Unfinished Fantasy

Sisterhood of Nightmares.

Prologue.

It was night time in Xion. The sky, cloaked in a black veil, was covered in shimmering specs of silver. This was Viper’s favourite time of day as he sat up in the girders of the semi-covered dome staring out towards the forests and rivers of the wilderness and up into the star speckled sky. They said he was irresponsible and should think about what he was, or at least should, be doing. Nobody understood him. He often wondered what was out there, beyond the edge of the dome that contained his life. He wondered If he would ever be able to see it. They all said it was full of ugly, horrible, dangerous creatures. He didn’t, in fact, totally disagree with this presumption. He’d heard things, in the night, howls and cries. But this did not stop him from wanting to get out. He felt so trapped, living caged inside a giant metal frame. Sometimes, if he strained his eyes enough, he could see mountains, forests and rivers in the distance and thought to himself ‘I want to go there………and beyond, far , far beyond.’
She was worried about him. She could never quite tell what he was thinking, but unfortunately knew that her guesses were pretty close to the truth. Stood there in the shadows she thought about what it would be like to feel the moist bark of the trees outside the dome and then remembered the words of the Elders. “There be wild things out there” they’d say. She shivered not just because of the cold, but also because the her imagination was acting over time in the dark alley way with only the cold stone walls to hem her in.
She looked up at him again, and huddled closer in behind the wall staring up at the lonesome figure reclined on the girders some 20 feet above her head, one leg dangling over the edge of his makeshift seat. Her name was Aeon, the leader of the young ones, the children. She was 17. Her hair was long and brown and it flowed from her head and almost reached past her waist. Her eyes were a deep blue and reflected the twinkling light of the stars in their dark depths.
Viper had been staring up into the sky thinking about the stars and the patterns they lay in. Three in a line, six that looked like a soup ladle, seven close together, some that
looked like an insect with a tail curled round over it’s head. And then he had a sudden feeling as if someone was watching him. He glanced down but couldn’t see anything that seemed out of he ordinary. He looked closer trying to find any sign of movement, then focused on a shape that seemed out of place.
She gasped as he looked down at her, knowing she had not made a sound, and stepped back into the shadows.
He waited as a few tense minutes passed and then he shouted down to her “You can come out now.” Pausing for a few seconds he made a bold guess “Aeon.” Had she been listening properly she would have noticed the slight note of uncertainty in his voice telling that he hadn’t had a good look at her, but as it was she thought he’d seen her and stepped out into full view.
He jumped to the top of the highest building and clambered down, clinging onto the vines that lined most of the walls in Xion. jumping the last few metres and disappearing from view only re-appear standing behind her leant against the wall. “Why were you spying on me?” he asked. She stared at him for a moment thinking about his total disregard for her rank. Next year she would be made one of the many adults, but for now she was still in charge and deserved at least a little respect.
Viper was 16 his eyes and hair were black and his face long. He had no friends and looked as if he was born of one of the old legends. His skin was pale even for Elf. Everything about him was either black or white, and mostly black. She didn’t know what it was about him, but it was something strange, out of the ordinary. She felt as if she was being interrogated. “I wondered what you thinking.” She murmured.
“Why would you care.” He snapped. To this question she couldn’t find and answer and they both stood in silence for quite some time before she suddenly said,
“You won’t get out.” and taken aback the only answer he could manage was a feeble
“Huh!”
“I said you won’t get out of the dome.”
“Why shouldn’t I?” he retorted.
“Because there’s no way out the sides and there’s a layer of concrete 3 metres down. The only way out is through the………” she trailed off glancing up into the girders realising she’d given him the idea and knowing now that he was going to carry it out.
That night she couldn’t sleep her bed seemed hot and itchy, her room small and airless. She lay there tossing and turning not knowing what to do and wondering whether or not she’d ever see Viper again. By the morning she’d made up her mind.
