The beast made a clicking sound, its tongue flicking out from its jaws.
SJ stared at it, uncertain what to say or do. Kibble hopped excitedly, growling and clicking in response. The beast turned its head to look at Kibble and then back at SJ and Fas.
Fas now stood just to the side behind SJ. His body looked tense, his motions stiff. This was not the fabled assassin that SJ had come to know, but a shell in comparison. He looked almost scared, the uncertainty oozing from him.
Kibble again growled, low and guttural. If SJ had not known better, she would have believed it to be a threat. The beast again turned to Kibble and flicked its tongue, then it spoke.
“You... click,” the beast spoke.
Its speech was broken as it fought to communicate. The knowledge it had absorbed from its brother was vast, unimaginably vast, multiple languages, experiences and a history that held no match. Yet this newborn beast was already starting to attempt to communicate in the common tongue.
“You... are,” again it paused as though gathering its thoughts.
“I am?” SJ said, her voice cracking as she spoke. The beast radiated a profound aura. Its mirror-like scales reflected and shifted the light from the cavern in a multitude of ways, making it difficult for SJ to concentrate. It was like looking at an ever-shifting form, a mirage of untold proportions.
“You are the... founder?” It was a question.
“The founder?” SJ felt confusion rain over her. The founder of what? She had no idea.
“The founder,” the beast said, tilting its head.
Kibble squeaked and hopped back towards SJ, standing in front of her like a protector.
SJ looked down at her companion, pride swelling in her chest.
“I don’t know what you mean by founder. I’m sorry.”
The beast continued to look at her, again letting out various chirps and clicking sounds. “Master...,” it said.
“I’m not your master,” SJ said, shocked. How could she ever even consider being a master of something so amazingly prophetic? This ancient beast, even if not ancient yet in years, was so in age from the time it was in its egg.
Fas spoke. “I’m not sure it considers master as we do. The scenes in the tomb showed the beasts and the beings working alongside each other. Not as master and slave. I think it is trying to understand what you stand for.”
SJ glanced at Fas. “And what do I stand for? I have no idea.”
Kibble again chirped, SJ wishing that Dave was available to translate for her. “Fas. Do you understand Kibble?”
“In part. Not all, his language is strange, yet not uncommon. Just a rarity of a version of the draconic speech. I’m not fluent in it by any means.”
“Do you know what he just said? Even a rough translation.”
“He said you are the truth seeker. If I have translated it properly.”
SJ looked at Kibble, who had turned to look up at her. His little head was nodding rapidly.
“What do you mean, truth seeker? The beast said something similar before he disappeared. I have no idea what it relates to.”
“Truth seeker,” the beast said, its head nodding in acknowledgement of the term.
SJ stared at the beast, unsure of what to say or do. The silence lasted several moments before it was broken again by Kibble. This time, he hopped towards Fas. Fas frowned as Kibble clicked and growled.
“What does he want?” SJ asked.
Kibble had what could only be described as a fierce expression on his face, one of determination and resolve.
Fas coughed. “I think he wishes me to transform.”
Again, Kibble nodded fiercely.
SJ glanced around them; there was more than enough room for Fas to transform the large open space easily able to accommodate his draconic form.
“What harm can it do?” SJ asked.
Fas looked at SJ blankly before replying. “I’m not sure I can.”
“What?” shock registering on SJ’s face.
“This place. It feels different, I can’t explain, but I don’t think I could transform even if I wished to.”
SJ wished Dave were here and able to add some context to what was happening or had happened, not that she believed even he might be able to, but at least she would have another sounding board.
Kibble again growled, his head dropping.
The beast continued to watch the interaction between them. Its eyes blinked steadily as it listened to the conversation they were having.
Then it happened.
The beast shuddered, its form shifting, its body appeared to break and reform as though the mirror-like scales were being shattered. They stood in amazement as they watched its transformation. Kibble hopped excitedly, clicking as it did.
The legs of the beast began to lengthen, its body shifting and rebinding. It made no sound; there were just flashes of brilliance as its scales adapted.
With open mouths, SJ and Fas watched as the beast took on a humanoid form. Its skin was alabaster white, still holding the same mirror-like appearance, but the scales had disappeared. A dress as white as snow formed across its being, trimmed with silver edges. Hair grew from its reshaped head, taking on a similar shape to its own. Then, eventually, with a push from the ground, it stood.
There were no words to describe its beauty. The female being that now stood before them, with long silver hair and vibrant green eyes, had replaced the beast. As the transformation ended, the glowing lights and shattered energy of the mirrors also faded. The only telling feature that remained of the beast was indeed its eyes. They were almond-shaped, similar to the images of the beings on the cavern murals. They still held their vibrancy and also the reptilian slits.
It stood for several moments as it flexed its new limbs, its fingers gracefully curling and unfurling, bending its knees and rolling its shoulders carefully, testingly. Then, as though it had always existed in this form, it again spoke.
“Is this appearance better?”
