The Transparent Ground

Warriors of Transcendence, Part 62
 
It was nearly dawn. A thin ray of light rose above the hills, exposing a buzzing hive of shaven-headed soldiers in triangle formations, their sharp weapons pointed towards the valley. Between the triangles, WireArcher crescents were positioned, and behind them Cloud Shadows, blocking visibility and blurring the horizon. A red horse stood atop the tallest hill. Its rider was dressed in white and held a staff, from which white fire burned and projected a dim light all around.  The horse and its rider were surrounded by warriors in a star formation.
 
Down below on the plains, the trapped, enslaved Warriors of Transcendence waited.   Ulu and Sage, who had been cast down into the valley during the Game of Forces with the Emperor; Tzalaii and Mahn along with the group of warriors who had been touring the outskirts of the Towered City when the ground they stood on suddenly became transparent and had fallen straight through into the sloping valley; and the remaining groups of the warriors from the forest. They were all shocked by having been enslaved without a fight. During all the years of their training, they had never learned that the Emperors’ were able to cause the ground to become transparent and capture them in its depths. The Transparent Ones that remained from the battles had locked away their inner lights and gathered silently behind a lone rock. The only sound that broke the silence was the neighing of the horses from the hilltops.
 
Sage sat upon a flat rock and gazed at the armies of the Emperors. Until yesterday, he too was included in their forces, and suddenly he was now being held captive by them. He was stunned by this sharp transformation. How had he reached this rocky terrain? Was he truly no longer a part of the Emperors’ troops?
 
He examined his father: His face was wrinkled, his cloak dusty, his hair unkempt but his eyes were full of faith. He saw Tzalaii and Mahn, their behavior and clothing simple, their eyes set on the horizon, waiting. He knew that they were awaiting the Master of Transcendence, as he had heard them speak of him.
“The Master of Transcendence knows what to do,” they said to each other.
 
At night, before dawn shone upon the Emperors’ horses and soldiers on the hills, Sage spoke with his father for a long time. Sage asked questions, and his father answered. Sage wept and his father consoled him. Sage spoke and his father listened. His father mentioned the Master of Transcendence many times, each time his eyes glistened with a light so full of love and faith. Sage felt the desire to believe like his father believed, but everything was so vague…who was he? He had been neither seen nor heard.
 
He sat upon the earth with his arms encompassing his knees, and with a heavy heart scanned the outline of the hills, which were becoming brighter. In the Tower, men wore capes with etched flames. The lower City was always busy and the days were lived at a dizzying pace. Weeks flew by, and then entire months…and the fire in the Tower burned constantly. Here, there was no such fire, only an anonymous Master of Transcendence and an unknown Transcendor. He moved around uncomfortably as he attempted to define his feelings. Here- there was space, some sort of empty space…a vacant space for thoughts, feelings, and listening. Sage felt lost. He had once been a soldier in the Towered City, and now he did not know what he was or where he belonged.
 
His father, some distance away, raised his hands to the heavens, and Sage recalled the words he had whispered to him the previous night about the Transcendor, and about the way anyone could, if he desired to, unite with Him. Unite? Sage felt detached, separated and cast off uselessly. His eyes filled with tears.
 
“Transcendor!” He attempted to utter the name of the entity that was so foreign to him. “Transcendor, if you can hear me, if you can see me now…tell me how it can be that if such a wondrous Master of Transcendence exists in this world, no one knows about him? Father says that those who get close to him become more alive, but I know that everyone in the Tower lives without him. It is so backwards…I cannot make sense of it all. In the Tower, I had clothes and friends and set orders. I felt protected. The troops of the Master of Transcendence have no uniform and no respectable attire. They wander around alone. Father has spent his entire life on the roads, and mother waits and waits, and the girls…”
 
He began to tremble. All this time, the memory of his sisters had been absent from his mind, and now, it suddenly surfaced. “…They live in constant uncertainty, while they play in the yard under the apple tree. In the Tower, everything has a time and a place…but of course, the girls must not be taken to the Tower…they must not be taken there!”
 
Things were becoming clearer. His previous life began to separate from the period of his training in the Tower, and he felt surrounded by a soft light.
 
“Transcendor- father says that you listen to me and protect me despite having been a Soldier on the Base Level, and despite my confusion. I wanted to tell you that I am willing to try! I believe father and desire to emulate him, but have so much to learn and I desire to live!”
 
The hills were blackened by the multitude of soldiers they crawled with, and the fireballs on the tips of the Emperors’ staffs cast a threatening glow. Sage wiped away his tears.
 
“Transcendor,” he continued. “Please remain with us! Save us! Have mercy upon father!” For a moment, he sensed that the Transcendor could indeed hear him, see him and know him, and in an unexplainable manner, was actually inside of him.
 
The sun shone, flooding its light over the hills. A murmur was heard among the waiting armies, and an approaching sound like a storm bursting through the skies. The multitude of soldiers split as ten horses of fire appeared, twice as tall as the Emperors’ horses. A dark-skinned rider sat atop each horse, dark hair cascading down necks, white cloth bands upon foreheads, and staffs of black fire in hands. Ulu recalled the words of the soldier who had been his opponent in the game, after he positioned the ten red horses atop the game board: And you have yet to see their riders.  
 
Now he saw them, and rued the sight.
 
To be continued.

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