Previous | Table of Contents | Next
Sam sat at a circular table made of stone. Raindu and Birdbrained sat at the table as well, equidistant from each other like three points on a triangle. In front of Raindu, there was a pile of candy on a plate. In front of Birdbrained, there were the bodies of three salmon—the eagle had already eaten their heads. Sam wasn’t sure where the fish came from considering Et Serpentium was buried underneath a desert, but he didn’t question it.
Sam prodded the cut of steak in front of him with his fork, not in the mood to eat. He turned his head to the side where Wendy was sitting with a group of reptilians. Even with his Sahasrara unlocked, reptilians all looked the same to him, the only difference being the color of their scales. The reptilians in the room with him belonged to the herbivore and omnivore factions, the ones that didn’t treat humans as livestock meant for consumption. As for the reptilians of the carnivorous faction, they weren’t present because the graylings, who were now standing at the ready along the walls of the room, had imprisoned a large number of them under Birdbrained’s orders.
Sam glanced at the table of reptilians, and Wendy made eye contact with him before giving him a thumbs-up. The reptilians were doing some negotiations of their own, deciding how to allocate the graylings and how much they’d pay, but Sam didn’t mind. As long as he got what he wanted, he didn’t care about the complicated process. It was better for him to use Wendy and her recommended people to act as a middleman for his grayling servant service; the reptilians would be more receptive to dealing with other reptilians instead of a human.
Sam turned his attention back onto his steak. It wasn’t easy to get steak in the human city, and it wasn’t because Sam was talentless back then. When the Earth had ascended to the plane of Oterra during the cataclysm, they had lost huge swathes of territory: land with rich soil fit for farming, wide open meadows with grass perfect for grazing, oceans of water filled with fish. The various sentient species already existing in the plane Earth had ascended to divvied up the planet’s territory and split it amongst themselves, leaving humans with a paltry region barely fit for survival.
A sigh escaped from Sam’s mouth as he munched on a piece of steak. Living in Et Serpentium was definitely more luxurious than living in the human city. However, if Monarch could manipulate the graylings as well, wouldn’t they be able to control more territory, improving the lives of humans everywhere? Although letting humans exploit graylings be the right thing to do—as a human—Sam still felt a bit reluctant. He had basically been abandoned by humanity when he was at his lowest, so why would he help humans out by letting them have graylings to use and manipulate?
Clacking sounds caught Sam’s attention, and he turned his head to look at Wendy approaching him. “We’re done,” the blonde woman said and took a seat beside Sam. She stared at the candy on Raindu’s plate, and the ferret glared at Wendy before leaning forward and sweeping up the candy with its front legs, the sweets disappearing into thin air. “Stingy,” Wendy said and placed a stone tablet down in front of Sam. “The details of the contract are recorded within; you can access it with your Sahasrara.” Her eyes narrowed at Sam. “I suggest you read it.”
Sam let out an awkward chuckle. He skipped reading one contract a single time, only once, but now, people just assumed he didn’t read them at all. To be fair, he hadn’t been planning on reading this one either. “I’ll ask Ellie to look over it,” he said. “Where is she by the way?”
“Look over it yourself first,” Wendy said, her expression darkening. “I’ll bring her to you once you’ve understood the contents of the contract.”
Sam sighed and put down his fork before grabbing the stone tablet. He took in a deep breath and concentrated on the top of his head. His psychic vision overlaid his sight, and a strand of lightning emerged from the crown chakra’s location, connecting him to the tablet in his hands. After a few seconds of examining the contents that seemed to flow directly into his head, Sam exhaled and lowered the tablet, cutting off his connection with it. “Alright,” he said. “I took a look at it.”
“How much are you going to be paid a month?” Wendy asked.
Sam’s face twitched. He hadn’t expected to be quizzed. “Let me double-check,” Sam said.
Wendy nodded. “Good,” she said. “Make sure you understand everything. Once you’ve answered all my questions correctly, I’ll bring Ellie to you.”
Sam stared at Wendy, confirming she was serious based on her expression. He turned towards Birdbrained. “Help me out,” he said to the eagle, which was tearing at the salmon with its beak. “You’re the one controlling the graylings; you have to make sure you’re fine with everything in the contract.”
The eagle squawked, and Sam raised an eyebrow. Birdbrained was advising him to not sign a contract at all; contracts only set limits on what he could do, and they were a pain in the butt to remember. Rather than making a contract, why not just sell graylings?
“You’ll make less money, and less people will have access to grayling services,” Wendy said without waiting for Sam to voice his thoughts out loud.
Sam stared at Wendy. It was kind of hard for him to believe she had his best interests in mind after everything they had been through: she trafficked him and didn’t even check up on him; though, he probably should’ve blamed himself for accepting such dubious orders under the guise of secrecy.
“We’re open to negotiations,” Wendy said. “If you think you’re not being compensated fairly, tell us, but to do that”—she pointed at the stone tablet—“you have to read.”
