Chapter 7.

  Their search was in vein. They hadn’t found any traces
of an opening or something similar to that of a gateway.
Sly looked helplessly out over the waters. ‘Found
anything?’
  ‘Nothing.’ Enigma replied remorsefully. ‘We just have
to get that book back. I was sworn to protect it with my
life.
  ‘Don’t worry. It’s sure to be around her somewhere.’
Sly edged her way a little closer to the water. Without
warning, the soaked banks of the river collapsed under
her. ‘Help me!’ she yelled. Her arms fluttered through
the air, arching her back viciously. Enigma was just able
to grab one of those waving arms, but was just a little
to late. The pair fell into currents with a splash. 
  Enigma’s life flashed before his eye’s. It wasn’t much
of a life, so it didn’t last for to long. He expected to
feel the sense of falling longer than he did. Instead, it
only lasted a few seconds. They landed heavily on a cold
floor with nothing but air to break the fall. Sly landed
on top of him. 
  They had stumbled upon a dark, wet cave, about thirty
feet in height. The illusionary gate, they found, was in
the river itself. He saw an opening in the roof of the
cave, with a rush of energy - not water - passing by. 
  The tumbling waters were not as loud as expected, with 
the different colours moving from side to side like 
peaceful, unbroken waves upon its hypnotic surface. The 
cave further inward, curved towards the left where a 
yellow light source of some kind melted away the darkness 
like gold to a man’s heart. 
  ‘You all right?’ Sly said, offering Enigma a hand to
his feet. 
  ‘Nothing that a good massage can’t fix.’ Enigma
grinned. ‘Nice going.  You found the gate way.’
  Cautiously, they walked towards the bright yellow light
with Sly watching their backs. They came to the sharpest
part of the corner. ‘It’s her.’ Enigma said, taking a
quick glance.
  ‘You sure?’
  ‘Pretty sure. She seems to be firing something at the
book but it doesn’t seem to be doing anything.’
  ‘Magic. How are we going to go battle this?’
  ‘We could rush at her, or we could try to sneak up on
her. She has her back turned and if we rush at her, she’s
bound to here us and take steps. But if we take it
quietly, we can knock her out.’
  ‘I’m game if you are.’ Without making a sound, they
crept around the corner. A thousand candles burned
brightly in groups of twenty four. At the far end of the
cave were neatly stacked rows of displayed bits and
pieces - weapons mostly. It was like an armoury. 
Prehistoric weapons were placed on the first couple of 
rows, modern day weapons on the next few rows, and an
unknown lot of weapons on the last few rows.
  The woman fired another bolt of energy from her arms, 
but to halt suddenly before an invisible field that 
surrounded the book.
  ‘How did you get in here!’ she demanded. Stripped of
her cape days ago, she still hadn’t bother to dress, and
she showed no shame in what she flaunted. Quickly, she
turned to face them, much to their absolute horror. A
blotch of muddled up skin replaced the normal human
features of the face. It appeared to have the right shape
for those particular features - a nose, and ears and
other facial details, but they seemed to be missing. 
  ‘It has started,’ she said, ‘and I shall put everything
in your path to stop you.’ Leaving the book behind, she
ran over to a perfectly shaped altar to one side of the
cave, retrieving a spare navy cape she had lying around.
As she reached it, she flickered, and with a curse, she
disappeared.
  In her place however, was a severely muscled man, and a
gauntleted woman. The man wore a light smock underneath a
black leather vest that was open in the front to reveal
more mountains of muscle, and loose fitting trousers that
reach just past his knees to stop before a pair of
leather boots. He was nearly clean shaven with a few
whiskers to give him a rugged look, and his glossy hazel
coloured hair had been cut short. A leather strap ran
across his shoulder, buckled up at his belt with dagger
hilts protruding from little pouches. 
  His female accomplice was just a bit smaller in height 
than he. She wore a laced up leather vest, and matching 
silk pants. Sharp implements - one to a hand, extend from 
a pair of silver gauntlets that would prove handy if ever 
in a fight.
  Enigma braced himself for a tough fight. At the same
time, the husky man prepared himself, flexing his arms
and legs. Almost simultaneously, the women threw
themselves in front of their respective man, trying
helplessly to resort to talk rather than battle.
