“Everyone get back on the stoop, this is about to get serious” Echo warned, the attendees springing up the steps, fearful as the wrathful cries of squirrels melted the quietude of the commons. “Alright nerds,” a squirrel in an officer’s uniform sitting atop a police car called out on a speaker, “come out with your hands up, your acorns are ours now, just give up and no one will get hurt”. Thousands arrived like a hidden army from among the elms. “As if!” Felicia, shaking a fist hollered, then realizing the fact that the furry swarm could probably nibble her apart quickly hid behind Priya for safety. “This university’s acorns are being held for scientific purposes only my friends, so I would recommend you not step a foot closer” the patron informed them. The one on the car shrugged away diplomacy and leapt down, leading to a full-scale charge that boggled their senses. “Don’t worry, there’s a good way to slow them down” Priya stated, weaving inscriptions brimming with elegant local hyperactivity. “Gah! What’s going on” Alexa bellowed, triggering her friend to turn to her with a barely visible smirk. Foundations shifted, the university … elevating … until the army stood at what was essentially the base of a mountain.
To makes things more intolerable, a bright orange hemisphere censored their path forward, fizzing with energy. “Look familiar? This anechoic plateau should keep the university safe for at least an hour until they manage to find a way inside. That’s all I’l need to get this done.
Researchers, get as many of the patients cured as you can in the time we have, then lock yourselves in the safe-room, you’l be useless in a fight and none of you are going to get hurt if I can help it. Alexa, come this way” she waved, summoning her inside and towards an opposite direction down the corridor. “Echo, where are we going, we can’t keep them out forever with just that barrier?” the soldier questioned as she looked out the window to a squirrel construction crew knocking a wrecking bal against the shield. “Just a few more buildings over and we wil be there soon. Please don’t laugh or tell me I’m a nerd when you see it” Priya asked politely, steeling herself for what was about to happen. She sighed, letting go of all fear. “Don’t put that expectation on me! I’ve been bored out of my mind guarding this silo and the university while you and everyone else has been out there kicking ass and taking names. Where’s my names?”
Alexa complained. “It’s only because I trusted you with the most important stuff, but don’t get cocky. just a few more flights” she implored, wondering whether the soldier, even after all she had placed on her shoulders was ready for this. “I have been disappointed before” she thought, so perhaps such a close confidant was not the person she thought she was. A yard from the laboratory door the fog bearing the of masquerade of concealment lifted. “Swordcarrier, I have
been meaning to show this to everyone, but with everything going on, I haven’t had the chance”
Priya said, leading her through the unusually clean workplace to the other end, where a passage led into an empty room, it’s white walls barren on all four sides. “Are you saying what i’m thinking … is this where?” the warrior stuttered, unable to form a coherent structure. “Yes, this is the chamber, or at least it was before I had it dismantled. The idea was to use it for medical use to heal certain conditions, and even cure the disorder you’ve been hearing so much about from the other scientists. Of course, after what happened it was too dangerous for normal use” she admitted remorsefully, thinking of all the planning and work that went into the venture.
“Look … I know this meant a lot to you, but you’re not a failure, Priya. Even today, it stil hasn’t settled in people’s minds that it was you giving us direction all this time. And I’ve seen a few old movies in my day, and let me tell you, the mad scientist’s lab always blows up and causes something to go awry” her friend added, seeing the weight of responsibility masking emotion from her friend’s face. “I see … this has to be the next step, I can re-manifest the SOTA from here” the scientist stated. Alexa offering a gasp at the bold proposal. “Got you, that wil deal with the turbulence and Telenon’s power wil be broken. Just … step back and give yourself a minute. This could drain most of your magic” Alexa warned. “So maybe we should take another lap of the lab together before I try ” she agreed, sensing the squirrels getting closer to finding a way through the barrier. Alexa followed her to a corner where there hung from the wall a bathroom-mirror, somewhat out of place in the lab-room. Approaching it, the researcher felt her breathe receding in slow motion. Currents of Inhalation and Exhalation interwove … true energy, until a key of memory unlocked inside of her. Thrown into reverie, her eyelids shut, and with keen awakening found herself laying against a lazy-boy chair in her own apartment, the very same she had stolen from the pharmacy. Ahead sat a coffee-table and an entertainment stand with a squat television box situated inside. Peppered with dust, an old VCR Tape rested on the table, a paper note “Watch Me” stuck on. “Taking the bait” Priya thought as she picked up the tape and pressed it into the slot. “Better get comfortable” she thought again returning to the hug of the lazy boy. “From my travels I have watched people ceaselessly, being a shadow in the room, studying them from afar. I saw those that followed different paths in the pursuit of knowledge. Stalking is never an easy task, but it was worth it to see your people set foot on the farthest reaches of the solar system, to see them enter new dimensions and brave the perilous monoliths of emotion in the dynamism of fresh, prevalent dream, and Nonlinear Aestheticism.
What a dazzling species. But you … Priya … are the one that never needed confirmation, evidence to support the hypothesis” Dramatic confessed, then removing his presence, the screen returned to fizzling static. “This was not too long ago, something of a daily chore” Priya detected as the image played a snippet of her day in the lab. Tucked in a white lab-coat the researcher stood in front of the same mirror and just peered into it, feeling the pressure of her reflection as its light tantalized photoreceptors. “I am here” came the words spoken without sound. Priya looked through the television and saw herself mouth those words. Such had been a daily ritual since the day she became alone. “Oh my … I did this time and time again. It’s like each day is a data point” she realized, cupping a hand over her mouth. With an easy motion the memory slid back into its original place in the timeline of her life. “Priya … You are doing well as an agent of my conspiracy. Perhaps you have realized by now that most of your essential memories are still in my safekeeping. It was important to the task at hand. At each stage, you wil find what I have hidden” Dramatic informed her. Knowledge stained her consciousness with a blend of emotions, until shaken back into the present by an external force. Alexa watched tears fall from her friends face and with ignorance could not distinguish the abundance of what was contained within, like a layman looking at a droplet from a pipette, not understanding the civilization of molecules jittering about to the melody of physics. “Used to … look at this thing every day because I was so alone … I had to know I wasn’t a ghost or something “ she sobbed as her companion pressed hard battle-armor against her chest. “I’ve had to fight all sorts of stuff, but never that” Swordcarrier consoled, steadying her. “Maybe I am just like a mirror …
never able to touch the other side, always divided by whoever I try to connect to and drawn farther away” the scientist wondered, thinking back on all the relationship she had tried to nurture. “A mirror is a weapon. It is a sword that can split reality in two, but Priya, you are more than that … you are my best friend” Alexa established. “Even if you become my worst enemy, and I have to fight you to the death, this moment wil always mean something to me” the loner promised, taking off her lab-coat and folding it on the countertop. “Oh shux, you figured out the plan” she replied, extruding the spines of the cactus armor before retracting them again in threatening display. “Alexa, you are my friend … in real life ... yeah, I think I’m ready” Priya sighed. She touched the surface once more thinking, “thank you mirror, I am one person”, then left behind the certainty of the room and passed the threshold back into the emptiness of the chamber. “Better be quick, this place gives me the willies” the soldier thought as inscriptions layered over each other forming a door for privacy. For ten minutes she heard the faint rumble of strained philosophy that expressed itself such as a snowfall from an arctic mountaintop.
Vapors poked their way out of the spaces between the inscriptions until the doorway cracked and Priya stumbled out, leaning against a countertop with her raven hair drenched, unfurled against the surface, “I failed … not enough power”.
CHAPTER 30 - COMPANION ARC: PRIYA AND ALEXA
Current Time
Loud thumps barged into their conversation from levels down. “Damn!” Alexa gasped. Just then she sensed the incursion of the squirrels, and they both bolted out of the lab-room back across the university grounds to the secret entrance, raced through the facility that was markedly silent and unpopulated by the buzzing of techs, and took the lift down to the Silo where they would make their last stand. “They’re barging through the walls!” Echo pointed, seeing the first band spill through. They were about three fourths as tall as people, armed with spatulas in one hand for close combat and fired lasers from the mouths of sock puppets in the other hand. More flooded through, taking any opportunity to snag an acorn as they were distracted, the others grinding down their strength with attrition. “Sister, you’re the only one I trust with a true mirror blade, it wil melt in anyone’s else’s grip, so give them what they’re asking for” she thundered as they both wielded the same instrument side by side. After the first few waves, the individual soldiers became more of a nuisance as they activated energy shields akin to those that the Rikiral utilized, making their spel s and sword arcs less effective. “How did they get this alien technology!” Alexa shouted with complete, verbatim hatred. Likewise, the spatulas and sock-puppet lasers gained advanced properties exponentially as each wave succeeded. Drilling through, more holes opened up along the interior, the army circulating around to their location.
“Ahh! keep going! Don't stop!” Priya bellowed as their task went from mundane to intolerable.
Ripping off the wall by their own, metal plates drifted away, prompting the scientist to take a second to notice their departure. “What is this, the Silo is becoming a realm?” she recognized as the familiar face of the black starry sky presented itself. Looking back, Alexa had been separated, fighting a ways off on a lower level of the volume. The density of space shifted, allowing more distance between the individual acorns. Priya knew the realm was unfolding, but the fighting was fierce, and it did not even matter, and barely gave it much heed. Freezing a row of attackers with a wintery spell arc of her sword, she tossed the nearest one over the railing and smashed the others. Dropships arrived with more reinforcements, so Priya summoned a group of nerds and with her telekinesis tore off their braces and shot them as a volley to the
ships, and directing them to wrap around and squeeze the hull-frame until the vessels gave and exploded, then unsummoned them. But the bands would not stop, growing fiercer and more cunning. From below she could hear the mirror swords spat out in all directions as the Swordcarrier’s cactus armor expel ed its spines. The full scope of precise constellations glistened, looking on with voyeurism at their plight, when all of a sudden, the squirrels that had encircled her stopped, evenly spacing themselves as if in military formation, to salute a general.
