• Chapter Fifteen:

    Khey stood alone in the small room. It was a private sanctuary for many on the ship, but lately it had been his and only his. It was one of the oldest rooms on the ship, not having been refurbished in over twenty years. The walls had dark stained wood panels, adorned with a painting, and a lavish red tapestry. There were small glass cases upon pedestals along the left wall holding old flint lock pistols, a parchment signed by an almost forgotten king.
    In one corner there was an old record player, made of brass and wood. He had been listening to the recorded piano on it for hours now, staring up at what lay in the tall glass case in the opposite corner. His eyes had long ago moved beyond the faded brown duster, with little rips and tears all over, past the wide brimmed hat that sat atop a manikin’s emotionless head. He had these things all moved into this room so that he might better reflect on the things of the past, as well as those things yet to come.
    There was a little tap on the door. He called for them to come in, and looked back only briefly. It was the girl, Maria. Her hair had gone from shoulder length orange, dyed of course, to almost waist length and pale white. The sight was more than a little nostalgic for Khey. She walked up next to him, looking at the old coat within the glass case, and nudged him with her elbow a bit.
    “What’s with that old thing? Looks like something out of an old western flick.” Her tone was kind, but he could tell that there was also worry hidden beneath the surface.
    “It’s something from my past.” The two looked together at the display, then Khey turned to Maria with a little smile on his face. “Maria, I’d like to tell you a story, if that’s all right.”
    Maria shook her head and gave him a polite smile. “No thanks. I used to be into stories, but I’m almost fifteen now. I think I’ll pass.” Her eyes looked up to him, and Khey saw something of familiar curiosity in them. “What’s it about anyway? Some wild adventure you had back in you hay-day?”
    “Actually, it’s about your hair in a way.”
    “What!?” Khey could see her face change from surprise, to worry, to a sadness he had not yet seen on the girl. “Does Pops know?”
    Khey shook his head. “No. I wanted to tell you first. Then, if you want, you can tell him yourself. Deal?”
    Maria nodded her head faintly. “…Ok”
    Khey motioned to an antique wooden chair with a brightly colored cushion on the seat. “Take a load off. This might take a few minutes.” Even being brief with what he had to say, Khey knew that this could take hours if he didn’t stick to the basics. Maria sat, and remained quiet while he began.
    Staring up at the old brown coat, Khey’s eyes shined as his mind faded back into a different time. He began his story.
    “A long, long time ago, there were a lot of peoples in this world. Some good, some bad, and like today no one could really seem to get along all the time. There were wars, wars that would make those of today look like a kids show. And back then… they called me Keldon. Keldon Twighlight.”
    He could see Maria register it in her mind, and he could tell that she was having a hard time believing him. “So, what, your like a zillion years old?” Khey laughed a little, shaking his head.
    “No. Not quite a zillion, kid. But Lets just say, for now, that I was around back before Crystania was Crystania. Back when guns hadn’t been though of.”
    “So are you like an elf or something, like Orion?”
    Khey felt the hairs on the back of his neck straighten. If he had a coin for every time someone had called him an elf, especially back then…
    “No, I’m not an elf.”
    “Then what are you?” Maria crossed her arms, with a curious smile spread crossed her face.
    In turn, Khey closed his eyes, and dispelled the effects of the charm placed upon him by Orion. His skin became a silken grey, his ears straightened and became slightly longer, though not as long as an elf’s. And above his brow, stretching from the edge of his eye to his hairline was a small row of little scales, which shimmered like speckled platinum. Maria’s eyes widened as her jaw dropped.
    “What I am is another story. Will this be enough for you to believe me?” The girl only nodded a reply, and Khey knew he was good to continue.
    “A long time ago I was given a mission, to find and kill a very evil monster. They told me that this monster was responsible for hundreds of deaths and they knew that I might be one of the only people to be able to both track him, fight him, and defeat him.”
    “And did you?” Maria’s skepticism had evaporated and been replaced with open-faced awe. She was at the edge of her seat, unable to take her eyes off him.
    “Settle down. Let me get to that part.” He took up a seat, and continued the tale. “I had followed this beast across an entire continent, and it had taken almost an entire year for me to make headway of what I was getting into. They had set me out without as much as a real description. But again, that is a story for another day.
