AN: Hello, everyone. Here it is, my baby from NaNoWriMo! This has been the reason for my terrible neglect of Ésalno.

Xanthos: "Humph. I didn't like being stuck on PAUSE for a full month!"

Sorry, it was a necessary evil.

Xanthos: "Lying little -- "

Ahem. This story, while not NEARLY finished, came out a little bit better than I hoped. I managed to hit the 50K word mark, too. Now all that remains is for me to actually finish the story here on Fiction Press.

Read, review, and enjoy!

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"They were as omnipotent as mortals could be, the Embodiments. The world began to worship those who had once been their brothers and sisters, now bowing down to them as if they were gods. They were to maintain our world, obeying the laws of Creation Life and Destruction Death just as we do. It was a never-ending cycle, and it was everything that the Embodiments, and the world, stood for. So when the first Creation Embodiment, Luip Gretal, appeared before us in Alben, South Meker, to choose the next in line, we were all in awe.

"Except for me, of course. Even to this day I still can't believe that I forgot to brush my teeth that morning. Boy, what an embarrassment that was."

-- Hirto Cretio, speaking of his first meeting with an Embodiment.

The Embodiments

Chapter 1 -- The Day of Visitation

Yeah, leave it to Captain Nisera to give us book work on such a beautiful day. What a slimy bastard, let me tell you. I know his schedule, too. He gives us book work on the sunny, warm days so that we have to spend the best time of the year cooped up in our tiny-and-extremely-inadequate-in-terms-of-plumbing "homes", reading about stuff we already know and writing 'til our fingers bleed. Meanwhile, he sits in his cozy government-paid-for-with-decent-plumbing-and-a-beautiful-view-of-the-city room and laughs at us until he loses his voice. Like I said, he's a slimy bastard. If this is what he does during the GOOD days, just imagine what he does during the bad ones. I've gotten wet in places that I never knew existed because he had us training in the rain.

However, today he did the unthinkable. Not only did he assign us work, he also made us train in entity-control and physical endurance combined. That's unheard of. But wait, it gets worse. He made us actually show up... on a government holiday. Oh boy, Ari and I are steamed, let me tell you. I'm speaking figuratively for myself, and literally for my little brother. The sweat is actually steaming off his forehead from the heat. He hasn't been that angry in a long time, and if Captain Nisera sees such a lack of entity-control, Ari's going to get demoted. Again.

I, however, don't have to remain calm. I'm scowling away, letting my displeasure shine through. Captain Nisera doesn't seem to seriously mind, though. He never does. He always warns me about how he'll demote me along with my brother, but not once has that ever happened, and I've been under his command as an Entitist for six months now. I get it easy compared to everyone else, but then again, I've got to put up with a lot more crap behind the scenes. And something about the way Captain Nisera is looking at me says that the crap will begin shortly.

All seven of us Entitists, with the exception of the Captain, are standing at the edge of the training field like we do every day. Including government holidays. After having gone through our entity-control mingled with physical training exercise, we're all staring at Captain Nisera, who is pacing back and forth before us, with seemingly calm eyes. Except me, because I'm scowling. We're not-so-eagerly awaiting the results of our exercise, praying that none of us will be brutally chastised for our lack of abilities.

The pacing stopped. The black haired male in front of us stopped staring down at his clipboard and instead set his eyes on us. Creepy. Like all people who have extreme control in one or more of the entities, he's got the matching color of his entity in a ring around the pupils of his eyes. Seeing as it's black, it has the effect of making his pupils look far larger than normal. Captain Nisera looked like he was staring around in a room with little light rather than standing outside in the sun all morning. Like I said, creepy. And he looks like this all the time, too.

"You did decently today. Well, better than yesterday, anyway. Today there were no serious injuries."

The earth-haired man to my left bowed his head down in shame, and the woman to my right gave a huff of disapproval, muttering something about Sergeant Monroe using a great deal of her life-entity abilities to heal her broken arm.

"However, while most of you managed to improve, or at the very least maintain your current level," Nisera's eyes darted to Ari at the far left, "one of you failed the test completely."

His eyes sought out mine, and my scowl was more pronounced. I knew it had been coming, but I didn't like it in the least.

Nisera stepped forward toward me then, and mind you, this is a very intimidating thing to witness. He had a tendency of "accidentally" letting some of his entity take control once in a while. With every step he took he left a patch of dead grass in the shape of the sole of his boots. The man to my left shuddered slightly as he watched the process of death and decay take place before his eyes. I, however, wasn't freaked out or afraid. No, that was only in the first month of my working in the Entitists' Legion. By now, his destructive tendencies were as normal as every other tendency our little group was known for.

"Private Keira Lansing, take off one of your boots," he ordered calmly once he was about a step away from bumping into me. I was actually able to smell the aroma of fine wine and men's cologne coming from him.

I grumbled an affirmative and did as I was told, struggling with taking off my left boot as he began to lecture to everyone else.

"Heatproof, pierce proof, waterproof," Nisera said to the group. "Decay proof, growth proof, and extra-conductive. Am I missing any?"

The woman next to me spoke. "Extra-ventilated, sir."

"Ah yes, extra-ventilated, thank you Private Morison."

"You're welcome, sir."

I understood immediately what Nisera was getting at, and so did everyone else. They quickly glanced over at the boot I was pulling off, some of them seeing the circular piece of metal in the sole.

"Without a heatproof suit, Private Ari Lansing would end up causing his clothing to catch fire in the middle of a training exercise," Nisera stated, telling us the facts we already knew. "Without a waterproof suit, Private Morison would be weighed down with water every time she used her abilities. And as for me, without my decay proof suit I'd find myself stark naked in the courtyard every time I used Destruction. Now, Private Keira Lansing, please hand us your boot."

