ALEXiThymiA: Interlude IX

Interlude IX

Monday

Lily Moore

The look was fairly intimate, if anyone would happen to come by and see the way Lily and Alexa were intimately close to each other, they would almost assume that this was a private moment. In a way it was, the two had their hands clasped and foreheads touching, while an intense magical loop of energy pulsed its way through them. The energy flowed faster and faster, beads of sweat began to build and then pour down Lily’s delicate features. Her chest began to heave as she tried to take in bouts of air that her body fought so hard to resist, to push through, but this was far more intense than she could have imagined, far more intense of a feeling than she was prepared for.

Then finally it was over.

The surge of energy finally subsided leaving Lily panting desperately.

“Hhhuph, huff…” Finally, after a few minutes of just resting, and sweating profusely Lily was able to regain composure of herself. “That was intense…”

Alexa nodded.

“Now I need to know a few things.”

Hearing that Lily already nodded, sort of being able to anticipate the next set of questions. Holding up her hand Lily summoned a piece of chocolate into existence from nothing. The piece was small, barely enough to be called a chunk, but it was there and best of all it tasted like chocolate.

Seeing that Alexa nodded.

“Is that all?” The question was clear, Lily having heard the question and being intimately aware of Alexa’s thoughts felt like she knew the meaning. Was that all she could create.

Taking in a deep exhausted breath, Lily nodded. “Afraid so. I will need to improve my Intelligence and Willpower, well more so than I already have.”

Hearing that Alexa just nodded.

There was a slight pause as Alexa just stared at the exhausted Lily who was still panting from the intense mental and psychic pressure she had shared with Alexa.

“Now I have to ask about the other things.” Alexa said.

At that Lily just nodded her head and held out her hand. There was a moment as the two looked to a pen that was laying on the ground. With an intense will of mental force, Lily focused her mind on the pen and nothing…

The pen didn’t move.

“Sorry.” A defeated Lily said.

Shaking her head Alexa spoke reassuringly. “No, it is I who should be thanking you. I know that my knowledge was transferred to you, but I didn’t know if that translated to all powers or not.”

At that Lily just nodded, her breathing coming a bit easier now that she was down to regular breaths.

There was a moment of silence between the two, when Alexa just stared at Lily.

“You want to know about the words? Whether I can use them?”

Hearing Lily voice her thoughts, Alexa nodded. “Yes.”

“I can’t. I mean, I can sort of picture them. I can sort of imagine how they should be. I even feel that I would likely be able to spot a fake from a mile away, but recreating it? There is a blur in my mind where the language is concerned. In fact, I don’t know why, but I can’t seem to understand the Precursor language at all. Which seems odd as I know I am now fluent in Elven, Orcish, and Dwarven, just to name a few.” Lily said, changing to the language in question when she spoke to life Elven, Orcish, and Dwarven.

There was a moment of silence as Alexa seemed to be digesting this information.

“So, you know the plan?” Alexa asked.

“Find someone else from the pack and try to do the same with them.” Lily said, stating the plan between the two.

Hearing that Alexa nodded.

“I will try, just know that I don’t think it will work. I can grasp the ideas, but I haven’t made them mine yet. Right now, my understanding is just your understanding being thrust upon me. I think in order to transfer this, I would need to be able to first internalize it all, then and only then would I be able to pass it on. But I will try…”

At that Alexa nodded.

Silence.

Finally, after a moment Lily spoke a question that had been on her mind for a while. “I have to ask, why me?”

At that Alexa leaned back and stared at Lily. “Why not you?”

“I think I know. I understand you, at least I think I do. You see me as one of the core pack members, someone who will keep this knowledge secret from the others and only use it when necessary to save others. Still, how did you know I was like this?” Lily asked, but even as she asked, the felt she knew the answer already.

Alexa just watched as the light of realization slowly swept across her face. “I think you already know that too.”

At that Lily just nodded. “And you chose now to pass on your information to make sure it wasn’t lost, in case anything happens to you…” Lily’s voice trailed off at that, as a swell of emotions boiled forth in her at the thought. “You don’t know if you will survive?”

Alexa just stared.

“Right, I don’t blame you. It’s just a lot. So do you really think, that, is the reason the Precursors died out?” Lily asked.