“Are you guys stopping?” she asked, the nearest one nodding to where several yards away the square platform had a railing that a vessel descended upon. In the shape of a trapezoid a spaceship came, its ramp opened and touched the floor. The scientist shielded her eyes from copious light as two figures made their way towards her. “Mom … Dad?” Priya shrugged doubtfully as Melina-Squirrel and Linden-Squirrel smiled, happy to be reunited. “A tad of scientific skepticism I see … oh dear, that is so like you” Melina-Squirrel chided.
Priya: Where have you been? Now we can combine our forces!
Linden-Squirrel: it’s okay … you can tell her.
Priya: Tell me what?
Melina-Squirrel: Darling, I know you’ve real y grown attached to all of this, but its time, we’re here to bring you home.
Priya: Very funny mom.
Linden-Squirrel: Priya, that’s a name you chose, along with the cover of a scientist. It should be coming back now. We came to this planet to harvest the life-forms as acorns. The Bushytail Zadoria fleet travels across known space, finding such worlds for our purposes.
Priya: Dad, I’m not a squirrel. I’m a big girl and right now I have a lot on my plate. Can you snap out of it and help me fight Telenon, and then we can start rebuilding the damage he has caused.
Linden-Squirrel: Who is this fellow? I see … you have been in that alternate form for too long, beginning to have your mind burdened by their primitive consciousness.
Priya: Next you’ll tell me I’m royalty or something
Melina-Squirrel: To be precise, we are the commanders of the fleet, and you will one day inherit that post. That is why you are so analytical and like to evaluate the natives with ethnographic studies.
Priya: Give me a break. It’s the other way around. You and dad became squirrels in order to collect the acorns into silos because they were being transformed by the acorn fever by the turbulence.
Linden-Squirrel: Priya, the fleet is the source of the turbulence. I call you that but that is not your name. And any attachment you have to this place is a misunderstanding.
Priya: There’s no way. I know what’s real. My dreams are real … stop looking at each other with that face!
Melina-Squirrel: Do you realize how pathetic that sounds? Let me detect if you have any permanent damage with this medical analyzer … hmm … it looks like you are suffering from something called loneliness, as well as other emotions. These are simply unique features of the structure of these primitive alien minds, but they serve no long term evolutionary or survival function. Where we come from, there is no such burden.
Priya: Loneliness is just an il usion? But it’s like the center of everything I am.
Linden-Squirrel: Let’s get going and fly to the next galaxy, this one has been reaped for the most part. This load should keep us for the next ten thousand years. Darling, you can come out of that human disguise.
Priya: What about all my family and friends? I’m not going to leave them in this place.
Melina-Squirrel: There is no such concept in actuality. All the primitive constructs that hamper you are disproven.
Priya: Certain things are true, like love and justice and friendship.
Linden-Squirrel: No, but the data you collected is impressive. The restoration pod aboard will help you transform back. Take a moment to collect yourself.
Priya: I can just … walk away from it all? That’s, I don’t know if I could even. I’m not ready.
Melina-Squirrel: This is a barren rock. We harvested it already, so there’s nothing here for you.
Priya: Mom, I really like it here.
Linden-Squirrel: Daughter, you said that about the last world … haha, actually, you always do this and its quite the nuisance. We have andromeda to explore tomorrow morning. being human must be terrible.
Priya: Alright … I suppose this whole experience has been a little much.
Priya turned around to look back and locate her companion, but the two commanders quickly placed their hands on her shoulders after a quick view. Below Alexa was contending with the fury of the alien defenders. “Damn you!” she ranted, disarming a squirrel of his blue energy aura covered spatula, slicing through his shield barrier to end the argument. Through the channel of her palm three substances – succulent aloe, red cactus-fruit juice and purified cactus water as a coolant – flowed into the mirror sword, into interior channels within the structure of the handle and blade, giving it renewed vigor. From her point of view, she could see the enemy standing in formation in a half-circle, the patron surrounded, captured. “Priya! Get away!” she called, but the ambient noise from the hovering trapezoid was too much, dampening out her voice. “Uhh …
that platform is too high, by the time I get up there …” Alexa thought as panic ringed in her skull.
Then an idea sparked, and she aimed the sword down to the ground, discharging a burst of the red cactus juice amplified mirror light, propelling her upwards. Metal framework chimed as the solider arced over, her feet tapping onto it. Although the light cancelled much of the surroundings, she could see the goddess climb the ramp with the two others on either side, black hair swaying with relative freedom. Stopping, Priya turned to Linden-Squirrel, “But maybe I could say goodbye to one of them”, glancing once again. Pulses of rage coursed through the soldier as she felt the thick humid delusion in the air, digesting everything in imaginary acid.
Bolting forward she arrived at the railing at the base of the ramp, and received the gaze of the scientist upon her person. Lifting up the sword, an abstract charismatic force swelled across its length. Acting like a lightning rod on the roof of a house, the epicenter of the turbulence of the maelstrom reacted. Suffusing into the geometry of the blade, the exuberant currents rushed inwards, fil ing its hypothetical volume. “Get Bent!” Alexa howled, sweeping the blade downwards in one strike with all her vigor against the metal of the railing, shattering it. Returning to normal atmospheric conditions, Priya watched as the walls of the Silo reappeared. Turning around, her parents Melina-Squirrel and Linden-Squirrel changed back, falling over onto the platform mesh. Flopping over, she could see them as just ... white bowling pins. “That was a close one …” Priya panted, seeing the flash of a sarcastic smile emerge on her friend’s overwrought face. Little harmless rodents scampered out of the way of her feet as they made their way to an opening that had been torn through one of the walls.
CHAPTER 31 – RODI
Current Time
“Ah … my chest feels hot” she complained, touching the “ES” Echo-Seal. It activated, bringing her to a place that was unfamiliar, a simple scene, but with zones of the horizon saturated with golden light. “Good to see you found your way here” Pelfe remarked, closing the distance between her and the new arrival. “Sound-Sister, what is this place?” Echo questioned, hearing the feeble cry of illusion in every facet of the environment. Luminous harps in close rows arced up and out of the lake-water, then back in again like a great aquatic serpent. Looking over Pelfe’s shoulder, she noticed houses lined the stretch of the lake. “I possess something that belongs to you, one of your memories. For several years many have been drawn to this place by its invitation, but they have never found it. Place this mask that I wear on your face, and you wil see” she offered, and Echo took it, letting its smooth surface align with her skin. A cold, gratifying breeze rambled by, spiced with forest. Down the side of a hill, there was a little natural space between two columns of suburban homes tucked into the rusty autumn. Piles of leaves and their crisps enfolded aroma into the air. Echo could hear the grass swish with movement, and looked down the hil to see who or what it was. “Wait … that’s me” she recognized, seeing the deliberate motions of a young sixteen-year-old girl. Rows of telephone poles were spaced evenly down the hill to a certain spot where there was a depression, then followed the curve of the land upwards as the hill changed directions. Wooden columns planted stoically ignored the latest rush of bitterness as it flowed, the ensuring wind, invigorating everything. Slowly, that phenomenon died down. Their cables extended away, tied to the tops of each pole in turn, drawing symmetrical lines to the distance. Pink blushes of the day’s slow departure lingered above the canopies of the trees in the character of the motes of cloud.
“Everything is going to be alright” whispered Priya as she saw the unbearable weight of the burden of emotion on the young woman, moving like molasses to the center of the green.
Tracing every movement, the scientist watched her younger self, felt the heightening of her senses, how she looked about over every blurry motion of the leaves, and experienced every iota of the universe, drinking in its loveliness, its oddity. Young Priya looked forward up the hill to where the final pair of columns stood, and between them, the setting sun, its bright aura calling to her with warm fatherly light. “Dad, I promise that I wil help people so they don’t die like you. I love you … Now I have to put all of this away inside of me, store it away” she declared, clenching a hand against the skirt of her dress, the other reaching out to the corona. Echo could
not help herself. Tears rolled down her face as the truth arrived. After she opened them, another figure was standing beside her, Dramatic, or the neural hologram he left behind. “This is why I chose you Priya. That girl standing over there, I knew she could face whatever life tried to throw at her after this. So now you know, but there is something else that will surprise her later. Both species have markedly different adolescence according to biology. Relatively soon you will have access to your potential as the Rikiral DNA in you awakens. Fortunately, that will let you unlock the techno-pathic abilites of the Rikiral. Historically, their civilization has followed the path of that trait and its manipulation of technology. Trust those powers” Dramatic advised. Receding into nothingness they returned to the golden landscape as the mask disintegrated. Pale and sickly, Pelfe leaned against Dramatic, letting his white beard grace her shoulder, “Obviously, I used a paradox to create Pelfe here. Melina and Linden really only had you in the first age. I wove sound into this construct”. Agony braced the patron, “No, not today!” she cried, reaching her hand and putting it on the side of a face she had seen for the first time. Feeling the warmth on her cheek, Pelfe looked up with eyes that now seemed a little less lonely, having spent so much of it in place where travelers only came to seek gain, not friendship, “I was always just the guardian. Echo … don’t trust Visioness. She’s not who you think she is. She’s not your friend”.
