The Nightmare Game (29 page)

“Of course not. I made a promise to you. I always
keep my promises, Ashley. Of that you can trust.”

“This is the most unusual sculpture I’ve ever
seen,” I said, steering the conversation back to the artwork. I remained
uncomfortable with the subject of joining their group.

“It’s entirely unique,” Ben said. I could tell by
the tone of his voice that despite his awe, he had gone back into curator mode.
“There’s absolutely nothing else like it in the entire world. For all of its
enormous size, it is still carved out of only one perfect piece of crystal.”

“I didn’t think that was possible, not on such a
scale.”

“Neither did I,” he continued. “but here it is.
It’s Arrosha’s favorite piece as well, for it was created as an homage to her.
She tells me also that it is one of the very few remnants left of her homeland.
It was a miracle that it even survived; that it remained intact was an even
greater miracle.”

“Her homeland,” I asked. “Where is that?”

“The one place so beautiful that it brought her to
Earth to live and to rule, a country once known as Illeaocea. She named Illea
after it.”

“I’ve never heard of it,” I said.

“That’s because it doesn’t exist any longer. It
hasn’t for eons. It was a very large country, comprising most of the eastern
coast of the continent of Pangea.”

“Pangea?” I questioned. Surely, I must have
misheard him. “Do you mean Pangea, the prehistoric super continent?”

“Yes, that’s it, one and the same. But it was not
prehistoric; it just got lost to time. The history of the continent and the cultures
that lived there were completely eradicated by a cataclysm of Biblical
proportions, so intense that it fragmented the entire continent, breaking it up
into the smaller continents that we have today. The human race is a species
suffering with amnesia, Ashley. So much of our very distant past has been lost
that we’re completely severed from it. It’s hard to believe, I know, because
before I came to live here, like most people I really felt that history so
ancient was an interesting concept but no more than fantasy. I was very wrong,
however. Arrosha opened my eyes to the fact that the ancient Pangean
civilizations were very real indeed.”

“Civilizations? So there were more than just
Illotia?”

“Illeaocea,” he corrected me. “It was an
independent nation, and just as today, there were many, of different sizes and
importance. All of Pangea’s civilizations were incredibly advanced. Even taking
into account the strides that we’ve made in the last few decades and the
technology which is increasing exponentially in our world today, it is still
nothing compared to that which Pangea had to offer; they were incredibly,
extraordinarily advanced compared to us. It’s truly a shame that none of the
technology or science of Pangaea survived, but then, neither did any of their
music or art, except for this one piece, which is what makes it so incredibly
special.”

“How do you know all of this?” I asked.

“Arrosha told me. And she should know, because she
was there.”

“So the whole continent was wiped out?”

“Yeah, pretty much. While a few species did
survive, most everything else was lost and the landscape of the earth was
changed forever.”

“When did this all happen?” I asked, spellbound.

“It happened many eons ago, but exactly how many,
I don’t know. I have only that information which Arrosha has chosen to share
with me and she says that it was so long ago that the exact time is not
important. But I do know how it happened.”

“Really?”

“Oh, yes. The continental break up was caused by
the use of an abominable weapon of war, a doomsday device, you might even say.
Would you like to hear the whole tale?”

“Oh, yes,” I replied with as much enthusiasm as a
child waiting for a bedtime story.

“Well,” Ben began, “as I’ve already mentioned,
before civilization as we now know it began, almost all of the Pangaean
societies were, to one extent or another, so technologically advanced that they
made our modern science seem stone aged in comparison. Humankind’s amnesia runs
so very deep that we think of our past as being primitive, but the truth is
that were once so much more than we are now. Arrosha has told me that of all of
these advanced peoples, the Illeaoceans were, by far, the most highly developed
race upon the entire planet in every way. Their technology and spirituality,
studies that were not considered separate as they are today, were what could be
described as the gold standard of Pangaean civilization.

