Mayen
It was considered an honour to be an acolyte. They work their entire lives dedicated to studying all knowledge in the known universe, sometimes spending decades mastering different subjects, from physics, chemistry, mathematics, psionics to art. Not too different from magi, however acolytes walk their paths alone, are frequently transient and offer little to no interest in social or political affairs. An acolyte’s goal is to ascend to a being of energy by an entity of similar volume. This is typically tasked by an ancient extra-terrestrial who transfers a portion of themselves into their chosen pupil. However, that level of sacrifice by an energy being would come at a great cost to themselves, so most acolytes who spend their lives studying never ascend.
It was rare for humans who had shorter lifespans in comparison to other races to become acolytes. It was even rarer for young humans who could be doing anything with their lives other than studying. Mayen was not a regular human, even for an Atlantean, from what Olanta had said. Her mother's cool nature had been washed with excitement and anxiety as she prepared the house for Mayen's arrival, whereas Durun held himself in his office and only interacted when Delta or work colleagues visited. She hadn't seen her parents interact in days. She considered messaging Goru, but with her mother becoming more erratic and compressing the household as if she were a possessive spirit inhabiting its walls, it would be too risky. Her unpredictability frightened her.
Delta thought about running back to the Magi Tower. She would just take the port out back to the nearest village and hike all the way into the country with A'gesh. Yet, there was a sick curiosity to meet with her half-sister; she wanted to see the youngest, non-harkan human acolyte; what she had achieved with far less than what Delta had, or how much more she had.
She waited with her parents by the teleporter alcove while A'gesh flew in circles around the chandelier. The servants lined up in an orderly fashion behind them. Considering they only had a few days to restore the mansion back into its immaculate state, they did a phenomenal job in little time. Delta had witnessed the maids pushing some of the destroyed armchairs into the mansion's vaults. Their dishevelled condition was courtesy of Olanta's many fits of rage when she tore the leather with knives and threw them across the room.
The lights flashed around the alcove. Delta sucked in a big gulp of air as the teleporter gave a faint high-pitched scream, signalling an arrival. A tall figure, bathed in light, materialised before her eyes. She wore a black leather vest with a long grey robe underneath, on her chest sat a necklace carved from rubies the size of an infant’s fist, her moon-white hair was tied back in a topknot and tattoos were covering her face and hands. Her eyes had an unnatural golden light emanating from her pupils, indicating that she was now significantly more than human. The Atlantean acolyte held herself as someone infinitely older and wiser than her kind, mixed with pride and an arrogance that comes with such knowledge and titles. Delta's spine shivered when Mayen’s cold eyes met with hers. She was afraid of her; it was far more than her chilly and powerful presence - Delta knew that she had met her before.
“Greetings, honorary acolyte. As matron of this house, it's a pleasure to have your presence amongst us,” Olanta said followed by a short bow. Durun and the servants mimicked, and much to her displeasure, so did Delta.
“Thank you for having us and for inviting us so quickly. This one, I am, Mayen,” she said as her hand pressed against her chest.
“My daughter Delta, my partner Durun, and I am Olanta Ungbrahe,” she said with a nod for each name, “we can ease with the formalities, you're here to see your father.”
Mayen's face was unreadable as her head turned to Durun; his smile trembled, and his glassy eyes reddened. “It's good to finally see you.”
“Likewise,” she replied with little emotion though as with her potency, strong feelings could probably overwhelm others around her.
“Come, we have food,” Olanta said ushering her to the lavish dining room.
“We only consume raw foods, nothing cooked,” Mayen said following the family as the servants drew the cushioned stools for them.
“Certainly, we know acolytes have strict diets,” Olanta said settling in her throne as she plucked an assortment of dried broccoli with sharp silver tongs before handing them to Mayen.
“Of all things, why become an acolyte?” Durun said as he dug a ladle into the mixed nuts pouring them into his bowl.
“For the challenge mostly, we want to strive through resisting forces and become better from them,” she said, “there's many wonders this universe has to offer.”
“Humans don't live long enough to do everything, especially when they're on their own,” Delta said as she eyed the various fruits on the glass top table.
