The Ports and Portals of the Zelaznids (12 page)

     The Zelaznids witnessed
these events to their great
horror.  The
s
ultan’s armie showed no mercie, leading Farzan to conclude that the men of Istanbul had lost their
reason
.  Fearing what might befall them
at
the h
ands of the
Turks
,
the Zelaznids turned about and followed the coast of the Caspian until they reached the
mountains.  There they found the river Attuk and follow
ed
it into the hills, beyond the furthest village, until they found the valley of Quiqanyu
.

    
And
in the hills of Quiqanyu they stake
d
their claim.
  Here they
built a village.
  Here
they opened a portal to another world, one to which they sometimes fled in times of danger. 
Here, at last,
Farzan found his people a home.  The Zelaznids
thus
survive
d
in this world for three
more
centuries before I
came into their presence.

T

hese were the tales I heard from the mouth of Hooshyar
, though I
did not
at first
believe them.  It seemed
impossible
that
a
people who claimed kinship with
herdsmen from
the ancient Gobi, Mongol leaders
, Greek conquerors, and Arab scholars could develop in such a fashion, could
know such things
.  Yet, I c
a
me to believe the
Zelaznids
, and admire them, and follow them. 

    
Hooshyar seemed
to be
an
honour
able man.  This is why I continued to listen to what he had to say.  This is why I stayed among the Zelaznids for more than five years
,
collecting
their
stories and
recording
their
memories
.  From these
stories and
memories
I have
thus
drawn this
narrative.

~
168
~

Part 2

The Placement of Ports

Chapter 6

The Universe of Ports

B

efore I explain how the Zelaznids managed to travel from
one
world to the next, I would do well to be clear about the nature of these worlds, or ports, of which there are, in the estimation of the Zelaznids, countless numbers in this universe of universes.

     Consider for a moment
what
the men of philosophie tell us of the world that we know.  The holy man tells us that this
land
is
all that
God has made and that,
apart from Heaven and Hell
, there is no other world than this.  The astronomer dis
agrees
, pointing to the discoverie of
planets beyond our own.  Yet the astronomer and holy man
might
agree that what we see, whether through a telescope or our
own
eyes, is real and unknowable, insofar as God
or
technologie allow
them to be
.

    
And yet
our world continues to present marvels previousl
ie
un
known to man
. 
It is not
fiftie years since Uranus was added to the
list
of
spheres
observed by
the
ancients
.  What
additional
worlds
might lie
in the
heavens
beyond
our sight?  The
natural
scientist now searches deep in the ground.  He knows that the
world on
which we dwell
i
s
fashioned much like
an onion, layer upon layer
.

    
Even n
ow, in the seas of the west, men are able to ride under the waves in new and terrible ships.
[61]
  What wonders might these souls find in the deep and dark depths?  What
manner
of life might likewise be discovered
on those mountain
peaks
which
have not
yet be
en
scaled by the boldest of adventurers?

     They are fools indeed who look upon this vast and verdant world with their own eyes and yet find nothing
worthie of
explor
ation
.  There are
countless unknowns quite
close
at
hand
. 
And yet
,
some
souls would declare that the universe is known to us,
even
though a
larger
telescope might
soon
prove them wrong.

     How can we say that we know the form and function of all that exists?  How can a man of thought or faith
claim to understand
the indefinable?  The Zelaznids knew better
than this
, for they discovered and explored
at least
three dozen worlds outside of our own
. 
And
yet
these
ports are
like
grains of sand
o
n
a
vast beach
, for there are countless
worlds
that have yet
to be marked and traveled.

I

magine that
we
live
upon
a vast
sheet of parchment. 
Consider
the things that you know of th
is
world, from
the
deep
est
sea
s
to
the
tall
est
mountain
s
, from
Parisian
statesme
n
to
Argentine herdsme
n.  With the mind’s quill, ink upon that vast sheet of parchment the experiences of your life
-
and
those
of your
forefathers
-
and all
whom you know and all
that you believe to be true.  Now imagine that
this
sheet, covered as it is with all known truths,
is
placed in the midst of a stack of
parchment one thousand
sheets
high
, each
sheet
covered with the
recorded historie
of
a
world
other than
our own.

     This is how I learned of the multitude of worlds or
‘
ports
’
in existence. 
These ports exist outside of our immediate knowledge, unseen and untouched by normal means.
  Yet, like those sheets of parchment, or
like
the onion, they stack
one
atop
the
other, waiting for someone with the
proper
knowledge and skills to peel back the
layer of the
known
and
thus dis
cover the unknown.

