Children of the Prime Box Set

by T. C. Edge

  "You were just a toddler," she says quietly, still turning my fingers over, as if searching for any specific markings or scars. "We had a bonfire on the lakeside by your home, you and your parents and me. Your mother was heavily pregnant with Lilly, and your father was so worried. I remember it so clearly, Amber, like it was yesterday." She draws a breath and takes a sip of her drink. "Your mother needed to lie down, and your father took her in. I stayed outside with you, but you loved Lilly so much even then. You tried to chase them in, but tripped on a stick from the fire." She holds up my hand a little higher. "You fell right in, your entire left hand digging right into the flames and burning embers. I...I rushed over and pulled you out. My heart almost gave out from the worry. But," she finishes, voice softening further, eyes glistening as they look at my fingers and palm. "There was no damage, no burn marks. Nothing. I knew then that you were like me. I knew then that my life would be spent protecting you until you could handle the truth."

  Tears gather in the corners of my eyes, the cabin so calm and quiet as my grandmother grips my hand tighter. She looks into my eyes. "You and Lilly are everything to me. I chose to keep the truth from you to protect you, darling. And I don't dissuade Lilly from her path for the same reason. I never wanted Ceres to find out. What happened today was...unfortunate."

  "Unfortunate?" I ask. "What do you think will happen now?"

  She shakes her head, eyes moving away. "I can't be sure. Ceres may choose to report back that you're a candidate for ascension, or he may not. Technically, he has a duty to do so, but he's rotten to the core that one, so may choose another path instead..."

  Another path, I think, my mind turning back once again to the events earlier that day. My heart begins to quicken as a particular recollection bursts into my head.

  "Lilly," I breathe out. "He said something to her after he tried to have me branded. He seemed to know something, or...remember something. It involved both of us. Do you know what that might mean?"

  Grandma lifts her chin pensively, fading eyes processing the question, searching for an answer.

  "I don't know for certain," she says eventually. "However, there is talk of foresight in Olympus, of powers of prescience. It seems possible that Ceres was aware of a possible sequence of events...a sequence that only came to light before him today."

  "I...that's possible?" I ask, doubtful. "I know some people have telepathy and telekinesis, but the ability to perceive the future?"

  "I can't be sure, darling, but I have heard rumours of such things. The Prime is ever seeking out gifted individuals to add to his collection. He has his Heralds searching for such people. Some travel far from these lands to seek out those deemed worthy of awakening and ascension to the ranks of Olympus, or to add to his military forces. Others are his most powerful servants, his Heralds of War. And then there are the Chosen."

  "The Chosen," I whisper, the word sending a light shudder down my spine.

  "Yes," says grandma. "If the Worthy are regular Devotees deemed suitable for life in Olympus, to serve and worship the Children of the Prime up close, then the Chosen are those most worthy of being worshipped. They are the Prime's prized assets, the children he loves the most, those upon whom his new world is being built."

  "And you think Lilly and I are known about over there? I don't want to leave from here, grandma. I don't want to..."

  "Shhhh," she says, pulling me into a hug. "I'm only speculating. I don't have all the answers, darling." She strokes my hair softly to calm me, and then urges me to take another sip of her drink. It fizzes down my throat, momentarily distracting me, leaving behind a soothing after-effect that sends a pulse of relaxation through my body.

  "Are there more like us out there?" I ask after a moment of reflection. I look to the open doorway, the sunshine gleaming bright outside, and imagine the many, many communities and towns that spread far and wide across the Fringe.

  "Like us?" grandma says. She begins to shake her head lightly. "Fire-Bloods are rare, Amber, even in Olympus. All can withstand fire and heat to some degree or another. The strongest can even learn to manipulate the flame, harness it, even use it for destructive purposes. We are within a class of people called Elementals, those who can control different elements like water, fire, earth and wind. Elementals are a rare class of those with ancient, genetically enhanced blood, as I've always taught you. Those within Olympus, the Children of the Prime - they are not imbued with divine power as they preach. They are merely the final embers of people who were once built for war. People with enhanced speed, strength, senses, and strange mental and even mystical powers."

