The Ancient City of Halcyon
I have to reach the Kahanne!
The mayor of Halcyon pushed frantically through the stunned crowd that packed the central square. The appearance was so sudden – so unexpected – that no one knew what to do or how to proceed.
Where’s the Kahanne? Why isn’t he responding?
Nothing in the mayor’s political or personal experience prepared him for this. A crush of people pushed him back as the citizenry pressed into the square to see if what they had heard was true. The mayor tried to ignore the questions that seemed to come from a hundred directions at once.
I need to reach the Kahanne!
The mayor finally arrived at his office and grabbed for one of his aides. After a moment of frantic instructions, the aide nearly stumbled over himself as he headed for one of the transports.
The mayor returned to the central square to join thousands of his fellow citizens. The mood was a curious mix of fear and anticipation.
The Kahanne will know what to do.
*
Nathan Kohani sat cross-legged in a corner of his study. Before him was a bronze statue of a fox-bear accompanied by a smoking incense pan. Behind that was a large, oblong window that afforded him a magnificent view of the surrounding woodland. His home was built on top of a mild grade on the shore of Lake Paix, a region rich with life. Normally, Kohani would have stood before the window and soaked up the environs: large deciduous trees crowding the lake shore, small rodents darting about for a quick drink, birds and insects of every kind, and dozens of species of flora and fauna that even after two hundred years had yet to be catalogued. Nathan Kohani would have noticed all this had he been alert.
Several soft raps on the door drew no response. The Kahanne was too deep in meditation.
Kohani inhaled deeply, filling his lungs with the hallucinogenic smoke that enabled him to reach Communion. Every muscle was relaxed, though his mind was aflutter. Images of his surroundings flashed in front of him — fern trees with their wide flat leaves, a squirrel scrambling after its mate, the cool mud under his paws… and then he realized that he was the fox-bear, dashing through the forest that occupied the northern third of this island.
Communion!
The experience started to wane. His mind began pulling back. He no longer saw through the fox-bear’s eyes — his perspective had shifted, as if his head rested between the animal’s pointed ears. It slowed to a trot, and Kohani was now floating above it. By the time the fox-bear stopped to munch on a berry bush, Kohani’s consciousness had reached the tops of the trees. He continued his journey skyward, away from the island and into the clouds.
As he pulled further away, other sounds became audible, as if he was hearing them through water. The soft pat of footfalls on wood… a beep from a communicator… a muffled conversation…
Blackness.
Kohani opened his eyes and blinked quickly to get them to focus. The last wisps of incense smoke were diffusing into the air, and the intoxicating sweetness that filled his nostrils would slowly be replaced by the woodsy aromas of his home. He rose gracefully to his feet and stretched. He felt refreshed. He stood there for a moment to reflect on his experience. Kohani was very old by any standard, though he was unusually robust. He credited this partly to his daily regimen of exercise, healthy eating and antioxidants — the standard fare for anyone over eighty years of age — but nothing maintained his youthfulness more than his daily Communions. It was his search for unity with Nature that brought him here some fifty years earlier. His Communions were responsible for his heightened sense of spirituality, and his aptitude at achieving them enabled him to attain the highest office of religious advisor.
When he finished his moment of reflection, he turned to face the door. “Entrer.” The voice was light, almost musical.
At Kohani’s bidding, the door opened and the mayor’s aide nervously stepped inside, visibly relieved that the Kahanne was finally awake. “Pardon, Monsieur,” he ventured.
Kohani studied him. He was a young man in his twenties who had the look of a spiritual acolyte. A frock was draped over his body, and his pants stopped halfway up his shins. As with most of the people here, he was barefoot. Kohani’s attire was hardly more formal. He wore a light shirt that partly covered his baggy pants, neither of which did much to hide his tall, wiry frame. The Kahanne grinned warmly at his visitor. He was probably working in the mayor’s office to pay off his university tuition.
The aide continued. “Le Maire a appelé a vous.”
Kohani sighed. He always seemed to be on call. “Bien.”
As they walked through his home, he glanced at his message board. There were twelve calls from the mayor in the past three hours! Something serious must have happened while he was communing. No wonder they sent someone to fetch him!
The aide led Kohani out of his home. There was a comfortable breeze blowing so he decided to leave the front door open — locks were unheard of around here and crime was nonexistent. They clambered into a waiting transport, and once they were seated, Kohani’s escort fired up its engines. It lifted off the ground and headed out to the mainland. Kohani glanced back at his home — a simple wood cabin nestled in a forest by a lake, and a stark contrast to the technological marvel he was sitting in. After twenty minutes, they had passed over the channel and the city was in sight. It was a majestic collection of spires and low buildings with a large, open square in the middle. Everything about it betrayed a strong sense of simplicity. Thousands of homes, schools, research facilities and businesses without a shred of excess. The people kept and used only what they needed to live comfortably. Anything beyond that was a distraction from the one thing they all strove for: unity with Nature.
Raising his hand to shield his eyes from the sun’s glare, Kohani studied the city as it grew closer. It was usually a bustling place, with transports such as this flying all about. Now, though, there seemed to be no activity whatsoever, as if the city had been abandoned. A shiver crept through Kohani’s body as he thought about this. Where was everybody and why did the mayor issue such an urgent summons for him? Evening prayers weren’t for another three hours.