    When I finally found him, he had become a raving lunatic. I had heard rumors of him being cunning and swift. But something had stripped that creature of every shred of morality and ingenuity he may have once had.” Khey paused, remembering the first time he had squared off with the beast.
    “But he escaped me. We fought and I got careless. By the time I picked up his trail again it was to late. Someone else had killed the monster. I found the body deep in the forest, arms rent from the body and chest caved in. I left it there, and began my return home.”
    “So, what, your job got done, right?” Maria looked a little lost to the point of the story so far. Khey raised his hands, asking for her patience.
    “A year later there came news of killings once again. And the word was that it was this black beast once again. I had seen his dead body for myself, but regardless I was sent out again to resolve the issue..” Khey paused, subduing a rising knot in his stomach as he recalled the horrors of those days.
    “I reached the town of Hillun the day after beast had razed it to the ground. The building had all been set aflame, and many were still bright with fire as I arrived. But I saw no bodies. None. The town had been the home to hundreds of people but when I got there was not a single body to be seen. Blood was everywhere, but no bodies.” Khey decided to spare Maria the more gruesome details and moved on.
    “But as I left Hillun I caught sight of him on a nearby hilltop, looking back at me. I will never forget his eyes… The left such a bright blue, while the right was such a dark blood red.” Khey came out of his memories as he noticed Maria flinch at his description. “What is it?”
    “Those eyes. I have seen them, in a dream I’ve been having. One red, one blue. I don’t remember much, but I can remember that.”
    “How long have you been having this dream?”
    “Since you and dad caught up in that dark thing.”
    “The void spirit…”
    “What?”
    “Never mind. Let me finish the story. Maybe then it might hold some answers to your questions.” Maria nodded and Khey went back to his narrative.
    “When I saw him that say, he was not alone. I later found that he had raised all the slain villagers into an ever growing undead army.” He saw Maria’s eyes widen with the mention of the undead, who in this day and age were no more than legend. “But on that day there was only one other with him. It was a little girl, looked no older than eight or nine. I remember her so well, she was standing next to him wearing a pale lavender night dress, her skin milky white. Next to his black fur she was like the moon on a starless sky.”
    “It was a little girl?” Maria paused, thinking to herself. “You said fur, right? What did this monster look like? Please, I have to know. Did it have a name?”
    Khey’s eyes lowered, knowing that to answer her questions would mean a significant change in his plans, but as he looked back up into the girl’s eyes, he knew he could not deny her the truth.
    “Yes, a girl. She was with him almost every time I saw him after that day. She always looked so content just to be at his side.” He looked away for a second as he continued. “The monster was a half-breed of a race all but extinct then, the b*****d son of an even greater monster and an innocent woman. He was like a wolf who stood like a man. It’s difficult to describe, but you’ve seen a werewolf movie. It’s kind of like that, except no changing shape. He was a monster.”
    “What was his name. Please Khey… tell me.”
    Khey sighed, knowing that this might end up being the final step over the cliff of no return. “His name, was Vengence. And the girls name. Her name was Maria.”
    Maria was speechless, and Khey knew that he had just started a chain reaction that he was certain the outcome would not be one he could entirely control. The two of them sat in silence for some time then, both seemingly lost in their own thoughts.

    In all people there sit’s the latent potential for greatness. Within the smallest child, and the aged elders both. One choice can change everything, one choice is often all that is required. Choice, as it were, stands as the singular presence of thought. Will, self awareness, and sense of self, all revolve around the ability to make that single choice. Rationality, common sense, and the like are preconceptions delivered unto us by others.
    Each person is born with the inherent knowledge of right and wrong, and only learning otherwise will subjugate those instinctual mentalities. All people have their own story, and each make a near infinite amount of choices along those paths. It is up to those individuals which choices they make, and no other.

    For this I leave these notes, with the hopes that the choices I have set in motion will bring about the results I have fought for these last few decades. May the good winds guide me in this.

    ~Letter found inside the pocket of Khey’s old coat when retrieved~


    Chapter Sixteen:

    Khey had taken a few minutes to himself after telling her his name. Keldon, he had told her. She thought it sounded kinda hokey at first, but as she watched him look at the beat up old coat in the glass case, something inside of her told her it fit. A thought popped into her mind, and her nose wrinkled as a little frown crossed Maria’s face.
