Chapter 8: Tale 1, Ch 7: Training with the Golds and Whites

Jasper ran from the red building and into the adjacent gold one so fast that none of the Prophets passing by the open area saw him. A few thought they saw something, but passed it off as a pigeon or a fox.

Closing the heavy door behind him, Jasper entered the golden section of The Pinnacle and found himself staring down a great hall. It was massive, and went all the way down to the opposite end of the building, impossibly far for a man-made structure. The floor was white marble tile and the walls were painted in a faded gold, lined with shimmering golden pillars that held up the roof. Doors, mostly black, lined the walls all along the corridor.

The peaceful solidness made Jasper feel comforted, but not at all relaxed. “Okay, Jasper,” he told himself, catching his breath, “enough jumping around like a deer. You’re not a deer. You’re nearly a man. So suck it up.” Jasper inhaled deeply, feeling better. “And get to that power thing.”

When he saw a man exit a door halfway down the hall holding a large piece of paper in front of his bearded face, Jasper ran to the nearest door and went inside.

Now he stood staring at two men, concentration painted on their faces. One of them held a golden shield and the other had one of those long blades strapped to his back.

They didn’t seem to notice or care about him, hidden as he was behind a low wall that cut the room in half. Jasper ducked down and thought he’d finally found a good hiding spot. He saw the man with the long blade pull a colorless dagger out. Jasper, wondering if these two were going to train by shooting each other as well, decided to watch. Thinking on it, he realized he might actually enjoy watching the training, even though experiencing it hadn’t been much fun.

With a flash, the man with the dagger plunged his blade into the other’s stomach. Jasper fought back a squeal, regretting watching, and put his hands to his mouth in horror. The attacker pulled out his dagger and his victim fell to his knees, bleeding and barely holding onto his shield. The one with the dagger simply stood, watching intently.

Jasper nearly cried watching the man die. But as tears welled in his eyes, he saw the shield begin to glow. It increased in brightness, and soon became brilliant as the lantern Jasper had shattered. The man with the shield began to pant. Slowly, steadily, he got up off his knees and stood. His shield continued to glow and he clenched his jaw. The blood stopped flowing, and the wound miraculously sealed up.

The man with the blade bent to investigate the wound. “Good. Your response needs to improve, though. It will heal faster if you can flow more energy to it sooner,” he said. Then he put his hand on the bloodied man’s shoulder. The long, golden blade on his back began to glow and the one with the wound sucked in air as if it were an elixir. “See how my mind is at ease, how I flow all my power into you through my hand? With concentration and a clear mind, we can achieve these things. We do not let our emotions guide us as Reds do. We are straight-minded.”

The shield-wielding man’s wound disappeared, completely healed at the other man’s touch.

The man with the shield swallowed hard and said, “Again.”

Jasper turned and ran back out the door.

“No, no,” Jasper said as he stopped himself from running down the hall. “You’ll just run into something else crazy. Keep cool, Jasper, keep cool. The only way you’ll get out of here is if you keep cool and think.”

As he stood, he heard a loud noise coming from the next room. Down the yellow hall and through a small, thick window, he could see a man with a long blade moving quickly and blocking a barrage of balls that flew at him. Some sort of metal object was doing the throwing, and Jasper jumped back when one of the balls struck the window with a loud clap.

Jasper licked his lips. “Right, see, no big deal,” he told himself, backing away down the hallway, his feet scraping lightly on the tiles. “You just need to find this, this, power thing. It’s in the middle, remember?”

As Jasper backed away, he saw another man standing alone in a room with an even thicker round window. He waved a large hammer toward the window and a golden shockwave of light struck it. Jasper jumped away before the shockwave struck the glass. With a clenched fist, Jasper restrained himself from running. He smiled and felt proud of himself.

“Much better,” Jasper said.

He left the gold compound at a light and cautious trot, heading straight to the center. He was happy that no Prophets were visible. The silvery spire glistened ahead of him, and when he reached it he stood, leaning on it and panting. He was at the middle point of The Pinnacle, but there was no sign of whatever possessed the Prophet’s power. Kay had said it was towards the bottom in the center, but Jasper could see no way down.

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“Unless…” Jasper said, and looked at the huge spire. He gazed up its long expanse till it ended with the glimmering orb. “Unless the spire at the center is the source of their power. Kay said it transmits it.”

Jasper licked his lips. Was he prepared for this? He hoped he was. As he rubbed his hands together, he took some deep breaths to prepare his body for whatever he would experience when he absorbed the energy from the spire.

Jasper closed his eyes, concentrating on drawing energy as Gralin had described, and put his hands on the cool, silvery surface of the spire. He pulled. He began to sweat. He concentrated with all his might to grab the surge of energy.

Nothing happened.

