Alaia Skyhawk: Here you go!
Disclaimer: I don't own Rise of the Guardians, the Guardians of Childhood, or any related characters etc. This story is written purely for entertainment purposes.
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Chapter 77: Moon and Tsar
Jack continued to allow himself to be towed by Bunny, as the Pooka took the both of them deeper and deeper into the Warren. These older parts were similar and yet starkly different from the newer and 'planty-er' sections. Here the chambers were filled with machines and gizmos of all kinds, and little egg-bots tottered around keeping the place tidy. Some of the egg-ish fellows actually paused in surprise at seeing their maker, who clearly didn't come to these workshops that often anymore. But this wasn't Bunny's destination, that much was obvious when he stopped to open a door that literally groaned in metallic protest before it grudgingly opened.
A blast of stale air came through it, causing both Jack and Bunny to cough, and the Pooka winced in apology.
"Sorry, it's been a long time since I locked this place up."
Jack gave him a long look.
"Just how long would that be? If we'd been mortal, the air coming out of there would be suffocating us right now."
"Last time I came out of there and locked up... was after the last time I flew back to this planet ahead of the Lunanoffs and the Moon Clipper."
Jack started at him, eyes wide.
"The last time... Wait, does this lead to-"
Bunny pulled him through the door, their entry causing rows of lights along the sides of the chamber beyond to gleam into life. The entire room was cloaked in a layer of ancient dust, and in the centre an oddly shaped mass stood on a tripod of metal legs.
Bunny sighed when he saw it, his ears folded back and his expression wistful.
"My hangar, and my ship. This thing hasn't been used in over fifteen thousand years."
As the Guardian of Hope started off towards his dust-cloaked craft, Jack gaped after him.
"Wait, how do you know that thing even still flies?!"
Reaching it and brushing back some of the dust to reveal the gleaming golden colour beneath, Bunny glanced back and smiled.
"Were Ombric here, he'd be asking why this isn't made up of egg-shapes like every other of my vehicles he's seen. Thing is, I didn't build this." He patted it. "This here is the standard class of ships, built and used by the Pooka Brotherhood. Mine is called the 'Starlit Tide', and these ships are built to last a lot longer than fifteen thousand years."
Jack flew over, curiosity replacing his startlement as he summoned a gust of wind to clear the air and sweep the dust from the spaceship. It was golden from nose-to-tail, with silver scrolling details down the sides, and three odd protrusions stuck out of it at the sides and top towards the rear. Yet what puzzled him most was the lack of apparent outlets for 'thrusters' or propulsion of any kind.
He circled it, baffled.
"How does it fly? There's nothing to push it forward."
Bunny laughed, flipping open the hatch on the side of the minibus-sized craft.
"Get in, and I'll show you."
Bunny leapt gracefully through the hatch and immediately sat himself in the single chair visible through the curved window at the front of the Starlit Tide. Jack flew in after him, but didn't sit in the single obvious passenger seat behind and to the side of the pilot's chair. Instead he lightly gripped the back of Bunny's seat, so he could float there and look over the Pooka's shoulder.
"What now?"
Bunny was smiling, his paws practically dancing over the curved array of incomprehensible toggles, buttons, and dials in front of him. One of those movements closed the hatch, while another caused a shower of dust to rain down on the craft from above, as the hangar roof began to fold open to reveal a shaft up to open sky.
The Pooka pushed one final button, before taking hold of the steering yoke that was central amid the controls.
"Watch."
The craft began to rise upwards, despite there being no sound of engines, and Jack actually gasped.
"What the- How is it doing this?"
Bunny laughed at him.
"Belief! My Belief makes it move during the slow manoeuvres like this. For the actual fast flying... Well, you'll see that when we reach open air."
Jack looked up at the approaching top of the shaft.
"But what about the mortals' radar? Satellites? What if they see us?!"
Bunny laughed again.
"If they can see this, they'll officially shock me senseless. The Pooka Brotherhood were carrying out planetary husbandry, secretly coming and going from worlds far more advanced than this one, for hundreds of thousands of years. Never once were any of us spotted. These ships can't be seen unless the pilot wants to be seen."
