Death and the Samadueanna
February 6, 2007
February 6, 2007
Reghen wasn't used to this. Gaia, responsibility, freezing temperatures, two legs... any of it. He had only been on this planet for a month, but he had thought he was doing all right, at least until he had lost Tana.
Tana was the infant Reghen had landed here with. She couldn't speak and didn't seem to have come with any sort of discernable translation system. She was just a baby and she had wandered off. He had fallen asleep and now she was gone.
The pale young man sighed as he fingered the shining chain around his neck. It was the last piece of jewelry he had, the rest having been sold to pay for food and, in a fit of selfishness, a hotel room on one particularly cold night. Even if he found Tana, he didn't think they would live long on his last memento from back home.
Reghen lifted his head and looked around. Night was falling, and he was was unfortunately sitting in an alley, sandwiched between two large, metal dumpsters. He gathered what remained of his voluminous robes and the castoff sheets and towels he had scrounged from this world and creaked to his feet. Further down the rapidly darkening alley, he heard a shuffle and the clang of metal. Reghen swallowed nervously and turned his back on the noises.
"Don't leave." The voice was right over his shoulder. How had this mystery being accomplished that?
"I was on my way..." Reghen's voice was soft and lilting, and none of the people he had spoken to since he had arrived could place it. He didn't turn around, but gestured toward the end of the alley, his long, dirty sleeves billowing in a sudden breeze. He felt fingers on the back of his neck, grabbing at his last possession, and he tried to run.
The chain looked beautiful and frail, but it was quite unbreakable. All Reghen succeeded in doing was stunning himself momentarily, giving his attacker ample opportunity to slide a thin knife between his ribs. The pain! He dropped to his knees and the blade slid in again and again.
"Thanks dearie." The chain slipped over his head and Reghen continued falling to the ground, blood soaking through his clothing at an alarming rate. The last thing he saw before he passed out was a pair of feet in mismatched shoes, scampering away from him.
And then he died.
Sometimes death was natural, sometimes it wasn't. This particular time the wound probably wouldn't have killed Reghen if it hadn't been for some tugging on the strings of fate. Just enough to ensure no one was around to administer aide. Mind, it was nothing personal, just their job. Reghen had to be dead to bond with..whoever it was that chose to bond with him.
Thankfully the robber had long since dissapeared and with a poof, so did the body left behind. Busily the spirits began to repair the damage done by rather zealous attacker. A little bit of this here, a little bit of that there and the job was done. Splitting into two groups, the spirits continued on their duty. One group scurried the body off to the Samadueanna and neatly arranged on a waiting bed. One last thing remained. Before notifying the crew, Reghen's body had a necklace slipped around it's neck, ready for the soon to be relic.
The second team spirited the soul away. Carrying it carefully to the realm where dead Tison gods dwelled the team waited. It didn't take long, not that time had any real meaning, before a soul chose the man. At that same moment, a relic appeared on the necklace, and the spirits could return Reghen to his body.
Amaria, the ship's navigator, was the only one who happened to be free and had some idea of what was going on. When the data came in she quickly drew up the formula describing how to return the man to his spot on Gaia (without running into anything to large) and hurried to the now occupied room. Muttering to herself over a piece of paper, the woman waited for Reghen to wake up.
Reghen stirred, but didn't open his eyes quite yet. He was sure the last thing he remembered was being in pain, possibly even dying, but now he felt fine. Better than fine, even. He wasn't cold, for a change, and he wasn't even particularly hungry. He just had no idea where he was.
He was fairly certain there was someone else close by, and it was obvious that he was awake at this point, so he gave in and opened his eyes. There was a woman in the room, he saw her out of the corner of his eye, but what captivated Reghen's attention almost immediately was the relic that had appeared around his neck. He started to attempt to pull it up over his head, and muttered, "What is this?" as his brow furrowed in a partial pout.
Though the man tried to remove his new piece of jewelery, the thing refused to come off.
