Asmireen
©2024 by Jonathan Scott
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Chapter 17 - The Mouth of Babes and a Reality Check
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Asgael, He's First Words
10.3 Where be the truth? It be where it always be. It be where there be not lies. The world, because it be filled with all, be not filled with much truth, therefore trust not it much.
The man who was not large sat in a chair made of gold. The robes he wore were thick and seemingly over warm for the current weather. Somehow, the clothing he wore, and the station they proclaimed were of higher import than the man's own personal comfort. His crown sparkled with the reflected resplendent light of a star amplified through and across Earth's greatest treasures. He held a scepter of near infinite worth in one hand and used the other to grasp the arm of his throne as if to proclaim to the world that not only was he a king, but that he also demanded it be thus.
"That was when Jake and Hank showed up." said Marie.
"And then your mother died?" said another man who sat at a table with four other men, all of whom were old, and all of whom spoke carefully.
Marie nodded.
"Mister Tunnis. You say that this monster that destroyed your village was over ten feet tall?" said another man who also sat at the table.
"Yes sir, I think so." said Jake who answered each and every question given to him with absolute careful honesty as if even the smallest lie or inaccuracy could destroy a universe.
Jake, Marie and Isaac had been sitting in their chairs for close to two hours. Jake and Marie had been asked, in depth, and repeatedly about everything concerning the explosions. Very often Jake and Marie were forced to respond to questions with the phrase "I don't know." Each and every time they did so though, Jake felt pain. He wished he knew it all. He wished he could tell them everything. Somehow, the smallest portion of him believed that if these supremely powerful men could somehow have access to all the information they required, that they might even find a way to bring Jake's family back to him. The fact that Jake did not know everything somehow made him feel guilty and desperate.
Jake was honest to a degree that these men had never seen before. He was so honest that he actually looked strange because of it.
Then, from another room, a man arrived who was carrying a large binder filled with large papers. The men at the desk then instructed the new man to show the papers to Jake one by one.
"Now, Jake, don't be frightened. But, if you see a monster amongst these drawings that looks like the one you saw that day, please tell us so." said a third man from the table.
And with that, the new man showed Jake sketch after sketch. He saw goblins and bugbears. He saw cockatrices and ogres. After a very long time of seeing these sketches, the man finally showed Jake a sketch of an enormously fat pig-faced flying thing, below which was written the word "Devil - Scout - Type C."
Jake looked at the drawing and began to make a strange face. He looked as though he was angry. But then, he also looked as though he was frightened and was fighting back tears. Something had happened to Jake over the past week. He was handling his devastation better than anyone would have ever guessed, but, upon seeing this drawing, Jake began to lose his composure. His bottom lip stuck out from his mouth and sagged at the corners. Jake had not escaped his experience fully free of long lasting effects. In this particular instance, Jake looked very understandably and ever so slightly insane.
"Please show us that drawing." said a man with absolute tenderness.
The man that had brought in the folder then turned the drawing towards the table. Each of the men upon seeing the drawing began to look back and forth at each other with looks of immense concern.
"I think that's good enough. That'll do for now." said the man from the table again.
"Jake, was that the monster you saw that day?" asked the man. He was very careful as he asked this question.
"Sir, that picture said 'Devil.' What does that mean? Did a devil attack my family?" asked Jake.
"Maybe. Devils come from Hell Jake. They are the servants of Asmodeus. If what you saw really was one then we have a very big problem to address." answered the man from the table.
"Why would a devil want to kill my family?" asked Jake.
"I don't know. We're hoping to find that out." responded the man.
The men at the table all looked back and forth at each other and then one of them nodded.
"That'll be all Jake. We may need to contact you again though. You now work for the Fighter's Guild? Is this true?" asked the man.
"Yes sir."
"Very well then. Thank you all for your time and your honesty. I know this wasn't easy for you. Our drivers will take you back now."
"Sir. Can I ask you a question?"
"Yes, of course."
"Are you going to do anything about Hank?"
"Hank is the man that accompanied you here who attacked you and has since joined Nahli and become a ghost?"
"Yes. I'm just afraid that he will kill me. Especially now that William's Peace has been looted. He warned me not to tell the guards, but I did so anyway, just so they could warn everybody."