Sam exhaled before looking at the tablet. If he wanted to make the most out of this business involving the renting of graylings, it wasn’t unreasonable for him to put in some work, and if that work involved reading and negotiating a contract, then so be it; it was better to be a struggling awakener than a struggling talentless. And struggle Sam did to digest all the information that had been given to him. The tablet itself might’ve been small, but it packed a lot of data, over millions of characters in the contract. Luckily, it seemed like his memory had improved after unlocking his crown chakra; otherwise, he really wouldn’t have been able to pass Wendy’s quiz. Perhaps that was her way of showing him what he was capable of now that his Sahasrara was unlocked.
Sam stared up at the ceiling, his brain still fried from Wendy’s grilling. At least it was over, and he wouldn’t have to think about the contract anymore until someone tried to rip him off. Pattering sounds drew Sam’s attention, and he turned his head to look in the direction of the sound. If danger were approaching, the graylings standing at the ready around the perimeter of the room would alert him. As expected, there was no danger. A familiar, yellow reptilian, Ellie, ran towards Sam. She jumped and tackled him, knocking him out of his seat, sending both of them barreling towards the wall. Before he made contact with the hard surface, the two graylings in the way took steps away from each other to the sides, avoiding the fate of having their bodies used as cushions.
Sam used Toughen an instant before impact, a bit surprised at how easily the technique activated. He wondered if it was related to his now-open crown chakra, but he didn’t have time to explore that train of thought. Sam maintained Toughen as Ellie slapped his shoulders repeatedly with her hands, her caring—and painful—way of showing him her affection. “Sam!” Ellie said. “I was so worried about you! I told you to stay under the bed. What happened? Why did the GMC go to you, and how did you survive against those reptilians? You’re not hurt, are you?”
Once the slapping stopped, Sam canceled his technique and exhaled. “I was abducted by a reptilian while hiding,” Sam said. “I didn’t mean to worry you.”
“As long as you didn’t do it on purpose,” Ellie said and climbed to her feet as she turned her head. She examined Birdbrained and Raindu, the two animals sitting and eating at the table. “Is that an eagle? You found another pet?”
Sam adjusted his posture, sitting up before nodding. “I haven’t been completely honest with you,” he said. “Those animals are a part of my talent. Under certain circumstances I’m still not quite sure about, I can transform crystals into animals with abnormal abilities, and one of the crystals I transformed happens to be the GMC. Raindu brought it to me with his abnormal ability.”
“Don’t call it abnormal!” Ellie said and placed her hands on her hips. Since Sam was seated, her eyes were slightly higher than his. “Raindu has feelings too, so you should use a word with a better tone like special or extraordinary!”
Raindu looked over at Sam and Ellie. The ferret bobbed its head up and down when Sam made eye contact with it, and once it finished showings its agreement with Ellie’s words, Raindu went back to eating candy while chattering at Birdbrained.
“Yes…,” Sam said almost referring to Ellie as sundak. “You’re right.” He nodded at the animals at the table before standing up. He met Ellie’s gaze, looking down at her. “Raindu’s special ability brought the GMC to me, and my talent turned the GMC into Birdbrained.” Sam clarified upon seeing Ellie’s expression. “It likes the name Birdbrained.”
“Hmm.” Ellie crossed her arms over her chest. “And Birdbrained can control the graylings, right? That means you have all the power! Where’s the contract?”
“Over there,” Sam said and pointed at the tablet on the table.
Ellie skipped over and picked the stone tablet up. She leaned over and pinched a piece of flesh off one of Birdbrained’s salmons. The eagle blinked and stared with its beak half open as Ellie ignored the bird and stuffed the stolen piece of fish into her mouth while taking a seat. For someone whose mother was supposed to do most of the work, Ellie sure was reading the contract quite seriously. Sam wondered if it was wise to leave things in Ellie’s hands, but after considering for a moment, he let her be; it was better to have more opinions.
“Have you thought about what you’re going to do after this?” Wendy asked, positioning herself next to Sam. “With your new grayling business, you won’t be hurting for money; paying the severance fee for breaking the contract with Monarch is merely a formality at this point.” Wendy stared at Sam’s head, reminding him of the time there used to be a brain-melting device surgically implanted inside of it. “Monarch doesn’t have any means to control you since it’s much harder to threaten a wealthy individual’s sibling than it is a poor one’s.”
Sam stared at Wendy. So, Monarch really was threatening him when they mentioned his brother. Well, it wasn’t like he couldn’t understand why. As for her question, what was he going to do after this? He made that wish to gain the power to change his life, but now that he had it, he didn’t know what he wanted to change into. Being a pet was better than being a talentless, but there weren’t a lot of humans running around clamoring they’d like to be someone’s pet. He had to experience more ways of life to decide how he wanted to live. Some people were independent, capable of living life by their own rules and being satisfied with that, but Sam was more of a plagiarist than a free thinker; if he found a way of life he liked, then he’d assimilate into it.
