To Darkside

By: Amanda Ferguson

4913 Royal Dr.

El Paso TX, 79924

(915) – 821 – 3481

Lil_Wolfie@hotmail.com

In the year 133-6;, an Azurian named Darregoth Jiosis launched a single-man revolution across his world in a bold attempt to save his planet from certain destruction. He instead, almost created a holocaust in his effort to stop his species from destroying the world that wrought them. His dream was shattered before the onset of his destruction began, the planet was preserved, and millions of people of O43ga (Only pronounceable as Omega Ozuria to outsiders) escaped a fate of doomed oppression and tyranny….

They never found Darregoth….

“Is she at it again?” Hands shuffled across the knee-high table in near unison. Fingers were spreading food, writing utensils, and myriad tools for grooming. Giggling broke with gaudy ease from a handful of origins.

“Looks like it,” said someone between chewing motions.

“She never gives it a rest!”

“That’s Denovii for you. Hey! Denovii!” Called a shrill, high-noted screech from beyond the rooms. But the receiver didn’t answer. “Denovii!” A silence circled the giggling girls. The food grew cold.

“Is she in one of those ‘outcast genius’ moods again.”

“The Mentor finally told her to concentrate on her real study work finally…” Someone noted. A snort gnarled across the group, the prelude to callous laughter.

“No, he didn’t! Mentor Naelis finally told her to scrub the snazzlens?”

“Told her that she ought’ to not bother herself with abstract theories and dead science and just-”

“- Just start being normal for a change!” The snort echoed in the common room again. “Haha!”

“You guys leave her alone. Let her enjoy herself, it’s what she likes. Hey, Denovii, it’s getting cold!”

“Oh, that’s just like you Laiza, sticking up for the weirdo.” The harpy chatter continued behind Laiza’s last attempt to call her friend.

“Denovii!”

Denovii finally arrived at the end of the hallway, but she appeared not to have noticed her name being called. A floating mass that appeared to be a blue blob spun hypnotically in the air by Denovii’s shoulder, releasing a number of flashing lights as it awaited Denovii’s attention the same as the others.

Her humanoid reflection beamed across the mirrors that hung in the darker end of the highway, highlighting Denovii’s bright moon-colored skin, pointed ears, and short, dark gray hair. Her chosen hairdo was almost completely hidden by the crest of her Azurian forehead that grew over the top of her skull in a display of glittering dark greens. It accented her pair of antennae that hung limply towards her face, the balls on the ends nearly touching her hairless brow.

“That darn crass miometer is on the fritz again, make a note of that.” The blob responded with a giant green light shining through its translucent center that faded into blue once more.

“Denovii, are you still working with those electromagnetic Azurlings again?” Laiza’s hands graced her hips.

“No, those azurlings are the bane of my existence once more. I’m now trying to get the ion echo re-locator to start echoing again.” Silence reigned the chortles once more; a burp ensued.

“The what?” One of the girls asked. Denovii looked forward to her peers, her vivid green eyes brushing against the meal stranded in wait upon the common room table. Laughter burst spontaneously through the group, Denovii sighing in response.

“I forgot to eat again didn’t I?” She asked as she dragged herself and her shining blue night-robe through the hall and to the table.

“You’ve forgotten for an entire week, you have.” Laiza scolded her like an overbearing mother. She pointed a pale white finger to her friend, a mild purple fading through the of her fingertip. Denovii scratched the lower end of her neck, smiling weakly at her caring friend.

“Between study work, theories, and my music group, I guess I just kind of get caught up in things.” She told Laiza as she reached for a cup of blue-green foodstuff, letting it swish in her glass with a bubbling, gelatin appeal.

“Your band? You mean the one that missed you fifteen minutes ago this evening?” Inquired one of the girls. Denovii stared at the other with focused eyes for a second-long pause, her gaze lost in concentration before she threw her cup. The material within landed upon her blob compatriot, sparkling with myriad colors as its owner dashed through the room in a fit.

“OH snazzlens! I can’t believe I missed them, I can’t believe it!” She grabbed the thickest section of her instrument case before running out the door. A piece of her silken robe was left shining in the corner of the door edge where it had been caught in her rush.

The girls paused between eating once more and stared with exploding smiles before cracking in riotous laughter again. Laiza shook her head and attempted to yell over their ruthless friends.

“Denovii, shouldn’t you change out of your after-study clothes first?” Denovii’s figure reappeared in the opened doorway, her robe dropping to the floor beneath her dumbstruck face.

Hmm, it’s a complacent evening, noted Denovii as she traveled through the city in a black skirt-like attire accompanied by a marine tank top and black jacket.. Azurian architecture greeted her everywhere with shining colors of metal and many neon lights mixing in a collage of a vivid beauty. But this had been dulled beneath the growing night.