"We're grateful that you did that Jake. It's too bad that the men at the gate were untrustworthy. Yes. I promise you that we will take care of it."
A guard then entered the room. Isaac, Jake and Marie all stood and followed him out. The entire time that they were there, the King himself said nothing and had asked no questions.
"Professor James, if you could please remain behind for a second." said a man at the table to Isaac.
"Yes, of course." said Isaac who then returned to his seat.
Jake and Marie exited the room and waited in the hallway outside.
A guard stood with them by the great wooden double doors that provided access to the conference room.
The great wooden doors showed a battle scene from a war that had been fought long ago between the country of Eastbrook and their current ally the Seclars from above. The door itself was over a foot thick, twelve feet tall, and six feet wide and was covered by a relief sculpture that was so intense and beautiful that Jake seemed incapable of believing that such a thing could even exist. It was the sort of thing that one could only see in the palace of a King. Every aspect of the sculpture amazed Jake: the contours of the illustrated characters, the depth and craftsmanship of the relief sculpture, the mechanical perfection with which the door hid the seam between the two door panels while it was closed, and even the stain and varnish had been applied so perfectly that the door no longer even looked as though it were made of wood. Jake looked around him. The benches were amazing. The chandeliers were amazing. Even the floor held the most beautiful of inlaid stone mosaics. There was nothing about this building that was not superlatively thick in elegance.
Jake and Marie stood there in their shabby clothes and unwashed bodies soaking up the luxury. Eventually, Isaac walked out of the room carrying a rolled up piece of paper.
The group of them then left the palace and reentered their carriage. The driver then flicked his reins and the carriage began the long trip back to Old Town. This time though, there was only one carriage, one driver and two guards.
"What's that Isaac?" asked Marie pointing to the paper that Isaac held in his hand.
"The King has given me a charge. I am to be the executor of all the final affairs of William's Peace and Pine Mountain. It's a big job."
"Why you?"
"Because I had family there, and, they trust me."
"Why do they trust you?"
"I used to be a professor at the language guild. Those men that were sitting at the table, they all, at one time or another, had been my students. I actually used to even work here in the palace from time to time as well." he said.
"Doing what?" asked Jake.
"Occasionally royalty from other countries visit our lands. Sending normal translators to deal with people of such significance is usually frowned upon. So, I and the other professors would occasionally be asked to step in."
"I must admit, I do miss it all." said Isaac to himself, forgetting that others could also hear.
"But, you're still indentured, right?"
"Well, no actually. The King took care of that." said Isaac with a smile.
"I'm sorry Jake. I know how much you love fish, but it looks like we won't be having anymore for quite some time." Isaac added with an even bigger smile.
The carriage continued down the path and off out of sight. Jake, Marie, and Isaac would all return home to find Hannah sitting at their kitchen table waiting patiently for them. Isaac would tell the news to Hannah who would then begin to cry and hug Isaac out of pure joy. They would then all sit down and eat the soup and sandwiches that Hannah had prepared in their absence. They would then rest peacefully for the remainder of the day. It had been a good day for this small family.
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"Do you want fries with that, sir?" said the teenager.
"Yeah, large and could I get a big shake too? Chocolate?" said the man.
It was Monday afternoon and an overweight man dressed in a pair of light gray trousers stood at the head of a line and waited.
The man peacefully thought to himself as he watched the second hand of the restaurant clock tick. The teenager then brought an orange plastic tray filled with food to the cash register that the man stood in front of. The man politely received it and walked to a table at the rear of the restaurant. He began to eat. Not long after though, he saw a discarded newspaper that was sitting on the seat next to him, so he picked it up and began scanning the front page of it.
"Abortion Doctor Stabbed" read the main headline.
"If men were just..." he began to mutter to himself.
The man scanned further down the page until he saw something else that caught his eye.
"Gay Marriage: The Future is Here"
He scanned further down and saw a smaller article entitled "Scientists Scratch Mirrorball." He opened the paper and began to read the article looking more and more concerned with each and every word.
Just then, there was a buzz from the man's pocket. He put down his newspaper and took out his phone.
"Geoffrey sir. Will you be coming in today?" said a voice.
"I wasn't planning on it." the man said quietly as he chewed on his french fries and continued looking at the magazine article.
