Fragment of Destiny

Samuel sat alone in the living quarters of the school of spirit. Long rows of identical beds with matching foot lockers extended to the far wall with two snaking halls that led to the men’s and women’s bathrooms. All of his peers had already received assignments, every one of them had been signed on with the agricultural corps as a grower or the medical corps as a healer. Meanwhile, all he had received were rejection notifications. Each time it was the same. “We don’t need a Hali.” In some cases, Samuel was sure he was the most qualified person for an assignment yet the fact that he was a Halsinion meant the qualifications didn’t matter. At first, he had hoped there would be some like Demetrius and Tess who no longer held to the prejudice, but his pears had shied away from him because of his eyes and the adults because of what those eyes meant.

Samuel’s fingers tightened around the thin frame of his datapad as he looked through the message folder. With an effort, he stopped himself from chucking the pad across the room. He was letting his emotions stack again, the frustration feeding on itself. Taking a deep breath, he reset. It was more difficult with no one around and thus no external emotions to key in on. Sometimes it was all he could do to stop himself from falling into a state of bitter depression. Tensin had warned against it, calling it a black hole. For an empath, once you fell in, there was no getting out without prolonged separation from one’s crystal.

Samuel tossed the pad onto the next bed over and lay staring at the ceiling of his prison. If only someone would just let him out.

Samuel’s head felt in a fog as he opened his eyes. Something was making a shrill chirp that left his ears ringing. Sitting up he let his eyes pull themselves closed and he could feel himself drifting back to sleep. Again, the sound rang out and he sat bolt up in a torrent of fury. Samuel rolled from his bed and scooped up the datapad and inspected it. A little blue light flared beside the battery slot. It chirped again this time so loud it felt like a stun grenade had just gone off in his hand.

A moment later the datapad splintered as it ricocheted off the wall at the end of the room. The destruction was viscerally satisfying for a moment. Then a defiant chirp came from the remains scattered across the floor. Samuel screamed and slammed his fists into his defenseless pillow before throwing himself from his bed. Stooping Samuel retrieved the contents of his footlocker before storming out into the hall to dress.

Lacing up his boots Samuel was still unsure what he planned to do. Students were not authorized to leave the school until they received an assignment or were discharged. All he knew was he couldn’t stand to stay here any longer. Even if that meant giving up his cast status and becoming a vagrant. At this point he didn’t care, he was done being a prisoner.

In the lobby, a bored-looking enforcer sat at the front desk fiddling with his terminal. Samuel tried the door and found it locked. He closed his eyes and let out a long breath trying to remain calm as a spattering of amusement wafted from the desk behind him. Turning back to the enforcer the man pretended he had not noticed Samuel’s attempt at escape.

“Did you need something?” The enforcer asked just as Samuel was about to knock on the desk. The tone was of a man genuinely uninterested in the answer to his question.

“I need you to unlock the door,” Samuel said holding back his anger the best he could.

“Name?”

“Samuel Specter.”

“Well, that’s the problem you’re not on the exit list. No assignment no go. Maybe you should try harder,” he said. The man’s contempt for Halsinions was really shining through with each new wave that broke against Samuel’s barrier. Then Samuel's barrier shattered and he gave in to his anger. It washed over him like a torrent of flame and he found himself swept under the blazing current. Without thought to his actions he marched around the desk and grabbed the much larger man hard on the shoulder, “I said, unlock the damn door!” Waves of outrage flowed from the enforcer only adding fuel to the blazing fire within Samuel.

“Don’t touch me, you dirty Hali!” The enforcer boomed, before letting out a feral growl. He removed Samuel’s hand from his shoulder with a vice-like hold. In that moment something unexpected happened. The man’s emotional state fluctuated from outrage to pity in a flash. Then the pity melted into sympathy. The enforcer let go of him and tapped something on the terminal. With a sigh, he reached into a drawer and retrieved a small phone.

“Look if you are going to go out take this with you. I am not supposed to be doing this, but I get it, sometimes you just need to get out of this empty building. Just be back before the end of my shift at 07:50 hours, and I’ll pretend I never saw you leave. Deal?” The enforcer asked as he waved the phone in Samuel’s stunned face.

Samuel took it and hurried for the door. A host of emotions from confusion and alarm to relief and joy sputtered in a blinding kaleidoscope as Samuel struggled to grasp what had just transpired.

Just then a draft of muggy air pressed in around him in sharp contrast to the artificial conditions of the academy. Slowly, Samuel calmed the tumult of emotions and reset his barrier. Despite his miraculous freedom, depression still pulled at him threatening to drag his entire being into a yawning abyss. Not reporting Samuel was a kind gesture, but he had no intention of returning to the academy. The only problem was in his rage, he had never truly thought out his escape plan.

Trudging to the nearest tram station Samuel boarded a car for sector six. During his training Tensin had mercilessly thrown him into the milling crowds of that sectors market place. He would have preferred to just go home, though he knew his entry into the apartment compound would only serve to flag his escape. At the thought, the draw of despair pulled him a little closer to the edge of darkness.

Like a mote of light in a cavern, Samuel found a fleeting hope as he remembered one of the havens he had used during his training. It was a play zone that catered to upper-caste children. If he could get there, then perhaps he would have a chance at defeating the darkness that was consuming him.

