Visions Of The Past

: When The World Shook

She led us to the back of the statue and pointed to each of us where

we should remain. Then she took her place at right angles to us, as a

showman might do, and for a while stood immovable. Watching her face,

once more I saw it, and indeed all her body, informed with that strange

air of power, and noted that her eyes flashed and that her hair grew

even more brilliant than was common, as though some abnormal strength

we
e flowing through it and her. Presently she spoke, saying:



"I shall show you first our people in the day of their glory. Look in

front of you."



We looked and by degrees the vast space of the apse before us became

alive with forms. At first these were vague and shadowy, not to be

separated or distinguished. Then they became so real that until he was

reproved by a kick, Tommy growled at them and threatened to break out

into one of his peals of barking.



A wonderful scene appeared. There was a palace of white marble and in

front of it a great courtyard upon which the sun beat vividly. At the

foot of the steps of the palace, beneath a silken awning, sat a king

enthroned, a crown upon his head and wearing glorious robes. In his hand

was a jewelled sceptre. He was a noble-looking man of middle age and

about him were gathered the glittering officers of his court. Fair women

fanned him and to right and left, but a little behind, sat other fair

and jewelled women who, I suppose, were his wives or daughters.



"One of the Kings of the Children of Wisdom new-crowned, receives the

homage of the world," said Yva.



As she spoke there appeared, walking in front of the throne one by one,

other kings, for all were crowned and bore sceptres. At the foot of the

throne each of them kneeled and kissed the foot of him who sat thereon,

as he did so laying down his sceptre which at a sign he lifted again and

passed away. Of these kings there must have been quite fifty, men of all

colours and of various types, white men, black men, yellow men, red men.



Then came their ministers bearing gifts, apparently of gold and jewels,

which were piled on trays in front of the throne. I remember noting an

incident. An old fellow with a lame leg stumbled and upset his tray,

so that the contents rolled hither and thither. His attempts to recover

them were ludicrous and caused the monarch on the throne to relax from

his dignity and smile. I mention this to show that what we witnessed was

no set scene but apparently a living piece of the past. Had it been so

the absurdity of the bedizened old man tumbling down in the midst of the

gorgeous pageant would certainly have been omitted.



No, it must be life, real life, something that had happened, and the

same may be said of what followed. For instance, there was what we call

a review. Infantry marched, some of them armed with swords and spears,

though these I took to be an ornamental bodyguard, and others with tubes

like savage blowpipes of which I could not guess the use. There were no

cannon, but carriages came by loaded with bags that had spouts to

them. Probably these were charged with poisonous gases. There were some

cavalry also, mounted on a different stamp of horse from ours, thicker

set and nearer the ground, but with arched necks and fiery eyes and, I

should say, very strong. These again, I take it, were ornamental. Then

came other men upon a long machine, slung in pairs in armoured sacks,

out of which only their heads and arms projected. This machine, which

resembled an elongated bicycle, went by at a tremendous rate, though

whence its motive power came did not appear. It carried twenty pairs

of men, each of whom held in his hand some small but doubtless deadly

weapon, that in appearance resembled an orange. Other similar machines

which followed carried from forty to a hundred pairs of men.



The marvel of the piece, however, were the aircraft. These came by in

great numbers. Sometimes they flew in flocks like wild geese, sometimes

singly, sometimes in line and sometimes in ordered squadrons, with

outpost and officer ships and an exact distance kept between craft and

craft. None of them seemed to be very large or to carry more than

four or five men, but they were extraordinarily swift and as agile as

swallows. Moreover they flew as birds do by beating their wings, but

again we could not guess whence came their motive power.



The review vanished, and next appeared a scene of festivity in a huge,

illuminated hall. The Great King sat upon a dais and behind him was that

statue of Fate, or one very similar to it, beneath which we stood. Below

him in the hall were the feasters seated at long tables, clad in the

various costumes of their countries. He rose and, turning, knelt before

the statue of Fate. Indeed he prostrated himself thrice in prayer. Then

taking his seat again, he lifted a cup of wine and pledged that vast

company. They drank back to him and prostrated themselves before him as

he had done before the image of Fate. Only I noted that certain men clad

in sacerdotal garments not at all unlike those which are worn in the

Greek Church to-day, remained standing.



Now all this exhibition of terrestrial pomp faded. The next scene was

simple, that of the death-bed of this same king--we knew him by his

wizened features. There he lay, terribly old and dying. Physicians,

women, courtiers, all were there watching the end. The tableau vanished

and in place of it appeared that of the youthful successor amidst

cheering crowds, with joy breaking through the clouds of simulated grief

upon his face. It vanished also.



