The Crown & The Key

“Come on! It will be fun!” My stomach dropped at the phrase. I knew I should have taken the direct way home, instead of hiking through the middle of… of… Hang on. Lemme check my map. All this area should be covered in ice sheets at least a half mile thick. Not in verdant grasses and carpeted in a multitude of tiny flowers. Well, at least this wilderness is still open to the public. All fun and games until somebody gets hurt right?

Well, we’re three days hike away from the known world. So far, it’s been pleasant days and pleasant nights. We have food stuffs for another seven days, and rifles, and knives, and… okay… lemme shut up and enjoy myself.

“Wow!” I’m trying so hard not to worry at the exclamation. “Look at this cave!” I catch up with my three fellow hikers at the crest of a hill. We are overlooking a valley, with a steep mountain rising on the far side. At the trough of the valley, is a cave into the mountain. A thin stream of water flows from the cave.

The cave’s structure bugs me. It’s round like a lavatube, but this area doesn’t have the volcanic history to support it. It’s been covered in ice longer than humans have thrown rocks at each other, yet it looks too round to have been formed naturally. The icesheet that covered this area should have scraped the valley and lower mountain sides down to the granite. Yet here is several feet of topsoil. Like the ice was never here.

“Hey! You gonna stand there and scowl all day, or are you coming?” Huh? Oh, bloody hell, they’ve already charged down the hill in the direction of the cave.

“Yea, coming, just looking for where we can set up camp tonight! I’d rather not find out if we’re in avalanche reach the hard way, you know!” It’s green and slightly chilly in the valley. At the summit are layers and layers of snow and ice, holding on with a tentative grip despite the warming climate. The cave is squarely in an avalanche field.

Aww, fuck it. “I’m coming!” Let’s go get this done and over with. It’s a cave. That’s been sealed for a long ass time. It has not been explored or mapped yet. Whatever could go wrong? I’m so going to regret this, aren’t I.

The cave starts out about 10 feet in diameter. But as we continue going deeper, the cave starts to widen. The thin stream of water continues to flow past us, dreadfully chilly. One of my companions dares to taste it. “Sweet! It tastes sweet! Like there’s no minerals in it.” There goes my ‘Oh Shit’ alarm again.

“Hey, footprints. We’re not the first in here.” I don’t know if to sigh in relief or be concerned. Our lanterns reveal several layers of footprints, all overlapping each other. Some folk have been in and out this cave multiple times in recent history. The impression of Doc Marten soles is unmistakable.

The cave widens out as we follow the footprints. The thin stream is still in the middle of the gently sloping floor. We’re along the wall of the cave though. Prudent. If a sudden flood were to come through, we’d have a better chance along the wall than in the floodpath.

Lights, up ahead. Along with the sounds of some mild swearing. The path takes a sudden turn to the right, while the stream juts to the left. No longer steadily climbing, we come to a high point in the path and stop in collective awe.

There is an underground lake here. It is massive. The water is nearly completely still, reflecting the darkness of the cave, and the object that sits in the middle of the lake. The underground lake is not the source of our shock. It is the object in the lake.

There is a palace in the middle of the lake. One part fortress, one part mansion, many parts of splendor. It is lit up from within, yet we didn’t see it until we were at the lake itself. We stared at it in silence.

More mild swearing interrupted our discovery. Further along the underground lake shore, was the source of the swearing and the footprints. Two people were struggling with a rope that fell often into the water. One looks up and sees us. “Hello!” Her voice rang clearly across the space. “Could you help us?”

She is quickly shushed by her male associate. “But they can help us!” Curious, and forgetting all danger now, we four made our way across the smooth shore. “We’re trying to tie this rope bridge, but it keeps slipping. We have one end secured at the palace already, but now the water has soaked the rope making it heavy!” Her associate just glares at us in suspicion.

Sure, why not? We drop our gear above the water line, and start heaving and pulling on the rope. It takes some concentrated effort, but we have the rope bridge secured and pulled taut above the water’s surface. The young woman thanks us profusely and is quick to explain why they are there.