“Our short lives are blessings in disguise. We aren't alone, even surrounded in silence, that's when the soul is loudest,” Mayen said, as her golden orbs shone from across the table, making Delta shiver and look away.
“That's what some of the Arinu say, even as a telepath, it's incomprehensible,” Olanta said as a servant poured bubbling water in her goblet.
“You are Arinu,” Mayen said, her eyes transfixed on Olanta's cup.
The corner of her mouth twitched into a smile. “Part of me is, yes.”
“You would make an excellent acolyte. Harkan's have a greater chance of ascension,” she said, an amber glow appeared around Mayen's fingertips and directed the energy to a nearby carrot, willing it to float to her hands. “Durun, we hear your calling was science, a pursuit of truth through physical means? This is something we share.”
Durun chuckled after he swallowed a nut. “When I was younger, I had that same passion, but my employers care for those answers more than I do. Now, the phasing labs are working all hours since receiving a massive donation from an unknown affiliate. We have little time to breathe let alone come to see our families.”
“Your passion is still there, that's why you sacrifice so much. You know who you are,” Mayen said as she crunched down on the carrot before turning her eye to Delta once more, “and who are you, Delta Ungbrahe?”
Delta viciously tore into the purple cabbage leaf, smirking while she chewed and swallowed the vegetable mush. “I've been mundane since birth, been kicked out of several education institutes over the years for fighting with other students and professors, rejected an offer from the Academy out of pride and I never forget anything,”
“Delta-,” her father growled, for the first time in her life when addressing her.
“With the exception of your past lives,” Mayen said, still holding a blank face, unmoved by her words.
Delta felt a piece of the cabbage get stuck in her airway; she forced her cough down as mucus covered around it. “You can't read me, you shouldn't know that,”
“We don't have to be psychic to read you, Delta,” Mayen said.
“Stop saying my name, you don't know anything about me. None of you do!” she called.
“Not everything is about you, just eat your cabbage and stay silent!” Olanta said.
Delta jumped to her feet and kicked the stool from her legs. “I suppose staying silent is in our family, so I welcome you to it, Mayen,”
“Sit down, now!” Durun shouted as his fist slammed into the glass top.
“No.” she hissed before storming from the dining room and dashing up the staircase. A'gesh swooped over her head as Delta leapt into her bedroom and slammed the doors so hard that one of its wooden edges cracked. She threw herself on her bed and kicked off her sandals and wrapped her body in a creamy quilt. She couldn't hold the tears back as she bit into the pillow and screamed until her throat stung. Her bird dropped onto her scalp and started gently pecking at her hairs.
“Get off!” Delta waved her arm around her head, making A'gesh jump to the bed frame. Their eyes met for a moment; Delta looked at the bird's piercing teal irises. For a moment, she felt calmed until A'gesh began chirping through her beak. She was hungry.
“Fine,” Delta breathed as she reached to her bedside table and pulled out a handful of nuts and tossed them around her bed, which greatly pleased A'gesh as she gave a squawk of appreciation.
She watched the bird tear into the food as she thought about the last few moments. Delta squeezed the bridge of her nose when she recalled her outburst in the dining room, regretting every word and second. They were probably relieved to see her go, she thought. They could now have their conversations in peace. Mayen could enjoy spending time with her father and Olanta could keep obsessing over an acolyte in the family. Delta remembered her half-sister's chilling eyes; even the unexpected memory of them shot something dreadful through her soul.
She sat up on the mattress and crossed her legs. She tapped the black band on her wrist. “Play the 'Sounds of Jupiter,'”
As her eyes closed, allowing the harsh melody to flood the room and take her consciousness away from her body, she wanted to reach deep and understand. Delta didn't know what to expect, but her mind replayed Kyirn's advice. She drifted down, down, down into blackness, at the bottom that revealed an endless navy sea. Her reflection was caught in the shiny surface, but it wasn't her face. To her surprise, it was Anobus. His disapproving stare saddened her, but he looked sadder to see her there.