She hurriedly got dressed and ran out the door. Seeing everything in a blur she ran to the Elders quarter and was very out of breath by the time she got to the door of the oldest and wisest of the Elders, Afion. He was tall, wrinkly, broad shouldered and had milky blue eyes that managed to stare into your eyes even though there was no sight left in them. She hammered on his door impatiently and was trying to tell him what had happened even before he had had a chance to open the door properly.
“He… try… escape.” She said still severely out of breath.
“Slow down child,” said Afion in his slow deep voice, “It is hard enough to understand you children as it is without you being out of breath.”
“Its Viper,” she said after taking a deep breath, “I…I think he’s going to try and escape.”
“Well, well it was bound to happen sometime.” Then it was as if he could see what Aeon was thinking because the next thing he said was the thing she had been dreading.
“And who’s fault is it?”
“I……I think its mine. I think that what I said to him gave him the idea.” Then in a small voice she added “sorry.”
“So, I suppose you’re going to ask what I’m going to do about it?”
“Yes.”
“Well we can’t stop him from leaving if he wants to.”
“But….But,” she stammered “We ha…”
“No we don’t” he interrupted “If you feel so strongly about it maybe you should go with him.”
“Maybe I will” she snapped and turned away tossing her hair. She was furious Viper might never get back if he left. There was no guarantee that he’d even get out before he lost his balance and fell. She stormed passed the rows of shops and houses that she’d known all her life and had thought she would always be here knowing now what she had to do. Once you’d told an Elder you were going to something then you had to do it, it was one of their rules.
She wandered around thinking where he could be. Not knowing where she might find him, or even if he was still in Xion. Eventually after almost a day of searching the huge compound she made a wild guess.
He was sat there in the same place as last night. Starring into the sunrise, dew glistening around him. She wondered, for a moment, what he was thinking before calling up to him. “Are you gonna’ go or what?”
“Course I am.” He replied “And don’t try to talk me out of it.”
“Fine then I’m coming with you.” She said flatly “How d’you get up?”
“What do you mean you’re coming too, you can’t just decide to come with me. I’ve been thinking of getting out all my life. I’ve got nothing to live for here. My family are dead, I’ve got no friends. But you, think what you’d be leaving behind. You can’t just invite yourself along. Anyway I don’t want you tagging along with me. Your like an annoying fly that won’t stop buzzing around me. Get lost and go home.”
“I’m coming. Now tell me how you get up.”
“Fine if you must know you climb up onto the bridge, jump onto the top of the nearest building, then pull yourself up onto the lowest of the girders.” It wasn’t as east as it looked and Aeon had a hard time getting up onto the girders. But she eventually managed it and was soon perched on the girders next to Viper. A nervous silence followed and again she found herself pondering what he was thinking, but couldn’t quiet work out what it was like something standing just out of her field of
vision. So she eventually said “When are we leaving?” in her cool, relaxing voice.
“Tomorrow. Sunrise. From here.” He replied obviously unhappy about her coming with him, but resigned to it as was she. “pack light and get a good nights sleep.” He said and slipped down the girder with practised ease vanishing silently the moment his feet touched the ground.
For a long time he couldn’t get to sleep. He doubted that he’d be able to get anywhere before Aeon gave him away and was almost sure that there was truth to the tales of the wild things that lived outside. Eventually he slipped into a troubled slumber, haunted by dreams that seem to fade when anything began to make sense. A dream haunted with shadows.

1. Nightmares.

He was surrounded by mist. Shadowy shapes moved all around him, but as he moved towards them the mist curled and they disappeared. Nothing seemed quite right. The black shapes danced in a sea of grey. Black ‘things’ lurked at the edge of his vision, always there but not really visible. He walked on. He shivered and a feeling welled up inside him, fear. He couldn’t help but feel like he was being watched, and he kept glancing from side to side finding that the shadows to either side of him seemed to close in on him. Every time he looked away he
thought he saw a flicker of movement, something looming up to his right or left.
