The Record of the Saints Caliber (18 page)

“It says ‘Pass Not The Enemies of Duroton.’,” snickered one of the guards behind her.

Nuriel coughed into her cloak and moved on. Inside, the walls and floor were made of massive slabs of hewn stone and lit every ten or so feet by giant gas lamps set into the walls, giving the place an eerie, shadowy quality. The ceiling itself was lost to darkness, but from that looming sea of blackness Nuriel was certain she felt eyes watching her and appraising her.

Egret and Tarquin lead the way with Isley behind with the rest of the Saints, and Nuriel behind even them. Following her was the small army of guardsmen, and the cold, relentless march of their steel boots upon the stone floor was quite unnerving to Nuriel. She felt as if she were being marched into the bowels of some forlorn dungeon, and a thought crossed her mind that that could very well be the case.

The massive hall went on for some length before Egret and Tarquin led them through an arched corridor that branched off from the main hall. A wide flight of stairs led up into another massive hallway, but this one was far more impressive and was brightly lit by gaslamps on the wall and from the ceiling.

“This is the Hall of Captains,” said Egret, gesturing down the cavernous passage. It was lined on either side by life-sized statues of warriors clad in armor, each one forever marbled in stone. “Those you see here were all once great warriors. Knights of the Dark Stars. Many fell in battle, some lived long, full lives. All, however, achieved greatness and are forever honored here.”

Egret led them down the hall. Nuriel marveled at the sheer number of statues and noticed that all had brass placards upon their bases, but she could not read what was engraved upon them, though she figured it was their names and perhaps, deeds.

At the end of the hall was set a massive pair of arched doorways painted black, with the enormous phoenix crest of Duroton emblazoned in gold across them. A pair of shrouded guards stood before the doors, tall halberds in their hands. As Egret approached, they each took hold of an iron ring upon their door, and in perfect unison spread them open. The hinges groaned. Beyond the doors Nuriel could see a small, round chamber that didn’t seem to lead anywhere.

Egret stopped before the doors and turned to face his procession. “Soldiers, dismissed.” he said, and without hesitation the guardsmen behind Nuriel turned in unison, their armor clapping loudly, and they marched back down the hall.

Now Egret addressed Isley who stood before him and Tarquin. “In times long past, this chamber was a great staircase that spiraled up to the Stellarium. It was known as the Celestial Steps. Today we no longer need to march up a thousand feet of stairs.”

Egret turned and entered the round chamber with Tarquin at his side. He gestured for the Saints to enter. Isley stepped in, followed by the others. Nuriel slowly entered the chamber, scooping her hair behind her ear. It was perfectly circular, made of the same stone as the rest of the mountain fortress, and could easily accommodate twenty or more men comfortably. It’s ceiling was a great dome paneled in glass, through which Nuriel could see an unending shaft of darkness above. But far up, at the very top, she saw something sparkling. It was like diamonds at the end of a cavern; numerous tiny lights glittering far up in the darkness of the shaft.

Nuriel looked back down, suddenly aware of Lord Tarquin’s lingering eyes on her. He quickly averted his gaze and then reached past her, his hand intentionally rubbing across her arm as he did so. She turned and found that there was an iron door painted black. Tarquin slid the heavy door around the circular wall and it latched shut with an unsettling clank. The floor began to vibrate and there was a deep, muted grumbling as steel gears came to life deep beneath them. A moment later and Nuriel had a strange sensation in her legs. Isley and the rest must have had it too, and Nuriel was thankful she wasn’t the only one of the bunch to reach for the wall to prevent falling over.

Tarquin looked at Nuriel with a smirk, his eyes quickly falling down toward her waist. Nuriel bit her lip and looked away, tucking her golden hair behind her ear as she sniffled.

Nuriel kept one hand on the wall. She had the distinct sensation of upward motion and it was quite unsettling to her. The entire chamber seemed to rumble ever so slightly, and from deep beneath the floor the heavy and rhythmic clamor of iron gears could be heard turning over.

“About a hundred years ago the Jinn transformed the Celestial Steps into this Ascension Chamber.” said Egret. “It’s powered by runic crystals, steam, gears and chain. The Jinn are quite ingenious when it comes to mechanics.”

