by Marc Mulero
Agden stepped forward forcefully, leaving Eres to detach from his imprint. “Don’t you go planting false prophecies to sate your curiosity, Seren. You’re better than that. One step over the line will be our undoing. One murder-”
“Murder?” Seren spat before being spoken over.
Agden began to lose his cool. “There is no deceitful Seer. No grand threats against us Skrols. No conspiracy. There is nothing that can justify where your curiosity will ultimately lead. We have done a fine job in keeping our world isolated from the Factions, so don’t try to convince me otherwise.”
“I do not refute it,” Seren peered into Agden’s eyes, “but that time is at an end, for more reasons than one.”
“What is your basis!?” Agden pleaded, circling the tall Skrol slowly. “Why do you stand here so sure of your words?”
“I’ve simply lost patience in being a puppet in some ancient Seer’s game. Especially now, when outside threats loom. Who is ve to decide? It is time for the Skrols to fulfill their purpose – the true purpose – and use our secret to complete our history, to understand what we are once and for all.
“And if it is something damning, then the one left standing with all of our espers will destroy them – take away the option of ever knowing the secret again, if it truly is that bad.”
“Seren, you are mad! Ingora exists with little war because of our watch. Why tempt fate?”
“For the risk that we are missing some crucial piece – something for the good of ulmanity. I would even sacrifice myself to you, hand you the Ostara esper to begin this journey of uniting them.” Seren snapped a long dagger from its sheath and held the point to his own heart.
Agden drew his weapon in frantic counter.
Seren laughed wickedly. “What are you going to do, stab me before I stab myself?”
“Wound you, fool.” The charm that Agden generally exuded faded in this moment.
“All the Reach in the world couldn’t catch you up to my speed with a blade.” he taunted.
“Stay on our side, Seren!” Agden raised his voice, the echo bouncing off ice.
The tall Skrol twirled the dagger back into its sheath and backhanded the flat of Agden’s sword away. He leaned in close, a head taller than the man before him. “I am. You are just too thick to know it.”
Seren Night straightened and proceeded past the dumfounded Skrol.
“Killing us all in the name of a forbidden, unknown curse,” Agden shouted at his back.
“Would be as irrational as living for it.”
“We are protectors!”
“Puppets,” Seren finished, before the sound of his clinking boots faded further and further away.
Chapter 17
A New Anchor
Eres returned from his esper in a panic that day, with far less energy than when he’d submerged. He looked around frantically, hands clenched over the arms of his chair, as if there was some imminent threat. But that wasn’t the case, just a few sets of concerned eyes staring back at him, wide and unblinking.
“Lad, you are unwell. Shouting like demons of the under realm… that does not belong here in the high spires of Elesion,” a concerned scholar said.
Eres wiped sweaty hair from his face and readjusted himself to sit upright. “Oh, so you know of the lands below? You’ve been there?” he mocked.
The scholar coughed and looked around to the others. “N-no, but my knowledge is vast thanks to these texts.”
“No, just your imagination is,” Eres mumbled before saying, “I’m fine, fellow Dawns. I’m fine. Thank you for your concern and apologies for the disruption.”
Curious eyes lingered as the scholars rose from their seats - their light blue, almost white silk robes glimmering in the sunlight as they sauntered away purposelessly. And once they departed, Eres could finally sigh away his feelings, not from his concerned constituents of course, but from Seren.
Breathing in the smell of fresh burning hearth worked to relax him, to remind him that Seren was never actually in the room with him, and that the fear he felt was his father’s, not his own.
“Was that the beginnings of the Silent War that I just witnessed? Umus tou…” Eres stood with Apa Kernikus’ book in hand and turned to exit the massive library. His legs nearly buckled on his first step – the feeling of fever weakening his joints.
Mustae… how long was I in there. Wake up, Eres!
Now limping, he pushed himself to the front desk where a very feminine looking Dawn peered over cat-eye glasses as Exso Sindah was shoved in her direction.
