Chapter 18: Aftermath

Jack didn’t know what to say, and for once, neither did Construct. Instead, without the power that the crystals of the Order were providing, he knew people would begin to investigate what was happening in the bungalow. He needed to leave quickly. Jack used his handkerchief to turn the doorknob to open the front door. He stepped out and walked away, using his power to make anybody around ignore him. He continued through the hotel and out to the street, tossing the passkey into a garbage can along the way.

Jack walked away from the hotel and down Sunset Boulevard. He left the area by the simple expedient of waiting at the nearest stoplight. When the light turned red, he simply walked up to the first vehicle with a single driver, took control, and climbed in. The driver dropped him at the first shopping mall, and Jack went inside. He purchased a different hoodie and ball cap and left. He walked down the street and changed clothes, tossing the Dodgers hoodie and ball cap in a garbage can. He repeated the process twice more before catching a lift home. It was almost seven before Jack walked in the front door.

He was deep in thought when he was met by a trio of nervous concubines. Sharley asked, “Lord, is everything alright?” Jack didn’t answer, and when she reached out to touch his arm, he shrugged it off. “Lord?”

“Leave me!

Sharley moved back as if she had been physically struck. Dakota took her in her arms and said, “Lord, John, what’s wrong?”

“Go!”

The three women moved back, crying, and Jack went into the den and closed the door. He sat down at the desk and pulled the shards out of his pocket. He dropped those on the desk, along with the green crystal. For once, Construct was silent, and not demanding he join the shards to the crystal. In fact, Construct had been silent the entire trip home. He stared at them for a few minutes, and then pushed the crystal into the pile. He watched as the crystal glowed, and the shards were reabsorbed into it, changing shape and growing. Left behind, however, was the red crystal, still in Gauguin’s filigree necklace, and the metal of Voertrer’s bracelet and Rattanakosin’s necklace.

Construct woke up. “Thank you, Lord.”

“What the hell just happened, Construct?”

“I don’t know for sure, Lord.”

“Is the Order truly finished”

Construct seemed much more certain as he answered, “Yes, Lord. The Order is gone. I can sense no crystals able to endanger you or those you care for.”

Jack looked at the crystal and the red shard. He picked up the shard and peeled off the filigree surrounding it. It was a long, thin piece of crystal, blood red, unlike the green of Construct. He could feel a sense of power in the shard, but had no sense of control from it, or any intelligence behind it. “What kind of crystal is this?” asked Jack.

Jack suddenly felt himself in one of his dreams again, only this time, he was awake. He was in his palace throne room, in a circle with six other men. Their chairs were equally comfortable, but it was clear Jack’s chair was a throne. Each of them had a crystal on a gold chain - red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet, the colors of the spectrum. On a low pedestal in the center of the circle was a large white crystal. Across from him was a large man with a full black beard, heavily muscled and powerful, wearing a red stone. He was arguing angrily with Jack. Jack was calmer, but just as forceful.

The vision ended. “Lord, there were seven crystals, and seven Lords of Light. Each crystal gave a Lord great power, but each crystal had a different type of power. The green crystal was the power of growth and progress. Indigo was for stability and safety. Blue was education and knowledge, yellow stood for philosophy and proper living, and violet was about commerce and business and wealth. Orange was the crystal of culture and art.”

“And red?”

“Red was the crystal of power and aggression and war.”

Jack stared at the red crystal, rolling it between his fingers and feeling the power in the crystal, but not overwhelmed by it or tempted by it. “War?”

“Yes, Lord. The Lord of Light controlling the red crystal was the Lord responsible for protecting the realm. In many ways he was the second most important Lord. The green crystal was the most important crystal. It was responsible for growth and progress; it pointed to the future.”

“What happened, Construct? Was there a war among the Lords of Light?”

“Lord, I believe that is exactly what happened. While you were coming home, I was integrating the memories contained in the Order’s shards and all the other shards you have gathered. I was also developing a link to communicate with the piece of the red crystal. It is not entirely clear what happened, but it seems that the Lord of the red crystal wanted to depose the Lord of the green crystal - you, if you will - and take both crystals. He wanted control of all the crystals, to create a single supercrystal. After taking the green crystal, he would move on to the other crystals in turn. Instead, he created a war among all the Lords.”

“And that destroyed the crystals.”

“Yes, Lord. The green crystal was shattered into shards, pieces that ended up all over the globe. You now own over half the green crystal, including all the processing power. You simply need to gather the rest of the shards to fully access the power and become a Lord of Light.”

“What of the other crystals?”

“That is more questionable, Lord. Until we saw the red shard, and I was able to access the shards and the red shard, I wasn’t even aware what had happened. I still have many questions, but I do have some answers. The yellow crystal, the crystal of philosophy, was destroyed, but not eliminated. It was vaporized, essentially, and became part of all people. It is why there are so many different philosophies and religions around the world. The blue crystal of education and wisdom was also shattered, but into very small pieces, and those pieces have joined in various clusters around the globe, places where the great colleges and universities were founded.”

“And the others?”

“I just don’t know, Lord. Now more than ever, you need to gather as many of the green shards as possible, so that I can access their memories, and continue building my understanding. The existence of a red shard means that there are probably more red crystal pieces, much like the green crystal. If you can gather those pieces as well, that might prevent the rise of an aggressive Lord. I will begin developing methods of locating crystal shards of all types.”

“Huh. I am going to have to think about this.”

“Yes, Lord,” finished Construct. Then, the artificial being added, “Lord, it is important that you continue hunting for crystal shards, but I do not believe you are under deadly pressure. You have most of the green crystal, and the Order was the largest danger you faced. There are no other crystals being gathered at this time. Take some time, rest, before you begin again. Rest.”