Fiction:Bel's Awakening/1

  Chapter I 

25 years after Civa Ghenes' founding.

Within the dense jungle of my homeworld, there is not air and every gasp you take makes you feel like your chest is burning. The temperature in Civa Ghenes is said to be three times hotter than Civa Prime's, its intended model. This was, mainly, due to the large network of underground caverns that provided Ghenes' dozen supervolcanoes with enough ventilation tubes to spread their magma effectively across the deep layers of the planet's cortex. Evaporation from underground water deposits created trapped clouds of vapor that when inhaled produced a soft burn in your lungs. It was tolerable for my brethren and I, but our instructors and monitors would often remark how it was infernal compared to the greenhouse effect produced by Civa Prime or the dry freshness of, the Pact's capital and surrogate home of my kind.

I was out, in the jungle, hunting for prey that day. It was customary in the Cradle, our settlement here, that initiates in the Warrior arts depicted in the Book of Discipline had to procure their own sustenance once reaching a certain age into adulthood. I was far from being considered a Civatron in their prime, females such as me took three more decades to fully mature like any male would, and a Civatron would normally reach this stage at the threshold of their first century of life. You could say I still had to wait twenty more years after my male counterparts to reach said biological 'apex life'. I had no quarrel with biology, us females did not evolve to protect packs or tribes in our early days, like males. Still, after centuries of evolution and exposure to new environments, one would expect those differences would disappear. Except they did not. So, in the end, even if I did not care about biology in general, that little detail was a hindrance to me in one way or the other, especially when hunting for food.

My eyes were set on a small pack of quadrupeds a mile away from me. My enhanced psionic eyes could sense them as they peacefully grazed on the fungus that outgrew the tall flora or licked the trees' trunks and branches looking for hydration by drinking from their moisture. Their serpentine tongues scanned the trees and proceeded to the next. There were three of them, a family unit. Once I fully grasped my target, I sat down and closed my eyes and, soon after, they began to expel gleaming, green fumes of psionic essence into the air, boiling into the atmosphere. I began to breathe with longer inhaling and exhaling practice. I felt my muscles suddenly gripped by an invisible force, but it was natural--my consciousness was now next to the quadruped I had selected. The creature raised its head, bothered by my presence, it shook its head violently, trying to push me away. I could feel my essence spread through my neck as I focused more, refusing to back down.

After a brief battle of wits, the creature departed from the pack and approached me. I could feel how it galloped across the wet rocks with astonishing skill despite its bulky composition and hardened scales, dodging the elevated branches from nearby overgrown tree roots in order to close the gap between us until... it was there, right before me. I opened my eyes, still flowing with psionic energy, and I faced my prey with the calmest gaze I could muster. I could feel its struggle, how its instincts shouted danger, the end of its life, but it stood idle nonetheless, breathing rather agitated.

Our species knew each other too well. This species, called Qads, had been one of my kind's predilected prey ever since their early days as nomad tribes, I dare suspect even before that. Our genetic history as predator and prey went back across time for millennia, and now it had been imported here, to my home, for me to know a long-standing culinary tradition.

These thoughts surely connected with the Qad before me, as its agitated breathing soothed and it approached its mouth to my face. I reached out with my hand and caressed it as gently as I could. The Qad rested its feet and lay its head in my lap, its breathing reducing by the minute. I then released the prayer my kind had done when hunting for sustenance for generations.

"Order... balance... the universe knows itself and it protects itself... we belong to that and we fully embrace our destiny in the strings of creation."

My prey sensed my tranquility, and it embraced its fate. Such was the message of the Book of Discipline. We were part of a greater whole, and each one of us was born with a purpose. Us Civatrons lied on top of this purpose as protectors of the whole, as such one small Qad was the universe's contribution to our service to it. This one, on my lap, stopped breathing eventually, resting forever in peace and becoming part of the greater essence that composed the universe.

I raised my head and the other two Qads were staring, now a few meters away from the two of us. I reached out with my mind and felt their emotions. They lacked the intelligence I had, but I could empathize and recognize their feelings, they were not alien to me. They did not mourn nor lashed out at me violently.

They howled into the jungle, bidding farewell to their kin, yet accepting what had transpired with a strange sense of catharsis. This was the way Civatrons hunted, this was the way any creature within their rule and stewardship understood. They departed soon after to continue their instinctive behavior, and I remained alone with my prey, who lied dead before, with its head still resting on my lap.

My muscles relaxed, and I exhaled strongly. Civatron mind-melding was, on common grounds, not even a thought to consider, as we were skilled telepaths. However, the act of overcoming one's prey with empathic thoughts and emotions, conveying our cosmovision, was a chore. I for one did not bother, for it meant a peaceful end for them, filled with contempt for both sides.

I looked at the leaves of trees covering the sunlight as I noticed the sky turning grim. The sound of raindrops touching the huge leaves was heard soon after, followed by intense thunderclaps. Soon the excess water made the leaves go down, releasing torrents of water.

The little cradle where we rested would be flooded in no time.

I exerted my will upon the Qad once again, but this time it floated effortlessly upwards, right on top of a huge branch beyond the initial flooding's reach. Once my prey was secured, I kneeled so to give my legs the right impulse, and then propelled myself towards my new setting.

I quickly took a rope I had carried with me and tied the quadruped's torso and belly tight to the tree's trunk. I had gained my prize, but now I had to wait for the rain to cease. Here lied the true miracle of my home, for if it were not for the heavy rain that constantly irrigated the planet's surface, Civa Ghenes had long become the molten world it once was all over again.

Balance in every drop of water, every living being, and in every life we took.

As I bid my time, I reflected upon what had happened, how the Qad had surrendered to me, accepting my view of the universe. I saw the reality of my creed. It worked. Nature, the cosmos, all responded to it, and it needed to be protected for that. Many civilizations across Chandras Galaxy and other galaxies often see us Civatrons and ruthless, often fighting where we should not and constantly provoking others into conflict. We were a warrior race, yes, but only because that was our purpose. The universe had been greatly affected by the affliction of extra-terrestrial forces, and we knew too well forces harmful to it were still at work. It was our duty as protectors of the universe to police over matters that should not mind us, but just as I had gone all my way to make my prey feel protected and useful, so did the Krassio like me went out of their way to ensure that the universe was going in the right direction.

Yet, a thought suddenly struck me...

What was that direction?

With this spiking sensation, another thought followed suit:

What is my path?

 Navigation  

Bel's Awakening

Chapters

Prologue - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6

The story on one page