Dusk had brought moonclouds; apparitions of clouds forged by atmospheric dust that could only be illuminated by the powers of the sunset moon, Arloa. Arloa gleamed onto her city, shining with a beautiful teal eye that cast the last hours left of an Azurian day before night would officially begin in their world. The feeling the moonclouds traced with Arloa’s hand created a pleasant, peaceful feel to the city grounds. Dusk was a beautiful time on Omega Ozuria. Arloa’s great mass marked the transition between day’s fighters and night time’s nocturnal predators. Nothing in the wild was hiding nor waiting to strike during the moon's hour, all was serene.

Unfortunately, Arloa’s great glow would only last for an hour and a half this season before she too would set. The sunset moon's saunters were only as ever long, giving away few gifts of peace and safety before departing. But for the time being, the entire world was illuminated in a twilight glow that painted the city. The middle of Denovii's home was paved in stone wto form a great walkway. A rail of steel separated either side of the street, providing a strip of metal for the cars to hover over. One vehicle did occasionally float by, but they didn't number nearly as many as the people that wandered the lively streets.

She had grown up here all her life, in this world of hers. She knew every inch of the city as if it were her own crest. She spied her natural headdress through the reflection of the windows. The epitome of flesh and cartilage was pressed against the top of her forehead where it intercepted her gray hairline. She rubbed her vivid white hand onto her skin where the crest grew and trailed her fingers to the its edge, realizing that it had grown together in one piece.

She would have to get it slit again to keep with the Azurian fashions. Females would sever their crests in different formations whilst the men kept theirs the same, but they hardly grew any hair. She looked away from her reflection, her eyes gracing the streets again. Nostalgic calm filled her mind. She remembered her days of childhood, of dashing through the crowds to the hobby stores and snack houses., remembering all the familiar, friendly people that would wave as she passed them by. She sighed, breathing with sweet serenity.

THUNK! “Try to watch where you're going a little, you godle-headed dimp!” Proclaimed a pedestrian as their shoulders met fiercely. Her torso turned to her left as he pushed through.

“Um,” Sorry? She thought to say it with a second long thought before another one clashed into her.

“Um, YEAH! You’re standing in my way.” She walked to the side to avoid another collision while mumbling sorry at the second passer-by.

“Get lost broad!”

“Get out of the way you retard.”

“I’m sorry,” she repeated over again as she attempted to cross through the crowd. There came an overwhelming amount of walkers going opposite her way, leaving her no room or time to leave to the side of the path for safety. They pushed through one after the other.

“Ouch! Get a life, get out of the street you $@!#$,’ one Azurian female cursed.

“You’re not doing society any good just sitting on the streets moron.”

“Go scrub the snazzlens!” Yelled the last of them finally as the group of pedestrians continued by. She stood stark still, her arms hugging against her chest and grasping her shoulders. Her mind was paused, shaken from its train of thought.

“Um… sorry?” She pronounced as she turned around to face the disappearing Azurians. Life had certainly changed since she had been younger. People she thought she once knew had transformed into something monstrously different, into something so… “busy” was the only word to describe it. She shook her head and walked away before another group of pedestrians could over run her from the other direction.

When she had arrived in the lounge store a cup of steaming Goizate awaited her with its blasphemously great taste. “We’re ya’ been Denovii? Saurien was waiting with the rest for thirty minutes already.” A royal blue figure rested behind the glass shielding of the bar top. A middle-aged Azurian adorned in a gorgeous green dress-like outfit stood over the glass shielding.

Nomoyeu had in her blue and black pigmented hand a bowl of snacks that shook slightly as if alive. Nomoyeu was Denovii’s friend since before she could remember, since before she could recall taking her first taste of the Goizate that brought her back every day for the same indescribable flavor.

“Yeah, tell me about it. I was playing with the crass miometers again at study and then realized it was time to leave.” She took her first sip of the cup and felt her body inevitably calm, her veins settling in rest once more. “Then on my way here a group of narg-pushers came rushing through me as if I wasn’t there.” She took another sip.

“Ah, yes. I’ve seen that a lot, I have. People always in such a rush now, so dedicated to get back and forth to work. I used to think it was a good thing they were so eager to produce,” she said whilst washing a cup. “Now I think they’ve become downright oblivious.” A male’s voice called from the other side of the room.

“Denovii, where have you been?” It was Saurien, a gold-point Azurian dressed in silver boots and a red outfit. It looked somewhat peculiar onhis radiant skin, but she never questioned his sense of taste for he was a shrewd creature.

“Oh, I’ll be right there Saurien! I’m just a little late.”

“But it’s closing time now,” he objected.

“Oh, you kids go on alright,” Nomoyeu interceded. “I’ll stay a little while longer,” she announced from beneath the bar top, shuffling through the glasses and dishes in the cupboards beneath.

“Thank you so much Nomoyeu, you’re too kind.”

“Well then, get up here. Let’s play,” groaned Saurien. Denovii smiled as she finished the rest of her Goizate, crushed the cup for the trash, and ran towards the playing area.

