107 - Man in the Mirror

***

"Nothing . . nothing? Really? How did he . . those Alchemists . . I've been so stupid! These ten thousand years . . things must have changed so much . ." Kujata bit her lower lip, pacing nervously up and down through the trash in the run down shrine.

The silver suited Borges upon his silver cloud was not the first to know of Magnus turning into his Celestial form; earlier that night she'd felt it - the tremble of the earth, the unmistakable presence of another Celestial - the ley lines, the veins of energy that run under the skin of the earth had surged and flowed all towards a single spot, erupting out with tremendous spiritual power - it had to be a Celestial! It had to be Magnus!

But . . .

At the same time, at the center of the surge of energy - instead of detecting any definite Celestial form there was . . nothing!

The reaction from the ley lines . . the flow of power . . hells, it had to be a Celestial - it had to be Magnus - but there was nothing, no indication . . nothing she could detect.

She peered through her brass telescope at the distant heavenly bodies - small specks of glittering light connected to a vast shimmering web of blue - the Alchemists Animus . . this was their web of detection - the web of Logos covering all the world's, spread through out the stars, in place to detect the slightest bit of Celestial activity. It had taken her ten years of meticulous planning to break through, and every day she spent on the world she dared not step out of the woods-for-trees formation or so much as use an iota of Celestial power - she didn't even dare connect to the ley lines out of fear that it might attract the Alchemists attention.

But Magnus . . . It could only be one thing, Magnus would have had to use a technique she was not familiar with, something to keep himself hidden, and the only way he could have learnt it would have been from devouring the Alchemists and the others who had gone into his Celestial Totem in the ether.

"Dammit! Why didn't I think of that?" Kujata viciously kicked a pile of rotten bones sending them in all directions. "The closest I've got is an Alchemist from thousands of years ago . . ah hells! I should've snatched up that old fart in the Ether when I had the chance! All that knowledge . . " A shiver went up her spine.

"The old fart was a Magister at the very least . . Magnus has to know every detail of the current security for the Revolving Tower . . so what's he playing at? Why is he connecting with the ley lines now?" Kujata paced back and forth, pulling at her hair in frustration and peering through her telescope. "It's close . . this year's Auction is close . . I can't wait any longer . . hells, hells, hells! If Magnus acts in my favour . . if the Alchemists aren't alerted before then . . . if . . if . . .if! Ten thousand years of imprisonment, a million years of glorious Celestial history . . all resting on . . if!"

***

Besides a tarnished silver ship's bell sat Orpheus, resplendent in his silver suit. He had a half smile on his face as he examined the bell, running a finger along its lines and playfully jabbing its clapper, pushing it back and forth.

"Much use this, isn't it El?"

"Take your filthy hands off the bell!" A furious voice called out from the next room.

Ding! Ding!

The clapper banged against the bell at Orpheus prodding. He sat on a leather sofa next to a low table, the tarnished ships bell resting on a mahogany stand upon the table.

"It used to sound all the time, remember? Back on the prow of the Apollo . . . now it can't even detect one measly Celestial . ." Orpheus sighed, "Gungnir made it, didn't he? He made all sorts of useful things . . ah . . those were the days . ."

From the adjoining room entered a pale faced woman with long straight black hair. She wore a silver body suit, just like Orpheus, and over it a fine Alchemist's robe. In her arms she carried a tray with two mugs of hot tea and a plate of biscuits, setting them down carefully on the low table before talking.

"Why have you come, Poet?" Her voice had no femininity - every word was harsh, almost like a growl.

"It has been a long time, hasn't it, El? Many years . . I thought only to pay an old friend . . an old lover a little visit . ."

"Cut the shit." El sat opposite Orpheus, dipping one of the biscuits into her tea. "Why have you come - not to beg on their behalf?" A hint of fury entered into her voice, her eyes narrowing.

"Hasn't it been ten thousand years? Isn't that enough? Your Auction . . every year for thousands of years . . haven't the Celestials been punished enough?"

"No."

"We all lost loved ones . . we all lost a great deal, El. Earth, gone - just like that! We all fought . . but some of us, some of us have moved on. Isn't it time that . ."

"NO!" El shouted. "It is not enough! We all fought, we all lost, I know that Poet - don't patronize me; some of us are still fighting!"

"Some? Who is left fighting El? Who are you fighting against? Gungnir . . he went off exploring how long ago no? Five thousand years? Borges and Isaac have come with me and . ."

"Traitors! You and Borges and Isaac - betrayers!" El hissed, her face twisting into a mask of rage. "You left the Lord of Embers for that slut - don't deny it! Her stench, it is on you even now. After all the Lord did for us . . and you betray him, you betray us just like that!" El leapt to her feet, her eyes flashing gold, a dangerous aura erupting out and filling the room.