  ‘These are the travellers that your book foretold.’ Sly
explained. 
  ‘How can you be so sure?’ He eyed his opponent
carefully.
  ‘The book said, “Travelling towards the west, they
shall meet a dyad from the first dimension of time,
behind the tumbling water, the gate through an illusion”.
I’ve figured it out. The tumbling water and the gate
we’ve already seen. The word “dyad” is almost the same as
a couple. It means a pair of units treated as one. That
lady was one, and now, there’s two. I insist, these are
them.’
  Enigma thought it over. ‘Please,’ he said, ‘we mean no
harm.’ He held up both hands and slowly, with Sly beside
him, walked towards the pair. Enigma’s muscly opponent
reluctantly relaxed, also raising his hands. 
  ‘Are you not one of the Emperor’s soldiers?’ he asked
in a deep voice.
  ‘No.’ Enigma replied easing his hands back to his
sides. ‘We seek a woman who stole my property.’
  ‘I assure you, we haven’t seen the likes of you and we
haven’t any grudge against you.’
  ‘That’s okay then.’ Enigma retrieved his text, putting 
it inside his shirt. ‘I’m Enigma,’ he introduced, ‘this 
is Sly, my partner.’
  ‘Strange names. My name’s Power, and this is Ice.’ he
layed a hand on her shoulders. ‘How did you do that? We
were standing here at that altar looking at this cloak,’
he held up the navy cloak in his hands, ‘and the next
thing we knew, you two appeared.’
  ‘That’s not what happened to us. We were about to have
a stand off with this faceless woman when she reached for
that garment in your hands, she disappear. Then you
appeared.’
  ‘I must admit, things have changed a bit.’ Ice said.
‘For one, half of those weapons weren’t there.’ she
pointed over to the rack.’
  ‘My partner and I both knew of your arrival in
advanced. Let me be the first to welcome you to our
world.’
  ‘What do you mean?’ Power smirked. ‘It’s exactly what
it looked like a couple of minutes ago.’
  Enigma felt a shudder on the inside of his shirt. He
pulled out his red book and began to flick through it
until he came to a newly risen message. “Take with you,
Conscripted Boy, the cerise baguette that is attached to
a restraint. It may be used against the kiln of the
dammed. Also, take with you, your journey, the golden
bladed tomahawk. The preceptor shall give instructions on
it’s application”. 
  Enigma walked over to the rows of weapons and searched 
around for the tomahawk. He found it on the bottom row. 
It was bigger than an averaged sized tomahawk, but a lot 
smaller than a double bladed axe. It’s golden head 
reflected his face. ‘Does anyone know what cerise means?’ 
he asked the group without turning.
  ‘It means red, I think.’ Ice answered. Enigma then
directed his search to a red implement with a restraint.
The only thing red was a shiny gem attached to a long
chain. 
  ‘I’ve got something similar to that.’ Power said,
pulling out the blue stone that helped drive away the
twisters in the Gauntlet. It’s red mate was attached to
the chain in the same fashion. Enigma put it away inside
his shirt and drove the tomahawk handle into his belt
beside his dagger. He flicked a little further through
the book.
  Towards the end, he came across some big, bold writing.
The message had been written diagonally across the page.
“Past. Seek the White Dragon of the Sword.” 
  ‘Who’s the White Dragon of the Sword?’ Power asked,
looking over his shoulder.
  Enigma slammed the book shut. ‘I don’t know. But I bet
we’ll all find out sooner or later.’ 
 *  *  * 
  They began searching for an exit, each trying 
desperately to avoid thinking about the water fall as 
their only means of a way out. Soon, Ice spotted foot 
holds that had been carved out of the stone in the caves 
side. It seemed to go up but stopped when it reached the 
roof.
  ‘Just another illusion.’ Enigma dismissed. He climbed
it and disappeared up and out through the rock. ‘It’s
okay.’ he said sticking his head through the illusion
again. 
  ‘I’m not going out there.’ Power said stubbornly.
‘There’s soldiers out there.’