The language this time was almost perfect; there was still a hint of something foreign or alien, but the common words were pronounced with precision. A little over precise but clearly understandable.
If SJ’s mouth could have hit the floor, it would have; no words could describe watching this newborn beast transform magically into the being in front of them. After remembering to breathe, SJ, not realising her breath had been held, spoke.
“How?”
“How what?” the beast or whatever it was now asked.
“How are you able to transform?”
The being looked at Fas. “Because of him. I borrowed his power,” it shrugged. The shrug wasn’t nonchalant, more innocent.
Fas just continued to stare.
“You absorb others’ powers?” SJ was flabbergasted.
“No. I borrow them. I have returned his now. It’s rather interesting.” A quizzical expression fell across its face. “My brother says this is something we have always been able to do.”
“Your brother? He has vanished.”
“No. He remains with me. He always will.”
This was too much for SJ to fathom, and she sat heavily on the ground, shaking her head.
Kibble hopped to her, squeaking in concern.
“Are you alright?” the being asked.
SJ shook her head, then looked up at the being. “I have met gods, dragons and seen many wondrous things since I arrived on Amathera, but this... this is something beyond my imagination.”
On mentioning gods, SJ suddenly thought of Nexis and wondered if he was somehow able to be watching what had been unfolding. Or if any of the gods were.
“Your imagination?” the being asked.
“Yes. Imagination.”
“I don’t understand this word.”
“It’s what you think can happen or may, ideas, concepts, thoughts about what may be. Anything you can perceive.”
The being stood contemplating for several moments. “I see. Thank you, I believe I understand now.”
“How can you speak so fluently? You aren’t even an hour old.”
The being laughed. The laugh was the most unusual yet musical sound she had ever heard. It felt as though it caressed her when it did so. SJ felt a sense of levity and excitement in the pit of her stomach.
“So you are the truth seeker. The balance. The anvil and hammer combined.”
SJ just stared in response.
Kibble squeaked again as he hopped towards the being before flapping his wings and landing on its shoulder.
The being didn’t react, just turning to look at Kibble, smiling gently. It reached up with a hand and stroked Kibble gently.
“You have a companion who trusts you more than any other,” the being said, not looking at SJ. The inner lids of a reptile blink across its eyes.
Fas stumbled forward, his rooted feet at last allowing him to move.
“I have never met one of your kind before, and I have lived for over half a millennium.” His eyes burned with a passion. “What exactly are you?”
The being stood resting its finger on its chin in a thoughtful pose. The mannerism is so well known, yet how could this being even consider it? “I am Gila, as you believe. My nature hasn’t changed. Only my form.”
“Yes, but gilas are beasts of anger, ferocious and feral almost. They wander the regions alone, only rarely meeting to mate.”
“No, you are mistaken. I am a true Gila. As my brother mentioned, those in this world are not me. They are a byproduct of the system that took over this world.”
“The system. You know of it?”
“Yes. My brother studied it for millennia. He knows much about it and its infantile tactics and behaviours. Its immaturity at times causes many problems. It is unable to fathom the depth of the real realms.”
“Realms? What realms do you talk of?” SJ asked, from where she still sat.
“Where my masters now preside. Where they moved to.”
“But how?”
“Transcendence. When the masters left, they left my brother behind as a guardian of this realm. He had lived here for millennia until today. I am now awakened to continue his journey and his path, but alongside you,” the being said, looking directly at SJ, its gaze again penetrating every fibre of her soul.
“Why me? What could I possibly do?”
“Are you not an anomaly? Has that not already been told?”
The shock was profound. How could this being even know about her being an anomaly as dictated by others?
“I am, I suppose,” SJ agreed.
“You therefore have freedom that no other has had in this realm since before my brother’s time as watcher began. When the system took over, they changed everything; they assimilated the world into their belief and for their purpose.”
“What purpose?” SJ asked.
“I don’t know. Unfortunately, the reasons for the system are not known, nor why they do what they have done. Yet, in the same breath, they continue to try to adapt and change.”
The revelations of the system were unheard of, and Fas was as agog as SJ listening to this being speak.
“So the system has no control over you?” Fas said.
“None. I am before its time.”
The thought of being completely free of the system and its choices and controls was mind-numbing for both SJ and Fas alike. It held an untold amount of potential and possibilities.
“I see you are still concerned?” the being said, turning to Fas.
Fas stammered. “Concerned?”
“Yes. How could you ever possibly help us with Killic?”
“Help you? What help do you seek?” the being said.
SJ let out a deep sigh from where she still sat, now resting back on her arms and looking up at this angelic being.
“My town is under siege. Beings and beasts from the desert region have crossed the border and attacked, trying to take over the town. Killic is my home where my friends live and those I care for. We had travelled to this region to attempt to secure the help of a Gila Beast. Kibble was going to see if he could influence it to come back to Killic with us. The draconian forces which have arrived at Killic ride mounts of unmatched power, which, unfortunately, none of our lower levels can combat safely.”
