Stralia - Morning, Midday, Afternoon
#3 of Stralia
_ Stralia - Morning, Midday, Afternoon ~~SnowDragon
Hallo again! This time I come to you with the third chapter of Stralia and the story of Senia, the falcongirl living in a world after a Collision of two. I'm really starting to grow attached to some of these characters now that I'm getting to know them better within my own mind, what goals they possess and what they want to get out of life. I suppose knowing them on my sort of level where I MAKE them exist is different to actually knowing a person, but I hardly know these days. Regardless, I found this chapter a challenging fun to craft up, even if I felt kind of tired and had to consume a large amount of soft drink in order to keep my muse flowing.
Without further ado, I present Stralia - Morning, Midday, Afternoon. Enjoy!
Writing Time: (Started: 9:00pm 14/08/13. Finished 12:56am 15/08/13) Length: Digital Copy Only; 9.0 A4 Pages Soundtrack: Tout est Perplexe, Famously, Bande-annonce (All from EVA3.0)
Libraries are the homes of knowledge, the greatest heroes and the darkest of madmen. ~Sir Eisenhower; at the meeting of the Eight, 480PS ----_
The office that morning had a lot more hustle and bustle to it, more likely to be due to her later timing than the morning two days beforehand, and it came as a little bit of a shock to her mind that she had started to pick up a schedule in her head as to when people had started arriving and making themselves a problem for others. It helped keep one out of trouble when one simply didn't notice when troublemakers or anyone for that matter arrived. Telling another like one saw it, as it were, became a lot easier when you just didn't see anything at all, it was a wonder more didn't make good on the practice. But then again, the humans were obsessed with needing evidence and witnesses and colaboration of materials in order to make cases against one another, all such a great big huge waste of time when all it should have really come down to was what happened, and who was known for the greater truth. In the end of it all, all their evidence gathering and their witnesses only led to incorrect actions and wrongly accused souls then stuck with the crime they hadn't commited. Three students this time sat within the waiting room, two she had never seen before, whereas one of them was within her class for mathematics, although she knew his name, Michael, purely by word of mouth as she didn't know him on any sort of personal level. Nor did she remember the wait being quite so short last time she had been here in order to attend this meeting, but it was most definatly something to do with the books she had been reading. Her focus broken midway through her early morning reading some hours ago had been like breaking a pipe, for she could not stop the thoughts running away with her imagination.
This time with the other book, History, Formations and Types of Magic she had started from the beginning, browsing over the preface and the copyist's notes, who in this case had listed a helpful index of some of the higher level 'slang' that was used in some cases in the books, clearly to enable other readers who were not as versed to understand most of the concepts beign discussed, very handy. With some of the terms being bandied about like coins on a market in the other book, she envisioned how much more information she could gleam from it. In this case, the book was not a discussion but rather one man's educated studies into the world as it had been a hundred years ago, but that could be skewed in either direction. Days and weeks were measured on Erildisa by the falling of the sun which provided them light and heat, but from what she understood from those adults who had survived the era, days on Earth were much longer, which had thrown off their counting. The issue was that because no one could figure just how much longer they were, the Race' ability to count days and times accurately in their own way had faltered significantly. And that was creatures who were able to *remember* the times, she had been much too young. In truth the year could be just about anything, but the general idea from the people had been 511PS. She shook her head and kept reading, ruffling her headfeathers not that she minded nor cared at this instance in time. At first case, the book was written by one Vance Tauimen, a Heremtic of some skill, but to the level of Sir Eisenhower he was not. The first chapter was more of a preface, a description and overview of what the knowledge the book hoped to impart upon it's reader. What she already knew at first, was that during the PF era, Vaakazar had been able to make the ability to control magic with thoughts a genetic memory, passed down from generation to generation until the spoken word was lost. The reasons for this, the book explained, was to help control the flow of dangerous and lethal accidents young mages created and caused when they didn't have the words for the spell. What she didn't know that she learned as the preface explained, was that once the words had been spoken, one could not take them back, which required a very high level of anicent linguistical knowledge. One had to be able to say 'Light that soldier on fire' or 'incinerate that forest' without stumbling nor forgetting nor misusing a word. She had at first wondered on her way here why the spoken word was so dangerous whereas the thoughts were not.
