Silver Cathedral Saga (20 page)

“Shall we
have a drink and stretch our legs a little,” said Ematay, even
though he already knew the answer. “We can’t stay for more than an
hour or two, unfortunately.”

“What were
you going to say again before all this ruckus interrupted?” said
Ematay.

Lauretta
closed her eyes for a brief second—and as she opened them every
candle around the mansion they could see was sure enough lit, and
with such ease.

“Woah,”
said Eleanor. The marble sheen looked even more magnificent against
the cascading light that bounced, glinted and glistened.

The
Fire-caster then followed the others slowly.

Ematay
opened two double white doors under two more columns just beyond
the front entrance, which was about ten feet farther.

Inside this
second door was a lit fireplace, looking intensely cosy to watch.
Next to it was the most comfortable looking furniture, whilst many
books laid scattered around on one high shelf that span around the
entire room; what must have been four shelves looked like one.

Even with
there only being one shelf that housed all these pages, there was a
sea of information towering above every single one of them.

The
spitting of the fire felt as if it invited them all to sit.

“Right,
I’ll get the drinks for us all. Everyone get cosy. We have no idea
when we next can do so.”

They all
sat down as Ematay went farther down to what the children assumed
was the kitchen. He left the door open to it, and noticed the
wooden benches which ran through most of this room they were in
now.

The floor
was white and sparkled with more of a clinical look than the
children had ever seen before. It looked magickally tidy as they
gazed around; everything was in what looked like its place, and not
a single speck of dust or crumb covered any part.

Eleanor and
Christian sat down next to each other on a two seater settee,
something their eyes were alien too until they saw them in the
Silver Cathedral. The material had patterns of blue stars pitted on
a smooth, black surface. Like all the others near it; there was a
three seater, a two seater they sat on and two single ones. All
with the same material.

Eleanor
brushed her hand across the black material, relishing in its
exquisite feeling.

“It’s
leather,” said the Fire-caster as the female from Hiva Aura stroked
it. “A very rare luxury on Astora. Legend has it all the furniture
in this house were gifts from Starao’s parents.”

“Even
Emae?” asked Eleanor.

“Yes,”
replied Lauretta.

They could
all hear the clanging, pottering and banging of Ematay in the
background through the open door.

“That
explains where the leather comes from,” said Christian.

“More than
likely,” said Adea.

“You would
think so,” said Oddius.

Ematay came
in with a polished silver tray with all eight drinks upon it,
taunting them to take one.

“If you are
Edeolon Warriors from the last millennium, then wouldn’t you be
like thousands of years old? Asked Eleanor, just remembering about
the tales.

“Yes we
are,” replied the deceptively young female Warrior of Faith.

“But you
only look a little older than us,” said Eleanor.

“Here we
go,” said Ematay, handing out the first.

“At the
ceremony, when we officially become the Edeolon Warriors, we we’re
given everlasting life; we are immortal from the ageing years—but
not from physical force. We can die just as easy as you. When it
comes to the Astorian anatomy we are all very fragile beings, both
inside and out.”

Nobody knew
how to reply to what Selphira just said, so they just looked at
Ematay handing out the drinks.

The
Star-caster put the tray on the small oak finished table in the
centre after all the  silver chalices were gone; all the
furniture was placed and centred around this table, but it never
looked out of place.

Christian
cleared his throat after taking a sip of his milk. “Why do they
call this place Madame Mansion then?”.

Ematay sat
down with his drink on one of the single seater settees before
answering. He chugged some of his drink down and sighed, as if he
longed all too long for that liquid to trickle down his throat.

“Because
Starao took in only females here at the mansion to train under her
tutelage, where the first Star-casters came from. She believed the
evil of men was too corrupt and could not be trusted. So her
followers, for some reason, became known as the Madams of Astora.
This wasn’t just her home, this was her place of training. If I
show you after our drink, giving our legs a rest, I will show you
exactly what I am talking about.”

Eleanor
nodded to Ematay’s answer quite excited at the thought.

