The Realms of Ethair (13 page)

“No.” Arturion’s mouth twitched at the
corner.

“How do we exchange energies?”

Kala looked at him expectantly.

“
We will do it after the morning’s
exercises. I will guide you through the steps,” he said,
confidently.

When Kala felt that the important details
have already been discussed, she bade Arturion to leave. She
further justified that their patient needed to rest.

He frowned in puzzlement at her strange
behavior but acquiesced.

Believing him to be out of earshot, she
riffled through the contents of her basket. Her eyes glistened
triumphantly as she slipped a wooden ring in Karina’s
forefinger.

“If anyone asks how you came by this, I gave
you the gift as a token of friendship.”

“
Thank you.” Karina admired the exquisite
curving of leaves and vines on the ring’s band.

“
The ring has a special purpose,” Kala
added conspiratorially. “There is a spell engraved inside the band.
“You can read Merleinan script now, yes?”

Karina
nodded.

The girl finger-wrote the function of the
spell on the blanket. Karina’s eyes widened.

“But – I don’t –” she sputtered.

“
It wouldn’t hurt to wear it. Everyone
receives an accessory with the same inscription when they come of
age,” Kala stated practically.

After Atlantis and other cities sank into the
depths of the oceans, humanity regressed to a primordial era.
Humans turned to planetary beings and
called them gods. Those who shifted to higher
dimensions as Merleina had done quietly observed the rise and fall
of civilizations, particularly the development of
humanity.

Travel between the third and fourth
dimensions had not been uncommon in Merleina. Unofficially, they
became the eyes and ears of the Council. The unspoken rule was
strictly to observe and not participate in human affairs.

Young explorer Dorme, however, left Merleina
for good. It baffled his family and friends that he would choose to
live in primitive conditions.

Eight years had gone by when a civilian, who
had incidentally passed by Sinta Lake, discovered a man and a child
at the center of it. They were obviously outsiders by their garb.
Humans. Protocol demanded that such an occurrence must be reported
to the authorities. Still, the Merleinan who had found them was
surprised at the similarity of their auras to his people. He
brought them to the nearest temple. Both were covered in soot and
smelled of burnt hair and clothing and greatly in need of a wash.
By their thin faces, they sorely needed food and rest as well.

The temple priestess identified the man
carrying the girl. Dorme had returned bearing news from other
dimensions. He had been busy gathering data. Planetary beings were
less inconspicuous and have humans with authority working for them.
Souls from other galaxies were being seeded in Earth. Born as
humans, their purpose is to uplift humanity from ignorance enforced
by those in power. Members of the Galactic Federation were close at
hand, ever watchful of the human race.

Mankind was not far behind from awakening to
the Truth. Dorme had married a healer with psychic gifts. She was
advanced for her time, accepting him for what he truly is and
sharing his more modern views about her world. Yet, it did not save
her from the Plague that spread in her country.

Dorme had been gone from home for a few
days. The house that greeted him in his arrival was boarded up. The
neighbors would not come near it for fear of contracting the
disease. He broke down the door and discovered his daughter still
alive. His wife lay on the bed, her corpse smelling of rot and
decay. The person who had anchored him to the third dimension had
passed on, which decided his next course of action. Dorme torched
the house seeming to outsiders to have included himself and his
daughter in the fire. He then subsequently returned to Merleina
with his child, vowing to help humans like his wife ascend to the
higher dimension.

The priestess sympathized with his loss
and offered them shelter. It was weeks later that Dorme would
approach the Elders with his proposal to form the Gate Keepers
Order. The presence of his daughter in Merleina became his
strongest defense to sway the Council to his cause.

Five hundred years after the Order’s
establishment, its headquarters lay at the northern borders. A huge
complex built on sun-bleached gray stones. Offices were situated at
the east, conferences were held at the west end of the main
building. The northern part of the complex was reserved for Gate
Keepers residing within the base. Arturion made a mental note to
drop by his quarters after his meeting with Sola and Reno.

The crystal he carried on a twine round his
neck flashed as he passed through doorways. The frequency emitted
by his identification stone would be transmitted to a larger
centralized crystal that would register the identity of the bearer
and check if it matched with a profile in its records. It was an
efficient way of identifying available personnel who has the
necessary expertise that can be called upon to aid a colleague
during a field assignment. The simplest task it performed: tempered
glass doors of the HQ automatically slid open for the bearer of the
stone.

The last door held a clay tablet with
Sola’s name engraved on it. Arturion entered the office expecting
his commanding officer to be seated at his desk working on various
reports and documents. But it was empty except for the shadow of a
man with a larger build standing by the long table near the window.
Reno wore the severe navy blue uniform of the Guards and kept his
hair braided down the back of his head. The four-leaf clover
embroidered in gold silk on his right breast proclaimed him as
Commander of the Black Guard Order. The uniform meant he was on
official business with the Gate Keepers’ Commander.

They acknowledged each other with a nod.
Reno had arrived just as Sola had been called away. The Council of
Elders had arranged for an emergency meeting, requiring Sola’s and
High Priestess Sara’s attendance.

“
You look worried,” Reno
observed.

“Shouldn’t you be worried, too?” Arturion
reached for the decanter and poured water to two glasses.

“I’m not. This is the first real interference
we’ve had from those Ancients.”

“You shouldn’t call the Elders that.”

“Suits them fine to me. Half of them still
uphold obsolete ideals.”

“The Traditionalists, you mean. Your opinion
is biased because they’re always the last to approve on your
organization’s projects. They are the foundation of our society.
Without them, our heritage would long be lost to us. They consider
the implications of more novel ideas to society before they give
their support. The events leading to Atlantis’ fall remain fresh in
their memories. They cannot bear a repetition of the past.”