Orpheus met her gaze with infinite calm. "Mother Melody is no slut, I am happy to serve her. Can you say the same about your Lord of Embers? How much, how many have you sacrificed in his name?"

"The Lord of Embers has given me, has given all of us a great deal. More than you know . . you think the war it over? It is not!" El raised a finger and a portion of the ceiling of the room opened, a white spire descending over the low table and the tarnished silver ship's bell.

The bottom of the spire opened up to reveal a fine cut white crystal which projected a flat disk with millions of specks of light and vast coloured clouds. In the centre of the millions of specks was a single speck of blue - El gestured and the lights zoomed into the speck of blue.

Zooming in, the speck of blue became distinct, separation into hundreds of blue lights, then thousands - each blue light a cluster of thousands of stars, each star connected by threads of blue light.

"Look, Poet - three thousand years ago . . here, the Andorra system - see? Three Celestials, each awakening on one of the three worlds, see? Two thousand years ago, seven more - all in the span of a year! And again, one thousand years ago, four hundred years ago," on the star map there appeared specks of red light, rapidly extinguished.

"There are always more Celestials! They keep being born, and then . ." Whoosh! El waved her sleeves, the projection of the star map focused in on a five distinct stars near the centre of the blue threads. "Straight into my Auction house they go!" A nasty grin played on El's face.

"Inhumane! El! They never took part in the war! They can't be held responsible!" Orpheus rose to his feet, his upper body sticking through the flat star map projection.

"Pah! You . . you . ." El trembled with rage "You want to me to release the Celestials and you dare lecture me on what is humane? That is going too far! Out! Get out!"

"No, El, listen to me - you can't continue on this path! It is one of destruction! Think of how much you've built . . think of how far we've come . ."

"Out! Get out Orpheus!" A wall of the room buzzed to life, dozens of pointed mechanical arms shot out at the Poet.

Ding!

The arms froze in place, both El and Orpheus looked down in shock.

"Ding? That's . ."

Ding! Ding!

The tarnished silver bell rang - both El's and Orpheus confusion quickly turning to shock.

"It can't be . . they were both within the formations . ." Orpheus muttered to himself.

El ignored him, instead turning her attention to the star map and rapidly moving it up to a representation of the current day - the images now displayed an almost direct relay from all the strands of Animus spread throughout the stars.

Ding!

The flat disk spun rapidly, thousands of star systems flickered into focus one after another, each just as rapidly dismissed. El went through star after star, examining them all - Orpheus apprehension grew as she neared the five star formation at the heart of the blue threads . . his chest tightened when she passed through the five stars that made the Interstellar Celestial prison formation, rapidly getting to Aquilonem and . . and passing over it.

Ding! Ding!

The silver ship's bell sounded clear once more, El's eyes moving frantically over the star map - passing star after star in the Alchemists domain. Orpheus heaved a sigh of relief once she had passed Aquilonem - the two Celestials he knew to be there were not what set off the bell . . but as El continued to scrutinize the stars she grew increasingly frantic.

Orpheus noticed a note of panic in her eyes - a hint of dread. Star after star flittered through her vision, the projected image zoomed out and in and out - system after system came under the lens, but not a hint of red appeared.

"It can't be . . it can't be . ." El stopped moving the star map.

Ding!

"Are those all the planets? Could the bell be malfunctioning? Could the Celestial not have appeared on one of your worlds?"

"No . . no . . no . . there is one more world . ." El's words had a hint of despair.

"Another star system?"

"Just one. But he . . he promised! He . ." El's lower lip trembled - in her eyes Orpheus saw a terror that he'd never seen in her before - not even at the height of the War . . not even when it had just been the twelve of them against the might of the Celestials . .

"There is one more world . . but . . but . . it can't . . it can't . ."

El hesitated, finally directing the star map with trembling fingers. The star map projection focused in on a single world within a cluster of blue near the heart of the Animus covered stars.

Ding!

The star map zoomed in, down and down until just a single star system filled the whole disk, the light of a single yellow star shone bright.

Orpheus mouth went dry - the map continued to focus in on one of the planets within the star system, in and in until the world and it's one moon filled the whole projection, a single red speck upon its surface.

"El . . . what have you done, El?"

"He promised! The Lord of Embers promised . ."

"Thats Earth!"

El's eyes hardened as she looked at the red speck of light upon the surface of the world.

"That's Earth, El! How? Why?" Orpheus walked around the projection examining it from every angle.

"It is Earth . . and . . it is not Earth." El waved her hand, the many mechanical arms vanishing back into the wall. She slumped back down into the leather sofa and drank the now cold cup of tea in a single gulp. "All this time . . after all this . . and now a Celestial appears . . here of all places . ."