HTG - Chapter 184

Kalon

Chapter One-Hundred-Eighty-Four: Udan Jan - Part Three

Planet: Etheria

My hands grip as best they can as the vine springs upwards, pulling me quickly into the air. When it reaches the top, I land on the soft top of the surface of the island. Its embrace is more welcoming than I expected. My hand moves towards my blade instinctually, pausing as it feels something soft, grass. I am surprised by the sensation of it, I have seen it in holos, even dared to touch it on Ravena Minor, but my home world did not have any where the Kuwathi were made to dwell. My hand grasps some of the blades of grass, my eyes admiring the bioluminescent glow as my fingers streak across it.

It is strange to be surrounded by so much life, my focus returns when I hear the shrieks from below coupled with Kotina’s heavy steps coming towards me.

“No time to relax, we need to clear the island first, come on,” Kotina says, grabbing my shirt and pulling me onto my feet, I am but a ragdoll in her grasp.

As I follow close behind her now while she scouts the area, I find myself wondering how strong she really is, I wonder what the secret to her and Lunara’s strength is. Perhaps it is multiple factors. She said that Ravens train harder than any other house, I did not get to see them training on Ravena Prime though. Above all, I find myself wondering if it is something that can be learned by my people. If my people had their strength… my brow furrows as I wonder how Arrum fares in the gravity. There is a pit in my stomach forming past the growls of my hunger. Pressing the thoughts from my mind, I begin to let the questions form in my mouth.

“Why do you think Ravena wants me on Etheria?” I ask Kotina, her eyes do not turn to look at me as we move between trees and brush. Her focus reminds me of Nekam when he would check the knots of our ropes.

“Not really sure, above my pay grade to ask,” Kotina says, pausing for a moment holding up a fist, and turning her ear to listen to something in the distance, after another moment she speaks again, “If I had to guess though, it’s because of something Arkon said.”

She trails off as she hears something again in the distance. After another moment she lets out a sigh and sits down, putting her back against a tree.

“Not ideal being on a moving island, but it beats being down there. Going to make a grid-by-grid almost impossible.” Kotina grumbles, pulling from her side pouch something that makes my stomach clench.

She looks at me and sighs, splitting a ration bar in half, tossing me one side, I recognize it as the savory variety that Lunara carried. Even though it is not like the one my people were given I throw it back to her.

“Oi, what the fuck?” she says catching it, giving me a confused look, her eyebrow raising, “Your belly is growling like a whore in heat and you’re not going to eat?”

“I do not want it.”

She scoffs at me, shaking her head, taking a big bite from both halves, and chewing loudly.

“Stuck up little princess, never met a Kuwathi besides Fennec that had such high dining standards,” she says, tossing the wrapper at me, “Didn’t realize the Helenius House was feeding you lot so well. Guess I should start hitting their systems up when I take leave.”

“Do so if you enjoy eating the bodies of my people, mixed with other things…” I begin, but she interrupts me.

“What shit are you moaning about princess?” she asks, folding her arms with an irritated look on her face “Look, these nutritional rations aren’t the best, but comparing them to…”

“Not the best?” I interrupt, the surface tension breaking as my bile begins to rise in me, “Your people… the ones who worship Thane… feed mine the flesh of our people, with other things I dare not question.”

“Woah—woah—woah, I don’t know who told you that slagsense…” she begins, but I interrupt.

I cannot hold back the bile, I feel the anger rising with it inside of me.

“I saw it with my own eyes, the machines that mashed my people into mush, the…” I stop, images of it playing before my eyes, my hand clenching the grass, pulling it up by the roots. Something wants to spill out from me, but I push it down, now is not the time.

She does not speak. Though from the expression that her face wears, I can tell that she did not know of the extent of the cruelty the House Helenius brought upon my people.

“I would rather die than eat another ration,” I say, breathing deeply, trying to find the calm that does not wish to come.

This is the first time that I have had any time to really think since everything happened, the first time there wasn’t something in front of me to distract me from the deep pains in my soul. It wants to rise out of me, it presses against the edges, and my unwillingness to let it has become like the boundary I pressed against in the Realm of Dreams.

There is no God or Goddess for me to seek comfort from. None that truly deserve my prayers, nor do I wish to give them. A few years ago, I did not even believe in the Gods, now that I have seen them and witnessed their power… I find myself hating most of them. Hating them for having such power and yet allowing cruelty to flourish. If I had the power to slay them, I would make the cosmos run with their blood, regardless of the price on my soul. I would spend eternity in the darkness if it meant some light would shine on my people.

Kotina stirs finally, her jaw tense as she rolls it back and forth, contemplating her words. She turns her head looking in the distance.

“Follow,” she says, moving towards whatever she keeps hearing.

I press the thoughts from my mind, almost glad to find a distraction. Slowly rising to follow her, now is not the time for contemplation. We walk slowly for a few minutes, towards the largest tree on the island. Silence between us still, I hear a dull thud of a small object falling from the canopy above. Kotina leans down and picks it up, examining it in her hand.

“I’m not good at feelings, I get annoyed easily and I don’t have a magic bag to fix anything… but one thing I know better than most,” she begins, moving towards the looming tree, “is how to get strong, provided you have the willpower to see it through.”

She spins and kicks the trunk of the tree, the bark splintering and the ground trembling. From the canopy of the tree, I see circular objects falling to the ground with the same dull thud I heard before.

