A Season of Clocks, Book 4: Oritha Stardust (Volume 3) by Philip Ejike

Author:Philip Ejike [Ejike, Philip]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-01-02T00:00:00+00:00

18

THE TOWER IN THE WEEDS, PART XVIII

“Talk about unexpected,” said Isolde. “The more I hear about Oritha, the thinner the aura of mystique surrounding them becomes. Honestly, if all they do when they come to Earth these days is just … just sit around and wait to be discovered by the first Lily Lollipop who comes their way…. I’m beginning to feel inadequate for not having met one yet.”

“I’ve met two,” said Cordelia. “Trust me, it’s nothing to be jealous of.”

“There are many people who would disagree with you,” said Chima.

“Who? Idiots?”

“No, Orithines.”

“So, in other words,” said Isolde, “idiots.”

“Xanthe was an Orithine,” Chima pointed out, “and she definitely wasn’t an idiot.”

“She was an Orithine?” said Cordelia. “Really? Why? Because of all those Seerish books she read?”

“Yes … and also because of how much she wanted the Second Enlightenment to come to pass.”

“Christ," said Isolde, “I didn’t picture Xanthe Wigbert-Cavendish as the genocidal type.”

“It wasn’t that Xanthe wanted billions of people to die,” said Chima. “She wanted … she wanted a better world. I guess that’s the best way to put it. She wanted a world without alcoholic, PTSD-riddled fathers and disparaging sisters. A world where she didn’t have to be a crossdressing eccentric to feel alive and satisfied. A world where everybody sought higher pursuits and was completely free from baser instincts. A lot of students at Cambridge liked that last point, which explains why that school—and Oxford—had a decent population of Orithines. They called themselves the Society of the Golden Dusk. Officially a dining club, but they spent most of their time compiling whatever information they could on the Oritha, and worshiping them, and preparing for the Second Enlightenment. Hardly any of them ever took the plunge and actually became Memory Seers, but they thought their ‘being enlightened’ would see them through to the New Age of Humanity.”

“So that’s where Xanthe was sneaking off to on Saturday nights?” said Cordelia. “To Golden Dusk meetings? Why didn’t she just say that at the beginning? It probably wouldn’t have been a big deal to a Memory Seer like Georgina.”

“It totally wouldn’t have been a big deal to a Memory Seer," said Chima. “If Golden Dusk meetings were where Xanthe had been going. But that wasn’t the case.”

“But you said Xanthe was going to take Georgina to meet an Oritha,” said Cordelia. “What better place for an Oritha to hang out than a Golden Dusk meeting? Right? I mean, if a bunch of people wanted to worship me, I’d want to be around them all the time.”

“I wouldn’t,” Isolde muttered. “First they’re worshiping you, then they’re building a bloody compound around you. Then: oh, look, it’s the police! Raid raid raid. Tear gas, bullets, flames. Then they bring a super high-level Spectralist or some other nonsense to finish you. Then they’ll probably barbecue and devour your remains in order to absorb your wisdom or powers or whatever. I don’t know about you two, but that definitely isn’t on my One Hundred Best Ways to Die list.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.