Tellion stared down at the grisly mess before her. Her mind was still spiraling in a state of complete shock from what she had just done. Some part of her wondered if any of this was even real. But the real and the imaginative had long since become a part of reality in her new life. As she struggled to come to grips with the full understanding that she had just endured, and what she had just done, Tellion realized that some of the mass that had splattered from her dropping the rock had hit her skin. Raising a trembling hand to her face, she rested the palm upon her hot cheek for a moment. She felt the heat, but also the wetness that was saturating the fragile surface of her face. Tellion instantly felt the disgust of the filth that was on her skin, and immediately brushed it off vigorously.
When she did, Tellion shook her hand about wildly in vain effort to erase all traces of the decision she had just made, even if she hadn't truly made a conscious act upon it. Yet, the weight of her choice still pressed down upon her. No matter how much she tried to justify her actions, and what she may have saved, or destroyed, upon doing them, Tellion couldn't help but feel the sadness that she had lost just as much as she may have gained by what she had done. The sadness of it all continued to weigh upon her, forcing Tellion to her knees. When she did, her head fell in a great feeling of shame.
Barely holding her swirling vortex of emotions in check, Tellion stared long and longingly at the rock she had just dropped, and the place where she had dropped it. Such a small mess, such a seemingly minute amount of damage done, yet to her, she knew that from this moment on, her life and her destiny, were changed forever. For good or ill, she just didn't know in the present. Unable to hold back her sadness, Tellion slowly lifted her eyes from where she had dropped the rock…
…and up at the still trembling and feeble form of Visser Three resting upon the rock before her.
A stillness hung in the air as she continued to stare at her dreaded commander. A monster that she felt truly embodied pure malice and darkness. And yet, a being that she still couldn't bring herself to destroy, no matter how much her mind, and a part of her spirit, had wanted to.
You…you missed…whispered the omnipresent voice from behind her, its tone clearly full of surprise.
Tellion shut her eyes and drew in a deep breath. She held it for a very long time, trying to brace herself for what she was about to say before exhaling and opening her eyes.
"No." she spoke in a very feeble voice. "I didn't."
A faint chuckle filled the air all around her. I'm sorry, I don't think I heard you correctly.
"No." Tellion said, weakly pulling herself to her feet. "You heard me. I didn't miss."
I…don't understand…
"I didn't think you would." Tellion spoke so softly, she barely heard her words herself.
Are you…really telling me that you purposely missed? That you didn't intend to kill him?
"I wanted to, a large part of me really did want to end his life. But I can't." Tellion said.
Why? The voice spoke in disbelief. Why would you not take advantage of this opportunity I've presented to you Tellion? Do you not understand what's at stake here? What you're about to give up?
"I understand…everything." She told the voice, lowering her head.
You…you must be joking with me. This is some sort of moment of inaction, of hesitation. You're just preparing yourself for the real kill, right?"
"No, I'm not."
You're serious. The voice spoke to her, its volume clearly rising. After everything that I told you would happen to this world, to the people that you care for, everything that you stand to lose, you would still choose to not take advantage of the opportunity I have granted you?
"Yes."
And you would risk losing all of that, for this foul creature?
"Yes."
A rumble echoed through the sky, which faintly sounded reminiscent to distant thunder. To Tellion, it sounded more like an annoyed growl.
He cannot see you in this state, nor hear you. He has no idea that you are even here Tellion. He has no idea how much you hold his very life in your hands. Tellion, he'll never know that you did this for him. He'll never know that you spared his life.
"I understand all of that," Tellion said sadly. "And it doesn't matter, because I'll know that I spared him."
The rumble through the sky came again. Closer, louder, harsher.
You…the voice growled, it gentleness fading away. Transforming into something far harsher, darker, sinister. After everything that I told you about him? Do you even understand how wretched of a being he is? Do you know that in the final days of the Sssttraamm invasion, he took all of the elderly, the invalid, and the other useless hosts to the Empire, and forced them into all of the most historic and sacred sites of that conquered race, and he obliterated every one of those sites from orbit to crush all last trace of resistance from that subjugated people? And that was only one single instance of his diabolical cruelty. He's destroyed over a dozen Hawjabran colony world. Not only obliterating the colonies themselves, but finding personal amusement in jettisoning the survivors into the void of space and watching them die. He's done all of this and other unspeakable acts of malice and cruelty. After all the lives he's destroyed without any trace of remorse throughout his entire life, even the lives of your very kin, you would still choose to spare him? Do you not understand the very embodiment of evil that he is?
