Hyperion Evergrowing

Chapter 89: Lani’s Life

Lani considered her short life to have been one strange series of coincidences and bizarre happenings. Perhaps the most strange of these being the fact she could consider at all. She remembered the moments leading up to her evolution clearly, the nomads and the animals that followed them finally reached where the land became rocky and the wind had carried the overpowering scent of salt.

In a wave that had been absolutely bizarre to witness from an outsider's perspective, many of the hogs had slumped to the ground and fallen into torpor. The kind humans had all stared in shock, as too, had Lani. When she had looked around in confusion she had seen that her own mother had likewise slumped into unconsciousness.

A murmur had started up among the nomads, but back then Lani hadn’t been able to understand. A little human boy was shaking the unconscious deer with tears welling up in his eyes. The deer, Bam, for her part had fallen over onto her side, drool pooling on the hard packed ground.

A series of messages had flashed into Lani’s vision, though back then she hadn’t been able to read them. It wasn’t the first grey box to have materialised into her vision, but now that she was more Lani knew that these were more than hallucinations or fear induced delusions. A group of hogs that hadn’t gone still, wandered around the still in shock humans, sniffing around at their unconscious kin.

Hours later the animals began to wake one by one, but they did so having changed. The hogs were now far larger, their tusks having a metallic gleam and with ridges poking out along their spines. Bam had been one of the last to awaken, though she was no larger, her fur had a faint gleam and a tiny pair of newly grown horns shone with a strange illumination. The two deer locked eyes, even as the evolved one began to eat the shirt of the small human that used her as a pillow.

Two months later it was Lani’s turn, and afterwards her life changed forever.

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The sea wind blew across the camp, though it was more than a little buffered by dunes and makeshift barriers the clan had constructed. People bustled all around going about their daily tasks and the large evolved yaks slept in a position that allowed their bulk to help shield the camp from the wind.

Lani could sense their simplistic dreams, little motes of colour and emotion bubbling from the beasts as they slept through the hottest part of the day. When she closed her eyes the amount of detail she could see wouldn’t so much as increase, but sharpen into clarity. Around her sat several more than awake children, they varied in age but the oldest wouldn’t have been over twelve.

An aged woman with slightly iridescent silver hair sat on a seat before the class, her face the very picture of patience as she demonstrated with conjured water different symbols Lani had come to learn were letters. The same letters that populated her vision whenever she called on the system. It had been several months since her evolution, but Lani still marvelled at how her world had expanded.

Each day after lunch the woman would gather up the children of the nomad clan and teach them about letters and numbers, about monsters and danger, and about the system and skills. It usually took the better part of an hour for the children to be gathered up, after which they would all greet the elder with a lilted chorus of “Hello Elder Kala.”

At first, when Lani had included herself into the class she had been given odd looks. She hadn’t known why, she wasn’t Bam, she hardly made a spectacle of herself quietly sitting in the back of the group. Lani wanted to learn, it made the dreams far more interesting and productive.

The lesson continued, the class would always start off simple before progressing into more advanced topics that would benefit the older children. Lani wasn’t at the point where she could understand the later teachings, mathematics were still far beyond her, but she would certainly try and figure it out when next she slept. As for now… Han jumped onto her back and flung his arms around her neck, a gaggle of younger children excitedly jumping around having lost interest in sitting still.

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Lani sat patiently, even as her vision of Kala was blocked. It was time to leave, there was nothing more to learn today and by trotting off the younger children would follow, thereby leaving their seniors alone to learn the larger numbers and more complex words. Just as she was getting ready to stand a commotion came from the encampment’s edge.

A line of clansmen and women trailed into the increasingly more permanent camp, themselves being trailed by several large iron tusked hogs. Game was slung over the beast's backs, partially covering the line of metallic protrusions. The largest of the hogs, a towering creature with scarred features and less than placid dreams, brought up the rear of the party, some sort of slimy winged snake-like creature coiled back and forth over his broad shouldered frame.

The children scampered off, their attention thoroughly arrested by the new arrivals. The hunting party was greeted loudly as they began to unload the day’s gains, a tall man with braided white hair and horns jutting from his brow loudly boasting about ‘battles fought and won.’

Prismatic light began to build up above Lani’s head, as it usually did when the hunters returned. She casually trotted to the side, only for something to fall from the air with a flash and a pop. Lani stared daggers at the other deer as it fell to the ground in a tangle of limbs. Technically Bam was Lani’s mother, though the two were only a handful of years apart in age. The humans of the clan treated them as siblings, which suited Lani just fine, Bam wasn’t exactly a parental figure.

“You failed.” Lani said through only her glare.

“Next time I won’t.” Bam replied, equally silent. Sparks seemed to fly invisibly through the air as both deer stared one another down. Then laughter came from the side and they both turned. A tall man with purple hair approached where the children had once been, he greeted Kala with a smile and a hug before nodding thoughtfully in Lani’s direction.

“Studious as ever!” Samil said, his amusement clear. “You know, Bam was quite the formidable presence on the battlefield today?”

Lani just stared at him with obvious doubt, even as the other deer puffed out in obvious pride. It was times like these where she wished she could talk, there were so many ways she would state her disbelief.

“Don’t look at me like that.” Samil said, gesturing back to where the hunters were pulling the day's catch from the hogs. “She almost shot that flying sea serpent out of the sky.”

Kala wrinkled her brow. “What was a sea monster doing so far inland? Should we be worried?”

Samil nodded seriously. “There was a whole school of them flying over the water a few kilometres out, one of them strayed from the group and spotted us. Olav will report to his father, I suspect the Chief will order everyone away from the sea for the next few days.” He gave a meaningful glance to the clearing that was only recently full of kids.

The conversation continued as Lani cast her thoughts to the endless stretch of water an hour or so on foot from where the encampment was located. It scared her, the vast field of blue stretching off into the horizon. It didn’t help that whenever she looked at it for too long, she got the ominous sense that there were things lurking just below the surface. Things that dreamt, like she did.

She was shaken from her contemplation by a call from the clan Chief, the clan gathered around, humans and animals both and listened to his warnings about the sea. They all knew the danger, but usually the beach was relatively safe. The older man trailed off, many of the white haired clansmen and women glancing off to the east. Lani followed their gazes as she frowned, it took her a moment to notice what had caught their attention.

There was a storm brewing in the east, and it was coming in quickly.

“He’s coming.” Olav said, his face stretching into a wide grin. Murmurs of excitement quickly built up among the clan. Lani glanced at Samil and Kala, but they seemed as out of the loop as she was.

Then Kala’s eyes widened and her lips thinned into a knowing smile. “Oh, about damn time I get to meet this ‘revered ancestor’. Maybe he’ll even live up to some of the stories.”

Lani didn’t have a clue what the elderly teacher was on about, but whoever was coming, she doubted they were as great as the protector.