Awoken

by Alex South

  Oa waited for his mind to reveal the identity of the objects in the same strange way it had attributed meaning to the Awoken’s words and gender to their voices. Nothing happened. I guess some things I must figure out myself, he thought in confusion.

  “What are these?” Oa asked the three Awoken surrounding him.

  The feminine-voiced Awoken responded, “Just clothes. Use them to cover up that chest of yours. I don’t want your deformity to scare the distributors off. You shouldn’t even be alive without an ember.” She pointed to the silver sphere greedily. Her hand trembled slightly from some unknown ailment. “That looks valuable. We’ll be keeping that.”

  Oa instinctively grabbed the orb and took a few hasty steps back away from the trio. He perceived innate ownership over the silver sphere. Instantly, he felt as if he had discovered a piece of himself that he had been previously unaware of. Oa noticed a sudden rush as his mind became more conscious, transcending his current understanding. He sensed more now. It as if his visual receptors had been off or not fully activated and were only now seeing properly. He was able to peer into his surroundings. Oa’s altered sight permeated everything, turning the environment around him to a string of symbols. He looked at the figures in front of him. Oa could see another image, a faint aura of white light, emanating from them like a projection. Their auras were tainted, blemished by a murky darkness. The moment was brief and fleeting. All at once, the vision was gone. The young Awoken shook his head, wondering what had just happened. He turned toward the three Awoken who were attempting to stand threateningly around him. Oa now had a sense of how truly tired and worn they were.

  “Don’t take this from me. It feels like mine. When I am holding this I feel …” Oa paused, searching for words, “more complete.” He decided it was time to stand his ground on the matter. “I can’t quite process all of this yet, but I believe I can help you.”

  “Yeah, everyone everywhere has felt the same way too. Now hand it over,” the female Awoken said jadedly as she reached for the sphere. The orb began to hover and glow with a white-hot light, searing the greedy Awoken’s hand. She recoiled sharply, her comrades face plates flashed in surprise.

  “Fine,” the Awoken hissed. “Keep it, but you’re coming with us.” She smoothly regained control of the situation. “We will see if you’re of any use to us. Put those clothes on and come along.”

  Oa was surprised that the Awoken didn’t want his clothes since theirs were ragged and patched. The Awoken seemed to put little value in their appearance. Perhaps clothes don’t make a good trade with these distributors, he thought in realization.

  Using the appearance of the other Awoken as a guide, Oa figured out what to do with the first article of clothing he grabbed. The piece was composed of two long cloth sleeves merging together at the top. The sleeves slid over his legs and the whole thing buckled around his waist. Pants, the word popped into his mind, followed by a sudden realization of how to use the remainder of the pile. Oa accepted the information his mind had revealed, and he continued to dress. He draped a heavy cloak over his shoulders, it hung loosely. He buttoned the tunic up over his chest, conveniently covering his empty ember socket.

  Next, Oa knelt down and slid a pair of sturdy boots over his metal feet. These seem unnecessary, he thought as be buckled them. Oa considered removing the shoes. Then he heard a faint grinding noise coming from the gears and motors in the Awoken’s bare feet as the trio walked off. The metal skin of their feet had worn away in parts, exposing the joints. The rusty Awoken didn’t seem to care as they plodded on drearily. Oa looked at the hill they were heading up. It was full of jagged rocks and fine sand just waiting to scrape through his alloy skin. He decided the boots were a decent precaution. The last article of clothing was a simple bag with a strap. Oa placed the metallic sphere in the open satchel and then looped it over his shoulders. The strap was snug and held the bag tightly to his side.

  Oa hurried to follow the trio. They were already halfway up the hill behind his pod. As he walked up past his birth cell he noticed a marking on the top. It was nearly obscured by burn marks and scoring that had come from the high impact of the pod’s landing. He looked closer and brushed away some dust, revealing a symbol. He paused and focused, waiting patiently. With a slight jolt, a new path opened in his mind; and he was able to read the symbol. It was a number One.

  “Hurry up back there, Empty!” the female Awoken called back. Oa quickly stood back up. He started jogging up the hill to catch the trio. He didn’t care for the nickname; but he kept quiet, listening hard to hear their conversation as he raced to catch up.

