The Time of the Titans

Chapter 33: The Descent

The lecture hall was as old and esteemed as the University itself. Every venerable wall, every portrait of a past dean, and every bust of an ancient sage held breath for the most extraordinary scene that was about to transpire on the podium.

I sat in the back row and could not see the respondent. I knew she was an emancipated lady, proud, and ahead of her time. I only saw her accusers, the opponents. An all-male panel of elderly or middle-aged men. They were tearing her work in pieces for being unconventional, even disrespectful of the reputation of the venerable institution. It struck me as odd that they were all dressed like in late nineteenth century. Some of them sported the kind of pompous beards and moustaches typical of that period of time, now shivering in righteous fury over the scandal. One after another they testified against her and her findings, mixing academic arrogance with personal belittling. Who did she think she was? Why had she not taken into consideration an elderly authority's monograph? How dared she state he had been wrong?

She hid her feeling of screaming injustice in stiff pride, refusing to yield to concessions to conventions. She ripped the papers in her hands, threw them to the floor, and marched out. The lecture hall burst in muffled stir.

I followed the stream of students out of the lecture hall. The students were all male, to the extent I could see, and all dressed in old-fashioned uniforms. They whispered to each other, as if fearing for an invisible eye on their backs. For some reason, they didn't fear me, however, although I clearly was a stranger in this place. Or was I? They didn't seem to notice me – in fact, none of them seemed to see me.

None, except for one.

While the rest of the students had looked European, this one looked half Asian. He was dressed in a similar student uniform as all the others. Perhaps it was the neat, handsome uniform that made him seem older now. Yet something more had changed about him. He seemed more carefree, more confident. He didn't sob. He was neither a ghost nor a serpent but a fully materialized boy now.

"You are so close", said Prince Sen, and looked straight into my eyes. "But you have to hurry."

When he said the word 'hurry', I started hearing banging doors somewhere in the historical hallway.

"Come, we need to go", he said, and urged me to follow him to a staircase of stone, slowly spiralling upwards into darkness.

I followed him.

"Where are we going?" I asked. It was the first time I said something, and at the same time I became conscious that I was dreaming. "Prince Sen", I uttered the Naga's name.

"Why, to the Bridge, of course. To the Gardens. To the Passage of Elysium."

"Who are you?" I asked, while I kept following him.

"I am the Naga", he said.

"What is a Naga?" I asked.

"A guardian serpent", he said. "There's no time. You must rescue..."

"Whom?" I asked. "Mary? Yes, I must rescue Mary."

Prince Sen's face was suddenly very close to mine, and first I thought he had grown, but then I realized I had shrunk in size.

He opened another door and we stood in front of a large mirror. Instead of myself, I saw a boy in the mirror, next to Prince Sen. A small, terrified boy, dressed in school uniform.

Prince Sen touched the mirror's frame, and suddenly I didn't see a mirror in front of me but a passage with seemingly endless steps rising into an unknown. There was something like mist floating in the passage, and I could see dim light shining somewhere in a great distance.