Shattered Bonds [Book Three]

Chapter 9: Learning to Become

Cairo, Egypt

        There was a clear language barrier that separated the two of them, but their situation was mutual: they had to get off the streets before more came looking to retrieve what was stolen. The dark-skinned girl spoke swiftly, gesturing for the goddess before her to follow as she led her away from the marketplace, further and further from prying eyes. There was little to dispute, for the young mutant was exactly what she was looking for. All she needed was a way to communicate, to get her message across to her as her first recruitment. 

        All she had to do was follow. 

        The sun was warm on her skin, which made her focus in on her appearance. The skin of her body was paler than she remembered, proving to her that her body had not spent much time here, where her home once was. She had yet to find any source of reflection to see herself in her entirety since awakening in this body, her consciousness finally uncaged after centuries of lying dormant, waiting to set out on her mission once and for all—the mission to set them free.

        The distance was finally cut short when the young mutant led her down a stairwell at the end of an alleyway, diving into the shadows of what was clearly a well-hidden hideout. It led into an open room, big enough to maintain the young boys and girls that were scattered about, seated and keeping to themselves. The young mutant was quick to usher them out, speaking once more in their language. The goddess moved aside, her eyes following the young ones as curiously as they looked at her before dashing past them, running up the stairs and out of sight. 

        "I've never seen another mutant in this town," the mutant girl spoke freely once they were alone, her words falling dead to the other's ears once again. "And what language was that, out there? Can you speak Egyptian? Arabic? English?"

        There was no use giving an answer; she would not understand it. Silence passed between them, the space of it only filled by the faint sound of a box speaking from where it sat in the corner. There were faces on it, displayed on a screen of sorts. When the girl followed her gaze, it misled her to a poster on one of the pillars of the room. It was small but clearly displayed a mutant with a blue face and hair like fire, her eyes as yellow as the sun.

        "Great fighter," she explained in a different dialect this time. "She's my hero. I want to be like her." When there was no answer, she turned away, gesturing to the open room. "There's some food here. Not much." She began to walk towards the back, presumedly looking for something to offer her. 

        The talking coming from the box served as a distraction, however, for the goddess walked slowly towards it, focusing on it in an attempt to understand. It gave off an energy unlike any she had felt before, the waves of it calling to her as she came to crouch down before it. She raised her hand to it, spreading her fingers until her fingertips brushed against the screen, the image it displayed becoming distorted before it faded to greys and blacks dancing from edge to edge. 

        A gasp escaped her lips. It was a gateway, an opening to a world of knowledge captured over years and years of documentation. Her mind raced as it fed information to her through her fingertips, forcing her to retain new languages, understand history itself since hers was lost all those years ago.

        Behind her, the girl had stopped what she was doing, cautiously asking, "What are you doing?"

        English. She could recognize it now, a great portion of information flowing into her mind in that exact language. It allowed her to answer, one word forming on her lips, familiarizing herself with the new dialect. "Learning. . ."

        Years and years of history flashed before her eyes, the images embedded in her mind as she saw war embedded in every culture, peace an outlier to their efforts. Matters of money, countries fighting over land, rights, religions that meant nothing to her except as a barrier between her people and the human race. There was fear written all throughout their history, fear of people and governments and advancements beyond what her civilization had created in their time. From guns to explosives, explosives to the ultimate destructive forces such bombs, nuclear weapons and things of the like.