But it made sense to her now of all times when she couldn't write it down to make further use of the information. When one spoke, one had to be absolutely certain of their wording and of their intended target before speaking, the wrong word once spoken would take form, and if the spell was not completed, the energy would build up within their forms until it destroyed them, leaving some in the terrifying state of having the choice between igniting their friends or bursting into flame themselves. But what the great drake had been able to accomplish was make magic harder to use. He had trained the races to think about their spells before they cast them, allowing more to pick up the art without a strong knowledge of the language and make it safer at the same time. Now magicians had to physically imagine their spells taking their effects, to hold their concentration long enough for the mana to latch onto the idea and force itself into existance. She hadn't believed making words into thought would have been any safer, but once explained it made perfect sense. The ability, it seemed, had even passed along to her, for she spoke no words in order to bring about the change to her form but merely thought about it, bringing the power to form. But that led to other questions in her mind. Was she merely a mage, and the power was not nearly as rare as she thought? It was a question she would have to ask one whom she knew to be a mage at somepoint, she wondered if she could find any at school here... She couldn't try, not here, lest the answer turn out to be yes and she burnt the building down with herself within it's walls and structure but... no, she had tried so many times to do the basic spells that proved the Signs but nothing had come of it. While the book and those she knew spoke about those close to adult showing the Signs much later than in early childhood, she had never seen nor heard of any such instances. The numbers the book spoke about were in the high tens of thousands of non-magical souls to those who bloomed later in life, Tauimen himself admitted that the statistics were not that accurate due to his inability to interview a sizeable percentage of the population.
Her musings were interrupted by the prinicpal once again, calling her henceforth... did she not have more important work to do, or did the government specalists simply not want to leave their little alcoves they had carved out for themselves. Regardless of the answer to the question she knew she would never get, even if the falcon had felt like asking, a short walk later down those green halls had her admitted and sitting in the same spot as the feathered creature had been last time. Chris, who had dressed upwards, though only by a few marks in the social scale looked as friendly, if not as nosy, as ever. Such was the nature of those in her line of work, she surmised, a soul who's job was to look at people in great detail and decide whether or not they were fit to live in public society. Some fought against those who played violent sports, or those who practiced magic but never in her life had she heard about anyone's thoughts on whether these souls should be allowed to have such power over those they saw, and the strength attributed to their judgements in such cases. But such was the world they lived in. Like the last time, a long, uncomfortable silence filled the gap between her thought and the next one as she dug for papers and files... probably notes on the falcon's own self and mind. Her own book rested upon the table, and her bag in her lap. But, as was the case the last time, with the exception of that small detail, it only took so long for her to gather her thoughts and her papers and start the conversation anew. "Ah, good morning Senia! Sorry about the delay, I've been running behind all morning!" The falcon's head shook, as if to dismiss the fact she had even been late at all.
"I don't mind at all,"
The human woman chuckled, something that made her wonder what on earth made humans qualified to ask questions of Erildisan mental states. Were the two not completely seperate races in their entirety? "Of course, you're getting out of class, aren't you? What every student desires out of their day"
She blinked, hesitant to jump to the bait that she was just another student who didn't want to be there, who didn't want to learn. While in some ways that was the case, that was most certainly not what she was about. "It's an impossibility for my race to speak Japanese, Chris."
That had the woman across the table blinking, something she hadn't known? Well, there was a human expression of words for that, wasn't there? A small pause, as if to digest that information, perhaps a promise to one's self in order to be more careful about what one said in future. "So... What have you been reading there, anyway? It's a pretty big book, that." It was a question that didn't really need to be asked but was asked anyway, for as she turned to look out of habit, the cover was partially turned to face the specalist, revealing it's name and purpose. Even upside down she read it, but didn't repeat the entire title.
"A handwritten copy of a textbook by Tauimen, one of our Heremtics. It's... a very long winded explination into the theory of the history of magic on our world, but actually easier to read than the other one I've got in my bag."
"What sort of theories do they present?"
"I've only just started reading them, actually..." She paused for thought, wondering exactly how much she could tell this woman without revealing the real reason why she had them in her possession, "As it turns out, magic used to be spoken words some long time ago after the First."
"And what changed all those years ago?"
"A dragon, actually. He changed the nature of understanding for the races... No, not quite," She paused for a quick moment, getting her words jumbled. That was not at all what she wanted to tell her as the scribbles resumed on the sheet of the paper like some sort of judgement, like a spoken exam. "He made the Races learn to use their minds and made them forget the words so they couldn't accidentally kill each other," the woman nodded across the table nodded, her silence almost prompting the falcon to continue, something she infact did. "Eisenhower and Vaakazar suspected that the ability to cast was a level of understanding we ourselves, at least in our conscious state I believe, had or didn't have, and it also stems to the elements of magic put forth in 496PS, that mages were able to cast spells from one particular 'school' as it were, like fire, water... earth, so forth. I have been wondering though if it's possible for your race to actually learn what our mages have had born into them for thousands of years. And even if you could, what kind of spells would you know, or would it merely be entirely random like it is for us?"
A smile from Chris, having been writing this entire time, like copying every word. "There was a time when I would have flat out told you that magic didn't exist, you know,"
"So I understand," She began, thinking over her next words carefully, "I have read that it used to be a cause for many of your kind to be locked away from others because they were 'In, sane', I think... yes. It is good to know that our world can change yours like it has to us."
