A Paradox in Retrograde (13 page)

Of course none of this meant anything to Grunhuf, who quite naturally had his own agenda to follow. "Grunhuf please your objections have been noted but we are having a bit of a crisis here. Let
the grand standing go for the moment. I have much to tell you."
Grunhuf could tell from his tone that Landaus was quite serious.
"Alright let's agree to disagree for now. I have to know what's
gotten you so twisted up."

"That's why I've asked you here. Please come with me." They
left the large hall and retreated to one of the many smaller rooms
that ran up along the corridor adjacent to the great hall. Landaus
was careful to close the door behind him. Landaus produced a
chair and slid to towards him. Landaus then sat himself down behind a large wooden desk. "OK Landaus, what's going on?"

Landaus rose from his seat behind the desk and moved to a cabinet that stood behind him. He opened the door and slowly removed from it, a metallic box. Grunhuf watched with curiosity as
he then placed this tin on the desk in front of him. He returned to
his chair without speaking another word. "Landaus what's with all
the theatrics?" said Grunhuf as he reached toward the container.
Landaus reached out across the desk stopping him, and then said,
"Before you look into this box I must warn you. Uponpain of
death you must promise to keep what you may see here today under the strictest confidence. Do you agree?"
"Before I do agree I must ask you as your friend, how serious is

this situation that you must make such threats?"

"My dear Grunhuf, I have asked you here and made such statements because we may be under the most grave of circumstance.
You know I would not make such statements lightly and the fact
is I cannot bare this load alone."

"That being the case my friend, then I agree to your terms."
Landaus sat back in his chair and nodded to his friend to open
the box. Grunhuf stood up and with trepidation unlatched the
clasp that held the box closed tight. He lifted the cover. There
within he saw what he recognized to be a human skull scarred
and blackened by fire. He reached in and lifted it from the box
to a position level to his eyes. There to his shock he discovered
from the sunken sockets of this skull staring back at him, that it
was not entirely human.

Intrigued he held it there for a moment to giving it an objective
once over. He took note to how the skull was largerthan he had
expected. He imagined from his observations of the points to
which the muscles of the jaw connected that they were indeed
massive. To make matters worse, held there within this oversized jaw were double rows of long canine like teeth. He shook
his head and muttered, "Simply monstrous." After several more
uneasy seconds he placed the skull carefully back within the box
and closed the lid down tight. Landaus could tell from his complex expression that Grunhuf was not only curious he was also
startled and frightened by what this object could mean. Though
his mind filled with fearful imagery, he was full of questions,
which he now needed answers for. "What is that thing? It's not
human. From what nature of creature has this artifact been derived? And I'm almost scared to ask, are there more of them?"
Grunhuf, as he spoke rubbed his hands together in a vigorous
attempt to rid of himself the contagion. There within was a perceived evil, he had not before known. Landaus waited a moment as Grunhuf gathered his senses. Seeing that he was calm
he spoke to him. "Grunhuf, do you now appreciate the nature of
my predicament? There is much to tell you."

"Yes there is. Why don't you start with, where inall of Baldur
did you manage to find that abomination?"
Landaus rose from his chair and turned slightly toward his right
side. There a tall window through which one could look out onto
the central courtyard stood. For a moment his eyes wandered
there, looking down at the people assembled outside. With hands
wringing, he stood cast in the crisp light that shined there, searching for the right words that would not come. "Will you get on
with it already?" Grunhuf blurted abruptly and insistently. "Yes
of course, I'm sorry." He took a deep breath and began to speak.
"Several weeks ago our security forces were called to investigate
what witnesses described as a crashed airship high in the mountains. These same witnesses stated that they had watched a fireball streak across the sky and disappear over the mountains. They
then described the sight of the bright flash of an explosion illuminating the night sky. The following day with the help of some
local guides we began to comb the hillsides. After about a half of
a day's searching our team came upon the wreckage. What was
found there was like nothing I've ever seen before. There strewn
about the mountain side was a debris field hundreds of meters
long. Within which were found a good bit of the technology that
we have arrayed there in the great room. Eventually this led us to
the main section on what can only be described as a craft of
sorts."

"What about these creatures? Were they inside the remains of
this airship?"

"Oh yes, the creatures I had almost forgotten. Well I was not
there when they were first located. I was told by the sergeant major that discovered them that they had actually survived the impact and while attempting to escape from their craft they had apparently died. The bodies were brought"

"Bodies, how many were there?"

"We don't rightly know. Though we did recover three bodies in
the wreckage evidence for any unaccounted for creatures was not
found." A somber expression came over his face as he then began to recount the tale of the ensuing struggle. "Shortly after having examined the scene of the crash one of my officers informed
me of the find within the fuselage. I at once asked to see for myself what had been discovered. I was then brought into the command tent in which were lain what were presumed to be the three
lifeless bodies of the luckless pilots. I must say that I was most
unprepared for what came next. What I discovered there, despite
the badly burned condition of the bodies, was that all was not as
it seemed. For we soon found ourselves in a desperate struggle
to survive. Five of my men were killed in our attempt to put
down the beasts."

A look of wide eyed horror filled Grunhuf's eyes as the meaning
of this tale crept into his consciousness. "How could his be? It is
impossible."

"Improbable perhaps, my dear Grunhuf but it is most assuredly
not impossible. Take another look into that box if you need to be
reminded, and ask me again if it's impossible."

"This is most unsettling."

"Tell me about it. And that which you saw in the box was not
the only strange feature possessed by these beasts. Before the
battle began I had an opportunity to witness that the creatures
had sets of rudimentary wings under their arms. It was with
these that they used to take to the sky."

"Would you have me believe these creatures somehow flew
around like some giant bird?"

