“Pantleon? That tied up in cavern blue? I thought that was just an urban legend.” I said, I had a hard time believing it was anything more than a catchy rhyme that spread around the cavern.
“Parts of it, though I doubt you’ll believe me at my word if I were to tell you my suspicions.” Jessie had said that with a straight face. More than that, he had leveled his eyes at mine and was unflinching in his conviction.
“Try me.” Terry wasn’t buying it. He crossed his arms and waited.
After a moment, Jessie began digging through a stack of papers to his left; eventually uncovering a report he made last month. “I’ve been studying the symbols that tie Journeys together for years. Yeesha Hand, Path of the Shell, Garden Spiral, they all share similar characteristics.” He flipped through the report until a loose piece of parchment fell from between the pages. He picked it up and handed it to me.
“Hopi Spiral?”
“This was given to me by Jeremy Reinold on October 9th; nearly a month before it appeared in the Watcher’s Pub. He said a strange person in a distressed Yeesha shirt gave it to him.” I held the page up to the light and studied how the light made the discolorations in the parchment light up. I passed it to Terry who took and said nothing. Jessie continued.
“The passing of time brings the path to the gathered.”
“Words 1:38” Terry caught both of us by surprise. “What?” he said, finally broken from his stern stoicism. “Words is a hobby.”
“A breach has been cut, and now the paths are joined,” Jessie answered.
“Yes, yes; and the giving of gifts heals the wound of the builder. Words 1:39-40 Now, what does any of this have to do with our mystery man?” Right to the point, I thought.
“If Jeremy’s account is accurate, these are the words spoken by this figure just before he vanished.”
“He linked away?” I asked.
“There was no linking sound. Just there one moment and gone the next.”
“Believing that, what does any of this mean?”
“This is where we return to Pantaleon.” Jessie said. “I told you I have been studying these symbols for a long time; ever since my arrival in the cavern I have been hearing stories about Yeesha; the DRC; and most recently, Panta in Takotah II. I am a cultural anthropologist by trade; so when I say that communities are defined by the stories they tell I mean to say that the people of this cavern are drawn together by more than an affinity for cavern tours and ahyoheek.
“This phenomena referred to as The Call has led us all either directly or tangentially to this ancient city.” He was starting to lose me. “Let me put it this way. Fantastic things happen here every day; we chalk them up to quantum mechanics; others relegate them to parable. Our records tell us one story, and we each interpret them differently, but continue to retell the stories. Why? Because they resonate with us for innumerable reasons. Some because of personal connection; sometimes just a desire to connect. That said, I turn to our records.
“December 19, 2006. It was on this day that the scream of a Bahro could be heard throughout the ages; and all explorers were linked back to their relto. The books were reset and it was almost as if the journeys of before hadn’t even happened. Concerning as this may be, there were structural changes to the cavern; the DRC restricted access to parts of the cavern with the concern that some regions had become unstable. Furthermore, the Watcher’s Pub changed; Access to the Great Tree and by proxy; explorers were cut off from The Path of the Shell.
“Thanks for the history lesson, but you still haven’t answered our question?” Terry was growing impatient again.
“Right, and in that spirit I ask again: What do you know about Pantaleon?”
“Aside from the aforementioned cavern blue story, just that he got laughed out of The Cavern Today for sharing some ridiculous story.”
“Was it really so ridiculous?” Jessie asked. He was dead serious. I remembered vaguely when the incident involving Pantaleon occurred, but had never paid it much attention. It’s rare that the cavern community becomes poisonous, and when it does I have found it best to steer clear. That’s part of the reason I came to Pahrahtehs.
Jessie continued. “Pantaleon claimed that his friends had been tricked into taking a journey they believed was meant to restore the Path of the Shell but would ultimately leave the cavern vulnerable to invasion from a conquering race.” He paused as we let it sink in. “Why is this any more ridiculous than an ancient underground city inhabited by beings with the ability to write worlds?
“During his time in the cavern, Pantaleon lived in Takotah II; and for these reasons, I needed to get inside to see for myself. I needed something more before I could choose to either write off his tale or digest the weight of it.
“This is ridiculous,” Terry said dismissing Jessie’s point. “All this, to satisfy a whim?”
Jessie held up a notebook. “Don’t you want to know what I found?”
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