Afterwords

Francisco de Goya

With an almighty crash Pine Needles felled the giant tree in front of him. Its girth was five times his size, and its height had reached way upwards into the morning mists.

Birds scattered from its dropped shoulders. Hastily he tore its branches from the core, until there was but one massive trunk, to which, as a miner might, he hacked a hole in one end and carved a lengthy tunnel throughout - until he reached the very end of it …

Needles momentarily seemed satisfied - but no! As though an afterthought, he then proceeded to bore holes in its uppermost part as he walked through - one, and then two ports, until there were twelve - whereupon the sunlight drained down into the trunk’s circular windows.

Down from the clouds reached a broad and horny hand - with warts as big as stepping stones, and callouses, bigger still. It clasped the carved tree trunk and raised it high.

Needles waited excitedly as the giant had snatched his handiwork from the ground. This huge fellow was of immense stature - being one of the last of the old world and one of the first of his own world to come - although he lived in the clouds, he frequented the under side of Faerie for tidbits and scrum.

Needles closed his eyes - squinted them quite tightly in anticipation - waiting, waiting for the sound …

And then it came: the tune from his musical pipe filled the air everywhere around him - its solemn melody flew the airs winding for miles, with one very long low note at the end.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Finding Self - Second Guesses- Azlander Series

THE END

Dramatis Personae

Main Characters: ~

Eve Piquet, Hannah-Mary: Psychic Detective, formerly twin sister to Murmur

Puck, Mr Black, Robin Hode: Father of Charlotte, Elvish Adept, Uncle to Francis, Jak to the Beanstalk

Mr Fabaceae, Goober, Peanut: Adopted Uncle to Charlotte, best friend and colleague to Puck

Granoldi, The Great Granoldi, Jupiter: White Fairy Bear, Young god

Needles, Einstein, Pine-Needles, Pine-tara: devoted companion to Eve, culinary Dwarf, maker of musical flutes

Tu, Stewart, Brogan, Richard: Former King, Sensei

Mercedes, Wife: fiancé to Romulus, formerly wife of Nathanius Tindle

Nathanius Tindle, Scrooge, Alex: keeper of the purse, partner to Romulus

Jonathon, Jon-Jon, Jon Smithy: son of Robertus: Companion to Zithia, Lover of Fatima, Husband to Isabelle

Fatima: Carer to the sick, and to Peter, Paul and Jon.

Husain: Slave trader, ship’s whipper

Isabelle: wife to Robertus, and later wife to Jon

Romulus, Marsden: Evil villain

Sylvia: Spirit of the Lake, recluse

Mother Earth, Grandmama: planetary spirit

The Azlan: the lion, Christos Spirit to all Humanity and the realms above and below.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

If we shadows have offended,

Think but this, and all is mended,

That you have but slumber’d here

While these visions did appear.

And this weak and idle theme,

No more yielding but a dream,

Gentles, do not reprehend:

if you pardon, we will mend:

And, as I am an honest Puck,

If we have unearned luck

Now to ‘scape the serpent’s tongue,

We will make amends ere long;

Else the Puck a liar call;

So, good night unto you all.

Give me your hands, if we be friends,

And Robin shall restore amends.

-William Shakespeare (1594)

Afterthought about Chickens & Eggs

“There was a little egg, and it sat upon a mountain top - inside it, was one beating heart.

"Inconsolable, the life within pressed on - it would not stop.

"And although the shell and membranes too, cordoned and coddled it, withholding its new life from the world, the sheath of its sacred sac protected it also.

"All eggs are golden, and all life is sanctified: drenched within, with a momentum that will propel the soul into becoming - until expired and released once more, back into the universal gambit it loves so well.”

“So which came first … what do you think?" asked Puck to Pine-Needles.

“Why the chicken of course - because he wanted to get to the other side.”

“Exactly right,” said Puck, “'tis so… the chicken wanted to cross over - through to the other side of life.”

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Finding Self - Second Guesses- Azlander Series

The Lake Renewed

All water is magical - it taketh into its arms and body the soul of all things and gives it life to manifest.

Pure water is God the wise, God the noble, and God the beloved - such is life.

The harmonic doors resonate with the heart of the soul, and when it had come time for Eve to choose her destiny she did not go back into the Earthly world as one might imagine, but instead she took the path that would lead her once again up and into the lower heavens.

Eve found them as she had left them when she had been with the group. The scenery, once gracious, had darkened even further, and the familiar stench now greeted her again. It was just as sickening as before.

To her own surprise she was not frightened to be in that gloomy place standing there on her own, for this was the home of Jupiter, and from him she had understood the reverence for this once magnificent place. She was fond of it all because of him. The emotions that he had experienced in being there now came to her to experience.

Once upon a time, in an age and era earlier to this, she had been born as Hannah Mary, and had understood the world through her twin brother with such a clairvoyant connection that she had been reborn a mystic once again.

And, as Hannah, she had known for the better part of her life the great and grand Granoldi. They had shared each other’s company in the best of ways - in the quiet spaces - without needing conversation - they had shared a certain peace.

It is the finest freedom one can wish for to be able to feel the peace. Peace amongst the trees, and skies: the peace within, the peace without. The stillness where you can hear the inner voice. That spiritual reserve which speaks to eternal continuity, and the life which survives all of the fractured moments and brokenness. A sweet supplement for the aching soul.

And when one can experience a measure of this peace in the company of another, there becomes an unbreakable love for one another - in friendship and family, through this blessed state of quiet union.

And so her spirit was called back into his home place, and her desire was for it to become for him, and all that he loved, once again what it used to be. She wished for the heavens to be restored.

The destruction however was immense.

Eve realised that she was all alone, yet she did not feel sorry or frightened for herself at all. In fact she had no mind for herself, but was upset for the defilement that had taken place, and great sadness that filth could infiltrate a place of divinity, and reduce it to the sludge and waste it now was.

