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Flames, flames everywhere. They were lapping against the walls, against the formerly-pristine ceiling. Waves of amber and crimson rolled over computer consoles, melting the keys into an unrecognizable, gelatinous goo. Ash and smoke filled the air. And though some of the particulates were being sucked into the ventilation system, a dusky haze lingered throughout the area. The lab was burning, and nothing, and no one, could stop it now.
There were flames everywhere, so why was she cold? She looked down.
Oh, right.
She was completely naked and drenched head to toe in a nearly-transparent liquid, probably the same liquid she'd been suspended in only moments earlier.
Then the tank shattered and everything spilled out... including me.
There were four other tanks besides the broken one she was currently standing in. Three were empty, one was smashed
and empty. Each tank stretched from floor to ceiling, a height of nearly four meters, with a pedestal base that fed various colored tubes into it. The three unbroken tanks were filled with what looked like water, but somehow she knew better. Whatever those tubes were feeding into the tanks, it was the same thing that had kept her alive all this time.
Then another thought struck her:
Who am I? She couldn't remember. As she gazed out at the crumbling lab, trying to extrapolate a clue to her identity, a metallic glinting caught her attention. It came from a welded plate at the base of the broken tank next to hers. Inscribed on the plate was a single word—or perhaps, she thought, a name: SHANKAR.
If that's a name, then maybe...
She stepped out of the tank, careful to avoid the glass shards strewn across the floor, and turned to look at the base plate of her own tank. Like the one next to hers, it bore only a single word—a single name. It read: AKASHA.
Akasha... is that my name?
Out of the corner of her eye she caught a glimpse of another person in the room and, not sure of their identity or intentions, instantly dropped into a crouching position. Amazingly, the other person mimicked her movements and crouched at the exact same moment. It was only then that she realized she wasn't seeing another person, she was staring at a mirror. Slowly she stood up and approached the mirror, stepping over glass and broken computer equipment. The fire was still raging all around her but she hardly noticed it. She remained transfixed on the woman standing before her. That was
her, that was Akasha.
Despite the dangerous conditions, she couldn't help but stare at the mirror for a few seconds. It was the first time she'd ever seen herself, after all. She took note of her features: caramel-colored skin, flowing brown hair that stretched almost to her knees, large expressive eyes. Her ears were long and pointed. That made her a... Newman? She also noticed a pattern of dark shapes etched onto her forehead above and to the side of her left eye, stretching down to her cheek. She lifted up her bangs to get a better look. It was a tattoo of some kind, but what did it mean? She couldn't make any sense of the archaic lines and symbols, though she could almost—but not quite—remember being dragged out of her tank and having the tattoo branded onto her face. Her memories of the ordeal were jumbled and distorted. Maybe she'd been drugged at the time?
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Akasha frowned.
How do I know that? Actually, how do I know anything? I just woke up, yet I know things... I know I was drugged, I know what a Newman is, what a tattoo is. I know how to speak...
She realized she'd been thinking everything in her head, she hadn't actually spoken yet. With some effort, her voice cracking badly, she forced the words out, if only to prove she could. "I... am... Akasha..."
Behind her, one of the overhead lights blew out in a shower of sparks. A thousand pinpricks of light rained down from above, a constellation of stars against the dark smoke billowing around her. Through the mirror's reflection Akasha could see the wall of flames inching higher. The oppressive heat was making her dizzy and the acrid stench of charred electronics was so foul it was practically suffocating. She knew it was time to get out of there, wherever "there" was.
If I don't leave soon I won't be leaving at all.
Squinting her watery eyes and using the crook of her elbow to shield her mouth, Akasha made her way, ploddingly, to the exit at the rear of the room. A quick hop through the fiery door frame and she was through the worst of it, though the uncontrolled blaze was spreading rapidly, threatening to consume the rest of the complex.
Akasha found herself standing in the center of a long, nondescript hallway. She glanced first to her left, then to her right. The same stark white walls and fluorescent lighting greeted her in both directions. Which way should she go? She had no clue—that is, until she noticed the smoke rolling along the ceiling to the right. If she followed the smoke, it was possible she might just find a way out...
She’d just started in that direction when a humanoid figure darted across the T-junction at the end of the hall. At least Akasha assumed it was a humanoid figure; it was hard to tell with the thick clouds of smoke obscuring her vision. "H-Hey, wait!," she called out, hoping to find someone, anyone, that could help her get out of there. There was no response.
