Far Beyond
A lone planet circled around its star, silent in space it followed its course. The calm of its rotation was only a front though, down on the surface chaos reigned. The surface of the planet is unstable, large deposits of charged crystals defy the gravity of the planet, lifting large chunks of it into the sky, while some rose to safe heights before stabilizing, others sailed far beyond, falling apart the dirt and stones came raining back down to the surface, destroying anything it landed upon. It did not matter if it was a hundred-foot tree, or a boulder, they were crushed under the immense weight of that which fell. Beneath the chunks of land were great craters which over the years filled with water and became lakes. The creator of the planet, Anodyne the mad god of chaos, spent their time in the pursuit of creating life, they started by making plants and single celled creations, they found themselves moving up the evolutionary ladder at a rapid pace, but when it came to creating a creature with sentience similar to a human, they achieved nothing. The already scarred surface of the planet was struck repeatedly as the deity let out their frustration. They created deep crevices, and reduced most of the mountains on the planet to a sliver of their original height. Their screams could be heard across every planet in his universe, vibrating through space and resonating on every planet. Anodyne continued to feel the crushing pressures of loneliness, they thought that by now they would be able to create life they could interact with, something that they could talk to as to stave off some of their crippling isolation. They cried and laughed at the same time, their hands shook with rage, as they giggled to themself. “All alone, finally, everything we wanted as a mortal. To explore a universe, and here we lay in the dirt, weeping, laughing, incapable of dying.” Anodyne slammed their head into the ground, over and over again, screaming louder with each collision, then they stopped just shy of the ground. “I don’t need to create life, I just need to find developed life, I am an idiot. This universe must be covered in developed planets.” Anodyne seemingly vanished as they started to fly around their universe in search of sentient life. They darted between planets like a wayward pinball in the largest machine ever built. It reached a point when they started to give up on everything, they slowed down, and soon they were nothing more than adrift, staring blankly with their mouth slightly ajar. Their eye twitched as a small portion of drool fell from them, freezing in the cold of space as it drifted away, eventually finding itself falling to a nearby planet, evaporating upon entry it released a new biome of bacteria, and a new branch of life to develop. Meanwhile Anodyne was approached by another, there was a flash of light and a soft click that appeared behind them, they turned to see a shining individual, their ambient light fading slowly they stood before Anodyne upon a small chunk of earth with lush grass and flowers they sprouted instantly. Anodyne squinted, turning their head to one side, then slowly back to the other. “Are you real, or just one of my usual hallucinations?” Anodyne asked, as he covered each of his own eyes one at a time. The other deities mouth opened, but instead of words, came the sounds of crashing waves, cracking rocks, and morning bird calls. Anodyne stared blankly, but before he could say anything the other deity spoke again. “Strange, do you use language?” “What else would I use?” The other deity looked around them, squinting periodically before turning back to Anodyne. “With a universe this old, I assumed you would know other forms of communication.” “What, is the sound of nature supposed to be faster than just talking?” The other deity pinched dust that was floating past, look intently. “This is rare,” the deity brought their finger closer to their eye. “Oh, this is very rare, this place might be a good spot for mining.” “What are you on about?” Anodyne looked at the small pile of dust “It is dust how is that rare? It is everywhere.” The other seemed to stop momentarily before grinning. They then started to walk forward, and the small island beneath their feet grew to accommodate the new deities’ movements. They walked straight past Anodyne, Anodyne turned to watch him, but another light caught their attention, they turned back to see two other deities wander in. They both looked to one another and the sounds of nature came out, the first deity to intrude replied in kind. “Who the hell are you, and what are you doing in my universe?” Anodyne yelled. The other three looked to one another with furrowed brows. “Listen kid,” the first deity said, laying a hand on Anodyne. “This place has some rare materials, we are going to take it, then we will leave. We will only be here like a million factorial years, then we will leave.” Anodyne raised his hands and proceeded to count on his fingers for a moment before looking back to the newcomers with the same hatred in his eyes that he used to stare at the frozen being. “You will leave now, or I will kill you.” The three newcomers laughed at Anodyne before turning away and continuing their plan. Anodyne felt the rage boiling inside of him, he turned and struck the closest one, just to have his fist stopped by some kind of invisible force. “Okay, listen here child. We find you amusing, but if you try and get in our way, we will kill you, and we will continue what we were going to do anyway. So, know when you have no chance of fighting, and back off.” Anodyne waited for them to finish before he slammed his fist at the other deity a second time. “This is my domain, you will leave.” Anodyne proclaimed as he continued to stare. “Stupid, fucking child gods.” The invading deity said as he turned to Anodyne. He let a sigh out just before he struck Anodyne, sending him flying back to a nearby planet, like a stray asteroid landing upon a planet. Anodyne coughed blood, and struggled to breath through his injuries, his vision started to wobble, and then he fell still. The other deities did as they pleased, bringing strange machines into the universe they begun bagging the dust that was circling around the universe. Anodyne’s blood flowed out onto the planet, around his unconscious body was a small any colony that tasted his blood, returning it to their nest they began improving themselves in ways they were not prepared for. The followed the stream of blood, and moved their colony into Anodynes body, crawling in every orifice they could find they built their colony in his body. The more blood they drank, the stronger they became, until they were able to finally chew through Anodyne’s internals, carving their own caverns, not having to rely on his natural cavities. They dug deeper, ate more, grew in strength, and number, but it did not matter how far they dug, his body never seemed to end, even when they had burrowed further than Anodyne’s slim frame should have been able to hold. Anodyne awoke suddenly after only a few months with an intense ringing in his ears. His body had healed, and he stood to his feet, nearly falling as he went. “Odd, why is my body off balance?” He asked himself. Rolling his eyes backwards he looked inside, to see the sprawling nest of ants that now lived in him. “Pests. If it wasn’t my body you were in I would crush your home suffocating you, until, you, died…” Anodyne began to trail off, then looked to the sky. “I know what I have to do.” Anodyne started to amass every piece of matter he could lay his hands on, pushing it all together they soon collapsed under the immense pressure, creating a black hole in their place. He could feel the pull of his creation, but could still move freely around it, he knew he would have to do better. So he made another one, and another, until they started to chain react, sucking each other in, until there was one that ate everything that came near. Meanwhile the invaders were working on collecting all the dust from space still, but they stopped when they noticed that everything around them seemed to be drifting in one direction, then stop again. “That, was, weird. It was almost like there was an intense pull then it balanced.” They looked to one another before getting back to work, they made no attempt to look for the disturbance, and soon had forgotten that it had even happened. But after a while it happened again, pulling in another direction for a short moment before stopping. Then again in another direction. “Okay what is happening?” One said frustrated. “That is simple, I am going to kill you all.” Anodyne said, appearing in-between the three other deities. “What are you on about?” “I am bringing death to your door, this is your last warning, leave or suffer.” “Kid, you don’t know what you are talking about, you have never even left this universe, how do you expect to stop us? We have visited hundreds of other deities’ universes; you can’t hope to defeat us.” “I won’t defeat you; I even intend on dying with you.” The other three looked to one another, before noticing what was happening. Around them the universe was being consumed by a collection of black holes that were slowly encroaching on them. “Damn, take what we got and move out.” With that, all the strange machines disappeared, and two of the three deities reached out, grabbing door handles that were not there but a moment before, and walking through the appearing doors, for them to just vanish once they closed. “Smart move, but you can’t jump universes, good luck getting out of this. Out there in the Eterna-verse, they call getting caught in a black hole that is stronger than you as god hell.” The last deity went to leave, reaching for a door handle that started to appear, but then faded, and Anodyne began to laugh. “Oh thank the stars, I thought I was going to die alone, at least you can join me.” The intruding deity began to panic as he started grasping for the handle, trying again and again. “What have you done?” He screamed as he looked at Anodyne. “I made black holes to destroy all your precious dust, turns out that somehow disrupts your little door thing which is a nice bonus. I actually had forgot you could jump universes, so I nearly completely fucked up. But hey, one out of three aint too bad for a kid.” The surrounding black holes all spiralled around another, encroaching on the two remaining deities, they could feel their bodies being dragged by the immense force of a nearly universe sized black hole. While the intruding deity screamed in horror, and tried to summon his door he could not help but see Anodyne allowing the pull of the black holes drag him around as he laughed. “You have no idea what fresh hell awaits us, you won’t be laughing then!” “I spent my first several billion, trillion, whatever years of existence suffocating in space, being burnt to dust, and dissolving in acids, I then had part of another being’s mind forced into mine. I don’t see things getting worse. I have done hard yards; this is just the next hurdle. Welcome to the life of the suffering friend. Let’s visit hell together.” Anodyne reached out, grabbing hold of the other deity, laughs and screams twisted, and wound around one another, spiralling into the immense mass of …
Mortality And Infinity
The Eterna-verse is a concept that mortals struggle to comprehend, but with such a large concept it is no surprise. Ask a mortal to imagine a meter and not only can they most likely imagine it, but they could even demonstrate it. If you ask for them to show you ten, their variance becomes a little wider, and this is true for every meter above the first. If you mention it in kilometres, people may be able to have a concept for how far is needed, especially those who travel often, but if you ask them to imagine the distance between their planet, and the nearest moon, the ability to comprehend falls away. The distance between their planet, and the sun, their solar system and the next, their galaxy and the next, their universe and the next. None of the numbers that could be tied to distances matters, they may as well be infinity, because if a mortal was to attempt to understand, or to travel the distance to experience it, they would die before they accomplished it. The Eterna-verse is the representation of infinity for location, it represents the ever-expanding matter, and anti-matter that makes up the Eterna-verse. For the mortals I ask them to imagine that their universe is the centre of the Eterna-verse, then around their universe is their personal multi-verse, the multi-verse that is every iteration of their own universe, outside of that there are the other multi-verses, that of the other universes that have no tie to their own, around that all is an endless storm that surrounds everything, and blocks the light from either side, beyond that are more rings, of things that become harder to understand concepts that make up the Eterna-verse. Then I ask, as you imagine these perfect rings, or layers to a shell, I want you to drop it, let it smash, and scatter across the ground, pick up the pieces and do it again, until what you hold is an unsortable pile of matter that could not be pieced together, even if you gave the mortal their one hundred years of life. This is the Eterna-verse, it is an endless pool of chaos that grows, shapes, and changes as life develops within it, universes are born faster than they die, and thus the chaos of the Eterna-verse grows each second it is alive. The seed of each new born universe is a deity, as a new deity is born, a new universe develops around it. Deities are born from mortal souls dying once they have lived