Chapter 87

Silence is Golden, Until it is a Weapon

  Silence, that unmistakable sound made when you are comfortable being you. At least that is the general purpose for silence, but there are times when people purposefully wield silence like it was a blade. Don’t ask me why this is the case, it seems like a pretty dull blade, get it dull as in boring conversation and terrible blade. Yeah, also jokes are a lot worse when you are the only one who hears them.

  Why the silent treatment, you ask? Why am I being subject to this relatively mild form of torture. I’m insensitive, at least that is what I think I am supposed to have taken away from the final hour of Jess’ and my trip into the orbit of Thessia Academy. Once we landed, we of course were taken away by different groups. I was taken by leadership to sit in on a strategy meeting, while Jess was taken by the Endarian student council to get registered. Apparently, that was a big deal, the entire Endarian Student council coming out to greet Jess, that is. Apparently, it started when they realized that I was the reason she was given Twalo status. Then at which point there was apparently a brief fight, and scuffle. After which prevailing heads made the sound decision to let everyone go and escort Jess to her new classes and help her get settled in. This was of course, a roundabout way of the student Council apparently trying to gain favor with me. One of those see how much I have done for your Twalo, now imagine what I could do for you, someone I would really kiss up for.

  No, I am being too harsh. It might be that I am judging these Student Council members with the harsh gaze of human cynicism. I mean, clearly, they do this for all humans who enter the academy, right? Oh wait, they don’t let humans in? None except for Jess and myself? Well, their sunny disposition must surely be because we are a novelty?

  The only problem is, I can see the hate filled glares the other girls were giving Jess as she walked by. They smiled like hyenas to her face, but then once her back was turned, they all dropped their false facades. They of course had a different tune when they saw that I was glowering right back at them, but it was already too late for many of them. I was not impressed with what I saw. At least not at first. Though I did try to keep an open mind about this whole thing. This was likely a new experience for them as well. Unfortunately for me, this was my second time through this exact type of situation, so I knew the subtle signs to look for. The subtle signs of Endarian manipulation, or when they would let their true emotions show. Honestly, I was relieved to see that space elves were just as much social harpies and pariahs as humans were. The only real difference between our two races was the fact that the average Endarians were by a large margin all much better looking than the average humans. This of course meant that most humans were willing to put up with a lot more of their shit.

  Unfortunately for the Endarians of the Academy, I was no longer as enamored by the beauty of these creatures. I had for lack of a better term, gained life callouses that helped to protect me from letting my emotions get attached to my physical attraction for these aliens.

  Everything was going fine, until I entered the Guardians Meeting room and felt a sucker punch take the wind right out of my lungs. Not literally, but figuratively, as the person I saw upon entering the room was none other than Rayquel, or to those who only knew her by her guardian designation, the Iron Butterfly.

  Yeah, this can’t possibly turn out poorly, I think to myself.

  “Father, you are mumbling to yourself.”

  “Mumbling?”

  “Well not with your words, but with your thoughts. It is unbecoming of a Guardian to express such hostile emotions.” Prime.

  “Now you’re my thought police as well?!” I ask, a bit of anger filling my voice. At this, everyone turns in my direction. I knew they were already stealing glances at me, as it was clear the world tree had his full attention on me. But now with my speaking out loud to the tree, I have given everyone the justification they need to openly gawk at me.

  “Clearly father is a little tired from his travels. Perhaps we should begin immediately?” Prime offers, this time I can tell he is speaking to the whole room.

  I want to ask him whose fault that is, but instead I just shake my head.

  Fortunately, it is General Fellina who recovers first and directs our attention to a board showing two people. The image on the left is of the Human Admiral Lemitov, Commander of the First Fleet, and rider of its flagship, the Khardashian. On the right, well I don’t exactly know who the person on the right is, not officially, but I can infer. I am assuming that second person on the right is none other than…

  “The Dwenvarian Queen’s Bro consort, none other than Lady Avein O’were.” General Fellina begins, but then continues. “There is just one problem. Not only is Avein the bro consort of the Dwenvarian Queen, but she is also said to sire the first two children of the Queen, and quite possibly the fourth as well. Needless to say, her position is very well guarded. The same thing for the Admiral, though we think getting to him will be somewhat easier for us.”

  I pause as I take in the details, below are the complete likes and dislikes of the people as if they were stolen from a holo-net dating site.