“Sister … No!” Priya demanded. Humbled as her powers did nothing, such as a pathetic human without magic, the beautiful sprite faded into smithereens, and when it was done, she looked up at Dramatic, his face certain that she could take such a loss. Priya opened her eyes, finding herself at the spot where her younger self stood. Butterflies fled in fear as the echo seal activated. Priya waited patiently … and lifted her hands as sawdust from the dissolving wood of the telephone poles danced around her. All that remained now was the cables and the circle of the setting sun. Collecting it at the crest of the hill, she wrapped the cable with magic until it formed a hollow sphere. With that eclipse, the light died down, stifling the sunset. Mending the Sphere of Time, the dream aether bloodline became the shell and the dust bloodline became the MOR, the moment of return at its center. “Just breathe … Just breathe … Just breathe” she thought. Mirror light thinned until Alexa could see her friend panting, down on her knees. Picking her up, they both walked to the opening that the little squirrels were so intent on escaping out of.
The sound of laughter erupted from her friend, which at first, she could not guess the reason for until she wiped the hair from her face, “The SOTA … I did it”.
CHAPTER 32 – THE ABSCONDENCE
Current Time
A pelican broke off a hard chunk of Boston cream pie that it had saved through the winter and fed it to its litter at the base of the red-brick student center. “Alright, I can teleport again. My mojo is coming back” Priya reported to Alexa, who was just a little bit dizzy after the jump.
Reconnecting, the fiefdom channels formed simple networks until the scientist heard the pleasant hum of Etheria’s voice in her head. “That was better than I expected … well done,” she complimented, “the word-signs have been cleared from the entire continent and they are making a final stand in Baltimore Maryland. Hogarth and I have directed the regiments there now. The city and the surrounding landscape have been terraformed by their light beams”. “Excellent, this wil be an easy cleanup. I’m bringing Alexa and the others should be there by Friday. We’l move on Baltimore on Saturday” she confirmed, then walked into the student center. Running a personal errand, Priya met once again with Hook, convincing him to publish her paper after some preliminary edits. Gingerly he surveyed each page, licking his thumb and turning the
page. He did that about one hundred times as the scientist fought an internal battle, and won.
White tufts of hair above his ears wagged eagerly as the last paragraph was read, and he looked up to her, nodding in consent, “Approved for consideration by the journal. Very good thesis, you may take a mint on the way out”. That night her breath was minty fresh.
Saturday afternoon a tremor in the air landed somewhere on the outskirts of the coastal seaport.
Spell infantry were engaged with a throng of Telenon’s robots. Joining them from atop a hill she called “kite shredder!” and the crowd of her soldiers changed into kites that danced as the air was filled with a trembling breeze. Quickly they cut through the metallic army, dicing them into pieces, then returned back to their original shape. As they entered the city, they passed by harmless streams of sand that fell from upside down shoes. A hovering skull cried ketchup from one eye and mustard from the other to intimidate them, but they continued onward. The towers beckoned, even if the streets were mostly empty. Looking farther into the city, a few word-signs that scouted the periphery away from the main group altered the city with their beams, turning buildings into deep fryers into which clouds from the sky dropped, becoming fried clouds that then dripped hot oil like rain onto anyone foolish enough to come close enough. Then the first wave came, attacks by more of Telenon’s minions. Opening their mouths, they fired rockets into the ranks of the spell infantry. Fighting ensued, until only a remainder was left. Teddy arrived, with a speech convincing them to join their cause. Eventually the rest of the patrons reinforced with their regiments, each taking a fraction of the city. Baltimore was sealed away by the turbulence from aerial attack, only being accessible by land. Finding they could not contend with their number, the word-signs employed Abscondation to spread them thin, that ability of the turbulence to transport someone far away by magical means. Priya pressed forward, knowing that such a tactic could not kill its target. Gradually, their forces were pinned. Lined up defensively in a phalanx at the center for the city, the word-signs waited for their approach …
not moving until a man who paced atop a rooftop who had been driven mad by the turbulence lifted up his first. Inscription seals ignited on the ground. It was a trap and all the patrons were teleported away. In slow motion Priya witnessed it, and leapt into one of the circles before it was too late.
DCHAPTER 33 – RALAMARA AND TRAN – TOOTHPICK PARTY
Second Age, Echo Realm
“This is absolutely disgraceful” Ralamara whispered to her friend Tran Carpenter underneath her venetian mask. For this private party alone, the revelers had spared no expense. When partygoers were bored of dancing, they would pick up one of the silent vacuum cleaners that were arranged on the wall and go about sucking up all the free coins that fil ed the room. “This is why our boys and girls are getting secondhand everything” she reiterated, nudging her politely.
“Yes, darling, but that’s hardly a reason to fret” Tran, spurning such an infantile quibble answered as she showed a little bit of ankle to the waiter as he passed. “Place like this could become a cinnamon den if you're not careful” Ralamara chided. Tran took hold of her friend’s venetian mask and threw it away into the crowd, “darling, you are far too uptight. Respect the relaxation riddle a little”. Ralamara pouted, thinking to herself what scathing remarks her friend would have if she were to bring her to a typical club in the portion, with people dancing to that new hit, “I like grub, rub a dub dub” as videos showed Measuring-Cup Domination eat sandwiches in a bubble bath on the viewscreen. The fact of the matter was, these gatherings
had always been a drain on resources and led them to be totally unprepared when tragedy struck, whether they were for the Couple, the metacoma or the upper set, and no one had learned anything. She was just the only one clearsighted enough to notice. “Oh my!” one of the ladies yelped as her vacuum cleaner began to malfunction and spurt coins out in every direction. The crowd took notice, and just as they did the mechanism exploded in a shower of coins that stopped short, spinning in the air, “Hello, one and all! Al ow me to introduce myself. I am the master of ceremonies, and gamemaster for all of tonight’s glorious distractions!”. The crowd cheered and listened intently to his instructions. The men were to be separated from the women and enter a private room at the far end of the chamber. Then, when they came back, they were to all be seated at a row of chairs. The festivities would continue as usual, but with the men taking no part, being only onlookers for the remainder of the night. “How pleasantly presumptuous!” Tran laughed and shooed away the men that grumbling, passed them by.
“Maybe I am being a bit ethnocentric” Ralamara thought and grabbed her friend’s hand, leading her over to that part of the room with a fountain around the corners of which red foxes were seated with straws in their mouths and blew into them, making bubbles. The two girls grabbed their own straws from the pile and joined the foxes. When they had labored enough, a contraption at the center of the fountain rewarded them with a wineglass. “I think I’ve figured out you little miss schoolteacher” Tran started as she sipped her glass, “Al you do is complain about how everyone is misbehaving all the time, and you’ve taken care of everyone for so long, that you’ve never real y had any time for yourself, have you?”. Leaning back against the fountain, she caressed the head of a fox as she glanced out into the crowd, “I wouldn’t say that, but there are some things that always need to be taken care of. By the way, it’s not like I haven’t got any good offers before”. “Whoo hoo. Bet you have, darling. You minx” Tran yelped excitedly, poking her with the straw before tossing it onto the floor. Just then the men returned from their private meeting and arrayed themselves on the row of wooden chairs across the walls of the chamber. The music alternated to classical as a line of waiters appeared from the kitchen carrying trays of appetizers and mixed in with the crowd. As they made their rounds the woman flocked to them, very selectively selecting a toothpick, and when they were done tossed it back onto the empty platter. “Wonder what all the interest is. Looks like normal appetizers to me”
Ralamara chuckled. Tran turned to her and rolled her eyes, “They are normal darling. It’s not about the appetizers. The men go into the private room like just now where they are castrated, and their special amigos are turned into toothpicks. Then the waiters come out, and the women pick the toothpicks. Haven’t you been to a toothpick party before, they do one every month or so?”. The woman as she heard this was too shocked to react. She looked over at the crowd and watched in disgust as a lady removed her venetian mask and pluck an appetizer off of a platter, almost in slow motion. Tran summoned over a waiter that crossed their path and did the same, savoring the toothpick as it rested between her lips. Looking over the row of chairs, she tried to guess which one of them it was. Each of them could barely sit stil . “What a lucky young buck this must be” she laughed, then flicked the toothpick across the room. At this, the schoolteacher’s emotions began to boil over. Stomping to the center of the room, she slammed her foot down, “Everyone stop what you're doing right now!”. The crowd gasped as the new distraction presented itself. “Can any one of you real y say you are proud of yourselves? You should be humiliated. This is repulsive and wrong. And more than that, this stupid party is taking away so much that we could have given to support our brothers and sisters who are fighting now, going head to head with the other realms just to protect us, and this is the thanks they get?” the schoolteacher belted out with vigor. Tran jumped in to save face, “Don’t mind her.
She’s almost too ditzy for me! But I think it would be a fabulous idea if we did give something to our friends on the front line, tonight, don’t you all think?”. Five minutes later, a waiter pushed a cart of vacuum cleaners out of the front door. In front of him were both women, each of them holding a full vacuum cleaner in their arms, which had hurriedly been thrust upon them, after they were escorted out of the party. “Don’t worry, I have some connections that can get us back
in next month’s get-together” Tran sighed as she watched her friend struggle with the weight of the vacuum. So they ended up going to a different party that was A LOT less fun. On a table there was a shoe filled with delicious salty pretzels. Beginning to stir, the partygoers turned to see what was hidden inside. They stared at it until a bunny popped its head out of the mass of pretzels. “Excuse me, can we be reasonable? It’s obvious that no one here is having a good time”
CHAPTER 34 – CROW GUY
Second Age, Echo Realm
The zebra sombrero doctor hustled down the stairs. He had been reprising what can only be said to be the ontological breakdown of society. Concrete from outside blustered in the wind, its fragmentation on an epic scale. A car went by. In its window was something deliberately blinding. Anywhoo, the guy who has the crabs stuck to his body walked into the doctor’s office.
