The Evaran Origin

by Adair Hart

  “The Torvatta says there are three objects headed our way.”

  “I only see one thing. I know it’s just a visualization, but it looks like a glowing ball of … It’s a great selector!” said Dr. Snowden. He recalled that they had run into a great selector before, in a previous adventure in deep space. It was a large luminous sphere, and Evaran had communicated with it. It seemed to know who they were and even said hello to him and Emily.

  Emily joined him by the guardrail. “What’s it doing out here?”

  “No idea, but guess we’re about to find out.”

  When the great selector reached the shielding, Evaran stepped back through and onto the walkway. He was followed by a medium-sized, dark-skinned humanoid male wearing a dark-blue exotic robe with golden inlays. A metallic band went around his ears and merged into a rhombus-shaped plate behind his head. His curly jet-black hair was short, and his eyes glowed a soft blue.

  The great selector then passed through and assumed a human female form in a white robe with segmenting silver lines to match the human anatomy. She had fair skin, and her long blond hair cascaded over her robe. Various dark-gray straps crisscrossed her outfit, which stood in contrast to her slightly glowing yellow eyes.

  Dr. Snowden’s eyes widened. “Umm … I see you found more than one friend.”

  “Indeed I have,” said Evaran. He pointed at the male. “This is Dian. His true name would not make sense to you, so he chose that one.” He then pointed at the female. “I believe you know the great selectors already, but out here, they are known as the Hoxscarus. This one calls herself Pozarra. I have asked them to assume a humanoid form. They will stay up to the point that the unusual coordinates activate.”

  Dr. Snowden noticed Emily also had wide eyes. He gulped. “Uh … Hi.”

  Dian stepped forward and examined them. He gestured at Dr. Snowden. “You must be the great Dr. Albert Snowden.” He examined Emily. “And you must be the heroic Emily Snowden. I’m privileged to stand before you.”

  “Umm … I guess that’s us,” said Emily with a half smile.

  Pozarra knelt before them with a bowed head. “I’m … honored.”

  Emily shot a quizzical look at Dr. Snowden.

  Evaran raised a finger. “Dian and Pozarra know who you are already.”

  “Oh,” said Emily with raised eyebrows.

  Dr. Snowden studied Dian and Pozarra. “How do you know us?”

  Evaran shook his finger at Dian and Pozarra. “Remember, we do not discuss future events in personal time streams.”

  Pozarra stood, and both she and Dian nodded.

  “Okay … so sometime in our personal future, we meet Dian or Pozarra, or maybe both of them. Out of sequence thing, right?” asked Dr. Snowden.

  Pozarra gulped.

  “Is that when we become known as great, heroic, and all that?”

  Pozarra looked away.

  Evaran monitored Pozarra. “I am not sure. However, out of sequence would be correct. I do not know when or what event transpires, and until that moment, it should be left that way.”

  “Well … I’m glad we got all that cleared up,” said Dr. Snowden with a chuckle. His eyes swept over Dian and Pozarra. “So … do you two live out here in the Cosmic Medium?”

  “I do,” said Dian. “Most cosmic entities exist that way. The Hoxscarus are a bit different, though.”

  Pozarra nodded. “We exist in the Cosmic Medium, but at a different level, which means we don’t have the insight into cosmic events like Evaran or Dian.”

  “Interesting,” said Dr. Snowden.

  “If we continue to evolve, though, we might move up an APR,” said Pozarra with a smile.

  Dr. Snowden rubbed his chin. “And APR is …”

  “Arillian power rank.” Pozarra shot Evaran a look. “You haven’t told them about that?”

  “I have not,” said Evaran. “This is their first time outside their universe, and plane, for that matter. They wanted to know about my origin.”

  Dian laughed. “It’s kinda hard if they don’t know about the APR structure.”

  Evaran waved his hand in an arc. “Please proceed.”

  Dr. Snowden swallowed hard. It was not lost on him that he was speaking with beings far beyond anything he could imagine.

  “Well,” said Dian, flashing his hands out in front of him, “the APR structure is pretty simple. The structure, translated to what you would understand and using your metrics, goes from zero to one hundred, at least for those of us who are not Arillian.”

