Elijah stepped into the outside world once more. He walked back towards the aft of the ship where he first saw the tortoise men. Luckily all 3 of them were still there. This time though he kept a good amount of distance away, arms at his side ready to draw his weapon.
“I shut down the distress beacon.”
The dancer nodded. “We can offer you sanctuary in our camp. Although I suspect you do not want to.”
“Thanks for the offer but I like to sleep inside my ship,” Elijah said with a nervous smile.
“Very well. Our camp is a couple hours walk in the direction of the forest. The majority of us will head back and prepare for a possible assault. Master Ioro will stay here for your protection,” the dancer pointed to the sitting spearman.
“Uh… Ok, then I will also prepare myself.”
“As you should. I will cast the translation spell again on both of you so that you can communicate.”
Elijah felt a slight pressure against his head once again.
The hunched older tortoise man shouted something and waved its arms. Then they began to walk back into the forest leaving the sitting spearman.
Elijah watched them disappear among the trees then turned to Ioro still keeping some distance, “Hello Ioro, my name is Elijah Frost.”
“Greetings, scholar Elijah.”
Ioro was sitting with its back towards the forest. Its spear and shield were settled on the ground beside it.
“So will you be staying here at the ramp of my ship?”
“Yes, If that is alright with you. I will do what I originally came here to do, which is to train my disciple.”
“It’s alright. Is it ok if I were to watch you train your disciple?” he asked, unwilling to let them out of his sight. He caressed his gun for some reassurance, though he really didn’t want to use it.
“If you are prepared for what is to come, I do not mind.”
Elijah nodded, there was nothing else to prepare aside from his firearm. He was unsure if now was a good time to be training given the danger. But he wasn't a soldier so he didn’t say anything.
“That is my disciple, Dimo,” Ioro said, pointing at a jogging tortoise man.
It was a noticeably shorter tortoise man but still as tall as a full-grown man, and where the skin of the other tortoise men were various shades of green, this one was light brown. It had a staff in one hand and was completely naked compared to the other tortoise men, there was no armor covering its appendages.
“If I may ask, what is a scholar doing here?” Ioro questioned, propping their head up with their 3 fingered hand.
“I don’t know Ioro. I was going home and the next thing I know I’m here,” Elijah replied. He felt uncomfortable just standing around, and Ioro looked relaxed in his presence.
“Why are you helping me?” Elijah continued, as he leaned against the hull of his ship. “Though I have nothing against it,” he quickly added.
“We are helping you because we can and the soulless are enemies,” Ioro replied simply. ”We at first thought you were a stranded mercenary or maybe even a soulless but it is clear you are just a lost traveler given your lack of awakening.”
Before Elijah could ask what it meant, Ioro’s disciple finally arrived. Dimo was more fidgety compared to the other tortoise men and reacted in ways Elijah would expect. Sneaking glances at Elijah and his ship and turning away when he stared back.
Ioro stood and talked to Dimo. It was strange that the translation spell didn’t translate everything he heard, only words directed at himself. But Elijah’s suit was obtaining a lot of data, so the spell wouldn't be necessary in a couple of weeks.
Dimo walked off the side, going through a set of motions that Elijah could only relate to some form of dance or yoga. It moved through them slowly and with precision. He could see punches, jabs, and kicks and wondered what this was supposed to accomplish.
“Tell me, do you know where you are?” Ioro asked, turning its head to Elijah.
“On Romulus?”
Ioro shook its head, “You are on Rotia, Ortuvia’s moon,” It turned its head to its disciple checking their form. “I am not well traveled like others, but other visitors and travelers have called this area of space untamed and unexplored.”
“You have seen other species,” Elijah said while pointing up. “From up there.” He wanted to confirm that the translation spell got this correct.
“Yes. Merchants, travelers, mercenaries, and others.” It replied and pointed up. “From up there.”
“We are relatively new to space and recent times have been chaotic.” Ioro continued, “But it is good to help someone in need even if they are a different species.”
Elijah smiled. “I’m glad to hear that.” He was still suspicious since a good samaritan alien species felt a little too good to be true.
He pointed a thumb at himself, “Have you seen others like me?”
Ioro inspected Elijah but eventually shook their head, “I have not, you share some similarities with the Xalari but you are different from them in ways I can not describe.”
Elijah had some hopes that since the tortoise men had seen interstellar species, maybe they would have already seen humans. But it didn’t seem like it. And Xalari, it wasn’t a species that humanity knew and none of the species Elijah knew of were similar to humans.
He wondered how the tortoise men achieved space travel, it seemed they were still in medieval times. The only plausible explanation for it was their ‘magic’, or maybe there was a more advanced civilization involved. He also had to ask what they were called instead of mentally referring to them as tortoise men.