Then he ran, his black cape trailing out behind him creating wispy curls in the surrounding mist. There was something following him silent, but definitely there. The shadow moved in, licking at his heels. Black trees rose up around him. Roots catching his feet and twigs whipping his face. Canopy enfolding him in a sheet of dappled grey. It quickly got darker until he could only just see.
He wasn’t even sure what was real any more. The dream was so real but wasn’t quite right as if some god decided that creating a world would be fun, but had stopped just before it was finished. In that moment he stumbled and felt his face catch on something cold and sharp, almost like metal. Pain ran through one side of his face. In the moment just before he blacked out he thought of the only thing he remembered of his mother. The one thing which he remembered her saying to him. “Beware the dreams. The dreams that hurt, kill.” Then he fell into unconsciousness.
Cool blood trickled from his cheek. The leaves that he lay on were stained with it. Then he remembered, his hand came up to his face and he winced as pain shot through his temples. The wound was long and had a very slight curve. He felt around underneath him and soon found it. It was indeed metal and he tentatively brought it up into his field of vision. It was a sword. He griped the obsidian handle, and almost chuckled at the coincidence of obsidian being his birthstone, it was cold and his hand tingled as he gripped it. It slipped into his palm easily as if it had been made for him.
As he lifted it up in front of his face it glowed a firey red. He let his grip slip slightly and ran his fingers over the blade. It had a symbol engraved on it. He looked closer and tilted the blade, catching what little light there was. Then he saw what it was flames and a giant cobra slithering down the length of the sword, mouth wide, pulling the flames behind it. He kept it in his hand grasping it tightly, feeling slightly more at ease now that he was carrying a weapon that also served to light his way. Dank blood still trickled from his wound staining his clothes. He noticed he was now climbing a hill, the incline was quite steep now. The mist had thinned slightly the air was
thick and humid there was a storm brewing and a few steps further on he heard the first clap of thunder. He hurried on.
His cheek throbbed. The cut ran from level with his left eye almost to his neck. He felt light headed and realised that all the blood going to his head was trickling out of the cut. He sat down and ripped the sleeve off of his shirt wrapping half of if around his forehead and the rest under his chin and over the top of his head. Bandaging the wound. Then he started off back up the hill, moving at a slow jog. As he neared the top of the hill the first lightning struck. At the top of the hill, only twenty paces away, two silhouettes danced. A couple of steps further on he realised the taller figure was holding a sword. Seconds later a second flash of fork lightning, directly behind the hill, lit up the second silhouettes face. It was Aeon starring right at him eyes wide and milky, mouth wide, skin even paler than normal, a look of sheer terror on her face. Then a point of glowing red appeared behind her, the silhouette’s silver handled obsidian blade slowly sunk into Aeon’s back piercing her lungs. A long, gurgling sigh emanated from her back as the air rushed out of her back, blood flowing dark and fast from the fatal gash.
As she slipped silently off of the sword, sinking slowly to her knees he saw the other silhouette was lightly illuminated by the flickering red glow of her sword. A dark fire danced within the blade and was reflected in her eyes, dark and black as the deepest depths of space, sucking all light in. Her hair flying out behind her also completely black contrasting with the pale skin of her emotionless face. Slowly the edge of her red lips curled up into a grin filling him with anger.
He charged screaming at her, blade held high behind him also burning red but a bright strong light rather than the dark fire of the shadow woman’s blade. His bandages falling off he found himself charging, cutting, spinning a swirling shape in the mist as she stepped backward, disappearing into the grey.
He sunk to his knees, next to the fallen girl and rolled her over. Her eyes were closed her face pale and completely without emotion. A tear rolled from his eye followed by another, and another drenching her with a mix of tears and blood, hers and much from his still open wound. All thoughts ran out of his mind apart from her and the fact that she was
dead. Then it all flooded back in where he was, but he had forgotten that it was all a dream it was all to real.
