Celestial Spheres: Part Two: Can I Fly
Page 3
I wake in my bed. Was I asleep? The Potent Master’s words ring in my head, “Pitiful boy. Fall on your ass.”
Is this the end of my punishment?
“A bad dream?” mother asks from across the cave-hut. “Get up. You can’t spend all day in bed. You have your Trials at noon.”
Was it a dream, or had I been flying? The Potent don’t play elaborate mind games like the Scient. Did the Present teacher send me back in time?
It couldn’t be real, not with all those humans free to roam outside the Spheres.
Regardless, I am keen to get to the Trials.
I arrive at the school building and the same controlling Potent Master from my dream glares at me.
Stringed music plays, this time it barely registers.
“Ready, young one?” the vibrant Potent Lady says. “Show us you are controlled and capable. Whether you are ready to progress to full training? Now fly!”
Mouth clenched, I squeeze my hands, muscles tightening. As before, I lift my knees toward my stomach, holding my position, feet hovering above the ground. I wait for the Potent to insult me again.
“Not so pitiful, boy.” The Potent Master approaches and smiles. “You are a bone sack, but I don’t think you will ever fall on your ass again.”
It wasn’t a dream. “It was real?”
“We showed you where our combined abilities can take you. What arrogance and losing one’s temper can lead to. The gods will expel you from the Celestial Spheres if you try to possess more than one of the three abilities. Combine the three skills into a single man and worlds like ours become ruins.” He points at the war scars in the ground. “Greedy men are lonely beings. Never shall it happen again, I beg the gods.”
“So you did banish me from the Spheres?”
“We showed you our past. We may now mock and enslave humans, but our shared ancestors once achieved great things in great numbers. By working together, they did what few imagined possible. As a single Potent, you can accomplish a mere fraction compared to two or three who share their different abilities. Even Mindless humans achieve more collectively. It is the only way for us to be godlike and discover wonderful things. Sharing is the way to grow.”
“You believe I crave too much power?” I ask.
“Yes. Ancient humanity fought great wars, overthrowing dictators, rarely learning from their mistakes. But they evolved and took the first steps, exploring and populating the Universe, sharing ideas, working together for a greater unselfish good. Knowledge ultimately beat power. We still make those mistakes. That’s what we were showing you.”
“I understand.”
Yet I can’t help think, if I had more ability I could go to that world of many humans… and I could rule over them like a real god. I could alter our terrible history. I could save dad.
“Good. You had better understand,” the Potent Master says. “The last thing we need is more war. You have passed the Adolescent Trials. Your training will continue Vitas. You can achieve great things for all mankind if you follow the rules and share.”
“Thank you teacher.” I bow. “I look forward to sharing,” other’s abilities. My Master has made a big mistake; he told me it has been done. A single man has held all three abilities before, so it can be achieved again.
Please subscribe to my list at https://celestialspheres.blogspot.com/p/lists.html for further short story news, to get the previous and following book – Celestial Spheres: Part Three (coming soon).
DEAR READER,
I hope you enjoyed this short story. Email me at Ant_Ryan@outlook.com Facebook me at https://www.facebook.com/AntRyanSciFiFan or Tweet me @Ant_Writer with any feedback you’d like to give. Of course I’d appreciate any online reviews. Email me a link to your review and I will endeavour to send you free preview copies of future eBooks before general release.
Best wishes and thanks for taking the time to read my short story,
Ant Ryan