Kant looked at Dia for several minutes before eagerly saying, “Are we going to meet him?” Dia was silent. Her mind was lost in pieces of memories of Daniel, none of them complete. She could only be sure of one thing; her strong affection for him. “We are.” She said, “Is there enough power for ‘The Room’?”
“For transporting the two of us?”
“Yes. To Avalon.”
“There is enough for one journey, I think.”
“One should be all we need.” Dia then led the way out of Kant’s control room, down several corridors, past at least fifty rooms until they came to ‘The Room’ which Dia had never named. They entered and Kant immediately began making preparations for their travel.
Created by Dia’s father, ‘The Room’ was one of the first portals in existence. It was a gateway to almost any location across the universe Dia was currently in, but she desired travel to only one place: Avalon. It was a place which was considered by most as a myth, a myth depicted in the legends written by Geoffrey of Monmouth on Earth. Dia, however, knew it well. She had loose memories of Avalon connecting her more closely with Daniel, but though she tried, piecing bits of such memories together was frustratingly difficult, leaving her with only the ghosts of feelings and emotions. She had to see him. To speak to him. Dia somehow knew that when she did, it would all become crystal clear as it had once been.
“It’s ready.” Said Kant, who had been busying himself behind a panel in the far corner. “Are you ready?” Dia hadn’t even considered this. The importance of seeing Daniel again was paramount. She looked down at her sword in its sheath and her almost impenetrable outfit, then across to the gun which was now hanging from a loop on her skirt. “I am ready.” She finally replied, her voice calm but serious.
Kant wordlessly shifted closer to Dia and clasped her hand. A moment later the room and everything in existence had simply gone, including Dia herself. She could neither feel nor sense.
Then Kant was there, she could feel him. Then she could see green light. It was overwhelming at first, but after a few seconds, Dia’s eyes adjusted to the brightness and the green focused into individual objects. There were great trees, vines, bushes and long grasses in all directions but one; to Dia’s side there was a path cutting its way through the jungle. She knew where this led. She remembered it now. It was a path created by herself and Daniel long ago, before peace had become war. Before Ssus. She felt comforted somewhat by the sights before her and the familiar smells of foliage. Beckoning Kant to follow, she began to follow the path through the undergrowth.
They walked onwards for some time. It wasn’t a difficult walk as the path somehow prevented itself from becoming overgrown. When they came to rivers or great chasms, there were bridges which seemed far too sophisticated for the area. Once, the path took them directly through a mountain, the underground passageway lit by white-flamed torches which apparently never burned out.
The time gave Dia a good opportunity to find out more of her past from Kant. She re-discovered memories of time spent within her own palace walls with him, as well as the times and adventures she had later told him about. He told her of the great wars she’d had a part in and of the friends she had once had. She remembered four such friends in particular: Daniel, Jarrad, Uma and Heinrich. She had been close to these four. They had been like family, spending most of their time attempting to stop the rise of Ssus before he began killing for the ‘greater good’, for they had predicted the terrible decisions he would be making long before he began to make them. They had failed, of course and in the many attempts, Jarrad had been killed and Uma went missing, presumed dead. These losses were a great blow to the group and when Dia herself had vanished, Daniel and Heinrich had decided to lay low, no longer meeting to discuss possible plans and tactics.
Rounding a long corner atop a large hill, Dia could suddenly see it: The magnificent city of Avalon. It twinkled with golden light from the low sun, gloriously contrasted against the green of the vegetation. The light reflected from the roofs and walls of magnificent towers and bathed the great wall, which circled the entire city, in a warm glow.
She could not wait another moment to be within its incredible palisade walls so she grabbed Kant’s hand and set off at a run towards the place she remembered as an entrance. ‘Daniel is waiting’ she kept repeating in her head, ‘Everything will become clear.’
Reaching the enormous gates which shimmered with a pearly tinge, Dia pushed. They glided open. She stepped into the comforting familiarity of Avalon’s walls and Kant followed as she set off through the wide streets, heading as straight as possible to the largest building in Avalon which dominated the centre of the city.
Shadows lengthened as the sun lowered, creating an unusually beautiful effect on the windows which somehow glowed pale blue in the shade. Strangely however, there was nobody about to appreciate the beauty but Dia and Kant. No people walked the glowing streets and none of the windows shone with light from within. In fact, the whole city seemed cold and eerie where it had once been warm and bustling with activity. Dia shivered slightly but pressed on, trying to remember how the place was while considering the present as little as possible.
