The Mirage on the Brink of Oblivion (The Epic of Aravinda Book 3) (4 page)

CHAPTER
8

IMPOSSIBLE ARCHITECTURE

When he turned around, Asha’s appearance startled him.

Now, her face was lit from below as well as from above. She was still wearing a silvery Confederation uniform, but her entire form wavered in the middle distance, as if her shape might change at any moment.

She squinted at him. “I’ve been waiting for you for a while. They weren’t kidding about the time dilation.”

“Oh.” Zahn hesitated. “I’m sorry. I got on the bunk right after you did. I guess we’ll have to be careful about that.”

Out of the corner of his eye, he thought he saw something impossible and turned around in surprise.

Rising up to the ceiling of the expansive chamber were magnificent, curving structures that sprung out of the sides of the chamber itself. Upon closer examination, Zahn realized that some of the structures weren’t attached to anything at all.

“It’s remarkable, Zahn. I know that we’ve done this once before, but waking up here, to this.” She looked past him, up to the impossible architecture that surrounded them. “It’s like waking up for the first time.”

Zahn could think of nothing to say and grew absorbed in the fantastical constructions that surrounded him. Several figures clothed in bright, billowing colors flew through the air between the structures with an elegance and grace that mesmerized him.

“Are these… buildings?” He held his gaze on where one structure in the far distance curved down from the ceiling, coming to a sharp point. A small balcony hung off of the bottom of the point, and Zahn thought he could make out a few people above it.

“Yes,” Asha said. “I’ve already been over there, actually. They’re really sweet people. They’re having, ah, I guess you could call it a dinner party. They invited me to stay, but I thought I’d wait over here for you. I felt rather overwhelmed when I first came up, so I thought you’d want me to be here.”

Zahn tore his gaze away from the eccentric forms around him and looked over to her. “Thanks.” He reached out to take her hand, and when he touched it, a rush of ecstatic energy flowed through him. “Whoa!”

“Hey!” Asha inhaled sharply. “I think touch is different here, Zahn. It must be a lot harder to hide how you feel about someone when you’re in this state, you know?”

He grinned. “Well, you already know how I feel about you…”

Her eyes smiled back at him. “And you already know how I feel.” She leaned in and embraced him tightly, filling him with a profound warmth that felt even more pure than when they’d embraced with their physical bodies many times before.

Zahn brushed back her hair and admired her olive skin. Even in this out-of-body state, her etheric body must have automatically assumed the form of her physical body. He could even see the flecks of green in her eyes. In short, she was as stunning as ever.

“Zahn, look!”

He whipped around, just in time to see a large group of people in bright clothes emerge out of a smooth patch in the ceiling with great speed. Each of them were zooming down, but in different directions. In a blink, they had all dissolved into one of the huge, white cubes, no different from the one he was currently standing on.

“Yikes,” he said. “I wonder what sent them back so quickly.”

“I don’t know,” she said. “Maybe that’s what happens when you wake up.”

“Yeah, Jyana did say that we would need to wake up to eat. Maybe they’re all eating together.” Zahn turned to her. “What do you think they eat, anyway? Did you see anything when we came in?”

“No,” Asha said. “I didn’t even think about it, actually.”

“Well, obviously there’s something above that part of the ceiling those people came through. I think we should check it out.” Zahn visualized his path ahead and flew upward in a straight line.

“Hey! Come back here! We should wait for Jyana.”

“She said the time dilation was a factor of about sixty-four, right?” He called back. “And you said you were waiting for me for a while.”

“Yes, but wait.” She zoomed up into the air, easily catching up to him.

“Well, then we have plenty of time to explore.” He pointed up to the ceiling. “Don’t you want to see what’s up there?”

Asha rolled her eyes. “Of course I do, but we should wait for Jyana. We don’t want to offend our hosts.” She zipped ahead and blocked his path, but he didn’t slow down. She locked eyes with him. “Zahn, as commander of this mission I really think—”

But he only grinned and zoomed directly toward her.

Instead of bumping into her, as he would have in the physical world, he passed right through her, and for a moment, he was overwhelmed with a feeling that utterly obliterated his senses. For an instant, he felt nothing but pure bliss, and it took his breath away. At least, it
would
have taken his breath away if he’d been breathing air at all, which he wasn’t.

He froze, and collected himself. After a few moments, he turned around, finding Asha in a similar shocked state.

“What was
that
?” she whispered.

He quietly glided over to her and went to touch her shoulder to reassure her, but she held up her hand to stop him.

