Excerpt: Salva Nos

She returned the book to the page it had been open too and straightened. A glint of polished glass in a corner caught her eye. It was an orb, one of several that were laid out on a table in a seemingly senseless way. The center of the table was dominated by the largest of the orbs, it’s color that of shimmering yellow and gold. Others were laid out around it, the ones closer to the center smaller then the ones on the outside edge, except for a few smaller ones right at the outer edge. - When she got closer she could see that the large orb in the center was surrounded by circular groves in the table, within which each of the other orbs rested. Each of the orbs was different - different colors and sizes, some wrapped in blue and some creamy red, and every one polished.
One in particular drew her attention. It was one of the smaller ones, the third from the largest one in the center, and the most detailed of the orbs. Shapes of green were imposed intentionally upon the deep blue, the edges of them sharp and familiar, though Geist could not say how they were familiar to her.
"It is a model of the solar system," a voice answered her question before she had a chance to finish thinking it. She turned and stepped back, startled by the voice. She bumped into the table and the orbs rattled loosely in their setting. Lord Nod stood in the door way, light reflecting strangely from his large eyes and a cloak casting his body into shadows. Seeing that he startled her he gave her a reassuring smile and stepped forward, shrugging out of his cloak, which he left on a chair as he passed by it on the way across the room. Once he stood next to her he reached out and pointed to the one she had been looking at, the third from the center.
"That is Earth, the mother planet upon which we now stand," he said, his voice low and distant. Geist watched in fascination as he pointed to each of the orbs and named them each in turn. "That is the life giving Sun, the quickly spinning Mercury, the mysterious Venus, the dusty red Mars," he stepped to the side at the last of the smaller orbs, to better access the larger ones.
The giant Jupiter, the ringed Saturn, the cold Uranus, the blue Neptune," He shifted once more to the smaller orbs. He was reciting the names from memory, as if it was a prayer or poem. "The dark Pluto, and the wild Eris."
He glanced up at Geist. She was looking at the table in confusion and awe, trying to understand what he was telling her. His smile faded. "The land that we live on is a planet, one of ten that circle around our sun. Knowledge of this was once as common as air itself." He shook his head and turned away from the table. “Did you find out anything about my brother?” Geist asked.
“Unfortunately no,” he said with a sigh, “I have my connacts looking for him. Tell me Geist, do you know how to read?”
"No, I can’t," Geist said, breaking out of the spell caused by the wonderous table. "I mean, I can understand some things..."
"But not what is in these books," Lord Nod said, sounding dishearted. "Few can, language has changed enough that you probably can't even identify most the symbols." He walked to the shelves and pulled off a book, flipping through it until he found what he was looking for it. When he did he turned the book around and held it out to her. "This is a photograph of the Earth, as it looked a long time ago."
The circle of the globe was only half illuminated, the same land edges of blue and green could clearly be seen in the light side. The colors were crisp, sharp against the dark background. "...a long time ago?" Geist wondered aloud, taking the book from Lord Nod. Columns of incomprehensible text lined the edges of the pages.
"Yes, there's no telling what the earth looks like now," Lord Nod said sadly. "A great disaster churned the atmosphere, casting a wave of destruction across the globe that reshaped the land and water. It changed a great many things." -
Geist watched him through her lashes. It was if his mind was elsewhere, and that he wasn't really aware of what he was saying. There was a sorrow about him that she usually associated with the few grand and great-grandparents she knew. Such a sadness was strange on someone so relatively young, and she wondered if it was because he was the city's lord.