Beyond?

by Andur

  Free City States of Nict, Capital

  Stella

  I stir in my sleep as faint noises reach my ears. My eyes flick open and I raise my head from Azir's chest. He is still snoring loudly, not caring about his surroundings. The noises repeat and my tired brain finally makes the connection. “Oh my... they are hatching! Azir!”

  Shaking Azir doesn't wake him up. I get out of our makeshift bed and grab his foot, pulling him with me. There is no time! His body suddenly stops and I am thrown off balance, landing on the ground.

  Cursing I turn around and open his handcuffs. Then I grab his foot and pull him with me to the upper floor.

  Free City States of Nict, Capital

  Azir

  Such a nice dream. Don't wake me up, Mom. Stella is currently sitting on top of me and moving in a very dirty way. Just five more minutes!

  But my sister grabs my leg to pull me out of the bed and I land on the cold floor. That's normal, I've perfected the art of immediately falling asleep again.

  Whoever is dragging me across the floor doesn't give up. The offender has a lot of strength and my sleep is stirred by my left horn scratching over the ground which transmits really annoying vibrations to my skull. I don't give up and force myself to fall asleep again.

  My head bobs up and down while hitting something edgy. Am I being pulled over a staircase? There is no staircase in front of my room.

  My eyes open and I find myself being pulled around the corner of a corridor. “Stella? What's happening?” I still don't know what's going on.

  Stella's face appears in front of me. “They are hatching!”

  She grabs my left horn and I feel like a sack of potatoes as she pulls me the last few steps to the room with our eggs. Apparently there is compulsory attendance on this event.

  Arriving in the room Stella drops me and hurries to the eggs, which have already a few cracks. The room is empty, except for a pedestal in the centre. Both eggs are resting in their incubation chambers on top of it. Stella opens them with brute force and takes out the eggs, the entire action reminds me of a child opening a gift pack. Then she places them on a soft mattress on the pedestal and dances in circles around it, inspecting the eggs.

  I get up and approach the eggs. Stella gets to my side and hugs me. “We are both here! I am so happy that we can watch them hatch.”

  “I am happy too. Though is it really that special to be present?” I watch tiredly as the cracks in our eggs widen.

  Stella pulls at my cheek. “Of course it's important! Children are imprinted on the first persons they see after they hatch! That's why the hatching is a sacred event where no strangers are allowed. You really don't pay attention to the most important stuff!”

  I raise an eyebrow and watch with suspicion as a shard of the egg with the female inside it falls to the ground, leaving a dark, black hole behind. “You mean like real birds? Will they follow us wherever we go?”

  Stella sighs. “You know... on second thought... please duck now and hide. It's bad if they get imprinted on you.”

  “Too late.”

  “Aw... we didn't think up names yet!”

  A glowing, red eye appears in the dark hole of the egg which we designated as female. My grandmother's words from earlier today pop up in my mind.

  The menacing eye from within the egg searches the room and then it fixates on us.

  Was it really the right decision to have children with Stella?

  80. ~Storytime.~

  “The flying fortress arrived at our eastern borders as scheduled and will continue towards the south. As soon as it arrives at our southern military base it'll be used as a prototype for a new generation of mobile troop transporters.”

  -Weapon report II. Free City States of Nict, Armoury.

  Free City States of Nict, Capital

  Azir

  Two more shards are pushed out from the egg and two little hands appear from the holes, which breaks the tense atmosphere. The red eye from within the egg caused me to imagine the worst, but the two chubby hands protruding left and right from the egg look hilarious. The hands wiggle helplessly through the air and I have to chuckle.

  Stella steps forward to peel the egg open. It takes her only a few seconds and we finally get to see the chubby face of our baby daughter.

  “She is so cute!” Stella calls out and reaches for a fluffy towel from under the pedestal. I force a smile onto my face and inspect our daughter, who is watching us with big, round eyes.

  She looks like a normal chubby baby with the age of a few months. Her hair is very similar to mine, but of a lighter blue metallic colour. Mine is dark and if you don't pay attention you might mistake it for black. Taking a closer look I notice that her eyes aren't really red, probably it was just a reflection by the room's light.

  Her eyes have my silvery, grey tone on the inside and shift into Stella's golden tone towards the rim.

  While Stella is occupied with cleaning our daughter I step closer to the second egg which has already a big hole inside it. Interested in how my son turned out, I carefully peel eggshell apart. It feels like unpacking a rather strange present. What greets me is a boy with silver hair which is more on the bluish end of the spectrum.

  His eyes are the perfect opposite of his sister's with the golden ring inside and the more greyish, silvery part on the outside.

  Having a closer look I notice that their eyes shift their colour just a bit, depending on how light falls onto them. “Hopefully their eyes don't mean that they are like the Emperor.” I start cleaning him with another big towel while he is surveying the room with great interest.

  Both of them have small stubby horns on their foreheads, which also reminds me of Valeria when she was smaller.

  “Hahaha. I was right. My instincts didn't fail me.” Stella laughs and points a finger at me. “You should see your face. It looks like the boy leans a little more to my line of the family, while the girl takes after you.”