There are many myths about this mountain, she explained. There is talk of an ancient city that predates the indigenous peoples, hidden inside the mountain. Inside the city, the pre-human civilization has left information and knowledge for humans to learn and prosper from. Most everyone said this was an obvious myth that is more the tales of a hallucinating story maker than a real place.

She points out, many said the same about the city of Troy as well.

“Well? Does this look like a myth to you?” She points toward the palace. For an folk that considered a tribe of 100 people to be a large tribe, a building that could hold 300 people certainly counts as a city. Troy is real and documented. The City in the Mountain is real too, now.

The fellow she’s working for, doesn’t like to give out his name because he’s been lambasted for believing in myths and such. The black sheep of the archeological community, he had been working in secret, lest a more popular researcher scoop him. This will be his moment of triumph!

Heh. I can understand that. He wasn’t giving names, and I wasn’t asking for any. When he saw that the four of us were just random explorers, he asked if we would like to accompany him into the palace. Perhaps we will be the first humans since the myth was made to step foot inside. We could be famous!

Hmm, he went from ‘Stay Away’, to ‘Please, Come In’, far too quickly for my tastes. I’ll have to keep an eye on him. Is he using us as trap detectors?

Sure enough, he insists that the more able bodied of us cross the bridge first. Reluctantly, I follow along. The six of us step off the rope bridge onto a material that looked made of stone, but sounded made of metal. Our weight triggered a hidden switch, and the doors of the palace opened.

We entered together, ready to grab each other and run if necessary. It is beautiful. Gold trimmed pillars and statues with gemstone eyes are everywhere. Two of my companions spy that at once and discuss if they can be removed. The assistant and my third companion remark about the literary level of the people that made this edifice. The walls are covered in ordered scribbles and symbols. None of us can read it, however. And there are no Rosetta Stones with comparable known inscriptions to give us clues.

But what caught my eye, was where the perfection of the halls had been marred. Strange stains were on the wall at seemingly random intervals. They were all waist high or lower. They reminded me of blood smears. There were chips in the walls and at (locked) doors. A hanging cloth was out of place. Books were on the floor. I had the sense the palace had been abandoned in a hurry, along with faint signs of battle.

The researcher ignored all the splendor around us. He continued straight into the heart of the palace. Three sets of doors followed the Great Doors of the entrance. Each set was triggered by a weight standing before the doors for a few seconds. Once opened, the doors stayed open.

Finally, his face relaxed, and he allowed himself to smile in triumph. The last set of doors opened to a large interior room. The heart of the palace.  A great library. The main hall was a circular room, four stories tall, lined with bookshelves all the way to the ceiling. All the books were written in the unknown language. Hanging from the ceiling was an orrery. The mechanisms still worked as the orrery was showing the correct positions of the planets.

On seeing the books, all of my caution and concern was forgotten. Given enough source material, any puzzle can be worked out. If the source material covers a large number of subjects, the puzzle can be worked out easier. After all, the Enigma cipher of World War II was broken because everything was encrypted. Including the weather. Here, was a central repository of everything. All it will take to start deciphering the language was one image of something recognizable by modern humans. I looked up at the orrery. The planets were labeled, and recognizable. I almost started crying in happiness.

“These people died out several ages before our ancestors stopped throwing rocks and started building with them.” The chatty assistant explained when she saw the splendor reflecting off my face. “It is only through the thinnest of myths we were able to find the right cave! But look, all the knowledge of these people! Just waiting here! All we need is the Key and the language will be unlocked!” Wait, there is more to the myth?

The researcher barges forward, ignoring the books and the study desks and the paintings and the research statues. He barks at us to ignore all except for one particular thing. “I’m looking for a gold crown in a glass case! Do not open the case! All else is yours to take!” The researcher’s request puzzled me. Take items? Take anything? From here? No… This place should be properly explored by archaeologists, not curious lay folk such as us. Anything we take or move out of place would undermine future work. Nothing must be touched! Nothing!

“Come to me, you pretty, pretty jewels!” One of my companions runs back to the hall with the gemstone embedded statues. I yell after her to touch nothing, but she is already two sets of doors without the Grand Library.

