Alturus Lorian Turtledove
Alturus awoke in a small wood-clad room. He had fallen asleep one night and woke up the next morning to a slight sense of dizziness and fatigue. There was no transition, and yet now he felt a slight sway to the world. Reality listed from side to side. Slowly rocked as if he were a baby in a pram. After taking a moment to measure himself, he sat up to look around the room.
To no surprise, he was alone. Around him was an empty room with nothing but several large, locked chests. Above his head, a small lantern hovered in the air. Its light followed his gaze around the room. The lantern was too small to be able to light an entire room, and yet it somehow did. It was new to him. Repeatedly, he tried to get a look at the candle or wick at the center. He searched for the flame. But every time he looked into the strange object, the light would completely wink out.
“It will blind you, moron,” a young girl said. Her voice sounded bored. Still, he wondered how long he had stared at this light. And furthermore, how had this girl opened the door?
“Blind me?” He asked. For good measure, he gestured as he looked into the light. He glanced at it when, once again, the light winked out. “Every time I look into it, the light disappears. There’s no wick or anything.”
“It’s magic.” She stated. Her voice was stained with a slight twang of disappointment. “I guess you aren’t nobility after all. A peasant, maybe?”
“Oh, right!” The boy exclaimed. He just realized that for the first time, he was talking to someone new. “I need to introduce myself. I’m-”
“Save it.” The girl replied, her words cut him off. “You don’t really seem worth my time. I’m going to go check out the other people.”
“Wait, other people-” Alturus began. Before he had completed the thought, she was gone.
A door, one that Alturus didn’t think was there before, was left in her place. Still, it was something new. The girl had left the door cracked, and outside was a dimly lit hallway. Across from his room, there was another door that was also slightly ajar. With a bit of effort, Alturus clambered out of the bed and crossed the room. He eased his face through the doorway and looked down the hallway. This seemed like the direction the girl had gone. He wondered how he knew that. Still, there was a lot to learn, and he brushed it aside.
Far down the end of this impossibly long hallway, the girl leaned into another doorway, similar to what she had just done with his. She was wearing a billowy white dress that had a sigil he didn't recognize. When he looked down at his own clothing, he found a light blue button-up and black pants that draped around him; the fabric flared out at the end of the pant leg. They were slightly too big for his narrow frame; definitely nothing as ornate as what she had on.
The door squeaked as the room and hallway leaned far to the right. He tried to grab onto the doorway, but his right hand slipped, and he fell through. With a slide across the floor, he entered the slightly ajar door he had noticed before. Inside, a boy sat huddled on the bed, his arms wrapped around his knees as tears streamed down his face. The weird change in gravity hadn't impacted this boy.
“They," The boy mumbled, looking into nothing as he slowly rocked back and forth. “I want to go home.”
“Who-” Alturus started to ask. Before he could finish his thought, the boy looked up. Their eyes met, and the boy's face seemed to tighten up as he gathered himself.
“The guards, the upper men, the guardians of the kings.” The boy replied. A fiery heat rose in his eyes. “They were testing random people with this glass ball, and when they got to me, it lit a white sheen.” His words seemed to flow before the anger faded, replaced by thick tears. After a few moments, Alturus couldn’t take anymore.
“I’m Alturus.” He said. He sought to distract the boy. Anything to stop the emotions. He mustered up the brightest smile he could and approached once more. “I just woke up here myself. Yesterday, I fell asleep in my room, and today I woke up here. What’s your name?”
“I’m Titanus,” He replied. His face softened again. Gloom glazed over his eyes. “They took me from my parents. As soon as my hand touched the orb, they grabbed me and carried me off. I didn’t even get a chance to say goodbye. The next thing I knew, I woke up here. It was moments ago. They were standing right there.” The boy gestured five feet away to an empty spot in the room.
“Do you know where we are?” Alturus questioned. A bit of curiosity peaked in his voice.
“Once, my dad took me and my sister to visit family on one of the isles.” Titanus replied. “When we crossed the Lake of Austis, the boat we sailed on felt a lot like this. Although, this place feels weirder than that.”
“It’s a boat?” Alturus wondered aloud. “A boat to where?”
“Port Caroline.” A familiar voice spoke from the hallway. It had a bored monotone. The girl from before walked into the room. The white sigil on her dress glowed in the dark before it faded out.
