AUDIO FILE: "Nezo Ten, Chapter 16" Special Notes: Would you like to hear the kind of music that I listen to when I write? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UM9uyA0wVIA When I hear the boy's version, I think of Nezo exploring the Apeirogon, and when I hear the men's version, I see the Crow forces, led by Prince Saraen, as they line up in their T-Fighters for their heroic but futile charge against the invading Kesune. (that scene will be written later in either this book or the second Nezo book. The Golden Age of Darai ended the day House Crow fell defending the evacuees escaping, and the Dark Ages began as House Raven assumed control of the Senate. Let it be noted that the Ravens did not fight beside the Crows, instead they slithered away, hidden among the evacuees. [Nezo Ten, Chapter 16] Nezo followed Jon Black through the maze of halls, his head swiveling in every direction. Rows of arches supported on columns neatly divided each adjoining section of the castle, there was so much to look at he kept stopping to inspect another treasure. Boxes and barrels and shelves full of books lined the walls in a never ending mystery to be explored. They hadn’t gone back to the hospital like Nezo had expected. Jon Black led Nezo through the streets of Nights End and down to his home along the edge of the sea. The house was actually a castle built at the edge of the water, occasional waves lapped against the side of the old carved stones of the walls. The treasures lining the halls weren’t the only interesting things in Jon Black’s home, there were other Jon Blacks roaming the halls, sitting in chairs reading, or searching through the endless bookshelves for something specific, and even groups of them gathered together talking. Nezo stopped to stare up at a series of portraits hanging on one wall. “Hey, they look like me.” “I would imagine they do,” replied Jon Black. “Those are your descendants. The one you’re looking at is Nezo the seventeenth, also known as Jon Black the Conqueror. He conquered the last of the Clans holding out against us.” “I guess I become the Clan Jon,” said Nezo, looking closely at the painting. Something looked off in the image, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. “Not necessarily,” said Jon Black. “Not all Nezo’s become the Jon.” “But you’re my up-time self, and you became a Jon.” “Still struggling with that are you,” replied Jon Black, looking down on the confused Nezo with amusement. “You are a unique individual, and yes, we are on the same time-line, but once you entered Nights End, the time-line diverged. You may do something different.” “But won’t that change what you have done in up-time,” asked Nezo. “No, the Universe will not permit the future to be changed by changing the past, you will forge your own future separate of anything I have done.” Nezo shook his head and shrugged, it was all too confusing, the multiple time-lines made no sense. He looked up at another painting of a young man in a suit of armor. “Who’s he,” asked Nezo. “That is Nezo the twenty-seventh,“ replied Jon Black. “He destroyed the Eriden Siphlen Empire.” “I never heard of them.” “They were a conquering Empire similar to the Kesune, but the Kesune hadn’t discovered them yet, nor will they,” said Jon Black. “What happened?” “They discovered our home world of Atan and attacked and captured several Grawells, to include the four year old son of the reigning Jon Black. We gathered the entire Black family from every time-line and attacked the Eriden home world.” “Did we get our people back?” asked Nezo. “We did, and the Siphlen Empire no longer exists” replied Jon Black. “Make no mistake, the Black Dynasty is vast. We are often called ‘The Hidden Empire.’” “Why don’t we destroy the Ravens?” “Father draws the line there,” explained Jon Black. “We are not permitted to attack Darai.” “Hey, is that the Kesune Imperial Palace on fire,” asked Nezo, moving to another painting and looking closely at the image. Jon Black furrowed his brow, this Nezo distracted easily. “Yes, the Emperor ordered an attack on Black Island in an attempt to steal the Orb. Nezo the forty-first led our forces to the heart of Kesune, burned the Palace, and dragged the Emperor in chains back to Black Island to stand trial for the murder of Jon Black the fortieth.” “But the Ravens are allowed to assassinate us whenever they want,” said Nezo. “That’s not