The Cosmic Logos (28 page)

Once Avery had ferried everyone forth, he took a seat on a rock to recharge his batteries.

‘Well, Pan man,' Bast commented, gazing out over the vast canyon before them. ‘I have to tell you I expected a destination that was a little more awe inspiring than this.'

‘The sky is amazing,' Sparrowhawk voiced his appreciation as he gazed up at the colourful array of suns.

‘I like the zero atmosphere.' Zabeel did a backflip and chuckled as he did so. ‘It's like being in water without being wet.'

‘We are still only residing on the physical plane of this planet,' Fallon advised in Avery's defence, as she'd been to visit the elestial crystals before. ‘The Otherworldly realm here is far more aesthetically pleasing.'

‘Okay, I'm good.' Avery gave himself a shake before closing his eyes to focus on his next task.

‘What's he doing?' Gazelle whispered her query in Sparrowhawk's ear so as not to disturb Avery.

‘He's creating a gateway to the Otherworld, through which we may all pass,' he whispered in response.

‘Whoa,' Gazelle mouthed silently as she observed a great body of light-filled mist rising out of the deep crevices in the canyon.

As Rhun observed his little brother absorbed in his silent summons, he too couldn't help but be impressed by the extent of Avery's abilities. He would be Lord of the Otherworld before too long, and Rhun conceded that Avery deserved to be awarded the same respect that he'd once given the Night Hunter.

The mist rose up out of the canyon and spilled over the edges to where the warriors stood. The sweet smelling celestial vapour rolled on over their party and continued to engulf the planet, and as it did the stony ground began to glow with myriad pale pastel colours.

‘Good heavens, this is mad!' Gazelle chuckled nervously, having never witnessed anything like it.

‘Best get used to it, as your Chosen studies will bring you to realms Otherworldly quite a bit,' Sparrowhawk was delighted to tell her.

Avery rose up into the air to make an appeal to the canyon, which was glowing with rainbow-hued etheric light patches. ‘Oh, great elestials, I beg your counsel.'

‘This is where things get really spectacular,' Fallon advised her teammates in a low-key whisper.

The great peaks of crystal rock, separated by huge crevices, began to move and then to rise. As they arose, the huge entities unfolded into bright glowing crystal forms, that although rugged and rock-like in appearance, resembled human shapes. They had heads with faces and mouths to speak, arms to wave about, and legs that melded into the floor of the glowing misty cavern. In all cases their primary colour was white, although veins of two or more differently coloured crystals ran through their forms; the variety of colours was what gave each of the crystal identities its own character.

He begs our counsel.
One of the largest rocks thought projected his opinion for all to hear.
That makes for a nice change from the Night Hunter's approach of ordering us about all the time.

Yes, indeed. May you rule ever long, little human,
replied another of the massive formations in a voice that was more feminine.

All the huge rocklike creatures gave a massive cheer and by thumping their fists on the ground they gave Rhun's team a quick thrill as the earth literally shook beneath them.

‘I thank you all for the vote of confidence,' Avery told the huge creatures as he glided in to get amongst them. ‘I have come to claim the favour I requested at our last meeting.'

Just name the event and a year where you wish to join Gaia's civilisation, young lord, said the main male spokesperson for a deposit streaked with crystal veins of black and blue.

You do intend to save our Eli from himself, don't you, lord?
said a female elestial streaked with crystal deposits of pink and yellow.

‘Lahmu and his Vice,' Avery motioned back to Rhun, who took a bow, ‘have given their consent for me to do so upon my return to the year 2088AD Gaia time.'

That was not one of Gaia's best years,
the male elestial cringed in recollection.
Sure we couldn't interest you in somewhere, or when, else?

‘No, this year is very specific to our needs; we have to prevent a certain man's death,' Avery explained.

But you shall surely cause a breakaway dimension to erupt,
the female instructed.
Preventing deaths, births, marriages and significant events always does.

‘I realise this,' Avery replied, ‘but by so doing I hope
to entrap someone in that breakaway dimension and thus keep him safely away from my own.'

