Uo Daenta, the Empathic P V

"Oh bloody heck. Will someone here please remind me just why exactly we have to learn how to draw dead stuff?" Lethe muttered in frustration.
"I don't know, nor do I particularly care. Just do it, yeah?" Styx replied softly.
"Over there, that's Uo Daenta. He can see and does draw some incredible auras. You know, he's an empath. He told us once." Cocytus said. They looked at Uo. He was thoroughly engrossed in his painting of the dead. His hair was unkempt and long enough that he could cover his eyes if he had not brushed it to the side. Uo had a face that made people want to talk to, not handsome, but made people want to open up to him. "He's a good painter. You know," He added, "The four of you ought to know some people apart from us."
"I do not see the point in that." Acherus said, Acheros having flown off somewhere in the meantime. "It is not as if we are staying for our whole life, are we? Even then, I see no reason for acquaintance. Though I am sure my brother will object in favor of some torture."
"All you and your brother think of the whole time is stealing, suffering or burning. Your objection holds no weight." Kestrel retorted. "I tell you, if everyone knows who you are, and you don't know any of them, then either you are famous, or there is something wrong with you."
"Alright, since you want us to meet other people, then you could probably start with that person Uo." Styx piped up.
"Uo? He's really kind of touc-"

"Talk once more during my lesson and the whole group of you can get out!" Their teacher flared up at them. They instantly kept quiet.
Right. Thank goodness for telepathy, aye? Styx sent.
It's not as if we have much to talk about for now, do we. Phlegyas stated.
True, true. Best get on with the morbid painting. Lacier told them.


And surprisingly, Uo approached them first during FullLight break. Without any preamble, he started. "Kestrel, Cocytus, Lacier, hello. Don't introduce, I heard everything that happened. You'd be surprised at how well empaths' hearings can be. Or at least hearing augmented with feeling emotions. Not the point. I heard what you said about meeting other people. Anyway, what intrigued me was that I felt something there. I've never felt that before. There was some kind of link and emotions traveled back and forth between all of you. What was that?" He said quickly, scarcely taking a breath and obviously intrigued.
Go on, tell him. He's fine. Lacier gave the go ahead as Styx hesitated.
"There, I sensed it again. Are you all somehow communicating?" Uo said, crossing his arms.
"Yes, we are as a matter of fact. I'm telepathic and I made a link between the bunch of us." Styx said, standing straight to make the most of her dimunitive height, daring him to make a comment.
"I see, I see. Never knew there were telepaths out there, but then again, I don't know many things-"
"Lies, Master Daenta, lies. You know just about everything that goes on in the class." Cocytus put in.
"It's not as if I can help it, can I?" Uo said, clearly irritated. "Empathy is depressing. You think I wish I was an empath? You think I want to be an empath?" His temper rose, as did his voice.
"Cool down, keep calm." Kestrel quickly advised him.
"Y..Yes, I apologise for losing my temper." Uo managed a weak smile. "This is how I am. I hope you do not think too badly about me."
"It's fine, we know how it is."
"Lacier's right, don't worry."
"Thank you. Well, it's surprising how many people transferred in in such a short period of time. Hmm, Acherus, yes? Acherus, where's that brother of yours?" Uo said brightly, a stark contrast from how angry and frustrated he was.
"You heard even that? Well, he's telling me to pass the message to mind your own business, but I'll just say that he's out there in the fields attempting to scare mice, I think, scaring mice to death. It's actually quite amazing how weak their hearts can be."
"Umm, guys? I, uh, I don't feel too good. I feel really tired. And pissed. I don't know why. But I'm just angry at some damned thing, I don't know what. Eff this." Except that Lethe didn't say eff, did she.
"Pardon me, I have to go, I have, uh, things to attend to." With which words, Uo took off quickly, looking flustered and embarrassed. Not that any of them knew what he was embarrassed about.
Turning back to Lethe, Lacier said, "Hey, what's wrong? You weren't so vulgar before. Or so crude."
"I don't bloody know! Why should you effing care!" Lethe almost shouted out. Once again, she did not say eff.
"With your permission, I could find out the cause?" Styx asked cautiously.
Lethe clamped on her tongue and bit back an angry retort. "Yeah," She forced out the affirmation. "Yeah, go ahead."
Styx started concentrating. "Your vulgarity... stems from.... memories? Of a past that is not yours.... From.... your... ability.." Styx let out a gasp. "Pardon me, I'm having a little... trouble going through the..... memories." While this took place, Lethe was holding her head tightly as if she was experiencing a migraine. "That girl you.... touched. Her past.... impinges on you..." Styx stopped concentrating and Lethe released her head with a sigh of relief. "Lethe, you're influenced by the memories of others, though they are not yours. You know the philosophy, tabula rasa?" The group shook their heads, with the exception of Acherus. "It's the blank slate philosophy, where we're all born the same, and it's our experiences which make us. In a sense, these experiences which you have only as memories, which is all experience is, affect your personality." Styx dropped down onto her seat. "Never knew it was so tiring." She murmured with a slight exhalation and promptly slept.

