Sparks

Chapter 8

         Serah adjusted the bracelet around her wrist, listening to the small tinkling as the silver rubbed against itself. There was a low muttering as her mother and sister spoke while sharing makeup. The clicking of cases being snapped shut, brushing of hair, smells of various perfumes and the soft grey light filtering in through the window.
         Serah snapped to attention as the door to the room opened. Her mother whirled around, tools still in hand, to confront the intruder. “There are women getting ready in here, dear. Do you have no decency?” She chided.
         Serah’s father stopped a few steps from the doorway, hands folded behind his back. He wasn’t a very large man, or broad, but he filled the stance out well, his presence growing in the room regardless. He looked at his wife, then his eldest daughter, then to Serah. Serah self-consciously brushed her skirt, smoothing out nonexistent wrinkles. Her father grunted, then turned back to her mother, “Thomas is waiting in the foyer downstairs. How much longer?”
         Serah’s mother seemed to deflate a bit, her frustration having found no purchase. Instead, she managed a large smile and responded, “Not much longer dear. Ashley and I just have a few more things, but Serah is ready.” She turned towards said daughter. “Serah, dear, why don’t you escort you father down. We’ll be along shortly.” Serah nodded once, and stepped over to stand by her father, waiting for him to take the lead. He, in turn, nodded sharply and turned on his heel, marching out through the door. Serah followed along behind.
         The hallway was painted a soft white, various portraits adorning the walls. Serah didn’t look at them as she passed; she was well aware of what each one showed. The Tristan family had an illustrious history. Not so much one known for headlining newspapers or giving reporters a story to cover, but to those in the business, the family name carried a lot of prestige. And the family touched a lot of businesses
         The faces of past Tristan men gazed down on her as she passed. Proud men, who pulled the family forward with their determination and ingenuity. There were lawyers on that wall, sitting next to business firm owners, financial advisors, government officials, and more of the like. It was a hall of white paint, wooden portrait frames with gold plaques, and suits. The only suit Serah chose to look at now was her father’s.
         He walked a few paces ahead of her, his heavy footfalls muffled by the carpet, but still audible over her softer ones. His back was straight, head facing forward, but Serah still had the distinct feeling as if he was looking at her out of the corner of his eye. She was still startled when he asked in a gruff whisper, “Has everything been alright, Serah?”
         Only discipline prevented her squeak from escaping. She took a second to breath, then responded, “Yes father.”
         Her father slowed his pace a bit. Serah mirrored him, listening intently for his next words. “Have there been any concerns in school?”
         Serah almost shook her head before remembering that he still hadn’t turned around. “No. Nothing at all. I’ve been doing well so far.”
         A thoughtful pause. “That is good, I suppose. Would not do well to have any misfortunes.”
         Serah remained silent, her lips pursed as she waited. She didn’t have a very strong relationship with her father. He tended to spend more time with her older siblings, preparing them for entry into their professional careers. He personally taught them every trick he had learned from the family, everything that pertained to how to advance up the ladder, how to present oneself to others, and how to prevent a show of bad face. Outside of this, he never seemed to have much time for her. She respected him as a man, but as a father…
         Her thoughts were interrupted as he halted suddenly. She did the same, maintaining the professional distance between the two. The staircase down was only a couple steps away on his left, but instead he half-turned towards her and gazed down on her with his left eye. “Serah, you are 17, right now, correct?”
         A flash of irritation, quickly pushed down. Irritation is unprofessional, and this conversation was, above all else, professional. “Yes, that is correct.”
         Her father nodded slowly, straightening his tie. “How much do you know about the meeting we are going to?”
         Serah spoke slowly, choosing her words carefully, “We, as a family, are having lunch with the family of one of your business associates. It will be in downtown Seattle, but the establishment still caters to our taste.”
         Her father nodded again. “Yes, the owners are clients of your uncle. They know how to treat us well.” His gaze shifted over to the wall, but Serah had seen the expression enough to know that her father was considering what to say next. “Do you know, exactly who my associate is?”