I mumbled another affirmative, handing over the leather boot with my classic scowl.

Nisera held the boot up to us all, showing the sole. Now everyone could see the metal peg in the bottom.

"Private Keira Lansing has an extra-conductive suit to enhance her abilities," he explained. "The entirety of her uniform and armor has a wire frame on the inside, and at certain points these wires will come in contact with her skin, and the other end of the wires will erupt through outside points on her suit. These wires are coated with rubber in most areas so that her suit doesn't catch fire. Now, she has metal in her boots, too, so that energy can escape from her feet as well. Very handy when you happen to kick someone in battle."

Everyone glanced down at my bootless foot, seeing that I wore no socks. I was completely barefoot so that my skin could touch the metal peg in the sole of each boot.

"Now, in today's training exercise," Nisera rambled on, "Private Keira Lansing lost minor control of her entity. How can I tell? Look at the grass."

All eyes glanced toward the grass at the center of the training field. The blades were all trampled, which was to be expected, but there was something more. There were several charred spots in the grass, each about two inches in diameter. Unsurprisingly, the metal pegs on the bottom of my boots are about that size.

Nisera dropped my boot on my bare foot then, and my scowl was briefly pierced by a look of pain and annoyance. That was totally unnecessary! Now, would you believe that this man dares to give me behind the scenes crap, ON TOP of all this?

"Tell me, Private, what caused you to lose control when you did fine yesterday?"

Oh boy did he ask the wrong question to the wrong person!

"Well you see, sir, I woke up this morning looking forward to one of the most important holidays of the year," I said, my scowl vanishing as I was finally able to say what us Entitists under his command had wanted to say all morning. I could practically feel the winces of my peers nearby, but also their silent agreement. At least that's what I believed. "But suddenly Private Morison knocked on my door with a message. She said that we had training today. On a government holiday."

I could have said a lot more, believe me. A lot more that would have involved swearing, yelling, attacking, and mentioning that the slimy bastard had the nerve to give us a written assignment on a nice day.

Nisera only chuckled at me. "Ah, so it looks like your emotions took control, I see."

"Yes, they did."

"Private, did you notice that no one else here, not even your pathetic excuse for a brother, managed to lose control during this exercise? It seemed like everyone else managed to stay calm. What's your excuse?"

Having been working for the South Meker military for six months, I knew what the appropriate answer was: "I have no excuse, sir." But, having known Captain Nisera for the same amount of time caused a different response.

"I feel that I don't need an excuse, sir."

A long time ago the other Entitists would have stared at me like I was crazy, but this time they did nothing more than blink. It was the norm, really, for me to mouth off in one way or another to the Captain.

Of course, it was also the norm for a twinkle of horrible, absolutely horrible, glee to set in Nisera's eyes as he looked at me. His look said it all -- the crap that went on behind the scenes would begin shortly. A note for the record: Nisera is a sadomasochist. And I'm not saying that in a sexually perverse way (I wouldn't know, but there have been rumors). No, I'm saying that in an everyday occurrence kind of way. Nisera is a sadomasochist, there was no other word for it. He loved tormenting me, and loved even more the pain that I caused him in return, I swear.

Slimy bastard. And no,I did not dig my own grave, thank you! It's not my fault for mouthing off -- it's his fault for making us go through a training session on a government holiday. It was the Day of Visitation, for the Embodiments' sakes!

"Oh really?" he asked, the joy evident in his tone and unnerving smile. It was all a game to him. "So you're entitled to your lack of control, both emotionally and entity wise? Is that what you're telling me?"

"On government holidays, yes."

Nisera chuckled then, and we all saw how the grass around his feet began to go from healthy green to a sickly brown, withering and decaying before us. Once again the man to my left began his act of twitching and shivering.

The circle of Destruction spread until it was but an inch from toes. I was able to feel an odd sort of vacuum that came from Nisera's energy -- or rather, lack of it. His entity was all about stealing Creation energy, and the decay of anything organic was nothing more than a side-effect.

"I'm a 780 Destruction Entitist," he said with the same smile he had before. "Do you know how long it takes for me to steal the life force of the average human? Twelve seconds. That's to steal all of it completely. But after about four seconds, the average person would fall into a coma, suffering massive brain damage that would mean certain death later on if no Creation entitists were there to help." His smile widened. "That means that if I lose control for even four seconds, it could mean killing everyone around me if there was no one nearby to help."

... What could I say?

"So, Private, it would do best that everyone here, including you, keep control of any entities. Even on government holidays."

I didn't respond. Again, what could I say? Sure, I could mention how none of us were so creepy that we had the ability to kill like he did, and therefore were allowed a bit of freedom with our entity control... but I decided not to. I already had enough to deal with behind the scenes already. Besides, it would have been an old message. I had told him something along those lines within the first month of us meeting.

Nisera took a few steps away from me, his entity fading away so that the cold vacuum disappeared. For several moments he looked down at his clipboard, saying nothing, allowing us to stand in uncomfortable silence under the noon sun. Under the noon government holiday sun.

"The parade starts when the bell tolls for one o'clock, correct?" Nisera asked absentmindedly. One or two of the Entitists muttered a reply of "yes, sir." Nisera nodded. "So, if you left now, all of you would be able to make it? Seeing as Private Keira Lansing is so emotional, and it is a government holiday, I thought it would be nice to let you all off early."

I blinked. Make it? Wait, he was letting us go? He was letting us off early?! Incredible! Someone must've drugged his drink, no doubt. I would have to find the heroic creature and thank him or her for it later.

No, wait a minute... no one drugged his drink. My eyes narrowed as I learned the truth. Nisera was just trying to make himself look like the good guy and make me look like the villainous nag! I knew it from the original twinkle in his eyes, that shine of "you just wait for it" that wouldn't go away. Slimy bastard!

