SWNOVELS Chapter 14: Two Crystals
Klanor studied the words in the old book, which rightfully belonged to Rynah (willed to her by Marlow) and he had stolen from her, before him, his fingers turning the delicate pages, despite their manly size. Everyone had thought him a fool whenever he chose to delve into the ancient myths and propose his theory that the crystals were real. Let them watch me now, he thought to himself. He would destroy every last one of them. They did this to me. They brought it upon themselves. Klanor read through another stanza of text, hoping to decipher it.
He had managed to get all of the crystals, save one: the one on Junglar. How had Rynah managed it? He knew that she was never one to put much stock in the old stories. She believed in what she saw, not metaphors. He remembered the one time he told her about the crystals. Oh, how she had laughed.
Klanor wanted her to join him. He wanted her by his side. A pang of guilt for what he had done to her haunted him. He shoved it aside. She would never believe him, but he really did have feelings for her, the only one who ever looked at him with adoring eyes. But like the others, she scoffed at his notion of the crystals, so he wrote her off.
A field of rock hovering alone
Jagged as a sharp stone.
Pass beyond to a gold sphere
where treasure looms far and near.
On passing, anyone would have thought this nonsense, but Klanor learned that one had to read between the lines. Ancient stories were more symbolic than literal. He reread the lines to himself, pondering over each of the words and their hidden meanings.
It hit him. Asteroids. They often looked as though they just floated in space. He checked the charts to see if an asteroid field was nearby. Frowning, he noticed that 12 existed. Knowing he could never search all 12, Klanor narrowed the parameters to one containing a yellow planet. Only one remained. Perfect.
He strode from his quarters to the main deck of his ship. “Set a course for sector 10, point 15.”
“Course set, sir,” said the pilot.
“Get us there quickly,” ordered Klanor, “I do not want any surprises.”
“Yes, sir,” replied the pilot.
Klanor watched the window in front of him as stars breezed by. A satisfied smile filled his face. “This time, there is no stopping me,” he whispered to himself, but he did not notice Stein’s gaze from the shadows.