by Viola Grace
Libby kept her focus out toward the mountains. “Do I have to wear the stupid outfits?”
Mathla laughed. “Yes. They jog the memories of the ancients.”
“Could I try it wearing my robe over it?”
“I don’t see why not. That way, you can always strip if you need to.”
Libby turned her head to the avatar. Mathla smiled brightly.
“Oh, come on, Novice Libby. If they request you wear a specific outfit, where is the harm?”
Libby pinched the bridge of her nose. “So, you want to lock their recall into a five-hundred-year span at the most?”
“What do you mean?”
“Fashion. The fashion that they request is related to a specific period of time that they like. You won’t get any of the other stuff if they are dictating what the novice wears. Whose rule was that?”
Mathla blushed. “I thought it would set the ancients at ease. I didn’t think about the span of time it would suggest to them.”
“How long have you been an avatar?”
“Five hundred years. I started collecting the ancients immediately after. I had met one while I was still mortal, and I thought that this would be a nice place for them to retire.”
“And providing their memories to other worlds was also a means to create support for the survival of your people.”
She grimaced. “I banished Luon’s people.”
“There is a story there.”
“Oh. There is.” Mathla looked up. “Master Kiol, what do you think of her imaging?”
“Astonishingly clear, Your Eminence. There is one final test that the prior has requested.”
Mathla raised her brows. “Yes?”
“He wishes to see how she handles your acceptance of Luon.”
Mathla scowled. “No. She isn’t up for that. The prior could barely handle that.”
“If you wish her to eventually ascend to master, he does require it.”
“Why did I give him so much power over this place?”
Libby smiled. “We can look at that memory later.”
Libby looked at Master Kiol. “Do you have crystals?”
“Why plural?”
“Humour me.”
He pulled out two crystals and handed them to Libby. She turned to Mathla. “Did you want to just do this?”
“It drives novices catatonic.”
“In that case, while I am out, don’t let the prior grope me.”
The avatar blinked and slowly smiled. “I promise. You can sit and rock in my quarters.”
“Stop flirting.” Libby smiled and turned to her. “Okay, bring the memory up. Don’t force it, just remember the first thing you were doing that day, and let it come.”
Mathla blinked, and her eyes went vague.
Libby touched her mind to Mathla’s, and it was like grabbing a shorting wire.
“Let me go! I don’t volunteer. I don’t want to be an avatar. Luon can choose someone else!” She struggled against the priests holding her.
She was hauled through the streets, and her friends and relatives turned their backs to her as the priests pulled her toward the temple of Luon.
Her clothing was stained and ragged, her feet were bloody from being dragged, and the priests were digging their nails into her arms as they hauled her along. She cried, she screamed, she cursed, it did nothing.
They hauled her to the altar and strapped her to it. The men who had brought her bowed to a figure in the corner and left her.
She was sobbing softly until she heard it. There was a scraping shuffle. It happened again from behind her. It was coming from the shadows that the priests had shown deference to.
The shuffle came closer, and she craned her neck to see, and then, she wished she hadn’t. A man, or it had been a man, was cracking apart, and light was seeping from him. He looked like he was going to explode.
His hair was burned off him, the skin was blistered, and he smelled like scorched meat.
Mathla leaned back as he leaned in toward her, and to her horror, he grabbed her head and held her still for a kiss from lips that had been scorched to the teeth. She started screaming, but energy began to flow from him into her, and soon, the screaming stopped.
She had no breath to scream; she was on fire from the inside out. Pain was tearing her apart, and a voice was coming to her.
“Easy Mathla, what did Luon show you?”
The pain ripped along her nerves and finally subsided. A man walked toward her with the sun at his back.
“I apologize for the method of your ascension to avatar, but I needed you. Urak was not a good selection. He could not manage to contain me. I needed someone suitable, and he was able to locate you.” The figure of Luon was a handsome man, and he took her by the hands.
“Come with me, Mathla. I will show you amazing things, worlds born and dying. Magic and evolution and wonder. They are all yours to see.”
Mathla’s nerves were still jangling, and she asked Luon, “Can I punish those who gave me pain?”
Libby cut it there and held her breath as she spooled off the memory, and then, she caught the after memory as well.
“Never forget the sweet. Luon offered to help you with what you needed.”
Mathla blinked. “You aren’t an idiot.”
“Well, don’t tell the prior that. Here, Master Kiol. Both memories.” She held up the crystals that were vibrating with power. She got to her feet and walked to the edge of the garden, picked up a fist-sized rock, and walked back to the stone she had been kneeling on. “Fire in the hole!”
In front of the two astonished watchers, she smashed the recording of the memories. Master Kiol gasped. “What did you do?”
Libby looked at him. “They were Mathla-Luon’s memories, and while she surrendered them as a test, they are not for anyone else to view. If she chooses a memory of her own will, I will gladly record it, but choosing the most painful is sick.”
The avatar blinked, and her eyes began to glow. “Thank you, Master Elizabeth. It seems you do grasp the subtleties that some of the novices have missed. If we need it for our archive, will you do a voice-over to explain the feelings that Mathla went through?”