It only took one single tear to replenish the contaminated waste of the lake … one true drop from the pity that she felt, which formed a single prayer that then flew up into the reach of the higher powers. A single tear from Eve into the dried lake bed started the waters there to infill and flow once again, and the higher heavens responded to her asking by then pouring their grace back down into the landscape, recreating its beauty once again.

The light on the horizon was returning and the sullen mist that had hovered in dirty clusters was dissipating. As the air cleared further she could see a figure approaching in the distance with a smaller one walking beside.

* * * 

Jupiter’s hand crept over to Eve’s and his warmth infilled her from top to toe.

“By all that is great and good I swear this lake has grown even larger than before.” he said taking a deep breath, and grasping her hand just a little tighter.

Stars twinkled in its depths and spirits swam up and into its crystalline outskirts lit by the moons above. The souls who were waiting to incarnate, as though flying, darted hither and thither through the silver reeds, up from, and down into, the worlds beneath.

Once again the lake of the lower heavens became an open thoroughfare between life and the afterlife for the spirits ever journeying the eternal realms.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Finding Self - Second Guesses- Azlander Series

Back into the Bright Land of Faerie

Goober and Puck watched Tu as he paced up and down becoming a little more perturbed and agitated, fraught with indecision - feeling so very out of place. He could not intuit where he was meant to be. He could not feel anything.

“Do not be distressed - the right note will call to you.” Puck touched his arm and all at once Tu could see right through almost all of them. He could actually see the other sides. 

The rosy pink door however did not reveal itself, yet instead he realised ever so subtly that he was listening to a very high, almost imperceptible sound that brought a certain comfort to him. Tu closed his eyes and a moment later he also was gone, save for a little pile of fairy-dust spilled from his pocket on the ground where he had been standing. 

“Well that was exhausting” said Puck with a shake of his head - Goober smiled back at him. 

“I’m famished” he said picking up a scarf that Eve had left behind. “I wouldn’t mind a second visit to that outback cafe …”

“Fine by me” said Puck agreeably, “or we could just go home?”

With that he took his right hand and held it high in the air - tracing the outline of a doorway, and purely by magic (for the humour of it) he conjured up a sign above its top that simply read ‘EXIT’. And with that the two passed through and back into the bright land of Faerie.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Finding Self - Second Guesses- Azlander Series

Harmonic Doors

“Harmonic doors, that’s what they are.”

“It’s rather like a TV competition where you have to guess what is behind the purple or the green one.”

Seven great grand doors were there before them - each wore a vibrant colour emanating out from its metal, all emitting an individual solitary note which you could barely hear until you got close enough. The sound itself was beguiling.

“The notes themselves are the way through the doorway - these doors do not open any other way, they do not swing back and forth or gape - they give you the keynote and it enters you, and from this you can then find yourself on the other side in the world to which you belong.”

“This is goodbye then” said Goober to Puck.

“Suppose so old boy”.

The seven of them solemnly stood before the seven humming doors. Their resonance would determine who would pass through which one. Eve held tightly to Jupiter’s hand, not wanting to be parted from him. Needles clung on to Eve’s leg caught by the wonder of it, but also of the fear of losing her.

Puck knelt down to talk with him face to face and said: “Your door dear friend will take you back to your own kind again.”

Needles dropped a big watery tear, and yet loosened his grasp on Eve.

“But where will it take me?” asked Eve.

“Back into the stream of where you best belong - your people, your place, your circuit. What is it you desire most? Think of that, hold it in your heart and the right door will take you there.”

She had been edging closer to the yellow door. It was very tall - three times her size, and something about its colour seemed to call to her. Her hand left Jupiter’s and without thinking she was drawn to its comforting tone. She could perceive its presence becoming stronger within her now, filling her from the inside. She felt a longing and a purpose to be where it would take her …

“Just a little closer,” encouraged Puck - and a few seconds later Eve was gone. Vanished from sight.

“Who’s next?” Puck asked as he placed goat right before the green door - the little character went right through - pop - he too was now gone.

Jupiter looked pained, his lean face contorted with conflicting emotions. 

“Step up Brogan … er, Tu” Goober said brightly to the spirit that was by his side.

Tu walked the length of the doors stopping at each one, he paused at the end and said “but I hear nothing”. His voice quavered when he said this.

“Try once more” urged Puck gently but firmly, however Tu just faltered.

A moment later Needles made a running jump and seemed to fly through the yellow door energetically. He was no longer to be seen - vanished completely.

“I thought it was a different door for each of us? … you mean to say that more than one of us can pass through the same door?” asked Jupiter thoughtfully.

“Sure, if the door will take you.”

Jupiter went straight up to the yellow one he had watched Eve go through.

“Maybe try the violet? The gods usually pass through this one however …” interjected Puck.

He could not finish his sentence when Sylvia pushed past him, and went straight for the violet door, whereupon she instantly disappeared also.

Jupiter had hesitated at the yellow door and while he lingered his will and his wishing inwardly had called to Eve - and from this a sun-filled note calling to him; he was transported through the door to the same place where Needles and Eve had gone to. 

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Finding Self - Second Guesses- Azlander Series

Elven Beings

Sylvia awoke with a jolt to hear her Grandmama calling. Resting in that chair she had not realised that two days had overtaken her. Restored from her ordeal escaping the lake she was pleasantly subdued with the peacefulness of the place, the calm of it imposed. 


Again she heard the voice calling: “Sylvie come to me” and returning to the blue flame she cast her eyes within its connection and saw her Grandmama in the company of two very tall elvish half-bloods. In her mind they were ‘half-bloods’ because their auras were complex and their radiance extended so far beyond themselves. She could see immediately that they were not your average elven beings. 


She never questioned her grandmother’s discretion even though she had just settled herself into the comforts of world’s end and privately wanted to stay on ad infinitum. 


“Sylvia” came the voice persisting. 


“Very well” she inwardly replied duty bound.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Finding Self - Second Guesses- Azlander Series

Grandmother's House

Of course it didn’t take a note to tell her where her beloved Grandmama was, for moments later Sylvia cast her eyes into the blue flame and could see for herself where Mother Earth was travelling.

