-We cannot keep them here.-
It was late, and Daneir should have been inside.
-Agreed. They must be removed before they can cause any more damage.-
It was late, and but for the fact that he was too curious, Daneir would have been inside.
-To where, though? We cannot inflict them on any other intelligent society.-
It was late, and Daneir had always loved the night sky, so he stayed out a little later than normal. He had been in awe of the stars since he had first seen them and spent many nights out in his field, looking upward, wondering what it would be like to be among them.
-We the Society, for crimes most heinous and treasonous, strip you of your powers and do hereby sentence you to exile and banishment to an unsettled world.-
It was late, but Daneir did not mind. He stood silently, staring into the inky void above him, and gazed in wonder at the twinkling lights. So peaceful, so wonderful, they shone so bright, and were three of them getting larger? Daneir blinked.
-We will be able to monitor them?-
He blinked again. Three of the stars were getting larger, and fast.
-Yes. They will not bother us again.-
One of them seemed to be heading north, and one to the east. But neither of those concerned Daneir; he stared only at the white dot that was heading straight for him, gaining speed with every moment.
-Good.-
"Oh, no."
+++
History can teach us many things. It can teach us how our ancestors lived, what the great civilizations used to be like, why wars are begun. We can learn from the great minds of the past, or we can learn from the worst minds of the past, but we can learn. History can teach us many things...but it does not always teach us the truth.
History is written by the victors. That is an unchangeable flaw about it; victorious peoples recount their successes, write of their strengths, and the truth that can be found in their weakness is lost forever. History is flawed. Too often are we misled by the details of the past into making judgments of events about which we know nothing. I know, because I myself was once misled.
It is said that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. I write this for future generations, a true history of the Great War, the War of the Magi, in the hopes that they will one day know the truth.
For if they do not, they are doomed.
+++
She looked up.
"It's about time you got here," she grumbled, standing. She brushed dirt from the folds of her long white gown. The sliver of a moon illuminated the dark sky above, but the soft glow in the clearing overpowered it, radiating long shadows into the denser forest beyond. She consciously willed the light dimmer as the arrival stepped forward.
"I had forgotten how to fly in this kind of environment, Goddess," came his labored reply, his huge, bat-like wings twitching in sympathy.
Goddess pursed her lips in amusement. "You'd forgotten how to fly in air, Dhum?" she teased, reaching one slender hand out to tweak the talon that capped his nearest wing.
"You know what I mean," Dhum glared back, twisting his wing out of her grasp. "It took me a minute to get used to flying like...this again, so give me a break." He looked around, peering into the darkness. "Have you seen...?"
She shook her head. "I put out the Call as soon as I could, but Polt is--"
"--late, as usual." One of the long shadows seemed to pick itself up off the dirt, forming into a humanoid shape with a vague smile on its face. "Sorry to have kept you waiting, chaps. You Called, my dear Goddess?"
Goddess rolled her eyes at the newcomer. "Always one for an entrance, aren't you, Poltergeist?"
Polt bowed, saying, "Why make an entrance when you can make an Entrance?" Goddess grimaced at the implied capital; Polt just winked.
"Quit it, both of you. This isn't the time - if you hadn't forgotten, we've just been exiled," Dhum huffed.
"Ah yes, the exile. And to think, I was almost starting to enjoy it here. Thank you, Mr. Fun-Happy-Deity, for so thoroughly ruining my mood." Poltergeist sighed, sprawling against one of the nearby trees.
Dhum ignored his overdramatic companion and turned back to Goddess. "You can Call, I can fly, and it can Shift, so we obviously haven't lost everything--"
"Just your already small sense of humor, apparently," Polt cut in under its breath, examining what would have been its nails, had it had nails.
"Is it possible that we can get ourselves off this rock, then?" Dhum continued, pausing only to glare at the shapeshifter.
Goddess just looked at him wearily.
He waited.
When it was clear that Goddess wasn't going to say anything, he growled, "That's it? We can do nothing?"
"Unless you can still Travel and haven't told us," she snapped back. "The Society limited our powers when they exiled us here, remember? It'd be a little naive of them to let us keep our ability to Travel and then expect us to stay put, don't you think?"