He had a lot of backfat. The doctor didn’t really know his name. His nostrils were replete with the most subtle brushes of hair that one could name. They smelt of sea salt from the shore of a beach. The type you ride past in the lorry. Sunlight drip drip drip. The man became so bored that he broke off a claw and started eating the crab meat like it was a Sunday lunch. Just then the assistant jumped in through the door. She had trousers on from the night before. The man was ready for his doctor. Shivers went up his spine in the best way possible. Zebra Sombrero Doctor examined him. A tap here a tap there. An eyescope here, an eyescope there. The backfat was getting impatient. It extended out some arms and started reading a magazine.
Mumbling its lower lip with the complaints he witnessed. The opinion piece. The Zebra Sombrero Doctor had his assistant return to the sanctuary on the forgotten island with the mighty stone quarry, where the pillars are gargantuan. She lifted up a pillar just for fun. She came back to the office and went to the closet where the zebras waited with their sombreros in a fashionable lineup. Meanwhile … the circular shadow from the lifted pillar … extended outward. Its benevolence continued, draping all those who stood in its path. The doctor put his hand on the man’s bel y to feel a grumble. It was simple one, nothing to be concerned about. A crab crawled along his arm and onto his hand and took it’s cigar out of his mouth and looked at the doctor straight in the eye, “For gosh sake, can’t you tell the man’s got us crabs on him. We pinched him all day long. Let’s hurry it up. I don’t have all day”. So the doctor took a magazine and whipped all the crabs off the man until he was pretty again except for his backfat. The backfat continued to read the newspaper and mumbled something about how an editorial piece personally offended him. But in the end, this was all the dream of a man on a rooftop somewhere in Bell City. He owned a few wild crows. Stacks of old trinkets made up the majority of his home. He was not a credible witness.
CHAPTER 35 – COMPANION ARC: PRIYA AND RALAMARA
Current Time
“Give me a break, they’re kids again?” Priya groaned as she hopped off the side of the hill.
Answering her arrival, the group snickered mischievously, then bolted all the way down the
street and around a corner. “Damn, the turbulence is too thick here” she thought, stomping after them. Footsteps betrayed their movement, and she followed them until finding their hiding spot.
Passing by a metal fence with a playground the scientist came to the front stair of an elementary school. Drawn by the signature of a gentle voice through the corridors, she noticed the final classroom, its door ajar. “That must be a good book if it got them to shut up” Priya commented as Ralamara animated a storybook with the buoyancy of her personality. Assembled on the floor, the elementary kids mostly picked their noses and wiggled their toes. The rocking-chair came to a halt, creaking insufferably. “Echo … is that you?” the teacher asked with a look of shy penitence plastered all over her face. Being raised by Alexa, who had an eclectic lifestyle and fierce personality, things had always been strained. Later, when she came of age Ralamara had gone her own way, leaving high echelons of fiefdom society for a quiet life. There were, of course brief moments when she had come into contact with the empress, although she had seen her on television. Enow’s funeral had been the last time, when she spoke to her privately, letting her know her place in the chain. Angered by Alexa’s silence, she parted ways with her mother and they had not talked since.
Priya: yeah, did you manage to capture all the patrons today? Ralamara: What are you talking about? I’ve been taking care of these local kids for over a year. Priya: That’s what you think.
Time vortexes seem to be strong in these parts. It’s just a quirk. Ralamara: Uh … alright. I don’t speak gibberish. Priya: Actual y, can you look after them for me for a few days? I’m glad if they are safe here. I have some things I have to do. Ralamara: This is the same problem with you and mom! I haven’t seen you in years, and now you’re rushing out again. Are you real y so important that you don’t have any time at all? Guilt radiated through her heart, realizing how easy it was to lose track of the ones closest to you. “Luckily, you can pick your own mother now, Ralmara, you are a non-ancestral. Funny thing is, you could reconnect in any way” she thought privately. Priya: Sigh … okay. I was going to save the world today, but what do you want to do instead? For the first time in countless years, the teacher’s plain face lighted up with mischief.
An hour later the nerdy one tipped a chair against a brick wall, rubbing her forehead with a hand in dismay. “Man, I have never been in so much denial” Priya thought, realizing the ugly, forbidden truth … they sucked. Even so, she continued to bang the drums as the other wailed on the microphone in an empty warehouse. A stray cat crawled along the windowsill, looked in their direction for a moment and slinked away. Laying the sticks on the top of the drum, she stood back up. Priya: Rala, can we take a break, I’m tired. Ralamara: Sure, we’ve got to spend some time choosing a name anyway. Priya: That would be cool, but I can’t real y think of anything. Ralmara: Hmm … what about “The Deadly Hiccup” or the “Glamourous Sound-Bandits”? Priya: Those are okay, but well, I was thinking, maybe did you want to try something else besides this? Ralamara: What are you saying? Priya: Nothing, I mean there’s more than one thing we can do today. Ralamara: Don’t you want to do the band? Is it my singing, it’s amazing, right? Priya: Look, I’m bored. Can we talk about something else? Ralamara: Answer the question, Echo. We had a plan, you on the drums and me on the mic. Priya: You made up that plan twenty minutes ago! Ralmara: So, you are too good for this? Answer the question.
Priya: Okay already! You’re singing is bad! It’s real y not amazing. I tried to tell you earlier but you were so wrapped up in it I couldn’t get in two words. Ralamara: Damn you are rude! I watch you on fiefdom television all the time … if people knew what you were like, they wouldn’t love you so much! Priya: Rala, stop. I was just trying to be … Ralmara: Maybe you should take a break outside. I want to think. Then we have to get back, their nap is almost over. Priya: Alright then, but I’l be back in ten minutes. don’t run off like the others.
Resting her shoulder against a shabby, cracked wall outside, the scientist tried to clear her mind of everything. “Give me some credit, why does every relationship have to be a different puzzle?”
she mused, then opened her eyes, seeing a king-sized bed resting in the middle of the street.
“Very inviting, but I’l pass” she smiled, closing her eyes once again and smushing the rest of her back against the dilapidation, for a simple purpose, since it is most pleasurable for the body to recognize itself by its association with another object. At second glance the bed was now ten feet above the ground, with the top of a ladder leaning against the sheets. “Priya are you certain that’s the … wait. However, that bed got here, it wasn’t the turbulence. Maybe it is just ambient magic” she rationalized, not sensing any of the familiar symptoms from the furniture. Getting comfortable after climbing the ladder, the scientist pulled the thick, insulated sheets up to her chest. “Yes … I know what this is” she gulped. Simultaneously with that realization, below the king-sized bed a black frying pan materialized. Then the substance of the bed and the sleeper, Priya altered becoming butter, melting onto the frying pan until there was nothing but frothy yellow bubbles. Rotating in the air, the pan became vertical, a black, silent circle, speculating that everything that has a beginning has an end. A minute passed, then, jumping out from that nothingness Priya landed on the street and the pan circle shrunk becoming a dot that disappeared. “My gosh … I feel absolutely fantastic! This power is rushing through me, and I feel like I could reach across the galaxy and give someone a wedgie!” the patron laughed.
Testing it out, a portion of her subconscious severed off and possessed a girl who did not suspect the slightest thing. During the day Mill Vun-Vun had been given the duty of manning the counter in the cafeteria, plopping scoops of mashed potatoes onto people’s plates. That night as she snored in her bed the external force brought her ever so conscious as to get out from bed, put on her apron and return to the line. Half-awake and half-dreaming the girl took the metal scoop and poked it into the big fluffy mound, then released a ball onto what she must have believed was another person’s plate. Beyond the borders of the SOTA an assortment of planets that had not been relocated through the re-manifestation returned to their positions. With each scoop another appeared in the empty darkness of space. “They had better not ask for pretzel flavor mashed potatoes” she mumbled as a thread of drool ran from the side of her mouth.
When it was done, the fragment of subconscious retired from the body, reconnecting. “Fantastic
… ah. My blood is so happy, its boiling. Huh … huh, okay, it’s calming down now” she exhaled, pressing both palms against the unpleasant grimy warehouse wall and hanging her head down,
“So yes, I can feel now. The dream reflection is more than a micro-RODI, it is a branch variant of the RODI, another program of the focal element that I created. The focal element must have hundreds of thousands of programs other than the RODI, interesting. Through it I can access a new school of magic, and four sub-schools, each represented by one of the letters. But what of Linden, Etab, Snow and Sortjim?. They must not even realize. If he had known, he may have bested Etheria. Caramel has passed from PTSD, and this power could cause destruction if a mere mortal like Sortjim, not knowing what is inside him, accidently wields it, so let me send out my subconscious, and place a seal on him. Haha, that’s most likely why Tania was drawn to him
… shit”. Looking back towards the street, the ladder had become a double helix of butter that melted itself as it cycled into another frying pan that rested on the asphalt. Dust from the nearby windowsill made her nose itch, a frisky reminder that ten minutes had elapsed. Ralamara tapped her foot as the prodigal drummer returned, waiting for a good explanation, “The next words I hear had better be ‘Deadly Hiccup’ or ‘Sound-Bandits’”. Priya could hear the pounding of her chest, and knew that in the woman’s transient state, everything was riding on this, “That’s too much pressure. I just wanted to tell you the truth. I had to, because I like you, didn’t have a choice”. Melancholia dawned on Ralamara as she realized that yes, in fact they sucked at this.