         Serah shook her head, “They are another family with influence and a fair amount of wealth, but beyond that, I don’t know.”
         Mr. Tristan let out a small hmm. “Well, that’s good enough. They are a recent addition to the firm, but their family is quite well off. This lunch is, a sort of welcome party, I suppose you could say.” He checked his watch before continuing, “And Serah, they do have an only child. A son about your age.”
         Serah’s brow furrowed, “What is that supposed to mean?”
         Her father off-handedly commented, “Please don’t make that face, it’s crude.” before continuing with, “And I mean nothing by it. I’m just saying that it would be polite to welcome him. It’s important to become close with others in the business, I am just saying that you would have the easiest time about it.”
         Serah frowned. Her father’s intentions were usually more masked than this. But she guessed that there was really no way to mask what he wanted here. The sound of the door opening from down the hall prevented her from asking any more questions. “All one dear!” her mother’s voice echoed from down the hall. Her father nodded, looked once more at Serah, then proceeded down the stairs. Serah hesitated, forced herself to not look at the portraits, and instead take one long breath, before following him down.

         The next morning found me sitting at some Chinese restaurant a few blocks from Veral’s apartment. I was quite competent with chopsticks, so I spared myself from embarrassment in front of my new… friend? Partner? I didn’t even know what to call him.
         The restaurant wasn’t one of the well-known places frequented by hordes of tourists. It was a small out of the way place, with only a handful of circular tables arranged to allow for the maximum amount of seating. Everything was brightly polished wood, with bottles of soy sauce sitting neatly in the center. There were only a few other patrons, and two waitresses bustling around pretending to be busy when not attending to customers.
         My colleague had allowed me to get more sleep after the events of last night. I hadn’t thought I’d be able to sleep, but as soon as I had laid down I was out. I woke up a bit before noon, so Veral was paying for lunch.
         I studied my associate over the walnut shrimp I was chewing on. He was gazing out at the street, but his eyes weren’t fully there. In the midday light, I could see his irises were actually hazel, not gold like every prior meeting. After last night, he seemed to barely notice me. No words were spoken about his trick or what he had said.
         The silence was actually worse than anything freaky from last night. Thanks to the silence, I had had plenty of time to think about my mother and sister. I had given no reason for not showing up home on time. I’d noticed several missed calls on my phone when I’d woken up the second time, but I was too afraid to answer. I didn’t have a feasible lie yet, and I couldn’t call until I’d come up with something. Still, the longer I waited, the better the lie had to be.
         But I could deal with that later. This place served family style, so Veral had just chosen some dishes off the menu which now sat in between us. It was easy to forget about that thanks to how good the meal was, so there wasn’t much else to complain about. Aside from a terrible lunch companion.
         I swallowed down my worries with the shrimp, and decided to breach the quiet, “So, uh, John…”
         He replied, “Call me Gryphon.” It came out absently, almost as if it was an off-handed reflex for him.
         I blinked, and continued, “Okay then, Gryphon. What. Was. With. That. Weird. Orb. Last. Night.” I emphasized each word by adding an item of food to my plate with each space. I was quite pleased with the amount of choice I had on my plate. I took a moment to greedily pick over my plate, deciding which direction to begin my assault from.
         Gryphon sighed, and picked at his plate. He hadn’t eaten much. Then he reached into one of the many pockets on his jacket and retrieved a pencil and a pad of paper. He cleared his throat and spoke, “Alright, I guess we’ll start at the beginning.” He began sketching something on the paper. I watched with interest as I stuffed my mouth with fried rice. It was mostly a lot of circles orbiting each other. When he finished, I recognized it as the image that I had seen above the door in the apartment.
         Huh. He motioned to it, “What does this look like to you?”
         “A modern art exhibit.”
