“I can’t believe you sent that amateur to do this!” Sheila loudly voiced her complaints, having overheard Shaquia’s conversation with Lisa, which Genesis had found terribly amusing.
“For an amateur, she still beat you.” Shaquia released more steam and handed Solomon her phone. That seemed to shut the lioness up well enough. “You’re still going after them, so don’t get too worked up over it.”
“Hey, Shaquia…” Solomon said in a low voice, frankly baffled by the way Lisa spoke to the lynx. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know it got to her so much…”
“It doesn’t matter.” Shaquia held out an arm, looking ever so slightly relieved. “She can hate us as much as she wants as long as she does this.”
“In a way, she’s right.” Catherine approached Shaquia and was met with an especially cold glare from Sheila. “Luxor doing something was days, non, weeks overdue. Should have dealt with him earlier, and lucky for you, that’s exactly what we’ll discuss.”
“Not now, Catherine.” Shaquia leaned on the table and shook her head with a dreadfully grim look. “Meeting adjourned.” She paused and took a brief glance at Solomon. “We’re counting on you, Lisa…”
“As I said, that’s fine.” Catherine put her arms apart, then pointed at the cat. “You, come with me, my men want to have a talk with you.”
“Is that okay?” Solomon asked, giving the lynx a worried glance.
“Solomon, Samuel, you can leave.” She said, beckoning the rest of the group to the table.
With a nod, Solomon and the snake stepped outside with the opossum where they were met with the sight of five of her bodyguards.
“You see, kitty… My men are terribly afraid of you.” She began to say in a lightly condescending tone, pointing to the staunch men lined up beside the wall. “Just look at them, they’re just quaking in their boots!” She turned her head and faced the cat. “Do you know why that is?”
Solomon and Samuel briefly exchanged glances. If Genesis could speak, Solomon was sure he still wouldn’t say anything due to his boredom with Catherine.
“It’s my power, I’m used to people fearing me by now.” That sentence somehow pleased Genesis.
“Correct!” Catherine clapped three times, slowly. “I would like them not to be scared. I heard you could do something about it.”
Samuel looked taken aback by the information. If they were more scared of her than him, he was likely trying to figure out what exactly she could do to warrant that.
“Well…” She looked at her hands and allowed Genesis to do whatever. He put up her index finger. “...what?”
“What, you’ll only protect one of them?” Catherine asked, tilting her head.
Genesis then gave her a thumbs up.
“Un, that is correct.” Solomon said in an uncomfortably formal tone. “I can’t go wasting my power on trifling matters such as bodyguards.” What she said seemed to entertain both Genesis and Samuel, the latter of whom trying his hardest to hide that fact.
“Alright…” Catherine gave in. “You choose then.”
Solomon set her eyes on the middle bodyguard, a tall canine with black fur. He appeared relaxed, right until Solomon removed her gloves and held his hands, letting Genesis work. She wasn’t excited to have a random person infused like that, but anything to keep the ever hard to please Catherine satisfied. Once he began glowing green, Genesis stopped and Solomon regained control.
“Are you sure…” Before the opossum could even finish her sentence, Solomon found her thumb pointing down, entirely against her will. It freaked her out, but Genesis did feel apologetic. Catherine then gestured to her guards and haughtily left the area.
In all honesty, Solomon was glad to have her finally gone. She could really understand why Shaquia disliked her, a grating voice, and for a native, a terrible French accent. Sure, Solomon herself had a noticeable one, but it was genuine.
“Really put her in her placcce there.” Samuel approved of the way she handled the opossum, Genesis concurred.
“If she doesn’t like me, why should I?” She frowned, more at the idea of her having any approval of Catherine.
“True!” The snake chuckled, although it was short-lived. “But… Who wasss that on the phone?”
“My girlfriend.” Solomon said casually as they began walking down the hall and to the lifts.
“Ah.” He nodded along. “Ssshe’sss… Assssertive.”
“That’s one way to put it.” She sighed and got into a lift with him. “I’ve never seen her so angry! I had no idea she hated the org so much.” Solomon was certain she was ready to tell Lisa about Genesis once she came home, but after hearing her like that… She wasn’t so sure anymore. “Would she understand…?”
“Maybe ssshe had a bad day, you know?” Samuel argued. “Not like I’m the ekssspert here, but maybe?”
“Maybe…” She lowered her head, the lift finally arrived at the fourth floor. “We’ll see. I’ll just lie down a little.” She stated, looking in the direction of her room.
“Sssoundsss good!” Samuel smiled, which didn’t last too long.
“You should meet the other Frost Ones.” She suggested, gesturing towards the training halls down on the ground floor. “Look for a door with a snowflake, you can’t miss it.”