Elijah’s stomach rumbled.
“Would you like any refreshments or snacks?” he asked Ioro.
“It is alright. We can forage for ourselves.” Ioro replied.
“Alright. Also, when do you think the soulless will get here?”
“Their closest nest is a day or so away. They will send scouts, but nothing dangerous. My brothers are sieging it as we speak.”
Elijah nodded. “That’s good then. I’ll uh, be right back.”
He walked to the side and entered the cargo bay once more. He then went to the living room where the rations were and took some out. He got extra in case Ioro changed their mind. The rations weren’t the best tasting, but food was a good tool for friendship.
Elijah was back outside carrying food. Ioro faced their disciple, but he guessed they knew since he wasn’t trying to hide.
“I got extra in case you change your mind. Uh, what are your people called? For example, I am a human.” Elijah asked while eating inside his suit. He ate with one arm while keeping one free for his weapon.
“Thank you for your concern, scholar. And we are called Oridians.” Ioro said without turning.
***
The sun was down. Elijah, Ioro, and Dimo were seated around a fire, the ship sheltered them from the chilling sea breeze. For Elijah, his suit did most of the work, he couldn’t even feel the heat of the fire.
“Earlier Turom said that you called your people. Will they come?” Ioro asked as it poked the fire. Elijah assumed Turom was the dancer.
“I don’t think so,” he replied with a shake of his head.
“That is unfortunate.”
There were no humans in the Oridian system. Rescue teams had one of the fastest engines available. If they couldn’t cross a solar system in a couple of hours, they probably weren’t here to begin with.
Dimo turned to Ioro and started to speak. Ioro raised its spear about to smack its disciple with it. But stopped when it noticed Elijah’s stare.
“Is everything alright?” Elijah asked. Was Ioro about to slash at Dimo? He was right to be suspicious of this seemingly good samaritan species.
Ioro put its spear back on the ground with a sigh. “Yes, just my disciple disobeying my wishes.”
“It must’ve been serious,” he said, looking at the bone spear.
“Yes, it was. Dimo told me to step away from fighting and find a wife.” Ioro said simply.
Elijah stared at Ioro, not quite sure what to say in response. At least he now knew Ioro was a guy.
“That is… quite serious,” Elijah replied.
“It is, Dimo also has yet to find a female comp-”
Ioro stopped and abruptly turned his head gazing into the darkness.
He stood while grabbing his bone spear and threw it in one fluid motion towards the forest. Dirt was kicked into the air as Ioro followed his spear, bringing his shield with him.
Dimo reacted quickly, standing up while grabbing his staff with both hands. He faced the darkness ready to fight whatever emerged into the light.
Elijah reacted a second later, fumbling for his weapon while getting onto his feet. He cast nervous glances into the unknown, standing to the side and behind Dimo. He brought his gun up, making sure the safety was off, and pointed it towards the direction Ioro ran in.
A couple of seconds later there was a distant sound of clanging metal, then silence. Dimo half-turned to Elijah, speaking what he assumed to be words of assurance but he couldn’t know for sure. There was a tense silence. Everything happened too quickly for Elijah to process. He could feel the adrenaline pumping through his veins. Was Ioro ok? How many enemies were they dealing with?
Audible steps were coming from the direction Ioro went. Both Elijah and Dimo tensed, steadying their weapons.
Ioro’s figure was gradually lit up by the fire. He tossed a body to the side which landed with a clang. The body didn’t have a head, it had arms and legs as well as a hole in its torso which was probably where Ioro’s spear pierced it.
“Soulless scout.” Ioro said, turning to Elijah, “This was the nearest one. There will be more to come.”
Elijah nodded and began to inspect the soulless from where he was. It was a machine, a robot, from what he could tell. Although it had a slight humanoid appearance it clearly wasn’t made by humans. The exterior seemed to be made from iron which gave it a gray appearance. There were some gaps in the armor allowing some mobility but by human standards, it was shoddy work. The hole in the torso revealed the circuitry, some symbols that he couldn’t make sense of, and the grass beneath it.
“We will stand watch. You should rest, scholar Elijah.” Ioro said, interrupting Elijah’s examination.
Elijah took a deep breath.
“I believe I will. It’s been a long day.” He replied tiredly.
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From freezing in his cryopod to meeting Oridians and then having a semi-close encounter with a soulless. There were a lot of events that happened in one day.
As much as Elijah wanted to continue examining alien tech, no matter how seemingly shoddy it was, he was tired. And he didn’t want to be outside in the open anymore, not with the soulless roaming about.
