A Monumental Undertaking
By Saliaven Chronotis
Part 4
Transit

    Saliaven took them to the residential area of the city.  None of them had the courage to look up at the sky, but had they, they would have seen a very interesting sight, as time and space were bent to allow their craft through.  As they arrived, Saliaven had one more thing to say before they got a look at their accommodations “Under normal circumstances, this ship could get to our destination in under ten seconds, but since we’ll need to prepare, and I have to fill you in on some details and plans, we’ll be traveling for about two days.  If you’ll excuse me, I have pressing business in the portal room, don’t stay up too late.”
“There’s time of day in here?”  Gary was interested.
“I tend to set it to the times of my destination, which is only a few minutes ahead of when we started, but with the change in time zones, I’ve had to set it forward five hours anyway.”  With that, he swept off.
Ash, always the mood elevator, yelled at Gary “Dare ya to look up!”
“Oh no you don’t Ashy-boy, I’m not taking a peek until you do.”
“I dared you!”
“Well, I double dare you!”
“I triple dare you!”
“I quadruple dare you!”
“There’s no such thing.”
“Says you?”
“Says I.”
    By this point, the more mature members of the group had wandered off to inspect their sleeping quarters.  It was spare, but comfortable, with the walls made out of the same stone as everything else, and the beds of an unidentifiable wood.  Much to their historic surprise, but everything else a relief, there was running water.  Ash and Gary walked in, both with dilated pupils from trying to look at the sky simultaneously.  “That was better than TV.”  Not much more was said or done before they went to bed. 
    Saliaven woke them up bright and early, well, early anyway.  Ash complained until he saw breakfast, and was silent thereafter.  After they ate, Saliaven took them into the core room, where the hologram came up above their engine, which was still thrumming on a low level and moving up and down.  It zoomed on their destination, just outside of a village near the capital.  “The people are, on average, not very well educated, but they are paranoid about anything they cannot understand.  We will have to hide all technology and pokemon from them.  They also don’t like the idea of large party of people just appearing without any sort of provision, and I don’t think we all need go.  The pokemon will definitely have to stay, even the ones who can become human, since they retain a few characteristics that we really don’t want to have to explain.  If Blaze or Vapor wish to come, they will have to change clothes, as will I.  They know what an ascended mage looks like, and they hate them with all their hearts.”
“Why do they hate us?”  Blaze asked.
“It was a group of us that put up the shield which causes them so much pain.  I say us advisably, because they don’t see any difference between us, except for me.”  He paused a moment “the truth is that I would be killed on sight since it was I that headed the order which put up the shield in the first place.”
Ash stepped forward “So it was you that caused them all this pain, who robbed them of their advanced technology, magic and pokemon?”
“Yes.”
“But why?”
“I shall show you.”  The hologram extended outward until it surrounded all of them.  A scene unfolded in front of them. 
    <Begin Clerestory, from Telemetry> Long ago, before anyone had evolved a language on Kanto, there was a civilization, much like the one that evolved on your supercontinent.  This one, though, had great and powerful gods which protected them and gave them the light of a utopian society.  Until one day, when the king, Atenhotep, ordered that there was but one real god, and named one almost no one knew existed.  The priesthoods were dissolved, and the only one that was left was that of the one god.  The magi, sensing that the other gods were displeased, pleaded with the king to rethink his decision.  The king, in his anger had the well of magic plugged, and the stone invoking the names of every god to protect and give the magi strength was shattered.  The priests of the One, meanwhile, had become corrupt, and took bribes to bless the unworthy.  The king refused to believe this, and organized a parade in honor of his god.  The magi, who had communed with the other gods, knew that their anger was mounting, and that holy destruction would fall when the procession reached the top step of the gods’ temple.  In their own sanctum, they debated what to do.  Saliaven, the head of their order stood.
“We must build a wall around the whole land, to stop our destruction.”
“Sir, that’s impossible.  Our mana is gone, and our power base with the gods has been destroyed.”
Saliaven picked up a bag and dumped the contents on the floor, stone fragments.  “All we need is for them to hold together long enough for us to do this.”
“It’s madness.”
“Do you have a better idea?”
    They could not do anything except follow his orders.  Putting the tablet back together, they made a circle around it and lit the braziers.  They began to weave the greatest spell ever felt on the planet.  Power emanated from them and the stone.  The Earth shook with the vast raw energies being channeled, the sanctum crumbled around them, but they were protected.  If any stone struck them, there would be a high-pitched whine, and the stone would melt.  Visible sonic, magical and divine shockwaves were discharged from the stone.  The shield that surrounded the entire continent winked in and out of existence, and the tablet exploded, sending the name of every god outwards, each one landing in an individual city.  Saliaven, who was controlling the main taps from the stone, was blown out of the world.  The magi relaxed, thinking a job well done, even though their leader had been sacrificed, had been completed.  They all felt it at once, the mana cap had been blown off, and all the magic in the hemisphere was being drained into the new shield.  They were powerless and trapped. <End Clerestory>
    The hologram shrank back to normal size, and they were left with the explanation for what had happened.