ZILCHERY ZERO'S TALES OF RANDOM
CHAPTER ONE: OOO - OUT OF ORDA
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In a world where nothing happened, suddenly, something did.
For untold ages of time, the people of Orda had been as they had always been; undisturbed and perfectly proper. When Zilchery was born, their orderly way of life was thrown into an uncomfortable disarray.
“Zilchery,” the eldest elder of Orda rumbled, with a voice of booming stars. To call him a ‘he’ would not be accurate, for the people of Orda were of no gender. To call her a ‘she’ would not be accurate, for the people of Orda were of no gender. To call it an ‘it’ would not be appropriate, for that would be flat out disrespectful!
So it was, that one should painstakingly refer to them as ‘the elder’. Every. Single. Time.
Great, alright.
“Zilchery,” the eldest elder had said, yes. “Zilchery, what in the earthly hells are you?”
Zilchery had grown to adolescence in the wink of time the eldest elder had taken to utter his name. Yes, Zilchery was a ‘he’ and perhaps that is what had perplexed the elders of Orda.
“Abak-Barat-Catak-Dizut-Emil-Falan-Gotun-Hyral-Illet-Jomik-Kilon-Lapis-Murtal-Nadan-Ohmun-Pallas-Quvat-Relam-Sezah-Tivor-Urul-Vitam-Waton-Xibel-Ydram …”
All of this, young Zilchery recited like a gushing river current. The elders of Orda stared; some of their noses drooling with snot from sheer bewilderment.
“Ziro,” Zilchery said after the briefest of pauses, in which the earthly constellations had revolved no less than ten times.
“Ziro,” the eldest elder repeated with the tone of relief one has when speaking to a foreigner who suddenly says something you can understand. The eldest elder exchanged looks with the eldest elder's peers, snot from the eldest elder's own nose beginning to drool. “Let us stick with Ziro.”
The elders shared thoughts amongst themselves.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
Where to send this thing off to?
I vote the Garreshar Pits! one elder blared.
No, you great oaf! Send it to the Milkous Way! It is but a newborn, and it should have plenty to drink! another elder argued.
You absolute bunch of blabonius senilities! another screamed through the telepathic network. This thing is clearly un-whole, it must be sent off to live amongst others of its kind. It must be sent off at once!
At once? yet another elder said. This one was hunchbacked because it had once seen an earthly being strutting around in this manner and thought that it looked classy. Why can we not keep it here? It appears harmless, and we could learn new things.
LEARN NEW THINGS?! the eldest elder boomed through the network. Let's not hear that again! Learning new things will be the end of us! We persist because we remain as we are!
There was silence for some moments, and Zilchery’s black silky hair had grown to his knees in that time. He appeared to remain in adolescence, eyes wide like a newborn bab- … Well of course, he was still a newborn. He watched the strange beings of dusty flesh and light giving each other strange looks and mouthing at each other strange things. He could not hear them speak though. Eventually, they all turned to face him.
“Zilchery…” the eldest elder boomed once more.
A bright and dazzling gate of light opened up behind Zilchery, but the boy did not turn to look.
“Zilchery Ziro …” It appeared that the eldest elder enjoyed the sound that the eldest elder’s own voice made.
“Off you go, boy.” The eldest elder said that last word like the eldest elder had just learnt it.
Zilchery kept staring at the beings before him. One of them grabbed something big made of sparkling lights. Long and narrow, with a great big box on one end that was bigger than Zilchery himself.
The being swung it at him and Zilchery felt the first thing he had ever truly felt.
The strike of a hammer.
Zilchery Ziro hurtled backwards and plunged through the gate. The expression on his youthful face had not changed in the slightest. He was not shocked, nor hurt, nor amused, nor distressed. He was not nothing at all. Zilch. Zero.
The beings showed their teeth and turned their backs to him one-by-one, and the last glimpse of that luminous world of strange beings twinkled out of Zilchery's eyes.
Into darkness he was sent, but it was not total. Down below, there extended a flat and infinite floor that glowed with blue glow. There were things down there, swirling masses of white, pointy greens and browns that did not move, and when he focused closely, he saw little beings that did move. But unlike the strange beings of dusty flesh and light which he considered his parents, these little beings did not shine with light.
Zilchery Ziro fell all the way down. All the way down from the world of Orda.
To Be Continued...