Elijah walked towards his ship, ready to take his ES off and lie down on his bed. Though he suspected sleep wouldn’t come easily.
***
Elijah’s suspicions were right, he couldn’t fall asleep when his mind was churning with thoughts. Eventually, he spent all his energy thinking that he just knocked out. If the night wasn’t so quiet and uneventful he probably wouldn’t have been able to sleep.
His status screen popped up once more when he woke up. He glanced through it and then dismissed it when he realized there was no change. If he was in a simulation of some kind the developers did a good job, he completely forgot about it until now.
Elijah went through his morning ritual quickly: a shower, brushing his teeth, and having rations for breakfast. Luckily the water system was able to function without the ship being powered.
He walked to the cargo bay when he was all done and put on the same ES (Environmental Suit) as yesterday. He holstered his weapon in the same slot as well. Then he stepped outside. Ready for more extraterrestrial diplomacy.
The sun was peeking over the horizon casting a warm glow across the grass. Dimo was once again training in dancing, Elijah assumed, while Ioro was observing his disciple’s form. Another Oridian was sitting on the grass as well, who he believed was Turom, the dancer from yesterday. It had armor equipped and bags on the side of its shell.
“Good morning,” Elijah said with a wave. He walked towards the Oridians, keeping the same distance as yesterday.
Ioro turned and spoke but it was incomprehensible to Elijah. Guess the translation spell lasted for about a day. He’ll have to ask about their ‘magic’ soon as well.
Ioro turned to the unknown Oridian and spoke. The Oridian stood, then began to dance and a second later Elijah felt the pressure against his head once more. Yeah, it was Turom.
“Good morning,” he repeated.
“Yes… It is a good morning scholar Elijah,” Turom replied after a second of thought, “A mage will be here in a couple days. In the meantime, I will help with defending and communication, but I believe I will not be needed with defending.” It gestured to the soulless on the grass.
“Uh,” Elijah looked towards the forest, “Just you?”
Turom grinned, “Do not worry, with Master Ioro around there is nothing to fear. He is one of the strongest warriors nearby, in Oridian culture Ioro is a Lokra.”
Elijah recalled last night when Ioro threw his spear with enough force and accuracy that it pierced straight through the metal body of the soulless. He glanced at the forest, it wasn’t far but Ioro did throw it in complete darkness. He had no idea how high a Lokra is in their culture but Ioro was strong, fast, and dangerous.
“I suppose, I’m in very capable hands,” he said with a sigh. Ioro could maybe pierce or badly dent his ship’s hull if he threw that spear. Needless to say what it could do to himself.
“That you are,” Turom said with a nod, “Now, until the mage arrives we are stuck with each other for the coming days. Let us get along.”
“Yes, let’s. Do you think the soulless will come today?” Elijah asked.
Turom sat back down and took a book out of their right bag. “It is hard to say how they will react with your technology in the open. Their last known nest is in Donia, which is currently under siege. Most, if not all soulless should be there trying to prevent the destruction of their Mother.”
“So there won’t be any today?”
“Ah,” Turom shifted in place, “Possibly not.”
“Well, I’m going to inspect my ship. I’ll be right back.” Elijah said while walking away. The Oridian focused on their book.
“Do be careful. Master Ioro can not watch everything.”
Starting from the aft of his ship, Elijah walked to the starboard side. He examined its hull and windows looking for any signs of damage. To his untrained eye, he saw nothing wrong. It still looked as good as when he received it. His only concern would be the bottom since the landing gears weren’t engaged.
Just past the middle of the wing and towards the cockpit, sat the name of the ship in white lettering against a blue backdrop, ‘Rodona’. He assumed his parents named the ship when they gifted it but if there was a meaning, it flew over his head.
The Rodona was blocky in design with 4 large rotatable thrusters at each corner, allowing for vertical and horizontal movement but leaving a lot to be desired when turning. It was colored blue with yellow accents in its entirety, though Elijah might change it in the future. The Rodona was also relatively large and bulky, meant to house a family of 6 or 7 comfortably in space.
Elijah didn’t see any visible damage on the starboard side, so he continued to the front of the ship. There were no breaches or damage inside the ship either when he checked yesterday. He would of course still check the port side but he was inclined to believe there would be no damage.
Ortuvia was still above the glistening purple ocean in all its lush green glory. He stared at the sky and tried to guess what his brother, Jax, was doing right now. Hopefully nothing too exciting, a good book and music should be exciting enough. Or maybe not. In any case, Evelyn could guide him outside whenever he wanted to.
