Arthur Turner and the Elevator Of Time

The Most Powerful Man In The World

C h a p t e r E i g h t ~ The Most Powerful Man In The World

Arthur was instantly amazed at the feeling of flying through the air. He felt

so free, as the wind blew against his face gently as they flew through a row

of trees very low to the ground.

Arthur could hear the crow’s wings flapping, making a very loud sound. He

could feel the vibration beneath him and was astonished by it all.

Just past the row of trees, they flew a bit higher from the ground, entering

into a wide place full of rocks descending downward. There were houses

built onto each, as water fell down like a waterfall on every side. Snow

covered the chimney tops and fell onto the water, not melting somehow, just

sparkling in the sunlight.

All that was there was pure white. Arthur thought of how wonderful it would

be to live there.

As they continued on, the crow flew much higher this time, nearly dropping

Arthur, as he was at the bottom, just like he always seemed to be.

It then leveled out, so that Arthur was close enough to the clouds, he felt he

could touch them.

Below him, even though he had a slight fear of heights, Arthur could see a

beautiful place with no snow at all. It was covered in autumn leaves, some

yellow, some orange, some green. The houses too were covered in them,

from the chimney tops to the very door steps. The only thing not covered in

leaves was a very thin road that separated the two rows of houses. It was

made of stone, and it too had a little snow on it.

Passing onward, the trees disappeared, and now it was a deep waterfall. Of

course it was much larger than it looked (and it looked very large) from

where they sat, since they were up so high. The water rushed down flowing

into a giant river that spread on for miles. Arthur assumed there were none

who lived there, until he saw a few large, strangely shaped stones. He could

even see some people entering and exiting as they pleased.

Arthur could see up ahead what looked like another beautiful town. He

leaned forward to see it, but he was prevented when the crow turned, flying

lower to the ground.

The crow slowed down, and landed steadily onto another wintery place, just

by a forest with trees that had perfect space between them.

Arthur followed Diríet onto the ground. Or rather, he fell. He never was able

to avoid tripping on the tremendous wings.

"Here Arthur. This is where I will tell you."

She said, walking into the forest.

As he walked closer, he found that it wasn't a forest. It was a long row of

trees, that were all very big and wide. Behind a small opening, behind the

trees, was a large, cream colored bricked building, almost like a church with

no dome.

Arthur expected Diríet to show him inside, but he was surprised when she

stopped by a tree in front of it. Arthur looked at her questionably.

"I don't know what you know Arthur, but I will tell you the story of where

you come in. And there is no one better than the trees to tell it."

Arthur watched as she put her hand to the tree gently and stood there for a

moment. Then she stepped back and gestured for Arthur to watch.

At first there was nothing, just a clear piece of wood. Then the dark colored

bark pockets became an illustration of a star. Another star soon appeared

with it.

"These stars, are Magi and Sorcer." She said.

Then a third star, larger than the first two, appeared and separated them from

the center.

"This is Alpheda, the first star. Sorcer, Magi, Gomorae, Drui, and Darae are

where magic come from. They are magic. One night, Magi fell from the sky,

casting a dim light on all the earth. Where it landed was this small river

many years ago." She said, walking further to another tree and waving her

hand about so that this tree too showed a picture. The picture changed to a

river that lay by a waterfall near a long hill, and a star was seen falling from

the sky, it immediately fell into the river, causing it to shine.

"The star gave all its power," she said."all of itself to this river. That night,

nearby a husband and wife had seen from afar, something falling from the

sky. They came to this place, and they saw how beautiful it was."

Now he could see two people standing on the edge, looking down at the

water together.

She walked again to another tree, and with another wave of her hand, Arthur

saw the two people kneeling down and drinking the water.

"They drank, and as they did this, the power entered into them. They and

their descendants would always have the power.

They continued to drink from the river, gaining greater power.

They had a child, and two more after him. When he grew, he found that

magic if used with hatred would make him more powerful. This was dark

magic. Fearing what might come of this, his parents stopped drinking from

the river. They buried it deep so no one would find it. For the amount they

had drunk, they knew not everyone would have the power, this was good.