"Thus did great king succeed great king for ages upon ages," said Yva.

"There were eighty of them and the average of their reigns was 700

years. They ruled the earth as it was in those days. They gathered up

learning, they wielded power, their wealth was boundless. They nurtured

the arts, they discovered secrets. They had intercourse with the stars;

they were as gods. But like the gods they grew jealous. They and their

councillors became a race apart who alone had the secret of long life.

The rest of the world and the commonplace people about them suffered and

died. They of the Household of Wisdom lived on in pomp for generations

till the earth was mad with envy of them.



"Fewer and fewer grew the divine race of the Sons of Wisdom since

children are not given to the aged and to those of an ancient, outworn

blood. Then the World said:



"'They are great but they are not many; let us make an end of them by

numbers and take their place and power and drink of their Life-water,

that they will not give to us. If myriads of us perish by their arts,

what does it matter, since we are countless?' So the World made war upon

the Sons of Wisdom. See!"



Again a picture formed. The sky was full of aircraft which rained down

fire like flashes of lightning upon cities beneath. From these cities

leapt up other fires that destroyed the swift-travelling things above,

so that they fell in numbers like gnats burned by a lamp. Still more

and more of them came till the cities crumbled away and the flashes that

darted from them ceased to rush upwards. The Sons of Wisdom were driven

from the face of the earth.



Again the scene changed. Now it showed this subterranean hall in which

we stood. There was pomp here, yet it was but a shadow of that which

had been in the earlier days upon the face of the earth. Courtiers moved

about the palace and there were people in the radiant streets and the

houses, for most of them were occupied, but rarely did the vision show

children coming through their gates.



Of a sudden this scene shifted. Now we saw that same hall in which we

had visited Oro not an hour before. There he sat, yes, Oro himself,

upon the dais beneath the overhanging marble shell. Round him were some

ancient councillors. In the body of the hall on either side of the

dais were men in military array, guards without doubt though their only

weapon was a black rod not unlike a ruler, if indeed it were a weapon

and not a badge of office.





Yva, whose face had suddenly grown strange and fixed, began to detail

to us what was passing in this scene, in a curious monotone such as a

person might use who was repeating something learned by heart. This was

the substance of what she said:



"The case of the Sons of Wisdom is desperate. But few of them are left.

Like other men they need food which is hard to come by, since the foe

holds the upper earth and that which their doctors can make here in the

Shades does not satisfy them, even though they drink the Life-water.

They die and die. There comes an embassy from the High King of the

confederated Nations to talk of terms of peace. See, it enters."



As she spoke, up the hall advanced the embassy. At the head of it walked

a young man, tall, dark, handsome and commanding, whose aspect seemed in

some way to be familiar to me. He was richly clothed in a purple cloak

and wore upon his head a golden circlet that suggested royal rank.

Those who followed him were mostly old men who had the astute faces

of diplomatists, but a few seemed to be generals. Yva continued in her

monotonous voice:



"Comes the son of the King of the confederated Nations, the Prince who

will be king. He bows before the Lord Oro. He says 'Great and Ancient

Monarch of the divine blood, Heaven-born One, your strait, and that of

those who remain to you, is sore. Yet on behalf of the Nations I am sent

to offer terms of peace, but this I may only do in the presence of your

child who is your heiress and the Queen-to-be of the Sons of Wisdom.'"



Here, in the picture, Oro waved his hand and from behind the marble

shell appeared Yva herself, gloriously apparelled, wearing royal

ornaments and with her train held by waiting ladies. She bowed to the

Prince and his company and they bowed back to her. More, we saw a glance

of recognition pass between her and the Prince.



Now the real Yva by our side pointed to the shadow Yva of the vision or

the picture, whichever it might be called, a strange thing to see her

do, and went on:



"The daughter of the Lord Oro comes. The Prince of the Nations salutes

her. He says that the great war has endured for hundreds of years

between the Children of Wisdom fighting for absolute rule and the common

people of the earth fighting for liberty. In that war many millions of

the Sons of the Nations had perished, brought to their death by fearful

arts, by wizardries and by plagues sown among them by the Sons of

Wisdom. Yet they were winning, for the glorious cities of the Sons of

Wisdom were destroyed and those who remained of them were driven to

dwell in the caves of the earth where with all their strength and magic

they could not increase, but faded like flowers in the dark.



"The Lord Oro asks what are the terms of peace proposed by the Nations.

The Prince answers that they are these: That the Sons of Wisdom shall

teach all their wisdom to the wise men among the Nations. That they

shall give them to drink of the Life-water, so that their length of days

also may be increased. That they shall cease to destroy them by sickness

and their mastery of the forces which are hid in the womb of the world.

