by J. C. Fiske
“Ah! Just you wait ‘til they come back to Heaven’s Shelter; I’ll show you guys the meaning of head banging and mosh pits. You’ll love it! I saw ‘em play back in my hometown once,” Crass said excitedly.
“You guys have fun with that. If you want REAL metal, listen to Megallalite. Phoenix Force uses too much essential energy to make their music and it always sounds the same. I know my music, trust me, and that stuff is terrible,” Whip said in retort. Crass pursed his lips together in a grimace.
“You think just because you got super human hearing and stuff you know sooo much about music! Music all sounds the same to any eardrums, buddy! No matter how it is made!” Crass argued. It was then Gisbo noticed that Whip’s headband was not over his forehead, but rather it was over his eyes!
“Hey um, are you, well, I mean, are you . . .” Gisbo stammered.
“Blind? No, I just hate my eye color,” Whip said.
“Really?” Gisbo asked.
“You’re a little slow on the uptake, eh guy? Yeah, I’m blind alright,” Whip said.
“Well, sorry! I just, I dunno, it was an awkward thing to ask,” Gisbo said, rubbing the back of his head.
“Don’t worry about it, I get it all the time. Your next question was probably how do you fight if you can’t see! Blah, blah, blah. Go ahead, take a swing, tough guy, at my face. Go ahead, do it, you won’t,” Whip said.
“WHAT? I ain’t gonna hit a blind kid! Only thing worse is punching a baby or something,” Gisbo said. Whip only smiled.
“Just do it, Whip loves this. Trust me, he’ll be fine,” Crass said.
“You sure? I mean,” Gisbo stammered again.
“Just hit me, spazz! Or do you gotta get on all fours to do it? Come on, mutt, throw me one!” Whip goaded. Gisbo had heard enough, he lashed out with a swing that Whip ducked, leaving Gisbo hitting air.
“How’d you do that?” Gisbo asked with surprise.
“I got to admit, your swing is a lot faster than most, but it doesn’t matter. As soon as I hear the air current change, I know when to step aside,” Whip explained with a big smile.
“Amazing!” Rolce said.
“Quit lookin’ at me like that, it’s freaky,” Whip said to Rolce.
“How do you know I’m . . .” Rolce started, until Gisbo interrupted him.
“Yeah, but how could you attack back?” Gisbo asked.
“Easy! My Boon of course. I call him Stewie. Well, he calls himself Stewie actually. Hey! I know! Don’t tell me I didn’t hear you right! Psh,” Whip scolded the air.
“So you’re a Naforian too? I didn’t hear your Boon speak,” Rolce wondered aloud.
“No, no, I’m an Aquarian. Beach type, water skeeting, all that good stuff. I can just tell when Stewie’s giving me an attitude,” Whip said as he lifted up the back of his cloak to reveal a sleeping fruit bat, hanging upside down from his uniform.
“But he’s sleeping,” Rolce argued.
“Bah! He pretends! But yeah, this little guy can fly around and screech in the direction I need to attack, along with a variety of other tricks. I’ll show you sometime, so quit looking at me all weird like I’m handicapped. I’m actually better off than you, eyes only deceive you. I used to see once, saw all I needed to see before the accident. Now I can water skeet, or as I call it, skurfing, at night or day, don’t matter. I got all the waves I wanted back home, no crowds! Was awesome! I look forward to visiting good old Aquaria again. You should see the ladies there! Boy! At some places, beach clothing is just an option. I remember a time when . . .” Whip continued only to be cut off by Crass.
“You done? Boy, do you just carry on sometimes, jeesh. As I was saying, you’ll have to come with me next time Phoenix Force plays,” Crass said.
“Sweet! Hey, you guys up for lunch? You ever have sushi?” Gisbo asked hopefully.
“Stuff tastes like watery gum,” Crass said.
“Rather take a kick to my nuts,” Whip added.
“No, you wouldn’t!” Gisbo fired back.
“Try me,” Whip said, opening his legs.
“Damn it…” Gisbo replied.
“It’s all right, we’ll just eat something else. Meet you guys back in the commons, gonna go drop off these stupid books. See you guys in a bit!” Crass said as both he and Whip waved and trekked off in the opposite direction towards their dwelling.
