Untitled - Chapter 1: To whom it might concern - part 1

Chapter 1 - no title so far, suggestions welcome

Feel free to nitpick and correct as much grammar as you like, more is better. Any opinions on writing style, too much or too little detail, clarity and whatever else you can think of are much appreciated as well.

My name does not exist in your language and has likely been forgotten, I have created a new one for myself, in your way of speaking. ‘Zare’ , the other, and ‘Rahail’, vengeance, to denote function where form cannot be accomplished. I have left this to ensure the truth won’t be lost even if I don’t leave the battlefield alive today. Of course I don’t expect you to carry on nearly as successful as I have been, however this story is too important to be lost.

I’m sure you must have heard of me, maybe you will even have wondered why I committed to my path, but don’t worry, you aren’t expected to. I have seen your inability to pierce the clouds of deception and can only hope this message reaches someone capable of thought as unlikely as it may seem.

Should I still live by the end of today rest assured I will find you to take this back.

The soldier stared at her overlay. This couldn’t be real, why would he just drop it? Why was it inside the tank? It certainly was the same style as his speech, she even read it with the same accent as his video messages, the confessions, and the threats. She copied the text and almost shot the chip out of its slot, catching it with one hand and staring at it. She used her rifle to destroy it. Her com link seemed to have been disrupted by breaking the door and she initiated the repair protocol, but here, alone and hooked up to the large tank there wasn’t much else to do…

She wondered just how many had already been lost, be it from the first attack, the impact or running out of air. She had been happy when they got Intel on the enemy’s position, but looking at it now it was just the beginning of the end. Their air filters had been sabotaged, the first wave of death but she had been lucky, she didn’t catch it then. When they had been hit she had been lucky and the ship’s systems coped as best as they could. She didn’t have to see the spore canisters, didn’t have to see it break through the filters to know. He had made sure they would all land and no victor would ever emerge today, no one but him or even nobody at all.

If it was real… he had to be here too. Of course. But what did he want to pass on so badly? The text file beckoned her to continue, there was nothing else for her to do and after a few seconds consideration she opened the copied version. It still displayed the same words as before, but this time she didn’t stop.

If not, this is my story.

Do not discard it, do not lose it, you will be the only one left alive to know.

I shall start at the beginning.

I am, I suppose, the luckiest out of thousands and the most unlucky of millions:

Born on the far reaches of your explored territory, I didn’t know much about humanoids growing up and if you do have a shred of intelligence you might already have figured I didn’t always look like I do now. You call it Calpharos, your language doesn’t allow me to spell its name. Even after all those years I can’t help but think of it as home, can’t help but remember my family. I grew up in a small town, although our towns are nothing like yours. You wouldn’t spot them inside the forests at first glance, multi layered and far above the ground all of the trees have been planted by our kind of course, usually to provide fruit although it rarely got around to ripening fully and we still had to go out to pick more. Our gardening ensured almost every tree would carry fruit or nuts to our liking of course. It was always a game of sorts, our powers allow us to master it, hunt the creatures of our home and bring them in as trophies.

At least most of us, I unfortunately wasn’t afforded such luxury. I have been called lucky and they would always seek me out for favours, just in case, however I had never been allowed to leave town without an escort. I couldn’t call forth fire or lightning, control fluids or shape the earth below. Which is not to say I was powerless, I simply wasn’t able to help myself. My gift was of healing, rare amongst my kind it set my position, dictated my career and ensured I would always be taken care of. Surrounded by helpful people just as long as I practiced it. As a child I’m not sure I understood quite what it meant, to be left out and protected, kept inside as to ensure my help would always be available. Unfortunately my opinion concerning the matter wasn’t deemed important. Of course I did have friends back then and this is maybe where I should start. The forests had been roamed by strange things falling from the sky, there were rumours of missing people from a few other towns, but we defended ourselves. We killed the beings and we formed groups to protect our own, none of which was at all helpful to me.

I was talking to a friend and trying to hide from another group of obviously bored and chatty people, I was sure none of them were seriously injured and I certainly didn’t feel like putting up with their inane prattle for another few hours. He would have had to leave soon, but I had my own plans. Getting out was a bit more difficult than I’d thought, but I finally managed to come up with an excuse to leave. The darkened hollows might be safe and warm with their floor of filaments and matted fur, but they didn’t leave much room for hiding and this one didn’t contain enough apparatus to pretend to be busy. I squeezed past yet another visitor and escaped up the tree, my claws leaving yet another near invisible trail in the thick bark. It had been torn up many times, but there was still enough traction for me to move quickly. I would say I did, but I would be lying. I was certainly happy to get away, but rushing up the trees tends to draw attention; I’m sure there would have been someone trying to be helpful and I’d have been stuck again. It’s amusing really how much I despised them back then.

