who’d been tricked into dividing her kind into factions made into a champion. An ax forged at the critical time with powers beyond the comprehension of even the being that had helped create it. A boy drowned on a beach while a girl hovered over him, keening to the skies…
What does Jason dying have to do with anything? And I already know I’m the champion
, I pleaded. Where were the answers?
I saw then the not so lucky. The other beings – elemental beings, pre-Schism Originals like Blondie, Alfar, other strong supes – who could have led, who should have led, struck down before their prime. Suspicious accidents, outright murders … the Red and the White were creatures made of the same power that sought to destroy them, and they could sense the universe’s interference…
So truth needed to be hidden. Power needed to be contained as knowledge, and hidden away. And what better place to hide dangerous knowledge than in the ones who could only bear witness to the powers that bore them, never tapping into them themselves.
Humans.
A spate of glassy-eyed, gibbering faces ran by me: artists, hermits, saints, writers, soothsayers, prophets – all men and women made mad by the powers seeking to use their hands, their voices, their minds.
Using these humans, small secrets were buried here and there, as if the universe were a squirrel hiding away nuts.
Then another human was chosen, inspired to collect all these scraps of knowledge. Another inspired to transcribe them. Another to translate. Another to archive. Another to say the right words at the right time…
All humans, made into tools of the universe.
With that, I was given back control over my own body. My eyes sprang open, to find myself recumbent in Ryu’s arms, his voice saying my name and his eyes peering into mine. I turned my head to see Grizzie similarly propped up by Daoud, Tracy kneeling next to her while Caleb hovered over both protectively. To my relief, Grizzie sat up, looking as groggy as I did.
‘We’re looking for a human,’ I said then, my voice scratchy. ‘The universe gave us a human.’
I think I fainted then, for just a second. That happens when one has the powers of creation rattling around in one’s mind. When I came to, I heard more speech in my head. It sounded like it was coming through cotton wool, but I recognized it.
[I’ve been seeking through relevant minds,] the creature said, its thought colored somehow with its findings. It was excited. [There is a voice calling us. He seems to be expecting me. How curious … I can only take two of you, if you are ready now?]
The choice was obvious, and it flashed through my mind in a second.
And then, like that, Ryu and I found ourselves in another room. I was still lying in his arms, but when I tried to sit up, everything spun.
‘Easy, Jane,’ Ryu said.
‘What the hell just happened?’
‘I was going to ask you.’
I gave him a squinty look, trying to fix my vision, which was swimming alarmingly. ‘Either somebody slipped me some shrooms or I was talking to the universe.’
‘The universe?’
‘Yeah. The universe.’
‘The universe,’ Ryu repeated, looking as skeptical as I’d ever seen him. ‘You have been under a lot of stress…’
‘Don’t be so doubtful. The universe is closer than we know,’ came a chirping, friendly voice from somewhere behind us. I tried to crane my head around, but could see nothing. Ryu helped me clamber to my feet, and we got a good look at our surroundings.
Instead of a cave, this room appeared to be a very sumptuous, modern hotel. Chrome and glass were everywhere, and a modern cityscape lurked outside the huge wall of windows. I also located our speaker, sitting a distance away.
Amid all this modernity, he cut a figure not modern at all. Small and bald, with a round, friendly face sporting even rounder glasses, sat a Buddhist monk in full regalia. He sat in a very large chair.
He had tea prepared, waiting on a low table in front
What does Jason dying have to do with anything? And I already know I’m the champion
, I pleaded. Where were the answers?
I saw then the not so lucky. The other beings – elemental beings, pre-Schism Originals like Blondie, Alfar, other strong supes – who could have led, who should have led, struck down before their prime. Suspicious accidents, outright murders … the Red and the White were creatures made of the same power that sought to destroy them, and they could sense the universe’s interference…
So truth needed to be hidden. Power needed to be contained as knowledge, and hidden away. And what better place to hide dangerous knowledge than in the ones who could only bear witness to the powers that bore them, never tapping into them themselves.
Humans.
A spate of glassy-eyed, gibbering faces ran by me: artists, hermits, saints, writers, soothsayers, prophets – all men and women made mad by the powers seeking to use their hands, their voices, their minds.
Using these humans, small secrets were buried here and there, as if the universe were a squirrel hiding away nuts.
Then another human was chosen, inspired to collect all these scraps of knowledge. Another inspired to transcribe them. Another to translate. Another to archive. Another to say the right words at the right time…
All humans, made into tools of the universe.
With that, I was given back control over my own body. My eyes sprang open, to find myself recumbent in Ryu’s arms, his voice saying my name and his eyes peering into mine. I turned my head to see Grizzie similarly propped up by Daoud, Tracy kneeling next to her while Caleb hovered over both protectively. To my relief, Grizzie sat up, looking as groggy as I did.
‘We’re looking for a human,’ I said then, my voice scratchy. ‘The universe gave us a human.’
I think I fainted then, for just a second. That happens when one has the powers of creation rattling around in one’s mind. When I came to, I heard more speech in my head. It sounded like it was coming through cotton wool, but I recognized it.
[I’ve been seeking through relevant minds,] the creature said, its thought colored somehow with its findings. It was excited. [There is a voice calling us. He seems to be expecting me. How curious … I can only take two of you, if you are ready now?]
The choice was obvious, and it flashed through my mind in a second.
And then, like that, Ryu and I found ourselves in another room. I was still lying in his arms, but when I tried to sit up, everything spun.
‘Easy, Jane,’ Ryu said.
‘What the hell just happened?’
‘I was going to ask you.’
I gave him a squinty look, trying to fix my vision, which was swimming alarmingly. ‘Either somebody slipped me some shrooms or I was talking to the universe.’
‘The universe?’
‘Yeah. The universe.’
‘The universe,’ Ryu repeated, looking as skeptical as I’d ever seen him. ‘You have been under a lot of stress…’
‘Don’t be so doubtful. The universe is closer than we know,’ came a chirping, friendly voice from somewhere behind us. I tried to crane my head around, but could see nothing. Ryu helped me clamber to my feet, and we got a good look at our surroundings.
Instead of a cave, this room appeared to be a very sumptuous, modern hotel. Chrome and glass were everywhere, and a modern cityscape lurked outside the huge wall of windows. I also located our speaker, sitting a distance away.
Amid all this modernity, he cut a figure not modern at all. Small and bald, with a round, friendly face sporting even rounder glasses, sat a Buddhist monk in full regalia. He sat in a very large chair.
He had tea prepared, waiting on a low table in front
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