Nuriel looked up to the glass ceiling. The sparkling lights seemed to be coming closer and closer until they filled the entire dome with tiny points of white light. Suddenly the strange sensation was back in Nuriel’s legs, this time with a vengeance, and even her stomach tumbled as she found herself back against the wall. There was a muted clank and Nuriel felt the sensation of motion abruptly stop. Tarquin brushed past her and unlatched the door, sliding it back around the wall. Egret exited the room, followed by Tarquin and then Isley. Umbrial, Gamalael and Arric filed out followed by Tia, who pushed Nuriel’s head against the wall as she exited. Nuriel rolled her eyes and exited last.

Nuriel gasped as she came out of the Ascension Chamber. They were in some type of domed atrium that was dark as night, making it hard for Nuriel to determine just how large it was. Judging from the height of the ceiling, which she guessed was 100-feet above, she supposed the chamber to be enormous. The entire ceiling was like a night sky, but instead of just a handful of stars scattered against the blackness, there was a river of milky white that stretched across the entire ceiling. Nuriel felt insignificant in its vastness. There must have been a million stars that made up that river, each one twinkling of its own accord. Some were bright, others but a dim point. Some seemed to have a red or yellow cast while others blazed a pure white. She looked at Isley and saw that he too was marveling at the ceiling. Even Umbrial, Tia, Gamalael and Arric had their necks craned up in awe of the spectacle.

“Behold the Stellarium,” said Egret. “You are the first Saints since Aeoria walked the earth to set foot inside here.”

Nuriel reached her hand to the sky, hoping beyond hope to catch a handful of the stars. They all seemed so close yet so far away, and she could not tell if what she was seeing was reality or illusion. Did the Stellarium really reach beyond the heavens into the very domain of the stars? Or was this all a trick devised by the Jinn? “Is…is that the real sky?” asked Nuriel.

“What you see is the night sky as it once was,” came a strange, metallic voice that immediately unsettled Nuriel, vanishing the awe she had been lost in. It was a voice not unlike the Oracles of Sanctuary.

Standing just beyond sight was an eerie figure whose form was dusted by the glow of stars. Where Nuriel supposed the being’s eyes to be she could see glowing green disks like the eyes of some unholy owl. The figure moved forward, and now its slender form was revealed to be draped in black robes. It’s hood stood tall and pointed. Its face was concealed by dark fabric and large, emerald lenses like those of the Sin Eaters looked out upon her. From the being’s unseen nose to the bottom of its chin was a silver, tear-shaped mask through which it breathed its raspy breaths. Nuriel didn’t have to be told what this being was. She knew this was one of the Jinn.

The being held a gloved hand to the sky. Suddenly the entirety of the heavens arced around, giving Nuriel the uneasy sensation of motion, though she knew it was only the vision upon the ceiling that moved. The giant domed ceiling seemed to spin around, focusing in upon a cluster of stars, then spinning and refocusing even further until at last Nuriel saw a formation of stars that looked familiar. It was the last remaining constellation in the sky, a four-pointed cross known as the Star of Aeoria. It was a line of six stars in a vertical line intersected by two more at the right and left of the centermost vertical star, or “heart” of the constellation as it was known.

“This is the Star of Aeoria in the sky as you see it.” said the Jinn. It waved its hand across the sky again, and like magic the constellation truly came into being through blazing lines traced across each star. No longer was it just an obscure cluster of stars that took some imagination to form the constellation. This was a drawing in the sky; a work of art. “And this is how we, the Jinn, see it.”

Here the Jinn waved its hand again, and the entirety of the heavens spun, focusing in on a lone star. It was a star Nuriel knew by its slight, yellow cast. Often seen in the southern skies, it was a star known as the Dragon Star.

“This is one of the few remaining stars in the southern sky,” said the Jinn with its metallic voice. “You know it as the Dragon Star.” The Jinn moved its hand and the night sky tilted slightly, bringing in to view another lone star not too far away. “And this is the star you know as Heaven’s Eye.”

Nuriel did indeed recognize it. It was called Heaven’s Eye because it was one of the brightest in the sky. Here the Jinn moved his hand and the night sky seemed to move further away, bringing into full view both stars. They were exactly as Nuriel recognized them, just as if she were standing in a lonely field at night. Both apart from each other, but close by.

