Now it was the future and there was a desperate fire in all the lands and destruction everwhere. In other places the rain just would not stop. The balance was not in balance and the whack was out by a country mile. Things that were, were no longer, and all the talismania (a talisman found in Tasmania) pointed to worse to come on the badometer.
The Guardians of, made a great meeting to discover the most puissant quest. It was decided to journey to the Control Centre of the Earth, wherein to be found were all the levers, meters, buttons and dials etc. There to consult the World Manual, check the troubleshooting section and follow the advice given, to pull the levers that might bring the earth back an even keel once more.
Discussion as to who should, was long. The Blue Knights needs must educate their child in all things together, and Sheba was exhaust with trials, Constance had hurt her foot, not serious but needed to rest it. So, it became Vivainne and the Sphinx who must go. Vivainne, the brains and she Sphinx as enforcer, sometimes the other way, as she Sphinx carried wisdom only didn’t bring it out often and preferred to remain aloof. Vivainne was a martial artist.
The Centre was located at the Centre of the Earth, as the name implies, protected from the molten bits by a lake or underland sea which must be traversed. They had to consult the diary of their lost uncle/brother/relative/Alchemist read backwards in Latin hidden in the sagas of Snorri Snorrason, who had made the journey earlier and never returned, but sent his diary back by courier in the hope that it would be transmuted into a series, streamed online.
They tooled up with vast ropes, flashlights, which were much brighter than the ones that are available to the public, everlasting ration packs containing a chewy substance and some water bottles which fell into a ravine. Also, pyjamas. And clean clothes. And a book. And a compass. And some string. And a pen knife. Some other things. Their backpacks were enormous. They wanted a packhorse, but it wasn’t up for it.
They went on a boat trip from the north of Celtic coast upwards past the Windstriken Isles towards the Northern Light Bulbs. The sea was very bumpy so that the boat went up then down then up then down then up then… now I am feeling a little nauseous as they were.
They passed a walrus and a narwhal, three seals, a woman on a skateboard and several fleets of herring who asked if they had seen any whales. Very cold, tiny icicles hanging on moustaches, eye lashes and especially pretty on ropes.
In the land of Ice, I don’t know its name, they stayed at and inn where the local looked at up at them as if they had tree branches growing out of their heads and said things like, You don’t want to go there. Only in the language of the Land of Ice, with subtitles.
They set off, without forgetting anything, up the caldera of a volcano which was really a tunnel to Central Station. The sunlight on that day showed the entrance, they were nearly late.
It was like a tunnel and soon the temperature went up and up. They both said things like phew.
Will this take long? says she Sphinx, there are no stars here and I miss the open sky.
About six months I think, replied Vivainne, I estimated on the calculator app of my portable device that it is many a mile that we need to go. So, buckle up and we shall prevail.
Then they saw a light at the end of that particular tunnel. What can it be? Says Vivainne, Maybe, it is Uncle Caspar with his paraffin lamp contraption which always smashes, and the escaped fuel slowly moves across the rocky floor carrying its burden of flame, the camera, fascinated, follows.
Maybe, says the Sphinx.
At the end they came out a cliff cavern onto a beach of the undersea, around them were things that they had never seen before. Big things and old things.
Is this the way to the Central Station? Asked Sphinx
No and yet yes, replied Vivainne, the old book map explanation riddle says we must cross the undersea on a rift.
Do you mean a raft? No, it says here,in backwards Latin, a rift.
I’ll see if I can find a rift. They wander along the beach.
The Guardians of the Cave 