The Last Queen of Lemuria (24 page)

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"What map?"  Asked Nastya.

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"The map of the world! Remember, in the laboratory!”

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“Come on! Let's go!"

In the laboratory it was dark and quiet. In the stone walls, windows weakly flickered, showing the World Above. Margo looked into one of them, but saw nothing.

The map of the world was hanging where it had before. The oceans were moving, the clouds were drifting lazily over the continents. Everything looked just as it had before. With the exception of the little lights. They had increased in number by many times. And most of them were red.

- "My God!”  Exclaimed Marina, "it's begun!"

She touched the Moscow icon. The map zoomed in and showed smoke and soot high above the city. Increasing the size of the image, the friends saw the terrible aftermath of explosions. The metro was burning, covered in smoke, and the wounded and dead were being carried out. Sirens wailed, and women shrieked. In Europe, a disaster was happening at a nuclear plant. America was overtaken by an unknown epidemic. Asia was completely flooded. Japan was suffering from an extremely strong earthquake. The map was dotted with red.

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"There it is!"  Said Nastia, clasping her hands, "just as Kut Kumi said!  They want to destroy humanity while the warriors of Shambhala are occupied defending the abode of Light.”

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"Look there!"  Said Marina, pointing at the brightest light, "we're somewhere there..."

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"Exactly! Altai! There's Mount Belukha! There's a battle on Mount Belukha! And we are directly below it!"  Exclaimed Boris, pointing his finger at the map.

The leader of the Black army was almost no different from a person. He had a red cape that came down to his heels, and he was wearing a flaming helmet. His pale face was flawless. A young man with delicate skin and fine features. Only his eyes revealed his diabolic nature. Empty like holes, glowing with anger. The man who had once gone by the name Lucifer had come to make himself lord of Earth. Standing fifty meters from the mirror army with his arms crossed, he found Kut Kumi. Their glances crossed. A terrible blow sounded. Lightning flashed across the sky, signaling the beginning of the battle. The black army screamed and whooped, encircling the Shambhalans. The battle had begun.

But it wasn't a war in the human understanding. There were no guns, no cannons and no melee. It was a battle of energy. The dark forces knew that the people of the City of the Gods weren't afraid of fire, water or metal. Lucius's monstrosities were not armed with rifles or cannons. Their internal anger served them. They began to pour out all their worst wishes on their enemies. Bluish lightning flew toward the mirrored warriors. They caught the dastardly shots in their concave shields and reflected them, sending them back. Lucius's soldiers fell dead one after the other, hurt by their own anger. But the dark forces outnumbered the Shambhalans by several times. Explosions came from the heavens and new monsters appeared to take the places of the old ones.

The map zoomed in.

The friends froze, watching the battle.

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“My God!"  Whispered Margo, "there are 100 times more of them!"

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"How can they not win?"  Came Marina in horror.

They watched the fight in silence for another few minutes. The black army attacked, one after the other, and the Shambhalans also lost many.

- "So what, we're just gonna stand around and watch?"  Exclaimed Margo.

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"What do you suggest?"  Asked Andrei.

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"We should help!"

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“How?”

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"We caused this... Because of me, they are fighting with that unclean power right now. If I had brought the Stone... Wait a second... The Stone! We must get it back!"

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"Get it back? That would be great!"  chuckled Boris.  "But how? Are you saying we should go back to Lemuria?"

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"I've got an idea," said Margo, "let's go!"

Kut Kumi and Lucius were fighting in the center of the battle. Kut Kumi reflected the black energy with two shields, trying to hit his enemy with rays coming from his eyes at the same time. Lucius was doing the same. Instead of mirrors, he was wearing a flaming cloak and Kut Kumi's energy turned into sparks, hitting him. White and Black generals were taking off into the sky and descending into the snow. Around them was never-ending multi-colored lightning. The air smelled of tulips and sulphur.

Black clouds covered the peak. Tourists, who could see it from a distance, could only say that it was a storm the likes of which hadn't been seen in years.

Chapter 32. Margo's Plan

The friends ran after Margo. Despite the darkness, she went assuredly through the laboratory as if she knew every corner. When they reached the hall where Kut Kumi had shown them the Akashic records, Margo stopped.

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"It's here."

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"What?”  Came Nastia in surprise, "explain it already, what've you thought up?"

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“The Akashic records," explained Margo, here in the very same place where Kut Kumi had shown them the trick with transparent pages.

And suddenly the laboratory lit up, and the stone ceiling and walls began to glow.

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"Oh my!"  Marveled the friends, exchanging glances.

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"The Akashic Records!"  Demanded Margo. And... a translucent canvas flowed down from the ceiling with moving pictures.

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"It's working! It's working!”

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“Show me the Chintamani!"  Pronounced Margo, ignoring the whooping. She began to look carefully at the pictures.

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“But Kriida said that the Stone is protected from Light by Lucius himself," said Boris.