     Although the Zelaznids
have
, more
than other peoples
, depended
upon the
ir abilitie to utilize portals for the
exploration of ports, they
have not been
alone in this
knowledge
.  Consider the legendarie journey of Zelaznu, who went with Majumin into the high mountains.  It is said that
they were found by
strange
persons
whom Zelaznu took at first to be gods
.  These beings
were
travelers from another port
who took Zelaznu to their home world
. 
Is it not logical to acknowledge the possibilitie that these beings
further explored
our
world, entering
through different portals,
instructing others how to find and travel to
distant ports
?

     The Zelaznids believed this to be
the case
. 
T
hey
knew
that
others traveled
from
this world to
those beyond
,
returning with
knowledge unknown
to our world before that time
.  These souls had thus, by chance or by cunning, made reputations and fortunes for themselves
through the use of
otherworldlie ideas.  For the Zelaznids, pro
of
of such activitie
could be found
in
each
period
of human existence, from the ancient epo
ch to the modern era.  These
are the
facts
which
they gave to me, truths
that
I now place upon the page for the edification of the reader.

~
168
~

Chapter 7

The Ancient World

F

ar to the south and west of the valley of Quiqanyu, where the two great rivers meet,
[62]
lay the birthplace of the ancient Sag-giga,
[63]
the oldest peoples
on Earth
.
[64]
  T
he Zelaznids
believe
that the Sag-giga did not begin their journie in this world, but
rather
came here from some distant port to dominate and
breed
with the
primitives
of ancient
times.
[65]
 
Yet, s
ome say that the Sag-giga were not the first to bring strong rule; there are those, Abdul Hazred among them, who believed that
other intelligent races
existed
on Earth before
the dawn of man, though
I cannot speak to the truth of
this.
[66]

    
Whatever the case, the Sag-giga came to
Mesopotamia
from parts unknown
and
settl
ed
between the rivers. 
Then, u
sing
knowledge unknown to the natives of the region,
t
he
y
established an empire. 
But
,
after
m
ixing with the
primitives, the
Sag-giga
ceased their expansion, became comfortable in their ways, and
blended with
neighbouring
cultures.

    
T
he
se curious
people did not lose touch with the wor
ld that
had given them birth, though
several
generations pass
ed between contacts. 
Some amongst them knew the ways of ports and portals and t
aught
others.  Thus the Sag-giga ha
d
occasion to bring into this world certain skills and technologies unknown until that time, particularlie those associated with
writing and
irrigation and fortifications.  In this way Bilgames
,
the
builder of Uruk,
achieved
great
fame in his time, b
oth for his construction of that cittie and f
or
his quest to
find the gods, though
in truth
he did but
return
to the port
from which
his people
had come, to
consult with his distant kin.
[67]

T

he Sag-giga
were not
the only ancient peoples to
travel to distant
ports.  The
Egyptians, too, had their otherworldlie ways.  The Zelaznids
who instructed me did not know
from whence the rulers of Egypt gained their knowledge, but, be it from the Sag-giga world or another, their learning was profound.  One need
but
consider
their knowledge of medicine and mathematics to see the great and improbable strides this people made in but a short time.

     It
is believed
that the
ir
greatest skills came
not from this world, but from another, and were
gained
for
the pharaohs by the
high
priests of
Egypt
.  The priesthood, trained for thousands of years to be
attuned
to the ways of ports and portals, thus brought much innovation to Egypt. 
T
he language
of that nation
,
for instance, is
unlike any on the Earth at that time or since
and
did not come from this world
;
nor
for that matter
did the secret of glass manufacture
.
[68]

    
Consider, also,
the construction of the Pyramids.  It
is believed
by most authorities that these great monuments were
built
with the help of vast numbers of slaves
,
who
se task it was to
hue enormous blocks from limestone quarries and
then
roll the colossal stones across the desert for the benefit of the pharaoh
s
.

     The Zelaznids claim that
those monuments came into being in quite a different fashion and that, in fact,
the Pyramids are not made of solid stones at all.  The great blocks of limestone, if the stories are to
be believed
, came not from the quarries, but from the dust, which was mixed with other elements and water
and then
poured
in
to blocks
where they stand.  In this way,
the work
was accomplished
without the need for
vast numbers of slaves.
[69]

T

his was but the first
era in which
the Egyptians benefitt
ed
from knowledge gleaned from other ports.  They would also come into
s
uch learning
in the age of the Hellenes.
  The Hellenes of Greece, you see, were not
ignorant of
the ways of other worlds, though they were not the first Mediterranean
sea-
peoples to learn of ports and portals. 
It was
, rather,
the
famed
Minoans who
first
master
ed
otherworldl
ie
travel
. 
O
n their solitar
ie
island
[70]
the Minoans buil
t
a culture
unique to this world
, though for a
long
period of time, they progressed with no great influence outside of the
island
that they knew.