  I nod, recalling all my grandma has told me over the years, stories that I at first doubted. She was always somewhat cryptic on how she knew what she did, on the providence of her viewpoint and perspective. I would probe, of course, and she'd speak of ancient texts she once had, though no longer held in her possession. Books that chronicled an ancient world from hundreds and hundreds of years ago, a time of great scientific advancement, of global war, of an arms race that gave rise to the birth of genetically enhanced and augmented people.

  She'd even speak of places far from here, far from the Fringe. Of other cities thousands of miles away across these vast lands where the people live so differently from us. Where they know the true nature of those with special and unique gifts. Where they understand, at least in part, the past world that gave rise to men and women with powers thought here to be divine.

  But here, across the Fringe, shut off from the wider world, something very different has developed under the watchful gaze of the Prime, a figure of great mystery, even to those who come preaching his word. For dozens of years, he's managed to forge a network of powerful individuals under his charge, gradually spreading his power further to the south, sending out his Heralds to spread the word of his divinity, and to discover latent powers hidden inside men and women who think themselves normal.

  And here I am, one of them. I never once thought that what my grandma taught me might actually involve me. I never considered myself to have any unactivated, unawakened genes inside me. I never believed that I was any different from the rest, excepting my heretical stance on the Prime and his followers among a community of such faithful Devotees.

  But I am different, in far more ways than I could ever have imagined. And right now, more than ever, I wish that wasn't the case.

  I wish I could just fit in.

  I sigh deeply, my thoughts running dark, and take another swig of my drink. I feel grandma shuffling closer, her spindly arm wrapping around my back, fingers pressing consolingly into my flesh, flesh that I now know cannot be harmed by fire.

  "It's a lot to take in, I know," she says, drawing back my gaze. "But it doesn't change who you are, Amber. Things may not change at all. Ceres may not report this..."

  I know she's lying. It's what she does with Lilly, keeping the truth from her, refusing to turn her from the path that makes her happy. But I know full well, as she does, that things have changed forever now.

  Whatever Ceres does, nothing will be the same again.

  "They saw, grandma," I whisper quietly. "They all saw. The whole town saw. And you saw how Lilly looked at me. Like...like I was one of them. I'm different enough as it is around here. I just want to be ignored."

  "It doesn't matter what people think, darling."

  "That's easy for you to say," I say, shaking my head. "No one knows the truth about you."

  "Because it's such an unimportant thing," she says. "We aren't special, Amber. No one from Olympus is any more special than anyone across the Fringe. That is a fabrication, a contrivance created by the Prime and his followers. They create this mystique and mystery, and make themselves out to be gods. But there are many with so-called divine powers among us, just yet to be awakened. They pick and choose who to bring beyond their walls, both those chosen for ascension, and those deemed to be worthy to praise them up close. It's arbitrary, and oppressive. It's been the same across history, and always w
ill be. The Prime is nothing but a tyrannical ruler obsessed with power, no matter what we're told."

  I see her eyes shape bitterly, more so than usual. I lock her with a questioning gaze.

  "You've been there, haven't you?" I whisper. "You've been to Olympus. You've lived among them."

  She draws back, turning away a little as if to hide the reaction on her face. A smile builds as it so often does when faced with a probing question she'd prefer not to answer.

  "There's a lot about me that you don't know, Amber," she says. "There's a lot about me that I...I'd prefer you didn't know."

  Her eyes turn down, and she distracts herself by looking over to Washington, still sitting happily beside her, and stroking his greying mane. He bleats with pleasure and taps his hooves, his face so expressive that I can almost see him smile.

  "Grandma," I whisper again, reaching out and touching her arm. Her eyes come back to me. "What's it like there?"