The cabin room Sylvia was in was decorated in a familiar way: there were mementos from all over the world, the strangest objet d'art cluttered in every available space.

Mother Earth’s staircase was in the shape of a giraffe’s neck, there were lanterns embedded in the walls that were made of ruby glass radiating a rosy pink hue around the rooms. Mosaic paintings covered every north facing wall with intricate scenes of foliage, flowers and herbs, that were worked in tiles of precious metals. Port-holed windows on the east side caught the morning sun. There were two bathing pools imbedded with pearls, one of salt and the other of fresh water.

Like every grandmother's house there were baskets of potpourri - only these held ancient droppings from bees and birds, and species now extinct … cushioned amongst sleeping seeds born from plants now expired from a much older world.

Sylvia took herself down into the underground pantry … remembering the fruits that she had sampled when visiting before. The cold room had cheeses wrapped in white linen, tied with a coloured bow that denoted the century it was crafted in. Roman candies, Andean bread, African crackers with English Marmalade. She soon forgot herself and kept eating her way through the ages, enveloped in a rapture all of her own.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Finding Self - Second Guesses- Azlander Series

Diamond in a Bottle

“Well riddle me this:” asked Puck loudly, “how did the diamond get inside this bottle just now?” 

Puck held up the empty flagon of turnip juice Goober had given to him earlier. A green glint appeared in the side of the Dragon’s eye. 

“Bottle? what bottle?” he said in a very cunning voice. He was almost mesmerised by the idea of the diamond itself - after all, it was of his own kindred creation. 

“This bottle.” Puck hollered up to him for dramatic effect waving it in the air before him.  

And sure as x is x, he had managed to teletransport the huge diamond into the bottle where it was trapped rolling around, making a clinking sound trying to escape. 

The astoundingly large beast took his head down to where Puck was holding the bottle before him and the stone inside started playing with the light mesmerisingly, enticingly, performing its best. 

“Come closer” said Puck, “that you may see for yourself.” 

He had almost expected that the creature would go to knock the bottle from his hand, however he did not. Instead Romulus-Marsden was so drawn to the gem, he did get in closer - and then vaporised himself down in size, and flew towards it, right through the neck and into the bottle itself.

Pop! Puck put a cork in it. 

And around the cork he then plastered some red sealing wax. And around the wax he placed a little string tie. And there it was - Romulus-Marsden the Dragon was captured within - in miniature. 

“I don’t know how you do it” said Goober admiringly.

“Me either” said Puck who now was very pleased with himself and greatly relieved. He was also quietly determining that the two of them should deliver the bottle to the tribunal as quickly as they could …

“Do you think that he meant what he said about never being baffled by anything? Surely now … ”

“I think he did mean exactly what he said - and that is the very problem with reptilian thinking. There is so much he does not know or recognise, and he does not know that he does not know: awe, majesty, mystery, fun, humour, frivolity - he never gets to sense the unmarked futures yet to be, or the reverence for it all. He only knows himself. “

“Given that, he’s probably quite content in there with the company of himself … and his diamond.”

“No idea dear Peanut. I’ve no idea.”

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Finding Self - Second Guesses- Azlander Series

You Cannot Crush a Soul When it Remembers Beautiful Things

“Driftwood is beautiful” Goober said. 

“Say what?” said Marsden annoyed, his eyes flashing green.

“Driftwood old boy, and pies - everyone loves pies.” 

“I prefer cake” said Needles, eagerly.

“You see you cannot crush a soul when it remembers beautiful things - those things it loves - it’s in the impossible. Christmas lights, hot cocoa, sunlight on the sea, soft grass beneath your feet, jasmine on a warm day … these are my favourite things …” with the latter part Goober broke into a recognisable show-tune. 

“You get the point.”

It was obvious Marsden did not. It flew over his shoulder and out into the corridor. 

Goober continued, “Dewdrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, brown paper packages tied up with ribbons.”

And then it happened.

Goober had been turning the diamond over in his pocket and it fell out. (Or, considering its mischievous history, it may well have leapt out - impossible to say). Its influence threw its sparks around the room, and one went into the eye of Marsden, and in that instant his appearance changed quite dramatically. A moment later there was no longer a man in front of them, but unmistakably a dragon. 

This dragon was eighteen feet high with his head reaching towards them in turn, lurching down menacingly. Now they could understand very plainly who he was. Seeing this creature’s true nature would go a long way for being able to curtail him.

Goober swerved away from the gigantic head that shot heat via its fetid breath. The diamond rolled towards Puck.

“Got a mind of its own” Goober said apologetically. 

The dragon elongated its neck to bite at it, but Puck snatched it up from the ground.

“Well I am baffled” he said stepping backwards as he said this.

“You are what?” hissed the Dragon, still looking over the floor for the stone.

“Baffled. Baffled.”

The dragon replied haughtily: “Well, the likes of you may be baffled, but I am never, ever confused.”

“I’m not confused so much as I’m baffled,” said Puck.

And Goober joined in, “yes, you could say that, I’m baffled too”.

“Well then clearly I’ve won, the dragon snarled, for I am never baffled. It is simple: the path is always logical, it is either destruction or order: the order that I create, or the destruction that I can cause, and you must conform. I like to think of it as my world, formed by my ideas - for they are supreme.”

“Are you saying then”, said Puck, relieved that the fire breathing had stopped momentarily, “that you are never baffled?” 

“Me? no, no, no there is nothing ever to be baffled about.” 

“And yet life itself is a mystery?” 

“Not when you dictate how it goes, there is no room for mystery when I already know.” The huge beast was engaged with his own superiority, and somewhat subdued by it. 

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Finding Self - Second Guesses- Azlander Series

Blanket of Psychic Dread

Needles pressed his face up against one of the glass tanks, looking in at a half developed infant within. 

“It’s not alive” he said to Goober who had joined to see what he was looking at. “It’s not alive” he repeated shaking his head. “Not got a soul” he explained.

