In between - Ch. 4 Orientation

"Yes, Everyone that is here has lost contact with their living bodies. That includes me, and anyone else that you meet here on Terra."

"What do you mean we have lost contact with our living bodies? Does that mean we might still be alive," asks a large man a couple of seats to our right.

"It means that ninety-nine percent of you all are dead. The other one percent are those that have gone into a deep coma or similar circumstance. Meaning that your body is still alive, but without a soul.

A man a few seats in front of me and Valithia stood up interrupting Cert.

"And we are just supposed to believe this? How do you know that we're all souls? I don't feel any different. I can feel pain, fear, and even my heart was pounding in my chest. How could we believe such a claim?"

"You are free to believe whatever you want to believe. You will find out the truth on your own in due time. I'm just trying to give you all a head start so that when you do find out definitively that you are no longer in your own flesh it won't be so difficult to accept," Cert said this while the man sat back down.

"Please hold anymore questions until I ask for them or until I'm finished. Now, back to what I was saying. All beings here on Terra are indeed souls. Living will continue on, and for the most part be the same. You will still feel pain, feelings, hunger, love, hate, live, and die. However, there are some rules that are different and I will explain them later. For now, just take my word that we are all living in our soul form."

Cert began walking around the room picking up a book here and there, as if tidying up the room.

"The Next question in most cases is, Okay, say we are souls. Where are we exactly? I don't remember anything here. For example, those animals just outside. This is true. We are not on the planet that you come from. This planet that you're on, now, is called Terra. Terra was created by the goddess that rules this planet. Her name is Serina. We are also no longer in the universe that we all come from. If you go out tonight, or any other night, you will not find stars in the sky, nor any moons. During the day you will not see a sun in the sky providing the light. Day and night is a gift, given to us from Serina. Now personally, I know this to be true, not because I believe in a goddess. I know it because I have spoken with her face to face. Many who live on Terra have spoken to her and most of you all will at some point come in contact with her during your stay here. I'm not a prophet, priest, or even a religious man. I just know that Serina does exist and that she did create this world. Any questions thus far?"

"You said that living as, 'souls', will be for the most part what we are used to?" Asked a woman a few seats to our left

"Correct."

"Well if that is so then how can your big friend over there," she says this while pointing to Cert's companion, "be capable of roaring as loud as he did? I mean there is no way that anyone that I know could produce a roar capable of literally shaking the ground without any amplification."

"First of all my friend's name is Guri, and second, the roar that he used to establish alpha male over the creature we call Goliath falls under the 'exception area'. As for right now I don't want to explain how he did that because you all have a lot to accept as true today. Any other questions?"

"You say that you have seen the Goddess Serina. If so how did you know that she was a goddess and also how would you know, based on her knowledge, that this is indeed a planet in another universe?"

"Twenty-six years ago a being of immense power came to be. This being wanted to destroy all life here on Terra. This desire was the beast's one and only thought. After fifteen years of fighting this beast, he was finally destroyed. The day before the final battle Serina revealed herself to me and we had an exchanging of words. She showed me how she created this world and what exactly it was along with where it is located in the great cycle of life. The next day I fought with the army of Terra with Serina leading us. If it wasn't for her powers we would not have been able to defeat the pure evil that threatened this world. I know that even this is hard to believe, but it is the truth."

After a small pause," Any other questions?"

I spoke up, "What about the lake that we came out of? Why would we.......I don't know 'appear' like that, and how or why did it turn into sand?

"The lake that you all came out of is called the "Lake of Yuridal". This is just one of many lakes found all across Terra. What happens in them we do not know. Their secrets are only known by Serina herself. However, their purpose here on Terra is obvious. They are to be the womb of the planet in order to give life to souls here on Terra. In other words, everyone is born here, inside a lake like Yuridal. Thus, those lakes have been labeled soul lakes. As for the second part of your question... my best guess is that it is to protect the souls that are being developed and or to protect the secrets they hold."