Because of this, there are only few born with magic every century. As time

went on, they began to wonder what they could do with their magic to make

it useful. They knew they wanted to make earth a better place. So they used

their magic to transform time, the present, the past, and the future, into

physical form. They stretched it out, dividing it into sections, and labeling it

by each days, months, years, and centuries. They did this, so every magical

person on Earth, from any time, could come there and they could each decide

ways to make life better for everyone living in it. They began doing it in

simple ways. Giving help to those in need, supporting the helpless, or giving

small blessings to everyday people that walked about saddened." The next

tree, revealed the sun drop a golden light down onto earth. And from that, a

large, golden clock began ticking on the earth just the same as in Arthur's

dream.

"Things like those kept the people from falling into darkness and misery.

What happens every time someone dies, is someone else in the world is born.

When someone is crying, somewhere else in the world some one is laughing.

No matter what depth of darkness there is, the sun will always come shining

through the trees, even if it is just a sparkle.

This magic is what keeps the earth from falling. It takes away our reason to

live in misery."

The next tree showed the golden hand holding the earth, with the clock, and

a black hand reaching out to grab it. However, unlike Arthur's dream, the

golden thrills took the dark misery from the hand and devoured it. “It's the

beauty on this Earth. They called it the Village of Time. It is a large tower not

far from here, of which we have long since been absent.

Here, on this island, we grew our children up to learn goodness, and a way of

life. But as always is, not everyone kept to that."

That next tree Arthur saw, showed a few men walking together in a small

Village. Their hands clasped their heads, and they screamed to the sky.

"Some went mad, finding their power too great. Dark magic corrupted them,

making them go crazy. We could handle it at first, restraining them, helping

them the best we could to make them sane again." The next tree revealed the

same men, being locked up in cages. Then Arthur saw millions of mad men,

standing together on a field with swords in their hands.

"But then their numbers were too much, and soon they were more than us.

There is nothing worse, Arthur, than a crazy man with magic.

When we tried to tell them of their madness, and how they were destroying

their own lives, they only were angered more and threatened to banish us

from Time. Soon, they did, and now we can not go past the door. Only those

who were on the outside at the time were free."

The next tree showed the gates from TIME being shut.

"Only until the mad found them, which would be soon. We were able to get a

message to a few of them, warning them if they returned, they too would be

banished. There was no way to keep but few from that fate. One man,

decided he wanted to fix it, to find a way for us to be saved eventually, so the

earth would not fall apart without the light that was extinguishing.

So, hoping that it would all come together as he wished, he built an elevator."

The next tree showed an old man in Arthur's bank, carrying a small bottle,

and before him stood a half built elevator.

"The only connection from the outside world to the Village of Time. As you

can only enter through a gate, not return through it.

He hoped that, one day, someone powerful with magic on earth would still

remain. He would be the most powerful man on Earth.

This man would find his way to this elevator, and press any button there."

The next tree revealed a man, pressing a golden button in an elevator, labeled

"6". His finger was glowing golden as well, and when he pressed it, the

magic in the button made the whole elevator glow.

"By its power, the elevator would lead him to the Village of Time. Since he

would not be among the banished, he would find his way through the door

you entered, and he would find a way to stop the madness the Wizards are

starting, and do what we can not. This is where you come in. You, are the

most powerful man on the earth, Arthur."

The last part, shocked Arthur, much as is should have. He didn't quite know

how to respond. Of course, Arthur knew, him having magic was the craziest

thing he had ever heard. He couldn't understand that if he ever had, why it

had never shown.

This small moment of silence, that Arthur created by trying to place all she

had said, was not short at all. The Witch said nothing to him in that moment

either, giving him time to think.

"I.....how....I...." Arthur tilted his head to the side in an awkward way, feeling

very unusual now to look at her.

"Arthur, it is true." She said, truthfully. He could tell if it was anything, it

wasn't a lie. She truly believed it.