"Go on, enjoy the festivities," he decided, still looking down at his clipboard. "Who knows, maybe I'll see one or two of you there if I decide to show up. But remember, you have your assignment due on Entity Distribution tomorrow. You're dismissed."

Relief seemed to spread throughout the little group like wildfire. To my right and left the members of the Entitists' Legion began to drop their military-required obedience and instead went back to their normal personalities. Chatter broke out immediately. Well, if there was just one thing good about Captain Nisera, I'd have to say that he's pretty lax with us when we're dismissed. Once he considers the workday over, he could care less if we mouth off, swear, or have complete lack of entity-control. Hell, he even goes so far as to call us by our first names.

Hehehe, first names... speaking of which, his first name is Aydran. Aydran! Aydran Nisera -- doesn't sound like a very tough name, does it? Sounds kinda like Audrey. If he didn't have Destruction entity-control one would think he was a total wimp. At least by name, anyway. As for appearance... eh, not so much.

Nisera's one of those guys who's gifted in nearly everything when it comes to looks. You know that cliché about tall, dark, and handsome? No, that's not him. However, he is of decent height, just a tiny, tiny bit tan, and he looks pretty damn good over all. Even I have to admit it, though it doesn't change the fact that he's a slimy bastard, which is why I dislike him. Ahem. Anyway, being a military guy, Nisera's just like every other military guy his age -- he's fit, which is more than any man working outside the government can say. Entity-control in the form of Destruction has taken over a good deal of his hair color, darkening his already short, deep brown hair so much that it seemed black. The same thing happened to his eyes, and this is where his looks begin to deteriorate. They're a regular old blue, but with a circle of pitch black around the pupil. Like I said before, it makes his pupils look bigger than they really are.

Speaking of eyes, I have to admit that poor slimy bastard Captain Nisera simply can't help that he looks like a nocturnal rodent. As far as pigmentation goes, no entitist, professional or otherwise, can help what the entities have done to their hair and eyes. I, for instance, have a ring of yellow-gold around my pupils. My brother Ari has a ring of red. Every person here is like that. And it's all thanks to Entity Distribution.

Ah, Entity Distribution... if you think I'm actually going to talk about that, you're crazy. It's a government holiday! No paperwork for me, no sir!

"Yes!" I breathed once Nisera had turned his back, walking away and marking things on his clipboard. Hey, even if he did make himself look like the hero, I can still take advantage of a day off. "Time for parades! And parties! I've been waiting my entire life for this!"

As any citizen knows, the Day of Visitation is one of the most important days of the year. Once every few decades or so, the Embodiments will visit the one they choose to be next in line -- or rather, the Central Entities inside them will choose for them, homing in on the person most suited for being a "mortal god". It's really cool, actually. The last Embodiments had been chosen about a decade ago, making me a teenager when that had happened. Ari and I had still been living in Lentin, South Meker with our parents at the time, so we hadn't seen any of the big celebrations. No, all of the big celebrations are held in the holy city, and capital city of South Meker -- Alben.

This year is my first year seeing the festivities. While the Embodiments don't choose someone new every year, the Day of Visitation is still celebrated every year anyway. Same for the Day of Choosing, which is two days after today's holiday. Then there's also the Day of Ending, which is in another two weeks. Those three days are filled with worshipping in the temples and parades on the streets. It's going to be amazing, I just know it.

I was torn out of my mental celebrating when a redhead walked over to me, frowning down at me in a concerned way. His eyes, naturally brown but with a red hue taking control of the center, had an impatient stare about them. That man and I, we couldn't be any more opposite if we tried. My hazel eyes had a ring of gold, not red. And my hair, which was about two feet longer than his short, feathery locks, was brown with beautiful streaks of honey-blonde thanks to my entity.

"You are an embarrassment, you know that?" the man said, pointing a finger at me.

Hmph, little prat. I swear, sometimes he thinks HE'S the older sibling. But I swear to you, just because he's ten times more mature than me does NOT give him the right to act like a big brother.

"Shut up, Ari," I ordered the redheaded male, poking him sharply in the chest. It did nothing. "You're more of an embarrassment than I am. At least I'm improving, you prat."

My brother's mouth hung open on that one. "Im-improving?! Keira, you failed the test!"

"Only because I was angry. If I had really tried, then I would have -- "

"Oh that's right, you were angry," he muttered with a roll of his eyes. "Well, you heard what the Captain said. Emotions aren't excuses."

"Yeah well, I don't have the ability to kill by looking at someone funny, now do I?" I argued. "I think I deserve a little slack once in a while."

Ari simply glared at me. "You're the strongest Energy Entitist in South Meker, and you think you deserve a little slack?!"

I was half-angered, half-flattered with his statement. He had, after all, paid me a compliment. The only problem was that he added that unnecessary bit of responsibility onto it.

It was all true -- I was the most powerful Energy Entitist in South Meker, hell, maybe ALL of Meker. That was why I was working for the very annoying Captain Nisera in the first place. People had noticed my abilities about a year ago when I was living in Lentin, a city a few miles north of here. After a lot of paperwork, arguing with government officials, and asking for advice from Temple Guardians, I came here to Alben to become part of the Entitists' Legion.

"Hey, you don't need to attack me, you know," I grumbled. "I'm certainly allowed to have my own opinion, right?"

"Not when it comes to entity-control, Keira!"

Ugh. He's a suck-up, let me tell you. Always agreeing with Captain Nisera on everything. I'm actually rather surprised that the two don't get along. It's a funny story, actually...