At almost that exact second he sensed movement behind him. Turning, pulling his eyes from the body, he saw her, standing there, eyes fixed on him. Tears still pouring from his eyes cape and blood trailing behind him, bringing the glowing sword up diagonally, he ran at her. She parried easily sending sparks flying off both swords. He attacked relentlessly anger, fear and sadness fortifying the furious assault. But she was able to dodge and parry each slash with a fluency that would scare the best swordsmen in the world. But still he continued spinning and slashing his fury carrying him with speed that surpassed that of human boundaries, driving her backwards down the hill and back into the forest.
Blades glowing, mist swirling around them they fought. Blow after blow a tangy taste of blood welled up in his throat and fear hit him. In his momentary laps of concentration she made a wild slash at his head, he parried it but not before Her blade scored a burning line down his face, barely missing his eye, crossing the wound from before. He began his attack again, but this time it was slower the pain reaching him and the blood loss making his movements sluggish. His offensive soon became a defensive. Finding himself countering blows that earlier he would have been striking his energy began to ebb. His movements were jerky and he was only just able to keep, what seemed to be an effortless attack, at bay. Parrying to late and to hard he found that it was getting harder and harder to defend against the onslaught.
After one extremely hard thrust he was off balance and his blade was off target. A series of long hard blows followed, driving him backward around the trees and through the mist. It was the beginning of the end. She made a overhead slash sending him staggering backwards losing his balance, but giving him space to bring his blade down behind him dragging on the gritty ground and leaving a trail of golden fire behind him as he charged. As he ran at her he brought his blade up in front of him. Black fire spurted from her outstretched arm, stopping him dead. Eyes wide, head swimming he starred at her as his blade slid from his hand and slowly looked down at the blade he was impaled on. He didn’t realise even when the fire stopped him that there was nothing left.
“No friends. No weapon. No hope.” The cool, calm words shocked him there was nothing he could do he was going to die, now. He lived the moment again and again. The fire, the sword, the despair where had he gone wrong. Then the pain hit him. He couldn’t move, couldn’t speak, couldn’t breath. His heart was ripped apart, but the moment dragged on lingering like a shadow.
He woke up writhing under the sweat drenched sheets not noticing the dark red stains that covered the sheets. He sat there shaking wrapped in blood stained sheets. He thought about his parents, he had never known either of them his father died before he was born and he remembered almost nothing of his mother only a few words and the fact that she wasn’t buried anywhere in the grounds of Xion. He had always thought that she was out there somewhere outside, he hoped.
His hand strayed to his cheek which he realised was still hurting. Gingerly feeling the tender flesh he suddenly withdrew his hand, red with blood, as a stabbing pain ran through the side of his face. He ran to the small mirror near the corner of his small, practical room. Crouching and turned his head to the right so that his left temple was clearly visible there he saw the cross shaped scar right where it had been in his dream, still wet with blood. A sudden chill ran down his spine and he new there was something not quiet right about this whole thing.
It was still dark when she awoke. She thought of going back to sleep but then she heard them and the blood drained from her face. Screams of terror filled her ears wrenching at her soul. She dressed and ran outside.
She turned and froze eyes fixed on the scene in front of her. This was no normal night the sky was black. No twinkling stars, no moon, not even any clouds. The whole area was illuminated in an eerie limelight. A ring of light surrounded a circle of complete darkness darker even than the night sky. She realised she was shaking and then took a long beep breath of the frosty air. She stood there, shivering, in her thin, ragged T-shirt and baggy jeans and thought she quickly came to the assumption that it must be an eclipse, she had heard some of the Elders talk about them it was when the one of the 3 moons moved in front of the sun. The technology of Xion had only just moved past thinking the world was flat and there were still many that wouldn’t believe that it was round, but like the Ancient Egyptians they new much about the movements of the stars. She thought for a moment longer and realised that even if this was an eclipse then she would still see stars and the other two moons. Feeling cold and drained she ran. To the place where they had chosen to meet. There she stood looking upwards to the dark silhouette of Viper cloak dangling down from the steel girders that reflected what little light there was into little sparkling specks of glimmering silver. Quickly she climbed up, slipping on the various steel bars. Eventually she got to him and stared into his eyes. They were cold, dark, glazed and fixed on the hole of blackness above them. Without turning he spoke. Skin pale, black eyes reflecting a circle of darkness surrounded by a ring of light.