Picking up speed, she rounded the corner, then another, and then another. Eventually the corridor transitioned into a vast storeroom lined with shelves and Akasha came to an abrupt halt. Standing five paces in front of her and facing the opposite direction was the person she'd been chasing. Slowly, deliberately, the long-haired figure turned to face her.
Akasha could see now that it was a man, as naked as she was, but there was something familiar about his appearance, almost like—no, it was more than that, more than just a passing resemblance. Based on his face alone the two of them looked nearly identical, though his features were somehow more masculine. He even had the same tattoo over his left eye. Below the neck, however, their body types were very different. Despite being powerfully built, Akasha was rather lean and curvy. He, on the other hand, was broad-shouldered and muscular. Even so, their matching facial features, skin color, and pointed ears were too much to chalk up to mere coincidence.
He must be... my brother?
"Who... are you?" she asked, still not used to hearing her own voice.
He stared back at her, unblinking and nearly unmoving, his steely gaze seeming to pass right through her. He did not speak.
Not willing to give up so easily, she tried again. "My name is Akasha, what about you?"
"Shankar," he finally replied, his voice rich and melodious.
Shankar? Just like the name on the tank next to mine, Akasha realized. Her mind was already racing with a thousand questions.
Before she could ask any of them, however, Shankar asked a question of his own. "Tell me, what is my purpose?"
Akasha stared blankly back at him. "Your... purpose? I-I don't know..."
He scowled. "Then I must find Naya Kestren. She will tell me my purpose."
Shankar raised his right hand, palm facing outward. As if by magic, a powerful wind slammed into Akasha, throwing her onto her back. When she opened her eyes a moment later, Shankar was already gone.
* * * * * * * * *
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Jars, containers, boxes, crates. There seemed to be an endless supply of them in the storeroom and each had its own story to tell. The jars were filled with various biological specimens, carefully cataloged by number and date. The containers contained rock and mineral samples, some of which included a rainbow assortment of photon crystals. The boxes were stuffed with data chips and paper files. And the crates, well, they were filled with more jars, containers, and boxes.
What kind of lab is this? As curious as she was, Akasha didn’t have time to study the plethora of knowledge gathered in the room, not with the fire hot on her heels. She could smell it closing in, could hear it crackling in the hall just out of sight, a blazing serpent ready to strike. She made her way towards the far wall, hoping to find another way out. When the smoke started to overtake her she coughed and picked up her pace. By the time she found the door the flames were already eating away the containers at the opposite end of the room. Without looking back, Akasha pressed on.
The more she ran, the more Akasha realized what a huge place it was. The complex was comprised of several dozen labs connected by a network of hallways that zigzagged at right angles periodically. She’d managed to stay ahead of the fire so far but her stamina was waning and her luck could run out at any moment. As she rounded the next corner she let out a sharp gasp—there were men jogging in her direction. Armored, masked men wielding guns and swords. “Hey!” one of them barked at Akasha, but she was already racing back the way she came, her heart pounding heavily in her ears.
She ducked into a random lab and belatedly realized that the door control button wasn’t working.
Damn! Not good. She dove across the room and slid to the floor behind an operating table. Three seconds later two of the masked men stormed past the open doorway, their diminishing footfalls echoing down the corridor as they continued past her hiding spot. By the look of them they had to be soldiers, or maybe mercenaries. It was possible they were the ones who’d started the fire, and if that was the case they probably meant trouble.
Akasha rose to her feet and cautiously started for the door. She was halfway there when the third soldier stepped into the room, blocking her exit. Though she couldn’t see his face beneath the breathing mask and goggles, his body language spoke volumes—that he was just as surprised to see her as she was to see him. Instinct took over and Akasha darted forward in a blur of motion. Her left fist caught the man squarely in the temple, spinning him around. To her surprise he managed to regain his balance and made a halfhearted attempt to swing his photon sword in her direction, forcing her to sidestep out of the way. The glowing crimson blade hummed with energy as it sizzled harmlessly past her shoulder. Pivoting on the ball of her right foot, she released a thrusting side kick that slipped under his guard and landed firmly on his midsection. A pained
oomph escaped his lips as he doubled over, slumping unconscious to the tile floor.
Akasha stared down at her own quivering hands.