“Denovii,” called one of the female members that had been staring at their red-tipped fingers. “You might want to take out your instrument to play it.”

“Oh!” Denovii exclaimed by running down the stairs to the stage again. Her feet thumped rhythmically across the hollow structure and was followed by the clicks of her instrument case. “Thanks Anali!” Anali continued to peruse the red pigments amongst her orange-pointed skin.

“Hmm, sure.” She said listlessly from her own instrument. Denovii revealed hers. It resembled a squashed letter “X” with over-elongated ends that stretched horizontally from the instrument's center in parallel rays that beamed with a crystalline effect.

“Okay, I want to try to pick up from where we left off last time.”

“Well where else would we pick up from?” Saurien asked beside a handsomely polished, thick log-like instrument that stood like a column in the room. Holes trailed up the side amongst a carved out mouthpiece in the middle-top section. Bark texture remained on its surface from when it had once been apart of a plant, although now the pattern became the instrument’s décor.

“Uh, right.” Denovii told him. “Shall we?” She grasped the center of her squashed “X” and the object lit up with glowing “strings” that appeared between the elongated points of the instrument. “Start in one, two, three…”

The session was short, but enlightening. “You need to let up a little on that Tream you got there Anali,” Saurien spoke. Anali nodded, again focused on her fingers. The other female of the group, Lomori had her instrument packed.

“She’s not that bad I don’t think.” Lomori stated.

“That’s because you’re in the back,” explained Saurien. “The Tream travels, and it grows louder the further you get.”

“Oh,” Lomori said quietly.

“That was very good none-the-less guys,” announced Denovii from the front of the stage stairs where her case was clicking her instrument into place. “But I still think we should use Lomori’s lyrics, they’re more poetic and people will feel with them better.”

Lomori seemed to blush in modesty beneath the gray pigments on her face, and hid herself behind her head of black hair. Earrings dangled from her pointed ears. Anali had no opinion, her usual form of statement when it came to decisions.

“Well,” spoke Saurien as he scratched his glittering, gold crest. “I don’t know, I like feel-good literature and all, but that’s kind of what it is; just feel-good, fluffy things. My political lyrics carry an actual meaning with them that can make people think, and I like things like that and-“

“But poetry can carry a meaning too,” said Lomori as she turned to Saurien, her hands on her hips angrily. “It can carry a meaning for your heart.”

“But that’s what everybody has,” Saurien whined and Lomori stamped her foot with an opened mouth that intended to speak further. Both were utterly ignoring Denovii who spoke aimlessly beneath the stage. Unorganized maundering replaced the ample silence of the snack house before long, and it took Anali to raise her beautifully preened hand of red fingers to stop.

“OKAY!” A single shout brought the quiet back in order. “You all know the rule. Nomoyeu is the argument breaker. “Nomoyeu,”

“Yes,” came the royal blue-pointed Azurian with a smile, her facing pretending not to have been eavesdropping.

“You’ve heard us the whole time, don’t give me the innocent look.” Anali told her with a rare, elusive smirk. “Poetic or political?”

“Hmm…” Nomoyeu crossed her arms beneath her torso, raising one hand to her chin in thought. “Well, I do like both of them. But I really don’t think you can give up poetry, it makes the hearts of the world go around.”

Saurien seemed disappointed and out of sorts with a sigh. “Well, poetic it seems to be.” Denovii looked to Lomori, Lomori looked to her (Anali looked at her palms instead of her fingers now), and both seemed to gather pleading stares at the other.

“Or…” Nomoyeu said in notice of something wrong with Saurien’s glance. “… You can compromise and make poetic, political lyrics. Try to do both,” she smiled. Together, one by one, including Anali even, they each smiled.

“Hey, thanks again Nomoyeu.” Denovii stood on her tiptoes to peer at Nomoyeu from behind the bar top.

“Bah, it wasn’t anything. I love to hear you play, keeps my spirits up.”

“Really?” Denovii asked with joy glittering in her green eyes.

“Ah, what... Would I lie to you?” Nomoyeu asked as she gave Denovii a smile and a cup filled with more food. “It's not very often that people play anymore, everybody is becoming so concerned about their jobs these days, and I really appreciate hearing the creative movement in my own lounge.” She explained as she finished cleaning the rest of her dishes. Nomoyeu's eyes were a sparkling blue, still perky despite the age that followed her. Her smile radiated joy and nostalgia as she looked to Denovii with the expression of perhaps a mother.

“Hmm, you've been working awfully hard at study, now haven't you Denovii. Hardly ever take a break for yourself.”

Denovii stared down and smiled for herself, her cheeks flushing with a pale blue color as she attempted not to blush. “Well, I do try to keep myself busy.” She rang in modesty.

