Empyrean Iris Story Collection Vol. 4

Providing Proof

In this state it was difficult to keep others thoughts out of his head, but luckily for him he didn't have to interpret what he was hearing and let Celex do that for him.

"They're afraid."

"Didn't I tell them not to do that."

Celex snorted, his ears flopping against the wet mass of his draping fur, "You seem to think yourself amusing."

"I am, and I am glad you can read my mind so that you would have the requisite background to laugh at my joke that requires biblical knowledge of a religion you have never even heard of."

The distant bickering continued as their banter went on.

He stood there leaning against his crutches, growing heavier and heavier by the second. If he wasn't careful, he would stumble forward and face plant into the boiling pool of water, and he doubted that sunny would like that. He would just have to trust Celex not to let that happen.

After a while, and just before Adam was about to collapse, Mitzen approached.

He was nervous, and didn't get to close, keeping a good ten foot distance between them as he spoke.

"The council must discuss the words you have brought with you today. Please follow me back to your ship."

He wasn't about to argue and followed mitze, slowly and painfully back through the labyrinth of crystal and smoke.

There was mostly silence

Before

"What was that."

Adam lifted his head, still mostly groggy, and looked down at Mitzen who stared up at him with a demand in his expression, "What was what?"

"You know what I'm talking about."

Adam rubbed his forehead against his shoulder trying fatally to increase the blood flow to his brain, "I'm sorry, but doing that..... takes its tole on me."

Unsatisfied, mitzen continued, "What, was, that. What takes its toll, what even. These, maker things, are you one of them ?"

Adam had left out the part of his life story that included major surgery to free his anima, but he didn't have the energy to make up a lie either. He had had a brief discussion with Celex about weather or not they should even tell the council. Celex pointed out that there was a likelihood they weren't even maker constructs at all and that they were independent occurring constructs. Either way Adam argued that they had a right to know what was going on in their universe.

In the end, Adam's argument had won.

But now he just didn't have the energy.

"All of us were makers once, and we will be again."

"What does that mean." Mitzen pressed. From reading his thoughts, Adam could tell Mitzen was skeptical, but Adam; s performance had shaken him enough that he wasn't entirely sure what to believe or not to believe.

"You know what a soul is?" He had never heard any of them use that language, and he could only use words that he could read inside someone's head.

So mitzen just tilted his head at them in confusion at the alien word.

"Um, the personality as separate from the body. The part of you that is you, your thoughts and feelings and experiences."

"Oh yes, a spirit." Mitzen said, Adam could see that his understanding of the word had much different connotations, but it would have to do for now.

"Yes, the spirit existed long before he physical body, too young to battle we were sent away to construct bodies to develop quickly in order to join the forever war. The construct is designed to dampen the power of the soul so that they cannot be detected by void, and partially to keep us from blowing ourselves up with our own power. I.... have a condition that allows my body and my anima to stray from each other." Again he avoided the part where they had artificially done the procedure as he doubted their religion would appreciate that, "And once this body dies we will become makers again."