“Please,” she said, “I just need a moment.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know. Are you okay?”

“Yes. It—I didn’t expect it, that’s all.”

“Did we—”

“I think we accidentally blended our energies for a moment.”

“But did you, I mean, did you feel… good?”

“It felt incredible.” She reassured him, her eyes meeting his. “Just a little intense. I wasn’t expecting it, okay? Don’t worry.”

“Okay. As long as you’re all right.” He took a deep breath and waited for a few moments.

“So,” Asha continued, “how about we go down and wait for Jyana? I feel like we don’t fully understand this place, and I would feel more comfortable exploring if we learned more.”

“Yeah,” he nodded. “Lead the way.”

Zahn wanted to take her hand, but thought against it. And as he glided back down to the roof of the cube, he considered how this chamber was nearly unrecognizable from what it had been before. As he studied it further, the structures reaching down from the ceiling were almost like tendrils, hinting at more structures above the surface.

He reflected on how all of this had been here the entire time, only his eyes hadn’t been able to see it, until now.

Just before his etheric feet touched the roof of the cube, he thought he saw a shape protruding from it. And after a few seconds, Jyana arose gracefully from the roof. Even in her out-of-body state, she was wearing the same burnt umber jumpsuit. Only now, her black hair was up in a bun, and she wore a concerned expression.

“Oh, good,” she said. “I’m glad you two haven’t wandered off. I’ve heard that first-timers can get overwhelmed and go missing for days. I’m sorry I couldn’t come sooner. The time dilation, as I said before, is a challenge. Even moving around can be a challenge for newcomers.”

“Actually,” Zahn said, “we’ve had an out-of-body experience before when we met the Council of Amithya, during our first mission together. Although, that place felt pretty different. I don’t think there was any time dilation.”

“Oh.” Jyana blinked in surprise. “Interesting. So, you two know how to move and orient yourselves, then?

“Yes, I think we’ll be fine with that. So where’s Torin?”

“He was called away for his work.” A look of disappointment flickered across Jyana’s face. “No matter.” She blinked it away. “So you’ve done this once? Zahn, a single out-of-body experience is not adequate preparation for what you are about to experience. I don’t know what it’s like on other worlds, but the out-of-body experience here on Tavisi is special.”

“What makes it so special?” Zahn asked.

Jyana pointed out the curving structures all around them, twisting in brilliant geometric complexity, almost mocking the laws of physics themselves.

“Every etheric structure you see around you, no matter how small, began as an idea. When my people first began having spontaneous out-of-body experiences, they realized that, with disciplined effort, they could actually
manifest
their thoughts.”

“What do you mean?” Asha said. “Are you saying that, if they thought of something, it would simply appear here?”

“Yes, and with the same level of complexity as they imagined it, but only if they held that idea with perfect clarity.”

Zahn gazed at the wild structures once again with this in mind. “What a monumental effort.”

“However,” Jyana continued, “this quickly depleted their energy, requiring them to drop back down into physical reality to eat. It was then that we realized the connection between the etheric body and the physical.”

Zahn observed his surroundings again with new eyes. “So all of this popped out of someone’s head? How is that possible?”

“Thought energy!” Asha’s eyes lit up with understanding. “Think about it. It’s not so different from when I heal someone. The intention starts in my heart and flows outward. When I heal, I allow the energy to flow through me. So in the case of
creating
, perhaps if you allow the energy to flow through you while in the out-of-body state…”

“You are basically correct,” Jyana said. “We harness the etheric energy already inside of us and focus it into etheric objects. However, we soon found a limit. Even when we discovered that eating certain food would charge up our etheric bodies, we could only manage to manifest small objects. Thus, our civilization scoured the planet for something with concentrated etheric energy. After many years, our scientists developed a substance so powerful that it has allowed us to create entire cities built of thought-forms. And as an added benefit, it also reduces our need for physical food. Its formula is a carefully guarded secret, and few in the world know its true ingredients. We call it ambrosia.”

“Remarkable. A world literally built of ideas.” Zahn turned to Jyana. “So are you saying that you could do this right now? You could manifest something. Could you show us, please?”

Asha tilted her head toward Zahn disapprovingly, and turned to Jyana. “That’s okay, Jyana. I’m sure that’s a tiring process, and I for one believe you, in light of our surroundings.”