  ‘What are you talking about? There’s nothing out there
but trees.’ Sly began to make her climb.
  ‘Just trust them.’ Ice said, ‘I have a good feeling
about these two.’ And she two began to follow up behind
Sly. They all reached the sunny surface. Power carefully
poked his head through the illusion before he came fully
out. It seemed to be clear. 
  Hcrib and Aroht stared at them with wild eyes as their
bodies slid out of the ground. Their muscles tensed,
seemingly wanting to get as far away from them as
possible. 
  ‘What happened to those battalions? They were hot on
our heels when we feel into the cave.’ Power scratched
his head.
  ‘Believe me, there weren’t.’ Enigma corrected
  ‘Are you calling me a liar?’ Power puffed himself up.
  ‘Oh give it up.’ Ice said. 
  ‘We only have two horses, so we’ll have to share. You
two can ride Aroht and we’ll ride Hcrib.’
  ‘Now what makes you think we’re going to ride with
you?’ Power asked.
  ‘You’re new to this world, and you’d be lost without 
us.’
  ‘What do you mean “new”?’
  ‘I don’t know myself,’ Enigma admitted, ‘but trust me
on this one.’
  ‘Why should I trust you?’ Power was persistent.
  ‘Come on Power.’ Ice was tired of the games. ‘What harm
can they do? They’re only children.’
  ‘They could lead us right to the Emperor’s men. That’s
what they could do.’
  ‘Fine.’ Enigma gave in. ‘I can’t help fate. I got what
I came here for.’ He mounted his horse. 
  ‘Wait.’ Ice delayed them. ‘We’ll ride with you.’
  Power was furious with the decision.
  ‘My dreams foretold these two.’ she tried to explain.
‘Just trust them.’
  They mounted the giant horses, two to a back. Ice and
Sly clung to Power’s and Enigma’s back respectively,
whilst, the men controlled the transport. They began to
follow the river west.
  ‘So, where are you from?’ Enigma said early on.
  ‘Power here’s from Oiy.’ Ice said, speaking for her
disgruntled friend. ‘And me, I’m from all over the
place.’
  ‘I’m afraid I haven’t heard of Oiy before.’ Enigma
replied.
  ‘Nonsense.’ Power fought. ‘Everybody’s heard of Oiy. I
made Oiy famous. It’s a mining town up in Vinmac.’
  ‘Nonetheless, I haven’t heard of it. What are these 
soldiers you continue to speak of?
  ‘It’s a long story.’
  ‘We’re on a long trip.’
  Trusting Ice’s instincts, Power put most of his caution
away, and began repeating their journey from the palace
in Leif, to the dumping of the Emperor, and then to their
present state.
  ‘But slavery was banned in Leif three generations ago.’
Enigma protested. 
  Power shook his head. ‘It was kicking fine last I
remember. And that was hardly months ago.’
  ‘Something’s not right here.’ Sly said from behind
Enigma. ‘I just can’t put my finger on it.’
  ‘I agree.’ Ice conformed. ‘Everything that Power has
said has been over written by Enigma. It’s like there’s a
big time gap somewhere.’ They pondered that thought for
the rest of the day.
*  *  *
  Later that day, a group of men came galloping at them
from the east. ‘I knew this boy was trouble!’ Power
yelled as he watched them men gallop speedily towards
them. ‘If we ever live through this, I’ll have your head
impaled!’
  ‘Just wait a minute.’ Enigma urged. ‘They’re waving a
white flag of truce. Lets here them out.’
  ‘But -’
  ‘Just do it.’ Ice said. 
  Power cursed under his breathe. 
  ‘I heard that.’
  A group of about ten soldiers in leather garb with an
extremely long lance each, was led by a more commanding
looking fellow with a strong posture. ‘Thank - God.’ he
said. ‘We’ve finally found you. We’ve been looking for
five months for you’
  ‘Don’t try anything funny.’ Enigma told him.
  ‘Don’t worry. We’re not here to hurt you. You’ve been
summoned by Rehsab, ruler of Histaus, to meet with him in
the Crystal City of Histaus about business he wishes to 
discuss with you. It’s rather urgent.’
  ‘How do we know that your telling the truth.’