“Uhm, thanksss!” He said, a little awkward, clearly. Solomon knew from her brief conversations with him that he wasn’t very social, but she figured he could try a little.
“Either way, you’ll be the coolest person there!” She giggled. Genesis didn’t like her pun one bit. “I’d like to see you try.”
“Heh, I guessss you’re right.” He gave her one more grateful look and turned towards the lifts. “Thanksss.”
With a friendly wink, she waved him goodbye and glanced at the door to her room. She then raised her radio to her mouth.
“Let me know if you need me, Shaquia.” She spoke calmly, trying to sound reliable.
“We won’t need you today, Solomon, I can promise that.” The lynx’s voice came through, along with the sounds of other people talking. “Go and rest, God knows I won’t get much of that tonight.”
“Good luck!” She managed to say after a moment, unsure of what else to say. Despite the time since their contact with the acid, Genesis was still quite jubilant. Solomon imagined him in the dreamland she had made up for him in her mind. “Dreamland… Well…”
Solomon made her way to room 46 and got into her sleeping attire. It wasn’t too different from her day clothes, just in case she needed to do something urgent at night. Her room stayed the same for the most part, but the painting and the plaque had long been removed.
She lay down on her bed and let out a sigh of relief before taking out her phone. To her delight, Lisa had sent her a message only a couple minutes before.
“Roxy, you are NOT going to believe it.”
For once, she knew exactly what her girlfriend was talking about when she wrote that to her.
“Shaquia told me, sorry to hear.” Solomon texted and left out the part where she heard Lisa’s precise reaction. “Samuel’s right, I’m sure she just had a bad day made worse.”
Lisa then sent three messages in quick succession.
“Good thing you aren’t here in hindsight, wouldn’t want you to have to do this.”
“Like ffs, we can’t catch a break!”
“Anyway, omw to pick up some wanker named Alexander with Yaro, will keep you updated.”
Solomon read the messages multiple times, wishing, praying, not even that she can do it, but simply that she’ll be okay.
“Stay safe, ma chérie. Can’t wait to have you back.”
In response, she got a heart emoticon not long after. With a smile, she sent one back and set aside her phone, just looking at the ceiling, thinking.
After a couple of minutes she put forward her arms, above her to look at her markings.
“Hey, Genesis.” She said in little more than a whisper. It was enough to catch his attention and she let him grab the notebook. He just wrote a question mark into it. “So, our powers are returning, right?”
His response was a thumbs up.
“Do you think you can…” She paused, preparing for her admittedly strange request. “Do you think you can change my dreams, still?”
Genesis went to write right after, clearly intrigued.
“I could try.” The words didn’t really encourage Solomon, but she figured it was worth a shot.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
“But can you do something that’s, uhm, not a desert?” She asked with a short, awkward laugh.
She was met with the same response: “I could try.”
“Alright then. Want to find out?” She couldn’t help but be a little excited about possibly having exactly the kind of dream she wanted. Genesis felt her excitement and put the notebook on the nightstand too. He then moved her hands above her eyes.
“Okay, that’s not needed.” She giggled softly and moved her hands away before she attempted to go to sleep…
Solomon found herself on the ground, the air felt completely different that the inside of a metal facility. Feeling grass brushing against her, she opened her eyes and all around, she saw life; a dense forest and above her, a thick canopy through which she couldn’t see through. Between the trees, gorgeous vibrant fragrant flowers gently swinging in the breeze that blew through all the trees. She wanted to pick one of each just on instinct and make a beautiful wreath to wear. She stepped forward to look at a particularly twisty flower with white petals and just the sweetest aroma when she felt something behind her.
It was painless and quick, nothing like last time, but she could tell that something came out from the entirety of her body. She whipped around, and contrasting all the life, stood the familiar skeletal figure of Genesis, slightly glowing green as if cartoonishly radioactive.
“Hey.” She said, unable to hide that his appearance, especially his green spots for eyes which seemed to glow even brighter, left her a little scared.
That feeling was somewhat alleviated when his spot eyes suddenly became horizontal lines.
“Wait, did you just…” She paused and took a step back, at the same time realising that she was no longer just a dark figure in her dreams, but rather, herself. Clad in the same clothes she went to sleep, no less. “Did you just close your eyes?”
Right after, the lines in his otherwise dark eye holes became spots again as he nodded.
“Well.” She chuckled, having a hard time truly taking in what was happening, all in her dream. “I guess you weren’t lying.”
To her short-lived surprise, Genesis put forward his bony hands and made various symbols from green liquid, tethered together by thin threads. Solomon felt embarrassed by just how long it took for her to figure out that he was trying to communicate.
She lit up her markings and read: “Of course not.”