“That Whip guy was incredible, huh? I heard when people lose their sight their other senses strengthen by a huge margin, but I thought it was only a rumor; guess I was wrong. Imagine what he could do if he got those senses backed by elemental essence! Pretty cool guys though. I’m down for some soup, what about you?” Rolce asked as they arrived at their dorm and added their books to their giant shelf.
“I could go for some soup, its freakin' cold as hell outside,” Gisbo said as he ruffled Fao behind the ears.
“You do know hell is supposed to be hot, not cold. You really NEED schooling. I don’t see how you're gonna pass,” Rolce gibed.
“Don’t worry about me. I’m just gonna copy off you. It’s how I got through school before and it will work again,” Gisbo grinned rakishly. Rolce looked appalled by the notion.
“Oh no, you're not! It's completely unethical!” Rolce said with obvious offense.
“Bah! It’s not unethical if you don’t know what 'unethical' means! I’ll revel in my ignorance, thank you very much!” Gisbo fired back.
“You're hopeless and you better be nice to me. I’ll gladly help you, but you are doing your own work! Understand?” Rolce said, pointing again.
“Nope and point that thing somewhere else! Always with the pointing!” Gisbo said, whacking Rolce’s accusing finger aside as he got a running start and jumped from the porch balcony into the deep snow below with a loud, “WAHOO!” Rolce just sighed as he ran to follow suit, smiling as he landed next to his best friend.
“Well, I know what we are doing when we are done with work today,” Rolce beamed happily.
“Hell yeah! Come on, let's grab some food!” Gisbo said, patting his friend on the back as they went to meet Crass and Whip for lunch.
The boys went to Renegade Joe’s Steakhouse for a good portion of sausage and spinach soup. It kept their bellies warm for the rest of the day as Gisbo and Rolce chatted with their new friends, then said their goodbyes and went to work at the mach shop. The shop was exceptionally busy today because people wanted the newest model of lightweight snow skeets and poles. Ernie, Dave and Shaved couldn’t make them quick enough as Grandfield attended to all the customers needs and Rolce totaled up the orders at a rapid pace. Gisbo just shoveled snow, cleaned and shoveled more snow with grunts of displeasure.
The weeks went by uniformly as Gisbo and Rolce fell into yet another strict schedule of morning class, lunch, work, exercise, homework, then bed, only to get up and do it all over again. Gisbo at least got a break from homework every once in a while as he’d steal and copy Rolce’s work when he fell asleep. It wasn’t easy to pull off and a few times Harpie squawked in retort to wake Rolce. Only by slipping Harpie a few pieces of Falcon’s marinated raw steak did Harpie oblige. Gisbo always ended up leaving a few problems wrong anyways, just to avoid suspicion. There was no way he could pull off perfect scores like Rolce did.
Gisbo found he really only needed to do this for “busy work” and always for math. He actually enjoyed learning about Thera’s real history and especially the various views of the ancient philosophers and the authors of stories that they influenced. He was waiting in anticipation for a certain class in which Perry said he would tell of theories of how Thera came to be and before he knew it, there he was, seated in Perry’s class as the wise instructor told the tale.
“The mystery of how our planet, as well as the universe, started has been debated for countless centuries with many different theories and beliefs surfacing. None of us know for sure and every man inherently asks himself at least once in his life: where did I come from? What is my purpose? Is there a purpose? Did I arri
ve here just to work, die and become dirt, or is there something more? Is it wrong to dream of a perfect life after we die? Or right to accept where we are and live for the now, knowing nothing else? Should we simply ‘grow up,’ disband the fairy tale notions and accept that truth, as harsh as it is? Or, the counter argument goes, shall we ‘wake up’ and realize there are forces at work beyond our understanding and know this isn’t our true home? You have to understand that with philosophy, such questions often lead to more questions that become unanswerable, and there is a fine line between knowledge and insanity. Keep in mind also that the biggest book we as a people could ever write is the book of everything we DO NOT know. That should at least ease your mind,” Perry said. Most of the class muttered “not really” in unison. Perry continued.
“Picture with me the sands on the beach. We as humans fully understand just maybe one kernel of sand. What we do not understand is the entire beach. The human brain is a very limited place and has a short time to learn only so much. For example, close your eyes and I will attempt to show you the limit of the mind. I will ask some questions and you will do all that is in your power to think of the answer when suddenly your mind will find it can’t go further. Don’t beat around the bush, don’t answer a question with a question. Try to find a simple answer for a simple question. Now close your eyes and observe,” Perry requested. The class did as they were told.