Acheron, the Two

They were all looking at him. The entire class. To be expected, but still. It was disconcerting. Not just looking, but staring. At the top of his head. He knew he should have worn a hat. Or something to cover them. They just kept staring as he walked. Staring at his horns. Not large and jutting out, but small and just enough to be seen through his hair. Cain. He heard a small whisper throughout the class. Cain. Mayhaps they were looking at Acheros, in the avian chimera's body on his shoulder. Maybe they were looking at his grey skin in horror, wishing that a different sort of Cain were here. Cain. He kept walking, to the back, to a small group, the only group which did not have looks of judgement, of superiority on their faces, merely looks of interest. Cain. The humans could just as easily have been staring at his face, his mouthless face, his face which had no nose. Or they could have been looking at the vents on the sides of his neck, five on each side, common to him, but alien to them. Cain. One of them, a male, said, "Wait, don't say anything, let me guess, your name is Acheron Something-or-the-other. Am I right?"

Startling. How did he know? The group shifted, as though they were communicating telepathically. Were humans telepathic? Psionic, mayhaps. He continued to the seat behind the group, replying, "Yes. We are Acheron. How did you know?"
"Woah, no offense, but how do you talk? I mean, you don't have a mouth and all....."
"None taken," Acheron replied in a melodic voice, with multiple layers of sound, giving a feeling as if there were several people talking at the same time. "These... vent-like structures you would call it, along the sides of my neck. Through them, We speak." Acheron sat down.

-

Woah. I didn't expect a Cain. Cocytus thought through the mind-link they shared.
True. Especially a Grey Cain. Lethe thought back.
Sorry, but I'm not especially familiar with Cains. What's a Grey Cain? Styx asked. All Cains have an affinity with the elements. There are Reds, Blues, Yellows, Greens and Greys. Reds control fire, Blues water, Yellows lightning and Greens earth. But the Grey Cains, they master one main element and can manipulate the other elements to a lesser degree. And all Cains are also generally known to be sadistic and cruel, but Greys more so than others. Kestrel answered.
Phlegyas replied in all his innocence, Well, I ain't gonna judge no one 'til he proves himself to me.

"So, uh, why do you say "We"?" Styx asked.
"Yeah, why the royal third-person?" Lethe added sarcastically.
"That is because this body is occupied by two minds. I am Acherus, the other mind is Acheros, my twin brother. He currently occupies this avian chimera," Acherus gestured towards the hawk on his shoulder. "It's a rather unique condition. It occurred when we were both cells. Our bodies merged. This is amusingly known as "chimerism". But surprisingly, his mind developed. So We are two minds in one body. Recently, We've managed to place one of us in the hawk-chimera's body, either one of us."
"How do we tell when either of you are in control of the body, so to speak?" Lacier asked.
"These lines will appear over our body when Acheros is in control, these Blaschko's Lines. Refer to both of us collectively as Acheron if you please." Acherus turned to the hawk. "Brother, shall We give them a demonstration?" The hawk screeched once.
Without any visible movement, wavy lines appeared on Acheron's body, the Blaschko's lines in an intricate pattern. The hawk's eyes turned from a pure black, to pure grey and likewise, Acheron's eyes from pure grey to pure black. Neither of the bodies' eyes had irises. "My brother forgot to mention one more thing. The hawk body is a hawk-scorpion hybrid. See the talons, there's a miniscule stinger there, loaded with lethal poison I developed myself." Acheros said with a tone full of pride, though it was hard to ascertain with all the different overtones in his voice. "At any rate, what are your names?"
And introductions, such as they were, began all over again.
"So, you are telepathic. But you are an exception to the rule. Not all humans are telepathic." Acheron commented after listening to Styx. "We are all alike in our namings. Interesting."
Should I tell him? About my... ability. Lethe thought out.
Go ahead. He is one of us now after all. Cocytus replied.

In the interest of making sure that one of the qualities of this story is not long-windedness, we shall jump ahead to after Miss Glimmergaunt has explained.

