The Four Kings (11 page)

Regi’s irritated voice boomed through, clearly heard by Demus and Indie, who were enjoying the spectacle from their aerial perch. “What are you doing? You’re supposed to stay above the fray and not get involved.” They knew Regi was monitoring the counter-revolutionary movement in Toronto, Canada.

Indie grinned as she shouted out, “I can’t help it. This is too much fun!”

Chapter Fifteen

Two weeks post-Liberation

Things seemed to be stabilizing somewhat, although riots still raged on throughout the world. However, the protests seemed to be dying off gradually since the first day, where hundreds of bystanders had been injured. There were no charges laid, because police forces and courthouses, now subsiding on bitcoins contributed by their respective communities, were now focussed on survival. Only the most severe crimes, such as murder and arson, were still being investigated and prosecuted.

All governments—federal, state, or municipal—had all run out of paper money, and now were painfully adjusting to the new “bitcoin economy” where they had to continually justify every expense, even a light bulb in a dingy hallway of a courthouse. Millions and millions of government workers around the world were laid off, and only the “visible” jobs such as service counter clerks, police officers, swimming pool administrators, firefighters, garbage collectors, and utility operators managed to prosper in the brave new economy. Every day, for many taxpayer-funded jobs that the public never heard of, but sorely missed once eliminated, millions of consumers frantically rushed to their tabs to “save” their old entitlements. It wasn’t uncommon for a city worker to receive a layoff notice, and then two days later, receive a call back to work, only because the city had suddenly received a fresh dedicated stream of bitcoin revenue for his old job.

Amanda was still working at her headquarters on South Basin. It was now past seven p.m., yet dozens of staffers were still in their shared offices—no cubicles as the Liberators frowned upon them—diligently processing thousands of petitions, news releases, requests, phone calls, electronic mail messages, economic and international reports, and blueprints that came their way. Her staff had doubled to two hundred, as the demand soared through the roof. She had a huge, spacious private office that overlooked San Francisco Bay, and she loved her surroundings. The office complex, zapped up only two weeks ago, still had that brand-new feel to it.

The Liberators were certainly ingenious. There were nine “hopping elevators” on each floor which looked like regular elevators, but sped along rapidly “sideways” from one corner of the huge complex to the other. There were nine, because the complex was shaped like a perfect hexagon, with six sides. Three were for transporting from one corner directly to the opposite corner. Then there were six for going along the perimeter of the hexagon, along all six sides, one hopping elevator each
. Very efficient
, Amanda thought.

The recruits to the Supreme Liaison’s headquarters were astounding in terms of their qualifications. The Liberators had insisted upon only three hiring rules: all must have university degrees and experience in philosophy, metaphysics, economics, international relations, politics, science, medicine, or commerce; there must be a perfectly balanced gender ratio, that is, for every woman hired, there must be one man; and all must be under the age of twenty-seven, and thus couldn’t turn thirty within three years’ time from the day that the Liberators took power.

Amanda frowned as she peered over the list of sixty-five approved blueprints for new courthouses in Belize, Guatemala, Mexico, Canada, and the United States. She verified that the blueprints had all the vital information, and then carefully placed them into a pile in a slot in the wall with a nameplate labeled “Justica.” The slot beeped as it digested the papers, then a door slammed shut. Amanda had no idea where the papers headed; all she knew was that eventually Justica would see them. Anytime she wanted to retrieve these papers, she’d dictate what she wanted. Upon hearing the command, the slot would open up again, allowing her to reach inside to pick up these exact papers. It saved her countless hours of having to search for files.

Suddenly, a figure materialized right beside Amanda. Startled, she glanced over to see Demus, wearing his typical red-themed shirt. This time, he proudly displayed wide bands of alternating hues of grayish-red and fire brick red. It was a short-sleeved tight shirt, with the trim hugging his considerable biceps. He was sitting on top of her desk, grinning like the Cheshire Cat.

“You scared me,” Amanda said, holding her hand over her heart.

“Sorry,” he said. “I just came by to see how you’re doing.”

“I’m fine, thanks.” She felt annoyed.
What was he doing here?

“Working hard, I see.”