"I'm,...I'm sorry...no, no...I'm not magical or anything of the sort. I promise

you, I do not have magic." He said, honestly.

"Well, we'll see about that. You may believe that, and it doesn't surprise me,

but I will show you you're wrong."

Arthur didn't have time to reply, in a moment the Witch was already entering

the palace.

"Come in, Mr. Turner." She said, opening the door for him.

Arthur entered into the dark room. The first thing he saw, were dim shapes of

thousands of pews placed like as in a church.

The Witch followed him in, letting the door slam behind her. Now they were

in complete darkness. It fell empty and cold inside, Arthur did not wish to

know how it would look like if he could see it clearly.

The next thing he heard, was Diríet's feet shuffling. She was now far across

the room. The Witch then placed her hand on the center wall, and a loud

banging sound, like a large steel door slamming shut, echoed through the

whole room.

Immediately, a golden glow covered her hand and spread everywhere. The

wall, the ceiling, the floor. It was now lit up and it shone brighter than

anything Arthur had ever seen. As it continued, halfway through the ceiling,

it formed itself cleverly into a brilliant chandelier that sparkled a golden light

on all that lay beneath it.

Once again, Arthur found himself staring upwards in awe, never able to take

his eyes off this magical world.

Diríet pretended not to care at how wonderful it all really was, but deep

inside she never entered without staring at everything for a long while.

"Arthur." She said, trying take his focus off the room.

Arthur, had only been looking at the tremendous ceiling, that had to have

been at least eight stories high. And yet he had not noticed what sat in the

pews.

He snapped to, and finally his head dropped to look at what lay in the chapel.

In the pews, sat thousands (as there were thousands upon thousands of pews)

and thousands of statues.

The statues depicted people covered in drapes from head to toe leaning over

in such a manner, that it seemed they could see you and they too were alive.

Arthur nearly jumped when he saw them.

"What is that?" He said, half shrieking.

The Witch hadn't seemed to have noticed them.

When she turned and looked at them, her face didn't change at all, almost as

if she was used to such a thing.

"That? Oh, let me show you."

The Witch walked to one of the pews and leaned over to one of the statues.

With her hand, she attempted to pull at the drapes as if they were more than

stone.

As she did this, it was no longer stone, and now she lifted the covering over

the head, revealing a small, new born baby, curled up in white cloth.

The drapes fell down on top of the baby, since there was no longer anything

to hold it up.

The baby began crying soon after, from all the light that surrounded them, as

they had never seen much more that what lay inside the statue.

"Oh, don't cry." She said to the child, taking them in her arms.

"What?" Arthur managed to say.

"These are the children. If anyone got ahold of them, they could either kill

them or use them for darkness. They must be protected from the darkness or

else the race will die off."

"And," she said laying the baby back down, ”no child on earth should be any

less protected." The drapes were soon once more stone, and the statue

returned in the same spot.

"But that was not what I wanted to show you, come over here." She said.

Arthur followed the Witch to one of the walls. It was lined from top to

bottom with books. All kinds of books. Old, new, and some of which no one

knew when they had been written. More than Arthur could imagine existed.

Of course, he did not know the full extent of the palace, nor that nearly the

only thing in it was books.

The Witch leaned over to the very last shelf, and picked up one of the books.

The one she chose, was incredibly thick. The cover was made from the finest

wood, however old age had worn it much.

Written across the top, were the words;

Book Of Spells For The Young

She opened it up to the very first page.

"Here, say this." She said, pointing to the very first sentence on the page. It

read,

~To Form From Your Magic A Cream Ball

Speak The Word |Nieben|

And There Before You,

Shall Be The Tastiest Of All~

"What? What is this?" He asked.

"A book of spells for children. We give it to them when they are young so

they can learn how to use their magic. When they are grown they no longer

have a need for it and have mastered their magic so spells are not needed.

The only reason grown people here have them, is because it is the base for

our language. Essentially a dictionary. There are many different forms of the

Book of Spells, but we have no time to discuss that. Say it."