“Port?” Alturus asked. “Where's that?”
“How do you not know? You know, where the most ships go to? The space port?” The girl replied. “I’m Elaine Caroline Deus et Alterra. To be frank, I wouldn’t be talking to you if you weren’t the only two people awake and normal right now. After that last shudder, the rest I’ve found seem to be lying over puking.”
“Deus et Alterra?!” Titanus exclaimed from the bed. He tried to climb out of the bed but tripped and fell against the wall. Frantically, he righted himself and bowed to the girl.
“What’s so big about her name? Alturus asked. He was confused at the boy’s reaction. He had heard a lot of stories about people with the et in their name, but the way his parents talked about them, they seemed normal.
“Ah, so a noble then,” Elaine replied, looking at Alturus. The boredom in her eyes faded briefly. “You are used to hearing the title of et?”
“I have only heard that name through stories. I’ve never left my family's estate before.” Alturus said. “What does et mean?”
“It means she is a child of King et Alterra,” Titanus said, still bowed. “Her family reigns from Lake of Austis through to Lake of Alterra. They rule over one-seventh of the world’s population in their realm alone.”
“If you don’t stop bowing,” Elaine moaned. “You are making me bored. Do you not realize why you are on this ship? All of us here are Children of Kings.”
“I’m from realm et Alterra.” Titanus pleaded. “I cannot be a Child of King, your grace.”
Alturus was sure that while the boy was begging, he inched up a few degrees in his bow.
“Where you are from doesn’t decide if you are a Child of Kings.” Elaine lectured. “Your father, or rarely, mother, is what decides this. The et just means you are a direct descendant of a familial line. What color was your sphere?” Elaine reached over and pulled Titanus up from his slightly less deep bow.
“When the men came. They made me reach out and touch it. Nothing happened, and then after a few moments the sphere seemed to swirl with a milky white,” He replied.
A gasp escaped Elaine's lips as she replied.
“A child of the Emperor Coraline Agustus et Austis.” Elaine’s voice was a high pitch, shrill. Her boredom was replaced by pure conspiracy. “How could this be? She died nearly, nearly ten years ago. You must have been her last child.”
“My mother wasn’t a… did you say Coraline?” Titanus replied, confused by what he was hearing. “My parents were carpenters in Yorkshire et Alterra. I mean, my mother’s name was Coraline, but it was Coraline de Luna. There's no way I could be this Child of King.”
“Do you two not know where we are going?” Elaine replied, half aghast. Her voice calmed and then leveled out to a mature and pompous tone. Conspiracy and elation compromised the boredom she carried moments ago. “We, and I mean we, are going to Port Caroline, where we will take a journey to Stellarium. You know? The academy for Children of Kings to learn magic. And for the record, de Luna holds an even higher title than the name of King. You are considered a Child of Emperor.”
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“Child of Emperor,” Alturus mumbled aloud. “What does that entail? These titles seem complicated.”
“Forget that for now,” Elaine said. “I like you two. What are your names?”
“I’m Titanus Yulin de Luna,” Titanus said. “My parents told me never to say my full name, so I go by Titanus Yulin.”
“I’m Alturus Lorian Turtledove,” Alturus said. But before he could say anything else, Elain was upon him.
“Turtledove!” She basically screamed. He didn’t know if she was going to hit him or run away. Titanus’s face instantly became pale. “The Turtledove! The executors and judiciaries of the Familial Kings? I thought you were a noble? But you’re not. You are a Kingsmen?”
“I don’t know what you mean, my father never told me much about his work aside from a week ago when he asked me to kill a baby bunny.” Alturus quickly replied.
“He did what?!?!” Elaine yelled, jumping back in horror. “Did y—?”
“Greetings, students.” A voice exclaimed throughout the air. “Welcome to Port Caroline. Your first stop on becoming a great, what’s now the world we use, Jim? Oh right. On becoming a great mage, wait, really mage? That’s this year’s name? Mage? They have all the titles to pick from. Lore of eons, and they choose the same basic nine titles. Oh right, I’m recording. I digress, I digress. Students, where were we? Ah. yes! We will be arriving at Port Caroline as I speak. Hopefully, you are all awake and made the journey safely. I need you all to make your way up to the top deck. Don’t worry about your luggage, belongings, pets, animals, foods, or other goods. We will take care of all that when you are on your way. Please disembark the vessel as soon as you get to the top deck. There will be guides to start your procession in the plaza.”