         I got the feeling that wasn’t the answer he was looking for. He didn’t comment on anything, but ripped that sheet off and drew another quick sketch of circles on the underlying piece. This time when he finished, it looked remarkably similar to our solar system, with lopsided planets and their orbits marked out in elliptical circles. I took a moment to assess this, then turned to the first page, then back. “You’re not, actually saying, that that first page is of another solar system?”
         Gryphon nodded. “Yes, now there’s a start.” He laid the pencil down and traded it for his utensils, easily moving pieces of beef up to his mouth. He avoided my eyes the whole time. “Well, the better term would be another planetary system.”
         “Solar system is universal.”
         “Maybe. Anyways, this other planetary system is pretty much the origin of everything you need to know.” He switched from beef over to the plate of fried rice, picking it over with measured movements.
         I mulled over the two pictures he’d drawn. So if this one represented us, and this was another system, then… “So, how is the other system significant? Is it the source of some supernatural energies that gives people superpowers?”
         Gryphon stopped mid-chew, donned thoughtful expression for a moment, then shrugged. “Possible, but there is a more concrete answer.” A thoughtful pause. “Do you believe in extraterrestrials?”
         Well this conversation just took a 180. “That’s blunt. Sure you don’t want a better lead-in?” I got a stony stare in response. “Fine. Maybe, maybe not. I don’t see why there can’t be, but until I see actual proof, I won’t commit to anything.”
         Gryphon merely tapped the paper in front of us. “There’s your proof.”
         “Okay, but that’s not good enough. You could just draw a bunch of circles and claim they exist. Doesn’t make it true.”
         Another shrug. “Then I guess you’re going to have to take it with some faith or trust. Point is, this is the Eleprima system, sitting somewhere on the other side of the Milky Way galaxy.” Just one sentence. He just pulled it out like it was the greatest news story of our generation, and dropped in the middle of the table to look at. I honestly thought the braised beef looked more appetizing.
         “So, what you’re saying is… you’re an alien. As in, an extraterrestrial being from another planet?” Best to start off easy.
         He pursed his lips at that. “Not quite. I was born here on Earth. Midwest actually. But somewhere back in our family trees,” he placed a lot of emphasis on the our, “there was an… alien. For lack of a better term.” A thought seemed to occur to him. “And actually, it’s planets, plural.” He picked up the pencil again, but just fiddled with it, as if waiting to write something down.
         I waited to see if he was going to do anything, but when nothing did, I continued, “So what does this species call itself?”
         “You know, it’s not really polite to talk about them like they’re some kind of animals.” He actually looked quite offended by this. I shrugged in way of apology and transferred a few more dumplings to my plate. He sighed, then responded with, “They share their name with the system. Though the term Eleprima is a blanket term for a very diverse species. Kind of like how ‘human’ is a term that can apply to a large range of races.” He finished, then looked uncomfortable. “Well, not quite. ‘Race’ is a very poor metaphor, since human races aren’t very clearly defined, while Eleprima ones are.”
         That seemed interesting. “What do you mean?”
         “Well, humans have a habit of separating races by characteristics like skin color, ethnic origin, what-have-you. But skin can come in lots of shades, and ethnicities don’t always line up with nationalities. Anyways, it’s just a lot more simple for Eleprima. Look here.” He pulled the paper showing the Eleprima system towards himself and started tapping circles with the eraser. “The four central planets are home to Aquaborne, Earthborne, Flameborne, and Windborne.” He moved on to the outer ring, “Outside that, Frostborne, Steelborne, Stormborne, and Sandborne.” Next, the ring with two circles. “Lightborne and Shadowborne. And finally Lifeborne.” This last name was given to the lone planet on the outer ring.
         I looked over the map again, now that I had names to give them. “So, are those the planet names, or just the name of the people living on them?”
         He took a sip of his drink before answering. It was something alcoholic, if I recall. “Good question. The planets do have their own official names, but it’s just easier to call them by the same name as the residents.”
         “Any reason for that?”