Dhum snarled in response and stalked away, folding his arms. "This is insane! I will not be kept a prisoner for doing nothing!"
Poltergeist snorted from against its tree. "Right, it's not like we tried to overthrow the Society or anything. What possible reason could they have for limiting our powers and throwing us onto this backwater planet? I can't imagine, Dhum."
The winged beast roared in anger and wheeled on the shapeshifter, unsheathing his claws. His eyes narrowed in fury as he advanced, raising his talons to strike a blow. Poltergeist just looked at him in boredom as he approached and faded into the shadows, causing Dhum's claws to slice only air. He roared again, eyes darting around looking for the shifter. Silently, Polt appeared behind Dhum and tripped him, laughing with cruel pleasure. Dhum bounded back up and whirled on it fiercely, ready to slash it to ribbons.
"STOP IT!" Goddess shouted, freezing the two in place with a sweep of her hand. Pausing for a moment, she grinned slightly, saying, "Well, it's good to know that that one still works."
Dhum and Poltergeist just blinked.
"Are you two going to behave yourselves now?"
"Fine," Dhum managed to growl at the same time as Poltergeist's stilted "of course".
Goddess nodded, and her two companions promptly fell flat on the ground. Her grin fading, she sat down on a nearby log and looked at her hands.
"What's wrong, Goddess?" Poltergeist said from its position lying in the dirt, not bothering to get up as Dhum took to the sky to let out some frustration. "That one always used to make you laugh."
"I know, it's just that..." She looked up, and Polt could see the fear in her eyes. "What're we going to do? I mean, I know we can survive, but...it's so empty here..."
Dhum alighted on a low branch, shivering slightly, though there was no wind. "I can't feel anyone but us, period. It's like we're all alone in the middle of the universe."
"We're not, you know."
Goddess glanced to where Polt was now sitting against a nearby stump. "What'd you say?" she asked.
"I said, 'we're not,' my dear," it repeated. "Didn't either of you notice anything when you landed?"
She shook her head. "I've been here the whole time. Dhum?"
"Now that you mention it...." He paused. "As I was flying here, I thought I saw some crop fields, or something. But I thought the Society wasn't going to...conflict us on people? Wait, that's not right..." Dhum scratched his head.
"Inflict, Dhum, inflict," Goddess corrected wearily. "They weren't going to inflict us on any intelligent society. Polt, would you mind explaining what's going on? I think feel a migraine coming on."
"Heaven forefend," Polt said, its words dripping with sarcasm. He turned to Dhum. "The key word here is 'intelligent,' my winged friend. To be considered 'intelligent' by the Society, you have to be sentient, sapient, and have the ability to Travel outside your own world." Its eyes darkened slightly as it continued to grumble, "Not that half the idiots in the Society are sentient anyway. Or sapient, for that matter. 'Let's meddle in the affairs of others, no one's as important as us, blah blah blah-' Ow!"
Polt scowled and rubbed the spot on its leg where Goddess' perfectly aimed rock had hit its mark. "Poltergeist," she purred, "I'm sure you have a point. Would you mind getting to it before the universe dies?"
"Alright, no need to shout," it replied, then muttered, "or throw rocks, you uncivilized, uncouth-"
"Poltergeist!"
"Yes, sorry. My point is that, in their sub-infinite wisdom, the Society may have overlooked the fact that the creatures here possess two of the three traits for intelligence." It grinned slightly.
Goddess raised her eyebrow. "So we're on the same planet as sentient animals. So what?"
"You really are impossible, you know that?" Polt sighed dramatically. "Fine. I'll use small words so that the two of you can understand. First, there is sentient life - industrial, which I know because I landed in the middle of a factory or something, though we'll get to that problem in a minute. Second, that life may or may not be sapient, which we'll have to go determine. Third, and most important, we need a way to get off this planet."
Goddess' eyes got bigger as she realized where Polt was going with this. "Terrasco."
Polt grinned. "Exactly, my dear. Two points."