My brother Ari was noticed about a year before I was, and so for quite a while we were separated as he lived here in Alben and I in Lentin. But I always got letters from him every week, and many of them described Aydran Nisera. Each week was a different emotion: respect, borderline worship, utmost loathing, fear, etc. Ari explained how he, just like nearly everyone else that has ever met the man (except me), truly did look up to Captain Nisera. You see, Nisera is well-known for being a chivalrous gentleman (that's what they say, anyway) who cares about his country more than his own life (that part's true). Many women (except me, definitely not me!) are quite infatuated with him for these reasons and two others... his good looks and powerful entity-control. And, he's a high-ranking government official. But that's not important and now look, I'm babbling. Ahem...

Anyway, while my brother practically worshipped Nisera, Nisera didn't seem to care. You see, everyone worships him. It's nothing new. So, he treated Ari like every other recruit out there, but with one exception... he wasn't exactly fond of him because my brother wasn't the best at what he did. While powerful, Ari didn't know how to control that power... and Nisera didn't like that at all. In fact, I believe there was once an incident where Ari accidentally lit the entire courtyard on fire. Plus, my brother isn't the sharpest study, even if he does dedicate hours at a time in trying to please his captain. Poor guy... oh well.

When I arrived, things were... well, weird at first. I had heard all these stories about Nisera, so in the beginning I didn't like him. Now I hate him. Funny how things change, huh? Anyway, with my arrival, I didn't find things that hard at all. Perhaps it was because I was an EXTREMELY quick study -- things that people worked on for hours took me only minutes to understand and execute. And, rumor has it that when I arrived and Nisera noticed my talents, his tough attitude towards everyone in general softened greatly. So, the first week was very awkward -- people seemed shocked with any sort of compliment they had been given. Within a few days I began to wonder if my brother was exaggerating in how harsh Nisera was. He didn't seem like that bad of a guy...

... until I learned that he went soft because he was completely and utterly INFATUATED with me. Apparently I somehow fell in his favor when I impressed him with my entity-control on the first day, and also he was intrigued by my overall attitude. That and something about my eyes. Whatever. And my reward for catching the eye of my captain, the supposedly most-handsome and powerful Entitist in the South Mekerian military? Behind-the-scenes crap consisting of flirting and other unholy and unprofessional words and actions that I dare not speak of in mixed company.

Now, would you believe that some women are jealous of me?! What the hell! I didn't ask for Nisera's affections, okay?! If you want him that badly, take him! Sheesh. I really don't know what there is to be jealous of, though. Honestly, who would want a man like Nisera hitting on them anyway? You'd have to be crazy.

"Suck up," I muttered bitterly to my brother in response to his you-should-be-more-responsible-like-me argument. He didn't look too pleased with me. "Trying to get on Nisera's good side, eh?"

"No, I'm just telling you the honest truth," he stated, glaring down at me with what would have been completely hazel eyes had the entity within him not taken control. "You need to stop taking this so lightly, Keira. You're a professional Entitist! You can't let go of control for even a second. You know that."

"Again, I feel that I deserve some slack."

"What is it with you and shirking your responsibilities?!" my brother asked. He was always the a good boy, I swear. When the two of us were children living in Lentin, I was the outgoing playful youngster and he was the kid who actually paid attention in school. I was always busy playing pranks on the other students, and he was the one who went and tattled. It makes sense that in he's now the one who takes care of our "house" and all the finances while I just kinda sit back and do the bare minimum. And at work... well, I think you already know.

"Oh shut up, Ari." It was all I could respond with. I'm not the best in the 'witty retorts' area.

To my amazement, the man before me actually decided to shut his mouth. He gave me one of his classic someday-you'll-regret-slacking glares, and I did the usual -- I ignored it. What else could be done?

A brown-haired man, Isho Makeo, walked up to us as the conversation ceased. His eyes were the same earthy color of his hair. He gave us a crooked grin, which I returned wholeheartedly. I liked this guy. Just like me, he had a bad habit of losing control at inopportune moments. Just yesterday he had accidentally sent a slab of stone spiraling in the wrong direction, eventually allowing it to break the arm of Elana Morison, our Air Entitist in training.

"You two looking forward to tonight's festivities?" he asked, mostly to me. I gave an excited nod.

"Yes indeed! I hear there's going to be fireworks and parades and tons of other stuff."

"Hehehe, you bet," he said. "It's going to be bloody amazing. Granted, the Day of Visitation is never quite as good as the Day of Choosing, but you gotta make do with what you have, you know?"

"So the Day of Choosing is better?"

"Yup. The second holiday is always faster and more exciting than the first for some reason."

"And what about the Day of Ending?"

Isho rolled his eyes at me. "The Day of Ending? Eh, that one's going to be boring as hell. Unless you like being stuck in the temple for hours on end."

I sniggered. Hell... it's such a funny word. I liked it. Supposedly it's a place of eternal torture or something like that. It pops up a lot in old fables and folklore, the type that were extremely common until the ancient Kerani religion of Ilanu Ji Vertis took over nearly all civilizations in Meker. The word 'hell' remains part of the everyday language, however. Now it's commonly used to express how extreme something is, though it does have other meanings.

"Anyway, that's not important right now," Isho said with a wave of his hand. "I wanted to talk to you about Sergeant Monroe. Where is she?"

"That's a very good question. I have absolutely no idea," I responded with a shake of my head.

Quickly I glanced around the courtyard, my eyes scanning for the white hair and eyes of Sergeant Alison Monroe. She was Captain Nisera's assistant. Everyday she would walk along with him, checking off things on her clipboard just as he did. Her powerful Creation abilities made her an invaluable part of our group. Not only did she heal any injuries that occurred, but she also provided a source of energy for Nisera. Her abilities were the exact opposite of his -- he was a level 780 Destruction Entitist, she a level 780 Creation Entitist. The two balanced each other out perfectly -- she was constantly giving off excess energy, and he was always absorbing it.

