Ogomid was the Forbidden One. While he and the others of the kingdom were unable to speak his name aloud, due to the binding nature of the commands of Irkith, he still remembered his name and it was clear from the way the people stood aside, in fear, that they remembered him.

  Ogomid raised the life stone of Irkith with his mandibles and called out, “I speak in the king’s name and you will obey!”

  There was a stunned silence as each and every one of them briefly bowed their head, acknowledging the unmistakable facts of his statement.

  Still holding the stone aloft, he commanded, “All the Kingdom of Ulkun will work without rest or sustenance.”

  Every one of the Ulkun in the crowd suddenly had a look of horrified worry in their eyes!

  “You will construct a stone flying vessel, capable of carrying me through the coming Conjunction of the Celestial Stones, before the Great White Sky Stone shines in brilliant glory!” He commanded.

  While it was normally invisible to the world below, the world actually had a moon, but due to a natural instability in space and some unique minerals in its composition, it was normally invisible and folded into another dimension, where little other than gravity could escape. It became visible for a brief window every so often and Ogomid intended to travel there as part of preserving his people.

  Afraid for their lives, but unable to disobey Ogomid’s commands, everyone dropped what they were doing and got to work. The Architect of Kurg quickly provided a design for a flying vessel made of stone, to support them.

  Ogomid watched with sadness as his people worked themselves to death in the name of the king, one by one, but he knew it was necessary and according to prophesy. In time, he would restore them to life and each of them would become an Everlasting Stone, like himself, though it would take countless solar revolutions to achieve.

  After no more than seven days, Ogomid stood in a barren landscape that reeked of death, for the lives of his people had all expired, save only Irkith, who remained alive, because he’d been using less energy than the rest.

  Using a basket, Ogomid gathered the life stones of his people and placed them within the stone flying vessel. When he was done, he entered the Architect’s workshop and came face to face with the gleaming, golden visage of the Architect’s husk, which had clear diamonds for eyes, though it otherwise resembled the husk of Irkith, in form.

  “Architect of Kurg, come with me to the stone vessel and we will pass through the Conjunction of the Celestial Stones, together. We will land on the Great White Sky Stone. There, we will wait out the solar revolutions and from time to time, gather life, that we may preserve and restore the Kingdom of Ulkun.”

  The metal form of the Architect stared at Ogomid for a long moment, before saying, “No. My first and only duty is to the City of Kurg. Without her people, the city is dead and gone. All that remains is the empty promise of Kurg, due to your destructive actions, Forbidden One.

  “I will remain to watch and observe what time will bring. I will continue to build. Perhaps another people will come to live in the city, for who is to say that our world is the only one with life? Who is to say that the Life Giver visited this one world, alone? The song of the stars is much the same as the song of the sun, so there must be worlds without number. With so many worlds, there must be others gifted with life. Some day, they will come. I will stand ready to greet and welcome them, for the promise of Kurg shall live again.”

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  Ogomid was saddened to hear the rejection of the Architect, but not entirely surprised. After all, he was a copy of Irkith and unlike the Ulkun, was able to disobey a direct order, having acted independently in the past, though always for the good of the city. Ogomid knew the coming solar revolutions were going to be far more difficult, since he would be alone. However, for his plan to succeed, the life of the world had to recover and to do so, it needed to be left alone.

  Though the Architect produced enough energy to sustain himself, he still gathered life to imbue into his work. That meant Ogomid couldn’t allow him to stay behind. Ogomid nodded to the Architect, as if in agreement, and then left the workshop. He calmly strolled to the edge of the city and exited through the main gate. Turning to look back at the wondrous architectural artwork within, he felt moved to sadness as he reached down, to touch the city with an antenna.

  Feeling like an awful betrayer, he used the life stone of Irkith as an authentication key and instructed the city to fold. The air was rent by a sound like thunder as the great, sprawling form of the city collapsed, all at once, each piece of the city folding itself into a small hexagon of metal, with the Architect still inside!

  Ogomid had only ever seen small pieces of the city unfold and had never seen any fold up again, but he knew the theory of how it worked, having helped make more than a few of the little hexagons during his time as a common laborer. Each piece of Kurg held within itself an artificial universe, in which to store anything that was placed on an open segment when closed and by folding the city, he’d trapped the Architect inside.

  However, he was surprised that as a result of the hasty way he’d ordered the the city fold, the pieces of it scattered over a wide area. Most of them vanished without a trace, accompanied by a series of sharp popping sounds as the binding energy of the city unsafely discharged! Ogomid hadn’t known the consequences of his actions, but fully nine-tenths of the pieces of the city were spatially and dimensionally scattered. In effect, they’d been randomly teleported to parts unknown, both on and off the planet, as well as in and out of the current universe.

  “I hope you will forgive me someday, but it’s for the best.” He whispered, mostly to assuage his conscience, “Our world must recover.”

  The available pieces of the city were gathered in the same basket he’d used for collecting the life stones, which he placed in the stone vessel, beside the life stones of the Ulkun.

  One task remained. During his time as a laborer, Ogomid had learned the secrets of transmuting existing matter into new materials using life energy. He spent the time that remained before the Conjunction of the Celestial Stones searching the mines for certain materials he required, including a crimson mineral that could be refined into a liquid metal and a shiny metal. He refined them both and then, in the deepest, darkest depths of the mines, he mixed the two together. The liquid metal naturally absorbed the shiny metal at first, but over time, as he added more of the shiny metal, he heated the mixture in one of the mining smelters, until the proportions were just right.

  “I’m sorry.” He whispered to the life stone of Irkith as he drained the last dregs of life from it, killing his king.

  Using the life energy of Irkith, he transmuted the mixture into a new metal, somewhat dull in appearance, but which had imbued properties that would be useful in the coming solar revolutions, since the material he’d just made had a tendency to grow over time. It would be useful for constructing husks that worked in the dark, though it was vulnerable to the light of day in a pure state, growing soft and weak, like clay. Eventually, those husks would be used to harvest life, by night, to restore the Ulkun to life, for he would need far too many husks to simply mine the materials required, but the growing mass would eventually provide what he needed. As he gathered the cooling metal, some of it fell to the floor of the mine, but he didn’t notice.

  By the time he left the tunnel, night had fallen. Looking up, he noted the Conjunction had begun and the Great White Sky Stone was visible as a bright, glowing circle in the sky.

  He returned to the stone vessel and launched it into the sky, rocketing through the void toward the Great White Sky Stone. He felt like an awful mass-murderer and betrayer, but all he’d done was according to prophesy. He would pay whatever price was required to preserve his people and bring them back from the dead, but was troubled by the fact that loneliness seemed to be the price and hoped he would be able to endure it without going mad.