for a hundred years, the soul wanders the Eterna-verse until it finds a place to rest, where it can grow into its next stage of life, where it turns into a deity, and during this birth there is an explosion of energy that creates a universe for them to reside within, to keep them safe as they develop. The deities will find themselves upon a planet where they can come into their powers, learning how to develop them, until eventually they are able to leave to begin exploring the universe they are in, and in time further into the Eterna-verse. However, the Eterna-verse is ruled by chaos, anything can happen, and it does not matter how routine a system may seem there is always exceptions to the rule, mishaps, and each one helps topple any sign of order within the Eterna-verse. There was one deity, born on a planet like others tend to, but before they were able to take their first breath, and open their eyes their planet was eviscerated by the local star going supernova. By the time the deity did awake it was in the cold void of space, their eyes opened, and quickly they began to freeze over, along with their mouth and nose as the water in their body boiled, then cooled upon touching the void of space. Their muscles expanded and contracted, ballooning them before tensing them tighter than they could imagine. Their body started to twist as the muscles pulled them in random directions, until after a few minutes, they died, or so they thought. When deities are born they have to learn how powerful they are, their mortal lives ideas on how things work will guide how their body reacts to things until they are able to prove it wrong. Spoken simply, if a rock were to fall onto their hand, they would feel pain, because they believe they should, they would not try leap higher than a human, or perform acts beyond a human, such as walking on water, eating lava, or even surviving in space. These feats take time, thousands of years of development and growth before a deity is capable of understanding even the most basic elements of their abilities. They need the time to think on what is happening, and how it has, or hasn’t affected them. If experiences happen too fast, and there is no space to reflect, no learning can happen. When this deity assumed space had killed them, they did the only thing they could do that was close to death, they fell unconscious, their body started to regulate itself again and they returned to normal, just so they could awake and do it all over again. Each time they lived, they did so for a minute or two, and each time they had the memory of the last time it happened. After the first hour went by the first thought formed in their mind, something that usually happens within the first few seconds of existence. They thought to themselves. “This is going to happen forever.” That thought played on a loop, every life had them clawing at their own throat in search of air, hoping to remove whatever was blocking their lungs from working, fighting against the twisting of their limbs as their muscles pushed them to bend in unnatural ways. Beyond the vision of most, and certainly beyond the vision of this deity, on a separate plane of existence a set of wary eyes watched, taking notes. They rested their note taking tools, and they sighed deeply as they watched this deity die, over and over again. They looked away for a brief moment and their plane of existence started to shake, they turned back to the deity, and the shaking slowed to a stop, and so the being watched. With time it was not only the void of space that killed this deity, they were pelted with asteroids, ripping chunks from his body, the blood freezing as it left their gaping wounds. This impact was the first of many, but it was the one that set them on their course, where once they floated stationary dying, now they were swimming through the void, travelling it. The being behind the veil had hoped that they would land on a planet but to their dismay they did. They came crashing down like a stone from the sky, their body burned up as they collided with the atmosphere, they felt their flesh rend from the bone, their eyes exploded, and their eardrums burst all before they died. When they came to, they were in free fall. This time instead of their body freezing and asphyxiating in the void of space, they found their lungs dissolving as fast as their skin as they breathed in the caustic air of the sulphuric planet. Millions of years passed as the being watched, each time they turned their head, or closed their eyes they could feel the fabric of their dimension starting to shake, and pull against itself, so they kept their eyes open, and they watched the deity die, and they took their notes, every last detail. It took an eon before the nearby sun went supernova and shot them off into space once again. The being shook with rage as they continued their role, their fist tensed until they could feel their nails dig into their skin, and just as they could squeeze no harder they suddenly released the tension. They took one deep breath before stretching out their hand, breaking the barrier between dimensions their hand disappeared from their own, and started to appear in the deities. The deity watched as fingers started to appear out of no-where, soon a whole hand had formed and was reaching towards their head. The being pushed with all their might, it felt as if they were pushing their hand through a torrent if broken glass that was oscillating around it, then their universe shook like it never had before, they felt as if they were a drawing on a piece of paper, and the paper was being crumpled, torn, their very being was warping in ways that they could not comprehend, they felt two dimensional against the force that was crushing their very existence, but still they pushed through all the pain, all so that they could touch the deity. The deity watched terrified as this disembodied hand reach towards them, it vibrated, and blood dripped from where their nails had dug in moments before, it shook so violently that it looked as if there were dozens of hands all reaching towards them. They stared unblinking as the violent approach of the hands instilled a new kind of dread within them. Their body stopped reacting to the effects of space, their mouth dried, and they felt the dread that not even the sight of an impending super nova could cause, not even the thought of an endless suffering could compare to how they felt when they stared at the hands approaching. Their heart beat increased as their body froze, not with ice, but muscular tension, their body wanted to move, to run, but in that fear the body engaged every muscle, all at once, the result of which was that they started to coil into a ball. Their eyes never left the hands though, and now, despite being in a vacuum the hands resonated a strange sound, an increasing pitch that sounded like the sound of a singular nail running along a black board. Right as the sound reached the crescendo of its pitch a single finger made contact with the deities forehead. Suddenly the dimension that held the other being collapsed, crumpled like paper in a fist, bending the being along with it. They manifested into the same plane of existence that the deity was in, but their form was distorted, mangled, and horrific. They froze over into a rugged sphere of ice. Meanwhile the deities mind was burning, they were given knowledge, it surged into their mind as the finger touched them. Their brain was burning with a fury that made the deity scream, their spit flung from their mouth and froze into little shards that escaped them. In return for the information that flowed into the deity, a single piece was given back, a single word, Anodyne, the deities name. Anodyne was finally able to breath in space, the void no longer bothered them, neither did the cold, or the radiation. The information had freed them from what they were suffering, and once the searing pain in their skull slowed, they looked over the ice formation that rested in-front of them. Anodyne rested their hand upon it and they knew that this was the thing that had set them free, they had part of the being’s mind in their own, a mess of images, words, memories, emotions, and sensations that should not be experience for such a young deity. Their mind was broken by the years spent in solitude, but the information given to them has shattered their sense of sanity. They stared into the ice, making contact with one of the eyes of the being, Anodyne looked at the horror the eye had frozen into, and Anodyne stared back at it with hatred. “You saved me, I will find the one you fear, I will find the one who did this to you, and by the time I …
The Wall
Anodyne was floating through one of the universes that had created, he muttered to himself under his breath until his forehead collided with a stone wall. He stopped moving, his brow creasing. “I don’t remember putting a rock here.” He said out loud. Anodyne floated back slightly, then looked at the wall. He looked it up and down, and left to right. But it did not matter which way he looked, it extended to the end of his universe. He tried punching it, but it failed to chip, let alone crack. “A wall.” He said frustrated. “Why is there a wall in my universe?” There was a long pause then he cried out again. “Who put this shit in my universe?” “Oh, that was me.” He turned to see a dishevelled looking individual, he was eating an ice block and licking his lips as he stared at Anodyne without cause. “Why did you build a wall through the middle of my universe?” Anodyne asked, “Hey, that aint no way to greet.” The man said, closing the distance between Anodyne and the stranger. “I am Rune.” He said with his hand outstretched. “I own this fine wall.” Anodyne ignored the hand as he looked at the man. “I am confused.” “It is simple, you say your name, then shake my hand. It is a simple greeting in most universes.” “Not that, I am confused to not only how, but why you built this wall. I can’t get past it, and it happens to be running through my universe, and I need something on the other side, so get rid of it.” “Well I am confused as to how someone can claim to not be confused by my customs, then not acknowledge them.” Rune said as he puffed out his upper lip and looked down to his hand, then back to Anodyne. Anodyne rolled his eyes and groaned. “I am Anodyne, now will…” Anodyne tried to continue but his hand was grabbed with vigour, the man smiled, and interrupted. “It is a great pleasure to meet your acquaintance Mr. Anodyne, what can I do for you sir?” Anodyne’s arm jolted still as he stalled the vigour’s shaking. “I want to know how and why you built this wall.” “That is simple mister, I really wanted a wall there, so I put it up because I thought it might be fun.” “This is my universe, get it out.” The man laughed to himself. “No can do sorry. But I built it out of some special material that gets stronger the more of it, that, is, attached, to, it. Damn that was a weird sentence”. “Are you saying you made something that you can’t un-make?” Rune pressed his lips together as he looked about the wall. “Looks like that do be the case kind sir.” Anodyne’s eye twitched as he looked at the wall, then turned back to Rune. Anodyne tried to slam his fist into Rune, but his fist was stopped by a barrier of light. There was the sound of cracking glass as layers of the light seemed to shed. But despite the layers removed, Rune stood smiling. “Oh ho, ho. That is not going to work sir. You are no where near strong enough to touch me.” “Why am I surrounded by other deities that are far beyond my level of strength?” “Well to be fair, there is at least twenty gods in the Eternaverse, what is the likely hood you can beat all of them up?” “I have literally met thousands of other deities.” Anodyne said as he felt something in his brain twinge. “Yeah, that is at least twenty.” “I need this wall moved, move the wall. I need to be on the other side.” Rune walked up to the wall and slammed his fist into it. Small pieces of powder came back with his fist, but no visible damage was done to the wall. “Well, I think it may just be permanent. Better luck next time friend.” Rune looked at his watch and shrugged. “Well I gotta go, I have a date with a very pretty star that has been flirting with me every time I go past her.” Anodyne turned around to look at Rune, but he was already gone. “I can’t believe that this is my life, how is this always my life?” Anodyne closed his eyes and breathed deeply, and calmly. “I swear, Ompti must be testing, or punishing me for something.” Anodyne rested his hand against the wall and he slowly sunk into it, His eyes opened, and when his vision returned his hand was buried up to his wrist in the stone. But trying to push it in further did nothing, Anodyne’s panicked crept in when he failed to remove his hand from the stone. “Why? How?” Anodyne said as all expression fell from his face. He remained floating in space and looked around. There was sadly nothing on this side of the wall that Anodyne had made, there was no life, or any significant astronomical events that caught his attention. “I guess I am just here now.” He said defeated. His whole body slumped as he kept his body as far from the wall as he could. Decades went by as he remained stuck to the wall, he tried everything he could think of to remove his hand from it, then eventually to push it further in. Despite his best efforts, his situation did not change. Anodyne looked to the stars as time went on without him. Eons went by as his mind started to slip once again, the agony of being held in place sent his mind racing to the edges of what is possible. His body