“What are you doing?” Kay asked.

Jasper jumped back so hard he fell over. He hit the ground and rolled into the spire with a light clang. He was embarrassed, but actually glad he didn’t run.

“I was, just, you know, admiring the spire,” Jasper said. He felt he’d gotten good at keeping his cool so far. He’d been jumping around all day, so it made him a little less shocked to be surprised. “Like I said, I’ve never been here before.”

“You’re lying,” Kay said, and offered Jasper a hand. He took it and stood up, hating that both meetings with this woman involved her picking him up off the floor. “Why did you run away?”

“I really wanted to see The Pinnacle,” Jasper said, confident again. “Why are you here?”

“I followed you.”

Jasper gulped, and walked around the spire’s wide base as if curiously inspecting it.

“So why are you here, really?” Kay asked.

Jasper chose to ignore this questions, and replied, “You said there was a way to get underneath the orb, right? Can you show me where that is?”

Kay didn’t move, just tilted her eyebrows as she stared down Jasper. The boy had seen women of all ages use this tactic of truth-delving before, and knew the only defense against Kay’s guilt-inducing glare. He stood and smiled as innocently as he could.

“Yes, there is. I’ll show you,” Kay said and, without waiting, walked toward the white building.

Jasper congratulated himself on being subtle, and followed the girl.

When Jasper walked in, he stood with his mouth open and his head tilted, taken in with the brilliant beauty of the white room he stood in. An elegant staircase that went up the three levels of the building spanned out in front of him. It was all bone-white and lined in black. A simpler, more curving, staircase led downward. Where the Gold chamber was straight, and the Red chamber was crooked, this room was all curves and arches.

A giant arch held the whole elaborate staircase together. Crystal lanterns reflected the sunlight from a hundred windows with a glimmer that refracted and sparkled like the orb that capped The Pinnacle. The beauty-loving Whites had spread vases about in arched alcoves and on plinths. Two small vases containing yellow flowers with many thin, fragile petals stood on swirl-decorated tables next to the doors.

“Welcome to the home of the Whites,” Kay said and, with a soft hand, pushed closed Jasper’s mouth. “I hope to live here one day, study here, train here. Whites are diplomats, you know, so that means that maybe I’ll see other worlds.” Kay walked over to the staircase and leaned on the banister.

“And,” she said with a smile, “I might even meet some people from other worlds.”

“Wouldn’t that be something,” Jasper said, looking around for a door that led down. “Where’s the entrance to the center?”

“The White Prophets value knowledge and wisdom above all other traits, did you know that, Jasper? Maybe that’s why I want to join them.”

Jasper walked over and joined Kay by the banister.

“They don’t fight like the Reds and Golds, unless they have to. And they’re unbreakable when they set a goal in their mind,” Kay continued.

“Why are you telling me this?” Jasper asked.

“I just want to get you excited about the Prophets,” Kay said, and nudged Jasper. “Why don’t you join the Prophets? Then we could both see other worlds.”

Jasper got an idea. “Well then…” He clapped his hands together. The slap echoed through the entryway. “Why don’t we go now?”

Kay tilted her head, her red hair falling off her shoulder.

“Let’s go to where this power source is and teleport to a different world. We can do that, right?” Jasper asked.

Kay stared wide-eyed in surprise at Jasper, and he thought he might have said something wrong. Then she burst into laughter and nearly fell over, pointing and laughing at Jasper.

“Of all the things I thought you’d say I never…” she said, and went on laughing.

Jasper decided to change tactics. He was about to appeal to her sympathy to help him when he heard a door open on the second floor.

Kay’s laughter having shattered his former composure, Jasper tried to bolt for the door. But he ran straight into a vase stand and knocked it over. With speed and agility, Jasper dove to the ground, caught the vase upright, set it on the floor, and grabbed Kay, putting a hand to her mouth as they rolled out of sight down the curving staircase.

Kay didn’t scream or even try to say anything as Jasper heard the clicking of a person’s footsteps coming down from the second floor. The girl only looked at Jasper with curiosity, wondering why he’d do something so foolish and how he’d done it so well. As Jasper kept his breathing dead quiet, he saw a woman, dressed in a thick but tight-fitting white outfit and with angular features, walk down to where they’d just been standing. She spotted the vase and looked at it curiously.

The the White Prophet raised a bony hand and the vase lifted, as if by invisible hands, and flew back to its original spot. Jasper turned to Kay, seeing her unsurprised face, and wondered if he’d ever stop seeing crazy new things.

The White Prophet seemed satisfied with her work, and walked out the door.

Jasper released Kay and stood up. Instead of lashing out, as Jasper expected her to do, Kay merely straightened her clothes and crossed her arms. “Tell me, are all aliens as strange as you?” she asked, and raised an eyebrow.