Doesn’t anyone here know about all the other myths associated with treasure troves of knowledge? There are always great physical treasures associated with it. And those great physical treasures are always great life rending traps. My concern rushes back, along with a headache. My other two companions also leave me, and the researcher finds a staircase and heads upward.

The assistant looks around nervously. “Hey. I, um, I think I know where the Key would be. Would you come with me. You seem to know more about myths than you let on, I mean, the way you’re so careful not to touch anything.”

“I’ll come with you, but you better tell me the myth you’re working from. I have a bad feeling about all this.”

“So the part of the myth that hasn’t changed between who is telling it and where they are from is this. There is a storehouse of knowledge, and a great power associated with it. The knowledge will be unlocked by a Key. The power is given to whoever gets the Crown. The Key is in the form of an engraved crystal. The Crown is a literal crown. But you can only choose one. To remove either one from its position will lock the other away.” With all the weight triggered doors, I can now see this happening.

We descend into the lower levels of the palace. “Your boss is choosing the Crown over the Key?” She nods. “I don’t like that. I don’t like that one bit. Power is fleeting. Knowledge can be saved for later. And who built this place? And why are there signs of fighting, and bleeding, in the outer halls? And…”

“I know. I know. The Key would salvage his reputation, and establish him as the archeologist that he is. He hasn’t told me everything about the myths, however.” Oh gee, the more I hear about this, the more my instinct tells me to get out now.

We enter a long hallway, that seems to end abruptly with no exits. The wall has a strange blue glow to it. I place my hand against a side wall to steady myself while I lean forward to inspect it. The wall moves under my pressure. The assistant and I stand back as a chamber is revealed.

Inside the chamber, is a squared pedestal made of the same material as the floor. Waist high, with a circular marking on the top, it is adorned with curliques and abstract decorations. What has our attention is the object floating about a foot above the pedestal. An oblong, faceted, blue crystal is slowly turning in midair. Each facet has a symbol carved into it. It glows with an attending barely heard hum. The hum calms me. The glow beckons me. The crystal seems to be telling me to take it.

The assistant jerks from her enrapturement with a shout. “The Key! The Key! It is just like the myth says! I must tell him! We found it! Don’t touch it okay! Even if you don’t remove it, just touching it will make the choice! Stand right here, I’ll be right back!” She rushes back upstairs to find the researcher and tell him of the Key.

I back away from the chamber, thinking furiously of the possible scenarios that could now play out. I really don’t want the researcher to gain the Crown. Considering what type of technology is at play, just with the display of the Key, makes me very concerned. I note, as I stare at the Key, it seems to be talking to me. The symbols, which before, I did not understand, start to make sense to me. That one is astronomy. And that one is biology. And that one is for language. How do I know this?

Startled, I back up further, and neglect to notice I am now leaning against the far wall. The pressure of my weight remains stationery for too long and I trigger another door’s sensor. A hidden chamber opens behind me, and I fall backward. Another squared pedestal. This one holding a gold crown under a glass case. I get a bad feeling. The feeling that says I should leave now.

Of course, the researcher and the assistant run down the hallway just in time to see me fall into the second chamber. Where before he was complaining furiously that he didn’t care about finding the Key, now he is ecstatic we have found the Crown.

He steps over me to enter the Crown’s chamber, almost stepping on me in his eagerness. “You found the crown! Excellent! Take whatever treasures you wish. I don’t care. I have all I need now.” The assistant helps me up, looking at her employer in askance.

“But… the Key!” She waves towards the floating crystal. “It can unlock the mechanisms of the palace! Including the learning machines! We can learn the contents of the Grand Library! We can learn how to create our own Powers!”

I grab the assistant and pull her aside. Now the various threads of the myth start to make a tapestry to me. “Make Powers? Like a God Maker?” She bites her lip, knowing she has said too much. “Oh, for fuck’s sake! This is the Citadel of the God Makers?” She nods.

