I, Propitiator: "Chapter 18"

Chapter 18

There’s the pursuit of happiness as well as the acquisition of joy. The former is often attempted through wealth or power, the latter however requires the presence of love.

Cassandra finally calmed down and said to Mom, “Ok, maybe you’re right, but it still doesn’t make any sense. How could I have lived nearly fifty years and not known something was up? Surely there is something somewhere in this that was obvious, how could it have all been hidden before me?”

Mom offered, “Well sometimes the best place to hide something is in plain sight, didn’t you ever notice that when my thoughts are articulated, the structure of the sentences are slightly unusual?”

“Yeah, you don’t use I, ever. It always seemed like some random tendency of yours.”

“Well it’s no accident, rather it’s quite intentional. For me, since my true nature is that of an I, it is usually dishonorable to use that word when speaking.

“Ok, so there was stuff that could have tipped me off, but it still doesn’t make sense.  No! I refuse to believe what your saying has been happening all this time.”

“Let him go Zurui, it’s me you’re after,” Oliver commanded.

Zurui laughed as he said, “You arrogant, self-absorbed little I, do you really think it’s always about you? I’m not here just because you are a pest, but because your ship is holding something known as the ‘Kentallian orb’ and I want it now. Hand it over.”

Now as you haven’t heard any mention of such an orb it is because until this time, none of the characters we’ve been following were aware of such an orb at the time. However, Oliver knew that saying he didn’t have it or didn’t know what Zurui was talking about would just infuriate him and make the matter worse, so Oliver telepathically told Mom to teleport David out of the room as soon as she could while talking to Zurui to buy time, saying, “What if you don’t receive the orb, then what will happen?”

As Zurui prepared a response, David disappeared and Zurui fired a shot of energy at the door, sealing it shut. Then he waved his staff around the room, creating an alternating frequency of energy around it so that Oliver couldn’t just teleport out. Oliver drew his tipir and stated, “Even if the blackness of space surrounds me, fear shall not overcome me, for your words are light to me.”

His tipir then glowed vibrantly and shot a volley of energy shots in all directions. Oliver did a backhand spring to dodge the ones coming toward him then dove under a panel. Zurui on the other hand stood there, blocking the shots with his staff. Then Oliver waved his hand causing his tipir to lunge at Zurui. Zurui blocked the initial tomahawk strike, but as Oliver pulled his hand back up, Zurui was caught off-guard by the bottom end of the tipir that took out his knees. Oliver was quite pleased with what he had learned from his battle with Lieutenant Tam at that point. However, Zurui was far from finished. You see, Zurui’s staff was stacked with a series of special energy patterns designed to mimic various monsters or creatures in away that really took up energy for the opponent. So as Zurui tapped the floor twice with his staff, a pair of snakes came out of it and slithered over to Oliver. Clearly not expecting his, he jumped up and sprang over to a table. Retracting his tipir, Oliver stated, “And it was in those days that all who looked upon the crest of Prime I as it was lifted up, were saved.”

The tipir then absorbed the snakes and shot a wall of energy at Zurui. Realizing that he was outmatched; Zurui twirled his energy staff to dissolve the shield he had erected and teleported away. Oliver ran over to the controls and tried the locate Zurui while strengthening the defenses on the ship. Zurui wasn’t just targeting them now, he was after various things in there midst, meaning they were in even more danger as their opponent had a double incentive.

Cheyenne sighed as she told me, “If what you say is correct, which it seems to be, I don’t believe it will make me happy. It would be like putting a garden gnome in the middle of an apartment in an urban city. I’d feel completely out of place and have no flowers with which to entertain myself with.”

My eyes blinked for a few moments trying to figure out why in the universe Cheyenne was using a garden gnome for comparison. However, it seemed to be her method of illustration, so reasoning led me to tell her, “For the garden gnome that was fond of flowers, if the wood worker that made him should move to change the gnome, the gnome could potentially become something specifically designed for that urban setting if the gnome lets the word worker remake him.”

