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  Ruvinsphere

  Book 3

  of the

  Xidoran Prophecy Story

  By

  Elaine Bassett

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recorded, in any form otherwise now known or hereafter invented, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a retrieval system, is forbidden without written permission of the copyright owner and the publisher.

  For information regarding permission to reproduce selections from this book, contact I Dream Publishing LLC

  ISBN 978-0-9889313-2-9

  Text copyright © 2014 by Elaine Bassett. All rights reserved.

  Published by I Dream Publishing, LLC.

  Cover illustration by Danny O’Leary

  Edited by B. Linder

  All rights reserved. Published in the United States by I Dream Publishing, LLC.

  To find out more about this series and the author’s other literary works visit: elainebassett.com.

  PUBLISHER’S NOTE

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

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  Prologue

  After the knights and their families returned to the Kingdom of the Last Dragon, they made plans to stay, making Bridgeiro their home. Virgil decided to set up an organized system for the knights and their family members to learn about the craftsmanship of the old ways. Even though everyone was expected to try all the professions used by craftsmen, each person seemed to naturally fall into a specific useful trade that fit his or her unique talents. The children began attending the school that Elov set up near her home. After their lessons, the students were also expected to apprentice in a trade for a short period of time. Life in the kingdom seemed to settle into a predictable and peaceful rhythm of a well-run small village.

  Gabriel appeared to be the only knight that excelled in all of the trade areas. He dabbled in everything and went from job to job helping others when needed. The other artisans often sought the knight out for advice. Virgil soon realized that everyone looked up to Gabriel as a natural leader. It was no surprise to him because from the beginning he had noticed that Gabriel was just like his forefather, who was also the unspoken leader and peacekeeper of his knights.

  The other knights were the first to notice Gabriel’s routine. The men teased that they always knew where he would end up at the end of the day, helping out at Elov’s trade shop. The knights’ wives figured out what was going on, even though they denied it, by the way the couple playfully flirted and always had their eyes on each other. Even the children were whispering about the couple they had come to adore.

  The Queen of England continued to visit the kingdom, as her schedule would permit. She was enthusiastic about the changes that were occurring on Bridgeiro since the knights had returned with their families. The queen began helping the community plan a vision for their future. She had supplies delivered to the kingdom in order to help carry out their goals. In doing so, the monarch was becoming more instrumental in the larger plan that was beginning to take shape.

  To Virgil’s surprise, while the group was having a discussion at lunch one day, the queen informed everyone that she had sent out a secret inquiry commission in order to discover useful tradesmen and capable women who might be interested in building a new life for themselves on Bridgeiro. Virgil and the queen were pleasantly surprised when they received an enthusiastic response from the others. The knights and their families considered her plans to be just what the kingdom needed in order to once again flourish. Everything seemed to be falling into place. A new and prosperous way of life was beginning to emerge for the kingdom.

  After several months of screening the candidates, the commission began slowly sending people over to the new community on Bridgeiro. Those who crossed over had a connection somewhere in their family history of belonging to the kingdom. The craftsmen, who were skilled builders, helped to build homes for the new settlers. The new arrivals were expected to learn a trade and be productive members of the community. As part of the agreement, the settlers were given land of their own, and a working trade or a shop to run.

  After dinner one night, the queen visited with Virgil and the knights around the fire pit. They discussed how wonderful life was in the new kingdom. Gabriel mentioned that Virgil had proposed that the men begin to scout and hunt throughout the territory in order to feed the people of the kingdom, since the community was growing in numbers. The queen revealed an idea of recreating an annual kingdom festival in order to celebrate the return of the brotherhood of knights. No one but Virgil knew what the monarch was referring to. The knights were curious about the festival and asked her to explain.

  The queen responded that the celebration would be considered a reward for everyone’s hard work. She explained that the knights of the old kingdom would periodically go off on long exploratory missions or hunting expeditions for the crown. When they returned, the villagers would celebrate their safe homecoming with an annual kingdom festival. The celebration would include special games, sporting competitions for the men, craft exhibitions for the ladies and a traditional dance, in order to bring the community together. Since the current knights had all safely returned to the kingdom to begin a new way of life, consideration should be given to starting up the traditions of old.

  The knights agreed that it was an excellent idea. They began spreading the word. The knights’ wives decided to take charge of the event. Everyone chose how he or she could contribute to the festival. The wives made a list of what needed to be accomplished and everyone volunteered to do their part. A sign up was posted for the new villagers. Excitement spread throughout the land. As the time drew near, everyone began scurrying around in preparation for the big event. The men did the carpentry work, the ladies sewed and the children were given jobs based on their abilities. Everyone worked harder than ever to try to make the festival something truly special.