  Her visage flattens out, eyes narrowing. She draws a breath and shakes her head. "It's a place of wonders and horrors combined. It's beautiful...and brutal in equal measure. It only depends on your purpose there. If I had it my way, the entire place would be razed to the ground."

  Her face darkens once more as she speaks, and I choose against probing any further. I don't get the chance either way. Finishing, she draws a breath, smiles, and the room seems to lighten. She turns to the door, the warm sunshine still shining down in radiant lines through the trees.

  "I need to fetch some water from the river," she says, standing on creaking bones. She takes a step away, as I sit planted to the chair. She stops, and turns back to me. "I don't know what will happen now, Amber, but I urge you to be careful. Go home, darling, and speak with Lilly. Set her back on her path if you can. If we're lucky, this day will soon be forgotten."

  I stand, nodding, and move towards her. "And...if we're not lucky?"

  "Then I fear that life, for all of us, will never be the same again."

  6

  I reach my home with dusk falling, my long ramble back home through the woods taken at a leisurely pace, my mind afflicted by a thousand burning questions.

  Breaking through the pinewoods, I come to the shore of the lake, the usually sparkling water now hidden under shadow as the sun disappears beyond the mountains to the west. I amble slowly along the shoreline, my feet crunching on sand and pebbles, my skin gently caressed by the comforting summer breeze that sweeps down from the high valleys across the water, bringing that sweet mountain air with it.

  I realise as I go how much I love this place, how much, perhaps, I've taken it all for granted.

  The simple life here across the western edge of the Fringe isn't so bad at all. We fish and hunt and grow crops to harvest. We tend to our homes and livestock, enjoy time with family and friends. Crime is rare, and the people are peaceful. And though they buy into the lies spoken from Olympus, and are required to worship and give tribute to those who live there, we are rarely interfered with unless someone steps out of line, and these lands are well protected from possible threats to the south by the powerful, genetically augmented soldiers under the charge of our northern rulers.

  Is that so bad a trade? I wonder as I stroll along the shore, looking upon the little firelights flickering around the lake's edge, the many small fishing communities that line the bank. Why am I so averse to it all? Why does it bother me so much?

  Because you know the truth, a voice inside me answers. You know that it's all one big lie. A lie to force control, to keep order, to ensure the people don't step out of line.

  The internal response has me nodding, stopping on the shore, looking out over the darkening lake. Yes, I do know the truth, and today has cast it all in a whole new light.

  I am one of them, I think. I have the blood of the ancients in me too...

  I muse on that as I go, feeling strangely awkward and nervous as I step closer to my family cabin on the edge of the lake. It's a simple place, a single storey structure with a foundation of stone and extensions of pinewood, the interior partitioned off into a number of rooms. Not so long ago, Lilly and I shared a bedroom. Only recently has my father built an extension to give us privacy as we've aged, my room now set off in a little annex at one side of the house.

  I see lights flickering inside as I venture on, firelamps glowing as mother prepares dinner, with father likely working on his latest invention. They spend their days as such, father ever attempting to design methods of catching fish more efficiently and in greater quantities, mother seeing to most household chores and educating Lilly on what it means to be a good Devotee.

  I know they love me and my sister equally, but only because they have to. It's the sort of requirement a parent signs up for, to love their children unconditionally and not have favourites, despite the fact that most probably do.

  No, they love us the same because they have to, but they like Lilly a lot more. She is the girl I was meant to be, the one who hasn't strayed from her path. A daughter to be proud of in a world where worship and service are the key tenets upon which we are all judged. Tenets that I fail to live up to at every given turn.

  I venture on, nerves continuing to rise as I pace along the shore, the light across the lake and mountains fading as I go. I wonder if I'll find Jude there when I arrive, though quickly realise I won't. He'll have taken Lilly home but left her before getting too close to the house. My father isn't a violent man, but he might make an exception if seeing Jude accompanying Lilly back home through the woods.

