The following morning the bewildered guests awoke in time for a hearty breakfast. Before long the Great conjunction was minutes away.
One of the Urskeks led to where it would all take place. "The time is upon us… all are welcome…In the crystal chamber. Where the Great Aughra awaits your company."
"Mother!" cried Raunip.
"Good to see you again, child." Her brisk voice is harsh, broken, and short of breath.
"Madam Aughra, tis a pleasure to meet you." King Gawain bowed his head respectfully. Behind him, Irene curtsied and Curdie bowed.
Kel approached, "I am honored to meet y-"
"No time for respects…" Aughra interrupted, "The sun will not wait."
Glass had been harvested from the walls of the Castle to make a giant network of mirrors around the Crystal, which would focus the sun's rays onto each urSkek in hopes of opening a portal for them to cross back into their homeworld. Star Staffs were constructed from the Castle walls as the final tools to focus the Crystal's light.
"Aughra has worked tirelessly with us. We have the greatest faith in her." said the lead Urskek, whose name was SoSu.
Raunip's gaze then fell on SilSol, who still possessed a turbulent spot on his chest.
"You're the Urskek from last night. Have you faith in her as well? What is your thinking?"
"I think as you think Raunip…" SilSol replied firmly.
"Ahh…you shock me Urskek. Finally one of you speaks for himself! That's what frightens me most about all of you! You embrace the collective and fear the individual!"
Once again the Urskek's coloring turned a dull copper with the dark spot much more turbulent than before.
"I've heard enough from you, Raunip! You know NOTHING of us!" SilSol roared, "Our culture! Our ways! The knowledge we have gleaned from our unity! It is beyond you!"
"Shouldn't we do something?" Irene whispered to her father.
"It's best we do not involve ourselves in their argument, lest we make things worse."
"Does anyone else see what I see? Look at his center!" Raunip pointed out.
"Now is not the time Raunip, the conjunction comes!" Aughra replied sharply, "All must release anger from their hearts. All must come before the crystal worthy… For this moment comes but once in a thousand years."
She started handing out the star staffs to each urSkek while everyone else moved to the upper balconies to watch the event unfold.
"Are you frightened Gyr?" Kel asked.
"I don't know what to feel."
"I'm frightened."
"You? You're the bravest gelfling I know. We'll be fine… as long as we're together." Gyr reassured her.
"I myself personally wonder how exactly this astronomical event will help them return their homeworld." King Gawain remarks, eyeing the large mirrors inquisitively.
"Let us pray that this is the last we see of each other, Dark heart!"
SilSol turned to gaze at him. "Yes, let us pray."
It begins when single shines the triple ones… the resulting white light shone down on the crystal, emitting beams that went into the eyes of each Urskek.
"Take them, Lords of Urskek! Wherever you are in the universe! Take back your kind!" Raunip snapped.
Through the bright haze, SilSol's voice could be heard. At first, soft before it came out in a shout of distress. "It's not working! I FEEL NOTHING! The Crystal abandons us! Our own kind will never come for us!"
"No it works!" Aughra called out to him, "You see! You look! Your brothers become pure light! Your anger blinds you! Find silence in your mind! Join them!"
"Join them, dark heart!" jeered Raunip, "Or are you too poisonous?!"
"Enough Raunip! Hideous little creature!" shouted the UrSkek.
Irene had had enough and spun to face Raunip angrily. "Stop at once! Why are you doing this?"
Next to the gelflings, King Gawain attempted to calm his daughter. "Irene, please contain yourself!"
Curdie stood up too and was trying to pull her back, "C'mon, the last thing we need is another fight!"
"Don't meddle in things you know nothing of, human." Raunip glowered.
"Maybe I don't! But I do know that you ought to be ashamed, tormenting him like that when all he wants to do is go home!"
Gyr, Kel and Kotha had watched Irene quarrel verbally with Raunip, then inadvertently Gyr had turned to look back at the Urskeks.
"Majesties… Curdie…" He could barely get the words out, so he pulled on the King's sleeve. "L-look!"
While they argued, down below something was going horrifically wrong.
"Is there no place in all the realms of the Crystal where a single being will show me compassion!?" The poor Urskek wailed in anguish. "Is there truly no love for me in all creation!?"
Something glowing seemed to emerge from his back as he said this; It resembled a predatory bird without feathers- what in the world was that?!
