Written: Saturday. February 8, 2020.
He couldn’t describe what was happening to him. Couldn’t comprehend the rapid bursts of images and emotions he was feeling. It was like he was experiencing all of them at the same time. As if he was changing the channel on the TV, but he went too fast, and the scenes kept changing, and there was no way to stop what was happening.
Toby thought that he was gonna go insane, until he heard a voice constantly bothering him in the middle of all the chaos. It was like he was seeing an entire life flashing before his eyes. He just wasn’t sure if it was his life he was actually seeing. The voice kept calling him, but it seemed to be fading. He tried following the voice, focusing on its location, wherever it was.
Then the images started slowing down. He was starting to see patterns, started to comprehend when things started, when it happened, where it happened, the ones that were there in the moments of each scene. He tried his best to piece everything together, but all of it seemed overwhelming to him, that attempting to understand it all seemed to only make it more difficult. So Toby had to anchor himself to just a specific scene; a single memory within all of what was being presented to him.
He tried, yet he couldn’t. But then someone else directed him to where he needed to go. At first, it was like he was being pulled around the memories, like a toddler just learning how to walk for the first time. Then later on, he managed to run on his own, and landed on a world filled with flowers.
Vegetation. Different types of trees, plants, and fruit. He saw sunflowers blooming all around him. Large variations of fruit growing and falling from large trees. The leaves weren’t all green. Toby saw all the colors of the rainbow even in just a single leaf sitting on the ground. He picked it up, thinking to himself that it was the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen in his life. But then slowly feeling as though this life might not even be his own in the first place.
He hears a voice by his side. “What you see before you is an illusion.” The voice said, “Countless other planets show their true form. But this one — this one knows how to hide its true intentions. We are not here to vast in the beauty of Darovian soil. Though you are free enough to savor it as much as you like. No. We are here, because we have a purpose. We are here, because this soil does not belong to them, or to us. We merely hold the power — and the means — to be the benefactors of this world that has a plethora of resources we will need for our journey to perfection.”
“There are countless worlds out there.” Toby said. But the voice was not his. “You said it yourself. We have it in our own power to benefit from any world we choose. Why take from a world that would be better off untouched by our — our wrath?”
“Mercy.” The voice beside him said. “I would much prefer it that you use that term in the situation at hand, Veergha.”
Toby would’ve been shocked to hear that it was Veergha’s memories he was seeing. But his emotions remained to how the conversation was going. “I prefer it as well.” Veergha replied. “And I would never stand against the Empire. But shouldn’t the Volgans at least consider the lives of the Darovians?”
“We consider all lives, Veergha. That is the point of the Gniisvekh Program. If we are to rapidly evolve as a species, then we are to see to it that no planet, no race, no speck of stardust will be able to best our kind. Our purpose is to achieve quintessence. If we waste our time questioning the validity of the Program — like how you’re performing to your superior right now — then how do you expect the Empire to achieve such a quintessence?”
Veergha didn’t reply. She simply stood there, facing towards her companion. When she figured out her next words, the figure was already walking towards a large ship behind them. She looked at her superior speaking to someone who wore a similar uniform. They both glanced at her with the look of what seemed like disappointment. So she started running as fast as she can towards a forest of trees.
A few Volgans followed her, but by the time they got near the forest, a bunch of roots started moving and grabbing the Volgans by their feet, enveloping them in all sorts of vines and vegetables.
Veergha looked up and saw a bunch of houses made up of the trees intertwining with each other. She climbed up one of the trees and got inside one of the houses. A bunch of floraloid creatures greeted her. They didn’t really speak that much. They were almost silent, except for the petals surrounding their bodies making little sounds as they moved around. Some of them were growing small fruits out of different parts of their bodies or faces. Some were smaller than other, and walked around in fours. Toby assumed that these were the household pets of this Flower World he’s in. Veergha then embraces one of the floraloid creatures.