I made it up a level to the reinforced tracks with no problem, I had practice trying to act inconspicuous. Unfortunately everyone else knew I liked to go out and as such I was mostly relying on people being too distracted and moving too quickly usually made them look up. It was apparently a busy day, I hadn’t had much work apart from a bit of fall damage, but my work only picked up once the hunters and farmers got back. Or if there was some sort of new infection going around, either way I figured I still had hours to spare. I liked the peace of the outer terraces and while I might prefer to go out further, I didn’t have enough time that day. I can still feel the bark under my feet, pressing myself into crevices to avoid one group, rushing even further up to avoid another as soon as I was close to the edge of town.

I was moving more slowly, trying to figure out how to get past the guards without being questioned, I could hear them talking about more strange beings further out, but I didn’t pay too much attention. I was too busy watching for movements or any sort of distraction to be able to slide past, preferably without having to leave my current branch and fling myself into the air. It was quite thick, sturdy and covered in tracks, vines and reinforcements to keep us from tearing it to shreds. Anywhere else I might have noticed the subtle patterns or tried to influence the thick strands of plant matter, but I spotted my opportunity. I had to keep myself from charging forward every time, but dragging cubs back home wasn’t nearly distracting enough to miss me if I were to try and run out even if the other guard was busy chatting away.

One might expect the exit to be on a trunk, but it was a few meters out, a wooden platform whose floor had been rebuilt too many times to count and was probably over a hundred meters off the ground. It was quite plain, with a clear path through the centre and two higher elevated platforms with walls at the front, just in case. There was no gate though, it was pointless considering that anyone could technically glide in or out, if they knew what they were doing. It was just rather conspicuous. Our trees might be some of the tallest there are, with bark in shades of grey, white and black regardless of species and green leaves larger than some of our bodies. The vines might have had the same greyish stems, but their leaf colours varied wildly, so all in all you could say we blended in quite well. My plain white fur was about as obvious as it got, most of us had more sensible patterns, like my sister.

She had apparently been hiding behind the platforms, of course she would know. My sister as I remember her was mesmerising. She had long, incredibly dense fur just like all of us, unlike mine however hers wasn’t plain. Her whole body was covered in swirling stripes, impossible to tell whether it was white on black or black on white. Her large ears were pointed at me, her vividly violet eyes apparently not the least bit surprised to see me. She didn’t say anything, instead just tilting her head narrowing her eyes in that special way to indicate she was happy to see me, before walking ahead and out of town. She didn’t have to make sure I would follow, there was nowhere better to go for me even if I hadn’t planned on her tagging along. Her two shards were moving fluidly above her back, ready to expand and a low for a short flight. They were glowing faintly even now, the same colour as her eyes, but more vibrant, lighter and darker shades always moving and emitting an uneven glow, just like the large swirling eye of power on between her shoulders. You call them Chireste, but the term does it even less justice than the rest of your pitiful sounds. This part of ours is what sets us apart, the source of our power and just as much the seat of our thoughts as our head is. It is the centre of our abilities and the most intimate part of our bodies, if we don’t pay attention to it, it will even mirror our emotions openly together with the shards it creates. Hers was round, it of course still had the same approximate teardrop shape, but the point funning into the fur of her lower back was less pointed, the trail shorter.

Her tail was waving from side to side, its uneven stripes almost blending in with the branch at times, but we didn’t speak until we were out of the guards’ earshot. I was following a little faster than I like to admit, ears pointed backward as if hearing them would in any way keep them from catching up to me and finding me yet another escort.

When she took off running I think I hesitated, I must have been lost in thought although I can’t remember what might have been so important. When I realised she was bounding away from me I already knew I couldn’t catch up, she had flung herself into the air while I was still staring. I finally got my legs to move, but I knew she would have to wait for me. I was picking up speed, willing my shards to fuse and form a wide, rounded triangle above my back. My feet were still gripping the branch securely even as I accelerated. Naturally I had no intention for it to stay that way, the path was growing thinner, I raced up one branch going off to the left, then threw myself forward.