  “I think he’s cursed,” the tall one said.

  “You’re too superstitious,” the female Awoken replied.

  “Remember Buri when she came out of her last immersion? She said she met one of the ancients. She woke up all wild and scared, babbling about the Destroyer; now we meet this guy walking around with no soul ember. It’s creepy timing,” the tall one insisted.

  “Yeah, that’s one of the reasons we immerse: to hear those exciting legends. To get a rush. Sheesh, Birk! Don’t be so scared. It’s only stuff from the past. It can’t hurt you, and neither can Empty,” the female Awoken snapped in annoyance.

  “But his birth cell did say One on it. I have heard things about number One in my immersions. They say he was an unstoppable killer,” the hunched Awoken added.

  “There is no way Empty is the first Awoken. The First One would have died a long time ago. You saw how burned Empty’s pod was, the rest of his number just got scraped off,” the female said, explaining away her companions’ worries.

  “What if Buri is right, and the legends of the Destroyer are true? What if the Destroyer has come back?” the tall Awoken called Birk asked, glancing back at Oa.

  “So you think we need to be scared of Empty because of a number and some fragments of an old story Buri heard in her immersion?” the female asked mockingly. “The Destroyer is already back, stupid; he’s our generous supplier. So worry about pleasing Eol, or he’ll end us all. Don’t put too much trust in the immersions. I’m not sure how much of the stuff we hear is really accurate history. All I know is that it’s a crazy, fun ride.” She shook her head in annoyance at her paranoid companion. Oa had no idea what the haggard Awoken were talking about, but he found the conversation intriguing. He stored their words away in his mind to revisit later.

  Oa rejoined the group as they reached the top of the hill. The rough gravel of the hill stretched down into a modestly sized valley below. Several insignificant mounds of rock huddled together at the base of the hill.

  “How do you like our home?” the female Awoken asked smugly.

  Oa looked around for a moment, then replied, “I don’t see anything. Do you just stand around in the dirt?”

  The female Awoken laughed and pointed at the mounds of rock. Oa looked closer and realized that the mounds where actually dwellings. The rough soil of the valley was scattered over scraps of ancient machinery to make it appear like a pile of debris. He could tell from the scoring and dents that the metallic scraps had once been a part of some structure built long ago.

  “Hard to spot, isn’t it?” the female Awoken said proudly.

  Oa nodded, though he was curious why she would be proud of the village’s obscurity.

  “Loads of good that camouflage will do for us if our own start turning,” Birk said resentfully.

  “Shut up, Birk. I am monitoring all our immersions. I have it under control,” the female shot back.

  “Great. I’ll go tell Buri. She’s going to be thrilled,” Birk replied with grim humor.

  “I’ll get her more immersions. That’s why we have him,” the female said, flinging her hand toward Oa as she started down the hill. The other two trailed behind her while Oa looked over the valley one more time. All he saw beyond the shallow depression in the terrain was just the same broad expanse of rock. He followed the trio down into the decaying village. They ducked through a n
arrow opening in one of the rusty scraps of machinery. Inside, a feeble Awoken laid next to a flickering loop of energy contained in a clear cylindrical device. It gave very little light, but Oa was glad for the warm glow.

  “Go ahead, try and help this one,” the female Awoken sneered at him. “She dreams most of her cycles away, and she ‘ll probably snap the next time she wakes up. Or she won’t wake up at all.” Her face plates betrayed emotion as they throbbed deeply. “She doesn’t need your help she needs more immersions.”

  Oa ignored her mocking tone, deciding to remain amiable. He knelt down beside Buri. She turned weakly toward him. Her face plates flashed chaotically. Oa saw that most of her body was infected with the veins of darkness that the others had. He knew he could do something, but he had no idea how to achieve it. If only he could see as he had when he first touched the orb. Go, super-sight! Oa thought to himself in amusement. Suddenly he felt his mind being dragged into higher awareness.

