"You have to pick out words here and there. Do you know any language other than English?"
"No. Most of this is English, though. Right?"
"It seems to be English based, but the grammar is a bit strange as well. Madame, will you please lead us to your leader? It is very important."
"Chief Seri?" The woman asks.
"Yes, please. Will you take us there?"
"Oui. Follow Ego."
Troy and Orion follow the Nymph woman through the rows of tents where the villagers emerge and study them with their curious eyes. Each of them wears a necklace of colored beads. Those same colored beads are braided through their long hair. Is that some kind of rank system? A few men dressed in only animal skins around their waists approach from the savannahs to the west with some kind of animal on their shoulders. They raise their spears high in the air and the villagers cheer for them. Their red beads glitter in the orange sunlight of evening. They must be the hunters.
The Nymph woman stops in front of the largest tent here and holds the flap open. "Chief Seri will speak con te. Be respectful if te know what es best for te."
As soon as Troy and Orion step inside the incense-filled tent where bowls of various colored beads line the tables and a fire burns in the middle of the open room, a middle aged impure Nymph with three strings of purple beads hanging to his waist bows to them. "Ave. Bienvenidos to Delphi. Ego am Chief Seri. Parakalo sit etho by the fire. At noctis, the desert es krio."
And with that, Troy's heart sinks. "Great. I thought that their leader might know English. It seems I was wrong."
"It has been a long time since I've heard that language." Chief Seri smiles and holds out his hand. "Welcome to Delphi. My name is Chief Seri. Please address me as Kirios Seri."
Troy takes his hand. "Oh, thank the gods."
"What are your names?"
"I am Troy Lifestone."
"Pleased to meet you, Kirios Troy."
Troy motions to Orion. "And this is my owner, Orion Lifestone."
"What do you mean by owner?"
Orion crosses his arms and glances around the room. "He's my slave."
"Ah. So the outside world hasn't changed, I see. Well, you are welcome here as well, Kirios Orion, as long as you do not abuse your slave. There are no slaves in Delphi. We are all free Nymphs here." Chief Seri motions to the zebra skins on the floor by the fire. "Join me, will you? I believe we have much to talk about."
Troy sits by the fire next to Orion. This is admittedly a lot more hospitality than he had originally expected from a group of Nymphs who were hiding from society. And the levels of technology are far below what other nomadic Nymphs have. "Could you answer me a few questions?"
Chief Seri lights a pipe and the smell of vanilla fills the room. "I may or may not have an answer."
"I thought that nomadic Nymphs valued technology over everything else, even to the point of not having sex in order to reproduce."
"Ah. A common misconception. Those are the outworlder Nymphs like the ones on Barren Void. We have taken things in the opposite direction. While we see the value in having technologies like medicine, we ultimately find comfort and stability in a world where we must provide for ourselves. The planet gives us everything we need. It's nature's way."
"I have to ask. What language do your people speak, Kirios Seri? I've never heard anything like it."
Chief Seri draws some symbols in the sand by his legs. "Actually, you have probably heard much of it before. It is a hybrid language, I guess you could call it."
"I know I heard some Latin, Spanish, French, and Greek."
"Oui. I would say most of it is English."
"How did this strange way of communication come about?" Troy asks.
"Many centuries ago, after the early Nymphs met with the humans on Earth, they adopted not only their cultures, but some of their languages as well. I'm sure you know from your history classes at the academy that there were six culture wars in the cities all over Olympus where the leading class of Nymphs tried to extinguish all human culture from their cities. This didn't go over very well. Those Nymphs who still clung to their newly adopted cultures fled and founded Delphi as a sanctuary for all things cultural, spiritual, and occult."
"Occult?"
"Oui. Beware the diabolos." Chief Seri grins darkly. "The devils. Some of the women in the village swear there are evil spirits lurking around. That's why we have the quartz crystals hanging from spears around the village. They ward off the spirits."
"Wow."
"Back to our language, we call it Nymphetic. It was originally created as a way to bind all the cultures together. I suggest you learn to speak it if you are going to be interacting with anyone aside from me. Some of the words you are familiar with have changed meanings over time as the language has adapted to our needs. It's quite a unique language."