“What are you doing here?” she called to the rippling image, but Anobus' mouth moved in unison with hers. It was as if they were speaking as one. His face morphed into Mayen's. This time Delta frowned when she saw it and so did the image, “I don't want you here,”
The reflection vanished, and Delta was left alone in the sea. Her feet felt cold as she imagined herself walking through it. In the distance, a shimmering violet curtain draped over the water. She reached her hand out and gripped the thick material. With all her strength, she tried prying it apart, but the curtain remained closed. This is ridiculous, she thought, there was no way she would let fabric inhibit her from remembering her past. She forced her arms through the central gap and felt her hands and wrists slip through; she sensed heat coming from the other side, the harder she pushed. The sunlight began breaking through the crack. She pushed harder. Her strength was almost giving out until her body slipped through the curtains and tumbled on to hot sand. Its sting made her jump to her feet. She told herself repeatedly that it was all an illusion and the heat could not hurt her.
The burns subsided as she glanced around at an alien desert. Its orange canyons twisted in unnatural formations, an infinite amount of sand blanketed the land and two suns beamed down on the surface. It was too bright, too hot and certainly uninhabitable. This is what she thought until her eye caught movement under the sands. A million granules shifted by a mass underneath trying to break free. Delta was drawn to it immediately. She drifted over it; her hands dipped into it until her fingertips grazed against something smooth and slippery. She contemplated over its unusual texture for a moment, as her mind raced through her knowledge as to what it could be. But the moment was stolen from her. A tail, the size and length of her whole body, leapt out from the sand and wrapped itself around her. Delta tried jumping from the trembling land, but its grip was too powerful to run free from it. Breath escaped her throat as the scaly tail squeezed about her ribs and her feet lost their grasp on the sands below.
A gargantuan head rose as streams of orange dust streamed down; its sleek eyelids opened revealing an iris so red that Delta's own burned. “Get off me!” she pushed out the words from her numbing lips. The serpent's mouth opened; its teeth shone like white blades against the sun as they pressed themselves into her shoulder. She wanted to scream, she wanted to fight, she wanted to live, but the snake didn't care for what she wanted. Its slithery lips wrapped around her neck, sending her straight into its maw of nothingness. Delta entered void; blackness was upon her.
“Come back into the light,” echoed a voice in the shadow, “it hasn't left you. Come back.”
Delta's eyes opened to find herself back in her bedchambers. The windows were dark with distant stars burning in the heavens, A'gesh stood on her perch with her head tucked beneath her violet win, and the music had gone silent. Delta had been gone for hours, yet mere moments. Mayen stood in the doorway. She was a lone figure shrouded in the golden hallway light. Her haunting eyes emanated their luminescence in the centre of her face.
Delta felt the dried sweat on her brow crinkle as she frowned. “Why are you in my bedroom?”
“We're not, technically,” she said as she glanced to the separation of the hall and her bedroom floor, “you've been gone for quite some time, we were worried.”
“You can tell them they needn't worry; my parents know that I'm fine on my own,” Delta said.
“You're not alone, there's darkness closing in around you, and you're blind to it. We see it,” she said.
“Acolytes, you lot always talk in circles and never saying anything straight.”
“Like the magi,” Mayen said before she turned and stepped away from the doorway. Delta didn't hear her feet walking down the hall. She couldn't feel a body there anymore, as if she phased away into another plane. She gripped a pillow and with all force, tossed it through the doorway. It grazed against the opposite wall before falling in a thud.
~
“That's insane, so you had a sister this entire time, and your father never told you?” Kyirn replied in a message through the wrist phone.
“He didn't know, a former lover long before my mother came into the picture,” Delta typed. She heard the sliding doors of the outdoor patio, her heart leapt as she quickly scrawled on the screen, “someone's coming. Talk later.”
With a flick of her finger, Kyirn's messages disappeared and were immediately replaced with the daily messages of the news reading Earth's Energy Crisis Subsided; Federation Intervenes, headline flashed across the screen. With A'gesh still circling around the gardens, Delta spun around in the grey weaved outdoor lounge chair to see the newest hire of the house walking out with a silver tray in both hands. He was a young Atlantean man with sharp white sideburns and wide yellow eyes that seemed to get larger when he spoke to people. His smile was the best. However, Delta noted that he wore the servant's uniform quite well on his long body too.
“Oh, hello Deruth,” she said easing back. Her jade coloured blouse clung on the loose hay fibres of the chair, “what brings you out here?”