“Darraihn,” she says to the floraloid. “I can’t stay for much longer. Your kind are in grave danger. The Volgans, their — “
“It’s quite alright, Veergha.” Darraihn says to her. “The Darovians were doomed the moment these Volgans landed on our soil.”
“I could bring you with us! The Volgans, they take subjects from every planet they visit, and they re-figurate them into Volgans. Maybe I could tell them to make you into one of us. You’ll still regain your memories, don’t worry about that. I know, because I was able to keep my own memories from their Program. Maybe we could do the same for your family.”
“That’s what they want you to think, Veergha. I’ve looked through the kaihrotes in your body. These are not your own to begin with. You even still have an astounding level of Yalmian splice coursing through your xenes. This is what the Volgans do, Veergha. They take over planets, gather their resources, and add their xenetic structures to your own. You don’t have all your memories, Veergha. I’m afraid to tell you this.”
“Darraihn, what are you talking about?” Veergha asked him. “I am well aware of what I can remember.”
“That fact that you’re saying that right now is the very thing I’m trying to point out to you. They’ve already done the program to you. Your name isn’t even Veergha. It’s Kor — “
“Korriavania.” A voice finishes Darraihn’s sentence. Every floraloid except for Darraihn agglutinated themselves with the vegetation around the house. The voice came from the door behind Veergha, “That is your name, child. Korriavania.”
“No,” Veergha said. “No-no, it can’t be. My name is Veergha. I am from the planet…Volga I. No — not Volga I. It was called something else. Before…before they — “
“Before the Volgans changed it from Korvell II.” Darraihn said to her. “It’s the Program, Korriavania. It’s already gotten to your head.”
“And the Empire will see to it to re-adjust the identity parameters the next time around.”
“You’re a monster, Veronnogh!” Veergha yells at her superior.
Veronnogh just smiles down at her. “You know, when we picked you up from Korvell, as well as the many others wasteful children of your planet, you could barely even speak yet. A lot of childish noise emitting from the mouth, not a lot of form or logic still attached. Korvell thrived in technological advancements, which proved useful for the Empire. But in an evolutionary sense, we never really saw anything in the Korvellians that was worth our efforts. See, nothing about you was so special, Korriavania. It was us, the Volgan Empire, that gave you the opportunity to be something more. We gave you a new name. We gave you purpose.”
“You made her into a Child of War.” Darraihn stated. “A very twisted definition for salvation.”
Veronnogh grabs hold of Darraihn by his neck. Darraihn was fluctuating, the petals in his body moved rapidly. Veronnogh’s hold on him seemed to dilute him of his ability to agglutinate into the walls like his brethren. “I considered the idea of recruiting some of you Darovians. Your evolutionary state is something quite peculiar to us, you see. The ability of your species to reform yourselves in kaleidoscopic means to the matters all around you was something that brought our attention to your planet in the first place. So, in a sense, you are the cause of your own demise. But you’ve proven to me now that your kind is too erratic to be persuaded in joining our ranks. You’ve even managed to twist around the perspective of one of our brighter warriors; Veergha here, being the example.”
The petals around Darraihn’s body were losing its colors. Veronnogh tightened the grip on his neck, and Darraihn kept twisting and turning, trying as much as he can to get out of Veronnogh’s hold. Veergha screamed a primal roar as she transfigured her cells into something entirely beastly. Her fingers grew sharp claws, and her hind legs shifted and gained more mass. Veronnogh noticed her transformation, and started wrapping a metallic sheet around his body. Veergha was just about to tackle Veronnogh, when she noticed that Darraihn had stopped moving. The petals on his body dried up and fell to the floor.
Veronnogh released his grip on Darraihn’s neck, sending his lifeless body slowly descending to the floor like a leaf in the wind. “Give me your best, Veergha. Use that pain.”
“Gladly.” She replies. Veergha tackled Veronnogh with such an extreme force that it broke apart the wooden tree house they were in, sending both of them falling from the trees.
