Her soul pulsing in the shadows of sleep, the girl lies in a shallow pool of dark water surrounded by stars on every side. She breathes in. She breathes out. Ancient energy flows through her body, a mystical power only a celestial could wield. Her four arms are spread out across the water beneath her. Her dark purple skin sheds a dim light. She is one with the universe. Soon, she hears a voice that is not her own.
Fili stellarum... Aperi oculos tuos. (Child of the Stars, open your eyes.)
She opens her eyes and looks up at the endless night sky. Silence now meets her ears. She waits. Nothing. She sighs and closes her eyes again. If she can empty her thoughts, perhaps she can reach out to the voice. Centering her senses on the cool water beneath her slender body, she opens her mind to the disembodied voice.
Potesne me audire? (Can you hear me?)
"Yes. I hear you. Who are you?"
Meum nomen est Wrivin. (My name is Wrivin.) Excita et potentiam tuam resera. (Awaken and unlock your potential.)
"How do I do so?" the girl asks. No response. She sits up and shields her eyes as a blinding light shines down on her from above.
Bene vale. (Good luck.)
"She's waking up!" a man's muffled voice calls from beyond the light. She guesses it is time to leave this dimension.
***
Soon, the girl opens her eyes and slowly sits up. She blinks. One minute she was in space in her vessel, Vanda, and now she is here. Her mind floods with questions: Where is she? How long was she out? Why does her body hurt so much? Looking down at herself, she realizes she has transformed. Where once she had deep purple, seven-fingered hands, she now has fair, five-fingered hands with pale pink, neatly trimmed nails. She reaches her human fingers to touch her soft brown hair. Only one thing has remained the same about her appearance: her signature purple eyes with bits of silver and gold. How odd. Why did she shapeshift? Her eyes sting from the room's fluorescent lights. Clutching her head in her hands, her brown hair hides her face. Most likely blunt force trauma, but how? What caused such a serious injury?
"Oh, thank God you're all right!" He breathes a sigh of relief. She looks up at him and tilts her head to one side, perplexed. "Ah, do forgive me. I should introduce myself. I'm Dr. Adam Graves. I'm a neuroscientist and researcher here. And you are...?"
"Non memini." A prompt and faithful answer.
Wait a minute... She just spoke Latin. A dead language. No one on Earth has spoken Latin for centuries. How strangely fascinating! She must not be from Earth, then. I don't recognize her ship from any known human schematic designs either. Just who is this mysterious young lady?
Adam is so lost in thought that he doesn't realize she is still staring at him.
"Huh? O-Oh, I'm sorry. Could you repeat what you said?"
"I'm afraid I do not remember my name at the moment. My sincerest apologies, Dr. Graves. I'd forgotten humans no longer use my native language."
"No need to apologize, Miss."
She's surprisingly eloquent for someone whose first language isn't English, the Human Galactic Standard. I wonder why that is...
"You probably have a concussion from the crash."
"Crash? What do you mean?"
"I found you inside your vessel crashed on Scarona Beach."
"Oh. I-I see."
YOU ARE READING
The Red Machine
خيال علميOne century has passed since the beginning of the Madness War. Humanity itself is threatened with extermination. A Crierce shapeshifter, Juno, has been sent from her homeworld, Happi, to investigate the instigator of the war, Echthra, the Illixi Pri...