  ‘Come with me to Histaus and I’ll show you.’ he was
really sure of himself and sounded like he was telling
the truth.
  ‘What if we don’t want to?’
  ‘Then we’ll have to arrest you. I do believe that you
are the one that burned down the Sanctuary, the slave
capital of the world.’
  ‘The what?’ Power question Sly.
  ‘It’s a slave market in Ediug. I’ll explain later.’
  ‘What about it?’ Enigma carried on his conversation
with the officer. 
  ‘You do have a price on your head you know. I have ten
men with me that can hunt you down if you try to make a
run for it so don’t even think about it. Either you come
with us peacefully, or we arrest you and drag you by the
feet. Either way, your coming to Histaus with us. Now
chose.’
  They ended up going with him peacefully, but Enigma had 
to be calmed down a fair bit before he went quietly.  He 
was annoyed with the offices arrogance and refused to 
talk with him. 
  ‘Don’t be foolish.’ the officer chided. ‘This silent
treatment isn’t going to accomplish anything. Why don’t
we start with introductions. I’m Hsom, commanding office
of his majesties royal guard.’
  ‘This is Enigma,’ Sly introduced, ‘I’m Sly, and these
are Power and Ice.’ 
  ‘Pleasure.’ Hsom simply said. 
  ‘Do you know at all what the king wants with us?’
  ‘I’m not entitled to know.’
  ‘But that doesn’t stop you from getting that
information, does it?’
  ‘No, it doesn’t. But honestly, he hasn’t told he
anything about it.’ 
  They travelled a little way south once they had reached
the edge of the cliff, and headed down a narrow path that
zig - zagged back and forth down its perilous face. The
Greater Inland Sea was sunk lower into the ground, with a
boat house situated were it and the Revai River met.
Business was quiet. A boat a little way out from shore,
held a lone fisherman. He seemed to be the only person in
that area.
  ‘You out there!’ Hsom yelled. ‘We wish to hire a boat!’ 
  The fisherman floundered around with his oars. He 
discarded his rod in the water, and hurriedly rowed back 
to shore. He seemed to be in shock and he was determined 
not to loose his customer. The water splashed with his 
unco - ordinated strokes possibly throwing away any hopes 
of dinner. 
  ‘You say you want to buy a boat?’ the man said with a
slight accent. 
  ‘Yes. How much would you ask for to sail fourteen 
people plus horses to the east coast?’
  ‘About ten solid gold coins sir.’
  ‘Let’s go people.’ Hsom said to his troop, ‘I saw
another boat house on the way here.’ He turned his horse
around, challenging the price.
  ‘Twenty gold plated coins.’ the fisherman tried to
bargain.
  ‘Fifteen.’
  ‘Eighteen.’
  ‘Fifteen.’
  ‘Seventeen.’
  ‘Fifteen.’ Hsom wouldn’t let up. And if the owner
didn’t agree, they’d be left stranded on the eastern
shore, as there were no other boat houses in the vicinity
- despite Hsom’s threat.
  ‘Sixteen.’
  ‘Fifteen. That’s my final offer.’
  ‘But sir.’ the desperate man pleaded.
  ‘Take it or leave it.’
  The man cursed loudly. ‘When do you want to leave?’
  ‘When does your next ship come in?’
  ‘Four hours before dusk.’
  ‘Then we’ll go then.’
  They sailed out that night on a fairly new ship. The
wind was on their side as it blew from east to west
against the ships white, canvas sails. They were given
the cabins below deck, and their horses were looked after
in the hold. Tiny circular panels were their only means
of fresh air. Hsom ordered his men to help out up on deck
and to follow the captains orders. With a few annoyed
looks, they obeyed.
  Their trip was a quiet, leisurely one without any
dangerous hassles from bad weather. They past the island
of Stony after about a week and a half, the ship
manoeuvred through hazards little islands to the docks of
Histaus. 
 An intimidating storm had stationed itself just above
the crystal city. 
  ‘Not again.’ Power moaned.
  ‘What is it?’ Enigma asked.
  ‘The storm. This is the third time it’s done that. It
happened in Orem, and it happened just inside the
Leifarian border.’
