Priya Echo's Adventure - Part 22

THE END


THANK YOU FOR ALL READING MY BOOK.

I HOPE YOU ENJOYED READING IT AS MUCH AS I ENJOYED WRITING IT

DID YOU LIKE, “ECHO’S QUEST, BOOK 1 - AWAKENING?”

HERE IS A PREVIEW OF THE SEQUEL

“PRIYA ECHO’S ADVENTURE - BOOK 2 - ASCENSION WAR”

COMING SOON - BOOK 2 BONUS CHAPTER - CRYSTALLIZED APRICOT

Location: Echo Realm, Cyalola
Date: Second Age

“Please be careful. The living quarters still have a few traps which have not been removed as of yet” Crystalized Apricot informed the debonair couple touring the copious corridors of the maiden palace. They continued onwards, nodding silently in assent at her words, regarding the blithe wallpaper and furnishings that seemed as if placed somewhat out of time. At the close of the decade, the rising population in the Sky-Nest cities, most notably Omeinn forced the hard settlement of the archipelagos, where quaint farming villages had previously stood undisturbed. Threats from the hunters over time slowly diminished until they were a thing of the past. It dawned on the Actress that the palaces were obsolete. Apricot remembered the day they were gathered all together to hear the news. Filling the vacuum, yuppies with enough riches and prestige flocked for the new real estate. Passing a dining table, inconspicuous coasters laid haphazardly across a placemat. Flinching, saw-blades retracted from them, ready to leap into the air. Extending an arm out, the guide prevented the couple from closing their proximity to the table, pacifying the coasters. Luxury overspread the second quarter salon, which they wandered into for an intermission, and their guide stopped, crippled by its foreignness, feeling the phantoms of the maiden’s twirl about the room in fresh youthful abandon. “Oh man, she is really selling this, you had better step in before we get shafted” the wife whispered in her husband’s ear. “Yes, yes, this is all very well and good, but what real benefits does this property offer besides extensive living quarters? '' he asked, striving to bring her back on course. “It’s just … there's a lot of history here. Just over by these couches there was a long oval where me and my sisters would play cards. For that reason, you’ll never feel alone. To be honest it’s got more than you could possibly need, like the amenities here in the salon. If you pull this crank here, the chandelier will descend and give you a massage and back-scratch, and let’s say for example the wallpaper doesn’t suit your taste, you can simply walk over here to the corner and take hold of it” Apricot demonstrated, pulling the sheet from the wall like a magician pulling a tablecloth, leaving the paintings and other furnishings untouched. Felicitously, after pulling a dresser drawer and tucking the article in she was given a trinket by the furnishing in gratitude from a wooden compartment. “Most of the furnishings here will reciprocate” she added, upping the ante. To seal the deal, she took them to the second quarter walking balcony, where they parted to have a word alone. Remembrances of the other girls filled the recess of her mind … Nicoletta the Ornate One, Audrey Meadowsweet, Galatea of the Ten Velvet Roses, Finality Dulcie, Sybil Eater of Mint Jam … the company pouring glasses of lemonade on the porch, whittling clumps of lemon sculpture with caramel knives. Like a mirage she could see Galatea again, lifting aesthetic hand-weights to strengthen her appreciation of nature’s beauty. “We’ll take it!” the husband announced, breaking her concentration. The price was not unreasonable for the square footage and worth its weight in status. Apricot let the couple sign, so that Perennial Shed passed hands simply. He dashed a cursive mark so quick as to refute an opportunity for her to formulate an inner expression about it. But time was short, so she headed out to the village of Taken Ground on the island to prepare for the housewarming bash that would, without a doubt, draw a sprawling crowd of socialites. On the drum of her ear she felt the birdsong of the tide, the unmuted swell of the aviary ocean. It drew attention to the trees and grass by paralipsis, the sum of a wholesome green milieu flanking the village. Received by the caterers, she met with them a bit. They took her inside, where she scrutinized a vanilla cake in the shape of a house. For the middle course they prepared stuffed lungs. Chef Wellow named off the various creatures harvested from the laughing clouds overhanging the island. They had been testy enough to bite one of his assistants in the arm, but he was doing just fine. Escorting her to the next table, he introduced plates of wheat crackers dolloped with curd, a gilled meat-berry to garnish the top. Biting into one would deliver a pop of sweetened cranberry. Then she was shown soup bowls that would, upon receiving a helping of fruit peels heat up, forming a chowder. “This is fantastic! I think I’m ready for the sky-nesters to rush us” Apricot exclaimed. With the basic errand complete she departed to Swooshing Wind, their twin island’s bunker to grab a few odds and ends. Resolute movement through the halls declined until her crystalline hands began to sweat. Apricot felt herself shouldering the burden of history. This place too would soon face an equal solemn denouement. Phantoms troubled the visitor with nostalgia anent how easily and unthinkingly her sisters moved onto their counterparts in the adult order of things. Proliferation of Bliss slid down the railing of the stairs. Now she oversees the Railway Alliance as its baron, guiding the leisure industry. Every summer the cabin-ball trials are held aboard the train of the syndicate’s choosing. The maiden saw the girls chase each other with volumes pilfered from the library balanced on their heads, and on the bottom step was Galatea, older by only a year, glancing lazily through a picture book. If anyone got out of line, she would step in, and form a circle from the growth of ten velvet