0.1.3

Between two large hills, a flat valley of deep green cradles the seaside village of the Y. The enclosing hills, too steep to climb in most areas, made it relatively easy to defend themselves from unwanted visitors. It was a pocket of safety in an unpredictable world. That, and of course Eros’ military grade perimeter detection system which had so far prevented the town from countless attacks and raids. At the east end of the Y, the valley floor starts narrowly, where a guard gate sits to inspect those that would enter either from the surrounding villages or from those that choose to live far from the hustle of the city. The wall surrounding the Y is as much a part of the landscape as are the mountains. It sits at 4 times a man’s height, with sentry walkways spanning its width. It is one of those passages where twenty men could hold off two hundred, and it has been tested more than once. The Sikkas have long known about the Y, and for the most part had taken a laissez faire policy towards them and the many other smaller towns too far away to be their primary concern. This made the appearance of the Trackers all the more concerning. The Y was able to defend itself from the forces around them, but a direct attack on them by the full Sikka force would be devastating.

The Y wasn’t a big city compared to the Sikkas’ Imperial City, but it was precious in its biodiversity and raw beauty. From up high, the valley and the mountains looked like they were coated with green velvet, but up close, the forest unfolded itself into twisting trees and tropical terrain. As the flat valley floor approaches the sea, it opens up, slowly at first, then into a wide expanse of fine grain sand. The mountains go straight to the sea and stop abruptly, with a waterfall careening from the south out into the water.

On approach, the guard gate to the edifice began opening. Nobody could mistake Eros and his electric cart filled with Hikka, it had been done every year for the past eighteen years, ever since Eros first arrived in the Y. Although there was evidence of a time when these technologies were much more common, it was rare to have such complexities built out of scrap parts actually work consistently, and Eros was the best of the best.

Kaiya and Eros stopped in front of the guards as they inspected them and their wares. The tall officer leaned over to his partner and whispered something. Eros paid them no attention, he turned and grabbed a bottle from one of the crates.

“Officer, “ Eros said nodding, handing the officer a bottle of Hikka.

“Thank you, Eros, it was getting cold out here,” the officer said while taking the bottle and already handling the cap.

The border officer waved to his comrades at the gate to let them through.

“Light be with you both, enjoy the ceremony, “ the officer said, already turning to pour a few drinks from cups they had ready.

Kaiya’s unease had begun to dissipate as soon as they stepped into the city. There was safety here, with the guards always watching and those unseen weapons in the mountains doing the same. Not that she was afraid per se, but something unsettling was beginning, though she did not yet know what.

The city was buzzing with merchants, children playing, armed guards, and lovers out on the streets. The food stands exploded with smoke as fresh meats and exotic, oblong vegetables roasted over open flames or on large flat disks above the flame. The kind of engenuity only the toothless impoverished are capable of. Foreign merchants, who traveled here by tall ships, were belting the fineness of their wares, adorning them with verbal laurels. Pockets of music floated up from the streets, as traveling bands played and old couples danced. People came from all over to experience the festival and ceremony. They swarmed from tiny shit towns up and down the coast for the profit and diversion. A good ceremony netted them enough to make it through the winter. It was the biggest event for anyone within the range of several weeks travelling by unmodded foot.

The customary dress of the festival was brightly colored linens. Some wore demure versions, conservative tunics died at most two or three colors. Others took the opportunity as a creative one and dyed their linens in a dizzying array of colors. Some even took the bioluminescent plants from the sea and carefully stitched them into patterns, marking their heritage. Each native of the Y painted their face, putting thin lines under one eye. Some marked the bridge of their nose. Others yet marked their forehead and neck. Kaiya chose to wear something her father had given her for these occasions. It wasn’t as brightly colored as the others, it blended better into the scene. From one angle you could pick out it’s unique light-bending pattern from a distance, at another angle it was impossible to see her. It was her mother’s dress from Imperial City where they used to live. Kaiya was born there though she doesn’t remember anything, too young even to remember her mother’s face in earnest. The photos she saw of her looked foreign even to herself. There was a lot about that time she didn’t know.

They walked down the main street to the council’s office in the center of the largest square in town. Each building and complex of apartments was unique. Each was brightly colored and heavily accented by hand painted murals, symbols and structured lines to indicate who the home belonged to. Even without the ceremony, the buildings donned these colors, it was a cultural thing. A bright spot in the dark and savage world they lived in. Some light to dispel the darkness. The blood orange brick each was constructed with stuck out in some areas where additions were under construction. Some were yellow, others were a bright forest green, and even more were a mix of several pastels, no two were the same. The older inhabitants were out on their yards and porches, with decorated railings and candle’s ready to be lit. Wires strung between units and buildings dangled overhead across the street. Rainbow streamers swung in the breeze above the cobblestone street.