Sniffling, wetness formed on the tender meat of her eyes, adorned with that fragile lattice-work of red veins. Such was the normal function of a human eye, much like the regular purpose of an eye-dropper in the lab was to do much the same. Only for some reason she felt they were different, as the barrier of thought that desensitized her, made her a scientist suffered a brief fracture. Made whole by the expiration of the illusion, she smiled again, embracing her new friend, “man, was I being dumb … I’m glad you stepped in before we really embarrassed ourselves, but one of these days I’m going to find something I can be totally arrogant about, a
snob”. Priya nodded, “to be frank, we absolutely have no talent, but I have a real y good album that I want you to listen to later, I’l bring it the next time I see you”. Kicking the mic onto the not-so lovely warehouse filth-floor, Ralamara took her arm, “Fair enough, let’s go back and see how the kids are doing”. Fol owing the path back to the elementary, the patron felt relieved, recognizing how benign the focal element was being. “Look, they’re already having recess”
spotted Ralamara, grabbing onto the metal fencepost like prison-bars. Indeed, the little tikes ran about on the colorful jungle gym, bounding from level to level, chasing each other down the slide and through the obstacles, most likely forgetting that a classroom or a Mrs. Ralamara ever existed. Mockingly, Priya threw up a first, shaking it in contempt, “Are they allowed to have this much fun? Wel … unfortunately I’m going to have to bring them back …” she began. Defying the will of that sentence, the jungle gym, as they watched from behind the metal fence expanded, accepting quanta of lifeforce into its inanimate core, until it grew uncontested, becoming a high tree of classical grace and significance. “Ah! What are we going to do now, the kids are playing up there in the branches! Priya, get them down with your powers” Ralamara cried excitedly. Giving it ten or so tries, even with the increase granted by her new abilities …
she did not even manage to rattle a single leaf. “This is another mirage of the cosmic tree, grown in the epicenter of the maelstrom” Priya realized. A look of cunning, of restless Robinson Crusoe fortitude chiseled itself across her brow. Shedding the nerdy persona, the lab-girl handed her lab coat over to the school-teacher and rolled up her sleeves “Going to have to do this the old-fashioned way”, then climbed up over the metal fence to the other side. “Wait, let me come!” Ralamara implored, reaching her hands through the bars. Priya turned back, regarding the pacifist, “Don’t’ worry, this is the one thing I don’t suck at”.
Berserk-ing through the canopy, Priya stopped to catch her breath, looking back to see the town below was lost from sight. Fumbling her hand through a cluster of leaves, she picked one, put it in her pocket, then retrieved it, the process changing the item into a compass, but even by then it’s needle, hearing only silence from the local magnetic fields, did not even register a humble tick. A cat, perhaps the one that had slinked across the warehouse window sat father up on the branch near the trunk. He grabbed from a Tupperware container a chicken leg, chowing down on it until the only thing left was a bone, which transformed into a white key that the cat used to unlock a door in the trunk, escaping into an apartment room. Hearing the proof of scampering climbers, with bellies full of laughter she continued onwards until reaching a height of the tree where the branches where large enough to walk along like paths. “Guess I’l make home camp here” Priya declared, seeing an abandoned tree-house tucked in a nook of the trunk. Airing out the interior, she lit a lantern. Numbering among the furnishings were a bunk-bed with a white pillow and sheets on the east side, an empty treasure chest laying against the west, and finally
… a vending machine with soda cans occupying the north. “Yes, this treasure chest wil make a grand storing place for them, so I can carry it down” she acknowledged, modifying it into a treasure-chest rocking crib so they would sleep soundly inside and not stir. From there she ventured out onto the branch-paths, chasing after rowdy tots. Yet three long weeks passed with no success, after which Priya rolled over on the floor, and opened a bloodshot eye. Twisting an arm around, the mound of empty soda can bottles pushed itself slightly to the left. No longer even considering the bunk-bed, the scientist came home every night after another fruitless hunt, plopping down onto the floor with the sheet and pillow. More of the soda cans had accumulated around her as she had become addicted, guzzling them frequently. Slapping the tab for another can, it clanged down into the receptacle below and she grabbed it. Adjusting her eyes to the morning light, the title of the mocking flavor was plainly visible, When-You-Try-Really-Hard-But-It-Doesn’t-Matter Cola. Snapping the tab back, Priya quaffed the fizzy antidote. “Is that the actual flavor or am I fucking crazy?” she wondered. Yawning with more gusto than a lion, she dragger herself back out of the tree-house for the day’s chase, that would by nightfall leave her with nothing, being unavailing, a fool’s errand. Traps had been set everywhere, but they had
never even caught one of them. Spying TAP scooting along the branch three levels up from her home, she pursued, until that limb tapered off, forcing both of them to crawl on their hands and knees. This high up on the tree, her powers were bereft of usefulness. Ignoring gravity, TAP
continued to crawl across the branch, then along the underside, then continued to cycle around.
Priya wasn’t quick enough and just sort of gave up, hugging the branch and letting her arms droop on either side. In primal anger she tore out a chunk of bark with her teeth and spat it out, down to the world below. “Like … what is my motivation here? A bunch of kids climbed up a tree and I have to rescue them? Is it that simple?” she thought. Peering towards the horizon she could see one of the afternoon suns, then a three-hole punch approach it, pressing holes into the celestial body. Little sun three-hole-punch circles fluttered down to where an upside-down hat hovered, capturing the stray pieces. “After dad died … I gave up on love. In the realm I abandoned the echo generation, representing that. But I fixed everything, it should be done. Am I having to capture them for that reason?” the climber pondered. Bracing for the riddle to unravel itself, she pushed back up off the branch. “Nice try …” her instinct whispered as a blur skipped around the curve of the trunk. For a time, he gave good chase, even pouncing onto different heights. But Priya, galvanized by the clue of what her aim was meant to be, grabbed onto the back of his sweater, “Got you Catcher! Now I know what you went through you little firefly” she grinned, patting herself on the back. Bringing the little tyke back to the tree-house, she set him to rest in the treasure-chest crib and went out again for more. Another three days was all it took until the last of them surrendered the arduous, grueling game of hide and seek. Her feet sore from running, Priya placed Snow down into the chest, snapping the lock shut, and fell back in exhaustion onto the pile of soda-cans, passing out. When she turned over, rattling the collection, slices of dawn pried through the window, highlighting blemishes on the texture of the wood all around. Retrieving a bowl from under the bunk bed, she lifted up a pillow-case by its ends and shook it, as it still had some leftover cereal in it, and acquired some milk by tearing off another piece of the bed-sheet, one of the last scraps, and filled a glass with orange juice by breaking off one of the tabs from a soda-bottle and attaching it to the wooden board on the wall, then pressing it back opening up a hole from which the juice flowed into the cup that she held beneath it. “My eyes aren’t so tired now, that was a good rest” she thought, pushing open the door after breakfast and walking out onto the canopy. Unhooking her jaw for the most part, Priya let go a prodigious yawn, then watched the upside-down hat released its collection of three-hole punch circles across the sky, until they found their own places amongst the currents of air, growing into new suns. “Huh, who is that coming up here?” the patron discerned, stepping away from the edge. With ten fence post for fingers on their hands, Glug and Blibber easily climbed up the trunk of the tree and stood there, in the little depression that harbored the tree-house. For more than a hundred years they had rested underneath the university grounds, feeding on solar energy quite like an ordinary plant, but through wood-posts, so it took longer, “don’t worry lady, we will carry this big tree-house down for you”. Glug went to one side and Blibber to the other, in one feat of strength tugging the box out of its place, then started the trek downwards. She followed suit, finding the easiest path through the canopy until close enough to leap onto the grass of the playground. Her two friends lay the house on the ground, and as soon as the three of them were clear the tree resumed its prior form as the jungle gym. Ralamara, who had waited for more than fifteen minutes jumped up and down in excitement. Glug went to where she was and with a finger underneath the metal fence, bent it upwards for her to walk through. Dragging the treasure-chest from the tree-house, the climber unlocked it, letting the rascals free, drowsy from pretending to be treasure. “Oh my gosh. I can’t believe how brave you are. Come here and give me a hug … full acceptance” Ralamara cried, gripping her tight. Seeing them embrace, Blibber chuckled heartily. Ralamara was not even concerned by the two big fat ugly troll looking things. Deep in the cave of silence, the words “FULL ACCEPTANCE!” heaved in dominant, ancient reverberations that only she could hear. Priya stepped back, and felt her power rise to a level even beyond that of the dream reflection that had been loosed an hour prior. Mirror blood
swelled in jubilation through the labyrinth of the fiefdom and her veins. “Amazing … now anyone can opt in or out … of being real or imaginary when their will demands it by accepting this liquid”
Priya realized. “Ralamara, let me hold your hands for a moment” she requested, and with one hand let the mirror blood pass through the palm of one hand and into her soul-body, fomenting the transition, they drawing it out through the barrier of the other palm, realizing the body was not ready. “Gah! Do you always have to be right! These kids were the patrons the whole time!”
she exclaimed as Dazin and the rest of the echo line sprouted. He was gruff and handsome from so much rest. “Can you forgive me now, old-timer?” she asked, leaning in. Priya closed her eyes, preparing for the wet, incredible pressure. As if to answer, he graced her mouth with a clean kiss, the pleasant, bland, inoffensive sort that a wife gets when company is over for dinner or a get-together.
CHAPTER 36 – BEFORE THE FINAL BATTLE
Current Time
Zooming through the eddy of the Veles-Snail Man gateway close to the surface of the shell, Priya held onto Dazin’s hand as the warmth of that portal splashed over their faces. Going some distance, they found the shy moon orbiting, isolated from all that which encompassed civilization. “There it is” she pointed, locating the temple of the voices of reason exposed in the fair chalky frame of the moon. At its front they stopped for the scientist to remove an article from a pocket of her lab-coat. “I will be waiting in wonderstruck synthesis” read the telegram. “Here is the easy part” she noted as the geometry detached, forming an opening to the walkway that led to the main room. Trying to figure out what to do, a buzzing noise came from outside the building. It ceased, prompting the architecture of the temple to fully disband, save for the floor that they stood upon. Homogenous yet glorious, Wonderstruck Synthesis extended out into the distance. Several feet from the edge of the floor a purple diamond shaped fissure opened up, beckoning her. “I’m won’t be gone for long, then we can spend whatever time we need to, every day will be like a vacation” Priya promised, holding a hand to his cheek. “Are you just saying that?” Sam asked, removing her hand. “Our love wil be like …. metaphors” she promised, encouraged by the cutting, unmistakable features of his face. “What are you getting at? Am I just a piece of metaphorical ass?” Sam promptly retaliated, casting off il usions. “Wait, what?