fair.” “We are allowed to track down the assassin, but do not ever disobey Father and attack Darai,” warned Jon Black. “I don’t want to attack Darai, just the Ravens,” said Nezo. “As do I,” said Jon Black. “But there is a prophecy that must play out before we are permitted to bring the Ravens to justice.” “Hey, I forgot, I’m supposed to go back to the hospital and meet with George, he’s waiting,” said Nezo. “George?” asked Jon Black. “Oh, I think he changed his name again, it might be Errol now.” “I see, I’m sorry, your friend is leaving for up-time and his new life as we speak,” said Jon Black. “He wasn’t supposed to leave until next week, I want to say goodbye.” “That won’t be possible, he has to leave immediately.” “Why?” “His up-time self arrived through First Door, and we can’t allow his down-time self to meet.” “What happened, how did he die?” “I only know he lived a full life, it’s unusual for the Apeirogon to bring them back to the time they left, but we don’t control that.” “How can you not know, you’re the furthest up-time Nezo, aren’t you?” “Yes, but sometimes there is an event so profound the Apeirogon clouds our memory of the event to prevent interference.” “Something must have happened,” insisted Nezo, his face showing the concern for his friend. “Can I see his up-time self?” “I don’t think that would be wise until we understand what has happened,” replied Jon Black. “He arrived through First Door with a Daraian Jackdaw, and nobody has ever brought someone back with them before. We need time to sort this out.” “Time is something we have lots of,” said Nezo, not meaning to make a joke. “That is true,” replied Jon Black, nodding his head and laughing. “Come now, we need to get you ready to continue your journey.” Nezo nearly had to run to keep up with Jon Black, it seemed he was intentionally trying to keep Nezo from exploring any more of the treasures. Nezo defiantly reached out and grabbed a book off a shelf and tucked it under his shirt. He looked back at the paintings one more time and realized what was wrong, the Nezo in the painting was holding a sword, but the Atanians didn’t use swords, they used the trident. Jon Black stopped in front of an open door with an ornate carving of a dolphin cut deep into the wood. Nezo’s eyes widened as he stepped through the entrance and into a sun drenched room with bookshelves that rose along the walls to a dome-vaulted ceiling. The sun poured in through long narrow stained glass windows set at intervals around the walls, and spiraled metal steps led to catwalks to access the collections of books. “Welcome to the library of the Jon Blacks, those books outside along the walls are only the over-flow,” explained Jon Black. A man standing at a long table in the center of the room looked up as Nezo walked into the library. “Ah, and here is our newest Nezo, well met,” the man called out. “Come, come, we haven’t all day, I should think eventually the grains of the hour-glass will run their course.” Nezo instantly liked this man, there was something much different about him than the other Jon Blacks. Nezo looked to Jon Black for a clue who the man might be. “This is Arbius Black, son of Jon Black the Explorer, we just call him Arbi,” said Jon Black the First. “He has a few notes to give you for your journey.” “Nobody but you has called me Arbi since I was eight years old,” replied Arbius. Nezo tipped his head to the side. “You don’t look like a Nezo.” “You are correct, young sir, I am not, the line of Nezo broke long before I was born, though do not concern yourself with that, the reign of the Nezo’s lasted well over two-thousand years.” “Oh, I guess that makes sense,” said Nezo. “The Imperial Family changes sometimes too, we studied that at the Caelum Temple. Emperor Xi Lin Laentium died before he had a son and the throne passed to his late brothers adopted son.” “Our succession to the Jon is a bit more complicated, but very well observed, you are a well-educated young man,” said Arbius, holding a book up. “How do you fair with languages?” “It’s my best subject,” replied Nezo. “Well then, let’s discover who you are,” said Arbius. “I’m Nezo, I’m him, his down-time self, the ‘before’ Nezo.” “Are you now?” asked Arbius. “I do believe Dr Black determined a .002 percent deviation possibility, let’s test this neatly wrapped theory that you two are on the same time-line. Give me the book you have under your