They now rose up above the top edge of the shaft, emerging at the top end of a rocky gully near the shore of Easter Island. The shaft closed again, leaving no visible trace, at the same moment the three odd protrusions on the Starlit Tide began to open up into triangular silver and gold patterned gossamer sails.
Almost immediately the craft surged forward and upwards, Jack almost sliding backwards in the cabin before he reset his grip on Bunny's chair. The Pooka watched as the Spirit of Winter leaned close to the window to peer at the misty veils now spread out around the rear of the ship, and then he began to explain.
"Think of them as a combination of sails, that don't use wind, and solar panels, that don't use sunlight. They propel the ship and gather a small amount of power for the slower speeds, and gather a lot of power when the ship is travelling faster than light."
Jack turned his head from his inspection of the sails, and faced Bunny.
"This goes faster than light?" He paused, then shook his head at himself. "Of course it does. What am I saying?" He chuckled. "Sorry, that was 'backwoods colonial boy' talking there."
Bunny grinned.
"Don't worry about it. You've spent a lot more time with humans than the rest of us, so naturally something like this would seem a bit odd compared to aeroplanes and rocket-propelled shuttles. I'll be explaining a lot of how the sails work, when I talk about the Manifestational Ether at that science conference in three weeks. Now why don't you buckle yourself up into that other seat? Because I don't want to have to scrape you off the back wall of the cabin in a minute. The seats cancel out the inertia of anyone sat in them, so you move with the ship without feeling like you're being dragged when it accelerates."
Jack quickly did as instructed, blinking a little at the sudden feeling of being sat on solid and motionless ground the moment he belted himself into place. But after that his attention was focused forward at the view out of the window, as Bunny set the Starlit Tide up to a faster speed. So fast in fact, that pale blue sky darkened to twilight, and then faded through to the star-spangled blackness of space, in the space of just a few seconds.
Bunny did something else with the controls, and the ship accelerated again even as its course curved around towards the Moon Clipper. Behind him, Jack sat transfixed by the sight of the rapidly approaching moon, until an odd sense of a 'tug' made him frown.
"Bunny, I feel like I lost power just now."
The Pooka glanced back at him.
"Remember what I said, about Immortals being unable to go too far from the worlds they look after? The Moon Clipper is just a little ways inside the absolute limit of how far we can go. Nature powers travel further than Belief from people, so I feel it more than you, but you don't need to worry that I'll shrink like I did that Easter. We've still got all our believers, it's just the power thins out a bit once we're out this far."
Jack grimaced a bit, but nodded.
"I'll take your word for that."
Bunny raised an eyebrow.
"Hey, cheer up and stop looking so stressed. You forgetting why we're up here? Do you want Tsar Lunar to see you wearing a frown like that?"
The Guardian of Fun twitched at that, and a slow sly smile spread across his face.
"I could always freeze your ears together. That always brightens my day."
Bunny smirked in response, and turned his attention forwards again.
"I'd chuck an egg-bomb at you for that, 'cept I don't want to have to clean the paint off the inside of my ship... Pay attention to the view out front, Jack. Who knows when you'll get to see this again."
A comfortable silence fell, the both of them looking forwards as they reached the Moon Clipper and Bunny sent the Starlit Tide skimming down over the mountains, craters, and dusty plains of the converted moon. The light of the sun cast stark shadows on this landscape, and yet there was an undeniable beauty here in the play of bright glow and deep shadows.
Before much longer, Bunny changed course again towards the side of one of the larger craters. A large doorway opening up even as the Starlit Tide approached and its sails folded up again.
The tunnel beyond it was well-lit, passing from cut stone to shimmering metal some distance in. Just after the metal sheathing started, Bunny landed the ship in a large docking-cradle of sorts. Mechanical arms locked around the Starlit Tide, before the entire rack and the platform on which it stood were lowered onto a track and catapulted off along it at a terrific speed.