“In the library” he said, “there is a book, the oldest book in there, dating back before we even came to Xion. I once went into the back of the library and that’s where I found it lying dusty and untouched. It had no title, was large and bound in heavy leather. I started reading. The book spoke at length of an ancient prophecy but repeated on and off throughout the scripture were the lines.
‘When day is night and night is day,
When heat turns earth to dust and clay.
Then they shall rise and once again,
The sisters of nightmares again will reign .
Two from without and two from within,
Too defeat the evil a journey must begin.
Not all that is black is as it seems,
Not all that you fear is dark within.
All that is found must then be lost,
And all that is dreamed will then be got.
That of the mother and that of the son,
Must combine together for the battle too be won.
1 of 4 evils in the night will be slain,
And that which you lost you must try to regain.’ ”
Slowly he turned to face her and she heard herself gasp at the gash that ran down the side of his face. The flesh was tender, red and swollen and there was dry blood still encrusted on his cheek. She realised that she was starring at it and quickly looked away, but not before he had seen the direction of her gaze. “Last night I had a strange dream, I was in a place far from here, and there was something odd about it from the start.” His voice sounded hollow and deep like something dark taken straight out of one of the old books, “I dreamt that I cut myself on a sword when I tripped over and the scar is here on my
face just like it was in my dream. I also dreamt that you and I were dead.”
“All that is dreamed will then be got.” Aeon murmured to herself.
“Yes,” he answered, “and if this isn’t night when its meant to be day then I’ll be dammed.”
“ I think we better take that book with us.” Said Aeon
“Yeah,” he answered, “you go home and get packed and I’ll get the book.” Slinging his bag over one shoulder he dropped to the roof of a building, jumping off it even as he landed and disappearing silently into the darkness.
After climbing the girders and ascending to the point she had left only minuets before she let out a long sigh. Gazing over the building and streets of her home in the misty limelight, she couldn’t help but think that she was in over her head. Nothing could have pleased her more at that moment than to wake up and find that the last two days had been a dream. She started crying. The tears ran from her eyes down her pale cheeks and fell glittering, turning slowly over and over. Below her now Viper stood silently watching as the tears hit the ground and dissolving into small patches of dark soil. His light cloak billowed out in front of him wrapping him lightly in a sheet of smooth folds. He carried very little save the book and a knife at his waist, whereas Aeon had a leather bag slung about one shoulder with a few clothes in it. The bag was just big enough to fit the book in it and was still light enough to carry for a days walk. Food he knew would be a problem so he had enough provisions to keep them alive for a week, although not particularly well fed. These were also placed in the bag.
It was still dark when they left and the dark sun was still rising in the East, behind them. Gazing back and taking their last look at their home they saw the city cast in shadow, edges glimmering with flickering lines of silver. Aeon began to cry again, silently this time, tears running slowly down her face. Her hair in her eyes and across her face she took a deep breath, standing tall she brushed the hair out of her eyes and turned slowly, tossing her hair out behind her she strode off down the girder leaving Viper brow furrowed starring into the darkness. For a moment in the black disk of the sun he thought he saw a figure, a woman dressed in black, but the sensation passed and he turned and followed Aeon.
Coming to the edge of the girders he walked onto the top of the thick out side wall of Xion and making use of yet another handy vine he clambered down the tall concrete wall that stretched far into the distance, slowly curving round to entrap the huge cities inhabitants.
