Dusts of Avalon - Beastwithin.org

hung from the ceiling. All the room needed was tapestries of great bales of yeolde mediaeval tyme, a not-so-roaring-in-vacuum fireplace, a throne and a fewguys in silly spacesuits pluing lutes silenced by the dead of the space. Daleworthdidn't feel she was thinking straight, and had to keep concentrating on thetask at hand, even when she knew there was lile harm in using a lile bit ofimagination in times like these.Yet, a great castle amber it wasn't; the walls were bare, the hall without athrone and trappings. Instead, great staircase and elevated platform circled thehall, and it seemed that in the middle, there was likewise a raised platform of steeland stone.In the middle, between the circling platform and the lower platform in themiddle, were great cylinders of stone. Or perhaps “cylinder” was a bit mu; theoverall shape was cylindrical, but on a closer inspection, they seemed far moreegg-like, with a slightly sharper top and a slightly round boom. On a qui count,there were thirty-three of them around the amber, with one in the middle beingslightly larger than the rest. Ea were about meters tall and in diameter;the largest one reaing about by . e cylinders stood on platforms withsome kind of meanisms, somewhat seat-like in their construction, with clearcogs and wheels; in the land of vague familiarity, it was once again strange tosee su direct similiarity with Earth's concepts. e surface of the cylinders wasclearly stone-like, with geometric veins of metal on them, with their boom thirdsmore clearly almost solid metal in its appearance.“Beta, sear the other rooms, then return here”, Daleworth ordered. “Gamma,keep wat on the anteamber and the doors to this room. Alpha, let's see what'swaiting for us on the upper level. Come with me, doctor.”But as the soldiers reaed the top platform, they were stru by many familiarities.Up to that point, they had not seen many recogniseable symbols. ey couldnow see them everywhere.Familiar, Earth-conceived symbols were in the banners above. Old symbols,familiar to anyone with even passing interest in heraldry.A rampant lion.Rampant lions were just everywhere.A cross.A boar.A heart.A dragon with a raised claw.A crescent of moon.A wolf's head.And they could see writing. ere had been no writing up to that point. Seeingwriting felt downright illing.