"People are not 'locked away' from others lightly, I assure you. And they are only ever locked away for their own safety." Chris sighed, as if she had heard the question so many times before in so many different ways, and had to give the same answer over and over again. It very much made her feel bad for asking such questions of the lady's profession. She sought to change the subject, something the falcon didn't blame her for, nor think twice of it. "But why are you reading these, anyway Senia? I understand that you don't have the ability?" School files in most modern times with the intermixing of races had to include such information, and government would have given them out freely to those specalists they had sent out to this school in order to better understand their students before they talked to them. It was actually the paperwork she kept shuffling through before she spoke up these two meetings, a collection of personal information on all the students and staff she intended to speak to today, aside from herself as interesting as that last part formed and sounded within her own mind. Of course she would see others today, there were a_lot_ of attendees who visited this school.
"I'm digging through these dusty old tomes in order to learn more about magic itself. I'm not all that interested in magic itself, rather how it all works and the effect it has on our world, those who can cast and those who can not. In truth, I'm looking into what one can do with the skill," She paused, speaking softly, almost as an afterthought, "...and why you shouldn't touch the Light,"
"Why shouldn't you, Senia?"
"Always something young children are told when they reach the age they might start to display the Signs. Increased hunger, the ability to accidentally burn objects to the ground... My parents, in this case, made me promise on honour that I wouldn't try. In 496PS, Vaakazar went on written record saying that while it was theoretically possible that any mage from an element could somehow learn how to control different elemental controls, he warned to Eisenhower that any soul who tried to learn Light based spells risked certain doom. That drake always knew more than he let on, but dragons were always like that, speaking in riddles..."
"Has this been something on your mind for a while?"
She blinked those yellow eyes, thinking it over, not quite sure what to say. Part of it came back to the crash in the schoolgrounds and the flashes of darkness before the impact but... "I haven't read too strongly into the topic until recently, but... It's like magic had something to do with the crash. I don't know any of your human weapons that can do that, even the over compensating rumours and lies I hear from your children from the... games they play. So it had to be something from my race, and that means magic. That or it was the fastest dragon or largest gryphon I've ever seen or heard of."
"Dragons are extinct," Chris was quick to throw up, something that left the falcon just a little bit reeling. Those creatures were the most beautiful, intelligent creatures her world had to offer and the humans had murdered every single last one! Her hands balled up into to fists that she would dare offer such words to another of her race like they were naught more than common animals! She was sure she heard scribbling but she cared not. But rationality picked up in her mind fighting down her urge to tear down the woman's words, and herself. Was it because, in all techincal forms of the word, had become a dragon? It had been a long, heavy pause with the maddened feathered critter before she actually responded, managing to keep her voice, and her words, underraps.
"I don't think so, myself. Dragons are creatures of magic, of immense intelligence you nor I could ever understand. I can't even imagine what one might say to you in this room if they were in my place. Vaakazar, of our time, managed to force an entire world to forget a language and trained into them a genetic memory by his own will. They are hiding, no doubt, but wiped out? A thought they would rather us believe, thus why you do."
More scribbles and a pause. "So what did cause the crash then?"
"...I don't know," Senia admitted, not quite sure why the question had been asked. If she knew the answer, then why did they need hired government funded investigators for? "Angry mages, dragons, gryphons, missiles, sudden change in the world's gravity as we Collide with another existance? I don't know and I don't think anyone will ever really know," She thought for a moment. "The Dark is a scary thing none should take lightly,"
"What did you just say, Senia?"
She blinked, thinking back... had she meant her dreams, or the warnings she had read of an unknown threat. In the end, it had to be both. "In my dreams, darkness attacks like a wild animal. It was like what I saw to the helicopter, as well. Like your leopards, a fast, hard strike to end it's life. Darkness is an extention of light, one cannot exist without the other and if-"
"Senia," The woman across from her interrupted, breaking her train of thought and bringing her back to the now instead of her nearly incoherent babbling. Well, she thought, not babbling. her arguement was well structured, but the woman... wasn't listening? Who knew. "I am not honestly sure what you saw that day, but I can imagine what you felt... and what you still feel in your mind. What I want to do, is see you in two days, do you think you'd be up for that? I hate to see you afraid of the dark forever because of what happened." And the falcon nodded her head slowly in agreement, even to the timeslot given, much later in the day this time, a friday, right before the main break. With farewells said, the conversation just about expired, she stood, collected her book, and headed for the office for the papers to be cleared from the cursed language class, and moved on, trying to figure out exactly what had happened in that hour...