It was impossible to tell just how far they'd travelled across the moon beneath its surface, but it was only about ten minutes before the rack-on-rails slowed and emerged into a vast domed hall.
Jack gasped as he saw it, the mortal part of him inwardly questioning how no one on earth had spotted this massive structure, while the immortal part of him simply accepted that it had been astonishingly well-disguised to look like ordinary rock and dust from the outside. Almost like the ultimate one-way mirror; opaque from the outside, yet from the inside there was a crystal-clear view.
Bunny opened the hatch and stepped out of the ship, Jack drifting through the air to follow absently while he gawked at everything he could see. A view of the Earth, so far away outside the dome, and the massive telescope and scattering of smaller ones that occupied the inside of it.
After giving him a couple more minutes to stare, Bunny tugged on Jack's sleeve and pointed towards the group of moonmice and moonbots that were heading their way as a cheerful welcoming committee. The two immortals were soon swept up and hurried away by that chattering and smiling 'mob', to the extent that they were distracted enough to be surprised when suddenly they were ushered through a set of doors and left just as suddenly alone.
And that was when Jack saw him for the first time.
Tsar Lunar smiled at them kindly from where he sat by a curved array of many many screens. Displays that, quite clearly, were images sent from the hundreds of telescopes scattered across the moon.
This sole surviving Constellation from the Golden Age, rose from his seat and approached them. Barely standing five-feet in height, and yet his presence filled the room as he spoke.
"Welcome to the Moon Clipper, my Guardians. It is good to see you in person again, Aster, and a great pleasure to meet you in person for the first time, Jack."
Bunny glanced at Jack, who was understandably awed, but then the Guardian of Fun settled to the floor and walked forward to meet the Tsar half-way. He then looked down at him, since he towered roughly a foot over him.
"You're smaller than I expected."
Looking up into Jack's wry grin, Tsar Lunar burst out laughing and proceeded to guide him towards the additional chairs that had seemingly appeared, or at least been discretely placed during the greetings, near the screens.
"Yes, I am. It appears I was never meant to be as tall as my father, but that is of little importance. Much could be said the same of you, who are sometimes referred to in your Legend as 'Old Man Winter'."
Bunny muffled a laugh at that, and Jack thumped him lightly on the arm as they took their seats. But Jack didn't seem embarrassed, just bemused.
"I inherited that one, when a few of the stories that pre-dated me got tagged on over the years. Still, it's not as bad as two of the film portrayals I've endured... The 'love-sick disco elf', and the 'crazy psychopath bad guy'. The Bennetts teased me about each of those, for years."
There was laughter in Jack's voice now, in his mirth at the memories. But then he sighed and glanced at Bunny in silent prompt of the real reason they were here. They'd been deep inside the Warren during their talk, and most of the rest of the recent events with the scientists had also taken place indoors. Tsar Lunar would have been able to view very little of it with his telescopes.
The Pooka nodded in understanding, and then turned his regard to the Tsar.
"Jack realised something a little bit ago, and we're here to ask if or not he's right." Bunny paused, taking a deep breath. "The Fearlings need people to give them the power of Unnatural Fear, so it wouldn't have made sense for them to harm the mortals living on the worlds of the Golden Allegiance... Did they- They only hunted down the Constellations, the Immortals, and the Pookas. That right?"
Tsar Lunar regarded Bunny in silence, until a small yet magnificent smile lit his expression.
"The Golden Allegiance, or Silver Allegiance as it is now called, lives on... As does the rebuilt Pooka Brotherhood, who watch over it."
There was a choked sound from Bunny, whose eyes welled up with tears of joy even as Jack and the Tsar watched. The Pooka then quickly brushing the tears away, his tone filled with more questions than just the ones he uttered.
"I-I'm not alone? Their were survivors other than me?" He held back a sob. "Why haven't they contacted me, or this world? Do they even know we're here?"
Tsar Lunar shook his head, solemn.
"Father Time informed me about the Silver Allegiance, as it was important that I know, but he has not told them or the Pooka Brotherhood about us."
Bunny lurched up from his seat.
"But why?"