How did I… do that? Her body had reacted on its own, as though it had been programmed with skills she couldn’t remember learning. She wondered how much else she couldn’t remember... and realized the answer was “almost everything.” It was painful not knowing, painful in a way she couldn’t even describe. It felt like someone or something had carved out the core of her being and left her hollow inside. Except that wasn’t quite true, was it? She still had access to certain skills—her combat abilities, for instance—so perhaps her memories were still in there too, buried or blocked or… at the very least, inaccessible at the moment.
Even so, that still left a few glaring questions. Where was she, and who were these people chasing after her? She spared the unconscious figure another glance and frowned. There was something odd about this soldier but Akasha couldn’t quite place it. That is, until the next one stepped into the room looking for his missing buddy. That’s when it hit her. The one common trait they shared, the cause of the strange feeling she’d been having, was their small stature.
These soldiers… they’re children! What kind of deranged military would send child soldiers into a burning building?
She didn’t have much time for contemplation. The soldier, spotting his unconscious friend, started bringing his photon rifle to bear on Akasha. “Halt!” he managed to shout before Akasha’s open palm connected with the butt of his gun, pushing his aim up and away from her. During the struggle a three-round burst discharged and punctured one of the ceiling tiles. Akasha didn’t give him a chance to fire again. She brought her interlocked fists crashing down on the crown of his helmet and he dropped instantly, out cold like his partner.
I guess there’s no way the others didn’t hear that, Akasha thought bitterly. She impulsively scooped up the first soldier’s sword—still pulsing with red energy—and darted out of the room, hoping to make a break for it. Once again, she wasn’t that lucky.
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“Stop right there!” The distinctive
click of a gun’s safety disengaging rang out behind Akasha. “Drop your weapon, slowly, and turn around.”
She did as commanded, carefully setting the photon sword on the ground before turning to face the two soldiers standing in the hall behind her, the same pair that ran past her hiding spot earlier. One had an assault rifle pointed at her, the other a pair of machineguns. Both were clad head to toe in military-grade body armor and wore identical face masks, goggles, and helmets. They would have presented quite an imposing sight if they weren’t both so laughably
small. The taller of the pair—the leader, she guessed, and also the one carrying the assault rifle—barely came up to her chin.
An idea struck her. Since they’re children, she reasoned, she might be able to trick or distract them. It was unlikely… but worth a try. Just as she was trying to think up a clever ruse, a distant explosion rocked the facility. Maybe the fire had spread to some dangerous chemicals in one of the labs or maybe a grenade had gone off somewhere, it didn’t matter. What mattered was that it threw the two soldiers off balance long enough to give Akasha an opening. She rushed forward, prepared to end it quickly, but stopped short when she found herself staring down the gun barrel of an assault rifle. The rifle-toting soldier had recovered much quicker than she’d expected; apparently he’d been well-trained.
“Whoa there, you don’t want to do that,” he cautioned. His voice was unusually gruff for a child’s, Akasha noticed. To her surprise he added, “We’re not here to hurt you. Hold on a sec.”
The soldier and his partner lowered their weapons and removed their headgear, and Akasha got a good look at them for the first time. They didn't look like children, exactly. They looked more like adults—only smaller.
This must be a planet of tiny people, she mused. Then the obvious truth dawned on her: These people weren’t small, they were normal-sized.
She was the one out of place.
"Is that her? Is that Kestren?” the machinegun user asked.
“That’s impossible, you dolt. Besides, she’s too tall.” The rifle user, a man of middle years with graying hair, craned his neck slightly to look up at her. "Who are you?"
"A-Akasha. My name is... Akasha..."
“Nice to, uh, meet you. Name’s Colton, Captain Arin Colton.” The man averted his eyes in embarrassment, and which point Akasha finally remembered she wasn’t wearing any clothes. Her hands rushed to strategically position themselves, not that it did much good at that point.
Colton unzipped his backpack and pulled out a silvery flame retardant blanket, which he offered to Akasha. She plucked the blanket from his outstretched hand and draped it around her shoulders. It afforded her a small amount of modesty, though most of her long legs remained bare. “Thanks,” she said, her cheeks still burning.
"No problem. At first we thought maybe
you had started the fire, but now I’m guessing probably not.”
“It wasn’t me,” she affirmed.
“Yeah, I figured as much. Well don’t worry, you're in the care of the ARKS now."