"Say...this?"

"Yes, if you have magic, no matter how little, this should work. This is the

first, easiest and least draining spell on earth."

"How do you say it?" He said.

"Nee-uh-ben" She said, not being able to help thinking it quite comical she

was teaching the ABC’s in magic to an adult who was meant to be more

powerful than her.

"Nieben." He said.

They both waited for something to happen. Nothing did, of course.

"Nieben." He said again.

Arthur could have repeated that all he wanted, and never would a Cream Ball

appear. Not even the tastiest.

Arthur himself was not surprised at all, and to him, his "having Magic" was

not essential to his life at all.

To the Witch, this could have been the worst day of her life. She could not

have been blamed if she would have given up on him immediately. However,

she did not.

"Nieben." She said. The very next moment, she was holding in the palm of

her hand, a small, cream colored food, shaped like an apple, and the exact

same size.

"What is a Cream Ball?" He said, avoiding speaking a word about the known

fact that he indeed had no magic at all.

"Crembol, you mean. It is just about the tastiest thing on the earth. It is what

we use mainly in almost anything to make food. It can conform to any shape

as desired, cope with any temperature, and can never taste bad."

"Interesting." He said.

"Why is everyone here so obsessed with food?" Arthur asked, hoping that

this time he would have a thorough explanation.

"Why? Well, since we have so much magic within ourselves, we have the

toughest stomachs and we can eat just about anything we want. Magic

absorbs food, and much of it.

It mainly feeds off of these cream balls, and sugar, or anything hot, butter as

well. We are almost always hungry, and yet no matter how much we eat, we

don't get fattened at all. The only trouble is that sugar does not go straight to

our stomachs fattening us, only a certain time every day, so in order to stay

thin, we can eat all the sugar we want, and it would behave like vegetables

would to normal people, until morning time, as it is for me."

Arthur smiled.

"Really."

"Yes. One of the most prized things for us is food. Don't ask how many times

we eat a day. It seems you wouldn't understand since you....you don't have

magic." She said looking straight at him.

Arthur's face turned serious again.

"I'm sorry. I don't mean to let you down. I don't even know how I got here."

He said, exasperated.

"Let us down? No. Arthur, whether or not you have magic, and you do not, I

can see now, you are the only person who can get us out of here."

Arthur nodded.

"Can I ask you something?" He said.

"Yes."

"What did I see in my dream? And also when I entered a gate I found myself

in...in China."

"Your dream? You had a dream?"

"Yes."

"What was it?"

"I don't know. It started with this…person. They walked through the door

that lead me here. I saw a man turn miserable, there was something about a

clock. I don't really understand, do...you...do you know what it all meant?"

"Oh, yes. Being in the elevator, you must have used it more than twice.

Whenever the elevator is used by the same person more than twice, it will in

a way connect to them. Their emotions will be played in music through the

elevator. This can make for some interesting elevator music as you can

imagine. The elevator must have recognized that you hadn't found us, as you

were meant to, the first time you ever found Time. So it gave you the dream.

It simply means, it wanted to show you to enter through the door. It showed

misery, and the clock represented the Village of Time. Those with madness,

they want to make the earth equal. They want to give magic back to the

people. They do not understand how they would tear each other apart. So

many people would go mad as well, and the world would fall apart. No more

magic would exist. But still they strive to do this. They are beginning by

destroying all boundaries or anything making lands, or nations separate.

They want to draw all peoples together to live in magic, and make life better.

The wall was destroyed, because it is what makes China . It is separated from

anything beyond it. This was a boundary, so they destroyed it. They also

destroy all government they can. They never seem to notice, that so many

have died in their foolishness.

The Wizard and I decided that if ever we could escape here, we would need

to go to each Wizard, wherever on earth or whenever in time, and stop them.

Bringing them back and keeping them under our rule, would rid the world of

them. This is what we have to do Arthur. We need you, so you can get he and

I out of here. And I am sorry, you must come with us. You are the only

person on Earth it seems, though it makes no sense, you can enter what

places we have been banished from."