Jyana held up her hand. “No, that’s all right. I’m sure you’re both curious to see the process in motion. A small object is quite easy for me to create, but anything larger requires ambrosia to sufficiently charge the etheric body. However, something small is really no trouble. Watch carefully.” She cupped her hands together and closed her eyes. She winced and then smiled as a light grew within. A light flashed within her cupped hands, and she looked up to Zahn, handing him a tiny three-sided pyramid.

He held it carefully, examining it from all sides. It was perfectly smooth, a flawless tetrahedron. “It’s lovely.”

“I noticed that your ship embodies this geometry. Perhaps you’ll enjoy this token, a symbol of its brilliance.” Jyana smiled.

“Thank you! It’s beautiful.” Zahn said. “Is it fragile?”

“Not quite. Because it is an etheric object, gravity does not hold sway against it. As far as I know, it can only be destroyed through focused intention.”

“Ah.” Asha nodded, a look of trepidation spreading across her face. “Makes sense.”

“Now,” Jyana said with authority. “Are you both ready to see our fair city? Cumulatively, millions of thought-hours have gone into its realization.”

“Sure!” Zahn said. “I’ve been hoping you’d ask.”

“Then follow me.”

CHAPTER
9

WELCOME TO MIRAGE CITY

Jyana led them toward the square patch of metal in the middle of the ceiling that had a faint, curved symbol engraved onto it. And as they neared the square, Zahn’s anticipation grew. What would this new world look like? If ideas became reality, then what were the limits? Zahn felt a familiar tickling sensation as they passed through the ceiling into a dark layer of rock. Here, he could see nothing, and continued upward until they sped through murky water and up through another thin surface.

After a few seconds, a blinding light shone all around him, and he found himself standing on a perfectly smooth pathway above the sea.

To his left, a huge conic structure towered into the white sky. At its tip was a single strand that led upward, but before his eye could follow the strand to its endpoint, he heard Asha call out beside him.

“Look, Zahn! Over there!”

Zahn spun around and saw a silver snakelike creature flying through the sky, just before it slipped behind a cloud.

“What was that?”

“Don’t worry about those,” Jyana said. “There are many etheric creatures, and most of them won’t bother you.”

Zahn’s gaze drifted back down to the spiraling architecture all around him. Ahead, he saw a building hundreds of meters tall, shaped like a massive egg, simply hanging in the air. Below it, a wide platform formed a ring, also hanging in the air effortlessly. He saw now that the ring platform was part of the same pathway he was standing on, and hundreds more pathways branched off from the central ring in all directions, like spokes on a wheel. Spread over all of this were hundreds of figures, darting from place to place so fast that he could scarcely make out any detail except for the bright colors they were wearing. Some were heading around the massive egg; some were heading away, yet none went inside.

Still, this was only a fraction of the colossal architecture that reigned all around him. In the far distance, he also saw spidering structures and flowing curves. It was as if there was a different architectural style in every direction, and he felt overwhelmed.

To calm himself, he looked back up to the egg ahead, shimmering with a strange light. This egg seemed to be the central axis upon which the entire city turned. Zahn sensed great power behind it, but what was its purpose?

“Welcome to Mirage City!” Jyana turned around to face them, beaming. “The core of our intentional civilization and central repository for Tavisian knowledge.”

Still in the throes of sensory overload, Zahn turned to Asha and noticed her blank expression. “Asha, are you okay?”

She said nothing, and Zahn put his hand on her back. He thought he could see tiny tears forming in her eyes. “Asha, you seem really quiet. How are you doing?”

“I, I don’t know what’s coming over me. I’m just, overwhelmed.” She wiped some tears from her eyes and turned to Zahn. “I know, it’s probably silly. I’m just so happy to see this. I’m happy to know that my people still thrive, in their own way.”

Jyana pursed her lips, studied Asha’s face, and nodded. “We’re happy to have you back, Ashakirta. You are so full of emotions, but you’ve allowed those emotions to make you strong. We need more people like you, more people in tune with their hearts. If we did, we wouldn’t have the problems we now face.”

Zahn took Asha’s hand, feeling a warmth stir within him.

“She’s the best healer I know,” he said.

Asha squeezed his hand. “I’m the
only
healer you know, silly.”

“Not true! We have great medical services on Avani. But no one like you.”

She smiled. “Thanks.” And for a few moments, Asha studied the egg, still central to their view, and pointed to it. “So, what’s that structure, Jyana? It looks important.”

Jyana smoothed her hair. “That, my long lost citizen, is the Empress Monument, and few have ever visited her chambers.”

“She lives in that thing?” Zahn blurted.

“Yes. It is woven out of her own thoughts, in fact.”