As he dropped lightly to the ground he glances around and took in everything in one long moment, all the strange plant life, brightly coloured ferns and orchids bigger than he had ever seen before. The scent almost overwhelmed him delicate aromas flooded his nostrils filling him with a sense of dizziness. The sensation passed as he noticed something far more subtle. A sudden memory of the howls he had heard flashed into his head and he shivered.
Without a word he started walking and without looking back left the dome of Xion for ever. Eyes set squarely upon the horizon he trudged through the ferns and bracken that barred his way. He turned for an instant to see Aeon hurrying too keep up and slowed his pace. Soon stood next to him and taking a long breath of the heavily perfumed air she said,
“Beautiful isn’t it?”
“Yeah, sure.” He replied uninterested. She noticed a hint of boredom in his tone, as he began to pick up his pace a little, and lagging behind she studied him. To her he looked strangely in his element, oddly at home and realised that this was exactly where he belonged. He could never be truly at home, he would always long for something, somewhere else. He had never had a home and never would, its the only way he could be. He was a wanderer, solitary and lonely he had no friends and no family. Cold calm and emotionless he seemed to most people but she could just see a glimmer of something deep down inside, something he hid even from himself, grief. No one not even Afion remembered his father if he had one at all, which many people doubted. His mother was shrouded in mist she had
disappeared when he was very young and everybody had nothing to say about her, its not that no one remembered her quite the opposite but no one knew her and they even disagreed on exactly what she looked like. Nobody whatsoever knew her name. She personally didn’t know what she believed but she felt that something in him was missing.
Still illuminated in the flickering lime light of the black sun Viper walked on and slowly everything around him seemed to haze as his mind went into those long trains of thought, where when you get where your going your never quite sure where you started. The beautiful flowers around him with their aromatic scents, the weird sun, his dream and the strange prophecy drifted across his mind as he walked constantly onwards. As he thought his senses became more acute, he could feel things, smell things that he couldn’t quite separate from his imagination. He for a moment felt dizzy and then the sensation passed and he snapped back to his train of thought. Fixating on the final battle he went through the motions one by one, in his head, over and over and over until he realised that he was angry and couldn’t figure out why. Emotions ran through his head sadness, grief, fury, pain they all ran together in his head until at one moment, inside his head, everything froze right at the moment the blade sliced through the tender meat of Aeon’s supple body.

2. Wilderness.

Hours had passed as he had thought while wondering aimlessly. He thought to himself about what had just happened to him, he had just felt love and yet at that moment he hated Aeon tagging along where she had no business even being around him. Of course he was mature enough not to show it, but why did she show so much interest in him always snooping around. He frowned, and walked faster. Absentmindedly picking up a stick he flicked at the bracken and greenery around him and then realised that he had been following a path. The extremity of this is not apparent to most people. A path is an ordinary thing to us but to Viper it was something far more than just out of place. It meant that there was something else out here and, judging from the width of the path, it was something big.
Like a wraith he side-stepped smoothly into the greenery at the side of the path and turning pulled Aeon in after.
With a silent nod to her he headed off, silently, in a new direction, Aeon following as best she could. A dark wisp of nothing turned and glided after them. Gaining on them step by step it was only when Viper paused to look behind him that he saw it, crouched low with bright eyes wide. In the twilight it could barely be seen, only by the faint reflection in its luminous eyes did he notice it at all. At that moment he knew running wouldn’t help, it would only tire him out. So he turned drawing his knife and sank into a low crouch.
In a mad rush the thing pounced and flew through the air towards him. Gliding underneath it Viper seemed to swim through the air in a casual backwards dive, stabbing upwards and scoring a dark line along the creatures abdomen and flicking over backwards as he landed into a fighting stance. He had cut deeply into the thing and it was losing blood fast. Aeon turning as she ran stopped and in those few seconds was already nearly back in the back of her head she thought she could hear a faint sound like a scream but softer. As she approached she glanced down and saw the fallen animal as she starred at it still faintly trying to get up it looked even now,
with its fur matted and coated with blood, noble like a sleeping lion or a fallen dragon.
