TWENTY-ONE – VALA

 

Iry drove the motorized vehicle. He wasn’t one that was held in enough esteem to have a driver. A long drive took us to a building, and from there we entered another vehicle. This one was big with many seats.

It looked like a bird, and in fact, that was what it was. A mechanical bird.

We lifted from the ground. I held on for dear life. We were flying; only a Sybaris could fly. I was curious how they came to invent these, so I asked Iry.

“The Sybaris didn’t make these. Man did.”

“Man made vehicles that float on air?”

“Yes. He used them quite often.”

“Do Sybaris not have the ability?”

“I really wish you would refrain from calling me a Sybaris. That is a very racist term.”

“Do the Ancients not know how to make vehicles that float on air?” I asked.

“We do. We actually have the ability to exceed this technology, however, we chose not to and use what man has made.”

While in the air floatation device I later learned was called an airplane, I didn’t want to show it, but I loved looking out the window and into the clouds. It was breathtaking, even if it did bother my ears.

After we landed, we drove again. The last leg of the trip. I was quiet the entire trip to the city of the Ancients. Iry assumed it was because I was sad or in deep thought, when actually I was trying to figure out how far it was. The location was lost once we flew there. I knew one thing, it was quite a distance. The airplane landed not far from the City of the Ancients. We could see it from the sky.

It wasn’t like Angeles City. There was no overgrowth, there was very little green at all. The entire shiny city, tall buildings of which I could only see the top, emerged from nothing but a desert of sand. It reminded me of the stories of Moses that I read in the book called The Bible.

“Is this called the City of the Ancients or does it have a name?” I asked.

“We call it La Sveg for short.”

“Does that mean the city?”

“Yes,” Iry said, remaining focused.

“Are we permitted to go there? I have never seen buildings that tall that are not overgrown with wildlife.”

“I’ll take you into the city later. It is most spectacular in the evening,” Iry said. “Right now, we must get to my house and get you cleaned up and into proper wardrobe.”

“When I visited you through projection there were women there. Will they be there?”

“Yes.”

“I will not have to be as scantily dressed as they were will I?’

“They were sunbathing, Vala.”

“The sun cannot bathe you.”

“You’ll learn about the ritual that humans do, or rather used to do. And no, you won’t be scantily dressed. You will be dressed formally for court.”

“I don’t understand this court. Nito’s own father will hear and decide what will happen?”

“Yes.”

Will anything happen to her?” I asked.

“I don’t know. I have never been to one. The last one I heard of was during something humans called the Black Plague. We almost emerged full force during that time period.”

“Iry… how can Nito be of the bloodline of her father? I was always taught Ancients cannot bear children.”

It was at that moment, we pulled up to Iry’s home. I recognized it and he stopped the car.

“It is only being here on Earth that prohibits us from reproducing with each other.”

“Here on Earth? With each other?”

“We can produce with humans. Let’s leave it at that.” He opened his door.

“I need answers.”

“I promise you will get them,” he said. “Right now, we have to prepare you to meet the king.”

“I am worried about my sister.”

“As you should. But I promise you, Vala, this is the only way to help her. Trust me.”

After looking around and seeing how far away from my own world I had gotten, and knowing my sister’s life was in the balance, I had no choice but to trust Iry.