roses to calm their strife. Later she organized the purge against the hunters, granting rank to anyone who served in that capacity until the Free Audience was formed as the replacement governing body of Cyalola. Audrey Meadowsweet founded The Bureau of Harnessing Fools for Useful Purposes. Jade Versatility invented the machinery to harness the color of peacock feathers for energy in the bowels of the sky-nests, and the inventions that measure the transformative properties of peacocks for the Department of Metamorphic Census. Almond Memory runs the University Olivia. Even Sybil chaired the Office of Jam. “But I have nothing” Apricot thought, feeling the taste of uncomfortable fact. Residue in the form of mist stained the carpet as the phantoms toppled over. Mercifully, that would not affect the value. “Bread is only bread for a short time, until it moves through time, and by that, I mean the anus” he said, giving a paltry excuse for his actions. NEE Phycia robbed the plate of its contents, a slice of the rich vanilla cake that Apricot earmarked for herself. As he wiped the frosting off his lip all semblance of composure fell from her face. A thirty something yuppie from Doka sky-nest, he was more than willing to bait another for simple pleasure. The anxious host drew a step closer to the red blazer in retaliation, “Nee, I’m very happy that you're enjoying yourself, but why don’t you go take a lap?”. “Did you want me to circulate? actually, I had the liberty of doing that already. I spoke briefly to nearly every one of the sisters'' he articulated, assuming a more serious posture. “They are more talkative than me” she hinted brusquely. The buyers were ensconced on the corner sofa looking drained from so many mochi macaroons. “For instance, Dulcie let me know how you gave an equal percentage to each of them for the sale of the house, 1200 stripes is what she said. The others told me the same'' the gossiper tallied, pointing to her sister. “Of … course. It belonged to all of us” the maiden echoed in a way that marked verbally how self-evident the remark truly was. Nee would not give up the flow of banter. He buttoned the blazer in defense before continuing onwards, “then I ran into the couple who told me rather plainly about the selling price. I did the math … Apricot, that leaves a surplus of twenty percent. What did you do with those stripes? Are you keeping them for yourself?”. “Sir, if you must know I’m giving everything to charity” she stated heartily, snapping back with care by the precision in his words. “And what is their name?” he followed. Apricot suddenly felt a prick of solitude, taking in by contrast the salon and its daedalian opulence with her eyes. Then the blur of the socialite was exchanged once again with the wall and its subtle weavings, the unspoken quid pro quo of consciousness. The maiden took a step back, breaking the bond, “It’s not important. Maybe I should go see how someone else is faring”. “Apricot, stop. I want to know the name” he doubled, the boyishness of his face resolving into a hateful stare. Grabbing him by the arm, they passed by a ravel of fuddled red-cheeked partiers into a quiet corridor. “Nee, what do you want?” she whispered. Smiling, he took her candidness as a favorable result, “I just want what everyone wants, the truth”. The maiden sensed no deviation in his stare, the distracted way in which other men would glimpse the soft rise and fall of her bosom, the way crystalized sugar over the orange pinkness of apricot flesh dilated to the pumping of air. “Alright, if you have to know, I was going to use it to start my own real estate business. Perennial Shed is good practice, after all” she said, making obvious where the surplus was destined for. “That’s enough mam. I just wanted to make sure. Most people will go to the grave before admitting their fault, but that’s just human nature. As a matter of fact, since you shared with me just now, I will share with you. If you recall, I was one of the first to arrive before eight just as the party started. There was time to burn and no supervision, so I decided to tour the rooms on the ground floor. Of course, I wasn’t trying to cause any trouble, but I found a cabinet in the fifth study on the left. A middle drawer was slightly ajar, so I went to close it, and found this” he illustrated, cunningly flaunting a stack of paper clipped together from his blazer. “What is this?” Apricot mused as he handed it over. Her eyes briefly scanned the pages. Dead silence. “Phycia … this is …” she stumbled. “Yes, it is the script. Take a gander at the first page … and you’ll find this very funny” he giggled, pausing for her reaction. Apricot scanned the names of the company until coming upon the most eccentric character of the lot, “I am … I was the director?”. “That’s right mam. Flip twenty pages over and you’ll see Olivia’s scene. The part where she had stage fright and the realm began, guess what? That was her part! She was supposed to have stage fright. What a method actor!” he declared, pride swelling in his youthful body. “Nee … the way you dealt with this matter was very sharp. If you’re not doing anything … would you prefer to join my company as lead salesman for Apricot Realty Team. I could use your talents” she offered, drinking in the warmth of his laugh. Agreeing, he left allowing her a second to inspect her own annotations in red ink, “She tried again to replicate stage fright. This will be more than fifteen times to no avail. With opening night tomorrow, it’s just going to have to happen on stage. Olivia, it’s all up to you”. Worry dissipated and she glanced out through the lonely balcony. Rainbows darting across the aviary ocean folded into peacock feathers, and drifted to the waters below, tinging them with clusters of light. Making a detour to the ground floor, she tossed the script back in the dresser and returned to the party, where bowls of soup from boiled fruit peel and plenty of cheer awaited.

Chapter end