Mars Underneath The Sceptre of Eternity

Tomb of The Eagle Guards

The blue smoke had some mysterious power; Amerik thought. It had reduced fatigue and giving him an unnatural strength. However, its impact was quite different on his two other teammates. Both Blazerrick and Zephyr were sweating; facing a breathing problem and their eyes turned into red. Neo Martes people already had pale reddish eyes; but now Blazerrick and Zephyr's eyes were looking like pomegranates.

"We need to find out an alternative way of reaching the catacomb." Zephyr told. He was gasping badly for breath. Blazerrick was in no mood to converse with him. He remained silent.

"The other part is rugged and dangerous one." Amerik tried to say.

"Brother, we should not waste our time here; the alien has supernatural power but we don't. Let's try another way." Blazerrick forced his brother to leave Amerik alone in the midst of the mysterious blue smoke.

After their departure, Amerik again felt lonely; Blazerrick was a little hot headed, but Zephyr was a level-headed young man. He told many things about Terra Aquillaan and its people. While climbing up the hill, Amerik was recalling Zephyr's words. Really, he had spent a decade in the kingdom of Terra Aquillaan without knowing the basic things about the land. His owner Eyeball and his men hardly treated him as a human being. They just ordered him to do things; and the rest of the time he spent alone in the garden. He understood seasonal changes of weather by watching rainfall in the autumn; snowfall in the winter; dust storm in the summer and smells of flower blossom in the spring. Seasons lasted here for more than six months, but both winter and summer were mild due to the presence of the Scarlet Sea. Oligarch Eyeball provided him food, clothing and basic necessities only, nothing more than that. None of his servants befriended him or bothered to ask him beyond his daily tasks.

The cave was situated on the top of the hill and the cave had connections with other cave chambers. According to Zephyr; this catacomb was dedicated to the departed souls of the former Eagle Guards and, thus, it was designed in a special way. The cave has two main entrances and two hidden passages; but all were heavily guarded by spells and magic. Contestants had to pay tribute to their predecessors and lit their torches from the Lamp of Eternity which never extinguished.

After crossing hundred rock-cut stairs; Amerik found himself within a closed space bounded by two high stairwells; this portion was not nature-made, but man-made. He was no more being able to see downhill. The stairwell was well lit; torches with blue flames were burning on the both sides at regular intervals. Bluish smoke had covered all over the space; but he was not feeling uncomfortable. According to Zephyr; this main entranceway of the tomb had thousand steps; but the passage was well maintained and cleaned. This way was used by regular visitors even the King, who visited here occasionally to pay tribute to the great fighters of the Eagle Guards.

Amerik was not feeling exhausted anymore; the bluish smoke was a blessing to him. He again remembered Zephyr's words that the contestants were supposed to finish the contest before the Court Hour. Initially, he could not understand what was the Court Hour; Zephyr explained him; the Grand Observatory of Terra Aquillaan had divided an entire day into twelve hours and these twelve hours were measured with the help of the Sun, Moon and other stars. Amerik realised that every Martian Hour equalled to two Earth Hours. They had no concept of clock; Zephyr showed him an Hourglass full of sand; he proudly informed him that his father had gifted him the sand-hourglass on his last birthday.

However, Amerik had no hourglass to see the times; he had no intention of looking at the sky to see the peculiar Martian moon, which every day rises from the west and sets in the east. Here people called it Grey Moon because of its colour; but Earthmen called it Phobos. He did not wish to see the Blue dot or Earth in the sky; his home planet always made him feel sorry for his old parents and younger siblings; but he was still here only because of Volga. After winning this competition, he would request the King to find out Volga and together they would cross the Terra Tenebris again. He hoped that the Earth people still retained their colony in the Smaller Tharsis range.