  I purse my lips. “Then I guess your only hope is that she won't look like me when she is bigger.”

  Stella turns serious again and takes the girl up in her arms. “Anyway. Not having names prepared is a real blunder. What should we do?”

  My eyes wander between the boy and the girl. “She looks like her name is Sariel and the boy is... Zadkiel.” I take the boy in my arms, but he stretches his hands for Stella who tilts her head in thought. “Those are strange names, but somehow I like them. They are mysterious!”

  The girl in Stella's arms mirrors Zadkiel's action and I draw the only conclusion which comes to my mind. “Looks like they want to be together. The names are from my old world by the way.”

  Stella sighs and places Sariel in my arm and takes Zadkiel away from me. The girl nestles in my armpit and lets out a few satisfied noises. “No! That can't be! I want the boy!” I point at Zadkiel who buries his face in Stella's chest.

  Stella shakes her head. “That's not our decision. Come. We should get them some clothes and I have to feed the both of them.” Her tail slides around Sariel and takes her out of my arms, which is obviously not well received by her, but she doesn't cry and her eyes stay glued to me. I wonder what will happen if I leave her field of vision?

  Stella heads out of the room, carrying both babies with her. My eyes start closing as I feel the tiredness overwhelming me again, so I follow her to help in taking care of the kids.

  After Stella fed them thoroughly we took care of proper clothes and took them to our room, which made me aware of another problem. “We are fine parents! First we forget to find a name beforehand and now we don't even have a small bed for them.”

  Stella shrugs her shoulders. “It's fine. This night they can sleep with us.”

  I grumble. “As long as it doesn't turn into a habit.”

  So we settle down. I lie down on my back with Stella hugging me from the left side as she always does. She has made a habit out of using me as a body pillow. The boy is placed on my chest as it is the closest spot to Stell
a and the girl to my right between my body and my arm. I sigh and finally get to close my eyes to sleep.

  Free City States of Nict, Capital

  Twins

  But unknown to the parents the twins stay awake for a while longer, crawling through the bed and studying room and bed with great interest. They file away the noises of their parents as something to be studied later on and try to understand the world which belongs to them from now on.

  Free City States of Nict, Capital

  Stella

  “They are so cute! Oh, I was right to allow Azir as your husband.” Helen rubs both of my kids to her cheeks, holding them in her arms with an iron grip. The twins aren't exactly happy with the treatment, but my mother simply ignores their attempts to escape.

  “Where is Azir by the way?” Valda asks and surveys the living room with great care, like expecting to find her son hidden somewhere.

  “He has to attend to his tutoring lessons if he wants to get a title.” I smirk. “He didn't manage to persuade all professors to simply let him take the last tests of their subjects.”

  Helen nods. “That reminds me, isn't it overdue to finally tell me where Azir's abnormal amount of knowledge comes from?” She pulls the twins tighter to her chest. “I think since these two are now proof of the bond between our clans, I have a right to know too.”

  Valda's eyes wander to me. “So you really kept your mouth shut for all this time? I didn't expect that.”

  My mother's expression turns sharp and her eyes focus on me. “So you knew after all. Do you mind speaking now, dear daughter?”

  “Oooh... I think... I kind of forgot something in the kitchen.” I get up and attempt to leave, but suddenly a tentacle made out of mana wraps around my ankle and I fall flat on my belly.

  Looking up I find Valda staring down at me and shaking her head. “Daughter in law. I won't be the one who explains the situation to Helen.”

  Damn! I get to my knees and start telling Helen the whole story. My mother's eyes widen several times while I speak, but after a long monologue I finally end my explanations about the origins of Azir's personality. I emphasize the point that he isn't some kind of alien from another dimension.

  He simply has memories of his past life, that's all. At the end of my story Valda claps her hands to applause me. “You surely told her the sugarcoated version. I couldn't have done better.”

  Helen massages her forehead. “If Stella hides something as grave as this from me, then there is no telling what other secrets she might have.” She turns her attention to the twins, hugging them even tighter. “I simply have to do everything better with my grandchildren.”

  I wisely keep my mouth shut about the true reasons of why I persuaded my mother to outlaw experiments on creating heavy elements with our ability. She knows that a terrible weapon could created by using those elements, but she doesn't know that I had a part in creating the first one of its kind.

  81. ~Teachings.~

  “The greyer is a big black bird. They are scavengers and their big claws and beak are perfectly shaped for the job of opening the dry skin of rotten carcass. Their ability to eat anything allowed them to spread over the whole continent. They are the preferred prey of wild nightmares which developed excellent jumping abilities in order to catch them as soon as they come close to the ground.

  But one shouldn't underestimate them. If they are starving they gather in swarms. Once their numbers are big enough they attack and kill anything that's unfortunate enough to cross their path.”

  -Biology report I.

