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Kale
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Chapter Sixty-Two: Jumi
Planet: Etheria Prime
Location: Floating island above the planets surface
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Present Time
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“Hold on tight!” I hear Kotina yell down towards me, though I cannot see her through the dust cloud her body made when she smashed into the floating island.
My hand grips as best it can as the vine springs upwards, pulling me quickly into the air. When it reaches the top, I land on the soft top of the surface of the island. Its embrace is more welcoming than I expected. My hand moves towards my blade instinctually, pausing as it feels something for the first time, grass. I am surprised by the sensation of it, I have seen it in holos, but my home world did not have any where the Kuwathi were made to dwell. My hand grasps some of the blades of grass, my eyes admiring the bioluminescent glow as my fingers streak across it.
It is strange to be surrounded by so much life, my focus returns when I hear the shrieks from below coupled with Kotina’s heavy steps coming towards me.
“No time to relax, we need to clear the island first, come on,” Kotina says, grabbing my shirt and pulling me onto my feet, I am but a ragdoll in her grasp.
As I follow close behind her now while she scouts the area, I find myself wondering how strong she really is, I wonder if the secret to her and Lunara’s strength is the SoulForce or something else. Perhaps it is multiple factors. Above all, I find myself wondering if it is something that can be learned. If my people had their strength… my jaw flexes as I wonder now if they are all alive still. There is a pit in my stomach forming past the growls of my hunger. Pressing the thoughts from my mind, I begin to let the questions about SoulForce form in my mouth.
“You said most call it SoulForce?” I ask Kotina, her eyes do not turn to look at me as we move between trees and brush. Her focus reminds me of Nekam when he would check the knots of our ropes.
“Not all, but most that I know call it SoulForce, or SoulPower, some even call it The Will. I’d stay away from them though, usually the cult type.” Kotina says, pausing for a moment holding up a fist, and turning her ear to listen to something in the distance, after another moment she speaks again “Anyways, most people will never even find the Realm of their Soul, let alone…”
She trails off as she hears something again in the distance. After another moment she lets out a sigh and sits down, putting her back against a tree.
“Not ideal being on a moving island, but it beats being down there. Going to make a grid-by-grid almost impossible.” Kotina grumbles, pulling from her side pouch something that makes my jaw flex.
She looks at me and sighs, splitting a ration bar in half, tossing me one side, I recognize it as the savory variety that Lunara carried. Even though it is not like the one my people were given I throw it back to her.
“Oi, what the frag?” She says catching it, giving me a confused look, her eyebrow-raising “Your belly is growling like a whore in heat and you’re not going to eat?”
“I do not want it.”
She scoffs at me, shaking her head, taking a big bite from both halves, and chewing loudly.
“Stuck up little princess, never met a Kuwathi that had such high dining standards.” She says, tossing the wrapper at me “Didn’t realize the Helenius House was feeding you lot so well. Guess I should start hitting their systems up when I take leave.”
“Do so if you enjoy eating the excrement of your people…” I begin, but she interrupts me.
“What slag are you moaning about princess?” she asks, folding her arms with an irritated look on her face “Look, these nutritional rations aren’t the best, but comparing them to…”
“Not the best?” I interrupt, the surface tension breaking as my bile begins to rise in me “Your people feed mine the excrement of yours mixed with the flesh of my own.”
“Woah—woah—woah, I don’t know who told you that slagsense…” she begins, but I interrupt.
I cannot hold back the bile, I feel the anger rising with it inside of me.
“I saw it with my own eyes, the machines that mashed my people into mush, the…” I stop, images of it playing before my eyes, my hand clenching the grass, pulling it up by the roots. Something wants to spill out from me, but I push it down, now is not the time.
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She does not speak. Though from the expression that her face wears, I can tell that unlike her protegee Lunara, she did not know of the extent of cruelty the House Helenius brought upon my people.
“I would rather die than eat another ration,” I say, breathing deeply, trying to find the calm that does not wish to come.
This is the first time that I have had any time to really think since everything happened, the first time there wasn’t something in front of me to distract me from the deep pains in my soul. It wants to rise out of me, it presses against the edges, and my unwillingness to let it has become like the boundary I pressed against in the Realm of Dreams.
There is no God or Goddess for me to seek comfort from. They do not deserve my prayers, nor do I wish to give them. A few months ago, I did not even believe in the Gods, now that I have seen them and witnessed their power… I find myself hating them. Hating them for having such power and yet allowing cruelty to flourish. If I had the power to slay them, I would make the cosmos run with their blood, regardless of the price on my soul. I would spend eternity in the darkness if it meant some light would shine on my people.
Kotina stirs finally, her jaw tense as she rolls it back and forth, contemplating her words. She turns her head looking in the distance.