If they will do these things, then the Nations on their part will cease

from war, will rebuild the cities they have destroyed by means of their

flying ships that rain down death, and will agree that the Lord Oro and

his seed shall rule them for ever as the King of kings.



"The Lord Oro asks if that be all. The Prince answers that it is not

all. He says that when he dwelt a hostage at the court of the Sons of

Wisdom he and the divine Lady, the daughter of the Lord Oro, and his

only living child, learned to love each other. He demands, and the

Nations demand, that she shall be given to him to wife, that in a day to

come he may rule with her and their children after them.



"See!" went on Yva in her chanting, dreamy voice, "the Lord Oro asks his

daughter if this be true. She says," here the real Yva at my side turned

and looked me straight in the eyes, "that it is true; that she loves the

Prince of the Nations and that if she lives a million years she will wed

no other man, since she who is her father's slave in all else is

still the mistress of herself, as has ever been the right of her royal

mothers.



"See again! The Lord Oro, the divine King, the Ancient, grows wroth. He

says that it is enough and more than enough that the Barbarians

should ask to eat of the bread of hidden learning and to drink of the

Life-water of the Sons of Wisdom, gifts that were given to them of old

by Heaven whence they sprang in the beginning. But that one of them,

however highly placed, should dare to ask to mix his blood with that of

the divine Lady, the Heiress, the Queen of the Earth to be, and claim to

share her imperial throne that had been held by her pure race from age

to age, was an insult that could only be purged by death. Sooner would

he give his daughter in marriage to an ape than to a child of the

Barbarians who had worked on them so many woes and striven to break the

golden fetters of their rule.



"Look again!" continued Yva. "The Lord Oro, the divine, grows angrier

still" (which in truth he did, for never did I see such dreadful rage

as that which the picture revealed in him). "He warns, he threatens.

He says that hitherto out of gentle love and pity he has held his

hand; that he has strength at his command which will slay them, not by

millions in slow war, but by tens of millions at one blow; that will

blot them and their peoples from the face of earth and that will cause

the deep seas to roll where now their pleasant lands are fruitful in the

sun. They shrink before his fury; behold, their knees tremble because

they know that he has this power. He mocks them, does the Lord Oro.

He asks for their submission here and now, and that in the name of

the Nations they should take the great oath which may not be broken,

swearing to cease from war upon the Sons of Wisdom and to obey them

in all things to the ends of the earth. Some of the ambassadors would

yield. They look about them like wild things that are trapped. But

madness takes the Prince. He cries that the oath of an ape is of no

account, but that he will tear up the Children of Wisdom as an ape tears

leaves, and afterwards take the divine Lady to be his wife.



"Look on the Lord Oro!" continued the living Yva, "his wrath leaves him.

He grows cold and smiles. His daughter throws herself upon her knees and

pleads with him. He thrusts her away. She would spring to the side of

the Prince; he commands his councillors to hold her. She cries to the

Prince that she loves him and him only, and that in a day to come him

she will wed and no other. He thanks her, saying that as it is with her,

so it is with him, and that because of his love he fears nothing. She

swoons. The Lord Oro motions with his hand to the guard. They lift their

death-rods. Fire leaps from them. The Prince and his companions, all

save those who were afraid and would have sworn the oath, twist and

writhe. They turn black; they die. The Lord Oro commands those who are

left to enter their flying ships and bear to the Nations of the Earth

tidings of what befalls those who dare to defy and insult him; to warn

them also to eat and drink and be merry while they may, since for their

wickedness they are about to perish."





The scene faded and there followed another which really I cannot

describe. It represented some vast underground place and what appeared

to be a huge mountain of iron clothed in light, literally a thing

like an alp, rocking and spinning down a declivity, which farther on

separated into two branches because of a huge razor-edge precipice that

rose between. There in the middle of this vast space with the dazzling

mountain whirling towards him, stood Oro encased in some transparent

armour, as though to keep off heat, and with him his daughter who under

his direction was handling something in the rock behind her. Then there

was a blinding flash and everything vanished. All of this picture

passed so swiftly that we could not grasp its details; only a general

impression remained.



"The Lord Oro, using the strength that is in the world whereof he alone

has the secret, changes the world's balance causing that which was land

to become sea and that which was sea to become land," said Yva in her

chanting, unnatural voice.



Another scene of stupendous and changing awfulness. Countries were

sinking, cities crashing down, volcanoes were spouting fire; the end of

the earth seemed to be at hand. We could see human beings running to and

fro in thousands like ants. Then in huge waves hundreds and hundreds of

feet high, the ocean flowed in and all was troubled, yeasty sea.