“Keep yourself busy, you've been denying yourself.” Nomoyeu's last cup was clean, dripping with crystal clear water as it rested in the draining rack and Nomoyeo stepped closer to the glass shielding of the counter top. Her arm came upwards, over the shielding and patted the green of Denovii's crest. “When's the last time you've gotten your crest slit? When was the last time you had your skin cleaned thoroughly? Why, I'd bet your bones will be showing beneath those clothes,” she began poking Denovii in the side of the chest. “What have you been eating?”

Denovii's cheeks turned a more bitter shade of blue that blossomed around a smothered smirk. “Well, my dorm sharers end up ordering Ne'Oli all the time, and it's fine a few nights as left overs. But I do admit it's not the best food constantly.”

“Ne'Oli? Well that's popular amongst your age, but I never found why.” Nomoyeu said with slight satisfaction smudged onto her face. She bent towards the side of the bar where food was resting. Her hands began shuffling through myriad goodies and treats.

“Well it's a cup food, you don't need to use your hands or utensils. Then they can throw the cups away when they're done, so what it is is that they really don't want to clean any dishes.”

“Oh, of all the snazzlens, that is the worse godle I've ever heard! That is nothing to eat everyday.”

“Well I'm quite fine, really.” Denovii attempted to explained but was forced to face a package of homemade food at the end of Nomoyeu's hand.

“Take this.” Nomoyeu's spoke. “I want you to take this and eat, all of this.” Food wafted into Denovii's nostrils and onto the tips of her antennae.

“But I...”

“If you don't, I'll never let the group stay late again,” Nomoyeu beamed a threat. Denovii instantly grasped the blue box in one palm touched Nomoyeu's fingers with the other.

“Thank you Nomoyeu.” Denovii smiled as she touched the top of Nomoyeu's hand. “Thank you very much.”

“Ahh, any time my dear. Just let me close up and I'll send you off.” Nomoyeu's figured disappeared into the back, Denovii left with silence. Night's deep darkness had spanned the snack house's windows now, settling with twilight sparkles from the sky. The moonclouds were faded without Alora's bright glow, leaving only the vapor clouds to cross the sky in harmony.

The occassional car graced the street in near whispers as it floated across the rails. Voices were heard in the distance as more Azurians continued to pass to home after long hours of work. Some mumbling in groans, others talking listlessly to friends, and one near yelling as he passed down the street, though he was not yelling out of anger.

“Walk! Walk you dowdy croades!” Boasted someone from the roadways, but his voice seemed peculiar. Denovii approached the wall-length windows, her hands outspread as they rested upon the glass and she peered into the night. One Azurian was barking at the others passing by. But he seemed to be smiling, raising his voice with glee and even prancing slightly through the crowds.

“You can't step away, you can't move away. All lunatics have to keep on the path.” He announced to his fellow Azurians, who continued to pass by without notice nor insult to him. They seemed to have been pretending he wasn't there.

“There, now. And if you come back tommorrow...” Nomoyeu's voice echoed from the back of the snack house where she had obtained a black carrying bag. She waved her palm at what appeared to be a framed piece of artwork adorned in many round, polished gems. The lights turned off as she produced a circular movement with her hand. “I'll give you some more to take back to the rest of your sharers, and you still won't have to worry about dishes. What do you think of that?”

Denovii's hands were still plastered to the windows. “Nomoyeu,” she motioned for the chef to come closer. “Nomoyeu, who is that?” Her moon colored finger pointed to the now skipping Azurian.

Nomoyeu stared closer, squinting her eyes until she had found out an answer. “That? That's Prismisis. He's just a hoboe. A general looney that one is.”

“A looney?” Denovii pondered.

“He's crazy.” Nomoyeu explained once more as if Denovii had not understood her before.

“I know, but is he mean, does he hurt people or... what is he doing?” Denovii shrugged in question and they leaned further towards the windows.

“You never laugh anymore sir,” Prismisis told someone. “You never laugh and you don't visit the flowers anymore. Why is that?”

“Leave me alone you dimp,” groaned a guttural-voiced Azurian. “Next time you get in front of where I'm walking you won't be laughing anymore either.” Prismisis paused, a smile still stretching the corners of his face as he watched the stranger pass by with the rest of the crowd.

“No he's not aggressive.” Nomoyeu spoke. “He's actually quite well-mannered and he's very nice. He's just short a bit in the mind. He's come around here often lately. I've even given him a bit of food in the past, but now I'm afraid he might have decided to stay here like a stray animal does when they discover a food source.” Denovii nodded to Nomoyeu with a slightly perplexed expression.

“Oh, that's funny, I've never really seen him.” Nomoyeu shrugged and shuffled through the contents of her carrying bag.

“He comes in after you guys have played. Likes what you do, but I try not to give too much information. He's harmless but you don't need someone like him on your mind, following you back to study.” Nomoyeu smiled with inevitable good cheer despite the conversation.