“A difficult read, Eres.” She seemed impressed.
“Tell me about it.” he forced a smile at the librarian, trying to mask his disdain.
“Maybe that’s what’s giving you nightmares over there.” She winked.
Eres sighed at the jest. “That has to be it, Geedre.” He grabbed the book once she finished scanning it and waved farewell.
That day, he limped all the way back to his lonely cavern, deep in thought the entire way, festering about what he had witnessed in Gushda. It was the first time he’d heard Seren Night speak, saw his point of view, recognized his defiance. All this time, he thought he was growing up to be like his father. Curious. Seeking adventure. Searching for answers. It was only now, though, that he actually saw some of Seren’s rebelliousness in him. Where Agden had accepted certain truths that overlapped with his gift of Reach, Eres had always rejected them.
Night came quickly as Eres sat cross-legged in the rocky field behind his home. Seated before a patch of grass, vine, and flower, he concentrated with everything he had, to break away from where his temperament could eventually lead – to vow never to become a cold-blooded murderer like Seren.
Wudon’s teachings came to mind, how activating Reach was of the same sensation as controlling another limb, and to find Gushda within Rudo. Repeating the mantra aloud did nothing. Concentrating, nearly popping a blood vessel trying to conjure a tiny flame did nothing. His ooma did warn him, though, that it was through acceptance that the first threshold would be crossed. Eres must have been taking steps backward, for he didn’t feel so much as a twitch of Reach flowing through him anymore. Maybe it just wasn’t meant to be.
With no progress made, his mind wandered. He looked up, thinking not for the first time of what would happen if he propelled himself over the spears barricading him. His impeller could definitely get him over the wall, but likely did not have the juice to land him safely however many miles below to the “under realm.”
After a sigh of defeat, he went back for another attempt at manipulating nature. Still nothing. The wind was moving the vines more than he was, and with that thought, he fell back into a daydream of when Crow used his Reach to stop an explosive from killing them all. So naturally and on cue – a level Eres was sure he would never get to.
A pang of jealousy pulsed between his ribs, then longing. Windel… how was she? What was she doing with her life? He wondered if they’d even bothered to look for him at all. Even if they had for a while, they’d definitely given up by now. Five long years, and not so much as a whisper from any of them.
Teenage angst then took over, anger even. “They probably did nothing but say how unfair it was, what happened to me. They’re probably back to normal Kor classes. Ren lecturing, Windel finding her way as a Carrier, Mun as a pilot, Zia as a guardian, Crow impressing some other Reach teacher and torturing someone else. At this point, to them, I’m probably just the Dawn who tried to be a boy. A lost memory.” He said all of this to the ground before him, and then threw a stick at it.
Eres had become more handsome with age, in a delicate sort of way, another reminder that there was no puberty to strike awkwardness in his growth or to make him act out irrationally. Like any part of development, however, there was still the experiences he’d endured, and his were particularly harrowing – suffering a Kor massacre, being blamed as a coconspirator, kicked out of school… after saving it, no less. Then there was the trauma of
his father - witnessing his sacrifice, being told that it was for him. It was all too much. He’d lost his home and his only living parent on the same day. And on top of it all, those he’d called friends, the ones he looked to for support in his time of need, who promised to right these wrongs, had abandoned him.
Maybe it’s time to let go, as they have. Why let Windel trample into my mind when I’m not even a speck in hers?
The days that followed were more of the same. At night he explored his esper, gaining a deeper knowledge of the Skrol ways until sleep claimed him. Then he woke to crowd his mornings with books in the high Spire of Iqueth - to seek other perspectives on this journey of conflict, Reach, and life as a Dawn. Then there were his afternoons. After popping into these sorry excuses for classes, he would find Ohndee.