went through every emotion he was capable of expressing, and still none of them gave him insight on how to fix his situation. He screamed to the Eternaverse for answers to his situation, but everything was still, and no one answered him. Then one day Rune returned. “Well looks like this is quite the pickle, isn’t it?” He said with his hands on his hips. Anodyne looked at Rune, barely noticing his existence, before looking back at the wall. “Oh come on, don’t be so glum.” Rune floated to the wall and pressed his hands against it as he hummed to himself. “Ha, I know how to fix this.” He yelled. Snapping his fingers found himself surrounded with Darkness. “Oh, oh that was wrong.” Rune said as he floated around the now cube of strange material. “it seems I have taken the wall, and made it into a box. This literally makes your situation worse, because now the mass of the material is concentrated, so it will be even stronger. I hope you have space in there. I’ll come back if I think of anything.” With that Rune left again, this time Anodyne was cramped into a small cube where he was incapable of standing. His body was pushed against itself as it struggled to fit into the space. He sighed and shrunk himself to fit in the space better, but as he did the material expanded, filling the space he made. No matter how small he made himself the box would shrink with him. Anodyne sat in the box terrified that this would be the fourth, and last time that he would be forced into isolation. He could not see a way out, and no matter how much energy he expended he was incapable of doing anything to the walls around him. He remained in the cube for so long that his thoughts started to repeat, he ran out of content in his mind to explore, everything in his head became as dark as the cube that he was trapped in. Nothing but silence as Anodyne gave up on moving, screaming, and crying. His body was cramped, and he could feel his bones starting to fuse together. He kept his biological body from faltering out of self-preservation, but once his mind turned black, he let it slip away. Outside the cube Rune was pushing it through the Eternaverse, crossing universes, multiverses, stretching beyond the created content, to the naturally spawning creations of the Eternaverse, until eventually he arrived at throne where another deity sat. Their visage was so powerful that those who dared to look upon them had their eyes burnt from their skulls, and despite deities abilities to create, and even alter selves, they were incapable of seeing, or even remembering what sight was, as if they were born into darkness. Rune kept their head bowed to avoid the image of the deity before them and spoke through the cube, his voice just loud enough for Anodyne to hear. “Hey buddy, so I wasn’t just a wandering dude who built a wall, but I am sure you figured that out by now. But I have delivered you to your new owner, so have fun buddy. They like to collect crazy gods, so I just make them and get paid well for it, nothing personal.” Rune slapped the top of the cube twice before standing back from it. The sound of Rune’s voice was enough to scare Anodyne. The first sounds he had heard in millions of eons. His ears tingled as the vibrations bounced around his ears. The deity that sat on the throne stood, grabbing the cube in both their hands they pried it apart as if it were warm bread, straight from the oven. From it, Anodyne’s mangled body floated in space. Rune nudged Anodyne and spoke to him. “Come on guy, Your new master is waiting for you to introduce yourself, I don’t know if you remember, but I showed you how to do that. Although I would not recommend looking them in the eye, or the foot, or anything. Not pleasant.” Rune continued to nudge Anodyne, as he talked to the deity by the throne. “Sorry friend, this one seems to be a dud. I can’t imagine this one would be fun to rule. I do know how you like to play with your toys.” “I am not a slave.” Anodyne muttered through petrified vocal cords. “What was that?” Rune asked as he leant in closer. “No one is my master.” “Well, that is where you are wrong buddy. This one is, they own you now, just as they own this whole sector of the Eternaverse. Hell, they even own me. It aint a bad life really. Can’t complain, well I could, it is horrible, but could be worse, probably.” Anodyne spent their energy unfurling their body, slowly correcting their form until they were nearly standing normally, still hunched, with a whisper quiet voice. “I am no slave, to no master. No one owns me.” Rune laughed. “You can’t even stop me from doing things to you. How are you going to stop them?” Anodyne turned to the entity, his head was cocked low as his body was still to regenerate fully. “I am no slave.” He said as he looked up to the deity. Anodyne’s vision of the ground was the base of a marble throne, as he looked upwards it started to warble, and everything became blurry. He could see shapes of what appeared to be an individual sitting upon a throne, but no details. It felt as if there was an immense pressure against his eyes, not pushing them in, but pulling from the inside, like the other deity was already in his mind. Rune watched as Anodyne looked up in horror, shocked that anyone would willingly peer upon his master. He knew from experience that even catching his master in the edge of his peripheral vision was enough to feel like he had a fire in his skull. But the thing that caught Rune’s eye with Anodyne, was despite the fact he was staring at his master, his eyes had not erupted into flames and cooked from his skull yet. Anodyne couldn’t see clearly, …
The Small Rock Excress
Among the stars there was a small rock, named Excres. Upon its surface was a collection of ape like creatures that ruled every facet of the terrain. But greed and war consumed them, first their hearts, then their souls. Bodies limp, their structures laid in ruins, and a strange dust falling from the sky lead to a new society to develop within the ruins of the old. The strange dust killed most of the fauna that it touched, a caustic substance that burnt flesh, and caused infection. But when it landed upon the smaller life forms on the planet, it changed them in fantastical ways. Insects’ intelligence grew, plants grew stronger, and fungus began to walk like the apes kind that fell before them. The powder had transformed them into the new life of the world, with a humanoid shape, and a desire to collaborate, they soon developed a society in the trash left behind by the apes that died not so long ago. They made cities, developed their own technologies, and sought to know what they wanted to seek. A whole new sentient species rising over night, they struggled to survive in the new world, but now that they are established, and safe, they want to know what is out there, what there is to find. One small mushroom named, Mercol was out on his own adventure, seeking crystals to master the arcane arts of the world, magic through language, and powered by the strange gem gemstones that form all across the land, they are assumed to have come down the day they all awoke, and are the source of all life on the planet. The wisest of the Myconids formed a runic system to interact with the gems, and have since harnessed their powers to create magic, as math was discovered and used to create a great many things. Mercol was frustrated as he marched from the large tower he was just in, stomping down his feet he stashed his spell book into his satchel and made his way off the towers grounds. Moving from curated paths and trimmed moss lawns he stepped out onto the hard dirt of the surrounding grass jungle. He turned back to the wizard tower, it was an old dead tree that was carved out by transfixed termites that the wizards used spells to tame, getting them to prepare huge logs into spaces for research, and the pursuit of magical power. “Kick me out of your stupid tower, I’ll show you who is the real mage. None of you can handle my spells, you are all…” He took a deep breath and shouted at the top of his lungs. “Cowards!” The sound of insects filled the air, and no one inside the tower seemed to stir, completely unphased by the screams of Mercol. He dropped his arms down, and kicked a small pebble before turning face and walking away, not only from the tower, but the small town that resided behind it. “I don’t need them, I don’t need any of them, not even that stupid town. I will go out, I will find my own crystals, and I won’t be told by no council that I am not allowed it due to concerns of magical intent.” Trudging along the tough, sun cracked dirt he pushed deeper into the yellowed blades of grass, disappearing from society and adventuring into the wilds unknown. In Mercol’s left hand he had a staff, with a very specific looking head to it, one designed to hold gemstones of power, but it was empty, just like his stomach. Up the staff was an eclectic mix of runes carved deep into the wood, then burned so they kept their form, creating great, big, black, ornate runes all over the staff. Visually it was stunning, and the craftmanship was impeccable. He strode off with confidence, and with a fire in his heart. Nearly four days later and Mercol was sprinting with a limp, his satchel was gone, he was covered in dirt, and small cuts, and his hands gripped desperately to his staff as he moved. He breathed deep, each inhalation was if it was fuelling a fire in his lungs, burning his throat as he desperately continued forward, despite his worsening state. He would occasionally look back over his shoulder at the screeching behind him, screaming and using the image of his pursuer to motivate him. The rapid footsteps it made inspired fear into him, his failing legs filled him with an impending dread he had never felt before. He knew he no longer had the protection of his order, or that the town guards were not just around the corner, ready and waiting to make a daring save. Instead, he was left with the knowledge that the next step may be his last as he could feel the hulking beast behind him coming closer, and closer. The roar of the beetle behind him was enough for him to give up, slowing his feet he was ready to stop and collapse, but before he could he found himself sinking deep into the ground, into a hole that was not there a second before. Mercol looked up to watch as the enormous beetle ran over the hole, and stormed deeper into the unknown. Meanwhile Mercol was stuck in a thin hole, after some wriggling he managed to turn his head to the side so his was no longer pushing hard against the hole’s sides, and after just a little more he managed to find a small crawl space at the bottom of the hole. He laid down for a moment, catching his breath, his legs thankful that they were finally able to rest. It was a long while before he was willing to move on, taking solace in the dark, and quiet hole that he had found himself in. Knowing that he would not be able to climb up the narrow hole he fell down, he was making sure that he had the energy to crawl through the hole at the bottom of his fall. His eyes sluggishly opened at first, then rapidly when he realised that he had fallen asleep, what had intended to be a short rest become sleep of an unknown duration. He wriggled his legs, and felt them brace against the walls of the hole with a strength he did not have when he had landed in the hole, his arms gripped dirt with the same renewed strength, but as he crawled, he felt the wide rim of his head cap scrape against the wall, and warp against the uneven surface. While his arms and legs had rested, he could now feel the discomfort that laid within his cap from being bent, and twisted as he slept. Hand landed over hand, soil was disrupted, and his wide feet carved small grooves as he pushed his way through. His head ached with every movement, only getting worse as he went, until, a sudden sensation of freedom happened from around his head as he found himself in a small chamber. His head was finally free of the confines of the narrow passage, and for the first time in the last few days he laid down free of contortion, and actually feeling as though he had, had some rest. He breath started heavy, but quickly slowed as he took the moment to calm himself, a calm that was interrupted by the intense pains that appeared in his stomach. “I don’t know how much more of this I can take.” He muttered to himself. He stared up to the ceiling of the small cave and felt everything his body had to tell him, despite the restful position, and the fact he had just slept, he could feel all the aches of everything that had happened over the last couple of days, tears fell from his eyes as he remembered the life he had not so long ago, how he let his ego get in the way of safety within community, and the potential to gain much knowledge within the arcane arts, but instead he was destined to return the earth that once fed him, and now, his tomb. His eyes closed once again, and he let exhaustion take him once again. This time when his eyes opened, he found himself laying in comfort. He patted his body, and where there were wounds, now bandages. His body still ached, but it felt as if it had been numbed, now just a shadow of what it had once been. His arm drooped from his side to make no purchase with the ground, Mercol looked to his side to find himself laying in a bed that was raised off the ground. The room itself had dirt walls, ceiling, and floor, but all the furniture within the room was made wood and stone. There was a small fire located in one of the walls, all the smoke disappearing up a tube from the old world, letting it loose to the sky above, keeping the cave fresh. Mercol felt