by D. Levesque
“Well, two of them had no magic. Actually, no, maybe one. Though Johanne, who is the Werewolf, could only use her magic for transformation. But now they both have it, and a fairly large pool of power to pull from. Though honestly, I’m not sure I want you having the same reaction they did when they got their power,” I tell him with a good-natured chuckle.
“Brandon,” Roger says with a sigh, “as much as I would love to be able to do magic, I doubt you could reverse their decision because you aren’t one of the original Elveesians. But you know what? I thank you for the offer,” he finishes, nodding his head towards me sadly. A mischievous grin then crosses his face. “Besides, I am not sure I want to have delights of the flesh like that from you.”
“Fair,” I tell him. “Are you the only one of your kind?” I ask him, changing the subject.
“Sadly, yes. We are immortal, but over the years, many felt they could not go on after the Elveesians left.”
“I am sorry to hear that,” I tell him in sympathy. “So how come you are still around then?” I ask him, hoping it’s not a touchy subject.
“Because there are too many beautiful things in this world to see. I love exploring and learning. So that is what I do.”
“But why in a ball?” I ask him, waving to the ball that he is sitting in.
“Because I cannot do magic, and this is my only defense.”
“So, how does the shrinking and shit work?” I ask him, curious.
“Ah, well I put the ‘ball’ in a quantum state that allows me to control it. Everything from its size, to the speed it can travel. That is how I can move around so quickly. When I became aware of you, I was at what you call the North Pole, under the ice. I was able to travel here almost in seconds.”
“You said that you changed the color because of the silver in it? Does that mean you aren’t affected by it?” I ask him.
“Oh shit, no. Trust me, I am affected by it. When I am inside my ‘ball’, I don’t feel it. Also right now, I turned it so that the silver is all inside the wall of the ‘ball’, as you call it. However, it’s technically called a Personal Efficiency Energy Pocket. Since I can, when not needing it, shrink it and place it in my pocket.”
“Wait, wait!” I tell him with a laugh. “The ball that you float in is called a Peep?” I say to him with a grin.
“What? No, it’s Pe-ep,” he says, confused at my outburst. The way he says it is more like peh-hep.
“Fuck, sorry Roger, but I am so going to be calling that your Peep from now on,” I tell him with a hard laugh, wiping tears from my eyes.
“What? I don't understand why you would find this so funny,” he says, starting to get upset at my laughter.
“Just look at my memories since you have access to them,” I tell him with a final laugh.
“I can’t,” he says irritably. “I need to be inside the closed vehicle, as it’s what has access to your memories. It sends me them when I need them.”
“Well, why don’t you go in and check it out,” I tell him with a grin. “You will want to for this.”
He stares at me suspiciously for a good ten seconds before the lid of his Peep closes. About half a minute later it opens quickly, and he looks at me irritably and says, “Ha, ha, very funny.”
“Sorry,” I tell him, but I am still laughing, showing that I am not really sorry. “But come on. I mean, all you’re missing is the yellow color of it.”
He stares at me and the lid of his peep slowly closes, slowly enough that I can see the threat in his eyes. “All right! All right! I’m sorry! I won’t call it a peep again. Just don’t try to bash my fucking brains in!” I tell him quickly.
Suddenly the lid opens up fully again and he now has a grin on his face. “Good, glad we came to an agreement.”
Sighing, I wipe sweat from my forehead. Damn, guess he can’t take a joke. Looking over, I see that he is still grinning at me. That fucker was kidding! “Fine, you got me,” I tell him with a chuckle.
“Damn, it’s nice having someone to talk to again,” he says with a happy sigh.
“That bad? How come you haven’t just talked to, I don’t know, I guess the Elves, or whoever was around?” I ask him.
“Well, they wouldn’t listen to me, for one. They kept the Fairies as slaves. And secondly, the last time I was awake, you humans were cave dwellers beating each other's heads in with rocks.”