"I understand completely how evil he is." Tellion meekly said, staring at her former commander with a strange sadness. A sadness for a life that only knew viciousness and suffering, a life that was devoid of any joy. "I've seen his darkness with my own eyes."
Then tell me something Tellion…the voice hissed to her, its tone now causing her skin to crawl. All traces of its gentleness and compassion had vanished. What was left in its place was a voice that radiated such darkness that its mere sound suddenly sent terrified tremors throughout Tellion's entire body.
…after all of the evil he has perpetuated, after all of the innocent lives he's destroyed, after all the killing he has done to your own kin, how could you still choose to spare him? Why would you grant him the mercy he's never shown ANYONE!
"Because…" Tellion shuddered, her lips trembling as she stared at the helpless form that was one of the most diabolical and vicious Yeerks to have ever existed.
Because what!? Because of what Tellion!? The voice demanded of her.
Its sharp command for an answer spurred Tellion to blurt out the very first thing that entered her mind.
"Because I'm not like him!" Tellion stammered, staring down at her own shaking feet.
Then, in that same instant, her eyes widened with a full understanding of everything that she was experiencing, and her head lifted to stare at the empty sky before her.
"Or you…"
What? What are you speaking of? The voice said, its tone breaking slightly. Tellion's eyes fell to Visser Three, staring for only a moment at him, but it felt like a hundred years to her. Her gaze then lifted once more and scanned the surrounding landscape.
"This…this was your test…wasn't it?"
I don't know what you're speaking of. The voice said, feigning ignorance. Tellion, despite despising her Yeerk heritage, easily detected the tone of deception in its words.
"No," she spat, her face twisting in a grimace. "I think you do. You know exactly what I'm talking about."
Silence was her answer. And it was all the answer that Tellion needed to hear.
"You…brought me to this place, this moment." she said. "The other, he told me that a bet had been made, between him and another, to save my life back when the Yeerk pool I had been in had been destroyed. And this was your part of that bet. You wanted to prove to him that even I, a Yeerk that was chosen by him to show that there is still something decent, noble, and worthy of redemption in my kind…"
She was crying again. But not tears of sadness. They were tears of anger. Of definance. Of true conviction of herself.
"…you wanted to prove to him that if I was given the right target, the right reasons, and the right motivation, that even I could be made to kill. That even I could be influenced to murder a helpless being!"
Tellion picked up the rock that had been meant for Visser Three. She stared hard at the small geological sphere, and clenched it tightly in her hand.
"Well you don't know me!" Tellion shouted out loud. "You don't know anything about me!"
She looked down at the shaking form of Visser Three.
"Do I believe that Visser Three is a Yeerk of great evil? I do. Do I believe that he's cause countless pain and suffering throughout his entire life? I do. And I also believe…I believe with every part of my very being, that one day he will pay dearly for the suffering he's inflicted throughout his life. But…it won't be here. And it won't be like this."
Tellion stared at the rock that rested in her shaking hand.
"I won't be his executioner!"
With that said, Tellion hurled the rock as hard as she could into the running water. It spun wildly through the air, splashing into the current somewhere in the middle, disappearing forever from her sight. And relieving Tellion of all temptation to carry on with the dark deed that had been expected of her. Exhaling a weary breath, Tellion lifted her head to the sky, her face full of assurance to herself, and her core beliefs.
"You failed! Whoever you are! Whatever you are! You failed…"
There was nothing for a moment after she had proclaimed her statement. But only for a single moment. The rumbling that she had heard in the distance, the rumbling that had steadily drawn closer, came back. Only it was right above her. This time to blasted all through the surrounding area around Tellion with such force that it shook the very ground that she was standing on, as if the entire planet itself were in imitate danger of being cracked and splintered apart from the force. As Tellion struggled to hold herself up, the sky reddened. It wasn't the color of the setting or rising sun. It was a different kind of red. A red that Tellion instantly remembered, and it caused her whole body to tremble in fear.
The sky ripped and cracked apart, and from that crack came pouring forth a vast column of dark red flames. The same kind of flames that she had seen when…
…then that meant that what was coming next…
Tellion wanted to scream in terror. She wanted to run in a vain effort to save herself. But she couldn't move. She was just too terrified to even breathe. And as she stared in wide eyed horror, the flames ripped a hole open in the sky itself, and a multitude of metallic tentacles, each as wide around as the thickest tree she had seen, pierced through the feeble reality of the sky itself and ripped it open, pulling themselves, and what they were attached to, through. And at the center of those massive tentacles, deep in the core of that dark fire…was the eye.