“I do.” Alexa answered, speaking to life the thoughts and ideas that had been boiling in her mind. Thoughts that put a different spin on everything.

“So you think the reason why the dungeons explore the universe looking for ways to transfer and share knowledge is so that we can have a response to them?” Lily asked, the them in this case being a clear concept that the two knew intimately because they had shared a consciousness, their minds, bodies, and souls were combined so they could transfer this knowledge.

Alexa nodded.

“If they are the true enemy, then that would mean everything…” Lily trailed off, unable to put into words the concerns she was now understanding. Fears she didn’t even realize she should have until now. Before now she had been moving about thinking the worst that would happen was having to choose a side between the Humans, Elves, Orcs, and Dragons, but this put it all into light.

“Everything else is a distraction meant to pit us against each other, rather than the real enemy.” Alexa said, completing the thought and letting her words ring out with a note of truth that Lily could now clearly hear in her thoughts.

Hearing that Lily just nodded. “What do we do now?”

***

Jim Thyme

It was both a blessing and a curse. For years he had hoped and prayed that this day would come, and now that it was here, he realized something truly frightening. He finally realized that somewhere along their long and involved journey together, he and his wife had separated from the path.

Their tale was one that often drives so many people together, one of hardship of self-sacrifice to save a child. Yet, there was a problem, and Jim knew it. He could see it in his wife’s eyes, the same blue pools that he had turned to countless times over the years for comfort and support were now the eyes of a zealot.

He had kept his thoughts to himself, knowing that if he spoke his true thoughts, then Judy would have to report him. But now they were free. He could feel it, the gaes that had bound him for so long to follow the orders of the elves was gone. The oppressive yoke that had clung around his very soul and restricted him was free, thanks to his daughter. He had been there; worse his wife had been there.

Jim knew that if he was freed, then Judy, the love of his life, should also be free. And she was, but now rather than feeling sympathy towards her for her being forced to follow the orders, Jim realized something sinister, he realized that somewhere along the way Judy began to believe. She actually drank the kool-aide and liked it, no, not only did she like it, but she also flat out endorsed it.

It started with small things.

At first Jim was willing to dismiss most of the concerns as Judy just keeping up appearances. She reported into General Mackie regularly. She followed meeting times and drop off points. In fact it had been a good thing, as a few times he almost had his cover blown that he was now free. His only saving grace was that Judy was so deeply entrenched in the Elven hierarchy that his actions were seen mostly as him joking around, and pretending to be aloof, rather than him actually being free, mentally.

At this point, Jim knew for a fact that he wasn’t the only one who was free. His daughter, Alexa, she had to be free as well. But she had always been hard to read. Judy, despite all her emotional powers was never able to get them to work on Alexa. She had always been her blind spot, which was what Jim was hoping for now. He hoped that she would continue to remain ignorant to what their daughter was doing.

Worse, Jim knew that if he was to help out his daughter and what she was doing at all, his best course of action would be to make sure Judy and Mr. Mackie stayed as far away as possible. This was a fine line, as it meant that he also had to continue his role of being indoctrinated.

“You coming?” Judy’s melodic voice called out.

Jim who had been staring at himself in the bathroom mirror paused and looked up at himself. He was tired, there were dark bags under his eyes. His once chiseled face now showed the signs of age and one too many cheeseburgers. He was still in shape, but it was he was a far cry of the man he was twenty years ago. He was a far cry from the man his wife fell in love with, but staring at himself he made a promise to himself right then and there. He would be the man who would save his children no matter what, even if that meant opposing someone…

“Be right there.” Jim said, as he turned on the faucet and scooping water into his hands washed his face. A second later, he felt clean and refreshed and ready for whatever life still had for him.

As he walked down the staircase from the second floor bathroom to the front door he felt his heart jump out of his chest as he saw not just his smiling wife, but two elves who were waiting with the haughty ambivalence he had grown accustomed to seeing on their faces.

“Jim, good news. The Delegation has decided to come to us personally.” Judy said, a note of excitement filling her voice.

At that Jim let out a slow controlled breath. He tried not to think about what his actions would be, he wanted to be cordial, focusing his mind he spent every thought on being cordial and charming.

