Trojian Horse

Arien felt unsettled by the unsolicited attention he was now receiving from the purple-skinned creature seated next to him. This creature just stared at him without saying anything. Nothing at all. Arien wondered what the creature found fascinating about him. What is his brown skin? His hair? His teeth? He would try to ignore the attention. He was here for answers so that is what he was going to focus on he thought turning his attention to Gerin. Turo smiled encouragingly at him whenever their eyes met. He found her eyes mesmerizing.

“Arien, forgive Roue, he has not seen a human in a very long time. Or maybe he has but is wondering what you are doing here,” Gerin said.

“Yeah, that second one. What is going on here?” Roue asked finally turning his attention away from Arien.

“It’s a long story,” replied Gerin a broad smile on his face.

“What!? You know what I am?” Arien asked. His interest had been peaked. He was expecting answers but not of the kind he was now privy to.

“Many call your kind the Ser-ooits, I never liked that. I prefer to call you what you call yourselves. Roue would agree with me that humans are a peculiar race. You must all have many questions so let’s take them in turns, shall we?” Gerin said.

“What are we all doing here?” Arien asked.

“Well, here we go,” Gerin said, a hint of excitement in his voice. “Circumstance has necessitated our meeting far ahead of schedule. Roue’s arrival here has resulted in an old enemy making their way here. We need you to stop them. In fact, everyone on this planet needs you to stop them. Gerin spoke so straightforwardly that Arien and Roue weren’t sure if he was being serious.

“I don’t understand,” Arien said. “Why me? There’s nothing special about me?”

“Oh, but you are Arien!” Gerin replied, the excitement bursting onto his face.

“Are you sure I’m not dead?” Roue exclaimed.

“Arien, you doubt yourself because you do not know how much power lies within you. We will soon begin you on that most important journey of self-understanding.”

“I, I, I….” was all that could Arien could manage. The confusion was apparent on his face.

“We’ll get back to you momentarily Arien,” Gerin said.

“What enemy requires my attention? If you could bring me here and somehow make me breathe the atmosphere without dying, then surely its we who should be asking for your help and not the other way around. Surely?”

“Roue, it is not chance that has brought you here. You are here because it was destined. But what happens next is your choice. We need yours and Arien’s help because we cannot interfere. At least not yet. Reeger is here. You know what he will do next don’t you?”

“How? It’s impossible!”

“Impossible is a matter of perspective Roue. At one time, nobody could traverse the vast distances in the cosmos and now star systems are only a few weeks apart. For some entire universes are only a step away. We were not meant to meet now but now that we are all here there is a job to do. Reeger must be stopped. Destiny brought you here Roue. You need to help Arien on his journey and he cannot do it without you. You have a unique understanding of the galaxy.”

“Destiny huh? I thought you said it was my fault?”

“It is. You brought Reeger here. But maybe destiny also has a way of turning an otherwise tragic thing into something useful.”

Roue just glared at Gerin. Arien knew who he had a question but didn’t know how to begin asking for an explanation.

“I’m glad we are of the same understanding then.”

“Uhmm, no we’re not. Why should I be involved in your resistance wars anymore? They’ve brought me endless trouble since I joined this pointless charade.”

“Well, apart from the fact that it’s your fault that Reeger is on Trojian right now, there’s an added incentive in this for you.”

“And what would that be?”

“You can do what you couldn’t do for your friends the Vulpeculae when you last saw them. Save them.”

“I don’t understand. They are gone. Reeger got to them,” Roue answered. On his face was a mixture of confusion and sadness.

“Are those the same Vulpeculae that I know?” Arien asked. He was hoping for answers but it seemed the conversation had taken a turn for the bizarre.

“Yes Arien, Roue is convinced that they are all dead. Would you like to tell him?” Gerin asked.

“They raised me right here on Trojian,” he said then looked over at Gerin who nodded his approval of the precisely short answer.

Roue nearly fell over in shock.

“How is that possible?! I saw the devastation after the battle…everything I thought I knew…how long has it been?” Roue was visibly distressed by the sheer impact of the information he was forced to comprehend in the few minutes he had been sitting in the room.

“Not everything you see is what it is. Whether you choose to or not Roue, the very reason you were in Reeger’s ship is Arien. The reason you have been brought here is Arien. The reason you will go to battle against Reeger is Arien. The Vulpeculae are very much alive. The reason they were sent here is Arien.”

Roue shook his head.

“I’ve never met him in my entire life. Sure, I have a soft spot for humans but why would I sacrifice my existence for him?” Roue asked pointing at Arien.

“Because Reeger must be stopped. He is here now and if you don’t join the fight he will destroy everything on this planet. Because you don’t want to see you friends die and they place great value on him,” Gerin said pointing at Arien.

Turo seemed stunned by all the proclamations being made about Arien. She was obviously not aware how important Arien was to the Greylings.

“How do you know all this? You couldn’t know some of this stuff unless you were there,” Roue asked.

“There you go again pretending to see. Let’s just say very little escapes our attention,” Gerin replied.

“If Reeger is here then he will surely be here with an armada. How can we few stand any chance against him?” Roue asked. “I’m the only one here who has gone against Reeger at any point and I’m telling you now that based on what I’m seeing here, we aren’t even going to make it to Reeger. We may as well call it quits right now.”

“Well I know something you don’t Roue. You three have a great leveller. And there are reinforcements on Reeger’s ship. Those who will fight on your side.”

“Three? And what is this great leveller? Everything with you is cryptic, isn’t it?” Roue asked, irritated but interested.

“The Thalios!” Gerin said beaming.

“I have devoted a large portion of my precious time in search of it and those results have yielded nothing. And I’m good at finding things. You telling me it’s been on this homicidal rock all along?” Roue asked.