“Oh...” Denovii nodded again, her uncertainty still dangling at the tip of her mind and onto her face slightly.

“Well, I'll see you next time Denovii. You have a pleasant trip back, eat well. And don't stay up all night as much,” Nomoyeu pointed a blue fingertip like a forewarning mother. Denovii smiled back in assurance.

“I won't.” They parted ways when the snack house doors clicked shut, and the windows changed colors until they were a pale, opaque grey to show that the snack house had been closed. Their directions were opposite, so they parted ways by touching hands once again and leaving with their backs to each other. Prismisis had wandered further down Denovii's path, still stalking the passers-by madly with irrational maundering.

“Would you like a good book sir?” Prismis told one person as he walked side by side against the stranger. “A good book and a drink. We never sit at tables to talk anymore. We walk, and walk, and walk, and nothing else matters to us, now do they?”

The Azurian ignored him with the exception of inchorenet mumbles. Prismisis continued on. “No, nothing comes in your way, for if the lunatics can't walk their path like so, they will get upset and try too,”

“HEY BUDDY!” The Azurian broke down with a riled look. “I'M TRYING TO WALK HERE, I WANT TO GO HOME, NOT TALK TO YOU! GET LOST YOU DIMP!” Prsismis backed away with a shove from the stranger, who seemed as if he were ready to lose himself in his aggression. The hoboe was still smiling, still walking with a nimbleness to his gait and his lips opened to make more sounds. But he was interuppted with the surprise of Denovii stopping him with a hand to his chest.

“Uh!” She said in paniced alarm, her face scanning every direction. “This way,” she took the Azurian by his hand, turned them around, and walked the opposite way down the path from where the stranger stood threateningly. She stopped and turned with concern marching across her cheeks. “You had better be careful there you're gonna get-”

She paused with her first close look at him. He was older than she was without doubt. His eyes were gazing with life experience, yet his face beamed in youth that was aged slightlyonly slightly more than her own. He was a green-point Azurian, as she was. But his shade of green was much different, a lighter, more colorful hue marked with a rare streak of gold across his crest. Bits of a cloudy grey speckeled his skin as it mixed with his green pigment and his beautiful shade of moon-colored skin.

The food in her hand from Nomoyeu crunched between her fingers almost without notice from her ears. He was aesthetically pleasing, shining with a tall figure built wide and powerful, covered in out-of-date robes like her mentor would wear, but they enhanced his stature greatly. His eyes were gleaming a green that matched his crest, shaped in a round, almond appeal. His smile was utterly joyful to peer at. He was handsome without doubt.

“Ummm,” her thoughts stopped in place.

“Now that is how to get away from them,” he smiled with a triumphant sense of movement. “Go the opposite way,” he said it as if he were discovering something himself. “The loonies would never step off their path.” He explained.

“Umm.” Denovii repeated.

“Why, hello.” Prismis spoke as if she had barely appeared before him. “I'm Prismisis. And who are you?” He grasphed the top of her hand and rubbed, the Azurian handshake.

“Denovii.” Denovii replied as she stepped out of her gaze. He was unscathed without dirt and without holes in his clothes. He seemed to take care of himself well enough for being homeless. “Look, you shouldn't really go talking at all those people, they'll just push you around because none of them want to listen to a...” she caught herself before she spoke further. No one wants to listen to a... lunatic? Her mind finished for her. He seemed to not notice that she left her sentence unfinished.

He put an arm around her shoulders and turned her towards her left, to face behind them. His graceful, uncolored fingertips reached to touch the sky as if something spectacular lay hidden beyond the stars, as if something was waiting for them. “Look!” He said with a jovial smile. “Look!”

Her face turned in crossed directions, peering for something unusual but found nothing. “What?” She asked.

“The moons are active tonight, aren't they?” Prismisis said as he turned back to the sky with boyish glee. The sky stared back, as black as it had ever been that season. All the moons of the planet were either too far away, not showing on their side of the world, or had waned completely. The night was competely dark since Arloa's demise.

“Umm, right Prismisis.” She turned around and put her hand to her forehead and antennae, finding Prismisis repeating her movements of exasperation. His own antennae seemed to move every-slightly, as if they were expecting to receive something. What am I doing? She thought as she stared at the homeless one.

“You know what,” she said as the food continued to become scrunched in her hands. “Here, you need this more than me.” She handed him the food and he took it with a surprised, confused glance, as if no one had ever offered him kindness before other than Nomoyeu. “You have a nice night now Prismisis,” Denovii waved with a hand. “And don't talk to too many more people.” She began walking away with the thoughts of Nomoyeu's warning about giving Prismisis food wanderingin her head.

“Will I ever see you again,” Prismisis called. Denovii turned around (not in the middle of the “lunatics” path however) and shrugged.

“Uh, we'll see.” She told him.

“It was nice meeting you,” he waved towards her, and she waved back before she continued her walk home. Bedtime was early for her that night.

