Aila

Hello, I’m your narrator for this story. You can envision me with that smooth and calm familiar voice in your head from all the movies, your own voice or no voice at all while you embark, it won’t make a difference. Of course, if you feel the need to personalize, you can just call me Zed. Now this story takes place in the galaxy of altermun. Nestled right in between the planets of Caerule 19 and Viridisi 7, we find Usuloc 4. If you can’t tell by now, this is a sci-fi journey we’re taking a look into. So many great sci-fi shows have been cancelled that I’ve landed in short stories now and am hoping not to get cancelled. A Vetusun’s gotta eat too, am I right?

So Usuloc 4 you can think of as a temporary home for travelers. When Viridisians reach 12 in Neptune years and are making their transition to adulthood they come here to strengthen their verve and character. This is where we meet Aila and her mother Chesna. Now they have only been on the planet for two solar days and are still getting settled in. Chesna, being her normal near overachieving self, has already paid a visit to the school for registration as well as picking up supplies needed for the assignments she will be instructing. This place is almost no different than any wizardry institute you may have read about, but I’ve taken specific interest in these two’s journeys. There’s bound to be some weird stories when teaching verve to students.

Ok now I may have been snarky in saying that Chesna is an “overachiever”, because she doesn’t try to…she just does. Anyone that happens to be within her air learns from her and feels an overwhelming urge to be at their best. She is not the type to judge those around her even when they fall short of their own ideal self-image. Those who fall down mentally can expect her hand to be there to help them up so they can try again. And because of this, she is well respected in her community so much so that there is no doubt that she’ll become a Vetusun (high elder) later in her age. Teaching is something she naturally does and with just being her daughter, I can only imagine how much Aila has picked up from her before their trip here.

When I was a young Viridisian learning to extend my verve, we met on what was called the “grey slate” in human words. This patch on the edge of the terra is turned into an undeveloped light grey plot every class season. Flexing your verve is definitely safest outdoors. It’s not something that you want to limit with walls or stifle in any way. The Vetusun decided this many moons ago and this season is no different.

Aila and the other pupils are meeting Chesna for their first lesson. Chesna has worked with Aila before the school season, but now it’s time to see where all her students are on their journey. It’s easier to work with pre-existing elements when stretching and flexing your verve. Later in age is when creation is harnessed. I guess it’s not completely like wizardry, because nothing is appearing out of thin air. You see, mostly everything comes from something else…. matter morphs matter. You can start with the atmosphere’s molecules, picking out pieces and changing pieces until you’ve turned the area around you red or blue. You can keep building from there and the extent is only limited by the vision or energy theViridisian puts forth.

“Today we will only be working with terra. You have the liberty to transform it to whatever you’re capable of. I only want to see where you are in your journey and the character within you today,” Chesna announces to the class as she starts lining them up as if they’re to the side of a stage where one student performs at a time. All 10 are shifted to the left as she sits in front of the pretend stage.

Chesna looks at her ID cards and says, “Halsten, you may start first. In the center please.”

As he walks to the middle of the class, she gives him a warm smile filled with assurance and excitement. I believe he senses this and shoots a smile back her way in return. Halsten takes a breath to relax, concentrates on the ground, and it turns green beneath his feet. With every breath he exhales, it spreads from his feet in a circular path towards the others. The green rocky surface starts to sift into sand and after as if every piece of sand attached to the others around it, Halsten morphed the ground around him into a near marble surface turning it from bright green to a pale pastel as it forms together.

“How long should I hold this form Mrs. Chesna?” Halsten asks while trying not to break concentration on his breathing.

“Is this the farthest you’ve attempted to stretch?” she asked.

“Yes,” he stated in between breaths.

“Only hold it for as long as you safely can. Do you think you can also change it back to its original form? Slowly, you don’t want to rush,” Chesna said. Seeing the overexertion in his face.

“Ok I think I can do it,” he says as he slows his now labored breaths.

“It’s fine if not complete Halsten. I’m not asking for more than you’re comfortable with as of now. This is not your potential, but a baseline,” Chesna reminds him.

He nods in acknowledgement as he sinks from his shoulders down into the terra. His feet sliding lower into the now green sand. While Chesna lights up with excitement in a near Santa Clause -esque gleam, the other students mumble off to the side like cheerleaders happy to see Halsten regain focus. They’re all watching his feet rise up with the ground beneath him as it turns into a greyish rocky surface.

“Great job Halsten!” Chesna exclaims.

“Thank you,” Halsten says while smiling.

“Myna may I have you to the center?” Chesna asks while motioning her forward.

She nods and comes forward while Halsten walks back to meet the rest of his peers. Suddenly her confidence disappears from her steps and she freezes as if she’s just been turned to stone.

This usually doesn’t happen, but it’s always possible for unwelcomed beings to be on any world. What Chesna doesn’t see is not her fault, due to age there are life forms that the young can see before anyone older and the “degenerated” is one of them. When all Viridisians get to their life crossroads they have to decide whether they themselves are to be a positive or negative lifeforce. We don’t know this crossroad has happened until later on. When the negative choice is made that Viridisian will start “degenerating” so to speak. They will lose their color in their skin, eyes, and hair over time while their thinking shifts to more primal in nature. This does not make them less intelligent in the slightest. When they have completely degenerated physically they are not able to speak, but can telepathically communicate with other degenerated Viridisians. What Myna, the youngest, sees before anyone else is a group of 3 of them 50 meters behind their teacher.

Chesna looks behind her shoulder, but sees nothing. Finally, someone else sees them and that person is Aila. The vicious look in their eyes instantly activates her flight or fight systems and her hands start to tremor at her side. One rises up and lunges towards Chesna. Aila now tearing up with anger, fear and adrenaline raises her hands to motion it to stop. Of course this by itself does not work, but something odd starts to happen as she starts to run toward her mother. In her mind she envisions pushing it away from her mom and she feels as though her verve is being exerted, but the degenerated one doesn’t move back. Aila is getting livid and concentrates harder on pushing it away. To make matters worse, it looks like it is shifting into another form. She’s unsure of what it’s doing, because no one’s heard of a degenerated one doing such a thing. She can see a substance that looks like the inside of a marble that is silver and pale white extending from the back of its head. Soon the other two do the same.

Chesna turns to face the degenerated and is met with Aila’s grasp from behind. She looks down to see her offspring’s right hand raised towards them and then she looks up to see what looks like their blood pulled from their pale grey bodies now floating like silver spikes and daggers of glass behind their heads and bodies. One of them is only 10 paces from her own face. Chesna is now officially horrified. Not at the degenerated, but at the amount of power in Aila’s own verve pulling blood from another life form. She and the rest of the students watch as the degenerated’s lifeless bodies fall to the ground. Aila then peeks around her mother’s side and lets out a guttural cry as she looks at the aftermath of her heroic attempt. She then covers her mouth, because the whole scene is gross. The story just wouldn’t be right if the degenerated didn’t have a putrid smell that is given off by their blood.

The glass blood daggers start to fall to the ground too when Chesna stops them in midair telepathically. She then gently lays them on the ground as she thinks of what her next steps will be. Since this is something that no one has ever documented having done before, she knows right then and there that Aila is too powerful for Usuloc 4 or their home world Viridisi 7.