Dhum huffed in annoyance. "Will someone let me into the loop, please? I skipped my course on Galactic History so I could help plot the overthrow of civilization, you know."
"Terrasco is a planet that gained intelligence status in the Society without having internal magic," Goddess explained excitedly, her words starting to run together, "one of something like only three worlds that have been able to do that. The Society didn't even realize they were able to Travel until the Terrascans came knocking on their door because they were able to use technology to get off the planet, and the Society doesn't usually look for that! Oh Polt, you're a genius!" Goddess ran over to embrace her companion, earning a snort from Dhum.
"Showoff," he grumbled.
Polt just chuckled, its voice muffled from behind Goddess' arm. "I'll never deny that, and you're just jealous that you didn't get any points."
"Right," Dhum coughed, "anyway. So all we need to do is build a transport off the planet? Sounds easy enough."
"Well, here's one of the problems," Polt said hesitantly, pulling away from Goddess. "When I said industrial, I may have been overstating a little. They look like they just discovered mass production."
"That's not a problem - we'll just help them along a little," Dhum replied. "If they've got factories, then it'll be easy to coax them into transmodulated hyperdrive with a little work."
Goddess just looked at him. "What? I didn't skip all of my classes," Dhum said defensively. "Don't I get any points for that?" He smiled hopefully.
"No," Goddess replied, with no small amusement as Dhum's face fell. She turned back to where Polt was lost in thought. "What was the other problem?"
Polt looked up, blinking. "Hmmm?"
Goddess clucked her tongue impatiently. "You said 'one of the problems,' implying that there were more...?"
It shook its head. "It may be nothing, but I'm not sure yet. And anyway, I think we should - or, rather, I should - do some reconnaissance to make sure we can pull this off first."
Dhum bristled at that one. "You? What makes you more competent than me at reconnaissance? I'll have you know, I was two-time winner of the D'anian Hunt and I've been ranked Class B by Societal Defense and-"
"And you're a giant beast with wings and fangs and claws," Poltergeist finished. "You're a little intimidating to people who don't know you, you know, even though we know that you're just a big fluffball with a heart of gold," Polt mocked.
"But how do we know that there aren't fluf- creatures like me here?" Dhum asked, glaring.
"All the more reason for Polt to go, Dhum," Goddess quickly said over Polt's muttered "because the universe isn't that cruel."
Still glaring at it, Dhum drew a long breath and finally relented. "Fine, but be back soon. This isn't the time for one of your, um, 'lascivious encounters.'"
Polt feigned a hurt look. "Dhum, you wound me. They're not lascivious encounters." Goddess looked pointedly at it, and it continued, "They're called orgies." Then, with a grin and a wink, it was gone.
+++
Daneir awoke to a tingling sensation, a pain in his back, and way, way too much light. He groaned inwardly.
/I have got to stop drinking before bed; Cleyera's gonna kill me for sleeping in the field again./
He raised his arm to ward off the offending sunlight, shading his eyes and squinting. Sitting up, he dug a rock out of his back with his other hand. /Eesh, that's gonna hurt later./ He looked at the offending stone, preparing to throw it across the field.
Then he looked at his hand.
/Damn, that is one hell of a sunburn, Daneir./ He rubbed his hand on his shirt, making sure that his skin really was that color, then shrugged it off. It wasn't the first time he'd been sunburned by sleeping out in the open; it had just never been that bad. /Ah, well. 'Serves you right for keeping your head in the clouds' is what the Mayor would say./
He started walking back toward the farmhouse, thinking about the dream he had had the night before. /Bright lights, stars falling...I -really- need to quit drinking before bed./ Daneir, a farmer by trade, was also the youngest member of the Esperan Council; his mother never let him forget that his great-great-grandfather had been one of the founding members of the city-state of Espera, so it only seemed natural to her that he be on the Council. He, on the other hand, wanted nothing to do with politics and wished only to gaze at the stars and be happy, but his mother had gone through seventeen hours of intensive labor to bring him into the world - or so he'd heard countless times - so he owed her at least that much.