    “Khey Eldon?” She put her fists to her sides and sighed. “That was the best cover name you could think of?”
    Khey looked back to her with a smile accompanied by a pleading look. “Well, I thought it clever at the time at least. It just kinda stuck.” His lavender eyes which were speckled with gold looked to her with a raptor gaze. “Do you want to hear the story or not?”
    She resigned herself to letting the matter of his lack of creativity drop for the moment, but made a mental note to herself to make a point of it later, if for no other reason than to cause a little mischief. She put up her hands as a sign of surrender. “Alright, alright, I give. Go ahead and lay it on me old man.”
    “Wha-” Khey was about to say something to his own defense, but she could see it in his eyes that he knew that continuing arguing back and forth about such little things would get nothing accomplished in the long run. She knew he wanted to tell her this tale of hers, and she had to admit to herself that she was becoming more and more anxious to hear it the more she looked at his odd near-human features. She apologized with a wave of her hand, and encouraged him to begin.
    “Well, suppose I should start back when this mess first crept up. It was a few hundred years ago, back when the Empire of Crystania was still a lone-standing kingdom. I remember they spelled it with a K back then too. Never really knew why they changed it. But that’s beside the point.”
    Maria cut in sarcastically, hoping to lighten her worry about all of this with a joke. “Seems a lot you do is quite beside the point, huh?”
    Khey ignored her and went on. “Back then, the world was filled with magic. It was everywhere. Magic was inlay in ever single aspect of most people lives one way or another. It was a whole different world back then. Halmahera was ruled by several independent kingdoms and such.” He waved his hand in a small circle, gesturing that it was not the point.
    “Anyway, back then a lot of people feared magic. Kinda like today, but people now-a-days have no idea what real magic is. Back then even a novice mage could incinerate a house by accident when a spell went array.” Maria imagined a boy with a big floppy hat with a worried look on his face as a bard was on fir in the background. The thought brought a smile to her face. Khey’s icy look took t away.
    “There were always people seeking greater and more powerful magics. And soon, it lead to the overflow of magic, which caused one of the doors to open.” Maria had a puzzled look on her face, but Khey put hand up to stop her question as he explained.
    “As far as the doors go, all you need to know at the moment are the basics. A long, long time ago, the wizards and such of old created the doors as a means to regulate the flow of magic between our world and the other dimensions from which magic comes. While some magic exists naturally here, most is drawn from these other world. Make sense?”
    She nodded to him a little, realizing that she was sitting on the edge of her seat. She righted herself and sat back. This was a little more interesting than she had thought it would be. She absently ran her fingers through the pale violet hair, but stopped once she remembered that it was why she was listening to the story in the first place. “Yeah, these door things are like big faucets that make sure we don’t all drown from magic.” Khey nodded, apparently accepting her simplistic breakdown of the explanation. “So what does this have to do with my hair looking like this?” She said holding a handful of it towards him.
    “I’m getting there, be patient.” She crossed her arms, feigning annoyance. Khey went on.
    “Once so many people began to draw forth so much magic, something bad happened. One of the doors opened further than it was suppose to, and it allowed to much magic in. Later I learned that it had all been orchestrated by a very evil mage named Tal’Sek. He used this overflow of magic to summon to our realm a plague of demon-like creatures. We called them the Fell.” Khey’s eyes drifted to the floor, and Maria thought she could see them flash with sadness for an instant, but the look was gone before she had the chance to verify it. She kept quiet while his gaze slowly came back up, but this time it didn’t settle on her but instead looked around to the little relics about the room.
    “At the time, Halmahera was a giant war zone. Each kingdom and land standing alone against the unforeseen dangers. The Fell swept across the land, and within a year held almost the entire continent. We went north, and sought to form an alliance against the Fell, to stop them from consuming the world. There were many battles.” She saw his eyes stay on an axe hanging on the wall. The thing look like it was made from bone, wrapped in leather around the handle. “We lost many good friends.”
    She leaned forward, and smiled a little at him. “Well, I guess since we are here now, things worked out, huh?” Khey smiled back slightly, and went on. She could see that there were a lot of skeletons in this man’s closet.
    “After the war, a group set out to close the doors once and for all. It was decided by us all that the magic already in this world was enough, and that we needed no more. We could not take the risk of another Tal’Sek, another Fell War.”
    “So, I’m going to guess that this whole process wasn’t as easy as closing a real door?”