They would smile at each other, standing out like two colorful fall leaves within a sea of grey. They were the only ones in Elesion who hadn’t yet lost their spark. His duels with her were alive. Still, even after a year of fighting, they each brought new techniques to the table, one teaching the lavish moves of a showman, the other a Swul warrior’s tact and savagery, if the two could even work together. And when they were done after every bout, Eres grew a little less guarded, like she was chipping away at a very dense stone. He was beginning to answer more truthfully when bested, less vague, in accordance with the rules of their little game, much more so than the first few months anyway.
On the sixth duel following his decision to let Windel fade away, he was defeated by Dee, finding bruises on the back of his legs from a punishing misstep. She had whacked him senseless. For the first time, he saw the Swul in her. Perhaps she was frustrated with him too, as much as he was with himself.
Eres threw up his hands as he fell to his knees.
Out of breath and smiling with glee, Dee threw down her blunt blade beside him. “You… are going to tell me… why.”
“Tell you what?”
“Why… in this bird’s nest on top of the sky, do a bunch of sleepwalkers have more interest in life than you?”
Eres stood and spun all the way around, clearly annoyed and inches from her face. “All I do is explore! What do you think I’m doing in the library?” He pointed in the direction of the other spire. “I’m obviously the most inquisitive person here, next to you.”
Dee stomped even closer, fists clenched and arms stretched straight along her sides. “Then why won’t you nooch me?”
Eres leaned back, confused. But then something strange happened. His vision altered like he was adjusting knobs on a set of binoculars. He had never considered her in that light, not really anyway, because Windel’s dimpled smile and playful expression would always pop to the front of his mind to deny it. This time, though, she didn’t appear. Something was changing. Suddenly Dee’s pixie haircut framed her delicate features perfectly. Her Swul beads matched bright green eyes, lips were slightly too full, kissable even.
What’s happening… even if she betrayed me, I still belong to her. She’s who I’m meant to be with. Windel Freed of Umboro, my partner in Kor Vinsánce, the only outsider who met my ooma, who knows of my past, my destiny. I can’t see another…
With those thoughts of denial came action speaking to anything but. He leaned in and kissed Dee passionately. She was at a loss at first, eyes open, but then relaxed into his embrace and kissed back.
Eres felt a tickle that started in his flat belly, and forked downward, reminding him that he wasn’t actually a “he.” And vice versa for her. They were two broken, misshapen rejects of society. And for the first time in his life, he loved it.
A week of bliss. It was just the two of them enjoying the varying aromas of Elesion together. He was experiencing a closeness that he’d never known before. She would lock arms with him as they strolled between spires, under trees, and to the edges of their massive cage that was Elesion. Forming new memories to replace the old. Lips became loose too, not only for noochi, but delving into their own pasts, their secrets.
“Your palm is sweaty, let go!” She tried to shake free playfully, pretending she was repulsed.
“Really? That’s what bothers you?” He found her antics humorous. “I would’ve expected thicker skin from a Swul.”
Ohndee raised her eyebrows. “You know, back in my territory, you would’ve feared me!”
Eres didn’t doubt it based on her incredible skill with a blade, but he couldn’t help shaking the lanky arm in his grip. A mocking smirk said it all.
“Oh! You don’t believe me?” She whipped her hand away. “Come to my cavern and I’ll dig up a picture for you!”
“Hm? You looked different then?”
“My hair was prettier than yours,” she teased. “I was ten pounds heavier. Pure muscle. And my Glite armor was glorious. My mother made it for me. She was an Artificer, is an Artificer. She bathed the scales in dye the same color as my hair – midnight blue mixed with black beads. Oh, you should’ve seen me. I did them so proud!”
Eres listened, and then asked the first question that came to mind. “They weren’t ashamed of what you are?”
“No, of course not. They aren’t dumb either though… mother knew she had to hide me, so she did so in plain sight. And father… he would have cut down everyone in our territory to protect me.”
“Yet you’re here…”
“Yet you’ve seen me for the better part of a year, beat the shit out of me even, and still you hadn’t thought to ask me how I ended up here?”
