The Guardian (Coranite Chronicles) (22 page)

“I knew it!” Kale pointed at Sorren. “This guy’s bad luck. We came in here when the whole thing’s about to blow!”

“Are you always this noisy?” Sorren mumbled.

A ball of magma rose out of the pit and floated before them. Drops of molten rock dripped off the ball until a shape began to take form. A titan. It was a massive creature with the form of a man. He donned a suit of fiery plate mail. His face was twisted into a mean scowl.

When he spoke, his voice thundered. “Who wishes for entrance?”

Sorren bowed. “We do. All four of us.”

The titan looked at Sorren. His expression became lighter. “Why, if it isn’t Sorren! I haven’t seen you…in a long time. How long has it been? Fifty years? Sixty?”

Sorren smiled. “What have you planned for us today? A battle?”

The titan chortled amiably, “A battle? No, old friend. The days when I thought I could stand up to your might are long gone. Besides, there are others with you. Perhaps a group test would be more interesting.”

Kale groaned, “A test? We have to take a test?”

“Yes,” responded the titan. “I’ll give you a question and each of you gets one chance to answer. If one of you is correct, you will all be allowed to see him. If you are all incorrect…then you will have to wait a year before you can take this test again.”

“No pressure, huh?” Kale frowned. “I hate pop quizzes.”

“Very well,” said Sorren. “Give us the question.”

Kale said quickly, “Now wait a minute. I want to know something before we begin. Is it a riddle? There’s a big difference between like a trivia question and a riddle.”

The titan bellowed, “It is a question.” Kale made a face. The titan continued, “Now here is my question. There were five men: a soldier, a slave, a thief, a politician, and a priest. They were friends and were having dinner around the table in the politician’s home. The house collapsed, killing them all. Who was wrong?”

Kale spluttered, “What kind of question is that? There can’t be a real answer!”

“Just answer the question,” snapped the titan, glaring at him. “If you speak one more time without giving an answer, I will kick you out…literally—with my foot.”

Kale looked away and muttered to himself, “A one in five chance. And there are four of us here. Even if we guess, we could get it right.” Then he turned to the titan, raised his hand and said, “My answer is the thief!”

“Why would you say that?” the titan said stoically.

With a smug face, Kale said, “Isn’t it obvious? The way I see it, the thief must’ve wanted something from the others. He only pretended to be their friend. When he got all of them together, it was the perfect opportunity for him to fake his own death and make off with the loot.”

“I see.” The titan nodded in agreement. “But you are wrong.”

“Blast it.” Kale snapped his fingers. “I thought it was a pretty good answer.”

The titan glanced over at the others. “Do any of you have a response?”

Azura appeared deep in thought. Elize looked confused.

Sorren replied, “I’ll say the politician.”

“Explain.”

Sorren said, “It was his home. The responsibility of their death lies on his shoulders. Besides, politicians can never be trusted. He might have had some motives, but miscalculated somewhere and ended up dying a foolish death.”

The titan grinned, baring his fang-like teeth. “I’m sorry, but you are also wrong.”

“My guess would be the slave,” said Elize. “A slave would desire freedom. But maybe he thought his only freedom was to die. And I think that’s wrong. People should find a reason to live, even if it’s for someone else’s sake.”

“Very deep. Very sorrowful,” said the titan. “I’m glad to say you are wrong also.”

“This is stupid,” grumbled Kale. “There’s no real answer to this question. It’s a matter of opinion. His opinion versus ours.” He clenched his fist. “I can’t believe it. This is
so
stupid. Because of this absurd question, I won’t be able to go home for another year.” He glanced secretly at Azura. “Please…please, get this right. I don’t want to have to wait one more year to return home.”

Azura looked up to the titan and said, “I know the answer.
They
were wrong.”

CHAPTER 17

Caretaker

Deep in the pit of the volcano, a brief silence settled in. Even the frothy magma turned quiet as Azura revealed her answer.

“I’m right, aren’t I?” Azura studied the titan’s visage, trying to see if she could determine his response, but he remained unmoving. “It’s them. They were wrong.”

The titan then could not restrain himself any longer and let out a broad grin.

“You are right.”

Kale looked perplexed. “I don’t understand. Who are
they
?”

Azura wordlessly pointed at Kale, Sorren and Elize.

Pointing at himself with a finger, Kale’s face became wrinkled in confusion. “You’re talking about us? We were wrong? Of course,
we
were wrong! How does that make
you
right?”

“Because I’m right about you guys being wrong,” said Azura.

Kale shook his head. “That has nothing to do with it!”

“What are you complaining about?” Azura snapped. “I got it right!”

Kale exhaled loudly to vent his frustration. The question was completely unfair and had nothing to do with the story that the titan had said. He wanted to be happy and relieved that Azura had gotten the question right, but in his heart he felt like he had been taken as a complete fool.

Sorren said to him, “Do you not understand the meaning behind the test?”

“There’s a meaning behind this dumb, unfair test?” asked Kale mockingly.

 
“I would say so,” said Sorren. “Think of it this way. The examiner holds the answers. Whatever he says must be accepted. It matters not what you think. If someone says that one plus one equals two, we accept that because that is what we are taught. But what if we were taught differently? One plus one might equal three. Then it’s no longer about simple truths or lies, but about right or wrong in the eyes of the examiner. Azura realized the absolute truth based on whatever information was given. The information given included both the story about the five men and the fact that we were incorrect. You declare it unfair, but the rules established have made it fair.”

“What? What are you even trying to say?” said Kale.

