Chapter 57: Life goes on

  Marcus opened his eyes, a new day had started. He let out a heavy sigh and for some time he watched the alien sun paint shadows on the wall opposite of the window. It was a new, innocent day that knew nothing of the foreboding news of the last day. Half the night Marcus had spent thinking and fantasizing about the consequences of the truths they had learned. Nothing good would come of it. Even in the best case scenario, that the world as a whole takes this seriously, civil unrest and tension would follow. And in the worst case, we do nothing about it, we are all fucked, Marcus thought.

  But it was a new day and lamenting did not change one thing. Instead Marcus put this thoughts to more positive things, like breakfast. The rest of the gang was already around but all looked beaten, even Janette had dark rings under her eyes. She played around with her food and said “They already sent some people back to get things moving. Building up communication systems, food deliveries and so on. Can’t wait for actual food. Seeing the tasty food around and not being able to eat any of it is pure torture.”. Marcus could do with some fresh fruit and vegetables too.

  “Say, aren’t we caught up in something really big? Last night it really sank in that this is a historic event.” It was Achara speaking, who slowly finished her last protein bar. Marcus knew what she meant. Not enough that they finally made contact with an intelligent alien species they also uncovered an existential threat to humanity. “Let’s just do our job and let historians and politicians worry about stuff like that.” Marcus said and Janette smirked invigorated by impish energies “Hear, hear, the clan leader has spoken.”. Laughing really can heal the soul.

  Just an hour later a ginghi servant approached Marcus and he knew what was coming next. Minutes later he found himself in Azaa’s study and everything looked like yesterday. With the exception that Azaa looked even more reserved and cold. She drained his blood and gave him another of those blood massages. The translator, the Asian woman he had seen yesterday, was waiting for some work but silence was filling the void between Marcus and Azaa. “Why me.” Marcus said, with a sudden desire to break this silence.

  This question had been on his mind since the first time Azaa took his blood and he felt he was due an answer. The translator quickly worked and Azaa seemed to contemplate her answer. Instead of words she told Marcus to follow her and together with the translator lady they walked through the large building and descended underground. Marcus had not expected a cellar and definitely not several levels of libraries and vaults. The building was much larger than it looked.

  The whole area was lit by small green stones that shone brightly with no obvious power source. Two levels beneath the surface, they entered a large room and passed by many shelves of texts until they reached a wide wall covered with many symbols. Marcus knew them very well. It was the ancient symbols for the classes humanity had found in the “Pearls of Wisdom” and ruins. Azaa spoke and pointed at one while the translator finally got work to do. “These are the gifts of the monoliths. The great burdens, the tempting sins(?). This one is mine.” and Marcus nodded to signal understanding “Blood Mage.” he said and the translator did her work.

  Now Marcus experienced something new, Azaa laughing. The ginghi woman laughed hard and Marcus wondered if something was wrong with the translation. Azaa talked “No. Blood is only a vessel(?). My burden is… life former(?) ..” The translator had problems and Azaa worked the tablet for some time bringing up pictures and symbols “Guide of Life, Master of Life Energy, it goes into that direction” the translator explained. So Blood Mages are more capable than we know, Marcus thought.

  Azaa walked to another symbol and Marcus knew it too “Fighter” he said and pointed at himself. She nodded and also said words but the translator failed to understand. The tablet had to help once more and Azaa scrolled and searched through the massive data base for something that fit the meaning of her words. “She tries to find something that fits their name for the class. It seems to have a unique meaning or is an analogy we do not understand.” The Asian woman explained while they waited.

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  Eventually Azaa found something and asked the other woman a few things. Happy with the result she showed Marcus a picture, “Titan” the Asian woman said. Azaa continued to talk “Titan is a rare gift by the monoliths. Powerful. But slow to grow. Holds the secret of regeneration. Guide of Life can bestow it on others.” was the translation and even so Marcus had already witnessed it the ramifications of these words were mind breaking. Does that mean Blood Mages can learn how to transfer Game Changers to others, to some amount? If that was true… and he knew it was, then it opened up completely new possibilities. It also meant his future as a walking health pack was not unlikely.