  Free City States of Nict, Capital

  Azir

  “And that's a -J-, don't confuse it with the -I-.” I write the letters onto the chalkboard while two pairs of eyes are following my actions with great attention. The twins are under my care today since Stella had to attend to her lessons. Having nothing better to do I decided to teach them from early on like I did with Valeria. If they see me as a person of guidance, being a father should be much easier. Three weeks have passed since their birth and their training is making progress. It's very similar to drilling Ghost.

  Educating your kids is very important. If they don't get taught and learn to value culture and order it's the downfall of civilisation as we know it. I don't want to be told that I am a failure as a parent. Sometimes parents call their offspring failures and in a certain sense they are. Their parents failed at giving them a proper perspective in life. It's not the kids' failure, but the one of their parents'.

  I'll make my children proper members of society who can stand proudly in front of someone and proclaim that they belong to my family.

  Stella interrupts my train of thought by entering the room and her forehead develops an amazing amount of wrinkles upon finding me in front of the chalkboard with my students on the floor in front of me. “What are you doing?”

  “Teaching them the alphabet obviously?” I answer and gesture at Sariel and Zadkiel on their cushion.

  “They are too young. You don't seriously believe that they get what you are telling them? All you are doing is entertaining them. They are paying attention to you because you are the only moving object in the room.” Stella sighs and comes closer, taking the chalk away from me.

  “That may be true, but even if they don't fully understand what I tell them it has an effect. My training is aiming on making it easier for them later on.” I reach for the small pieces of chocolate in my pocket and raise my finger to draw the attention of the twins. “Who am I?”

  “Pa!” Sariel calls out. I reward her by throwing a piece of chocolate into her waiting mouth.

  “Pa!” Zadkiel imitates her action and I reward him too.

  I fold my arms in front of my chest and nod satisfied, looking at Stella's pale face. My wife breathes out, long and slowly, then a tear forms in the corner of her left eye. “They said Papa. I was looking forward to their first word being Mama!”

  “Oh, wait! I taught them that too.” Again I gesture for the twin's attention. “Say Ma-Ma.”

  “Ma!”

  “Ma!”

  I reward them properly and Stella bends down to hug the both of them. “They are so smart, Azir! I think only the children of the Siorda can beat them. We are surely blessed with talented children.”

  “What? The Siorda are developing faster? I have to tighten my training schedule for them!” It can't be!

  Stella sighs and puts the chalk onto the chalkboard's holder strip. “What I originally wanted to talk about is the mana net. Helen is very disturbed by the way the whole thing is developing and wanted to ask if there is a way to... regulate it.”

  “Of course there is, what's her exact problem?” I ask.

  “I took a look at it with Louise and Helen is right when she says that the flow of information is much too fast now. Many of the old channels became obsolete since the whole thing started. For example it's more efficient for the military to communicate over the mana net than over the old messaging system.” She tilts her head. “Karsen and Talia are also concerned regarding the lack of discipline in some cases. That means making data with national importance public.”

  I frown. “Aren't there already laws against espionage? Lock those people up, or give them whatever punishment is required for their actions. You can hardly blame the medium through which the message is delivered.”

  Stella nods. “It's as you say, but the mana net is making it too easy for them to vanish within the crowd. They simply plant the info and hide themselves under a mountain of users.”

  They are already that far with their tricks? “That shouldn't be a problem. I'll give Helen and Lucas a few of my administrative rights.” I certainly won't hunt down the bad elements of our society. There are more important things to do.

  “Administrative rights?” Stella asks baffled. She is already very well versed in using the net and can deduce what I mean by that. “There are administrative rights for the mana net?”

  I shrug my shoulders. “Of course there are. D
o you think I simply give away a great invention like that for free? I could shut down the whole thing with a thought if I want to. The net is my way of controlling and spreading information, I can backtrack every user once he is connected. Don't worry, the controls are very easy to handle. Helen will be satisfied.”

  I connect to the mana net and give Helen and Lucas the necessary rights. Stella plays with her fingers while thinking about what I said. “I see a lot of other problems with the situation. Are you sure that this whole thing can't backfire on us? There are moral issues about spying on other people.”

  Moral issues about gathering information? “Don't worry. Oh, by the way... did you know that your father has a very dirty mind?”

  Stella's eyes widen. “You didn't!”

  “I did. He barged in on us with Helen several times now. The both of them are acting like this house belongs to them.”

  “Actually it does?”

  “That doesn't change the fact that we are the ones who are living here. Returning to my point, I wanted to find at least some dirt on their shoes.” Taking a breath, I gather my thoughts. “I expected that Helen is the perverted one, but your father is spending way more time visiting dubious sites. His total time on the mana net accounts to two hours a day. Half of it is spent on a site which is offered by a certain shop in the red light district of the capital.”

  Stella's head turns bright red. “Won't he know that you know, once you make the rights available to him?”

  Nodding my head a grin creeps onto my face. “Oh, he is smart. He will find out. And I am sure that Helen will find out too. She is a control freak and I doubt that she won't use the chance to track the movements of her husband.”

  “You can't! What if they start fighting with each other!” Stella calls out.

  I shake my head. “Don't worry. Your father isn't looking up what you think he does. What he is interested in aren't the companions, his interest is focused on the toys and tools.”