“The Elves keep Fairies as slaves?” I ask him incredulously.
“Well, they did the last time I was around, which was over 100,000 years ago. I only woke up because I detected you,” Roger says, nodding.
“I guess I should head back to camp. I have a lot of explaining to do to my mother. Fuck, she is going to be pissed. I did this on my own and left them all behind preparing a big ceremony for it,” I tell him with an enormous sigh. My mom, when she puts her mind to something, she likes to follow through, and I just derailed that big time. She is not going to be happy.
“And the girls?” Roger says with a big grin.
“Shit, yeah, and the girls. I know they will be pissed at me for attempting this without them here to protect me,” I tell him, shaking my head. “What about you? What are you going to do?”
“What do you mean?” he asks me, perplexed.
“Well, I was serious when I said I wasn’t going to keep you enslaved. You owe me nothing. You are welcome to go do what you want to do for the next however long you want to stay out before you go back into your pod to sleep again,” I tell Roger.
“You don’t don’t want me around?” he asks gloomily.
“What? But you said you didn’t want to be enslaved! Roger, what do you truly want?”
He says nothing but looks off into the distance over the mountain. It’s pretty nice up here, I have to admit. I might need to bring the girls up here for a picnic or something. Roger doesn’t say anything for a while, so I keep quiet and leave him to his thoughts. Hearing a deep, heavy sigh, I look over at him.
“I don’t know what I want, Brandon. I have been alone for so long. I don’t know if I want to stay alone again and just go back into the pod for another 100,000 years, or if I want to go with you. I don’t even know how to act around people. I mean, I had a quick look at your media. Well, more like my peh-hep,” and here he looks at me sharply, but when I don’t laugh or titter at him, he continues, “force-fed me the information. But you humans are odd, and even a violent people. I don’t know about these Elves, Werewolves, or even Vampires since they don’t broadcast their stuff over the air as you humans do. I am not sure I would fit in.”
“Well first, let's agree just to call that your ball, all right?” I tell him with a smile. “As for the other, I cannot tell you much about the other races as I have only met a handful of each at the most. I might have one of each as a partner that my mother wants as my mates, but I doubt they represent their entire race,” I tell him.
Nodding, Roger looks back over the mountain. “What if you stay in your ball and pretend you’re like this machine with attitude?” I ask him.
“What?” he asks me, confused.
“Well, until you get used to people. Stay in your ball and pretend you're like a sentient ball of metal. I can say that I was able to call you up as part of my ‘ability’. I mean, honestly, they have no idea what a real Incubus can do. I will say that it’s part of what I can do now,” I tell him.
Roger looks at me in amazement, before getting a big grin on his face. “Oh, Gods! I can so pull that off. I mean,”he gets a thoughtful look on his face, but then he looks up at me. “Can I be like your sidekick?” he asks me excitedly.
“Sidekick? Fuck, what the hell type of media did that thing feed you?” I ask him with a laugh. “I mean, you’re welcome to come as my sidekick if you want,” I say to him with a smile. “But how about you also come as my friend?”
“Friend?” he asks me in shock.
“Sure, I mean, I don’t have one. I mean, everyone else is expecting big things from me, even fightin
g this Void thing. It would be nice to have someone who knows what I am, and who I can talk to as a friend.”
“I never had a friend before,” he says hesitantly. “I wasn’t born, as you humans, Elves, or Werewolves were. The Elveesians created me.”
“Then it’s a deal. You can come as my friend and sidekick,” I tell him, holding out my hand.
He looks at oddly but then says, “Ah, that is your custom. Very well. I would be happy to come as your friend and sidekick,” he says, and the ball floats up to my hand so that I can grab his tiny hand, and carefully I shake it. It kind of feels like I am shaking hands with a Ken doll, but whatever, I think with a chuckle.
“So, do you need to eat and drink?” I ask him.
“No, well, yes. But I am good for food. I get it all from this ball of metal. It has a connection to a sizable storage that is in the quantum. I have enough food to last me ages.”
