Chapter 7 -
09/10/2017
“It’s back in the house,” Mrs. Lethan headed for the mansion.
I followed her and Bulkee, my heart pounding in my chest.
Mrs. Lethan flew into the house through the window. “I'll go fetch the book,” she said, as she opened the door to let us in. Quickly, she disappeared behind the corridor.
We hung around the kitchen table. My gaze dropped to the floor and I tried my best to ignore the shrieking voice in my head that screamed for a throwback of the earlier feast. It drove me crazy. I lusted after the sweet tea. I needed it to quiet down the noises.
I peeped up, when Mrs. Lethan reentered through the door. She crossed to the kitchen table and placed down a large brown book.
I inched forward to steal a look. Bounded by a leather jacket, the book was thick. On the cover, a ring made with three layered locknuts was wedged inside a circular metal frame. I saw scales carved along the disc and the design reminded me of a lock on a safety box.
Bulkee traced his fingers along the ring, regarding the fixture with careful glances. I followed his movement, noting two rows of metal teeth overhung from the rims of each locknut.
The delicate grits had bent towards each other, creating a hollow path. A very fine metal ball carrying a pin traveled inside each of the three airways, allowing the pin to swing along the edge of the locknut. All three pins had different lengths. Together they struck me as the hands of a clock.
“This,” Bulkee uttered. “I suspect it is – ”. His voice cracked.
“What is it?” I asked softly.
“It’s the legendary TimeBook,” he cleared his throat, his face livid. “It is said that the TimeBook records the history of AohhoA since the birth of the kingdom. It’s an integral part of AohhoA’s connection to the alternative realities. But no one knows for sure that the TimeBook exists.”
“It was like someone had dropped it from the sky,” Mrs. Lethan told us. "But I don’t know how it could have arrived because our Pocket is very isolated. To the point that even the Timekeepers don’t come through.”
Something shifted in the air. I noticed everyone exchange glances around the table like a taboo had been uttered.
“Let’s look inside,” Bulkee reached forward, breaking the tension.
He carefully rubbed the ring on the book cover with his thumb. I watched him, as he twisted the locknuts and shifted the pins to point south. I heard a click. The book was ajar.
I leaned in, eager to see the inside. But somehow, I caught a feeling that Bulkee was watching me again, even though his eyes seemed glued to the book. I straightened quickly, making a point to mask my interest.
It was only when I felt Bulkee’s attention move away from me that I darted a stealthy glance back at the book. I noticed a chain stuck inside the pages. I assumed it as a bookmark.
When Bulkee lifted it with a hook of his index finger, words surfaced onto the blank leaf. One after another, sentences filled the space. I read on, my heart pounding fast.
The passage had been a summary of AohhoA’s origination. I pored over references about the settlers, Stratum Wye, Governor AohhoA and the Ashendrons. The events unraveled just like how Bulkee had told them. But I cringed at the reminder that this strange place now involved me.
Bulkee started flipping through the TimeBook. He scanned the paragraphs like he was searching for something. My eyes swam across the pages and my breath quickened. The content went in and out of my sight fast. I began speed reading, taking in as much as I could.
I discovered my ability to speed-read a little over a year ago, when I was discussing the novel “The Great Gatsby” with Lorie Moshier. In literature class Lorie had been assigned as my partner for a project to identify passages with the theme “resistance to change”.
At the time, chapter six was as far as I got. But somehow, I figured out that if I fixed my eyes in the center, my mind could snapshot the entire page. I would scan for the right contents, weed out irrelevant descriptive and connect key phrases so that everything made sense to me. In such a way I got through the rest of the book in less than five minutes. “It’s just a trick of the mind,” Lorie said dismissively.
I didn’t believe her then and now I was applying the speed reading techniques, skimmed through the TimeBook. I began to grasp how the originators decided on the timeless nature of AohhoA.
In short, the originators interpreted that Governor AohhoA’s theory of Einism was centered on three concepts – Ego, Tradition, and Eternity.
The term “Ego” placed an emphasis on self-reliance. The originators intended for each Pocket within Stratum Wye to be self-sufficient. The Pockets were designed to be isolated from one another so that no residents would seek access to other Pockets or the alternative realities.