The voice winked out, replaced by silence. In the hallway, a sound of hundreds of doors unlocking reverberated down the corridor. Alturus was the first one out of the room. He was just in time to see every door in the hallway slowly open as tiny eyes met his. He could see an end to this long corridor and began to make his way towards it. By the time he had reached the deck of the ship, the hallways behind him were brimming with the soft murmurs and introductions of the other teenagers. Each one was somehow his age, fifteen. He quickly exited to the upper decks.
“Ay boy.” He heard a voice yell from behind him. It was then that he realized the incredible sight that lay before him. “Get out of the way.” A burly man with a long, draping beard bustled past him carrying a chest through the doorway.
“Do you need help, sir?” Alturus replied, He leaped clear of the large man.
“You heard the announcement there, lad.” The man replied, setting the large ornate chest down on what Alturus now realized to be some kind of floating platform. “You get along now, save this work for us here, yeah? It's once in a decade that we get to meet the children of the kings.”
The man nodded with a smile before he proceeded back into the noisy corridor. For the first time, Alturus smelt the ocean. He had seen the lakes back home on his family’s estate, but never had he seen water that went on as far as the eye could see. On the other side of the ship, he could see a huge port city. Warehouses lined the edge of the docks, and behind them were high-rises of stone and brick. The buildings appeared to scrape the skies above him. For once in his life, he felt as if there was a ceiling dozens of miles above his head. Littered between the buildings were strange boats that hovered in the air. These vessels seemed to flit about as they weaved between the large buildings and disappeared amongst them.
“Oy, Alturus.” Titanus yelled. His friend waved from across the deck. Behind him and Elaine, an endless stampede of his peers overcrowded the deck. The mass poured from the several doorways and holes in the deck as it meandered its way to the opposite side. The crowd of students moved in a slow snake that worked its way through 2 of the largest warehouses and down a broad, heavily crowded street. He could make out confetti raining down as the parade began."
“This is amazing,” Alturus said once he had caught up with his two companions. “I’ve never seen buildings as tall as these."
“This?” Elaine said. “This is nothing compared to the towers in the capital. Those actually reach out into space.” There was an energy that put a slight pep into her words. It carried over into her step as the trio, who had waited for everyone to clear the ship, bounded down the ramp. The boat behind them slowly filled up with the luggage and belongings of the crowd they had just witnessed. As Alturus's last foot stepped onto the dock, the ramp retracted itself back into the side of the ship. The wood creaked as it molded back into the rails lining the deck. And the ship sank beneath the ocean waves. The trio now faced the open plaza.
Alturus could see the remnants of the parade that ended its way down a festive avenue that curved out of sight. In their wake, mounds of debris and streamers. There were other students that were with them. High nobility who relied on carriages to make it to their destination. In the middle of the cul-de-sac for the port, sat a trio of dark burgundy horseless carriages wait. Two figures stood next to the middle carriage.
“Elaine! Elaine, my darling, where are you?” A loud womanly voice called across the square. “Oh, Richard, where could she be. I was quite sure she would have been the first off the ship, as I was. I can’t believe it’s been 4 years since she left us.” A small, slightly round woman stood next to an unbelievably tall, lanky man.
“Mother,” Elaine chided moments later. “You aren’t supposed to be here.” The girl had a slightly annoyed tone that seemed to reprimand the strange woman.
“I believe as wife of the King Regent I can go anywhere in my territory I please.” The woman said in an indignant tone. “Besides, I knew the day they would pull you all out of stasis. These things are planned to the century, my dear. It is customary that the daughter of a regent not walk all the way to the central spire. What mother would I be if I had not arranged an honorable procession?” The woman’s words ended with a slight humph of victory.
“You majesty, my lady, we should be going; the other groups of regents are already making their way up to the Ferry.” The tall man said, interrupting the silence that had perforated the air.
“Alturus, Titanus,” Elaine said in a concise tone. She pointed at the two boys. “You can ride with me if you’d like. This man here is Richard, our family's main concierge.”