“Of course, Your Eminence.” She nodded. “I can also mute some of the fear if you would like.”
Luon smiled. “You can do that?”
“Let me try.” She settled back on her meditation stand and held out her hand. “Master Kiol, I would like another crystal, please.”
“Why?”
She held out her hand and looked at him.
He slid another crystal into her hand, and she focused on the echo of the memory, fanned it to life again before it faded, and slowly guided the viewer through the facts of the matter without resorting to pain-porn or titillation. She finished the recording with the wonders that Luon began showing her in compensation for the use of her body.
Libby exhaled and removed the crystal from contact with her forehead. She handed it to Master Kiol. “Try that one.”
He looked at it, scowled, and set it in his reader. He tensed, collapsed to his knees, and then slow, fat tears began to track down his cheeks.
Mathla asked, “What did you do?”
“I did what humans have been doing with images and emotions for decades. I gave it a music track that matched the action. It is now dramatic, tense, horror, uncertain, and then calm building to sweet.”
Mathla blinked. “You... added music?”
“Music allows you to degrade the original and control what you want the viewer to feel.”
Mathla leaned over and plucked the crystal out of the player in Kiol’s hands. Mathla closed her eyes and was obviously reading the crystal. Tears streaked down her cheeks when she got to the end. Mathla opened her eyes and smiled. “Can you teach anyone else to do this? It is far less painful to see the memories this way. Even though the sound is a whisper, it is powerful and keeps you from getting los
t.”
Libby nodded. “When you mentioned folks going catatonic, it was a thought to keep them on a different thread.”
Mathla tossed the crystal in the air, and then, she nodded. “This is going into my personal archive. Thank you, Master Libby.”
“Um, why did I get upgraded?”
Kiol rubbed his eyes. “To create a viewable memory is a master’s skill, but to touch the mind of the avatar and come away with a usable memory is immediate elevation to Master title. You have a lot of control over your mind, Master Libby.”
She nodded. “Well, for one of my species, I have a lot of practice.”
She was left alone until it was time for the evening meal. She had been exempted from cooking duties as she had no idea what the food was, but she grinned as she walked to the masters’ table and took her seat. The prior spluttered in shock, and Master Kiol spoke to him quickly. Libby sat down for the evening meal with the masters and tried not to laugh. Now she only needed to actually do her job, and things would be great.
Meeting one of the ancients was what she was here for, and convincing them to share their memories was what she wanted to do. Now she had to wait.
Chapter Six
Libby stretched in her larger quarters and bathed in the cool water coming through the fountain in the wall. She had washed her robe and underwear the night before, and she got dressed in clean clothing over clean skin. Her hair had gotten washed before bed.
She braided her hair and left her quarters, heading for the dining hall. She got to the masters’ table as the first bell rang, and she was sipping some tea when a heavy pouch dropped in front of her. She opened it and blinked. “Blank crystals?”
The prior huffed. “Go to the quartermaster and get a belt. They are a mark of your new rank.”
She nodded and took the breakfast plate that she was handed by one of the serving novices. Funnily enough, he didn’t try to tip it into her lap as he had the day before.
She set the plate on the table and ate quickly. She preferred her food hot.
When her meal was done, she picked up the bag and went to find the quartermaster. He handed her a length of leather, and as she examined it, he muttered, “It is all a novice like you deserves.”
“I was elevated to Master yesterday. Master Kiol and the avatar were witnesses.” She held up the worn and feeble strip of what used to be hide. “I am sure this will be able to take the weight of... air? What can support this?” She thudded the bag of crystals on the counter.
He looked at it and back to her, and he reached under the table to bring out a very clean and pleasant belt as used by any of the monks who needed to attach something to their robes. No pockets.
She wrapped the belt around her, attached the bag, and cinched it tight. That motion must have been surprising because his eyes bugged open.
She glanced down, and her body was outlined by the appearance of her waist. She went in search of Mathla.
She found the avatar in her private garden and waited to be acknowledged.
“Good morning, Master Elizabeth. Did you sleep well?”
Libby approached and looked past the woman who was doing a nude sun salutation. “The master’s quarters are better. Thicker walls.”
“Good. You will need to be rested. You have begun to get invitations to visit. Do you know how to use the disk?”
Libby nodded. “I do. I am not fond of them, but I can use them.”
“Ancient Oshuan is expecting you for lunch. Your clothing is in your quarters, and don’t forget to bring your crystals. The coordinates are pre-set if you simply tell the disk who you want to see.”
“Right, so I leave now?”
“If you want to arrive on time, Master Libby.” Malthu turned and winked. “Bring back a memory if you can.”
“Yes, Your Eminence.” Libby bowed and left the private garden and the naked avatar.
She made her way back to her quarters and found the clothing in question. She removed her belt and robe, put on the skirt and the loose blouse that floated above her midriff. There were no sleeves. The tie for her hair turned it into a thick tail, and when she was decently covered, she put the robe on and smoothed it down. The fullness of the robe just let the hem of the skirt peep out.