“Woah…” Solomon wasn’t even sure what to examine first, her surroundings, Genesis, or perhaps her dream self.
“I said I would be honest to you.” The threads shifted every time he ran out of space between his hands. “My friend.”
The liquid between his hands then disappeared as he reached forward and took a step towards the cat, who instinctively tried to step back, only to be stopped by a tree.
Genesis then petted Solomon’s head.
After he removed his hand, the cat’s ears drooped as she frowned.
“I told you not to do that.” She complained, sensing mischief from her companion. As she looked him up and down, she realised that Genesis was taller than her. “How does he even… Fit inside?” Finding that thought deeply disturbing and entirely too likely to thoroughly embarrass Genesis, she opted not to ask.
“Now, I wonder… What would happen if I woke up now?” She asked out loud, and Genesis moved his hands, and acid, to answer.
“Nothing. We have already merged. I cannot be removed from you.” He stated, calmly.
“You have such a way of making things sound sinister.” She remarked.
“I apologise for that.” His slight awkwardness was felt by Solomon.
“What is this place?” She inquired, continuing to look around, letting herself enjoy the wonderful and exotic forest. It took a sense of annoyance from her skeletal companion to get her to turn around and read what he had to say.
What caught Solomon’s eyes first, were his eyes once again. They were semicircles with the flat side facing up, each slightly slanted inwards. “It’s as if he’s frowning!”
“Sorry!” She rubbed the back of her head and read along as his eyes became circles again.
“Wishful thinking.” The sentence left the cat confused at first. “Every time my host is deceased, I return to the Eternal Swirl. I have only seen it from a long distance and may not understand it, but I always see little islands of green. Sometimes, I am sure they are forests.”
“You know, that’s kind of sweet.” She smiled, which quickly became a look of slight fear. “And grim.”
“Come, see its true beauty.” Words that made Solomon’s heart beat faster. Where she was was already beautiful, how could it possibly get better?
Genesis then put down his hands and began walking through the forest, his slight green glow reflecting off of the trees when passed by. That alone, Solomon found kind of pretty as she followed. There was certainly a feeling of dread, following an ancient, glowing skeleton through a dense forest in a dream. To anyone else, it would have been a nightmare for sure. If nothing else, she got a particularly close anatomy lesson on bone structure, how each and every little bone make small movements that result in something as simple as walking. How the arms and tail swung naturally, how the hip swayed, how every part moved, what made a person tick. She found that fascinating.
As Solomon was looking at another pretty flower, she heard the sound of Genesis’ footsteps stop. She turned and saw the skeleton make a long blink at her, and behind him, she could already see part of the sky.
“Go right ahead.” He signalled to her, which she obliged excitedly.
Upon stepping out from under the canopy, she understood why Genesis called it the Eternal Swirl. The sky was made up of iridescent shades of purple nebulae, bright, multicoloured stars as far as the eye could see and likely much more beyond, all of it caught in a purple, spiralling pattern slowly swirling clockwise. It was a sight like nothing else Solomon had ever seen before, it was as if she was watching a photo taken with a space telescope up close.
She walked farther out from under the tree to take in the view and right before she got a good view of what to her looked like a particularly shiny pink star, she was pulled back by Genesis.
Before she could ask why he did that, Genesis spun her around and pointed downwards. There, she saw the edge. Not of the forest, but the edge of the ground.
Solomon carefully leaned over and saw an almost identical “sky” downwards, swirling counter-clockwise. The two met in the middle of the horizon, forming a view akin to two domes put together to make a sphere.
“This… This is like a galaxy, up close! But so much prettier…” She exclaimed, taking a step back and sitting down on the grass. She felt Genesis’ confusion, which was reflected in the shape of his eyes. She couldn’t help but find that, in a macabre way, adorable.
“A what?” He signalled.
“A galaxy! A little different, but a galaxy!” She said again, but it didn’t seem to explain to him.
She then came to a realisation: he last lived a hundred years ago through someone else. She guessed that people didn’t quite have the same knowledge about space back then.
“I can’t even begin to explain this to you, Genesis.” She admitted, awestruck by the view.
“I could try to understand.” He sat down opposite her so she could always read his words.
“Okay, so…” She took a deep breath. “What do you think is above the clouds? No… Above the sky?”
Genesis took a moment to think. “I mostly dealt with magic, not such celestial matters. I do not know. Maybe the afterlife?”
“I guess it’s sort of true for you?” She made an awkward smile, then shook her head. “But no, not really. Imagine…” She herself took a moment to properly find the words. “An endless darkness! And each of the dots you see, stars! They’re like the Sun, but waaaaay farther away. And between all that darkness, massive globes we call planets! Like Earth!”
