Kage tumbled through the vortex of multicoloured light. Her thread dragged her through faster than she flew on her own, from the trips to or from her home.
She struggled to grasp the thread and get some balance, but it evaded her grip as her body was pulled through space like a rag doll on a string.
Suddenly, the tunnel ended and she tumbled onto the grass.
Perfectly green grass, on hard ground, despite the lake right next to where she lay.
Islestar.
Some Mythsians say their creator was a madman, and those who didn’t did so solely out of respect. For every few hundred worlds or so, one of these planets existed, populated only of these ghost people who spectate all of their charge, diligently recording these world’s events in their libraries.
For what purpose? Good question. Hence the “madman” status of its creator.
They say you can reach it from the outside, though no one has ever done it before. It wasn’t visible from space, the sphere or dome that served as the sky acted like a barrier, making them invisible from the outside.
Kage’s rolled over onto her back, her body aching from the fall. The dome of the sky shone above her, a clear blue sky with a couple clouds, which were, of course, not real clouds, since rain destroyed books.
It hurt. Not her body, something else, something that was heavy in her chest and that filled up her throat with a lump.
Kage clenched her fists, letting out a last quiet sob. The tears were almost over now.
The sky here wasn’t comforting, so she pulled herself up into a sitting position, clutching her knees. Was that really it? All that for nothing. Almost twelve months of journey, hardship, good times, bad times... twelve months was nothing for a Mythsian, but not for her.
The peace of this place was starting to calm her down, and she almost hated it for that.
Kage’s eyes the vortex of light opened up in front of her, a sandaled figure in a white robe elegantly stepping out.
Her head went back into her knees. Mytha.
“Kage…” she began, and then stopped.
There was nothing Kage could have said. The lump was back, and she knew what was coming.
“Kage. This isn’t working.”
Her head shot up, meeting Mytha’s gaze.
What was that expression supposed to be? Annoyance? Annoyance with a bit of pity mixed in.
The same as she always saw from other Mythsians. “That’s what you get as the bastard child of your race.” She thought, spite creeping through the sadness.
“What would you have me do?” She wanted to say, but she knew the answer. Impartially observe, that was her job, after all.
Mytha regarded her silence.
“I see you’re not going to make any excuses.”476Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAL2eLpFjzW
“What can I say? You or someone else has heard it before.”
“Yes. We had to pull someone in to cover for you, and while I can’t blame you, something still has to be done.”
Kage sunk further into the grass. She’d been sent to dozens of worlds, all different. She’d spent time on Earth to learn basic human skills. What more could they do?
“Yes, and I don’t know either.” Mytha replied, seemingly to Kage’s thoughts.
“When we took you in, we truly thought it was for the best, you know. Most Mythsians can’t live properly in Human worlds, their lack of emotion turns them into psychopaths or worse, psychopaths with our psychic powers. But with you, the Mythsian side is barely visible. Your father already had some human blood in him, after all. It’s an anomaly, Kage, and we still haven’t fixed it after a hundred and fifty years.”
“You mean I’m an anomaly.” She thought, digging her head further into her knees.
“I will…give you time for your emotions.” Mytha said softly. “However, you must fulfill your obligation before anything else. I will call on you, soon.”
With that she turned and walked away, towards the marble city in the center of Islestar.
Kage wanted to crawl into a corner and hide, and that was exactly what she planned to do. Mytha was right though. Her obligation came first, maybe not for Islestar, but for their memory.
The streets of Islestar’s city were narrow, wide enough for a few people since there were no vehicles or animals here.
The city, built up of marble, wood, and greenery, was enormous, with space enough for the thousands of Mythsians who called it a home, though it was mostly deserted as most of them were out observing their Stories.
Kage walked at a quick pace, focused on the stone roads and walls of the buildings. Take a less open path to her destination, she slipped between the buildings until the alley opened up again into a wide road.
There she stood before a tall marble building with marble pillars in front, leading to a tall, open doorway where double bookshelves were immediately visible.
She entered the doorway into the building, making a quick right when she entered to stick close to the walls.
She felt eyes on her as she made her way around the building to a room on the staircase to the second floor.
She glanced around to see who else was there, but saw no one.