  ‘But it’s just a storm.’ Enigma smirked.
  ‘We’ll see.’
  As they approached the city, the unfavourable weather
got worse. The fields were white with hail stones, the
highway like quicksand. 
  ‘Behold the Diamond city!’ Hsom declared aloud.
  ‘Is that real crystal?’ Enigma asked whipping the water
from his face.
  ‘No.’ he laughed, ‘It’s actually quartz. We’re not that 
stupid to make a whole city out of diamond. Anything that 
precious that we can get our hands on goes to the royal 
treasury - most of it anyway.’
  Even the gates to the city were made of quartz. Making
things look pretty, the buildings were made of quartz of
different colours; red quartz to look like ruby, and even
white quartz was manoeuvred to look like opal. The
streets, however, were made out of mud bricks that had
been mixed with clay and hardened in the sun. The city
didn’t shine very much that day but Hsom assured them
that if it were a clear day, they wouldn’t even be able
to see where they were going.
  ‘What’s the point of that?’ Power asked, pondering the
great structures of stone.
  ‘I’m exaggerating.’ Hsom replied. ‘I just wanted you to
get a picture of it in your heads. Tell your friends.’
  The palace was in the center of town in the midst of
the business district. It was gated and court - yarded.
They were allowed admittance without protest. The white
quartz steps lead up to two oversized arched door ways
that were about twenty times the size of Power.     
  ‘I’m going to need to present you to his majesty, so
don’t enter the throne room until the guards open it up
for you.’
  Another pair of giant doors could only be moved by ten
of the most strongest men in the county. A blaze of music
announced the return of commanding officer of the royal
guard. After a moment, the giant doors were swung open
again for the guests. An even more royal blaze introduced
them with the addition of percussion. The throne room was
domed, and was of a brilliant marble. The ceiling was
made up of glass panels, allowing the sky to be examined
despite the weather. Guards in full suits of armour stood
motionless at evenly spaced intervals towards the sides,
leaning against giant metal axes that reached easily from
head to toe. Several doors - not as big as the main one,
lay closed to the public. 
  Hsom cleared his throat, raising his hands for quiet.
‘Introducing, Lady Ice, Master Power, Lady Sly and
Enigma, the slave.’
  ‘Oh thanks.’ Enigma sulked. 
  ‘Friends,’ Hsom continued, ‘his Majesty, King Rehsab of
Histaus.’
  King Rehsab, sitting in his throne, rose to his feet.
‘Welcome, welcome. Glad you could make it.’ he said as
Enigma and his friends approached. Rehsab was middle
aged, but was still handsomely strong. He wore a
comfortable red robe that was tied up at the front, and 
slippers at his feet. A sparkling crown lay lopsided on
his round head. Long, blonde hair, a clean shaven face
and a pointy nose completed the look.
  ‘We had no choice.’ Sly told him. ‘We were threatened
to be dobbed in by one Hsom of the royal guard.’
  ‘He did?’ Rehsab sounded stunned. ‘Hsom!’
  ‘Yes your Majesty?’
  ‘What’s this that I hear of you threatening my guests?’
  ‘You told me to think of a way to get them here if they
refused.’
  ‘And how did you go about that?’
  ‘I told them that if they didn’t come, I’d arrest them
for burning down the Sanctuary in Ediug.’
  ‘Did it ever occur to you to ask me first? You know how
much I don’t like it when people offend my guests.’
  ‘Yes your Majesty.’
  ‘And what are you going to do about it?’
  ‘I - ah.’ Hsom wasn’t sure.
  ‘You’ll apologise.’
  ‘Yes your Majesty.’
  ‘Well.’
  ‘Well what your Majesty?’
  ‘Apologise.’
  ‘Oh, sorry you Majesty.’
  ‘Not to me, to our honoured guests.’
  ‘Yes you Majesty.’
  Rehsab’s face went red. ‘Get out of my sight. And
report to garderobe duty first thing in the morning.’ A
rumble of laughter echoed through the hall as Hsom left
the throne room in embarrassment. ‘Sorry about that. If I
had of know that he was going to be offensive, I would
have got someone else to do the job.’
  ‘No harm done.’ Enigma assured.
