Empyrean

Chapter 19

Chapter 19-Serena

Zenith One, Palace on the Palace

Morning, 8th of Pachon, Year 612

            I haven’t been able to leave this tiny room. I can’t see outside and have only been hearing, but not seeing, the rain drops. But despite being captive, I have learned more than I have ever before together about the world in these two days. I have learned about music and even how to sing. This gave Eris and me a good place to start talking. It was only after that when Echo started to talk to me.

            Instead of Fenix, as I have now learned his name is spelled, watching over me telling me his amazing stories of things I hope are fiction, last night and this morning, has been a bonding time just for the girls. It is not that Fenix doesn't interest me, but he is always so intense. I don't think I could play mind games and psychological tug of war with him for that long at a time. He is probably a little narcissistic too. I have never met anyone that smart. I think even if Jacob and him went at it, Fenix would come out on top without trouble.

            “Serena?” Echo and Eris both are interesting people as well. But Echo’s voice gets me every time. It sounds like I have heard her before, somewhere.

            “Yeah? I am listening.” I reply with a lie.

            “I wasn’t talking. Neither of us was; you were actually.” Echo replies looking at me with those black button eyes. I have wondered multiple times in the past day what she will look like when she grows up. I don't even think that she will. The girl that sits in front of me seems very different than the one who slit my throat two days ago.

            “Oh… really?”

            “Yeah. You’re just like Fenix! Sometimes he thinks he is thinking but ends up saying it aloud.” Echo continues. I shoot a glance at Eris who is sitting in the corner playing with her hair and reading a book. It’s in a language I can’t read, just like everything in this house. Eris can speak six languages. Echo can understand three and speak two. But Fenix… neither of them know. They said it well exceeds ten and that he could write novels in each of them if he wanted. He is the most curious man I have ever had the pleasure of meeting, beating out Mentor by a landslide.  

            “Oh really? What does he say?” I ask the girl. She could only be described as everyone’s younger sister. I never had any siblings, but I think I would’ve liked one. They seem like fun.

            “I only know what he said once. When we first met. He told me about how the houses in the upper Epochs were built.” It is only now that I realize that even my Blue home had… has a large number of Zenith servants. I would talk to them sometimes, but they weren’t allowed to respond or to touch me. I never really thought about them. But our houses are built on slave labor.

            “How do you only know what he said once if he does it often? You must have caught something sometime or another.” I inquire, mostly at Eris since I know she has known him for the longest time by far out of the three of us. I don’t really know why I am interested, but I want to peer into Fenix’s mind.

            “He usually talks to himself in a different language, one that nobody speaks. I think it is his native language. That’s what Orion and I came up with anyway—”

            “Orion!” I respond way too strongly. There is no hiding that I have heard the name before, but I will try anyway. “Isn’t that a constellation?”

            “It is…but why did you say it like that?” Echo picks up on it immediately. It isn’t that Eris didn't notice; I just don't think she cared. She seems to always be waiting for something.

            “I digress.” I say hoping that Echo doesn't know that word

            “And?” This little girl is way too smart.

            I am about to have to choose a side in this war. I cannot tell them anything and continue onto my graduation day, become a full-fledged Alexandros, and fight against the rebellion that has been waiting to happen for as long as I can remember. But now I have an alternative choice. I can tell them what I know, and tip off to the Zenith that the emperor is dead and his son already knows about Orion and the rebellion.

            “Forget it.” Echo sings. “Don't tell me. I probably don't want to know anyway.” That she is right about.

            “You know; it’s amazing.” I say. “Before I had heard music I would have never thought that something like it existed. But when I heard it…I wondered how I had ever lived without such a thing.”

            “You know what’s amazing Serena?” Eris says in a questioning tone. I know she wants me to respond, but we both know I know not what she is about to say.

            “What?” The simplest reply possible is what I decide to use.

            “How the emperors were able to actually make all of you forget something, a truth. Music exists, that is a fact. But to the City of Light, truth is mutable.” Eris closes her book and forcefully shoves it on the top shelf of the bookcase. She then proceeds to float out of the room seemingly on no feet at all. As she exits she mutters to Echo. “Watch her.” I then realize the rain has stopped.