“First lesson to getting strong, you need to eat, the bounds amplify what the body can do. Stronger body, stronger amplification,” she says, putting her leg down, “If you want revenge, you’ll need to get much stronger than you are now.”

Kotina picks one of the objects up and bites into it, she takes a moment to chew on it, moving her head side to side as though contemplating something.

“Not bad, not great either though. Eat up, runt,” she says, tossing me one.

Runt? Compared to her tall stature and firm build, I guess most are runts.

I look over the object, realizing it looks like fruit. My nose sniffs it, definitely a sweet smell.

“It’s not going to eat itself, runt,” Kotina says, biting into her second one.

The taste reminds me of when I tried fruit for the first time with Luna when we were on Ora still. The city of Tarvashal is like an old dream in my memory now. So many things have happened in the last year. So much pain… so much death. As I bite into the fruit, I feel a buzzing sensation.

“You should eat as many of these as you can stomach, they’re loaded with enriched Etherium. Perfect for bounders. Arkon had me eat something similar to these by the cartload when I was here before.”

“What did he have you do?”

She muses the question for a few moments, “Mostly meditate and gather Etheric mana into my core. The heavy saturation of the lower sections of the planet makes breaking the bounds much easier. Without it, I wouldn’t have broken the sixth so quickly… probably shouldn’t have said that, we’re not supposed to talk about our bounds.”

“I see,” I say, eating more of the fruit, the buzzing sensation pulses from my belly. The air here is so thick with Etheric Maka that I don’t know if someone could get Netherium poisoning. It’s nearly as thick as the chamber that Solara had me meditate in. Looking at Kotina, “How much denser is the mana on the lower parts?”

“Oh… at least a hundred times this in some areas, probably, hard to say. Been over a hundred years since I was here last.”

“A hundred years…” I breathe, looking at her differently now. She is older than I expected, much older.

“Time flies,” she murmurs, leaning more into the tree, “You said that the spirit, Amon said Dargo took him here?”

I nod, biting into my fourth. The sensation is growing like a pulse that travels down my body, heat dispersing. I counter her question with my own, “You said Enriched Etherium?”

She yawns, eating another, “The plants on Etheria have been soaking in Etherium for millennia, everything here is enriched. Still, I did not know that Etherius Prism Flower grew here, I thought it extinct. In these quantities, you could buy a house outright I’d wager, if not a few.”

“Why is it so precious?”

“It helps suppress the body and soul connection, or so they say, anyway, rumor has it if you take enough, then your soul grows stronger because it has to work harder to tether to your body, or something like that. If you stop taking it, it’s rumored to cause instant bounding. I’m surprised Arkon hasn’t implemented it into Raven training, given the supply here. Gods knows he makes Ravens do things most would find insane. He must have his reasons though. Even stranger is how the fuck does Dargo know about Etheria? If your spirit friend isn’t lying.”

“There is much that is unknown,” I say, eating my fifth, “The enhancers you had Arrum on, what are they? There was little time before we left for me to investigate much.”

She rolls her eyes, “That’s because you were in a fucking hurry, could’ve taken a week off, maybe we wouldn’t even be in this shitpile if you had. Anyway, they give them to all Ravens who aren’t born on Ravena Prime. Just until their bodies get strong enough to do it themselves. People weren’t meant to live under large gravitational strain, but that doesn’t mean they can’t adapt to it. And adapt they do. Natural born Ravens are fucking monsters by the time they’re in their twenties. Godlings by the time they’re in their thirties, and the ones that break bounds, gods help their opponents.”

“You really are proud to be a Raven.”

She smirks, “You’ll get it someday, like I said, if you survive long enough.”

“What are the enhancers though?”

“Eh, most are like gene therapy in an injection. It augments any natural advantage their body has, basically helping them become the best version of themselves. Others are filled with nanites that rearticulate certain genes to allow for changes to occur. Not all people have the genes required to survive on Ravena Prime, with the enhancers though, the only thing you need is the willpower to use the advantage. Most people don’t have that. Which is why, most are not Ravens.”

“Do other houses use enhancers?”

“Oh yeah, plenty if not all. Common to do. But less common to push their bodies past the maximum threshold and then beyond that. Where sanity ends and sheer willpower begins, that’s Raven territory. Everything else before that is for the rest of them.”

After the seventh fruit, something stirs deep within. Like a tide that is rising. Vibrations ebb and flow in my body as images of fire dance in my mind.

“You okay?” Kotina asks, looking down at my chest, “You’re glowing again.”

Peering down, she is right, a crimson glow pulses in my chest. Streaks of blue shimmer around the red. Something is happening… something is changing.

The ground and air around me is vibrating quietly, my skin feels the warmth that rises from deep within me. I feel something giving way inside, as though energy is pouring out. The air rushes around me as Kotina steps back, and I see light flowing under my skin.

“Fucking hells… you’re breaking an Etheric bound…” she breathes.

I feel more rising deep within me, everything I have experienced pressing up and out, relief from pain. Inspiration that gives meaning within me, an enlightenment of thoughts that seek to be spread.

“Stop, whatever you’re doing, stop it,” Kotina says, looking me up and down, “It’s going to kill you.”

The relief begins to fade as the feelings change, the energy that pours is too much, and I feel my body burning from the inside. My vision begins to blur as I feel myself pulled towards the Realm of Dreams.