“Well then, shall we head back to camp? I wonder if I should change into my Werewolf form,” I muse out loud.
“Well, the Elveesian form you are in, in the Incubus form, is much faster, really. You also have the senses of each race as you are. No need to go switching unless you like each individual form for aesthetics,” Roger says.
“So, you're saying that my Incubus form is better than all the other races combined?” I ask him.
He looks at me like I just asked a dumb question. “Brandon, you are an Elveesian,” he says, but then follows up quickly, “or as close to it as possible. You are better than all of them. They were all created by the Elveesians, who were already perfect. The other races were created because the Elveesians wanted others in the galaxy with them, where they had found no one. But they didn’t create other races that would be better than them.”
“So, you are saying all the other races were created because the Elveesians were lonely?” I ask him in astonishment.
“Of course. Most Elveesians did not get along with each other. Probably since they were all uptight and strict. So they created the other races to be with them.”
“How many other races are we talking about?” I ask him now, really curious.
“Hmm, the last count was over 2,000,” he says, nodding as if confirming something.
“What? On Earth?” I ask him in disbelief.
“What? Of course not,” he snorts. “In the Universe. This is only one planet. Shit, this is only one Realm.”
3
I stare at Roger in shock. I mean, I know my mom said she was from another Realm, but I wasn’t sure I got it all right. Well, who better to ask than my new best friend and sidekick?
“What do you mean when you talk about Realms? My mother says she is from another Realm. Is that like a dimension?” I ask him. So much for going back to camp. I have so many questions.
“Not really, it’s, hmm,” and here he pauses, thinking it over. “All right, let me use terms you can understand. So, the universe is big. In your galaxy is your solar system, which contains Earth and its planets. Now, your mother is probably from another solar system,” he says.
“Oh, so she is just on another planet around another sun?” I ask him, surprised.
“Correct.”
“So, how do you know she isn’t from another galaxy?” I ask him.
“Because in your memories she mentioned taking a portal here. And the only way to get to another galaxy isn’t through a Portal, but a Gateway. So it must be another solar system. The Portals use magic, while Gateways use science, which no one alive can use, even myself before you ask,” he says, just as I open my mouth to ask him exactly that. Damn, this is some sci-fi shit.
“So, you mentioned that if I were an Elveesian I would have access to technology and weapons. Are they all science-based?” I ask him, now really intrigued.
“No, magical. The science stuff only they were privy to. Even though I am a Guardian of Earth, this ball is the extent of the science I have from my original Master who left me here,” he says.
“So who was your Master?” I ask him, leaning towards him, curious to hear his answer.
“I,”-he stops, looking embarrassed. “I don’t know. I had my memories wiped before they left.”
“Fuck, I was hoping to hear about one,” I tell him with a sigh. “I mean, I met one, but it was in my dream. He said I was on a different plane, like there were different levels,” I tell Roger.
He sits up straight in his ball and looks at me eagerly. “Wait! You met one? After they transcended, we had no idea what happened to them. We didn’t even know if they were still alive!”
“Well, from what I gather, they aren’t so much alive as they are up in a different plane. The one I spoke to said they are at a higher level than ours, and that the only way I was able to even meet him was he had to come down to that plane and I had to go up, and I could only do that in my dreams.”
“But you met one! Brandon, that is more than anyone has done in millions of years. Hmm. Maybe I will have to stay with you after all. You are now the closest thing I have to being close to an Elveesian Master again.”
“I thought you weren’t calling me Master?” I ask him with a raised eyebrow.
“I never called you Master. I said the closest thing. Don’t get a big head,” he says with a grin.
“Right. So basically I can expect no help in fighting this Void. How come you can’t fight the Void if you have the technology of the Elveesians?” I ask him.
He looks embarrassed again. “Because,” he starts, and then he looks down and mumbles something so quietly that I can’t hear.
“What?”
