Utopia

Chapter 11: Late Night Confessions

These last two weeks have reminded me just how much I don't miss school. Mother Tera has spent every hour of every day ensuring I absorb every last detail about Ursa's history. What children have spent years learning throughout their time in school, has been drilled into my brain over and over again these last few days. 

Every morning, at the crack of dawn, Mother Tera would send someone to get me and escort me to her chambers to start my lessons. From morning, till nightfall, I would spend my time learning about their kind, and how they came to be. I learned of their customs, and what shapes them as a society. 

Ursan's were created by an ancient race to be utilized as slaves. This ancient race, whose name has been lost to history, took part of their DNA and mixed it with that of a domestic creature to create a being they thought they could control - Ursan's. They used the Ursan's to mine special metals underneath the planet's surface as well as to do their bidding. With time, the Ursan's mentality evolved, and they were harder to control. Their creator's feared what a revolt would bring, and started killing them off. Groups went underground and separated, while others couldn't escape their creators' clutches. They spent years living in fear, until they decided to escape. A group of Ursan's who had been used to build space crafts and war ships, used the metals that they had mined to create a space shuttle that would help them get to safety. They gathered as many Ursan's as they could to aid in construction and to start a new community and they all worked hard to escape those that they feared. When it came time to flee their home planet, the Ursan's traveled the expanse of the galaxy until they found a planet that could support life; their new home. Ursa. 

The ship landed in a large forest, where the heart of the Northern Tree Clan is today. They used the resources at their disposal to help them survive. The majority of them stayed, while others expanded to different areas of the planet to start their own communities, and the different clans were born. Instead of living on the surface, where they were at the mercy of hostile alien species, they decide to go underground. Over the years, the Ursan's began to change, and their physical appearance began to change to fit that of their environment. Now that exact same change was happening to me. 

Today was my longest, and my final lesson. Mother Tera tested me every hour on a topic of Ursan history to ensure that every detail had been engraved in my brain. It was a stressful process, but I enjoyed learning about the history of the planet that my kind and I now occupy. 

The moons shined brightly in the sky tonight, illuminating the path back to the cabin. Glowing insects and creatures danced between the beams of moonlight, and the waterfall appeared to be glowing. The night was alive as the sound of nature and those that inhabited it met my ears and lulled me into a relaxed state. It was breathtaking. 

As I draw closer to the cabin, I notice Jaron's tall figure standing at the bookshelves as he finds a new book to occupy his time with. I rarely saw him, and when I did, our conversations were short and to the point. He'd usually distract himself with a book, leaving nothing but silence. I knew that rejecting him had hurt him, but I couldn't help but be selfish. I still wanted to figure out how exactly I felt about him before his visions led him to me. 

I walked up to the front door and hesitated to turn the doorknob. Taking a deep breath, I close my eyes and turn the knob before stepping inside. Jaron was sitting on the sofa, and by the position of his head, I could tell his attention was solely on the book in his hands. As I closed the door, his attention never faltered to acknowledge my presence. This was how it was every day. 

"What time do we leave tomorrow?" I ask him, hoping to fill the void. I walk up to him as I wait for his response, but he still didn't look at me. 

"I was thinking we could stay another day so that you may rest," he explains to me. I nod my head and look around the room. The fire was roaring in the fireplace, the firelight casting an eerie glow over the cabin.