Ultimus Thesaurus: The last Treasure (Era of Change Book 1) (14 page)

“And now? You just want to kill all of them? And then what? To burn down a city of this size is impossible. And even if you succeed, how do you put out the fire at the end? It won’t stop at the city, it will catch the trees, the whole forest and after that, do you think it will spare you?” I said and tried to talk some sense into these brutes, but all my attempts remained pointless.

They took some torches and tied me up near the fire which felt like it slowly melted my skin. I had difficulty seeing everything, as they had thought of taking away my glasses before we went into the city. Given their stupidity I had to admit that they knew how to die. Nothing that happened in this night was necessary, but at the end when I heard cries from afar, I realized that it was necessary, namely for me. After a few minutes already they brought the men back to my location bound and beaten. 

I heard a song and drums and in the shadows many people danced around the fire. Soon there were hundreds of them, so many that it made me forget why we were here.

“What are you doing in our town? You desecrated our temple, stole the holy fire, and dared to lay hands on our people? The titans protect us and we, as their children, protect them. No one will leave this city alive,” shouted one of the men and his words spoke even louder than the loudest drummer.

The fire fought in the sky, and my view was getting worse. They cut off my bonds and threw me before the feet of the two men from our crew. They were forced to kneel and keep their heads down until the judgment had been executed.

“You, the creature of the white night, who is without view and without intention, what leads you through the twilight? Do you want to serve the titans, or do you want to burn through their angry fire?” asked me the man whose face I could hardly see.

“My name is Jacob; I am here at the behest of Jasper Lawrence. These men do not have to die. They did not come alone to this island. Their leader, the man who caught me, hides at the top in the forest. Let us forget this dispute and let us worship the titans in a different way,” I said and hoped for the man to let go of his anger.

He took a torch in his hand and gave it to me. His face was distorted, but I believed that it was a mask that he wore. Without any doubt however, there was only one way for me. They began to bring us large pots and they started to sing another song. The drums got slower and louder, while they opened the heavy lid of the pots. Just when the stone plates, which sealed the containers, had fallen to the ground, they stopped the song and drums at the same time.

“Thamyris, father of our people, son of the titans, bringer of light and god among people, today we bring a sacrifice. These men decided to defy the titans. Their deeds, before the eyes of our lord, cannot go unpunished. 

By the songs of our fathers, the rhymes and poems of our children, and the music of our gods we condemn them to death. Their fate will be realised by the ambassador of the sky, the servant of the Lawrence. He is the man, who showed us the world and revealed the way and the words that we sing,” the man said and handed me a knife.

It was a short sword of unmanageable size; its blade was sharper than I had ever seen. The drums began to play slowly again, and the vocals sound returned, while several women lifted up the large pots and emptied their contents on the men. I recognized the fluid immediately, because I already drunk from it. There was no doubt that the colour and consistency as well as the gut-wrenching smell were the same. But what was it that they were now asking from me?

“Bathed and anointed in the blood of our enemies, you are facing the titans. Carry out the judgment, servant of the bringer of words!” the man screamed and the flames struck high into the sky.

The drums were ever faster, and I gathered all my courage. Even if I already had killed a lot of people, I now for the first time held the executioner’s blade. It was a different feeling as if the life in me tried to resist the temptation. Nausea and doubt overtook me, but in the end I did the only possible thing. 

I decapitated the men, one after the other, and tried not to faint as the heads rolled before my feet and the blood mixed with the black liquid. It formed something that I had seen before and now I knew what it was, this red shimmer. Only a few moments later the mixture ignited and the flames of the large fire devoured the two men. I jumped back and let the knife fall to the ground. Dragon tears had been shed on this day, but what was it that created them? What was it that I drank?

I spent the night in a house, close to the square in front of the temple, but I could not sleep. The mad captain still roamed through the forests, and now I was not even sure if he was the greatest hazard on this island. The man that forced me to kill these crew members was called Tybalt, and he was the leader of a cult, who called themselves the 'born-again'. He told me that since the death of the titans on this island, his people live to guard the ancient knowledge against the dragons. I had never heard that a dragon was the enemy of this island’s people, and I had even more difficulties imagining that dragons could actually exist. Things like dragon tears, dragon scales or the dragon’s breath were just names, based on stories, which never really happened. But as with all that I once doubted, I thought about these things now. The black substance I drank mingled with the blood of humans to become dragon tears, and not even Tybalt could tell me more about it other than it being used in an old ritual.

He and his people have learned with time to accept these things and it was more than understandable, because they didn’t know the outside world. None of them had ever left this island. Their ancestor, Thamyris was a relative of Tybalt, which he told me about proudly. I had difficulties imagining that most if not all people on this island had to be relatives of one another after such a long time, but I didn’t want to tell him that and destroy his illusion or end up like the two men who were decapitated and burned on the square. Therefore I stayed friendly, followed the motto 'see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil' and tried to be as inconspicuous as possible. Tybalt was a sophisticated man for his environment, but his age was difficult to assess. They knew no calendar, not even real hours. But this island was also no ordinary place. He told me that people disappeared into a different world while sleeping, and the next morning they would tell stories about things that had never happened. These dreams, so real, as if they were truly happening were what I had already experienced myself, and I was worried that these people who had spent their entire life here knew nothing about it except that it happened.

Jasper was the first stranger who had entered this island alive. They worshiped him as an ambassador of the gods, and they told me that he taught them the words. The words were probably from the ancient writings that he had obtained on the island, but Tybalt wouldn’t even let me into the vicinity of these scripts. It was not that he feared that I could destroy them; he just didn’t have access to them himself. He said that the bringer of words sealed the door of the temple before he disappeared. None of these people knew how to open the door, but he expected a solution from me. Lucia, Aton and Isaac were also in this city, but they were held captive as Aton seemed like a monster to these people.

