Chronicles of the Wolf: Of Wolves & Spiders

Chapter 21

We stepped in and nothing seemed to have happened. Behind us we could see the ruins, in front of us we could see the most magnificent city I had ever seen.

“Woah!” Walker said.

That was an understatement. I had no clue how it was possible that this was kept hidden away from anyone the way it was. That arc must have some sort of power that even the boy had trouble understanding.

“I don’t understand how this city was being kept hidden.” Walker said.

“Of all the fantastical things I have ever encountered this is the most fantastical.” I said.

This was however an understatement. This city was huge. It had to be at least twice the size of the Bel’athore forest back on my home world. I don’t even think that our capital, that I had been to once when I was a pup younger than walker was as fantastic or as massive as this city.

From where we stood just beyond the arc, we could see that spire off to the south west, to the direct south was a massive structure that reminded me of the ruins of that I had seen when I had traveled with my father. It was easily the most massive thing I have ever seen, and yet the spire off in the distance had to be bigger because it towered above this massive structure even if it was further away.

These massive structures were not the only thing that we could see from where we stood. There had to be at least a thousand different buildings. They went out as far as the eye could see.

“I don’t understand how this could be here,” Walker said.

“Is it just me or is this bigger than the space on the other side?” I asked.

“It is,” Walker said as he grabbed the sliver and opened it. “Look.”

I looked at the sliver and noticed that the map had changed.

It showed everything that we were now looking at. Including the massive structure at the center and the giant spire. Behind the massive structure was a massive building that must be dwarfed by that structure. For some reason this was grabbing my attention. The look of it reminded me of the libraries of our capital.

“What is this building pup?” I asked pointing at the map where that structure was. Walker grabbed it and looked at it.

“It says the great library,” Walker said looking confused.

“Well then we know where we are going to go first,” I said.

The more time I spent in this space the more I was impressed by it. There were these statues, grand statues, statues of these beings, they all looked like they were standing guard on the outskirts of the city. There were about a dozen total, they all were different. Some had extra limbs, some had strange items in their hands.

I walked passed one that looked like Fantis, but it looked like a man. He had a head of a Fantis, complete with a trunk and tusks, but he had arms and legs like a man. I passed by a snake looking man, he looked like he could come alive and strike me at any moment. He had four arms and he had a chain around his neck but he his chest was missing crumbled into nothingness.

I then stopped and gaped when I saw someone that I never thought I would ever see again. It was that being, Hanuman. There was no doubt, it was a dead ringer, complete with that gada he had, the great golden cape flowing behind him. I couldn’t believe it.

“Pup, who are these beings?” I asked.

“These are what my kind called the Star Builders,” Walker said.

“No way,” I said. “It can’t be.”

“No, I am pretty sure,” Walker said he pointed at a woman that was holding a strange golden bowl in her hands. “That is Sati, she is the Deva of fertility, life and pregnancy.”

“That is Ganesh,” Walker said pointing at the one that looked like Fantis. “This is Vishnu,” he pointed at another statue.

“What of this one?” I asked pointing at the one of Hanuman.

“That is Hanuman,” Walker said, and I looked at him as if I was hard of hearing. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Because I have seen this being, pup.” I said.

“You’ve seen Hanuman?” Walker asked looking at me. “Are you sure?”

“I am quite sure.” I said. “Its kind of hard to forget about him.”

I almost started to tell him, that it was Hanuman who had brought me here. I am still not sure how that was possible. I did not know how it was that this being that I was now staring at a statue of had brought me clear across the cosmos to a totally different part of the world.

“But he’s a Star Builder, they lived a long time ago,” Walker said.

“How long ago?” I asked.

“So long ago that they have become mostly legends.” Walker said.

I stared at the statue for much longer before deciding to move on.

“Perhaps we can learn something at that library,” I said.

The buildings of this ancient city were all around us. They were something almost as if out of legend. They were big structures, small structures, structures made of grey stone, white stone, even some of black stone. The stone itself looked like they were meticulously cut with a precision that looked beyond anything I had every seen. And not only that but they looked like the stones were even melted together.

We headed down this road that had gone through the right of the arc. This road seemed to be the best path that could be taken to this center of the city.

“What do you know about these structures?” I asked.

“I don’t know, all this is very fantastical,” Walker said.

“Your implant does not recognize it?” I asked.

“It labels it as star builder ruins,” Walker said.

“That’s inconvenient,” I said.

“You’re telling me.” Walker said.

It was incredible but eventually we reached where the massive structure was. It was then and only then that Walker seemed to recognize it.

“This is the temple of the sun,” Walker said. “That’s all we seem to know about it, it says it’s in ruins.”

“That implant seems to be more harm to good,” I said. “Well, I guess we will see what this library reveals.”

Moments later we were at the library. It was quite the library. Thought it was dwarfed by the spire off in the far west and the massive structure behind us, this library was still quite the amazing sight. Walker and I looked at each other before we walked in.