Arthur, though he had heard the rest she had said, was mainly thinking about

what she had spoken about the elevator revealing his feelings through music.

He was of course stunned, only thinking of what might have played without

him knowing it, revealing his emotions towards Marion. It was nearly the

scariest thing on his mind. Hopefully there was no way she could have ever

known.

Arthur pushed the thought aside.

"So, then what was that strange man who was snooping around the elevator

shaft doing?"

"What?"

"Yes, he was quite strange, he disappeared eventually, but he had this strange

habit of saying yes in a response to most anything. I have run into that

several times."

"Oh, he must have been one with magic. It is normal here to speak in that

way. One of the things the mad Wizards did was try to destroy all the

elevators they could find, after they had found out our plan. He must have

been hoping to rid you of them."

"Yes. We found our elevators crumpled up like paper in the trash cans."

"Oh, yes. That was definitely their craft."

Arthur nodded, it was all making sense now. He was quite glad everything

was all working out finally.

"So why is it so beautiful here? Where is here?"

"After the Village of Time had been decided to be made, they found this

island near the Caribbean islands. They found it before exploring was that

often in the world, we have been able to hide it from others ever since.

It is so beautiful because, well, what do you expect a race of Magicians to do

with a dirty piece of land? They crafted their own ways of making this land

the wonder that it is."

"That's enough for now," the Witch said.

The Witch left the room, and after she and Arthur had passed through the

door, the Golden Lights that brought life to the house vanished, and it was

once again dark.

The Witch brought Arthur back to the castle, Arthur's mind was full of

everything she had just explained, and he was still amazed at how much he

still didn't know. However, just before they entered, The Witch was stopped

by a man who came running up to whisper something in he ear.

She seemed very concerned at whatever he said.

"Is it bad?" She said to him.

"Oh, your Highness, it's terrible, the whole town."

The Witch looked slightly angry.

"Alright, thank you for telling me Kinae." (Kee-nay)

Kinae, nodded and hurriedly rushed back to wherever he came from.

"What was that all about?" Arthur asked, slightly worried it was something

he had done.

"Oh, nothing, you just ruined one of the largest populated towns in Japan."

She said, sarcastically.

"What?"

"Arthur, what were you thinking just playing a magical piano? What do you

think it would do?"

The Witch was now furious at him.

"What? I don't know what you're talking about."

"Arthur!" She yelled, making him jump backwards.

"That piano," she continued, "controls the weather, the tides, all the earths

functions. We choose a Druid every year, who has studied for nearly half a

century on playing it, to play AS SOFTLY AS POSSIBLE so that the earth

has good seasons. The music desk shows what part on Earth you are

affecting. What were you thinking playing Beethoven's harshest piece?! You

destroyed a whole TOWN with thunder! Did you not see?!!"

"I…I…I didn't know…I'm sorry…is..is everyone okay?"

The Witch took a deep breath, to calm herself down.

"Yes, THANKFULLY. But many people now will be homeless for who

knows how long."

Arthur didn't respond. Even if he had, the Witch would have ignored him.

Arthur didn't know why, but when she spoke, there was a strange feeling

inside of him. There was a part of her he loved, it made him feel excited,

almost like what he felt around Marion, and yet he did not know why.

However, when she yelled, he was worried at what she might do.

In the castle, the Witch offered Arthur a seat next to her and the Wizard. She

seemed to have calmed down completely, as if she had never been angry at

Arthur.

"Help yourself, there is more food then you have probably had before." She

said, filling her plate again, for the fifth time that day.

Arthur felt sick with all the food. Especially since most if it was mainly

butter, sugar, all sorts of things only meant to be taken in small amounts, that

they had no problem to eat like it was any other kind of food.

"Here, try a crembol." She said, handing him a cream ball just like the one

she showed him that day.

Arthur smiled thankfully to her and took a small bite.

