Soul(s) (7 page)

I looked around. The whole surface level of
the rough was open and able to be used. There was a decent sized
rail along the outer edge of the roof. There was turf grass laid
out, with woven stone paths dividing it up in sections. In the
middle there was a court yard area, with benches and tables set up
around the domed glad middle. The floor all beneath it was made of
the same class material and I realized I remembered it from the
lobby.

“
I thought we could start
up here,” Iris explained. “It’s early and there probably won’t be
anyone up here for a while.”

“
How long has it been
since there were newlies training?” Keegan asked.

“
Months? Maybe longer? The
Banguri have been killing them off for quite some time now and the
atlas doesn’t always function properly. Lanni has been working on
that, but the problem is it’s always worked before so no one knows
how to fix it.”

“
I’m sure you have
questions about what you are and how this world works. Let me start
off by giving you just a brief history of Second-Plane and the Aura
that live here in the Light City. Historically speaking, Aura and
Banguri were on this peninsula at the same time, but we didn’t
clash until the Great War. There are some differences between our
races that make it difficult to co-exist. While Banguri survive by
eating the life-energy of another soul, Auras create sexual energy
with a partner and then our bodies absorb that energy like a
sponge. It’s typically done between venku but as long as there is a
sexual attraction, we can feed. It’s how we heal, how we
strengthen, and how our bodies age slowly giving us a very long
natural life; triple that of a soul on First-Plane.

“
How old are you?” Keegan
asked

I was fifty cycles old when the Great War
happened, it last seven years and then we’ve had twenty years of
peace before the murders started. Our current situation started
just under a cycle ago. That would make me seventy-seven—roughly,”
she added with a wink.

“
What do you mean by
cycles?” I asked curiously.

“
Like Earth, Second-Plane
functions under the same principals of gravity and physics. We also
have the same four seasons, except personally, from what
impressions I have of First-Plane, our winters are much worse
here.”

“
Is it common for people
to have different impressions? Keegan and I don’t remember the same
things at all.”

“
Yes,” Iris confirmed,
“that is very common. Even though you’re soul mates, you’re still
individuals.”

“
Makes sense,” Keegan
agreed.

“
Now, Aura can survive by
drinking water. Water is the original form of energy and we’re able
to keep our health at a steady level by drinking it. However, we
can’t improve ourselves with just water and there are some degrees
of injury that won’t heal with water alone—we need our
venkus.”

“
So our life span is way
longer than that of someone from Earth but we can still
die?”

“
Yes, our bodies do have
their limits,” said Iris.

“
But if you die, how does
your Venku heal if they get seriously injured?”

“
Like I mentioned earlier,
you can take another partner.”

“
But,” I insisted, “you’ve
described venku as being soul mates.”

“
You need to still be able
to heal, and maintain your strength and that is only possible
through the energy we’re able to absorb through sex. You’ll also
experience an intense hunger if you do not feed yourself
regularly.”

“
What if you were straight
on earth and you awaken with a venku of the same sex?” Keegan
asked.

“
Nothing changes,” Iris
replied back.

“
But what if you’re not
attracted to the same sex?”

“
You’ll always be
attracted to your venku regardless of their gender but there have
been cases of First-Plane impressions of sexuality being too much
for someone to conquer.”

“
Do the Banguri heal the
same way?”

“
They can also, like us,
maintain a steady health by drinking vast amount of water, but
that’s where the similarities end. They have cast systems: low,
middle, and high-banguri. Only the high is human like, the others
are beasts and all three casts hung energy to survive. They have to
devour the actually energy-force of another living being in order
to survive. The Great War happened because their hunting grounds
started to merge on to our nesting areas. This, of course, was
before we had the Light City or Paramount, when Aura and Banguri
were still mostly nomadic. Eventually the tension broke out into a
full war and both sides were nearly wiped out, but the Aura won and
the Treaty was drawn. We divided up the peninsula and we had peace.
This lasted until we got reports of attacks and then eventually
massacres of newlies.”

“
Can the Aura reproduce?”
I asked.

“
Unfortunately not. The
newlies are the children of our race, even though every newlies
awakens physically fully mature there is much to teach each one
that arrives.”

“
There must be wild-life
on Second-Plane for the Banguri to hunt?” I reasoned.

“
Yes, every type of soul
that dies on First-Plane awakens here. But since the Aura don’t
consume the energy-force any other species so our knowledge of
what’s out there is limited to what our various scientist-aura
discover, study and archive.”

“
What about others like us
or the Banguri?” I asked.

“
We assume there are based
on the stories told by the drifters.”

“
There’d be more types of
Banguri then too?” Keegan guessed.

“
I’d assume so, yes,” Iris
answered.

“
Why would the Banguri be
peaceful for so long and then suddenly wage war again?”

“
Keegan, your guess is as
good as mine. We have some theories amongst the other elders:
revenge, boredom, savagery. We don’t know them well enough to
really know why, all we know is that they are killing so many
newlies that it’s affecting our numbers immensely. I just received
word this morning that after you arrived they started attacking the
outer territories cities. We’re launching a plan to send out groups
of Venku warriors to go to the outer territories, talk with the
survivors and collect as much data as possible. I’d like you to
team up with a veteran pair of aura-fighters and go with them as
they scout.”

“
How many territories?”
Keegan asked.

“
Twenty-nine, are you
willing to help? Even though you have just awakened, you are one of
us and helping our race now will help everyone in the
future.”

