“The Epic,” gasped Shen, before quivering into a ruby eruption, “THE EPIC! In a THOUSAND COLOURS OF ELUCIAN!!!!!”
“Shhhhhhhhhhh!” hemmed through the powdery air about them. They turned to see a monk enswathed in ivory robes bearing the Elucian Symbol embroidered in gold. “Show respect,” added the monk flatly, then moved back towards a plush, purple curtain hanging from the inner lip of an entrance to the temple within; he slotted into position opposite another monk, each of them hovering beside a wooden rack of neatly folded white garments.
Shen’s colour chilled, and he turned back to Kai, eyes wide in consternation, then brought his face close to Kai’s and repeated in an almost inaudible whisper, “The Epic, in a thousand colours of Elucian.”
Kai held back a silent laugh.
“Sorry,” said Shen sheepishly, then looked around the antechamber passage for some tensely silent moments, before snapping back to face Kai blurting out in a suppressed whimper, as though in reply to an unheard challenge, “What’s that? Yes! Yes, of course I’ve seen all this before. It’s just that whenever I’m here it feels like the first time again! Salvator, do you see those symbols there? Come! Look, Salvator, look!”
Shen dragged Kai over to the curtained entrance, soberly minded by the two monks, and pointed up at the component Elucian symbols chiselled over the archway; he continued in an intense whisper, “Each one symbolises a distinct entity, you see. The two larger circles are Ephaïl and Déhath, and the six smaller ones around them — see? — they are none other than the Light Three and the Dark Three. See how they all fit perfectly together into the one main symbol? Salvator?”
Kai was nodding, smiling, his dark eyes blazing brightly.
“Oh, forgive me, Salvator! Of course you know all this,” said Shen, “You have no doubt seen a thousand holo-casts about this very temple. However, if you will permit me, Salvator, it is really quite different to be here in the flesh. Do you not agree, my friend? Just wait till you see inside. Come!”
Shen pulled Kai towards the curtain, and the two hooded monks came up to them silently, heads bowed, each offering a folded white robe.
“PERFECT!” cried Shen suddenly, then whispered carefully to Kai, “No one will recognise us now, Salvator! We will fit right into the SYStem. I mean, the Way. Well, both, in fact — the Way and the SYStem are as inseparable as god and messiah!”
They accepted the robes respectfully; Kai smiled warmly, but the monks kept their heads bowed safely away from eye contact as they backed away in their long white garb.
“They seem to have the same tailor as the I’sta!” sniggered Shen colourfully, before his face flushed with greyish austerity: “Although, the I’sta would never serve the Elucian Way. Certainly not! Not now. Not like before. Nor would the Way allow them in. Permanent outsiders, you see, having strayed from the pure path.”
Shen pulled the robe past his chaotically sparkling hair and down over his olive uniform until he stood suddenly constrained in grubby white, one shoulder squashed up higher than the other and his neck thrust forwards, as though his spine had been broken into submission. He smiled through an embarrassed blush as Kai pulled on a more well-fitting robe.
“My dear Salvator — are you ready?” asked Shen, awkwardly straightening himself out.
Kai’s smile broadened in excitement, and they moved towards the curtain.
“Oh, and Salvator,” croaked Shen from within his restraining jacket, “As for what they said back there in the forum.... I mean, there seems, at times, to be certain — how shall I say? — misgivings from some citizens regarding...well, regarding me. Please, I’d rather you did not pay too much attention to what others say about me, my boy. I will be a wonderful friend to you, Salvator, I promise you, if you will allow. I have no particular wish to be ‘popular’, as such, but.... Well, I am simply somewhat misunderstood, you see. I change my mind and manner rather often. I am fully aware of this. It is simply my nature. Consistency is overrated, Salvator. I have always been of this opinion! Well...for as long as I can remember, and.... Ohhh, my, by the Three...!”
The monks stood, bowed, with the ends of the drawn curtains in their pale hands, allowing Kai and Shen to drift through the gaping entrance — their mouths fell open as the Elucian Temple opened out and revealed its endless, faultless grace before them.
Next chapter — The Elucian Temple
Sunday 6 March 2011
Share