No, I’m just saying how this is going to go back to the way it was before” she defended. “Priya
… this is Eric talking. I used to be my own person, and then you tried to change me. You forced me to be what you imagined as your ideal guy … ” he affirmed, giving distance between them.
Pain beat against her chest. The scientist’s face became stiff. She looked into the fusion to get a closer look at what truly was, “What about you, Sam?”. Instead of returning her gaze, he looked down, “Priya, everything has been moving so fast. You moved on”. Tears of one clarified feeling dropped down her cheek, “but Sam”. He turned around and walked to the end of the platform,
“We wil always have Alpha”. Unable to move, she stood there quivering, then out from the space of her lost tooth came a man, Valco, who stood beside her. “Damn you Dazin! Have you any idea what she has been through for us? You are worse than the enemy and a traitor! How dare you make her cry!” he roared. He towered a foot above the scientist, a pil ar of brawn.
“Priya, when this all started, I was lonely, and it was dark in the cave, so I called out and fell in love with my own echo. There you were, a beautiful woman, ideal. But I’m much older now” he explained with notes of idiosyncrasy that only she could comprehend. “Idiot! You don’t deserve her!” Valco blasted, holding onto the woman’s shoulders to give her stability. “Sam, please …
turn around and tell me you love me” she begged. Staying in the present with great effort, and shunning the past, he faced her again, “Echo, maybe that’s real y all we had in common”. Valco knew enough to say nothing, even though his sole thought was to punch him out into the oblivion of wonderstruck synthesis. Striding through silence, the girl made it to the other end of the floor, where he stood and placed a hand atop his forehead. With that subtle touch the two that had been forced together into a fusion split apart, a ghostly mitosis, until Sam and Eric returned, the insult to their freedom undone. Sullen with fresh melancholia, she lifted off the platform and glided towards the diamond. “No, don’t go like this” Valco spoke, halting her progress, his grip was hard on her arm, and they were both positioned with nothing below their feet. “Wel , what else do you want me to do?” Priya replied, with all the potent magic and imperceptible exaggeration of her appearance absent. “Give it to me” he demanded. “What?”
she asked, not knowing what his plan entailed. “Do you remember empty recurrence?” Valco questioned, the true strategy of his thoughts becoming clear. She rubbed the streaks of eyeliner from her face. The lab-girl phased a hand through the white coat, into her chest, coming back with the pulsating centerpiece of her anatomy. She performed the spell, and handed it to the patron. “Dazin! Having you learned nothing! After eons you should know when a woman loves you! Your words can’t hurt her anymore, they can’t touch her. Watch this and see!” he rebuked, and summoned a portal below them. From a bird’s eye view the lab-girl could see a mountainous landscape below, rugged and beautiful, seemingly long before humans and their meddling ways. Flexing the thick muscles of his arm Valco took the lady’s heart and punched it down towards the mountain-range below, into the mouth of a volcano brimming with hot deadly lava. A great plume of fire and chaos met the midpoint of the sky, greeting it with the bowels of the earth and a silhouette of evaporated elements. Priya bit her teeth as the hot heart returned to the cavity of her chest, and felt all the emotion of untold years leeching out. “Now you are purified, go” he said, and she turned towards the purple diamond, embracing the color of that threshold.
CHAPTER 37 – FINAL BATTLE – PRIYA VS TELENON
Current Time
“Even if bad things happen to me, I’l always try to do the right thing” Priya confessed, seeing him. Below lay the city of the Voices of Reason, and sensing their resolve promptly folded itself like a game-board until it was completely negligible. “Are you blind? There is so much more going on inside the maelstrom of your mind. Interesting things …” he rambled. “Fuck your inner monologue!” Priya shouted, final y gaining his attention. “Alright, I know we can’t agree on everything, so unfortunate” he began, then summoned a portal. Telenon reached in, pulling out an instrument. “Priya, I’m going to stab you in that righteous heart with this sword” he mocked, grinning like a jackal. Focusing with her eyes closed, the researcher could feel the paper that she had written between her hands, then opened them, tossing papers that fluttered all about her person. As if it had been dead for a hundred years an inscription illuminated. Telenon guarded his face with an arm as the intensity peaked. Subsiding, he could see on each side of the scientist the fragments that were the individual walls of the chamber. Reaching out to them with her hands, they drew in close, and formed around her person as a suit of medieval Anechoic Armor, covering her for the most part except for a V-line, “You cannot defeat me now, I am the chamber”. As the inscription dissolved, Telenon hardened his face and narrowed his eyes. In them she could see the unwavering resolve of the king that had ruled the Matryoshka
Realms of the Bacteraie Elementum for ages beyond her number, “We’l see about that, I always get what I want”. Bringing forth dual mirror swords from the shards of a mirror, she charged, and they met in combat. Withdrawing after the first engagement, the swordsman lifted his sleeve, and removed a wrist-watch. Growing in size, it unhooked its metallic band and wrapped around Priya’s neck like a prisoner’s neck-collar. Temporal energy drained from her until angered she smashed the glass with her fist, and it drifted away. Extending out his right hand he dispelled a maelstrom-ray that met the metal of her armor and pushed her back.
Telenon frowned, seeing the knight stil alive, brushing off the flames. “Whatever” Priya replied, and pulled a length of DNA double helix from her hand. She held onto one of the ends of that rope as the rest began to unravel, the base pairs broke off and becoming homing missiles that jettisoned towards the Voice with their rocket thrusters. “Did you real y want my mind? Come and get it!” she cried. Telenon defended against them with a barrier. They continued for a time.
Priya came close enough to force-teleport through him, that teleportation through an object that causes it to explode as soon as she reappears on the other side. When her powers had been at their zenith during the alliance war she could do so through entire buildings or ships. Yet simultaneously he did the same, and they appeared again, reversing positions. As both materialized the individual detonation from the force-teleport engulfed both of them. “Did you think you were the only one that could do that?” he taunted. Summoning a gumball machine, he smashed its glass bowl, causing the balls to scatter. Forming a first with his hand, the gumballs became like idea-stars that drifted over to the scientist, exploding as supernovae. Waiting, the Voice was disappointed to see the woman unscathed, protected by the anechoic armor that had resumed its original shape as the chamber and its occupant within. Promptly it melted back into the medieval armor, and she charged him again. The sharpness of her blade raised incredibly by channeling it with mirror lighting, allowing her to tear through his weapon. Thrown back, he could see her come at him from the high ground. Pointing to the space below him she summoned a wall of anechoic chamber and fashioned a reflection vertex in her fist, striking him, propelling him into the barrier. As his body met with it, he disintegrated into sound. Telenon returned to form and brushed himself off, then defended against “HELLO” word missiles that sought him out. Realizing the enemy was distracted she tried to touch him with bolts of mirror lightning, but he evaded. After he finished the missiles, he directed another maelstrom ray at Echo, who was faster and teleported away from the attack. To refresh, Priya summoned a window from a house and twisted it, letting the liquid pour onto her face as a boxer does with a towel. Casting another spell, the Voice made a host of eyes open up in the air. They spun and turned into frisbees that flew after the scientist. Like him she had to erect an energy barrier against them. Crushing through the shield with a blow of his fist, he tried to strike, but she was faster. “Huh … what are those cracks” Echo thought as textural wounds radiated across his arm from the spot where he hit. Quickly it became obvious the Telenon was a replacement, as its face became clay, and it turned back into a Matryoshka Doll. Witnessing the folly, the scientist tried to escape, but from above and below two pieces of an enormous Matryoshka Doll came together. Darkness ensued as they met, sealing the prey within. Outside, more and more segments met, creating more layers. Isolated in nothingness. Telenon laughed at his easy trap.
A minute later, the head of the antique burst open in a storm of mirror lighting. Priya hovered above, gasping and joyous with her escape. “There is no realm you can lock me in that I won’t get out of, sir. This is your last chance, release the RODI and I will let you live” she called out.
Telenon dissented saying, “Everything is going my way, Echo. My room is messy, and I’m never going to clean it up”. Near his shoulder a bowling bal showed its three holes from which three fingers stuck out. The scientist watched as the three holes slid along the surface of the ball until they had combined, causing the fingers to merge as well into one finger that retreated back into the hole. Then from it came out a new weapon, a two-headed spear. They fought for a time after that, her dual blades against his. Entering into the elemental essence of her mirror lighting, she rammed against him, disregarding flame, and sent him back. “Now you know what it’s like!
There are no contradictions, only marvels!” he cried, then held the double-sided spear horizontally so that it shortened its length and a line of holes appeared on its surface. He pressed his mouth onto the flute and played a brief melody, then lifted his head.
“Transcendental Cornucopia” the player chanted, bringing forth a realm of the night sky full of dots. As the magic of the flute sank in, the color scheme inverted, causing the night to become pure white and the stars to become pure black. Telenon called to the black dots and they formed a constellation of a man into which he was accepted. Priya gasped, feeling his evolution surge. “Stay right there, Priya, let me come to you” he growled. Preserving energy, the medieval armor had subsided, liberating most of her body. Grunting, she realized the Voice had caught her from behind, wrapping strong arms around in a wrestler’s hold. Tightening the lock, he tried to subdue the knight. Between the spaces of their contact he noticed hot steam escaping. “Ah!”