“Colors are a wonderful thing. I can say the word 'red' or 'blue' and you can immediately picture it in your head, the things that concord with it, except, of course, for the blind or colorblind. Anyhow, you all know the color schemes of a rainbow and new colors can be formed by mixing them with other existing colors, so I want you to do this for me: imagine a color, a brand new color, in your mind to add to this rainbow without mixing any of the colors you know, including black and white. Black and white aren’t necessarily colors, but can certainly alter colors. I will immediately pass anybody who can,” Peary teased with a smile, watching his students struggle to picture something. Gisbo promptly gave up and opened his eyes, for it made his brain hurt. Rolce tried for a bit longer and opened his eyes in surrender as well.
“Now I want you to envision with me what ‘nothing’ looks like in your brain. Close your eyes and do so, then tell me what you see,” Perry said as Kennis raised her hand.
“I see blackness; that’s what nothing is,” Knob said aloud. Perry smiled.
“Ah, but that cannot be true; blackness is something. But one can also argue that if you give something a name, does it necessarily make it something? If you call it 'nameless,' isn’t that still a name? If you picture 'nothing,' are you still picturing something in place of nothing? I could go on and on and you can give up now if you like. I know of a man who caused his brain to erupt, dwelling on such thoughts for days. Well, just kidding, but seriously, he did,” Perry said, causing Gisbo to grab his head.
“Oh, don’t worry, you’ll be fine. What I’m trying to help you understand is that our minds our indeed limited, but why? Our biggest flaw as humans is our desire to become gods without the means to do so. We can imagine a better life, imagine what perfection may be because we make mistakes and therefore know the opposite of a mistake. But alas, we fail, day after day. Is this because a creator purposely made us reach a limit? Or simply that we just haven’t evolved fully to our potential yet? Either way, it's time for more questions. For something to appear, does there have to be ‘nothing’ before it? How did Thera get here? How did we get here as humans? One theory, backed by much scientific research, proposes that the elemental stones contained all the requirements of life and they birthed us into existence from a variety of sources and we evolved from the smallest of microorganisms over billions of years to what we are today. Life is simply a great accident, nothing more and nothing less, and somehow intelligent life came to be spontaneously. It certainly offers much to think about and several recent discoveries add much credibility to such a theory. This is the theory that Karm embraces,” Perry stated.
“But a handy question to ask is where did the stones come from? Did proteins and organisms make the stones and if so, where did those come from as well? Where was the start to it all? Things can’t be birthed from nothing, there had to be a beginning, a source and center and start to these ingredients. Were atoms, the building blocks of life, always here and one day, on a whim, just decided to form proteins and organisms that would eventually start intelligent life? Not only that, the atom in itself, following scientific law, isn’t even supposed to be allowed to exist! Positively charged electrons as well as negatively charged circulate the atom and somehow they do not repel each other. How can this be? What holds the atom, which in turn holds everything together?” Perry asked with a grin, enjoying the stupefied expressions on his student’s faces.
“To stretch this a little bit further, ummm, Rolce, why don’t you come up to the front of the class for a moment,” Perry said, Rolce obeyed as he stood next to his teacher.
“Good, good. Now, I want you to slam your fist, not too hard of course, against my desk,” Perry said. Rolce did as he was told and he slammed his fist against the wooden desk, then returned it to his side.
“Very good, now what happened?” Perry asked.
“Not much of anything,” Rolce answered.
“Exactly! To our eyes, nothing, but something did indeed happen. Your fist, as your entire body to your bones, to your blood, to your brain tissue, are all made up of atoms. This wooden desk is all made up of atoms as well. Now, when you slammed your atoms against the atoms of the wooden desk somehow, they repelled each other. Fascinating, isn’t it? Now, as your brains are thinking, let’s think about how your brains are even thinking. Oh, and you may return to your seat, Rolce. Thank you,” Perry said. Rolce obeyed once again.