     The coming of Mwinu,
[71]
however, was revolutionarie.  It
is said
that Mwinu was a child
of the gods, and so he might have seemed to the primitive peoples of Crete. 
However,
it is clear that this leader came not from the loins of Zeus,
[72]
but
rather
through a portal from another world
, along
with his elderl
ie
father.  That father met
a
swift end in the new world,
but
Mwinu, due to his striking looks and a vast wisdom that beli
e
d his age, was taken into the household of the Queen
;
for it was a land where a Queen might rule alone if she pleased.

     Mwinu was a good and kind prince, and he
brought to
his people as much
knowledge as they desire
d
.  He gave to them a written language,
as well as
skills in artwork and construction. 
So great were his gifts that upon the death of the
Queen -
his beloved would-be mother -
Mwinu claimed the title of King for himself and rule
d
the island until the end of his days.

     Throughout his earlie life, Mwinu
frequentlie utilized his portal
, a doorway
hidden
in a cave deep
below the surface of
the island. 
But
he came to fear that
persons
with foul intent might discover his secret place and
use it for some unsavourie purpose
. 
Hence, after
he ascended to power
,
King Mwinu constructed a palace atop the entrance to his cavern. 
And
in the labyrinthine bowels of that
dark place
, he set loose a number of
terrible
beasts,
so
that he might keep the sight of that portal from all eyes but his own.
[73]
 
The king spent vast sums on this
and
also
on his palace
, a vast structure which
serve
d
as
a
home, me
eting place, storehouse, librarie
, and museum
.  Mo
st astounding of all, the palace
was
equipped with fresh water.
[74]
 
I
t
is not known
if the great king passed his store of information on to those who
succeeded
him
, as the Minoans did not long survive
.

F

or certain
,
mainland Greece produce
d
others
who held the secrets of ports and portals.  Some Zelaznids contend that this knowledge came from the Minoans, for th
ey
had made t
heir fortunes in trade and
had much contact with the Hellenes.
  O
t
hers hold this to be unlikelie and state that
King Mwinu
alone
held the keys
to such
jealouslie-guarded
secrets.
 
Still others
argue that the Hellenes developed the abilitie to explore other worlds
independent of
outside
influence
s
. 

     The
re is no agreement
o
n the subj
ect of when otherworldlie knowledge
came to mainland
Greece
, to say nothing of how it did so
. 
Some
scholars point to the wonders of ancient Troy as evidence of a starting point.  Others suggest that the legendarie Monists,
[75]
having such knowledge as they were reputed to possess, must have
known
of other worlds.  Having studie
d
the Monists myself, I see
little of the
mirac
ulous in their thinking.  Rather
,
it seems to
me that the
y dwell
ed
in theoretical lands
alone, not
those
found
beyond
port
al
s.

I

t was Macedonia from which the clearest examples of otherworldlie knowledge emerged. 
For proof of this, t
he Zelaznids point to the remarkable life and career of Alexander, the Hellene conqueror and founder of
the great cittie of
Alexandria.
[76]
  Like King Mwinu, Alexander needed no priests or wise men to assist him, though he had the wisest of all Hellenes at his disposal.
[77]
 
T
he
Macedonian conqueror knew well the secrets of ports and portals
,
for he had been taught such
things by his mother, Olympias -
that same O
lympias whose familie possessed mystical power
and
a
tremendous fortune -
that same Olympias whose own ancestor, Achilles,
owed his fame, in part, to a knowledge of
ports and portals
possessed by none
but he.
[78]

     Alexander used his knowledge, not for advancements in technologie, but rather for innovations in strategie
; these
helped secure victories for the Hellenes, even unto the furthest
reaches
of the world. 
W
hen the conqueror laid claim
to
the land of the pharaohs
,
it was not his martial skills but his knowledge of other worlds that so impressed the great priests of Egypt. 
S
o profound
was
the
ir
respect
for
Alexander that
they deified him. 
And
when the great conqueror died and
his remains
were
brought
to Alexandria, the priests secretlie
took the bones
from his golden coffin
and
conveyed them to another world so that none might trouble his rest.
[79]