“Who are the ARKS?” Akasha frowned, puzzled.
The other soldier—the machinegun user—snorted in disbelief. “You’re kidding, right? You’ve never heard of the ARKS?”
She shook her head.
“Seriously? We’re only the biggest military organization in the Oracle fleet! Have you been living in a cave or something?”
“Tank,” she corrected him.
“What?”
“I’ve been living in a tank.”
“We’ll get her up to speed later, Sammy,” Colton instructed his partner, cutting off their conversation. “Now c’mon, the fire has almost reached this section. We need to get out of here pronto.”
* * * * * * * * *
The three of them raced down the hallway in a frantic bid to outrun their own tragic demise. Colton and Sammy took point, each carrying one of their unconscious buddies over their shoulders, while Akasha brought up the rear. Despite the seriousness of the situation, of the fiery death closing in on them, Akasha was preoccupied with a number of lingering questions. Eventually she couldn’t help but ask. “Where are we, anyway? What planet is this?”
“Planet?” Sammy scoffed. “You’ve got it all wrong, this is
Ur.”
“
Ur?,” she repeated questioningly.
“Colony Ship 02, Oracle First Fleet. You really don’t know much, do you?”
Before she could respond, a curtain of flames sprung up directly in front of Akasha, separating her from the ARKS soldiers. The flames rushed upward and outward, quickly surrounding her on three sides as they forced her back. When she turned to look for another way out she found herself standing face to face with someone unexpected—Shankar. She had assumed he’d fled after their previous encounter but it appeared he’d stuck around after all. The only question was, why? Beneath his expressionless mask and the dancing flames reflected in his eyes, Akasha thought she caught a hint of something more, a distant sadness and a profound longing.
“Akasha.”
“W-What are you doing here? What do you want from me?”
"You don't belong with those... ordinary people. You and I, we're meant for something greater." He extended an inviting hand towards her. "You feel it too, don't you? Come with me; together, we will discover what we're destined to do."
He was right. She knew that, so why did it feel so
wrong? Looking back on it later, Akasha didn't know what compelled her to answer the way she did, yet her answer undoubtedly changed the course of her entire future. "I... I can't..."
"You would choose them over me? So be it, but remember, they will never understand you the way I do. Eventually they will fail you; when they do, you will still have a place at my side."
Shankar didn’t push her away this time. Instead he merely turned and strode away down the corridor in the opposite direction. The flames that rippled along the walls, the same flames that should have lashed out at him and reduced him to ashes, magically curled around his body and left him completely unharmed. A few seconds later he was out of sight, lost beyond the blazing inferno.
Gathering her resolve, Akasha spun around and pushed forward through a plume of dark smoke but made it no more than three strides before reaching an impassable column of fire that extended nearly to the ceiling. She could hear Captain Colton and Sammy on the other side calling her name and asking if she was alright. Suddenly a powerful wave of dizziness hit her and she was forced to retreat to a spot where she could breathe—at least barely.
Was this as far as she could go? Was she destined to perish in these flames without ever discovering who she was?
Not if I can help it, she decided. Her life and her story weren’t over, they were just beginning. Freedom was almost within her grasp. So was death, but she wasn’t about to give in. Not when she was this close.
Still partly wreathed in smoke, Akasha made her way to the nearest wall. She raised her left arm to shoulder height, palm facing out as Shankar had done earlier, and pressed it against the nearby wall. The heat threatened to singe her fingers but she didn’t let it distract her from what she needed to do. Concentrating on the interaction of photon energy between herself and the surrounding area, Akasha closed her eyes and formed a mental picture of ice crystals coming together, their geometric shapes weaving into an intricate tapestry that spread out from her fingertips and slowly blanketed the imaginary flames in her mind. She poured feelings of urgency into the ice crystals, coaxing them to grow and multiply at her command until the world inside her head was a solid powdery white. Even then she kept going, sending waves of energy outward in all directions, tracing the lines of heat and snuffing them out by sheer force of will until none remained.
Finally, it was done. Akasha opened her eyes and looked down the hallway in both directions. A lustrous icy sheen covered the walls, floor, and ceiling. Her breathing, heavy from the mental exertion, left wispy puffs of condensed vapor hanging in the frigid air. She almost couldn’t believe it, yet she knew at once that it was real, and that she had done it.
The fire was out.
CHAPTER 1: END
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