  They continued to talk and Marcus learned that some classes are rare for the ginghi that are plentiful for the humans. The monoliths differentiate based on species? When Azaa learned that there are thousands of… Titans, that sound so much better than Fighter Marcus found, she could not believe it. On the other hand Guide of Life was very common for the ginghi. “Are there stronger Titans on Earth?” Azaa asked with a longing in her eyes. “No, not really. It sounds hard to believe but I’m one of the highest level TITANS (so much better) on Earth.” Marcus said and it was actually the truth. There were not many Titans (totally keeping it) over level 20 and few at 30 or higher. A few more levels and Marcus would be the top Titan. “Why?” Azaa seemed confused and a bit upset. “Titans are very powerful.” Marcus smiled bitterly, because we fucked up and took them for something else. But he said “We had problems understanding the Titans.” Azaa nodded, that seemed to make sense to her.

  What started as a silent blood letting turned into two hours of talking about classes. But eventually they left the underground library and Azaa returned to her other duties. Marcus returned to the human quarters to change into his armor. He felt rusty and wanted to move his body, several days without much activity, talking and resting had made him antsy. He needed to work out!

  Achara saw him and told him the ginghi actually had a training field that the humans could also use. Curious, Marcus followed the directions Achara gave him and ended up in something that reminded him a bit of an arena. Some ground was stone other sand and several ginghi men and women were working out or training together. He also saw two humans, class holders from the security unit. He watched the green warriors train and suddenly felt completely out of his league.

  It reminded Marcus of that time when he had to go to mandatory school swim training. With his bad leg and no muscles he had felt totally embarrassed to swim when all the other boys were so much more athletic than him. This was the same! Just watching the ginghi made it clear that each of them was so much stronger and more capable than him. He wanted to leave but some had spotted him and so he slowly made his way onto the field and did some warm up exercises.

  Once he was going though the motions he calmed down and started training his attack moves. Moving his body really made him feel better and removed some of his pent up stress. He should listen to music later too, he decided.

  As he worked on his attacks he saw ginghi helping the humans train. It was obvious that they had vastly more experience and skill, and even without a translator they found ways to guide and instruct the human class holders. Marcus found this astounding until a ginghi man also stepped to him and offered to work with Marcus. Strike training, stances and footwork, he felt like he was back in Finland with Lars. The smaller man, with a beard and some braids in his hair, used hand motions to guide Marcus body and performed complex movements to show Marcus’ errors and how to do it better. This turned out to be a great learning exercise.

  For over an hour the other man patiently supported Marcus and he felt indebted to the man. A commotion on the other side of the training field drew the attention of his trainer and himself. Several ginghi had entered the field, one of them was Azaa’s sister Uela [Ula emphasis on the u, the e is nearly silent] (the lady translator finally told him today). They all had light training armor and lethal weapons. There were six men and women together with Uela and after some warm up they all started to attack her. At the same time. Marcus could not look away even so he barely followed what was happening.

  Bodies moved at ludicrous speeds and abilities of several classes unleashed on the field. It was a spectacle worth asking money for and he knew, if he was ever alowd to tell Kim he would die of jealousy. Uela was beating them all, Marcus did not know how, it was completely above his level. She looked like an archangel, beautiful and untouchable. She was swinging her blades, jumping high into the sky, only to float there for a second and to descended like a meteor. Three rushed her only to be blown away like leaves and powers that melted sand and burst stone left her unfazed. The men and women struggling to hold her down were all as or even stronger than Kim, Marcus was sure. This was the level you needed to have, to be worthy to train with her. The world is a large place and the heavens are even greater.

  Marcus watched Uela and company discussing the sparring as somebody behind him spoke “I think she is a bit out of our league. How about we go for a round?” Marcus turned and Grace stood behind him in full gear. She smiled like a shark.