The ten-foot shelves went up through to the second floor, which curved around the shelves, made for the books not the other way around, creating a less-than optimal, but beautiful design.
This building houses the stories of several worlds. There was bound to be someone else here.
She shook her head and creaked open the door to the room.
Inside was a room of only two shelves. One complete, and one only about a quarter of the way full.
She had read all of these. They were the stories of ____, the world she had just left.
It was a Mythsian's duty to understand a world before traveling there, to fill in the cultural details when they made their report.
Kage took in a breath and clenched her fists.
As she let it out, she tried to relax her whole body. She shook a little as she exhaled, so she opted to try again.
Breath in, clench, breath out and relax.
Her fists opened and she stretched her fingers, feeling the warm breath leave her lungs.
"I can do this." She whispered.
"This is their story." She continued, in her mind.
Kage approached the second shelf and reached for an empty space on the shelf, the intent at the front of her mind.
A book materialized into her hand, thin, crimson, and hard leather with golden trim.
Others would have sat in the atrium, finding it easier to concentrate in the open space.
Kage would have liked that too, but there was no chance of her leaving herself vulnerable out there, especially since she knew there was someone around.
Instead, she sat in the farthest corner from the door, hidden from sight behind the second shelf.
There, she crosses her legs and opened the book in her lap to the first page.
She straightened her back and relaxed her body again, from the shoulders down.
She put her index finger to the page, closed her eyes, and Scribed.
The memories flowed straight from her mind to the page, almost faster than she could turn the pages. She had to slow it down. She wanted to get it over with, purge all those now-painful memories from her mind, but this wasn't about her. It was about the world, Jacob, Finsch, Praella, Case, Grell, and all the others they'd come into contact with.
So she mentally pulled back, letting the details flow. As the images passed through her mind, her mind subconsciously and consciously filled in the details, the cultural import, the meaning of certain gestures, and certain aspects of the world in a more condensed format, the details an ordinary member of the world would know, instead of anyone in this room, who could read about the creation of the world itself, past adventures, and history.
It went by quickly. Only twelve months. This was all they would be remembered by, if anyone ever made it to this place to read about it.
Kage closed the book, release a sigh.
She'd have to read it over now, check for details to add or any mistakes, but she could wait for a moment.
She leaned over briefly, as her face contorted. Just for a moment. She shoved all the thoughts to the back of her mind, with all the others.
She bit her lip.
"Just once more."
She straightened up breathed in deeply, and exhaled again, cracking the cover of the blood-coloured book once more.
Kage exited the building. She didn't felt any eyes on her this time, but that ended quickly though.
The few that did pass by as they traveled between libraries or other buildings glanced her way. Whether or not they knew about her recent incident, which they might, depending on who had been sent to replace her, Kage’s stomach tied up in knots as she turned away her head to avoid the attention.
With their repressed emotions, they didn’t care about much unless it inconvenienced them in some way, and that was exactly what she was.
She followed the wall for a minute or two until she came to an opening which led to a downward stairway, lit with softly orange glowing stones.
She descended the stairway, emerging into a small library, with only enough room for a few parallel shelves. It would grow as it filled up, but right now, it was a quiet, rarely-used haven for her, as it had been since she’d discovered in almost a hundred years ago.
Different sizes of tomes, neatly organized and sorted in chronological order, with faux-leather bound spines and a symbol on the stem for the world they recorded.
She descended the stairway, emerging into a small library, with only enough room for a few
parallel shelves. It would grow as it filled up, but right now, it was a quiet, rarely-used haven for
her, as it had been since she’d discovered in almost a hundred years ago.
In any other place, the books would have been dusty and moldy from being stored in a dark cellar, but the purpose of this world was to accommodate books, so they sat together with no sign of wear or tear.
Kage made her way to the small writing desk at the back of the room and collapsed into the wooden chair.
She let her arms dangle at her sides as she stared at the celling.
It seemed to get worse every time. Any hope she had of impartially watching the occupants of these worlds was gone.
And it hadn't always been this way. She had been good at it, before.
Before...An image flashed to her head and her eyes shot open, blinking a few times and scrambling her thoughts to banish it from her mind.
Her right hand reached up and traced around her empty eye socket.
She sighed deeply. What was going to happen to her?
Someone who couldn't fulfill their one purpose in life.
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