While the man wasn't talking particularly loudly, there wasn't much background noise in the room, leaving his words clear. Replying rather absently Amaria stated, "That is the physical protrusion of a higher order entity of which the percent compatiability was great enough to permit bonding." She didn't look up from her pad as she continued, "You are also aboard the Samadueanna, which is on route to coordinates 117, 89, 5988, 915, 189LPD." Previous recepients had a 96.4% query of location upon waking, high when one removed the outliers of those previously aboard the ship.
Reghen tried to lift off the necklace a few more times, but every time he got it to around eye-level, it suddenly flopped back against his chest, no matter how tightly he had been holding it. He sighed as he listened to the woman's words and then again when he realized he didn't grasp any of it. Maybe the mysterious magic that had been letting him understand the speech of others and be understood in return didn't work in this strange place. But there... something he did understand.
"We're aboard a ship?" he asked. "How did I get here?" Perhaps this creepy pendant would disappear if he could find a way off. Reghen scratched at his neck as he sat up.
Amaria glanced up at the man with a sigh. Slowly setting her pad aside she focused her entire attention on his slightly bemuddled face. She didn't see anything wrong with what she had said but Rouge had often reminded her to use small words and no numbers. Opps.
Carefully Amaria considered how to reply to the man's question. "You died," she said slowly, "and were brought here." There. That should be simple enough for even the babies to understand. Amaria watched Reghen intently, hunting for signs of uncomprehension.
So, all of those memories were real then? Reghen would have paled if he could have managed it. "Oh," was all that he said instead. He started to stand up, but thought better of it. If he was really dead...
"Have you seen a baby? She's small and bluish-gray and very strange looking." His hand strayed to the relic again. Had this woman said something about a bonding? "Why was I brought here?" he asked. It was all well and good that they had revived him and he was grateful, really, but what use was it if Tana was gone too? "I'm very confused." Now that was an understatement.
About to affirm the man's first question, Amaria quickly shut her mouth at the qualifiers. Thinking hard about the babies on the ship she quickly came to the conclusion that no, none of them qualified as having blue-gray skin. Though they were strange. She shook her head with a negative. "Negative."
She leaned her head to the side considering for a moment. Probability analysis on this statement didn't give much usefulness. Without more information deciphering what he meant would not usually work. "Insufficient information. What do you need to know?"
Reghen sighed. It had been too much to ask that Tana be brought here too. He supposed that if she was meant to be found, he would find her again eventually.
"This," he said to Amaria, running his finger over the relic. "What is it and why can't I get it off? And who are you?" It was all well and good to be... not dead and on a ship, but he probably wasn't welcome here forever. Better to figure out what all of this meant and leave, before he wore out his welcome.
"I'm Amaria, ship's navigator. That is a relic, plus or minus .005 percent probability. Thus far there 100 percent of relics have turned into infant dieties within fourty-eight hours." the woman replied.
She nodded to herself before suddenly realizing her mistake. Crap. She used numbers again. "It is most likley a relic. The relics are tied to the souls of dead gods. After a few days they will turn into an infant form of those gods," Amaria repeated carefully, rephrasing what she had just said. "Do you have any other questions?"
Reghen had actually managed to understand her the first time, so he was only treated to more shock when she told him what she meant a again. "No," he mouthed, shaking his head. It was less in response to what the woman had asked than a denial of his suitability to be a parent for the second, unwanted time, but it was unlikely anyone would interpret it that way.
He sat in silence, staring down at his hands for a moment before he raised his head again. "I need time to think," he said hastily. He needed to be alone, and then to find someone with a big, magical, metal-cutting sword and a lot of time on their hands, perhaps. "I need to go home."
Fortunately a chime sounded softly by Amaria. Jumping slightly, the woman grabbed her things. "Allright" the woman said quickly, taking his words at face value. Flipping through her pad she pulled out a card. Amaria offered it to the man. "This is the contact information for the Samadueanna. We've arrived so I'll walk you to the teleporter." Gesturing for the man to follow, Amaria lead him to the teleporters, where a brief case stood.
"Oh!" Grabbing the briefcase, the woman shoved it at Reghen. "This is to aide in raising the godchild." Waving at him, Amaria hurried away, to finish the work and double check their positioning.
With that whirwind exit, another Guardian had received his relic.
