Transformed Struggles- 6
#6 of Transformed Struggles
And here we finally have the meeting with the Elder, who gives somewhat vague explanations. Partly because this is the branching point for this story. I have this story up on SF, DA,and FA, and all three have different plots and stories past this chapter.
Chapter 6
"What's going on? Why are you in such a rush? Did I do something wrong?" I ask out loud which makes him spin around and stare me right in the fact for a second before I see him in my head.
"You just correctly performed a blessing, which is something that takes Priests years of training to know how to do," he states inside my head while at the same time giving off a sense that he is currently rather upset. "The fact that you were able to do it at all while claiming to have no memories of being a Thener means one of two things. Either whoever removed your memories did so and intentionally left all of your knowledge you've gotten from your training or you've been lying to me this entire time. Either spells out some potentially very bad things."
"That was a blessing? It didn't really feel like anything religious."
"Look, assuming you aren't just pretending to be ignorant for whatever reason a blessing is something a priest does to make it safe to interact with an infant. Every ability that you and I have, we have had since our birth. It is not something that magically shows up once we reach a certain age. The training we are given when we grow up is just teaching us how to use these abilities properly and to their greatest extent. But when a Thener is very young they do not have the control necessary nor the presence of mind to use their abilities safely. They are too young to think of the consequences of their actions and act blindly and often can cause some serious damage to whoever's mind they get at. Priests are trained to handle these infants, to go into their mind, defend against any attack from the infant and then place a barrier over their telepathic abilities. This barrier is weak enough that it's not a challenge for any Thener to break once they've learned control but without control it will remain intact. The barrier basically prohibits them the use of any telepathic ability other than the ability to talk telepathically until they've hopefully matured enough that they can handle their abilities appropriately."
"What about the other barrier thingy?" I ask, remembering the one he was just talking about but also the other barrier.
"That one is more for the sake of the community once they have grown up. As we are an empathic society as well it wouldn't do us very much good to have all the pre-adults running around with their hormones in control. The second barrier prohibits this by simply making it impossible for us to feel such emotions as lust and a few other undesirable emotions. This block is only removed by a Priest when that Thener gets married. Now let's go."
I notice him leave my head and start moving forward. When I try to press into his head to ask some other question I find that when trying to enter the membrane in his head it pushes me out. The only explanation I can come up with is that he doesn't want to waste any more time talking. Figuring it is worth a shot I move into the room in the middle of my head, noticing that all three seem half asleep.
"What was he talking about when he said that only a priest could do some of the things?" I ask the three half asleep fox-like things inside my head.
"I can answer that," the little yellow fox yawns a reply before shaking himself for a moment and then sitting back down. "The simplified explanation is that it has to do with our religion. Though it doesn't really take all that much effort to get in contact with the people who created us we feel that our telepathic abilities are a gift from God. Naturally there will be some of us who are stronger than others; Thener who have been blessed more by God's gifts than others. The strongest two percent are the ones picked to be Priests."
"Picked?" I ask, sort of getting a mental image of small fox things like I had apparently blessed earlier being abducted to follow some strange holy doctrine.
"Nothing so dramatic," the yellow fox responds, reminding me that they have just about as much access to my thoughts as I do. "But you are correct in the timing of the selection. If the Priest giving the blessing finds the infant strong enough to be a Priest they leave a mark on the mental representation of that Thener as well as each of their tails. It's only a temporary mark, one that can be removed by any Priest. When that Thener grows up they will be sought out by another Priest and escorted to the temple. There a large number of Priests will decide if they are indeed strong enough and possess the right characteristics to be a Priest. If they are then they ask if that Thener is willing to become a Priest. If they decline or are unqualified to be a Priest, they will remove the mark, reduce that Thener's abilities to a sub-Priest level and then escort them back to their Den. If they are willing then they spend the next few years of their lives in training."
"What sort of training?"
"Mainly on how to be a Priest. Priests are kept to a higher standard than normal Thener, so they must be well versed and trained in how to interact with others that is in accordance with the way we are. Not to mention all the training designed to fine tune all of our abilities so that we can use them to their fullest extent as well as perform all of the tasks that are expected of Priests, like on how to bless an infant. When the training is complete the temporary mark is removed and a permanent one is inscribed onto their heads, one that cannot be removed by any Thener."