  ‘Let’s go somewhere where we can speak alone without
being interrupted. Carry on.’ he said to his guests. 
  He took them to a small study room, much like Yalon’s
study room back in Orem. It had a low roof - compared to
the rest of the rooms, and shelves of books, papers, and
scrolls lined the walls from top to bottom. A table was
placed in the centre of the room with candles placed at
random. 
  ‘Are you sure were not going to be over heard in this
room?’ Enigma asked, looking closely at his surroundings.
  ‘Yes.’ Rehsab guarantee, ‘Some old guy - I didn’t quite
catch his name, did something to this room a while back
so that no one would be able to hear anything from the
outside - or from the inside as a matter of fact. It’s
quiet peculiar.’
  ‘How did he manage that?’
  ‘Don’t ask me. All I know, is that it works. Anyway,
lets get started.’ They all took up a seat around the
table. ‘Have you all hear of a cult called the
Revolution?’
  ‘The Revolution.’ Sly hissed with hatred.
  ‘I see one person’s heard of it. Anybody else?’
  ‘I’ve heard it mentioned before,’ Enigma said, ‘but I
don’t know anything about them.’
  ‘Anybody else besides Enigma and Sly?’
  The rest shook their heads.
  ‘I’ll explain for the rest of you. The Revolution are a 
cult based on the evil God, Thanatos. This God is 
confined to the ultimate hell. No living or dead mortal 
of this age, has ever been to this place. The cult 
leaders believe, that if they can get enough worshippers 
to equal His standards, the God Thanatos shall be freed 
from his confinement with those worshipers in His place.’
  ‘And what’s that got to do with your people?’ Ice
asked.
  ‘I’ll get to that. The cult is based in the three
states, Arlenel, Bosloi and Lia in the Neekkentian
continent. They’ve already corrupted the whole of those
three states and they are migrating hordes north from
western Lia to the southern tips of Histaus and Salla.
They are also travelling by sea to the east coast of
Vinmac.’
  ‘Haven’t you got army’s stopping these migrations?’
  ‘Our armies aren’t big enough. They were when we got
started, but slowly - even now - our men are being
dominated in the battles and our numbers are decreasing.’
  ‘Why doesn’t the rest of the continent help out?’
Enigma said.
  ‘We’re getting help from the southern state of Agliger.
They’re destroying ships off the Lian coast. We’re also
trying to convince the state of Sable to pitch in and
Lief and Olian far up north to swing around to eastern
Vinmac to help destroy vessels and to patrol the sea. I
don’t know about the rest of the Neekkentian continent
though. They don’t seem to want to be a part of any
religious or cult wars.’
  ‘What’s the situation so far?’ Power seemed to be
listening in intently. 
  ‘All we really have is men patrolling our cities and
boats patrolling our coasts. This is why we have summoned
you here - well, Enigma actually. You other three didn’t
really have to come along.’
  ‘So you want me to do something about it?’ Enigma said
in astonishment.
  ‘Was it not you who burned down the slave capital of
the world, the Sanctuary?’
  Enigma nodded.
  ‘Then that is the reason that we thought that you’d be
good for the job. You’ll be rewarded of coarse. Just one
question. How exactly did you burn down the Sanctuary?’
  ‘It was nothing really. We spread rumours around to the
soldiers that we were planning to attack the Master on a
certain night. Note the word “night”. So, when the night
for the attack came, they increased security. They had to
keep a close watch on everyone and to do that, they would
need more light, which means, more torches. Our pens were
layed with hay for us to sleep. And so when they all
forced us back into them, we attacked them - because we
outnumbered them greatly - and set fire to the hay. The
soldiers went into a panic, and when someone can’t think
straight, they can’t fight straight. We then set fire out
side of the pens and took on the gates. Most of us got 
away, but some unlucky ones got re - captured.’
  ‘Tactically sound I suppose.’ Rehsab complimented.
  ‘Like I said, it was nothing, really.’
  ‘Just getting back to that cult thing,’ Power
interrupted, ‘didn’t anyone think that the cult just may
decided to travel around the world and lay siege on the
western states like Brendallia and Ehthian?’