shirt.” Nezo paled and pulled the book out. “I wasn’t going to steal it, I was…” “I know what you were doing,” interrupted Arbius. “Hand it here.” Nezo handed the book to Arbius, he looked at the title and laid it on the table. “And there is the deviation,” announced Arbius. “You two are not on the same time-line, though I suspect you are within twelve seconds of each other, and that would be the closest Nezo’s we’ve found so far.” Jon Black picked the book up. “This could just be an anomaly, it happens.” “What’s going on?” asked Nezo. “When I was the ‘before’ Nezo, the book I took was The Study of Botany, this book is the Science of Alchemy.” Nezo rolled his eyes. “I didn’t look to see what book it was, Alchemy isn’t real, you can’t turn lead into gold.” Jon Black tossed the book back on the table. “This isn’t your only evidence, is it, Arbius?” Arbius winked once at Nezo before continuing. “While our esteemed Jon Black the First and the Council of Nine were looking for evidence to march this fine young man into the Star Fountain, I was searching for clues to a much deeper mystery.” “Wait, what?” Nezo turned on Jon Black. “You really did put me on trial?” “It was a tie, we re-vote in one year,” said Jon Black. Arbius waved his hand. “Do not concern yourself with that, young Nezo, if I am correct, and I usually am, there will not be a repeat of that foolish trial.” “Are you over-stepping your bounds again, Arbius?” asked Jon Black, a steel edge to his voice. “Most certainly,” replied Arbius, handing the book to Nezo he had been looking at when Nezo had entered the library. “Can you translate this book for me, my linguistic friend.” Jon Black sighed and rubbed his forehead. “Arbius, not even I have been able to translate that book, we just don’t have a source reference to begin.” Nezo took the book and looked at the cover, there was an elaborate symbol on the front. He opened the book and carefully turned through the pages, it was immediately obvious the language was very complex, even more so than the Daraian language. “I don’t know this language,” said Nezo, turning the book over in his hands, and then closing it and running his finger down the spine. There was a smaller symbol at the bottom of the spine, similar to the one on the cover. “The language is Aedi, we found the book on one of the Aedi abandoned colonies,” explained Jon Black. Nezo tapped on the symbol at the bottom of the spine. “Do you have a copy of the Corvus Corax?” asked Nezo. Arbius grinned and lifted a book from his pocket and handed it to Nezo. “I suspected you would be asking for a copy.” “I have a copy, but it’s at the hospital,” replied Nezo, taking the book and opening it to the back. He flipped back and forth through the pages, shaking his head and looking up at Arbius. “The lists are missing from the back of the book.” Jon Black looked over Nezo’s shoulder at the book. “What lists?” asked Jon Black. “I’ve read the Corvus Corax many times, and there are no lists.” “Look at the front cover,” said Arbius. Nezo closed the book. “Hey, that’s a raven.” “Yes it is, the Ravens print the Corvus Corax,” said Arbius. “No they don’t, the Crows do,” said Nezo. “I need my copy of the Corvus Corax.” Arbius reached under the table and lifted a plastic bag onto the table. “I rather thought you might.” “Hey, my boots, thank you!” said Nezo, grabbing the bag and dropping down onto the floor to pull them on. Jon Black took Nezo’s copy of the Corvus Corax. “Holy ancestors,” whispered Jon Black. “This is a pre-Raven dynasty Corvus Corax, no Nezo has ever brought one back with him.” “Why don’t you just go get one?” asked Nezo, pulling his boots on. “I told you, we can’t go to the past to change the future,” replied Jon Black. “Not entirely true,” said Arbius. “We can use a paradox to travel back nine years.” Jon Black shook his head. “Yes, but when we close the paradox, or it collapses, everything we did is forgotten and reset to its original state.” “Perhaps,” said Arbius. “I believe this young man may be the Nezo of conception, and that means he won’t have a moment of origin, the rule may be different for him than you or the others.” “I’ve gone back hundreds of years,” said Nezo, standing and stomping his feet, enjoying the feel of having his boots back on. “There was a comic in the newspaper called Nezo Ten, it was a message I sent to myself. Saraen said the comic has been around for