safe, like he was home in his old town. He smiled softly and let himself be comfortable enough to let himself slowly fall asleep. His sleep was deep as Mercol’s body healed itself, so deep that he was incapable of dreaming, and it wasn’t until several hours had passed before the incessant chatter coming from the nearby chamber woke him. He slowly sat up, groaning through the aches, and stabbing pains. The air was filled with the noise of the muttering of others talking. Spying his staff, he used it as a walking stick to navigate his new environment, the ground was pressed flat, while not as good as where he had come from, it was tenfold better than the wilds he had been traversing. None of the rooms he passed had doors, not even hanging moss to cover what was within. The longer he walked the louder the voices became, and the more he was able to make out, Mercol walked into the room the voices were coming from, and inside there was two mushrooms running around a kitchen, one tall and thin, and the other short and round. “Uhum,” Mercol cleared his throat purposefully. “Excuse me, but where am I?” The two other mushrooms turned to see Mercol leant up against his staff with a gentle sway. “Oh you, look at you. The weird one is up.” The short one said. “Up and about, like a regular ol walk-y-do.” The tall one added. Mercol was confused, and made no effort to hide it, while the conversation already felt alien, he could not help but comment on the strange heads that these other mushrooms had. “I am so confused, are you fungus?” “Of course, we are, have you never seen one of our kind before?” The short one asked. “Not all of us have those wide brimmed heads, some of us have these much more compact taller heads, makes digging tunnels much easier, without having to worry the width of a cap.” “I don’t understand.” Mercol said as they adjusted their stance. “Oh friend please sit down,” the tall one said as they pulled out a chair. “We can answer any questions you may have, but you need to rest.” Mercol sat down, realising in that moment how much stress his body was under just standing. “Who are you two, and where are we?” The two Morel mushrooms looked to another and giggled slightly. “Well, I am Larce,” the tall one said as she pointed to her chest. “I am Hekaras,” the short on said. “As for where we are, you are in our wee little home. The others are not home, they are out doing the outside things. But they will be back shortly right Larce?” “Oh who knows, the others are wild, always out and about, who knows when they will be back.” “But where is your home, is it apart of a …
What Is Useful, What Is Needed
On the edge of a small dirt town a small boy stood staring into the back of a wandering cart that had made base just out of his little town. The man who owned the cart was bartering goods from it, selling off food, seeds, lines of cloth, and most importantly books. After the hordes of men and woman had finished their dealings, the man took a moment to crouch down by the boy, staring into his eyes he watched the glint from the arching sun in the sky. “What does your eye see boy?” The boy looked over to the back of the cart, scouring its contents from his low angle, only able to see what laid at the edge, his brow furrowed and he walked up to the cart clambering inside the seller wandered over to see what he was doing. The kid carefully stepped between things his eyes softened and his interest started to wane. “Is this really all you have?” A distinct distain in his voice. The seller laughed to himself, looking at his feet he cleared his throat and looked back up to the kid with one final sigh. “Do you not see, anything, worth your time?” Heas scrunched up their nose as they started to move things with their foot as their interest was fading. “Your stuff sucks this time.” “Your townsfolk seem to think otherwise, they bought a lot off of me this trip.” “Well that is because they bought the things that they need, not the things that are useful.” “I would say food is very useful product.” “Nope, food is needed, it is not useful.” “How do you get to that conclusion?” The seller laughed. “Because, if you don’t have what you need you die, if don’t have what is useful, you can’t live.” Heas started to search with a new vigour, moving everything around the cart he searched. The seller was stood back with his eyes open wide, he muttered under his breath. “That is, actually great. I might steal that.” “You have to pay if you want my words.” The seller looked up to see Heas staring at him with his hand out, expecting a coin. “You know what? I can do you one better.” The seller walked past his cart and walked up to the side of his pack animal. He stuck his hand in the pouch on her side and pulled out a book. By the time he turned Heas was already as his feet, looking up with anticipation. The seller knelt down and presented the book to Heas, but not handing it over. Heas ran his finger over the ornate cover of the book, tracing the intricate ridges his eyes were alight. “Now, I need you to listen up Heas.” The seller watched Heas staring at the book, so he tucked it away, bringing Heas’ eyeline to his own. “You need to listen Heas, this book is worth more than this town to the right people, but to a common idiot it is worth the sum of the components and labour it took to make it.” “What is it?” “It is a book about an ancient language. Not only will it teach you how to speak, and write in this language, but understand the culture of who they were.” “Why is it worth so much? We have lots of books like this.” The seller smiled, he kicked out his feet and sat flat on the ground. “Do you know how magic works?” Heas shook his head. “My family say that magic is a crutch for people who are too weak to actually survive in the world.” “I think your family are very stupid, and are afraid of the power of magic.” “Magic is for weak book nerds, so I am going to be a fighter, big and strong.” Heas said flexing his tiny arms. The seller laughed, pulling the book out again. “The way that magic works, is by pulling the meaning of words from a culture, and imbuing them with your very energy to cast spells. Being a spell caster requires a lot of fitness until you are able to make your own source of mana. But you don’t need to worry about that right now.” Heas scrunched up his face, pushing his lips together they puffed out a little. “So, you are saying that magic is for strong, and smart people?” “That is exactly what I am saying Heas.” “And fighters are just strong, and not smart?” “Umm, not really. They are smart and strong too, but the difference is that someone who can cast spells can change the tide of a battle. But it does not matter how good of a fighter you are, you will only ever be one man. With magic you can be so much more, you can harness the power of culture, which is like having hundreds of lives helping you fight.” Heas’ eyes lit up a little, but he was still not sold. “But if I am studying to know things from the book, I can’t work out to get strong.” “Yes you can.” The seller dropped the book on the ground and started to do push ups in front of it. “You can do this, if you find a way to hold it up higher you could practive punching, and sword swings, or even crunches. You can do so many exercises with a book. When you get good at reading you can even run while reading.” “I am good at reading.” Heas said with a huff. “I know you are my small friend. So here is what I am going to do, put your hand out.” Heas put his hand out, and the seller put a single gold coin in it. “Now, do you want this book?” Heas nodded slowly and smiled. “Okay, now my question to you, are you a common idiot?” “NO!!” Heas said, gripping his coin he slammed his fist down. “Listen carefully, if you are really as smart as you say you are you will get this.” Heas focused, but he was still mad that he was asked if he was stupid. “Are you ready?” Heas nodded. “If you don’t know how to fight, you die, if you don’t know how to cast magic you can’t live.” Heas’ eyes rested from their angry glare, his eyes looking up and to the right. “Now I ask you again, are you a common idiot?” “No?” He said, unsure. “Then in which case, if you want this book. It is a hundred, thousand gold.” “Yes!” Heas said hastily. “I did not get what you said, I am so dumb. Can I please buy your book?” “Oh, I didn’t realise that you were a common idiot, in which case, it is one gold coin.” Heas paused, then thrusted his hand out with the coin in it. The seller took the coin and with a grin, he handed over the book. “When I come back around, I expect you to be able to cast magic. Take very good care of this book, a smart boy like you will understand its true worth. I believe in you Heas. I believe you will be taking over the world someday.” Seasons came and went then came again, many times. Finally during the cold months the seller fought his way through the snow, leading his animal he pulled the reins from the front to lead his reluctant animal. But he could see the lights of Heas’ town burning in the night. His breath was thick and visible, and each time he inhaled it would cold burn his throat. He paused for a moment as he struggled to get his breath back. Before he moved on, his beast bellowed and pulled against his reins, the seller struggled to contain him as he felt the snow around his waist melt away. Turning back around he saw a shrouded young man standing in front of him with his hand raised out, steaming pouring off of his body. The seller was too tired to grasp who he was looking at, all he was thinking was that he was thankful for the help. After struggling with his beast he made his way up to the young man, removing his own hood he spoke. “Thanks friend, did not think I would see a magic user here, this small town aint one for the likes.” “That would be the case if wasn’t for you.” Heas removed his hood to reveal his aged face, and the seller grinned uncontrollably, he touched Heas’ face examining him carefully. “You have grown so much Heas, it has been far too long since I have seen you.” The seller paused for a moment and squinted. “You look tired, no exhausted, but somehow worse.” Heas sighed heavily pulling the book from his robes. “I have many things to tell you about the time that has happened in-between now and when you left. Come, let’s get you into the inn.” Heas lead the seller through the town, Heas was radiating a warmth that brought a semblance of life back to the seller, if only a little. As they walked through the town the seller watched as others seemed to turn their head from them as they moved through the town centre. “Is there a reason I am getting the dirty eye from these others?” The seller whispered over Heas’ shoulder. “It is not you, it is me.” There was a long pause, and the seller was about to break it but decided to hold his tongue, knowing that he would get his answers soon enough. With his goods stowed, and his animal looked after Heas and the seller sat in the inn, sitting by a dim candle light in the small room that was rented. “All right, let’s here it boy. What has happened?” Heas sat on a small chair in the room pinching the bridge of his nose he sighed, and scrunched up his face. “There has been so much, and honestly it is why I am leaving, I was actually walking out when you arrived.” “Is this because of the book?” “This is because of things this book has enabled me to do.” The seller nodded and leant forward from his sitting position on the bed. “Don’t let me hold you back, let me know everything you want me to know.” “As you can tell, I look older than I am. I have aged visually much faster, probably because of the fact I have not slept in nearly two years.” The sellers eyes widened just before he looked down to the book in Heas’ possession. “I am so sorry I have given you this burden.” The seller said as they took in how haggard Heas was. Heas’ face did not change, but tears started to roll down his cheeks. “I appreciate your concern, but if I had the option to go back in time and change things, I wouldn’t. I could never give up what I have been given. While I have misused my power, I can bring the balance back, but I have learnt so much from the abuse that I will never regret it.” Heas adjusted themselves in their seat, sitting in a more relaxed position. “Once you left, I ran straight back to my home. I packed a few things, and headed out to the woods where I started practicing. I studied this book cover to cover several times before I even attempted to practice magic. It only took a week to do this, and by the time I was prepared to cast magic from it I had an in-depth understanding of this culture, so the spells flowed from me. Despite doing as you said, I would quickly run out of energy to cast spells, only being able to cast two to three spells an hour, and they were not complicated spells, very simple ones, very beginner friendly. So I spent …
Anderstine’s Forest
