Psychic War

Chapter 1: Moving Up

Tarlem woke to see the back of  Lystria’s head. He was still slightly fatigued from the night they had spent together. Turning from her he stepped out of the bed, put on his robe and headed to the shower. The lynx washed himself thoroughly and stepped out. A pleasant aroma came into the bathroom from under the door. It was the friendly inviting smell of bacon. He dried off as best he could, got dressed in a nice suit, and brushed his facial fur. He followed the invitation that the bacon had extended to him to the kitchen. Lystria, Tarlem’s lynx girlfriend of four years now, had prepared him a breakfast to ready him for his day.


“So your big interviews today?” Lystria set some eggs down on Tarlem’s plate.


“Yeah, I feel extremely confident about this. The two candidates left are me and Douglas, and he’s not the one for this job,” Tarlem sat at the food covered plate and scooped some eggs into his mouth.


“You’re gonna get this job so don’t be nervous at all,” Lystria gave Tarlem a kiss on the side of his stubby muzzle.





Tarlem parked his old town car amongst the ranks of expensive sports cars and stepped out, nervously. Confidence escaped the lynx as he made his way towards the skywalk. Doug could easily just swoop in and take the job out from under him. Doug has some experience in the field already and Tarlem was fresh off an internship which happened straight out of college. He lost all confidence in his degree from the University of Dera, the most prestigious one in the nation of the same name.


Light burst through the door as Tarlem entered the skywalk. He stopped to take a therapeutic look out over Leris, the capital of Dera. He sighed and made his way to the interview.


“Hello,” a human presented his hand to Tarlem for him to shake. The lynx complied with a firm hand shake, “I’m Stephan.”


“Tarlem Melos,” Tarlem was released from the handshake.


“So you want to be the new account executive here at Whelman’s?” Stephan sat at his desk with the lynx taking the seat across.


“Yes,” a nervous Tarlem answered.


Stephan looked at Tarlem’s résumé with a neutral look on his face. Tarlem became worried that his résumé was inadequate. In the back of his mind a small voice began to nag at him, “Doug’s gonna get this job. You’ll disappoint Lystria. You’re gonna fail.” Tarlem just wanted to stand and shout shut up.


“Hmm,” Stephan looked up at the worried lynx, “I recognize you now.”


“You do?”


“Yeah, you were that intern here a little bit back with Trish a couple of floors up,” Stephan’s small talk helped to alleviate Tarlem’s nervousness.


“Yes I was,” Tarlem began to calm a bit. Yet the little voice continued to chew at him mentally. That voice upset him the most when it told him that he was going to upset Lystria. He just wanted to pull that voice out of his head  and kill it. Beat it to death with Stephan’s stapler and stab it with his pens.


The last thing that he wanted to do was to disappoint Lystria. Tarlem deeply loved her and he knew that she returned the favor. He wanted to marry her, but money was a problem. His current job was balancing the books at a small mechanics shop in the suburbs of Leris. Lystria’s job was a bank teller helped to generate the two some money. Both had jobs that dealt a lot with money but they themselves didn’t have all that much themselves. Between the mortgage and the bills there wasn’t much at all left for them. The last extravagance that the couple had was a vacation to Carci, which was cut short by a pickpocket.


When the interview was finished, Tarlem stepped out and sharply exhaled. He caught Doug in the corner of his eye. Down the hall came Tarlem’s greatest fear right that moment. This man could take it all away from the lynx. Tarlem could not explain how much he hated Doug. He hated him since their days in high school. Always locked in an intellectual rivalry. This interview would determine who was the better if the two.


“Hello, Tarlem,” Doug acted surprised at seeing his old rival.


“Doug,” Tarlem looked at the short human before him.


“So, how’d your interview go? Crash and burn?” Doug asked in an eccentric way. Tarlem started to see more hope in securing the job. Doug unprofessional attitude would work against him.


“My interview went fine,” Tarlem was already annoyed, even by such a short exchange with Doug, “I’ve gotta get to work now.”


“Alright then,” Doug acted sincere. Then in common (Then Dredian equivalent of English) he shouted, “Kiss my ass!” Tarlem didn’t understand him because he didn’t speak common, for common is quite uncommon north of Teracint.