Telenon cried, as her brown skin had temporarily turned to boiling hot coffee. With the grip released, she fell back till clear of him. When he launched another maelstrom ray of far greater magnitude, Priya caused one of the mirrors to reflect a blue sky with clouds, and drew out one of them, fashioning it into an umbrella to ward off the chaos of the bombardment. After it was done, she threw it away, torn and flaming. Unimpressed, the Voice easily rallied molecules that appeared from the microscopic. Their atoms broke off, growing into dandelion flower heads that scattered florets like confusing snowfall. Waving his hand, he collected all of them into a single skull. From its mouth it fired atoms that likewise turned to dandelion heads as they approached Echo. Smashing against a barrier she erected, the florets scattered, spreading chaos. Mad thoughts creeped within … until repelling it a flood of raw certainty rushed through her. “Easy to deal with!” she cried, manipulating mirror lighting, twisting it against the enemy’s attacks until slicing through the skull, crumbling it back into florets. At the moment she flung arcs of lighting and he was mere inches away, Telenon dispelled a burst from his entire body, throwing his opponent. Wiping blood from the side of her mouth she looked up again and saw him charge.
With the energy of the dream reflection she blinked into her hands the energy-construct of a galaxy, then from a pocket in her lab-coat Priya took out a bendy straw, letting the end of it sink into the middle of the vortex. Just as a person blows into the straw of his drink to make bubbles froth, she blew as hard as she could. Galactic bubbles danced on the surface of the spiral.
Grabbing individual ones, they hardened into her hands as energy spheres which she lobbed at the Voice as he made his way towards her, slowing him down. Switching back into black constellation form, a bright dot emerged glowing inside his chest. It rose up the chamber of his head. Spitting it out the white star was hurled towards her. Acting fast she revolved the galaxy and hid behind it, cancelling the attack in a spectacular explosion. In human form once again, he closed the distance, focusing maelstrom energy in a fist to deal the final death-blow. That arm revealed the black constellation as the dots glittered with inexhaustible anarchy. Priya felt the weight of it in her cheek. For a moment they both stood apart. His chest heaved in exhaustion, waiting for her to crumble. Turning to see the side that had met the blow, the flesh of it had taken the texture of the anechoic chamber. In awe to meet … after eons … another, he observed the maelstrom energy decompose into sound that drifted away harmlessly, and the skin of her face return to its ordinary texture. “I told you already who I am. Why didn’t you listen?” she smiled, spitting out blood. Telenon fell back and thought to himself, “She leaves me no choice”. “Do not lie to me. Dramatic may have chosen you and loaned you his power, but you are not a Voice of Reason with true force over the cosmos” he admonished. Like a gameboard the city of unfurled itself below them. Weaving inscriptions of pristine magic he called the iteration of the cosmic tree to flourish until it separated them with a wide, awesome canopy. Before the tree responded to another purpose she let go, and closed her eyes. All the history of the realm flashed before her eyes in memory. Accepting the metamorphosis, she once again became echoes, a current of sound that swam towards the tree, then through it. Wind flowed through the canopy. Beautiful was the rustling of leaves, then rushed towards the Voice of Reason, and through him, a force inter-trans-manifestation. “Hopscotch!” Telenon cried as
the explosion ripped through him. Everything cleared, and Priya turned, seeing him fall on his side. Breaking off from its peers a leaf of the cosmic tree levitated over to her. As it came closer it lay onto her chest, accepting it through the barrier of skin. Then above her head the word
“RODI” shone with exquisite clarity. Dividing it, she scattered the four letters to the corners of the realm, depleted of essence. Priya Echo lifted her hands to the sky above the tree and shouted “RETURN!”. Rusting away her body, all that was left now was the spirit body, and the universe accepted her as the MIND of the IMAGINATION, the focal element. It rushed in …
contained. Sensing the change, the Bacteriae Elementum sounded out in delight. Pouring down like rain, the memories of her life fell upon her face, and she recalled without pain the face of her father, “Dad, I love you, and I am ready to let go of my grief now … goodbye”.
Consciousness resumed. Almost a rumor in the total noise of everything she could hear Telenon, and turned back to see his lips move. “The Aether is Her” he whispered, perishing.
Hearing everything, she knew how his heart beat in that last moment, and how in the seconds before sought out another, forgetting the desire to be alone. Quickly her flesh returned, the Rikiral DNA awakening within. Replacing black, the irises of her eyes became purple, and her hair dyed itself the same color. Ribbon-like projections like ornaments grew from her shoulder and head. Priya Echo matured, a Human-Rikiral hybrid. “This clarity is … nice. I’l teach them all of it. And him … there is a finger missing from a bowling bal that bit his hand. It must be somewhere, but I can’t sense where it could have gone. No matter, he’l be back … one day.
They’l be ready” she thought.
CHAPTER 38 – FATHER AND DAUGHTER REUNION
Current Time
“Nothing is harder than waiting when you’re an old goat like me” thought Ruin as he paced the walkway of his residence. New plots of grass charmed with their verdant color, lightening the hoary features of his countenance. Words spoken in the past drove his footsteps, the shadow of their potency a humble beat that made his chest sore. Then, from the distance came galloping over a friend that he had not had the pleasure of meeting. Lithe body and four furry legs, it swept across the green towards him, then lifted up its head, flapping elf-like ears.
Accompanying the escort, Timecurrent returned and went to her father, encircling him in a warm embrace. Behind them a flock of butterflies individually picked up and rearranged the red bricks of the dreamcastle of Ruin. In a somewhat similar circumstance far away in the city of Rabidarth of Bedla Xane Justar, suspecting a ruse, broke into the basement of Frisha’s home, finding among dark shadows the girl embedded in a shard of jade.
CHAPTER 39 – DEPARTURE
Current Time
Later in the day the others arrived, and Priya as well, sporting a new look. Phantomess waved to her, and parted the crowd to where two big furry squirrels with mittens where tending to a
kitchen oven, situated alone on the grass. Melina-Squirrel bent over and opened up the door, pul ing out a tray of chocolate chip cookies, then lay it on top. “There’s years of work ahead of us, but they stored away almost everyone in the silos that succumbed to the acorn fever”
Phantomess confirmed. Seeing their daughter, the two of them waddled over and gave her a big hug, squeezing her with their oven mittens. “Mom, dad, I’m so glad it’s all done. Now we can rebuild and see what this place offers” she conveyed with the humor of the recent days lighting up her eyes. “Echo-girl, ever since you came to help me and your mother in our time of need, we have been so proud of you” Linden-Squirrel replied, wagging a bushy tail. “It’s because I love you two so much. A lot of things happened because of that, but nothing I couldn’t handle”
Priya answered. Melina-Squirrel looked to her husband, then back at her daughter smiling, “we feel the same, but it’s obvious we have been a burden on you”. “Nothing could be further from the truth” she disagreed. Returning back to the oven, the cooks laid the metal tray on the ground below, causing it to magnify as the crowd made room, growing until the cookies were the size of dinner tables. Like twin orchestra conductors in harmony the divine couple caused one of the them to lift up off of the tray. Hovering in air it accepted the elements of metal, changing its shape into a saucer. “Is that a UFO!” Snow burst out, fixated by the silvery vessel. Individual chocolate chips in their original places still interrupted the surface of the hull. Melina-Squirrel brushed the echo-girl’s purple hair with her mitten, then touched her shoulder, “Honey, dreams are your thing. We are getting too old for that”. “But mom, dad, where wil you go” the scientist stammered, a single tear falling from her right eye. “Another place to settle. Another Bacteriae.
We have one Silo with us and we can repopulate at another site that looks promising. Echo …
no matter what you wil always be in our hearts” Linden-Squirrel promised, and bidding her farewell a blue tractor beam lifted them up into the ship, and it sailed through the Atmo and left the warmth of the corona. Priya said nothing and let the moment be as the crowd applauded without regards to the intricate inner workings of what had transpired. The mantle of leadership fell upon her, replenishing every thought. Then … a weird feeling. “From where is this coming from?” the scientist asked as her arms of their own accord replicated the symphonic movements of her parents. Absorbing the magic, the chocolate chip cookie adjacent to the one that they had selected likewise did the same, becoming a UFO that cast a shadow onto the crowd below.
Alarm began to course through her as she realized she was unable to regain control of her movements. “Am I three feet higher?” thought Priya as the crowd was repulsed. With a quick thin incision, her head levitated. Slick red blood oozed from the opening, then in one motion came the passage of a figure coated in wetness ... falling, plopping onto the grass. “Come back!” wil ed Priya, and the incision healed on her neck as the parts reattached, more comfortable than the other alternative. Arising from organics, a woman of long blonde hair stood, and walked over to the sweating, pale-faced goddess. “Thank you, host” Orchidia Everglow said, planting her lips on hers and tasting mirror lip-gloss. Unable to move, the interloper retreated up into the UFO, carried by a green tractor beam. Recovering from terror the patrons thought to give chase, but the tractor beam came out again, the green energy forming into a dragon that shot out from its mouth a burst of flame, scattering them just long enough for the ship to part through the clouds and escape from view. A minute ticked away, and as the parasitism faded the woman lifted up a finger to her lips, feeling the residue of the greeting.
Later on, it was Emzeser’s task to tell her that she had taken Visioness and half of the Metacoma with her.