“Looks like you have your answer,” Wendy said. “You’re going to explore Oterra now that you have the strength and freedom to do as you wish, huh?”
Sam’s eye twitched. It was a bit annoying how Wendy read his mind and used his thoughts to find the answer before he had time to find it himself, which he definitely would have.
“Well, why don’t you start back in the city?” Wendy asked, her face betraying no signs of being upset upon reading Sam’s thoughts. “Find out what life is like for the humans who’re awakened and exceptionally powerful; you haven’t experienced it before. You might even bump into your parents—unless you’re scared that’ll happen; in that case, forget I said anything.”
Sam’s expression darkened. She was obviously trying to manipulate him into going back to the city, but did she really think that’d work?
“You grew up so fast,” Wendy said and flashed Sam a smile. “Be honest; aren’t you at least a tiny bit glad I sold you off?”
Sam’s forehead scrunched up. Well, he was—
“See?” Wendy asked. “I knew you would enjoy it, and look at how strong you’ve grown. Tamara wouldn’t have trained you enough to beat James, but Ellie did.”
Sam pursed his lips. Now that he knew Wendy was a mind reader, she didn’t have to hide it from him anymore, so she was flaunting her ability now? She had smiled earlier too, and she did that less often than a sloth pooped—once a week, a fact he had learned during his time in Et Serpentium. Was this Wendy a different personality or something?
“Who knows?” Wendy asked. She patted Sam’s shoulder. “Just remember, if you need help getting established in the city, Monarch wouldn’t mind paving the way for you.” Then, she turned her head to look at Ellie, who had coincidentally turned to meet Wendy’s gaze at the same time. “Now let the people who can make your life easier talk to one another.”
Sam scratched his head as Wendy left and went towards Ellie to discuss the details of the contract. Sam turned put his hands into his pockets and stared at the round table with two animals, one reptilian, and one half-reptilian. They were probably the beings he was closest with. It was a shame he couldn’t have a normal friend. Speaking of which, where were James and Tamara? Since the mission to steal the GMC was a success, they were probably making their way out of Et Serpentium.
Sam shrugged before turning towards one of the graylings. “Do you guys resent being used as servants?” he asked. “You can be honest with me.”
“No,” the grayling said. “As servants, we are given chances to discover new things we wouldn’t have thought up ourselves.”
“And you’re so satisfied with those new experiences, you won’t mind if they’re unpleasant?” Sam asked. “How about if you’re asked to do the same task repeatedly without changing anything?”
“Everything is constantly changing,” the grayling said. “Even when the same actions are being repeated, they are done at different times. Also, you underestimate the value of new experiences. They are the purpose of our lives.”
“The purpose of life?” Sam asked. “That’s a pretty bold claim.”
“When we die, our memories and experiences are returned to the great feathered one,” the grayling said and looked at Birdbrained. “What we have experienced shall be used as a reference for the next generation of graylings.”
“I see,” Sam said. “How many graylings are there, and will they all listen to me?”
“We, the Anunaki, reside wherever there is ground,” the grayling said. “Our numbers are uncountable. We live as many groups in underground dwellings, each with undying loyalty to the great feathered one. The Anunaki within Et Serpentium were living here before the reptilians dug out their homes. Our tunnels precede theirs by several millennia.”
Sam blinked. He hadn’t expected the graylings to be so widespread. “Are they living under the human city as well?”
“I don’t know the answer to your question,” the grayling said. “I have been in Et Serpentium for a long time.”
“Does anyone know?” Sam asked, sweeping his gaze over the graylings. None of them stepped forward. “Were they living in the region before humans settled it?”
“Yes,” the grayling who was answering Sam’s questions earlier said. “Anywhere there is land, we have made a settlement.”
Sam nodded. So, it was possible there was a group of graylings living underneath the human city. With graylings being everywhere, he didn’t have to worry about running out of servants to rent out. However…. “The GMC’s range didn’t cover all of Oterra, right?” Sam asked. “There must be a lot of graylings out there without orders being given to them. What do you think they’re doing?”
“If I were free, I’d be plotting a way to destroy Oterra,” the grayling said. “I hope my free Ananuki brethren are doing their best to obliterate the plane of existence we live on.”
Sam’s expression darkened. Perhaps before returning to the human city, he’d try to visit as many grayling settlements as possible. They were destructive and didn’t know when to give up. “Is there a grand plan or something? Dig enough underground to collapse the surface?”
The grayling stared at Sam. “That’s a brilliant idea,” it said. “If I’m ever free, I’ll be sure to put that plan into action.”
Sam stared back at the grayling. The only way it was ever regaining its freedom was if he died, causing Birdbrained to disappear; although, he wasn’t quite sure if Birdbrained would even disappear. Either way, if the grayling were ever freed, then Sam would probably be dead, so it didn’t matter if the grayling decided to flip the surface of Oterra like a chessboard. Thus, Sam chose to ignore the grayling’s somewhat-ominous comment.