    “No, and that is were you come in.” He now had her full undivided attention. This is what she had been waiting for. This could be the secret to her past, her whole life before she had met George Storm.
    “In order to close those doors the magic called for three people to act as the key vessels, which means that these people would become part of the lock to put it simply.” She nodded a little to show she caught to jist of it. “I was one. The second was a human boy. And the third was the elf girl, Maria.”
    Maria felt the hair at the back of her neck stand on end as goose bumps ran down her arms and legs. Her voice barely managed to come forth when she tried to speak. Her heart was hammering so hard she knew he must be able to hear it. “And this girl…”
    “That girl, Maria, is you.” The room was quiet as a tomb for what seemed to long. She wanted to say something, to deny him, to yell, to cry. But none of it seemed right. She couldn’t even make sense of what he was trying to tell her. How could she be some little girl from hundred of years ago? She was a teenage orphan that had grown up in an old machine shop.
    The look she saw on Khey’s eyes told her her could tell her mind was spinning. Everything was spinning. She thought that this must be what those girls who fainted felt like right before they went down. Maria had always laughed a bit when she had seen them crumple as their faces when flush and they fell down. But she wasn’t laughing now. She could muster no words, no questions. She felt like she should have a million and one thins to say and ask, but nothing came to mind.
    Suddenly the thing from her dreams flashed into her mind. Those eyes, one blue, one red. And then a single question came to her. Right then it was somehow the only thing she could think of, the only thing she could say. “So what happened after we closed the doors?”
    Khey looked surprised to hear her ask such a question. His brow rose a little, bunching the small scales that ran from the upper edge of his eyebrows up to his hairline. “Uh, well…” He wrung his hans together as he searched for an answer.
    “You don’t know either, do you?” She said, with no tone of sarcasm or resentment. It was said as it was meant, a cold fact. His eyes fell to the floor again.
    “I remember very little of what happened directly after the doors were sealed. I know that each of us paid a price for acting as vessels, though I know we all lost a great deal of our memory in the process. Mine has been slowly returning over the last ten years or so. I think I just about have most of it back now. But I still can’t remember that time in the temple which the doors are in.”
    “Then how do you know its me?” Her words came slow, as if pleading for him to be wrong. She didn’t want to be this freak of nature that he made it sound to be. Some tool of dumb magic. Her eyes looked to him, begging him to take it back, to be wrong. She wanted to cry, but no tears came to her need.
    “I know. Its part of the magic. Once that part of my memory came back, I knew who you were, and I could feel you enough to know where to find you. I’m sorry Maria. I know its not an easy thing to take in.”
    Her words cut back at him as the tears were slowly coming up to her call, her need, for them. “No s**t Sherlock.”
    “We are going to open up the doors again, before all the magic in this world is choked out for good. If that happens, it will never be able to come back. So many have already died because of it, and I will never sleep without those nightmares.” His look seemed to be a pleading one, brimming on sorrow.
    “Please Maria. I cannot do this without you, and I cannot force you to do it. Will you help us?”
    She saw in his face sincerity, but at the moment, she really didn’t care all that much. She wanted to hit him or something. Her whole world felt like it meant nothing. She was a freak. She looked away from him. He asked her again, but when she stood, there were tears in her eyes.
    “I don’t know…” She turned away from him, trying to pull herself together, but knew that it was only a matter of time before the flood of tears and crying so hard she would be shaking would come. Before she was praying for the feelings, now she was wishing she could have stayed in that indifferent place a while longer.
    “Please. If we don’t do this so many more will die. If I had known this would happen, if any of us had known, we wouldn’t have taken such rash actions. I only want to put things back to the way they were.”
    She spun, hate in her eyes added to by the puffy redness around her eyes and the tears that trickled down her cheeks. “You don’t even think do you? I had a good life, a dad who loved me, I went to school. Yeah it was rough, but it was a life. My life!” She slapped her hand to her chest. “It was MY life damnit! And then you come along and blow it all up. Everything I thought was my life is gone, just because you show up and decide that things arent the way you want. Don’t come telling me you just want things back the way they were. I’m a freak! What I wouldn’t give to put things back the way they were.” She was breathing hard, and her own ears were ringing with what she guessed had been her own yelling, but she didn’t know. Her world was both white hot hate and black sadness all at once.