She put the belt and pouch back on and headed for the disks. This was the part of the process that she was not looking forward to.
Most of the other novices liked to stand to ride the disks, but that wasn’t Libby’s style. She knelt comfortably, activated the disk, and said, “Ancient Oshuan.”
The disk rose and whisked her away to the north. She sat calmly with her palms on her thighs, and she was flown along the magnetic lines until the disk slowly lowered her to the ground on a designated landing site.
She rose to her feet and looked around, finding the small house and turning toward it. She walked up to the house and knocked on the door.
“Hello?” The voice from inside was low.
“Greetings, Ancient Oshuan. I am here to speak to you about donating a memory. I am Master Libby.”
The door was whisked open, and a very bright orange set of eyes looked up at her. “That isn’t the script.”
“I am not very good at repeating nonsense.”
The ancient looked at her, her shining golden scales lovely in the sunlight. She giggled, and there was hissing. “You are not as young as you look.”
“That is what being ancient gets you. Wisdom.” She smiled.
“Come in. I have prepared lunch.”
Libby followed her into the shadowed interior.
“You didn’t wear the clothing.” Oshuan pouted.
“I am wearing it. My robes are over it. I wanted to talk to you before you stumble into the time and place that you want to be reminded of. I have a request for a single memory before I remove the robe.”
“You are bargaining with me? That is definitely not in the monk’s rulebook.”
“Yes, but most of them don’t make this outfit look this good.”
Her host giggled and gestured for her to sit. The table was decorated with half a dozen bowls and plates. Each had a sautéed, baked, or fried insect in it.
“Please, Master Libby, take your fill.”
Libby inclined her head and picked up the eating sticks that were nearly dowels with flattened edges. She picked up a cricket and crunched into it. “Oh, that’s nice.”
She worked her way through the different types of bugs, only grimacing at the larger beetle. “Apologies. That one is bitter for my taste.”
Oshuan blinked, her mouth slightly open. “Your species eats bugs?”
“Not all of us, but it is a growing trend as a health food, and I have tried them on my home world before.”
Oshuan laughed. “Excellent. Well, they are not normally my entire diet, but I like to test the new ones that the monks send out here. Am I your first ancient?”
Libby paused while picking up another cricket. “The first one that has invited me. Ancient Yelfon retrieved me from my drop as the prior was trying to get me dumped in the north sea somewhere.”
“Oh ho. So, you weren’t his choice?”
“No. I was offered by my world, accepted by Luon, and transported by Zanicon. I have more experience with avatars and their worlds than I do with other beings.”
“Ah. This is explaining things. So, what memory do you want from me?”
“The first time you saw the sun.”
The scaled woman blinked. “That is it?”
“That is it. We sit outside, and you look up, and you remember the first time you saw the sun. That is it.” She smiled and extended one of the tidbits. “Cricket?”
The ancient nodded and took it with her fingers. “Thank you. This is a very surprising day.”
They sat and ate while the ancient asked Libby questions about Terra, and she answered what she could.
“What kind of species are there on Terra?”
“Yes, capable of conversation.”
“Just humans. Like me. Well, like me before I was altered. I am not quite sure what I am now, but it sure is shiny.” She held out her pearly hand. “Dang. I was supposed to be wearing gloves.”
Oshuan laughed. “I am glad to see that you have faults. You are right. The skin is very distinctive. I have seen the texture on it before but not the shade.”
“The shade is mine, one of the varieties on Terra. The pigment in our skin is enhanced by sun exposure, so my people came from an area that did not have a lot of sun, short seasons, and required a lot of clothing.” She chuckled. “According to genetic tracing, my people were in the same general vicinity for thousands of years, and then, we started moving.” She grinned. “We haven’t stopped since.”
“Ah, where was I two thousand years ago?” The ancient closed her eyes and then opened them. “The fountains of Akithan. Oh, they were pretty. Obsidian, toxic, but wonderful. They were destroyed when the great cities on Lurar fell.”
“You travelled, as well.” She smiled.
“Oh, I did. My line still continues on in the Adru-Skari. The Tah family have my blood.”
“You keep track of them?”
Oshuan nodded. “I travel to the abbey and use the link to the archive to seek information on my birth world.”
“When was the last time you checked on it?”
Oshuan cocked her head. “Two hundred or more years. It has been a while.”
“What do you think creates an ancient?” Libby chuckled. “Aside from time.”
“I don’t know. I think it starts as a devotion to remaining alive that your world recognizes. It answers, even if it has no avatar, and your aging stops.” Oshuan smiled. “I have met true born immortals, by the way. They are a strange bunch, and they have to watch their reproduction so carefully.”
“There are actual immortals?” She knew her eyes were wide.
Oshuan chuckled. “There are. There are beings in the stars that you can only dream of.”
“Will you tell me about them?”
“So that you can put them in the crystals?” Oshuan suddenly got canny.