Rescuca Ch. 2 - Beast from the Beyond (Intro)

“Did you catch that, Thaed?” Rescuca asks, facing the wall he and his comrade share.

A low, grumbling voice responds, “I’m not sure exactly what you’re referring to, but I heard you speak of something called ‘Secret Things.’ I don’t recall your ever telling me about these Secret Things.”

Trying to hide his annoyance, Rescuca replies, “Yes, the Secret Things: knowledge, powers, droits, and abilities that come from the Beyond. That’s the place you come from. It’s from there that I summoned you, but none of that’s important right now.”

“Not important?” Thaed asks, surprised and offended. His reaction seems to suck the energy out of all the cells near him. For a moment, even the low hum of the bars is consumed by utter silence, as though Thaed himself is an inescapable black hole.

The moment passes quickly, and Thaed gruffly continues, “I gave you my loyalty and ended up in this prison with you. I’m about to be incinerated in a number of hours, and you’re telling me what’s not important? I think I have a right to know what you’ve been holding out on. I’ve laid it all out on the line for you. It’s time you do the same.”

Knowing his comrade indeed has remained loyal to the cause, Rescuca replies empathetically, “I know things look pretty gloomy, and it seems like they can’t get any worse, but I’m not about to share more information and risk the liability. It’s been made evident that Emperor Epaga has spies everywhere. I’m sure this prison is no exception. Look at what I shared with my trusted friend Leachim and how that turned out.”

Thaed peers suspiciously through the electromagnetic bars. In a hushed voice, he says, “Hmm…perhaps you’re right. Maybe there’s some wisdom in that. Perhaps there’s still some hope for us. It’s just that I’m still trying to figure out how things turned out the way they did. Someone has been right this whole time, and someone has been wrong. And somehow I’ve allowed myself to get caught up in the middle. We had so much power before all this. You tell me how you once controlled light in the IT and how I controlled life. Light and life—that’s such great power…so much control! Now we both sit here, about to be extinguished. I’m still so young, and I’ve spent most of my existence in exile on this planet. This can’t be the end for me. And why is everything so fuzzy here? Why is it so dark?”

“All right, first of all, my young friend, not everything is about power and control. When you talk like that, you sound like the very ones we oppose. Second, you never had the power to create life. The emperor had that and was sure to share his power with no one. He merely authorized you to take life. That’s the reason he summoned you from the Beyond. He intended to use you as part of his grand scheme to infect and eliminate all Legna who stood between him and absolute rule. You’re having a hard time remembering things because of the control probe he placed inside you. With my knowledge of the Secret Things, which I gained from the time I spent around the Wisdom Pillar, I helped you remove the probe, and you’ve been by my side ever since. Look—whether you realize it or not, the emperor always planned to eliminate you. It was only a matter of time. I merely opened your eyes to this beforehand and showed you a better way and greater purpose.”

Rescuca pauses and lowers his voice before continuing. “You and the Two Hundred helped me rally the troops in our homeland and fight against all those Legna in the city of Noiz—those who chose to remain loyal to Emperor Epaga and his evil ways. Little did we know that our fight in Noiz was just the beginning. After losing the initial battle, we were exiled here to this remote system, where we thought we’d be safe to recover and lick our wounds. We were supposed to simply wait out the Days of Deliberation, which would give us plenty of time to strategize. Instead, the emperor chose to meddle in our affairs here in order to personally see to our demise. In addition to sending his henchman, he raised up those Numah creatures against us…”

Rescuca trails off a bit as he recalls those memories. He grasps the glowing bars to his cell, which make a cracking sound that he ignores. Angrily, through gritted teeth, he says, “Self-absorbed and power hungry, Epaga couldn’t resist. He had to eliminate all threats, and we were a big one. And so, way ahead of schedule, he initiated the Numah Fusion. Foreseeing this, we tried to win over as many Numah as possible to our cause. We enlightened them and taught them everything we knew they could handle. They’re a primitive species, and therefore communicating with them was tough. So we got creative. In fact, the Two Hundred got too creative. They stepped way over the line, blew our cover, and probably cost us the war.”