Chapter Fourteen
“Brother, brother, are you awake? Brother, brother, can you hear me?”
That voice … it took me a moment or two to recall, but I remembered it as the voice of Kiriah, my dearest sister, who I had not seen in years. Yet how could that be her? After all, she had gone missing so long ago that I had not thought I would see her again. Perhaps I heard someone else's voice, another woman who sounded like Kiriah.
The only way to know for certain was to open mine eyes and see. She sounded as if she was close by, perhaps even close enough by that I could see her.
Slowly, I opened my eyes. The lids felt heavier than normal for some reason, as if I was awakening out of a deep sleep. And indeed, my whole body did feel as stiff as a metal pipe, though why that 'twas, I could not remember.
When my eyes fully opened, I saw Kiriah's face staring at me. It was slightly older than when I had last seen it, but there was no mistaking that small nose or those distinctive, thin eyebrows for the features of anyone else but my sister.
“Kiriah?” I said, the word sounding weak from my mouth, the back of my head pounding for some reason. “What are ye doing here? I thought ye had been missing for six years.”
“I was missing, but now we're back together again,” said Kiriah, putting her hands together in happiness. “All we need to do now is get Sura back and everything will be back to normal again.”
I smiled a grand smile, the grandest smile I had smiled in years, at her words. Yes, there was no mistaking this woman for anyone other than my dearest sister, Kiriah. We were reunited at long last. Praise the Old Gods!
Then I noticed I was sitting in some sort of strange, cramped box. The interior was lit by a white light, while mysterious little mechanical instruments, such as knives and needles, hovered over my head. It smelled as sterile as a Xeeonite hospital, though as far as I could tell, I was not in one of those buildings at all. 'Twas a door hanging open, too, a thick, metal door, with a white glowing interior much like the interior of the machine I sat in.
“Uh, sister?” I said, looking around at the strange machine I was inside. “What is this thing? Where am I?”
“You were injured,” said Kiriah. She gestured at the machine. “And we brought you here, to be repaired. This is a Xeeonite healing machine. It regenerated your skin, mended your broken bones, and even gave you blood that you lost. Isn't Xeeonite tech amazing?”
I nodded, but then felt a sharp pain in the back of my head, in the part that pounded, like an insect had stung me there. Instinctively, I reached behind and grabbed it, but there was nothing to feel save for my hair and what felt like stitches, though I had no idea where those had come from.
“Headaches?” asked Kiriah in a sympathetic voice. “That's all right. Everyone who uses this machine has them. They'll only last a little while, though. Then they'll be gone for good and you'll be all better again.”
My sister spoke so sweetly that I had no reason to disbelieve her. I didn't even ask her about the stitches. Most likely, those were the remains of the work that the machine had done on me and would be removed as soon as they were not needed.
“I am glad to hear that you are whole again, Rii,” said another voice, one I did not recognize, but which stirred up feelings of unease in me immediately. “Because there is still so much for us to do and we need every last bit of help we can get.”
Then a tall, humanoid figure appeared behind my sister. He wore golden, flowing robes and had mechanical hands, which were put together as if in prayer. His face was hideous; half mechanical, half organic, he made the Xeeonites, a people obsessed with mechanical implants, look positively normal by comparison.
Kiriah stood up and turned to face him. “Oh, Founder, there you are. Yes, Rii is all better now, but he says he has headaches.”
“I heard that, Kiriah, but thank you for informing me anyway,” said this 'Founder' character, whoever he was. He rested one of his large mechanical hands on Kiriah's shoulder. “I do not believe there is a kinder or more devoted sister in the two worlds than you. It is what I most admire about you, for you give me hope that there is still some good in this fragmented world.”
Though Kiriah's back was to me, I could imagine her blushing at the compliment, because she always used to blush whenever she was complimented by anyone. 'Twas another good aspect about her, for it showed her purity of soul, which was what I had always loved about her.
Whilst I hated interrupting these moments, I nonetheless held up a hand and said, “Whilst I do agree with ye about my sister, I do not believe I have met ye yet, sir. What is your name?”
Founder pushed my sister gently aside, but even before he did so, Kiriah scrambled to get out of his way. He then stepped forward, looking at me with his eyes. The left eye, the organic one, glowed a natural blue, while the right eye, his mechanical one, glowed an artificial red.
“You can call me the Founder,” said the man. “For reasons, I am certain, you already know.”
I did not understand that cryptic speak, but then without warning, the Founder no longer seemed unfamiliar to me. When I looked at him, I recognized him as the leader of Reunification, on a holy mission to reunite Dela and Xeeo, to restore what was lost … but more importantly, I saw him as my leader, who I could not afford to question.
Where and whence did these thoughts come from? I did not know. They seemed to come from the back of my head, where those stitches were, but I soon stopped pondering deeply about this, because the undeniable truth of those ideas held me as firmly as the fangs of a vampire on my throat. I felt awful for questioning these ideas at all.
“Yes,” said the Founder, nodding. “I can see in your eyes that you understand. Are you willing, then, to do what I say, when I say it, if it will aid us in reuniting what is divided?”
I should not have known what that meant, but I did, and so I said, “Yes, Founder, I am.”
“Good,” said the Founder. “Now rise, Rii, brother of Kiriah, for it is now time for us to begin the final process of Reunification. And there is no one now who can stop us.”
***
Two Worlds #2: Alliance