The term “Tradition” captured a set of values and rules that occupants of all Pockets must comply. I recalled having heard both Bulkee and Mrs. Lethan refer to my observations about AohhoA as the Tradition.
Once it was when I asked about the King’s relegation. Once it was when I inquired into the Prince’s ascend to throne. Most recently it was when I questioned Mrs. Lethan’s duty as the bread provider for the Pocket. Without fail, their responses all came down to “Tradition”, how things were supposed to be.
The third concept “Eternity” was the key to everything. Eternity in AohoA was built on the belief of living in recurrent Cycles that set the parameters for the landscape of life.
The Cycles were founded on autonomic existence and guided by traditional values to reach the ideal state of eternity. Ultimately, the aim of establishing the three concepts— Ego, Tradition, and Eternity was to preserve the status quo so that everyone can live in peace.
Bulkee riffled to another page. I studied a new chapter about the expedition of the alternative realities. The gist I got was that, after seizing the Apogee Course, the originators decided to explore the alternative realities for solutions to eradicate time.
With the intent to forestall tragedies occurred in the pre-AohhoA era, they settled on one individual to send for the voyage. The chosen explorer was required to follow strict guidelines when acquiring solutions from alternative realities. In return, the voyager was promised Kingship to AohhoA upon successful completion of the trip. As the King, he would oversee the execution of the time removal process.
The King along with the royal family was allowed to live in a magnificent structure known as the Floating Palace. Of course, the originators reserved the right to revoke his privilege, if the King ever gave into greed, as was in the case of the Ashendrons.
Bulkee made a grunt through his nose. I glanced over to see him thumb the edge of the leaves, his fingers tapping. He seemed antsy.
I returned to reading. The new chapter laid out the geography of the kingdom. Stratum Wye was divided into isolated Pockets and floated above a large body of water called the Endless Sea. Thousands of layers beneath the seafloor was the other tier, Stratum Kwattence, the untouchable precinct that housed the Ashendrons.
I swallowed, feeling a wave of nausea at the thought of the Ashendrons. One of them had taken me here, I was sure. But who exactly?
I went on with the passage and was intrigued by a third tier called Stratum Equis. Considered the most prestigious, it was created only after the voyager had enthroned.
Stratum Equis was home to the King and the Princes. Interestingly enough, the royalties didn’t reside in Stratum Equis per se, because they had long settled inside the Floating Palace. Unlike the other two tiers, Stratum Equis was more than just a physical space. It was a bundle of charged portals granting special accesses to the royalties and those with close ties to the status quo.
I must say that I didn’t quite grasp what it meant. But I imaged Stratum Equis to be like a sphere of force carrying the Floating Palace and coasting through the land of AohhoA.
I was getting tired by now. My eyelids grew heavy. The voice in my head screamed for the sweet tea. I expelled air from my chest and decided to plow through this.
The next chapter was about the alternative realities. One of the designations called “Endulth” caught my attention. The explorer was said to have discovered in Endulth traits known and even unbeknownst to the natives.
One particular trait was called “Liberty of Imajigo.” A surge of excitement shot into my vein, as I fervently took in the lengthy passage. Imajigo was described as a connection between one’s “cerebral ability for imaginings” to one’s “physical vitality”. It was said to offer liberty for creation and was considered as the basis of an ancient civilization within Endulth.
I reaped the rest of the chapter for other methodologies discovered by the voyager. But I was both disappointed and confused when I ended up with phrases like “Instillation of Fear”, “Inertia by Contentment”, “Blind through Worship”, and “Control with Addiction.” My eyes turned misty from tension. I blinked away the moisture and began studying Bulkee through my downcast eyelashes.
What is he looking for? I watched him comb the contents with engrossed glances page after page. His eyes shifted in the sockets like a laser scanner. His lips pursed leaving a crease by the left corner. Then in a flash, his jaw tightened.
He’s found something. I quickly glimpsed to the page. The caption read “The AohhoA Seekers of the Enlightened.”
The rest of the page was empty. But in no time, scribbles of red lines emerged from the creases on the leaf like someone was jotting down a note.