My companions have caught up with us, each hungry for more of whatever they have already found. I catch them before they get to the chambers. “We need to leave, now. Mr. ‘Lust For Power’ over there is about to set off some bad shit.”, I whisper to them. Two of my friends look at me and note the seriousness in my face. They nod in agreement. Their pockets are empty. The third clinks a little as she walks.

I shake the clinking jacket. “Chica, you stole shit? You really pried the gems out? The fuck! These are relics!” She wrinkled her face at me and asked who was here to challenge us. The researcher yelled for us to help him remove the heavy glass case. It’s too heavy for him to remove by himself. I shout at him, “You know, the Key isn’t barred. Take that first!”. He swears more expletives at my uselessness. Only now do I see the glow coming from the wall connecting the two chambers, increasing in brightness.

The glow suddenly flares, blinding us all. The others only saw a flash. I saw a series of lines and patterns that made no sense to me at first. As the afterimage faded, I found I had a new, deep, instinctual understanding of them.

It was a warning. Only one of the two items can be removed. If we chose the Key, the knowledge of the Grand Library would be unlocked. We would not be able to remove anything, but we could remain and learn as much as we could to take with us, either in memorized knowledge, or notes written by our own hands. But once we left, the palace would be closed to us forever.

If we chose the Crown, the hidden golems would rise up to serve the crown’s wearer. But only one command can be issued to the golems. The last image was the location of the golems. They were holding the palace up from the bottom of the lakebed. If they moved, the palace would sink.

I feel myself being shaken back to awareness by the assistant. “You saw! You saw! What did the palace show you? Please, you must tell me!” The assistant was eager to know. I look past her, and see my rogue companion helping the researcher push the heavy glass case off the pedestal. They almost have it clear enough for the researcher to seize the Crown.

I scream at the assistant, “Get the Key, quick! Before he gets the Crown! The Crown is a trap!”. She races to the Key chamber, but the doors slam shut in her face. Beside us, the researcher’s triumphant cry chills me.

I don’t turn to look. I grab my two friends that stayed in the hall with me and start running. I explain as I bolt, “If he wears the Crown, he sinks the palace! Leave him to his hubris! Get the hell out!”. My two friends need no other words to convince them. Behind us, I hear the assistant apologizing to the researcher for abandoning him, followed by her footsteps.

As we race out, I see the damage my third companion wrought in her effort to fill her pockets. Smashed statues. Broken porcelain. Jewels pried from decorative sockets. Each destroyed item was knowledge lost. Art is a form of knowledge after all. Perhaps the most sacred form of knowledge there is. I’m angry at the destruction. But I can’t stop to mourn.

A companion noticed the drop in our number. “Aren’t we missing someone?” Yea, we are. But I say nothing. He grabs me and pulls me to a stop. “We have to go back and get her!” We are stopped at the entrance to the Grand Library. All the doors are open. We can see the palace entrance and the rope bridge beyond.

“Where are you scared children going?” The researcher and my third companion have caught up to us. Both are out of breath from running. He holds up the crown. “I will show you, there is nothing to be afraid of. Once I am recognized as Master, all else will be unlocked!”

“The golems holding up the palace are controlled by the Crown! You’ll sink everything! Including yourself! At least get to the shore first!” I don’t wait for his rebuttal. I start making for the exit. The three that ran with me take the clue and run.

“Hey, um.” My third companion, the thief, has weighed herself down with peeled gold leaf, and loose cracked gems. “When you say all, you mean the other jewels and gold stuff, right? So there’s more treasure here to take?” The third companion is struggling to keep her stuffed pockets from bursting, and is not able to follow me quickly without losing most of her hoard.

The researcher looks at her in obvious disgust. He answers derisively, “Yes, that too if you want it.”. She doesn’t catch the tone, instead she laughs with glee.

He dons the Crown. Nothing happens. “Golems! Arise!” His voice echoes in the Grand Library, but nothing else happens. I wonder if my panic was for nought when I feel a low trembling under my feet.

I barely pass the outer doors when the palace suddenly lurches backward and down. The level floor is now at a 30 degree incline. It bobs back up somewhat, to about a 15 degree incline. In the distance I hear glass breaking followed by the rush of water.