"It certainly is something." Troy says.
"I trust that you two will not be bringing any ill intentions into Delphi."
"No, sir."
"It's kirios."
"Oh. I see." Troy says. "Kirios means sir or mister."
"Oui. Try it."
"You are Kirios Seri."
"There you go." Chief Seri smiles. "I think you will both find it easy to pick up. Why are you here? We haven't had any wondering Nymphs stumble upon our village in years."
Orion finally says something instead of being the uncomfortably silent stranger in the room. "The simplest way I can explain this is we are hiding from some people who are trying to kill us. Troy here is a very important man in the outside world."
"Is he?" Chief Seri holds out his hand. "Can I see your hand, Kirios Troy?"
"Um, I guess." Troy holds out his hand to the man. "Are you reading my palm?"
"So you are familiar with this?"
"A bit. It's outlawed in Athens."
Chief Seri traces the lines on Troy's hand. "I'm not surprised. Let's see. You are a Taurus, are you not?"
"How did you know that?"
"When you've been reading people for as long as I have been, it becomes very easy to tell from simply observing people. This is certainly interesting." He reaches under a blanket and pulls out a clay bowl filled with various colored powders, much like the one Paris used that one time to read Troy's blood. Chief Seri brings Troy's palm to his mouth and bites him until the blood drips down his wrist and falls on the powder. He stirs the mixture with a stick then pours it out on a large smooth black stone. When he snaps his bony fingers above the stone, a flame springs to life and engulfs the powder. The flames quickly turn from orange to glowing purple. He places his hand in the middle then gasps and withdraws it immediately.
"Are you okay?"
"Silence." Chief Seri stands and goes to one of the shelves against the wall where he opens a small stone box. He smears a white liquid over his hand. "That stuff never feels good. I know who you are, Kirios Troy."
He does? What does he know?
Chief Seri kneels down in front of Troy. "I am honored by your presence, Phoenix King."
"Phoenix King?"
"You are the rightful king of Olympus. There has been a legend amongst the nomadic Nymph tribes about a king that rises from the lowest of the low to unify all the Nymphs and rebuild what has been broken. Your royal blood has been tainted by dark matter, but I see those lead studs in your ears keep it from acting up. I would know royal blood anywhere. I am truly humbled by your presence here."
Troy turns away from him. "Please stand. I'm no king. You heard my owner for yourself. I am a slave and nothing more. I don't want any special treatment and I especially don't want any of your people to know about it. Please."
Chief Seri stands and nods his head. "Parakalo."
"What?"
"That is how you say please."
"Okay. Parakalo. They can't find out." Troy insists.
"Very well. I will keep your true identity a secret. I will allow you and your owner to stay here for as long as you need to. However, we h
ave too many mouths to feed as it is and so much work to do. I will ask that you help with irrigation and agriculture work while you're here."
"I will do whatever I can."
"I will show you around and give you a tent to share." Chief Seri says. "Also, you don't fit in around here at all with those outsider clothes on. In the morning, you will go on your first hunt to find some skins so we can make you some leather armor. Would you like that? The turbans can stay. As you see, I wear one as well. Now, if you will step outside, I will join you and introduce you to the tribe."
* * *
Nova walks along the wall of computer monitors on the wall of Daedalus's laboratory and her eyes land on a small boy who looks to be dying. "Who is this?"
Daedalus looks up from his work on another suit of archon armor. "The boy? He's just mine and Uriel's ultimate experiment."
"He looks like he's scared and hurting. What are they doing to him?"
"That was last night. They were just having a little bit of fun."
Are they insane? "This doesn't look fun. He's bleeding. It's torture."
"I prefer to call it training."
"Using a boy as a dart board is training him?"
"Don't say it like that." Daedalus says. "Listen, he's fine. He's not even there anymore. Uriel has him."
"And that's supposed to make me feel better? Uriel is capable of tortures ten times that."
"I know. It will all be for Paris's best."