Bop! Bop! Bop! Bop! The halls were alive with abounding echoes singing with duplicity through the classrooms. Voices rang in cacophony that bent the silence into oblivion between screeching girls, maundering voices, yelling elders, and boasting boys. “Oh snazzlen, oh snazzlen, oh!” She murmured quickly while practically falling over her shoes in the rush across the polished rock floor.

Swirls of a marble stone flowed through the halls with a glittering essence similar to an opal. Denovii had always thought it was tough to keep the floors in brilliant condition whilst thousands of Azurians ran through its girth. The opalesque radiance caught her green eyes for a second until her friend's clumsiness brought her out of it. Together, Laiza and Denovii had saved their friend from spilling onto the floor.

“Will you be more careful Velneesa!” Laiza scolded to the bumbling mass of anxiety as she attempted to rebalance herself. Velneesa readjusted the slitted sections of her crest to the best of her ability without a mirror and continued at the same pace.

“I can't, I have to get to my study! I'm gonna be late!”

“Just what are you going to be late for?” Denovii asked her as she caught Velneesa once again.

“Prilumnea!” Velneesa replied quickly.

“Oh, not that stuff. I can't believe you took that course. You've all sat around me every night telling me that I'm crazy and meanwhile you're indulging yourself in abstract nonsense.” Denovii said with an inquisitive smirk that faced forward down the hall. Velneesa stumbled again.

“What do you mean abstract? It's not abstract it's-” One of their group pushed Velneesa away and off to the side to be caught again by Laiza.

“Because your hobby is just as much nonsense. They're both archaic and old, and useless. Primitive material from a dark age. Velneesa's course is no different from your obsession with your Azurling studies.”

“Now my hobby had roots grounded in actual science, and at one time may have been real for the Azurian race. How can you tell me that I'm crazy but approve of Velneesa taking instruction about communicating with the planet using light?”

Laiza was the next to speak, interrupting the opened mouth of their friend behind them. “I'm actually quite surprised that you didn't take the course with Velneesa, it goes into some of the same theory that your Azluring antennae theories do.”

“There is a difference between an Azurian using their antennae for pheromones, and using them to communicate with the planet with different colored lights.”

“The Azurian antennae are near worthless.” Their friend boasted anew from the back. “They're gone, they've been evolved out of the Azurian race. They have been pronounced a useless organ. At one time, the antennae served a purpose, a function; but now with the dawn of Azurian civilization, there is no need for them so they faded away. If the creator had really intended for the Azurians to continue having their antennae, then they would still be doing something other than twitch from time to time and maybe sensing a couple smells.”

“OH!” Velneesa interuppted. “Now I AM late! I'm sorry guys, I'll see you later!” The small-footed Azurian turned a corner down the decorative hall of their study building. Her voice was heard “ow-ing” and “ooh-ing” across the classrooms as her friends watched her stumble away.

“p374#$ (r1m$0n 7h3 r5n...” Mentor Naelis graced the room with a gold and grey presence. His robes hung low to the ground in romanesque omniscience, beaming with radiant gold stitching and trim that highlighted the bold grey of his crest. He readjusted an antennae out of his middle-aged face with casualty as he continued speaking the poem with a perfect accent of the ancient language.

“P34r p#4n37 0m394. %05r 91r7h 1$ b34571#5#, %05r |{n0w#3P93 w1P3, 7h3 9r347 Pr490n 1n P1$951$3...” he finished with an astounding grace found upon his student's eyes, echoed by Naelis' brilliance in rythmic tongue. Yet compared to the poetry he gave forth, it was clear he was only doing the piece a decent justice in its entirety. Clapping enfolded the studying room, thrilled with awe.

Mentor Naeils responded with a tilt of his head (an Azurian bow) amongst listless eyes that disappeared with a turn of his body. He approached his teaching podium once more. “Yes, I often get that response as I read Kulrelian poetry . He was at his peak when Kulrel wrote this, can anybody tell me what year?” Someone at Naelis' left responded with an answer.

“13794;.” They spoke. Naelis nodded with a slight wave of his hand.

“No, but you're very close. He wrote it just a year after the official close of the Dan 'Zien Ages. He triggered the buttons of his podium, their lights responding with a beaming hologram wrought in display of Azurian histroy. A section marked the Dan 'Zien Ages was magnified ten fold until it had come to the edge of its sector and bordered on the next Azurian age. “Kulrel wrote this poetry, besides two other epic books of similar conext. He believed it would help his society at one time and that...”

His lecture continued in unfeeling, stoney grace. His grey fingers and arms, marked in striped patterns rare of the Azurian race, passed the borders of his hologram to pinpoint his topics at hand. He pointed his fingers from poem to poem on the holoscreen in uncanny brilliance. Denovii's pointed ears were focused perfectly on her mentor as he spoke, her eyes never wavering from his figure. They said Naelis once wrote poetry himself, was once a devout lover of the arts and of literature. His coming years of age seemed to have polished him into a smooth, disapassionate teacher who's poetry and sketch books were said to be locked somewhere dusty in his lecture chambers.