  “Your will shall be,” a voice from within coursed through him. Immediately, the strange orb floated out from the bag at his side to hover above his hand. He could see the Awoken’s aura and the murky blackness infecting her. The strings of symbols that permeated the Awoken’s being had been jumbled. The story in the symbols did not make sense but Oa saw that he could fix it. He could rearrange the symbols and bring sense to the chaos. The sphere began to glow, now floating between both his hands. It glowed brighter; and a stream of light began to emit from the sphere, flowing down in many shimmering tendrils to touch the Awoken’s broken body. The infection receded, and her broken plates grew back. Motors and gears that had not turned in a long time began to spin anew. The other three Awoken stepped back in awe, all visible signs of hostility gone, replaced by shock. Oa could sense them whispering. His heightened senses overheard their words.

  “Still think he is the Destroyer?” the female mocked.

  “Shut up. Can we trade him even though he has no ember?” Birk asked begrudgingly.

  “I don’t think so,” the hunched one replied.

  “Trust me. This will make him even more valuable to the distributors,” the female Awoken said with assurance.

  “Not too soon though. Let him fix us first,” Birk reminded her.

  The shortest of the three Awoken stepped up and put a hand on Oa’s shoulder. He remained in a trance, still at work. She spoke in a deceptively welcoming tone.

  “That’s the first time not stealing has worked in our favor. I’m called Swift, my tall friend is Birk, this quiet fellow is called Kane, and the one you’re saving now is Buri. You might want to work on remembering those names because you’re one of us now,” she said sweetly.

  Oa felt as if he was outside his mind, looking in. He watched his indignation boil over at Swift’s hidden intentions. Then he heard himself speak to the Awoken.

  “You all seem to care for each other to some degree, but that care doesn’t include me. You only need me to perpetuate your sorry state. I don’t like what I see, though. Your actions, whatever they are, have broken the symbols,” he accused.

  Swift drew back, “What symbols? You don’t know anything about us! You just woke up.”

  Suddenly, explosions rocked the hut. Screams of “Marauders!” and “Run!” filtered through the chaos around the village, echoing to the group inside. Oa felt himself turn to look at the entrance just in time to see it blasted open by some unseen force. Three healthy and armed Awoken burst in. Marauders, Oa assumed. Birk grabbed the first Marauder by the shoulders only to crumple as a blinding white energy, accompanied with a sharp crack and hiss, seared a hole through his torso. Birk’s dead body fell to the floor revealing a smoldering weapon in the Marauder’s hand. Then the weapon was pointed at Oa. Yet he could not deviate from his task to respond to the danger. He had no control. The power flowing from the orb had nearly rid Buri of the last of the infection, when suddenly an unseen force surged from the infection sending Oa reeling back. His focus was broken and he returned to himself. The sphere darkened instantly and fell into his hand. Oa remembered he was in danger and he rolled backwards. A piercing white beam ripped through the space where his head had been a split second earlier.

  The leader of the Marauders turned and knocked Oa’s attacker back, shouting, “No! Don’t kill him! He’s levitating a lump of light, and that’s got to be the most interesting thing I have seen in a billion cycles. If you damage him, I’m gonna have lieutenant Bota feed you to Eol.”

  The Marauder named Bota chimed in. “Sorry Captain, but Murd’s head is too thick to eat. Eol would spit him back out.”

  The Captain turned to Bota. “Ha! Good point. Anyway, grab this stranger.” He pointed at Oa. “We’ll deal with the rest.”

  Oa scrambled back to Buri, knowing time was short. He stared down at the dying Awoken, the infection having returned even stronger than before. She was beginning to shake uncontrollably. Oa tried to see the symbols again; but before his inner sight could return, he was grabbed by the Marauder lieutenant. Bota dragged him out of the now ransacked hut while Swift’s bitter voice followed them out.

  “Let this be your first lesson, Oa: accept that your good intentions are just going to rot like the rest of us. You won’t ever fix anything here.”

  Oa wanted to struggle, but he froze in shock as the other two Marauders raised weapons toward Swift and Kane. He turned from the sight as execution shots where fired. Glancing back, he caught a glimpse of the Marauders pulling the lifeless soul embers from the corpses. Oa gripped the silver sphere tightly in his hand, trembling in terror at the brutality of the world he abruptly found himself in. He had never encountered death before and it frightened him immensely. The young Awoken deactivated his visual receptors. Retreating from his senses, he let his mind grasp at the vision he had been so close to realizing. Buri was gone; but Oa could still see her burned in his memory, as she would have been. He felt cheated. His efforts had been thwarted.