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"Yes! But Lucius is occupied at the moment!”  Answered Margo with burning eyes.

Her companions, having figured out what she wanted, fell silent and looked on with fascination as magical coils fell and disappeared.

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"There"  Shouted Margo, pointing at Akashi, "there it is!"

Everyone threw themselves at her.

The records showed a place in the desert. Right on the sand, next to a gnarled, leafless tree, in a gold box lay an object, made to defend the Light. A fiery circle encircled the place. There wasn't a soul around. On a transparent canvas, next to the Stone, there were eight digits shining.

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"That's it! It!"  Whispered Margo, her face lighting up, "we must find it!"

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"But how? Where is it? Doesn't it say here?"  Wondered Nastia, spreading her arms.

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"Yeah, what place is that?"  Asked Boris.

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"Wait up!"  Said Andrei, "there are numbers here. What if they are...

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coordinates!"  Marina cried out, "they're coordinates! Look, the first four are width, and the next four are length!”

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“We must check!"  Came Nastia with a start, "let's go back to the map!"

The coordinates were in the Gobi desert. The friends increased the size of the image and became sure that they hadn't made a mistake. The Chintamani was hidden in the most unreachable place on earth.

There was no way to get there...

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"There must be! There must be some way out!"  Repeated Margo, pacing along the laboratory.

They were sitting by the map for three hours, thinking about how to reach the Stone.

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“Margo! Stop looming about! Sit down already! There's no way out. We're under the earth, the Stone is thousands of miles from here. If only the Gods would come down to earth and help us," sighed Nastia.

Margo stopped and stared at Nastia.

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"What?”

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The Gods! God-Men! The harati! The stone Lemurians! Kut Kumi said that they're alive and can still see and hear.

Chapter 33. The Harati

The friends went out to the stone ledge. Everything in the cave was as before. A cold wind tickled their nostrils. They could see the giant figures of the Lemurians in the half-dark. It was so quiet that Nastia heard her heart beat.  The friends began to scream and call them to help. Their voices rang off the walls in a loud echo. The stone colossuses remained unmoving.

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"Well, what now?"  Asked Andrei, "How do we wake them up?"

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"How should I know?"  Answered Margo.  "We should try to find a way down there," she said, looking for a way down. All around were steep walls.

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"Maybe we should pray to them?"  Offered Marina, "how do you pray to idols? Maybe they'll hear?"

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"What nonsense," called out Andrei, "I personally don't even know how to pray."

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"Everyone knows how to pray," interrupted Marina, "it isn't important what you say- you just have to mean it."

She kneeled down, clasped her hands and opened her eyes. The others looked at one another and followed her example. A few minutes went by. Silence rang in their ears.

And suddenly a wind blew. It touched their praying faces, forcing them to open their eyes. The cave lit up for a moment, but was quickly brought back into half-darkness.  It was as if an invisible being had quickly flown overhead holding a lamp. There came the sound of bells. Nastia shuddered, the ringing was above her head. Everyone looked up.

Under the ceiling in the lotus position, a huge harati was hovering- an exact copy of the sculptures sitting below. It was translucent, shining with a blue and gold light, looking like a ghost. But it was real... and alive His eyes looked somewhat tired, but attentive, studying those who had disturbed his slumber.

Margo elbowed Nastia. Nastia looked back. Another figure appeared next to them on the ledge. A woman-ghost of unearthly beauty and huge height was hovering a foot off the stone floor. Nastia clamped her jaw when she saw the woman's face.

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“Yala!”  Exclaimed Andrei.

Yala smiled. Her fleshless body was alive!

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“Hello, my dears!”  Called out a familiar, kind voice.  "I know what has brought you here. Shonith," she said to the man with tired eyes, "we must help them."

He shook his head, as if doubting.

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"We have no right to interfere, Yala!"

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"Shonith?"  Asked Marina, staring into the harati's transparent face.

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"Yes, dear," said Yala, "he did make it to the ark, it's your boy. The little Shonith La became a great Keeper."

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"Impossible," whispered Boris.

Shonith La fumbled about under the ceiling and changed from blue and gold into silver. Nastia noticed that something like a tear was coming down his cheek. Can ghosts even cry?

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"The Stone is in the desert," called out Margo's voice, "how do we get there?"

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"I'll bring you there. You, Nastia and Andrei. Marina and Boris will stay here."

Marina and Boris tried to protest, but Yala was adamant. She snapped her translucent fingers and a long, pearl belt appeared in the air.

- "This is so you can return," explained Yala, and layed the belt in Nastia's hands, "when you find the Stone, stand together and all of you get inside this belt.”

She waved her hands and a stream of silvery light cascaded over Nastia, Margo and Andrei.

Marina couldn't take her eyes from Shonith, and didn't even notice that her friends disappeared. Boris, still a bit spooked by miracles, looked around in fear.

- "I'm sure you'd like to talk."  Suggested Yala, "You haven't seen your son for an eternity..."

Marina sobbed.