Dwarves have a premium sense for what has a living energy and to that which has a dying one. It is their specialty when tending to gardens and minerals and the like. His observation proved correct. Although the child appeared to be a growing human, it was simply flesh in the form of a person, and there was no real life within.

They began to go from one pod to the next to find that each was the same, regardless of what stage of growth it had come to.

“Do you think Marsden knows?” Goober asked Puck.

“Do you think he cares?” responded Puck, recoiling from the hideous warehouse they were in.

“Give me two reasons why I shouldn’t end it all for you now” hollered Marsden - suddenly appearing as if out from nowhere. He had returned after escorting the baby buyer to the upper level. He then of course saw firsthand the damage done to the entrance of his property and had come looking for them immediately. He was seething.

Enraged, Romulus-Marsden threw a blanket of psychic dread over the entire level where they were standing. It was a stifling, choking experience, suppressing the three in thoughts and blocking their ability to become unseen again.

“Why does evil have a smell to it?” asked Goober, genuinely wondering. He also was trying to deflect from the dawning truth that they could be in serious trouble coming up against Romulus deep down in this deathly place - afterall, they were not invulnerable. Even immortal beings can be held captive and injured when they are far away from their natural home.

Puck realised also the danger the three were in, and that was part of his courageousness which led him into situations that other beings would rather ignore, or avoid altogether.

He called out to Romulus who was striding across the floor towards them: “Even if you were to expel the souls from this world, each and every one of them, demon-hood cannot take over. Aliens cannot thrive here either, life here is all about the Mortals … it, this, is, their home. AI will never be self realising. It has neither karma or an angel to guide it.”

Romulus was not a man of reason however, even though everything he did was calculated - it still departed reason. Perhaps in his own world, within his own logic, all of this had meaning - had weight - but it didn’t have reason, and nor was it reasonable.

What did make sense to Puck was when he realised that this was indeed Marsden whom he had encountered not so long ago - and that he is no ordinary being, for he literally had no heart anymore.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Finding Self - Second Guesses- Azlander Series

Living Tomb

On the fifth level down there were acres underground of babies being sustained within capsules inside artificial wombs, fed with transfused blood via conduits designed to go in and to go out. There was an odour in the air that was hard to define amongst the bright lights and collective whir of reparative inducers and electronic pumps. The mechanical noise was almost deafening.

“It’s the next generation” Romulus explained - he was speaking to a large man in a suit, perhaps a dignitary, who was clearly out of his depth and appearing extremely flushed and flustered.

This was literally a baby factory, with glass and steel and hundreds of little bodies captured within. There were no mobiles or fluffy animals - the entire floor was stark and sterile, and it was hard to imagine any child emerging from such a cold space as this.

“We’ll make to order a boy or girl, or an ambiguous if you like … intersex is popular these days” he said as casually as though he was speaking about new cars. Romulus pointed to a wall of photographs with numbers beneath them. He then continued: “we can share your DNA no questions asked, or use someone of your choosing …the prodigy will be yours within the definition of the law”.

Goober glanced over to Puck who heard this also. They remained still now standing in a supply closet with the door ajar. The shelving there was packed with saline packs and transport cribs.

Yes! thought Goober to himself - that is what this middle-aged man had come for - a child of his own.

“Ah, er, - how long?” he stuttered.

“Well assuming you keep up your end of the bargain I’d say seven months turnaround - seven to twelve. You can start choosing names and I am happy even to give you two for the price of one.”

The man in the suit appeared nervously excited hearing this - clearly he had achieved what he had come for. They watched him go to take something from his wallet.

Romulus raised his hand to stop him saying “That won’t be necessary. We have contracts with terms - you will need to go through our Neonatal Department to formalise our agreement. Just understand - if you ever tell anyone anyone about our plant downunder we will not hesitate to put you, your wife and your children into our very own tissue bank. We can recycle these days - eco friendly and all that”

He had said this threateningly and then finished with a casual laugh saying “but then you know that already Parker”. For one brief moment Romulus’s eyes turned crimson, and then green, and shot sparks from them.

The air suddenly got colder, and the man in the suit wet himself. It did not appear he was used to being threatened, and pee saturated his trouser leg all the way to his sock. Perhaps the environment underground had proved too much for his nerves.

“I hear you” he said belligerently, looking away from Romulus and towards the exit. He could not bear those eyes. He mumbled something else that Puck and Goober could not hear and the two departed leaving Puck, Goober and Needles in the laboratory alone.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Finding Self - Second Guesses- Azlander Series

Salt Line

There is a morning tide within the Earth
whereupon the land, will rise and fall.
This heave and pull is governed by the Sun,
an orbital cannula prospecting the light without.

“Salt of the Earth” said Goober absentmindedly as he repositioned the salt shaker now bulging in his back pocket (one the two shakers he had sequestered from the diner during lunch). 

“Quick, empty it here! Make a line, one that no madman can cross, no witch nor warlock, or they who are unruly may pass beyond.”

It was an attempt at humour to break up the mood of trepidation fast setting in.

Now that they they had made their way through the fallen steel doors, to the ground floor lobby, they came to a hallway of lifts such as you might see in any contemporary building - except that instead of going up all floors went down.

“Not much good is found under the ground - least not deep down like this” whispered Goober.

Instinctively Needles, who had just joined them, briefly held Goober’s hand as they entered into the first lift that opened. He had far more experience with the forces beneath the ground, being familiar to all things mining as his kind are, and did not much like the surprises often found there.

“Which floor?” asked Goober.

“Let’s start at the bottom and work our way up”, answered Puck, who was already finding the atmosphere inside the lift as constricting. The lift descended and bumped at the bottom. Needles was idling from one foot to the other, and Puck put his hand upon his shoulder, gently motioning to be quiet. Invisibility was a power they all had, but it was only ever short lived within the physical world - they could maintain it for five minutes at a time, but anything more than that was almost impossible.