The great, horrific, terrifying red eye that had once before bore into the center of Tellion's very essence at the cusp of her own death. And here it was again, staring ferociously at her as if she were nothing to it but a mere insect to be squashed. And she did indeed feel that certain death was imminently upon her.
YOU…its hideous voice roared, blasting Tellion with such force that it knocked her to the ground. Stupid, short sighted, silly little Yoor…Yeerk!
Tellion couldn't move. She couldn't speak as this overwhelming force of pure darkness loomed over her.
I come offering you a token of MY friendship, a way to save this entire world and the people in it that you care about, and you toss it all aside like it were nothing more than common trash!
The immense red eye drew closer to Tellion, the waves of malice that it radiated threatened to suffocate her.
Do you even understand what you have just done? What you have cast aside? All for…this wretched creature that would kill you without a moment's hesitation if your roles were reversed.
Tellion mumbled weakly under her breathe as the eye bore down upon her.
Speak!
"I…" Tellion croaked, struggling to find the words to answer this horrific being that loomed over her. "I understand…"
The massive eye glared sinisterly at her. Tellion could never understand why, but even there, in that moment of pure terror, she somehow found the will to pull herself weakly to her feet to face this being that radiated an evil so horrific that her mind almost couldn't bring itself to face it.
I see now…
The eye drew closer to her.
You are different. And not just because I told you so. You…have no true understanding of how much you have just disrupted my carefully laid plan. Everything that I helped to orchestrate, all of my careful weaving of reality to make the desired outcome I wanted come to pass. And you just ruined all of it. Little Tellion, can you even imagine how much you have infuriated me just now?
"I don't think…I want to even try." Tellion squeaked meekly.
Somehow, the harsh gaze of the evil eye grew even fiercer. The heat overwhelmed Tellion's vulnerable skin, threating to incinerate her where she stood. And against all of this, somehow, Tellion still held her ground.
In case you haven't grasped the reality of your predicament, little Yeerk, this is the part where you're supposed to grovel before me and beg for your pathetic excuse of an insignificant life.
Tellion shook her head. "No."
No. No! the eye hissed, almost finding amusement at Tellion's refusal. And why would you even fathom to say that to me? Are you not afraid of me?
"I'm terrified of you." Tellion answered truthfully.
Then why do you refuse?
Tellion took a bewilder breath as she tried to summon up the courage to speak.
"Because…you're not going to kill me."
And why would you think that?
"Because it is not part of your bet." Tellion blurted. "If I really am just some kind of, plaything, to the two of you, then killing me is not in your agreement."
Do you really think, or even believe, that I care about any of those rules?
"You care enough to not kill me yet. If you do that, than you admit you were defeated by the other, and me. And I think that matters more to you than anything else."
A soft, mocking chuckle echoed all around Tellion, confirming her suspicions.
I do. Very perceptive little Yeerk. It would be a shame to end our little game here, not when there's still so much potential left for the future.
"Then, what are you going to do with me?"
For now, nothing. I'm going to sit back and watch you enjoy, and suffer the fruits of your actions. So for today, you get to live. But just remember, little Tellion, so does Visser Three. And know this, every life that he extinguishes from this day forth, every, single, life…that will be upon your conscious because you didn't have the strength to do what needed to be done.
"No." Tellion said, blinking away several tears as she stared in frozen horror at the eye. "They won't be. That will be on Visser Three."
And why would you believe that, my dear Tellion?
"Because he has a choice!" Tellion blurted out. "He always had a choice! Visser Three is the one that chose his path of darkness, and the empty life it brings to him. And I will not become like him! I can't control his actions, and I will not be responsible for them either!"
Oh, my precious little Tellion. Stirring words, always trying to prove how unique and special you are among your kind. Well, how about I share a little secret with you.
The eye's gaze focused intensely upon her profusely sweating face.
You're not as unique as you believe. There was another, not so long ago, much like you. And like you, that Yeerk too desired to become more than what they were. The only difference is that that Yeerk wasn't afraid to take initiative, to do what needed to be done in order to achieve that end. It was quite bold, so much so that it drew my attention, even if only for a moment. But a moment to me is equivalent to a hundred lifetimes for you.