“It's your eighteenth birthday, thought you'd appreciate some of the home-brewed coconut and sugar liquor,” he said with a smile as showed the small clay cup of a milky liquid.
“Thank you so much, where did you get this?” she said, lifting the cup and putting it to her nose, which was struck by the strong sweet fermentation of the fruit.
“My family makes this and a whole lot of other drinks,” he said as he slipped the disk under his arm.
“That's so interesting, I didn't know that,” she said, taking a tiny sip of the drink. Her eyes watered as it burnt her tongue and the rest of her throat as it went down. She still smiled widely to show how pleasant it was – or at least tried.
“Of course, this is the first time I'm telling you,” he said with a chuckle at her despair, “It's good, isn't it?”
“Yes, it's wonderful, thank you so much – again,” Delta suppressed her cough as she looked down at the sweetened disinfectant, “you know, my mother wouldn't like me drinking this, not even when I'm an official adult of twenty years.”
“Well, she doesn't have to know,” he said pressing his hand to his mouth. He glanced around the mansion before pulling up a stool beside her, “it's probably not my place, but news travels fast around the staff about Mayen. If you wanted to get out of the mansion for the night, myself and a couple of people would be heading into Capihul, and we can make it into a special occasion for your birthday?”
Delta's heart felt like it had flown out of her chest, she wanted to say yes more than anything, but her joy diminished at knowing what would happen later. “I would love to, more than anything, but Mayen is coming over for dinner tonight and I have to be here.”
Deruth nodded with a slight disappointment in his gorgeous face, which sunk her heart all the way down into her gut. “I understand, there'll come another night,” the young servant said as he rose to his feet, “Lady Ungbrahe has requested to speak with you once she is done with her meeting.”
She rolled her eyes. “She's been in meetings all day, probably threatening to throw me to the threshers if I misbehave again. She's always so rotten after talking to those diplomats.”
“Lady Ungbrahe wouldn't do that, of course,” he said with a worried smile.
Delta chuckled as she pulled herself out of the lounge chair. “If you don't think so, just ask the staff what this family does to each other when we get angry. A'gesh, stay out here,” she called to the purple creature, but she was too busy focusing on something small and edible in the tall grass to give a squeak of acknowledgement.
Deruth's eyes widened as he tapped the edges of the dish. She couldn't help but smirk as she playfully slapped his forearm before strolling back into the mansion. As she walked through the dining hall, she noticed the table was already prepared for the evening and the servants carefully carried the piles of fruit and vegetables from the kitchens before placing them on the table. There was so much that Delta thought some would tumble off. She smiled at the thought if Mayen were to pull one out the wrong way the fruit tower would come crashing on her. The smile dimmed when her eye caught the crack in the glass left from the time her father slammed it with his palm. A chill crawled down her when she recalled his anger was directed at her.
As she passed through the archways, missing several servants trying to order the potted ferns, she overheard raised voices from her mother's office in the foyer. Delta had planned to sit and wait for Olanta to finish, but her curiosity overcame her as she slowly inched towards the sliding doors. She wished her psionics would allow her to listen in, but her feeble human ears had to make do as she pressed them against the doors, straining to hear every word.
“Atlantia and her colonies always abide by the rules of Federation, this is no different,” Olanta's voice was muffled by the wood.
“Your people were warned not to tamper with these energies, yet you persisted, despite everyone's pleas,” said a strange voice. Its sound was so enchanting and haunting; there was an echo to it as if there were dozens of voices speaking in unison through one mouth.
“Your people's warnings only, the Federation acknowledges we have broken no rules. Besides, it's strictly against their policy to inhibit the development of a species, no matter how young or old they are. Why do you insist on becoming our wardens?” Olanta said.
“You're meddling with things you don't understand, yet we fear it'll be too late by the time you do,” said the eerie voice.
“We can take care of ourselves, and it's only a temporary measure, the new pylons are being built as we speak,” she said.
“Temporary will become a convenience, but I'm afraid our time is up since this conversation is no longer private,” the voice said.
Delta's stomach clenched as she leapt from the door, but it was already too late as the wood slid away revealing two Arinu sitting on a long teal sofa adjacent to Olanta's. Her face dropped to a frown when she saw her.