“Here goes” he said, jumping out ahead of them.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Finding Self - Second Guesses- Azlander Series

Rock Art

On a rock wall that shouldered where they stood were pictures painted with very small bright dots. Murals that were of the rich ochres and rust, chalk and mixed earths, with perfectly formed circles, methodically placed, a braille of creativity. One could make out a great goanna dragon contesting the kangaroo men with whorls upon whorls encircling them. 

Goober fixed his eyes on the picture wall just momentarily and the dots appeared to move and group before his eyes, forming and reforming images of other pictures entirely different. He was reminded of the Tibetan sands and similarly they too were comprised of the many places and ages, for which the substance itself was their secret … how they are of themselves a living testimony to a time, and a deep magic of memory. 

The Azlan had once again disappeared as quickly as he had arrived, however his presence was still apparent. It had been he that enabled the tribesmen to come forth … and yet they were not summoned or compelled by him, his authority had simply appealed to them. 

Until now the spirits of the ages had only the licence to be observers; yet by the Azlan’s asking came also the permission for them to intervene. The native souls were now gathered and ready. 

With one single breath the two thousand spirit tribesmen each opened their mouths and blew the doors open. The surrounding structure gave way also, and the front of the building came down. Puck and Goober were staring right inside at a lobby that had several lifts whose only button to press was for going down.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Finding Self - Second Guesses- Azlander Series

Mother of All

William Ricketts

Never wake the sleeping Mother
she could break you like a twig
she gave birth to the land upon this Earth
and protected her children within.

Her blackness then became the sky
her pearls entwined were moon and stars
her nakedness was corporeal
the mother Divine, portal for all.

I will beat you men with your own sticks
I will strangle the demons with their own tails
I will take the power right back from you
that was never yours to steal.

I will throttle your threats and disable your deals.
For I am the mother of all,
and you, the mother of none.
I decree, from this moment,
from the seas to the hills
all demons be gone, all evil be done.

There was now a gathering of two thousand standing upon the highest ridge - a single line of gracious men - spirits who became visible … guardian spirits of the rotunda plains, shielding the earth from the ominous forces beneath, making themselves known to the Elvish two. This gathering brought the gravity of the early world, and there was not a power in this realm that could stand against them. Their solidarity was solemn and of one mind - perhaps more angelic than once human.

Their own histories spanned centuries - each being a representative of their time and tribe. Guardians of the land, watchers of the world. And, with them, there came also the cosmic souls … the guardians of the guardians.

Small pygmy spirits of children swung from the silvery-green-leaf trees. They were not of any particular race, yet presented as being native Aboriginal for they had lived in the care of the Elders and had begun to appear as they had do, most naturally. It was apparent to Puck seeing them, these hundreds upon hundreds of small ghost children, that they had come from the underground laboratories as experiments that had failed - born and died in the warehouse that Puck and Goober were about to break into - and that these were their ghosts.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Finding Self - Second Guesses- Azlander Series

Sealed Doors

Richard Browne

“Now, let me see …we can’t think our way in, not this time - because we’ve been blocked from doing so, and this portal is being guarded. This fortress has been sanctified against the likes of you and I.” 

Desert bats fluttered past their heads in waves of a hundred. The landscape was imbued with colour, yet was depressingly repetitive. The dawn birds were calling to one another, and the waterhole in the distance was crowded with the animals that had congregated for their morning’s refresh. There were wallabies and bilbies, mudlarks, possums and rabbits a plenty. 

The mysteries of the natives of Australia were fluid … spiritual … they would shape-change to avoid being caught by the unworthy. The conservership was always with the Elders who fully knew the potent magic that literally linked the oldest period, before written history, to now. It was a custodial privilege to be a living testimony to time itself. It was this deep magic that made the outback so mysterious.

The doors remained closed to them.

“They require a pin-prick of blood to identify the caller - and everyone knows that the Elvish don’t use blood within their systems.” Puck said quietly. “The locking devices behind these doors are distinctly set to repel the otherworldly - they have astral mesh.”

“Turnip juice - a powerful motivator.” said Goober handing a large bottle over to Puck. 

Every time they had tele-transported themselves through to the other side of those doors they had been pushed out of the underground compound back up into the air above, onto the hot red sand with the glaring sun beating down on them. There seemed to be a three second delay, actually setting them back in time further every time they were pushed out.

They barely had a moment inside when the forcefield had expelled them again with a remarkable aptitude for the magic it required. 

“What am I missing here?” Puck asked … I knew it would not be easy, but I really don’t like the way I hear laughter every time this happens. Moreover, we cannot walk away - not when we know the damage Marsden is causing to all of the realms right now as we speak.”

“Too true, too true”, said Goober deep in thought. His head was beginning to pound, “I swear the sun is brighter here than most places” he grumbled. 

“And the grit is sharper too.” 

“And the sky is bluer”, he added with an attempt to be cheerful. They had now been inside and straight back out again seven times.

The red dust swirled and circled around them, a chorus of green flies and gnats, sting beetles and red ants were swept up in the circular force, propelling them into their faces and clothes, stirring up the powder dry ground beneath. 

When the dirt came to settle a dark figure appeared, with a bare chest, partially dressed, with a tall decorated spear on one side and the Azlan standing at the other. 

Puck knew in that moment that all would become well. 

Upon the ridge of stone in the distance there appeared over three hundred such tribal men. Each had a radiant light flaming from the tips of their spears, piercing the brightening sky above.

The Elder now standing face to face in front of them looked straight at them with the deepest dark brown eyes and kindly face. His bony hand rested on the Azlan’s head. Three red dingos circled in the background, keeping their distance, pacing throughout the scrub. And behind them, in the far distance, there was Mother Nature watching on.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Finding Self - Second Guesses- Azlander Series

Who Roo Fare

 What amulet?

What luck can be worked?

What may save this world?

Other than love?

Cobwebs of clouds laced their way over the deepening sky.

“Am I imagining trumpets?” Goober asked faintly, after having collapsed on a red rock once again outside the desert fortress.