“And of
course when Starao died many thousands of years later from the hand
of a god, the Madams felt the craft should be allowed to pass onto
males also. Though there was a test to pass before it all would
progress any further. The portal what you all went through was a
test to see if the males were good hearted enough to use their
magick in the right way.”

“It is
strange,” said Selphira. “We were told Star-casters are looked down
upon by many. But from what you have told us—I think what they do
is the most admirable thing I have heard… in a long, long
time.”

“The
positions of Star-casters crumbled hundreds of years ago. Mostly
because other Spell-casters,” said Ematay looking at the other
types in the room. “Had some kind of offensive ability to help with
evening numbers and such. Star-casters are pure defensive beings of
magick. We are all about protecting those who can’t do it
themselves.”

“Yet things
are being patched up as we speak,” said the Beast-caster Adea.
“Because the king asked for Ematay to lead this group and quest to
its destination. Never in all my life have I heard of a king
trusting a Star-caster to do something so important. You must have
made an impression on your last quest.”

“You mean
the one with us?” said Christian.

“I don’t
know,” replied the Beast-caster.

“Maybe”
replied Ematay. “But I think it’s about time Star-casters got what
they deserve in life, as much as anyone else. Regardless of our
limits.”

“Well they
are,” replied Adea. “There is such a stigma aimed at Star-casters
now, but the story behind them are to make them more appreciated.
It is a predestined magick only few can leap to and learn. Because
of it’s limitations with their views, as well as their magick.”

“Hey,” said
Ematay, sounding offended. “I understand people who don’t
understand what I do and practice every day, but I think it is
highly unprofessional of any Spell-caster to go around mocking
people for what they are, what they do. And all because it doesn’t
fall into their area, which people always think is all so high and
mighty and perfect.”

“Oh,
please. You are talking like a ten year old. Like these two,” said
the Fire-caster Lauretta, looking to the only known survivors from
Hiva Aura. “Why the king chose a Star-caster to lead is beyond me.
But orders are orders. And we need to get on with them.”

“It’s like
the world is out to get Star-casters, and all they do is protect
those who need it most. It makes no sense,” said Ematay.

“Pay no
attention to these hypocrites,” said Eleanor.

“Oh,” said
the Fire-caster, Beast-caster and Battle-caster together. They
laughed straight after. One of them shook their heads too.

“It beats
being a bully because you want conditional attention for yourselves
all the time,” said Christian.

“Is that
supposed to hurt,” said Lauretta, “because it is more funny than
offensive.”

“It
should,” said Christian. “Because what you say about others is more
often than not what you’re saying about yourself. Halfwits.” He
spat out the last word so loud that spit went everywhere.

Eleanor
moved out of the room, and saw the two stair cases either side,
like a generic mansion would look. Only these stairs were much
higher, and the steps, each one, was deeper. Especially for the
smaller legs that Christian and Eleanor had. The floor in the
entrance hallway was black and white marble, gleaming, like most of
the mansion. “Come on,” she called to Christian and Ematay. “You
can show us around while these prats calm themselves down.

As they
went up the stairs on the left, Eleanor saw one of the
Spell-casters acting, needing to be saved with the words:
“Star-caster, I need your help. They are coming to get me. Oh, wait
. . . you can’t help. All you can do is slow them.” The room
cackled again but they were upstairs now; the children could see it
affected Ematay, and he rubbed his skin which was a little darker
than theirs, though not greatly.

They now
saw nine doors in front of them and could see every single one at
once; all the doors where in a row, but separate, nicely for the
eyes to respond as they moved onto the next with their eyes. Each
had some kind of symbol on the children had never seen before.

Then, the
children saw something that stuck in there mind very easily:

Upon a star
a child is born, inside the dark she turns from dawn; by night she
becomes herself. But everything else is for their help!

The rhyme
helped keep it stuck in their head, and it most certainly sounded
like something Starao would say herself from just the few tales
they had heard about.

“So, I
guess starting at door one would be good,” said Ematay trying to
push things on. “I better rush you through though. Not too much
talk or history on the place as we only have another hour left
now.”