    “Maria, I’m sorry. I am.” Khey stood and walked to the door. He opened it a small fraction of the way, and looked to her without emotion. “I’m going to go…take a walk. Take some time, and think about things. Talk who you need to talk to. When your ready, come find me. No rush. We’ve got a while.”
    He walked out the door, shutting it behind him. She felt her knees go week as she sunk to the soft carpeted floor. Then the tears and sadness overcame the anger, and she cried like she could never remember crying ever before. She felt like everything she had loved was gone. Her friends, her life, her future, all swept out from underneath her feet in a day.
    She didn’t know how long she was there on the floor, and she didn’t care. When she finally got herself together, she quietly made her way to her little room, thankful that no one stopped her on the way there. She didn’t want to talk to anyone. She was a freak, and knew that Rachel and her dad wouldn’t want to be around her anymore. She decided to herself as she felt her head settle in her pillow that she wouldn’t tell anyone, not until she was ready. She didn’t think Khey would tell anyone. She didn’t know why, but something told her he wouldn’t.
    She closed her eyes, and prayed for a dreamless sleep. But even in this she was denied. The same dark dreams came, but this time they were even more vivid. Scenes of war and death, and so much more. Many times she awoke suddenly, drenched in sweat, her heart gripped with feeling of terror and being lost. She knew things were only getting worse. Now she couldn’t even escape this stuff in her sleep.
    Chapter Seventeen:

    Rachel descended the small stairway leading away from the living quarters towards the aid station. The week she had already spent on the airship had gone by slowly. Again and again she had felt so useless, always being shuffled around whenever something was going on. Out of everyone she had come on board the Zolumous with she felt like she had nothing to really contribute. Storm spent most of his time down in the R&D rooms reading over schematics and helping with one project or another. Maria seemed to make friends with every single mechanic on board and spent all of her time lost in some dark corridor fixing a leak or something like that. She hadn’t seen the girl in much more than passing, and was a little worried about the distant look always on the girl’s face.
    Khey was never in the same place long. She would often see him in the helm when she would bring some food up for the pilots who couldn’t leave their station very often. He would be talking with the crew and captain, about his plans she was sure. She could only imagine what was to come. She didn’t know if she should be worried or excited. She found the result to be somewhere in the middle. She knew that she was in with people that would be seen as no less than outlaws and enemies of the state. But given all she had come to see, she knew that there was at least some things beneath the surface of what she had been taught that was more than a little wrong. The Empire of Crystania was far from perfect, especially as pious as they claimed to be.
    The ship was enormous, and the hundred plus people on board were always, it seemed, up and about doing on thing or another. It was like a flying village, with so many things needing done and being worked on at any given time. Everyone had a job that helped keep the Zolumous in working order. Everyone but her that is. She was any good with guns, and didn’t like the idea of shooting people anyway. Her knowledge of machines ended at changing a tire, despite what little things Maria had showed her in their short time together back in the city.
    Earlier that morning she had decided to go down to the medical station and see if there might be something she might be of use for. She had a knack for keeping things organized, and to boot she was good at keeping track of stock without having to pause constantly to look over lists and manifestos. The day before last she had tried to help down in the cargo hold, but she couldn’t operate the mechanical lifts very well and she wasn’t strong enough to carry the other big thing by hand. She wasn’t sure if she could be of any help in the med station either, but she felt it was worth a try. Not like she had anything else to do with her time, and she hated feeling like she was just along for the ride.
    Once there, she saw Orion the elf woman she had met her first day on the ship when Orion had used magic to make herself look like someone altogether different. Now the long blonde haired woman was standing near a shelf of small bottles and unorganized bits and pieces reading over a clipboard. Rachel figured it might be some sort of patient form or the like. Maybe Orion was a doctor, or some kind of magical healer. The thought of being healed by magic sent a little tingle up Rachel’s back. It wasn’t that she feared the idea itself, but she found that she couldn’t even really imagine what such a thing might be like, even if it could be done. She had hear that the holy men of the Empire performed miracles and healed people with some sort of divine light. Maybe it would be something like that.
