXPECT. There was a huge sound in the tunnel - not loud, but massive in the extent of it - as the guardian shifted himself to be out of the way of the travelers. The silver lamplike eyes turned to look across the tunnel, and only a sliver was seen from the visitors' point of view.
"Stay close," Wesimbi murmured, and took Nashota's hand, and together they walked forward. It seemed to take a very long time for the eyes to get any closer, but little by little they advanced toward the silver pools cast by those great blank eyes. The eyes were on their left and scarcely twenty yards away, burning silver windows twice as tall as Nashota, watching them with an eternal soundless patience. And it seemed that there was also curiosity there, long-unused but now stirring.
And gradually they left the second barrier behind and came to the Heartstair. Here there were torches, burning with a cold blue light, and Wesimbi smiled as he looked upon the staircase, with shallow steps at least twenty feet long disappearing into hazy distance below. All along the walls the rock had been carved into intricate designs and pictures, most of which made no sense to the mortal viewers. Down and down and down, hands tightly clasped (for by now Wesimbi was nearly as nervous as his companion), and the light grew ever brighter and clearer as they went, and finally the stairs ended. In front of them, on either side of the tunnel - and at the tunnel's end, for beyond they could see the opening into a cavern - stood two huge statues, perfectly symmetrical, dragons in physical form standing tall and proud with long sinuous necks stretched out so that their elegant noses were almost touching, forming the arches of a heart. They were colored, but not with paint or dye - the colors were naturally made by the rock from which they were carved. On the left, the dragon was blue, and its mirror on the right was red.
"Those were made in times forgotten by the hands of Men," Wesimbi told Nashota. "When Men still knew and regarded the Dragons, of course. A time so far back that even many of the dragons themselves do not recall the names or faces of the builders."
They stepped through that mighty entryway and found themselves on a spit of rock, an exact replica of the Arrow of the Heart in the mountains above them, and all around was a great space. Wesimbi gazed down upon the city of the dragons and his heart was filled. Below them to distances unfathomable, out to either side farther than they could see, stretching before them into shadowy distance, was a cavern - they were at the very top of one wall. The long spit of rock was obviously intended as a place to take off and to land upon. The walls around them were smooth, curving slightly into the distance, carved with long winding veins of blue and green and red rocks and minerals. They walked to the edge and looked down - and saw there a core of white light obscuring whatever lay within.
The spit of rock itself was covered in a layer of dust several inches thick - but everywhere there were long scores and deep trails through the dust that spoke of recent departures and entries.
"Come, little sister," Wesimbi said, and knelt so that the Jellicle could climb upon his back. "We have passed through the Gate and seen the Heartpair - the two carvings there behind us - and now the third trial is ahead. The descent.”
With Nashota clinging to his shoulders the phoenix stood upon the very edge of the lip of rock, his toes curled over the corner, and spread his wings, and leapt into the dark nothingness of the cavern. A distant observer would have seen something like a little tongue of flame licking into the air and falling, an inconsequential speck in that vast space.
Down and down and down in wide circles Wesimbi carried Nashota, and if not for the white light below them that grew steadily larger it would have seemed that they were not moving at all, suspended beyond time in a great cylindrical cave. But then the light was around them and that uncomfortable feeling was dispelled, and Wesimbi’s talons touched down on a round platform of smooth, shining black rock.
“The Heart of the World,” Wesimbi whispered reverently, lowering Nashota to the ground and putting his hands on her shoulders. They were in the center of a great city carved from the rock itself, peppered with statues and sculptures and designs beyond their comprehension, strangely shaped buildings large enough to fit a city of Men inside, strange and beautiful plants shading streets as wide as lakes, pools of dark water stirring and moving restlessly by some unseen power. The very stone of the city was what provided the light, glowing softly from within itself, a glow that cast no shadow. And the entire city, the miles and miles and miles for which it stretched there under the earth, was silent.
“They know we are here. They are watching, and waiting. Nashota, you may very well be the very first mortal to set foot upon these ancient streets.”
The street they were to take was obvious – leading away from the black landing-circle in a perfectly straight line, lined with statues of strange terrible creatures all in black stone, and looking that way the travelers could see a vast white structure rearing up from the stone. The palace of the Dragon King. Wesimbi held Nashota’s hand tightly and they began to walk.
They had gone only a short way before Nashota asked what material the street was made of. Wesimbi looked down and smiled suddenly. The ground beneath them was white, but not like the stone – it was perfectly clear, and looking down was like looking into an eternity of frozen white clarity. Far below, there was a sudden line like a lightning-strike, and the tone of the material seemed to change. Wesimbi pointed it out to Nashota. “That,” he said, “is a facet. Do you see? This entire street – possibly the bedrock upon which this entire city sits – is one face of a perfectly pure diamond. Probably created and placed there by the Old One himself. It is beautiful.”
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