By Opposing, End Them

Chapter VII

     I sat in silence for a long time, absorbing Demetrius' story.

     "At the auditorium last night," I eventually said, "the audience made a strange sign." I held up my right hand, demonstrating it. The three others recoiled. "What does it mean?"

     "That is Ravmir's salute," Demetrius said. "It is said that he was missing his index finger on his right hand. The gesture commemorates that."

     I nodded. My stomach suddenly gave out a large groan. I realized that I had still not eaten yet.

     Demetrius noticed this. He stood up, smiling brightly. "Why, you must be starving, Jack! Andronicus, give him some porridge." Andronicus went into the kitchen and opened one of the pots on the stove. He dished out some gray sludge into a bowl and gave it to me. I dug in hungrily. It tasted exactly like how it looked, but I was too hungry to care. I would have happily eaten my own shoes. I finished the bowl and handed it back to Andronicus, quite satisfied. Whatever I had just eaten, it was almost magical. I leaned back contentedly and looked at Demetrius.

     "How is it that you know so much about history?" I asked. He chuckled.

     "I was a student of history before the storming of Omnimundi," he said. "I spent many years studying biographies and analyzing folklore. Andronicus here was an engineer, and a brilliant one at that," he said, gesturing towards Andronicus. He blushed in modesty.

     "Well, I did make a few things," he said.

     "Nonsense! Jack, this man has invented a number of brilliant machines!" Suddenly his face fell. "But even an infinite number of brilliant inventors could not have prevented what happened at Omnimundi," he added quietly. He turned away from me and sat down in his chair.

     "After we came here, I began to search through my books, looking for a way to beat those bastards once and for all," he said. "A few years ago I stumbled on a passing reference to a place of great power. I followed this trail to a place the ancients called Fort Knox. The place had been plundered of its gold long before, but a few of the vaults, I found, had been filled with documents. Andronicus and I forced open these vaults to find that they were deteriorated beyond legibility. All I could find was this one scrap of paper."

     He held up the scrap to the light. It was small, very small. "All it says is 'fifty-one'. Nothing else." He sat in silence for a while. Suddenly he turned to me, a hopeful expression on his face. "Does the number fifty-one mean anything to you?"

     I shook my head. "I'm sorry," I said quietly. His face fell.

     "Well, I suppose we should all be heading to bed now," he said. I looked out the front window. It was nighttime already.

     "Jack, you can have my bed. I'll sleep on the couch tonight," Demetrius added, getting up.

     I stood up to protest. "No, really, Papa D, I don't want to inconvenience you-"

     "Nonsense!" Demetrius interrupted. "It's the least we can do."

     I gave in. "Where's your bedroom, then?"

     "Up those stairs, to your right," he said, gesturing towards a small flight of stairs. I picked up my fedora and headed up the stairs. I turned back to wish everyone good night. They wished me good night as well as they headed off to their own beds. Aurelia came up the stairs and squeezed my hand.

     "Sweet dreams," she said. I smiled at her, and she went into her bedroom. I turned and went into Demetrius' room.

     The walls of his room were lined with bookshelves, each packed with books. Some were more recent, but many were very old. In the middle of the room was a large bed, and on the other side of the bed was a small dresser. I put my hat and coat on the dresser, kicked off my shoes, took off my suit coat, pants, tie, and shirt, and fell onto the bed. Overcome by exhaustion, I fell asleep.