Gate: A Sunset
I opened Hades’ vision gate and beheld Merlin on a high plateau overlooking a field filled with horses whose mane and tails flamed with the light and energy of the noon day sun. He shaded his eyes to better observe his wooden puppets carefully maneuvering among the creatures, counting their number and gathering bits of living flame from their fiery manes into metal buckets by utilizing long tongs made of dark metal.
One puppet with a young sapling growing from his scalp left the field to ascend the plateau where Merlin waited. “I found three usable sparks,” he bragged and placed the container in Merlin’s waiting hands.
“Three, a better number than usual,” Merlin said. “Well done, my friend.” The wizard carefully extracted one of the flames from the bucket and put it in a glowing glass tube at his waist. “How does the herd of Helios fare today?”
“All is peace and quiet in the Sun Lord’s domain,” the puppet reported. “Like every other day since the plane walker disappeared.”
“Like every other day,” Merlin murmured. “I wonder where she’s gotten herself to.” He lifted a hand and indicated the field, horses, and everything contained within it. “And missing vistas such as this.”
The puppet looked out over the world and then back at his maker. “When will we return to the workshop, Merlin?” he asked. “This sapling head growth itches and I’d like it removed.”
Merlin frowned and stored another spark in his vial. “Progenitor sparks are rarer now,” he said. “If we could find a source other than the herd of Helios, I’d go home today.” He sighed and repeated his procedure. “I do so miss my library. Come here and I’ll adjust your hair for you.”
There was a sound like a massive thunderclap and the sun suddenly shifted in the sky above the plain. It jerked left, then right, then fell, trailing steam and fiery light particles in its wake. The sun crashed to the ground on the far side of the valley and the universe shook in its foundations, knocking Merlin to his knees.
“It is the end of the world,” the puppet screamed, covering its approximation of its eyes with its hands.
Merlin dropped his bucket as the herd of horses panicked, stampeding across the field and leaving an unnatural twilight behind. On the plain, two lights remained, flashing and shining in the sudden darkness. “Come, we must see what can be done,” the wizard ordered, rising from his knees and moving as fast as he was able off the plateau towards the beckoning fires.
He hobbled, half running, half shuffling along, until he reached the source of the light. A stallion lay on his side, an arrow jutting from his flank. The fires of his tail and mane guttered like a candle being snuffed out. “Peace, you beauty, be still,” Merlin said and ran his hands along the horse’s side. From the arrow’s tail, he plucked a single feather. “Owl,” he muttered and put it in his robes for further study at a later time.
The puppet panicked, circling the fallen horse and the wizard, and waving its hands in helpless terror. Suddenly, it stopped, staring into the swiftly falling darkness. “Merlin,” it said, a quiver of fear in its voice. The wizard looked at his creation and followed its pointing finger into the murk. “It is Lord Helios,” it declared. Then, the puppet fell to the ground as if its strings had been cut and did not rise again.
“The sun stops for no one,” Merlin said. He slowly staggered from the injured horse’s side and towards a towering statue made of obsidian that his puppet had indicated. The statue was a god with hair made of flames and he stood with his arm raised in front of his face as if shielding himself from a bright light. “What could possibly outshine the sun?” Merlin mused, circling the figure. Behind the statue, the wizard discovered a chariot made of living fire that flickered and flashed, slowly extinguishing in the absence of Helios’ natural energy.
“This cannot be,” Merlin said and reached into his vial to remove a spark. He threw it into the air and raised his hands in desperate invocation. “Time, I need you now.” The great centipede called Time exploded from the spark and stood before the wizard, his many arms restlessly beating the ground in staccato time. “You have always been a friend to me and the beings of this world,” Merlin said. The centipede bowed his massive head in acknowledgement.
“I beg you, contain this field in time,” he said. “If we can get Helios back into the sky before his energy fades, there is still some hope for us.” The chariot and horse continued to dim. “If we cannot, the Shadow will claim the field of the sun and it is the end of light as we know it.”
The centipede leapt into action, circling the field and the god statue in a swirling vortex of movement. The sound of Time’s passage was like a freight train, his many legs pumping away like pistons and gears as he wrapped the fallen sun in his many coils. A golden watch flew out of the blur of Time and landed at Merlin’s feet. The wizard bent gingerly to retrieve it, opening the timepiece to reveal a clock face featuring the centipede’s countenance. The watch had as many arms marking the passage of time as the great centipede himself and they all pointed in different directions. Engraved into the golden case were the words: When all arms point up, Time flees.
“Time is a tricky thing but necessary,” the wizard said to himself. “It can’t remain in one place too long or the fabric of reality will fray and chaos will enter from the abyss beyond the void.”