  “And the Arillians are … ,” said Dr. Snowden.

  Dian gestured at Evaran. “Creators of everything, even Evaran. No one really knows what they are, other than that there are those who are touched by them, such as Evaran, making him unique.”

  “Wow,” said Dr. Snowden.

  “Anyways, back to the APR. Every ten ranks is a new classification. Plane denizens are zero to ten. Evaran calls them mortals. Those who can travel or possess great power within the plane are known as ascended. They are eleven to twenty APR.” He raised his eyebrows at Pozarra. “That’s usually the cutoff for any entity in a plane.”

  Pozarra smiled. “Then you have us, quasi cosmic beings. We’re twenty-one to thirty. We’re one step removed from the plane but not at the same level as other cosmic entities. We can exist in the plane … but I cannot say why.”

  “For what reason?” asked Evaran.

  “Your rules.”

  Evaran narrowed his eyes. “I see.”

  “It only goes up from there,” said Dian. He tapped his chest. “I’m an ancient with an APR of seventy-three.”

  “Whoa,” said Dr. Snowden. He had a difficult time processing how powerful that made Dian. After facing Evaran, he asked, “So … what’s your APR?”

  “I am a celestial, which would normally be around eighty-one to ninety,” said Evaran. He raised a finger. “However, since I am Arillian-touched, my APR is around ninety-four, within the domain of the eternals.”

  Dr. Snowden paused as he chewed on Evaran’s words. The idea that there were beings higher than Evaran in his main form was hard to fathom. The ranking system made sense and represented an ordered approach that he appreciated. He took a deep breath. “How do you know you’re Arillian-touched if no one knows who they are?”

  “There are others. We have spoken to them before.”

  “I take it you haven’t shared your discussions with non-Arillian-touched. Otherwise Dian would know,” said Dr. Snowden.

  Dian smiled. “You’re very observant. We just take Evaran’s and the others’ word for it. Not like we could prove it one way or the other. Given Evaran’s abilities and personality, I trust him without hesitation.”

  Dr. Snowden nodded. “We do too.”

  Emily gestured at Dian. “So who’re the eternals then?”

  “The maintenance,” said Dian. “Something has to clean up dead planes, help with the formation of new ones, and the like. There are several dozen of them, and they all have different functions, but they keep Synesia running. They are highly efficient at what they do, and only the Arillian-touched can say anything to them. If they decided I was to no longer exist for any reason, not much I could do, unless—”

  “You have an Arillian-touched friend,” said Emily.

  Dian nodded. “Indeed. It’s no coincidence that where Evaran is, you will find his own entourage of cosmic beings like me, Hoxscarus, and those with a lower APR.”

  Dr. Snowden glanced at Evaran while running a hand over his cheek. “Do you … have a listing of the APR structure?”

  “I do,” said Evaran. “And yes, I will make it available to you.”

  Dr. Snowden smiled. “You know me too well. I’m gonna guess then that when you enter a plane, your plane form APR is lower, right?”

  “You are correct. My plane form is ascended, usually in the upper-teens APR-wise.”

  “At least that part of you that enters a plane,” said Dian.

  Dr. Snowden
adjusted his glasses. “Yeah … Evaran mentioned a portion of him goes in. Not sure how that works.”

  Evaran raised a finger. “Before we continue, we should head to the conference room. I have some questions of my own, and I suspect the ever-curious Dian and Pozarra would like to experience eating and drinking again.”

  Dian lit up. “Oh, yeah.”

  “Count me in. I wanted to see more of the Torvatta anyways,” said Pozarra.

  “Very well, let us head to the conference room then,” said Evaran.

  Dr. Snowden followed everyone as they headed to the elevator. Evaran was unique even in the power-ranking system, but the more puzzling piece was that the great selectors were the Hoxscarus. Dr. Snowden wondered about the one they had met in a previous adventure.

  Emily tapped his arm. “Cool, huh?”

  He nodded. “Let’s go see what else is on this wild ride.”

