This is chapter one. I'm not so much looking for a detailed review yet, more of overall views, and larger problems with plot or characters. Thanks!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
These days everything seems so much harder. Harder to afford an apartment, harder to find a job, harder to move on, harder to breathe. Darius had thought that this, at least would be easy. The wind in his face, the first fun jump of his stomach, like on a roller coaster, and a beautiful view. But falling is hard; so much harder than he had imagined. Darius had neither expected nor desired for it to be so damn slow! In some cruel trick his brain had sped up in the adrenaline rush of the jump, as brains are apt to do, and was now processing every second of the fall ten times faster than it had ever processed before, as if this would somehow save him. It seemed that Darius and his mind were in disagreement as to how much longer he wanted to live. Of course, it didn’t really matter at this point and Darius was starting to think that he should perhaps start thinking about his life, his failures and successes. What he would change if he went through all again. What had brought him to the edge of that building in the first place. Maybe he should be thinking about his loved ones, his wife, or at the very least his dog. Maybe… but this is the point at which Darius hit pavement. And no matter what anyone tells you, yes, it fucking hurt.
________________________
A groan emitted from Darius’ thin lips. He felt cloudy and confused, but mostly very worried. He wanted to sit up, but was afraid to find that he had simply paralyzed himself, or that his legs were bent at rather unfashionable angles. He finally mustered the courage to raise a hand to his face. And soon after found himself looking at a hand. This hand was smooth and wonderful, firmly attached to a slim, gangly and equally unmarred arm and its fingers wiggled when Darius attempted to move them. It was everything you could ever ask for in a hand, with clean fingernails and only one scar, barely visible, on the meaty part below the thumb on his left palm. It was a perfectly good hand and Darius did not recognize it at all.
Panic trumps fear every time and Darius thrust himself up off his back to inspect his other body parts. Long limbs, compact torso, a clean white t-shirt emblazoned with some unknown Celtic-looking symbol, army green cargos, used black sneakers, and was that… brown hair flopping in front of his eyes? Literally none of this was right. Darius was certainly breathing faster, and thinking about the fact that he was somehow breathing really, REALLY didn’t help matters. His surroundings were….. well the building he had jumped off of and not much else. It was quiet here, and disturbing and utterly unfamiliar. Darius looked down at a stranger’s hands and muttered two completely insufficient words.
“Well, crap.”
“That’s all you have to say?” Darius’ heart dropped to his stomach and his feet replaced his butt faster than a suicide falls to his death (… too soon?). He spun around to find a slender young woman in loose jeans dropping low on her hips and a white-blonde braid over her shoulder dangling far enough to brush the sliver of skin at the gap between shirt and jean.
“Shit!” She smiled as he fought the adrenaline coursing through the body that wasn’t his. His breathing was frantic because, like most people, he did not very well handle the unknown, and where Darius was… well that’s pretty much where you would end up if you typed ‘Unknown’ into MapQuest. “Shit! Who the hell are you? Am I…? Why aren’t I me?”
“You are youer than you have ever been, boy. And I am the me-est of me. But you may call me Eddee,” she laughed at that, a delightful, bubbling laugh that sprung out of her so perfectly it was nearly a melody. Darius scowled. He didn’t know much about where he was, but he knew it was almost always rude to shove your complete self-satisfaction in the face of a recent suicide. “It’s delightful, isn’t it? The beginning of things? Everything else is just an afterthought, it’s beginnings that matter!” Well the woman was obviously completely insane. Then again Darius had jumped from a skyscraper, woke up from that, and was currently standing next to a blonde chick in someone else’s body and calling her crazy.
“Look, lady, I mean Eddee, I just… I really need to know if I’m dead and… where I am. I’m pretty sure this was supposed to be the end for me. I really wasn’t shooting for a beginning…” She was looking pretty disappointed and Darius realized that for all he knew this hippie chick could very well be the God he had long ago given up on or maybe one he had never considered. “Not that my plans matter of course, I just…”
“It’s fine,” she cut in, “I’m not God, though you’re very kind to think so,” her smile was coy, and she giggled, presumably at the thought of her as an all-powerful being. “No, no, no, not God, not I. And you most certainly aren’t dead, are you?” She walked up to him and placed her over his pounding heart. “You see? What dead man’s heart beats as yours? What dead man’s head is so full of thoughts? I know of none! You are something else entirely. Now. Tell me, Darius… what do you want?