  ‘Brendallia and Ehthian?’ Rehsab questioned. ‘No one
has used those names in centuries.’
  Power frowned.
  ‘Answering your question though, I never thought of
that. I’ll have to warn the rulers sometime. So,’ he
said, turning his attention back to Enigma. ‘Any ideas?’
  ‘None yet. Is this the biggest library you’ve got.’
Enigma said, pointing to the layers of books around them.
  ‘God no. I’ve got a library about the size of my throne
room. Why do you ask?’
  ‘I’d just like to do some research on Neekkent first to
see if I can find any weaknesses or holes. But before I
do anything, what’s in it for us?’
  ‘Well, for you two,’ he pointed to Sly and Enigma, ‘I
shall erase your two hundred thousand gold coin bounty of
your head.’
  ‘Two hundred thousand?’ Sly exclaimed. ‘Is that each or
combined?’
  ‘Each, apparently. And then for you other two, I’m
willing to give you titles that shall give you immense
power over the commoners.’
  ‘Sounds fair.’ Ice said in her husky voice. 
  ‘But first, the library.’
  The library was, as Rehsab said, as big as his throne
room. It was so big, that it needed three parapets with
ladders to reach each shelf. The room was cylindrical, 
the door way framed by the lower wooden shelves. The
library had it’s own librarian though, who was a woman in
her middle years, with a slightly wrinkled face and a
touch of grey in her glossy black hair. 
  ‘I’ll leave you with Uilo, my librarian. She’ll be able
to help you find things.’ And he turned and left with the
door closed behind him. 
  ‘We’re doing some research on the continent of
Neekkent.’ Enigma told her. 
  ‘You’ll find things on the continents up on the top
shelf.’ She pointed to one side of the room. 
  ‘Great.’ he said sarcastically. ‘Who’s coming with me?’
  ‘I will.’ Ice raised her hand. 
  ‘What about the rest of you?’
  ‘I want to catch up on some history.’ Power said.
‘Sly’s going to help me.’
  ‘Fine with me.’ He and Ice began their endless climb to
the top shelf, going from parapet to parapet. ‘See what
you can find on cults.’ he said, once they’d finally
reached the top.
  They didn’t know where to start. The logical place to 
start would of been the bottom. So Enigma started at the 
top reasoning with himself to get all the hard work out
of the way first. 
  ‘Here’s something.’ Ice said after they had gone
through several books and scrolls. 
  ‘What is it?’
  ‘It’s a report on the development of a place called
Cult Mountain in some desert in the Bosloian state.
“Population account,”’ she read, ‘“written by the Public
Affairs department of the university of Torca, Histaus.”’
She flicked through a couple of pages, and began to read
what she had found. ‘“After the natural disasters that
disrupted the world, man slowly toiled to rebuild what is
now no more. Flourished lands and desirable property were
rated uninhabitable, and what took many millennium to
create had to be re  - established from nothingness.
  ‘“The disasters had left no one uninjured, and the
survivors struggled to hold on to mankind. It was slowly
slipping through their fingers as thousands by the hour
saw their lives, and the lives of others, fall from this
world.
  ‘“One man though, with enough strength left in his
body, rounded up all the remain survivors and withdrew to
the Eht mountains to the place commonly known as the Holy
Volcanoes. He nurtured them all back to health, and
eventually were aloud to reproduce once more. 
  ‘“After many generations, the populace were freed from
the protection of the anger of earth, and they set out to
re - establish the lands that were wrought of life.
  ‘“They had been given some help from Mother Nature. She
had already begun her rebirth process by extinguishing
all the eternal fires with her rain, and by settling the
earths crust to a practical stand still. 
  ‘“More centuries past, and the people migrated out
further and further to the north, south, east and west.
Many vast lakes were stumbled upon inland, and oceans,
they found, had swallowed up old coasts.
  ‘“It was not until four hundred centuries later that a
pioneer decided to explore the world with several other
sailors by sea. He started out on the coast of what we
now call Salla, and travelled dead east. A knew land had
arisen from the seas once murky depths. It was vast
beyond imagination, for their imagination’s at that time
were dull, and they were profoundly stupid. 
*  *  *