"That is... an intriguing concept." Acheron said.
"Yeah, I didn't know you could do something like that." Phlegyas said, having heard the full story for the first time.
"Hmm, right, well, that's enough about me. Acheron. The following statement is potentially offensive to you. Is it true that all you Cains are sadistic bastards?"
The group froze. They were not expecting something like that from Lethe, and not worded so bluntly. However, Acheros took over and replied smoothly.
"I don't know about others, but Acherus ain't and me, well, let's just say that torture happens to be a hobby of mine. Just so convenient that Acherus is so skilled at healing, I don't get caught for it." Acheros shrugged. "Knifes are fun. Guns, not so much. You just gotta shoot them where it hurts." And Acherus took over. "Anywhere. It hurts getting shot anywhere. Pardon my brother, he is, in fact, how did you phrase it, ah, a sadistic bastard. He's just lucky that there's me to cover it up. I myself don't enjoy torture, but I don't got no nothing against it. But I, hmm, I-" He got cut off by Acheros. "My dear brother is a kleptomaniac. Also an excellent lockpicker. Loves thieving, he does. I guess it helps that no one suspects a hawk of being a thief."
The group just stared at Acheron. None of them had really expected such a reply, regardless of what they had said.
"Did I mention that both of us are also pyromaniacs? We love setting things on fire. To relieve stress, you know? You all ought to try it sometime." Acheros winked. And Acherus cut in.
"Well, there you have it, our life story. Mental disorders, one after the other."
"For the first time, I am actually stunned speechless." Kestrel blinked.

Shout Out to All Readers!

Hey, just a notice to people. So yeah, I'm really thankful for all ye people who read this and make themselves known (ie, Jas and HK and Rox cough cough why dont more ppl comment cough cough phlegm!) and yeah, real thankful. I really apologise for the long waiting time twixt the updates, please please bear with me (not that you can do anything else ^^ but thats not the point) cos I really put a whole lot of effort into this, and all that, I want this to be quality work, so sorry! I hope you appreciate this, thanks a mil to everyone and all!

Summary of message: I was just making excuses for not updating. Bleh.

Btw, my writings are really cliche, aren't they? *sigh* Wish I could be original. Ah well. So, thanks once again. btw, just had a random thought, if anyone needed a prompter to write, here's one: collapse.

Eirini,
Li-Jun/Ben/However you know me

Nothing Like An Enemy

"What was that about a deal you two made?" Kestrel asked the moment Lethe had been within hearing range. "I thought you never met him."
"I didn't. Not to my knowledge at least. He kept going on and on about needing to know what to say and 'getting there' first before he could tell. And how in the name of all the unnamed things of the universe am I supposed to even know what to say? You ask me, I think he's gone crazy." Lethe replied indignantly."Oh, he also mentioned about the gravitational aether tests being real soon. Damn. All we ever wanted, eh? More work."
"Love-freaking-ly. More tests. Well, at least its Halflight now. We've got at least five more hours to ourselves. Small consolation." Cocytus grumbled.

They spent time studying furiously like people possessed by some workaholic, work-related OCD suffering ghosts which had no concept of relaxation. Even Cocytus worked fast, as fast as Kestrel ever was. By the time Falselight approached, they had stacks of notes copied out painstackingly by hand all about them. Groaning and massaging their arms, they made their way down to the canteen.
"Hate doesn't even begin to convey how much I feel towards studies." Kestrel said. "I-"
"And here I was thinking you nerds loved studying so much. Then again, the human may think the worm enjoys eating shit and dirt all day long." A spiteful voice filled with contempt came from another table.
"Great. Gerdion Eryfi. The single largest detriment to intelligence in the entire multiverse." Lacier snorted with contempt.
Gerdion Eryfi was your typical school bully, with the exception that he was generally smarter than such bullies. He was, however, just as large a braggard as all others. His stature was slightly shorter than Cocytus, which made their confrontations all the more amusing.
"Sorry, Lacy-boy, but you're confusing me with your pathetic self." Looking over at Lethe, Styx and Phlegyas, he laughed. "I just don't see what you three are doing with these losers. Surely you're not so blind as to see how ridiculous they are."
"Just because you were gelded at birth, doesn't mean you get to act macho in front of people. And frankly, I'm tired of all your posing. Do the world a favor and just piss off." Cocytus said, bored at his show of arrogance.
"Gelded! You filthy..." It took all of Gerdion's willpower to keep his anger in check. "I'll get you all some day. And you three," he glared at Lethe, Styx and Phlegyas, "You three will regret the day you decided to stick with them."
Lethe yawned. "Big words, small man. Oh wait, did I say man? I meant whiny, bitchy, upstart girl who can't even deal out threats with an appropriate amount of dramatism in them. If only you knew what I could do to you."
Gerdion stormed off in a fury.