He continued to think about the dream. /Wonder if it means something?/ Daneir often dreamed about the stars and read a lot into them, though a lot of his predictions never came true. /Ah, well. That's why I'm a farmer, not a politician./ He chuckled as he passed by a cluster of duckweed flowers and sneezed.
At that moment, Daneir realized exactly three things. First, his sunburn, despite looking worse than normal, didn't hurt at all. Actually, his skin felt just fine, if a little tingly. Second, he hadn't drunk a drop last night - in fact, Cleyera had been complaining that they were out of alcohol; he was meaning to go into town today and get some. And last, his sneeze had just set the duckweed on fire.
"Holy shit!" Daneir jumped back from the blaze and went into a small panic. "What the hell? Did I...I mean...is that...holy shit!" He quickly stamped out the fire, and paused. "What in the world?"
Now, as simple as Daneir's choice of profession was, he himself was by no means the dumbest person in Espera; in fact, he had been near the top of his class for most of his life. So after calming himself down, Daneir decided that, of course, the fire had been a freak accident. /Yeah, spontaneous combustion. Happens all the time in the duckweed family, yep, nothing weird there.../ His thoughts trailed off as his rational mind finally took over. /I wonder./
He looked around for something, and found some sticks sitting on some rocks nearby. He glanced around to make sure no one was watching, then, with a shaky finger, pointed at the sticks.
Nothing happened.
/Okay, so definitely just a freak fire. Right. Cleyera's gonna love this./
Daneir shook his head and chuckled, continuing his short walk back to the farmhouse, never noticing the wisp of smoke that rose from the pile of leaves behind the rocks.
He reached the house in no time and opened the door, searching for his wife. "Cleyera! You'll never guess what just happened! The duckweed..." He broke off as he turned the corner into the kitchen and saw his wife, with what looked like a purple tan and long, curved horns, sitting at the table. She looked, for all the world, as if she had lost her best friend.
He burst out laughing.
"Daneir Samwell Thompost! Don't you dare, don't you dare laugh at me! This is not funny, I look horrible!" Cleyera shouted.
Daneir wiped a tear from his eye as he kept chuckling. "On the contrary, I think you look great - never looked better, dear!"
She glared back. "Right back atcha, Red - at least my hair doesn't clash with my skin."
He turned around and finally noticed his reflection in the hall mirror. His skin was definitely red all over, not just on his arms, and his hair had turned a nice shade of lavender – which went fine with his skin, he thought. He also sported a good sized ridge across his forehead, but he didn't think he looked at all bad. He said as much to his fuming wife, grinning casually into the mirror.
"Leave it to you to enjoy looking like some creature out of a story. This isn't normal, Daneir," Cleyera said worriedly as he turned back around, his grin fading. She whispered, "I'm scared. What's happened to us?"
In less than a second, Daneir had swooped around the table and caught his wife in his arms as she began to sob. "Shhh, it's okay, Cley, it's okay."
"No, it's not, Daneir! This is wrong!"
"Look at me, Cley." She reluctantly turned her face toward his; he could now see the complex crystalline pattern that had formed on her cheeks. He looked into her tear-filled eyes.
"Cley, I love you - I don't care if we're both little slime lizards. I love you, and that's never wrong."
She smiled slightly, hiccupping for breath. "You mean that?"
"Of course I do." Daneir grinned. "You know, your eyes haven't changed."
She laughed a little, sniffing. "Flatterer."
He hugged her tightly once more before letting her go. "I'll - we'll go up into town later on today, see if we can't get something to wash all of this off."
Cley looked worriedly up at him. "You don't think the people in town'll say something?"
He shook his head dismissively. "Nah, they're good folk - and if they do, I have a new trick with duckweed that they can see." He grinned. "In the meantime, I'm going to go upstairs and change, okay?"
"Okay." She sniffed once more, then got an odd look on her face. "Um, by the way, don't open the bedroom closet."
"Why not?" he asked curiously.
She half-grinned, then coughed self-consciously. "Because, uh, it may or may not be full of water. Ahem."
Daneir just laughed.