CHAPTER 40 – THE MARRIAGE
Current Time
It was a clear day in uptown Saint Louis. Sybil Eater of Mint Jam walked through the city streets and was delighted by the modern world. Crossing a particular street, the lights above all became green. The effect radiated out, and soon all the street lights within the city became green at once. “Let me see what this is about” thought Sybil and picked the street light off the cable like picking a fruit off of a vine. She dipped her hand in, and scooped it up, licking her fingers. “It is Mint Jam!” she shouted and clapped her hands in glee. For the rest of the day Sybil ate the Mint Jam that had been transformed from the green lights of the street lights of the city, until she was full and fell asleep under a tree. At dawn, she awoke and noticed the evolution. Sybil of the Fading Mint Light. “Now I am ready to face Nephirota” she thought definitely. Sybil kissed the tree and flew off through the atmosphere back into the void.
Above the towers of the city Sybil watched as a mausoleum ship docked with a sky-platform to refuel. Despite everything going according to plan, she was still giddy, and a little put off by the hustle and bustle of the attendants. Several feet away in the front row Priya sat beside Etheria, and whispered in her ear, “Take this for later”, covertly handing her a speck of dust in the palm of her hand. Thinking back on the length of her journey, Priya could recall observing a single Bacteriae in a petri dish in her lab through a microscope. She smirked, thinking of the irony, and how it all had led to her becoming like one as well. As the music started the audience looked back to the entrance where TAP led the bride down the aisle. Humble peacock feathers lined the walkway. “Here, friend, treat her well” she said, introducing the bride to Eric. Dinner was served after the simple service. Priya waited for the right moment, then glanced at Eric, letting him know that she needed a moment to speak with him in private. “I think we should stay friends” she offered, holding both of his hands. The idea struck him well, and he acknowledged it with an embrace. “I’m so healthy now, it’s like I’m not afraid of making any real connection” the lab-girl thought, swimming in the beauty of his face. He looked over to Sybil Eater of Mint Jam, and she could feel the spark that had brought the two together. “Echo, come with me” Valco said, interrupting them. Following the giant, that was now a few inches shorter, she came to an empty room in the tent with a woman and a child. “I’m sorry, we raced up the stairs of the anechoic plateau as fast as we could, but we couldn’t make the ceremony” the woman apologized. “Don’t worry, it wasn’t much of a show. Did you want to talk to me about something?” she asked, seeing the anxious child twisting his foot. “Yes, mom. I’m Enterra Mauve and this is Nir, son of Lemoo. If you remember the marriage of TAP, that is where I first saw him. Later on, when the parents died, I adopted him. Nir has been passed on from different families for quite some time. It’s not because he’s badly behaved or anything … far from it. Just that, well, he’s been around for a while” she tried to explain. “Enterra, if there’s anything the boy needs, I’d be glad to help, but I’m not real y good at riddles” the empress prodded. “Nir … show her” she told the boy, and the image of humanity faded, replaced with a young Rikiral child.
Strapped to his wrist was a device that looked like an ordinary watch. “Patron, do you stil have the electricity we collected from the beacon?” Priya asked, and he placed a hand onto the watch, activating it, bringing forth a fresh hologram and a recording. Mostly static, but she could just barely make it out, “… if you can hear me, this is … Cala Amnilow. Everything your father told you was true … but there is more …”
A FEW WEEKS LATER
Underneath the swirling bisque of Jupiter’s atmosphere lay the city and its people, obliged to watch the hapless migration. Dropping from the creaky door of the broken vessel, Va wiped the dust off her black attire. Deeper into the metropolis she could see plastic buildings inflated and deflated to meet the needs of the moment. “Is this Scenic Oblivion?” she thought aloud, the
memory of crash-landing erased by the jolt of its ferocity. Above the plastic buildings robots were hard at work holding aerosol cans and applying digital spray paint, bearing the image of earth’s blue sky. Journeying further into the city, Va could barely witness the churning except through gaps in the tapestry. Leather tightly hugged her body, healing the wounds with their pressure like band-aids. Contrary to the SOTA’s knowledge there were actual y minority populations of Brownsugarians, one of them brushing her shoulder as it passed, leaving a hill of the sugar that she bal ed into a solid with her fist and shoved into her mouth in hunger. “Man, that is good, but I’m going to need a place to hide out, maybe if I follow one of these dumb locals”, and chose the simplest one she could lay her eyes on. They passed a nearby fountain from which the coral would squirt out streams of flavored water into people’s mouths, through a patch of garden, striding past simple automatons harvesting pears, cutting them open and collecting the seeds that would decay into analogies, to a pseudo-digital bike shop where Zata Marathon found his daughter Elle sitting on a divider that marked the boundary of the plot. It was brick-red. “Didn’t your friends go to the arcade?” he asked of the fretful teen lingering on the dul divider with legs that swung more nervously than pendulums. “I decided to stay here to be alone” El e reacted, accounting for her lack of disappearance. “There’s not much to do here except stare at the sky, honey … did you get bored of the shop?” Zata insisted, trying to boost morale. At that Elle gave a heavy sigh. Words can have that effect on people sometimes, keys that unlock emotions, fumbling instruments. “Dad, that’s what I’m here to talk to you about. It’s been eating at me all week” the girl admitted, bul ying a few stray brick-pebbles off the ledge and onto the ground below with a sweep of her hand. Fear began to grip him as he realized his daughter’s imagination had conjured up one of those big fat questions, the ones that people talk about on television. Life, after all, is mostly eating pears and playing holo-cards with your buddies. Deflecting, he put a hand on her shoulder, “Did one of your friends say something about you?”. “No dad, it's just …” she began, taking in a full scope of the paint and the surface of a world’s air-space layered across its surface, “have you ever wondered why the sky is blue?
The real sky”? A subtle hope that he had locked away in an empty room long ago began to fret, and as soon as it did, he realized why he had never come back to that place. “There isn’t a good reason, it’s just a color” he replied quickly in order to spare her the same fate. Locals noticed the moment, its stillness and absence of noise. Ordinarily, the two of them would chat incessantly.
Slowly the pendulums that were moments before like legs came to a halt. “Dad, I can’t believe you don’t know. It’s more than just spray-paints” she gushed. “El e!” Zata reached out with the sound of his voice, knowing soon that she would make her way around the corner and down a path that is so … insignificant. Bearing his fist down on the brick divider, chunks of history on that rough surface were swept into his memory, like pebbles, and as they were, he looked beyond the plot to Amerlie road. Hiking up there would lead him to a hill over the remainder of the neighborhood, a viewing place where he could see clearly the image striving to be honest, to be a true sky of dandy clouds and blue … perfectly saturated blue … that children choose to witness with eyes that accept nothing but truth. Drumming with hot, glaring enmity Elle cursed, tossing a brown jacket onto a bike rack. “He is so stupid! Everyone else’s parents know more than nothing” she denounced, kicking the city property until the other kid’s bikes shook, ratting their frames. “Is that so?” a very tall shadow replied. Va stood high over the girl, but realizing the difference kneeled down to show the rough aesthetic outlines of her face. “Who are you lady?
You look like a lamppost” El e spat back, defense against another adult. “Didn’t think you saw me earlier. I heard what happened and why you ran away” Va revealed with a steady voice. The ache from the crash landing still radiated keenly through her bones. Lost in bitterness at the hol ow excuse her father had given, the girl replied only with anger, “Be quiet and get out of here! You don’t know me”. Now the pilot who had, over long cruel stretches of time lost everything, felt a note of kindness itch in her throat, “No, I know what happened so you have to listen to me. He loves you, even if he doesn’t have the answer. I saw it in his eyes. We’re just people and that means not knowing all the answers, but you are a beautiful and young and no
one can take that away”. Sniffling, El e tore the jacket and hugged it, then drew in close for a quick embrace before running back to the shop and it’s rigorous wheels, ticking off algerbra with every click of their chains. Finished advising the child, she went into the city, disarming an officer of his weapon and threw him into a closet. Not far away, Zata finished walking and stood at the hilltop, feeling the reverberations of that unrest bear down on him. A stranger who had come to their city from farther away took a few steps until she was beside him. “That was a real mess, saw the whole thing” she confessed, letting her other legs stretch out, knowing the man would not dare to turn his head far from the questions that inhabited the horizon. “Do you have any idea what’s it’s like to lose a father?” he asked, his words laden with hoarse clumsiness.
“Actual y, I do. What is your name friend?” the foreigner pried. “Zata Marathon. My daughter Elle just … thinks too much”, he lamented, an accurate fact of children in that time. “That’s natural.
She’l get used to things eventual y” she calculated, seeing strength in her father that most certainly would be an inherited trait. Feeling the magnetism of kindness, Zata turned to see her face, and was not taken aback by the uniqueness, “Maybe that is what I’m afraid of, but thank you miss … and you are?”. Weary arachnid legs stretched out farther to relieve the tension in their muscles, “Zemmy, but I’m not as smart as that sounds”. Reciprocating with a laugh, the lonely father pointed to the ceiling of spray paint, “Look up at that flawless picture miss. Most parents would say something like, ‘I used to be just like her’, but I never really grew up. Still have no idea what it’s all about”. “I heard the girl say … ‘why is the sky blue?’. That’s a silly thing not to know” she baited playfully, elbowing him. Zata dimmed the world by placing a hand over his eyes, “I know”, then bit down the other words that tried to follow. Sensing the moment was right Zemmy placed her hand, cupping it to his ear. At first, he heard only the ticking of the clocks that were her eyes, then something else, “Let me tell you”. Hidden somewhere in an empty room lay a memory of the old skies, the ones that were of their original character, not from magic but from another … simple reason. Loneliness evaporated as Zata let his hand fall from his face, seeing the digital sky with perfect clarity, even with tears that dawdled from the sides of his eyes, “Foreigner … now I can tell her, thank you”.