A brown snake had made its way to his boot, Puck took it by the neck and hurled it back into the moat it had come from.

Goober was very pale, and his energy low.

“This might be my end”, he said out of breath.

“No” said Puck firmly, “it was the second helping of fried ice-cream and that blue syrup you just gorged yourself with. What were you thinking oh great one? Especially when we have such serious work before us, we have already delayed far too long.”

And as he stood up the very tall and once thin elf was showing a pot belly congested with half the menu from the Who-Roo Cafe.

He groaned. “Maybe we should do this tomorrow? have a good night’s rest and come back our best?” he asked hopefully.

Goober had blisters from the heat frying his feet. The walk to the camp seemed to be taking longer and the options were few.

Puck ignored his request.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Finding Self - Second Guesses- Azlander Series

Memories Flew Right Back to Her

Eve was sitting at a bench, soaking in the sun, eating from a tub of ice-cream that had been delivered to her caravan door. It was just what she felt like eating - there was something about the intense heat that made one want to eat ice-cream all day long.

It felt so good to be back in the world and already most of what she had experienced over the last few days was drifting fast away from her recall. She did not question at all how she got to be in outback Australia - but was just pleasantly day-dreaming away in the sun. Her spirit had shifted, and she was a very different woman to the one who she was a week ago.

Jupiter was still trying to find his way within the constraints of his new body. When, as Granoldi, he had experienced all of the physical limitations that the body endures, he had a totally different set of senses and ‘thinking’ to participate with. Becoming a man was very differently nuanced, and, there was a joy he had not known before - a lightness, a happiness, in just being alive.

He found Eve just as she devoured the tip of the cone. He could sense her wellbeing also.

“I’ve found you” he said, wanting to share with her his newly formed humanhood.

Eve was still in her state of holiday (holy-day) feeling carefree and completely at peace. She had no idea who this stranger was, but she did feel that she had known him from somewhere before, and knew him now.

“Have we met?” she asked, brushing her untidy hair back from her face, which was a little reddened, either with the heat or a blush, or both.

“Yes” said the stranger, looking hopeful that she might recognise him.

She gazed at him - he seemed fit for fortyish, wearing white shorts and a track suit zipper jacket - with a sports singlet beneath. His sunglasses looked expensive. His smile was so familiar …

He held out his hand as if to shake it … and although it seemed a little corny, she reciprocated. The very minute their fingers touched the memories flew right back to her: she could see in her mind’s eye her time with him as Granoldi, and she as Hannah; and then into this life, and how it led to the lower heavens where she came to see him as Jupiter. The man before her was her friend - no, he was more than that … her soul-mate.

She threw her arms around him and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

“How about a bear hug?” he asked jovially, when she pulled away.

He put his arms around her this time, and looked straight into her wondering eyes.

Needles, who had been there the entire time, decided it might be best if he left the two of them for a while. He set out onto the dirt road to go find the shuttle-bus to take him to Puck and find out what was happening with him and Goober.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Finding Self - Second Guesses- Azlander Series

Chronos & Helen

People often attribute time in the World to the master Chronos whereas it is he, as a veritable Shiva, that brings ageing and finitude.

It is from Helen we are given the pathways into eternal life - yet within this world it is the same road as that of Chronos that will take us into further life also.

Chronos loves to mark each segment, to gauge, and to name, and to map a course … he is the surveyor of time’s evaporation, and the scholar of its persistent dying.

Helen maps nothing: she is the mother of adventure and possibility, and she lives for the eternal day, and is forever prescriptive to the undulations of Heaven.

Mother Earth is the child of these two: our planetary spirit held briefly within the tension that such as these Gods permit.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Finding Self - Second Guesses- Azlander Series

Flamed

The ancients understood that flame, such as candlelight, was superior to any other form of light into the world, save for the violet light Mother Earth employed.

Electric light was deficient, and brought with it just one stream of influence, one octave among many; yet light from combustion, from burning, actually fed its environment where its glow permeated, because it came, and comes from the universal light: that the flame comes from the one flame, and thusly it brings the cosmic flame into that room, or that space, to which it is lit.

Electric fire does not have this, it can only impart energy from its own realm of the hobgoblins.

This world has seen many evolutions, and science has proclaimed with imputation its superior knowledge and findings, only to be surpassed by those who seek authority above the very gods, believing that with a twiddle and a tweak they can transverse the trajectory of life itself, with arrogance or infirmity, or perhaps merely a naivety. And to be fair, there is nothing that is safely to come from a man or a woman, until that man or woman is morally balanced, and so how are they to know?

Puck was never sure of there being an existence of the Devil, however he had met with many devils in his own experience. And these characters were tireless. They did not like candles - or lit light - they did not like fire: the fires of Hell are purging, they are not a conscript of the demons at all.

They also, and quite obviously, have disdain for sunlight, moreover.

Puck reached across the table for the pepper pot and doused his pancake whilst Goober was talking.

“You never told me what happened when you confronted Romulus?” he said this casually, draining his blue cup.

“Well it was pretty straightforward” said Puck - “The goat did its business and managed to distract him sufficiently for me to read his thoughts and told me all I needed to know.”

He continued: “Do you recall the bookkeeper that we used to house, that chap with the chocolates?” he continued “The miser? Well I knew of him centuries prior, and even before that we had a connection … he never quite fulfilled his aptitude, as far as I could see. Opportunity would take him only so far and then drop him. If anything, it was that diamond that got to him and distorted his futures.”

“I think I know the one you mean”, Goober replied, turning it over carefully in his pocket.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Finding Self - Second Guesses- Azlander Series

Tinkerbell

F.D. Bedford

There was a vicious, almost nasty side to Tinkerbell the fairy. She just had to get involved sometimes - even when she was not invited. The truth was plainly that she was just unhappy.

All of nature seemed to be running out of time to her: not running out of time itself - no, there was plenty of that … it was either running too slow or too fast, and the missteps would come because of this constant misfit.