+++
"Goddess, would you mind turning your light down a bit? I'm trying to take a nap," Dhum said, scowling in the direction of the omnipresent light source. The two hadn't moved from the clearing since Poltergeist had left the night before.
"Sorry to keep you awake, your Lordship," she snapped, then proceeded to glow a bit brighter. "Is that better?"
Dhum just rolled over with his back to her and covered his face with his wing, grumbling. Goddess sighed and turned the glow down, murmuring, "Should it really be taking this long?"
"Told you I should have gone," Dhum responded, his voice muffled by his wing. "The shifter's the reason we got caught, you know."
"I seem to remember a certain winged deity and a certain luminous deity that were instrumental in our capture, too, my dear Dhum," Polt said as it reformed from the shadows, a disapproving face turned toward the 'winged deity.'
"Don't start, you two," Goddess warned, watching Dhum as he sat up and glared back at Poltergeist. Satisfied that they weren't going to do anything but glare, she asked, "Anything to report then, Poltergeist?"
"Yes, ma'am," it said, bowing slightly. "I was right, their technology isn't nearly ready for spaceflight, but I think we might be able to help them along a little. Also...." It trailed off, sprawling in between the other two.
"Yeah, Polt? What is it?" Goddess prompted.
"Well," Polt started, looking worried. "You both landed in the middle of nowhere, but I landed right in the middle of a city centre before I came to meet the two of you. I know this may sound odd, but the creatures there glowed for a while after I'd impacted, and when I went back today...." It stopped again, sighing.
Dhum growled impatiently. "Spill it, Polt."
"They can all use magic now."
Goddess gasped slightly, while Dhum leaned back onto his hands. "I thought you said this wasn't supposed to be an intelligent planet," he asked, a note of concern in his voice.
"It's not - none of the other peoples I visited can use it, and I think their magic's weak enough that they can't Travel, so the Society won't pick up on it. Thing is, though, they all seemed really surprised that they could do it, like they couldn't before. Could our presence be doing something?" it asked Goddess worriedly.
"Well," Goddess responded, cocking her head in thought, "the energy that the Society used to expel us here was quite dangerous. I remember an experiment involving carbon-based life they did on one planet where the creatures mutated, and I think they could use magic afterward, though it was very unfocused."
Dhum blinked. Goddess just smiled at him and said sweetly, "You weren't the only one who went to classes. And I give myself ten points for that."
Polt ignored the little interchange and said, "So you're telling me that my landing there mutated these people?" Goddess nodded, waiting for a reaction. Polt grinned slightly. "Cool."
"Cool?" Dhum exploded, jumping to his feet. "This is exactly the kind of thing we wanted the Society to stop! This isn't 'cool,' this is a crime against the universe!" He stalked around the clearing, waving his arms for emphasis. "This'll have disastrous consequences for this world! We can't just go around, altering other peoples like this! We-"
Goddess got up and walked after him, putting her hand on his arm. "Settle down there, Mr. PolySci, it's not our fault. This is just the Society being the Society, right?"
He blew out a breath and relaxed slightly. "Right." He turned to Polt. "Okay, so we just need to convince these people to go into space, is that what you're saying?"
"Basically," Polt said, then grinned. "But why not make it interesting?"
Dhum quirked an eyebrow. "Interesting?"
"Turns out that, by no small coincidence, there are three centers of civilization on this planet; it would take too long for the three of them to get together, though, so..."
"...why don't we each take one and see who gets to space first?" Goddess raised her eyebrow, finishing his sentence.
Polt continued, "Sure! There's one on this continent, a perfect day's walk for our lovely young Goddess, one in the northern part of the other continent, an austere setting fit for any winged deity, and the mutated people in the south, for which I feel partly responsible. It's a perfect set-up."
Dhum laughed. "I like the sound of this. Goddess?"
She grinned as Polt walked closer to them. "Why not? I've been looking for a way to humble you both for a while."
"Oh ho, a little confident are we?" Polt said, placing its hand in front of them.
She winked and placed hers on top of it. "Aren't we always?"
Dhum's hand dwarfed theirs as it closed around them. "Well then, may the best deity win."