The Jinn flicked his hand and suddenly the sky was alight with stars. “This is the sky as it was before the age of the Great Falling,” said the Jinn. “And the stars you know as the Dragon and the Eye are actually of the same constellation.”

The Jinn flicked his hand again, and all the stars in the sky came alive into pictures outlined in white. Where the Dragon Star and the Heaven’s Eye stars were, Nuriel could see the form of a great dragon in the sky. The Dragon Star itself glowed brightly from the beast’s chest, and Heaven’s Eye was actually the creature’s eye. But there were other pictures in the heavens too. Nuriel could see a warrior upon a horse; there was a great bull; there was a woman pouring water; a stallion; an angel with wings spread; a lion; a scorpion…too many for Nuriel to take in.

“The sky was once full of constellations,” said the Jinn. “The stars were innumerable. But that was an old age. An ancient age. Today the age of the stars is nearly over.”

“And as the stars come to the end of their age, so too do the Saints,” said another metallic voice. From the darkness strode six more Jinn, their large, green lenses staring eerily out of the darkness. One of them held its hand up, and the sky refocused to the familiar one that Nuriel knew; a sky sprinkled with only a few dozen remaining stars.

“The age of Dark Stars is now upon us.” The Jinn flicked his hand and the white points of stars all faded out, replaced by a sea of eerie, purple specs.

“This is the sky today, as we, the Jinn know it,” said another of the group. “These are the Dark Stars that are unseen. They cast no light, yet they exist in the blackness of our dead heavens.”

“We are brothers,” said Egret. “Just as you are warriors of the shining stars, we are warriors of the dark stars.”

One of the Jinn waved his hands and from the edge of the giant, domed ceiling rose a fiery sun. It arced its way across, slowly bathing the entire chamber in its light, until eventually it shone at the center of the great dome. It illuminated everything, as if it were the actual sun, though Nuriel felt no warmth from its rays. It was only now that Nuriel could see the sheer size of the Stellarium. Its great dome loomed two-hundred feet overhead, and to Nuriel’s surprise, it was made of giant panels of star-metal. The sun that blazed at the dome’s center was an illusion, but it seemed to be coming from deep within the glassy blackness of the star-metal itself.

The Stellarium was immense. Vast even. Nuriel guessed a hundred yards in circumference. Its walls were made of the very stone of the mountain, standing 30-feet before the arcing panels of star-metal began their ascent to the sky. At the center of the room was a concentric pyramid of stairs that ascended upward to a stone dais that reminded Nuriel of Sanctuary and the Holy Atrium where she was made one of the Saints Caliber. Nuriel was in absolute awe of the place. She could hardly take it all in at once.

And then she saw something upon the far wall. Her breath caught in her throat. Her eyes strained to see the distant picture upon the wall, but she was sure it was that of a great, fiery dragon. And next to it, a tremendous black serpent and a woman in black armor. It was a woman who looked like Celacia. But it was not Celacia’s image that gripped Nuriel. It was that mighty black serpent. Its very eyes burned like red suns and they seemed to look at her, as if it were coming for her. It gave Nuriel a sudden, deathly chill.

Nuriel flinched and twisted herself away as a soft hand grabbed the back of her neck. Without thinking she had already drawn her claymore and held it at the ready. One of the Jinn stood before her, its eerie green lenses staring at her.

“Forgive me,” said the thing in its metallic voice. “Your stellaglyph markings intrigue us.”

Nuriel could see the accusing eyes of Umbrial, Tia, Arric and Gamalael staring at her. Isley smiled at her. “It’s ok, Nuriel.” he said.

Feeling a little foolish, Nuriel sheathed the sword upon her back. Other Jinn went around, inspecting the stellaglyphs tattooed upon the necks of the others. The Jinn whispered amongst themselves, one of them manipulating a small section of the sky, showing random stars that Nuriel couldn’t recognize.

“We’re sorry,” said one of the Jinn at last. “It is intriguing to us that your stellaglyphs are all unique.” It approached Lord Tarquin and gestured for him to turn around. With a gloved hand the Jinn pulled down the cloak around his neck, revealing, to Nuriel’s surprise, a stellaglyph not unlike the ones she and the others’ bore. “You see, the Knights of the Dark Stars all bear a common glyph. It is the rune of the dark stars.”