Darius looked up, up, up at the 37 story building which had failed him and said quietly, “I wanted to die.”
“Well that is a privilege you have yet to earn, boy! Now, come along! We won’t mope here all day. After all, your beginning may begin beginning without you! You wouldn’t want that, would you?” Eddee grabbed a frustrated hand and twirled Darius around with a giggle, skipping towards a gathering of people that Darius didn’t think he could have missed right behind him!
“How..? Those people were not there! I am sure of it!” But even as these words escaped his mouth he became less sure that there hadn’t been a light chatter all along, that he had perhaps been just distracted by his recent death. As excuses went recent death was a good one, but still… As Eddee led him towards the crowd he took the time to inspect her more closely. She was, after all, the only person he had ever known in this place. Her white tank fluttered against her skin, not exactly tan but glowing from within. He tried to determine her age, but the more he tried to pin it down, it just slipped away, like a worm wriggling away from a hook. She was so very young, yet she was also ageless. His eyes drifted slowly down to her feet and he realized for the first time that she was barefoot! Another pair of feet, then another, and another slipped into his view and he looked up to meet the eyes of what was bound to be the strangest encounter of his death (so far).
These people were odd to the extreme. Each one met his eyes for a second too long as he walked past before returning to their conversations. They were wildly different from one another, but there was something about most of them that made them very similar to one another, an unnatural tightness to the skin, and a depth to the eye that was slightly off. And if he had thought Eddee’s skin seemed to glow it was even more pronounced with many here. Not that they looked like Jesus or anything, but there was just a lightness to the skin, an ethereal and kind of freaky glow that came from the inside. Darius tried to listen to the conversations but only caught words here and there among the quiet chatter.
“…you know she blames herself…”
“He just did it, like it was nothing…”
“… won’t be for a few days”
“…not ready…”
“… rush it…”
“Where are we going?” Darius turned back to Eddee who was weaving him through the crowds with much more expertise than he had probably ever displayed for anything in his life. “Who are all these people?”
“These people are… well you know them. Or you will. In any case we aren’t going anywhere. We have arrived!” Eddee pronounced, with an amused grin on her face. “This, Darius is Slym. He is... important to you. To all of us actually.” A small slender stick of a man stood in front of Darius with dark eyes and wavy blond hair. His eyes were mischievous and he shone… much more than Eddee. She looked normal when standing next to Slym. Almost normal. Darius suddenly realized that he did not know what his face looked like which (unsurprisingly) really ticked him off.
“Well, will he answer my questions? Because this is getting seriously old.”
“I’ll do my best, child,” Slym spoke, and while his voice was smooth and dripped lazily off his lips, hearing someone call him child did not improve Darius’ annoyance, “Eddee, would you grab this young man a mirror?” That was better. Eddee skipped off and Darius watched the only person he knew in this world disappear into the crowd. “I thought you would be wondering what you look like.”
“Yeah, it’s an odd sensation… not knowing. Can you… why do I look this way? What happened to the me that I was… before?”
The man chuckled, “Well from what I hear it had an unfortunate meeting with some very unforgiving asphalt. In any case, what you were is not your form. It does not exist here. It has never existed, nor will it ever. You are as you have always been.” Slym gave Darius a measuring look, his eyes weighing each piece of what Darius had to offer, scanning and calculating. It was the deepest and most real way Darius felt he had ever been seen before. “You were premature. Eager, even. I cannot tell if you are ready.”
Darius exploded. Not surprising in this situation, many would wonder how he held out so long, “What the fuck are you people talking about?!? Can you just tell me what is going on here!?!” Darius was angry, white-hot angry. More angry than he had ever been. His heart, his lungs, his vision all responded in ways appropriate to anger, ways he was used to, but his skin was tingling in a very new way. Darius glanced down and saw his skin, or what had become his skin, glowing. Radiating an energy that wavered undecidedly between the lines of visible and invisible. “Shit!” It was frightening to see something so unnatural come from himself, but the more frightened Darius became the less his skin appeared radioactive and he found he could almost decide he had imagined it. Then he glanced up. “Shit.” He mumbled it this time. All conversation had stopped. All eyes were on him. Hundreds of deep, piercing eyes. It was captivating and the only thing that drew him away from them was Slym’s steady voice responding to the outburst.