"So the short answer would be everyone on Terra is born in a soul lake like that and you do not know why they turn into sand after they give birth?"

"Correct, anyone else?"

A feminine voice spoke up from in the front of the room, "I come from a small village where we speak our own language, and thus, I could never understand anyone that I met outside the village. So how is it possible that you are speaking my language now as well as everyone else in this room?"

"Ah well that brings me to my next topic. What I like to call the Illusion stone, or more commonly known as, Stalcite. Stalcite is a very special type of rock here on Terra. As I have said already, everything here on Terra is in soul form. This even includes the walls in this room, the floor, air, fire, and rocks. EVERYTHING on this planet is made out of the same thing. This "thing" is something I like to call "Life Force". Think of it like this. Where we all come from everything was ultimately built by tiny particles and those particles follow the rules of physics. In this world, those tiny particles have been replaced by Life Force, and Life Force follows the rules of this universe. Knowing this, those of us that have lived here on Terra were capable of manipulating the Life Force of objects in this world in order to create something that we desired. Ultimately, we have come up with some pretty useful things. One of those is the Illusion stone. The Illusion stone is made out of the rock called Stalcite, and Stalcite has a very high concentration of this "Life Force" in it. So.....it acts kind of like a battery for us to use in order to perform simple tasks for us over a long period of time. One of these tasks is language translation! So the reason why you can understand everyone here and also why everyone understands you is because the Illusion stone is manipulating the sound waves as they travel though the air into a language that you understand.

Hard to believe I know, but hang with me for a minute more. Our Illusion stone is used for one more task as well. If you look around this room everyone appears to be like you. In other words they look like you do. However, I promise you there are three different species of intelligent beings in the room. One of them is Kormerigons, another is Humans, and the third one is Stalisians. The reason why everyone looks like you do is because of the Illusion stone as well. It is creating the Illusion that if you are a Kormerigon, everyone else looks like a Kormerigon. The same is true if you are a Human or Stalisian. So let me ask this. Do you all believe that everyone here is under the effects of the Illusion stone, and thus, you can understand everyone, as well as, everyone appears to be of the same race?

The room erupted in chaos as we all tried to understand what Cert was trying to tell us.

"I believe you." Valithia said calming the room down a bit. "I can see your aura. You are telling the truth. Even though it denies everything that I know to be true. I know that you are telling the truth."

"Ah, so I would have to assume you are Kormerigon then correct? That is, if you can see my aura."

"Yes, I am Kormerigon. Valithia Paestalotlea, Daughter of Korson, Leader of the Soron clan." Honor and pride resided in her words.

"I can see you are very proud of your family heritage and I envy your souls solitude," Cert said while bowing to Valithia. "Would you mind if I canceled the stone's effect on you? Since its effect will be canceled, you will hear every one's natural language and see the way everyone really looks like, and we will be able to see your true appearance. This way it won't be such a shock to everyone if I completely canceled out the stone's effect in this room," he said holding out his hand inviting her up to him.

Valithia stood up and started walking towards Cert, "It would be rude to deny the truth to everyone here, or to provide it in a way that would be frightening to some. I would be happy to help you."

Why is she talking so fluently all of a sudden, I thought? Back near the lake she sounded like someone who had just learned English.

Valithia had made it to Cert's side and he led her to stand on top of a table so that everyone in the room could see her. He then stood back, and pulled a rock out of his pocket. While holding it in his left hand he held his other hand towards Valithia with his palm open and fingers spread apart. Every one's attention was fixed on Cert and Valithia as I began to hear Cert's voice. I couldn't make out what he was saying, it just sounded like mumbling. After a second or two the rock in his hand began to glow a bright white. The light started to form into a small particle and float out of Cert's hand. After the first particle left Cert's hand the rock exploded into thousands of small white particles that danced in the air. They seemed to have a mind of their own, but eventually they all made their way to the now wide-eyed Valithia still standing on the table. It was a beautiful sight as what looked like thousands of white lighting bugs dancing in the air around Valithia started circling around her.

