She twisted her head to see an elderly man in a long blue robe standing a few feet away. He studied her, probed her with his gaze.
“Who are you?” she asked.
He smiled and moved forward. “May I?” he asked, gesturing to the space beside her on the bench.
She slid as far to the left as she could to make room, and the man sat down.
“I am called Arcane.”
“I am India,” she replied.
He smiled again. “Yes, I know. I have heard much about you, daughter of Phillip Ashton.”
“You are...Pagorian?” she asked hesitantly.
He turned to look out over the waters. “I sense much turmoil in you, India. While many would be happy to see this great city, you value answers, the truth, much more.”
“I have so many questions,” she said wistfully.
“Then ask and I shall answer what I can.”
She looked at him in shock. Could it be that easy? Would the secrets of Pagoria unfold before her very eyes?
“What is this place?” she asked. “I mean why has no one ever found it? Why is it secret?”
He paused and stared at her as if pondering his words very carefully. “Tell me, India. Do you believe in the creator?”
She reared her head back in surprise. “You mean God?” How ironic that she be asked once again. First by Ridge, now by this man in Pagoria.
The man turned his gaze upward. “I suppose to you, yes, God. He has many names. Many faces. Many manifestations. He is many things to many people.”
He shifted around so that he faced her. “Let me tell you a story, India. How it all began. I think you will then understand the origins of Pagoria and why we lay hidden from the world.”
She nodded slowly, a mixture of fear and excitement building within her. Somehow she knew that what was to come would shake the foundations of her perceptions.
“Time is infinite,” he began. “It has always been. It will always be. What is perceived to be a beginning is merely the ending of something else. An ever revolving cycle.
“In a time long ago, the favored one sat on the right hand of God. He was given dominion over earth, over this city. Pagoria was the seat of all civilization. But the favored one rebelled. The son of the morning fell from grace and was cast from the city, taking one third of the light with him.”
India leaned forward unable to contain her excitement. “Lucifer. I knew it! You are speaking of Lucifer’s fall. I had thought it merely legend.”
Arcane continued on, his voice steady. “There was much sorrow in heaven that day. Tears fell from the sky. They covered the earth, bringing about great change. Those were tumultuous times. Where great beasts had once roamed the earth, the land was now barren. Cold. Uninviting. Man was forced backward, clumsy, made to hunt with only the tools of the earth. It was a slow progress, many years in the making.
“Then the Great One, with a wave of the hand, pushed back the veil of waters, reformed the great mountains which once spewed fire and rock. He filled the skies with wings and the waters with many fishes. He made the earth hospitable again. The mother and father of modern mankind were brought forth from the dust of the earth. Civilization sprung forth again.
“But here, in the bosom of Orion, we have quietly existed. Born of the almighty, loyal to Him. We were protected from the great waters, not once, but twice. We are as old as time, ageless and yet ancient.”
India stared at him in awe. “You speak as though you have lived it.”
Arcane smiled. “Indeed we have. Time is a complex thing. Here, it passes differently. What is an unfathomable amount of time to you is merely the passing of a season for us.”
“But that means...”
“It means that in the time you have been here, short though it is, many days have passed in your world.”
Her mouth formed an O. “Then my father has not waited long for my arrival at all.”
“Not long at all, India.”
