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Sol
Sol dreamed.
She felt her mind split into three, seeing three different visions.
For the first, she was on a planet of grey ash, watching a man and what looked to be two Anforms and a four-legged Anform trudging through the ash. The four-legged one spoke with a strange staccato, the others listening on in silence. They made their way through the ash, the ground rumbling from sort of earthquake.
“I am tired,” the four-legged Anform announced.
No one responded to his complaint.
They walked through the dead grey ash, the four-legged one dragging its heels.
“That’s not an Anform…” Sol picked up on the biological tells. The tired voice, the dragging of its heels.
“I am hungry,” The four-legged one announced again.
And the fact it became hungry.
There she saw the group pause, the two other Anforms speaking up.
“Captain, We have picked up strange signs. It is a structure, nearby,” The more masculine one alerted.
“Sonar density was different compared to the ash-dust, we believe it to be made of stone,” The other Anform stated, it sounded slightly more feminine.
“The structure was undetectable due to the ash interference, our sonar can only travel several feet beneath the surface, but it must now be partially visible,” The masculine Anform stated.
“We’ll need someplace to stay and rest, that fight took it out of me,” The man up front replied. He sounded exhausted.
The Anforms led him to the buried entrance of a green marble shrine. There they made their way inside. She couldn’t see inside, as if her vision stopped at the entrance. There a being cloaked in black stalked forward cautiously making it’s way inside. The vision faded, with the voice of a loving father speaking up.
“That man will need your protection and guidance. Be the shield that he needs.”
The second vision started, Sol saw a woman, clothed in church vestments and habit. She was elderly and scarred with what appeared to be a lifetime of suffering. That did not affect her smile or the glint of mischief in her eye as she stood above the rest of the congregation for breakfast. She was set on high and set apart.
“This is wrong,” The woman announced.
“Being set apart and elevated like this. We’re all brothers and sisters in Emmanuel,” She continued.
With a swift motion, she flipped the table to the floor. The loud clatter echoed through the halls. The congregation was aghast at the motion, but remained silent, their blanching at her told it all. She made her way down to the rest of the group, taking an empty chair next to a standing monk.
“Continue with what you were saying, my son,” The woman continued as if nothing had happened.
“Yes, high Mother. The meal for today is cream of mushroom soup and freshly baked bread with water.”
“High mother. Curious,” Sol processed.
The woman visibly lurched at that.
“How much food production do we have?” The high mother asked.
“Crops have been bountiful. We have a surplus. Why?” The clergyman responded.
The high mother stood and tapped her strange curved staff twice, gathering the attention she already had.
“Today, we begin anew. No more will the Abbess be above others; eating apart from her sons and daughters like a god. No longer will we subsist on simple water and bread. Today, we shall dine, once a day, on our best. We will enjoy the life Emmanuel offered us.
“Ah, she is an Abbess and a high mother. Strange titles. I wish I knew what that was,” Sol added.
“H-holy Mother, it’s been tradition this way for ages!” a clergyman spoke up. The crowd was hushed.
‘Why?” The Abbess asked, without guile.
“Because it is tradition,” Another answered.
“And?” The Abbess shot back. She continued.
“Traditions are valuable, as long as they do well to respect the Trinity, the family, and thought. But if it raises someone else up and beyond what was intended, the meaning is twisted. While I am your Holy Mother, I am still A Faithful One, just like you. My merit has given me the opportunity to lead, but not to lord over you.”
She gathered up the clergyman, making way to the sizeable kitchen. There she helped all aspiring monks and nuns cook a feast. They brought in wounded and injured, who enjoyed the abundant food. The Abbess went about, talking and healing others with a strange light. The comfortable vision ended. The voice spoke again.
“For her, there are times of great joy, and times of great agony. She will need you in both.”
The third vision began. A being made of quantum bits was trapped inside her own housing shell, trying to process her next move. She was trapped, with time ceasing. A man was in mid-flight, knocked away by a massive hideous monster. It was surrounded by smaller twisted beings. They vaguely resembled humans from the first dream but were stretched, all their limbs and proportions were too long. Their heads were long, their massive stretched eyes were black and empty. Everything had stopped, like a panorama.
The being made of quantum bits processed every possible move but was blocked. She processed so quickly, that to her, time itself had ceased. The beings were moving in, ready to crush the man that was knocked away.
The being made of q-bits was trapped, trying to find an escape.
The vision faded, leaving Sol confused.
The voice spoke a final time.
“She will need your help and guidance. She and the rest of her crew are lost. You will need to meet all three.”
Sol was more confused than ever by the dream. Or that she had visions at all.
The dream ended.
>>> The Book of Gideon: Retrieve – 20
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