The massive mechanical tenticles danced around the equally enormous eye, sending the colors of the sky into a maddening frenzy of natural and unnatural colors for the world.
It was such a shame for me when I saw his life force in the strand that he existed in fading away. He had such…potential. I even took it upon myself to make my presence known to him in his final moments. Most beings aren't even aware of my being there at the ends of their lives, but he was. And unlike so many others, he wasn't consumed with terror of imminent oblivion. No, his gaze was to the future, of what could be. So much was his overwhelming will and desire that he dared to ask me a question. It was the first time any such being had done so, and I must admit, his boldness did indeed move me, if only a micro fraction of an instant.
The eye stopped talking, clearly purposefully. Tellion was still barely holding on to the last strands of her sanity as she struggled to endure the suffocating darkness that pressed in all around her. Yet, she found the will to bring herself to speak.
"What…was the question?" Tellion mumbled, not even sure herself why she wanted to know.
Somehow, she would never truly understand how, the eye managed to shift its form enough to give the impression of a human like grimace.
He asked me if he would be the last like himself. If everything truly ended with his death. He asked me if there would ever be another like himself.
Those words struck Tellion's thoughts harsher than any physical aliment she had ever endured throughout her whole life. She remembered hearing that question, and the voice it belonged to, in her dream.
So, I looked further down the strand, to another branch from his own, and saw you. Your life up till and beyond the moment myself and my counterpart chose to interfere. Your thoughts, your deepest feelings, everything that that you had ever done in your life. I showed it all to him, letting him saturate in the knowledge of what would be. Then, with very little effort on my part, I momentarily bridged the distance between you two, letting your individual strands connect for but a fleeting moment, so that he could speak to you directly. I must say, it was quite an amusing spectacle for me to witness. I'm so very glad he managed to give me such an entertaining show, and leave a lasting effect upon you before he went…well, wherever it is that you Yeerks go when you die, if anywhere at all.
Her mind was spinning, no reeling with this claim. She tried to make sense of what had been told to her. But even in the very presence of this seemingly omnipotent being, his tale just seemed too incredible for her to truly believe.
"Are you saying…that you let someone who's long since been dead, speak to me…before I was every even born?"
The minor rumbling through the air around her in the form of a soft chuckle was all the response she got from her question. It was neither an answer nor a denial.
"That's…that's ridiculous." Tellion stammered in disbelief of what she was hearing. "That's impossible…"
She regretted those words the moment they slipped past her lips, for the eye's dark red gaze instantly flared in sinister malice, it's massive limbs flailed about ripping cracks through the sky itself everywhere their ends struck, and flames exploded all around her from those strikes. The eye's roar of pure rage struck her with such a force that it knocked Tellion onto her bottom.
You DARE to tell ME what is impossible! Your feeble little slug mind cannot possibly be begin to comprehend the complex continuity of the time! Of its vast force perspectives! Its infinite paradoxes! Its strands' relations to space!
In that one fraction of a second, Tellion was truly terrified that the eye was going to blast her into microscopic pieces out of pure spit for unintentionally insulting it. She feebly held her arms in front of herself in a pointless effort to protect herself. Her actions couldn't possibly save her, but it did have an effect.
The great red eye shuddered, then laughed softly to itself. The sounds of its laugh caused the ground to tremble, and gusts of wind equal to a violate storm to whip about her. What was truly scary for her was knowing that everything that she had seen up to this point was merely a tiny fraction of the overwhelming power that this being possessed.
Ah. It spoke. That was what I wanted to see. The fear. The terror of imminent death that only insignifigant mortal beings like you could possess. And yet…
Tellion lowered her arms and summoned up every last trace of whatever courage she could muster and climbed back to her feet. Although she was trembling with terror, she still managed to stand before this creature of complete darkness.
You are afraid. The eye spoke in a mocking tone. But not the usual kind of fear I'm used to dealing with. No, yours is different. While others would flee or be too shocked into inaction, you…my precious Tellion…you know how to harness your own terror, and channel it into action. That is a very rare gift indeed. I hope you stay afraid for the rest of your short and miserable little life.
"Are you," she gulped. "going to kill me? Or are we going to keep talking?"
She knew what it had told her, about her part in the game, and it's commitment to not breaking whatever rules had been established. Still she was afraid that it would destroy her, blast her existence from the face of all creation for no other reason than it simply could. The eye's gaze bore into her, making Tellion feel as if her insides were burning.