She sighed. “There’s so much stuff to do. This is like a mini-United Nations in here.”

He chuckled. “But better.”

She turned her head away from him. “I’m supposed to stay neutral. But, yes, I’m excited about the future.” She adopted a dreamier trance. “What if we had the power – to really change the world for the better?” She glanced at him. “What if we could eliminate poverty?”

Demus nodded thoughtfully. “That’s one goal of the Liberators. We’ll get there.”

Amanda stared at him with a hint of defiance on her face. “What are you doing here?”

Demus pretended to be hurt at the suggestion he wasn’t welcome. “This is my headquarters.”

“No. It is the headquarters of the Supreme Liaison. I report to the people of North America.”

Demus shrugged. “Same thing.”

“No, it’s not.”

“The goals of the people are the goals of the Liberators. We’re one and the same. The only difference is that we have magic and you don’t,” he told her.

Amanda felt a little offended, but her curiosity got the better of her. “Honestly, it’s been so extraordinary, I haven’t had time to sit down and really think. What’s this magic? How did you get it?”

She saw a gleam in Demus’ eyes. “You really want to know?”

She hesitated. “Yes, I do.”

“Make it so.” He snapped his fingers above her head. In a split-second, they both disappeared from the headquarters of the Supreme Liaison.

Chapter Sixteen

A startled Amanda glanced around, knowing she had instantaneously entered new surroundings. The air felt cool and moist on her skin. As she had been sitting just a moment ago, she would’ve fallen onto her backside with the chair now gone, but Demus clasped her hand just in time, steadying her. She stood up straight, a little shaken.

They were standing on a gleaming marble floor, in the middle of a huge cavernous enclave. The sun’s rays filtered through, giving the gigantic space an aura of natural light. The area seemed to be half a mile wide, with cave-like formations making up the sides – only that the walls weren’t earthen or rock; they gleamed like sheared glass.

She was enchanted. What was this material?

She craned her neck to look up at the ceiling, which seemed about twenty stories high although there were no structures to measure anything like ‘stories’. She gasped.

Although the ceiling was very far up, she thought she observed a rain forest canopy, with its palm leaves, woody vines, and
Balizia elegans
tree crowns.

“Where do you think we are?” Demus slyly asked her, observing her closely.

“I’m – I’m not sure,” said Amanda, still drinking in the spectacle surrounding her. She kept her gaze on the ceiling. “It looks like we’re in a rain forest or something,” she said.

“We are.”

“But these crystals over there.” She pointed toward the gleaming walls. “They look like ice.”

“Yes,” Demus said. “You got it right. These are all crystals.”

She gazed at the refraction of beams on the crystal walls, which twinkled everywhere, almost blinding her should she look directly at them. “Lots of light.”

“You’ve heard of a
thousand points of light
. Here, we have millions of points of light.”

“Why would there be huge walls of crystals in a rain forest?”

Demus spread out his arms. “This is Emerana.”

Amanda turned her head to him. “Emeralda?”

“No, Emerana. This is the Fortress of the Liberators.”

“It’s so beautiful.”

Demus swelled with pride. “I knew you’d like it.”

“A fortress? What’s this for?”

Demus tilted his head, as if he was too familiar with the structure. “It’s where all the Liberators meet.”

Amanda opened her mouth wide. “All over the world?”

“Yes. We have our competitions here. We have conferences, debates, you name it.”

Amanda squinted. “I don’t see any, you know, parts where you can meet. This is just one huge place.”

“That’s what it looks like. We keep it as simple as possible. It’s multi-functional. Whatever we want, we zap it up. For example, let’s say you want a drink in a bar?”

“There’s no bar here.”

Demus took her hand and walked about ten feet to their left. He held out his free hand, gesturing to nothingness in front of him. Instantly, a slick, modern looking bar, with plush leather seats, and rows of wineglasses hanging upside down from overhead racks, appeared. “There is now. Be my guest.”

Amanda saw a young lady, dressed in a tight lime green jumpsuit, attending to the counter behind the bar. Her top was creatively designed to show off some cleavage. Amanda internally winced, but kept a straight expression. Demus smiled at her, clearly savouring the busty attendant. “What would you like?”