This would be a person of dark character, I take it?
the female elestial assumed.

As Avery had learned that the best way to understand his realm was to listen to the advice of the locals, he chose not to cut the elestial's curiosity short. ‘The dark character is Viper,' he replied simply, whereupon a grumble was heard from all the entities of rock who were listening to the conversation and they shook their heads, most displeased.

Pardon my saying so, lord,
the female elestial ventured.
It is true that he shall be locked out of your present reality, but the same awful future will still erupt in that other dimension, unhindered by your kindred.

‘So,' Rhun summed up from the sidelines, ‘what you are saying is that it is all right for us to prevent Hayden Ingram's death, provided that we also hinder Viper's dark aspirations so that he cannot make a huge impact on the causality of any dimension.' The Vice-Governor of Kila paused to mull over this theory a second and then frowned, perturbed. ‘But what if one instance cancels out the other and causes the two dimensions to converge back into one?'

All dimensions merge into one eventually. He's pretty smart, this one,
the male elestial commented of Rhun to Avery.

‘He likes to think so,' Avery conceded, folding his arms.

As you will have deflected Viper's influence in the past, your situation in the present will still be much easier to
deal with,
the huge rock formation advised Rhun, who nodded to acknowledge his point.

‘So, you will help us?' Avery gathered.

The elestial crystals were amused by the question, but it was the male spokesman who explained their delight.
We are bound to do your will, young master, just as we are bound to advise you. All the wonders of the Otherworld are at your disposal.

The huge crystal deposit lowered himself to a crouched position and his back flattened, forming into a large round crystal plateau. His outstretched arm reached to the canyon ridge, where the rest of Avery's team stood, and formed a long flat walkway that led to the plateau.

All aboard,
the female elestial encouraged Avery's people, and then remarked as she watched the tiny humans wander down the walkway.
Some of you will certainly stand out in a crowd, where you're bound.

Rhun looked over his Delphinus brother, his Falcon brother, their new Nefilim-Falcon friend, and Bast, the Leonine. ‘She's right.' He hit himself for nearly forgetting. ‘You guys and girls are going to have to assume a Homo sapiens form for this mission.'

Sparrowhawk, Bast and Zabeel all complied at once, without even pausing from their stride down the walkway, for they'd been taught the technique during the course of their schooling with En Noah. The living organic fibre from which their suits were made adjusted itself to fit their new forms.

‘Oh, yeah!' Bast looked from Zabeel to Sparrowhawk to Rhun. ‘You three are definitely brothers,' she
commented, as in human form their similarities were far more striking. Avery was the odd brother out in not having their father's dark, dead-straight hair.

Gazelle came to a standstill, however, having never attempted a feat of transformation before. ‘Um?' She panicked, feeling useless for holding the proceedings up. ‘I have no such training,' she reminded them.

‘It's easy.' Sparrowhawk encouraged her to relax. ‘You just have to will the transformation, that is all.'

‘What?' She gazed at him perplexed. ‘I didn't even know what free will was until a few days ago.' She defended her reluctance to try. ‘I can't even imagine what I would look like as a Homo sap—' Her protest ceased when she realised this wasn't true. She closed her eyes and focused on her memory of Lirathea.

Rhun had to smile when he saw the look on Sparrowhawk's face when Gazelle transformed into their sister.

‘I think I would prefer to have hair.' Gazelle smiled as she ran a hand over her bald scalp, amazed by her own achievement.

‘Lirathea had hair not so long ago,' Sparrowhawk informed, taking hold of Gazelle's hand to send her a mental image.

Moments later, platinum-blonde strands of fine, straight baby-soft hair sprang from her head and quickly extended over her shoulders and down her back, stopping once the tips reached her waist.

‘How's that?' Gazelle asked softly, her voice almost letting her down as Sparrowhawk's adoring gaze cast a spell over her.

‘Very good.' Rhun moved them both along, wondering if it was going to be difficult to keep Sparrowhawk's mind on the job.