“My, my. Do you feel better now? Did you get it all out?” He continued before giving Darius a chance to answer,” Good. Two things have become obvious to me. First, that you are not yet ready for this and second that we must get started immediately anyway. Hold your questions, I must have a conversation with someone, then we will make things as clear as we can, you have my word. Ah, and here is the mirror I promised. You see, I do keep my word.” And with that Slym was off, with Eddee taking his place. She handed him a mirror with only a smile and he lifted it to see his face for the very first time.
First impressions were good, but just so very foreign to what Darius had known for his entire 26 years. Strongish jaw, thin nose, lips on the slim side but still acceptable because they rounded out slightly in the center. The lower one was heavier, always a good thing. His eyes were very, very green. And very deep. Not the sockets, but in another way, a new way. It was as if there was some extra sense with which Darius measured that part of a face, though he didn’t yet understand what it was. His hand reached up to touch his honey-auburn hair which looked to be short but just slightly past needing a haircut. Oval face, large-ish ears, and a scar just under his jaw on the left side of his face. His fingers ran down to brush it, wondering how a body that he had simply assumed was new had acquired these two scars. Were there more? He suddenly had the urge to undress completely and search every nook and cranny of his body, to get to know it. Darius was at a complete loss. He did not even know the basics of his own body at this point, let alone anything about the world or people around him. It was an unnerving and debilitating realization.
“Impressed with yourself? I mean, yeah you’re all right, but you seem positively enthralled!” Eddee joked, her long braid bouncing with laughter.
“It’s just… it’s so different. This man is a complete stranger to me.”
Eddee walked around beside him, her body leaning against his so her face could join his in the mirror. “He’s not a stranger. He is a fresh start. You get to make him anyone you want him to be.” Her eyes met his in the mirror,” Who do you want him to be?”
Darius said nothing, just continued memorizing the features that were now his. Who did he want to be? The only thing Darius knew for certain right now was that he wanted to be better. He wanted to be someone who did not jump off of buildings. Someone worth not jumping off buildings, to himself, at least. As he felt the warmth of Eddee’s skin against his side, a new thought popped into his head, a completely unwelcome one. He blushed, and banished it but it did get him wondering…
“So about my body… Does… well, like, does everything work the way it did before I died?”
Eddee looked confused, “Well, like I said, you are not dead. And I have no idea how things worked for you before now to be honest.”
“Well don’t you remember? What it was like for you before this place?”
“Of course I remember, it was not long before you! But… whatever we experience before is not real here. And it is different for everyone.” She had been staring into the throngs of people surrounding them but now she turned to Darius with her piercing blue eyes,” Darius, you are here now. Wherever there was, here it was only a dream. It wasn’t real.”
“It was not a dream!” Darius was outraged and would have continued had Eddee not lifted a finger to his lips.
“Fine. Of course. It was real. Look, it does not really matter what ‘it’ was because this is ‘it’ now. You have to understand that!
Darius was silent. He had no response to that and every conversation he had seemed to raise more questions. Luckily this is when Slym made his way back to the small open circle the crowd had left around Darius.
“Good, you haven’t wandered. It has been arranged, all is well. We will do our best with you, although as I said you are very premature. Luckily, having the mother you have, we have managed to pull a few strings. Come along now you two…”
“My mother is here?! My mother is not dead-“
“Well, of course she is not boy, or she wouldn’t be walking around and pulling strings for you, now would she?” That shut Darius up pretty quickly, “ Now, come along you too, hurry! Hurry!”
“But… what about my mother? Don’t I get to see her? Does she look different here, too?”
“No time for that! And as you have never seen your mother, and I can assure she is not invisible, I can say that she looks different than anyone you have ever seen. But don’t we all? Now, let’s go.” Slym whirled around and set off at a swift, zig-zag walk through the gathered identities that required all Darius’ concentration just to keep up. Which is good because if he had been concentrating on the non-answer about his mother he knew he would have another, more violent, outburst. What is it with these people and vagueness?
___________________________________
Darius and Eddee followed Slym quietly until they exited the crowd and moved across a grassy field where there was a gathering of very odd buildings that, again, had seemed to appear out of nowhere.