The white lights picked up their pace as they flew around her. They started at her head and descended her body. Everyone in the room was silent, intently watching the phenomenon happening before us. Eventually, Valithia's entire body was completely concealed. The intensity of the light grew more potent, eventually reaching the point of making it hard to watch what was happening. A humming sound came from where Valithia was standing and the air started to circle around the room as well. Books toppled over and their pages began to flip quickly making a crinkling sound. My heart started to beat faster as I awaited what all of this was for to show itself. I didn't know what was going on but I loved it. It was magnificent, powerful, and inspiring.

The light started to dim while revealing the top of Valithia's head. This caused me to be excited and sad at the same time. Excited that I was about to find out what a "Kormerigon" looked like and sad that this magnificent event was nearing its end. More of the particles flew away from Valithia revealing her face. She looked similar to a wolf but with human features. Her skin was a dark earthly brown that blended well with her three red streaks that ran from her cheeks to disappearing behind her lower neck. Her eyes where a lively blue that sparkled as if they held within them a scene were ocean waves crash on shore. I could see those blue eyes dance around the room taking in all the new entities being revealed to them. Her ears were a bit lower than a humans and slightly pointed. Valithia's lips were a paler brown than her skin. They also had two cavities that fangs rested in sealing off the inside of her mouth. Her hair was a fiery red, and I watched its lifelike movements in the current of air that gave it life. The humming sound ceased as more light dissipated giving me view of her upper body and arms. She was grabbing at the white lightning bugs as they slowly ceased circling her and vanished. Her hands where large and her fingers were much longer than a humans. Her arms were a bit longer than her upper body and would reach her knees if she let them dangle lazily.

That explains the odd splashing while we were swimming next to each other I thought.

Her physique looked very muscular, very much capable of overpowering any human. The current of air around Valithia finally died down letting her hair fall down all over the place, and the last bit of light faded out of view. Her legs were much longer and larger than humans. She looked like she could run for miles without much effort. Her clothing was worn, and very dirty. Her shirt was mad out of some animal's skin and was well-tailored to fit her form loosely. She wore what looked to be a skirt that hung down past her knees and on each side there were slits in it allowing her legs to pass through. All in all she was about ten foot tall, earthly brown skin, tribal like clothing, very athletic, and very beautiful.

I was is a trance like state staring at Valithia and after a brief moment I broke myself out of it and noticed that Cert had a different look on his face all of a sudden. It was no longer the confident man who had no fears. He had the look of someone who was facing his death. Some sweet beaded off his forehead as his eyebrows quivered a bit. His mouth was open and he seemed to be breathing heavier than needed, while staring at the ground with a look of dread on his face. Just a few seconds past before he realized that I was watching him when he turned to look at me instantly changing his look back into the confident man with no fears. I knew at that moment that he was hiding something from us. Something that he was afraid of.

"I'm sorry but something has come to my attention and I will have to leave now to take care of it." Cert said as he resumed his standard posture putting the rock back into his pocket.

"There is no need for alarm, I just have some business to attend to. Please remain seated while me and Guri discuss how to address this issue."

I noticed that Valithia was back to looking like a human standing on the table with a few people surrounding her. Cert quickly left the room heading into the previous main room where I assumed Guri was. Looking at Valithia I noticed that she seemed to be frightened with all the attention she was receiving.

"No! Stop it! Get away!" her voice quivered with panic.

"Did you see that?"
"What the hell was that?"
"A Kormerigon didn't you hear what he said she was?"

Came from the crowd that was surrounding Valithia. I quickly placed myself in-between her and the crowd pushing them away to give her some space.

"Back off! Can't you all see that you are scaring her?" I said with determined defense

"She offered herself up here in front of all of you in order to help you all understand what is going on here and you repay her by poking and prodding at her even though she is asking for you to stop! You all are a bunch of assholes! Just give her some space geez!"