“Illeaocea was a beautiful country, larger than
the United States and China combined, and was one of the two most powerful
nations in existence, both in size and in power. Its capital, Illeaote, was an
incredible city that sat upon the shore of a tranquil ocean, for the world was
stable then and devoid of such natural violence as hurricanes and earthquakes.
Illeaote was the country’s center of government, industry and technology. The
Illeaoceans were extraordinarily beautiful and elegant, the most beautiful in
all of Pangea. They were a very peaceful, noble and spiritual people, forced
into an unwanted cold war with their neighboring country, Malitiua, whose
technology was almost as advanced as their own. Unlike the Illeaoceans,
however, their foes’ was a dark technology, for they were, by nature, extremely
violent and warlike. While Malitiua was nearly as large in size as Illeaocea,
they espoused the concept of manifest destiny and vowed not to rest until they
ruled the entire continent, an insane ambition that placed Pangea into grave
danger. Illeaocea vowed to protect not only themselves, but also the lesser
nations from this Malitiuan madness. Both sides possessed weapons of such power
that each was loathe to use them, even though the vast majority of Illeaocea’s
weapons were defensive while Malitiua’s were offensive.

“This bitter cold war lasted for several
centuries, during which time the Malitiuans perfected more deadly and terrible
weapons and the Illeaoceans perfected stronger and stronger shields and
anti-weaponry devices. One horrible day, however, the Malitiuans accidentally
set off one of their own devices within their own borders and they were wiped
off the face of the Earth by the blast forever. It was so terrible that even
the strongest of the Illeaocians’ defensive shields could not help them, for
even though most of the country was protected from the blast itself, their shields
could not protect Illeaocea from the destruction of the very earth upon which
it stood. The chain reaction this weapon caused was catastrophic, for the shock
waves it sent out were so enormously profound that, as they surged throughout
the continent, they began the greatest earthquake this world has ever seen.
Pangea was broken into pieces by this earthquake and Illeaocea, its foundation
now ripped asunder, was plunged either into the ocean or into the hellish
molten chasms that opened where the ground once stood just seconds before. The
ancient world was destroyed by the slew of earthquakes, volcanoes and lava
flows that ensued en masse. All of Pangea’s civilizations were utterly
fragmented, quite literally, in only a matter of hours. Everything that was
left of the surviving land, all of which was far from ground zero, was split
into disparate chunks that began a sudden, rapid separation which eventually
slowed down to the crawl we now call continental drift. Conditions afterward
were so harsh for those relatively few survivors that it was not long before
all former cultures became completely forgotten. New societies, however
primitive, were formed and many of Pangaea’s disparate peoples intermarried.”

“I don’t get it, though” I questioned, “If what
you say is all true, if this piece is Illeaocean, how could it possibly have
survived so much destruction and remained so remarkably intact?”

“Seems impossible, doesn’t it? Arrosha tells me
that it was not in Illeaocea at the time. It was far, far away, en route to
Illeaocea’s staunchest ally, a country on the other side of the world. It was
to be a gift from one government to another in the name of peace. Arrosha tells
me that she was traveling with the diplomatic envoy at the time of the
destruction and that because the sculpture was in transit, it was heavily
armored with multiple energy shields to protect it from damage. No one saw the
end coming, so they had no idea of the massive danger they had actually
shielded it against. She said that she searched for, found and unearthed this
piece long afterward, while she was a Goddess of ancient Mesopotamia, and
restored it. Almost nothing else survives of that ancient world, especially not
anything even remotely close to this statue’s size. A few other small mementoes
that, like this carving, were with her and her entourage at the time of the
cataclysm also survived and they remain in her possession to this day. They are
all so precious to her that she keeps them in her private abode and will not
even bring them to this mansion. I’ve never seen them; no one has. This
sculpture, a stylized portrait of her, is here only for our benefit, to remind
us of her when she is absent. It is a testament to her ancient heritage and
position.”

“I can’t believe that there isn’t even a scratch
on it, though. Even if it survived, that just seems impossible to me.”

