Chapter 1 The Pit & The Echo
Agaliarept’s talons wrapped around the pointed edge of a jagged rock. Wings snug against his burgundy back, he glared over the horizon. In the far distance, an Agni lumbered clumsily across a dry terrain dotted with fires. Its monstrous form was illuminated by the glow of its horns. They radiated white – a clear sign the gigantic Agni had over-exposed himself to radiation and Umbral Primordium energy saturating the environment.
The Agni advanced, each step faster than the next. Agaliarept tried to recognize the monster. Perhaps it was Hortiva. Agaliarept hoped it was. Although Agaliarept loathed most djinn belonging to the Agni race, he had a deeper resentment for Hortiva.
But the Agni in his vision was not Hortiva. It lacked the diabolical aura Agaliarept remembered from the day Hortiva destroyed the education sanctuary and leveled the crystal knoll.
Still, Agaliarept hoped for the scrambling Agni’s demise.
Ahead of the Agni was a ring of dust, twisting into an enormous red, yellow and orange cylinder. Inside was the Agni’s safety – some sort of shield radiating around a pit. It was one of the few hiding places away from the toxic environment.
Agaliarept watched eagerly with an anticipating grin. The Agni sprinted – too far away for Agaliarept to see the panic written on its face, but Agaliarept knew it was there. So close to death, so close to its body scattered into a thousand burning pieces – it had to be afraid.
Four steps away. The rock vibrated under Agaliarept’s talons, with each pound of the Agni’s foot against the surface.
Three steps.
Two steps.
Agaliarept wished he was close enough to smell the repugnant vapor the horns made when they cracked. He had seen it before – the crack, then the shattering. The odor filled the air, just before the body folds in on itself.
He sensed a cool change in the air behind him. A gentle push of it against his wings signaled that Yori, his mentor, had teleported to him. Agaliarept held his gaze on the Agni.
One step. The enormous djinni leaped forward, through the dusty veil, and into safety.
Agaliarept’s grin faded. His shoulders slumped – disappointment.
As if Yori could sense his disappointment, she sighed. “Almost,” her gentle voice reflected more sarcasm than displeasure.
Agaliarept turned to her. He already knew her viewpoint. Agni survival does not dictate the emotion of the wise. Its life and death are only part of the circle – the toroidal pattern. Such was the way Yori taught him. He tried to accept the Amasutum wisdom she eagerly provided. But her race, Amasutum, dwelt high in the mountains and clouds. The Agni did not terrorize them as they did his race – Nenu.
Beholding her slender physique, wrapped in loosely fitting garments, her ebony skin reflecting a glamor unique to Amasutums, Agaliarept noticed the air around her. It remained disturbed by her teleportation. Ripples gravitated to a single spot where she had emerged. He was anxious to learn the secrets of teleportation.
“Isn’t it time you teach me the secret of teleportation?” he asked. As far as he knew, only Amasutums could teleport at will.
Yori shook her head, black locks oscillated over her pointed ears. “Your patience is as fragile as your sanctuaries.”
Agaliarept’s mouth gaped. The destruction of his sanctuary was inevitable. No one – not even an Amasutum with all their intellect – would have stopped Hortiva’s destruction. The mention of his loss was her attempt to humor him. Amasutums were philosophers and scientists – not comedians.
“The lessons of space-time are difficult to master.” She entered the cave and paused to examine two small Inuna djinn crawling on the ceiling. Their gray scaled skin made them barely noticeable as they clung with four legs and narrow tails.
“I’ve already taught you enough to be dangerous.” She continued - her jade-green eyes hinting at an unspoken pride in her student. “It’s time to learn responsibility.”
Agaliarept followed her into the cave. Yori walked with a regal presence. Her arms swung at her side with uncanny grace.
“When we spoke last,” Agaliarept tried to distract from a potential lesson on metaphysical responsibility. “You told me the toroidal pattern was a stream that twisted over the entire multiverse.”
“Yes,” Yori whispered.