It was always an odd feeling, the pull between my shoulders, adjusting the angle to pick up even more speed, using my tail to adjust my path towards her violet shards. A few seconds of complete freedom, then I changed the angle again to slow down and my claws scratched over the surface of the branch she was sitting on. I still remember nearly falling off the other side, but my claws held. I had all eight of my thumbs and all twelve fingers dug into the bark. Of course I tried to adjust myself and assume a more dignified position as soon as possible, but she must have seen it anyway.

She always thought it was funny when I got lost in my own thoughts and nearly crashed or fell. Granted for me the consequences were quite a bit less dire, I could just heal myself and go on with my day, everyone else had to have a lecture and then sent to me.

She voiced her bemusement, musical but most certainly snide. “You keep complaining about getting an escort, but you still fall off half the time you try to land.” She made more bemused sounds while I brushed my fur back and shrugged. “I’d say it’s not bad, I don’t even have to pay attention and I still manage to land without a scratch. You’re just jealous because you can’t afford to crash.” She laughed, or rather she voiced the closest equivalent we have to it before shooting back: “Oh I can deal with the pain, it’s just your face every time I come in. Half the cubs think you’ve cursed them. Only you could be so distractible to need to figure out how to fly blind.” I must have been laughing as well by then. “Weren’t you complaining I was scaring them before? I put in all of that effort to be friendly…” She shot me another glance, but she must have known I wasn’t serious. I had indeed be very friendly as of late, but apparently pure delight at seeing an injured cub wasn’t what she had intended.

She laughed again and sighed. “I’d ask whether you don’t have anything better to do, but I have to admit it’s way too amusing to tell them otherwise and they are doing much better. So what are you running from this time?” I can’t quite remember the rest of the conversation. I must have told her, I do recall complaining about the constant company. It was tradition to go to the healers for all sorts of things and we were supposed to know everything about everyone else. I wonder what might have happened if I had been older or how things might have played out if nothing had happened that day.

Finally she asked: “So where are we off to?” She always asked the same question, despite her knowing the terrain better than I did. I suppose it was because it was usually me who wanted to leave and she kept up my pretence of wanting to go somewhere other than simply out. I think she thought it was funny. Naturally it didn’t mean we would go where I suggested, she just as often had a better idea and since I usually didn’t care we would go there. I was all too happy to let her lead as she spent most of her days outside the town by now and had plenty of time to come across something interesting.

It took me a moment to think of something, I hadn’t been to the old grove for a long time. It was quite a walk away from the current town, strange and deserted it was supposed to be one of the first places our people had settled, much more crudely and closer to the ground. I temporarily forgot about my job, I think she might have known, but she didn’t seem too concerned, after all there was one more healer in town. She was older and at the time certainly better than me, of course now her skills would be nothing against what I was forced to develop. Either way I certainly wasn’t going to say anything, the prospect of going back to that place and spending a few hours there was far too tempting. My sister didn’t appear to have any better ideas, she tilted her head and one ear of course, however she started to move before singing again.

My answer seemed to satisfy her, I hadn’t been there for a while and had little opportunity to go. Her claws were silently digging into the bark with each step in front of me. She was soon bounding ahead. I could barely keep up with her, my lungs starting to strain soon enough while she seemed as if she could go on running and leaping for hours. Of course she could, she was a huntress after all while I had much less reason or opportunity for exercise. I can’t deny it felt good nonetheless, gliding through the forest. I did much more gliding than her, but somehow she was still faster. She was trained to keep her powers available, as for me distractible as I might have been I enjoyed shaping my shards, trying to get a better gliding surface not to mention just hanging from them in mid-air.

We passed a few fruit I think, I know we must have eaten something on our way there, but I can’t recall just what it might have been. We need a lot more energy while we can still think, we shaped the forests to provide fruit all year around and nurture the creatures we ate for the most part. Of course there were still other predators around apart from ourselves, the main reason why I was supposed to stay in. Never mind their habits or scarcity around the town, I still think the main reason was tradition.

We must have been close to the old grove when it happened. I was gliding, trying to extend my shards further, when I heard it. It was a sound unlike any I had heard before, loud and sharp, but unlike any of our powers, strangely blunt and yet not at all like a tree falling. Now of course I could tell you it was the sonic boom of a small object. I froze and dropped my concentration, which was probably my luck. She fell with me. I tumbled down, hitting leaves and branches. My ears ringing, looking around. I couldn’t shape my shards. All air was being knocked from my fracturing ribs.