  **********

  It was the anniversary of a meaningful event in Virgil’s life. Each year when the date came around he tried very hard to forget the past occurrence.

  After all the work was completed for the day, Virgil retired to his cabin. He went straight to the fireplace and started a fire for comfort and warmth. Virgil fixed himself a drink and a snack then sat in his favorite chair and stared into the dancing flames. The evening was different from the other previous nights. He noted that as the kingdom began flourishing once again, flashes of old, haunting memories from the past continually tried to creep into his conscious thoughts during the day while making his rounds. Virgil had been successful at pushing those thoughts out of his mind as he continued on with his work. However, something peculiar happened that day. The earlier discussion had triggered a memory that was too powerful for him to completely suppress. The thought of reestablishing the traditions from long ago stirred unsettled emotions. As Virgil sat in the silence, he began to reminisce and let his guard down. He started to remember the time when he had been king.

  Virgil’s first thoughts were of the good times, when he and his loyal knights would scout the lands of the natural planet. The things the men had seen on their missions gave them bragging rights when ev
eryone returned to the court and began to tell wild tales of the great vastness beyond the kingdom. They retold their tales at the annual festivals around the fire pit. He remembered the fierce creatures the knights had tracked and hunted for days in the wilderness. Several times they were taken by surprise. The most ferocious creatures they encountered had a way of scaring all sense of rationalization out of the group once the beasts were chanced upon; but in the end the knights persevered, pulled together and prevailed over the savage animals. However, while engaged in the frightening circumstance of coming face to face with each of the dangerous creatures in the wilderness, the men often made rash decisions that created imaginative tales of adventure that, in hindsight, were hilarious for their audience.

  The men were all exceptional warriors, each with his own heroic stories of how he had become a knight in the royal court. Virgil whispered the knights’ names and their stories as if they could somehow hear him. He took a drink and raised his cup in their memory. A void swept over him as he finished his last thought. The knights were brothers to him. Virgil would have died for them, and he felt remorse that they were, in fact, the ones that gave their lives protecting him.

  The memories that he’d tried so hard to keep at a distance could no longer be suppressed. In a nostalgic moment, Virgil let his guard down and allowed his recollections of the brave knights to surface. It seemed like those memories of another life had been only days ago. They sprang once again fresh in his mind, bittersweet to his soul.

  Then suddenly an awakening occurred with the memories, along with it was the realization of pain and anger for that treasured life he’d lost. In an instant what had begun as soft as a ripple grew into extreme waves that he allowed, flooding his consciousness with the long since forgotten memories and emotions that went along with them. Virgil didn’t fear the self-discovery process this time as he did in the past but instead allowed himself to observe the waves, which crashed and inevitably broke all around him.

  It was as if at that moment, Virgil stood alone, defiant of the higher mystical powers within the universe, his arms outstretched to the heavens in the middle of a raging monster storm on vicious rocky ground that jutted out into the stormy sea. The rogue waves of memories separated Virgil from land and drenched him with such force that he could actually feel the pressure bearing down on his body. Those remembrances provoked a stirring of emotions at the core of his being, allowing the anger and pain to surface that had long since lingered, but was kept suppressed by a void. Near the end of the devastating storm, the tidal waves had finally been broken. The water was now subsiding. The recollections that remained were washed away back out into the vast sea, revealing his way forward to reality.

  Virgil knew why he couldn’t release the knights after the great calamity. The thought of them being erased from his mind, forever by time, was too much for him to comprehend. He’d lost everything that he had deemed important. He was the only survivor. His greatest fear was, what if he could no longer remember their faces or voices, would they become lost souls eternally forgotten by the passing of infinite time? That thought frightened Virgil and threatened to send him over the precipice’s edge into the eternal darkness.

  Virgil knew he’d lost a sense of reality several times throughout the tragedy. At one point he had actually prayed for an end to the agonizing torture and asked for release to do, what he now recognized as the unimaginable. It would have been so easy to just give in to the illusions that he had created in his mind; to let those illusions have a life of their own. They begged him for a life, even demanded it of him. He denied all of the illusions, with the exception of his trusted knights. During that tragedy, he had come so close to casting his own dark spell into the universe. Then at the precise moment Virgil was about to cast, he discovered he couldn’t do it. At his breaking point he had cried out to the powers that be, that he’d decided to willingly let the knights go. He refused to keep their souls for his own greed and comfort. That’s when it happened. The knights themselves had chosen to reveal to Virgil that even in death they refused to leave him. Each knight had individually made the choice for himself just before taking a last breath. They had each whispered the magic words that would join them all together for all eternity as protectors.