They told me that I could see my friends on the next morning, but I had to attend some festivities before that, as they wanted to honour my arrival. I didn’t care for these festivities, but these people knew no one except themselves and so it was only natural, that even a person like me seemed special to them. They called me Albus, which was an old word for white. They said that their belief dictates that there were once seven heavens for the seven kingdoms. 

They knew a lot about the world in which I grew up, and taught me the words that Jasper had once taught them. The heavens were divided into seven colours - red, yellow, blue, green, purple, white and black - each standing for the power of the kingdom. But the origins of this faith were founded in a time long before the foundation of the seven kingdoms themselves - in the age of the old gods. Before our world fragmented, dragons lived in this world and they were the elect creatures of the gods. Once they should have ruled the world and the seven heavens. But there were two sides, the side of the black dragons, the dragon kings and the side of the white dragons, the born-again.

Only one side would win this conflict and at the end rule over the kingdoms of the gods as their true heirs. But as the world fragmented, the dragons died and the knowledge of the gods was lost. Now the titans became the keepers of knowledge, until they also perished from this world. And now, where there were only simple people left who could guard this knowledge, they feared that the dragons would rise again. 

I couldn’t really believe any of that, as it became clear to me that I never really had received this bottle. Even though it was still in my possession, it seemed to me as if my mind played tricks on me just to give a meaning to everything around me. 

Tybalt and his disciples were brave people who were just waiting to be finally freed from their knowledge, but now that I came to this place, I did not know whether I wanted to be the person who would free them. The dragons were dead, if they had ever existed, and their descendants have surely followed. This knowledge was now only a danger for the humans of this world.

But before I would be allowed to see the entrance of the temple, I had to deliver a speech. It was expected of me that I preach the words that Jasper taught them. All the people were wearing wide and long robes and they had put on masks that depicted the head of a dragon. They played loud music, the drums gave a wild rhythm, and the fire in the middle of the large square was burning just like before and lit the night.

And even though this city seemed to never sleep, I never saw someone on the streets outside. Tybalt however took my problems rather lightly and decided to forbid any further questions, at least until the ceremony was over. They had set up a platform, at the end of the steps of the temple, for the speaker. Large parchment scrolls written in illegible fonts were lying on the ground and should be read out by me. This must have been the knowledge that Jasper gave to the born-again.

I skimmed the texts, while Tybalt presented me a white robe. He asked me to put it on, despite me being observed by thousands of people. The mask that he wore however was terrifying enough to accept his simple request. I was unsure what the robes had been made of, as I couldn’t fell the material on my skin. I felt more than uncomfortable with the feeling of absolute nudity while delivering a speech to a foreign audience; however, I was left with no choice. 

They adored me because of my white hair and truly believed that I was one of their born-again dragons. As I was given the first passage, the music stopped and all people knelt down. At the same time the drums stopped also and for a moment I had the feeling that the fire changed as long as the drums were not playing.

The text was difficult to read and although the people were waiting for me, I wanted to first understand what I was going to say. The text had been translated and knowing Jasper he had probably left out the most important parts. These words came from a book that they called the Heritage of the Dragons. It noted that the words should only be spoken by a dragon priest and that they were dangerous enough to be afraid. I swallowed, inhaled deeply and put a smile on my face as last postponement, but in the end I was forced to speak these words, even if I was not a priest.

“The blood is power and the born-again will arise from it. Where the black dragons once swept over the country like large storms, there we will see the rays of the sun and the tears of grace. The rain of healing will wash away the blood of kings and the floor will be nourished. On this ground, the born-again will settle down and they will distribute their seeds all over the world. And now speak the words,” I read, and the drums started from the beginning.

The beats were louder and the rhythm faster and the people stood up and cried out: “We shall rise again, we will kill our enemies, and we will take and drink their blood, so that the world is clean again. We are the born-again, the masters of the seven heavens.”

When I heard all of them speak with one voice and when even the stone under my feet trembled from their power, I understood that I was not seeing a simple island’s nation, who guarded the ancient knowledge. It was an army that was waiting to be unleashed, but I had no idea why I was the one to lead them.

An explorer, adventurer, scholar and an unknown was the man to whom I once dedicated my life to. But the days that passed faded, while the present illuminated the way before me that seemed to be hidden by the mist of the future. I asked myself whether Jasper saw in me the same as these people. Was I truly some kind of re-born? Or was it simply my otherness that made me the centre of attraction, or at least made me look like it? They gave me a house, away from the city, and they still denied me the right to see my friends. Everything seemed like a dream, a horrible nightmare from which I could not wake up. Tybalt was of ruthless nature and with every meeting my impression that I was only a prisoner for him became more and more established. He firmly believed that I knew the secrets of Jasper, and he wanted to know everything from me. Maybe I was just too passive, yielding and anxious, but the experience on this island made me yet another person.

If I was not re-born before, so I was when I came to this island. There were so many things that I couldn’t understand, but how should I, if even the great Jasper Lawrence grew desperate with them. Beings, alive since thousands of years ago, could in my opinion not exist. 

You would notice them, or they would have to hide. But I was sure that no one could bear the pain of an almost endless life and easily endure it, it would destroy their soul. But precisely this mystery, that Jasper had sought for his entire life, had cost him, what he had too little of. The message of the stranger, the dreams in which I urged to find the secret knowledge and to destroy them, the wish that everything would stop, they tormented me day after day. I could not sleep, I could not think, I could not even cry. Lucia had lost her emotions and in the night when my fatigue finally granted me sleep, I looked into her eyes and I saw nothing but endless frost. The captain had awakened something inside of her that has always been there, but should have never been roused.