"Paris . . . how old is he?" Nova asks as she watches the recorded video. Her heart aches for the boy. "He's so tiny."
"He looks really young for his age. He's twelve."
"He's twelve? How could you?"
"Why do people always say it like that?" Daedalus asks.
"That torture would be awful for an adult to go through. Paris is just a child."
"That makes him even more trainable. Once we fully and completely break him, we can write whatever we want. We're brainwashing the poor kid. He will become an unthinking slave until the time we awaken his true hatred for the world and turn him into a weapon to destroy that world."
Nova turns to him. "You're mad. You're insane. There is obviously something terribly wrong with you."
Daedalus laughs. "Isn't there something wrong with every single soul, Nova? Even your beloved chivalrous Troy is a murderer."
"Shut up. You don't get to speak about Troy like that. He is a hundred times the man you are. He is honorable, kind, caring, and compassionate. Don't you even try to pollute his memories in my mind. I know who Troy truly is. He's not some villainous criminal. He will do what is right. I know he will. He loves me and he's coming back to save me."
"Always the damsel in distress. What is it with you whiny women? You want your knight to ride in and save you then take you away into the sunset. Rubbish. There is no such thing as a romantic story, Nova. Love is nothing more than fake gold to cover up the lust and cracked plaster underneath. It's a defensive mechanism so we can feel better about giving into our primal needs for reproduction. It doesn't exist."
"It does exist!" Nova yells at him. "I know it does. I've felt it before when I was with Troy. I can't picture my life without him in it. I need him more than the air I breathe. Do you know what it did to me to see him here and not be able to hold him, to kiss him? I wanted nothing more than to leap into his arms and go with him. Now he's gone and I don't know where he is."
"And you may never see him again. According to my contacts, he has vanished. No one can find any trace of him."
"I will see him again. I know I will. There's not a force in existence that can keep me away from him."
"Foolish girl. This is your purpose now. You will be our Savior's defender and nothing else. You are nothing."
This ends now. Everything is in place for her to take full advantage of this prime opportunity to strike. Nova holds up her hand as the power courses through her veins. The nanobots awaken, calling to her in a million different voices, begging her to set them free. She walks closer to Daedalus. "Goodbye."
Daedalus backs away from her with fear flashing in his eyes. "Nova, stand down. What are you doing?"
"You don't get to order me around anymore. I only stayed here as long as I did so I could be fitted with all the power I needed to defeat you. I refuse to be a pawn in your schemes. No. I will fight you. I will win. I will save my friends and family. You have been pulling the strings for far too long. Your reign is coming to an end."
He holds up his hands in front of his face. "You can't kill me! There is still so much about the nanobots that people haven't discovered. You wouldn't want all of that information to be lost, would you? It's been compiled and handed down through my bloodline for centuries. I haven't decided which of my sons is to inherit this knowledge. Please. For humanity and the Nymphs' sake, don't do this."
Nova waves her hand over the arm of her archon suit. Her gauntleted hands begin to glow with bright white light. "Enough! Daedalus Lifestone, today you pay for your sins. Never again will you control and harm innocent people. I don't give a damn if it is in the name of science and technology. What you are doing is wrong."
"If you were a believer in Technotheism, you would see the truth. Technology will prevail over all. You wait and see. When our Savior is created, everything will be cleansed to make way for the dawning of a new age. The organic will be ruled by the artificial. The robots will dominate the humans and Nymphs. Life will take a backseat to invention. That is the future we are working towards. Don't you see? That is the true beauty and purpose of everyone. Our Savior will wipe away the stains of the living. They are unneeded and filthy in comparison to the glory of pure concentrated technology. We are all a waste of space in this universe if we do not fully devote ourselves to invention and information. That is the future."
"Not my future." Without thinking or hesitating, Nova screams as she unleashes the built up wave of nanobots. Energy surges out of her body as she discharges electricity for the first time in her life. The explosion throws her backwards until she slams into the wall. The lights in the laboratory flicker then go black. Gasping for air from hitting the wall with such force, Nova crawls into the darkness towards Daedalus.