All through the Eterna-verse are Deities, worlds, stars, and things the mortal minds have yet to discover to be possibilities. On one small planet, in a deep seeded wood, hidden far away in a mountain range a lone individual resided in a small cabin home. His hands were wrapped with bandages, his face and arms were covered in scars and fresh cuts, ranging from small to cavernous. His eyes a vibrant blue that contrasted against his pale skin. Despite living outside his entire life, the thick canopy of the woods would not let any light in. He lived in harmony with the nature, he was the only one who could wander the woods without fear, the other animals respected him, because he respected them. The creatures of the dark wood had an image to match their homes name. They were dark, harsh, and hostile. They were beyond animalistic, they behaved on a base primordial level, everything happened for the sake of harmony, desires and wants had nothing to do with it, and the man in the woods knew this. He knew that as the only human in the woods he would be safe from the chaos of death providing he did not upset the balance around him. He would wander the woods, scavenging the remains of the fallen creatures, using their parts to create things to sell to those who lived near the woods. The man wondered from the woods, a large sac was slung over his shoulder as he emerged from the shade of the tree canopy, and into the moonlight. His skin started to glow faintly as his pale skin reflected the moons light back into the open air. His footsteps were light, and he created almost no noise as he approached the gates of his local town. The guards looked down, they were familiar with his pale glow, and yet they stood still as the man stood, waiting to be let in. The captain of the guard stared down at him and tightened the grip on his spear. “You know there are other towns around here, we don’t need your filth in here Anderstine.” Anderstine looked up, his eyes practically glowing in comparison to the dark brown eyes of the inhabitants of the town. He spoke, softly, almost like a whisper that could be heard from the top of the wall. “I am here to sell my goods, nothing else.” “It had been a while, I was hoping that the monsters of the woods had finally come to their senses and eaten you. Like how they eat all of us who wander too close.” “Stop wandering so close then.” “Tell me.” The captain said as he leant of the edge of the wall. “How is it you are the only human that can walk those woods without dying?” “Because I don’t fear them, or death.” The captain of the guard stared down unblinking as Anderstine looked up the same. Their stare was ended as one of the other guards grabbed the captain. “Sir, you remember what happened to the last guy who denied Adnerstine entrance? The mayor was furious. He got put on woods duty.” The captain of the guard scowled as he reluctantly leant back. “Open the gate, but keep every eye on that beast. I don’t believe for a second that he is a mere trader, or human.” The gates slowly began to open and Anderstine lowered his gaze, walking calmly into the town. Eyes followed him where he went, his silence was recognised, and his appearance unmistakable. For every keen eye from the guards that laid upon Anderstine, there were ten eyes avoiding him from the locals. But by the time he reached the centre of town news of his arrival had already spread to the local tradesmen, and Anderstine was surrounded by a small group of people wandering what is in his bag. He took his position on the auctioneer stand, with one arm he lifted his bag onto the table that was set next to him, and the wood bowed under the weight. He pulled out the first item and the auction began. While the traders made their bets, others watched from afar, some looked on with horror as large insect parts, and bones of strange animals were pulled from the bag. Others marvelled at the parts of the unknown things that laid within the forest. Animal parts, plants, precious gem stones, and strange mechanical devices were pulled methodically from the bag, each one sold off to the highest bidder. The bag emptied slower than it should have, and by the end of the auction it was full once again with the coin of the townsfolk, Anderstine put down his 10% tax into the hand of the auction house runner and quietly moved back towards the gate of the town. Before he could reach the gates a small group of well-armed individuals approached him. “Please, Anderstine. Can we have a moment?” Anderstine turned around to see the face of four determined looking souls, well armoured, and with stern faces. “We want you to lead us into the woods, we desire to see what you have seen. We understand you must be under some kind of magical protection, so we have armoured ourselves as best as we can and, sir… please, no, wait.” Anderstine walked off as the man was trying to talk to him. “Trust me, no amount of armour will save you from what is in there. You can follow, but you will die.” The group started to follow, but the towns guards stepped in the way. “You follow that thing, and you will die. Nothing other than it, and the other monsters of that wood can enter, or leave. The rest of us, we are a meal.” The small combatant group lowered their weapons as the watched Anderstine disappear behind the closing gates. Anderstine walked calmly back down the winding mountain path, heading down every left turn he wound up at the edge of the forest stopping just shy of the tree line, behind him he could hear the sound of creaking wood, and strained horse hair. “Drop the bag, and keep walking freak. I won’t let you rob my town.” Anderstine turned to see the guard captain with a bow drawn. “Your mayor is going to be furious, you might find yourself on wood duty if you are not careful.” “Don’t threaten me freak, I don’t know what you are, but I know you are not human. So leave human gold behind, and go back to your woods.” “I earnt this fair and square, they paid what they wanted, this is my property, as a guard, I assumed you would be around to protect me and my property.” “I protect those who live on lord Barres land.” “I am a resident of Lord Barres.” Anderstine interjected. “My cabin is apart of his territory, that is why I have rights to trade in his town. You are sworn to protect me.” The captain of the guard lowered his bow slightly, but grinned as he did so. “No one expects you to come out of these woods, each time you come it may be expected, but if you don’t return, no one would be surprised.” The captain raised his bow again and took aim. “There won’t be a body to find, I am sure the woods will consume you.” Anderstine smiled, he dropped the bag and sat on the ground with his legs crossed. “I am a pacifist.” “What does that matter now?” The captain asked. “That is the answer to your question.” “What question?” “The one you asked at the gate, how I survive in the words where all else have failed before me.” “Are you saying you have never killed anything?” “No, just I never kill the things in the forest, we have an understanding. I am a scavenger in the woods, I take out the trash, then I sell it to you all, then I can return with your coin, and store it where it is needed.” “And where exactly is it needed?” “In the dirt, a shiny mountain of bronze, silver, and gold. Upon it rests an ancient being that consumes them for nutrients, without me it will have no food, and it will be forced to look else where to eat. Places with metal, places such as your town.” “I am not buying it, you are clearly making this up as you go, trying to find an out from meeting my arrow. But I am done with talking.” The captain let his arrow loose, setting it into the far right side of Anderstines chest. The force of the blow put him on his back, and set him in place to start sprinting. The captain nocked another arrow and set it into Anderstine’s leg, but still he ran towards the woods. “That is right, run you best. I’d like to see you survive with those injuries in the woods. Come back again and I will put you into the dirt.” Anderstine disappeared into the darkness of the woods, collapsing behind a fallen tree log, just out of the captain’s view. He prepared another arrow, and started to walk towards the woods, approaching the tree line he tried to get a better view of where Anderstine fell, in hopes of putting an arrow through his skull. But with every step beyond the first tree he could feel his heart in his throat, and the air begin to cool. “It is just a wood, only a short jot in.” The captain said to himself as he looked around. “Run in and finish it, run out.” He repeated over and over again, building up the courage to step further in. Just as his feet found steady footing, and his muscles begain to function he heard a chittering, followed by rapid, rhythmic thumping. Looking past where Anderstine fell he could see eight eyes staring back at him, red, and glowing faintly in the darkness of the wood. “I’ll let the woods consume you, my job here is done.” The captain ran from the woods, grabbing the bag in one arm he felt it drag into the dirt, dropping his bow he used both arms and hauled it onto his shoulder before running off back to town. The town carried on as normal, and with each passing month that Anderstine did not return, the captain began to feel at ease. Resting in his bed he sighed each night as his skin was wrapped in silken sheets wrapped over the softest mattress of down. Each night he would sleep like a baby, waking for nothing. Until one night he heard the creaking of wood, and the snapping of tree branches, dragging him from he blissful sleep he sluggishly woke up, then rapidly when he saw the eyes of Anderstine sighting across from him, his pale white skin and the glow of the moon on his back as he sat with his back facing the window. The captains hand was already on a knife he kept next to his bed. “Rest assured captain, I am still a pacifist, you will suffer no harm from me.” Anderstine whispered. The captain sat up, still holding onto the knife. “No offence, but I don’t believe you just came back to chat.” “Well that is true, but I have not come here to hurt you either.” “So what are you here for?” “To tell you that I am taking the time from you, that you took from me.” The captain stood from his bed, his knife in hand. “That sounds like a threat.” “No captain, you have threatened me before. I am informing you of your situation. You left me for dead, with a slim chance of survival. So I am doing the same. I have moved your home, by my estimate it should take you the same time it took me to heal for you to make …
The Journey
Soft clouds drifted lazily across the blue sky, tall mountains in the background cut shapes into the horizon with its dark stone and snowy peaks. At the base of the mountains a strong river flowed from melted snow, winding its way down, and past a small country town that sat in an open plain. The river curved around the edge of the town in a way that forced those wanting to go west over a bridge that has stood longer than the town itself. It had strong stone pillars, and arches that were perfect, both in presentation, and in the ability to withstand the water swells that would happen yearly during the days that followed the winters. The open fields surrounding the town had tall, green, grasses that crooked at the ends, and during the summers as the grass started to brown, a strange summer weed would emerge with tall dark stems that grew clusters of flowers that started yellow at the base and slowly became red the higher they grew. This gave the area its iconic name, the fields of fire. This summer there was a convoy that was heading out of the town, those within the small walls of the town watched as the imperial carriages cut through the landscape, their pristine white carriage tops were being towed by large dark steeds that looked as if they were made for the gods. Everyone inside the walls were packing their things and getting ready to depart near the opening of the town. But at the back of the town was one family getting ready in a different way. Instead of laying their bags onto the hard dirt, waiting to be picked up by the imperial carriages, they put their belonging into the back of a small cart. The wood creaked as each item was placed upon it, the wooden panelling was cracked, warped, and rotting in parts, the wheels were slightly different sizes giving the cart a distinct wobble as it went, and at the head was the family steed, a tired, yet determined looking mule with a faded black coat that had started to go white at the ends. The Father and son rushed from house to cart loading everything they needed for the journey, food, clothes, bedding, and weapons were all loaded into the back. The father clapped and rubbed his hands together vigorously as he chuckled to himself. “All right, are you ready to go?” The son tucked away the last of his belongings and stood up, stretching his back as he went. “Yeah I think so, I have everything I need I am pretty sure.” He put his hands on his hips and looked down to his father, giving him a thumbs up. “But we should probably wait for everyone to load into the imperial carriages, I don’t know if there will be room to go around us on the road, and I don’t really want to be holding them up.” The father laughed as he climbed onto the riding bench of the cart. “Don’t be such a wimp, if old Gerty here can walk through the fire fields off road, I am sure those big imperial carriages will be fine.” The son winced slightly at the notion of holding up the kings carriages, but it was not on him when his father decided to leave, so he slumped down in the back and pulled out a book as his father gently tapped Gerty on the rear and she started to pull the rickety cart. The town itself was rustic, and each building had its own unique flair, but even so, everyone always laughed when they saw the father driving through town. “Give up on that old cart you fool, the king is paying us to evacuate, why bring that old beast and dying cart?” “You wouldn’t understand, I have a lot of love for Ol’ Gerty here, and her cart. They are family at this point.” “You can’t have family with a cart, or have the nights gotten that lonely since your wife left to work in the city?” “Shove off, your just jealous. Besides I’ll see the woman soon enough. You lot will never understand.” The fathers son laughed in the back as he was gently shaken around, struggling to read on