Darius mumbled incredulously to Eddee, “Was this place here the whole time?”
“You just weren’t looking for it, Darius.” She gave his a look of half disappointment, half resignation. “You really aren’t very observant, are you?”
Darius shrugged and inspected the buildings as they moved closer. They were, organic almost in looks, but also very not. All metal and glass, but it seemed to move organically from the earth, circling around itself and creating precarious situations no architect would ever choose, more like a group of rare minerals or gemstones thatn any bilding Darius had ever seen. The entrances were all well above ground level with very frightening-looking stairs winding every-which-way towards their goals. “…. So… how come you don’t want to know why I killed myself?”
Eddee sighed impatiently, “For one, it was obviously a failed attempt. And for another, that didn’t really happen. It was just a dream you had during development, like we all have-“
Slym interrupted, “Eddee, just wait until we get there. He will be filled in then.”
Eddee blushed, “Of course, my apologies…”
Darius was just getting more and more confused, and frankly, frightened. Why did they keep saying that his whole life had been a dream? And development? What the hell was that supposed to mean?
Slym reached the stairs to the building they were supposedly entering, the third in a rowdy and winding row of what looked like 10 or 15 buildings. They were set on a grassy hill in pretty much the middle of nowhere, scattered about like forlorn toys a child had left randomly about his playroom. The sky was a bright blue though with an odd almost lilac tint about it, and for the first time Darius realized there was no sun in this sky, no perceivable source for the bright light spread across the fields. He wondered if he would ever experience night again. He had always like the night.
Slym was first on the climb up the forbodingly random staircase, though Darius found it to be much more sturdy than it looked. They entered into a bright blue/silver themed foyer with splashes of white for good measure. It was such an odd mix of styles, everything here was. The walls were sharp angled things, looking like a group of those magnetic shards that are often found one the desks of businessmen that everyone is curious about but to shy to touch, all pointy and useless and here they had just happened to shape into a room. Metallic bookshelves were thrown about with ancient books stuffing them full to bursting, some even bent under the weight of them. In complete juxposition of that there were a few white armchairs thrown about;as rounded and white and fluffy as they were, Darius imagined it would be like sitting in a cloud. The lighting was hidden randomly among the dents and fizzures of the walls throwing light and shadow about in a way that was seemingly random, but for in one spot. A single orb of light hung low over what was obviously the centerpiece of the room. A plant growing straight out of the metal in the center of the room. It was delicate and intriguing and the only true bit of color in the room, a brilliant and shimmering deep red. The red of blood and passion. Its stem was white, and it’s beauty was breathtaking, a beauty so sharp and intense it almost hurt Darius to look at it, yet at the same time filled him with the conviction that it would hurt more to look away.
Slym spoke first, “We call this the Acquisitions Building, though it is often just shortened to Acquisitions. And what you are staring at ( and rightfully so) is the Bohun Opus. Is seems you find it to be… beautiful? Interesting. Why don’t you do your best to describe it for me.”
Darius would have objected (afterall, Slym could see it himself, coundn’t he?) but he had wanted to inspect it closer anyway. “It is beautiful. The flower is a deep deep red, the petals almost like a rose’s, though they look much stronger and a completely different texture… almost velevty. Also, it is huge, much bigger than any rose I have ever seen. Its stem is long and so thin, I don’t know how it’s standing. The stem… I thought it was white, but its also silver. It looks almost like a hard liquid, like a river would look if viewed from really high above and and if it was flowing towards a red sea. The roots are visible just above the ground, and the look more like tree roots. I wonder how deep they are…..” Darius reached out to touch the greyer, rougher looking root system at the start of the plant, but Slym placed a warning hand on his shoulder.
“It is very valuable and very delicate. We cannot afford to lose it. I’m sorry I mean no offense, but only the Caretaker may touch it. Even I am not exempt from that rule.”
Darius nodded. It was obvious somethiing this beautiful would need to be protected. And seeing how he had ruined everything he touched in life, he wouldn't be surprised if the afterlife was the same.
"I get it. What did you mean though when you said, " Here Darius picked up a fake, deeper voice for the playback, " 'You find it beautiful? In-ter-est-ting.....' " Darius drew out each syllable, exaggerating the way that Slym had said it to the extreme. He could be quite the ass sometimes, and he knew it.