Tarlem continued to walk away from the short pudgy human and sighed. The voice snuck up on his again, “Lystria will leave you,” getting worse and worse every time it resurfaced. He arrived back at his old car and stepped in. Arriving at work Tarlem’s boss, Bensin, a ferret, got his attention.


“Tarlem, Lystria called here earlier. Probably wanting to know how the interview went,” Bensin sighed, “Too bad you’re leaving us.”


“I might not be leaving,” Tarlem sat on a stool in front of a counter that Roy had built. For nearly five years, Tarlem had called that section his desk.


“Why?” Bensin asked with a tone of concern. On the exterior Bensin looked like a gruff person with a sharp personality, but he was a rather caring and considerate man. Especially to those that he felt close to.


“I’ve told you about Doug?” Tarlem checked his facts.


“Yeah, that bastard that you’ve never liked, what about him?”


“He and I are the only candidates left for the position,” Tarlem explained his situation to Bensin.


“What are the chances of that?” Bensin asked himself as he returned to work.


Tarlem grabbed the phone off the wall and dialed his house. He knew Lystria would answer because it was her day off, “Hello?”


“Hey, sweet heart. Bensin told me you called,” Tarlem spoke into the phone.


“Hey, I called to see how the interview went,” Lystria also hoped that Tarlem got the job.


The voice came back into Tarlem’s head, “Tell her that Doug got the position. Tell her that you have to leave each other. Tell her that!”


“The interview went fine, actually it went great,” Tarlem still held the reservation that it went badly. He felt as if he had just lied to Lystria.


“Did they say when they’ll get back to you?” Lystria asked.


“In a few days. Hey, if I get the job I’ve got a huge surprise for you. So, hope that I got it. I’ve gotta get back to work, see ya sweet heart,” Tarlem made with the phone partings.


“Bye babe.”


Tarlem hung up the phone and returned to work.





The next day, as Lystria got ready for work, the phone rang, “Hello,” Lystria answered


“Hello, this is Stephan at Whelman’s, is Tarlem Melos there?”


“Yes,” Lystria took the phone into the bedroom, “Hey babe, wake up,” she nudged her mate to wake him on his day off.


“Hmm,” he lazily rolled over, “What?”


“It’s Whelman’s on the phone,” Lystria informed Tarlem.


Hearing that it was Whelman’s on the phone snapped Tarlem awake. He reached for the phone that his love held outstretched to him, “Hello?”


“Hello, Tarlem, this is Stephan at Whelman’s,” as Tarlem heard the voice of Stephan through the phone he heard that voice in his head scream out.


“Here it is you broke Lystria’s heart! You failed her!”


Stephan continued, “I an calling to inform you that,” Tarlem began to tense up, “after reviewing the last two candidates that you are the better,” Tarlem’s body relaxed once again, almost instantly.


“So when do I start?” as Tarlem asked that question he saw a smile appear on Lystria’s face and her ears return to an upright position.


“You star on one-ninety-seven , welcome aboard,” Stephan hung up.


“I got the job!” Tarlem sprung out of bed. The lynxes embraced each other in love and excitement.


“So, Tarlem, what’s this surprise?” Lystria was curious.


Tarlem released his mate, “Find out after work.”





A tone sounded as Tarlem entered the jewelers. He approached the service counter and looked at some of the display rings. They all sparkled with luster and brilliance. He had saved money for years. A woman stepped out from the backroom, “Can I help you?”


Tarlem looked up from the glass case, “I’m looking for an engagement ring.”





Lystria entered the house, her day at work was less than perfect. She roughly set her stuff down on the cramped counter. She found Tarlem sitting on the couch watching sports. He turned to face her. Her ears lay flat, “Bad day?”


“Yes,” Lystria flopped down on the couch next to Tarlem, “So what’s this surprise?”


Tarlem turned back to the television and nonchalantly said, “Oh, its nothing. I just reserved us a trip to Rommel Island.”


Lystria’s ears shot up, “Did you just say Rommel Island?”


“Yup,” Tarlem assured her in the same nonchalant tone of voice.


Lystria threw her arms around her mate, “I love you!” Tarlem put his arms around her.


“I love you too,” Tarlem held her tight. Tears began to form in Lystria’s eyes. Rommel island was considered the most beautiful place in Dredia. Lystria had always wanted to go there since she was a child. Tarlem was granting her wish, and his new job was the ticket there.