"Master Phelps was wondering if you could bring a good book on Tae Kwon Do. He seems somehow displeased with the one that he has." said the voice on the phone.
"He needs it today?" asked Geoffrey.
"He seemed quite urgent about it sir." answered the man on the phone.
"Tell Master Phelps that if he thinks I'm going to fly half way around the world just to deliver him a book on Tae Kwon Do, then perhaps it is time that the Guild find themselves a new martial arts headmaster." said Geoffrey.
There was no sound whatsoever on the phone. And then there was a shaky voice.
"I have related your displeasure to Master Phelps. He has asked me to remind you that tomorrow will be the class on Tae Kwon Do that the Seclarian prince himself will attend." said the voice on the phone, sounding slightly nervous.
Geoffrey rolled his eyes slightly and then looked once more at the newspaper article. "Scientists Scratch Mirrorball." A look of concern came to Geoffrey's face.
"Yeah. It looks like I'd better. OK, I'll bring it right in. I just have to finish up lunch first." said Geoffrey.
"Master Phelps is quite pleased sir. Thank you very much." said the voice.
"Yup. Bye." said Geoffrey who then unceremoniously hung up the phone and went back to his lunch.
"Karate, Karate, Judo, Karate, Judo, Judo, Shotokai, Karate, Kendo?" muttered Geoffrey to himself as he read the spines of the books that were in front of him.
"Kendo? What's kendo doing in here? Kendo's swords, not bare handed." he said again.
Then, later on, on the second shelf from the bottom, Geoffrey found a huge text entitled "A Master's Guide to Tae Kwon Do." It was thick. It had over four hundred pages of text and a thousand illustrations.
"If Phelps isn't happy with this one, I'm going to kill him." said Geoffrey to himself.
Geoffrey then turned the book over and saw the price tag.
"$49.99? Wow." said Geoffrey with a look of surprise.
He carried the book to the front cash register and pulled out his wallet.
"That'll be $52.49 sir." said the teenager from behind the cash register.
Geoffrey quickly took a fifty dollar bill and a five from his wallet and handed them to the boy.
"Hey, wait a sec. I think I have a couple of quarters." he said.
Geoffrey quickly went to his other pocket where he pulled out a small coin purse and opened it.
"Hey. What's that?" said the clerk as he pointed to a bright shining coin that was in the coin purse.
"Oh. It's French. I just came back from vacation not so long ago." Geoffrey said.
"No it isn't. I've been to France. They don't use those there." said the teenager.
"Oh yeah, sorry. It's from Greece. We visited there too." said Geoffrey as he pushed the two silver pieces further down into his coin purse and was truly glad that the gold piece he had had not surfaced as well.
"Yeah. Sorry. No quarters." said Geoffrey, rolling his eyes slightly.
"Thanks for shopping at Hearnes & Baubles." said the teenager.
Geoffrey walked out and into the snow carrying the book under his arm and a bag in his hand. He then placed his free hand into his pocket and pulled out his car keys.
"Geez. Where did I park? I can't believe I forgot again." said Geoffrey to himself. The parking lot was immense.
Off to his right, very far away stood a ten foot tall cartoon of an elephant that was attached to a light post. Off to his left, also very far away, was another huge long-eared cartoon animal. Between the two signs lay thousands and thousands of cars thickly covered in snow. They all looked as though they had been there forever and would ever so remain.
Geoffrey then looked around and saw two men dressed in suits and overcoats speaking with a family that had just exited the mall. They each stood next to a bicycle.
"Bicycles? In this weather? Boy, those guys must be devoted." he said to himself.
Geoffrey then looked behind them and saw his car.
"Oh yeah. Over there." muttered Geoffrey who then turned to the right and walked away.
Sitting in his car, Geoffrey pulled out his MP3 player and unplugged his headphones from it. He then grabbed the patch cable that was attached to his car stereo's auxiliary output and plugged it in where the headphones used to be.
"Man, I wish I was a DJ again." said Geoffrey who then put his keys into the ignition and started the car. The car sputtered to life.
Winter attacked cars in this place and even the healthiest and strongest of them would sometimes succumb to the abuse. This place was just not a place for machines. But, the machines whirred and gagged on in spite of it.