    Orion looked up as Rachel came in, the elf’s deep green eyes reminded Rachel of the way teachers looks at children all the time, with a sort of knowing kindness. In the back of her mind she remembered a tale about how elves were supposed to live a lot longer than humans. She wondered how old this strange but beautiful woman before her was, but she decided that she wasn’t ready to start asking personal questions just yet. Rachel couldn’t help return Orion’s smile, a bit of her tension left her as the two shared a moment of simple and quiet greeting.
    “I came by to see if I could help out with anything. I feel kinda bad just sitting around twiddling my fingers while everyone else goes about the work. I work at a pharmacy, so I figured I might be of some use here.” Only after Rachel had finished the sentence did the touch of realization find her. She didn’t work at a pharmacy anymore. By now she was likely on some wanted list, her apartment taped off with yellow police tape under some sort of Crime Scene Investigation unit. She was in this for the long run,, no going back. She did her best not to let the little flush of feeling lost and alone corrupt her features.
    Orion gave her a simple smile. “Well I don’t know what all needs done down here. Most of the little things, fevers, upset stomachs, and headaches, everyone knows what they need and come down here and take it from the storage. They mark it on the log sheet so we’ll know what to stock up on when we make port somewhere. That’s what I’m doing now, just reviewing over the log sheet so I can get what we need once we set down in Stone Tomb.” Rachel nodded her understanding, even though was more than a little surprised that such a large crew of people all operated on the honor system. Another question best saved for a better time she supposed.
    “What about the more serious stuff? Is there a doctor on board?” Rachel asked as she began moving around making a mental inventory of everything she could see. There were stacks of different pills boxes and bottles in shaky stacks. It made her wonder if anyone had ever taken the wrong medicine because of how unorganized everything was. She smiled a little to herself imagining someone taking laxatives instead of Pep-Hellion, a pinkish stomach medicine.
    “No, not anymore.” Orion continued when Rachel gave her a raised eyebrows and frown look of curiosity, even though Rachel herself wasn’t completely sure she wanted to hear what ghastly thing may have happened to this doctor of theirs. “Pat, Doc, Hamlon died about a year ago. He was getting on in years, a little defect humans seem to have I suppose. Orion giggled a little at the frown that became a scowl on Rachel’s face.
    “What do you mean, defect?” Rachel thought that the woman was having a bit of fun at her expense. She hadn’t really ever had to deal with any other races of the world, just humans, but she knew that there were a great many people who held the other races of the world in very low regards. She supposed that the same sentiments were likely reciprocated by the other side of the spectrum as well.
    “I’m sorry, I don’t mean anything my it hun, I promise. My kind lives for much longer than yours, so it seems a tragically short life that humans lead from our, my, perspective.” Her words same softly, as if to calm any ill will, and Rachel felt herself feel more than a little foolish because she had imagined this woman to be the sort to prey on the unknowing.
    Rachel went about moving things on to the operation bench, so that she could clean and reorganize from there. “Well, how old are you, if you don’t mind me asking. I’m twenty-three, I’ll be twenty-four this fall.”
    Rachel saw a timeless look come onto Orion’s features, the elf woman’s eyes looking right through her. It took her a minute to realize that she was staring, and blinked. Orion se her clipboard back on the nail that it hung from on the wall behind her. “Just last week I turned one-hundred and thirty-two.”
    Rachel felt her skin prickle like it had when she had felt the magic for the first time. Orion’s simple smile came back when she saw Rachel lock up. “Pretty good look’n for an old bag, eh?” Orion playfully slapped her own behind and threw her hip into the gesture. It had the effect she had intended and Rachel couldn’t help but laugh.
    “I hope to look as half as beautiful as you when I’m half that.” The two women shared smiles, though Rachel caught that Orion’s looked a little more held back then before. “So, what about the seriously wounded?” Rachel thought that a change of topic would be best. She could tell that the topic of history was a sore one from the look on her counterpart’s face.
    “Oh, I do what I can with magic when there is need, though my healing abilities are pretty limited. Contrary to popular belief, magic isn’t this all-powerful cure-all. Its just like medicine in a way. If your good at what you do, then it helps. But sometimes it can be used wrong, and botch up the whole situation. That’s why Id rather stick to the little stuff. I’m no healer.” Rachel felt a sense of trust in this woman because she had been so straightforward with her. She hadn’t tried to sugarcoat anything, or tried to frighten her with the aspect of magic gone array. Rachel knew that such a simple conversation about magic, back home, would be considered little less than treason Rachel felt the pull of curiosity inside her, and decided to continue down this rabbit whole she had stumbled upon.