She rounded another corner and as she did, something soft and smooth brushed her leg. She snapped around, eyes wide and darting in all directions but there was nothing there, at least, nothing visible. Her ears were ready to react at the tiniest sound. None came. She quietly told Kant to stay put and crossed the street to the only place she could see where someone or something could hide, but before she moved more than a few steps, there was a muffled sound from where she had left Kant.
A white, long-fingered, paw-like hand was closed over Kant’s mouth and another held a gun to his side. Dia moved slowly closer with her hands automatically up in a sign of peace and she got a better view of its strange face.
It had pointed ears sticking out the sides of its head and its eyes did not appear to have an iris, they were simply bright gold and shimmered bizarrely. Its sleek, humanoid body was naked apart from millions of tiny black hairs covering its torso and upper arms. Dia decided, if its species had sexes, this one was a male.
“We don’t want to harm you.” She heard herself say calmly, “Who and what are you?”
The weird creature stared at Dia then spoke in a voice which struck fear into her. It was quiet but travelled well and had a grating, distorted quality to it.
“I am Caruul. I am of the Ghan. I come for you, Dia Thorpe. You will come.”
It took Dia a moment to steady her fear following the thing’s voice, but eventually mustered a reply. “I am Dia. But I will not come with you. Leave my friend out of this. Do your people have no honour? If you wish to take me I am not going to make it easy.” With her final word, she drew her father’s sword, Silvaera, which glistened brilliantly in the light of Avalon. She hoped with every fibre of her being that the creature would release Kant. It did. But, with a loud bang issuing from the beast’s gun, Kant’s hand was ripped from his wrist. This unsteadied Dia momentarily and Caruul was upon her. She barely had time to parry the first of his advances; from somewhere, Caruul had drawn some sort of a spear with a barbed tip. He came at Dia again, but this time she had gathered her wits. She chopped the spear powerfully to one side and in the same motion brought Silvaera in a perfect slice towards the creature’s throat. Caruul managed to slip under this and scooped the feet from under Dia with the butt of his spear. She hit the ground hard but span quickly on the floor to aim another slice at the creature’s ankle. It made contact and deep red blood splattered on the street. Caruul dropped to the floor, but readied the spear for the next attack even as he fell. Dia was already upon him, thrusting her sword sharply downwards. Caruul had no chance of avoiding the assault and Silvaera pierced deep into his chest. Something that sounded like “No harm” issued from his lips, then the spear fell from his limp hand, the gun from the other.
Dia kicked the creature back, pulling her sword from his chest as he fell backwards and tu
rned to Kant speaking hurriedly, “How bad is it?” But Kant was not listening. He was staring at a point to Dia’s left. Following his gaze, she understood why. There was a large mass of white moving towards them up one of the wide streets. The army of Ghan were a few hundred metres away but Dia could not hear a sound of their advance. The silent army she suddenly remembered from something she once read and immediately knew how serious the situation was. “We can’t outrun them.” She said to Kant as they sped up the street, “We can only hope to make it to the Spire tower.” Kant still said nothing. He looked afraid. Petrified even. Despite the situation, something about his look flooded Dia’s heart with waves of guilt and, for the first time in as long as she could remember, she felt panic rise from somewhere in her chest. She was responsible for this. It was her fault alone.
They hurried onwards hurtling through a gateway to the courtyard of the tower before two of the fastest Ghan were close enough to throw their barbed spears. Their aim was deadly accurate but Dia launched herself at Kant, knocking him out of the path of one and avoiding the path of another in doing so. Then they were climbing granite steps to the huge, thick double doors of the tower. Dia knew the tower would open for her when she came close enough and it did. They rushed over the threshold and the doors slammed themselves.
Dia turned to Kant, guilt plastered her beautiful face which distorted it quite horribly. Kant did not make eye contact, he only stared at what was once his hand, still looking terrified but the fear was slowly turning to anguish.
Several long, painful moments passed and nothing was said. Dia desperately sought out words to express her regret, or words to comfort Kant but nothing came. She knew he had never been broken like this before and until now had assumed he would react in an “oh well” kind of manner.
She did not know what she was going to say but had opened her mouth, unable to bear the silence any longer when Kant spoke. His voice was barely audible and the sound shook as it left his artificial lips,
“I don’t blame you.”
Dia had not expected this. She remained in silence, considering his wound.
The peril of the Ghan’s advance was completely forgotten now she knew they were safe behind the solid, force field enchanted doors. Kant was still staring at the space where his hand once was but there was a look on his face which seemed much less sorrowful now. “It didn’t hurt.” He said, “Just...”
“Don’t worry. It’s normal to feel like this.” Dia said, hoping her voice sounded calm. Kant looked up at her. If it had been possible, Dia was sure there would be tears welling up in his shining eyes.
CHAPTER 7
The Spire and the Lord