Elijah scanned the landscape that he at first appreciated from inside his ship. It was calming, wondrous, and free. There was nothing to obstruct his view of Rotia’s endless purple sea and Ortuvia. The rocky shore was tens of meters away and extended to the horizon in both directions. He was wearing his ES currently, but he could imagine the salty air and sea breeze. He’ll have to bring Jax here in the future, of course once it was deemed safe and Elijah saved enough money to cure his brother's blindness.
He continued the inspection of his ship. As he believed, the port side had no visible damage either, it was as if the ship safely landed but just didn’t engage the landing gears. Very strange, Elijah believed that Edgar wouldn’t not engage the landing gears.
The aft was undamaged as well, now that he had the sense of mind to inspect it. The Oridians were still in the same areas, but Ioro was now sparring with his disciple.
“Is everything in order, scholar Elijah?” Turom asked once Elijah was close enough.
“Yea, my ship is in one piece. I’m just finding my current situation strange.”
“Maybe I could share my perspective on the matter.”
Elijah was dubious in their opinion, but there was the factor of their unknown ‘magic’. He decided to hear what they thought since the only thing could do was wait for Edgar for some semblance of answers.
He nodded.
Turom closed their book and set it on their lap, “I discussed this with Master Ioro earlier. He said that your ship was not here last week when he trained Dimo which was why he notified a nearby patrol. Also, we would have noticed a ship descending so close to the frontline. There is one possible way Master Ioro and I thought of, teleportation misalignment.”
“Teleportation? As in instantaneous travel from one place to another?” Elijah asked. They can teleport?
“Yes, that one.”
“But I wasn’t teleporting. I was using another form of travel.” He guessed they didn’t know what hyperspace was and didn’t want to explain if they asked.
“You could have simply been caught in the beginning of a teleportation and then thrown off course. I have never studied teleportation as that is not what I focus on. But from the stories I have heard and examples I have seen, this is the most likely we could think of.” Turom replied.
There were some holes in this theory such as the probability of running into someone in the vastness of space. But ignoring that, it would make sense if he only knew how magic worked.
“I’ve been meaning to ask and you can choose not to answer if you can’t, but can you tell me how you can cast these ‘spells’? Why can I understand you when I haven’t learned your language and all it took was a couple of movements?” Elijah questioned.
“Ah, no wonder you do not speak Adontian. You have never seen mana or magic?” Turom asked a question of their own.
He shook his head, “Only in stories, but this might be different so no I haven’t.”
The Oridian tapped their book rhythmically. The thuds and thumps of Ioro and Dimo sparring filled the silence as Turom thought.
“I was taught of mana and magic when I was already awakened. I could see and feel what was happening as my teacher instructed while manipulating mana. Since you are unawakened it will be difficult for me to convey these concepts in detail, so I will summarize the bare theory and basics.”
Elijah leaned in the shade of his ship and listened intently.
“Mana is almost everywhere, it is in the dirt beneath us, and is currently spreading in the space between the stars. From what I know, it can not accomplish much, but with spells the possibilities are endless. When manipulated into specific patterns, certain effects occur. Put simply, spells are the action of mana. Like how I used the translation spell on the both of us.”
“Sounds pretty simple,” Elijah noted. Magic seemed much easier than his field of study which was computers, maybe. As for the mana spreading between the stars, that was interesting to hear, space was just a vast nothingness from what humans could tell, the amount of anything to fill it up is incomprehensible.
Turom shook its head. “Trust me, dear scholar, it is anything but. Much more complicated than the scant few words I used to explain it. I would be happy to answer any questions, but if you want more details then you must first awaken. And awakening can be unsettling, best if you do it around trusted individuals.”
“How would I awaken?” Elijah asked. The idea of being able to cast spells was equally interesting and crazy. It was difficult to convince himself that dancing would cast a spell like fireball even if he knew the possibility was there.
“Visit a mana-dense area and flood your senses with mana. A mage can speed up the process. Or you could simply wait and you will awaken naturally, as long as there is mana.” Turom supplied.
“Is this something I can tell my people? And last question, what is Adontian?”
“This is no secret, only basic information. You and your people would discover this once mana reaches your home or you discover the wider galaxy. As for Adontian, it is the most spoken language in the Adonis Arm.”
Elijah found it hard to believe humans never encountered mana relatively close to home. He couldn’t remember the exact distance of space the Federation controlled but it should be around 500 lightyears. Maybe Ortuvia and Rota slipped under the radar? It wouldn’t be the first time it happened. He also never heard of the Adonis Arm much less ‘Adontian’.
“Could you speak to me in Adontian? My suit can translate languages given time.” He asked while pointing to his ES. Though it wouldn’t hurt to add it to the database. And the translation spell in his head was very unnerving even if it was especially useful.
