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Ok so not posting in two months thanks to job and this short story I was writing that kinda fell apart but I got this one! Enjoy.

Leph and Serleah talk, Nai makes a breakthrough and Teliko learns.


Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not

---

Cyan was still sitting at the table, resting his head on a pillow he found. The pillow was made of moss, so it was very comfy. Everyone else had already gone off to do whatever they wanted. He stared at the wall, watching as a plant on the other side of the room swayed pedantically. He wanted to get up and study it more closely, but nothing he did seemed to get him to move. He closed his eyes. ‘I’ll move when someone comes to get me.’
Leena strolled by, stopping in the door. She looked over at Cyan and frowned. Leena was not a suspicious individual, despite Leph’s history with the truth. However, she had excellent hearing. She entered the room and sat across from Cyan. “You’ve been sitting here all morning.”
“Don’t mother me.”
“Oh, I wasn’t going to…”
“Where did everyone go anyway? I’m bored.”
“It’s a nice day… I think. Hard to tell what counts as a nice day here. They’re all out walking. I don’t know where Dez is, though.”
“He went to talk to Serleah a while ago.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah, y’know. Relationship stuff I don’t understand.”
“I see. If you’re bored, maybe we should go out and find everybody.”
“Walking is boring too.”
“More boring than sitting at the table all day?”
“You’re mothering.”
Leena chuckled. “I can’t help it… Hello.”
A Sytis entered the room and looked blankly at them. She was huge, and was dressed rather impressively. She didn’t introduce herself, however. “Something is happening. Two of your companions have been caught in the forest.”
Cyan sat up. “What? Didn’t you say to stay away from the forest?”
Leena stood up and fiddled with her paws. “A-are they hurt? What happened exactly?!”
The Sytis shifted uncomfortably until she turned. “Come.”
The two struggled to keep up to the startling speed of the Sytis.