While still afraid she drew closer and sheepishly touched the faintly dappled fur it still felt silky and smooth and as she touched it the voice in her head suddenly screamed at her and she drew her hands back two her ears and the noise died down but the words were still there,
“Help me, Help me!” bending over it she looked into its faintly shimmering eye and saw deep inside it, she could feel and almost hear it pleading with her. The soft crack of a snapping twig told her that Viper was now also here, after landing back in an upright position he had watched the cat-like thing collapse and then stood panting for a moment getting his breath back.
As Aeon looked up she saw him, knife raised as he came to finish the thing off and only in the nick of time was it that she started in surprise and squeaked at him to stop. Obeying cautiously he lowered his knife but didn’t put it away. The beast was large and very dark, but sleek and lithe rather than fat. Very much like a panther would look close up but far larger, bigger even than a full grown male lion. It let her slowly and tentatively roll it over but shied away slightly when she gently touched the long slash on its chest.
Many of the herbs around were much the same as in Xion and as a girl she was taught the healing arts like everyone else. Grabbing a nearby shrub and deftly picking it out of the ground, she crushed a few of its broad, green leaves in her hands and rubbed the sap onto the wound, which was not as deep as it had at first seemed.
The bleeding had slowed but hadn’t stopped. From her pack Aeon produced a tattered shirt and ripped it into several long strands and, knotting them together wrapped it round the prone animal as tightly as was safe. Each time she touched it she could hear the screaming louder and louder and gritted her teeth against the noise. At this point Viper, stood there knife in hand, was fairly confused. Aeon turned to him and said.
“Don’t just stand there, do something useful. Start a fire or something. It looks like were going to be here for a while anyway.”
“But what if there are more of them. They’ll see the fire.”
“We need to eat and anyway they’ll probably stay away from a big fire. See if you can’t find a stream or something as well this wound needs bathing and I can probably make a decent stew out of some of these plants.”
Turning back to the animal Aeon gently laid a hand on its side, wincing as the screaming noise flooded her head, fighting it back she concentrated. Relying on there being a way to send messages back to the fallen beast she sent soothing thought to the thing, flooding her mind with soft quieting thoughts. She must have done something right because the noise slowly began to grow quieter and was eventually replaced with a voice.
“Wh…who are you?” It said in a quiet and shaking voice and then Aeon had the strangest feeling, she ‘heard’ it wince in her head. She felt more than just the words all the thoughts that it was broadcasting flooded her head, she could sense the pain and the emotions, she could feel its fear. For those of you who haven’t had two peoples thoughts inside your head, until you become used to it, it is an incredibly confusing experience, for a start it is impossible to lie, you can transmit thoughts that aren’t true but the person receiving them will hear your thoughts of what is actually true. The moment you lie you instantly think of the truth. Also it is far faster and more efficient than speaking, in that it isn’t just conveying the words but also the thoughts and emotions behind them and with the most powerful telepaths don’t convey words at all, but the imagery involved is so powerful that they can actually force someone into living an experience real or fantastical.
“My name is Aeon, Who are… What are you?”
“My name is Nenni. I am the one who walks alone. My people are called the Naanick but I have never truly been one of them.” In that moment Aeon knew all about Nenni and the Naanick images ran through her head of a pack of tree dwelling cats with a social structure more complicated even than that of Xion. A group so close knit that they each relied on every other and not one thing could happen without foreknowledge and not one cub did not know his or her future. Except one The one who walks alone, Nenni. Her birth was unforeseen and unwanted. And as soon as she was able she was cast out and left to live or die on her own. For one who had always known noise in her head, even before she was born, the silence was torture. But now see sensed that this was why she was born, why she had been alone, and she was already sorry that she had mistaken them for prey.