Merlin returned to the injured horse and extracted the arrow from the unfortunate animal’s side. Helios’ stallion remained completely still, captured in time.
“Perhaps his horse will recover,” Merlin said hopefully, putting the arrow into his robes. “However, if the centipede remains in one place, then another of his aspects, Kronos, is walking elsewhere, free from his island, to maintain the balance of Time. That giant is ever hungry.” Merlin sighed. “However, it is a risk we must take. It would mean the annihilation of all of us if Helios fades from the inner worlds.”
“Merlin, Merlin,” a squeaky voice cut through the noise of the passing Time. “The High Priestess has been searching everywhere for you.” One of the moths from the hair of the Priestess alighted on the wizard’s shoulder. “The plane walker has returned,” it announced, waving its feathery appendages about its head.
“If she’s back, then there should be new energy available to us,” he said. Merlin reached to his chest and pulled a spark of living fire from his heart. His face sagged in relief. “With enough progenitor sparks, we have a fighting chance of fixing this mess. Thank heavens.”
“But Merlin,” the moth said. “Heidi’s here but she’s fast asleep. The High Priestess needs your help waking her from her slumber.”
“The High Priestess can wait a moment,” the wizard said, walking towards the statue of Helios. He carefully studied the god’s form and discovered a tightly wound scroll in the crook of the statue’s raised arm. Merlin unrolled it and revealed a swirling mist coating the page in an inky darkness. “Night creatures,” he muttered and produced a small pin from his pointed hat. He pricked his finger and pressed a drop of blood to the page. The mist fed from the blood and coalesced into the sigil of a crescent moon with a golden sun at its center.
“It’s an attack by the Night King,” he said tiredly. “I suppose the Domain of Night was not enough for his ever-hungry horde of acolytes and hangers on. Heidi’s enchanted sleep is most likely connected to this as well.”
The moth crawled onto the page and examined the sigil with its feelers. “I’m telling the High Priestess of your discovery,” it said. “We should have her reply in moments.”
“But the biggest question to my mind is,” Merlin continued. “Why pull down the sun now, when the dreamer has returned.” He rubbed his chin, pondering. “If it were me,” he mused. “I would have done this when Heidi was absent. It would have been far easier to expand the shadow’s reach without her around.”
“The High Priestess speaks,” the moth announced. From the flutter of its wings, the voice of the Priestess emerged: “Merlin, we are relieved you remain active in the Inner Worlds as we have not spoken in some months. Had you no hint of this calamity in your future gazing? We rely on you for map construction and logistics as you know.”
“With a dearth of progenitor sparks,” he replied. “I was forced to rely on cruder methods of information gathering than to which I had become accustomed.” He pulled back the left sleeve of his robe to reveal his hand. The thumb was missing. “During Heidi’s absence, I explored the Night King’s castle and he demanded a trade for my trespass.” Merlin covered his hand once more. “I thought the plane walker would soon return and amend my sacrifice with Love’s cup. I miscalculated how long that return would take.”
“What harm could one missing thumb cause?” the moth queried.
Merlin looked grim. “I gather the threads of the possible futures with my fingers. The right hand is the conscious mind.” He sighed. “For the subconscious mind, I always use the left. My missing thumb made me blind to not only this possibility but many others. We will not know how many others until my hand has been restored- even then perhaps not all for the darkness and shadows of the subconscious are difficult to read even at the best of times.”
The howl of a wolf drifted on the breeze and Merlin froze for a moment. “I may know someone who can help us amend this,” he said, springing into action once more. “Priestess, are you with the dreamer now?” The moth nodded. “I will come to you.” He pulled another spark from his heart. ”You,” he said, addressing the moth. “Find the wolf pack. Bring them to me as fast as you can.”
“I will do as you say,” the moth squeaked as Merlin used the spark to create a doorway and stepped into another reality. As Merlin’s gate closed, a shadowy figure bearing a large bow rose from the landscape. It drew back an arrow and released it in one fluid motion. The Priestess’ moth disappeared in a puff of sparkling dust, destroyed by the arrow’s flight.
The shadow strode to where Time had Helios wrapped in his massive coils. Fire shone from the being’s eyes and reflected off of the centipede’s dark scaled body. Then, inexplicably, the shadow began to dance upon the Fields of Helios and I realized from her familiar movements that this was my Shadow.
Just as the realization washed over me, Shadow’s movements began to change, becoming a complex pattern that I did not recognize with my conscious mind. Darkness followed in her footsteps and I felt a surge of Shadow’s mysterious void energy building in a place of former light. The change was abrasive and uncomfortable even in my disembodied state. I tried to pull my eyes away from her movements but found myself transfixed by the sight.