Arien was desperately trying to follow the conversation but it made no sense to him. He caught Turo staring at him wide-eyed. She was clearly failing to comprehend something about what was being said.

“Turo, take out your blade. Can you read it?” Gerin asked her. She replied that she couldn’t. “Pass it to Roue. Now Roue, read what the inscription says…”

Roue held the blade in his hand and desperately tried to make sense of the inscriptions etched on the blade.

“I can’t read it,” Roue declared at last.

“I know you can’t. Pass it to Arien. Arien read it.”

Arien paused and looked around the room as he held the blade in his hand.

“Intention sharper than a knife’s edge this blade can wield, bending to its master’s will. The three together are unopposed.” Arien passed the blade back to Turo. Roue and Turo just stared at him.

“How?!” Turo asked.

“You must have begun to suspect it Turo,” Gerin said confirming what Turo was thinking already. “Those strange feelings he would tell you about just before something happened. How he told you that the noka told him of its intention. They actually told him. Your Thalios is right before your eyes,” Gerin said pausing to make sure they were following.

“Him?” Roue asked pointing at Arien.

“Yes, HIM,” Gerin insisted.

Turo did not react to the news. Arien looked in her direction for an explanation but he met with eyes that were just confused as his.

“What is this Thalios?” Arien asked, visibly confused. “And why would you say I have it? Because I’m sure I don’t.”

“You don’t even know what you don’t know Arien,” Gerin said. “Believe me when I say, you have it. You have never wondered why you just understand what everyone says around you even those you’ve never met speaking in languages that no one else around can understand?”

“Well…” Arien began but descended into silence again. He hadn’t paid attention to it but now that someone was pointing it out to him several instances popped into his head. Only now he comprehended that understanding what all the creatures on Trojian were saying was not normal. He had always assumed it was nothing special and because he didn’t think it to be anything special he had never mentioned it anyone. Not even to Nura.

“That is all the Thalios and you have not even begun to understand the full extent of its power. That is why you are here. To understand yourself so you can understand the Thalios. And once you know yourself you can know your enemy.” Gerin spoke warmly to Arien trying to soften the weight of the burden on him.

“And what if I can’t do it?” Arien asked.

“Then this world and all that is in it is already doomed.”

Silence fell on the room.

“It is most unfortunate that Hethios has not taken it upon himself to educate you on these things. I see now that in order to help you understand we must go to the very beginning. You have met Reeger before though you may not remember him so well. Here, we will help you remember.” Gerin passed Arien something that looked like a root motioning for Arien to eat it.

“What is this?” Arien asked holding the root in his hand.

“Something to help you remember. If you want to know something about yourself, about where you came from and why you are here then you need to eat that.”

Arien held the root in his hand while the rest of the room remained silent contemplating his options then hurled the grotesque looking red root into his mouth and chewed it furiously. It was rubbery and sour. Almost as soon as he swallowed it he felt the room begin to spin. The room spun out of sight until the room was distant dim light amid an intense darkness. Gerin’s voice encouraged him to embrace the experience and just let him take him where it would. Arien felt his fear begin to ebb away and the next thing he knew he was looking at a pale blue dot in the darkness which grew larger and larger. He was hurtling toward it at a terrifying speed, watching everything moving faster and growing larger before his eyes. After a few seconds, he found himself falling towards a spot on a patch of green and brown, what he later recognised to be land. Before long he was on solid ground then everything stopped moving.

There was a dark canvas littered by bright small lights in what he was sure was the sky. He had never seen stars before in a dark sky but he knew exactly what they were. He had landed behind a bush and once his eyes had adjusted to the darkness he began looking around, wondering what he was doing here. There were moans and cries coming from behind the trees next to which he stood. He made his way to the hut which were almost identical to the ones in the Greyling village. Someone came from behind him and walked straight past him betraying no sign that they had noticed him. He heard them speak in a language he had never heard though he understood what they said. It seemed that someone was giving birth tonight and the one who had walked past him was one of what they called the midwives. He crept closer to the hut, even intentionally making some noise to see if they would notice his presence but they never moved or reacted to him. He grew bolder and approached the hut.

Arien crept into the hut, his presence completely unnoticed. The woman in the middle of the hut was surrounded by several other women. It seemed she had just given birth to a baby boy. She told them that his name was going to be Zibulo, and although she seemed very happy as she held the boy in her hand she was also deeply saddened.

The people around him were the same shade of brown skin as he was, the same two hands and feet, the same kind of hair, teeth, fingers everything. Though he had never been here before he felt this was home. This must be Ser-oos he thought. He carefully studied the woman in the hut, taking some time to memorise her lovely face. Something about her seemed familiar. His attention turned to the baby in his arms. The mother of the child, whose name he gathered was Cebisa held the baby, Zibulo, to the light from the fire burning in the centre of the hut while she pronounced many blessings on him. The baby had a mark on the inner part of his left thigh. He looked down at his own left thigh. The marks were an exact match. He realised that he was attending his own birth.

Suddenly the scenes before him seemed to flash by quickly before him though he somehow managed to see, understand and memorise every detail. From the moment, he was born until the baby boy Zibulo was taken from her presence when he touched the vibrating rock in the cave they called Njelele. Cebisa was his mother and she had wanted something greater for him. Somehow that meant that he wound up with the Thalios. He became aware of the threat that Cetshwayo posed to him although he couldn’t really understand why. Next, he saw his baby self being held by Hethios on a foreign planet and slowly he lived through the moments from the Vulpeculae escape from the foreign planet until the earliest moment he could remember in his childhood. Everything raced forward until he saw himself looking at himself, a mirror image of a mirror image stretching out into infinity. All the images merged into one and then there was darkness.