“According to old Asian folklore, the world rests on the backs of three elephants. The elephants rest on the backs of two turtles. It is taboo to ask what the turtles stand on.” Said Virgil.

“Fascinating, but what does that have to do with anything?” Asked Tiyana.

“Ask what your own turtles are standing on. You might think that what I am telling you is too fantastic, but think about how fantastic your own understanding is.”

“I’ll try to keep an open mind.” Tiyana said warily. “Do you have your own history books?”

“Unfortunately, I do not know as much as I would like. The records of the Dahjaat on our history were wiped out along with the Aldenduenum. We have no records to speak of now, except for my own personal ones. Our memories only take us so far.” Virgil strained to explain.

“What can you tell us about this rock?” Tiyana asked as she pointed to Hunter’s Cintamani Stone.

“Only legends. It is said that before the Aldenduenum banned mental manipulation that no Dahjaat existed.” Virgil explained.

“Excuse me, but what do you mean by ‘banned mental manipulation?’” Tiyana questioned.

“Ah, excellent question. I will endeavor to explain. Have you heard of Schrödinger's cat?” Virgil asked.

“Sure, an amount of radioactive material so small that it abides by quantum mechanics rather than Newtonian physics is placed in a box where a Geiger counter observes it. In one hour, an atom in the substance may or may not decay and give off radiation that the counter can detect. If radiation is detected, then the counter causes a hammer to fall and break a vial of poison. The poison kills the cat as soon as it gets into the air.” Tiyana explained the hypothetical experiment.

“What is the purpose of the experiment?” Virgil asked.

“Well, at the atomic level, particles behave according to the probabilities of quantum mechanics. At the visible level, objects behave according to classical Newtonian physics. Numerous theories have been proposed that attempt to reconcile quantum mechanics and Newtonian physics. The theories have typically been explained in terms of how they affect Schrödinger's cat.” Tiyana answered.

She went on, “For example, under the Copenhagen theory, the cat resolves itself into a state of either life or death at the moment that we open the box and look inside. In the meantime, the cat is simultaneously alive and dead. Observing the cat forces it to resolve itself into a definite state of either life or death. Under the many worlds theory, on the other hand, we open the box and in one universe we see a live cat and in another universe we see a dead cat. Both universes exist, but cannot interact with each other. We don’t know which one we live in until we open the box.”

“Let us return to the Copenhagen theory. What happens in that theory?” Virgil asked.

“When we open the box and look at the cat, then the cat becomes either alive or dead.” Tiyana replied.

“Exactly, we create the universe by observing it. Nothing exists without an observer. Many years ago, in a time long forgotten, humans did more than passively observe a static universe. They intentionally influenced probable quantum outcomes. In other words, they manipulated the likelihood of conditions developing. It sounds trivial, but it was not. Some of the things that they did were incredible.” Virgil explained. “It is analogous to dreaming. Once you realize that you are in a dream, you can influence the dream. Otherwise, events unfold involuntarily.”

“What in the world are you talking about?” Tiyana asked.

“Magic.” Virgil responded with a smile.

“Hunter, please help me. My head is going to explode.” Tiyana said as she reached out and wrapped her arm around Hunter’s.

“Let’s cut to the chase Virgil. What’s the deal with this rock?” Hunter asked directly.

“Alright, as legend has it, a meteor crashed into the earth. The meteor landed in the middle of the ocean and exploded. Instead of chaos, however, the explosion created an island. On this island, the explorers who settled there experienced strange visions.”

Virgil paused and studied the stern look on Tiyana’s face. The look told him, “Get to the point. We have been talking for hours. I am exhausted and I need to process the incredible amount of information that I took in today.”

Virgil skipped to the ending, “In the end, through the enigmatic effects of the meteor, the explorers became the Dahjaat. Over the ages we separated into two tribes, The Eastern Tribe of the Sun, the Aempyreans, and the Western Tribe of the Earth, the Chthonians. We Aempyreans draw cosmic energy for the declopse from the sun. The Chthonians draw geothermic energy from the earth’s core.”

“And this rock, as well as the other lapis lazuli stones, they are pieces of this Dahjaat meteor?” Tiyana asked.

“Indeed.” Virgil said as he nodded his head slowly. “The lapis. The lapis and the Dahjaat go hand in hand.”

Tiyana shook her head and looked at Hunter. Hunter let out a breath slowly.

Then, Virgil broke the silence, “I wish our palaver could go on much longer. I am sure that we could talk for many months. You all are confused and probably frightened. Time, however, is a scarce resource and we have run out of it. Ghaelvord has surely begun hatching plans and building an army. We must move now before he gets too powerful. Have you all considered the mission?”

Hunter started opening his mouth, but Hongo, surprisingly, interrupted him.

“I for one, believe this man. I cannot explain why. I have always, however, prided myself on judging men’s character.”

Hongo’s endorsement surprised Tiyana and Hunter. Hongo always did a phenomenal job of leading the workers on the digsite, but rarely offered the Price’s his input.

“What are you saying Hongo?” Tiyana asked.

“Is it what I think you’re saying?” Hunter continued.

Hongo nodded his head solemnly.

“I suppose it is settled then.” Hunter said. He went on, “Virgil, the three of us are with you. You got us. Do not let us down.”

Virgil smiled, “I am honored. Now, you all must sleep. Tomorrow, we leave.”

• • •

After getting Virgil a fake passport from the black-market arms dealer that they had struck up an uncomfortably close relationship with during their time in Tibet, the quartet embarked from the Lhasa Gonggar Airport back to the digsite to look for clues as to Ghaelvord’s whereabouts.