Sighing, he says in a louder voice, “Because it’s locked up.”
“Where is the key, then?” I ask him, surprised.
“The key is an Elveesian,” he says sadly.
“Hey! Can’t we try me to see if I can open it?” I ask him now, excited.
Shaking his head, he says with another sigh, “No, because it’s not just the key that’s the problem, it’s the location. While I have my pod and this ball, that is just considered an outpost base. I have no idea where the main habitat for the Elveesians was, since that was wiped from my memories as well. At least I assume it was, since at times I recall images and memories of a large place, but I have no idea where it is,” he says sadly. “And Brandon, it was a beautiful place. Something to behold.”
“Shit, it’s all right, Roger. I am sure we will find it again one day. But does that mean you have a true name? Or is that something you can’t give out, where like if I knew your name, I would somehow have control over you?” I ask him.
“Brandon, your race is fucked up,” he says, shaking his head. “Where do you guys come up with this shit? But no, not really. To them, I was just the Guardian. That was it.”
“Damn, that is fucked up, dude. Well, Roger you shall remain,” I tell him, nodding firmly. “Now we should get back to where the girls and my mother are. I think I am going to try running in this form until I get closer to the camp, and then I will change back.”
“Sounds good. I will follow you,” he says. “Remember, to them I am a metal talking ball that you conjured up, like you said, all right?”
“Got it,” I tell him. Walking to the edge of the cliff and looking down the mountain, I see spots that look like shelves. Deciding to see if this will work, I jump down what must be twenty feet before I hit the first spot I marked out. I hit the ground and sink down about half a foot, but it feels like I had only jumped from, say, four or five feet up. Yes! This is fucking amazing. Looking behind me and up slightly, I see that Roger had followed me. Nodding to him, I look down at the next area I want to jump to, gauge it to be about twenty-five feet this time, and jump down.
This time, I feel it. My teeth clack in my mouth, and I feel a slight pain in my legs. Right, so twenty feet good, twenty-five feet, not so good. It almost feels like I might have pulled something in my left leg. I cast a heal on myself to see if that helps.
“Mel al bah mae deou” I chant.
I feel the healing cover me, and the pain I felt leaves me. Stretching the leg, I feel much better.
“Impressive,” Roger says. “You have a tiny bit of merit, after all.”
“So, not a parlor trick, that one?” I tell him with a grin.
“I said tiny, don’t get too big for your britches,” he says with a laugh.
Looking down the mountain, I pick my next spot, and for the next twenty minutes, I continue to jump down until I get to the bottom . I stop and catch my breath, but I notice that I am not really that winded. And thanks to being careful of how far down I was jumping, I don’t need to cast a heal again. I look over at Roger, who has followed me without saying a word.
“Now, let’s see just how fast this form is, shall we?” I say to him.
“Right behind you, hoss,” he says.
That stops me in my tracks, just as I start to take off in a run. “Hoss?” I ask him with a laugh.
“It’s from your memories, so I thought I would try it out.”
“Yeah, don’t,” I tell him with a chuckle.
“Boss? Buddy? Pal? Muchacho?” he says.
“Or, how about just Brandon?” I tell him with a laugh, taking off again, heading towards camp.
Running in this form, I can tell I am much faster than in my Werewolf form. Not sure why, but I won’t say no to it. Since I am used to being a two-legged animal, running like this is much more natural. When I was in my Werewolf form, it took me time to get used to it. One of the training sessions I had with Johanne was just running in my form and adjusting to it. But to me, this feels more natural. And fuck me, I’m fast. I’m running faster than I did in wolf form and I’m not even winded.
Once I get closer to the camp, I slow down and turn to Roger. “Right, the camp is just over there, so let me change back to my human form.”
Sitting down in the grass, I close my eyes and imagine the energy I used to transform into my Incubus form slowly ebbing back into the pool. I’m not sure this will work, but you never know, right? Slowly, I feel the energy leave my body and somehow flow back into my pool.