‘You’ll need to log your name and business with the book andit will give you access to the control panel.’ said theaccompanying mage.
‘Thank you.’ said the specialist and his colleague left. Heturned to the book and said.
‘I am Archmage Swather. I have special duties in pathway five.Please reveal the control panel.’
After thecontrol panel appeared the mage took a crystal out of a pocket andplaced it in a slight indentation in the centre of the panel and awhole array of levers corresponding to pathways four to eight pokedout of the control panel. These levers had three positions; on, offand automatic.
‘Well, that solves one problem.’ thought Aquitain. ‘I wonderwhy there is so much security?’
The mage turnedthe two gates in pathway five from automatic to off and teleportedaway.
‘Damn. Where has he gone?’ asked Aquitain using mindspeak toboth Asterix and Franciscus but neither knew.
‘How do you move around in this rock, Asterix?’ askedAquitain.
‘I imagine I’m a fish and the rock is water.’
‘How do you see where you’re going?’
‘I can’t. I’ve memorized some of the place by trial anderror.’ said Asterix but I don’t know where pathway fiveis.’
‘Great.’ thought Aquitain. ‘I wonder if my crystal sight willwork?’
He pulled hiseye into the wall and activated their crystal sight and was amazedat what he saw. The whole of Astaria was laid out before him. Itappeared something like a jellyfish they had seen on the shore ofthe beach at Twin Towers except that this was perfectly sphericalin shape rather than hemispherical. The rocky parts of Astaria werea translucent milky white with the various air filled compartmentsa smoky grey. The people appeared as purple auras dotted here andthere.
Below thevillage street level he could see pipes and tanks holding water. Heknew this had to be Astaria’s waste treatment system where thewater and air was purified. It had the uncanny resemblance to thestomach cavity of an animal.
Around theoutside he could see vein like areas, which must be the pathways.Four of the pathways were quite different to the other four. One herecognized as probably being pathway one and the other wasobviously pathway two. He had heard that it had a maze likestructure and unsurprisingly, it had six small purple aurasdispersed through it, the six rats.
The other sixpathways were very dark grey probably due to being lined with tilesimpervious to magic. The curious thing was that four of the sixwere relatively short and in pairs running parallel to each other,separated by a few paces of dense rock.
Then he noticedanother thing, it was faint but it was there. Astaria had a spirit,it seems to be alive!
He tried toactivate his aura sight but it didn’t seem to work in conjunctionwith his crystal sight.
‘Hello Astaria.’ He said but there was no answer.
‘I can see you, Astaria. Please talk.’ He replied usingmindspeak.
‘What do you want, Gatekeeper?’ asked a voicehesitantly.
‘I would like to talk to you.’ he replied.
‘Why? No one has ever wanted to talk to us before.’
He wassurprised at this.
‘Are you a collective of minds like that on Moonmist?’ heasked.
There wassilence for a few moments.
‘You mean there is another like us?’ asked thevoice.
‘Perhaps.’ he replied. ‘On Moonmist the spirits of the deadhave collected together to form a sort of council called theMoonmist Collective. They watch what happens on Moonmist andsometimes alert people of potential dangers.’
‘Do they talk to you?’ asked the voice.
‘Yes. They have appointed me to act on their behalf. They haveasked me to help with some of their problems.’ hereplied.
‘This most interesting.’ said the voice. ‘We must discussthis.’
‘Why have you stayed hidden?’
‘I don’t know. I suppose we’ve been afraid that the livingwould find us stupid and boring.’ said the Astarian collectivemind. ‘We have forgotten much of the little we knew and we can’treally do anything, so we have just waited and watched.’
Tain felt sorryfor them. He was protected and kept away from others for most ofhis life. He knew what it was like to be lonely and have no friendsother than his cousin Melanie.
‘I know what it is like to be lonely and have no friends. So Ipromise you that while I am gatekeeper here, you and I will be goodfriends. I wish to make Astaria a happy place where we can all liveand enjoy ourselves in peace and prosperity. Unfortunately, thereare a few problems that I have to fix before that can happen. Ifyou and I work together perhaps we can make it happen morequickly.’
Astaria thoughtfor a little while then said. ‘I have never had a friend before.What do friends do?’
‘Friends talk about all sorts of things. They do thingstogether. They trust and feel comfortable with each other and theytry to help and protect each other.’
‘That is acceptable gatekeeper if you wish we shall worktogether and be friends.’ and he felt a strange but strong mindlink appear.
‘Why has the Mentarin gone to pathway five, is there a problemthere?’ asked Aquitain.
‘There is no functional problem anywhere within Astaria.’replied the collective..
‘Then I will have to find out what they are up to.’ saidAquitain. Can you help me get to pathway five, please.’
Instantly hewas moved to one end of pathway five. There was a small room offthe end of the pathway and the specialist mage was in it. Heprotruded a small part of his misty body into the room and formedan eye.
The mage wasundoing several levers that opened a small circular hatchway intopathway five.
‘Ah. So that’s how they get in.’ he thought. ‘Now’s mychance!’.
He soundlesslyflowed into the room as a black mist, formed an arm with a club andclouted the mage on the back of the head. The mage slumped onto theground unconscious. He grabbed him by the wrist and teleported themboth to the maze in pathway two.
‘Asterix come here.’ he commanded and Asterix appeared besidea little surprised.
‘How did I get here?’ he asked.
‘Rats come here.’ He Commanded.
Six ratsappeared briefly then teleported away. He concentrated and the sixrats returned but this time their legs were embedded into the stonefloor and they were unable to teleport. Asterix was very surprisedthis time, how was Aquitain doing this?
‘There
