A/N: Sorry 'bout the long wait! I had a bit of writer's block!
Toomin awoke from his slumber with a fresh, happy feeling. It had been two days since his arrival at Incubatorium; he had made many friends, and had grown swiftly. He was now what the Norns universally considered to be a 'child'. Turning to lie on his back, he put his hands behind his head, and reminisced on what had happened these past few days.
* * *
After his first play session, he had fallen asleep quickly, only to discover that when he awoke, it was still daytime, as he judged from the small sliver of light coming through a vent in the cave ceiling. He had asked Aftran why this was.
"What a strange question! Haven't you always lived this way?!" Aftran had asked, startled.
"No, well, um…I'm just wondering, that's all," he had stuttered, lamely.
"Well, our planet is not a sphere, like all the other planets in the universe. Instead, it is disk shaped; the reason why you'll learn later. This is, however, the reason north and south are largely irrelevant directions to go. Our planet orbits a star, which we call "Ching-ah-so". This star is in a great ball of space gas called a nebula. In fact, just outside this cavern is the clearest potion of the sky in the world. Anyway, several alien starships have come across the centuries, and from them, we have learned that most planets have days lasting anywhere from 9 hours to 45 hours. We have sixteen days per year, and according to them, each day lasts approximately 548 hours in their trade standard. There are four days per season, and four seasons per year." Aftran had explained. When Toomin nodded like he understood, she had eyed him fishily. "You're more than you're letting on aren't you?" she had said slowly.
"Well…I guess so."
"You are from the Outside, no?."
"How do I know?! I don't even know what the Outside is!" he had yelled more forcefully than he had intended. After a punishing glare, Aftran had explained, "The Outside is anywhere beyond the Great Temple of the Ryugin. The people there are rumored to be very different from us here. They're supposed to be a rough crowd, the Outsiders; but then, geography isn't my talent. We Norns of the Incubatorium don't usually welcome Outsiders very warmly. However, you happen to be an exception."
"Oh. Well, I guess I'm from the Outside. I got here by using the teleporter." Toomin had said, glad that he was one of those labeled 'welcome'.
"I see. That would explain why you came from the direction of the teleporter."
Just then, a Norn that looked a lot like Aftran had appeared, except that this Norn was male, and he had splotches of grey in his reddish fur.
"Is this the Outsider?" the red Norn had demanded.
"Yes, father." Aftran had said. Toomin looked at the red Norn again. He could see the similarity.
"I researched the flying breeds. His kind don't show up anywhere in the computer search. It's impossible for a new breed to show up this quickly, without even a key to its evolutionary predecessors in the search results."
"If it is a new breed, do you think…"
"No. That old prophecy is nothing but a load of dung."
"But he looks so much like the drawings…"
"No. If the prophecy was true, then – "
"May I join in?" a voice had said, cutting off the old red Norn. Toomin, who had been all but forgotten by Aftran and the old red, looked up, and saw a Norn unlike any he had seen so far. It was bright turquoise, with a white belly and ruby red eyes. Its body, limbs, and tail looked fairly normal, but on its neck were faint horizontal slits. Toomin shuddered. Gills. They were purely theoretical back on Ket, but now, Toomin had learned to expect anything. Still, they made him squirm. Concentrating back on the Norn, who was walking closer to them, he saw that it had a face that was very similar to his, except that its muzzle was more squarish. Its ears were like his, except that one was a bit higher that the other, giving the Norn a lop-eared look. The Norn, which was male, spoke up again and said, "Oh my. Is this our newcomer? Surely he deserves a warmer welcome that the one you're giving him, Amadeus?" The red Norn, which Toomin assumed was Amadeus, retorted, "His welcome was good enough, especially for an Outsider, Faycune."
"Ah, yes, nothing like discrimination, is there, Amadeus?" said the blue Norn, which Toomin labeled as Faycune.
"It isn't discrimination, only caution! You're lucky you were welcomed here!" Amadeus had said nastily. Aftran had then said, "Father, don't get carried away, now!" As Aftran and her father had launched into a new argument, Faycune had slipped off, and Toomin, who had been completely forgotten by Aftran and Amadeus, followed. "Who are you?" Toomin had asked as they walked through the fruit patch (which Toomin had learned were called 'tomatoes'), and through some leafy plants.