Without thought, Alturus quickly boarded the middle carriage. Inside were two bench seats, each on opposite sides of the interior. They could each sit three people comfortably. He was surprised to find that one of the benches was occupied. A small girl sat in the far-right seat facing towards the front. Her eyes looked away quickly as he sat across from her. Elaine and her mother followed. Elaine had to talk her mother down over the boy’s action of proceeding them aboard.
Titanus, however, remained standing in a stupor; his conditioning as a child held him back from approaching the lavish carriage. It wasn’t until an annoyed Elaine popped her head out of the door and shot him a 'hurry up and get inside or I’ll drag you in myself' kind of glare. As he hopped in and sat next to Alturus, Richard climbed inside and closed the door. Before words could be exchanged, Elaine spoke up.
“This,” the girl said in a chipper tone as she waved her hand over the small girl who had already been aboard. “Is my little cousin, Dasia.”
“But she is the same age as you,” Titanus replied nearly immediately.
“Ah, yes,” Elaine’s mother said in a pompous voice. “They will inform you once you are aboard the Setallar Stratum. However, since you are riding with our group, I’ll let you in on one small detail: it is the year 2510.”
Alturus and Titanus both froze instantly. Alturus, who had been staring out the window, taking in the crowds that were cheering at the passing parade, looked back in a picture of shock.
“My fifteenth birthday was just last week,” he said. A bit of panic in his voice. “It should be April 26th, 2500. What happened, it’s only been, what a night? I remember falling asleep last night when my mother was talking to me. Waking up in that room a little bit ago, I had thought we were near my home.”
“No, that’s not right.” Titanus interrupted. “Its October 24th, 2504.” I remember because next Saturday is Halloween and I was going to go with my sister to sit outback the candy store and check what candy they had.”
“It was my fifteenth birthday three months ago,” Dasia stated in a slightly high-pitched whisper. That night, I had fallen asleep and woke up here. It would have been your 21st birthday, Elaine.” The girl looked to her left at her cousin, eyes slightly watering.
“Now, now, enough with the emotions.” Lady Alterra muttered with the wave of her hand. The energetic glee she showed was replaced by a faint sadness. “They will go into it more when we arrive. But a new class joins the Academy only once every ten years. Any fledgling warlock, I mean mage, is brought aboard the Ark at the age of fifteen. Your power is too potent to be left unchecked while you wait for the academic period to begin.”
“My sister,” Alturus said. He remembered the events that transpired the week before, no, the decade before. His sister would be fourteen by now. His baby brother would be older than he is now. A trepidatious shudder fluttered through Alturus. Had he been aboard the ark, too? They had been placed ten years into the future. His family would be ten years without him. For ten years, his father must have loathed and despised him. Maybe there would never be a home for him to consider returning to.
The rest of the twenty-minute ride was in stark silence. Not one of the party said a word. It wasn’t until a large metallic tower seemed to loom over the group that someone spoke up. The weird building seemed to have protrusions of flat triangular sections. Written on the side of the building were the words Earth’s Fairy. It was then that Alturus realized.
“That’s a large buil, star ship. Is this the academy?” Alturus asked. All but Lady Alterra and Elaine were fixated on the weird structure.
“Oh, my dear poor boy.” Lady Alterra laughed aloud. “That is not the school. What a marvelous idea. Such a unique direction for your logic to take there.”
“It is the Earth’s Ferry. The only way into orbit.” Elaine elaborated, placing her hand on the windowsill. “We aren’t going to school on this planet. We will be boarding this ship, which will take us to the academy.”
“Not on this what now?” Titanus stuttered in confusion. “What do you mean? There’s nothing in the sky but stars and gods.”
“Oh god’s.” Lady Alterra said as she broke into a hard laugh again. “There is so much you do not know. Do not worry, as the days go on, you will have your answers. Now wipe those confused looks off your faces. We are about to disembark. Present noble and hopeful, Elaine, Dasia. From here on out, you two represent the king of this part of the world.”
As she finished, the world outside the windows stopped moving. Alturus hadn’t noticed until now, but the carriage didn't feel like it had moved at all. It felt as if they had been in a stationary room all along. He waited as the other occupants climbed out of the compartment. When it was finally his turn, he was treated by a ruckus crowd and a booming announcement over the fields that seemed to stretch impossibly far.
“And our last passenger, from the Ark, is a young man who just so happens to be the most important passenger aboard. Alturus Lorian et al Sol, 24 years of age, Child of God.”