“Apologies ambassadors, hopefully, we can resume when situations have lightened,” she said rising with the tall white figures.
Delta stepped aside as they drifted through the doors. Their long bodies were draped in pastel lavender and blue robes with high collars that covered much of their necks and jaws. She didn't even see their legs moving beneath the fabric, as if they were levitating just above the floor. She looked to their hairless heads and almost transparent white skins. The outlines of their eyes were shrouded with a starry light and in the centre of their foreheads was a protruding crystalline substance, presumably an extension of their skulls.
They looked down as they passed her with Olanta following closely behind. “We hope you speak up, Delta,” one of them said.
She opened her mouth as she tried to find the words for a proper Arinu introduction, but their presence rubbed her memories into nothing. “Greetings, brothers and sisters of the stars, I'm-you already know my name, I-,”
“Thank you for coming today, may we see each other on the other planes,” Olanta said before giving a short bow.
“See you on the outer planes,” they said in unison before their forms dispersed into space, disappearing from their hall.
“You know you're not supposed to listen in on sensitive meetings. You know you're not supposed to do a lot of the things you do, darling,” she said pinching her nose ridge as she rested against the door frame.
“They're a lot taller than the holo-photos make them out to be,” Delta said before looking at her teary-eyed mother, “I was just curious, I didn't understand anything that was said anyway. Was it that bad?”
Olanta shook her head as her hand dropped from her face. “It's been bad for a while, but...” her other hand rose with something in it, a spherical crystal with a laser-etched image of an unfamiliar city or town that was surrounded by icy hills.
“What's that?” Delta leaned over.
“It's of a place on their world, somewhere. They gave it to me, which was supposedly bequeathed to me by your grandmother,” she said as her fingers gripped tighter over the shiny ball.
Delta looked up at her mother, her eyes were like two pools, but her thick lashes caught the tears from falling. “Thought it was my birthday today.”
“It'll be yours one day, I promise,” Olanta smiled as she wiped her eyes, “happy birthday, Delta Ungbrahe, your gift will be coming soon.”
“It's not customary to give gifts on birthdays, we aren't Alkhemites,” she said, partially excited and anxious.
“So, you don't want your gift?” Olanta said with a smirk. It was like looking into a mirror.
“I didn't say that,” Delta returned the smile.
Olanta slowly walked to the stairs before turning around. “I don't need to remind you to behave yourself for tonight, do I?”
“You always do, mother,” she said.
After retrieving A'gesh from the yard, Delta prepared for the night by slipping into her white ceremonial birthday gown, the same one that she would be dressed in when she died. Hours were spent in front of the mirror, making sure her makeup was perfect, hiding all the blemishes with fine mocha powder and her red eyes with charcoal liner and her cracked lips with deep purple lipstick. Her eye caught Deruth leaving the front gardens in a hover car with his friends. She had hoped he would see her in her finest state, but the universe seemed to have other plans for her that night.
With A'gesh's talons pressed against her shoulders, she walked down the stairs. Mayen was already there, and her arms were tight around her father. She even shared a hug with Olanta. Jealousy bubbled up inside her as she watched them embrace; she didn't get one from her mother that day – and it was her day. Delta held her head high as she continued down the spiralled stairs, keeping her face from showing anything.
“Happy birthday, Delta,” Mayen said. Her usually neat clothes were crumpled and sat unevenly on her body, her hair was in a loose bun and she looked like she hadn't slept in weeks.
“Thank you,” Delta said quietly, slightly offended to see her half-sister in a frazzled state on her day. Mayen didn't even attempt to hug her; Delta couldn't decide whether it would be more irritating to be touched or not by her.
“Happy birthday, Del, sorry I couldn't get out of the office today to say that, but now is as good as any time,” Durun said, his eyes were sad, but his smile was warm.
Delta nodded as she gently patted his arm.
“Let's get something to eat, you must be starved, Mayen,” Olanta said, interlocking her arm with Mayen as they strode to the dining hall.
“It has been a trying week for us, trying to split our minds to be awake both in physical and astral forms, we still haven't quite mastered it yet,” Mayen said as she settled in her usual chair.