  But how? Oa thought, remembering the mysterious force within Buri’s infection. He longed to understand what he had witnessed. And he promised himself he would find the answers.

  Episode 02 - Exchange

  Oa was dragged through the harsh shale for a short distance before he was roughly pulled to his feet and shoved forward. He allowed his sight to return quickly. The irises in his visual receptors widened to let light in as his foot caught the edge of a metal deck. He barely had time to put his hands out in front of himself as he tripped and fell onto the floor of one of the Marauder’s Mark IV Reapers.

  Oa quickly glanced around the interior of the dropship. He appeared to be in a spacious hold located directly in front of the vessel’s engine. Luminous strips embed into the walls cast a faltering glare. In the flickering light, he could make out the slowly spinning turbines of a powerful jet through a grate in the back. He felt heat emanating from that area of the deck. Oa reasoned that the airflow through the open passage helped keep the engines cool. The space where he stood served as a platform that the Marauders could carry passengers and cargo on. Two other Marauders were already on board: one of them laid wounded on the floor of the ship while the other knelt, working with strange tools to fix the damage. Oa peered up to see a pilots seat nestled in a small alcove above him, surrounded by buttons and dials. A windshield bulged out of the top of the ship allowing the pilot to see where they were going.

  Lieutenant Bota stepped in after Oa and leaned up against the wall. He reached up and casually grabbed a handhold. Oa noted several other makeshift handholds welded to the inside of the dropship. I hope this vehicle isn’t wild enough to need those, he thought as he shuffled to the back of the hold. Oa sat against the warm grate watching the other Marauders warily.

  “See, Jad, you can’t go calling a cycle unlucky before it’s over,” Bota said, motioning to the wounded Awoken. “Those Howlers may have got hold of Coop, but they led us right to a camp. We just made our quota.”

  “You were fortunate it wasn’t another Howler den, the way
you all went rushing in there,” Jad replied somberly as he hunched down beneath the long green coat he wore. Patched and faded, the coat concealed various surgical implements strapped to the old medic.

  “It was a close call. One of them was turning, but this one here was doing something strange to stop it. He seems to be a healer like you,” Bota said glancing back at Oa. The Lieutenant was an imposing figure, clad in an array of combat gear. Plates of cloth armor belted tightly over his torso. Slings and bandoliers hung across his shoulders. A belt around his waist supported his weapon and whatever other implements of war he carried in the numerous utility pouches of his pants. Goggles covered the Marauder’s visual receptors and a rag concealed the rest of his face below. Three antennae protruded straight up from a groove cut into the left side of his dome skull.

  “Come up here and give Jad a hand,” Bota commanded. Oa quietly picked himself up and moved cautiously over to Jad. “If you ride with us, you have to be useful. If you’re no help to Jad, I’ll deal with you myself.” Bota stared menacingly as Oa passed by. The young Awoken nodded and sat down next to Jad. Bota yelled up to the pilot, “Kiri, let’s burn out of here! Best not keep Eol waiting. Also, keep in formation for once.”

  “You know I can’t do both at the same time, sir,” Kiri called back. Bota shook his head, muttering something to himself in amusement.

  The engine came to life, rumbling with a deep hum that filled the air. Oa placed his hands down against the floor, trying to gain stability as the Reaper began to rise up into the air. He looked down at the wounded Marauder. There was a grizzly gash in the Marauder’s side where the mangled metal sparked and leaked clear fluid. Jad was focused intently as he worked to mend the wound. The pair of immaculate white gloves he wore sparked with a bright green energy that darted between the glove’s fingers sporadically. At frequent intervals the energy arced directly out of the digits, into shiny dust clouds hovering around the wound. The shimmering specs streamed out of slim tubes on the gloves. The tubes traced back to cylinders strapped to Jad’s chest, and they ran down his arms to each digit of his gloves. The green energy seemed to be controlling the clouds of shimmering dust, guiding them in the process of repairing the broken Marauder. As Oa stared down, his keen eyes could see the alloys being mended while wires and tubes were reattached by the microscopic tools.