  Dr. Snowden did not know what to make of Dian and Pozarra. Their speech patterns seemed unusual, but because they were cosmic beings, he figured it was the universal translator at work, or planar translator since they were not in a universe. He had noticed that Pozarra had been watching both him and Emily like a hawk. Maybe Pozarra had a lot of questions, something he had as well. He chuckled when Dian’s eyes widened as he jabbed a pizza slice with his finger, then yanked it back.

  “Huh. Heat. I forgot it can hurt this form,” said Dian, rubbing his finger.

  “Analysis. You were burned,” said V.

  “Let’s see if we can fix that,” said Dian. He focused on his finger, causing it to glow for a moment. “All better now.”

  Dr. Snowden wrinkled his eyebrows. It seemed even in the Torvatta Dian possessed some ability.

  “It’s good to see you again,” said Pozarra, smiling at V.

  “I do not believe we have met. I am a variable utility artificial intelligence. My shortened name is V, and I was created by Evaran.”

  Pozarra’s eyes darted back and forth for a moment. “Right. My apologies.” She cast a sidelong look at Dian.

  Evaran rubbed his chin. “Your presence here was unexpected. Typically, quasi cosmic beings travel away from the plane upon exit.”

  “The others did. Before your main form left, it asked me to stay behind and await your exit from the plane. Once you were here, I was to relay three messages,” said Pozarra.

  Evaran nodded. “What is the first one?”

  “Multiple plane forms have been sent into the plane. These messages I am telling you now were given to me prior to the last plane form being sent.”

  Evaran narrowed his eyes. “There must be a good reason for me to send other plane forms. That would violate my one-plane-form-per-plane rule.”

  Emily raised her head a bit. “I bet that would also explain the female Evaran you sensed. She may be one of them.”

  “I concur,” said Evaran. “However, I do not recall sending any other plane forms.” He tilted his head at Pozarra. “Did any of the plane forms exit the plane already?”

  Pozarra shook her head. “I haven’t seen any.”

  Evaran narrowed his eyes. “I see.”

  “You don’t know why they were sent?” asked Dr. Snowden, looking at Pozarra.

  “I do,” said Pozarra. “That leads me to the second message. There has been a breach in Synesia.”

  “Elaborate,” said Evaran, sitting up in his chair.

  Pozarra pointed at Dian. “I don’t know too much about it, but he would.”

  “I would say so,” said Dian, flashing his hands out and to the side. “The breach needs Arillian-touched help. I was actually on my way to help your main form when I noticed you and Pozarra.”

  Evaran drew his lips taut. “I encountered a Hadryn spawn known as the overlord earlier. He should not have been there. This must be related to that.”

  “I’m afraid so,” said Dian. “The Hadryn, Immortal, and Elemental plane systems along with other minor ones have breached Synesia. It sounds like you’ve already met some of their foul creations.”

  Evaran placed his fingertips together and rested them on his lips. After a moment, he said, “So I would have left to investigate, while sending multiple forms to ensure that the Hoxscarus evolve and emerge. Normally I would wait for my plane form to exit, but a Synesian breach is a much higher priority. That is why my main form is not here then.”

  “Indeed,” said Dian.

  Dr. Snowden pursed his lips. “Not to barge in here, but … what’s the difference between these plane systems?”

  Dian smiled. “We’re in what you would call the Core plane system, or Synesia, as you may already know. It has the highest concentration of what you refer to as energy and matter. Alaanirif is the Elemental plane system and is filled with elementals of all types. Druuzgortatares is the Immortal plane system and is similar to Synesia, except that each plane there is created and ruled by a being, or set of beings. Last but not least is Tollidrynhalla, the Hadryn plane system, and it houses the most ancient of beings, outside of the eternals.”

  “That’s hard to fathom,” said Dr. Snowden. “Are the APRs the same throughout?”

  “Not quite,” said Dian. “Hadryns go up to an APR of about eighty. Immortals to about sixty, and the elementals to about ninety. However, when inside a plane, everyone is about equal.”

  Dr. Snowden nodded. “The Hadryn we encountered said Evaran was his equal.”

  “In the plane, sure,” said Dian. “But out here in the Cosmic Medium? They’d run away as fast as they could. Evaran would wipe them out of existence before they knew what hit them.”