"Not exactly Grunhuf, More like a giant bat. Once airborne they
struck at us at will with their menacing array of weapons. We
stood with our backs together as they bore down on us. Five
were killed outright and several more are still in serious condition." "How ever did you manage to survive?"

"My friend, it is only by the grace of God that I stand here today
before you." Landaus began to carefully unbutton his shirt. He
soon revealed his shoulder and neck on which was hidden the
dressed wounds that he had sustained in the fight. Grunhuf
could see row after row of still weeping wounds including some
that had appeared to have been inflicted by a talon like appendage. "I have seen enough my friend I feel embarrassed for ever
having doubted you."

Grunhuf went silent and Landaus began again his recounting the
details of the perilous fight. "After the Captain was attacked by
the first creature to awaken I thought I had killed it with my pistol and my rapier. I ordered the bodies burned. We built a pyre to
burn what was left of these demons. However as the bearers
brought the bodies near they caught us off guard by a sudden and
vicious attack. In an instant the air around us was alive with
slashing claws and biting teeth. In the end we had managed to
vanquish and burn this mighty enemy. We may not be so lucky
next time." His voice went quiet and he began to refasten his
shirt. "Come there is more to show you." He made a gesture toward the door and the pair walked again into the great hall.

There they came upon the captain of the guard and Landaus
spoke to him. "Captain The lord mayor on my authority has been
briefed and is subject to the same security protocols as any other
member of the team. Do you understand captain?" "Yes Sir."
The captain saluted and left them. Together they walked among
the artifacts recovered from the wreckage displayed there. There
were many things there. He quietly examined them all visually.
Some among this strange variety of items he examined more
closely by running his hands over them. Some looked familiar
while others did not. He was forced to admit he had no idea what
he was looking at. "These objects, they appear superficially to be
of forerunner technology. However they appear to be brand new.
Where did these come from? What does it all mean Landaus?"

"I don't know exactly, but I'll tell you what I think it means. Are
you aware of the recent meetings of the scientific societies? There
has been much talk of a rare planetary alignment that as some
have theorized is the cause of much the climactic upheaval we
have of late experienced. I have heard that among the planets observed in the sky there is one that was until now unknown. I think
that all of this, the alignments, the artifacts and Ananda's arrival
in total is too much to be merely random coincidence."

It was difficult for him to make any kind of jumbled sense of it
all. There were too many so called coincidences to be ignored.
On this Landaus and Grunhuf were now of one mind. Grunhuf
picked up one of the objects and held it up to the light. After a
long moment of thought, he finally spoke. "There is something
here, I sense. Perhaps it is a pattern not unlike the ticking of a
clock or the changing of the seasons. There is, I suspect a malevolent consciousness at work here. And I fear that the arrival of
our guest Ananda, may be a lynch pin event of a greater conspiracy." Landaus shook his head in determined agreement, and said
"We will give this traveler an opportunity to come clean when
he appears here today for questioning. All of this arrayed here is
for his benefit he will relay to us what he knows one way or another, that much I am sure of."

Chapter 5

Though it may not be a law of nature there is sufficient evidence
to support the notion that, where ever man has touched, he tends
to leave his indelible mark. Here among the shifting sands of Baldur this stigmata however enduring is not immediately evident.
Often to read these subtle marks among those that are incidental
to nature, one must look backward. Ananda through this misty
lens could see shadows form in the darkness of what once was.
Staring blankly his mind’s eye could even imagine the scene as
far back to where the craggy tops of these sea mounts crested the
surface of a primordial sea.

These islands over a great stretch of geologic time had risen up
through the shifting mantle and swirling sea in wave upon wave
of violent upheaval. To this bare and naked rock would later be
given the name of Baldur by its first inhabitants. They had been a
seafaring folk who by chance had been blown here by an errant
wind. It was these ancient warriors, as the story goes who had
named Baldur after one of their chief gods. This formidable
place as the early explorers would eventually discover was just
the leading edge of a long chain of islands. In time its name
would become synonymous to all the islands of this far cast nation as both a home and an empire. Ananda sensed that there
however may be strata that preceded even these. He wondered if
it would be to these that he would need to look.

Since the earliest of times, these long weathered highlands had
served as a haven alternately to both man and beast. To this long
habitation there was much that was known. There was far more
however that had been forgotten, lost to its inhabitant's fragile
memories. What were left were merely tattered myths. There
would be little of the hard inscrutable evidence that Ananda
wanted to find. Despite this truth it was there none the less, hiding in plain sight. On these plains and beaches and within these
shifting sands and stone were hidden the tangible clues that told
the story of a deep and frightening past. To an astute observer
these remnants stood as mute witnesses to a lost age. With the
help of such artifacts one could begin to visualize from these
dark fringes of memory a semblance of what once was.

Ananda since his arrival to this island had unconsciously been
gathering these fragments together as images in his mind. From
these initial assumptions there he had drawn some rather hasty
conclusions. From this mix of fact and fiction he had rightly
thought that around the world there are many such places as this
that held striking similarities one to another. It is also true that in
such places people living there may share many cultural and
practical similarities due to the nature of life by the sea. It was
for these reasons in particular that Ananda had surmised why
this place for him possessed such an uncanny familiarity.

Since his awakening in the crystal room he had begun the process of filling the gaps in his memory. One fact had become blatantly obvious. He now knew that this logic had been faulty. His
intention then in exploring these places was to shake away the
last of the cobwebs that clouded his vision. So together, he and
Xora would set out on a journey. What Ananda to his shock and
surprise would soon find, was that he was rediscovering the lost
landmarks of his youth. The difficult truth that could not easily
be reconciled lay in the fact that upon close examination, the islands of Baldur and Atlantia appeared now to be one and the
same.