He couldn’t describe what was happening to him. Couldn’t comprehend the rapid bursts of images and emotions he was feeling. It was like he was experiencing all of them at the same time. As if he was changing the channel on the TV, but he went too fast, and the scenes kept changing, and there was no way to stop what was happening.
Toby thought that he was gonna go insane, until he heard a voice constantly bothering him in the middle of all the chaos. It was like he was seeing an entire life flashing before his eyes. He just wasn’t sure if it was his life he was actually seeing. The voice kept calling him, but it seemed to be fading. He tried following the voice, focusing on its location, wherever it was.
Then the images started slowing down. He was starting to see patterns, started to comprehend when things started, when it happened, where it happened, the ones that were there in the moments of each scene. He tried his best to piece everything together, but all of it seemed overwhelming to him, that attempting to understand it all seemed to only make it more difficult. So Toby had to anchor himself to just a specific scene; a single memory within all of what was being presented to him.
He tried, yet he couldn’t. But then someone else directed him to where he needed to go. At first, it was like he was being pulled around the memories, like a toddler just learning how to walk for the first time. Then later on, he managed to run on his own, and landed on a world filled with flowers.
Vegetation. Different types of trees, plants, and fruit. He saw sunflowers blooming all around him. Large variations of fruit growing and falling from large trees. The leaves weren’t all green. Toby saw all the colors of the rainbow even in just a single leaf sitting on the ground. He picked it up, thinking to himself that it was the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen in his life. But then slowly feeling as though this life might not even be his own in the first place.
He hears a voice by his side. “What you see before you is an illusion.” The voice said, “Countless other planets show their true form. But this one — this one knows how to hide its true intentions. We are not here to vast in the beauty of Darovian soil. Though you are free enough to savor it as much as you like. No. We are here, because we have a purpose. We are here, because this soil does not belong to them, or to us. We merely hold the power — and the means — to be the benefactors of this world that has a plethora of resources we will need for our journey to perfection.”
“There are countless worlds out there.” Toby said. But the voice was not his. “You said it yourself. We have it in our own power to benefit from any world we choose. Why take from a world that would be better off untouched by our — our wrath?”
“Mercy.” The voice beside him said. “I would much prefer it that you use that term in the situation at hand, Veergha.”
Toby would’ve been shocked to hear that it was Veergha’s memories he was seeing. But his emotions remained to how the conversation was going. “I prefer it as well.” Veergha replied. “And I would never stand against the Empire. But shouldn’t the Volgans at least consider the lives of the Darovians?”
“We consider all lives, Veergha. That is the point of the Gniisvekh Program. If we are to rapidly evolve as a species, then we are to see to it that no planet, no race, no speck of stardust will be able to best our kind. Our purpose is to achieve quintessence. If we waste our time questioning the validity of the Program — like how you’re performing to your superior right now — then how do you expect the Empire to achieve such a quintessence?”
Veergha didn’t reply. She simply stood there, facing towards her companion. When she figured out her next words, the figure was already walking towards a large ship behind them. She looked at her superior speaking to someone who wore a similar uniform. They both glanced at her with the look of what seemed like disappointment. So she started running as fast as she can towards a forest of trees.
A few Volgans followed her, but by the time they got near the forest, a bunch of roots started moving and grabbing the Volgans by their feet, enveloping them in all sorts of vines and vegetables.
Veergha looked up and saw a bunch of houses made up of the trees intertwining with each other. She climbed up one of the trees and got inside one of the houses. A bunch of floraloid creatures greeted her. They didn’t really speak that much. They were almost silent, except for the petals surrounding their bodies making little sounds as they moved around. Some of them were growing small fruits out of different parts of their bodies or faces. Some were smaller than other, and walked around in fours. Toby assumed that these were the household pets of this Flower World he’s in. Veergha then embraces one of the floraloid creatures.