The crowd was stunned by my sudden attitude and backed off talking amongst themselves. I was glad that it didn't turn nasty as I turned around to help Valithia off the table.

"Thank you" she said with no real feelings that I could make out.

"You saved my life back at the lake. It's the least I could do to repay you. Anyway, you okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine they just reminded me of something is all."

"What?"

"Nothing important," she said with a smile.

A brief pause passes between us.

"Did you see the look on Cert's face after he was finished doing whatever it was he did to you" I asked.

"No. Why?"

"He looked as if he was afraid of something. Then he suddenly rushed out of the room saying something about some business that he has to attend to," I said as I began to look upwards.

"I think he is hiding something."

"Even if he is, it is none of our business."

"Don't you think we have a right to know what's going on if there is something dangerous happening," I asked.

"If we needed to know then he would tell us," she argued back.

"How do you know if he would tell us anything," I responded

"Because he has been truthful so far... why start hiding things from us now?"

I had nothing to respond with but my mind was made up," Well I'm going to go and try to figure out what is happening."

I made my way back to the entrance of the library leading to the main room. The door had been shut after Cert left, however it was still slightly cracked. I leaned forward to see if I could hear Cert and Guri talking in the room if they were there.

"You make sure that the new souls are comfortable and un-alarmed, and you need to head to Yuricidal and tell them that he may be headed this way.

"But Sir I must argue that if he is coming here then you will not be able to protect these people without my," Cert's authoritative voice interrupted him.

"You and I both know that if he is headed this way then even with our combined strengths at 100%... it will not be enough to protect these souls! Our only CHANCE is for me to hold him off while you convince Gorkall and the King to send the army here. Now GO! Your wasting time!"

"Very well as you wish....by the way... you do know"

"Yeah, I know"

"I will return as quickly as possible"

"Talk to Gorkall first, he will jump for a chance to battle, and with him you will have a better chance at swaying the King's approval."

"Bye."

"Attend to the new souls now," Cert commanded.

"Very well," responded the third party, obviously in the room.

A couple of seconds later the door opened up startling me as I stumbled to regain my posture while trying to look innocent.

"You there," said Cert.

"Who me," I responded trying to keep my look of innocence, as authentic as possible.

"Yes...you know it's impolite to eavesdrop, and even more so in someone elses' house."

Shit! I'm caught red-handed I panicked, "Yes Sir, and I'm terribly sorry Sir."

"You're lucky that I'm a kind host and it is quite all right, however," I stood there and watched him. Even though his mouth stopped moving his voice still rung clear in my head. "I can not allow you to spread panic amongst my guests. Now come with me."
The look on his face told me I had no choice but to follow his orders and without delay I followed him outside onto the porch.

He stood on the porch looking away from me out into his yard.

"Because of my failure to maintain my composure in front of you I have involuntarily caused you to become involved and for that I am deeply sorry. If I had not lost control, your curiosity would not have caused you to listen in on a conversation that I could not delay even though I knew you were listening," he turned around and faced me.

"My job is to make sure that all those born from the lake of Yuridal are integrated into the society of Yuricidal as smoothly as possible. This world has its perks, but they do not come without a price. There are dangers around every corner and without protection most would die. This is especially true when we are in the middle of a conflict."

Cert paused for a bit looking at the ground as if not knowing where to go next with this speech that he was giving to me for whatever reason.

"This part you must understand," he said sternly looking straight at me.
"There is a danger around this area and because of certain events I believe that it may be coming here. If this is true then you must not tell the others. Do you understand?"

"Why not," I asked.
"They deserve to know what's going on, don't they?"

"Yes they do, however, it will only endanger them. If you tell them, then some of them will flee, and if they do that, I will not be able to protect them along with everyone else. I can not allow that to happen. The best way for me to protect them is for them to remain calm, together, and maybe even hidden, if need be.