Wellington walked out of the building, his hands held outstretched as the guards began unloading the dozens of cases that Eros brought.

“Eros, another year gone past, can you believe it?” Wellington hugged Eros and then grabbed him by the shoulder, which was at a higher angle than he was used to. Eros was a head taller than most in the town. The people here hugged heart to heart, which for outsiders, sometimes resulted in bumping heads. The tell of a local was going in for a hug with your head to the right.

“Was there ever a time they went slower?”

“Please come inside, the council has something we’d like to get your opinion on.”

They walked through the cobblestone courtyard and up the wooden steps into a brightly colored square building. Each section was painted a different pastel. Soft green, repressed orange, warm yellow. Each section was three stories with ornate balconies and thick wooden doors outlined with equally ornate white metal bars. Colonial, quaint, open. The doors gave way to an airy interior and thick wood beams were exposed out of the hand troved interior.

The wood floors creaked from age while the staff bustled about in preparation for the ceremony. They walked up the stairs, where ancient paintings lined the staircase and hallway. Paintings of famous scenes in history of the victories over the Wraith and the Sikkas. Men with technology, long metal spears with dozens of buttons and controls on them, black bows with thick handles to accommodate controls and other complementary weapons. The LED lights stuck in an energetic swipe as they attacked. One soldier stabbing a Wraith as it jumps overhead, as if he were holding it up himself. Another with a Sikka’s helmet in his hand, cutting the throat as it’s blood sprayed on a commander who didn’t bother to glance, but stood proud amongst his soldiers, looking for his next victim. It was this world, but a time long passed. A time after the Awakening. A time nobody alive remembered. Was it meant to symbolize their loss, their loss of knowledge? Or was it a brutal topography of their baser instincts? Nobody knew if the events in the painting ever happened. The artist claimed it to be real, having documented the battle that day. The artist himself was a captain. Had this all happened before? Looking closer, the LED lights formed a pattern. Two triangles. It was subtle, but present if you knew what to look for.

They walked along crowded corridors until they found Wellington’s study, a private enclave on the top floor overlooking the ocean on one end, and a view of the city from the other. The room was crowded with other members of the high council, all with varying amounts of worry on their faces. Some of their worry was fresh, but much was burned into their skin as age and time are wont to do. They had all seen things they wish they had not. They had all done things they wish they hadn’t had to do. They formed a loose crescent around a glass case.

“Would you mind waiting outside for us?” Wellington asked, switching looks between Eros and Kaiya.

Eros nodded and a sullenness seemed to have overtaken him. These talks and what often followed them had worn on him over the years. This man had been through much. Lost much. And thought naively coming here would be the end of loss. He rested his hand on Kaiya’s head and nodded. He’d tell her later. There was too much she didn’t know already, and he’d been given enough time to tell her. There could only be so many secrets between a father and a daughter. The important ones eventually break open, and it’s not a gentle thing.

She stole a peek before the doors shut and plastered an ear to the door, looking down the hallway to make sure she wasn’t being watched.

“They kicked you out too?” Arryn said, approaching from behind her. She had not heard him sneak up. This pissed her off for more than one reason.

I have to be more aware, she thought, chastising herself for not paying attention. Eros would have known someone was walking up to him even if he was distracted.

“I only caught a glimpse of it,” Kaiya said, eyeing him quickly and then returning her ear back to the door.

“It’s some kind of rock, I don’t see why it’s such a big deal.”

“They seem to think it’s significant enough to gather everyone.”

“I’ve seen that same look on their faces when the accountant said they misplaced a shipment of potatoes,” he laughed, she didn’t.

“People eat potatoes.” He had never known what it meant to need, or to be hungry. Neither had she, but she liked to think she was at least woke to the idea.

“Want a cup of Hikka? I know where they keep it.”

“You know we make the stuff, right?” She joked and followed him downstairs.

The room was stuffy with everyone crowded around the glass case. Heron, the council’s lead, stepped forward with her striking grey hair feathering down to the middle of her back.

“We found it this morning, it came up in a fishing net not too far off shore,” she said, the braids in her hair bobbing as she stepped around the object to see if it’s angled revealed new insights.

“We’ve been discussing this for hours, there is no action to take, we don’t have enough information,” one of the councilmen chimed in.

“Why do you think this is important at all?” Eros said.