Suddenly, more shadows began to emerge from my Shadow’s dance upon the field. They sprang from her footsteps, fully formed, and joined her in her movements, making the energy build far more quickly than it had previously. The shadowy army built until there were more soldiers than space in that realm and I couldn’t look in any direction without seeing a new wave of darkness headed my way.
Shadow’s laughter began to fill my head as I panicked all alone among the gathering and dancing legions of her Congress. I do not know how much time passed before she found my consciousness wandering aimlessly upon the field and pointed one clawed finger in my direction. At her summons, a coterie of soldiers flew towards me and I felt myself forced out of the vision by their inescapable energy and back into Hades’ coffin.
As I took a shaky breath to calm myself, the lid of the coffin was lifted and Hades’ helmeted visage came into view. “Status report, Heidi,” he said, quietly but firmly in the face of my distress.
“Helios has fallen,” I said. “Merlin asked Time to hold the titan until either his replacement can be found or the Light Congress can discover a way to return the sun to the sky. They believe it is an incursion by the Night King. He’s an ancient power on Shadow’s side of things and always thirsty for the blood of the light. I dealt with him a few times previously but my Shadow is connected to him in a way that I neither understand nor can sever. She’s also using the latent power of Helios’ field to grow her shadow legions which now number in the thousands.”
“As for myself,” I continued. “I appear to my friends to be fast asleep but in reality I’m battling the birth of an idea with another version of Shadow in a realm far from any help but the company of the Animus of both light and shadow. I don’t understand how that happened either.”
The Lord of Death was silent for a moment. “Your interpretation of current events is unique to say the least,” he said at last. “Keep trying and I’m certain we’ll make a breakthrough. For now, however, there is someone coming to my door whom I must speak with. I invite you to observe this conversation as I believe it will help you understand the turmoil of your inner worlds. But you must remain silent and unseen by my guest otherwise I will make you leave. Agreed?”
I nodded my head and changed myself into a tiny speck of light, no bigger than a mote of dust. In my new shape, I moved behind Hades’ shoulder and accompanied him on a short trek through his manse to Death’s own portal. The entrance of the portal into Hades’ realm looked like an ancient arch built of roughly shaped gray stone attached to a tunnel made of the void and darkness. We were only there a moment before a bright light stood within the shadows of the arch.
The light resolved itself into a shining man with shoulder length ash blonde hair. He bore the skin of a lion about his shoulders and a helm made of metal in his hand. Upon his chest, the warrior had a chest plate made of the same metal as his helmet and his breastplate depicted a stallion made of shadow with a white blaze upon his nose. This person was laughing as he took his first steps into Hades’ realm and he clasped the god’s hand upon arrival.
“Greetings and Zeus’ blessings upon you, my old friend,” the warrior king said. “Imagine seeing you here again and so soon.”
Hades smiled beneath his dark helmet. “That was quite a life, Basileus, certainly one full of offerings for my altar.”
The lion skin upon the warrior’s shoulders slipped off as simply as a shadow and suddenly a massive lion made of brilliant light stood in its place with the warrior king and Hades at the entrance to the dark tunnel. “You carried the torch of Prometheus as no one has ever done before, my Lord,” the lion said with a growl. “Farther than any of us ever dreamed. I am so honored to have lived in your glorious time of triumph and civilization.”
The warrior king placed one hand upon the lion’s head. “I could not have done it without you or our companions,” he said. “Thank you, Hetairos, for both your great sacrifice and tireless contribution to my empire. I wonder how the other lords shall fare in our absence.”
“And your child,” the lion said. “The child was the reason for my sacrifice in the first place.”
The warrior king smiled carelessly and waved off the comment. “Yes, yes, of course,” he said. “Glory then family as we both discussed and implemented. So, Lord Hades, how shall my civilization proceed? Which of my cities will stand the test of time and contribute most to the advancement of the light over shadow?”
Hades bowed his dark head and when he raised his visage once more his eyes shone with a bright light and his voice took on a shivery echo of power and prophecy. “Thy empire lies in pieces. Thy mighty companions fight and divide thy shining cities amongst themselves like jackals over a carcass. Their pride in their origins blinds them to the contributions of those thou conquered and negates any progress that may have been made by thy journey and offerings to eternity,” said the god. “Until the day you free the spirits that were trapped by this empire’s shadow, Basileus, you shall find no rest in heaven or earth. Your ancestral companions are included in this doom.”