I followed her and Bulkee, my heart pounding in my chest.
Mrs. Lethan flew into the house through the window. “I'll go fetch the book,” she said, as she opened the door to let us in. Quickly, she disappeared behind the corridor.
We hung around the kitchen table. My gaze dropped to the floor and I tried my best to ignore the shrieking voice in my head that screamed for a throwback of the earlier feast. It drove me crazy. I lusted after the sweet tea. I needed it to quiet down the noises.
I peeped up, when Mrs. Lethan reentered through the door. She crossed to the kitchen table and placed down a large brown book.
I inched forward to steal a look. Bounded by a leather jacket, the book was thick. On the cover, a ring made with three layered locknuts was wedged inside a circular metal frame. I saw scales carved along the disc and the design reminded me of a lock on a safety box.
Bulkee traced his fingers along the ring, regarding the fixture with careful glances. I followed his movement, noting two rows of metal teeth overhung from the rims of each locknut.
The delicate grits had bent towards each other, creating a hollow path. A very fine metal ball carrying a pin traveled inside each of the three airways, allowing the pin to swing along the edge of the locknut. All three pins had different lengths. Together they struck me as the hands of a clock.
“This,” Bulkee uttered. “I suspect it is – ”. His voice cracked.
“What is it?” I asked softly.
“It’s the legendary TimeBook,” he cleared his throat, his face livid. “It is said that the TimeBook records the history of AohhoA since the birth of the kingdom. It’s an integral part of AohhoA’s connection to the alternative realities. But no one knows for sure that the TimeBook exists.”
“It was like someone had dropped it from the sky,” Mrs. Lethan told us. "But I don’t know how it could have arrived because our Pocket is very isolated. To the point that even the Timekeepers don’t come through.”
Something shifted in the air. I noticed everyone exchange glances around the table like a taboo had been uttered.
“Let’s look inside,” Bulkee reached forward, breaking the tension.
He carefully rubbed the ring on the book cover with his thumb. I watched him, as he twisted the locknuts and shifted the pins to point south. I heard a click. The book was ajar.
I leaned in, eager to see the inside. But somehow, I caught a feeling that Bulkee was watching me again, even though his eyes seemed glued to the book. I straightened quickly, making a point to mask my interest.
It was only when I felt Bulkee’s attention move away from me that I darted a stealthy glance back at the book. I noticed a chain stuck inside the pages. I assumed it as a bookmark.
When Bulkee lifted it with a hook of his index finger, words surfaced onto the blank leaf. One after another, sentences filled the space. I read on, my heart pounding fast.
The passage had been a summary of AohhoA’s origination. I pored over references about the settlers, Stratum Wye, Governor AohhoA and the Ashendrons. The events unraveled just like how Bulkee had told them. But I cringed at the reminder that this strange place now involved me.
Bulkee started flipping through the TimeBook. He scanned the paragraphs like he was searching for something. My eyes swam across the pages and my breath quickened. The content went in and out of my sight fast. I began speed reading, taking in as much as I could.
I discovered my ability to speed-read a little over a year ago, when I was discussing the novel “The Great Gatsby” with Lorie Moshier. In literature class Lorie had been assigned as my partner for a project to identify passages with the theme “resistance to change”.
At the time, chapter six was as far as I got. But somehow, I figured out that if I fixed my eyes in the center, my mind could snapshot the entire page. I would scan for the right contents, weed out irrelevant descriptive and connect key phrases so that everything made sense to me. In such a way I got through the rest of the book in less than five minutes. “It’s just a trick of the mind,” Lorie said dismissively.
I didn’t believe her then and now I was applying the speed reading techniques, skimmed through the TimeBook. I began to grasp how the originators decided on the timeless nature of AohhoA.
In short, the originators interpreted that Governor AohhoA’s theory of Einism was centered on three concepts – Ego, Tradition, and Eternity.
The term “Ego” placed an emphasis on self-reliance. The originators intended for each Pocket within Stratum Wye to be self-sufficient. The Pockets were designed to be isolated from one another so that no residents would seek access to other Pockets or the alternative realities.