Through the chaos, they heard the voice of one of the other eighteen Urskeks cry out. "Brother! What's happening? The light is starting to burn!"
Before long every single Urskek began to suffer the same fate as SilSol; from their backs, more bird-like creatures attempt to tear themselves away.
"The crystal rejects the corrupted one! None will pass. All must suffer…" Aughra exclaimed with great concern.
And something dreadful happened!
For a blinding flash of light lit up the vicinity. The force sent Aughra and King Gawain backwards, the latter hitting his head and losing consciousness. Gyr and Kel held on to each other, unable to see. Kotha covered his eyes with his hands. Curdie and Irene had fallen face forward, having placed their faces in their arms to shield their eyes from the light. The two humans had their gaze forcibly on the floor where they could see the shadows of the crystal and what was happening to the urSkeks.
WHOOM
It was like some half-demented nightmare. The shadows showed the urSkeks twisting and writhing in visible agony and then they seem to be torn in two! But oddly enough, the halves looked to be strangely shaped…
"What happened?" Mimi whispered.
She and the others had been temporarily rendered speechless with the story.
Kylie continued, "Then as quickly as it had begun…the second Great Conjunction was done."
_
After the light faded, Raunip ran to Aughra, having seen her on the ground unconscious. "What have I done, Mother?" He whispered, "What have I done?"
"Do any of you have your vision back?" Kel asked her eyes covered, "Gyr? Irene? Curdie? Your majesty?"
"Miss Kel?" Curdie inquired, he and Irene were just starting to get to their feet with their eyes tightly shut.
"Barely!" Gyr grunted.
Irene turned to where she heard the gelflings, blinking rapidly. "Father? Father!"
She heard him grunting a few feet from her; at least he's alive.
"Kel? Gyr? Kotha?" Irene cried the names of their comrades, "Are you still there?"
"We're all here, Princess Irene!" Kel answered, her voice relieved.
Kotha replied an affirmative in his native tongue. Cautiously, the teenage humans began to slowly open their eyes, and they were stunned.
In the wake of the great light where once floated the urSkek, now two new species crawled and staggered. Eighteen of each, freshly born, full of youth… and seemingly without memory. The confused but wonder stricken UrRu… And the cruel eyed skeksis.
The first race possessed elongated faces which were marked with barely visible runic patterns, chin length hair, long tufted tails and their skin a soft marigold. The second race was somewhat more diversified, their heads resembled that of predatory birds with sharp teeth. Their hair started from the top of their heads, down the nape to their back which was riddled with spines and colorful feathers.
Why, the only other thing both sides had in common was that they each had four arms.
"W-where did all those wingless vultures –" Curdie then squinted at the sight of the UrRu, "And odd creatures come from? They certainly don't look like goblins, that's for sure."
Indeed, what's happened to the urSkeks? Then Irene remembered SilSol and his heartwrenching lament.
Greatly concerned for the poor being's welfare, the princess glanced around then cupped her hands over her mouth and called out, "SILSOL!"
Briefly, the sudden sound made the thirty six creatures around the Crystal jump. Curdie clamped his hand on her mouth in alarm. What if these things were dangerous?
And to their utter astonishment, one of the wheat colored creatures somberly glanced up at her. "Ohm?"
One of the bipedal vultures – this one had green eyes, purplish skin and a black mane- followed suit with a confused whimper and a questioning frown. "Mmm…?"
Close by, Raunip aided his mother to a safe spot. Then on the other side of the room, one of the birdlike creatures snarled at one of the wheat colored ones.
Without warning, the vulture thing pounced with a hiss. The observers watched in horror as it strangled the poor thing. But this crime was not without a consequence of its own. Approximately two feet away, another one of the vulture things frantically grasped at its throat to the confusion of all the others before it perished… at the exact same moment as the somber beast passed on.
"Waa?!" exclaimed one of the yellowish beings.
The same murderous vulture creature spun around to glare at it before leaping forwards, and shoving the unfortunate bystander right into the fiery shaft below the crystal!
"Aarghh - Aargh!" the vulture creature raised its upper arms cackling in pernicious victory.
However it didn't last long, in just mere seconds, it too burst into flame with an ear piercing shriek.
Curdie winced, Irene gasped covering her face and turning away.
"The death of one is the death of another…" Aughra whispered almost to herself, "They are the same."
By then the other vulture creatures were turning their attention towards those on the balcony.
To be continued…