  Like with my grandmother, whose relationship with her own son has broken down over the years, my parents see Jude as a virus in my life, and one that cannot be allowed to take hold within Lilly too.

  It's a point of contention that we've argued about more times than I care to count. I just wish they could see how sweet, how loyal, how incredibly kind Jude is. How he'd do anything for me, or Lilly, or anyone else if he saw them in trouble or danger.

  All they see is the boy they believe is corrupting me, when in actual fact it's more the other way around. Jude was a better Devotee before I got hold of him. It's my influence upon him, ironically, that makes my parents question his presence in my life.

  I sigh at the thought, delaying as I approach. I can see shapes moving around through the windows now, mother busily preparing dinner in the little kitchen, father at the table as expected. I turn my eyes left to Lilly's room, stepping furtively forward as if trying to keep out of sight. I sneak closer and up towards the wall, peering carefully through the window, and find her kneeling beside her little bed, facing away from me. I move around a little to get a better look, and find her hands held together in prayer, head bowed, lips murmuring something I can't hear through the glass.

  And on the bed ahead of her, I see one of her carved figures. A figure with billowing robes and bowing head, face hidden from sight and obscured by a hood. It is a figure she carved some time ago, her own personal representation of the Prime. A man of mystery and great debate, whose appearance remains entirely unknown by the people across the Fringe.

  The Prime, the central figure whom we're all meant to worship has, as far as the rumour goes, never stepped foot beyond the walls of Olympus. No one knows just what he looks like. No one knows the depths of his gifts and what he can do. The stories and fables speak of not a man, but a great divinity, an all powerful deity who watches us all from the summit of Olympus, passing judgement on the world, seeing all under his charge. Those who wish to be seen as good Devotees, who desire one day to be found worthy and brought inside the walls of Olympus, believe that he watches them always. That only a lifetime of faithful service will see them achieve their great ambitions.

  It is, as I know full well, a terrible and cruel deception.

  And though I know that the Prime is nothing but a man, I remain intrigued by what odd powers he possesses. To have built this world, to have gathered such strength here across these lands, to have used his Forgers to create the city of Olympus...wel
l, that is worthy of respect, at least. Even I can't deny that.

  As my mind runs on and I fall into a reverie, I fail to notice Lilly stand and turn to look in my direction. I spot her sudden movement, her prayers evidently concluded, and duck out of sight too late. No sooner have I dropped below the window do I hear her voice coming from inside.

  "Amber...Amber, is that you?"

  I stay hidden a moment, hoping she'll decide that her mind was just playing tricks on her. No such luck. With a scraping sound, the window opens up on rusted hinges, and I find Lilly's beautiful, youthful face staring down at me from above.

  "Are you spying on me?" she asks, eyes curled into that typical, rebuking frown.

  I dust myself off, stand, and place a grin to my face. I sense my nerves haven't exactly evaporated, given how awkward it feels.

  "Oh, hey Lil, I didn't see you there."

  She shakes her head, letting out a sigh. And somehow, that sets some of my nerves to rest. It's the look on her face; not the same expression of awe that she held before, but that look I'm so familiar with. An expression that would suggest she's the older sister, and not me. One that reprimands me for sneaking up on her and spying on her private time of prayer.

  It's just what I hoped for. The last thing I want is for Lilly to look at me differently now. I'm just hoping she'll forget what happened earlier, and everyone will be able to move on.

  "You just got back from grandma's?" Lilly asks. She lowers her voice, and glances to the door, as if mother and father might be listening.

  I nod. "Yeah. Jude dropped you off nearby I assume?"

  "He was afraid of getting too close," she says, smiling wistfully. "He said he was going to wait for you in case you returned soon. Did you see him?"

  "He must have gone already," I say, glancing off into the woods near the shoreline. "I'm guessing mother and father don't know you were at grandma's?"

  She shakes her head.

  "And...what happened at the collection ceremony," I go on. "Did you, um, tell them about that?"