Slym took the high road in his response, "... Well this plant has a different appearence for everyone. It also has a different taste smell and affect. For me it is more of a strong tree. For some it is deadly, though they never know until it is too late. We are here for the caretaker to inspect you and determine what other ingredients are necesary for your personal poison." Darius smiled at what he obviously thought was a clever joke. If he had asked Darius, Darius would said he found it in poor taste. No one asked Darius.
"So... if it could kill me... again... why do I need to drink it?"
Eddee took this opportunity to chime in, "Don't be so frightened, Dar! It is only a plant, right? What have you to be scared of?"
Slym smiled indulgently, "It does deserve some fear, though perhaps more along the lines of awe. This plant will reveal your purpose here. Darius, you seem especially attached to your dreams, or whatever they were. We all have them, but you are clinging to yours. You must realize... you belong here. You have just been born here, and you are your mother's son. I can see the resemblance even now. Our pre-birth dreams help to shape us, but they are only dreams!"
Darius was floored. "I'm not... Look at me! I am not an infant! My life before was my life. I grew, and I learned and went to college and got married; I lived for 26 years! This is just my death! And my mother lives in Brooklynn, apartment 4B, she is not dead and she is not here!"
"Actually you look exactly like an infant. You are throwing a tantrum, Darius, and you're talking complete nonsense. I don't know what was acceptable for an infant in your dreams, but here we are expected to acclimate much faster. You have been promised to The Academy, with Eddee plus a few others, and I'm afraid you may be more trouble than you"re worth if this keeps up. You must recieve your purpose! I feel it would give you a more tangible tie to reality."
"Who are you to tell me what to do with my life anyway?" These were all just stalling techniques for Darius. All his outward rage and heat were just a cover for his truer emotion. Despair. His whole world, everything he had known was crumbling befor his eyes. He had the sensation of his whole basis of knowledge, every experience he had ever had, every person he had ever met just slipping away from him until he was completely empty. He felt like an emptied tooth paste tube, rolled up from the bottom and completely sad and shriveled looking.
"Just consider me your Counselor. And I do not get to tell you what to do with your life. The Bohun Opus, however, does. It's not so much that it's telling you what you have to do.... rather what you would do if you were to follow the most... beneficial path."
"Beneficial for who?" Darius mumbled. God he hated being this whiny, self-indulgent, unrelenting know nothing. Darius was used to being smart and capable and... unfailingly logical. But this was just beyond his grasp to accept. He kept thinking he would wake up on the pavement (with severe injuries this time) or someone would walk up to him and say "Just kidding you are actually dead. This is just Hell." That would be so relieving! At least then he would have experienced some reality before now. At least then he would be somewhere familiar, if only in idea. At least then all that pain he had felt wouldn't be a figment of his own pre-natal mind. If everything they were telling him was true, Darius considered himself one seriously messed up baby.
Slym looked like he was about to respond but just at this moment a large bespectacled man entered the room. He was massive but he moved as lightly as a gazelle, and he seemed just as alert. His bright blue eyes scanned the room, taking in every detail. He did not miss a thing.
"Well, hello, hello! You must be Darius. A pleasure to meet you, I'm sure." He shook hands with Darius, a thick two-handed thing that was almost exaggerated in it's warmth. 'My name is Caretaker Saurin. Let me just have a look at you... Oh dear boy, you have quite the weight on those skinny shoulders. Your hair smells like self-loathing, you really should bathe. Hmm..." Saurin then took the next few minutes to invade darius’ personal space as if it was the most entertaining thing in the world.
He began by playing with Darius’ hair, lifting peices, ruffling about, even just seeming to tug it at times. Darius at first balked, of course, but Slym gave the most serious glare that Darius had ever seen from him, so he settled down. It didn’t seem the worst thing in the world to suffer in the hopes that those who may decide his future would find him less of a complete failure. Darius allowed his eyes to follow Saurin, studying him closely. He was almost too engaged in this activity to notice when Saurin pulled out the knife.
“Woah, woah, woah!” Darius shot his hands out in front of himeself in the universal “Take it easy, man!” sign. “What is this, some blood letting or human sacrifice? Uh-uh not for me, nobody hurts me but... me.” He backed away from the confused and hurt looking Caretaker.