“The man who found it and brought it on shore is with a healer. He touched it with his bare hands and seconds later he turned a deathly pale and has been unconscious ever since. We have not told anyone outside the council what has happened, because, yes, we do not have enough information yet, but it does seem to be dangerous,” Wellington was speaking primarily to Eros, filling him in on what he’d missed.

Eros had traveled far and wide in his youth and the council sometimes asked for his advisory, though most often he was of no use at all. Wellington had a suspicion that this time was different.

“I’ve seen this symbol before,” Eros hesitated to say more, “it’s from the Wrannamen. I don’t know what it’s for, but I have seen it followed by Sikka. They collect items like these, and don’t mind what gets broken along the way.”

“Collect is a kind word, Eros,” a councilman chimed.

“This far South?” Heron said doubtfully, “What reason would they have to come down to the Y, the world is a big place Eros, I know you’ve seen a bit of it, but I’d rather not put the city on alert tonight if we don’t have to.”

Another council member stepped into the room from the hallway, his nose in a book he had just retrieved.

“I have seen this symbol before in a book, I am still looking for where I had seen it, it may have been at the Imperial library, though, I will need to send for assistance there. It is an ancient symbol, a powerful one, that I do remember,” the old man seemed more excited by the object’s history than its present consequences. Sharing knowledge was a rare and unofficial collaboration between the Sikkas and the people of the Y. It was not officially sanctioned, of course, but functionally allowed.

“If Eros has nothing to add here, then that summarizes the council’s course of action. We will eagerly await your colleague's response.”

Arryn and Kaiya walked down the stairs and crossed the courtyard. Circling around back they found the stairways down to the cellar. The air was thick and wet as they descended the staircase like walking into cool water. The cellar was bustling with activity as gruff men loaded barrels of wine to be brought down to the shore for the ceremony. Arryn peeked around the corner looking to see if the way was clear of workers who might protest their presence down here, though as the son of the mayor, he did tend to get some leeway. They darted across the corridor unnoticed, veering left and then right through the mazed celler. After a few more twists they began hearing faint but familiar voices, and laughter.

Their friends greeted them as they came in. Brig, the town ham, was standing on a barrel imitating some creature, trying to make Petr, Ayala, and a few of their other classmates laugh. It was working. Shim came over and gave Kaiya a hug and a cup of Hikka. Arryn found his way to the Hikka and poured two cups into the mugs borrowed from the kitchen. He turned to give one to Kaiya, who already had a cup in her hand. Ayala watched the scene passively.

“Cheers,” Arryn said as he awkwardly tried to hand her a second cup.

“One more, please, ” Ayala said while never taking her eyes from Kaiya. Arryn turned and handed his girlfriend the now extra glass he had poured.

Ayala Moxu was not as tall as Kaiya, but she had a presence about her that made her seem tall. She had jet black hair and deep, dark blue eyes. Although she was a year older than Kaiya, her ears stuck out of her hair slightly, that gave her an air of youth. Arryn and Ayala had been together for a couple of months officially, whatever that meant.

Living in the hills sucks, she thought.

“I heard there was a special rock someone found, Arryn, can we go see it?” She knew how to ask a question.

“I don’t think they’ll let us in like that.” Arryn reasoned.

She grabbed him by the hand and said, “They just left”.

“How do you know that?”

“I put a snitch in the hallway,” she shrugged.

“Where the hell did you get a snitch?” She looked at her wrist and pressed a button showing a glitching image of several red dots moving out of what looked like the room they had been ushered out of earlier. One of the red dots stayed longer than the others.

My father, Kaiya thought, he knows something and didn’t share it with the council.

“I found one, and fixed it up, it’s not that fancy but it does the job”.

“Petr, did you do this?” Arryn didn’t meet his eyes.

“I… supervised,'' Petr said with a slight smile, adjusting his glasses.

Ayala didn’t leave much room for rebuttal. She pulled up a small map on her wrist screen and showed a low res model of the room.

“Two windows, and a skylight, break the skylight, swing in with ropes,” She mused, “or through the back window, it faces an alley, you know, we could probably get in that way easiest.”

“Except it’s 15 feet off the ground,” Brig objected.

“Kaiya’s boots could get her up there, she could drop a rope,” Ayala eyed Kaiya and gave her an expectant nod.

“Or Shim’s boots, they both have a pair,” Ayala added. Kaiya had made an extra pair of her special combat boots and given them to Shim as a gift. They both wore them constantly, it was high tech meets high fashion.

“I’ll just get the key and we’ll walk in the front door,” Arryn resigned, “We’ll just be quiet,” everyone looked to Brig.