"Geez. It's rush hour too. What a bad time to do this!" said Geoffrey who meditated happily to the music that filled the car.
Geoffrey turned around and looked behind him and began to do the intricate dance that everyone has to do to get out of parking spaces. He looked behind, to the left, to the right, and then back to the back, repeating the process over and over, again and again.
In time, he was on the freeway heading towards downtown. He eventually pulled off of it and headed towards a group of older worn down buildings.
Geoffrey looked to his left. He then looked to his right. Seeing no one, he then pushed a button that was under his glove compartment. He then moved his hand to the radio where he began to twist a knob that seemed to have nothing to do with the radio at all.
The car rose into the sky and Geoffrey hit the accelerator. Buildings began whizzing by him at speeds one would think impossible. The entire time, Geoffrey sat back in his seat and did nothing but pay attention to the music and think to himself intensely about nothing in particular.
An hour passed, and below Geoffrey, there was nothing but the cold, frozen forests of Canada.
"Come on. I'm tired. It's late. Let's get this over with." said Geoffrey to himself as he scanned the horizon for something.
In time, a thin line of mirror gray appeared above the darkening horizon. It slowly grew as Geoffrey approached it.
After another half an hour, the Greater Mirrorball loomed in monstrous immensity before him.
"Ok guys, where are you?" said Geoffrey as he zoomed to the edge of the Mirrorball looking down on the ground for something.
And so he continued, flying hundreds of miles an hour around the perimeter of this giant ball of something that was not glass.
"There you are." Geoffrey then said as he approached a series of twelve domed tents that were situated very close to one portion of the edge of the Mirrorball. Geoffrey left his car parked atop a tree and floated down gently to see what these people were doing.
At the Mirrorball a group of thirty men and women huddled around a machine. The machine was projecting a tight and intense beam of light at the surface of the Mirrorball. Several of the people manned video cameras. Another spoke on a phone. Three others sat by computers. The rest simply stared and watched.
"Hello everybody. Could you excuse me for a second." said a man that none of these scientists had ever seen before and would never see again.
Geoffrey walked up to the machine, pulled it's plug, and walked up to where it had been shooting as though he actually had the right to do so. The scientists gathered around him.
"Hey buddy! Who are you?" said one of the scientists.
On the surface of the Mirrorball was a small spot of color that looked, upon first examination, as though it were a dent of some type in the surface of the Mirrorball itself.
"Sorry, I just have to see something." said Geoffrey who then got down on one knee and placed his face almost right against the surface of the Mirrorball.
The scientists all looked back and forth at each other in wonder as the bitter Northern Canadian snow and wind ripped at them. Who was this man? Who was this man that was now sniffing at the surface of the Mirrorball?
Geoffrey, then stood up and looked somewhat angry.
He placed the tip of his gloved forefinger on the discolored spot and rubbed it off. Where before, it had appeared that there had been a dent, there was now just the homogenous brilliant shining reflective sameness of the surface of the Mirrorball.
"Hmmm. Ketchup, guys." said Geoffrey as he angrily held his finger in the air and then turned it in all directions so that everyone could see.
"Geez. And to think you guys actually had me worried." said Geoffrey who then chanted a few words and disappeared.
The scientists looked back and forth at each other. One man that was wearing headphones and drinking a can of soda contentedly bobbed his head up and down to the music that he listened to and seemed oblivious to the fact that everyone was staring at him and the strange spot of now dry something or another that stained the front of his parka. His oblivion soon ended though when several scientists walked up to him and began sniffing at his jacket. He then returned to the oblivion when another of the scientists knocked him out with a good strong punch.
"Ketchup. ! Our funding is history." said the scientist. All thirty of the men and women present then began to angrily kick snow on the now fallen body of the man who unconsciously still held on to his can of soda.
There was a great roar and the scientists all looked up to see a pair of disembodied headlights rise up from the top of a tree, make a great circle in the sky and then disappear into the Mirrorball itself.
Geoffrey continued to fly his still invisible vehicle high in the sky over the lands of Tenebria. He flew north here in lands where the word 'north' is unknown. Anciently, many had discovered the technology of compasses, although, in this world, they were somewhat worthless. Other uses though were discovered, and what the rest of the planet now knows as "compasses" this world calls "Papa Sticks." They had discovered that if one paints the end of a long stick with a magnetic paint, and then suspends that stick from a thread, it will always point to the Inner Mirrorball. And being that everyone believes the Mirrorball to be the home of Papa Voice, compasses largely became items of religious significance and worship rather than tools.
