Gules Corundum

By Argent Drake

The fictional tale of a corundum separated from its matrix as it passes through the age of man. A summation of the world history as seen from the inanimate. A rough attempt at a polished work, as it were. Long prized for the depth of its hue and latter its industrial worth, the future remains hidden.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Jun 30, 2022
• ISBN: 9781387823222

Book preview

Gules Corundum

Argent Drake

Copyright

Gules Corundum

Argent Drake

Copyright ©2022 AR1G, LLC

All rights reserved.

ISBN 9781387823222

First Printing 2022.

Dedication

To the One.

One for All

‘finis coronat opus’

Idn Night

Within the shadowed moon, weltered by the sea, there drifted a tiny pebble of immortality. Between life and death, it had traveled with many, yet it was now alone. It carried a great passion, but its heart was made of stone.

A warrior with no fight, searching for its place of life.

As it slowly settled from the current, to the shallow sandy bottom of the delta, a shimmering ray of light walked across its polished face. The polish was its scar of time, telling of its momentous journey from the highlands.

A small white perch quickly snatched it up, having mistaken it for a morsel of gourmet delight. To the perch's disappointment, it did not satisfy his hunger, therefore he forcibly spat it out. Rejected again, or was it so, for the perch had aided its quest. Urged along by the river that had smoothly scarred its face.

A product of nature, void of emotion, and all sense of time. Yet it felt no emotion, it inspired lives, without having ever spoken.

This small, polished stone, which had begun its life in the great granite mountains, was soon to be reunited with the brother that it had been severed from centuries ago.

A Gules Corundum of perfect translucency, now rested quietly beside a river mussel in the fine quartz sand.

A bipedal silhouette appeared slowly and moved in an irregular pattern, which was enhanced by the diffraction of the currents as its gentle massage was disturbed.

Soon a large human hand violated the currents upper layers, disturbing the silent slumber of the sands. Within the grasp of this hand, now lay the Lilliput mussel and its recent neighbor the Gules Corundum, plucked from its home without consent.

Both fell helplessly from the human hand into a woven flax bag, and there the gules corundum rested until it once again felt Luna's light. Time and again, the flaxen bag would open, revealing to Gules, the haggardly face of a mortal, bearing many scars, but not polished as his.

The visage now grew closer to him, and he could see Orion's face within the reflection of an eye.

What have we here?, sounded above the cricket’s springtime serenade.

Trapped between two fingers, it felt itself moving again, this time alone, no Lilliput or Higgins eye to accompany; and as it came into alignment with Luna and Iris, the moon touched its inner soul, igniting a deep crimson passion that only lingered in dreams.

Yes! it was alive.

As the old man safely stored this new-found treasure into a small buckskin pouch, another soul glimmered with the moon's massage.

Alas, was that soul the sign of his brother?

The old man finished his supper of shellfish, then washed his hands and culinary utensils in the current that had been the traveling companion of this small stone for many years. Wearily, the old man removed his belt and weapons, placing them within hands grasp, beside the pouch, and with a pleasant smile upon his face he drifted off to sleep.

There was a slight opening within the mouth of the pouch, through which the small corundum looked toward the moonlit sky.

Yes! the soul fire again revealed its passion, it was his brother. Nested in a golden setting, surrounded by his cousins of blue, upon the hilt of a magnificent sword, a glorious crimson ruby called out to his brother.

Hail! Hail! Brother of mine, I am overjoyed to see your soul shine.

I have traveled many great distances, within this gold confine.

I have much to speak of ...

Maternal Matrix

When we were yet young in the land before time, we sat upon Mount Pidurutalagala and observed the great thunder lizards in the valley of the Mahaweli-ganga on the island of Ceylon.

As we grew in the Jurassic, great lizards ceased to walk the valley, and when we were grown, the coldness fell upon us unlike the seasons before. The frost wedge forced us from our mother's side, and we fell into the loose rock fragments that had fallen in the years before. As the snows fell and the glaciers formed, we were pushed farther and farther down the side of the mountain until the ice melted and we were left within a pile of rubble.

The Australopithecus plundered through our rubble pile and then the Vedda peoples, eventually our stone was chosen as a smashing tool. We were beaten upon the nuts and berries of the region as man prepared his food. One day we were discovered to have color, since the repeated beatings had removed some of the parasitic impurities that still clung to us, and which still held us together as one.

Ockma

Lakma, the Vedda chief of the Mahaweli valley, was the one who held us now. Ockma, his third son, was of marrying age, yet he held no vision. Ockma was an excellent young hunter; but he was too vehement, he failed to think before acting. Ockma wished to marry a young woman from the tribe in the Maduru valley, the tribe of his mother. Lakma advised his son that the Maduru valley chief would not allow his daughter to marry a man without a vision. Ockma was furious at his father's words. No old man would keep him from taking his daughter for a wife. Ockma exclaimed that he would leave on his quest immediately, and that he would prove to the Maduru chief of his worth.

Ockma angrily snatched up our rock, placing us into his hunting pouch, and then he set out along the coastline of the Bay of Bengal traveling northwesterly. He was on a search for power, his vision quest. He walked for two days until he reached the mouth of the Yan River.

Venus's Comb lay in the surf along the water's edge. As Ockma picked up the shell, he heard it whispering, so he held it to his ear and listened.

"W--E--S--T’, it seemed to whisper to him.

over,

...and over,

...and over,            W-E-S-T…

So Ockma traveled west until