Its taste was the most delicious he thought anything could ever be. It was

crusty and buttery on the outside, and on the inside, it tasted like whipped

cream, whipping cream, butter, cream of the strongest taste, more butter, rich

milk, and whatever it was that made it taste so creamy.

“It’s… amazing." He said, taking another bite.

"Yes, it is the source of most other foods here."

The Witch lifted a plate next to her, and handed it to Arthur.

Inside, there was what looked like red velvet colored scrambled eggs.

It did not look so good to Arthur.

"Try some, this is scrambled wine."

Arthur took a bite. Having never tasted much wine before, and not liking the

small taste he had, this was fabulous. It melted in his mouth, and there was

something warm and salty about it. Not at all like scrambled eggs. It gave his

stomach the most spectacular feeling.

"What is it made of, it tastes so good. Oh, well, I assume you just use Magic

to make it appear out of thin air."

"No, actually. We could if we wanted, but for some reason, making it with

our own hands makes it far more delectable. It's a cup of wine, with one egg,

two crembols, a spoonful of milk, and two sticks of butter. All of it is mixed

and then put on a pan over the fire, and scrambled like eggs. Now, you must

try the chocolate filled milk cake." She said, handing him another plate with

a large cup.

The cup, was made of pure, see-through glass, so that Arthur could see what

looked like a white colored cake inside, with no frosting, and a small strip of

solid chocolate swirled throughout it.

Arthur took a bite of it. It tasted of mint, peppermint, chocolate, cake, milk,

sugar, butter, and somehow together, it was magical.

"This, is milk mixed with three crembols, poured into the cup. Then

chocolate and sapmint is mixed together and poured into the same cup. It

mixes perfectly like this every time, and when it's cooked it tastes even

better. It's like a cooked cappuccino."

"What's sapmint?"

"It's sap from golden trees. We drink it by itself usually. But don't try any

yourself, you won't be strong enough to get through the first sip. Remember,

we drink hot sauce here sometimes."

"Really?"

"Yes, we love strong food."

"Have some tea as well. It's made from the herbs from the tree outside the

gate. It melts and gives it a magical taste. Then we whip the inside of the

crembol, like whipping cream, and pour it on the top. The outside, we cook

enough so it nearly burns and then we chuck it off and sprinkle it on the top."

Everything she had just described appeared before Arthur. It looked like

coffee normally would, but even better.

As he tasted it, he first thought of how Marion would enjoy it, as much as he

had heard from Toby that she loved tea.

Arthur spent the rest of the day eating (tasting rather, only because the Witch

insisted he try nearly every food there) all sorts of tasty food. He couldn't

believe they could eat like this more than three times a day.

While he was able to sneak out for a moment, he stole a small branch (or

rather not so small) of the herb of tea the Witch had told him about, and a

crembol he found growing on the same tree, hoping that one day he could

make Marion that delicious tea.

Time seemed to go very slowly there, or at least, that was what Arthur

thought. Little did he know, that there was no night there, and so, he was

completely unaware of the time that did passed.

In fact, Arthur spent a whole week there without knowing it.

After they were finally ready to be done eating, the Witch took Arthur all

over the island.

The Witch explained to him, that soon they would need to return soon and

try to stop the coming storm. Arthur's week, passed quickly from Saturday, to

Sunday, where they explored the deepness of the waterfalls where many of

their people lived. On Monday, they went to where it was almost always fall,

and the wonderful splendor of every home was filled with magic. On

Tuesday, they went to the castles where many had preferred to live, and

surrounded themselves by the most magnificent snow.

Wednesday, was where most people lived in rocks. The doors were hidden,

and inside it was lit with dim lights, and even inside there, snow fell.

Thursday was where the Witch explained it was normally Dawn, and a

pleasant cold air hovered over the horizon. This, Arthur was fascinated the

most by.

On Friday, she showed him to where evening never got brighter that a small

twilight now and then. The moon never left the sky there, and a cold

excitement captured Arthur. By Saturday they stopped, though there was

much more, and the Witch said it was time to go back to Time with the

mysterious Wizard.