         He snorted, “In everyday speech, would you rather call the planet Frostborne, or Glacirost? It’s just a more informal way of saying it, and in my experience, people refer to the race and planet synonymously, so it’s not an issue.”
         I nodded, “Fair point.” I poked at the duo of remaining dumplings. “So, why does each planet have such unique inhabitants?”
         “Because every planet has such unique environments. Over time, through some process, the natives learned to harness the element that was most abundant on their planet. And with enough time, harnessing becomes controlling.” He paused, then started sketching little symbols on the planets. A little flame, some waves, a lumpy rock. Each planet was gifted with a special little doodle.
         “Official symbols?”
         “Hardly.” He slid the paper over to me. “Here, in case you need it.” He continued as I folded up the slip and tucked it away. “Each planet’s terrain is much more uniform than Earth’s. There’s really only one kind of environment. Kind of like how Mars is an endless desert, or Jupiter is just nothing but storms. Earth is unique in its diversity. The Eleprima planets as a whole are just as different, but the individual planets are not.”
         We both fell silent as one of the waitresses delivered a bowl of egg flower soup onto the table. After she skirted off, I helped myself to a bowl and stirred it mildly before asking, “Is there a reason so many of these words sound like English? Or are they rough translations?”
         Gryphon shook his head. “No, they are the same language. That leads us into the second point.” He finished off his cup and left it on the edge of the table. “Now, the thing you have to realize is that all of this element harnessing and such nonsense took place quite a long time ago. Perhaps before life on Earth even started. At least before the rise of humans.” A waitress stopped by to refill his glass. The number of patrons had dwindled slightly, so the waitresses were just waiting for an excuse to move. He retrieved his glass while I finished off the bowl of soup. If nothing else, at least this was interesting. At most, it was knowledge that could upend a lot of modern science. At worst, it was pretty good fiction. I think.
         The tearing of paper brought me back. I still wasn’t sure about this guy, but at least he didn’t seem to be dangerous. To me at least, as I recalled the alley. Right now, he was scribbling something on a third piece of paper. “So, after the Eleprima were done with setting up their ideal society, you know, after all the wars, corruption, attempted genocides and such, they took space travel very seriously. Started expanding beyond their star.”
         “Did they colonize entire galaxies?”
         “Not quite. While they had incredible means of terraforming in favor of habitable environments, the galaxy is a dangerous place. Not every planet is… hospitable.”
         “So there is other life beyond the Eleprima.” The word felt funny in my mouth.
         “Depends on your definition of life. If you mean just plain lifeforms, then yes. If you’re referring to sentient beings, not so much. Not everything that tries to kill you needs to be as developed as you.”
         “All right. So spacefaring aliens who control elements. But only one, depending on where they’re from.” I frowned. “Wait, so does each individual Eleprima have to learn how to use their element from scratch? And why can’t they learn other elements?”
         Gryphon sighed and tapped the end of the pencil against the pad. “Short answer: I don’t know precisely. But let me finish my first thought, and we’ll swing back to that.” He swiveled his third drawing over to me, and I looked at a three-dimensional drawing of a pyramid. “So, the Eleprima did discover Earth eventually, and they found a barbaric species. Primitive and unruly. But, with a little guidance, they could be taught. Architecture, language, science, math, all these were gifts imparted by our species.” He got that look again, as if he wasn’t comfortable with that description, “Not to say that humans couldn’t figure these things out. It was just, well, Eleprima accelerated these teachings. They were more of guides than teachers. From behind the scenes, of course.” He placed the pencil down and leaned back, stretching his arms over his head. I gently traced the lines of the figure in front of me. It was kind of hard to believe that the things I learned in my junior high geometry class were teachings from ancient aliens.
         “So, then the reason the words are vaguely English is because... “
         “Yeah, the Eleprima speak English.” Another uncomfortable-description-expression. “Or, at least, some language with a few similarities.” He should really choose his exact words before speaking if he was so concerned about describing things inaccurately. His chopsticks plinked against his plate a few times as he mildly poked at the items on it. I, on the other hand, polished off another serving and was surveying the unpilfered plates before me. “But, humans still had their own languages before. I mean, they still had to communicate in some manner. Writing though, was definitely something that was given.”