centuries.” “We can look at that later,” said Jon Black. “What is it you needed the Corvus Corax for?” “Oh yea, here” said Nezo, taking his copy of the Corvus Corax and flipping to the back. “I had lots of time in the hospital and memorized the lists. See, here it is, this symbol is the same as the one on the spine, maybe it means Aedi.” Jon Black looked closely at the symbol, and then the other symbols on the pages. “These are Apeirogon Door symbols, it is likely the name of the planet this book was found on. Still, very well done, and you too Arbius, you have made the first scratch in translating the Aedi language.” Nezo started to put his copy of the Corvus Corax in his pocket, but Jon Black laid a hand on his arm. “I can’t allow that copy of the Corvus Corax to leave this library,” said Jon Black. “But it’s mine, Saraen gave it to me.” “Nezo, that is the only known original copy in existence, it must stay here.” “But…” “All of this only exists because we are never selfish, we share all that we are,” said Jon Black. Nezo narrowed his eyes defiantly and stepped away from the table, this was enough, he would never take a gift like this from someone. He turned, and ran through a portal he had just opened. “NO, STOP!” shouted Jon Black. Nezo passed through the portal and into the train station. The temperature was much cooler here and he shivered as he walked across the room and peeked out the window. His ‘then’ self and Saraen was walking across the field towards the train station. He watched Saraen for a few moments, wishing he could go talk with him, but it wouldn’t be real, this Saraen belonged to the ‘then’ Nezo, the ‘now’ Saraen was dead. He would go back, someday, and help prepare the defenses against the invaders, but he would never be able to let Saraen know it was him. He hurried to the news-stand and searched for the copies of the Corvus Corax. He found them buried under a stack of books, Saraen would never see them there and get the idea to give him one as a gift. He placed one copy leaning up against a stack of books so that it was in plain sight, then looked for the grammar book and laid it next to the Corvus Corax. Nezo laid his hand on the newspapers, wanting to take some of them, but maybe that would be too much. He tipped his head to the side, something was wrong, the newspapers were out of order, he would never see the comic of Nezo Ten. He searched through the stack of papers until he found the correct one, and then placed it on top of the pile. Footsteps on the platform outside alerted him that he was out of time. He grabbed a copy of the Corvus Corax and ran back through the portal, closing it behind him as he re-entered the library. Jon Black’s face was red with fury, his fists clenching at his sides, and Arbius holding an expression of reserved curiosity. “How dare you threaten everything we have built with such a stupid act of selfishness,” shouted Jon Black. “I told you, you can’t alter the past to change the future.” Nezo laid the new copy of the Corvus Corax on the table and picked up his own copy. “Saraen gave me this and he’s dead now, it’s mine and nobody is taking it. I got you one for the library, that’s not being selfish.” “You foolish arrogant child, you risk everyone’s life for a petty act of defiance,” screamed Jon Black. “Jon, look,” shouted Arbius. Jon Black’s eyes flicked down to the new Corvus Corax lying on the table. “That shouldn’t be here, the Apeirogon should have reset the time-line and undone what he just did.” Nezo picked up the rest of his possessions and turned away, the last piece of the puzzle falling into place for him. An Apeirogon Door appeared in the center of the room. Nezo walked to it and stopped to look back. “I know who I am now,” said Nezo. “I’ll be back to build this place, some day.” He turned and walked through the arched doorway and into the Apeirogon. The sudden silence of the Apeirogon felt lonely after being surrounded for months with all his brothers at Nights End. But, Nights End didn’t exist, it never had. He looked up at the arch over the door, the place that usually held the symbol of the world that lay beyond was blank. Nezo glanced to his right, the door he had entered to Corvus was off that direction a short way. The Goddess, for all her experience with the Apeirogon, had never truly understood the phenomenon. She had sent him back to Apeirogon by way of a possibility