    “So anyone can use magic, to heal and stuff?” All the while she asked her questions, Rachel went about her task, to which Orion helped by pulling things off the unorganized shelves and wiping dust and clutter off with a rag.
    “Well, yes and no. Magic is present in all things, from the tiny little bugs to the big whales. It is what makes life happen. It is kind of hard to really explain properly. But, even with that said, very few people today are born with any sort of connection to that energy. I would say that, with humans, less than one in five-thousand even has a chance to actually use magic at all, let alone learn how to use it instead of letting it die off.”
    By now Rachel had learned a bit about the basics of magic and how it had become more and more uncommon to see. Back home there were a lot of people, had they been told such a thing, would very likely have been all to happy to cheer in the ushering of an age without the proclaimed wicked taint of magic that could potentially threaten their peaceful ways of life. The children of Crystania were taught in school, as she had been as well, that a long time ago thousands upon thousands of people died in senseless conflicts and wars because of magic’s influence. Monsters and Demons tormented people constantly, and races wielding powerful magics sought to enslave all of mankind. It was a marvel and humans lived through such times, she thought. After spending time outside the Empire, Rachel was beginning to wonder how much of it all was actually true, and how much was just the teaching of the church.
    Orion moved across the little room toward her with such swiftness that Rachel didn’t even realize she had moved until the thin woman was right in front of her, cupping Rachel’s cheek in her narrow hand. Her eyes had that penetrating timeless look in them again, and for the first time Rachel realized that it was the same look she had been unable to place in Khey’s eyes so many times. Orion’s hand pulled back, and Rachel realized she had been holding her breath, and let it out slowly.
    With a little wink, Orion said to her, “You know, there very well be more to you than meets the eye. I’ve known your friend Khey for quite a long time, and I would bet that he found you for a reason.”
    Rachel gave her a confused look, not quite sure she liked the suggestion. “What do you mean? Does it have to do with whatever big thing he’s got planned?”
    “You’re a smart girl, Rachel Heart. I think that in time you’ll figure it out on your own. When you so, come find me and we’ll talk.”
    She didn’t want to ponder the meaning of what that statement might mean right now. She had enough on her mind wondering a slew of other things at the moment, so she decided to change the topic back to the reason she originally had come for. She gestured around them. “I hope you don’t mind me saying, but this place is a real mess. Would it be alright if I took some time and put these things in some sort of order?”
    Orion shrugged her shoulders, looking a bit more indifferent than anything else. Rachel thought that it was likely the woman thought such a thing beyond trivial and unimportant. She worried that she would think Rachel a really boring person to volunteer to organize pills and such. “I suppose no one would mind.” She gave Rachel a prod with her elbow along with a smile. “I know it’d held more than a couple people out not to have to search for half an hour to find what they needed.”
    Rachel’s smile returned, stretching from ear to ear. Finally she had found something that she could do to help out around the Zolumous. “Thanks, I want to be of some help around here. That, and having something constructive to do will help me keep my mind on something more down-to-earth.” Orion nodded her agreement.
    Rachel really was glad to have something to put her mind to. Sitting around all day had let her imagination take her to some pretty scary places, and she knew that most of it was just the worry of the unknown. Orion bid her a goodbye, and left her to her task. Looking around, Rachel could tell that the whole place would take at least the rest of today and part of tomorrow to do. She had to take a full inventory, categorize, alphabetize, and then sort by purpose. She had a lot of work ahead of her, but she could seem to get the smile to leave her face. She was just happy to be useful.
    In the back of her mind, she wondered about what Orion had said about her and Khey. The thoughts about the first time she had met him back in the little café made Rachel’s heart quicken. He was a strange guy, with this foreign air of obscurity about him. It was the very mysterious nature that made Rachel blush when she remembered looking into his eyes for the first time. Those wonderful eyes, deep lavender speckled with shining gold that always seemed to glimmer even in the dark.
    She told herself that tomorrow she would find Khey and ask him about what Orion had said, ask him if there really was a reason she was here. Tomorrow she told herself, after she finished this little job. She also felt her face go red when she remembered how Khey had heard her comment about his butt back then too. She shared a little laugh with the medicine cabinets. He was a special type of person, she just knew it. And tomorrow, she would find out if she was too or not.