"She was here yesterday, right?" Ari asked.

"Yeah. She healed Elana's broken arm after my clumsy mistake," Isho said with a bit of a blush.

"I wonder where she is..." I said.

Isho's blush went away as he suddenly grinned. "You know, you could go over and ask the Captain..."

I gave him a terrible glare. He gave a bit of a childish giggle and leapt away from me, perhaps fearing a possible attack.

"I am NOT going to deal with Nisera!" I said. "Today's a holiday! I don't want to have to deal with any behind-the-scenes crap today, no sir!"

I knew it would happen. It would start easily enough -- I'd go up to Nisera, ask my question, and then grimace and wince as the conversation went steadily downhill to "are you doing anything tonight?" and "well, do you want to?".

"But Keira," Isho began to whine, "you're the only one here who can -- "

"No!"

"Oh c'mon, if you don't do it, we'll never find out unless he decides he wants to tell us! Please, Keira?"

"What am I going to get out of it, eh?"

"Um, uh..."

"Nothing, right?! Why you little -- "

"I just haven't thought of anything yet!"

"Oh go on, Keira," Ari said with a light smile. "We all want to know, and it's not like talking to him will actually harm you. Besides, it gives you a chance to yell at him for not giving you the day off."

Ooh, he had a point there.

"Fine, but only if you pay me back somehow."

He thought about it. "How?"

"Help me do my paper."

He sighed. "Fine, fine."

Okay, talking to Nisera is now officially worth it.

I took in a deep breath, bracing myself. "I'm going to do it. Wish me luck."

Isho actually applauded as I began to walk away. It truly was a situation worth so much drama, I thought.

Nisera was sitting at a wooden table in a shadowed corner of the courtyard. His clipboard, along with a strange lump of metal, lay before him. Also sitting there was his sword. It was out of its sheath and glimmering brightly in the sun, his name and rank etched into the silvery blade. He didn't see me approach.

"Hey, Nisera," I called out as I was several feet away from him. That's it, there was no turning back now. The crap was about to begin.

The black-haired man glanced up, then smiled at me. Damn I hate his smiles. "Ah, Keira. Take a seat."

"Erm, no thanks," I said rather rudely. "I'll only be staying a minute or two, so there's no need to -- "

"Only a minute? And here I was, thinking I had my hopes up."

He chuckled, and I groaned. Here it was...

"What are you doing here? I had expected for you to run off for the parade and such. Unless you're here to ask me to go with you...?"

"Like hell I was!" I yelled. "What do you think I need, a damn escort?!"

He only chuckled at me. Slimy bastard. He's been doing things like this, every day, since my arrival here in Alben. I don't know if he's noticed or not, but I do NOT like it, not one bit.

"Why are you truly here, Keira?" he asked me. "Perhaps to yell at me for wasting your day?"

I glared. "How were you even able to do that?! It's a GOVERNMENT holiday!"

"I have friends in high-places."

"Friends in high places, my ass. You just abused your power. You broke the rules."

"Keira, I help to make the rules. I'm allowed to break them."

I nearly choked. "So you admit that you're a power-crazed man who thinks you're better than everyone else?! AHA! I knew it!"

He stood from his seat, shaking his head. "If you're implying I'm some sort of megalomaniac with a large ego, you're mistaken."

"Implying?! Nisera, you showed me the proof! I don't need to imply anything!"

"Did I?" he asked with a torturing smile. "Where are the witnesses?"

I turned around and glanced at my comrades that were still lingering nearby. They were too far away to have heard him. Damn.

My eyes caught on Isho, and I blinked. What was I doing? "Enough rambling! Nisera, what did you do to Sergeant Monroe? You killed her and dumped the body somewhere, didn't you?!"

He laughed. "I simply adore your sense of humor, Keira."

Ugh. I mentally began to check off another thing from the list that Nisera loved, liked, adored, or found amusing. That list was a bit too big for my tastes. All that was left were the "unmentionables" -- things Nisera (or guys in general) likes, but doesn't dare mention, probably for fear of injury and/or death.

"Answer me! Where is she?"

"She's in Lentin, working there to train their new recruits."

Oh. Okay, so she wasn't murdered, she was just transferred to another city. I can live with that.

"What? Why? Isn't she needed here?"

"No. The entire point of the Entitists' Legion is to train the next generation of Captains and Generals," he stated. "I'm hoping that all of you, like Sergeant Monroe, will someday transfer to other parts of the country and help build the military there, using your entity-control and other skills you've learned here."

"Yeah, yeah, high hopes, dreams of success, blah blah," I muttered. "But that's not what I'm asking. Isn't she needed HERE?! I mean, who else is going to provide energy for you?"

He smiled. "I'll live, though I'm suddenly tired now that you've brought that up."

Destruction Entitists, especially extremely powerful ones like Nisera, are constantly in need of excess Creation energy to live normal lives. Without this energy, there can be terrible problems. Nisera once told me the consequences of going a day without draining the life energy from the creatures around him -- he was tired all day and collapsed after only five hours of being awake. The opposite happens to Creation Entitists -- they'll only need to sleep for five hours or less, and the rest of the time they'll be overly active, borderline hyper. Either situation can have terrible, long-lasting effects.

"But don't worry, I'll be fine," Nisera said with that same smile on his face. "I'll compensate for the loss by slowly feeding upon the world around me instead of the usual Sergeant Monroe. Thank you for your concern, Keira. It's nice to know that you care."

"I do NOT care!" I yelled. "Don't make the mistake of thinking that, you hear me?! You may pay for it in the future."

"Right, of course," he said, a tone of disbelief in his voice.

Okay, my job here was done. I got the information, now I just had to go inform Isho of the details.

