Chapter 3
The girls materialised in the Realm of Contentment, in the Central Way. This country was Olrone.
“This is like a round-the-world trip,” said Sari. “Another exotic destination.”
“This is strictly business,” said Penni, feeling for the coolness in the Oracle. She remembered when she was a little girl she used to feel for coolness in her hands. “This way.”
They walked down a dirt road, looking at the small farmhouse in the distance. Beside them was an orchard of lemm, a fruit similar to olives. Beyond the house was thick bushland.
“The countryside is picturesque,” said Sari.
“The Shadows drove a lot of this realm into poverty,” said Penni, “but it looks like the orchard industry is back on its feet.”
“Look, there's a guy up there with a telescope,” said Sari, pointing to a tree next to the house.
“He's cool,” said Penni. Sari gave her a funny look. “I mean he's a Guru. He's giving off cool vibrations. Let's go and talk to him.”
The man climbed back down the tree and ran behind the house.
Soon they approached the house. Sari was the first to stand on the veranda. Two trapdoors suddenly opened! Sari did a full split holding herself over the hole.
“Lucky you’re really flexible,” said Penni. “Looks like someone wants to challenge us.”
Sari flipped herself back onto the decking. Both girls stood either side of the main door. The door eerily opened by itself. So they peered into the house.
As they walked into the entrance they saw something falling from above out of the corners of their eyes. It was a net! Penni quickly grabbed a sword from a nearby hanger and cut a huge hole in the centre of the net as it was about to engulf them. The net fell uselessly around them.
A man dressed like a soldier came flying into the room from the back of the house, swinging his arms around in karate motions. Sari raced toward the man, grabbed his arm and threw him over her shoulder. Startled, the man sprang back up on his feet and ran down the hallway.
“Is he our Keeper?” asked Sari.
“I think so.”
An energy bolt blasted a hole in the wall near Penni's head.
“Get down. He's shooting at us!”
“Where is he?”
“He just shot at us from down the hallway. Come on! Let's end this,” said Penni, running in his direction.
“We can't use the Oracle as a weapon against a Keeper,” said Sari.
“No, we'll have to improvise.”
They slowed down at the end of the hall and noticed that he'd gone outside, as one of the bedroom windows was still open.
“Wait,” said Penni, “we'll be sitting ducks if we go that way.” They raced out the front door and crept around to the back of the house. They scanned the bushland, looking for potential hiding spots.
“He's good,” whispered Sari.
“Yes, and look where he's leading us,” said Penni. “Into thick bushland that he's familiar with.”
Before Penni could say anything, Sari was quickly creeping through the bush. An energy bolt shot across the yard close to her. Penni quickly followed her sister, but left a bit of a gap. She wanted to get a bearing on where the Keeper was firing from.
He fired again, this time even closer to where Sari was hiding. Penni had a good idea where the shots were coming from. He was low this time. Was he climbing up and down trees, or was there another person?
Penni signalled to Sari, holding up two fingers and pointing in the directions of the mock enemy. Penni moved toward the last-known position, but instead of going in directly, she took a wider arc. The bush was getting thicker and made more noise as they moved. But Penni had done a lot of training in this type of situation. She knew Sari was very stealthy in situations like this.
Crawling silently, Penni spotted movement from the corner of her eye. She spotted the end of an energy-bolt weapon poking out of a large bush. She had found him! She would have to be even stealthier from this point. As she crept into a clearing she saw him about to sneak from one tree to another. Penni tapped on his shoulder, as Sari snatched his weapon from behind.
“I must be getting rusty,” said the man. “Been too long since I've done any serious combat.” He stood up and shook Penni's hand. “Hello, I'm Viler.”
Viler was the Keeper of the Realm of Contentment. He was tall and about forty-one years of age. He wore karate-style pants and a plain tee-shirt.
“I'm Penni, and this is Sari,” said Penni, looking at the rings on the middle finger of each hand. Each ring had an etching of the large gaseous planet in this system called Setov.
“Well, you girls are alert; I'll give you that much. Not a bad effort without any weapons,” said Viler.
“I thought we were supposed to feel contentment in this realm,” said Sari, “like a cuppa and biscuits.”
“Well, contentment for a Guru is feeling confident that he always has enough money for what he needs, and good connections to his friends and family,” said Viler. “For a Guardian, contentment is the feeling of total confidence and fearlessness, even in the event of being personally under threat.”
“But we weren't under threat,” said Sari.
“I was firing live rounds and using cross-hairs to fine-tune my aim,” said Viler. “I was aiming to kill.”
“Well, we must be content,” said Penni, after a moment’s silence. “There was never a moment of concern.”
“Excellent! You've passed,” grinned Viler, deactivating his weapon. “I also do warm brews and biscuits.”
Two Mandalas appeared beside them.
“Sorry, we have to keep moving,” said Penni. “Thanks for the information.”
They materialised in front of an Asian-style house in the country of Eeonia. This was the centre of the Realm of Security. Like Bersia, Eeonian houses had paper walls.