“I have vague memories of hearing about such things in previous lives.” He recalled with a sense of awe and… Sorrow?
“And this place… You know what, I’ll just show you some pictures once I’m awake. It’s gorgeous. I’ll tell you all about it!” She was excited to tell him more, but noticed that despite his admiration, he was sad. “What’s wrong?” She asked, reaching to hold his hand in hers. By all means, it felt like regular bones to the touch. She then let go to let him tell.
“For how long will this go on?” He asked, leaving Solomon confused. “I have lived so many lives, yet I always end up here. Lives, not all of which I remember anymore. All this information, it is all so beautiful, but… What is the point?”
Solomon opened her mouth to speak, but she couldn’t find what to say.
“One day, you too, will die. I will be back here, floating far above all of this for a hundred years. Everything I have done, gone. Forgotten. Only to see the world once more, at times, very different. Nowhere to take notes, nowhere to preserve my memories other than my mind. That is a finite container. Do you think I remember my fourth life? My fifteenth life? My twenty-third life? No. None. All burned away. It took much effort to remember even what I discovered myself. Just a few more lives, and who is to say that I will remember what you, who I claim to be my best host, even looked like? For how long will this go on before I forget my first life? How long before I give up on remembering as a whole? I do not want to forget you, Solomon. Just like how I didn’t want to forget my first life, which I am failing at.“
Solomon was left completely speechless. What Genesis had just shared with her, it was something she had never even thought about. Not to the extent that he must be. “Is this what he does inside my mind?”
“I am sorry, I should not have burdened you with this knowledge.” He let the threads unravel and fall to the ground.
“Genesis…” She finally managed to say. “I…” Holding back tears, she quickly leaned forward and put her arms around the skeleton. “I’m so sorry, Genesis! I wish… I wish I could somehow help you remember.”
Despite his initial awkwardness, Solomon felt his arms on her back.
“Listen… We have The System, surely, they’ll stick around for long enough, right? You could record your memories and keep them there, keep coming back! Wouldn’t that work?”
Genesis let go of her so he could “speak” his mind.
“I have no faith in these people.” She hated to admit it, but deep down, neither did Solomon. Not some of them anyway. “Who is to say that I can merge to this extent with another host?”
Solomon then grabbed his skull at each side, forcing him to look at her directly.
“We’ll figure it out, I don’t care what it takes! I’m your best host, no?” She said with newfound confidence, wanting to try her best to help the ancient scholar. “You’ve already found the Ledger!”
“After all these lives. I have lost count of how many.” His words made Solomon angry.
“Have faith in yourself, Genesis!” She squeezed his shoulders. “If nothing else, I promise we’ll make memories you’ll never forget! We already have the Ledger, and your power is returning! We’ll think of something!”
Genesis gently pulled away and then stood up with a nod.
“I have to thank you for trying, even if your efforts prove useless.” He stated, alongside his downright depression, there was a sense of intense gratitude.
“They won’t be!” Solomon also got up and shot him a confident look. “We have my dreams to talk in private!” She then suddenly remembered yet another matter. “And speaking of private… How do I explain you to Lisa?”
“I try not to intrude on your private life. I do not think people today react well to something such as I.”
“Yeah...” She answered. “We’ll figure that out too! Don’t worry.”
“I would like to apologise again.” He manipulated the liquid into words, once more regretful. “I did not bring you here for this. It is just… On my mind. A lot.”
“I told you, we’ll-” She began to say, but was cut off with a bony finger.
“You do not have to repeat yourself.” Solomon honestly felt a little bit insulted, but she understood. “I am tremendously grateful, but now... Where would you like to go?”
She raised an eyebrow, not quite understanding what he meant.
“Look around you.” He then led her to the edge once more and pointed at something in the distance. Squinting her eyes, Solomon could finally make it out, it was a similar, floating island!
“They are all around us.” Solomon read his words after taking way too long to take in the view again. “Of course, it is just how I imagine what they look like. I have had enough time to do that.”
“Then… Can we go see a waterfall?” She asked innocently, which Genesis seemed to appreciate. No grand promises, nothing of the sort, just living in the moment.
“Certainly.”
Right as Solomon read that, she heard a sound that didn’t belong there whatsoever: ringing.
She opened her eyes and found herself in her room at The System, awoken by an alarm clock that she had forgotten to turn off the night before. She moaned in exasperation and buried her face in the pillow. At the very least, Genesis found it entertaining.
“Okay, but next time, we will go to a waterfall.” She said, lifting her head, imagining all the things she could do in her dreams with Genesis’ help. He could probably even help train her to use her magic better!
In response, her companion gave her a thumbs up with her hand.
“I’ll help you, Genesis. I’ll find a way.”