“The protective shields apparently worked
amazingly well. It boggles my mind that their power sources were that strong
and could have endured long enough to rise to the task, but evidently, they
did.”

Ben began to look around as if he were expecting
someone.

“Listen, Ashley,” he continued, “as much as I hate
to stop here, somebody should be calling for us soon, so let’s start meandering
over toward the direction of the hookah room awhile, okay?”

“Sure,” I agreed.

We resumed walking toward our right, eventually
winding up at a large burgundy-black door with gold trim and hardware.

“This, my dear,” he said, his joviality returning,
“Is the front door. It is where we found you. Or, at least where Geoffrey found
you. And I’m so glad he did.” Ben ruffled the hair on the top of my head
playfully, as if I were a small child. He was the most likeable person that I
had met in years and my affection for him was growing.

As we continued, we passed several more
antiquities upon which Ben did not comment. He now was in a bit of a hurry
because apparently, whatever passed for dinner around here was rapidly
approaching. We reached a raised area that was opposite the Calligula and
Medusa statues and separated from the Great Room by a long archway with a
partial wall to either side. Tied-back curtains and two busts on pedestals
framed the archway to this relatively smaller empty space. We climbed several
steps onto the platform where I saw neatly stacked folding chairs and sheet
music stands tucked away in the front left corner of the room, hidden from the
view of any vantage point of the Great Room. While the long wall was solid, the
more narrow outer wall contained two long windows, each covered by the same
heavy drapes as the rest.

“This is our stage,” he said. “The chairs and
music stands are from our last party. Ashley, you missed a great party we threw
just the day before your arrival. It’s odd, though, that these things should
still be out here. They should have been put away by now. Since they’re not, I
hope that means we’ll be having another soiree soon. I’m betting it’s going to
be the celebration we’ll have right after you join us.”

“I’ll help you put the chairs up if you need me
to,” I offered, attempting to change the subject. “They don’t look too heavy.”

“Oh, heavens, no. Don’t worry about it. We never
do any work around here. Which is great, considering that a lot of things that
wind up on this stage are incredibly heavy, like pianos and harpsichords. You
see, another benefit of living here is that we don’t have to lift any little
finger that we don’t want to because this mansion lies in the heart of the land
of leisure. Other than worship services, our time is completely our own to spend
as we please in whatever endeavors we chose to pursue.”

More of an emotion than a memory, a feeling of
having worked far too long at something I didn’t really want to be doing
flooded my spirit. Somehow I knew that I felt shackled in my life and dearly
desired to be able to work on my own projects.

“That sounds so wonderful,” I said.

“Oh, it is, Ashley, it is.”

“Who moves the equipment, then?”

“Nobody does,” Ben replied. “Whatever we need just
appears, including party entertainment, like sets for plays and instruments for
concerts. And when it’s over, everything is usually just gone again.”

“Where does it go?”

“Honestly, I really don’t know. Like all of our
diversions and interests, it comes when it’s needed and it leaves when it’s
not. I don’t question it because it’s just how we live our lives here. Arrosha
simply takes care of all of that for us. It’s easy to get used to, so I do hope
you decide to stay. Even if you don’t want to stay forever, Ashley then please
at least stick around for our next party.”

“When’s that?”

“Whenever Arrosha decides it’s time to throw one.”

“Does she attend?” I asked. I had to admit that I
was quite curious to meet this Arrosha character.

“Oh, definitely. She attends all of our galas. She
wouldn’t miss one for the world. In fact, after asking us what kind of party
we’d like, she organizes the whole thing, from the guest list to providing
entertainment and arranging the catering.”

“The catering?” I asked, the simple mention of
real food was making me hungry.

“Yes, it’s the only time there’s actual food and
libations here at the mansion. It’s for the guests, since only our privileged
few get to partake of the essence.”

“Lucky me,” I remarked grimly as visions of home
cooking danced in my head.