“So could I make something? Could Asha?”

Jyana sighed. “As I’ve already told you, to build anything of appreciable size, you would need to drink ambrosia first.”

“Well, what about something small? I’ve got to try this.” Zahn let go of Asha’s hand and cupped his palms together. Shutting his eyes tight, he imagined a simple cube as clearly as he could.

“Wait, Zahn! Don’t create anything yet.” Asha said, grabbing his arm. “You might hurt yourself!”

A dim light grew inside of his cupped hands. After a few seconds, he could feel a texture begin to press against his palm, and breathed deeply. When Zahn opened his eyes, he found himself holding a small, colorless object.

“Smaller than I thought.” He studied the cube in his hand, suddenly feeling exhausted. “And that was… not easy.”

“What did you expect, Zahn?” Jyana said. “Creating takes energy, hence the necessity of having the right fuel.”

Zahn pocketed the small cube and took Asha’s hand once more. He felt his insides churning and noticed the edges of his hands lose focus. “I don’t feel so good. Is there anywhere we can sit down?”

“Of course,” Jyana said. “I can show you to your rooms where you can rest, and if you wish, I can show you more of the city later. One moment.”

A bright ball of light shot out of Jyana’s forehead and zoomed away, toward the floating egg.

“What’s that?” Zahn mumbled.

“Zahn, try not to speak,” Asha said. “Save your energy.”

Another ball of light shot out of the lower part of the egg and flew toward them, right into Jyana’s forehead.

“That’s odd. The Empress has prepared the sunset suite for you. Follow me.” Jyana turned to the tall cliffs in the distance and zoomed up into the sky, vanishing in seconds.

A few moments later she bolted back down to where they were, like lightning striking the platform.

“I’m sorry,” she said, “but I haven’t taught either of you how to skip yet, have I?”

Zahn tilted his head. “Skip?”

“Yes,” she nodded. “In this realm, our bodies have no physical mass, so we can skip along the planet like pebbles across a stream, effortlessly.”

“How?” Asha said.

“Well, how about we begin by you both locking onto my ident? As I move, you will move. Does that make sense?”

“No,” Asha said. “What do you mean by ident?”

“It’s shorthand; means my essence, my identity. Everyone has an ident. If it helps, picture my face. If you keep me in mind as we jump, you’ll stay attached to my ident. Since I’m leading this skip, it should be easy for you.”

“All right.” Zahn rubbed his hands together. “I’m ready when you are.”

Jyana turned. “Asha?”

She nodded. “I’m with you.”

Jyana glided up into the air, and they flew up with her. After a few seconds, they were soaring swiftly over the sea, and she called back to them. “Okay, just remain focused on my ident. I’m about to pull a skip. Hold on!”

Zahn set his sights on Jyana, picturing her face as clearly as he could.

In a single blink, Jyana’s body shrank, gradually regrowing in size as a torrent of landscape rushed by. Zahn felt as if his stomach was falling into a gravity well and held his breath. He felt as if he were being stretched to twice his height. Images and sensations blurred around him, and he felt like letting go.

Is Asha all right? I don’t see her. No, I’d better stay focused on Jyana or I could get lost.

As he considered this, Zahn felt as though he were moving through a strange soup.

And then, with another blink of his eyes, it was over.

Zahn found himself standing on a grassy patch of ground, which shocked him so much that he promptly collapsed. He paused for a few moments, pressing his eyes shut.

He felt Asha’s hand on his head. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I think so.” He looked up to Asha, who was offering her hand.

Zahn grabbed it and pulled himself up, noticing a rounded house perched near a cliff overlooking the sea. He took a moment to admire the view, realizing that the cliff’s angle was so extreme that it could not possibly support the house’s weight in the physical world.

Jyana walked up to them. “Are you both all right? I know skipping can be quite odd the first time.”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Zahn looked over to Asha.

“Not sure I’m the same height as I was before,” she said, “but I feel fine.”

“Good.” Jyana nodded swiftly and waved them toward the back of the house where a symbol was engraved. “You will stay here until further notice. As I said before, you are both quite lucky. Designed by the Visionaries and built by our finest etheric sculptors, this is one of our best guest accommodations.”

“Well,” Asha said, “send the Empress our best regards.”

They reached the symbol, which was a spiral that curved inward before curving outward again, reconnecting again with where it started.

Jyana turned back to Asha, her expression stiffening. “Only a select few are allowed to contact the Empress, but I can certainly pass your message along to her chief secretary.”