The lion and the king stood within Death’s portal in stunned silence for a timeless moment. “Those dogs, those worthless sons of whores,” the warrior king’s voice shook with anger when he spoke at last. “This curse is all their fault. We told them again and again, didn’t we, Hetairos, of the worth of other civilizations to the betterment of all but they never listened. I even chose my bride from the conquered to mirror for them the appropriate way to honor and assimilate other cultures into one’s empire. I cannot believe they would extinguish my torch to light their own and cause this new nightmare existence for all of us.”
“What of the child, Great One?” the lion asked the god of Death. “She lives to carry our vision into the future? She marries one of our companions?”
The light faded from Hades’ eyes and all was dark beneath his helm once more. “Even now she walks my halls,” the god said. “I am sorry, brave warrior, she has passed from the land of the living and at the hand of one of your childhood friends.”
“No,” the lion said breathlessly. “Tell me it is not so.” The beast’s form began to change from a lion into a slim young man with chestnut hair. The warrior fell to his knees and started to tear his clothing as tears fell from his eyes. “The child of his lineage was my reason for living. I cannot take this broken heart, this living death for when will we see her again if we must walk the earth and heaven in endless penance for our failed empire and the shadows it cast. Why did Aphrodite turn her favor from me? I have always been her favored son.”
“I will make them rue the day they dared to claim my empire for their own and succumb to their own shadows,” the warrior king said, pacing in his rage. “I will haunt their dreams and shadow their steps and devour every dream they have for this slight to my civilization and the warriors of light. More so than this, I will eat their hearts in front of them and make them watch while I do.”
“Do not weep, Hetairos, for what’s been lost,” the king continued, raising the former lion from his knees. “They will be the ones to wail and beg for mercy before I am through with them. I will enjoy the hunt until our time of penance is through and we begin anew in the great struggle against the shadow.”
“What must I do, Lord of my heart,” the young man said. “To help you in this great endeavor? I have always been by your side and will not be parted from you even in grief and revenge.”
“I am sorry, my Hetairos, but you shall stay here,” the warrior king said. “You shall find allies for my torch of Prometheus here and send them to me in the world. Together, we will rebuild what was lost but more so, we will build a bonfire of a new civilization, the power of which will draw the entirety of the soldiers of light from the inner realms and form them into an unstoppable force for goodness and knowledge and understanding. Ours shall be the vision that makes its way to the end of time, yours and mine as I promised you and as you promised me. Do you remember the sacred words we spoke to each other, Hetairos?”
“I never forget the feeling I have for you,” the young man said. “But in your absence I forget everything else because you are the center of the world to me and its brightest light. If I do this and separate my existence from yours and our companions, in the fullness of time I will not remember who I am. But for the love of you and because you asked it of me, I will stay in the inner realms. I will find ruling powers that no one has ever seen before or dreamt of. They will be the children of your new civilization, my lord, and in this way I will give you what I was never able to give you in life, a family and a love to call your own.”
“Always family and love with you,” the warrior king said and gently kissed his companion’s forehead. “Do not forget glory and honor, Hetairos. I will return periodically to check on your progress. Do not disappoint me.” Then, the warrior king put his helmet back on his head and strode purposefully back through Death’s portal.
The moment his love disappeared into the tunnel, the young man fell to his knees again. “I cannot do this without him,” he said, tears once more falling from his eyes. “Or my cohort. What am I to do? Where do I begin? Who will help me bear this great love and task?”
The Lord of Death walked behind the young man and put his hand on his shoulder. “I know someone you can talk to who might be of immense help to you,” he said and then Hades looked directly at me. “She is a messenger of Love and her name is Heidi.”
I increased my size from a mote of dust into a normal sized woman. “Hello, Great One,” I said. “I have entered this Dream of Death to discover the true nature of my shadow and to banish it. I don’t understand the reality you just lived, but I understand the nature of love for my motto is Amor Omnia Vincit. The Light Congress and I will walk this path with you and perhaps together we can both live out the purpose we were put into existence for by the Creator of All.”
The warrior king’s companion looked carefully into my face as I spoke. “Do I know you?” he said. “You look familiar to me somehow. Who is the Light Congress?”
“Take a walk with me, Great One, and I will speak to you of a vision I had once of a badger and a snake, and all that happened after,” I said. “Then you can tell me about the Great Warrior King and the love you feel for him.”
“That will take a very long time,” the warrior king’s companion said. “Do you have the time to walk beside me?”
“She has all the time in the world,” Hades said. “For I am the ruling power of this realm and I say it is so.”
There my vision ended.
The Light Congress 