“And you haven't eaten in all those days? Your body must be so weak, daughter,” Durun said taking his seat beside his wife's throne. His words stung Delta's ears, but she remained quiet. A'gesh hopped on the glass table, her talons clicking against its hard surface.
“Delta, please get the bird off the table,” Olanta said pointing over.
“Her name is A'gesh,” she muttered under her breath as she guided her feathery friend on the perch beside her stool.
“Please continue, Mayen,” Olanta said.
“On the contrary, matriarch, our body absorbs energy from around us always, we can even break matter down into energy to supplement what was lost, but the food is still needed to supplement this physical form for now,” she said, telekinetically lifting an apple from the fruity tower.
The servants swarmed around and poured a fine, navy liquor in each of their goblets.
“What's this?” Delta plucked the glass and swirled the liquid inside.
“Your present from us,” Mayen said. However, her goblet was filled with bubbling water, “something we picked up from Elzona, the natives there are mad over it.”
“Is it alcoholic?” Olanta said sniffing the edge of her goblet.
“It usually comes with alcohol, but we removed it,” Mayen said. Her expressionless face glanced across them. Delta looked from her cup, intently watching her parents swallow down the drink. She waited for a moment before slowly pouring it down her throat, as the other's seemed unaffected by it.
“It's made from Elzonian blueberries, it's not poisonous,” Mayen said as she peered at Delta across from her.
“I know that,” she snapped as she stabbed her fork into a sliced raw pumpkin.
“It's delicious, how did I not know about it sooner! Thank you so much for sharing, how did you get it here? I didn't see you carrying a bottle,” Durun said waving his goblet to the server for more.
“We apported it into the kitchens with instructions, rather a simple thing to do when you know how to fold space. We assure you that we don't use spatial bending for malicious reasons,” Mayen said. The other's laughed, Delta didn't.
“There's something I was wondering and don't take offence,” she said, challenging herself to look at Mayen's shining gold orbs, “who ensures you play by the rules that others abide? I mean, we have laws around reading the private thoughts of others, all teleportation devices are marked with who's coming in and from where and we can choose to lock them out, but it seems like we assume acolytes that go anywhere and do anything will abide by those rules.”
“Delta, she's not a stranger to us,” Durun said, his hand reached over to her section of the table, but she refused to take her focus from Mayen.
“We understand how you feel about us, but do you really choose to place your trust in a pack of powerful individuals over just one person?” she said. Mayen's unblinking eyes bored into hers, but their glow waned since last they met, she was weaker.
“I trust those who have proven worthy of it,” Delta said while her grip of the utensil tightened.
“If it's that simple, then we weep for you,” Mayen placed her hand over her eyes. Her head slightly fell forward, “apologies, we are weaker than we thought, may we use the restroom?”
“Certainly, if you're unwell, you can-,” Olanta said.
“Nonsense, we won't leave over this,” Mayen said as she rose to her feet. Her form vibrated as she sped out of the dining hall so fast that Delta's eye barely caught her going.
“Why are you talking to her like that? She doesn't deserve that disrespect,” Olanta hissed.
“They're valid questions, I think they should be held under a microscope,” Delta said looking between her parents.
“It's not about her being an acolyte, Delta, it's just about her. She is my daughter too. I thought you would be a little more understanding of different people,” Durun said, taking another sip of the blueberry liquor.
“What, you are saying I should be more accepting of super powerful psychics because I'm mundane? It would make more sense for me to be weary because of my 'disability,' but I'm glad this family now has a child of such great psi potential,” Delta said before biting into the pumpkin.
“Your jealousy is greater than her psionics,” Durun said under his breath.
Mayen rushed back into the dining hall; her form materialised before settling back on the stool. Her presence was stronger, and her eyes were shiner than ever. “Again, we must apologise for our rude absence.”
“It's not you that's rude,” Olanta said before taking a bite out of the cut pineapple.
She rose to her feet and clapped her hands, summoning two servants who pulled the hall's curtains apart to reveal the white city shrouded in night. The glowing lights from the streets and buildings beamed across the horizon. Olanta lifted her goblet, as Delta and the others stood. “Happy birthday child.”