"Me? Well, you must have heard back there. I'm Faycune, at your service. You must be Toomin, the newcomer?" Faycune had said.
"Um, yes. You're an Outsider, too?"
"Of course. I was born in the Shalla Ocean. My kind, the Fenkuns, can breathe on land and in water. Most of my kind prefer the oceans, but I guess I'm the oddball." Faycune had smiled cheerfully as he said this, as if he was proud of the fact that he was odd.
"I heard Amadeus and Aftran back there discussing some 'prophecy'," Toomin said, changing the subject. They emerged out of the plants, passed the teleporter, and into a busy area bustling with Norns. There were tan Norns with big, stiff ears, green Norns with yellow hair, and floppy eared Norns with white hair. Toomin had seen one of his play friends, a brown Norn with a mane named Huchi. He had waved at Huchi, then listened as Faycune explained, "Well, you've heard of the Great Temple of the Ryugin, right?"
"Yes," Toomin had said.
"The temple honors the fifteen powers of Albion, named the Ryugin, singular, Ryug. There was one for every 'element' of Albion: lightning, wind, lava, ice, thunder, fire, gemstones and metals, seasonal passage and the sun, water, soil, darkness, moon, time, light, and space. Their names were Laidos, Fenkun, Volcanor, Aitucu, Brakou, Firwen, Chrono, Houou, Ryugia, Kairo, Houndour, Subil, Serebii, Mensu, and Magutu. Supposedly, they ruled Albion in ancient times, and it was a sort of paradise for us Norns."
"What happened?"
"Well, Houndour of Darkness rose up against the others. He wanted more control and power over Albion. There was a big war, and nearly all the Norns died. Houndour was eventually defeated when Volcanor of Lava threw him down Albion's only volcano. However, when the Ryugin saw the damage, they were shamed. The Ryugin disappeared from Albion, and the remaining Norns erected a temple in their remembrance. Around that time, a strange being was said to arrive. He had no body, only a single, floating hand. This being cared for the Norns, and brought them back to their previous level. Around the year –4,550, the Hand, as it was called, disappeared."
"What does this have to do with the prophecy?"
"Well, a year ago, the temple was claimed to have been fully explored: no unknown niches, nooks, secret compartments, or crannies left. About a season after this statement was made, though, a young explorer named Tetch found a new room that had been hidden behind a statue of Fenkun of Wind. The room had strange hieroglyphics on it. But, perhaps the strangest thing of all was a type of writing only seen once before: in some mysterious scrolls, which had been undeciphered for nearly a decade. The decoders got to work on it immediately, and found that the writing in the room stated that there was a chamber somewhere in Albion, built with the last dreg of Houndour's power, which only the prophesied one could open. This chamber supposedly held the Hand, and the key to ultimate power over Albion, as well as control over 'the beast within' that would be used to purge the world of all life. The explorers took no heed of the need for the 'chosen one', and went on a frantic search for it. They found nothing but a new room in the temple. In this room, they found more writing. The writing gave a more specific description of the 'chosen one'. It said that 'a beggar, an heir, and another in likeness' would accompany the chosen one. And, it provided a hieroglyph of what appears to be you."
Toomin had stopped abruptly. "What?!" he had shouted, so that many of the vendors in their stands and the passersby in the hall had looked at him."
"You know what I said. The picture was of you. Anyway, after this discovery, the explorers went on a new hunt for the Chamber of Houndour, as it was called, but to no avail. There have been no new searches since. However, since there is no one like you that we know of, the prophecy must not be true, and the chamber must not exist." Toomin had acknowledged this, but he had had a strange feeling that it was indeed true.
After this discussion, Toomin and Faycune had bought a strange fruit (at least to Toomin) called a 'carrot' from a vendor, then, splitting it, had walked back to the children's area.
* * *
Toomin's thoughts were interrupted by a commotion by the vendor's market. He rolled off his bed, and, with a little flutter of his wings (they were fast maturing; it wouldn't be long before he was able to fly), landed on the ground. He shuffle-ran toward the commotion. As he pushed his way through the plants, he caught a glimpse of something grey. He pushed the last of the leaves away.
Toomin gave a yelp of surprise at the sight before him.
A/N: Sorry about the cliffhanger! It was necessary to lead up to the next chapter! Please review, even if you hate it!