I won't lie, I am very, so very, tempted to break the agreement and incinerate you where you stand for your mere insolence to me. But then that would be the end of the game. And I am still very curious to see how this all plays out. More importantly, I want you to live to see and feel the consequences of what you did, and didn't do today Tellion. Just remember, you could have ended the war today. This world and the people in it you care for, they could have all been saved. Even Susan. She will forever be lost in her mind now, and you have no one to blame for that but yourself Tellion.
The eye's gaze motioned at the trembling form of Visser Three. Tellion would never know if he was even vaguely aware of what was transpiring all around him. Surely he had to feel something that was terrifying to him in such a presence, but that was a question she would never know the answer to.
You gave it all away, all for his wretched little life. You're weak Tellion. You'll always be weak. I think that I am done with you for now.
The eye's limbs halted their almost endless movement. The eye peered about, looking at things that Tellion could never hope to try to gaze at. When that instant passed, it looked back at her.
He's coming for you. He'll be here soon enough, and I will take my leave. Just remember this Tellion, you are just a mere pawn for him in our game as much as you are to me. If you believe otherwise, then put his proclamation of friendship to the test. When he comes to speak to you, ask him the questions that you truly dare not know the answers to. Ask him to tell you the truth of who you really are, where you come from, and the legacy that you are a part of.
The eye somehow seemed to give her what was the equivalent to it of a savage smile.
Ask him…about the Prime Yeerk.
"The what?" Tellion asked, her mind reeling from what she was hearing.
Ask him these questions, and see if he's as forthcoming to you as you believe he will be. Sometime in the future, I'll visit you again, and see if he has satisfied your quest for knowledge. If he has, then I shall offer you a small token of my power to aid you in whatever endeavor you find yourself in. But, if he hasn't, then you will owe me a small favor. What do you say, my precious little Tellion, do we have a deal?
She wanted to scream no at it. She truly just wanted to take something, anything and ram it straight into the core of that sinister eye for no other reason than to make it avert its focus from her. She just wanted all this to end.
"Yes." she weakly blurted out before she truly understood what she had just said.
It is done then. The eye exclaimed with a near glee like tone. Come then my opponent. Come Ellimist! Come and claim your 'champion' of the vile Yeerk species. Come and claim…your pet!
With that said the great eye blinked. And then it was gone. So was the fire in the sky. So too was any trace of its presence having ever been there. The air and the land was exactly how Tellion remembered it being when she had first laid eyes upon it. There was nothing. There was just her, and Visser Three. Tellion, her mind, body, and spirit wrecked and ravaged from the ordeal, went to leave. But even as she was going, she dared to glace one last time back at Visser Three. The one being in all the galaxy that she would have been perfectly justified in killing, and yet she had dared to show him mercy. She didn't know if she had made the right choice, but the course had been set. It was too late to turn back now.
"Please don't make what I did here today be a mistake." Tellion whispered, not really ever knowing who she said that to, before departing.
Tellion entered the dim tunnel like canopy of forest, again feeling as if she had passed through a barrier of some sort. The instant she had crossed, all of the angst, the misery, the terror she had endured faded from her meek body. She could never truly understand any of this, but it felt to her as if she had been wrapped in a blanket of pure comfort. It was very relieving to her in every aspect. Still she walked on with her head held low and her eyes fixated upon the ground right in front of her. On she went, her mind unable to even try to formulate any sense of rationality for what she had just endured. Yet her awareness was just as sharp as it had been since entering this arena of unexplainable phenomenon. She felt the force all around her before the first words were ever spoken.
He's wrong you know. Spoke the familiar tone of the comforting voice that had first addressed Tellion just before her entire reality had been altered. The ease that came over Tellion was very similar to the times that she spoke to Aftran after the two of them having been apart for a very long time. Valuing a life, even one as twisted and diabolical as Visser Three's, is not a weakness.
"I already know that." Tellion answered meekly, never lifting her eyes from the path in front of her.
I knew that my faith in you was well placed. But, I am curious, why did you choose to spare him?
"It wouldn't have been worth destroying everything that I am, everything about me that I hold dear, just to end him. It would have been pointless anyway." Tellion answered, eyes still focused on the path.
I am afraid that I don't understand what you mean.
Tellion gave an almost mocking laugh and threw her head back, finally looking up.
