CHAPTER 41 – EPITAPH CITY
After all this time on the road, he knew how things worked now. He could feel the wind on his face and the sun beating down on him. The elemental nutrients gave him energy. He inhaled and gathered the spirit of nature. And so, time sped up around him. The sun was being pulled under the horizon when Excelsior yelled out, “Look! It’s Epitaph!”
Four tall stone towers appeared from behind a small hill. The amber sparkle of the sun reflected off the gray stone skyscrapers sun-bathing away its bluish hint.
“We made it.” The wanderer gave a sigh of relief.
Even to a nomad the feeling of coming home still warmed the heart. The company made their way through the walls of the city. Mitakahn was overcome by the beauty of the foreign city.
This ancient city was built with the same stone that served as pavement for the road. Massive slabs of bluish-gray stone pieced together to create grand halls and bed-rock buildings. In the core of the city there were few towers, among them were four skyscrapers. The beacons Mitakahn saw in his dream. Each one was a different directional point.
At the North Tower was the city’s main meeting hall. The South Tower was the city’s biggest marketplace. The West Tower was the library, an institute of sciences and law. And the East Tower was a local temple. There were no Canine Gods, but there was this temple.
Noone really knew who or what it was a temple for, but it was there. It had always been there. It was built along with the other three towers and the road. These four ancient beacons were the last remaining buildings that had not been rebuilt or remodeled from the original construction of Epitaph. Their faint shade of gray stood out among the rest of the blue and sandy stone. The rest of the city was covered in clusters of small buildings and temporary homes.
It was getting late. The company had walked for most of the day, and now they were feeling the effects of it. They ended their trek at a local cobblestone cavern that Excelsior was very fond of, and apparently, had a past with, The Doberman Pinscher. When they entered the dimly lit tavern, they saw a table in back with familiar faces. With a tall glass of ale in each of their hands sat Kunezar, Humbler, and Tron.
Mitakahn was overwhelmed with joy. The knights all greeted each other.
“Tron!” Mitakahn smiled and embraced his friend. “What in the name of the gods are you doing here?” asked Mitakahn.
“Must you ask, Mitakahn?” Excelsior interrupted, already knowing the answer.
“It does my heart well to see you again, friends. All I can say is that silver bird of yours has a strange way of communicating, and here we are…” answered Tron.
Tron was a rather tall lad, known for his long thin ginger hair, thick arms and legs, and face with brooding and reckless features, a true citizen of the Gorilla Nation. Tron was Mitakahn’s closest friend at the academy.
“It’s truly fascinating. He squeaks sort of a… tune in to your thoughts, you know? Like you’re….receiving a message,” Kunezar tried to properly explain.
Equal in size to Excelsior, Kunezar contrasted Excelsior’s smooth looks with a very rough posture. His jagged, agonized face and epicanthal folds gave him a look of reclusiveness, coupled with a soft spoken nature that was common among his people in the SandLands. The Kingdom of the Lizard had long suffered inside their city in the desert, the Komodo Maze, even the most noble of their lines showing the physical effects. After only one time hearing his father call him at the academy a nickname stuck to him closer than any other. It came to a point where people referred to the desert knight more commonly than his real name.
“Kones! It is great to see you. You look well!”
“As do you, Mitakahn.”
Mitakahn addressed the last member of his closest group of friends, “Humbler, my friend, it has been too long.”
“I have been thinking about you since the funeral, my friend. How did you come across such a magical creature?”
By far the tallest of the knights, with big ears, a surprised face, and thin lips, Humbler was one of the few members of the Bear Kingdom who would do more good in the world spending his time at the library instead of the mines.
Mitakahn used this question to bring everyone up to speed on what had happened to him since the funeral. For Anilithion, it would be the third time hearing some of the stories.
Tron, Kunezar, and Humbler considered it their mission now to help Mitakahn see it through to the end. The new additions to the company then reminded Bridger and Excelsior that Mitakahn was not with them for graduation and that immediately sparked a new topic for conversation. They all proceeded, in turn, to tell him about it.
The graduation was short and quaint. The Knighthood of the Silver Den was not big with celebrations, but the ceremony was the most important of any at the academy. The academy presented their class in front of the entire school and awarded them medals of excellence and diplomas of accomplishment. Mitakahn was beginning to feel left out. Given the events that unfolded before his return to the Pride, he was not able to be there with them. Mitakahn could not tell if the rest of them knew about his expulsion. Tron could see Mitakahn’s convoluted eyes and tormented silence and took the cue to present him with an opportunity of redemption.
“Mitakahn they told us you were expelled,” Tron spoke on behalf of everyone else, “The Headmaster told us it was for trespassing and then he told us about your father.”
Mitakahn had a hard time looking at any of them in the eyes. He didn’t know what to say.
Luckily, Tron went on, “After graduation Headmaster Pulitzer ordered us to represent our brotherhood at the funeral.”
“It’s not my brotherhood anymore.”
“Mitakahn, the Headmaster tasked me with giving you something that day, but I thought it would be disrespectful to your father to give this to you on a day meant to honor him.”
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“What are you saying, Tron?”
Tron handed Mitakahn a certificate.
Mitakahn opened it and read its contents. It was a reinstatement into the academy.
“Your expulsion was revoked by special decree of the headmaster.”
“If we make it through all of this you are expected to return and complete your training.”
Mitakahn looked up with water-filled eyes, he had so much to say, but he simply responded, “Thank you…all of you, for always being there.”