“
It sounds like this first
stage is just getting information on the attacks?”

“
Yes, Sariah.”

“
Then I wouldn’t mind
being a part of it. But, I don’t like violence if it comes to
that—

“
There are other ways you
can help. Regardless of what you choose, I will train you on how
your powers work. Only you can decide how you use them.”

“
I might eventually have
to fight then?” I asked.

“
I’ll be honest,” Iris
answered back evenly, “You will need to fight, but you don’t have
to
kill.
But for
right now don’t worry about that. Let me explain your powers. There
are two types of Aura: Telekinetic and Cheetah. Telekinetic powers
tend to be more intellectual. Most Auras with this power can read
minds or move objects. The Cheetah power is very physical. Like the
First-Plane animal its name after, any Aura with this power is
fast, has good vision—both during the day and night— and has
abnormal strength and reflexes. Bem told me that you, Sariah, are
very least telepathic, is that right?”

“
Yes, when we were
attacked, I was able to ender the mind of the beasts and for a
moment, their leader.”

“
At the end of your
training we’ll match you up with a like powered aura, more than
likely Ajani, he is the strongest telekinetic aura in the
city.

“
What kind of Aura are
you?” I questioned.

“
Cheetah. Now, normally,”
Iris continued, “Venku are opposite each other. So Keegan should
then have the Cheetah powers. Which ones that I mentioned have
submerged already? Sometimes you don’t get everything at
first.”

“
All of the above,” Keegan
said smiling smugly.

I rolled my eyes, but I was amused. He was
like the Second-Plane version of a jock. A smart, sensitive, sexy
jock—but none the less, still an overconfident alpha male.

I was exhausted from all the training. The
sun was setting on our seventh day. Our bodies were unbelievably
strong. It was exhilarating to be able to do the things we could
and strange to remember a time when we couldn’t. Tomorrow was our
evaluation a finally no-bars test between the team members we’d
been assigned to for additional mentoring: Ajani and Bem.

With the Banguri-conflict getting worse by
the day, we’d reached the limit of our time to learn within the
safety of Paramount. Now our education would continue live in the
field. I hoped we were ready. I was nervous, but I knew Keegan and
I were strong together. We could handle just about anything, and
anything we couldn’t, well that’s why we were teamed up with
experienced fighters.

Keegan and I were walking back from the
roof-top training area and he was jogging in playful circles around
me, clearly he wasn’t tired.

“
Bet you wish you could
trade telekinesis for cheetah skills right about now,” he taunted
as he playfully jabbed at my ribs. He was still circling around me
as we walked, popping my body with little playful pats. Side,
thighs, stomach, hip, derriere—

“
Hey!” I said, surprised
by his last childish love-tap target.

Keegan laughed jogging backwards in front of
me.

“
Couldn’t resist,” he
halfheartedly apologized. His eyes were mischievously taunting me.
He picked up his pace and I had to break into a jog to keep up with
him. I reach out placing a hand on his chest and he slowed down
beneath my touch letting me get closer to him. In a swift movement
I cupped my hand and pinched his nipple through the
suit.

He yelped in surprise and started cackling
like a tween.

I was really starting to care for him. We
were quickly becoming more than venku, we were friends.

“
Weren’t expecting that
little pinch?” I chirped back.

“
You want to play, huh?”
Keegan said. He stopped moving abruptly, causing me to smash into
him.

We stood there for a moment smiling at each
other. He linked his fingers between mine, holding my hand in his.
His eyes darted to the side. We were standing in front of the
Aquarium.

“
We’ve never been in
there,” I said. I could see the shadows of people through the glass
lounging in the pools.

“
Didn’t Iris mention
something about Caves?”

“
Maybe,” I said smiling
nervously.

“
Let’s go!”

“
I don’t know—”, I
started.

“
Be brave,” he said
challenging me.

“
Do we even know how to
swim?”

“
I feel like we do. Plus,
the water will refresh us from all the workouts this
week.”

I looked at his face. He was grinning and
excited. Those emotions were giving him a boyish rugged charm that
I found myself unable to resist.

“
Okay,” I said, nodding in
agreement.

10: KEEGAN

I led the way, still holding her hand. The
glass doors moved silently apart as we neared them. The word
aquarium brought up a First-Plane image of a tank with fish but
this was just endless amounts of blue-teal water. I imagined it was
probably one big deep pool with various built in levels holding
shallow amount of water.

We walked along the curving path between the
different still-watered pools. Various Auras were socializing with
each other. Drinking water out of long stemmed calla lily shaped
glasses. I smiled ironically at the sight, knowing it was water and
not some type liquor they were drinking like it would have been in
First-Plane. This was the Second-Plane equivalent to a bar.

I recognized a pair of them: Ajani and Bem.
They were seated together. Ajani was faced slightly away from us,
intensely talking to Bem.

“
Hello,” Sariah said
greeting them first.

“
Hey! Out on a date?” Bem
teased. Ajani had been looking at Sariah but as Bem’s joke washed
over him he shifted his gaze to mine before staring blanking
away.

I didn’t have to be a genius to know that he
was infatuated with Sariah. I wondered irritated how far he would
try to take it.

“
Do venku date? It was my
understanding that getting laid with your venku was a sure thing,”
I said. Sariah’s gasp at my bluntness made me smiled.

And who are you
show-boating for?
She thought to me. I
smiled at her First-Plane slang.

“
We thought we’d check out
the caves,” Sariah explained.