Eleanor and
Christian became a little confused by what he just said, but didn’t
make it appear that way to Ematay. Christian asked himself in his
mind
how much time could nine rooms take to walk around? We’re
just looking, right?

Ematay
opened the first door. He gestured for them to go in first.

“There’s a
huge garden… inside a room?” said Eleanor, but knew what she was
looking at.

“It’s not
just a plain garden,” said Ematay. “Here grows every herb
imaginable that can be used in healing, aiding a being in some way.
There is some much needed knowledge to get the full kick out of
this room, so we will move on.” None of the three went very far
into the garden, and felt sad by that very thing. The beauty of its
nature drowned out some of their sadness. All three.

“I guess
some of the magick in this world really does come from nature,”
said Eleanor.

“Yes,” said
Ematay still staring inside, but with his hand on the door handle.
“You could say some of these plants work like magick in helping
life. But the truth is that there is no healing magick on our
world.”

The
Star-caster then closed the door. It felt like they were in the
mansion again, the tranquillity fading to nothing as soon as the
white door hid the green serene wilderness.

“To door
two then,” said Ematay as he went over to the second door from the
left, opening it. They all entered again, just the same as last,
not going in too far.

“I don’t
know what to say to this room. If you could call it that,” said
Eleanor.

“Very few
people do,” replied Ematay. “It is pretty useless. Known as the
space room. It’s all very superficial and pretty, but has no real
purpose. Legend has it this room used to help Starao think in the
darker times of her life. Her sanctuary she called the Space
Room.

“Well it’s
hard not to say it’s beautiful,” said Christian. The all took in
the wonder of what laid before them.

It was the
galaxy, moving, in real time. They could see all the planets: From
Mercury to Amaranth, the last named planet known to them. It was
hard to spot the worlds moving, but there was movement going on in
some way; all their eyes picked up on it after a short while. The
blackness that was filled with space covered a lot of the room;
visual renderings of the planets, stars, asteroid belts and sun
merged to create the very universe a massive amount of life lived
in. Albeit—not particularly together. That always seemed to be a
work in progress, but never felt like it moved closer to closure,
to the finish line, and it frustrated the educated ones that knew
about all these worlds.

They all
sat on the floor in-between Earth and Mars, gazing upon the
lustrous colours spanning around the room. There was space enough
to hold the galaxy at a close enough zoom to see some detail of
each planet, though not to true scale, clearly. It wasn’t small,
but at the same time it wasn’t galactic. Still, there was so big of
a space to believe you were a very tiny speck of the universe if
you entered, alone or otherwise. Eleanor touched planet Earth, her
hand moving straight through, disappearing through the globe as if
it wasn’t there. Although she knew Earth existed—unlike Earthlings
about them.

“How could
Starao have all this? I thought she was just a Star-caster,” said
Christian.

“She was
the original star-caster, yes. But she could always do far more
than any other today. She only taught the basics, of which she
believed would build a good foundation Astorians could live on and
with.” Ematay looked at their own planet, so far away from Earth.
“Her journal says a lot of what’s in here. About them being gifts
from her mother, the queen of the gods, on the day she was born.
You could say she had a lot of help to begin with as just one god
can craft limitless items from their own bodies, which grow
straight back after anyway.”

“You said
she got killed by a god though?” said Eleanor looking at Earth,
seeing all the beautiful blue saturate the world.

“And she
did. By Heedian, the god of disguises. From an order of Emae the
king. He became saturated with jealousy as time passed when Remor
would give more attention to her half mortal child than her full
god ones. There was always a feud between Emae and Remor. Even
before Starao. But us mere mortals don’t know the full story of
such a thing. Only what has been written down, and we don’t even
know if any of it is truthful and accurate. It was written that
Heedian took the form of her mother, Remor, and visited Starao here
in her own home. She was overwhelmed with happiness when she saw
her; as she had not seen her mother or father since birth. At
around the same time—Emae killed the father when he found him at
Stonebridge village. The king of the gods was disgusted by the
father of the half mortal.