As Jack pushed his fellow Guardian back into position on his chair, Tsar Lunar sighed softly.
"The Pooka Brotherhood have found candidates for, and assisted in the founding, of just five new Constellations during the past fifteen thousand years, but none of them have succeeded in discovering how to create Immortals. Unnatural Fear has a strong hold on the Silver Allegiance, hence its name, and I deemed that shadow too dangerous to the situation to allow it to be brought here."
Tsar Lunar turned his head, and gazed at one of the screens which showed a full view of the Earth. "If I had made contact, if I had told them that Constellation Lunanoff had survived... Even if I had told them to keep their distance, the temptation to seek me out would have proven too much eventually. And if any of the people from those worlds came here, carrying with them their terror of the Fearlings..."
Jack didn't flinch at that, but Bunny did. Had the Pooka not been covered in fur, those present in the room would have seen him blanch pale.
"The Fearlings would have gained power from it, perhaps enough to break Pitch from Nightlight's seal long before the time he actually got free. If that had happened, all hope would have been lost forever. He'd have escaped this world, destroyed you and all the Immortals here, and Fear would have ruled for eternity."
Jack was once again thoughtful, waiting until Bunny had finished before remarking to the Tsar.
"But that's not a problem anymore, because 'Pitch' no longer exists. If a ship were to come here now, with people from the Silver Allegiance, Kosmotis and I could purge them of their Unnatural Fear long before the Fearlings could get even a tiny bit of power from it. It's safe now, and has been for ten years. So why have you still been waiting?"
Tsar Lunar smiled.
"Ah, but you see... I was waiting for the very thing you have now set in motion. Even as you rescued those three men from the storm, I dispatched a slow message capsule to Lumeris. It will arrive there in about twenty years, giving you enough time to take the Earth through the transition of learning of and accepting the Immortals as part of daily life."
Jack gaped.
"You've already sent a message? Twenty years? But that's- "He cut himself off, and started to grin. "Oh, the game is on! We're gonna give whoever comes, the welcome like they've never seen! I've got so much work to do! See you back on Earth, Bunny!"
Before the Pooka could react, Jack had conjured a mirror back to the Winter Sanctuary and promptly dismissed it once he was through.
As Bunny stared at the spot where the mirror had been, Tsar Lunar just chuckled and smiled.
"He can go between anywhere he has already been, so long as it's within range of the source of his powers. I believe you will now have a faster way to visit here, from now on."
Bunny slumped against the back of his chair, starting to shake his head at Jack's enthusiasm.
"He's right, though. We've got a lot of work to do over the next twenty years. It only takes two weeks for a Brotherhood-built craft to fly between here and Lumeris. Once that message gets there, we'll get visitors soon after." He stood up. "I'd best fly the Starlit Tide back home, and then call a Guardian Meeting to fill the others in on what's about to start." He turned for the door, but paused to glance back at Tsar Lunar. "You didn't tell me or Sandy, during all this time, so we'd be spared the waiting... But you've lived with this for over fifteen thousand years; the knowledge that the people your parents watched over, all believed you to be dead. Your parents would be real proud of you, and I know I'm proud of you in their place. Who'd have thought the little tike I first met when he was just two months old, would go so far."
Tsar Lunar smiled at him, his head tilted.
"It's because I've had people like you, and Sanderson, and many others to inspire me. If I am great, it is because I have learned from watching the best."
Bunny smiled in returned, and continued his way to the doors to head back to his ship. That the worlds from the Golden Allegiance had survived, and Pookas had survived, was a whole new game-changer. But one thing that hadn't changed, was the fact that the New Golden Age would begin on Earth.
But before the time when someone from the Silver Allegiance would arrive, there were plenty of hurdles still to get over. And the first of those would be the science conference in three weeks.
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Alaia Skyhawk: Expect frequent updates on this during November. I'm stuck for an original novel for Nanowrimo this year, so I've decided to use Frost and Moon as my 'novel' since I'm writing entirely original plot-lines for it at present. Of course, I doubt any of you guys are going to complain hehehe :D