Even as she headed for the school's much smaller library, only a single floor retrofitted classroom, the walls and some of the empty space in the middle lined with bookshelves not entirely filled, the few books they had entirely human design, with not a single Erildisa handwritten to the building's name, scattered with desks and computers in the space, with a few staff wandering this way and that, tired of their job and tired of the attendees who were not here to read, but rather to waste time on the computers and make a general annoyance out of their existance. She sunk into one of the corner circular desks and set her bag upon the table, reaching for her book, and flicking the pages open until she hit the felt strip which marked her spot before she had been interrupted that morning. But aside from the reading she had gotten done that morning, it seemed the higher powers, whoever they might be, had conspired to prevent her from doing any more study, at least until she got back home. Another soul... or souls as it turned out to be, for there were two that took seats opposite her feathered form, and her yellow eyes rose from the page not a minute after laying eyes upon it. A lizard, to her left, the boy a year younger than she, blessed with with razor sharp orange scales tinged with blood red across his frontal neck and presumably down his chest and belly as well, while the other was a human, the same year as her, the girl with blonde hair tied in a bundle and grey eyes, odd for her kind, but not entirely incapable of being revealed in the wild as it were. The two formed the core of their group, with several others who came and went, or stayed entirely, numbering six to eight at any given time of the week or in fact the day in question, but the three around the table were always at the group's core, always organising the activities and so forth. While she found their company quite delightful, if perhaps a little irritating at times for the relevant maturity differences, this was one of those times where she could have happily gone without. There was a problem in her mind, and she wanted to see it solved, as soon as possible, before the problem ate away at her form, mind and soul.
Qui, the male was first to speak up as he always was with such insaitable curiously it bordered on her own, perhaps with the exception that she didn't share the need towards the most irrevant things that didn't really need all that much explaining. "What'cha reading there 'Sen?" he asked, million Fields an hour as was his normal. She lifted a hand, slowly closing the book after making sure that yet again, this page was marked by the felt slide, the nickname she had somehow gained over time she had known them. He had picked up the human ability to shorten short things even further, perhaps to the point where it became hard to decipher what he meant to say at times, but a pleasant enough soul nonetheless to talk to in all times, trying or calm.
"Just some research for some things here really," She spoke, shaking her head as if to shake it off as nothing important at all. "Homework, as they say. How'd your exam go yesterday?"
Sarah, the female spoke up instead of Qui, Senia realising they'd both had examinations of different topics yesterday and she got two responses at the same time instead of one, and still managed, somehow, to get the correct answers for the both of them. Sarah had biology, and she did poorly. Qui had an essay, much like her history only for anicent human writing, and he barely even knew who this author was supposed to be, let alone why he even needed to care about something that was hardly even in the same language. In a way she shared his thoughts, but couldn't imagine shrugging off the task so carelessly in the way he did. Though, then again, she had gotten stuck mostly with subjects she actually felt like paying attention to... well except for that damn Japanese class... well, maybe the two weren't so different, but at least he could read the books, whereas she couldn't even form the syallabels required for that... language!
"How did your history go, 'Sen?" Qui asked as quick as he could to drag her attention away from their own respective failings. her examination had been part essay, part short answer quiz on military engagements of the Collision Era and just before it.. A lot had happened durning the during the post Collision year, they surely thought she must have forgotten something... and well, she couldn't lie. She hadn't gotten everything, but then again, there was a reason she was sitting in a higher level history class. It was what she did best, all things considered, even if they offered Erildisan students a pass on answering any modern history questions prior to Collision.
"Most of it was alright. Few questions that had me stumped though, and a few more I just forgot outright, no excuses there," She chuckled, she'd remembered the answer just the moment she'd left the examination room and swore so violently she'd been pulled aside, but merely given a slap on the wrist as it were, the educator believing she'd just cracked under the strain of testing. Qui made a wide hand gesture for to continue, wanting more ammunition to use on her in the future, and she gave it to him, quoting off some of her examination questions. "What city held the battle where the American Third Rapid Response Battalion lost seventy-five percent of it's forces to Dwarven Steam Fortresses, at the time never seen before?"
Sarah spoke up almost at once. "Denver, of course!" Senia nodded her beak in a long, slow expression, making her embarassment very clear.
"I think I swore loud enough they heard me in the next building when I realised. Historically as well, the United Nations offered the Empire a seat on their international government... thing after the poisoning of Las Vegas to avoid further escalations, but I dropped the ball on that one as well."
Sarah merely nodded her head silently in thought while Qui spoke up, tired of the conversation that had been struck up in what was supposed to be their haven from such talks away from education and the staff. "Oh, hey! 'Sen, we were talking about heading out to to the theatre tomorrow night, catch that new motion picture. Feel like tagging along?" The falcon smiled to that plan. She'd like that.
She'd like that a lot.