The three grinned at each other.
+++
"Order, order!"
"Mayor, what the hell's happened to us?"
"Was it the Malehri?"
"Order!"
"We have to go after them!"
"That's right, we can't let them get away with this!"
"Will everyone please SHUT UP?" the Mayor finally shouted. Some people tried to keep talking, but found they couldn't; the rest stayed silent.
The Mayor of Espera had led a long and generally happy life. His people were the most content in the world, he thought; their shipping economy was robust, the manufacturing sector had begun to pick up, and the incidence of death and disease was much lower that either of the other two countries. Not to mention the fact that they were among the most civilized in the world and weren't prone to panic. He had been planning on announcing his retirement next month…so it seemed only fitting that the fates land this disaster square in his lap.
He looked around the room, recognizing some of the faces. Mack O'Donnell sat in the front row as usual, looking fit, if not for the green tinge to his skin and the scales that covered his arms. Katryn Agasa smiled tentatively from the back, revealing long pointed teeth. Some of his people looked a little more different than the others, most notably the goat-looking creature who was still trying to talk, but for the most part, everyone looked okay.
Barring, of course, their huge physical changes and the fact that they all had the ability to fry, freeze, roast, or do something else to a fish seven ways from Sunday.
But these were still his people, this was still his town, and dammit, he was going to get to the bottom of this.
"Now, I've been practicing with this speech thing all day. If you all will kindly calm down, I'll let you talk again. Deal?" he asked. The townsfolk nodded. He did a little dance, turned around twice, spit, and waved his hands - and felt a little foolish doing so - but everyone began to murmur gratefully again.
"Mayor, do you have any idea what's going on? Did the Malehri do this?" Katryn spoke up, a fearful note in her voice.
"First of all, I'd like to remind everyone that the Malehri aren't our enemies any more, and haven't been for years, and second, I doubt it. This many people overnight? Besides which, the Malehri aren't that smart," the Mayor answered, earning a slight smile back from Katryn.
"Is this dangerous?" a voice from the back asked.
"Well," the Mayor said, "I don't think it is intentionally, but the Wesleys' house burnt down this morning due to lightning, so I think we need to be careful." A worried buzz sprang up in the hall, so he continued, "Although, I have to point out, Doc Tanaven did quite a number healing up the Wesleys, and without any tools I might add. Plus, I can make you all quiet with a wave of my hand, so it's not all bad." This elicited a small chuckle from the crowd and a smattering of applause for the doctor, who was up on stage with the rest of the council and the Mayor.
"Mayor, I think I know what might have happened," said a voice from behind him, and he turned to look at Daneir Thompost. Daneir was relatively new to the council, but the Mayor sensed a lot of potential in the boy. He thought that Daneir could be great someday, if he'd keep his head out of the clouds, and he'd told him as much.
"Shhh, everyone, quiet down," the Mayor scolded the crowd as they began to whisper excitedly. "Let's everyone listen to what Daneir has to say."
"Well, last night when I was walking through my field, I thought I saw three stars fall from the sky," Daneir began.
"I saw it too!" piped up a voice from the back, and a few others joined him.
"Glad to know I wasn't just dreaming, then," Daneir smiled a little. "Anyway, one of the stars seemed to fall straight into town. Do you think maybe that had something to do with it, Mayor?"
The Mayor shook his head. "I don't know, Daneir. I assure you all, though, that the Council and I will not rest until we-"
He stopped as the podium beneath his hands began to shake. He looked up, and the lights started dimming; an eerie wind began blowing through the hall. His eyes widened as the great doors at the back began to shake, and everyone silently turned to face them. Suddenly, with a great crash of thunder, the doors flew open to show a hulking black figure outside. It spoke with a booming voice.
"I am Poltergeist."
The figure stepped into the hall, still remaining shrouded in darkness, as the people at the back began edging away from it.
"I am your Deity."
The lights finally revealed a person, he thought, though it was uniformly tan, and the Mayor couldn't tell whether it was a man or a woman. The figure looked around the room, its gaze heavy with power, and then looked directly at him, and smiled.
"And I think I can help."