As I turned and began to walk away, Nisera caught my hand. Agh! Physical contact! I pulled mine out of his, giving him a sharp glare. He only smiled.

"Keira, take a look at this while you're here."

He held up the lump of metal that had been sitting in front of him on the table. I... had no idea what it was. It had a wooden handle, and I could see clearly how one would hold it, gripping onto the handle tightly with one of their fingers in the circular ring at the front. Attached was a short metal pipe, a tiny hammer, and what looked like a chamber of some sort. I knew not what was in it.

"Um, what is that?" I asked.

"It's the newest piece of technology in the military," he said with a smug smile. "Only the Generals and a few select Captains get one of these things. They're more dangerous than any other weapon here in Alben... perhaps the entirety of South Meker."

Well, he didn't exactly answer my question, but he did give me a lot of useful information. However, I highly doubted that the tiny metal contraption was more dangerous than a sword.

"Dangerous? How so? What are you going to do, throw it at someone? Hit them with it?"

His smug smile turned almost sadistic. "No. Keira, this thing is incredible. It... I don't know how to describe it. It explodes in your hand, and -- "

"Well, then I'd bet it's dangerous!" I exclaimed. "Put the thing down before it goes off and you lose an arm! Or, better yet, keep holding it. I'll just back away a bit..."

"No, no, not like that. It's a contained explosion. And when it happens, a piece of metal flies out of that tube right there called the barrel. It flies off so fast you can hardly see it, and then it collides with whatever you've been pointing the weapon at. It's... incredible. Granted, the aiming is terrible, so you only want to use something like this in close encounters, but the results are -- "

I had trouble understanding the concept, so I asked him what it was called. "What is it, exactly?"

"It's a North Mekerian invention called the Teran Flima. That's Kerani for 'Fiery Arrow'. Most people just call it a flima."

Flima... how odd. I tested the word on my tongue, saying it aloud several times.

"The piece of metal that flies out, the 'arrow', causes severe damage when it hits its target. This thing could blow a hole through someone's skull."

"Then put it away!" I said. "There's no need to be waving dangerous things like that around, especially if it's of North Mekerian design. Those barbarians are constantly thinking of better ways to kill and torture people, aren't they?"

"One must admit that some of their creations are useful."

I glared at him. "Do you need to see a Temple Guardian?"

He shook his head. "Are you implying that I'm a sinner? No, Keira, I'm fine."

Sometimes I worried about him. As everyone knows, violence is a sin. In the religion of Ilanu Ji Vertis, extremely violent acts are punishable by exile. Hell, sometimes you get exiled for so much as brandishing a weapon. And do you know what's really ironic? This government, and the military with it, was created by followers of Ilanu Ji Vertis.

Which makes me wonder... why do we have a military, let alone weapons like the flima? In the military, when one becomes a Sergeant, they get their sword that they keep for the rest of their career. And, now the Generals and a few special Captains get flimas. The Privates, on the other hand, have nothing but the abilities they were born with.

"North Meker is constantly advancing in its technology," Nisera said. "We have to keep up one way or another. We could spend millions of credits on researching things, or we could just steal what they have. Either way, it would be dangerous to be caught behind them. As everyone knows, our religion doesn't have as strong of a hold up there as it once had. They don't follow the rules of nature. If they seek to destroy us, the laws of our religion won't be able to protect us. Even the Temple Guardians know this."

"And in order to defend ourselves from sin, we must become sinners," I spat.

"Basically... yes. But it's for the greater good."

I had absolutely no reply to that. North Meker had its problems... but that didn't mean that we should have them, too.

Hundreds of years ago, when Ilanu Ji Vertis took hold of the continent of Meker, it wasn't immediately embraced. Eventually two factions formed. They had no names, and at first they weren't organized, but then both groups managed to start taking control of areas of land, making them "safe-havens" for those aligned with them. Over time more and more land was claimed until the continent was split into two countries, North and South Meker. Governments and militaries formed soon after. South Meker was a theocratic government filled with the temples of Ilanu Ji Vertis in every city, while North Meker was a democratic capitalistic society that favored industrialization over religion. In our eyes, they were barbarians.

"Don't give me that look," my captain said. "If you disagree with it that much, then why don't you just quit your job? No one's forcing you to stay here, you know."

Grr, he caught me in a tight spot.

"I can't just leave," I muttered. "This is probably the only decent paying job I'll ever get. That and... the Temple Guardian back home in Lentin would be very upset with me if I quit."

He looked like he was about to say something, but he didn't. Mentally I thanked him for his silence. I hated being stuck in spots that made me uncomfortable like that. If it involved physical pain, theology, morality, or too much thinking, I didn't like it.

He sighed. "Very well." He picked up his flima and his sword, holstering and sheathing the weapons with care. "Well, I must be going now, Keira. It was very kind of you to stop by and say hello. Like I said before, it's nice to know you care."

"What?! Hey, I don't care, you slimy -- "

"I'm afraid I have to be going to Luip's Temple," he said, using the nickname 'Luip's Temple' to refer to the Temple of Creation and Destruction. It was the temple that was conjoined with the main government building in the center of Alben. Where I stood, in the courtyard, was in one of the many courtyards of this combined temple and castle. "I have a speech I must prepare for. I'm to be speaking at tonight's ceremonies for my temple." He began to walk away, pausing only once to glance over his shoulder and smile at me. "By the way, about letting you and your comrades off for the day... that had been in my plans from the beginning. Don't think I did it just because you complained."

I stared at him, speechless, as he walked off. Just as he exited through the main doors of the courtyard, I shook my fist at his back. It was all I could do.
Damn him! I made myself look like a villainous nag for NOTHING!
Isho and Ari, who had previously been forgotten for many moments, were thrown into the front of my mind as the Earth Entitist called out to me.