The term “Tradition” captured a set of values and rules that occupants of all Pockets must comply. I recalled having heard both Bulkee and Mrs. Lethan refer to my observations about AohhoA as the Tradition.
Once it was when I asked about the King’s relegation. Once it was when I inquired into the Prince’s ascend to throne. Most recently it was when I questioned Mrs. Lethan’s duty as the bread provider for the Pocket. Without fail, their responses all came down to “Tradition”, how things were supposed to be.
The third concept “Eternity” was the key to everything. Eternity in AohoA was built on the belief of living in recurrent Cycles that set the parameters for the landscape of life.
The Cycles were founded on autonomic existence and guided by traditional values to reach the ideal state of eternity. Ultimately, the aim of establishing the three concepts— Ego, Tradition, and Eternity was to preserve the status quo so that everyone can live in peace.
Bulkee riffled to another page. I studied a new chapter about the expedition of the alternative realities. The gist I got was that, after seizing the Apogee Course, the originators decided to explore the alternative realities for solutions to eradicate time.
With the intent to forestall tragedies occurred in the pre-AohhoA era, they settled on one individual to send for the voyage. The chosen explorer was required to follow strict guidelines when acquiring solutions from alternative realities. In return, the voyager was promised Kingship to AohhoA upon successful completion of the trip. As the King, he would oversee the execution of the time removal process.
The King along with the royal family was allowed to live in a magnificent structure known as the Floating Palace. Of course, the originators reserved the right to revoke his privilege, if the King ever gave into greed, as was in the case of the Ashendrons.
Bulkee made a grunt through his nose. I glanced over to see him thumb the edge of the leaves, his fingers tapping. He seemed antsy.
I returned to reading. The new chapter laid out the geography of the kingdom. Stratum Wye was divided into isolated Pockets and floated above a large body of water called the Endless Sea. Thousands of layers beneath the seafloor was the other tier, Stratum Kwattence, the untouchable precinct that housed the Ashendrons.
I swallowed, feeling a wave of nausea at the thought of the Ashendrons. One of them had taken me here, I was sure. But who exactly?
I went on with the passage and was intrigued by a third tier called Stratum Equis. Considered the most prestigious, it was created only after the voyager had enthroned.
Stratum Equis was home to the King and the Princes. Interestingly enough, the royalties didn’t reside in Stratum Equis per se, because they had long settled inside the Floating Palace. Unlike the other two tiers, Stratum Equis was more than just a physical space. It was a bundle of charged portals granting special accesses to the royalties and those with close ties to the status quo.
I must say that I didn’t quite grasp what it meant. But I imaged Stratum Equis to be like a sphere of force carrying the Floating Palace and coasting through the land of AohhoA.
I was getting tired by now. My eyelids grew heavy. The voice in my head screamed for the sweet tea. I expelled air from my chest and decided to plow through this.
The next chapter was about the alternative realities. One of the designations called “Endulth” caught my attention. The explorer was said to have discovered in Endulth traits known and even unbeknownst to the natives.
One particular trait was called “Liberty of Imajigo.” A surge of excitement shot into my vein, as I fervently took in the lengthy passage. Imajigo was described as a connection between one’s “cerebral ability for imaginings” to one’s “physical vitality”. It was said to offer liberty for creation and was considered as the basis of an ancient civilization within Endulth.
I reaped the rest of the chapter for other methodologies discovered by the voyager. But I was both disappointed and confused when I ended up with phrases like “Instillation of Fear”, “Inertia by Contentment”, “Blind through Worship”, and “Control with Addiction.” My eyes turned misty from tension. I blinked away the moisture and began studying Bulkee through my downcast eyelashes.
What is he looking for? I watched him comb the contents with engrossed glances page after page. His eyes shifted in the sockets like a laser scanner. His lips pursed leaving a crease by the left corner. Then in a flash, his jaw tightened.
He’s found something. I quickly glimpsed to the page. The caption read “The AohhoA Seekers of the Enlightened.”
The rest of the page was empty. But in no time, scribbles of red lines emerged from the creases on the leaf like someone was jotting down a note.
