Chapter Eight
The travelers rode on, following the deserted forest road. The colored leaves of the surrounding trees formed a canopy above them, blocking out the sun.
"We've been wandering the forest for days," said Katy to the brothers. "We are really glad that you came along to help us."
"Yes," said Marius. "I would never go off path, or even travel by foot in the Great Rainforest. Very dangerous, it is."
They rode for a while in silence, taking in the sheer beauty of the exotic rainforest. Andrew saw many incredible creatures, including an orange-and-black three-headed snake who flicked his forked tongues at him as he went by; birds with grey, blue, and white plumage that flew in loops; and swarms of insects of every color that came together by the thousands to form beautiful mosaics, only to break apart again and come back together to form yet another beautiful pattern.
"The forest is so beautiful, so full of life," breathed Katy.
"Aye, it is," said Meegle. "It is Green's most prized possession. Though he views himself as more of a custodian over it than owner or master."
Marius said, "the Rainforest makes up a large part of the Realm of Green. It extends for many thousands of miles. King Green protects it fiercely from erosion at the hands of Men. It was he who first created and bred the tree guardians, the umlenzi, that you battled at the river. He formed them for the sole purpose of guarding the trees, the backbone of the rainforest."
"Many times Green was approached by groups of men, and other beings, who wanted to buy contracts to fell some of the many valuable trees, or harvest various special plants of the forest, or to hunt down some of the unique animals that live inside. But Green refuses, always. They double their offers, but he still refuses. To him, the rainforest belongs to no one but itself, the plants and creatures that it is made of. No man may assert himself over it while King Green and his Court live."
"That's interesting," said Katy. "The philosophy of most humans back on Earth is that the rainforest belongs to everyone but itself."
"That's industrialization for you," said Marius.
They rode on, the clip clop of the green horses merging with the hissing of snakes, humming of insects and other forest noises.
"Tell me," said Meegle. "Is it true what they say, that humans have developed horseless carriages?"
"Yes, of course," said Andrew. "For many years now. Not only have they developed them, but they are extremely popular. The majority of humans make use of them on a daily basis. On Earth they are called cars, or autos."
"Green would never allow it," said Marius. "After horses, the next thing to go would be the forests and wildlands."
Meegle said, "but there are rumors that other Realms have an interest in them. They say that Blue, Green's archenemy, has a stockpile of the machines. He may even try to mass produce them. Either with permission from the High Council in Morowell, or if permission is denied, illegally."
"I guess it's a tradeoff between the beauty of the wild, and the convenience of the automobile," said Andrew.
"Spoken like a true mortal," Marius remarked. "That's correct if you are looking at it from the viewpoint of the humans' philosophy, which is; "the forest is ours to do what we like with it". From King Green's point of view, the forest has belonged, and always will belong, exclusively to itself. So the forest and its beauty are not ours to trade away."
"Who is Blue?" asked Katy, " And who is Green? And what are 'the Realms', and 'Green's Realm', that you refer to?"
Meegle and Marius exchanged a glance.
"We should stop for lunch," said Marius.
"Then we will try to answer your questions," said Meegle.
"Great, I'm so hungry I can eat a horse," said Katy.
"Killing animals for food is strongly frowned upon in the Realm of Green," Marius admonished.
Katy rolled her eyes. "It's only an expression."
The wagon slowed, and stopped. The brothers busied themselves in preparing the food. Marius started a fire, and Meegle set a pot full of water that he drew from a nearby pond on top of it. They cooked some green vegetables that were called tunsan in the pot. The tunsan had the shape of a tall top, or a short, fat carrot. It had a thick brown and yellow skin. Katy gathered some of the purple diamond fruit, which Meegle said was called ibrass, and they sat on the ground around the fire to eat. The tunsan had a taste similar to that of sweet potato, though a little more starchy.
Marius began to talk, explaining to the Earthers about the Realms, in between bites. "We are presently in the Color Realms, or the Realms for short."
"Although the phrase 'the Realms' can sometimes also include the dwarf, elf, and other Realms that lie outside the Color Realms, depending on the context," Meegle interjected.
"The Realms are made up of several separate Realms, a Realm for each color. Each Color Realm is ruled by its King—"
"—or Queen."
"The Realms border each other, and form a roughly circular—"
"—no, oval"
"—or square"
"—rectangular actually"
Marius flung his plate of steaming hot vegetables at his brother Meegle. "Idiot!"
"Dummy!" Meegle shouted, and he punched Marius square in the nose.
"Please, stop it!" cried Katy. "There is no need to fight! It's not helping anyone! Please continue telling us about the Realms."
The brothers turned to look at Katy, and snapped out of it. Andrew thought that it was as if there was a switch inside of their heads labeled 'fight' that had been switched on and then switched back off. It was a little unnerving, how the amicable brothers transformed into their own worst enemies at the drop of a hat, and for no good reason at all.
"Sorry," said the brothers sheepishly.
"So," Meegle continued, picking up from where Marius left off. "The Realms border each other on two sides, roughly forming an irregular circle. Irregular, because the Realms are not all the same size. They expand and contract according to that Color's influence in the Mortal Realm."
