--- ELIAX ---

I opened my eyes, blinking slowly at the tent roof above me.

So that hadn’t been a dream.

I hadn’t really thought it was one. I didn’t usually have dreams, not even Fora remembered hers very often. Mostly it was the confusion of suddenly sleeping. As a clone, I didn’t need to sleep, but it wasn’t difficult to simply lay there and activate a sleep-like state. For some odd reason, the possibility in my mind that none of that had actually happened seemed fairly high. Nothing distinctly odd had even occurred, just the really… really confusing actions of natural water.

Fora hadn’t noticed the floating water until I pointed it out, but she’d managed to find some last night, so it wasn’t even something limited to just this area. We were about a half day of mindless gating away from each other—with rest calculated in, no more casting until it was painful. Which translated to probably a week or so by normal people's standards of travel—though for all we knew they had very different standards of travel than Virna here.

I sighed at the reminder, sitting up in the hammock and peering down at the multitude of lizard people that moved about around me. Some of the older ones had cots that presumably helped with any back problems, but almost all the women in the large tent had their own hammocks with a small bundle of belongings tied above them. Did they not worry about thieves? If it weren’t for my dimensional space that held anything remotely valuable, I would have been anxious about sleeping here.

The setup was made to maximize height as well as the rest of the volume, it seemed a sign that this village was outgrowing their space—even at hardly a few hundred people from what I could see. It was strange as I spotted occasional tails draped out of the hammocks or curled up under blankets, but besides that, the sleeping forms and peaceful early risers seemed practically human. Just like the people Fora had found in that bigger city a few days ago.

As it was, the women in the large tent didn’t seem to care much what I did. At least, what I did didn’t seem to change what they did. Most of them gave me nasty looks when they thought I wasn’t watching or whispered to each other—probably about me, though I had no way to really tell—but a decent amount simply watched me curiously and went about their morning as normal. Just like last night.

-

Outside the large tent, the village was still quiet. It was just before sunrise, so most were getting the last of their sleep in or preparing for the day. I passed a group of farmers going through seeds together while a line of bedraggled looking men stood outside what looked like a storage tent. They seemed annoyed about something.

I tilted my head at them and glanced around, wondering if there was anything I was expected to do. I was perfectly fine with helping out, they’d attempted to feed me last night after all—I’d refused their food out of principle though, I couldn’t really eat. Besides, Fora was replenishing the Between storage all the time, so if I needed food I had exactly the place to go. It might not be filled with legally acquired things, but I already knew it was pointless to try and get her to be a law-abiding citizen, not that I cared much for stupid laws myself.

Someone came out of that storage tent and the line of men moved forward. I glanced at the opening and blinked to see that strange red head walking out with a smile and a spring in his step. All the men were glaring at him, yet he still ignored them. They glared at me too occasionally, but it was less than what they reserved for this boy.

Kinthek—as he’d called himself, I wasn’t completely certain if that was his name or another descriptor, but all odds said it was his name—was abnormally tall, tall enough that he would have towered over most humans. As it was, he was relatively equal in height with that idiot from last night that I’d gravity-d. He was still young though, and in all likelihood he would only get taller.

Which was extremely unfair, considering I’d only ever get up to where his shoulder currently was. At the moment I was even shorter than that, but not by too much since I always reached my maximum height around thirteen or fourteen, depending on what I ate.

His bright red hair was still strange to me, and I got the sense that it was some kind of magical consequence from how it shimmered in the light. I’d never seen anyone with red hair before. I’d heard that most Yerans back on Virna had the trait, but I doubted any of them had anything close to how bright Kinthek’s hair was.

He smiled when he spotted me, which probably meant he’d decided we were friends or something. Or… perhaps he was remembering the guy I’d gravity-d yesterday. No matter, he seemed perfectly happy to see me, whatever the reason was.

I hummed slightly as he approached, trying to gauge what he wanted or what topic he would bring up. If I had a general idea of what he was talking about, I’d certainly be able to pick up words faster. At least, that was what my trilingual brain seemed to prefer.

“Hello!” He greeted me—at least, I was pretty sure that’s what it meant.

I nodded in acknowledgement, “hello,” I repeated, but I was fairly certain I’d gotten the pronunciation wrong again.

He smiled at my response anyway and waved me forward. He started talking immediately, which was both helpful and pointless. Helpful because it gave me another good idea of what some of the common words were, probably mostly and’s and the’s. But it was also pointless because despite my best guess, I didn’t really know what the topic even was.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

I felt my eyes cross slightly at his speech, a location phrase… something something… maybe ‘well?’ He kept going, and I got the sense that he wasn’t even sticking to a topic. He’d done that a lot yesterday.

I occasionally repeated a word, a question in my voice, and he would say it slower or try to explain what it meant. Most of the meanings still went over my head, but it gave me more information, and that was always valuable.

I gathered that Atharian—which sounded far too much like the planet’s name to not get confusing, so for all I knew it was actually what they called the world—was either their word for god, or the name of their god. Kinthek said this word a lot as he led me up a particular path, grinning.