It was weird having no wings; it felt liberating in a way. Gazelle could still sense her extra appendages, but she stroked her shoulder blades to find they were indeed missing. As her hand passed through the void, her touch gave naught but a mild tingling impact in her vanished body parts. Gazelle very much liked her disguise. It made her feel like a new person and more akin to the angelic oracle to whom the identity belonged.

Avery lowered himself down to join Sparrowhawk on the walkway, just as stunned by Gazelle's transformation. ‘I don't ever recall our sister's hips swinging quite like that,' he commented, as they both watched Gazelle striding down the walkway ahead of them.

‘No,' Sparrowhawk agreed with a grin. ‘This is definitely a new look for her.'

The party were instructed to stand on the periphery of the round plateau and they watched as the centre of the solid crystal structure turned to glowing vapour. This began to swirl inwards in an anti-clockwise direction. As the whirlpool increased in speed the porthole to the past opened wide.

‘Now this is really something,' Gazelle mumbled; today was proving to be a real eye opener. She had thought that her brother's crone's abilities were amazing, however dark, but the Chosen certainly had their ways and means as well.

In you all go,
the female elestial announced their flight.
We recommend feet first.

Gazelle's wonder dispersed abruptly when she witnessed Zabeel, Avery, Fallon and Bast run and take a flying leap into the void. ‘Oh no.' She moved away. ‘Not this little black bird, no way!'

‘We'll do it together, hey?' Sparrowhawk suggested, but Gazelle backed up, refusing to give him her hand. He looked to Rhun for assistance.

‘She can't stay behind, we need her,' Rhun advised, ticking his head towards the void and giving his younger brother a firm nod of encouragement.

Sparrowhawk caught Rhun's meaning and with a shrug of apology to Gazelle, he bundled her over his shoulder and went charging towards the swirling mystic porthole.

‘Where is my free will now?' Gazelle thumped her porter's back in protest and wailed as they jumped into oblivion.

Rhun smiled, pleased by the prospect of doing a little time exploration. ‘It's been too long,' he decided, taking a running jump and somersaulting into the porthole. ‘Yeehaaaaa!'

 

Maelgwn was waiting for his sons and their female team members on arrival at their destination in 2088AD. All his people were amazed to find themselves standing on the top of a building without having sensed the slightest impact from their fall through time. None of the team were aware of their etheric colleague's presence, for Maelgwn's current form held no sway in the physical world; having left all his physical world matter back in the outer realm of Shamballa, he could only play a subjective role here.

Maelgwn?

He distinctly heard his name called and was delighted to recognise the caller.
Tory?
He willed to see her and her etheric form manifested before him. His presence became known to her also. ‘Could you have repaid your karmic debt so soon?'

Tory shook her head and smiled broadly, pleased to see him. Having read to her charge about Maelgwn for three years, she'd become rather homesick to see her other half. For even though her astral body of emotion was not in use at the moment, intellectually she missed Maelgwn's company. ‘I've just finished relaying the first trilogy and I've been booted out by a cat who aspires to be an author. Whilst my charge has a baby, builds a house and shifts residence, her Oversoul suggested it might be best if I took a year off and returned to do the second trilogy when all the chaos has died down. It also gave me the opportunity to come and investigate the ending to our story. I don't feel right learning what happens from the books Kuthumi gave me, as I like to think that we do have some choice and influence over what is about to occur.'

‘I know what you mean,' Maelgwn said. ‘I've been avoiding reading the last book of the second trilogy for that very reason.'

‘So, what have I missed?' Tory sought an update.

‘You'll be hanging around to help me for a bit then?' Maelgwn was gratified by the idea, having missed her company too. Without her, he had no one to bounce ideas off, as he didn't like to trouble the Count with unimportant decisions.

‘If you don't mind me tagging along and taking a few notes?' Tory inquired, feeling that Maelgwn was genuinely keen on the idea.

‘It's always a pleasure,' he bowed graciously to confirm, but by the time he came back to vertical, Tory's attention had already reverted to their boys.