Cheyenne countered, “Well what if the garden gnome doesn’t trust the wood worker? How can that gnome be made over?”

“if it was the pleasure of the wood worker to make a gnome as perfect as possible, and there he succeeded, yet the gnome had to move somewhere else, where that gnome would not be happy, then wouldn’t it serve to a logical conclusion that the gnome could trust the woodworked because he had the gnome’s best interests at heart by his very wish to make the gnome into something that could thrive in it’s new environment?”

Cheyenne stood there speechless for nearly an entire five minutes, which was rare. Finally she said, “Make me like you.”

Shaking my head, the response that came from my lips was, “You don’t want just that, you want the Prime I to make you like him, apart from him, there is no true happiness.”

She nodded accepting what had been said and was at that moment transformed from a Terran to an Actualized I. the connection had been made and she was beginning to see what was really happening in the world around her. Everything suddenly looked brighter and hope shone in her face. Sheyenne smiled at me for the first time in nearly two years.

Brooke tilted her head wondering where David had gone. She telepathically reached out, ‘David, where are you?’

David answered, ‘In Aunt Camryn’s room, Tamara and Kanda will be with you shortly… or you’ll be teleported to them…’

Satisfied with David’s answer, she played with her hair waiting for something to change. Then Zurui appeared in the room with her. She back up against the wall, trying to fade into the metallic color of the room. Zurui scanned the room, apparently looking for that orb. Then as he saw Brooke, he ran toward her, perhaps thinking to hold her hostage or kill her. Just as Brooke was preparing to scream, David teleported in and with his tipir he blocked a strike that Zurui was in the process of making. In the lock of energy staves, Mom teleported Brooke out. Then Oliver teleported in behind Zurui and sliced at his waist. Zurui kept his right hand on the staff that was locked with David’s and using his left and drew a second staff to block Oliver’s Then Oliver stated, “Let the light prevail over the darkness.”

The tipir Oliver was holding flashed knocking Zurui backwards. Then Zurui clashed his two staves together and a wave of energy hit both of them knocking David and Oliver back against the wall. As Zurui prepared another wave, Oliver threw his tipir and then twisted his hand as the tipir neared Zurui, causing the tipir to spin and knock one of the saves out of Zurui’s hands. Zurui tapped the ground and a snake came out , it’s tail stayed attached to the staff in his hand and by the time David rose to his feet, Zurui had his staves connected by a rope, and was properly defending himself from Oliver’s strikes while firing shots at Oliver and now David.. David blocked the shots while advancing toward Zurui, meanwhile Oliver took the ranged approach and dodged the shots while using his hands to control the tipir to keep Zurui on his toes. Finally, David managed to get in striking range of Zuri. Zuri whipped the staff that wasn’t in his hand over to attack David from behind. David didn’t have enough training to block the attack from behind without turning, so as he turned to block the incoming staff, Zurui swung the staff in his hand at David. Just before Zurui was able to make contact, Oliver raised his palm and used his tipir to block Zurui’s blow. Then while they were locked, Oliver said, “In all circumstances, my feet are firmly planted because there is nothing to fear.”

The tipir formed a wall of energy, allowing David to slide out of the dangerous situation. Zurui pulled his chained staves around the other way and attempted a similar maneuver from the other side. David then realized that trying to block it the way he had before would lead to a similar trap, so he deflected the incoming staff while sliding under it, creating some distance between himself and Zurui. Oliver then telepathically told David, ‘Lay down cover fire, let me deal with Zurui.’

David began shooting at Zurui as Oliver sprinted toward Zurui, pulling his tipir to his hand in the process. As Zurui blocked an array of shots from David, he launched a web of energy at Oliver. Oliver spun his tipir, slicing open a passage way for him to get through; however what he didn’t realize was that Zurui used that web as a distraction, because now Zurui was on a fiery energy horse charging at Oliver.