Tales of PulchraGea, Vol. 1

3: Argentum (Final Version/2462)

"I was four years old," said a quavering feminine voice from beside me. It jolted me out of deep sleep, though I couldn't move as I was still under the effect of sleep paralysis. Whoever this girl was, she was sobbing. "We went spelunking in the Mesa Grande caverns. There was a rock slide and we were trapped.

"The king came to the rescue, and tried to rescue everyone he could. He managed get me out, but it caused it the rubble to collapse on top of my parents. They suffocated under a ton of rubble."

"You know what happens to orphans when nobody else in their family will take them? Compulsory military service," whoever it was continued. "But the king didn't want that for me. He took me and raised me. He's as close to a dad as I remember having, and you're taking him away from me."

She leaned close and whispered final acid-filled words in my ear.

"He has to die because you came here. I've lost two dads now and I can never forgive you for that."

I heard her get up, heard the legs of the chair scrape softly against the floor. The door closed. The calming aura just like at Diamond Terrace drifted down upon me and peacefully smothered me back into slumber.

***

When I awoke, I was on a couch in oddly shaped room. Everything was some shade of silver, grey, or purple. There were two doors at opposite ends. The couch on which I lay was to the left of one of these doors. Opposite me, in a lavishly upholstered armchair, sat a very old man, possibly in his seventies or older.

"You're finally awake," he said warmly as he noticed me stir. I noticed he looked kind of like Alec Guiness and had a distinctive Galway Irish accent. "Good. We've much to attend to. Liable to move quickly from here, things will. I'll ask you to hear me out and save your questions a moment. No doubt you've a multitude."

I sat up, but held my tongue. He scratched his shortly trimmed beard.

"Aye, and how to start, lad," he said. "Mayhap the beginning, I should wonder.

"As you've no doubt noticed, this ain't your homeland. Sun rises in the west and sets in the east and all. Nae even your own planet. Your key has taken you to a the entire opposite side of the galaxy entirely, and there's a lot of history to cover in a very short time.

"See, long ago when God created the heavens he created numerous worlds and populated them with life, nae just the one such as you and I hail from. This was one of them. but it was only ours that had the kind of life that knew the difference between good and evil, thanks to our ancestors and a certain tree.

"Millennia ago, a young man very much like yourself discovered the selfsame key you carry. He thought it by chance, though it were no mistake. This key is divine, and when he inserted the key into a lock it opened a door that brought him to a land of great beauty. In time he discovered the native people. A savage, primitive, and tribal race they were, like cavemen. He fled them in fear of his life, as they were much more suited to the world and hunting in it, until one night an angel appeared before him in a dream.

"This angel told the young man, Gershom was his name, that God had brought him here to create a kingdom and peacefully rule over the land then known as Narakh-sha. Gershom had great faith and conviction, and ruled with wisdom and justice under the guidance of the Creator. After many years it was Gershom's time to leave the mortal plane. He'd made it his life's work to faithfully create and rule the kingdom as God had instructed him. Because of this, Gershom had no wife or children, and thus no heir to his throne.

"He spoke to God, asking what would happen to his people should he die. God told him that they'd return to their primitive ways. Gershom was distraught, as it was his entire life's work to get them civilized to begin with. God told him to fear not, for He had a Covenant to make with Gershom: his lineage would not be by blood, but rather those who had been called and chosen to hold the key to the door. Any who were worthy to find the key would gain the throne of the land long ago known as Narakh-sha, now called PulchraGea.