2.19|I AM THE WORLD

2.19|I am the world

 

The decades passed, until a century hit before she knew it. The ancient grudges, the mistakes the personal feuds and wrongs of the past all seemed a distant, far off fever dream. Enemies became friends and friends became accomplices onto eternity’s cold uncaring chasm.

At one point, Theo began creating a library full of books of an unknown nature. Having come around since, Protas, staying one with her love ever since would pluck these books and began to sort through them. The ballroom galas and lavish sensual festivities of the Santri did not distract her from a new fascination.

Sitting at a table with him, she flipped open a spellbook Theo had left and compared the notes to the Ooht Hex manuals.

"The energy source is.."

"The same thing. I've all but confirmed it." Theo said, turning to the side. "In my world, before I came to Xi we called it 'Alchemy.' Me and my father were what were known as Alchemists, and my father was known for creating Homunculi - artificial cloned lifeforms."

"Where were you from? You never discussed that."

"My world? It was known as the world of 'Ae' - the world that fell." He turned around. "Novus Cormeum. When our ancestors destroyed our world and its resources, Novus, our universe's god made a neverending storm kill our crops and burn the world into a desert, with acidic rain and lightning." He put his hands together, small crackles forming from runes. "But in this lightening was something else.. we called it 'The Spark of Ionization', power from the skies that our sages learned to wield in the form of Alchemy."

"But our sages, once they had Alchemy began to declare this. This is no god. Novus Cormeuem is merely an ideal, an abstract force. He will not answer your questions. He created nothing. He is only the one who destroys. You will end up his servant. Abandoned the Winding of the Leaf."

Protlyn scoffed. She waved as a Santri servant poured them both wine.

"The Winding of the Leaf.. This is something he wants, something he will eventually control.. Whatever. My father believed in it. But he found something else out when he came to Xi."

"Is that so?" Protlyn said, intrigued.

"When we were exiled. When we came here, I found some of my father's notes and writings. He had found a way to harness this storm power. Not to have it be all consuming like the storm, but to harness it. To change it into something else."

"You mean.."

"The Cascade." Theo stated sharply. "The Ion Spark from my world, was simply the Cascade in Xi. And here it remains too.. it functions differently in every universe, and you seem to have brought it here with your, unique makeup."

She looked at the ceiling.

"You're of Protas and of Raelyn inside your head. Project Niterose was a project to incorporate Llavalite genetics, because they had the ability to control the Cascade. I think what that means is, the part of you that's Raelyn can control the Cascade when it came to this world here.. or what they call, the Hex. The Santri can tap into it too because they were bred from your data, that’s what makes them so sensitive to this Hex thing. To a lesser extent.. The Oohtlets might even have a residual capacity to do so."

"That's very interesting. What does any of this have to do with why you asked

me to drink and dine with you, Theo?"

"That's not all." He leaned in. "I'm an orphan, an outcast. I don't want to give

up my world or my legacy."

"So you will run away?"

"No. I'm going to change this world. I'm going to take my place among the leaders and create a revolution, a revolution that can stand against that Glitter bitch on the moon, and her kind."

"And I've come to the conclusion that the best way to go about this is to have the two of us work together." He started create various runes around him. "If we work together, we can take her down. I know that Glitter Kiss messed up the AI of Marchwood and when the Oohts were debating a final solution to their political squabbles, MATRUS stepped in and launched the fireballs."

"True. But, I don't want to be a part of this." Protlyn stated simply.

"I need to be somewhere with warmth.. And I can't be with you."

Theo said, setting his fingers to the runes. He began chanting. "Just as I mastered the Ion, so too will I unveil the secrets of the Hex, Protlyn. The Hex is in the head, in the body, and in the hands. I will do these things, for us, this world, and this universe. I will do these things. Because I love you. Because you love me. Because.."

She got up and began walking, her body flashing with light. "In these many years since, I've learned to control this power coursing through my veins. The teleporting, the phasing.. the Cascade." She turned to him with a smile. "The Hex. You need me to learn it don't you?"

He paused and looked away. Theo had changed.. He seemed so confident in what he was doing. Like he knew he had a purpose. And the world needed someone like him. Protas wondered if it was true. If what he said was true, if that was what he wanted.

She would be running the entire time. Could she let him teach her that?

"Would you please?" He asked.

"And what's in it for me." She jibbed out her tongue.

"You have the soul for it, the battery I need. But not the brain right now. I can teach you spells, Alchemy from Ion! You can perfect them with what you possess. It's still imperfect but we can forge it." He created a triangle with his fingers, two hexagon runes inbetween the space. "The Hex!"

He exclaimed, making the runes merge with each other.

"In your world, I'm only one woman. Well two actually. But I don't think I can play the role you're expecting." She picked up her glass.

"Then allow me. Let me play this role."

Protlyn jiggled the glass, before raising it to her lips. "Mmhm.. and what role would that be, dear Theo?"

He smirked.

"Let me be your Apprentice."

 

 

 

The centuries were not kind for the Apprentice. The ups and downs, the lessons and the hardships. Neo Marsh immediately attracted envy and scorn from the populations of the world. The Oohtlets, previously mere nomadic herders and barbaric scavengers, began organizing into kingdoms and rising up. With the magic the Apprentice and his Master acquired and taught to the Santri, they began to resurrect the world. But far from earning the Oohtlet's forgiveness, the hatred of the native races increased, as did their numbers. On the eve of Neo Marsh's destruction, the Flicker watched a rumbling, rolling storm obscure the once beautiful gold sanctuary she'd spent so long in. The Ooht she'd once called a friend, The Sightless, marched as a rampaging corpse, a grotesque weapon of decay and destruction terrorizing the countryside to the last acre. "Theo.. Grahim would surely have written sonnets on your hubris." The necromatic Ooht tore through the 'sanctuary', while the once high and mighty Santri were scattered to the winds as a people, their capital forever cloaked in the miasma of desecration, a land cloaked in dusk for the ensuring eras to come. She thought about Amity’s visits, how witty and technical she’d get sharing her ideas and looking towards the future. She reflected on Monarch’s responsible egotisms, his moralism and the weight of his incessant shouldering. And she recalled Theo, how smooth he could be, the dinner dates and brief love they shared, the ardent lessons, the century long time passing of time he served as her apprentice of the Hex. In a garden of books and dusty tomes, in Neo Marsh, in a bed they’d share, she remembered everything rosy, the two snug as a rug. Protlyn took one last look from a mountainside, and walked away.

She took off her Necklace, until one was two. Protas and Raelyn looked at one another, kissed and journeyed on into the unknown days ahead.