The Parallel Time Trilogy (Book One)
The Emerald Doorway (Three Mystic Crystals)
Chapter Nine
THE ORPHAN SEN DAR’S DESTINY
The panorama of the night sky seen from Promintis, even at twilight, would be beyond description to an Earth person. The density of the stars, nebulae clusters and the three blue-grey moons circling high overhead, each with two sets of pastel green rings around them, would make anyone’s evening a romantic one, even if they were all alone. Yet, Sen Dar was not seeing this spectacle in the heavens, and romance was the furthest thing from his thoughts. He was sulking as he skulked back up the path toward the open doorway to Nim’s sanctuary.
Master Nim was sitting in contemplation on the pillow with his back to the door when the elongated murky shadow of a man appeared on the floor, and moved toward him until it touched his back.
“Why are you here, Sen Dar?” firmly asked Master Nim.
There was no answer from the shadowy figure as Nim got up to his feet in one swift motion, and spun around with a quick graceful movement to face Sen Dar. The fingers of his right hand were clutching to his chest The Ancient One’s sapphire-blue crystal hung from a gold chain around his neck.
Sen Dar was standing inside the open doorway pointing a clear crystal laser gun at his venerable Master. Octagon-shaped green and red crystals could be seen running up the handle, and down the length of the barrel through its clear crystalline shell. Nim’s surprised expression quickly turned to concern for Sen Dar.
“Have you already become completely controlled by your passion for power?” he forcefully inquired. “Sen Dar, don’t give into it. Master it!”
Nim started to confidently walk toward Sen Dar while he clutched the crystal, and it began to glow through his fingers.
“Give me the gun!” he firmly commanded.
Sen Dar appeared to be in a hypnotic trance, as Nim walked up to within a few inches of the gun pointing at his chest. Hypnotically glassy-eyed, he started to hand Nim the gun, and then his numbed expression suddenly changed to violent anger. He began to shake his head in an attempt to throw off the crystal’s hypnotic effect, and Nim reacted, clutching the crystal more tightly to his chest but it was too late. Sen Dar fired the gun, and a round beam of fiery red light hit Nim in the center of his chest. He groaned, letting go of his hold on the crystal, and it fell on its gold chain to his chest right below the laser hole burned into his right lung. Then he fell forward grasping Sen Dar by the shoulders with both hands. But Sen Dar was unmoved, still lost in the madness of impassioned angry sarcasm.
He screamed out, “I’ve sat long enough at your feeble old feet to earn the right, and you will not deprive me of it.”
Gasping for air, Nim was dying as blood trickled down the corner of his mouth. His hands were slowly slipping off Sen Dar’s shoulders as he closed his eyes, and then struggled to speak but only managed a whisper.
“Sen Dar, listen. It was only a test.”
Shocked to his senses, Sen Dar now realized what he had done. Nim’s hands slipped off his shoulders, and he started to drop but Sen Dar grabbed his wrists, and pulled him back up.
“What do you mean, a test?” Sen Dar abruptly asked, suddenly becoming genuinely concerned for Nim’s welfare.
Master Nim’s eyes remained closed as he struggled to speak, and then choked several times instead.
Breathlessly gasping, he finally whispered, “The test…the test of power!”
Sen Dar’s eyes widened with shock, and a deeply pained, remorseful look spread across his face.
“No, you can’t die!” he pleaded. “You should have told me. Why didn’t you tell me? Why?”
Master Nim gasped his final words of wisdom with the faintest whisper, “This is the way…the way of The Ancient One.”
Sen Dar recoiled with terror, now deeply regretting his terrible uncontrolled actions toward his former Master, and he cried out in agony, “No…no, you can’t die. Please, don’t die, Master Nim. I didn’t know!”
As Sen Dar gently lowered Nim’s body to the floor, he heard the excited yelling of several people running in the direction of the sanctuary, and they were swiftly drawing nearer.
“I’m sure it was a laser blast!” yelled a man’s frantic voice that stood out above the rest. “I saw a flash coming from the open door to Nim’s sanctuary.”
Tears were now running down Sen Dar’s cheeks when his deeply remorseful expression changed to fright. He frantically reached into Nim’s robe, grabbed The Ancient One’s parchment, and tucked it into a pocket inside his own robe. He gently lifted the gold chained crystal off Nim’s neck, placed it around his own, and tucked it inside the folds of his robe. He stood up, wiped the tears from his wet cheeks, and then took one long painful, very regretful look down at his dead Master’s body. Turning toward the door, he took a final saddened look back, knowing the unfortunate direction of his destiny had now been set. Then he ran out of the sanctuary to disappear in the deepening night.
By
R. S. Lemriel
© TXu 62 748
© PAu 835 230