that didn’t exist. He had now traveled through two of the four doors available. The third door sat across from the Nights End door, but that wasn’t the door he needed, not yet. Nights End had been wrong, the Jon Black the First had been the wrong Jon Black the First. At the moment of Nezo’s conception, he had been only one possibility. The Jon Black in Nights End was likely the first fragment of Nezo in his second moment of life. Nezo tried to do the math in his head, but by the twelfth second of existence, the possibilities of Nezo had fractured to near infinity. Nezo walked to the first door he should have gone through, the broken door, it’s crumbled remains scattered across the sandy path between the Sea of Apeirogon. This door had shattered at the moment Nezo had come into existence, this door was the reason for the shattered time-lines. Nights End and the Jon Blacks would exist, but as one infinite time-line of Jon Blacks existing as a single thread through the universe, not as the fragmented possibilities he had seen. He could fix it, he could ensure that the hundreds of Nezo’s committed to the Star Fountain would never occur. He could ensure that there was never a division of Jon Blacks into the ‘originals’, the ‘paradoxes’, the ‘alternates’, and the ‘possibilities’. All would be made right. Nezo raised his arms out to his sides and closed his eyes. He felt the power of the twin suns of Atan flow through him and into the Apeirogon. A symphony of sound rose from the chaos as the broken stones rose and swirled in the air around him. The Apeirogon rejoiced and sang, it’s song echoing through infinity as Nezo accepted his destiny and repaired the damage. Nezo cried out. “I am Nezo Black, son of Maize Black, son of Atan, son of the Apeirogon.” He opened his eyes and watched the stones seek out their mates and rejoin, each to the next. The ancient arched door rose until it stood, complete as it had once been. He looked up at the symbol inscribed into the arch, it was a tree with vines spreading outward. The symbol hadn’t been in the Corvus Corax, the Goddess didn’t know of this world. Nezo walked through the arched doorway, and was struck by the humidity like a hammer, he was almost instantly drenched in the dense humid air that pulled at his every breath. Thick brush pressed in around him and trees rose higher than any building he had ever seen, blocking the sky. Even the light, a deep hue of green, seemed to assault his senses. He took a step back, looking for an open place to get free of the pressing vegetation, his boot caught on something and he fell on the ground. Something wet crawled across his legs and he pushed at it and rolled to his hands and knees to scramble away. The slithering thing wrapped around his foot and he had to kick at it to get free. He needed to get to the Apeirogon Door, this place was a nightmare. Nezo jumped to his feet and glanced around wildly, the Apeirogon Door was gone. He waved his hand and concentrated, but the door wouldn’t appear. He tried to open a portal, but still nothing happened. He looked for a direction to run, but the trees were all around him and… …the trees were moving… towards him. The vines hanging off the trees were whipping around, trying to find him. He turned in a circle, looking for an opening to escape through, but found none. A vine wrapped around his leg, and then he was upside down hanging in the air. “Gyyahhh!” boomed a voice. Nezo saw the blur of something large, very large, leap into the air and strike at the vine holding him. The vine let go and Nezo dropped to the ground. Then the large person thing was pulling him up and pushing something gooey and sticky on his face. Nezo choked and tried to spit the foul smelling goo out of his mouth as the creature smeared the stuff on his arms and legs. The vines lashed out for Nezo again, wrapping around him, and just as suddenly it let go and retreated. The trees stopped their advance, quivered once, and backed away. Even the bushes were moving away, making a clearing around him. Nezo looked up and fear gripped his throat and ran down his spine. He was looking into the brutal face of a fierce creature covered in mud and paint markings. Nezo was looking into the face of a Cormon giant. He was on the most dangerous planet in the universe. He had walked into the Cormon jungle, a place not even a Cettise Battalion would dare to venture.