Juliet's Tryst

Chapter 47: Parallels

The bookstore was empty. The little space smelled of ink. The books were colorful and plenty, harcovers mashed together with soft.
Juliet looked down and realized she was wearing jeans and a t-shirt. It was freezing. She cautiously walked through the labyrinth of tightly packed shelves, cursing herself for not preparing for the weather.

The smoke from the Kyrion ship was still inside her lungs. Her eyes watered and she coughed violently despite the fresh air. A paper with the word Poetry, written in neat letters, was taped to the side of a shelf. Dee appeared amongst a sea of slim softcovers. She thumbed through a booklet. It was such a serene scene that Juliet wanted to cry. This was an unreachable reality.

"Juliet," Dee said as she looked up. "I am so glad you heeded my messages."

"Am I dead?" She sat down beside Kyrion. Dee was reading Wasteland by T.S. Elliot. April was only a couple months away. Juliet hoped she would be alive to see its cruelty.

"This is simply a memory of yours. I am using your own mind to speak to you."

The real Dee was on Earth, trying to track her down. This was someone else, something else.

"Why did you bring me here?" Juliet felt the anger rise inside of her. Who was this being to toy with her like this? Coming to Kyria, the seizures, the danger!

"You are going to save me," Kyria said. She put down the booklet. Juliet was nothing more than a puppet then, a means to an end.

"And why would I do that?" The challenge was clear.

"The fact that you are not willing does not faze me." Dee's voice and tone was there, yet she sounded entirely different. She sounded powerful in the way the ocean was powerful, serene in the way a meadow was serene. Nature had created magic. "However, I am willing to negotiate with you. It is most beneficial if I did not have to discard you in this process. My Dee has become so attached to you. I sense that you are far from being ready to die."

Juliet laughed ruefully. Death would be merciful.

"Why did you choose me?"

"Such arrogance. You think you were chosen for a reason? I control chaos. Which is to say, I do not control it at all. I only take the ingredients it gives. You were there at the right time for no reason at all."

"Says you," Juliet stood up from the amount of anger inside her. Was it possible to murder a planet from within a memory? "You created a whole species just to feed your need for control. Why did you make them conquerors? Why did you give them the technology for war?"

There was a moment of pause. Kyria patted the space next to her tiredly. Juliet refused to sit down.

"I do not ascribe morality in the way humans do. Kyrions are just as much a force of nature as I am. I did not create them. We are intertwined only because they live here. Chaos creates and it destroys."

"And now it is time for you to be destroyed," she replied bitterly. "Why do you care? You know this is all perfectly natural. Just die, then."

"Love."

The insults died on the tongue.

"Love? What the fuck do you mean?"

"I yearn for Earth."

"Earth is sentient?"

"Humans have not yet evolved enough to understand her. She was dying from your use of her resources. I answered her cry for help."

"But Earth is just rock and lava and shit. It can all be quantified."

"You speak of her body. The soul of a planet is not something humans can manipulate."

"Then how am I speaking to you?"

"I have slowly been changing your construct. Rearranging things so that this meeting could be possible," she said this matter of factly. "It has been a tedious and rewarding project."

"Rearranging?!" The shriek was shrill and full of indignation. Was Juliet even human anymore? "I'm so glad that this has been fun for you, but I'm also so fucking tired of this. Explain yourself, no more half answer bullshit."

Kyria smiled as Juliet plopped back down on the ground before.

"I have been lonely for eons. I thought that I was the only sentient planet for a long time. Then, there was a signal in the sky. A tiny little satellite with a disk in it. The disk played human music, little reminders of human existence. However, in what you would construe as silence, I heard Earth. She was also alone. She was in pain. She was dying. She pleaded for help. I sent the Kyrions to her, and instructed them to ease her pain. In return, she opened herself to me. She told me of the happiness of watching all of the little animals evolve, the feeling of the oceans upon her back and taught me what emotions were. We wish to be united, and through you we can be. Without you, I will die."

Juliet was on the verge of tears. Pure love emanated from Kyria. However, she was just so tired.

"Wait, aren't you the Kulon? How can you be dying?"

"Kulon is simply a part of me, the part that I have been using to communicate with you. This question is like asking a human if they are their fingernails. Absurd. It was nothing more than substance even a millennium ago. The soul of a planet must be inside a planet. There will be no more planet once that Karetchkian bomb reaches me."

"You must be aware how Kyrions revere and worship you. Why not make Dee do this transfer of souls?"

"There are many reasons. First, Earth wanted a human to complete the transfer. Second, Dee's mother betrayed me. I cut off the connection to the Ruler because of this, for my own safety. Then, I saw that the only way I would connect with the Kyrions again was through you."

"Betrayed you?"

"Rinaressin wanted to weaponize Kulon. It has many properties that humans would consider magical. To a Kyrion, it's pure science. She started to create this Kulon weapon and I had to get rid of her."

"Does Dee know this?"

"No. There was no reason for her to know. Divine Choice is sacred. You will not tell her either." The threat was sharp. How many Kyrions had been killed under this guise? They had been Divine Choiced into silence or punishment.

"You gave them eternal life, you can take it away, huh," Juliet mused. It was meant as a joke.

"Exactly!" Kyria smiled. "You understand."

"Alright, how can I know that this is consensual? How can I know you just do not want Earth as your next planet-vessel?" This question had to be asked.

"She will tell you herself," Kyria stood up. "It's almost time. I find this memory the most beautiful here."

In the space between two shelves, Juliet saw two figures. It was her and Dee. The memory-Juliet was staring up at memory-Dee. She looked scared and intrigued. Dee was handing her the book she needed, and their hands touched slightly. Dee and Juliet. Kyria and Earth. Parallels.

Juliet watched herself flee the bookstore for dear life.