"Oh," said Katy.
"On the outside of the circle lies the sea, or the other Realms of dwarves, elves and other beings, depending on which of the Realms you are referring to," said Marius.
"On the inside, in the center of the circle, dwell the People of the Light, in the Realm that is known as the Realm of the Light," said Meegle.
"Why are the Realms named after colors?" Andrew asked.
"Good, I was just getting to that. And the reason is because it is the duty of the Men of the Realms to help create the Light. It is their purpose. Each and every morning the Priests of each of the Color Realms raise the Crystal of that Realm. The Priests of Blue, raise the Blue crystal, the Violet Crystal is raised by the Priests of Violet, and so on."
"What is the purpose of the Crystals?" Katy asked.
"These humongous, colored crystals channel a ray of colored light in the Color of the Realm towards the Prism of the Light. The Prism is housed atop a tower in the very center of the Realm of the Light, which is itself in the center of the Color Realms. So the Light is formed in the center of the center. And it is very central indeed to the lives of the Realms' inhabitants, who are permitted to raise their own personal family crystals at the time of the Lighting each morning, to add to, strengthen, and bolster the Light,"
"Many of the Realms' inhabitants work hard to mine or to buy as large, beautiful, and radiant a crystal as they can, so that they too will have a part in the Lighting. The rays of all the Colors converge together in the central Prism, and the Prism fuses the beams together, producing a great shaft of pure Light. This great beam of Light is channeled upwards towards the heavens," said Meegle.
"Kind of like a reverse rainbow," said Katy.
"Exactly. Like a reverse rainbow. A rainbow splits a beam of white light into many colors. Here, the different colors are joined together to form the beam of pure Light," Meegle elucidated.
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"And what exactly is the function of this Light, that it is so central to the lives of the Men of the Realms?" Andrew asked.
Marius looked at Andrew strangely, as if he had said something peculiar. "We know from our fathers and leaders, who know from their fathers before them, that it is our duty to serve and uphold the Light. The purpose of the Light itself is not known to us, nor is it any of our concern."
"We must do our duty regardless of the higher reason, or reasons, behind it. We believe that there is a purpose, a great purpose, behind this ritual. It matters not to us that we cannot fathom it."
Andrew had his doubts about this 'religion', but he wasn't going to voice them in front of these long time inhabitants of the Realms, who had been exposed to and believed in this faith for so long that it had probably become a part of their very beings, to the point where it was useless arguing with them; in doing so he would probably only succeed in offending them.
"What about you, Marius and Meegle?" Katy asked. "Do you have a crystal that you raise for the Lighting?"
"Yes, we do have our own crystal. But we are unable to participate in the Lighting when we are on the road, as we spend much time travelling through the forest, where it is very hard to find a good spot due to the leaf canopy. We also travel in the other Realms often, and the crystal of one Realm cannot be raised in another Color's Realm, as it may upset the equilibrium of the Light. For the Colors must be in balance, or they will fail to form the Light."
"So we keep our crystal in our home, which is a long way from here. And in the limited time that we are home, we do try to be up for the Lighting, to make our own personal contribution towards the Light."
"It sounds really beautiful," said Katy. "Thousands and thousands of people participate every day, in a group effort, to make this mystical Light. Everyone contributes in their own color, in their own way. Wow."
But Andrew was skeptical. 'I'll believe in this custom, when I know how it originated, and what its purpose is,' he thought.
The travelers finished their light lunch of tunsan and ibrass and returned to the wagon. They rode on through the forest for several hours more, until nightfall. Then they stopped and made camp on the side of the road. There were certainly no five star hotels in this part of this world. They would be sleeping out in the open. The same accommodations as the creatures that dwelled in the forest.
But the brothers were used to this kind of living. Meegle got a blazing campfire going, and Marius prepared a tasty vegetable soup for them to eat.
When he was finished eating, Meegle leaned back and belched. "That was a fine soup."
Suddenly, out of nowhere, Marius lunged at his brother, tackling him. They rolled over and over in the dirt, with Marius landing up on top.
Marius pummeled his brother's face with both fists. Meegle grabbed Marius's hand and twisted it. It looked like a fight to the death...
Quickly Andrew ran over to the brothers and pulled Marius off of Meegle. "Why did you tackle him?"
"He provoked me!" Marius shouted.
"Did not! I didn't even make a move," Meegle shouted back.
"I saw it in his eyes, he was about to attack me. So I made a preemptive strike," Marius claimed.
"You tried to poison the soup!"
They continued on in this vein, bickering and shouting over utter nonsense, for several more minutes.
Then, as suddenly as the fight began, it stopped. Marius offered his brother a handkerchief to wipe his bloody nose, and Meegle patted the dirt off the back of his brother's shirt.
"Andrew, what's wrong with them?" Katy whispered.
"I don't know, why don't you ask them?" he whispered back.
Katy cleared her throat."Why are you like this? You spontaneously break out into fight for no good reason. Then you stop, and forget about it instantly. There has to be some explanation for this extremely strange behavior. Why do you fight?"
The brothers looked at each other. Meegle nodded his head slowly...