The young wore the frowns of the old, the elderly behaved like irresponsible youth. The trees grew so fast they could not drop roots to save themselves and were felled by the first whip around of the circulating ethers.

She really did not like lies - particularly the ones perpetuated by those ‘ignorant mortals’ sporting micro smirks and sanctimonious pouts … she found herself just wanting to punish them.

And most of all, beyond everything else, Tinkerbell was overly aggrieved when no one would believe in her.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Finding Self - Second Guesses- Azlander Series

Tele-transported to the Bodhi Retreat

Pro Hart

The outback diner aptly named the Who Roo offered a big breakfast all day long, with unlimited refills at the cafe-bar machine, of help-yourself coffee, powdered tea and slurpees of frozen ice in shades of blue, red, and something green.

Goober served himself an icy blue cup with a double shot of the azure goo that discharged abruptly, letting off a satisfying hiss and a squirt, sludging into his pint-size cardboard cup.

He returned back to the booth where Puck was looking under his pancake as though he was expecting to find something there.

“Tu would have liked this place” he said wistfully - he was fond of the lad and sorry to see that he had not make it very far this time.

* * *

Five years earlier …

Scabs and vomit clung onto Stuart’s matted hair, through which many sizes of lice busied themselves with orderly pursuits throughout.

When Puck had found him face down, the corpse had already been cold throughout the chilly night: a melancholy heart had let his spirit adrift. He, the ghostly soul, had no where better to go; and it sat beside its scrawny body as if it was waiting patiently for it to wake as usual.

“Here we are again my friend,” said Puck gently to the hollow spirit.

“There is no place for me”, Brogan replied to the sombre Fae.

Puck clasped his hand to his forehead in exasperation. The elvish do not cope well with mortals who feel defeated. The two sat together for a few hours longer, until the first lick of light appeared.

“I know of a place that might be good for you” he finally said. “the Bodhi Retreat, a community I know well, and I do trust the people there to look after you and your recovery …”

Minutes later he had tele-transported them both to an iron doorway set in a garden wall that surrounded the monastery completely. Without having to announce themselves the door swung inside open, and a noviciate welcomed them in.

“His name is Stuart,” Puck said nodding to the monk who recognised him at once. “But you can call him Tu, for short.”


-Gabriel Brunsdon, Finding Self - Second Guesses- Azlander Series

Grumbly Tummy

Puck asked Eve and Needles to stay back at the caravan park to be on the look out for Jupiter, just in case he showed up trying to find them all. Puck could sense his presence within the world, but not pinpoint the exact co-ordinates of where he might be, or who he might be, for that matter. If he turned up as a bear again it would just add to their problems at this point.

Meanwhile he and Goober went to explore the town with as little attention drawn to them as possible, and so for the main part they both wore their cloaks of invisibility - unless of course they needed direct contact with a local for information.

There was nothing that directly showed ties of Romulus to the Pathological Biochemical Warehouse they were investigating. Puck knew however, that regardless of paper trails and the dynamics of ownership, Romulus had commissioned those cargos to go directly into the underground warehouses, and without any doubt he was the direct owner of the ships and their goods within. Puck expected these operations to be discreet.

There was a shuttle bus that travelled to and from the complex twice daily hauling at the back of it a trailer that carried supplies from the local grocer to the workers there. It had left for the morning, and so the two hitched a ride on the back of a postal delivery van that took them thirty miles directly to the gates of the Unit. As the van sped away from them, they stood on the hot dusty road, looking at one another.

“It’s old energy out here, don’t you agree?”

“Old, yet young at the same time” said Goober thoughtfully. He picked up a smooth branch and plucked the spikes of it. “Make for a very nice walking stick” he added.

The wire gates were not padlocked, but a rusted sign swung from the wire saying: “Enter at Own Risk”.

There was absolutely no one in sight. Goober had developed a cough with all the dry dust flying about. There was a private road from the entrance that took them to a building that had the appearance of a metropolitan art gallery. Its facade was made of polished steel that jutted up in varying directions in shapes of long titanium crystals which seemed to be purely ornamental, with laser lights at the very top of each point which may have served as navigator points for incoming helicopters and light planes. These pointed rods were also razor sharp, and so the entire roof was covered with gigantic blades.

A moat of snakes six feet wide ran across the front. At the entrance there were double doors of reinforced steel, polished so finely they mirrored back the images of the visitors, with one difference, they were bent slightly to distort the reflection, alike to a carnival mirror.

Being the hottest part of the day the snakes were dozy and complacent. There was just one slim bridge of stainless steel across the huddle leading up to the doors where they needed to be.

“Looks like we’ve come to the right place, Medusa herself is probably lying in that pit” said Puck matter-of-factly; then noticing that Goober was counting on his fingers absorbed in thought.

“What in Pluto’s name are you doing that for old boy?”

“I was trying to remember how many hours and days it has been since we’ve enjoyed a proper meal.”

“It’s been a while I’d say - can’t remember exactly.”

“First there were those eggs out at the monastery - ate nothing in Faerie - had just a snack-pack with Jupiter in the stink-hole, and afternoon tea at Pine-tara’s - and now we are here, and it don’t look promising.”

“Fine - I hear you. I never thought about how much you miss your food Peanut … would you like us to go and eat somewhere and then come back to this fortress to pick up from where we left off?” This was meant to be slightly sarcastic, however Goober took Puck at his word.

“I would much rather save the world without the effects of a grumbly tummy.” Goober answered truthfully.

“Very well” said Puck, “food it is.” 

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Finding Self - Second Guesses- Azlander Series

Jupiter Lands

Boris Lapshin

Jupiter-Granoldi sat at the water’s edge and wanted to weep - a sense of desolation enshrouded his usually buoyant being. His costume was smeared with the strange mud that lay all about, but worse still was the feeling of abandonment, of being cut off from the chaos and surprises of the Earth, along with his soul-mates, who had now just left him behind entangled with his sorrow.