“I am curious to know if it is possible to follow the flow.” He paused, imagining himself enveloped in a stream of energy as if flowed through dimensions. “I mean physically move along the pattern of energy and –"
“Use it to explore the multiverse,” she finished his sentence.
“Yes.”
Yori stopped. The tunnel opened into a massive sanctuary of stalactites and stalagmites. In the center was a cave pool of fire and mist. Blue and white electrodes of energy danced over the molten rock that formed the pool’s brim.
Yori lifted her hand, beckoning the electrodes. The energy danced over her fingertips, moving from one to another. She commanded them to form a knot and hover over her open palm. “Notice the entanglement,” she invited. “As tight as the knot seems, there is space between the flow. If one slips into the space, he is lost – trapped inside a void.”
The thought troubled Agaliarept. But he found delight in knowing that Yori had not rejected his premise. She only mentioned what would happen if one failed. “So, it is possible.”
“Only if one had an energy portal powerful enough to throw him from one twist to another, holding him in the magnetic field of the flow.”
Agaliarept paced, an idea forming in his mind. He tried grasping for it, but the elusive concept slipped through his fingers. He needed to talk it out. He turned to his mentor, hoping she would not begin her pending lecture of responsibility and appreciation for multiverse constructions.
“You once told me Agni pits were void of energy flow.” He rubbed his chin, still pacing. “Why are Agni not lost? Instead, the spaces of null energy – their pits - are safe havens.”
Yori waved her hand, the electrodes sizzled and faded into nothingness. She gleamed at him. He couldn’t tell if she was suspicious of his forming thoughts or proud of his inquisitive mind.
“From what we know, the phenomenon of the pits where Agni retreat is the result of two additional ones.” She walked toward him; her gaze fixed. “One,” she raised a finger. “A structural tear in reality. We believe this is due to something the Great Creator of worlds left behind. It could be an artifact or even a fragment of the Creator’s voice trapped between energy fields.”
Agaliarept twisted his mouth the way he did when he rejected a premise. He couldn’t imagine an artifact so powerful that it would push aside hundreds of different energy flows. Whatever caused the pockets of emptiness had to be something intangible.
“The second,” Yori hesitated, as if she knew his thoughts had drifted. When their eyes met, she continued. “The negative well theory.”
Agaliarept was intrigued.
“A negative energy force might surround the pit’s core.” Yori’s voice tone shifted, her excitement growing. “If true, it could create a zone where traditional energies are repelled.”
She summoned the electrodes again, forcing them into a spinning whirlwind replica. Guiding her demonstration with both hands, she tilted its opening toward Agaliarept. He peeped inside the whirlwind’s eye. There was a pebble at the core, bouncing from one side to the other. It moved up and down the whirlwind’s interior, ricocheting.
Agaliarept nodded. Yori’s second explanation had better logic. Something pushed the interior of the whirlwind, preventing it from collapsing onto itself. When the Agni filled the empty space, its exposure to the environment diminished with the risk of his demise.
Yori droned on as Agaliarept’s mind raced. He thought about the Agni’s pit. Entering it was unprecedented. Not even the Amasutums with all their curiosities and observation tools had entered an Agni’s pit. The gigantic djinni would crush an unwelcome guest. Of course, that would happen if the guest was fortunate. Agaliarept recalled times when the mighty Hortiva completely disintegrated his victims in cosmic fires.
When Agaliarept returned his attention to Yori’s words, she was mid-sentence. “… interconnectedness of all things.”
She had forged an elaborate presentation of electric and magnatide energies. Orbs and flowing waves moved through and around, circling in a continued pattern.
“These all exist in harmony, ensuring the fluidity of reality. We must respect the balance of opposing forces. They are necessary for the harmony.”
Agaliarept nodded. He could not dispute the Amasutum wisdom. He was grateful that Yori had taken him as an apprentice. He was not one of them, and perhaps that is why he did not merely want to understand and respect. He wanted to interact, to immerse himself in the discoveries and cause nature to make something else – something greater. He did not know what was greater, but Yori once said improvement has no limits. Agaliarept wanted to find the limits. The Agni’s pit was a perfect place to start.