“As I just told Rolce, your very brains are made up of atoms as well. How is it that simple brain tissue can emit a thought? Are the atoms telling you what to think also? If we combined brain tissue with this desk, will it think also? What about your personality? Do atoms make up those as well? Something tells me it can’t be possible. So why is it that we can even utter a thought? Is there something else inside us that we cannot see or comprehend that makes us, well, us? Why do we think? Why do we all think differently if we are made up of the same substance at the core? Many nowadays try to answer the question of ‘how’ something came to be rather than “why” something came to be and to ask such questions of what came before must be done beyond the realms of the scientific method. Which is why, my friends, philosophy is our friend and one of the best tools to find meaning within ourselves and the world around us - as long as we all stay sane and away from extremes, of course, for we cannot possibly know all the answers until it is our turn to die. However, should there be nothing after this life, we won’t ever know it,” Perry said with a smile, as he paced around the room, taking time to look into the eyes of every student in his class as he spoke.
“Just know that whatever you choose to believe, do not ever break from the quest for truth, no matter how grim it may be. Never stay ignorant for the sake of comfort alone. As a great writer once said, ‘If you seek truth, you may find comfort in the end, but should you seek comfort alone, you will find neither truth nor comfort.’ So let us return to the debate and the dangers that are fast approaching with it,” Perry said as he lifted his head up in a grin, clearly enjoying himself.
“A great danger is approaching at an accelerated rate within Karm’s realm and, as I mentioned earlier, Karm is doing all he can to demand that science produce absolute, factual law without philosophy to aid it. Therefore, these extremists still believe in an all-knowing entity; they just call it science instead of a God. On the counter argument, others believe entirely in a God, constantly ignoring the intelligence science has to offer, remaining absolutely ignorant, closed-minded and selfish to the world around them. They would rather force people to believe in IAM than let them decide for themselves. The Strifes stand very firmly
in this category. It is pathetic. It does not have to be one or the other, Black or White, Strife or Renegade, God or Science. We as Renegades need to maintain the middle ground, pulling the best things from both sides and discarding the extremes to better ourselves and those around us. Extremes are a very dangerous and unstable position, for opinions need not be on a seesaw. I can attempt to show you what I know, but in the end it is you who will have to decide and who is to say I have it right?” Perry said rather clearly. Gisbo got an odd déjà vu of Falcon’s earlier lecture. It seemed to sink in much better hearing it twice.
Maybe it was his authoritative voice or perhaps it was the content; either way Gisbo listened and applied what he learned. He found his brain did not hurt as badly upon this explanation, even though all it did was introduce new questions, as Perry had promised it would.
“I’m sure you all have heard this story as children, but I believe it begs repetition for clarity. As the story goes, there was but one all powerful entity in this universe. No one really knows what this being’s name was or even if it was a being at all. It was just there, existing outside of reality itself, which begs the question once again. How could there be something without nothing? Possibly this rule applies only to this universe. If this force or being existed beyond it, the rule wouldn’t apply. No one knows for sure. To many, this is just a story, but to many more, it’s fact. Anyhow, most speak of this force as the ‘Nameless one.’ The universe was null and void; absolute nothingness. All that existed was this nameless one who I believed existed outside our very own reality until he created what we know. Because of this, his creations, the two deities, are bound by set laws as well as you will see. The nameless one birthed into existence two dieties known as the brothers, called IAM and Appolyon. It is here that the story is somewhat lost to us, but the nameless one, who the brothers called ‘Father,’ revealed to his sons that they were each given all the power that he himself had, other than the power to overthrow him or create other dieties. He told his sons he was off to create new realms with new worlds to fill the nothingness with life and beauty. He told his sons that they would be each in charge of a realm all their own and ordered that they should use their power to bring about the gift of life as they were in turn given and that one day he would return to them and reward the one whose creation best reflected beauty. So the brothers parted ways and began to enact their creations. What comes as follows is an account passed down through the generations of the creation of our planet, Thera. We do not understand much of Appolyon’s creation in the alternate realm from us as for the sheer fact none of us have ever been to the Reath and those that reside there now, well, we do not wish to hear their opinions. As we know, IAM’s first creation was a heavenly host of helpers known as Seraphs, winged spirits and absolute warrior servants. IAM then created the four elemental stars, each glowing their own color. He created water first, which pulsated a translucent blue color. In turn, IAM put forth his power through the star and concentrated water into a gigantic sphere, then filled the waters with every form of aquatic creature imaginable.