“Darius. We would never spill the blood of one of our own. It is our life, our existance. It is sacred beyond measure, and to steal a drop of anothers life is punishable to ten times that. I would not presume to cut short your years, yet you accuse me of being a Dark-One? I have never been so insulted.”
Slym stepped in to mediate the situation, “Darius, he was only attempting to cut a lock of your hair. You have thrown the highest insult at one of our most highly valued Caretakers to ever walk the fields of Diode, I hope you are pleased with yourself. Caretaker... I apologize for him myself. He should have been more informed when he came here, he did not know what he was saying. I rushed things, the season had already begun and in my hurry I did not give the proper information. It is my responsibility.”
Eddee giggled in Darius’ direction but recieved a glare from every eye in the room which quickly stopped her shoulds from jiggling with laughter and her long braid came to rest on the lip of her loose jeans. It was very distracting to imagine how the braid tickled so low on her hip, but darius had bigger things to worry about. Still, it was hard to remove his gaze from the place where her stomach curved down and inward in a way that was very inviting.....
“Well, Slym, you are an old friend of mine and I apprciate and accept your apology. I’m sorry if I have over reacted, I just... I have lost many a friend and many a client to those beasts of the shadows.” He turned his eyes back to Darius, “We do not spill blood in this society, ever. To spill even a drop is to literally spill a years worth of life from the person who loses it. It cannot be replaced. Only those, deserters, those betrayers, those, those.... creatures called the ‘Darke-Ones’ resort to such basic and violent measures. We believe in peace and they seek to destroy it. They hide in the darkness and the caverns and the abandoned Observatorys and Clinics of the old times. And they attack without reason or provocation. We have been trying to protect ourselves from them for as long as there is history written of our society. So you see, to say that I would cut it tantamount to calling me the most loathed and despised thing that we have ever encountered in all of Diode.”
Darius nodded, his head lowered in apology. His mind however, was heightened with question s which he was to afraid to ask at the fear of offending Saurin even more. What Diode the city, the planet, the universe. Observatories, Clinics, written histories all of these drew Darius in deeper into the hole of not knowing. He was dying to escape. “I apologize, I didn’t realize.”
“Of course, now...... back to business!” Saurin floated across the room and proceeded to delicately and carefully snip a small lock of Darius’ hair into his hand. Saurin faintly declared, “That will do,” before flitting lightly and suddenly out of the room, leaving the three alone once again.
“He will need time to process his findings. The Bohun Opus does not do it’s work alone, and every ingredient list is different. In the meantime I will introduce you to the three others in your Section and show you where you will stay for the night. Come along.”
------------------------------------------
The next buliding they entered was the color of green sea glass and looked olderthan the first, with the edges more rounded and softer looking . The décor as they moved through the rooms was simple, mostly green or violet in color and everything looked soft and completely comfortable. As the walked through room after room Darius found he could not distinguish the purpose of one from the other. Until they reached the last few in the hall, which all contained dressers an what could be either a dresser, or for all darius knew some sort of clothes materializer. He could not assume that everything here would be the same. The style of each room was different though they all had similar layouts. Finally they entered the last room, which looked to be a study. Standning in this room were three people, varying completely in looks. All eyes were focused completely on darius, slym, and Eddee.
Slym spoke first, “darius, these wil be your teammates at the Academy. This is Abith, Renault, And Hilt.” He motioned in order to young woman and two men. The girl, Abith, apparently looked athletic. Her stance was take charge in style, arms crossed, head up, eyes challenging though her mouth held a smirk. She had a mane of dark hair and deep, clear olive skin. Renault was serious. Dark hair, thin lips, dark slitted eyes. He looked disapproving, and Darius suspected this was the look his face was shaped to hold nearly all the time. Hilt looked much happier, the only one who gave a welcoming smile. His hair was an unruly auburn, more red than brown. He had freckles and a slight build. He looked quick and fun-loving.
“Hello. What…. So, um, what do I need a team for?”
Renault sighed disgustedly, “Ugh, he doesn’t know anything. Can’t he go with thext class, he’s obviously not ready!” His eyes turned to Slym, almost begging with his eyes not to give their ‘team’ (whatever that meant) the lemon.
Hilt spoke up, with a thick accent that Darius couldn’t even begin to place. “Oh, leave ‘im alone. He’s gone through enough at this point, don’t ya think?”