"Have you forgotten what I am?" She moved her hands up and down in front of her body, making a visual display of the host she inhabited. "Have you become so accustomed to interacting with…this? Don't you remember that this is just an outer shell of what I really am?"
Tellion tapped the side of her head. "I am a Yeerk! I may be the one that you choose for some greater purpose because I am different than the rest of my kind, but I am still a Yeerk! And that means that I understand my people better than anyone else. I may be idealistic, but I am not naïve."
Please explain.
"Do you really think that I'd believe that killing Visser Three would end the war? Or save this planet? No. This world, its abundant supply of host bodies…enslavement of this world would all but guarantee victory for the Empire over the Andalites. There isn't a single Yeerk commander alive that would sacrifice such a prize just because of the losses they suffered, certainly not the Council. So no, I don't believe that it would have been over once Visser Three was gone. The Empire, they would have just found another Visser to take over the invasion. Maybe even one that was a little better at managing it."
And you don't think Visser Three is a capable leader?
"In direct battles, especially in space combat, I believe that Visser Three is second to none in the entire Empire. But on this world, this…irregular style of combat the Andalite survivors are waging against him, I don't think he has any real experience in this kind of warfare, and he's ill-suited to deal with it. No, it would probably be best to leave him in charge. And that, I believe, will give this world a chance."
Are you so sure of that?
"I'm not sure of anything." Tellion answered. "I just feel that what I did was the right thing to do."
I knew I had chosen wisely. The voice spoke with an approving glee. I am so very glad you dared to not only save yourself, but also take a mighty step into a much larger world Tellion.
"I don't feel as glad as you apparently do." Tellion said softly.
Why would you say that? Are you not alive?
"I am. And I am saturated in so much pain and misery, it rivals the joy and warmth that I've found in this new life."
I warned you that freedom would come at a price Tellion. But I truly hope that you can move forward into this new life you've been granted. I truly hope that we can nurture our friendship as well.
"We are not friends." Tellion growled.
Why would you say such a thing? Have I not done enough already to earn your trust? To earn your friendship?
"You left me!" Tellion screamed. "You abandoned me to that…thing! I had to face that living nightmare on my own!"
Yet you are still in my presence. You walk just as confidently as you ever have, maybe even more so after that encounter. And…truly am sorry that I left you in that predicament. When was allowed to interfere a second time to save you from the madness that the Maple Ginger oatmeal would have wracked you with, the conditions I had to agree to were heavy. I wasn't allowed anymore interference until my counterpart had put you to a test of character of his own making. I had to stand by and watch while he was allowed to weave his sinister web to ensnare you into committing an act that would have caused me to lose my small gambit with him. But in the end Tellion, you succeeded. And we have won.
"No, I haven't won anything!" Tellion exclaimed. "I still have no idea what's going on!"
There will be plenty of time for explanations at future dates.
"No!" Tellion shouted. "No more games! No more keeping things hidden from me, especially yourself!"
Tellion…
"You said you wanted us to have a friendship, didn't you? Well the first step in that is earning my trust. And if you want that, then I need to see you. Show yourself. Now!"
There were no more words spoken to her. Instead, the response was a faint light in front of her appearing from nowhere, and the sound of approaching footsteps. She tried to see who, or what was approaching her, but the light was directly centered behind the approaching being, casting shadows all across its frame so that she couldn't make out clearly what it was. Despite this, she didn't feel any fear, the approach of this being was the exact opposite of the moments before that horrific and colossal red eye had appeared. All she felt was peace, and safety. She was so consumed by it that she didn't realize the being was standing before her until the light suddenly vanished, and she finally had a body to associate with the voice. What she saw, was not at all what she had expected.
The being 'standing' in front of her was shorter than her own host body. Small, perhaps only a meter and a half tall, blue skinned, a singular pair of arms, a face somewhat humanoid with rather large ears. Honestly, Tellion couldn't be entirely sure of its overall form, because the blue garments that hung over its squat body like a tapestry disappeared into an equally blue like vapor that clouded the area where the being's legs should have been, giving it the appearance of floating in the air. Its long, white facial hair hung well down the front of its body, but still did not hide its warm smile.
Tellion was well versed in the shapes and sizes of not only every species that the Empire had subjugated, but also the data they had acquired from all of the other species they had encountered. There was nothing in those archieves that came close to describing what was in front of her. This was a completely new being.