It did not cross his mind to blame himself in any way for the troubles they were currently fighting, for no, his worth was clear. Simply put however, he missed his friends.

“Fi! I needs be creative” he said out loud, looking over to where Jacob’s stairwell had manifested earlier. Surely these heavens were not his home and could be no one’s reside until they were restored…

* * *

Dawn is hinting, glinting its glory over the slumped horizon. The Royal Botanical Gardens shivered with the breath of the morning and the birds chatted their jubilant heralding.

“Fie” he exclaimed so loudly that it broadcast throughout - (FIE was an older term, an abbreviation such as FFS is today, with a similar meaning of exasperation and surprise).

His landing had been complete with all but one consideration, for he was not incarnating within the body of a bear this time, as he done with becoming Granoldi, Jupiter found himself within the still warm corpse of an early morning runner - a sportsman, who had dropped to the ground with a heart infarction just moments before. This he could reanimate, but not without effort, for it was considerably deplete of any energy it might have once had. Before long however, he was up and running again.

The ladder had dropped him not far from his friends - it had an uncanny compass for organising and personalising its coordinates.

In many respects Jupiter was considerably pleased with himself to have fallen into a human form this time around, for there were so many more freedoms to be had, far more than that Granoldi could have known. It took some moments to accomodate himself, focus his eyes and measure his strength. Within minutes he stood upright and although the body was still stunned, and its prior spirit had evacuated, Jupiter’s vigour was nonetheless returned, and for once he felt what it was like to be truly human.

He gazed across the park to see a clump of shops on a country road. He felt through his pockets and found a wallet and a phone. The wallet was stuffed with cash and cards, and this pleased him to find, whereas the phone not so much, and so he threw it in the lake.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Finding Self - Second Guesses- Azlander Series

Atlantean Paradise of Australia

Once upon a time the rivers ran gold in the Atlantean paradise of Australia.

Before it was reduced to desert, this country was touched by an etheric splendour: perfumed gardens were imbedded with mega fauna and fluorescent birds, tropical fruits lanterned the burgeoning boughs, berries, cherries, draped from the bush, alongside pineapples that grew the size of a small child; this was the old world where citrines and amethyst glittered in the caves, and knobs of gold shimmered throughout the water-falled rivers.

And yes, there were dragons, but even these did not torch the earth into the red rusty dirt it is now … for that was the work of the Rainbow Snake - menacing and vindictive - unearthing the earth, bringing a spiteful peril into the iron rich soil.

And yet, and then: ferns became lungs; and eucalypts, their salve; tousled wheats grew in sanguine grace beside the bright wild flowers and sugar canes. The white sands were the living kidneys of the land, through which the rivers and rains were filtered; the honest soil, the liver; with ants and bacteria being the stomach; with minerals, the same minerals of the physical mortal form, imbuing their cosmic forces in trails within a network of nerves, electric and resonant, throughout the trembling land.


-Gabriel Brunsdon, Finding Self - Second Guesses- Azlander Series

The Dark Elves

It really never was about Mankind - as endearing as mortals are, they are but as the infant king - and do not know yet of their reach or their influence in the greater plan.

To possess the soul of a man is to take control of his spiritual aids (to some extent, though not entirely). The dark elves were obedient to a commanding force, separated from the mortal that they ordinarily walked through life beside.

Harnessed by a unique magnetism of the blood, a mutual key, the angelic elves were unquestioning, as their service was compelled now by Romulus and his dark intentions - they were not capable of reflection or conscious behaviour within this mortal sphere, or responsible for their deployment either.

Romulus, and others of the dark arts, do not care at all for human beings, they simply perceive them as a means to an end - to take possession of their spiritual powers by stealing their kindred beings with their mystical resources disenfranchised.

The dark elves driving the convoys, and those sitting atop guarding the pallets and the containers, had a mixed appearance of many tones, yet all had a shadow overall that denoted an absence of light - and, as though hypnotised, there was a deficit of divine thought or any recollection of a former self about them. They were well and truly enslaved to a stronger single mind now driving them all.

And being detached from the realm and the spirits they know and love, they were to be pitied and not decimated, Puck acknowledged to himself.

“This rescue is going to take more than I thought” Puck said to Goober packing up for the night …

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Finding Self - Second Guesses- Azlander Series

Problem in Australia

“Did you sink em?”

“Nup” Puck shrugged his shoulders as if he could shake the question off - it had been a tiring few days.

“Did you take them into the another world?”

“Nup again” here Puck looked over his shoulder as though someone might be around them listening in. Goober was excited because he loved guessing games. 

“Now, what would I have done with a fleet of six thousand, three hundred and thirty six ships?” he asked out loud.

“And the cargo, which is kindof more important…” 

“A two-part mystery … hmm, yes! I see now!”

“Okay you got me - tell up!”

“Firstly, all I did was make the lot invisible - the entire cavalcade - imperceptible, I should say. It works for a time. But if you studied the waters you would still see movement and channels from the engines. I saw no reason to deter their progress.”

Goober nodded. It made perfect sense. “And you wanted to convince the evil one you had taken them?” 

“Yes quite. But we will get to that later.” Puck continued: “Australia is the perfect place to hide such a cohort, and this is where I need help … Romulus himself is due to reach the mainland in a few hours.”

"You might not have thought this through to the end I’m guessing.”

“You could say that”, said Puck thoughtfully, distracted by his own questions … “but then, who knew?”

“And the evil one - who is it this time?” Goober appeared uncomfortable when he asked this. Suddenly he was awash with a panic attack. 

“Marsden - bloody Marsden is at it again - he came back.”

The elderly elf was genuinely bewildered. He had thought that this heartless man had been dealt with and was doing time somewhere in community service working as a gondolier. 

“You can’t make this stuff up!” he said in exasperation trying to take it all in. The worry of it was: how on earth are they to contain this demon if the very courts of Hades could not do it.” 

Meanwhile, there was the problem in Australia…

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Finding Self - Second Guesses- Azlander Series