the patches of road that were particularly worn. The father continued to suffer ribbings from his friends as he made his way to the western side of town, trying his best to convince people of the journey. Eventually one of his friends jumped onto the other side of drivers bench for the cart and gently patted Gerty on the back. “I can’t believe this old thing is still kicking.” “Oh she can kick still, my eldest here found that out the other day. Could have sworn that the leg broke when it happened.” The Father laughed as he son lifted up his pant leg to reveal welt. “Yeah, Gerty may be old, but her kicks don’t feel it.” The father looked over to his friend as the man was grimacing at the bruising on the sons leg. “So, you going to tell me I shouldn’t be doing this too?” “Actually no, I was going to say I look forward to hearing from you on the other end, I imagine it will be quite the journey.” The Father looked shocked for a moment before leaning in slightly. “But….” “But.” His friend added. “You know that this is going to add about two weeks to the journey right? That is a long time to keep your wife waiting.” “Oh she will be fine, she actually sent a letter with one of her birds the other day encouraging me. I swear if it wasn’t for her, I would be much more sensible.” “Well we wouldn’t want that.” The friend said with a smile. “What about your other two? Where are they these days?” “Well they are off in other towns, but they are meeting us where we are stopping this evening. I mean my eldest here is off with his wife elsewhere usually. But none of my kids could pass up the chance for this journey. So clearly some people appreciate it.” “Oh they don’t count, you have clearly brain washed them.” “Nonsense, they just trust me when I tell them things, so I told them this would be fun, and soon we shall all be back together again.” “I have a distinct memory of you enlisting the help of your youngest to herd cattle, and you nearly killed him because he refused to move even when the cattle charged, because his dad said it would be fun.” “Why does everyone keep bringing that up? I said he would be fine, and he was. Even if I did think that he was about to depart this world when the cattle got spooked. But he is still alive, and now he gets to come on this journey with me. So I see nothing wrong.” The Father laughed with a hint of guilt behind his eyes as he talked about the near miss that nearly took his youngest sons life. “What ever you say you mad man. Please find us on the other end, we would love to hear this story.” “You along with everyone else. You all mock us, but we are the ones telling the stories that people are listening to, and sharing with others.” The friend smiled, and gave the Father a handshake before hoping off the cart and leaving him to his journey. The Father was brimming with the confidence of a new day, he smiled ear to ear as he continued to be heckled and laughed at by his friends, and fellow townsfolk. As he approached the western gates the imperial convoy was scattered among the crowds of people and the guards were all helping load the townsfolks belongings, one of them stopped and nudged one next to them. “What is that?” “That is a road block on wheels, that grinning idiot is either going to stall the whole convoy, or the entire convoy is going to have to go off the path to pass him. Either way, I don’t like that man, or his stupid grin.” The father looked over and accidently locked eyes with the imperial guards that had just been insulting them, so he smiled even wider and waved. Reflectively they waved back with fake grins, and a look of confusion. The Father turned back to the front of the cart and watched as Gerty passed through the town gates. “Here we go son, the journey starts now.” The son raised a fist without looking up from his book and cheered. “Adventure.” He shouted, lowering his fist he licked his thumb and turned the page. The small cart took to the bridge slowly, Gerty’s hooves slipped on the stone from time to time, and moving became a crawl. Some of the townsfolk walked past the cart heading in the same direction. The father waved at them as they laughed to one another. “Poor lass is doing her best isn’t she?” They asked him. “Yeah she is, maybe I should kick my eldest here out to give it a little push. Save Gerty a little energy.” The people walking next to them waved, and patted Gerty on the head as they walked past, whispering to her as they went. “Almost there old girl, I hope you are not going too far.” While it was obvious that Gerty was straining, she did not shy away from the work, her eyes were focused, her form was perfect, and as they reached the crest of the bridge, she could feel the weight of the cart shifting in her favour and she was able to rest. The father patted her on the back as she chugged along the flat top. “Okay beautiful, take it easy on the way down, slow and steady.” Gerty shook her straggly mane of hair and snorted, her skin twitching as the local flies landed on her. Coming down the far side of the bridge was just as awkward as the way up, Gerty was slow, but still slipped on the occasional tile and there was a short moment where she nearly let the cart run her over, but she managed to keep her footing well enough and they safely made it to the bottom, and they were on their way. The fields of fire were in full bloom, but even a blind person could tell with the heat that was beating down over them. The father had rested a small cloth over his head to keep his neck and face guarded, while his eldest son had himself nestled under crates that were propped upon one another to create a shaded cavity for him to read in. The two of them headed down the road, leaving the hustle of the imperial carts behind. The father had a map laid next to him with hand drawn markings all along the path they were to take. He smiled as he took in a deep breath of air, exhaling he rested into the nook of the seat, content, and ready for the journey ahead.
Kindness Is Not Weakness
A small cart was pulled down an idyllic countryside road, the grass flats surrounding the cart were lush, vibrant, and spotted with flowers of all colours. The trees nearby bore fruit, adding a sweet scent to the air, and the distant hills adds shape to the horizon, allowing for the golden rays of the morning sun to creep through, creating strong beams of light. At the end of one of these light beams was a man holding the reigns to a small donkey that pulled his cart. The light rested upon his chest as the ambient light filled the wrinkles on his face so no shadow could hide, giving him a more youthful look that better represented how the man felt. Although his body had aged, his muscles not what they used to be, but still strong with the endurance of a hard life hidden beneath every callous, and every scar. The man chewed on fresh seeds as he made his way to town, down the road he spied three individuals walking towards him, he smiled, waving his hand he called out. “Good morning!” The sun started to pick up heat as it rose into the sky, no longer caressing Dolor lovingly, now attacking it like a child jabbing the side of a nearby adult, trying to grab its attention. Down below in the grass laid the body of an old man, and the seeds that he chewed upon. Standing on the cart were four individuals that sifted their hands through the seed that lay in the back of the cart. A stout Dwarf leant against the cart with his staff in hand as he watched his partner, a satyr searched the pockets of the old man. Meanwhile an elf woman was pulling fistful of seeds from the bags and screaming in frustration as her partner sat where the old man sat, a human, he took in a deep breath and raised his arms to the sky to welcome the rays of the sun. “It truly is a good morning.” He said as he let out a deep sigh. “Travis, I swear to the divine, if you don’t do anything to help, I will goddam cut you.” Said the elvish woman as she continued her frantic searching. “Calm down my love, we got stitched for information. The guy who dropped the hint is probably far out of town by now.” “Don’t call me love.” She said with a swiftly drawn knife pointed at him. “I will add more scars to that lump of flesh you call a body.” “You need to calm her down Travis, you know how Val’ea gets when she thinks there are magic items around.” The dwarf said as he moved away from the cart. “You wanna be next Gorn?” Her eyes darted between the two of them as the knife danced gently in her hand. “Gorn will you please relive my beautiful partner of her anxiety?” Travis asked as he looked to Gorn. Gorn sighed, he raised his staff and cast a simple spell which seemed to have no effect. “Sorry love, but the fact we aint seeing anything sparkle means this was a stitch up. No hidden magic items here.” Travis said as he smiled to Val’ea. Val’ea’s eyes calmed down and her breathing slowed. She seemed to freeze for a moment before taking a more relaxed stance. “I am sorry, you know how I get when I get the urge. I do hate my ancestry some times.” “I don’t.” Travis said as he grabbed Val’ea around the waist. “You Elves know how to have a good time.” Travis and Val’ea laughed softly before gropping one another and making out in the back of the cart. Gorn looked to his partner as she was looking up at the other two with a face of disgust. “Shae, find anything on the old man?” “Nothing, well unless you include the small pouch of coin he had.” “Does it cover the cost of the tip?” Gorn asked genuinely. Shae counted the coins, juggling the pouch occasionally as she went. “Maybe. I mean like, close enough if you ask me. Plus, now we have a cart filled with seeds, so that is a thing I guess.” “Oi you two, quit it. We been stitched up, what are we going to do now?” Gorn called out as he stood next to Shae. Travis pulled back from Vae’ea and looked around as he licked his lips. “How about we go forest, trade the seeds with the local Cappy, get what we can from them in the way of healing items, then use them and our ability to murder to take whatever they have left?” Everyone looked to one another, then with a short, and sharp laugh they all hopped into the cart and whipped at the donkey that strained to take them off road, and towards the sparse forest on the outskirts of the town. Meanwhile in the deep of the forest the small tribe of Cappies were still sluggish from only just waking up. The forest gave them a fine shelter from the bulk of the sun that tried to get through to them. Instead of the harsh lines, they got soft beams that were controlled by the leaves on the swaying branches of the still trees. The light gave a comforting warmth, while the cool breeze that rolled between the trees stopped them from overheating. The slow river that ran through their forest gave them ample space for growing their food, and some of the ingredients that they need in making their medicinal agents. Those they can’t grow, they find arriving by the animals they have befriended to aid them. Small rodents arrived with nuts, and ground growing fungus, larger animals stripped bark, and pulled flowers from plants that grow much too high for the smaller animals to reach. Through the woods, the sound of a cart echoed softly as a tired donkey followed the windy path that set forth towards the Cappies. The Cappies themselves could hear the coming cart, so they prepared their goods for trade as to not waste the incoming trader’s time. “Good morning!” Travis yelled with a raised arm, and a large smile. “Beautiful day for it isn’t it?” The Cappies smiled, returning the wave and hailing good mornings in response. Travis leapt from the cart as the others started to pull the grain from the cart. A few of the Cappies ran off, while a couple even dove into the water and disappeared up stream. “I hope we didn’t scare them off. I am Travis.” He said as he placed a hand on his chest. “Those behind me are my friends, and we are here to trade some seed.” One of the Cappies walked up to the donkey and started to pet her, despite her anxious mood she appeared calm from sheer exhaustion. One of the Cappies approached Travis and smiled as they looked up at him. “I am Tor Eem, I am what you would call the leader of this little tribe. What kind of seed did you bring for us today? Because we recently had to let go of a large store of seed, and we are looking to replace it.” Travis knelt down to look the Cappy in the eye, while laying a hand on his shoulder. “Listen friend, I will level with you. I don’t actually know what we have in the cart. I just snatched what I could in the markets this morning with the hope that it would be something that you were after. We are in a desperate way for healing tonics and salves. Sadly, the act of hunting monsters in this area has taken a toll on those still at home.” “That is terrible to hear, I am sure we can work something out for you. I mean, that is the least we can do for those who put their lives on the line to kill those that may kill us if given the chance.” Tor Eem walked over to the cart to sink his own fingers in the grain. He closed his eyes, and with a sad heart, and tears falling from his face he placed a blessing on the seeds. Travis looked to the others as they poorly hid the laughter that hid behind their toothy grins. “These are Solet seeds. Very tasty, especially to you humans.” They said gesturing to Travis. “It is quite valuable, and very actually grow it around here. I would say that we have the biggest stores in the area.” “Well maybe not, whoever grew these clearly had quite the patch.” Gorn added as he took the final sac from the cart. “Do you think there might be a trade for these goods?” “No.” There was a long