  “Father, these were gathered from the same holo-net dating site you used to frequent as Maximum Digsby.” Prime states, oh so not helpfully. You are a curious teenager once, try to go to the adult platforms, then realize why you never were allowed to go there in the first place.

  “Wait, is that information still there?” I ask.

  “We have taken the liberty of deleting the data from our systems, if that is what you are concerned about.” General Fellina begins. With that I let out a sigh of relief. “Of course, your browser history and other data provided has been saved in our archives.”

  Then, just like that, I wonder how hard it is to find and destroy a potentially incriminating data site. I was a stupid kid; I did a lot of dumb things. In fact, I can hardly remember joining up for the site in the first place. Only Prime’s insistence and the General’s Statements have got me wondering what I was looking for. I know I would have only joined if there was one profile, I was interested in.

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  I should point out that ever space faring race has their own holo-net dating sites, but the ones that are most successful are the ones that are primarily Endarian. Or those that claim to be exclusively for Endarians. Still, anyone could see perpetually beautiful space elves, there must have been some reason why I joined that site in the first place.

  “You know, I could show you the images that weren’t blurred out.” Rayquel says, her husky voice right next to my ear, causing me to jump.

  Bzzz, clink, clink, clang.

  My wings flutter in excitement and fear at the same time. Fortunately, it is Rayquel who has skillfully folded her own metal wings to protect her against my now wildly fluttering wings.

  I take a step back, to see her smiling coyly at me.

  “Oh my. I seemed to have scared him.” Rayquel begins.

  I just stare at her, then I get angry. I don’t like being played with. I don’t like being teased, well maybe I do, but I have had it up to here, no a bit higher, there. I have had it up to there, with Rayquel’s and their incessant need to play with my emotions.

  “Look, whatever this is, stop it. I don’t know if this is some form of hazing ritual, or what. But it can’t work between us, I know you aren’t attracted to me in the least.” I speak. This time, I feel the resonance feed off from me and immediately get absorbed by my violin. Well not my violin itself, but the world tree wood that it was made from.

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  “What?” Rayquel asks as if she had just been slapped. This is pretty big, considering she just took a number of quick metal wing strikes in stride like they were nothing. Then I realize what it is, I know what is going on.

  Angrily I change my Revelation Sight from passive, to active.

  “Oh!” Everyone gasps as I first lock eyes with Rayquel, then scan her body. But she is clear from any of the bright golden threads that I have come to associate with the Celestials and their constant need to fuck with me. After that, I scan the room, slowly.

  Each person looks at me with shock and awe. I gather my eyes look particularly bright, but I am looking for something.

  “Do not be alarmed. Father is scanning you to see if any of you are hidden Celestials, or if you have signs of being recently manipulated by the Celestials.” Prime offers.

  Well, that is one way to avoid an awkward situation. Or a way to avoid having more of an awkward situation. As it stands, no one here is showing signs of being manipulated by the Celestials or the Prolaxians. At least I figure this would show if someone was being controlled or otherwise manipulated by the Prolaxians. Since a golden hue covers most Celestials and those they are messing with. I assume the same is true about the oily black and purple slime that seems to surround the Prolaxian heralds, but this is all just conjecture at this point.

  “That is a good idea father, and one I will now share with the others.” Prime states, before literally stating everything that I was just thinking about. No asking me, no telling me they were going to do this, just my thoughts ripped from my head and shown with no intention of privacy.

  “Father, relax. You are looking at this like a human. You need to think of this like an Endarian?”

  “You mean, as a slave to you? Is that what this is? I am nothing more than a glorified slave, not afforded privacy of even having my own thoughts held secret?” I ask.

  There is a pause, as everyone in the room stares at me like I am speaking the human tongue. I know I am not; I am clearly speaking fluent high Endarian, but they are all staring at me as if I have gone completely mad.

  And just like that, I realized I might get fired from my job. No, not just that, but I would welcome the chance to get fired. In fact, I think I know where a Celestial that I could reveal is, though that is a bit of a drastic measure at this point. I had been saving that as a final trump card. Sort of my get out of this mess and start over free card.

  “Wait, I am confused. Why are you so angry about my speaking to you intimately? We saw the search history, you were only looking for my profile, right?” Rayquel asks, and once again I am about to lose it.