  Chapter 1

  Charles was on time as he traveled across the Hub to his meeting with Dimitrios. He rode his disk to their designated meeting place. He stepped off and placed it in his backpack. Charles put on a lanyard that held his official badge before he walked up the steps and entered the building. He walked down the crowded hall to Dimitrios’ office. Cassia greeted him when he walked into the waiting room. She got up from her desk and opened the door to Dimitrios’ office to let him know Charles had arrived. Dimitrios stood and motioned for her to let the young man come in.

  As Charles entered the office, Dimitrios walked around his desk. “Have a seat, Charles. I would like to go over a few things with you before we get started. We have a busy day ahead. Anthony is going to meet us in the sector we will be visiting today. He had business near that sector already this morning, so it just made sense that we’d catch up with him.”

  Charles chose one of the chairs in front of the prime minister’s assistant’s desk and sat. Dimitrios sat in the chair next to Charles.

  Dimitrios asked, “How does it feel to have graduated?”

  Charles acknowledged that he was relieved to be moving on from high school. “I’m excited to have an opportunity to begin my apprentice responsibilities over the summer.”

  Dimitrios nodded. “Good. Speaking of your apprenticeship, I wanted to go over the agenda with you. Now that you’ve had some valuable experiences already in your training to become the next prime minister of Bridgeiro, Anthony and I decided that during the summer months we’d take advantage of an opportunity. We’re going to allow you to advance within the specialized training program to the next phase. We believe that exposing you to the responsibilities of the prime minister’s office, and allowing you to explore the Hub metropolis, will give you a more realistic point of view of the future responsibilities you will encounter once you take command.”

  “I’m ready.”

  “All right. Let’s get started.”

  Dimitrios reached over and took a folder from the surface of his desk. Inside was an ancient, detailed map of the Hub metropolis with all of its sectors. Dimitrios carefully unfolded it on his desk.

  Charles pointed and inquired, “Why is this large area darkened on the map?”

  “Because it simply doesn’t exist.”

  Charles frowned. “How is that possible?”

  “It isn’t on any Sojourner map.”

  Charles tilted his head. “The cartographer who drew the map must have known it exists.”

  He started to ask more questions, but Dimitrios interrupted. “I understand you have a lot of questions. I believe you will have a better understanding after we visit a couple of the sectors and more of the metropolis by the end of the summer. However, there are parts of the Hub that you may not experience until you are granted access to them as the prime minister.”

  Charles began to ask another question but Dimitrios redirected his attention to the sector directly across the Hub from the area that didn’t exist.

  “This is the area we will be visiting today. Save all your questions for later. We are on a tight schedule. Now over here,” Dimitrios pointed and continued, “is where we will meet Anthony, at this wall. In the sector that we are going to visit today, you will be allowed to explore a limited section of the Prime Ministers’ Archive.” He handed Charles an envelope that was next to the map.

  Charles opened it and took out a laminated ID card. He studied the card and the strange raised symbols on it. He placed it on his lanyard behind his official badge.

  Dimitrios said, “Once we get to the site, you will update the security system using that card. Anthony will walk you through the details. The card allows you to access the artifacts within certain s
ections of the building. The only person that is granted complete access is the current prime minister himself. Once the time allotted for you to explore the archive has expired, I will return to meet you.” He pointed once again to another sector on the map. “Right here.”

  Charles asked, “Aren’t you going on the tour with me?”

  Dimitrios shook his head. “No. No one has access to this sector accept the prime minister, his apprentice and a select few that dedicate their lives to the archive.”

  “You mean people go in but they don’t come out?”

  Dimitrios was amused. “I guess that is one way to describe it.”

  Charles frowned. “Sounds kind of strange and creepy to me that they aren’t allowed to leave.”

  Dimitrios shrugged. “You’d be surprised. There is a long line of Sojourners who want the jobs behind those walls. It takes many years for the devotees to be educated and trained before they are even allowed to be considered for the job as a curator of the artifacts in the private collection.”

  “Is it like a museum?”

  “I don’t know. It’s one of the many secrets of the office.”

  Charles looked at the map. “If it is like a museum, then it’s one of the largest ones I’ve ever seen to be housed in a complete section of the metropolis.”

  Dimitrios agreed. “It does encompass a rather large sector compared to the others around it.”

  Charles asked if he could take a closer look at the map. Dimitrios gave him a magnifying glass so that he could see the tiny details. They both leaned over the desk as Dimitrios pointed out certain things that could be of interest. He directed Charles’ attention to the landmarks that were scattered in several locations on the map.