The path itself was fairly well worn, not as much as others around the village, but it was clear that it was used at least a few times a day. We walked for a few minutes up a hill and finally approached a strange construction of stone that was painted a vibrant red. I tilted my head at the structure and the old man that was kneeling in front of it. Kinthek had introduced me to him yesterday, though his name had eluded me.

Once the arch came into view, Kinthek’s words tumbled into nothing. He hesitated near the construction and glanced at me. He looked toward the old man with worry in his eyes. After a moment he sighed and knelt down beside the man, still not speaking a word. The old man also refrained from speaking, his posture barely even shifting with his breathing.

I stopped at the edge of the area, tilting my head as they knelt there.

Curiously, their souls were fluctuating. Was this some kind of strange magical discipline? Or perhaps a religious thing? Kinthek had mentioned Atharian several times earlier, and with the reverence in his voice and how he kept gesturing toward the sky and the ground and the… everything when saying it, it couldn’t really mean anything else.

Interesting.

I sat there, frowning. I prodded at my presently weak connection with Astral. Wondering if he might appear and explain, though probably not. Maybe people who followed gods just did this kind of thing? My friends who were bound to Kalteii never had, but Kalteii hadn’t struck me as someone who could—or should—be seen as the rule.

Fora and I were technically following Balance now, did that mean I was expected to… worship or something? How did one even do that? Sparks, I had no idea what I was doing.

-

About an hour later—a very very boring hour—Kinthek and the old man finally opened their eyes.

They found me perching on top of the stone arch, my legs folded into a lotus position and my soul bouncing around like a sea reasle as I tried over and over—and failed—to contact Astral. I half expected them to start yelling at me for being on top of the thing, but the two simply seemed curious.

I peered down at them as they bowed toward an empty pedestal in the center of the area beneath the arch. After that, the two of them stretched and spoke a few quiet words to each other. Something something… stranger maybe? I was pretty sure that meant stranger, I’d only ever heard it referred to myself though, so they were probably talking about me.

I stepped off the arch, falling as light as a feather and landing without issue. The two blinked at me, which further cemented—although after yesterday I already knew—that if dimensionalism existed here, it was practically unknown.

I smiled hesitantly at them. Finally Kinthek spoke, and I nearly fell over with surprise as it came across to my mind clearly and understandably. “Alright! Eliax, do you want to go with me along the river today? You don’t have to, I’m sure you’ve got a lot of ah… things to do. But having an extra pair of hands would be great!”

I stared at him, feeling my mouth open and close several times.

The old man spoke to him, and the phrase didn’t make any sense to me. Kinthek spoke something to the old man and it was the same. But when he turned back and spoke to me again, it made perfect sense. “Ah… I’m going to the river.” He pointed in the direction. “Do you?” he pointed at me, “Want to come?” he pointed back at the river again.

I finally spoke, “W-what?!”

Kinthek frowned, glancing at the old man, this time when he spoke it made no sense again. What… in Arithren… Kinthek smiled back at me finally and pointed toward the river, “River.” He said slowly, “You and me, to the river?”

Still baffled, I nodded, “Yes?”

Kinthek frowned, “And you’re back to your own language again…” His words trailed off into incomprehensive nonsense after a moment when he started talking to the old man again. It finally struck me that I had been speaking in Melorian, briefly. That certainly added to the confusion on both of our parts.

Their words were starting to make more sense though. I could pick out… more of the words as he said them to the old man. It made more sense to listen to it than to try and speak though, there was a huge disconnect, like viewing my own thoughts from the outside. “...I’ll take her with me to look for faroot then.”

The old man nodded, “It’s Light day next week, are you ready for that?”

Kinthek blinked and looked at the sky, his eyes wide, “I’ll be back late then!”

Sparks, I wasn’t completely certain what that really meant, but this was certainly making more sense than before. Kinthek smiled and started off, gesturing for me to follow, I did, wondering how I could let him know that something had changed. I didn’t trust myself yet to really speak, but…

~ELIAX WHAT DID YOU DO?!?!~ I jumped as the voice appeared in my head, tripping over a shrub and sprawling to the ground as Fora kept on going. ~I CAN SUDDENLY UNDERSTAND PEOPLE AND I DON’T LIKE IT!!~

I paused, ~I’m not really sure? I don’t think I did anything?~

~Weren’t you like… meditating or some crap? Trying to contact Astral? I checked when your senses started doing weird things but you were OUT.~

I paused, looking up at Kinthek as he held out a worried hand to me, I smiled hesitantly up at him. ~Astral didn’t actually answer though.~

~Sparking god of Balance probably chucked this at us to make us leave him alone…~

Fora didn’t seem inclined to continue complaining, so I shut out her senses again as I took Kinthek’s hand and pulled myself to my feet. “Ah… sorry?” I tried, still unsure how the words fit together exactly. It would take practice to really get the language, especially the speaking part, but I was pretty sure Fora would figure that out for me. She never had been able to resist talking.

Kinthek smiled, “Just watch your feet!”

Sparks, his tone was far too cheerful for the words coming out. The two of us started down the path, making our way toward the river.