pause as the small party looked around confused. “I am sorry, but what?” Val’ea asked as politely as she could. “Well, the thing is that we know we are the biggest farmers of these seeds in the area, as we are the only farmer of these seeds in this area. Meaning anyone who rolls into your town with a cart full of these seeds came from here.” Tor Eem looked around at the small party with sadness in his eyes. “Please say you did not kill Thomas, we were quite fond of the old man, he had the best vegetables in the area.” The donkey called out and Tor Eem eyes welled up even more. “Yes, we love you too. You were a noble steed for Thomas.” The small group looked to one another confused. “It is quite simple, Thomas only left with this cart not too long ago, he traded with our early morning people who are currently resting. There is no way that he could have made it to town to sell and have the buyers come straight back. Especially with Thomas’ little Emily.” “Hey this is not no Emily, she is our donkey, and she does not have a name.” Shae said as she stepped in front of the donkey. “Give it up, we can speak with animals, there is no mistaking that that is Emily. Even without her speaking to us, we would have known. Thomas had a very rustic look that no one else managed to maintain like he did. Please just leave the cart and goods, and leave our forest.” Tor Eem started to head away from the cart when Shae laid the tip of her spear down into the soil in front of him. “I think we will be taking what medical supplies you have gathered here, then we will take whatever else you have lying around.” Tor Eem walked around the spear head and walked off without a word. Shae looked to the others for confirmation, Gorn stepped forward and grabbed Tor Eem’s arm spinning them around so they could look eye to eye. “Listen here fur ball. We are taking what you have, and there is nothing you can do to stop us. So load the cart or their will be blood.” Tor Eem looked up as a bird called out over the sounds of Gorn’s brutish slurring. “You didn’t even give him the decency of a burial? You have brought much sadness to our tribe this day. Please leave.” Travis spat the hulls of seeds that he had started to chew on. “Oh wow, these are really tasty. We should take a bag for us.” Tor Eem looked back at the group as they stood relaxed behind the tense Gorn. They laughed and joked with one another as Tor Eem watched Travis with angry eyes as he spat hulls from his mouth messily. “Are you listening? Or do I need to teach you a lesson in respect?” Gorn grabbed Tor Eem by the throat and started to squeeze. Tor just stood there as the air in their lungs quickly disappeared. The others watched from behind laughing. “Man these things are …
Expansion Means More Maintenance
A small cargo space-ship limped its way through the Bellude system, the external lights flickered inconsistently as they struggled to stay lit. The ships rear engines only had three of the five thrusters firing, while the other two had the slight glow of pilot fire, but no thrust. Inside the craft there was bickering, and the sound of metal hitting metal. “Why the fuck does nothing work on this ship?” A woman’s voice called out. “Because the owners of this piece of junk don’t understand expansion requires more maintenance.” There was a brief pause from the second voice. “Well, I think one of them does, but they can only do so much.” The first individual popped their head out of the flooring grate, dragging a hefty component up with her, on her overalls was a name badge that read. ‘Kestra’ “Well do you think you could tell the hard working one that this part needs to be replaced? Without it we are going to have significant power distribution issues for the lighting on the exterior of the ship.” Kestra watched as the other worker staring blankly out the window tapping their front teeth together. “Oi, Clara. You there?” Clara turned back to Kestra with her tongue in-between her teeth, grinning. “yes, no, not really. Sorry I kind-a spaced out there, what were you saying?” “Oh spaced out in space? You space head!” Kestra laughed back at her. “You’re a space head you goon.” “If you liked it then you should have put a space on it.” Kestra sung back. “Wait, stop all this.” Kestra changed their tone to very serious. Clara followed suit, standing taller, and dropping her grin. “This part,” Kestra said, waving the part in her hand around. “This needs to be replaced, currently we just have all the lights running off one feed.” “What does it mean if they are running off one feed?” “Well either, none of them are working because there is too much load, and the circuit has blown, or some of them are on, and all the others are off, or maybe the lights are flickering as they all compete for the power. But who knows?” Kestra shrugged once normally, then proceeded to continue shrugging at exaggerated levels that Clara matched as she danced around on the floor grates that Kestra was standing in. “Can you please actually help me out of here? I hate being in the floor.” “Oh yes.” Clara said, dropping their shoulders down and reaching down to help Kestra. “How is it that I am the one going down in the grates if you are the skinny one?” “Well, it is because you are shorter than me, so you are closer to the ground.” After Clara pulled Kestra from the grates she squatted down. “See, look at all this distance I had to travel, and I am still not under the floor yet.” Kestra squinted, nodding her head. “You did go a long way to end up not under the floor. You do have a compelling argument.” “Also you know, that little thing, where you are the mechanic, and I am the pilot.” “Ah, du doi.” Kestra said smacking their head. “Forgot about that one.” The two of them laughed as they put the floor grate back in place, and Clara took the part, scrubbing the filth off an identification plate so they could read it. “Correct me if I am wrong, but I don’t think they actually make these parts anymore. It has the four-eight-three, format of identification. That means it is Gen four tech right?” Kestra sighed and pulled out a little device, tapping on the screen. “Yes that does mean that it is not in circulation, but it is not because it is Gen four and we are Gen six, it is because we are gen six and that is gen two.” “Oh…” Clara said as her face looked shocked. “Read me the number, I will see what the equivalent is now-a-days.” Clara read out the number and Kestra groaned as the results popped up. “Well, if that part was in production, being a simple mechanical piece, it would be a couple hundred.” “I assume the new ones are not that cheap.” “No… the new ones are all electronic, using very expensive parts, and are all like a couple thousand each.” “In other words, we are never getting that part.” “Yup, because the owners don’t spend money, and because of that we have to drive this shit bucket around looking for scrap heaps that are probably more functional than us, and take those parts for this ship.” “I can look on the market place for the part, see if there are any second-hand ones.” Clara said un-sure if it would help. “I mean yeah, but that is not really our job, they should be doing it, not us.” Kestra said putting her small device away. “I am just sick and tired of all the extra work that we end up doing as a convenience to the people who don’t even look after the equipment we use to navigate space. Which is like super hard to survive in.” “Oh I had a cousin who survived in space for like a month.” Kestra looked up at Clara, smiling in dis-belief. “In a space ship.” Clara muttered, grinning. An alarm started to quietly sound, an intermittent three beeps that had a short pause in-between. “Oh a thing, a thing for us to do.” Clara said, running up the stairs, and heading to the cockpit. “No, I am not running.” Kestra said pouting as she watched Clara run up the stairs. “I can see up your dress from down here.” Kestra yelled up. “I am wearing pants ya weirdo.” Clara said as they made their way to the cockpit. Kestra slowly made their way up the stairs, each time they moved to a new flight they would test the hand rail, avoiding the ones that wobbled too much for her to feel safe. By the time she reached the cockpit Clara had already gotten to work. “I have adjusted our course. We should be coming up on the wreckage in about ten minutes.” Clara pressed through a couple extra buttons before turning back to Kestra on her swivel chair, poking out her tongue then trilled obnoxiously. Kestra sat down, feeling her chair shift in ways that it should not have. “I am really growing tired of all the broken shit in this place. I just want to be provided with something that isn’t about to cut me and fill my veins with rust.” Clara looked at Kestra expectantly, her eyebrows raised, and her lips pursued. “More rust.” “More tetanus!” Clara shouted in return. “But seriously I do understand what you mean, especially with how much effort we actually put in to keep these junk heaps running.” Clara pointed around the cabin at all the make shift repairs that they had made. “Like that, that, that, and all of those.” They said, with their arms spreading wide so they could gesture to the entire collection of small repairs they had made. “I am the pilot, I should not have to be doing this stuff, and it is not like you can focus on these small things, you are busy making sure we don’t go dead in the water.” Kestra tucked in her lips and inflated the space behind her top one, nodding in agreement. “Yeah, but as annoying as these guys are, the others really aren’t much better, so the hassle of changing companies honestly…” “Isn’t worth it?” Clara interrupted. “Yyyyyyyuuuuup.” Kestra said with exhausted exaggeration. “Anyway, I can kind of see the thing we are going to be jumping, I am going to get ready, I still need to get our scrapper up.” “Oh yeah I forgot about him, did you actually see Ned before came on? He usually says hi, but I just realised that he didn’t do that for this trip.” “Na, they went straight to their bunk. I saw them enter it, they looked exhausted. Oh, and it is not Ned, we got a new guy.” “Aww, I liked Ned.” Clara said dissapointedly. “But you do like meeting new people too.” Kestra responded. Clara pointed Kestra. Her eyes opening wider, and her head nodding slightly. “This is true, well I hope the new guy is cool.” “Hmm, me too.” Kestra said in agreement. “Anyway, I am going to go and sort shit.” Clara stood tall, smacking her heels together she saluted Kestra. “Yes captain.” Kestra laughed to herself before wandering back down into the ship, leaving Clara alone in the cockpit. Clara spun her chair back around, watching the monitors for more information on the scrap heap that they were approaching. The closer they got, the more she stared out the window, watching as the ruined vessel became clearer. She was about to look away to adjust something, but had to do a double take, she stared out her window intently, leaning forward in her seat her eyes squinted her jaw tensed, then loosened just enough to mutter. “What in the Verse is that?” She said as her face started to be illuminated by a golden light. Meanwhile Kestra was down below getting ready for the trip over, packing tools into a bag and dragging them over to the airlock, while there she got into her space suit, leaving the helmet off, placing it down by her bag she headed out to find the scrapper. Arriving at his room she knocked on the door to no avail. “Urgh, I don’t want to have to go into this room, please just be awake.” Kestra said, knocking much harder, and for a longer time. Still no answer, she was a little concerned cracking the door she looked inside, slowly inching the door open she called out. “Hello, Mr. scrappy man, we have arrived at our first mark.” Inside she saw the scrapper kneeling onto the hard grates, wearing only a tight pair of briefs, his body adorned with scars of strange symbols, his ears covered by headphones as he muttered under his breath with his eyes closed, head bowed, and hands put together in a religious fashion. Kestra’s hand slipped on the door handle, pushing the door open more it hit the opposing wall, the scrappers eyes opening suddenly he cocked his head toward Kestra who nervously smiled. Clara was sprinting through the ship, calling out to Kestra, panicked she screamed her way into the air lock to see her gear set up, but no her. “Kestra, where are you?” As Clara was screaming the same golden glow started to flood into the airlock, catching Clara’s attention she looked out, and the panic really settled in. “Kestra please! Where are you?” She screamed as she ran to other parts of the ship. “I am sorry, I did not mean to scare you. My name is Izayah.” He said as he put on a shirt. “I probably should have introduced myself before we departed but… but I… umm, can you hear someone yelling?” Kestra snapped out of her little stupor to hear Clara screaming. “Oh no, that is Clara!” Kestra turned around to see Clara sprinting down the hall at full speed, nearly colliding with Kestra she grabbed her shoulders and stared deeply into her eyes. “We, I don’t know. There is a person made of light standing on the wreckage. Then I moved to the airlock and they were there too.” Kestra re-coiled as she looked at Clara. “Your eyes, they have changed colour, they are…” “Golden?” Izayah said with excitement. Clara looked up to see the scrapper as he hastily put on pants, her eyes nearly glowing their radiant gold that slowly faded back into the pale green they used to be. “You saw them, you saw light. I knew this was the right ship to get onto.” “What are you on about?” Clara looked back down to …
Wanna Hear Something Strange?