The gila stood its inner lids occasionally blinking as it absorbed what SJ had said. “I can help. The desert beings are of no concern. They are pitiful beings compared to my masters. Their lives are inconsequential, and in time they will fade and the world as once was will return.”
The statement was confident, not bragging and almost poetic in its delivery. It had been stated that the world would eventually return to what it had been prior to the system.
“I thought the system had grown and developed this world?” SJ said.
Again, musical laughter filled the air. “No. The system took control of a world that had been left as a husk. When the masters left millennia ago, they stripped the world of resources and left my brother as the realm guardian. He was in slumber when the system arrived, here in our home.”
“How did he get a level then? The system assigns levels to beasts and beings alike, and they grow through experience gains.”
Again, more laughter.
“The system had to define something, whether it actually knew what was going on. I don’t think it could ever have assimilated my brother, even if it had tried to. He was not one of their founding. Nor am I.”
“We are anomalies together then,” SJ said.
The gila carefully flushed out her dress as she sat cross-legged on the floor in front of SJ. Kibble hopped from her shoulder and moved over to SJ’s lap. Fas, who was still standing awkwardly to one side, eventually moved over and joined them.
“It appears so. Although from what I see, you are somewhat under its bind still.”
“I am. I level and progress as any other being on Amathera, yet am not bound to the same degree by their conditions. Not that I actually know what difference this will ultimately make for me yet. My companion tells me much, but even he is unaware of the system’s true nature.”
The gila tilted her head and paused momentarily as she looked at SJ. “I see that you are indeed an unusual one. You possess several unusual attributes that would typically align with evil, yet your nature is good and your heart is pure, untainted by the world in which you now live. You reminded my brother of a young master, newly born.”
“How long did the masters live?” SJ asked.
“For millennia, time was not as it is portrayed here on the world now known as Amathera.”
“I don’t understand how your brother could have survived for so long without being discovered before now,” SJ said.
“Ha. The region above us is not the system’s design. The world below is ours, and its emphasis is from that above. Its inhospitable nature was devised to prevent most living things, being or beast, from ever traversing it.”
“But we travelled here unhampered. Nothing prevented us from the journey as long as we followed the timings of the sun and its hostility.”
“That is not true,” the gila said, raising an eyebrow. “Did not a storm direct you to land?”
SJ couldn’t fathom how on Amathera, this being could know that a sandstorm had forced them to seek shelter, which led them to finding the tablet that SJ had placed by her side when she sat. She had forgotten about it with the events unfolding and turned to look at it again, lifting it up.
Kibble squeaked as she did. The glyphs on its surface were almost alive and appeared to be spread across its surface, yet still held their form. It was still impossible for SJ to understand what was said on its surface, or what secrets it may hold.
“The tablet guided you. It brought you to it. There is no other possible way that you would have found it otherwise. The tomb you located, and the access had been hidden for an age.”
“What? How? That’s impossible. The sandstorms could have revealed it at any time.”
“You can believe what you wish. I can only say what I know as fact. The tablet chose you, and on doing so, triggered the events which will now unfold. What it means, I can’t say; only time will tell what outcome will occur, but it has chosen you as its bearer. That is why I am now here, sitting in front of you.”
SJ shook her head, perplexed. Gods, dragons, a system and now a group of beings that held unimaginable history and power. A relic of an age since passed, and she had been chosen.
“You have a title?” the gila said.
“Title?” SJ asked.
“Yes. I see you are the Earth seeker.”
SJ looked confused for a moment before she realised what the gila must be referring to. The items that made up the fae set. Five in total, all aligned to the Earth. “I wouldn’t say a title, but I have pieces of a set.”
“You will need them all,” the gila shrugged.
“Sorry?”
“Before your journey concludes, you must have them all. They will be essential to your ability to overcome the challenges that you will face,” the gila said, its words felt oppressive as though a weight had just been applied to SJ’s shoulders.
“But how could you possibly know?”
Again, musical laughter. “I know more than you will ever imagine, more than your gods, your system.”
“Then why can’t you just change how it is? Make things how you wish?”
“Oh. I can’t. I am unable to challenge the current dynamic. I can only observe.”
“Then how could you help us against the lizards and help protect Killic?”
“Ah. That is slightly different. Those lizards you speak of are a shadow of my kind. I drop in a vast ocean, or a grain of sand in a desert. They are vile and should never have been born from our forms.”
“Then how on Amathera did they get created?”
“The system took all that it had discovered and created its versions, manipulated them to its way. Aligned them with its expectations. Good vs evil, as you say.” The gila blinked at SJ and then continued. “These are afterthoughts of shadows that the system doesn’t even understand. It has brought races together on this world, which should never be combined, yet you now face the challenge to not just bring balance but truth.”
“But how?”
“I know not. That is beyond my scope and understanding. But, I will support you as the master’s relic decrees.”
SJ sat staring wide-eyed at this being, unable to comprehend again the depth and impossibility of the situation.
