THE SLIDE: Part 3
Chapter 35: Black Vortex
End of All Life on Earth? Or Darkness Eats the Planet
Recap
See, see, see,” Tem pointed at the black and white photographs. The Magistrate stared at the photos, in shock. In an infrared scanned photo, of Paris from above, in color, one could see pieces of buildings and debris in the enormous vortex and above it.
A Guard rushed in.
“Sir, there’s an enormous black cloud over us now. What should we do?”
The Magistrate pointed out onto his terrace. “Tem, I order you to look and advise.”
The Black Vortex
“I will. But if it’s dire, I will give you a signal to push the red button,” Tem said. He made the gesture — thumbs-down. “That’s the signal.”
They watched him go out onto the terrace in an atmosphere of diffuse light that resembled sunset. Tem saw the top of the keep of the Magistrate’s office in slow motion being pulled off. He looked back and gave the thumbs down and, in a moment later, he was pulled straight up and was gone. The Magistrate smashed the red button on the wall and everyone ran from his office and floor as the keep was ripped apart by the cyclone of energy and wind. They barely escaped. Mortar and brick were pulled apart, flying around the hall and being pulled upwards in a chaos of wind and electrical discharges. The Magistrate’s shoulder was singed and smoldered as he descended the stairs into the lower part of the castle.
Tem
Tem stood before a man that looked so familiar, but… The land was green. It was greener than he had ever seen. The color was so vibrant he heard a song in his heart.
“Go easily on yourself,” the man said.
Tem fell with vertigo and passed into unconsciousness.
Where Farha Went
Farha’s body was reassembled in much the same manner as it was disassembled, molecule by molecule in a black smoky realm.
Tem appeared smiling and looked at her and then straight down. The Man-Boy usurped Tem’s position and spoke, but she couldn’t hear anything.
She looked down. Below her in a smoke free bubble was a parchment like substance and a light that grew dazzling, collapsed in on itself — disappeared into the wispy parchment. An image of Ra appeared in her mind and heart. Compassion and love went out to him. The top of the bubble opened and a fierce beam of white and yellow light shot straight up out of the bubble, completely enveloping her and transporting her away. She wondered if this was the arc that Hannah had told her not to enter.
The Fort Normandy Castle
Forty-eight hours after the vortex had assaulted the castle destroying most of the keep that included the Magistrate’s office, waiting room and terrace, but spared the rest of the structure, a group of engineers, technicians, and scientists gathered outside to access the situation under clear skies. The Magistrate stood with a bandaged shoulder and wondered aloud,
“I wonder if the sacred metals that remain in the soil from that ill-fated project of Farha Izem had anything to do with protecting the rest of the castle?”
The engineers and technicians scrambled to confer with one another about the Magistrate’s idea, while the scientists scratched their heads.
Hrez
Hrez awoke in the tent at night. His Berber companions had made a small fire, and he stared into the coals. He saw his two companions and another compact figure that moved in and out of the space.
In his mind’s eye, he saw Farha and Ra in a bright space lying in a grand bed wrapped up in each other’s arms.
“Oh, no,” he said with woe.
The figure quivered on the edge of visibility. Words appeared in his mind. This vision you see is not what you think. Fear not.
The Omnipresent
You don’t remember me yet. My appearance has changed through aging and I bear witness to my true self as I am now known by my original name: Kuzma. He spoke into Tem’s mind as they stood near a river surrounded by a lush tropical jungle.
Tem turned onto his side and propped himself up on one elbow. The sun was hot.
“This is a very different place than the meadow,” Tem noted.
“Yes, it is. And a different time.”
“Was it you that brought me through the vortex to the meadow?”
“Yes. You and I are important to the plan.”
“What do you want of me? What is the plan?”
“Be yourself,” Kuzma said with gentle kindness. “The plan…” Kuzma mused. “The plan is forming, but I’m not sure how it or if it will unfold.”
“Does it have to do with putting The Slide back in its place?” Tem wondered.
“And what if it did?”
The Queen’s Quarters
The two-twin boy-toddlers ran through the courtyard into the arms of their mother, the Queen. She had awakened from the dream in her nap. It was a replay of the birth of her boys and the black oozing substance that emerged from within her. Her face and mouth scowled with rancor. This foul mood evaporated when she saw her sons. Replaced by joy and love as the two boys scrambled to be with her. Papa entered, full of all his majesty. The boys had entered their eighteenth month in cycle with the moon. Happiness prevailed.
In Wide Clear River
A black creature with no eyes, a bulbous head and tentacles jetted just below the waters, flanked by a large pyramid structure covered in alabaster, turquoise, and gold in the distance.
The next Chapter, 36:
Thanks for reading.
Rebecca Romanelli | Blaine Coleman | Spyder | DL Nemeril | May More | David Price | Dr Mehmet Yildiz | Melanie J. | Joseph Lieungh | Camille Grady | madmess’s thoughts | Orla K. | Ravyne Hawke | Winston | Margie Willis | Alison Hollingsead | Alberto García 🚀🚀🚀 | Noorain Ali | Marcus aka Gregory Maidman | Lee David Tyrrell | Libby Shively McAvoy | Lady Dr. Gabriella Korosi | Ilis Trudie Palmer | Diana C.