"Oro carries out his threat to destroy the Nations who had rebelled

against him," said Yva. "Much of the world sinks beneath the waves, but

in place of it other lands arise above the waves, to be inhabited by the

seed of those who remain living in those portions of the Earth that the

deluge spared."



This horrible vision passed and was succeeded by one more, that of Oro

standing in the sepulchre of the cave by the side of the crystal coffin

which contained what appeared to be the body of his daughter. He gazed

at her, then drank some potion and laid himself down in the companion

coffin, that in which we had found him.





All vanished away and Yva, appearing to wake from some kind of trance,

smiled, and in her natural voice asked if we had seen enough.



"Quite," I answered in a tone that caused her to say:



"I wonder what you have seen, Humphrey. Myself I do not know, since it

is through me that you see at all and when you see I am in you who see."



"Indeed," I replied. "Well, I will tell you about it later."



"Thank you so much," exclaimed Bastin, recovering suddenly from his

amazement. "I have heard a great deal of these moving-picture shows

which are becoming so popular, but have always avoided attending them

because their influence on the young is supposed to be doubtful, and a

priest must set a good example to his congregation. Now I see that they

can have a distinct educational value, even if it is presented in the

form of romance."



"How is it done?" asked Bickley, almost fiercely.



"I do not altogether know," she answered. "This I do know, however, that

everything which has happened on this world can be seen from moment to

moment at some point in the depths of space, for thither the sun's light

takes it. There, too, it can be caught and thence in an instant returned

to earth again, to be reflected in the mirror of the present by those

who know how that mirror should be held. Ask me no more; one so wise as

you, O Bickley, can solve such problems for himself."



"If you don't mind, Lady Yva," said Bastin, "I think I should like to

get out of this place, interesting as it is. I have food to cook up

above and lots of things to attend to, especially as I understand I am

to come back here tomorrow. Would you mind showing me the way to that

lift or moving staircase?"



"Come," she said, smiling.



So we went past the image of Fate, out of the temple, down the vast and

lonely streets so unnaturally illuminated, to the place where we had

first found ourselves on arrival in the depths. There we stood.



A moment later and we were whirling up as we had whirled down. I suppose

that Yva came with us though I never saw her do so, and the odd thing

was that when we arrived in the sepulchre, she seemed already to be

standing there waiting to direct us.



"Really," remarked Bastin, "this is exactly like Maskelyne and Cook. Did

you ever see their performance, Bickley? If so, it must have given you

lots to explain for quite a long while."



"Jugglery never appealed to me, whether in London or in Orofena,"

replied Bickley in a sour voice as he extracted from his pocket an end

of candle to which he set light.



"What is jugglery?" asked Bastin, and they departed arguing, leaving me

alone with Yva in the sepulchre.



"What have I seen?" I asked her.



"I do not know, Humphrey. Everyone sees different things, but perhaps

something of the truth."



"I hope not, Yva, for amongst other things I seemed to see you swear

yourself to a man for ever."



"Yes, and this I did. What of it?"



"Only that it might be hard for another man."



"Yes, for another man it might be hard. You were once married, were you

not, Humphrey, to a wife who died?"



"Yes, I was married."



"And did you not swear to that wife that you would never look in love

upon another woman?"



"I did," I answered in a shamed voice. "But how do you know? I never

told you so."



"Oh! I know you and therefore guessed."



"Well, what of it, Yva?"



"Nothing, except that you must find your wife before you love again, and

before I love again I must find him whom I wish to be my husband."



"How can that happen," I asked, "when both are dead?"



"How did all that you have seen to-day in Nyo happen?" she replied,

laughing softly. "Perhaps you are very blind, Humphrey, or perhaps we

both are blind. If so, mayhap light will come to us. Meanwhile do not

be sad. Tomorrow I will meet you and you shall teach me--your English

tongue, Humphrey, and other things."



"Then let it be in the sunlight, Yva. I do not love those darksome halls

of Nyo that glow like something dead."



"It is fitting, for are they not dead?" she answered, with a little

laugh. "So be it. Bastin shall teach my father down below, since sun and

shade are the same to him who only thinks of his religion, and you shall

teach me up above."



"I am not so certain about Bastin and of what he thinks," I said

doubtfully. "Also will the Lord Oro permit you to come?"



"Yes, for in such matters I rule myself. Also," she added meaningly,

"he remembers my oath that I will wed no man--save one who is dead.

Now farewell a while and bid Bastin be here when the sun is three hours

high, not before or after."



Then I left her.



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