Geoffrey flew north, or up rather, past and through the lands of Tenebria. He worked his way up until he entered the lands of Lower Gria. There he flew, still listening to his MP3 player and still intensely thinking about nothing in particular.
The world below him flew by at over two thousand miles an hour, until he finally saw his home shimmering in the distance. The Inner Mirrorball, now fading in the twilight, still reflected the world around it, but only dimly.
Geoffrey eased his foot off of the gas pedal as he softly landed atop one of the buildings. Within minutes he entered the gates of the Fighter's Guild and then walked towards a large building entitled "Main."
"Hey, Shane! Where's Phelps?" asked Geoffrey in a loud voice as he walked down the corridor towards a large and tall scarred man that sleepily stood behind a counter.
The large and tall scarred man, immediately woke up and looked a little surprised.
"Geoffrey. Um. Well. I'm not sure exactly. Let me check the schedule." said Shane.
"Well, according to this, he's working in the desert today. His class will be over in about twenty minutes. Do you want me to give him a message?" said Shane.
"Nah, I'll just head over there. Thanks." said Geoffrey, who immediately began walking down a long corridor towards the TTB.
As he walked though, he turned slightly back towards Shane and said, "Hey Shane, be patient with the new kid. Ok? He's having a hard time."
Shane then looked back towards Geoffrey and with a small look of incredulity simply and very businesslike said "Yes sir."
Geoffrey continued walking until he came to a large grass covered courtyard within which were several dozen fighters all sitting around speaking with one another. As they saw Geoffrey though, small whispered conversations began to erupt here and there. Geoffrey, knowing that he was being spoken about, and not really caring, continued to walk. He then entered a building that had above it's door a plaque that read: Old Town Fighter's Guild Terrain Training Building
Within, he walked the hallways that he had walked so many times before. He knew this place well. He had actually helped in its construction so long ago. He meandered through the hallways as if he were its owner.
Eventually, he arrived at a door, upon which was a small sign that read "Desert." He opened the door and walked in.
Within, the dry blasting heated winds assaulted his face and eyes. He immediately took off his winter coat and began walking across the sand. In the distance, Geoffrey saw a group of twenty men standing atop a large sand dune. All of them had their backs turned to him and all were intensely staring at something that Geoffrey could not see.
A huge brass dragon leapt into the sky from where it had been behind the dune. It immediately flew over the dune, over the heads of the fighters, saw Geoffrey and began to fly at its greatest speed directly for him. Two other brass dragons erupted from the dune as well. These also followed the first straight towards Geoffrey.
Geoffrey looked past them at the fighters standing atop the dune.
"HEY! IS PHELPS UP THERE?" screamed Geoffrey in a loud voice as the three mighty dragons all barreled towards him.
Seeing that the dragons were close enough, Geoffrey calmly pointed at the first dragon, opened his hand wide and muttered two words that no one but he could understand. A large and nearly invisible wall of some type of force sprung up from out of nowhere and there were three colossal crashes as each of these ancient brass dragons collided with the force that they could neither avoid nor vanquish.
Each of the dragons were now on the ground desperately fighting to remain conscious as Geoffrey simply walked around them towards the dune where the twenty fighters all stood in amazement.
"Where's Phelps?" he said again.
A smaller man walked to the front of the group and looked happy to see him. Geoffrey, in a business-like manner handed him the package, turned around and began to walk out.
"Good luck tomorrow Phelps." he said as he walked away.
"Thank you sir." said Master Phelps who immediately opened the book and began to thumb through its pages as all of the fighters stood behind him saying "oooh." It really was a good book.
Geoffrey walked out the door and back into the hallway where he saw a boy pushing a cart filled with all manner of cleaning supplies. The boy briefly looked up at him and then back down.
As Geoffrey walked past him, he simply said "Hang in there Jake." He then kept walking down the hall as Jake stared at him questioningly. Before Jake could say anything though, the man walked out of the TTB, to the right and Jake never saw him again.