“That the words of the examiner are worth more than your words.”

Kale said, “WHAT? You’re totally not making sense. Whatever, I don’t care anymore. I’ve had enough. Let’s go meet…whoever it is we’re meeting.”

A solid platform, which looked to be made of many stones, rose up to the surface of the magma. The titan gestured for them to stand on it. They crossed over the magma through a narrow bridge of rock and stood on the platform.

“Enjoy the trip,” said the titan. “And don’t forget to visit. I’ll try to think of another fun test for next time.”

“There won’t be a next time,” said Sorren.

“That’s what you said last time.” The titan grinned.

The titan jumped into the pool of molten rock. The volcano rumbled yet again—but this time it was much stronger. The platform started to rise higher as the magma rose from below it. There was a drastic increase in pressure inside the dark chamber. Then, all of a sudden, the eruption happened. The incredible force below them was released, sending them high into the sky. They rode along the push from the eruption towards the black object in the clouds.

Azura gaped at the awesome sight. She could finally see a large-scale version of the patchwork terrain before very her eyes. It was a sight to behold. Waterfalls flowed upward into lakes; billows of smoke, presumably from other volcanoes, drifted down into caverns; zigzagging deserts cut through forests; clouds of rain would systematically park over one area, and then move to next as soon as that land had been drenched. Everything looked like it wouldn’t work in the natural world, yet in this place, it had been made perfect.

Then everything turned pitch-black when they reached the black cube in the sky. It was so dark inside that they couldn’t see anything. Even Azura, with her sharp Aenarian eyes, could not tell what was around her.

“Welcome to my humble abode,” said a warm voice.

A faint light, similar to candlelight, flickered in the center of the room. An elderly man stood before them, his face covered in wrinkles, his hands wizened by the sands of time. His great big beard draped along the ground. However, his clothes were rather casual: a dress shirt and slacks.

The old man said, “It’s been a longtime since anyone has come up here. Your friends, the ones I invited, seem to be too busy to speak with me. It is nice then that you are here.”

They were quiet for a while. Then, unable to contain his curiosity any longer, Kale spoke first to break the silence. “Who are you? And what is this place?”

The man replied, “I am known as the Caretaker. I watch over this land. I water the crops with rain and bring the warmth of the sun to the people. Whenever particles are sucked into this void through black holes, I take those particles and reconstruct them. I place them wherever I wish and give them purpose. And this would be my home, from which I do everything. It seems small, but it is much larger than you can possibly imagine.”

The Caretaker gave them all a friendly smile and said, “So you must be Azura, Kale and Elize. It is good to finally meet you. Or have we already met?”

“I’ve never seen you before,” Azura said. “But you know our names…”

“Yes,” said the Caretaker. “I know.”

Kale said skeptically, “Then do you know what we came for?”

“You Heroes want to return home. You want to go back to the city of Fallence, the home of the Heroes.”

“A mind reader?” Azura wondered out loud.

The Caretaker chuckled. He walked across the black floor and, as he did, the room changed, rapidly transforming into millions of different scenes that could be seen across Lacuna. One second they were standing above a river; a second later, they were taken to a desolate badland. It was like all of Lacuna was being copied bit by bit for them to see and experience within a matter of minutes. One of the scenes Azura recognized was Merdon’s village and everyone was working there, minding their own business, as though they did not even see Azura standing before them.

Without warning, all of it disappeared. It turned black once again. A round marble step appeared below the Caretaker and it lifted him off the ground. He hovered over the others and raised his hands. A miniature version of Lacuna, almost looking like a plastic model, now rose up from the surface of the floor. As the Caretaker swung his hand over the oceans, the waves increased in strength. He blew out his breath to push the clouds wherever he pleased. Whenever he powerfully raised his hands, the volcanoes erupted all across the land. With his finger, he drew rainbows in the sky. With his eyes, he shot beams of light through his pupils and into the land.

Beyond Lacuna were various clumps of dirt, water, fire, thunder and wind. The Caretaker reached out his hand and grabbed a clump of dirt, then molded it into a mountain and padded it neatly onto the very edge of Lacuna were there was only void.

“Amazing,” Elize uttered.

Kale had a dumbfounded look on his face. “H-how is this possible? Are we in a machine that can control matter and space? Who are you, really?”

A thought popped into Azura’s head. “Wait a minute! Were you the one who brought that mist for me to drink? You can control everything in this place, can’t you?”

The Caretaker laughed, amused by their outburst of questions. “You already know all the answers without me telling you. You are intelligent enough to understand.”

“If you can control everything, why did you make this place so dangerous?” asked Azura. “Couldn’t you send away the monsters? What if there are innocent people down there who can’t defend themselves?”

“Have you not seen there are two sides to Lacuna?”

Azura nodded in reply.

The Caretaker said, “The side you came from is more dangerous, but I sent you there because I knew you could handle the dangers. There are humans…normal humans in this place. I have sent them all to the other side, a world free of monsters.”

Azura cocked her head. “But why? Why would you create such a place?”

“Because you are not yet ready for what lies ahead. Nor are the immortals ready. This is a place of preparation. I do hope the experiences you’ve gained in this place have been useful.”

“I don’t understand…” Azura said. “What are you preparing us for?”

The Caretaker said, “While I would love to continue talking with you, time is of the essence. As we speak, your dimension is in grave danger. You all need to be there. Be a part of it. Experience it. Live it. Then you will understand it.” The Caretaker raised his hand. “Go!”

 
A small vortex formed between Kale and Azura.

The Caretaker told them, “I shall send you to the place you desire.”