The emergency lights switch on, filling the room with a cold bluish glow. The lifeless body of her captor lies in a pool of blood where millions of purple glowing nanobots hungrily devour the corpse. For a few minutes, she watches the microscopic holes grow as they enjoy their meal. So that's it, then. She spreads her wings and replaces her silver helmet over her head. Now to get to Athens.
* * *
Troy holds the woven blanket around his body as he stares out at the river where Orion is bathing in the moonlight. A cold breeze pierces through the fabric, sending a shiver over his body. The coldness only makes his mind wander to darker times, times when he felt frozen inside. Perhaps those memories should remain frozen and lifeless where they can't hurt anyone again.
Orion dresses then runs up the riverbank to Troy's fire and wraps a blanket around himself. "Remind me to bathe during the day next time. I'm an idiot. Ave, Kirios Troy."
"What do you want?"
"To talk. I can't understand most of what these people say. I'm lonely."
Troy scoffs and tosses a red rock out into the night. "You're lonely? Try knowing that your family is on the other side of the planet, not knowing if you are alive or dead. I never got to say goodbye. I didn't even get to see my new baby sister. I bet she's beautiful just like Xanthe. I swear I will find a way to get back to Athens and see them all again."
"Troy . . ."
"What?"
Orion's voice turns soft. "Your family . . . your family is . . ."
"What about them?"
Orion stares up at the stars glimmering in the dark sky. "Never mind."
"This is the second time you've almost said something about my family, but told me never mind instead. What is it? Did something happen to them?"
"Uh . . . no. No, they're fine. I was just tryin
g to find a way to get some sort of correspondence with them. I didn't want to say anything for fear of you getting too excited and hopeful then it falling through. That's all."
"Oh."
"So, you never did tell me about the person you murdered." Orion says. "You said you'd tell me."
"Why do you want to know so badly?"
"Because I want to know all there is to know about you. You're my friend. Parakalo."
Troy sighs and lets a handful of fine sand sift between his fingers. "I started training to be a Royal Knight at the age of nine. I became so indoctrinated to the teachings of the code of honor and the laws of Athens that I lost sight of reason. I took it upon myself to become the hand of justice in the world. I would hunt down every man who harmed a woman. If they beat their wives, I would kill them. If they raped someone, I would kill them. If they behaved inappropriately around young girls, I would kill them. If I had known about you and the girl, I would have killed you too. I would follow them then slaughter them somewhere secluded and hide the evidence. I liked to think I never got caught because I was doing the right thing. But I was wrong. I learned from watching the world that nothing is completely black and white. There are exceptions, excuses, and validations. It was never my place to take a life, but I did it without hearing their side of the story. They never got a chance to beg for mercy or explain their actions."
After a few minutes, Orion puts his hand on Troy's knee and looks in his eyes. "How many people did you kill in Athens?"
"Thirty-four."
"Damn."
Troy watches the warm orange flames dancing in front of him, casting shadows over the sand. "Aside from those murders, I am guilty of one horrific one in Kyro. I was sixteen and just as eager as always to be the best Royal Knight I could be. I went with Royal Knight Captain Pathos and three other knights to Kyro for some insignificant mission. I don't even recall what it was about. It wasn't anything serious. While we were there, we were told to buy a slave just to get firsthand experience with the customs of the country. So I did. I saw a boy my same age on the stage and I bought him. His name was Xanthos. I thought I could have a friend and have him do simple tasks for me once we got back to Athens. Well, the next slave up was his sister, Leto. I didn't want to break them up so I bought her too. We were all happy and everything was wonderful. We stayed at the hotel for a few nights as we got to know each other and I helped Captain Pathos with the mission. We would even play games together. Then one night, I was awakened by a knock on the door. I told Xanthos to answer it, but he wasn't there. Leto told me he had left a couple hours before with a knife and hadn't come back. I answered the door myself to find it was Captain Pathos. He had noticed his power armor missing in the middle of the night. There had also been a report of four women sexually assaulted and murdered by dark matter in the area. I put the pieces together and realized that my slave had done the unthinkable."
Paradise Forgotten Trilogy Page 36
