“You all killed my parents?”
Alia is with Kazi Quail, Fandral, and Lograt. They sit in the main room of the Master Dōjō, just the four of them. Alia’s legs are spread before her and her arms are crossed at her chest. She wears the Kazi gi, an orange vest and pants with a navy blue undershirt. She has a navy blue band of fabric tied around her forehead and the tails mix with her hair over her shoulders.
“Grasyl killed your parents…” Fandral says before Quail interrupts.
“It was a series of extremely unfortunate events that set you on the necessary path to bring you here.”
He hopes that it some solace, but the woman seems to be very angry.
“I definitely didn’t see this one coming,” Alia says, genuinely surprised that she had to travel all the way across the universe to learn her parents’ names, to visit her mother’s grave.
“Since we laid Samaya the Brown to rest in the Red Mountains, the number of Kazi have tripled. She has made us strong.”
Alia shakes her head slowly. “You don’t understand the things I’ve been through, and to hear that my entire life, every part of my existence, has been manipulated by things that let me suffer and struggle, it makes me furious.”
She takes deep breaths.
“But I just described life for every living thing. I’m lucky that I get to see the invisible hands that made my life what it is. And I get to hurt you.”
Her eyes begin to glow white and Alia stands. The Kazi bow down before her on their heads, ready to accept whatever fate befalls them.
“You killed my parents!” She screams and she feels the starlight gather, ready to shoot from her eyes and her mouth and wipe the Kazi from the dōjō. But she collapses before she obliterates them and the Kazi pick her up and take her for medical attention.
– – –
Alia opens her eyes in the field with the tall grasses. The woman on the screen, Par-Cell 77, is waiting for her.
“You need them,” Par-Cell says.
Alia screams and the starlight suddenly explodes from her eyes and mouth. The streams of light come together in a single cone that wipes away everything in its path. Except for the screen.
“They will position you where you need to be. You have to get to eternity, Alia. If your spirit makes it there, any part of it, it will return to you after the reset and you will remember. You will bring light to the universe, you will help to avoid a dark future.”
“You’re selfish!” Alia yells. “All of you, using me. I was a baby! My mother and my father were happy, but you all couldn’t let that be. What if I don’t do what you want? What then?”
“It’s your choice Alia. You feel burdened, you are justified. The fate of all existence is not in your hands. You can walk away. But you will see it soon, you will see the portends of the dark future and you will understand.”
“You just want to make sure you exist in the future,” Alia says defiantly. “That’s all you care about.”
Par-Cell shakes her head. “If that was my only concern, the Ascendant have ways to assure that. But that is not why I did this. That is not how I came to be here, where I am less me than I am a reflection of you. I knew that as Ascendant, I could never truly do what was necessary to make things right, especially if it meant that the Ascendant would be erased from the future. You and I only meet in your memory during your present toric cycle so that you can benefit from my wisdom, but make the right choice. I am you Alia, with the benefit of so much knowledge, and I am telling you what is best. You stopped yourself from killing the Kazi because you know you need them. They will help you achieve the reset, and you must find a way to eternity before then. This is it.”
Alia hangs her head. She closes her eyes and when she opens them, she sits up on a simple mattress on the floor. She sees the group of Kazi visibly shaken, waiting for her to speak.
“I lost control,” she says. “Let’s get to it.”
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