From the moment he arrived in sector six he was bombarded by countless emotions. He had faced this many times and mastered it. Yet today he found his will lacking. He knew the stress signs that meant his barrier would not hold. Then he did something he had not done since mastering his barrier. He removed his student's pendant and placed it in his pocket. Instantly the bombardment stopped even as a nauseating dread washed over him. The profound sense of something missing was almost too much. With blind desperation, Samuel dodged violently through crowds not caring if he made a scene.

The brightly colored popup building was easy enough to find once Samuel got his barring’s. Even from a distance, he could hear the sound of spoiled upper-caste children at play. For a moment he resented them. While they were playing lower cast children would be slaving away at heaps of extra chores. He thought back to his own childhood. Any free time, if it could be called that, had been spent helping his mother and grandmother wash and fold endless piles of laundry for their assignment. Even as Samuel felt jealous of these little upper casters, he couldn’t help feel some fondness for the memories of his mother and grandmother, all the family he had, such as it was.

Taking his pendant in hand he formed his barrier. With a careful measure, he forced it out and around the few bored looking adults, who sat with eyes glued to their phones. Fashioning the barrier into thin tendrils Samuel latched onto the rowdy children before releasing a tiny section at each point to allow the children’s joy to seep in. With eyes closed, he leaned against the side of the building. Like pipes pumping water from a well, he let the new emotions wash over him, and let it soak in deep. Like a mighty wind, the buffeting billows of carefree joy pushed him away from the swirling depression.

“Thanks, kids,” Samuel mouthed to himself. With everything in his life going wrong he could not produce his own happiness, but at least he could borrow the happiness of others. Samuel lingered for several minutes before retracting the barrier to a tight bubble around himself. Full of childlike joy he couldn’t help but smile. Today was going to be a good day after all.

Samuel pulled out the phone the enforcer had given him. He had received a message while regenerating but had ignored it. At the time reading yet another rejection would have tipped him over the edge. Now though with his spirits lifted he hoped beyond hope that for once he would find good news waiting for him.

“I found your data pad in pieces this afternoon. I can understand your frustration. You have a great ability and have mastered it long before I did at your age. As you know no one wants much to do with a Halsinion, however, there is a man in the military division of the enforcers, A marshal by the name of Avery Jenkins. He worked with your father during the war. I took the liberty of contacting him on your behalf. He owes your father a great deal. So, if you plan on staying out today, I would recommend logging in from your stolen phone and having a look at your assignment inquiries. Also, a friend of yours, a Demetrius Cross came by the academy looking for you. You may want to send him a link.” [Richard Tensin]

How was it a high-ranking officer had known his father? Samuel had never met the man, and all he had ever been told was that his father, Nickolas Spector, had died during the war. Shaking off the growing questions Samuel pulled up the student network. A single line flashed under the assignment inquiries tab. His hands began to tremble as he opened the link.

“We request for Samuel Specter to meet with Marshal Avery Jenkins tomorrow at 04:00 hours. Sector Ten, facility seven sublevel two. – Enforcer asset recruitment.” [Accept][Decline]

His heart nearly leaped from his chest as he clicked accept. He wanted to squeal like a pre-teen girl but kept his mouth shut by biting his lip. Exhaling forcefully, he ran his hands through his shock yellow hair. It was not a sure thing yet but it was an in. Grinning with delight, he shot Demetrius a message.

“Instructor Tensin said you were looking for me. I am in Sector Six. Do you want to meet at Lee Chi’s?” [Samuel]

He started in the direction of Lee Chi’s but didn’t get far before Demetrius got back to him.

“I am glad to hear you’re doing alright. I talked with Instructor Tensin earlier today. It sounds like you have really mastered your ability. He also told me you have a meeting with a marshal tomorrow, that’s awesome! I am actually heading over to Raiden’s Den to have my crystal grafted. I was hoping you would come with me. I can meet you there or come pick you up.” [Demetrius]

“I will meet you there.” [Samuel]

Raiden’s Den, the only multi-level building in sector six that rose above ground instead of just delving below. It was the craftsman hub of Central and the only reliable place to find work outside of getting an assignment from the capitol. Nearly everything that was not created by the Imperium was created or thought up there, though the place was most prominently known for its grafting.

Samuel looked at his student’s pendant. It was his badge of shame. The fact that he had not officially graduated. While he still held the title of, student, he was forbidden to have his crystal grafted. Yet he toyed with the idea of having it done anyway.

Samuel debated with himself all the way to Raiden’s Den, but had yet to make a decision. In front of him, twin frosted glass doors parted. The scene before him stopped him dead in his tracks. The entire room was an elaborate indoor garden and not an Imperium garden either, but a Halsinion one. He remembered his mother showing him pictures of places like this. She had said their homeland was filled with such gardens despite the harsh environment.

Waves of wonder intermixed with peace and calm washed over him as his barrier vanished. The room was full yet not crowded. People walked along stone paths or sat on carved wood benches enjoying the tranquil environment. Had he known such a place existed in Central he would have come here instead of leeching off the rowdy children at the play zone.

Taking a seat on a small wooden bench beside a pool of water Samuel closed his eyes and basked in the calming waves all around him. For the first time in over a year, he felt at peace.