  “False mother, I should perhaps explain things more clearly. Father has been on multiple time loops recently. The first one was where he was dragged to an alternate universe, where he managed to meet and inspire the world tree to sire children with him.” Prime states.

  “Wait, can you please not say it like that?” I ask.

  “Father, I cannot believe I am forced to have the conversation about the birds and the Endarians with you. How else would you describe the act of the tree first spraying you with its seed, then letting its vessels copulate with your skin.”

  “This is really gross and could easily be described using less vulgar terminology.” I state.

  “Father, you are belaying the point. It was a beautiful moment, one many Endarians can only dream about.” Prime states.

  “Tis true.” General Fellina says.

  I just shake my head.

  “What does this have to do with his reaction to me?” Rayquel asks.

  “Well, as we stated he is a time traveler, along with me. There are certain conditions that Father is well aware of, that will cause a time loop restart. During the last restart he worked with you to plant me here. After planting he asked only that you answer one question truthfully.” Prime states.

  “What question was that?” Rayquel asks, suddenly curious.

  “He asked if you could ever find him attractive.” Prime states.

  Yeah sure, let’s just make this super awkward. How do I always seem like I am stuck in a teenage romcom?

  With that Rayquel’s eyes went wide. “What did I say?”

  “You lied. You said you didn’t find him attractive at all.” Prime stated, as if he was somehow the one who was hurt in this whole ordeal.

  “Wait, she lied? She lied and you knew?” I ask.

  “Yes, it was clear as day. Even General Fellina made note of it when you left.” Prime states.

  Badump, buzz.

  “So, what happened?” General Fellina asked.

  “He teleported out of my communication range, before I could tell him the truth. Then he reset the loop to get us to this spot.” Prime said.

  “Okay, but you are able to exist outside of the loops, just like he is?” General Fellina asked, her eyes flashing brightly as she was apparently looking ahead into possible futures.

  “Yes, the only problem is, now he, and rightly so, has trust issues.” Prime states.

  “Yeah, blame this on me.” I say, anger filling my voice.

  “I still don’t get it, did we have any type of relationship, in the last loop, as you call it?” Rayquel asks.

  “Wait, hold up here. How are you all able to accept this so easily?” I ask, wondering how with but a few words they can just accept everything.

  “The world tree, she is sharing her memories directly to us. She shared the memories of you going to the first world tree, how you fought and bled for the Endarian people. Then how you were pair bonded with the other Rayquel, and how you still are.” A secretary, or maybe high ranking Endarian officer states as they move forward.

  Right, again nothing I do is ever considered to be personal.

  “Wait, so the reason you asked me, if I could like you, was because you are still pair bonded with the me from a different universe?” Rayquel asks.

  “Got it in one.”

  Mental pulse. I can feel Prime sharing more memories over their mental connection to the Endarians. I am beginning to wonder if having a tree that is this powerful is in fact a good thing? A tree that can genetically manipulate organisms into protecting it at all costs, then spreading out to conquer the universe, there has to have been warning stories about this very thing? Right? No? Is this the first case of this being thought about? Well, that is something at least.

  “So, you think the Celestials, can force emotional changes on people. Or in some cases take over people outright?” General Fellina asked.

  I nod. So glad when other people tell what I am thinking, makes my having to be part of a conversation seem so pointless, right?

  “Do you have a plan to remove the pair bonding with the other Rayquel?” This Rayquel asks, as she bites her lip in concentration. I remember the other Rayquel doing that, and at the time, I thought it was just a quirk of the rider? But did some of Rayquel’s base emotions and traits also transfer through?

  “I do.” I did, this was plan one as I think I knew who caused it. So, if my track record is any indication, all I need to do is go back, find the person expose them for the manipulative Celestial they are. Then boom another reset and I can pretend like this never happened.

  “Don’t worry father. I will be here as your anchor to help you explain your side of the story, at least to the Endarians.” Prime states, and just like that, I don’t have nearly the same level of confidence to succeed that I did before I got here. This is honestly quite an accomplishment, as I was already feeling in the dumps about the non-argument with Jess. It can’t be called an argument if no words are spoken, right?

  “So, before this conversation about underage people joining dating sites. I believe we were talking about strategy, right?” I say, trying to get this conversation back on track. This day could not end soon enough. Fortunately, it couldn’t get much worse.