Although the two walked from the forest at a leisurely pace, when they stepped out of the reach of the vines the forest appeared as though a ship had fired a massive plasma bolt through it. It writhed and steamed as severed vines died slowly, curling up in little bundles of green. Blansh stepped aside as Czyak and Teliko walked slowly up a nearby hill, where they sat unceremoniously. Almost the moment they sat, Blansh jerked up, blinking several times. Yalogalil sat on the ground, too baffled to notice the pain from his missing claw. “Blansh… Did you see…?”
“She… she…”
Yalogalil looked up at Blansh. Despite the fact her face betrayed no emotion at all, he could tell she was struggling with something powerful. “Blansh?”
“She is God.”
Blanch began to walk up the hill. Yalogalil scrambled up, clutching his bleeding claw and wincing thanks to his bruised ribs. “Blansh?!”
“The power of God… In a child…”
When Yalogalil reached the three, they were all staring at one another. “Teliko? Are you very injured?”
She glanced at him absentmindedly. “No… I’m alright.”
As Yalogalil approached, he noticed she was still glowing slightly. Czyak and Blansh stood before her, focusing intently on her. She looked at them. “Please guys, I don’t know what happened, stop asking!”
They stepped back slightly, and Teliko’s expression softened. “No, it’s alright. Mr. Yalogalil… you’re injured.”
He shook his head. “It is but nothing. I will survive.”
“Come here.”
Teliko held out her paws and grasped Yalogalil’s wrists firmly. “Wh- Ahhh!”
A shock went down Yalogalil’s back, and he stumbled away from Teliko. For a moment, he could have sworn he heard her thoughts. Teliko looked surprised herself. “S-sorry! It just felt like… Holy shit! Look!”
She gestured wildly at Yalogalil’s paw as the two Sytis looked on in silence. His paw was glowing. More importantly, a new claw was rapidly forming where the old one had been ripped out. Yalogalil drew a deep breath as the energy ran through his entire body. After a minute, he relaxed. “Ahh… It is like I just had sixteen hours of sleep. What are you, child?”
Blansh murmured. “God.”
Czyak glanced over. “That is a myth.”
“You can see the proof before you.”
Czyak sensed Teliko’s thought before she could voice it. He turned to her. “It is a myth. In the past it was said that a Sytis would be born with the ability to manifest his or her emotions in the physical world. This person would have the power to do great deeds for the betterment of Sytis kind. You are not Sytis. You are not God.”
“Can’t argue there… weird mind powers kinda run in the family… Hey, why are you guys scared?”
Blanch and Czyak did not respond. Teliko stomped her foot. “Whatever kind of fear you’re feeling, I have no idea what it means! I just healed Yalogalil. That’s a good thing, right? There’s nothing to be scared of.”
“I believe I can answer that.”
A Sytis was hurrying up the hill with Cyan, Leena and Dez in tow. When Leena spotted Teliko, she sprinted at her, grabbing her paws. “Honey! Are you alright?! They told me you’d been in some sort of accident!”
“I’m fine.”
Cyan pointed to the forest. “Did you do that?”
“Yeah.”
Leena’s eyes widened as she noticed the carnage for the first time. For a moment, she almost stepped away from Teliko for fear of something similar happening to her. Teliko didn’t need to psychically sense her mother’s emotions. “I’m fine now, I told you. It’s all alright. I wasn’t hurt.”
Leena nodded. “I believe you… But I still don’t know exactly what happened.”
Yalogalil flexed his new claw and spoke. The Sytis waited pensively as the Atrieans spoke to one another. “We… underestimated the reach of the forest. It is motile, and violent to us.”
Dez looked back at the forest, which still smoked but showed no signs of moving. “The forest attacked you?”
Yalogalil nodded. “Yes, it did. Your daughter saved our lives.”
Blansh approached Leena. “This is your daughter?”
“Yes…”
“She is powerful. She is God.”
“W-what?!”
The large Sytis stepped in. “Blansh. You are confusing them.”
She turned to the Atrieans. “I apologize for my rudeness. My name is Dekor. I am the regional Matriarch at the moment.”
She bowed. Unlike most Sytis, Dekor was red, spiky, and very tall. She and Blanch spent a minute focusing on one another until Blanch bowed slightly. Dekor once again turned to the Atrieans. “Rest assured. Your daughter is not a religious symbol for our people. There is only one.”
Teliko shook her head. “Ok ok, please will someone explain what you’re all going on about? Who is the one? Whatever you guys are feeling, it is way too complex for me to interpret so please use your words!”
