Chapter 7
Onward sped Lika with his eight hundred million; his airavagna, the ship of fire, shining like a meteor in its flight, through the sea of Enea-Wassa, the etherean realm of Haog-sa-uben. On every side, the Jehovihian worshippers’ vessels, tens of thousands, coursing in myriad ways; some fast, on missions of quickened labor; some slow, as traveling school-ships, exploring the great expanse and glorious richness of Jehovih’s provided worlds, always ready for the newborn; each and all the ships like studded gems in the etherean sea, moving brilliants playing kaleidoscopic views, ever changing the boundless scene with surpassing wonders. And all of these, by signs and signals, revealing the story of their place and mission to the high-raised etherean souls; ships and men as quickened living books of fire, radiant with the Father’s light and history of worlds.
On Lika’s ship, as on all the others, every soul, hundreds of millions, enraptured, stood in awe and admiration of the ever-changing scenes; some in silence, absorbed in thought; some posing with upraised hands; some ejaculating gleefully; and some in high reverence to Jehovih, uttering everlasting praise; every soul in its full bent, being the full ripe fruit of the diversified talents as they first shone forth in corporeal life.
Onward sped Lika’s airavagna, now in the Roads of Nopita, through the a’ji’an Forest of Quion, most rich in adamantine substances, arches, stalactites, stalagmites, and in forming and dissolving scenes, a forest, a very background in the etherean worlds for the over-brilliant crystal regions of light. And here, too, were tens of thousands of ships of Jehovih’s chosen; and on either side of the great roadway lay the Fields of Anutiv, inhabited by countless millions of etherean kingdoms. Along the road for hundreds of thousands of miles, stretched up the hands of millions and millions of souls, waving banners and flags to their favored ships, which were going to some native star, from which Jehovih brought them forth.
Then the course of Lika’s airavagna changed; by his commands, sent through the comet Yo-to-gactra, a new world condensing, already with a head of fire four thousand miles broad; a very ball of melted corpor, whirling like the spindle of a filling spool, continuously winding onto itself the wide extending nebulae. Here coursing along, were hundreds of thousands of school-ships with students and visitors, to view the scenes, most grand in rolling on, now round, now broken, now outstretched, this ball of liquid fire, whirling in the vortex, thirty million miles long. To balance against this comet’s vortex many of the ships tossed and rolled, dangerously, had they not been in skilled hands, and causing millions of the students on many a ship to fear and tremble, perceiving how helpless and stupid they were compared to the very Gods who had them in charge.
Not long did Lika loiter to view the scenes, or to indulge his eight hundred million, but stood his course again for the red star, the earth. And while coursing the Faussette Mountains, where the God, Vrilla-Gabon, built the Echosinit kingdom whose capital was Exastras, the place where the Niuan Gods assembled to witness the first starting forth of the earth, Lika halted awhile; and down went his recorders, to gather from the Exastras libraries the earth’s early history and the grade of her creation. A copy of which obtained, the recorders hastily returned; when onward again sped the airavagna, now making course across the Plains of Zed—in the middle of which lay the great sea Oblowochisi, four million miles across, and also studded over with thousands of etherean ships.
And now the ship sped across to Rikkas, the place of the Goddess, Enenfachtus, with her seven billion etherean souls; and here Lika and his hosts cast down millions of wreaths and tokens, while the music of the two spheres mingled together in Jehovih’s praise. From here, the distance across was three million miles.
Now during their journey to this point, the red star had stood above the horizon, but here it began to stand in horizontal line, gleaming in more effulgent flame. And along the course where Lika’s airavagna would go, the Goddess, Enenfachtus, had previously upraised a hundred thousand pillars of fire to honor him and his company; and this great respect, Lika and his hosts answered with holy salutations.
After this came the ji’ay’an Forests of Hogobed, three million miles across, and close for lack of etherean air and inspiration. Here stood the Province of Arathactean, where the God, Yew-Sin, dwelt with thirty billion newly-raised Brides and Bridegrooms from the star Kagados. Over these regions Lika sped swiftly, and then to the open sea, Amatapan, on the Vashuan Roads.
Then a sail of two million miles, in the uninhabited regions of Samma, when he reached Chinvat, the bridge on the boundary of the earth’s vortex beyond the orbit of the moon.
And without stopping, but now coursing on a downward plane, made straight toward the swift-rolling earth, whose speed was three-quarters of a million miles a day. Through the high-floating plateaus of atmospherea came Lika with his fire-ship, with his eight hundred million hosts, rapidly descending, his ship like a meteor, large as a continent.