“... was where his female partner had vanished through disease. He began to use the same knowledge of bionics that beget him fame to null his pain. His poetry was said to have become as great as it had ever been in his three-hundred-year life, and as many critics have said, after the departure of his beloved, his poetry did indeed take a turn for the better. The best, as well as the last, of his poetry was '7h #0v 0# 7h m00n.' Can anybody tell me what he did after he set down his pen from his finished piece?” This time the answer came from Naelis's right, answering from a male student's voice.

“He became homicidal. He began hurting and killing any around him like a diseased doonthatcher.” Mentoer Naelis again nodded and tilted his head in another bow.

“Indeed he did. He became a psychopath, experiencing the symptoms of Jerali's Disease, which brings us back to the true topic at hand.” The holoscreen became blank, and relit anew with schematics of drugs and pheromones marching across the blank air, staring upon Denovii with an accompanying diagram of Azurian antennae. Her eyes reached through the graphics and text thoroughly, drinking in the knowledge with an imperishable thirst. Mentor Naelis continued to lecture.

“... if you direct your attention to these plant specifications here...” He pointed to a list of chemicals from a species of flower when there came a question, a distraction to his lessons. “Yes, Denovii?” Mentor Naelis hailed Denovii's attention.

“Now by seeing these screens, and noting that one of the symptoms of Jerali's Disease is the outstanding erection of the antennae, it seems that you are suggesting that Kulrel went crazy due to the pheromone feed to his brain through his antennae, caused by his use of drugs?”

Mentor Naelis at one time would have smiled at not only Denovii's dexterity of absorbing information, bur her inquisitive mind as well. Yet now he faced her with his stone-carved face, sat upon a lecturing block set next to his podium, and folded his arms into his lap.

“Jerali's Disease has been known to be encountered in individuals of high drug use.” Naelis confirmed. Denovii's fingers scrolled through the notes of her computer, her eyes wandering at a breathless speed before she had another comment.

“I would, in many ways, beg to inquire this because according to evolutionary fact, the Azurian antennae were very active in our primitive days and if pheromone feeds will drive an Azurian mad, then you would be suggesting that all stone-aged Azurians were in a sense crazy.” Her hand was held outwards with an inquisitive posture, as if she could grasp Naelis' answer from the air of which they breathed. Her mentor remained calm when he replied.

“And, my young Denovii, are fossilized skeletons of primitive male Azurians not covered in battle scars? Due to the study of Jerali's Disease, a new chapter of the ancient Azurian has been looked upon. There is the possibility that an over-feed of pheromones would create a frenzy, particularly in Azurian male aggressors who, during mating season, thought their tribe or family territory were endangered.”

“It is shown in ancient burial grounds, between the twilight of primitive Azurians and their dawn of sentience, that a tribe had an astounding number of Azurian pack-leaders. It is near-impossible that outside tribes were warring this much to destroy so many tribe leaders, particuarly in areas of the planet where Azurian tribes were near isolated from their natural threats.”

He lifted from his lecture box to mingle with the controls of this podium. The holoscreen changed to more diagrams displaying the useless organs of the modern Azurian, including the antennae. “Now today, the use of pheromones in the evolved Azurian is no longer needed as it once was, and the threat of male frenzies has almost died away. But there is still a danger. It is believed that too many emotions, or too many pheromone's activating emotions, will cause a similar frenzy and type of mania in today's Azurian. Thus the possible cause of Jerali's Disease.”

Denovii, although listening intently to her Mentor, was tempted to shake her head. He's implying that poetry and emotions are dangerous. The notion would have made Saurien cheer for passionate impotence as Saurien himself commonly adopted. But Denovii could never, and would never, see eye to eye with Naelis' thoughts. They say he used to write poetry too... The shame of the fact leaked into her mind, over-powering the rambles of Naeli's lectures.

“Now due to Denovii's question, I would like to propose an after-study exercise. I want reports on figures in history similar to Kulrel's case. Find an Azurian who may have fallen victim to a threat of Jerali's Disease due to emotional and pheromonal overstimulation. It can be a minor case to a severe one, and the stimulation may come from emotional trauma or physical trauma, or even drug abuse if needed.”

Moping whines and boo's sought attention from the group. Azurians mumbled and fidgeted in their chairs with annoyance of the new assignment. “Now, now.” Mentor Naelis spoke with a single blink to calm his class. “I only want a few paragraphs.” This met Naelis with sighs of relief that made the Mentor nearly smirk. “Except for you, Denovii. I want a full-scale report, you know my standards. This study hour is dismissed.” He noted with another Azurian bow.