“Of course. Please. Sit.”
Everyone got comfortable, even Czyak and Blansh. Dekor drew a deep breath and began speaking. “It is said in our myths of the past that this world came to being by a mind that wished to have children. And so he created the Sytis. After that he allowed his children to build and live as they saw fit. Those myths are rarely accepted nowadays but do make for good children’s stories. One of the myths tells of a soul with the power of the original mind. He was powerful. He could carry out his will by simply thinking. He could not control his powers and killed one of his daughters. He was so grief stricken he committed ritual suicide by poison. As he died he told his family that he would return when Sytis kind were ready for his power.”
All five were shocked by the deadpan way Dekor delivered the depressing story. Only Teliko fully appreciated the story’s weight. “Oh… I see.”
“That man was regarded as God.”
Teliko drew a sharp breath as Dekor continued. “A century and a half ago… a child was born. After the age of five it was clear he possessed the same powers that were described in the myths. Many Sytis considered him God.”
“He was not.” Blansh said.
“Some Sytis did not.” Dekor said blankly.
Cyan raised his paw. Dekor looked at him. “What is that?”
“I have a question.”
“Proceed.”
“If you can talk to each other in your minds… how is it you agree or disagree on things? I mean… You know what everyone else is feeling. With telepathy you can tell who’s wrong and who’s right, right? Either you have to change your mind or they do.”
“I… see what you are saying. I believe you are laboring under the false assumption that our speech brings with it total understanding. It does not.”
“Indeed it does not.” Blansh said.
“Still. There is truth to what you say. Sytis rarely disagree on things.”
“Right, thanks. You can keep telling your story.”
Dekor drew another deep breath. “Indeed. He was considered to be the returning God. But… complications arose.”
Dekor lost concentration for a moment, and Teliko nodded. “You’re feeling… Evil. That’s what you’re thinking.”
“What? You mean those people they’re at war with?”
“Yes. Makron told you about them?” Dekor asked.
The Atrieans nodded. Dekor stroked her chin. “Indeed. That boy became evil. You see… he was not Sytis. He was a different species. A defect. He was… unable to speak.”
Teliko looked down as Leena spoke. “Oh my. That must have been very hard on him.”
“Indeed It was. He became… mad. He grew up violent. He showed exceptional intelligence. He was uncooperative with his teachers. Eventually he… left.”
Dez had visibly whitened. “Oh my god…”
Yalogalil nodded. “I see. So the one that was destroyed your other planets…”
“He was born here. Yes.”

~~~

Nai, at that point in the repairs, was used to being shocked. Just as he thought he might start to enjoy being shocked at this rate, one of the calibrations to the computer didn’t cause an overload. The workstation came on with a buzz, and Nai jumped back. “Ah!”
Cain glanced over. “Shock yourself again?”
“No! Grey Fox! Grey Fox!”
Grey Fox looked up from a crate he was digging through. “What is it?”
“I did it! I got it! It’s working!”
Grey Fox stood slowly and walked over, showing no excitement. “Did you?”
Nai gestured to the screen. It appeared to be starting up fine. “Of course I did! I’ll be able to get our test data back. And, with these modifications, I can run the Oculus Bean straight from the-”
“We’re not using a stop gap to power such a sensitive piece of equipment.”
Cain watched Grey Fox with raised eyebrows. Nai chuckled nervously, rubbing his paws instinctively on his coat. “Hey, give me some credit. I believe I can make this work! We won’t have to go after the Frontier…”
Grey Fox stared Nai down so hard he couldn’t speak. Eventually he just walked off back to the crate he was investigating. Nai sat at the computer and sighed. He began searching for the Oculus Bean schematics. Cain stood a hovered over Nai’s shoulder. “He walks all over you, eh?”
“So do you. So does everyone. No! Don’t listen to one of the smartest men on Atriea! Just kill some innocent people for a stupid nuclear reactor we don’t need.”
“Hm…”
“What? No snippy remark from the peanut gallery?”
Cain grinned. “I’ll give you some advice. You might not think you need that reactor, but I can tell Grey Fox needs it.”
“Yeah, well he’s wrong.”
Cain shook his head. “He’s very hard to read, I’ll give him that. I know he needs that reactor for something, though. No idea what.”
Nai remained quiet. An idea was forming in his head.