"You mean that little thing on your heads are..."
"Yes, the mark of a Priest. You have one on your head just as we do. As it is a permanent mark we cannot remove it and it'll always be there, regardless of what form we choose to take. This way when anyone is speaking to us or we speaking to them they'd only need a single glance to know that we are a Priest."
"Are you guys all right? You seem a lot less active than you were a little bit ago."
"We're fine," Orange responds. "Just a little tired."
"I'm not tired," the little yellow fox complains while jumping in the air to try and prove this point.
The very manner of the motion seems to prove otherwise as not only do his movements seem sluggish and both his eyes and ears are drooping as if their weight was almost too much for the little fox to hang on to. Out in what must be the real world for whatever dream this is I notice that we are starting to move directly towards a single Thener sitting on top of a long, flat rock. As my headache is getting bad enough that it's making it difficult to focus on both the world inside my head and the world outside my head I decide to ignore the world inside my head since they all seem about to fall asleep anyway.
"Welcome, both of you" a rather soft and feminine voice speaks up. "Is this the person you sensed earlier?"
"It is, Elder. We have an issue to talk about that would be best if kept private," my companion responds.
"Of course, let us continue this conversation in my head," She nods before her gaze goes blank.
I am slightly thankful now that my companion had forced me to learn how to talk to other people's minds to prevent me from the embarrassment of having to ask at this point. Even still I find the task rather difficult with this headache. Pushing through the membrane of her mind seems to drain me somewhat. Once inside everything seems a little more stable and I'm able to move around quite a bit more, though I do find that once again this mind is different from the other minds I've been in. With the exception of their not being anyone else here this place is identical to the one on the outside. The rock she's standing on in her head seem incredibly solid and even when I stare directly at it the rock doesn't phase out. The trees, however, still do.
"Now what is it that you had wished to discuss with me?"
"As you can see the one the one I sensed is a Priest," he begins.
"Richard," I interject, not really liking being referred to as just being a Priest.
"Hmm?" my companion responds.
"My name is Richard,"
"Xanos," my companion adds.
"Lin," the Elder adds. "Now as you were saying?"
"I have no memories."
"Well, Richard has no specific memories. One of his tails said that it seemed that he was hit with some sort of trauma all over his body, most likely by water. He was then most likely healed right afterward."
"All of his memories are gone?" she asks.
"Yes and no. The only thing he can remember is being human though he could not recall any specific memory from that life either. He definitely has no specific memory of being a Thener. His tails do, however."
"Probably best to not tell people about that part. People are going to be a lot more willing to accept someone has amnesia, accidental or otherwise than someone claiming to be a different species."
"What's worse is that all of his knowledge was left intact. He even managed to perform a blessing just a moment ago."
"Why is me being able to still do stuff bad?" I ask
"Because that means that it was a deliberate act. If you had caught them doing something and they were trying to cover it up they'd either remove just that event or if they lacked that ability they'd just cover their bases and wipe your memory clean. The fact you have no specific memories would imply the latter but the fact you can still access abilities that by all rights you should not be able to do without the ability to call on the memories of the training you had received as a priest means you were targeted. Someone deliberately targeted you specifically and if they can do that to a Priest then it means that there is a potential risk they may be targeting other Thener who would undoubtedly fare far worse chances of stopping them than you," Lin explains.
"Is it that bad?" Xanos asks.
"Potentially, yes. The fact they went after a Priest means they were trying to see if their methods work on the best of us. What we need to know is if he is the only one that whoever did this has targeted so far. I think you might need to take him to the Oracle."
They continue talking but I am finding it nearly impossible to understand what they're saying as the headache seems to be almost driving me to unconsciousness. It gets bad enough that I feel my head hit the snow below me. Either Xanos or Lin notices, I cannot tell who is which at the moment and tries to say something to me but I'm already slipping out of the Elder's mind and once out I find my eyes closing almost against my will.