The Shining City (1962-1974)

[Khem]

Garden of Contentment, Great Library of Truth and the Way, Khem, Carcossa, Hyades.



Among the sprawling metropolis of Carcossa and her white walls, sat a garden most beautiful. Stating this as we have is an understatement however. For the garden was not merely among the sprawl and more alike to a shining jewel crowning the artificial mountain known as the Great Library of Carcossa. To call it merely beautiful as well does not do it justice. The garden of unmatched beauty and biodiversity, with walkways illuminated by exotic flowers, every tree yielding fruit sometimes even more than a single kind. Among this most delightful of places sat a man who no longer took pleasure in these sights. Librarian Mhadii could no longer care about the childish games his friends played. Children of the Most Pure gallivanted, swilling Ksher (coffee/coca) wine, smoking zuavka and pesh with abandon. They knew no lowly Da'Kavo would dare disrupt their fun, yet Mhadii wasn't having fun anymore. Even the orgies and danger games had lost their thrill. He had to do something. Thats when he noticed a ruckus down the azure glow-bell path. A group of Da'Kavo were arguing with a strange looking woman with a flock of filthy children. Mhadii signaled his friends, their collective indigo gaze fell on the scene as he said, "Let's ruin their fun." with a grin. Seeing Mhadii smile they decided to go for it and whooped and hollered as they came upon the soldiers.
Mhadii golden robes open flashing his chiseled torso, exclaims, “Hey there this woman is a close personal friend of my father! You leave her be this instant!”
The cold gray eyes of the senior Da'Kavo met the indigo ones of Mhadii for but a brief second before he and his squad were kneeling in the mint grass. “As the Most Pure wishes.” was his cold answer before departing. As the black robes swiftly went on about their patrol, Mhadii looked to this strange woman with skin like caramel and curls the color of onyx yet her eyes were like his own. She began to instruct the children to play and eat before turning her warm smile toward Mhadii.

...to be continued.

[Khem]

The woman took him by the hand her melodic voice resounding, "Come meet your little brothers and sisters! Come join us in Gaias bounty and feast of her fruits. She commands us love our brothers and sisters." The ecstatically asked, "Do you hear her song?" with a manic grin. Mhadii heard only his heart pounding in his chest, loud as the Kval Drum. He followed her in a daze as she led them through the garden  to the tree of 99 fruits. The children climbed and cavorted alongside the inebriated Acolytes. Their lips were soon stained in various vibrant colors from the plethora of stone fruits. Mhadii then quietly asked, "You hear Gaia singing?" with a tone of disbelief. The woman sighed and shook her head of curls. "I've always heard her song, the song of grieving, the song of joy, the song of life and death. When I was young her song sometimes filled me with fear. Now I know she can hear my heart singing back to her and I am not afraid. Though I had always hoped another soul could hear her song, hear her commands, her cries of pain. But I suppose you are like all the others of our land, just another with a deaf heart."

Taken aback Mhadii felt wounded, yet knew it was an ancient pain. He could feel the void of his heart, the constant hollowness of generations numbed to the truths he now heard from this woman's divine lips. Just then he remembered the old story of the Da'Kavo. The tales of separation and the coming of the Hermetica to Gaia. Ancient ballads describing the songs of Gaia and Ta flowing in the hearts of the First Cosmic Order. He had thought them mere fable. Yet this woman who could not have heard of these Librarians tales stood here describing the voice of Gaia, not as a song of pure joy but one of sorrow. He knew in that moment with perfect clarity that his empty heart and the sorrow of Gaia were aligned, yet merely symptoms of something much worse...

[Khem]

Deep within the leviathan structure of the Great Library, a young Da'Kavo knocked on a door of rainbow grain. Scraping his knuckles upon the carved relief showing cosmic unity. From within a stern voice commanded he enter. Looking around inside he saw stacks of paperwork and building plans like a miniature foreign city, all square high stacks and disorder. Behind thirty yards of this he finally found his objective, the desk of the Agathos Daimon himself. The desk was carved from a single piece of jade, with an ivory inlay depicting the cosmic tree Mana. Mikkel the Wise sat hunched over a blueprint making minor adjustments, finishing his work before acknowledging the Da'Kavo.

"Why have you come to me child?" He asked, knowing full well it would be something to do with his son again as it was everytime a Da'Kavo of such low rank came to him.

"It's your son, High One. He has gone missing after having been spotted taking food with n'khem. We believe this may be a terrorist organization." The young soldier said blandly.

Nothing rattles these grey eyes, thought Mikkel, "Do not raise any alarms about this. We do not want public morale to be affected. Go to your superiors tell them I wish to have Vinnana'Datu track his motions. We must not strike any snakes until we know where they brood." He began to plot and think, ignoring the Da'Kavo for a full five minutes before saying "You are dismissed from my presence."

[Khem]

As darkness fell over the city, black clad figures began swarming through the n'khel. The full moon shone overhead as screams and blood filled the streets. In eastern Carcossa, in one such n'khel, a group of Da'Kavo were giving chase to a young n'khem woman. She screamed for help to the indifferent cosmos. As they caught her in an alleyway she prayed to Ta and Gaia and the Hermetica. The people above drew their curtains as she was pinned to the ground. They ignored the screams and the sound of fabric tearing. However one person in the city couldn't ignore what he knew was wrong.  The Da'Kavo Vol was known among the Akasa'Datu as the most dangerous man in Khem and he just so happened to have a moral difference with the men in the alley below him.

 Vol dropped in on the group knee first into the head of the Da'Kavo pinning her down. Standing neatly he delivered a kick to the throat of another one of the assailants faster than the others could see. Smiling he looked at the remaining five Pru'Thavi'Datu and said, "I am Vol. Were I you I would be running."

They looked at each other knowing fear for the first time. They ran off in different directions abandoning their training, each man only thinking of himself.

Vol then smiled down at the young n'khem woman and offered her a hand up. "Come now we need to see about getting you some clothes.  Ah here we go these should do." he said as he began stripping one of the two dead Pru'Thavi'Datu.

When she was dressed he said, "Come now follow me there will be others who need help tonight and I want to see them all on our side come  sunrise." Then they walked off into the chaos of the streets, turning the tide everywhere they wandered.