“This looks like Bersia, but I think it’s Eeonia,” said Sari. “You can see the subtle differences in the design.”
“This must be the Keeper’s house,” said Penni.
Larn appeared from inside and smiled.
“Hello, girls, fancy finding you here.”
“Dad!” they said together.
Larn was the Keeper of the Realm of Security. He was tall and fifty years of age. He was wearing a Bersian Kimono, belted around the waist, and moccasin-style shoes.
The girls looked curiously at each other.
“We’ve been meeting all the Keepers of the world. So, you must be a Keeper also,” said Penni
“Well, now you know,” said Larn. “Come inside and I’ll show you something.”
Larn took his daughters to an altar set up in respect to the Goddess.
“Well,” started Sari. She noticed the large bronze Oracle sitting next to the photo of the Udician incarnated Goddess.
“You have an Oracle,” said Sari.
“I had it here back in the transformation time, too,” said Larn. “Arden gave it to me.”
“You’re the Keeper that Sef was talking about!” said Sari. “He said you were working then, like you all will be now.”
A ring suddenly materialised on the small fingers of each of his hands.
“That’s correct. Arden brought me in early, not because of my position in the Realm of Security, but with you two being Guardians. This gives me the extra powers as a Keeper.”
“There’s a third power also,” said Penni.
“Yes, there is,” Larn said.
Calana was the third Guardian and was Larn’s other daughter. Penni and Sari didn’t know that yet, but they soon would. Larn hadn’t seen Calana for many years. In fact, he'd seen little of her since she was born. He knew his three girls were about to embark on something significant.
“Are you all right, Dad?” asked Penni.
“The Oracle is such a powerful tool and you both possess one.” He was regaining his composure. “There are a lot of things the Oracle will reveal, but there are a lot of things it won't – until the right time.” He paused. “I need to tell you a few things, and I don’t think we have a lot of time. As you know, you’ll meet up with the Guardian of the Right Way soon. From this moment on, you will think of me more as your Keeper than your father.”
“But, Dad,” said Sari. She was always particularly close to her father.
“I'm still your father, but you’re Guardians now, and enemies of the Shadow Empire. Our relationship is our strength, but it could also be our weakness. As you know, Udicians have all become family since the war, regardless of our bloodlines.”
“We understand, Father,” said Penni. She had her eyes closed. “I've tried to see the third power but the Oracle won't reveal him or her.”
“I can understand why,” said Larn, not elaborating. “I've been fighting the Shadows for a very long time, in a way. You know my marriage to your mother was a struggle for years. This was a direct influence of their reign, and it happened to many families. That's their fundamental power, destroying society at the roots – the family.” He looked at his two Guardian daughters. “It was my second bad relationship, and the first time was worse.”
Penni and Sari looked at their father, shocked.
Penni said, “You were married before Mum?”
“I wasn't married before Mum, but I was in a relationship,” said Larn. “The Shadows had a much stronger hold on this planet back then, and I guess you could say, they had some hold on me. Before I was a Guru, Gylith had his sights set on my being his Lord of this realm."
The two girls were silent: another shock. Keeper, another marriage and potential Shadow Lord. What next?
"I was right into the silly attachments that everyone else was into, like alcohol, drugs and even sleeping around. As you know, sex shouldn't be on your mind all the time. It should be spontaneous, preferably within marriage. This keeps the Realm of Innocence pure." Sari was looking at her father with serious interest. “So, my conditionings were just about right to become the next Lord when I met a young Varlian woman, Lila. She was everything but innocent, and I wasn't totally pure either. If I was, I would never have given her a second look. I never had any feelings for her. As it was, I never loved her.”
“Dad, the past is the past," said Sari.
“That's true, the past is the past, and all is forgiven by the Goddess,” said Larn. “But in this case, my past is part of your future.”
“Dad, you’re starting to speak in riddles,” said Penni.
“You’re absolutely right,” said Larn. “There is something I can't tell you as yet, but it will all come together soon. You see, Lila was under the direct influence of a powerful Shadow, unbeknown to her; a much more devious monster than Gylith. You have to understand, Lila wasn't a Shadow herself, but was being used to get to me. The Shadows knew I would be an important part of what was going to happen in Udicia in the future.”
“Do you know who this devious Shadow monster was?” asked Penni.
“No, but I’m certain it was a Shadow Wraith. Masters only have powers over a Planetary Oracle, but Wraiths have powers over an entire Quadrant. It wasn’t Gylith, because it was a female voice.”
“I remember dreams I had when I was a child, about an evil witch. She used to talk to me in my dreams, but I knew she was telling lies,” said Sari.
“Yeah, I remember Mum’s voice changing years ago, like she was possessed or something,” said Penni.
They were all silent for a while, in collective understanding.
“If this is all true,” said Larn, “this Wraith might have something to do with our up and coming fight.”
“But we can’t fight a Wraith!” said Sari.
“Not directly,” said Larn. “We’ll fight them collectively. We fight them with our love. Shadows hate love.”