Amber, lime and silver lights exploded from the land, shooting higher and higher into the dark skies. The pops and cracks vibrated from the glass window and through the floors. A'gesh squawked at every boom of light that shot, spelling out in luminous beauty her name: Delta. She looked at her parents and Mayen, she couldn't hide the welling tears, and they could see that
“Thank you,” she mouthed as her lips pressed the edges of her cup and she sipped her drink down. Olanta and Durun smiled in understanding as they took a drink from their goblets.
Mayen walked over to the window and pressed her outstretched hand against it. “That's quite a gift,” she uttered.
“When your birthday comes, we'll prepare something similar for you, Mayen,” Durun said.
“We cannot accept this, though we are thankful for the sentiment,” she said before returning to the table, “our- this one's mother would have been elated to see this display of affection with our new family.”
“Our doors will always be open, no matter what happens,” Durun said stepping around the table before placing his arm around Mayen's shoulders.
A flare of frustration shot hotter than the fireworks inside Delta, she couldn't listen to Mayen's words any longer, she couldn't stand her presence a second more. This perfect woman, standing high and humble, winning her parent's love and admiration with nothing but a look, tore at Delta. Oh, what secrets they kept, what lies they said to this newcomer; they threw Delta away to boarding schools to be tormented because their perfect lives were compromised.
“I need to go,” she said setting down her cup.
“Are you ill?” Durun said.
Delta glanced at Mayen before taking A'gesh to her shoulder. She nodded before turning out of the dining room, her stomach clenched when she heard the frustrated hushed voices of her parents, but when she skipped up the steps, their voices died. A moment of relieved silence was lifted when a banging of feet came up the stairs. Her head turned to see Mayen's head rising from the case, her eyes brighter and furious.
“What do you want to tell us?” she growled.
Delta's insides tightened, but her anger kept her from cowering. “There's nothing I want to tell you.”
“Of all our years, we have never met someone so resisting and hostile as you, Delta Ungbrahe,” Mayen's hands curled into fists, tiny cracks of light peered between her fingers.
“Acolytes aren't meant to get so emotional over trivial things, Mayen,” she hissed.
Her half-sister inched closer with her fists still clenched. Her aura spooked A'gesh to take flight from Delta's shoulders, leaving her alone to face a furious being of unknown potential. “This is far from trivial. We may be an acolyte, but we won't allow anyone to walk all over us.”
Delta bit her lip as she forced herself to stand firm. She pushed her anger up her chest and into her third eye, pushing, praying for something psionic to come from her. “Something you said about your mother got me wondering about your being here. Why come to Durun now? After so many years of opportunity, you chose to meet father now? Is it because you knew that he could afford a lavish life and your mother couldn't? We know so much about you, but not of your agenda.”
Mayen's face shadowed, even her eyes dimmed their amber glow. “To see that you've lived so poorly in this mansion and to see everyone as an obstacle, even yourself. We pity you.”
The rage boiled within Delta, sweat mixed with powder clumped around her temples as she glared. Mayen glanced at the centre of her forehead and smiled before taking a step away, her fists unwrapped while the amber light shone around her palms.
“Our agenda is to meet the only other living parent we have left,” she said before the light enveloped her body and pushed her out of existence. In a blink, she was gone.
Delta took a deep breath of air and pushed it out of her lungs. She ran her fingers through her sweat-ridden scalp as she hoped that her half-sister would be gone for good. Still, in a mad rage, Delta thought about how she could ensure that Mayen would never come back again; never have Durun to invite her back in her home. Her eye turned to the mansion's vault, its sleek marble doors appeared to be like any slab of wall in the building, except for a small crack along the bottom that was just slightly higher than the rest. Delta bolted over to the door, kicking aside the small sofa in front of it, she bent over and slid her finger along the indentation and stepped back.
The vault door slid open revealing a room, large enough to fit her bed in it. It was packed with antique Atlantean and off-worlder furniture, shelves upon shelves sat along the walls with ancient ornaments and devices from across the globe and beyond. Her eye drifted to the far corner of the vault. There was the Arinu crystal ball sitting clean on a narrow cream stand. Delta's face widened into a malevolent grin as she turned to A'gesh following her into the vault.