“Have you gotten the crass miometer to work yet?” Laiza set herself ontop of a piece of Denovii's myriad equipment, crossing her legs and bending her shoulders into an inquisitive approach as she ask the question. Denovii listened to her question with silence, a smiling creeping into her lips slowly before she pressed the answered out.

“Sort of.” She ran her fingers across the floating silver framed, purple board that stared at her, facing her with a litter of formulae and doodles wrought from Denovii's inquiring mind. Her left hand ran over three switches attached to the side of the boards left, fingers pushing the switches up and down the board's length and producing something atop the doodles each time. “It's a little hard because everything here involves exact math to work and I have to place them in the perfect combination of coexistance if I want to get anywhere.”

Laiza's shoulders popped with a slight giggle as she watched her friend. “I do admit, watching you work is incredibly more interesting than watching Velneesa sit down with a different pattern of lights ontop of her. She's such a klutz that she even manages to fall over while sitting, you wouldn't believe it,” Laiza's sentence completed itself with a smother chortle embraced by her words, inevitably catching Denovii in laughter as well.

“Well I'm very glad to hear that, actually. I'm still very surprised that you said Azurling studies are similar to Prilumnea.” Denovii's voice began to fade at as her mind immersed itself in calibrating a peculiar box of switches and orbs to her right. The floating, blue blob of spinning lights had accompanied her again, following her movements with dives and climbs in the air. Denovii seemed to have paused and took stock of her chin with her fingers as she thought. She didn't speak as she lifted a long,thin, clear plastic tube that she pushed through the floating blob's squishy epidermis and into its core.

It responded by sending a different number of light signals through the tube and the machine responded in clicks and pops, the dials of the instrument changing by themselves. “Well of course,” Laiza finally noted to Denovii. “Don't they, at one point, run into each other?” Denovii pointed to another coil of thin, clear wiring to Laiza's side, Laiza handing the coil towards her friend as she asked the question.

“Well,” Denovii scratched her pointed ear and began stringing the wiring across the instruments. “You are actually very right. At one point religion does cross itself in science, because at one time the Azurian antennae were peculiar things, almost as strange as reproduction. These strange things sat atop people's heads, occasionally twitched, ocassionally got sore and sometimes responded to different things that could throw the Azurian bodies into colds, into pain, into paralyzation. They were really scared when they discovered that some of the most primitive communcations were coming from the antennae-”

“They must have been even more scared when those that found out that communication came from the antennae, had already cut theirs off.” Laiza smiled. “Why did ancient Azurians slice their antennae off? I'm sure it wasn't for the fashion.”

Denovii scribbled more formulae onto the board in response to the many lights of the floating blob, her fingers streaming madly up and down the switches. “No. That is part of the mythology that surrounds Azurian antennae. They believed that their antennae used to be a cause for magic, things like telekinesis was responsible through antennae and when you have beneficial things in magic, you also have curses abound so the paranoid cut off their antennae to prevent being hexed.”

Laiza smiled and eventually bubbled in a chortle. “And to think that might have been apart of early conditions of Jerali's Disease as well. Azurians attempting to perform magic on and with their antennae might have made them crazy. Speaking of which, I heard about what happened during Mentor Naeli's hour with you. You're not starting on your after-study work yet?” Denovii's nose was still plastered to her floating board.

“Not quite. I was going to until I got a flash of brilliance and decided to try a few more math equations to calibrate the crass miometer and maybe get it to function with the echo relocator. It's not exactly easy working with these instruments at times.” Laiza nodded with a knowing smile, her face and eyes going over the many times Denovii had said such to her. “Afterall, you need a specific formula to connect these.”

Her fingers graced the different dials of her instruments, different colord lights pulsing through the clear wires scattered across the room. “And finding the right one has puzzled scientists for many years because there never seems to be a universal signal, it always seems to change amongst the individual and fnding the right signal for the individual is a task in itself. It would be a brilliant scientific and medical breakthrough if someone were to discover a universal pheromone signal that could touch most if not all Azurians across the planet. And I think... that-” She pulled a few other switches, touched a button or two, waved her hands in front of different orbs that responded by changing different settings on the machines.”

“-That?” Laiza asked. The stream of different lights passing through the wires intensified, glowing brightly as the instruments thrummed in near unison and power, calculating and performing millions of invisible tasks beneath their noses before the lights in the wires disappeared and the machines shut themselves down all at once. Silence peirced the once active room. The board's hover technology hummed lowly. Denovii stared at the boxes and tools of her failed experiment.

“I think that it didn't work.” Her antennae seemed to droop in frustration, Denovii responded by scratching the base of her right aerial. She stood stark still in the room, staring at her floating blob for a seconds-worth of light intake from the blob's hovering core before she ripped the dead tubing out and became animated once more. “I guess I'll just clean up. I need to go for a walk.”

20 To Darkside

To Darkside

Ferg

2004-06-23T22:46:00

Amanda Ferguson