For a few moments, Jyana’s gaze drifted over to the horizon, and Zahn noticed that a pale, full moon hung low in the distance. Its surface was scarred with deep trenches and craters. He could only guess that this was evidence of the battle Asha had referred to before.

An idea flashed into Zahn’s mind, and he glanced over to Jyana. “Hey, I think I met a Visionary. Are they huge geometric shapes? Because I think we met one of them on our first adventure. We met her on Aarava and she gave us crucial information on the gate network so we could reach the Amithyan Council. And later she said she was from Tavisi. Have you heard of Vayuna? She’s this huge amber octahedron, usually glows amber.”

“She was the first,” Jyana said, still looking out onto the horizon. “She worked with the newer models to facilitate peace and harmony across this entire world. Of course, that was
before
the scourge came.” She looked over to him, suspicion passing over her face. “And you say you met her on a planet named Aarava? Where is that? She’s been missing for some time, and I’m sure the Empress would like to reach her.”

Zahn furrowed his eyebrows, suddenly feeling as if he revealed too much. “Well, I don’t think she’s there anymore. We ran into her on Vaari, too. She really gets around.”

“I see.”

Asha, who had been admiring the view, glided up to them. “So, what ever happened to the Visionaries?”

Out of nowhere, a ball of light flew up from the grassy ground and into Jyana’s head, and her expression grew cold.

“I’m sorry. I am needed,” she said. “You can rest here. There are some energy packets inside which will recharge your etheric bodies. They aren’t food or ambrosia, but they’ll allow you to recharge without leaving the Mirage. I will return later,” Jyana pointed to the pale white moon for a moment, “when Rundikha hovers just a bit higher in the sky.” She turned back to them. “I apologize at my haste; I shall return soon. You may enter through this symbol, and please do not leave the sunset suite until I return. Be well.”

With a bow, Jyana pulsed in brightness, and in the blink of an eye, she flashed away, bolting back down to the resplendent city below.

“She’s fast,” Zahn turned to Asha, but she was already inside.

“Hey, you’ve got to come in here,” she said. “It’s pretty cool, like a tiny house.”

He flew through the symbol, finding himself surrounded by strange, curving objects. The walls curved, too, and there was nothing that he could call furniture except for a puffy, round platform nestled up against one of the curved corners of the house. Beyond that was a wide opening that led into a balcony where Asha was already waiting.

“When she called it the sunset suite, she wasn’t kidding.”

Zahn zipped over, carefully navigating around the strange objects that were interspersed throughout the room, and joined her out on the wide balcony. From here, it was difficult to discern individual buildings, the city appearing as a collage of eccentric shapes that hung effortlessly over part of the sea.

When he leaned over to the side to examine the suite’s architecture, he noticed that the balcony was supported by nothing at all.

“Yikes!” he called out. “A balcony like this is liable to put a guy on edge.”

Asha rolled her eyes at him. “You are the corniest person in the galaxy. You realize that, right?”

“Shh.”

Her gaze drifted back down to the city, and Zahn’s eyes followed hers, noticing for the first time that, within the huge variation of shapes, there was a discernible pattern. From here, it was easier to see that the entire city was arranged in concentric circles, and on the far edges of the city, Zahn could discern figures flying around several new domes that were being built.

“These people seem addicted to building things,” he said.

Asha looked over to him. “Can’t say I blame them. If you had the power to create huge structures directly from your imagination, would you be any different?”

Zahn said nothing, his eyes following one of the long spokes back to the center of the city, where it joined the others near the egg-shaped monument.

The Empress Monument.

Something about that made a chill run up Zahn’s spine.

“Classic hub and spoke model,” he said. “Your father’s outpost is laid out the same way, isn’t it?”

“Yep.” Asha wandered back inside, examining their bizarre living arrangement, and Zahn followed her over to the round puffy platform he’d seen earlier. “I wonder if this is a bed.”

While she examined it, Zahn noticed a large window, also round, that overlooked a valley on the other side of the suite, not unlike the one where they’d landed. When he looked intently, he thought he could make out ruined structures on the far end of the valley, but it was too far to be sure. Then a strange thought came to him. If they were both nonphysical, if he only inhabited his etheric body, then why should there be any limit to how far he could see?

With a burst of curiosity, he focused intently on an unnatural shape in the distance, and to his astonishment, his perception of it grew and grew. An image of a long, toppled tower covered in yellow-green shrubs flashed into his mind. Behind it, countless more bits of stone littered the landscape.