"Hey! What'd he say?" he asked.

"About what?"

"Sergeant Monroe!"

"He sucked all the energy out of her and buried her body in a remote location. What did you think, idiot?"

He gave me a thoughtful look, and I supposed he was wondering if he should believe me or not.

Ari came forward, looking slightly miffed. "What were you two talking about? You couldn't have just asked him the question, could you?"

"Hey, don't blame me for his chatting mouth! It's not my fault he went off on a tangent about flimas, and then caught my interest!"

The Fire Entitist blinked. "Flima...? What are you babbling about? And..." He suddenly smiled. "Wait, did you just say that Captain Nisera caught your interest?"

I hit him on the chest with the back of my hand. He didn't flinch, and he didn't stop smiling, either. Damn! Curse these foul uniforms we all wear! His was supposed to be heat-resistant, not HIT resistant! I hit him a few more times, hoping that I would somehow cause pain. "Don't twist my words around, Ari!"

"Sorry," he said, still smiling. "I couldn't help it."

"You just wait! Someday I'm going to twist YOUR words around, and -- "

"Keira, you already do."

"Shut it, that's not the point!" In my mind I began searching for ways to inflict pain. "Anyway, I'll twist your words around, and you'll see how annoying it is!"

"I swear to the Embodiments," Isho interjected as he came over, "you two are the worst siblings in the world..."

"Stay out of this!" I yelled.

Ari began laughing for one odd reason or another. I think it had something to do with my outburst. That was when I thought up a way to harm him. ... Oops, such evil thoughts for a follower of Ilanu Ji Vertis. Ahem.

I playfully slapped him, sending a small wave of energy through my hand and out the tips of my fingers as I did so. I loved being a 780 Energy Entitist. It was such a useful thing to be, really. I had really strange abilities compared to my comrades. It was like fire, in a sense -- if I sent a current of energy through certain materials, they would erupt in flames and burn. But at the same time... it wasn't fire. It was hard to explain. My energy was able to go through things, particularly metals like copper, without resistance. No one else could do that. It was unique, and I loved it.

The energy came in contact with Ari's cheek, and he leapt away from me with a cry, covering his face with his hand. "Ow! What was that for?!"

"Your rude comments, obviously," I muttered. "I hope that stings all throughout the festivities."

"It's numb, actually," my brother corrected.

"Festivities?" Isho muttered, and I saw his eyes widen. "Oh Embodiments! We've got to get to where the parade will be! Otherwise, the tourists will have taken up the entire area!"

"Tourists? Oh come on, there can't be THAT many there," I said.

Isho shook his head. "No, that place is going to be FILLED with people." He began to walk off. "You guys coming or not?"

I shrugged and decided to follow along, and so did Ari. As I thought about it all, I began to grow excited. It would be my first holiday in the holy city. It would be filled with parades, games, food, and fireworks! Even if Nisera had been a total ass and made us train and whatnot, he couldn't ruin my day. It was, after all, a government holiday.

---

"There it is. I can sense it."

"I guess you were right for once, Ruiki. We were heading to the same place after all."

"What do you mean, for once? I am always right!"

"Shh, keep your voice down..."

An unusual set of gold eyes glanced quickly around the corner of an old wooden shed. Their owner, a man of average build and height, pulled back his head after seeing what he had needed to see, then breathed a sigh of relief.

"Good, your loud voice didn't alert anyone," the average man breathed to the other. His short, messy hair, just like his eyes, was of a golden hue. It was quite normal for anyone with entity-control to succumb to their powers, their pigmentation changing to match the entity within. "Usually it does, you know."

"Only because I want it to," the other man sneered. He was a lanky fellow, a great deal thinner than his friend but of around the same height. He blew a few strands of messy red hair out of his eyes, which were of the same color but defined by the silvery spots scattered in the irises. "You know how I am, right?" He grinned, exposing sharp terliman teeth.

"Yeah, I know, Ruiki," the gold-eyed man said, glancing around the corner once more. "I still remember what you did to that man in Lentin after you provoked him. Violence is a sin, you know. And do all terlimans bite and claw their way to victory?"

"I dunno, Relik. Do all humans run from fights like you do?"

"Hey, I didn't run. I just didn't take part in the beating of an old man."

"I take offense to that," Ruiki growled. "I didn't beat him, I slaughtered him. And he wasn't old. I see no point in wasting my time with the elderly. Why attack the weak when Destruction is waiting to claim them soon anyway? It's a lot better to fight the -- "

"Wait, shh!"

Relik, the average sized man, placed a hand over his friend's mouth, silencing him. A small noise, the sound of dry grass being stepped on, could be faintly heard. Together, the two both glanced again around the corner of the shed.

There was nothing there but a small cat, walking alone near the shed.

Relik pulled his hand away from Ruiki's mouth, noting that the vibrant redhead had licked his palm. "Huh. Just a cat," he said as he wiped his hand on his dirty and ripped pants.

"What did you expect it to be, you idiot?" Ruiki muttered. "It's the Day of Visitation. No one in their right mind would be around here when there're fireworks to watch! I wonder when those are going to start, anyway. We shouldn't miss them, you know. They are for us, after all."

"Shut up!" Relik ordered, placing his hand over the other male's mouth once again. "If anyone heard you say -- ech! You need to stop that."

Ruiki licked Relik's hand again, causing the golden eyed man to pull away.

"What do you mean, 'if anyone heard you'?! There's no one here! Like I said, they're all out celebrating our mere existence. You know, worshipping! As in getting drunk, high, and setting off fireworks! Worshipping!"
"There you go again, talking like that when anyone could hear you."

"But there's -- "

"I don't care. Your mouth always gets us into trouble, Ruiki."