“No don’t apologise,” said Aeon out loud, surprising Viper who had only just started to walk away the exchange had been so fast. “So you want to come with us? That considering what Viper did to you I’m somewhat surprised.”
“It’ll heal. What about you and him?” A flood of questions filled Aeons head and she instinctively pulled her hand away, but this time the noise didn’t die away but they did lessen slightly.
“Why hasn’t the noise gone away this time?” and the answer flashed into her head.
“Were linked now, I can talked to you any time I like and you can do the same, don’t worry I’ve been alone a long time so I’m not going to be saying much.” Slowly Aeon sorted out the questions in her head and formulated an answer to them.
“We come from the dome 10 miles or away.” She mentally embroidered her answer with pictures of the dome and the long journey from there to here, “Viper never had any family or friends so he’s always wanted to leave, I guess there was nowhere else to look for his parents but out here. This is where he will find his past.”
“And what about you?” Aeon hadn’t realised but she had only ‘talked’ of Viper flashing images and memories of all she knew about him throughout the explanation, the prophecy, the dream, the scar. She shuddered.
“I…” it was a blank, she didn’t know why she was here, how she had been swept up along the way. “I just got caught up along the way.” At that moment all she could remember, her whole life flashed before her eyes drawn out of her by Nenni’s invisible hand, in that one moment they both knew the other perfectly, the most intimate of secrets that they kept were known to each other and a bond between them was created so strong that no matter the distance the could always sense the others presence, and feel even the slightest emotion the other was feeling.
Over the next few days they moved slowly the cut on Nenni’s underbelly slowly healing. Viper always kept his knife loose at his hip but gradually he accepted Nenni as parted of his rapidly expanding group of followers. Try as he might though he never managed to communicate with her. This was acutely annoying for Viper for he felt that he would never truly know or accept the friendly animal, and would certainly not be able to overhear what they talked about, which for some reason bothered him more.
Every day the sun was as dark as it had been on that first morning. Nenni knew the area quite well so they followed her for a while, she kept near water and food was also close at hand. Viper found himself slipping into long periods of thought as he stopped trying to listen in on Nenni and Aeon’s silent conversations. For a long time he considered slipping of into the undergrowth and going off on his own, but he knew it was a bad idea, the area was unknown to him and it made no sense to sacrifice an able guide for the sake of a personal vendetta with his travelling companion. And there was the whole problem of the experienced hunter’s finely attuned senses, Nenni would know what he was doing before he had gone to steps. He gave an almost inaudible sigh and slipped back into a restful train of thought wandering vacantly on, after the pair.
Since his mother disappeared it had been a long hard road for him to travel. He more or less looked after himself all the way along, people tried to help but he never really let anyone get close enough for them to be of any use bringing him up. The teachers in Xion didn’t help either, he learnt all that was needed of him and stayed out of trouble so nobody really took any notice of him. He had no friends and kept himself to himself, for the most part. But then there were the fights, it didn’t happen often, there wasn’t anyone stupid enough to pick on him more than once, no home life meant that he developed his own code of justice and when someone picked on him it meant that they had to suffer the consequences. There was nobody to notice the slight cuts and bruises he received, but the broken bones and bloody faces of the other boys meant that even the teachers stayed clear of him. He began to enjoy the loner life, at least he was less unhappy and not lonely, he didn’t want any friends and got along fine on his own.
Black hair and eyes were very rare, in fact the only other person known to have it was his mother, even brown hair was less common, as the people of Xion had lost the need for camouflage long ago when the dome had been built, so many thousands of years ago that nobody remembered even the slightest part of the story. Still that one last genetic trait had been passed down to him alone proof of his ancestors background. All he knew of it was the lies told to him by the elders.
“Yes young Viper, your family were the greatest hunters in the Dome, back when we still went outside they’d be the ones to hunt the wolves that formed our food.” None of it was true, but then Viper didn’t know that.