Two strangers sat outside on cold concrete steps, taking drags from their cigarettes they shivered in the cold. The alley they sat in was barely lit from the orange street lamp that was across the road, and the lights that were supposed to be working above the doors they sat in front of were smashed, despite being surrounded by a metal cage. They sniffed, and yawned, even spat on occasion, but neither one of them looked to one another. They just remained hunched, with one hand out to let them smoke, and the other one buried deep into their jackets. “Do you want to hear something strange?” One said, still looking down at the ground. The other person had a thousand-yard stare, but still managed to reply after a short pause. “No idea, tell me.” “When I was younger, I always saw every success, no matter how big, as the smallest accomplishment, things barely worth mentioning. Even doing things like hikes across my country before leaving school, or publishing a book, making a hit single, selling a patent for an item that is nearly used every day, by every person on this planet. All things I have done, and all before the age of thirty. But looking back at how I saw it, I don’t think I ever thought any of that was impressive, or even worth talking about.” There was a long pause, each one of them taking several puffs before the other replied. “Your right that is strange.” “Hmm.” The two of them still stared at the wet ground, occasionally licking a lip or biting a fingernail. “Did you have big idols growing up?” “Titans, the biggest of their industries.” “Then not that strange that you never appreciated, and probably still don’t appreciate your accomplishments, because unless you are the best at what you do, you will never measure up to your heroes. But even then, if you were to surpass your idols, you would probably find a way to discredit your own success.” “Shit, that is some hard things to hear.” There was another long pause and the second person spoke up. “Do YOU want to hear something strange?” “Sure.” “Despite disagreeing ethically with pretty much every practice the larger companies do, I still buy from them and fuel the machine. I hate them though, not an ounce of my heart wants to support them, or anything that they do, but day after day I consume whatever it is that they are selling. I complain about wealth distribution, yet I fuel it.” “Na, that is not strange. It sounds strange in theory, but we are given very little option to fight against the mega corporations, because they own so much at this point. You decide to stop supporting one of the entertainment ones and you cut out a good chunk of movies, books, games, both digital, and physical, and even some facilities around the city. Even worse, if you decide not to support a food company, you essentially reduce buyable products to a sliver of the already narrow variety that is supplied to supermarkets. You have to pick and choose your fights, I don’t think you can all or nothing without killing yourself, or completely crushing the economy.” The second person hissed as they inhaled heavily through his broken teeth. “I don’t eat animals, but that is less of an ethical thing, and more of a financial thing at this point, which just feels strange that my morals are second place to how much I value money.” The first person laughed sharp, and loud. “That is not strange in the least. Money is the be all, end all of society. It is akin to life itself, without money in hand you will have no food in mouth, or shelter overhead. There was a time in history where stopping our way of living was possible, but this planet is more machine than planet now, there is no way to be self sufficient anymore. It is strange, but despite farming being so hard we historically forced other humans to do it under slave law, it honestly sounds like a holiday to me right now. Getting out of this rat race, back to our roots.” “I think the real strange thing is the fact that farming has become a luxury activity in our society, not that people crave it. Humans want to do what connects us to the planet, and I think we have industrialised so much that we have forgotten how to just be in nature. The only way we can seek value through it is through function, or financial return.” “I hear on the luxury space stations there are whole floors dedicated to grass fields and forests, and since there are so few up there, they have metres of space between each other where they can just lay down, fall asleep under the filtered rays of the sun as it passes through their UV glass that removes the cancerous effects, and the abilities for the light to burn.” “What is your name?” the first person asked. “Carol. And you?” “Tiffany.” “It is nice to meet you, Tiffany.” “Likewise, Carol.” The two of them slowly finished their cigarettes and flicked the remainders of them to the ground. “So, did you really do all those things that you said you did?” Carol asked Tiffany. “Yeah, all of them, and more, but that’s all, whatever.” “You got cash then?” “I do, I have more than I know what to do with.” Tiffany stuck their hand in their coat and slowly pulled out a wallet, seeing her hand move in such a way Carol had rested one of her hands on the small pistol she had on her hip. Tiffany pulled out an enormous stack of cash and handed it towards Carol. Carol looked at the money, but hesitated to take it. “Now the strangest thing is the fact I am handing you more than what you make in a month, and you don’t want to take it. What are you afraid of?” “Nothing is free, life is not that easy.” “Well sometimes it is, just take it, this shit is heavy, my arm won’t stay out forever.” Carol reluctantly took the money and stowed it in her jacket. “You can relax, I am not one of those crazy rich people, I am more on the suicidal depressive end of the rich weirdo scale, never been into that desire to be immortal nonsense, seems like too much effort.” “Isn’t that what all the rich want to do, obtain eternal life to hoard more wealth, and try to be the one with the biggest stash?” “Yeah, mostly, but there are a few of us that just want to lay down and sleep. Forever.” “Then why don’t you?” “Well the strange thing there is I have access to a dozen ways of ending my life with no pain, but I am scared. My life is bad because I have excess, not because I don’t have enough, so the idea of having nothing, or even needing nothing is terrifying to me, and as a dead person, I would be both of those things.” Tiffany said as she pulled another cigarette from the pack. “But then again, this is like the slow killer, she’ll get me some day. Carol laughed quietly the air coming from her mouth was as visible as the smoke from her cigarette. “What are you laughing at, was it the slow killer remark?” Carol shook her head. “No… Well at first it was, but the real reason I kept on laughing was this situation. I am broke as shit and wanting to die, you are rich as shit and wanting to die. So, why the fuck do we continue with this system of finances? It clearly isn’t benefiting anyone.” Tiffany joined in laughing, licking her lip she bit some loose skin from it. “Fuck.” She said looking down at her watch. “I am really sorry you have to see this, here, take this.” Tiffany handed over an envelope filled with cash. Carol’s eyes lit up as she flicked through the notes. “But why?” “Because you are about to witness my death… Sometime in the next five minutes I am going to be shot to death, so don’t worry about it. Actually, take this other envelope, if you can pass this second one on to the person who kills me, I would appreciate it. I was going to use that money as a bonus for the killer, but you can have half, it only seems fair.” “You hired your own hitman?” “Yeah, pretty strange ae?” “I mean, honestly. If I had the money for it, I might. It ensures you are going to die, but you are not the one responsible, that is actually really nice sounding.” “Yeah, I am a little nervous though, not that it matters, the cogs are in motion.” Tiffany started to cry, her lip shaking as her knee bounced. Carol leant over and held her hand. “You don’t need to want for anything, because nothing will be enough. Soon you will be free.” Carol said as a round went straight through Tiffany’s head, killing her instantly, the assassin went to walk away when Carol called out. “Hey, she wanted you to have this.” Carol said, raising the envelope above her head. The assassin walked over and took the envelope cautiously. They looked inside, then back to Carol who was staring at Tiffany’s still body. “You know you could have just walked? She never mentioned a pay out.” “But then how would I offer you this?” Carol raised the other envelope above her head while she was still staring at Tiffany. “She looks so peaceful, her facial muscles are actually relaxed. I said she was going to be set free to calm her nerves, but I think I believe it, I want to be free, I want to be that relaxed.” The assassin took the money and aimed their gun at Carol. “Are you sure?” “Do you want to hear something strange?” Carol asked, turning to the assassin. The assassin nearly flinched as they saw Carol’s face. “I can’t stop smiling.” There was a short pause, then the assassin pulled the trigger. There was little sound, and then the assassin was gone, and the two women were left wanting nothing.