“Hello, to what do we owe the honor?” Jim began with a bow as he greeted his elven masters with a formal elven greeting. Just a bit longer, Jim thought to himself, as he forced a natural smile to his lips as he forced his mind and body to relax. I will get through this.

***

Clara St. Brown

Nervous tension filled her body as she stared at the General who was in one of his moods.

Wham! Clang! Rumble!

Metal desks and furniture quickly rearranged themselves around the room. A metal pillar, a large metal pillar that Clara was certain she couldn’t move if she tried was ripped up out of the ground and hurled like it was nothing.

Clara had seen the General’s mood swings before. He was always calm and professional in front of the students, and other staff who were not indoctrinated, but around those he considered to be part of the cause. To those who he knew without a doubt that he held absolute authority over, to those he showed his true nature, the nature of a blood thirsty killer and an absolute terror on the battlefield. The person who earned the rank of Knight Captain for the elven race, the highest possible rank one could achieve. At least that was the idea before Alexa came along.

Bang!

Mackie took the giant metal pillar that easily weighed over four hundred pounds and slamming it so hard into the ground that the protection wards around the room pulsed and nearly flickered out of existence for a moment.

At that the general finally stopped and began panting vigorously.

Clara wasn’t quite certain what had made the great General stop, whether it was the pulsing of his magic protections, the fact that he got out the most of his anger, or if he realized he was on a time crunch. Regardless of the reason Clara found herself extremely grateful for the fact that he had finally stopped.

Finally after a ten count of General Mackie panting and seeming to come down from his rage induced frenzy, Clara decided to change the subject.

“Is there anything I can help with?” Clara asked, knowing that getting a task and getting away as quickly as possible was the best way to avoid the General’s wrath.

“Help? Yes, you can tell the Tulpa and Eclipsian delegates to go humbly stuff their requests up their…” General Mackie paused, as he realized he was taking out his rage on a subordinate. Taking one last calming breath, Makie paused, then after centering himself continued. “Unfortunately, I think I might need your services.”

Hearing that Clara gulped, when the General needed her services in the past it had always meant “I need you to help me with an, operation.” The general began.

Hearing those words, Clara’s heart began to pulse with fear and anxiety, still she knew she had to keep up the charade of being a loyal faction member.

“Yes?”

“I need you to keep me apprised of any dealings the Tulpa and Eclipsian delegation members do. They want me to levy sanctions against The Countess.”

Hearing the words Clara’s mind immediately thought of the Red Countess, only after remembering that she was now dead and her soul being consumed by a demon, did she remember that her new leader was also the very same Countess that hew as referring to. Realizing that she needed to respond, she did the only way she could. “They do, on what grounds?”

“On the grounds of her being impudent to them. Despite her title clearly ranking her multiple echelons above both of their own. Then when they asked about the magics she wielded, in particular the one where she could print items out of thin air, they demanded that we force her to teach them. As if I would ever allow either of those lowly factions to gain such a powerful set of magic.” Mackie said, still mostly talking to himself.

“So what would you like me to do?” Clara asked, knowing that this would likely dragon on if she didn’t direct him to the point.

“Right, I need you to…”

***

Matriarch Magdala

Floating through space the two made their ways to a new segment of space. Finally, feeling that they had put enough distance between themselves and others the two stopped.

Flash.

“I don’t know. I think it is enough, but we can never tell.” Matriarch Magdala said, answering the question posed by her dungeon.

Flash.

At the request from the dungeon, Magdala paused let her giant reptilian eyes roll back in her skull and let her consciousness take her.

“I think she is beginning to understand.”

Flash.

“I don’t think it is enough, but she is already having a wider impact than we initially expected. She is awakening the summoned aspects in new and exciting ways. Ways that are unpredictable.”

Flash.

“Yes, unpredictable. Not even I can see or be aware of every possible outcome. It appears that she truly does have the powers of the Precursors running through her.”

Flash.

“I agree, this is our chance, but we will have to sit back and watch for now.”

Angry Flash.

“She is stronger than you or I are giving her credit for.”

Flash.

“I don’t know if she can even fight against the true enemy. But she has seen them, and she now seems to realize there is more to the universe than just the petty faction disputes.” Magdala answered.

Flash.

“That I do not know.”

Flash.

“We might still be able to recruit her, in time…”