“We can recover from this,” another argued. “We can lock down. We are impenetrable!”
They were arguing in all different directions and getting nowhere. More important, they were missing the big point. Faar was in mortal danger now. I was about to step into the circle, when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned quickly and saw that it was the old man who everyone listened to before.
“What is happening below?” he asked.
“They’re starting to launch the haulers,” I answered.
“This… demon who is attacking Faar,” he continued. “What is his goal?”
“That’s a tough one to answer,” I said truthfully. “But right now, he wants to send Cloral into chaos. That’s why he poisoned the crops. The only thing stopping his plan from working is Faar.”
“What kind of person would destroy a city so that he can destroy an entire world?” he asked with pain.
“You said it yourself. He’s a demon. And he’s capable of a lot worse, trust me.”
The old man closed his eyes. I guessed he was processing the information. He seemed hurt by the fact that such hatred and evil could exist. For all of his wisdom, the evil that Saint Dane brought to his doorstep was beyond anything he could imagine.
“This is going to sound horrible,” I continued, “but you have to abandon Faar.”
His eyes snapped open and he shot a look at me like I had just slapped him across the face.
“I don’t think he’s going to stop until this place is rubble,” I added.
“This is our home,” he said defiantly. “It is the home of our ancestors. We will not leave our home.”
I knew exactly what it was like to be asked to leave home, but I didn’t want to go down that road with him.
“I know, it’s a horrible thing,” I said, trying to sound reasonable. “But if your people stay here, they might die.”
“And what if this attack is unsuccessful?” he asked.
“Then they come back,” I answered quickly. “Simple as that.”
Two more explosions rocked the dome. The old man lost his balance, but I grabbed his arm and held him up before he could spill. The council members fell silent. That last jolt was pretty hairy.
“I don’t think there’s much time,” I said.
The old man looked at me. I saw the pain in his eyes. He had made his decision. He stood tall and walked back into the council meeting. All eyes were on him. No one said a word. He walked directly to the center of the circle and addressed the crowd.
“It is time to act,” he said.
He then knelt down to the floor and lifted up a piece of tile. He reached into the space that the tile had covered, and he must have turned a switch or pushed a button or something because the floor began to move. A two-foot-round section of floor rose up and up and up until it became a podium in front of the old man.
The council members watched in awe. Some whispered to each other, but most just stared. I had no idea what was going on. The podium looked like some kind of control panel. There were four chunks of crystal on top that were about the size of baseballs. One was clear, another green, a third yellow, and the fourth was reddish.
“We have been prepared for such a disaster,” the old man announced to the council. “We must not ignore the inevitable.”
“No!” a man shouted. “You cannot transpire!”
There was that word again. What was transpire? It sounded like some kind of last resort.
“We will not transpire, at least not yet,” the old man responded. “Faar is strong. We may still withstand this attack. But I am ordering the evacuation.”
With that, the old man put the palm of his hand over the yellow crystal, and pushed it down. Immediately, it began to glow yellow, and an alarm sounded. At least I think it was an alarm. It was a loud horn sound that I guarantee was heard everywhere on Faar. From what I could tell, this was a signal. It was telling everyone that it was time to abandon Faar.
The council members hung their heads in defeat.
“Go,” said the old man with compassion. “Join your families. Be sure they get out. If you hear the safe command, then return. But if you do not, my love is with you all.”
Slowly the council members started to file off the bleachers.
One woman called out to the old man, “Come with us. My family will care for you.”
The old man just shook his head. “My place is here,” he said. “There is still the chance we may need to transpire.”
The old guy was going to stay at his post, no matter what. It felt kind of like the sad resolve of a captain going down with his ship. Moments later the council had left the platform and the old man and I were alone. ”What’s your name?” I asked him.
“I am Abador,” he said proudly. “Senior to the Council of Faar.” The guy shuffled over to the bleachers and sat down. He looked tired.
“What is this transpire thing you keep talking about?” I asked.
The old man looked at me with a sly smile. “You have learned much about our world here, Pendragon,” he said. “But there are some secrets that are best kept that way. I will tell you this much: The grand city of Faar is a wonderful miracle. Since we were hidden below the sea, we were never attacked by enemies, we never sought to expand our land, we never wanted more than to better ourselves and be the guardians of Cloral. I truly believe this was possible because we were hidden. We did not face the same difficulties or temptations that control the lives of so many above.”
He took a deep, tired breath and continued, “There have been preparations. We knew the day would come when our existence would be revealed. It was inevitable. Now that the day is here, I face a dilemma. Should we reveal ourselves fully and become part of Cloral once again? Should we allow this perfect world to be infiltrated and corrupted by the petty concerns of the Clorans? Or is it better to cherish what we once had and not allow the dream to be corrupted?”
“I’m not sure I get the problem,” I said. “You’re saying you’ve got a choice between joining the rest of Cloral or being destroyed?”
“That puts it simply,” he answered.
“Then if you’re asking me, I say it’s a no-brainer. You may think the people of Cloral are these horrible boneheads who aren’t as advanced as you guys, but from what I’ve seen it’s a great place. People live in peace. They work hard, they have fun, they respect one another, and compared to where I come from, they pretty much have it all figured out.”
A few distant booming explosions erupted. Abador looked up.
“And what of this… attack?” he asked. “Is this what we have to look forward to?”
“No,” I said as strongly as I could. “This is a different enemy. This attack isn’t just about destroying Faar. It’s about destroying the Cloral I just described to you. And if you call yourselves guardians then you won’t roll over and let it happen. Look at it this way, if you give up now, then you’ve failed all those generations of Faarians who helped Cloral become the place it is.”
Abador looked right into my eyes with that same powerful stare that I had seen before. I hoped I hadn’t pushed the guy too far. But I felt strongly about what I had said. Here he was thinking Faar was such a special place that he wouldn’t want to become part of Cloral. But I didn’t think he truly appreciated what a great place the rest of Cloral was. And now that Cloral was in deep trouble, it wasn’t time for the Faarians to give up. I didn’t know what this transpire thing was, but it sounded to me like it was a self-destruct plan. It sounded like he wanted to destroy Faar rather than let it become part of Cloral. That was dead wrong.
“You must go,” Abador said. “I will think about what you have said.”
“So… you’re not going to transpire or anything dumb like that, right?”
Abador glanced over at the control podium with the four crystals. The yellow alarm crystal was still glowing. He chuckled and looked back to me.
“You are very wise for someone so young,” he said. “But do not make the mistake of thinking you know all there is to know.”
What did that mean? Before I had the chance to ask him, another explosion hit that made all the others seem like minor fireworks. It was deep, it was loud, and it knocked me off my feet. The marble bleachers shifted and