“Darraihn,” she says to the floraloid. “I can’t stay for much longer. Your kind are in grave danger. The Volgans, their — “
“It’s quite alright, Veergha.” Darraihn says to her. “The Darovians were doomed the moment these Volgans landed on our soil.”
“I could bring you with us! The Volgans, they take subjects from every planet they visit, and they re-figurate them into Volgans. Maybe I could tell them to make you into one of us. You’ll still regain your memories, don’t worry about that. I know, because I was able to keep my own memories from their Program. Maybe we could do the same for your family.”
“That’s what they want you to think, Veergha. I’ve looked through the kaihrotes in your body. These are not your own to begin with. You even still have an astounding level of Yalmian splice coursing through your xenes. This is what the Volgans do, Veergha. They take over planets, gather their resources, and add their xenetic structures to your own. You don’t have all your memories, Veergha. I’m afraid to tell you this.”
“Darraihn, what are you talking about?” Veergha asked him. “I am well aware of what I can remember.”
“That fact that you’re saying that right now is the very thing I’m trying to point out to you. They’ve already done the program to you. Your name isn’t even Veergha. It’s Kor — “
“Korriavania.” A voice finishes Darraihn’s sentence. Every floraloid except for Darraihn agglutinated themselves with the vegetation around the house. The voice came from the door behind Veergha, “That is your name, child. Korriavania.”
“No,” Veergha said. “No-no, it can’t be. My name is Veergha. I am from the planet…Volga I. No — not Volga I. It was called something else. Before…before they — “
“Before the Volgans changed it from Korvell II.” Darraihn said to her. “It’s the Program, Korriavania. It’s already gotten to your head.”
“And the Empire will see to it to re-adjust the identity parameters the next time around.”
“You’re a monster, Veronnogh!” Veergha yells at her superior.
Veronnogh just smiles down at her. “You know, when we picked you up from Korvell, as well as the many others wasteful children of your planet, you could barely even speak yet. A lot of childish noise emitting from the mouth, not a lot of form or logic still attached. Korvell thrived in technological advancements, which proved useful for the Empire. But in an evolutionary sense, we never really saw anything in the Korvellians that was worth our efforts. See, nothing about you was so special, Korriavania. It was us, the Volgan Empire, that gave you the opportunity to be something more. We gave you a new name. We gave you purpose.”
“You made her into a Child of War.” Darraihn stated. “A very twisted definition for salvation.”
Veronnogh grabs hold of Darraihn by his neck. Darraihn was fluctuating, the petals in his body moved rapidly. Veronnogh’s hold on him seemed to dilute him of his ability to agglutinate into the walls like his brethren. “I considered the idea of recruiting some of you Darovians. Your evolutionary state is something quite peculiar to us, you see. The ability of your species to reform yourselves in kaleidoscopic means to the matters all around you was something that brought our attention to your planet in the first place. So, in a sense, you are the cause of your own demise. But you’ve proven to me now that your kind is too erratic to be persuaded in joining our ranks. You’ve even managed to twist around the perspective of one of our brighter warriors; Veergha here, being the example.”
The petals around Darraihn’s body were losing its colors. Veronnogh tightened the grip on his neck, and Darraihn kept twisting and turning, trying as much as he can to get out of Veronnogh’s hold. Veergha screamed a primal roar as she transfigured her cells into something entirely beastly. Her fingers grew sharp claws, and her hind legs shifted and gained more mass. Veronnogh noticed her transformation, and started wrapping a metallic sheet around his body. Veergha was just about to tackle Veronnogh, when she noticed that Darraihn had stopped moving. The petals on his body dried up and fell to the floor.
Veronnogh released his grip on Darraihn’s neck, sending his lifeless body slowly descending to the floor like a leaf in the wind. “Give me your best, Veergha. Use that pain.”
“Gladly.” She replies. Veergha tackled Veronnogh with such an extreme force that it broke apart the wooden tree house they were in, sending both of them falling from the trees.
End of Chapter.
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