Eres stopped in his tracks for dramatic effect. “I was being respectful!”
“Hmpf. I don’t think so, Eres Dawn, I think you were being coy so that I wouldn’t ask about you.” She pointed a finger into his chest. “No matter though. I’m going to tell you anyway.
“I lived in a luxurious tower, the kind for kings, with my mother, father, and steward. Each day I would descend from my quarters; I’d be stripped of my armor and status and sent off to train. Sido camp was brutal. They didn’t care that I was highborn. I would be electrocuted in the water like any other of flesh and blood. They would make us balance on a thin rope over the sparking lake and duel. It would be up to the winner to show mercy or not, whether to pull them out by rubber glove or let them crawl out themselves. Woo did that hurt.”
Eres wasn’t surprised by her rigorous training, remembering Nuganzia and Teros standing out amongst the rest. Of course they went through some sort of hell. They were more hardened than an Umboro could ever be.
“They would observe us closely to learn our fears and turn them against us. I was hung upside down from a tower as high as Iqueth and told to be still, held underwater for longer than my lungs could handle, crushed under stones until I could feel my spine nearly snap.”
“Yikes.” Eres winced for her. “So… which one was yours?”
She shrugged. “They never found it, because the entire time I was enduring all of that, I didn’t feel the physical pain. Not really, anyway. I was only scared they would find out what I really was - a Dawn, an imposter, who should therefore be cast away from my home.”
“I know the feeling,” Eres consoled.
“Turns out,” she continued, “this place is my true fear - purgatory… the opposite of Swul culture. No glory, fear, or drive. Just nothingness, until you showed up.”
Eres pushed her. “Oh come off it.”
“I’m serious! I was so bored. For years, Eres. I’m nothing like these sleepwalkers.”
“Don’t I know it.”
“Hey!” She raised her fists.
He pushed her playfully. “What about Kor?”
“Kor Ivares,” she recalled. “Sido camp was all before sunrise, then we would join in study under proctor.”
“Was it a good Kor?” He wanted to keep the conversation about her.
“It was ninety percent Swul. Of cour-”
“Oof, no, thank you,” Eres blurted before finding a fist in his chest.
“And what about you, Mr. Mysterious, hmm? Tell me abo
ut your Kor.”
“You’re too goofy to be a Swul, you know that? Would’ve fit right in at Vinsánce.”
More lighthearted slaps made Eres laugh at her attempt to hurt him, until someone, an adult Dawn, standing in their way with a face of steel stole the mirth from their air.
He cleared his throat. “I was sent with a message for Eres.”
“Mustae… don’t look so glum. Did someone take you away from your forever nap?” Dee mocked.
The Dawn’s face was stern, lids heavy with sleep, like the task robbed vim of whatever low energy ve had. On the cusp of male and female in terms of features, the strange barren just waited in their way as he was judged harshly.
“What is this about?” Eres probed.
“You’ve been summoned to escort some newcomers, one of which is similar to you. Captured… pretending to be something ve is not. Perhaps the Ambassador of Elesion believes you can aid this one in fitting in, since you rarely cause trouble. Or maybe the Ambassador knows nothing of you, because you don’t matter as much as you may think you do.”
Eres laughed it off. “Some malice in you. Maybe you aren’t a sleepwalker after all.”
The barren took a step closer, to intimidate perhaps, but it only worked to make the two warriors try harder to hold back their laughter.
“You outsiders always have a way about you. So confident in your means, as if you’re not barren. I loathe such folly.”
Dee’s face scrunched like she smelled something bad. “Are you completely mad?”
“Enough! Eres, with me. Let’s get this over with so I can resume my studies, and you can go back to… whatever it is that you like to pretend to do.”
Eres and Ohndee exchanged a look before he was off.
Eres and the annoyed Obrun stood quietly on the leisurely elevating spiral. The minutes that followed on this long journey up were awkward and dragging…
