Walhall. (n.) – The armory of Zion. Place.
Readers will recognize the term from Norse mythology. Like any great idea, it came from somewhere. In The Trailokya Trilogy, Walhall is the armory of Zion, where weapons and the penannulars the guardians use are forged. The expansive, castle-like structure rests on the slopes of Mount Zion, just below the gates of the fortress. The armory is approached across a broad mall that overlooks the massive, barren plateau above The White City.
Walhall Order is overseen by Dux Sephr, a svargaduta who resembles figures from Persian antiquity. Or is it that Persians modeled themselves on the great Dux? Other figures seen within the walls of the armory are heavily armed principalities and thrones, as well as creatures called lungs; and, of course, other animals, such as dogs, are trained to guard the armory.
Lungs are more commonly called dragons in English, but the name is also specific of a breed, which dragon students will be quite familiar. The type is widely depicted in Asian culture as they mostly appear, and hybridized in the western tradition as wyverns. The lung rookery is housed somewhere within the walls of the keep. Lungs hatch with blue scales that they keep through their three toes stage, the tone altering to red in the four toe stage and becoming black in the five toe stage. Toe stage is a relative aging of the lung. At different life stages, additional toes grow in.
The reason for the high security is two fold. The armory houses all of the armor ever used by any of the guardians. It is forged there when guardians begin their service and stored there when guardians end their service. The small atman that power the penannular are transferred here to be nested inside the device. The art of penannular crafting is top secret, and the artisans who craft them are from a mysterious sect of the order. Inductees accepted to the positions will spend lengthy apprenticeships and journey stages before they’re ever masters and allowed to construct guardian penannular.
The second reason is a legion passage. Of that, I can say no more.
The squads of Walhall are fierce warriors, and no one enters the armory without their permission. To do so is a certain death sentence.
The interiors of the armory are dense with ornamentation and toned in crimsons and golds. The light is low unless a fitting ceremony or call to arms is underway. Rooms include forges, barracks, the kitchens and storage. The construction is granite on the exterior and mixed stone works on the interior, semi-antiquated-gothic—an east meets west Notre Dame. The following excerpt explains further:
The granite stones of Walhall, dark gold in hue, sparkled in the light of the coming dawn. They were carved and arranged millennia ago by the first of their kind, some of who had fallen in The Conflict of Hosts. The structure served as an inspiration for numerous likenesses in Samsara, in the form of citadels both secular and devotional…
The great carved doors of the armory swung inward, revealing a long, red granite hall. Passing through the archway, they also passed under the watchful gaze of two heavily armed cherubim and their war hounds, trained by Praefect Fenrir himself. The black eyes of the four‑ legged sentinels followed them until they were well inside. A matched set of Powers stood to either side of the entrance interior. In the far-off apse, a seraph floated before the great seal of Walhall, a downward-pointed, open-palm hand with an eye. Another set of Powers guarded the base of the steps that led to the chancel. The seraph took note of them but seemed uninterested, and rearranged the plates of armor that partially covered his wings. He had no worries of intruders, because the apse floor was the resting place of a long, red Lung with a hoary gold beard and suspicious eye. Its great head rose. Like a dog, it stood up, circled, and lay back down.
Four thrones stood guard as well, two for each towering colonnade that lined the length of the hall. At each heel stood what looked like small sculptures of the Lung in the apse. However, clear lenses washed over the eyes putting the notion of them being mere effigy to rest. The click of nails on stone announced the presence of other guardian souls in the room. The guardians of this armory noted everyone who came and went, and made sure that only those who belonged passed the inner doors. They had nothing to fear, since Alex went to the High Council and the news would circulate. Still, no one could be sure how they reported what they saw or heard. — The Shadow Soul, Book One of The Trailokya Trilogy.
Click here to learn more about the Orders in The Trailokya Trilogy, and let me know what Order you think you’d belong to in the comments.
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