“That is useful,” Turom said with a nod, “I have been speaking Oridish but I will switch to Adontian.”
“Thank you,” Elijah replied.
“Begin translation. Name Adontian, and change the previous translation to Oridish” he muttered. The translations will slow down now that there were two running, but hopefully, enough data on Oridish was gathered so that the software could make the distinction.
“Well since you answered my questions it's only fair I answer some of yours, if you have any.”
“Not right now, but I will ask when I have some,” Turom answered. They picked up their book and continued reading on the grass.
Although he mentally tuned them out, the master and disciple were still sparring. They both wielded their weapons with practiced ease as they fought each other. Ioro was larger, had longer reach, and was presumably stronger, but Dimo was able to land hits from time to time. Occasionally Dimo would be smacked or kicked to the ground and Ioro would wait for his disciple to collect himself and then continue the spar. It seemed brutal by Elijah’s standards but he wouldn’t say anything.
He watched for a few more minutes but eventually became bored. There was not a lot to do but wait for an impending attack, which was stressful to think about. Although Ioro seemed to have night-vision eyes in the back of his head and also tens of meters away, Elijah felt that they should be a bit more vigilant.
He tried to imagine and simulate what he would do if and when the attack came… Which was to stay in the back behind Ioro and provide fire support, not much else he could do. He could try practicing aiming and firing his gun, but he had limited ammunition and he wanted to save as much as possible. The main concern was that Elijah had no idea what to expect of the soulless since he had never fought them before, he had never fought ever. Was that scout the only version they had or did they have more? Do they have some form of guns?
Elijah started to slowly pace back and forth. Maybe he was overreacting, the Oridians don’t seem particularly concerned about being attacked. Turom did mention something about patrols, maybe the patrols will eliminate the soulless before they reach them.
Was there anything else he could do to prepare? Sadly, nothing immediate came to Elijah’s mind. His options were extremely limited with his ship offline, and if it wasn’t he would be in space right now.
He needed something to focus on, the little amount of boredom was getting to his head.
He stopped pacing, “Is the soulless safe to examine?” Elijah asked Turom while looking at the motionless hunk of metal.
“Yes, Master Ioro has made sure it is completely dead. You could have it if you would like, we have a large surplus of them.” Turom responded without looking up from their book.
Elijah approached the motionless soulless. It was sprawled on its back. And was a little more beat up than he remembered and the hole in its torso seemed to have grown larger. He unholstered his gun and kept it ready just in case. He nudged it with his foot expecting a response.
Nothing happened.
He crouched and began to examine his soon to be attacker. If he had the tools on hand he would be dismantling it on the grass, but alas he wasn’t able to take them out of the academy. Figuring out how the alien machine worked would do him little good anyway. Although he wanted to save ammo, he had to check if his firearm was able to do damage. And what better way to test it than to just shoot?
Elijah stood back up and positioned himself so that there was a clear area past the soulless. Taking his time, he aimed for the torso and pulled the trigger. There was a sharp whistling noise and a tang as the bullet hit the target. At the point of impact, there was a small finger-sized hole. At least he could penetrate the scout’s plating, but he had no idea how many shots it would take to bring one down.
“Is that the weapon you will use against the soulless? It sounds similar to a Tomethral.” Elijah jumped, Turom was inspecting his gun as well as the damage it did.
“My apologies, I did not mean to startle you.”
Elijah cleared his throat and quickly holstered his gun, “It’s alright. Yeah, this is what I'll use.”
They inspected the finger-sized hole, “It is… potent,” Turom muttered, “But what will you do if they get close to you?”
Before Elijah could respond Turom shook their head, “Best to run before that happens, dear scholar.”
“I hope I won’t even have to shoot my gun,” he replied.
Turom walked back to their spot and continued to read their book while the master and disciple continued their seemingly endless training session. Elijah continued to pace around trying to find another productive thing to do. His mental simulations were getting him nowhere.
There was something productive he could do, something that he could devote almost all of his time to. But he loathed doing so. He could talk to the Oridians, and establish the first relations between their species. While it was an exciting prospect to think about and Turom was relatively easy to talk to, all Elijah could focus on was what would happen if things turned sour. He would die at worst and be publicly shamed by the Federation and media at best. He wished he read the Federation’s first contact guidelines.
The rest of the day passed with no soulless in sight and Elijah trying to think of a topic to talk to Turom about, they haven’t asked him any questions yet. His suit, however, was obtaining a lot of data with Ioro and Dimo presumably speaking Oridish, and Turom, Adontian. The translations might be done faster than expected.