“To your father,” Excelsior toasted as they all raised their glasses together, “May it never be too late…to make him proud.”
The group sat in silence for a while, digesting Mitakahn’s current affairs. Conversation discreetly re-entered their circle and soon, after many cups of cider and ale the group had exhausted themselves with drink and were ready to retire. They made their way upstairs and piled into two connecting rooms with soft cushioned beds compared to the rough floor of the wilderness.
Mitakahn would lie in his bed unable to sleep staring up at the ceiling. He was so glad all his friends were with him now. Chronis sat by the windowsill as if he was keeping watch. Mitakahn felt completed; no longer being held down by the cloud of being abandoned by his kingdom. Mitakahn felt free, the circle of his closest friends now fully present and complete.
He stared deep into the wooden beam above him. He would stare through the wood one splinter at a time, and then the roof, out into the night. He would look deeper and see the stars high above him moving down into the horizon, vast shale swinging in the echoed past…
…”They move with incredible speed. Never have I seen such a thing. Never have I been able to see past wood into the brightness of the universe. Yet, here I stand once again aware- Before I realize what is happening, all the stars fall from the sky. A shower of dying light. It was once again black. The darkness chases me around. As if a nightmare is constantly biting at my feet. I must escape. I leave my chambers and walk the streets of Epitaph at night.
Thieves walk these streets unchecked, you know…
Excelsior’s voice in my ears.
They thrive in the dark of night.
And now I walk in the middle of it. I do not have my sword. The magical flaming sword. I must find the sword to save my kingdom. And to do that I must find the Carbon Terra. But how?
The glimmer of light hits my eye. It is blinding at first, but I recover. I follow its trail. It leads me to an alleyway of shadow. Who knows what lurks in the night? I cannot follow. What darkness could infiltrate my dreams and take a hold of me?
A whisper from the alleyway. I have to go down it. This will all make sense if I just face my fears of the dark. Or so I hope…
I slowly walk down the alley. The shadow consumes me. I feel it all over. Its weight on the back of my neck. I reach for my weapon and pull it out of its sheath. A thick diamond-crusted blade by the looks of it. It burns my hand. I scream and drop it. It plummets to the ground and shatters into millions of pieces.
The glimmer of light flashes again. This time it reflects off my eyes and then off the tiny pieces of diamond on the ground. An intricate plot of rays comes into focus. The light from the rays cuts the ground and I go falling into the abyss.
Voices shout softly into the falling night sky. The pieces of diamond fall with me as the light refracts from one another, creating a prism around me. We crash into the ground and the prism protects my fall. I now stand at the center of the city. Facing north looking at the Grand Hall of Epitaph City. A court. A market. A library. A temple. Four points of a city.
With that thought I am grabbed and pulled to the West. Into the library of Science, History, and Law. Hundreds of racks of books and recordings. Accounts of old and new. Ancient sciences. Hokey religions. This place is an archive of history. Ah!
Pulled out of the building to the South. I fall into the marketplace. A pit of a thousand coins breaks my fall. I go to get up. I am attacked. I struggle to protect myself, but they do not hurt me. They avoid me. A quick scramble and then they all leave. Every coin is missing from my back. I now sit on the floor.
I am pulled once again, this time to the North. I am under trial. The city rallies together, up in arms. Soon I will, by vote, be banished from Epitaph. What have I done? With little time to react, I am pulled to the East.
The temple. Excelsior talked about this place. Long has it been a place for worship and praise to the gods. But the Canine Kingdom has no gods of their own, only the ones they share with the rest of the world. Who then…could this place be made as a tribute to?
Pieces of the diamond sit on the floor in front of me. As if they are on the altar to be sacrificed. I get on my knees and assemble the pieces back together. It is not difficult, they fit together with ease. What is the answer to this riddle? I place the last piece inside the diamond and the glimmer of light returns hitting the diamond.
Rays of light shoot out every which way and cover the room. I can’t help but look into the crystal. Its sharp and exact edges turn smooth. The lights grab me and pull me in. I see myself with my eyes wide open, white glowing pupils, shining full of light holding a sword of white fire. This is how I find what I search for…”
● ● ●
“It’s here!”
“What is?”
“The Carbon Terra!”
“The ancient diamond?” asked Humbler.
“Mitakahn calm down,” said Bridger, “What do you mean it’s here?”
“I think I am supposed to bring it to the temple in the center of town.”
“Where is this diamond?” asked Tron.
“I don’t know,” confessed Mitakahn.
“Then how can we bring it to the temple if we don’t even know where to look for it?” scrutinized Kunezar.
“The library,” answered Excelsior. “We ask Demascus. That was always the plan.”
“Excelsior is right,” said Mitakahn, “We go there first.”
“And then what?”
“I don’t know Kones! You just have to bear with me.”
“Then tell us what you do know, prince,” interrupted Tron.
“I was pulled to every tower. North, south, east, and west. My journey ended at the temple where I looked into the gem. It started at the library.”
“What happened at the other two towers?”
“It’s hard to make out. I witnessed thieves robbing the market clean, and then I was blamed for the burglary at the court. It didn’t make much sense. But then again, what part of this does?”
“Then it is settled…we make for the library post-haste,” declared Excelsior.
The group gathered their things and equipped themselves with their gear. Mitakahn looked around as he tightened his belt. Chronis was no longer by the windowsill. He was gone. He must have left some time in the night, perhaps on another secret mission.