Hongo whipped the troops into shape. The day after they arrived at the digsite, he had the staff broken up into groups. Each group took a stack of artifacts. The group described and catalogued each item. They searched tediously through each and every piece for evidence of Ghaelvord’s agenda. Hunter kept getting distracted by the sheer vastness of the find. Under any other circumstances, the research that went into an archaeological find like this would have consumed his mind. He tried desperately to ignore the significance of the pieces and focus on Ghaelvord.

“Any progress?” Virgil asked.

“It would help if I knew what in the world I was looking for.” Hunter replied.

“Let me tell you a story that may help.” Virgil said.

“In the days when the earth lay fallow and uncivilized and the Dahjaat fought over territories like squares on a chess board, a Dahjaat general named Zenost called for a tournament to decide which side would take possession of a river. This river stretched for thousands of miles and eventually provided an outlet to the sea. On the west side, the Dahjaat were numerous and strong. They greatly outnumbered us. We, however, had Makara, the beast you met earlier in the chamber room of Shambhala. When they tried to cross the river, Makara devoured them. Meanwhile, we peppered them with arrows, rocks, and whatever other projectiles that we could manage. While they had us outmanned, we had them outmaneuvered. They could continue to attack, but they could not break our defense. The battle over possession of the river seemed at a standstill.

One evening Zenost had a dream. He dreamt of a tournament where he defeated the chthonians one by one. In the end, he defeated Malacoda, the general on the west side of the river. The winner of the tournament would have possession of the river.

When Zenost awoke, he challenged Malacoda and his troops to this tournament. The prize was the river. It would be an end to the stalemate. Malacoda quickly accepted. At the tournament, Zenost won his fights easily. He rose to the top of the bracket and challenged Malacoda. The day before the fight, Malacoda asked to meet with Zenost to discuss a possible compromise. When they met, Malacoda, surprisingly, offered an immediate surrender. Zenost had dispatched with his opponents so quickly and easily that he got overconfident and simply accepted the surrender.

That evening, the eastern and western Dahjaat celebrated the end of the battle together. For one night, all enmity faded. Zenost did not think twice when he invited Malacoda to his private tent for dinner and drinks. Malacoda left, however, and Zenost sat alone, staring into the bonfire in front of his tent. Zenost later told us that the last thing that he remembered was watching the wisps of smoke rise and curl into a myriad of shapes. He thought he saw a face in one of those shapes. The face consumed his thoughts and entered his mind.

The next day, the smoldering embers of the bonfires from the celebration gave off an enormous amount of smoke. The Aempyreans woke up weak and languid. Hunter, the great truce and hibernation occurred during the inchoate stages of the growth of the new mankind. While men had yet to begin recording history, they passed down stories about us, often deifying or ephemeralizing us. The Japanese have a name for Ghaelvord. The stories affiliated with the name were lost long ago, but the name lives on. They call him the Enenra, the monster of smoke. Ghaelvord can affect the minds of the unsuspecting. He manifests himself in smoke. He catches you off-guard. He controls your thoughts and your actions. Your only defense is awareness. If you have a strong mind and you consciously fight him off, then he cannot control you, but if you let your guard down, then he will seep in like a thief in the night and take your mind. The Aempyreans were bound and taken prisoner that morning. Malacoda led them across the river without a peep of interference from Makara. Zenost had left in the middle of the night, mounted Makara, and rode downstream until the sun rose. When he came to his senses, he rode back upstream with all due haste, but found his camp deserted, except for Malacoda. Malacoda formally surrendered possession of the river to the bedazzled Zenost and left. The Aempyrean army was taken back to the chthonian capitol and placed into forced labor as prisoners of war. Zenost had won the river, but lost an army.”

“Fascinating. Now, how exactly does this help me?” Hunter asked.

“Ghaelvord is cunning. His plans are not always what they seem. Remember that.” Virgil instructed.

“I will. You know, I’ve heard that name before, Malacoda. There was another man with Ghaelvord down in the main artifact chamber.” Hunter remarked.

Virgil closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

“Malacoda is awake?” Virgil said, startled.

“Could be.” Hunter responded. “I remember his eyes. Eerie yellow eyes.”

Hunter had never seen Virgil upset before. The sight disturbed him. Hunter had begun to rely heavily on Virgil’s seeming omniscience to guide him. If something bothered and surprised his guide, then it could not be a good thing.

“That duplicitous rat broke the truce. Hunter, did you wake anyone other than Ghaelvord? Think hard. Could you have accidentally or incidentally done something that could have caused one of the western Dahjaat to wake?” Virgil asked as he stared hard in Hunter’s eyes.

“No. Nothing.” Hunter quickly replied. On second thought, Hunter added, “Well, we did wake something else up, but I am pretty sure that Malacoda, or whatever his name is, was not there at the time.”

“What exactly did you wake?” Virgil asked.

“Are you familiar with the Greek myth of Cerberus?” Hunter asked.

“Cerberus, eh. Probably a trap. Actually, I am surprised that you are alive. Cerberus created many problems for us long ago.” Virgil responded. He went on, “You will have to tell me the story sometime, but now I am concerned with the waking of Malacoda. Did you see him frozen in the block with Cerberus?”

“No. I studied it pretty well before we accidentally, you know, melted it.” Hunter said.

“Did you do anything else that could have melted him? Did you touch anything or move anything?” Virgil asked.

“We put a wrong symbol into the passcode device for Ghaelvord’s chambers and we looked at and touched a lot of stuff down there, but, no, I don’t think we could have woken him.” Hunter replied.

Virgil shook his head and shrugged his shoulders, “I do not suppose I can do anything about it. As long as he has only woken Malacoda, then I suppose I should consider the breach trivial and leave it at that for now.”

Virgil looked tired.

“It is getting late. I have meditations to attend to. Let us reconvene in the morning.” Virgil said.