Conflicting Views ~ Part 4

    Chang made for a nearby wall and pushed at a hidden panel, which slid aside to reveal an alcove holding within its confines a large, shining octagonal artifact. To William’s fascination the artifact seemed to emit a golden glow, and actually floated in mid-air in the alcove, spinning around and around on its own. Chang seized the shining disk with both hands and ran back to William.

      “The fruit of my researches, honored guest!” said Chang with obvious pleasure as he proudly presented the mysterious object to William. William took the exquisitely crafted artifact and turned it about in his hands while studying it carefully; he could not be sure if he felt a tingling sensation in his fingers as his eyes surveyed the curious, unfamiliar symbols engraved in its rim and he found his own face returning his gaze from the flawlessly polished surface.

      “This… appears to be some sort of mirror…” commented William.

      “It’s no ordinary mirror, sir,” whispered Chang with excitement, lifting a finger. “All light reflected from this Bronze Mirror of the Eight Precious Things is gathered into a radiant shaft of energy, and endowed by the mystic glyphs with a purifying power which renders the densest bodies of Aether clear and transparent in a matter of moments. Here,” continued Chang as he adjusted the mirror in the crusader’s hands, “let it catch the daylight and shine it at the bowl of murk, and behold the miracle for yourself.”

      William nearly dropped the mirror with shock as a column of light emerged from its surface to the accompaniment of a dull hum, its impact upon the vessel and its contents flooding the entire chamber with such an excess of light he was forced to squint. Dust motes caught in the beam glittered like countless tiny stars, and as far as the dazzling display would allow him he saw before his own eyes the filth in the bowl slowly growing clearer and clearer…

      “L-Lightbringer…” gasped William, recalling that legendary relic forged by the mightiest and most pious of all crusaders in the Holy Fraternity, by whose utter purity of heart alone could the fire of the All-Father’s righteous wrath be invoked and contained safely at all within a mere material implement, to be wielded as a weapon of the greatest potency against all evil.

      Presently Chang motioned to William to lower the mirror, and as he did so the ray of energy disappeared while the light in the chamber subsided again to a mild glow. And before him was now a bowl of crystalline water, a clearly visible pearl submerged in it. Curious if the bowl would be hot to the touch, William walked to it and laid his fingers on it briefly; the glass was not even warm.

      “You have just seen for yourself — it works!” exclaimed Chang. “Truly it has been said that Heaven never betrays one who is wholeheartedly dedicated to a worthy cause. Imagine if the same effect could be visited upon, say, the ch’i — excuse me, the constituent Aether of an evil being; then that being would clearly see its unity with all of life, and would renounce its evil ways forever! Yes, I believe…”

      William handed the mirror back to Chang. “I presume the Lightbringer is known to you, Mr. Chang?” interrupted William. “The effects produced by this artifact are highly reminiscent of that weapon.”

      “Yes, Lightbringer!” nodded Chang, shifting his attention suddenly to the new topic with obvious verve. “One would be extremely ignorant not to have heard of that legendary weapon of the crusaders. Was it owing to the dazzling effulgence of this mirror’s power that Lightbringer came to your mind? Ha, ha, ha! To tell you the truth, the mystical principles employed in the workings of the Bronze Mirror of the Eight Precious Things are based in no small measure on those of the Lightbringer, on which I’ve spent many a year of research!”

      William’s eyes went wide with shock and anger; he was far from sharing the alchemist’s enthusiasm upon hearing these blasphemous words. To think that any mortal would have the presumptuousness and audacity to treat the Lightbringer, the very embodiment of the All-Father’s Divine Wrath, as a mere object of research!

      Yet even as the crusader felt his patience fraying, Chang prattled on in blessed ignorance of what was on his guest’s mind. “It mainly has to do with the nature of light,” continued the alchemist, gazing into space and evidently lost in his thoughts. “In its common state, light — which in truth is yet again a highly subtle form of Aether — actually comprises countless tiny particles, which fly about hither and thither as would a crowd of mutually disinterested people walking about in a marketplace. Here the story gets interesting. As far as I could ascertain, the Lightbringer works in this way: it absorbs light, the countless particles of light, and then redirects them and sends them forth, so they now behave as a battalion of warriors marching forward in perfect unison, with one mind and one direction. In other words, this mystical device could be said to remind the light particles of their shared unity, to awaken them to their essential oneness, so that they would behave accordingly, recalling that all of Aether is alive. The question that came to my mind was: if the Lightbringer could exert such an effect upon the light particles it absorbs, could it not do the same for any body of Aether upon which it directs the re-emitted light? Well…”

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"Conflicting Views ~ Part 5" 

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"Conflicting Views ~ Part 1"