The firelight was bright in the carved stone halls where the scribes had gathered to study a small ship capable of travel past the line of moons encircling Fiod. A test flight would be necessary as it had been long ago since it was used. There was no indefinite plans or time set for the journey, but it would be soon enough when Cova would be the nearest to them as for a matter of convenience. The star charts aboard were still intact and the power source in reasonable condition. Zoic was one of the pilots that used to fly between the worlds and he was one of the few that remembered the numerous courses that were once taken. The navigation wasn't going to be an issue, it was just a matter of what would be the course of action once landing on a planet that hasn't been visited for such a long time.
There was no excitement or anticipation. Zoic had been in that mood before. This time was more calm and spiritual and it would be needed. It would be a pious journey this time around. A mute sense of longing was all he felt. He would often quote story passages, chant the rhymes in songs and poems. This wasn't like before. This time there was an entirely different metric beat in the planet's own sensory. Things were moving slow but it was a flowing movement. As if a dance were practiced and done so often that everything stepped in the right direction. The hall had no rush, no clamor, nor any sense of urgency. The skies of Fiod's largest land mass of shallow water glowed in the sunset, vibrant ashen and ember shades. Zoic watched and closed his eyes to remember these moments. In silent prayer and gratitude that a journey would soon be taken even if to unknown outcomes.
The elders of the populace were in prayer also and they would continue for days. Zoic wanted to complete a task he had not taken on before. He wanted to see the shadowy realm underneath a mysterious sunken temple where the borders were hidden. It was only visible when one stood before a single arch embedded with gems, dragon twine and overgrowth of forest vine. A place that was used to test the strength of soldiers in the past and to train leaders and warriors as it was the most treacherous of any other course they knew, and one could die if one's footing wasn't sure or swift. He desired to begin a course of his own to finish at a later time when he'd return. Knowing that he'd be better prepared if he sought the knowledge the pained planet knew. It was the ancient arch he wanted to pass through first before he would travel away. A deepening need to learn what the beginning told, what would be needed to say of how things unfolded, should he return successfully.
A stair structure was built to lead to and throughout this lair but it wasn't mapped nor could the stairs be measured and no one knew where they ended. They were simply referred to as the Steps of Shadowy Arch, for that was the only way to describe the location without any further knowledge of what to expect there. When the sun finally set, he made his way to the forest in the small ship and landed near the forest entrance where a menacing path lead to the steps of a place that was deep and dark far below the grounds. He felt this was something he must do. Something was driving him to go to this foreboding place.
With a staff of dim light and small sparks of dew glittering around it like small embers, he walked down the path and reached the steps. Large at first, but narrowing as he descended. After some minutes had passed he could make out the outline of the arch in the distance. Bits of what seemed like the stars peeked out from behind the thick of leaf, vine and whatever the forest could claim of it. At first it seemed like an old overhanging standing in stone with no more than the barely distinguishable shape of the arch but upon nearing the first gateway to its foothold, Zoic looked on at the massive arch that could now be seen in its full glory and dread. The arch stood over a thousand feet high and when the forest shade could not cast its shadow on the top curvature for a brief moment in the moon's light, he could see how perfectly the arch captured the glint of the light. Massive, a piece of a history that was not found in this age. Built as a gateway to what was once a great kingdom now turned into shadow and isolation.
The steps, he correctly assumed, where not the challenge. But steps of a spiritual way, not so much as a physical task but a philosophy that would require far greater skill than what was spoke of in mere story and prayer.
It was dark. The open gates stood silently across a smooth threshold. Zoic carefully but purposefully walked to them and went inside with his staff to light the way. He remembered the tales of the passageway, and called softly to the Keeper there. It was a spirit that dwelt within but used the elements of this underlying forest lair to guide any who would enter. If you could see the apparition and follow without stumbling, you'll reach the chambers you need to go, if you hear spoken words then you were meant to be there and guided to the ultimate chamber where the history of the planet and the surrounding planets was kept in static imagery and form. That was the only thought going through Zoic's mind as he wondered what to trigger to obtain the Keeper's guidance.
This was a spiritual place. Deep underground it went. There was an empty chamber with a light that appeared to come from nowhere. He walked through with caution. The ground itself was said to give way should the vibrations of footstep be all wrong. The Keeper of the Arch and all its realm was present. But he heard no welcome, just small notes and a slight pulse other than his own.
For an instant the thought flashed before his mind and his eyes could see a reflection on the nearest chamber wall. An image of the planet Arca followed by a direct mental connection to what had happened there some time ago. To Zoic it seemed it would have been around three or four orbits of that world in the past. Then things went dark. Zoic lingered for hours. In thought and prayer. Realizing there would be more than a journey to Cova. There would be one to Arca, as well. And he knew he could not bring the memory or reminder of the darkness of his own world with him. The names of his world had to be left behind. The realm of the Arch had communicated that to him mentally. Naming the world that the darkness had first appeared would only give it an echo and he would not bring that with him, wherever he went.
The time of departing was nigh. And Zoic piloted the ship to Cova for the test flight. When he returned, he spoke of the landing docks still intact in some areas of that world. And he prepared to make the journey back to Cova, but he spoke to the elders of the need to go to Arca to find a few souls that he had an image of in his head. He knew not the names.
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