“Now everyone calm down” Slym interceded, “ This is the team you were assigned by the Fates. Do you challenge this?”
“No, of course not,” Renault bumbled to cover his mistake,” I just-
Slym interupted, “No matter. To answer your question darius your team will help eachother learn in the various specialties that the Bohun Opus assigns you. This will give you a more rounded education. The academy would like everyone to at least have a basic knowledge of more than one specialty in case of emergency situations. Also, if you have a specialty or purpose which meshes well with evryone’s here you may be teamed together for missions or defensive stations.”
Darius nodded his assent to that, though while it made sense to him to have varied knowledge he was still kin of pissed that he had know idea what the various areas of knowledge were, or which one meshed well together. “If it’s not rude to ask…. What are your specialties?”
Eddee smiled and said, “Of course! You deserve to know if you are to be working with us! Mine is Healing. Adith’s is-
“I can tell him, Eddee. My specialty is mental, or Leadership.” She smiled, though it seemed tight, more like a warning growl, “And as such, if we are teamsed together I will be the leader of this group. Renault is a a double major of Adaptation and Fates. Hilt is our resident Equalization specialist. And you are quite the mystery. If you could try to focus on Protection or Deflection as you gather your ingredients and drink the Opus elixer I feel that would be the biggest asset to our team.”
There was a gasp from Eddee, “Addie! You know that he cannot choose his specialty! Ta ask him to attempt to affect the fates is only setting him up for disappointment, as well as yourself. To even suggest is insulting and offensive, you know better!” She had stepped protectively in front of darius. It offended Darius that she felt she needed to protect him, but he was an infant and he hadn’t known that anything Adith had said was out of place.
Both Slym and Hilt were snickering at the scolding a very indignant Adith was receiving. She was about to reciprocate, stepping closer to Eddee and completely towering over her in challenge when Slym spoke up, “Couldn’t have put in better myself, Eddee, and Adith back off, you do know better than that.”
“So I know you all have certain names for your specialties, but I don’y know what they mean. Just explain to me as if I was a day old.” Darius tried kidding around but everyone in the room saw that his eyes were quite serious. Slym gave the answer.
“Of course Darius, it’s easy to forget I apologize. Healing is of course healing others, whether from physical or mental injury. Leadership allows Adith to have a truer sense of the big picture and minor abilities to manipulate situations mentaly in her favor. Renaults main is IS Fate, which simply mean that things…. Just tend to always go his way. He also specializes in Adaptation which allows him to quickly acclimate and become immune to different types of injuries or situations. H can be harmed by something, but the more often it happens the harder it is to affect him. Having two majors at the Academy is very rare.Hilt is equalization and can affect mood levels through release of phermones and such. He will probably eventually become a Counselor. And you, dear Darius, are a mystery.” Slym smiled like a proud father, as if there was anything to be proud of in that statement. “Until you procur your ingredients and drink your Opus elixer, that is. Your teammates will help you with that, of course. It will be a bonding experience for you.”
“He didn’t help us with ours! Why should we have to-“
“Enough, Renault.” Adith spoke slowly and she did not yell, but Darius felt the power in her voice. She would not be disagreed with.
Slym began to move out of the room. “You will all have the day to relax. Tomorrow, we will most likely be able to move into the field to search for darius’ ingredients if eveything goes smoothly at the caretakers. Darius, get aquanted, sleep, study. You are welcome to any book in the house and Eddee will show you what is to be your room.” With that Slym slipped out of the room, leaving only an awkward silence.
The other trickled out of the room, some throwing Darius a smile, others… not so much. Eddee asked if he wanted to see his room now, but he assured her he would be fine here for now. His eyes rested eagerly on the piles of books on the bookshelves around him, each one with the promises of answers, at least for now. Even if every book held an answer though, Darius did not know if even that would answer all of his questions or not. He glanced around, and though many books had characters and languages completely unrecognizable, he was able to find one that looked interesting entitled “The Dream-State: Shaping the Man, Shaping the World”. He opened it up and began to read.