I trust this will help satisfy you to some degree. He spoke, yet it didn't really feel like the words were coming from his mouth. Like always, Tellion felt like they were coming from all around her and from nowhere at the same time.
"You…you…"
Not quite what you were expecting I presume.
"It's just, you are so…" Tellion said.
I don't feel the need to partake in grand gestures of optical display. He said. Those are traits of my counterpart. He always feels that, the bigger, the more imposing. I opt for a more…subtle approach.
"But you're so small." Tellion whispered.
Please don't be fooled by what you see standing before you. This is merely a projection, a holographic image, so to speak. My true being is so vast, so overwhelming that it spans across this entire galaxy. If I were to show you even a fraction of my true self, your mind would collapse under the weight of trying to comprehend it. This form is more fitting for our interactions. Now then, shall I introduce myself?
"Yes, please."
I am called The Ellimist.
"That's what the eye called you."
It is one of the many names I go by.
"And what was that," Tellion felt an involuntary shudder run through her body. "eye?"
The Ellimist made a concerned face. That was my counterpart, like me, he goes by many names. But the one he is most well-known by, is Crayak.
Tellion felt coldness run through her at the mere mention of his name. The very idea of thinking of that horrific being was enough to cause her to relive the terror of being in that monster's presence.
"What does he want with me?"
The same as I do. To help towards a ultimate goal.
"And what is that?"
Pain. Agony. Suffering. All across every corner of this entire galaxy. In short, death. He revels in pitting species against each other with no regard for the endless lives that perish because of his actions, were only the strongest will survive. Until only one sentient species is left standing throughout the entire galaxy.
"Why…why would he do such a thing?" Tellion question, almost unable to believe how something so evil could exist.
Well, unfortunately Tellion, his reasons are brutally simple. He wants one people. One universe. One reality.
There was a cringingly long space of silence.
His.
Tellion shuddered upon hearing that. Yes, the Ellimist was right. It was so brutally simple. And so overwhelming horrifying at the same time.
That is why I oppose him. The Ellimist said. I seek to thwart his ultimate goal, in any way that I can.
"Through me?" Tellion questioned, feeling so very insignificant when being compared to such beings of overwhelming and galactic power.
I had hoped that you would be one of my means to hold off his ultimate end. But please do not mistake my reliance upon you for lack of caring for you. I don't view you as a plaything or merely an asset to utilize at my convenience. I wish to view you as a friend.
You think he's your friend? Then put his proclamation to the test.
Hearing Crayak's mocking voice echoing in her mind, it encouraged Tellion to speak.
"You say that you're my friend? After everything that you put me through?" she said angrily.
I warned you Tellion that freedom does not come without a price. Yet, time and time again, you have overcome every obstacle that has presented itself to you. I really wish that I could have helped you more, but I must abide by the rules of the galactic game, same as Crayak. Otherwise, there is no point to our game.
"Then prove that you want to be my friend." Tellion demanded.
The Ellimist floated up off the ground, again his legs shrouded in the bluish mist that covered his lower half. He brought himself to eye level with her, so they, Tellion suspected, could speak as 'equals'.
And how would you propose I do that?
"Crayak said," Tellion spoke to him. "he said that if I wanted to know if you really were my friend, then I needed to ask you questions. Questions that I shouldn't dare to ask you as a test of honesty."
The Ellimist floated slightly away from her. His face, though still alien to her, easily displayed concern.
Tellion. His words were full of worry. I will answer any question you ask of me truthfully, but must warn you, truth can be a very powerful, and painful thing to know. Much like knowledge, once it is gained, it can never be erased from your mind. You will have to live with it for the rest of your life. There is a saying upon this world, one the humans are very fond of. 'Ignorance is bliss.'
"I don't care!" Tellion screamed. "I need to know everything! So either you tell me the truth, or I walk away and you never speak to me again!"
The Ellimist shut his eyes and sigh that sounded like the rustling of wind across the surrounding leaves filled Tellion's ears.
Ask your questions then Tellion, but remember, once you start down this path of knowledge, there is no turning back. You'll carry the full weight of the truth with you for the rest of your life.
"I can accept whatever comes from it." she proclaimed.
For your sake, I hope so.
"Alright then." Tellion told him. "Tell me everything I want to know, starting with this first question."
She stared hard at the Ellimist's face, feeling the need, the desire, for discovery overwhelming her.
"What…is the Prime Yeerk?"