  “Wow,” said Dr. Snowden.

  Evaran eased back into his chair. “I would not let any of those beings near this plane. It appears my absence has let some through.” He tilted his head at Pozarra. “What was the third message?”

  She nodded. “A set of coordinates should be activated in your Torvatta by now.”

  “They are,” he said, rubbing his chin. “Where do they go?”

  “To meet with Syrilus in a final event,” she said, glancing at Dian. “She is who embedded the coordinates to the event when the Torvatta was created. You will also get the coordinates to meet with the last plane form that was sent in when you meet with her.”

  Evaran narrowed his eyes. “I see. I already went to an event when I entered the plane. She mentioned that it was her last moment before plane creation.”

  Pozarra licked her lips. “She may not have been accurate in that statement.”

  Evaran raised his head a bit.

  “Back up,” said Dr. Snowden with a hand out. “I’m playing catch-up here. Who’s Syrilus?”

  Dian cracked a smile. “I got this one. I must say, though, you are very curious. I like that.” He gestured at Dr. Snowden and Emily. “I’ll try to put it into a context you both would understand. Syrilus was Evaran’s celestial wife, but she wasn’t Arillian-touched. She traveled with Evaran in the Cosmic Medium and to other planes, then died and became a plane herself. This one that we're outside of, actually. I knew her well, and … ,” he said, swallowing hard, “was privileged to travel with both her and Evaran.”

  “She must have been a close friend,” said Emily.

  Dian nodded.

  She motioned at Evaran. “And … you had a wife?”

  “It is a bit more … involved,” said Evaran. “Sometimes entities can become entwined with each other. It is analogous to your concept of marriage, except we do not have genders. However, when we took on plane forms and assumed a gender, she tended to adopt the traits you would attribute to the feminine form, while I adopted masculine ones.”

  “Oh,” said Emily.

  Evaran nodded at Pozarra. “I appreciate you bringing me these messages. Nonetheless, I now believe that Earth is one possible birthplace of your kind and that humanity could be the first ancestral form.”

  Dr. Snowden dipped his head as he faced Pozarra. “So … you’re what we become.”

  Pozarra gulped as she look
ed to Evaran. “Possibly.”

  “I can shed some light on that,” said Evaran, raising a finger. “The Hoxscarus escaped the universe by evolving into the great-selector form. When they appeared, they told my main form that I helped them evolve and escape. They also mentioned that I gave them instructions along with some rules to follow and abide by but could not tell me what they were due to timeline integrity.”

  Dr. Snowden chuckled. “So a future you will tell the Hoxscarus to not tell your main form everything.”

  “That is correct. I would have gone into the plane anyways, but their arrival added an additional purpose. I wanted to start by finding their ancestral form and go from there.”

  Dr. Snowden wagged a finger. “You know … this all sounds like … some type of planar reproduction or something.”

  Evaran tilted his head at Dr. Snowden. “Elaborate.”

  “Well … if Syrilus is a plane now and was someone or something that you were involved with and the Hoxscarus emerged from the plane due to you injecting yourself multiple times into the plane and interacting with them, that makes you the father, the plane the mother, and the Hoxscarus the children,” said Dr. Snowden. He shrugged. “At least that’s how it looks to me.”

  Emily chuckled. “I can see that.”

  Evaran pursed his lips as he examined Dr. Snowden. “That is an apt analogy.”

  Dr. Snowden noted that Pozarra’s eyes had slightly widened, and Dian’s eyes had narrowed. It made him think that he may have hit on something, but not something that either Dian or Pozarra would confirm. He focused on Evaran. “Given all that, how did you know to choose a human form? I mean … why not an insectoid form or a cloud of gas or something?”

  Evaran gestured at Pozarra. “They showed me what the ancestral humanoid form was before I split off and entered the plane. Apparently, I told them what it was, and that was something my main form was supposed to know. I was surprised to know it was similar to the Hadryn form.”

  Dr. Snowden glanced at Pozarra. “You could have showed them Earth. It would have saved a lot of the hassle of searching for it.”