         I nodded slowly at this, But back to my other questions…”
         Gryphon rolled his eyes, making a bit larger show of it than strictly necessary, “I told you, I don’t know. I know that their powers are like speech. They can use it, but it takes practice and teaching to refine it into something respectable. And everything else, I don’t know. I don’t know why each Eleprima can only use powers from their family line. I don’t know why some people are stronger with their abilities than others. I don’t know how we can choose for our abilities to manifest as solid objects. And I don’t know why some powers seemingly connected, like Earthborne and Steelborne, aren’t interchangeable. You are just going to have to take some things on faith, okay?” I nodded mutely, my mouth full of a cheese rangoon. I didn’t quite understand everything he said, but I was getting that same feeling as when I interrupted my mother’s lectures too often. A pervading sense that opening my mouth again would lead to a lot of pain.
         Gryphon tossed his drink back again and took a second to center himself now. “Now then, anything else?” I made a wise decision and shook my head dumbly. “Excellent. Now then,” he tapped the pyramid picture in front of me, “early humans were a lot of things, but they weren’t stupid. Well, not all the time, anyways. But they were aware that their civilizations were being contacted by something not of this world. But, they couldn’t quite comprehend the thought of other planets having more advanced life-forms. It kinda conflicted with the flat-geocentric-Earth theory. So instead, they changed from extra-terrestrial to celestial.”
         He made a quick sketch that I recognized as the Eye of Horus. “Religions sprung up around the world, created after the Eleprima that those civilizations had come into contact with. Powers became pantheons, and affinities became domains. Of course, not every god was an Eleprima, and not everything attributed to something from legend is linked to that individual,” he tapped the Eye for emphasis, “But humans do have very active imaginations, and they enjoy filling in blanks and expanding upon stories.”
         I mulled over my drink for a bit, before electing to refill my cup of tea. Faint wisps of steam rose in front of my eyes. “So, then, Horus was…”
         “A Lifeborne. Although he had a preference for falcons, not an actual falcon head.”
         “And Thor?”
         “Easy one. Stormborne. Although the hammer was altered. It wasn’t made of metal.”
         “Same for Zeus?”
         “Of course. The Greek gods are pretty accurate to their abilities, actually. Hephaestus, Poseidon, Apollo…”
         “Hades?”
         “That one’s a bit more complicated. A legend based off a legend, if you will. Anyways, you get the point, right?”
         I nodded slowly, watching the tea leaves in the bottom of the cup dance about as I swirled the small cup. “I think so. But what happened? Those old beliefs are basically gone. We don’t have anything that big anymore.”
         Gryphon let a small smile cross his face, “Oh really? Tell me, when you saw me in that alley, what did you think I was?”
         Ah crap. Walked right into that one. Chalk up another one to “Dumb Questions of the Day: Leonidas Edition.” I scowled at him in response, refusing to give him the satisfaction.
         “I suppose you get the point. Yes, most modern Western religions are seeded with Lightborne, represented by angels. I don’t know why humans became so fixated on that, but that’s the way it turned out.”
         I added some more delicacies to my plate and pieced my next words together as I bathed them in soy sauce. This was the big question, without a doubt. “Okay, so that’s all ancient history. But what about now? Are we still being guided, from behind the scenes? Is the Catholic church just a big puppet for a cult group of Lightborne? Is NASA really just a coverup for benevolent Eleprima sharing the universe’s secrets.”
         Gryphon tapped his chin in thought, “Now there’s a theory. How interesting. Has anyone ever told you that you have a strong imagination?”
         “My teachers, usually. During the same discussions about my inattention and failing grades.”
         “I figured as much. But your question is fair. The short answer is no. The long answer is stupidly complicated, but the medium answer is that a large portion of Eleprima left Earth to return to the home system, about the time the Roman Empire fell.”