---------------------------------------------
The pre-natal dream state is a vision, or hallucination experienced by every functioning member of our society invitro. While it is different for everyone, it is also equally vital for all. Those who do not dream while in womb-state at the Center of New Growth are born with sever mental and physical deficits. These sufferers of what we have called Extreme Dream Deficit (EDD)usually cannot cope in our society and have to be sent to special care stations, or they do not survive a period longer than 3 months6. Even after that, those suffering from EDD have a signifanctly lower life span. The Center of New Growth has explored many options as far as detecting and preventing this disease, however not much thought is given to the dreams after birth. It has not been speculated as to their purpose. I have studied texts, and interviewed over 200 Diodions in an attempt to learn more about what is essentially the beginning of who we are as individuals, and as a society.
There are 3 types of dreams, seperated based on the Dream society that the dreams occur in. ( A Dream Society is a separate world or dimension within the dreams ofall our infants which has v its own set of customs, rules, cultures, and often even physical formation of its people in which a person experiences his ‘first-life’ or ‘dream-life’) The Earth Dream, Carion Dream, and the Grote Dream.
Earth dreams consist of a race of violent, and emotional creatures. The customs vary greatly across both location within the dream-space and as time progresses tales from the Earth-dreamers have become progressively more violent and busy as well as moving towards more and more complicated and advanced technological phenomenon. Appearences of humans are similar to ours(as with all Dream Societys), except they have no fate-driven purpuse, and therefore a matte skin-texture. Also, the eyes are simply physical features, with no connection to Bohun-center. The difference, though not obviously physical, seems to make a big impressionto Earth-dreamers on their first waking. Earth-dreamers usually specialize defensively or sometimes offensively such as with Mental Projection. They are slightly more likeley to have a double specialization.
Carion dreams are pleasure-driven and easy-going as far as the societies go.They are peaceful and laid-back, usually having some connection to many creative outlets in their dream experience. Appearences vary, though they tend to be shorter, and rounder in stature than us in all cases, therefore some Carion-dreamers are actually frightened by the height of their own legs at first if born into a significantly taller body(though this has only been a permanent affliction in a total of 8 documented cases). Carion-Dreamers are versatile in specialty, though there is a slight leaning towards the emotionally based one. There has never been a Carion specializing in anything that could be considered combative or offensive.
Grote societies would place very little stock in the emotions and passions that are common in Earth or Carion dreams. This is a society focused on knowledge of the most academic and scientific types. They are much more advanced technologically than humans, however there technology is not at all geared towards destruction or war-making, as is often (though not always) true of humans. They are a completely logical race and the trait they see as the most character degrading is optimism or, as they call it, naivete. They look the most different. Their skin has a greyish tinge about it and their faes are slim and hallowed out in the cheeks. They are like us in one way, that they have their center of Bohun attached in someway to their eyes. Since they are not as emotional, however, our eyes still can seem like a shock. The Grotes often suffer from emotion overload when born into our more passionate bodies. It is a difficult and overwhelming transition that often takes years. A plus side is that their logicality makes the transition a bit smoother as we try to introduce them to our world (in that they are not so much emotionally connected to their own world if there is so much evidence it was not a logical world.)
I will look deeper into each of these types of dreams, as well as the history and science we know so far about prenatal dreams in the following chapters. All of this will lead to the thesis speculation which led me to pen this book. The thought that, perhaps, these 3 heavily-developed and obviously developed societys do not only exist in the minds of our children. The intricacies of these 'dreams' suggest something much more amazing and radical; that these past lives are completely real."
--------------------------------------------------------
Darius allowed the book to flip itself closed as he leaned back in the green, surprisingly comfy armchair he had immediantly adopted as his own upon sitting in it. When he had been a… human… child he would have farted on it than ran to tell his 3 sisters, laughing at their disgust and triumphing in his easy, and even relieving victory. It doesn’t really seem like a big deal to not know whether or not his body was capable of flatulence, but it really bothered Darius for some reason. He shook his mind and set his mind back to the task at hand: the dream excert he had just read. What did all this mean, for him? Was his old world real? Did it even matter? Could this world, too, disappear at any moment? He sighed at the astronomical questions in front of him. He knew that he would need some answers, for himself even if the asnwers would mean nothing for his situation, but he decided to use the 'newborn-excuse' to put it aside for now. He had more pressing matters to deal with. Specifically, his bladder.
Love the story, keep writing!
Gender:
Points: 1140
Reviews: 25