The Celestial Forge

By: Schin Ka'Tharos

CHAPTER 19

(Part 1)

We shape the unknown chaos before us, and in turn are shaped by it.

~

My connection to the tower was subtle yet profound. It felt like an ancient part of me had reawakened and now stretched out from me like a phantom limb. There was a vastness there but it was hidden from me, like the depths of the sea hidden from a man on shore. The mysteries it contained seemed boundless.

Earlier in my meditation I had felt my connection to the tower growing. The room of reflections now seemed different. A new familiarity and comfort bled into me as if I had spent years within its walls and knew every stone and corner like my own hand. With this feeling came a knowledge of something missed.

I walked over to the staircase in the center of the room that spiraled up into the next unobtainable floor of my grandfather's office. However, instead of ascending the stairs I knelt at the base of the steps and placed my hand on the floor. It was warm and welcoming to the touch. This space was mine. It was under my authority and it was asking me if I wanted it to open.

I did.

The floor directly under the staircase melted away like shadows receding from the sun and revealed stairs continuing down to a new space below. Grandfather had never taken me to this lower level nor had he ever mentioned it. Curious, I descended the stairs which stretched down into a rectangular mid-sized room with a hallway on each of its opposite ends. Dark gray stone formed the walls and floors and a purple stone similar to the floor above lined the ceiling. Here, though, the purple stone glowed with a dim light providing illumination that caste the room in a violet gloom.

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I chose one of the hallways and after a straight short walk of about a minute the hallway ended abruptly with a large highly ornamental door. Something within me wanted to call it a gate more than a door. The gate filled the end of the hallway completely floor to ceiling and wall to wall which made it about three times my height and the same width. It was the same gray stone as the walls but it was covered in carved depictions of flames which flowed and danced around each other in a beautiful artistic pattern.

The gate was significant. I could feel its weight pulling on the world. I also knew I couldn't open it. It stood before me unwelcoming just like the outer doors to the tower had blocked my way weeks earlier. I had no authority over it as I was then.

I walked the other direction and headed down the other hallway hoping for better fortune. The second hallway mirrored the first in every way except the gate; it was completely barren except for a simple carved pattern in its center of five circles overlapping each other which formed a larger circle.

This door I could open.

With hands pressed to it's surface I eased the gate open with a nudge of both will and strength. The stone door split down the middle with silent acceptance and opened up to the room beyond.

I stepped into what looked like an ancient workshop. The purple stone lined the ceiling like before in the hallway but now it glowed with a bright ferocity like the dawn. The size of it rivaled the room of reflections above me. The room rested lower like it had been dug deeper into the ground and had steps leading down into it from the hallway. It was oval in shape and had the feel of a large cavern.

Except for a handful of support columns running floor to ceiling the room was wide open. A huge circular table made of a rich dark colored wood dominated the direct center of the room. The large table was surrounded by five other stations, each one clearly separate from the others. Each station had a bench covered in a unique variance of assorted tools, materials,mechanisms, and other items.

Next Chapter...

Chapter 19 (Part 2)