“Screw you guys, I can sneak just as well as any of you,” Brig defended.

In packs of two’s and three’s they walked out of the cellar pausing at noises, and peeking corners. They made it back up to the main level where being sighted wouldn’t raise suspicion. Nobody gave them a second look. They were talking together, playing low key, even Brig kept his volume down to a normal level, though that boy being silent would have been a dead giveaway that something was going on. Arryn went first. He needed to unlock the door for the rest of them, and he knew where the keys were kept. As he had gotten older, his father had started to give him more and more trust and responsibility, hoping one day his son would take over his position, or rather run for it since it was elected. Arryn hadn’t given it much thought. He knew he wanted to travel before settling down but all of that seemed distant. He had lived in the Y his whole life and knew that there was a lot more to this world than his dad ever let on. But as he learned the history of the world in school he started keeping a list of places he would have to visit one day. The dangerous Arc forest and it’s scrap market. Imperial City, the oldest and largest city on this side of the world. Fallen giants forest where thousands lay dead and massive robotic exoskeletons lay rusted. The Dunes, where the Hybrids roamed in bands like gypsies. He drifted in his mind as he found his way to the drawer where his father kept the keys to his office.

One by one they peeled off as if to go home, and found their way up the stairs into the previously bustling room that Arryn had just unlocked for them. None of them had said a word after they walked in. By the time Kaiya got there, they were all surrounding the glass case, unmoving. She couldn’t quite see it through her friends standing in the way so she walked around slowly to the other side of the case and finally got a straight view.

“It’s kind of beautiful,” Kaiya slowly crept towards it.

“Yeah, it is, look at those markings, “ Ayala traced them in the air with her fingers.

“It’s kind of uninspired, no?” Brig, always trying to get a reaction.

“It doesn’t look that dangerous,” Ayala said disappointedly.

Arryn was looking over some meeting notes on the desk, careful not to disturb anything. Ayala glided over to him, putting her head on his shoulder looking over the papers too. Soon, each of them lost interest and walked into the adjoining room to sit on the plush couches and chairs. Each of them, except Arryn and Petr who were still looking over the open book and the notes the councilman had made. They then found the automated transcript of the meeting minutes printed out as was their custom.

“Eros knows what this is,” Petr stated calmly, looking at Arryn who nodded in agreement after looking through the transcript.

“Wonder why he didn’t say,” Arryn said suspiciously

“It’s probably some shit news, that’s why,” Peter assumed.

Kaiya was mesmerized by the black stone. Out of the entire crew she was the only one who couldn’t take her eyes off of it. There seemed to be something familiar in it.

Was it similar to her coat she wore for the leaving of the light ceremony? she thought, No that isn’t quite it.

She took another step closer, unconscious of the fact that she was nearly on top of it now. With each step she took, she felt like she could just barely make out an image or a word, something was there to see.

A faint voice seemed to say her name. It sounded calming. It sounded like it knew her, and she knew the voice. She leaned in.

“Kaiya,” her name floated around the room, this time louder than the last. From the other room, Shim thought she heard something strange and got up off the couch to check in on Kaiya.

Petr pointed to a loose section of notes on the desk. It detailed the injuries of the man who had touched it with his bare hands. Arryn and Petr looked at each other, then focused on the object just as Kaiya raised her hand.

She raised her hand unconsciously and rested it on top of the stone. The way she rested it wasn’t as if she just went to touch it, she angled her palm, as if aligning it. In her mind, the choice was one she had made, calmly, correctly. It felt like the most natural thing in the world to be touching it. To want to touch it. Like it was a part of her she had forgotten about.

Bright white light began emanating from the object. Emanating right around Kaiya’s hand. Shim bolted towards Kaiya to rip her hand off the object, but it was too late.

The green light exploded out of the black stone and flooded the room. It lit up the courtyard like a firework. Kaiya hardly heard herself scream before she fell flat on her back, passed out. The stone gently pulsed emerald after the burst and then slowly regained it’s obsidian composure. Footsteps seemed to be coming at her from all directions as she lay on the floor. Either they were far away, or she was far away. It was both, she both knew that she was in Wellington’s study, and knew that she was also somewhere else. The voice that whispered to her was stronger now, though the words were indistinguishable. Images washed over her, a room of some kind. It looked like a lab, a cleaner version of Eros’ lab with equipment she didn’t recognize. Then it was gone. Unmoving, her outstretched hand lay palm upward and the ancient symbol embedded in the stone had imprinted itself there. Two equilateral, overlapping triangles settling gently into her skin. The forbidden sign of the Wrannamen.