"You weren't actually thinking about touching him, were you?" Styx said.
"Eww, it sounds wrong when you put it that way. But actually, yes, I found out something really creepy. That girl I touched. She came up to me at Breaklight and practically begged me to stop haunting her dreams. But it wasn't intentional, stop looking at me like that." Lethe ignored their looks and continued wolfing down her food.
"That sounds nasty. I sure hope it really wasn't intentional." Phlegyas said.
"Yeah, t'is a terrible thing to do." Styx added.
Lethe finished swallowing. "I told you, it wasn't intentional. I don't enjoy tormenting and mucking about in people's dreams anyway." It dawned on her then. "Oh damn, this can't have anything to do with me and Mr. Ary's supposed deal, can it?"
"I for one, doubt that he would give anyone the power to bugger dreams. But who knows?" Cocytus said.
"Confusing. But I'm really tempted to see what Gerdion is afraid of, you know? He's such a jerk and all..."
"Careful words, Kestrel. I don't want to get in trouble for roughing up some filthy rich guy's kid." Lacier warned. After all, the House of Eryfi was a prominent figure in their world.
"Meh, I could hardly care less." Styx said. "We'd best get back to our dorms before Falselight reaches its zenith. I don't want to get buggered by the damn ghosts of whatever past."

Missing the Point

"... Einstein was smart enough to recognise that the non-aether theories were more elegant and simpler, but he made the mistake of rejecting it on the grounds that 'what is unobservable does not exist'. Le Sage, on the other hand, he was smart, he was on the right track. Those ultramundane particles were-"
"Sir? What's this got to do with the Dream? I mean, why do we have to know about these scientists from other realities and what's it got to do with the Dream?" Lacier asked, hoping that his interruption would not give him something to regret.
Mr. Ary looked at him and said, his mouth moving all around his face. "As I was about to explain, Mister Eves, these ultramundane particles spread across realities and dimensions to cause disturbances on the aether-affected subconscious of the mind, giving rise to anomalies within the Dream. Do not interrupt me further, or your time will be consumed by needless amounts of work."

Hardly anyone dared to say anything during Mr. Ary's class. Anyone who had ever seen him would know why. Mr. Ary was horrifying, his features were liquid and regularly sunk back into his face and reappeared. His features also had a disturbing tendency to shift across his face, at any point of time, his eyes could be on his cheeks, on the chin, on his hand, on the back of his head (Mr. Ary was bald) and just about anywhere. The same went for his other features such as his nose, eyebrows, mouth and all. He had no need to turn while talking, he just had to move an eye back around. All in all, it contributed to his fearsome reputation of ineffability. No one knew how he got to this state, no one wanted to know, not even the morbidly curious.

"Eigengrau. Who can tell me what Eigengrau is?" He asked. "You, over there."
"It's the color that we see in pitch darkness, sir." Cocytus answered. "The brain places a greater importance on contrast rather than colour so eigengrau appears a shade lighter than a black object."
"Good. Now we'll...." The day went on. And finally, the lesson ended.

Lethe picked up her courage and slowly made her way to the unnerving teacher while her classmates filed out.
"Yes? You have lessons to attend." Mr. Ary said sharply.
"No sir, its Halflight. Uh, sir? I've been having this nightmare recently." She said, looking at his shifting eyes.
He sighed. "What is it? This had better not been a frivolous waste of my time."
She told him about her dream, haltingly, hoping that he could shed some light. By the end of the tale, she had his full attention and all his features were, for the first time, in proper place and not moving. He rubbed his brow.
"Lethe. You know I cannot tell you, until you know what to say."
"What?" Lethe said, startled by his reply. "What do you mean?"
"You're not there yet, are you? When you know what to say, come back and find me and I'll explain it all to you."
"I don't get it sir, I don't understand. Why can't you tell me?"
"Of course, you don't remember. All you need to know for now is that I can't tell you because of the deal we made. Come back when you know what to say."
Lethe stared at him. "Deal? I've never ever seen you before in my whole life prior to today! Sir, I-"
"I will say nothing more until you know what to say. Do not forget to do your work, gravitational aether theories will be tested soon." With that, Mr. Ary strode off out of the classroom.
Lethe? A voice echoed in her mind. It was Styx. We're waiting for you. What did he say?
Only some weird cryptic thing about a deal we made. She thought back. It's ridiculous. I'm on my way, tell you all about it later.