“Follow.” She says, moving towards whatever she keeps hearing.
I press the thoughts from my mind, almost glad to find a distraction. Slowly rising to follow her, now is not the time for contemplation. We walk slowly for a few minutes, towards the largest tree on the island. Silence between us still, I hear a dull thud of a small object falling from the canopy above. Kotina leans down and picks it up, examining it in her hand.
“I’m not good at feelings, I get annoyed easily and I don’t have a magic bag to fix anything… but one thing I know better than most.” She begins, moving towards the looming tree “Is how to get strong, provided you have the willpower to see it through.”
She spins and kicks the trunk of the tree, the bark splintering and the ground trembling. From the canopy of the tree, I see circular objects falling to the ground with the same dull thud I heard before.
“First lesson to getting strong, you need to eat.” She says, putting her leg down now “If you want revenge, you’ll need to get much stronger than you are now.”
Kotina picks one of the objects up and bites into it, she takes a moment chewing on it, moving her head side to side as though contemplating something.
“Not bad, not great either though. Eat up, runt.” She says, tossing me one.
Runt? Compared to her tall stature and firm build, I guess most are runts.
I look over the object, realizing it looks like fruit. My nose sniffs it, a smell that I can’t identify. Is this what fruit smells like? I have seen them but never been close enough to smell them. I study it intently, its skin is blue, the leaves upon it pinkish purple. I have only ever had the tasteless food the masters gave us, and what Lunara gave me, the savory rations. My jaw clenches as I remember the face she made when I asked about my people’s rations. I press the thoughts from my mind, focusing on what’s in my hand.
“It’s not going to eat itself, runt,” Kotina says, biting into her second one.
“What is the flavor?” I ask.
She looks at me for a moment, her eyes almost confused as she says “Sweet, obviously.”
“Jumi,” I whisper in the old tongue, our word for sweet, though I have seldom heard its usage from anyone except the Sage Artemius. He used to describe his favorite fruit to me while he smoked on his pipe, always blowing concentric smoke rings. He said the tree it falls from blossoms white in the winter, the chill of the wind making the sweetness rise. Me and Arrum would always wonder what he meant by sweetness.
My stomach growls in protest at my hesitation, forcing the fond memories from me. I tilt my head sideways placing the fruit in my mouth, biting into its flesh, which is softer than I thought it would be. The juices hit my tongue, and I am overwhelmed by sensations, a buzzing sensation hitting taste buds I have never used before, springing to life with fire and passion, burning inside me. I feel joy pulsing from my mouth as my tongue tastes sweetness for the first time since I have owned it.
In a word, it is beauty, but it is more than that. My brow furrows as I feel weakness in my legs, that which I had stuffed down rising up, pressing me to my knees now, threatening to break past the boundaries I have made to hold it. I am swept away in the thoughts of my people, wishing they could try such a wonder with me. Why are the masters and the Gods so cruel when such beauty exists? Beauty which is so plentiful that it grows from the ground and falls from the skies. How can one have so much and not embody the beauties of existence, are people fated to be wicked, can we not be more...
I am so engrossed in the beauty and the thoughts that come from it, that the rest of the fruit falls from my hand towards the ground. Kotina grabs it out of the air and puts it back in my hand gently, looking away from me quickly. I feel something strange run down my cheek and hit my shirt, I look down and see it is water, I stare at it, it is not raining, where did it come from… the side of my hand feels my face. I am crying, but why am I crying, the Kuwathi do not cry, especially not an Ulima.
Kotina puts a hand on my shoulder, still sparing me the shame of looking upon me, biting into her fruit again, pretending for my sake that she does not see. Emotions begin to cascade out of me, I hold up my arm and begin to weep into it. At first, I do not fully understand why I am crying, but with each drop, I begin to realize and begin to mourn those who never got to experience the joy I have just felt. Each tear bids more to follow, a lifetime of repressed emotions spilling forth, creating waves in my soul, thoughts rise with them.
I feel heat in my chest and then in my bones as I let go of the emotions I have spent a lifetime holding back, heat flows into my veins as I weep into my arm, I feel something rising inside of the pain, something more. The ground and air around me is vibrating quietly, my skin feeling the warmth that rises from deep within me. As I release the pain, I feel something giving way inside, as though energy is pouring out. The air rushes around me as Kotina steps back, my arm lowers from my eyes and I see light flowing under my skin.
“Slaggin hells… you just broke…” she stops.
I feel more rising deep within me, everything I have experienced pressing outwards, relief from pain. Inspiration that gives meaning within me, an enlightenment of thoughts that seek to be spread.
The relief begins to fade as the feelings change, the energy that pours is too much, and I feel my body burning from the inside. My vision begins to blur as I feel myself pulled towards the Realm of Dreams.