“Qu’est-ce qui a?” he asked the aide.
No answer was forthcoming as they began the landing cycle. After a few minutes, the transport touched down on a landing pad and the aide turned to Kohani. “Le Maire va vous montrer.”
They exited the transport and Kohani was greeted by the mayor, who bowed his head. He was shorter than Kohani and heavyset. His dark skin glistened with perspiration. Like the others, he was dressed plainly in loose-fitting clothes and he wore no insignia.
“Kahanne, thank God,” he sighed. “You won’t believe what’s happened.”
“I am not supposed to be needed until evening prayers, Hanan,” admonished Kohani. His rolling accent, along with his light voice, gave his speech an almost lyrical intonation. “You know that I like to commune in the afternoon.”
“Believe me, we wouldn’t have summoned you if we had another choice. We need you.”
“For what?”
Hanan ushered him past one of the spires that marked the city’s border. It looked like a small, smooth mountain peak pointing skywards. “Something extraordinary has happened. I can’t describe it… you simply have to see for yourself. They’ve been here for hours. I tried calling you all afternoon. They appeared out of nowhere. We’ve had experts of every sort examine them — scientists, doctors, physicists… All we’ve been able to determine is that they’re real!”
“What is real? What is causing all this excitement?”
The central square was just beyond the next spire and the hushed voices of thousands of people could be heard. The mayor stopped for a moment and grabbed Kohani by the shoulders, gently pushing him into the spire’s shadow. He sounded edgy. “We don’t know. That’s why you’re here. We think they’ve been here all along, but that they’ve made themselves known to us now for a reason. We need someone to talk to them, and no one is more qualified than you.”
As they rounded the bend and began to wade through the crowd, a flash caught Kohani’s eye. Still being dragged by the mayor, he glanced back and saw a faintly gleaming aura. Squinting, he made out the shape of what looked like a man dressed in ancient armor. The armor was part of a military uniform, though Kohani couldn’t make out any identifying marks through the light. The man appeared to be watching them. Then their eyes met and their gazes locked. Kohani was enthralled by the shimmering specter. He began to feel drawn to the phantom warrior even though Hanan was tugging him in the opposite direction. He blinked and rubbed his eyes, thinking it was somehow the residue of his Communion, though he had no idea what it had to do with a fox-bear. When he looked back, the aura was gone.
Kohani suddenly became aware of the mass of people around him. No one else appeared to have seen the image. As they made their way through the press of people, deference was shown to him, with the word “Kahanne” muttered throughout. Kohani didn’t notice. With his eyes downcast, he shook his head, trying to make sense of what he had just seen. The mayor stopped short. Kohani looked up and saw that they were standing in front of a small brown hill. He didn’t remember this being here before. He turned around and saw thousands of people facing it. He was stunned. Every last citizen must be here!
They quieted down to see what would happen. Kohani glanced at the mayor, who was staring at the hill. “Well,” demanded the Kahanne, “where are these mysterious arrivals you were talking about?”
The mayor pointed straight up.
Kohani turned back around and stared in the direction that the mayor had pointed. It took him a few seconds to realize that the hill was actually a huge booted foot. His gaze followed the foot up along the giant leg, which was attached to a body that would have looked human had it not been for its colossal size. Swashes of royal blue and soft purple adorned a black, tight outfit that allowed the proportions of a well-muscled man to show through. It towered above the crowd, standing almost as tall as the spires surrounding the square. Behind it stood eleven others, all dressed the same way. Only their genders and skin tones set them apart from one another. They wore no jewelry or decorations of any kind but they exuded a regal authority.
Kohani was awestruck. “Mon Dieu,” he whispered.
He slowly stepped back to join the crowd of people that was giving the giants an increasingly wider berth. The Kahanne put a hand across the nape of his neck as he strained to regard the face of the one in front. It had a clear, hard expression, and its dark eyes scanned the crowd, marking their presence. Apparently reaching a decision, it turned to the two who stood immediately behind it. There was a brief, silent exchange between the three of them. The first one then turned back to the people. It opened its mouth, and a deep, rumbling basso filled the minds of everyone present. The booming sound resonated across the square. Although everyone heard the same voice, the people would later disagree as to the precise wording of the pronouncement, since they all heard it in their own native languages:
“This, we give you to know: that your world shall pass through seven ages in its time. Three shall be times of Order and three shall be times of Chaos, in which your world be laid waste.
“Let it now be known that upon the third coming of Chaos, the bones shall be tossed in a contest of wills to see which shall emerge dominant in the struggle between Order and Chaos and that the victor shall determine the fate of all that is to proceed.
“Everything past, present, and future shall meet at that appointed time to act as witness. Two will enter; one will survive. And the One shall rule them all.”
The giant paused for a moment, and as the echo of its voice faded away, it resumed, indicating each of its companions as it spoke.
“Rasqu’il and L’Xar will contend. Samlah, Elren, Teyull, Rukh, Avari, Shakar, Qedem, Yarmah, and Arya will bear witness. I, the Unknown, will judge. I have spoken. Let the Game commence.”
With that, the twelve giant visitors vanished, leaving behind a crowd of confused and frightened civilians.