“Keep this a secret,” she whispered before reaching out and shutting the vault doors to a near close, “this will be the best birthday gift I have ever received.”
Delta grabbed the small sphere and, with all her strength, began bashing it into the floors and walls. “Stop it!” she screamed at the top of her lungs as she threw herself against the shelves, sending all the precious artefacts crashing to the ground. A'gesh squawked, her voice amplified by the slick walls rang into Delta's ears.
“What are you doing, Mayen?” she shrieked as she tore around the vault. The bird jumped into the air, flying in panicked circles around the chamber as Delta screamed even more. She felt the crystal ball finally beginning to crack, voices called in the distance, she knew she was running out of time. Her skin tightened from all the drying sweat and growing bruises. She glanced at the ball and bit her lips. She placed her hand against the edge of the stand as she rose the ball over her head and, with her eyes scrunched closed, she bashed the ball against her wrist.
Pain unlike any she could imagine erupted from her hand, her screams deafened her ears as she bashed the crystal ball again and again into her hand. She dropped to the floor. Her broken hand trembled as its colour turned into a sickening purple and red. With one last ounce of her strength, she threw the ball against the floor, shattering it into a million white shards in an instant. Shouts blew from the doors as Olanta and Durun pressed their way inside the room, their faces dropped as they looked around in shock.
“She just left,” Delta moaned as cool tears rolled down her burning cheeks.
Durun rushed over to her, she could see several of the servants huddled around outside, but Olanta remained in the doorway, her eyes drifting between Delta and the empty stand.
“What happened?” he said carefully taking her broken hand into his.
“Mayen…when I came up here, I saw the vault had been broken into, we fought about it, I tried finding out why she was in here, and she tried to... silence me,” Delta said slowly sitting up.
“We have to get you to a healer, we'll talk about this later,” Durun said as he delicately pulled Delta to her feet.
Olanta's face was stone when her eyes fell to the shattered crystal ball. “Did she do this?”
Delta winced her hand from her father's, trying to indicate that his pressure was too great for her. “It must've been her, look what she did to my hand when I confront-”
“Why would she?” Olanta said. The muscles in her jaw twitched as she glanced around the destroyed antiques.
“We don't have time for this. We need to get her to a healer, Olanta,” Durun called.
“I don't know exactly when she left the dinner table, I think it was to find the vault to get some energy from the stuff in here,” her wrist throbbed viciously, the skin around it started swelling into a fleshy ball, “it really hurts.”
“What could an acolyte gain from any of these trinkets, I wonder,” Olanta said as her eyes drifted to A'gesh floating above their heads.
“Olanta, our child needs medical attention, look at her hand!” Durun yelled.
“Open your thoughts to me, girl,” she hissed.
“No,” Delta could feel a powerful psionic pressure against her mind.
“Push the barrier around and show me!” Olanta screamed, but Delta bit her lips as she pushed her back.
“Not feeling talkative?” her mother's face twisted in a scowl as she pulled A'gesh from the air. “Show me what happened here, little bird.”
“Mother, don't-,” Delta called as she watched A'gesh flap helplessly in Olanta's grasp.
Olanta straightened her long, elegant neck and closed her amber eyes. A'gesh's struggle for freedom turned into desperation as she picked and clawed at Olanta's fingers. She shrieked as her mind was forcefully opened. Delta watched helplessly as her bird's movements slowed and eventually stopped. Olanta's sculpted face twitched and relaxed as A'gesh fell limp in her hands.
Delta felt faint, she almost collapsed in her father’s arms. A vision thundered in her mind; she saw a corpse-looking hand covering the mouth of a beautiful grey skinned woman. The woman struggled under the hand's powerful hold; her fists pounded onto Delta’s shoulders as the woman’s mind was ravaged by Delta. Her skin tingled at the vision as if hundreds of spiders scampered up her back. The vision was a remnant of a life-long gone, from her past life.
Her eyes shot open, her feet regaining their bearings and her breathing returned its usual rhythm. She saw her mother's hands were open with an unconscious A'gesh laying across her palm. Olanta's eyes were now open, her amber orbs glowed an intimidating yellow, and her face was beet-red and furious. Delta knew she was not getting out of this.
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