“Point taken.” Reno studied the light
bouncing off his glass. “Would you still be taking their side when
your full-blooded human friend becomes the object of their
scrutiny?”

“
Touché.” Arturion winced, his hand coming
up to his chest.

They both grinned. The Commander noticed that
his friend’s smile did not reach his eyes.

“You’re regretting your career choice, aren’t
you?”

“
Reno,” Arturion said, exasperated. “I will
still refuse your invitation even if I decide to leave my
Order.”

“Well, the invitation still stands.”

The Commander has always looked out for
his childhood friend. When they were young, they were mischievous
as the Forest Folk despite that fact that Arturion was smaller in
stature and more serious. In addition, unlike most half-humans in
Merleina, he didn’t know the identity of his biological father.
Reno suspected that this was partially the reason why Arturion
pushed himself to catch up with the older children.

When they grew older, the latter faced the
pressures of a foster child to Sola. The Commander of the Keepers
had been newly installed in office after Dorme’s sudden
disappearance. Elders had been skeptical of Sola’s competence. The
founder’s grandson did not have the same devotion Dorme gave to the
Order. Arturion supported his foster father as any son of his age
could; he became an exemplary student in the academy. Despite being
the golden boy in the eyes of many, he exuded restless energy
whenever he traveled to the third dimension. It prompted Reno to
take his friend with him whenever he collected data in the human
world. This research would eventually result to the formation of
the Black Guard Order.

In a sense, Arturion co-founded the Guard.
His sense of honor, loyalty and duty were the only things tying him
to the stoic and strait-laced Gate Keepers. Reno believed the
Keepers’ Code was not designed for half-humans. His kind has a
tendency to be influenced by their human emotions than others and
more passionate in their interests and convictions. It was
impossible to deny one’s nature as Arturion has done. Reno feared
that his friend would not be able to control the torrent of his
emotions once it was loose.

There have been cracks in Arturion’s mask.
Feelings he kept bottled up were leaking all over the place since
the incident in Karina’s house. Reno had sensed another emotion
lurking behind the calm façade with the mere mention of the young
woman.

“Speaking of the mortal woman–”

“
Kristina,” Arturion said.

“
Yes. Karina.” Reno corrected, eyeing his
friend. Arturion’s persistence on using her real name was odd. “The
Devatas’ acknowledgment has quickly spread in our neighborhood. The
Merleinans who are learned of the Devarian Tongue would surely have
heard of it and reported it to the Council of Elders.”

“That’s why Sola and Sara have been called,
isn’t it? They can only confirm its truth. Kris – Karina’s health
is still unstable. She is ignorant of the title.”

A vertical line formed between Reno’s brows
in confusion.

“She thinks the Forest Folk gave her a
Devarian name.”

“Then, she hasn’t accepted the position yet.
That’s a bit of a tangle. Would she willingly bear the burdens of
Liyanna?”

“
I don’t know. Parts of the forest she
visited have been said to thrive in her presence. She is more
popular than Kelor-dan.”

“Where did you get this information?”

“A tree-spirit told me.”

A friend. Reno did not have friends with
Devatas. The relationship he has with them was limited to work. The
Forest Folk, especially the Sentries, have a low regard for humans
in general, including half-humans whom they call Halflings. It was
safe to assume that Arturion’s friendship extended to the gentler
folk of the Devatas.

Come to think of it, if
Arturion loosened up a bit, he could be devastatingly
attractive.
With a small enchantment – just to change some of his
features – he could pass off as a Devarian noble
, Reno thought.

“What are you thinking?” Arturion saw an idea
form in the Commander’s eyes.

“I could really use you in the field. You
have nearly all the qualities of my ideal Guard.” Reno fiddled with
the tiger’s eye bracelet around his wrist. “Looks like your
superior officer won’t be joining us.”

The Commander untwisted the bracelet from
his arm. He removed a disk, a centimeter in diameter, and tossed it
in the air. It hovered three inches from the table, spinning
non-stop, sucking the light in the office. It glowed twice; then,
lit up the room. A simulation of the Guards assigned to the Torres
case (Karina’s file) surrounded both men. Reno uttered a command in
the Old Tongue. The disk slowed and the Guards vanished, encrypted
messages taking its place.

“Her social circle is diverse for her age.
Karina’s mother is the root cause of that. Mrs. Torres offered
sessions to the working class up to the elite when New Age became a
trend. Then, she transferred the sisters from a specialized school
to a parochial one after the divorce. Afterwards, Karina enrolled
to a public college.

“
There isn’t much to go on. The people she
has had contact with in the past twenty years has no connection to
the Zertans’ direct assault.”

“What of Peter?” Arturion was not certain of
the man’s innocence. There had been instances that he felt
deep-seated anger and bitterness in Peter’s aura, seeping from the
chakra in the solar plexus. It was a common experience in the third
dimensional plane. What set him apart was a slightly different
density mixed into the chakra.

Arturion initially thought that Karina’s
former boyfriend was a victim of a psychic attack. He didn’t like
the gross feeling of an unclean chakra nor the putrid smell coming
from the wound of psychic attack. The second meeting he had with
Peter, he had braced himself. Arturion put up an invisible barrier
to nullify a possible assault from the entity feeding off the
negative energy and confirm his doubts to no avail. The moment he
tried to probe on Peter’s aura, he had come up against a thick
invisible wall.

The Keeper hoped that his extended senses
had been playing tricks on him at that time and Peter had nothing
to do with Karina’s case.

“We picked up a radioactive frequency from
his house, the same one from our Zertan drone. We’ll wait for Peter
to tip his hand. If it goes as planned, we’ll take him in for
questioning.” The Commander grinned fiercely.