“Nothing, thanks.”

“Suit yourself.” Without Demus even vocalizing anything, the lady in the bar conjured up a bubbling red concoction in a margarita shaped glass. She smiled in an obviously fake manner, and extended her arm out to offer the drink to Demus. He was too lazy to even stroll over that far. Instead, the drink disappeared, and then materialized in Demus’ hand. He sipped his drink.

Amanda thumbed over to the bartender while looking straight ahead at Demus. “Is she…”

Demus waved his hand at her dismissively. “No, she’s not real, of course.” He twitched his hand, and the lady vanished. He dropped his glass on purpose, and the glass disappeared before it even hit the floor. “So this is how it works.” Crossing his arms, he brought them up and to his sides, and the entire bar disappeared.

“Neat,” Amanda reluctantly acknowledged. “Multifunctional.”

“It’s the center of the Liberators’ universe.”

Amanda leaned more into Demus’ direction. “Are we even on Earth?”

“Oh, yes.”

“Where are we?”

Demus nodded at her, grinning. “Do you think I’d tell you? What’s to stop the Mortals from searching us out and bombing this? Although, even if they try, they wouldn’t get very far.”

“Fascinating.”

Demus stood straight, and eyeballed her from toe to head in a manner that made her feel uncomfortable. “It’s time to play games.”

Amanda pulled back, somewhat disconcerted. “Games?”

Demus closed his eyes and placed both hands on his chest. “It’s what we wizards live for. You haven’t experienced Emerana until you’ve played our games.”

“What games?”

Demus opened his eyes, as if suddenly intrigued. “We start now.” Palms up, he brought his hand out into the direction of Amanda’s face.

“Start what…?” She gasped as she experienced a sudden temperature drop on her skin. She looked down to find herself wearing a black and white polka dot skimpy bathing suit.

Astonished, she looked up at Demus. He was wearing a Speedo suit hugging him tightly. His chest muscles bulged upon his torso, making him appear raw and sensual. “Relax,” he said, “It’s not what you think. We’re going to do something like a water park, but far more mind-blowing than any you’ve ever been to.”

“Not in this…” she glanced down at her minimal coverage, and held out her hands. Her voice had an unmistakeable tone of irritation. “…
skimpy
outfit!”

Demus covered his mouth and attempted to suppress his laughter. Failing, he bent over slightly, and guffawed for a few moments.

“All right, Amanda,” he said, lifting up his arms.

She peered down to see that she was now wearing a one-piece suit, ivory white. The neckline comfortably hugged her throat. When she glanced back at Demus, he was now wearing a black boxer-short style bathing suit.

“Get me out of this suit!” Amanda yelled angrily. When she saw the gleam in Demus’ eyes, she realized there was a double meaning in her recent statement.
Don’t give him the wrong idea
. “No, no… I mean, I don’t want to go swimming right now.”

Demus held up his hand in the
stop
position, giving a reassuring expression. “Don’t worry, Amanda. I’ve always been a gentleman when it comes to women. You just say no, I won’t make any moves on you.” He had a glint in his eyes. “But, now that we’ve put this aside, I still insist that we both do one of the competitions that we wizards do all the time.”

“I told you, I don’t want…”

Demus pointed up at the sky. Amanda glanced up and drew in her breath sharply. There were ten huge transparent spheres, as if made of glass, all hovering in the air above them. Each sphere seemed to be half-full of deep blue water. The spheres were each about twenty feet in diameter, and scattered about in the space above them. They all seemed to be perfectly equidistant from one another, by about one hundred feet each.

“They’re beautiful,” said Amanda. There was a faint glow within each sphere.

“The Water Rocket,” said Demus.

“I’ve never heard of anything like that before.”

Demus pointed up at the drifting, suspended assortment of water-laden glass orbs. “The objective is to go from one sphere to another, until you go through them all.”

Amanda was flabbergasted at the proposition. “How?”

Demus had a wicked smile, toying with her reaction. “Like I said, you go from one sphere to another, through the water.”

Amanda shook her head, a little scared. “But – but that’s impossible. They’re so small, and so far apart. No one can do this.”