"Yeah, and in more ways than one," the redhead said with a grin. "Remember when I kissed Alitair? Boy, she got so upset..."

"I'd get upset, too. You weren't being very serious, Ruiki. So much is at stake here, and when she warned us, you didn't have enough respect to just listen to her and thank her, did you? Everyone else did." He sighed. "Oh well, I guess there has to be an idiot and a trickster in every group, and lucky for us, you're both of them combined."

"You make it sound like such a bad thing."

"Sometimes it is. You need to be more serious."

"Hey, I was VERY serious after that!" Ruiki argued. "I offered to go in there and kick that guy where it hurt the most. I could have killed him easily if -- "

"Killed him? No one can even get near him! There's no way you could have done that. What is with you and fighting?!"

"And what's with you and fleeing? You wanted to get out of there as fast as possible, I noticed."

"That's because Alitair told us to, you moron. We need to find the next in line, just like she said, and at the same time stay undercover. Check and check. Fighting is not on the agenda."

Ruiki grumbled a bit under his breath, but said no more. Meanwhile Relik was leaving the cover of the shed, peering at what the two had traveled so far for. It sat but only a dozen yards away.

"I still can't believe we were both heading to the same damn place," Relik muttered. "I was hoping to get rid of you miles ago, not drag you along with me all the way to Alben."

"Oh how sweet of you," came the sarcastic reply, and the redhead joined his companion. "So what's this pansy plan we're supposed to follow, again?"

"We pretend that we drank a bit too much Opal Lily nectar, okay? That's supposedly the last thing we can remember doing, along with snorting Dirt Dust. Then, as time goes by, and the nectar supposedly begins to 'wear off', we drop hints that say we were both traveling here to Alben for the Day of Visitation, Day of Choosing, and Day of Ending. We're brothers, okay?"

"We don't look like brothers. Do you forget that I'm half-terliman?"

"Fine, we're half brothers, okay?"

"Which parent?"

"What?"

"Which parent do we share?"

"Um, our father, I guess."

"Why not the mother?"

"Does it really matter?"

"Yes. I want to know why you chose the father over the mother."

"Again, does it really matter?!"

"Why did you choose all of what you chose, huh? Why brothers, and why do we have to be worshippers here for the festivals? Can't we be something else?"

Relik let out a groan. "Ruiki..."

"We could be part of a traveling circus, except we lost our group. Or, we're illegal drug smugglers, here to sell Dirt Dust. Yeah! I like that one!"

"Ruiki! We're half brothers here for the festivals."

"Brothers who sell Dirt Dust in our spare time, right?"

"No!"

"Oh, I'm sorry. Half brothers who sell Dirt Dust. Almost forgot about that part."

"Ruiki!"

"What?"

"We're... oh never mind..."

"So we sell Dirt Dust?!"

"Yes, we... sell Dirt Dust..."

"Woo!"

Relik let out a frustrated sigh as his friend punched the air victoriously.

"Okay, enough, let's get serious."

"Serious, of course."

"Right. Now, once we're inside, posing as Dirt Dust selling brothers -- "
"Half brothers!" Ruiki interjected.

" -- who are here for the festival but accidentally overdosed on a mixture of Opal Lily nectar and Dirt Dust and can't remember anything before that," he paused to take a breath, "we need to stay around our counterparts at all times. The Central Entities will gradually shift over to them the longer we're with them, and the closer we are to them. Now, they won't notice anything until their hair and eyes begin to change, and ours as well. We just have to hope that they don't figure out who we are. But, as long as Nerin is hibernating..."

Relik looked down at his fingernails sadly. There was no unnatural, blinding glow of gold like there once had been. His hair, his eyes, everything about him, seemed normal. He looked like any other person with moderate entity-control. Ruiki was the same way, looking normal even with terliman opal spots in his red irises. However, it would only last for a little while. Then the two, along with Alitair and the others, would change back to what the Central Entities wanted them to be.

"As long as Nerin is weak and sleeping, we'll look like we once did before this all began," Relik muttered. "During that time, no one will know who we are, not even our counterparts."

He began moving towards their destination, the goal of what had been a very long journey over many, many miles. It was nothing but a small house, designed for perhaps one or two people, sitting alone on the outskirts of the colossal city of Alben. It was hard to believe that it was this house that had been calling out to him at every moment, the calls growing stronger and stronger as he came closer to it. But in reality it had not been the house, but instead the creature inside. The creature (he didn't know if it was male or female, or even human) wasn't there now -- he could feel its much stronger calling coming from the south, from the main of the city. Still, he could feel the trace energies that had been left behind and decided to go for those. That small house meant the world to him as forces beyond his control demanded he go inside.

Ruiki, who was following, twitched with each step that took him closer to the abode. "Hmm, I wonder how our counterparts are going to react when they find us..."

"Who cares? As long as they don't kick us out or try to kill us, it doesn't matter. And if they try to do that..."

"We take them hostage?"

"Erm, no. We tell them who we are, and give them proof. There's no way they'd turn us away then."

"Proof? The Central Entities are weakened because of Nerin's sleep. How could we provide proof?"

"Even with weakened Central Entities, we're still a great deal stronger than our counterparts. They'd believe us." Relik smiled. "For once, you could be playful and serious at the same time. I think a grand fireworks display of some sort would prove it all, don't you think?"

Ruiki paused, exposing his sharp teeth in a grin, accidentally letting the grass around his feet catch fire and burn in his excitement.

"That sounds fun," he breathed. "You know how much I like fireworks."

Relik returned the grin, approaching the front door of the house and placing his hand on the doorknob. The trace energies continued to call out to him, screaming for him to enter, even when he was so close.

"How ironic is this?" he suddenly laughed. "It's the Day of Visitation."