~~~

Leph and Serleah swam back to the sphere ship and faced each other. “They aren’t here.”
Leph looked around for something to slam his fist on. He settled on his knee. “I know that! The question is where the hell did they go?”
“I don’t know… Most of the cargo is intact and there were no bodies, so that’s good news.”
“I will never forgive myself if the evil got here first.”
Serleah sighed. “Leph, stop being dramatic. This wasn’t your fault.”
“I’m the captain.”
Serleah rolled her eyes as Leo floated in. “No sign of anyone. Lenny and Zach are bringing the gunship out, but other than that there is nothing we need.”
Leph nodded. “Okay. Thanks, Leo. Um… gather everyone up, would you? There’s gotta be a way to track Feldoh’s movements.”
Leo nodded and stepped out. Leph stared out of the bubble at the activity going on around the cargo pods. He could see the gunship moving slowly towards the cargo door entrance. “Leph.”
He glanced over. “What?”
“We need to talk.”
He looked back and sighed. “Fine. Either this will make it easier for us to work together, or it’ll make it impossible to work together, though. I hope you know that.”
“I know.”
“Ok, Serleah. What did you want to say?”
“Well… Sorry. Mostly. I-I know that’s-”
“Not enough.”
Serleah grimaced. “I know it’s not. I just want you to know that.”
“The only way I’ll forgive you is if I know that you truly understand what you put me through.”
Serleah furrowed her brow. “What? I went through the same thing, Leph.”
He turned his head. “I didn’t take advantage of you, did I?”
“I didn’t either! Not… not really… We were both drunk-”
Leph poked her in the chest. “See? That’s what I’m talking about. You’re always trying to shift blame away from yourself.”
“I’m not trying to shift it on you. It was a drunken mistake, that’s it.”
“So, you didn’t mean what you said afterwards?”
“What I…”
She fell silent, looking down at her paws so she wouldn’t have to see Leph’s face. “I thought I did. I don’t anymore.”
“You were sober at that point.”
“Yeah and so were you. If I recall correctly you freaked out and nearly gave me a black eye.”
“You’d do the same thing.”
“I-I… I wouldn’t.”
“You never had a problem hitting me in the past.”
“That was different.”
Leph growled. “You’re damn right it was different. Let me paint you a fucking picture since you can’t seem to do it yourself. Let’s go back to our little mistake. You’re in a long-distance relationship with a guy you had a fling with once. Sound right?”
The urge to hit Leph came over Serleah, but for once she overcame it. “That’s a harsh way of putting it. But it is… right.”
“And I, with a newborn child and a mate I love more than anything in the world. That sound right?”
“Yes…”
“So, one day, Leena is away with Teliko for a bit and I’m sitting at home, depressed from all the fun stress of being a father. Falling off the wagon big time. Instead of stopping me, you come in to my room, join me, then sleep with me. Next day, you say you love me. How am I supposed to just forget all that and take you back on as my employee, let alone as my friend?! When you won’t even assign any blame to yourself!?”
“Who says I don’t?!”
“You blame the drink!”
“I DO BLAME MYSELF, JACKASS!”
Leph grimaced and instinctively held his paws over his ears. Serleah was covering her face also, but for a different reason. She sobbed. “Of course I fucking blame myself. I am here to apologize after all.”
Leph couldn’t find any words to say. He watched as Serleah cried into her paws. Her legs curled up under her and she floated there, tears slowly dripping out into the air. In the whole time Leph had known Serleah, he had never once seen her cry like this. He didn’t know what to say, so his mouth just hung open dumbly. “Let me tell you a story, Leph.” Serleah said quietly.
“Okay.”
Serleah wiped her face and chuckled a little. “Imagine meeting a man that really, really loves you. Not for what you look like, but for what you are. Then you make the worst mistake of your life and for the next fifteen years you’re with this man you never, ever, stop thinking about it. Then you tell him because it’s killing you. Tell me again I don’t understand, Leph.”
“I…”
“Do you remember our time together on the Frontier? All that stuff that happened before Eden and during the deep space expedition? I’ve been through worse with Dez. I don’t say that lightly.”
She turned around and looked out at the cargo pod. Some people were inspecting the doors as the gunship waited. Leph unclenched his fist and sniffed. “Serleah… I… I accept your apology. I think…”
“You think?”
“Yeah. I don’t know… Why’d you do it?”
“Hm?”
“I just… I want to know why you did it. You never told me.”
Serleah sat in the air silently for a long time. Her voice sounded uncharacteristically vulnerable when she eventually spoke. “I was drunk and... I really don’t know. I was in a really bad place.”
Leph nodded. “I know what that’s like. I guess I… also wanted it. I mean, I was drunk but I’m not free of blame, here.”
“Don’t say that.”
“I mean it. I was really depressed that month. I don’t know if I’m ready to work with you again but…”
Serleah turned around. Her eyes had dried and she was smiling a little. “I get it.”
Leph nodded, then screwed up his face a little bit. Serleah tilted her head. “What?”
“I, uh… You said you told Dez about this…”
“Yeah?”
“Did it… make you feel any better?”
Serleah looked away. “No. It didn’t. But it did let me start fixing things.”
“I… see.”
“Leph, are you thinking about telling Leena?”
At that moment, Zach decided the burst though the wall. “Guys! I’m here!”
The both turned and glared at him. He smiled weakly. “Bad timing?”
Leph shook his head. “Nope. Where’s Vaà? Or Makron?”
Makron floated in. “You wished to see me?”
“Um… yes. We couldn’t find our friend and the cockpit of his ship is gone. Is there any way you can scan the area for it?”
Makron tilted her head. “Excuse me for one moment.”
She looked up, then back down. “I cannot, but Vaà can. Give him a moment, he is helping with your small ship.”
Serleah looked towards where Vaà had piloted the ship, as though she might find instruments to look at. “What about the Evil? Are they close?”
Makron glided over to the ship’s invisible controls. “That I can check.”
She waved her claws in the air. “Ah. They are close… They are moving towards the next spot.”
Zach twiddled his fingers. “So… what happened to the spot they were just at? Is anything there?”
Makron grunted and stepped back. “I am no expert, but I would say that they have either vaporized or stolen everything at that spot. The sensors are not showing anything. I may be wrong. As I said, I am no expert.”
Vaà entered, holding a claw. It bled a little. “Makron.”
“Please scan for more things in this area. The cockpit of the vessel is missing.”
Vaà nodded and floated up to the cockpit without treating his wound. Zach peeked at his claw. “Hey, Vaà. You alright there?”
“A minor scrape. It will heal. Ah. There are no other ships of similar construction nearby. I am sorry.”
The three glanced at each other. Serleah spoke. “That’s good, right? It means they didn’t get sucked in too.”
“Or they were vaporized.” Leph added.
“I’m gonna go with Serleah on this one.” Zach said. “It makes sense. Feldoh is a good captain, he wouldn’t have gotten killed.”
Leph nodded. “Okay. We don’t have much time until they reach the next spot. Zach, gather the others and find a way to tether that gunship to us. And let’s hope Teri didn’t share our fate.”