"Alright... I'll stay quiet for now"

"Good. Do not take this the wrong way but I do not know you, and thus, can not trust you. So I will be keeping a watch on you," he finished with a smile.

He turned to look back into the yard once more, "Now go and return to the others and remember to keep this to ourselves for the time being."

Without hesitation I headed back into the library thinking about what I had just agreed to.

"They probably will not be in the library," Cert said as I was opening the library door.
"They should be in the dining room now which is this way"

Cert led me to the doors on the opposing end from the entrance behind the stairs. As I followed him to the dining room, and we past by the stairs, I saw a huge rock sitting underneath the stairs. The rock was a very dark almost black color and had symbols carved all over the face of it. The symbols would light up with a blue color and then dim down for a bit before it would illuminate again. As we passed by I asked Cert if that was the Illusion stone.

"Is that what I think it is?"

"If your thinking it is the Illusion stone then yes."

We continued past the stone towards the dining room.

"Ahh, here we are," said Cert as he opened the door to the dining room revealing that everyone had already started eating.
"Remember, I'm watching you."

I walked past Cert and thanked him for everything thus far. As I walked into the dining room my stomach growled and my mouth started watering which reminded me of how hungry I truly was. I scanned the room for Valithia only to find her sitting at a table with no available seats close by. So I continued to scan the room just for an available seat.

"Sir do you need a place to sit," asked a female servant.

"Umm, yeah I do. Sorry about being late like this."

"Oh that is no problem. Please follow me"

She led me to a table that had six people sitting at it already with two seats left. On the table was an assortment off many different dishes. Once again though, every dish was foreign to me.

"Hey man was up. Come on take a seat," said a man padding the seat next to him.

I reluctantly sat down and thanked the female servant even though she was already headed away from me. Without looking back she lifted her arm up waving it as if to say, no problem, and continued on her way.

"So what are you," asked someone at the table

I turned back towards the table and replied, "What do you mean?"

"Race. What race are you? Human, Stalisian, or the famous Kormerigon?"

"Oh, well I'm human."

"Another human. Hmm it seems we are the majority here."

"What do you mean by that," I asked.

"Well ever since the show in the library I have been asking what race everyone is and so far I've only had four people reply that they are Stalisian."

The conversation continued but I zoned them out for a while as I decided what I was going to try to eat since my hunger was winning my attention. The meal set before me was partially ate since I was late to the meal. Every dish had a portion missing except one that was mostly untouched except for one corner. So I decided to not try that one. The other dishes ranged from meats to vegetables to salads to a couple different drinks. One dish looked like it was just an arm of some animal cut off and laid on a platter. I poked at a couple different things and decided on the meats and vegetables. I remember them being extremely scrumptious as I got totally lost in the taste of the meal.

"Holy shit it got dark quick," one of my table mates said bringing me back to reality

"Huh"
"Wow your right"
"It has been dark we just didn't realize it," said the rest of the party.

The other two at the table remained quite as they had for most of the night. I got up politely and excused myself from the table in search of a bathroom. I had made myself extremely uncomfortable, which made breathing a little hard as well. I found the same waitress from before and asked her were the bathroom was.

"Excuses me miss. Where is the bathroom?"

She giggled a bit and replied, "There isn't one. There is a washroom though."

"Um... alright, but isn't that the same thing?"

"You'll see. It's just around the corner there," she turned and pointed into the far corner across the room.

"All right thanks."

I walked across the room and noticed a window that revealed an outside that was completely black. The only thing I could see through the window was a small portion of the lawn and a few bushes.

Where the hell is the light coming from, I asked myself.

There were no lamps, or candles. No light bulbs of any sort. Also, since there definitely was no light coming in from outside there was no reason for the room to be illuminated like it was. I continued on my way to the washroom pondering this oddity when Cert barged into the room. I knew then that the danger he had spoken to me about earlier was here!
*****
I begin to raise my arm.
Shit! it's too soon! I'll never find the answer before I kill her at this rate! No..... I must find it!