The assistant and one of my companions is already on the shore. A second companion is at the palace’s end of the rope bridge waiting for me. He grabs my arm and tells me to hang on. He cut the rope bridge free of the palace and we fall into the water. He still has his grip on me with one arm, with his other he is holding on to the fallen rope. The assistant and the other escaped companion are pulling the rope towards them, and by doing do, pulling us to safety.

As the palace sinks, there are flashes of light illuminating the dark water. I see the golems as the flashes reveal them. They are massive. So huge, they had to have been created here in the cavern, as not even their hand is small enough to fit through the cave to the outside. As the palace sinks, the golems move to allow it to settle on the lake bottom, then they cover it, carefully, with themselves. It is entombed. Another flash comes from the palace, like the one from the wall, and I am overcome by the vision.

I see the Grand Library. Protective mechanisms have sealed it shut. The researcher and my former companion are still alive. They are bruised from the ride to the bottom of the underground lake. But alive.

He is trying to command the golems to raise the palace. The Crown is useless now. The glow of power from its gems have faded. He knows what has happened. He knew the myths better than anyone, but he refused to accept the Crown’s limitations. He knows now, he is entombed alive. He accepts his fate. He tosses the inert crown to the woman, who places it in her head at once.

“My turn? Golems! Raise the palace!” There is a rumbling sound, that I know to be the golems embracing the palace and burying it. “There! See. All better. All we have to do is open the doors and walk out!”

Before he can stop her, she unlocks the doors and opens them. The force of the incoming water throws her viciously against the askew tables. As he scrambles up the bookshelves, he screams obscenities at her. The water rises as fast as he can climb. He reaches the orrery hanging from the ceiling. He scrapes and claws at the top most point of the orrery’s curve, the glowing symbol of the sun. The vision fades with the water reaching his face, with his tears aiding in his drowning.

I wake up to a clear sky above me, warm grass under me, and several people around me. “Welcome back. We thought we lost you.” I sit up to find a formal expedition setting up camp. “Your companions told us what happened. We’ve been searching for the palace for centuries. Many said it was myth, but you’ve been there! We heard that madman had found a lead, and was trying to beat him to it. He destroys everything he touches you know. Your friends said he did make it there, but they won’t say what happened. Only that we won’t find him alive.”

“It’s gone.” The foreman looks at me oddly. I lick my lips and swallow my tears. “It’s gone. Sealed under the golems. Sealed under the water. Sealed in the collapsed cavern. And that is where it should stay. They gave us one last chance, and we blew it. To go after it again will cost more human lives. The price is too high. Leave it.”

The foreman laughed my warning away, saying I needed more recovery time, then I could help them by retracing my steps. I asked why the other survivors couldn’t. “They all said the same as you. Sure would love to know what happened in there. I’m not buying the Magic Crown answer.”

“Then I am of no help to you, either.” I got to my feet and started to look for my surviving companions, so we can go home. As I do, I find strange glowing blue lines everywhere I look. The same brightly vivid blue from the blue crystal Key. Most of it, I do not understand, but on a pebble here… on a tree there… I recognize the symbols by some nascent, deep instinct.

I catch up with the (former) assistant. She pulls me away from everyone. “Be careful what you say. The palace has changed us somehow. They know the myth is real. We may find ourselves watched.” I nod. “Go on with your life. Step carefully.”

I find my companions and we begin the hike back to civilization. At the crest of the first hill, I turn back to look at the valley for the last time.

I almost faint.

I see the outline of the palace, floating above the mountain that stands over the valley. There are no golems holding it up. It just floats there.

Somehow I know, the palace we were in, was a false one. A test. A gate. The true Grand Library is still intact. And waiting.

Maybe one day, I shall be allowed to enter.

“What are you looking at? Oh, I see.” Does he, really? “Regret is a bitch, but we have to move on.” No, he doesn’t.

We turn from the valley, and continue our way home. My path illuminated by swirls of ancient blue, by deep calls to instinct.

Make of that, what you may.