         “Was there a reason for that?”
         “Nothing big. Just the central star collapsing?”
         I blinked in response. “That sounds pretty big.”
         “Nah, it’s fine. They just put in a new one. “He smiled at me. “Like replacing a lightbulb.”
         I stared at him for a few moments. He seemed in a joking manner, but what he said didn’t seem to be a joke. “Right. Okay then. Like a lightbulb.”
         He nodded. “Exactly. Now, only a small number of Eleprima remained on Earth. You know, to continue observing the planet. But of course, things happen, and eventually the Eleprima interbred with the humans.”
         “That’s possible? I thought different species couldn’t breed.”
         “I don’t know. Taking things on faith, remember? And yes, I think I forgot to mention that Eleprima are humanoid also. For all intents and purposes, they look like humans. Aside from some, coloration differences, of course.”
         “Right. So, I’m assuming that the Eleprima abilities were given to humanity as well?”
v“Yeah. But not to everyone. The human side muddles things up a bit. Unlike pure Eleprima, not every offspring will end up with the power. It can occur in every sibling, or only one. Every child and parent can share the trait, or it can go generations without showing up only to popup again. It’s all pretty random.”
         I thought for a moment if Tanya had done anything weird in the time I had known her. Well, weird apart from her average routine. But I couldn’t think of anything that would qualify as a “super-powered god”. Even if she sometimes acted like it.
         Once again, Gryphon’s drink disappeared down his throat in a flash. If that glass did have something strong in it, he wasn’t showing any effects. “Of course, there are still native Eleprima walking about. They tend to pop in from time to time. Not too often thought. Earth is something more of a backwater destination than an interesting nature preserve, these days.” He seemed to think for a moment, then snapped his focus back to me. “Well then, I think that about covers it. Any questions?”
         “How do you know all this?”
         Gryphon looked a bit startled, as if no one had asked him that before, then his expression turned into one more, well, approving. “My mother was a Lightborne. She told me about it all, and taught me how to use my abilities. I don’t know who she heard it from, but I’ve run into one or two natives who confirmed it. So yeah.” He motioned to the waitress for the bill.
         Final question. “What makes you think I’m an Eleprima?”
         Gryphon pulled out his wallet, not making eye contact with me. “There’s a sort of... sensation you feel. Humans sort of have the same thing. A sixth sense, that tells you when you’re not alone. To an Eleprima, it’s a bit more refined. We can tell when there is another one of us nearby, or a different species.” He looked at me. “Didn’t you ever get the feeling that I was a bit different than everyone else.”
         Come to think of it, that time in the café, he was the only one who caught my attention, in a pretty large crowd. But I chose to say, “I thought you looked a bit more washed-up than everyone else. You know, that whole grouchy-old-man vibe.”
         He scowled at me, “Keep that up I’ll make you pay the bill.” I smiled apologetically. He sighed and turned to accept the small folder from the waitress. “Also, there is another thing. Elemental manipulation-” say that five times fast “- is only an Eleprima’s flashiest ability. We are also blessed with increased physical strength, heightened senses, enhanced reflexes, and,” he looked at me out of the corner of his eye, “increased regenerative properties.”
         I rubbed my ribs as I absorbed this. I could chalk everything he said to utter lunacy. He wasn’t the most stable looking guy. Of course, I did notice how many bills he had stuffed in his wallet as he counted out payment. Still, the disheveled jacket and unkempt jaw made it a bit hard to take him professionally. But there was a part of me, deep down- as in, really deep down- that believed him. For some reason, I believed that he was speaking the truth. Plus, it was pretty hard to deny the floating orb of light he was waving around in my face last night.
         As he pocketed his cash and we stood to go, I shot one last question at Gryphon, “So then, for curiosity’s sake, how de we make certain that I am what you say I am?”
         He chuckled as he began making his way over to the door, “That’s the easy part, actually. You said you don’t really do well in school, so how do you feel about tests?”