Kailin #2
Once upon a time, I would have been ecstatic about spending time with Morek, just the two of us, but I was over my silly crush. The guy was yummy to look at, but that wasn't enough to excite me. I needed someone with whom I could also have a stimulating conversation.
A pair of dark eyes with flakes of molten gold swimming in their depths flashed through my mind, but I pushed the memory away.
It had been a traumatic night, and my mind must have interpreted the battle rush the wrong way. How in all hells could I have felt a connection with a guy among all that carnage, with the smell of sulfur and burned flesh still lingering in the air?
"Thank you." Morek placed a chair on the other side of my desk and straddled it. "You are a lifesaver."
"Do you want me to get you fresh caff brews?" Shovia asked from where she had remained by the doorway.
I turned to look at her. "I'll wait for you to return before I begin. You need this almost as much as Morek does."
She wasn't happy with me at that moment. "Please, don't. I really don't care what grade I get on the comprehensive refresher. It's not like the Spy Corps won't allow me to join because of a low score on this drakking test."
"True, but you need a passing grade."
"I'll pass." She waved a dismissive hand and walked away.
"You heard her." Morek leaned back in his chair. "Let's get to it."
I sighed. "Where do you want to start?"
"The basics," he said as if I was daft for asking. "All that drak about what makes Aurorys crazy. I'm not good with physics or math."
"Aurorys is not crazy. It's magnificent and challenging and unlike any of the other planets in our system, but it is also the only habitable one."
Morek shrugged. "How do we even know if the other planets are inhabited or not? It's not like we can travel to them."
"It's true that we cannot reach them, but there are other ways scientists can determine that. We know that the other planets don't have the right combinations of gases in their atmospheres to support life."
Morek winced. "Do I need to know how they determined that?"
I laughed. "No. You only need to know the basic stuff about Aurorys.
It starts with its core. It's composed of a highly turbulent mixture of metallic hydrogen and helium, and that results in a powerful but erratic magnetic field.
The field interactions with the solar wind create the near-constant auroral displays that bathe our planet in ethereal lights. "
When Morek looked at me with glazed-over eyes, I knew he needed a simplified explanation.
"Think of Aurorys's heart as a giant, swirling pot of soup made of two special ingredients—hydrogen and helium—that have become metallic, like liquid metal.
Just like how soup bubbles and swirls when it's boiling, the planet's core is always moving and churning.
This churning creates a huge magnetic field around our planet.
Imagine holding a giant magnet that's constantly wobbling and spinning.
But unlike a regular magnet that stays steady, our planet's magnetic field dances and changes unpredictably.
When this wobbly magnetic field meets the stream of energy coming from our sun, called the solar wind, it creates the beautiful lights we see in our sky.
That's why we can't have flying vehicles, only hover-cars. "
"So, how do birds and dragons fly?"
"They can feel these magnetic changes naturally, which allows them to fly safely through the ever-changing skies."
"That's why Elu created the bond between dragons and riders and gave them exclusive control of the sky." Morek pumped a fist against his chest. "Elucians are the chosen children of Aurorys."
"I wish that were true, but since we are less than two percent of the total population of Aurorys, that claim will be hotly contested, especially by the Shedun and probably by most of the Sitorians."
A grimace twisted Morek's handsome face. "The Shedun can all go back to the hell that spawned them, and it would be my pleasure to escort them there."
He was such a warrior at heart, and I admired that, but I also cringed at the vehemence, even though it was justified.
More accurately, the ratio that I had mentioned was true of the Daian continent's population, and not all of Aurorys, since it was unknown whether anyone lived on the mythical continent across the Addolian Ocean.
A pre-division myth claimed that Dolis was home to fallen gods, and current science even confirmed the existence of another large continent on the other side of the planet based on mathematical calculation of mass and rotation, but since navigation across the ocean wasn't possible, the existence of Dolis would forever remain a mystery.
I often wondered about that myth, though.
It had to be rooted in truth or it wouldn't have made it into Elu's canon, but since Elu was supposed to be the only god, with Elurion and Elusitor being just artificial constructs representing the one true god's dual nature, the scholars had to come up with a reasonable explanation.
The claim was that the myth was an allegory for the afterlife, and that Dolis was where souls dwelled in peace and harmony in the presence of Elu and were treated like gods.
All souls eventually made it to Dolis, including sinners, but only those whose good deeds outweighed their sins on the Day of Judgment were allowed right in.
Everyone else had to go through various levels of atonement and purification in the seven hells, the length and severity of their punishment depending on how far they had fallen.
It was a good explanation except for the reference to Elu's forgotten brethren.
Who were they, and why were they forgotten?
Some scholars said that the term brethren referred to the original riders who'd made the pact with the dragons.
They were Elu's chosen and had elevated status in Dolis, but the problem with that was that they were not forgotten.
Other scholars solved that by claiming that the forgotten brethren were all Elucians, who had a special place in Elu's heart.
Did I believe the explanations?
Not really, but I didn't have a better one that did not doubt the veracity of the myths altogether or that did not involve blasphemy by hypothesizing the existence of many gods, some of whom had apparently fallen and been forgotten.
The most logical explanation was that the ancient inhabitants of Aurorys, including the early Elucians, hadn't adhered to the Precepts of Truth, allowing their imaginations to create a mythical afterlife that encouraged moral living.
At any rate, all these deep thoughts were best set aside for another time, and I needed to get back to the task at hand.
I forced a smile. "Let's get back to the refresher, shall we?"
Morek nodded. "I wonder what's taking Shovia so long."
"She has probably met someone at the caff shop and forgotten all about us.
" I opened one of my books and showed Morek a diagram.
"This illustration shows the shifting magnetic fields, which create powerful and unpredictable electromagnetic currents in our atmosphere.
Those currents can cause sudden and severe turbulence, which interferes with navigation systems. That's why sea voyage is limited to hugging the coasts, and Dolis remains a myth. "
Our scientists had been trying to come up with navigation equipment that could compensate for the disturbances the way birds and dragons did, but so far, the attempts had been unsuccessful.
"If the dragons could fly across the Addolian Ocean, we would know if Dolis was real." Morek had a faraway look in his eyes. "I wonder who really lives there. Do you think they are human like us?"
"I don't know, but let's get back to the refresher.
Dragons can sense and adapt to the electromagnetic currents that make mechanical flight impossible.
Their scales contain trace amounts of magnetite, so we assume that it's also present in their brains, giving them the ability to detect and navigate the planet's shifting magnetic fields.
But that's only a hypothesis since we can't examine them, not even the fallen ones. They won't let us near the remains."
"Elu forbid." Morek touched three fingers to his forehead. "That would be blasphemous. What about birds, though?"
"They stay close to the ground, so they operate more like hover-cars." I flipped to another page in my book and showed him the next illustration. "It's also assumed that dragon minds developed a natural resistance to the disorienting effects of the electromagnetic fluctuations."
When the door suddenly burst open, we both turned to see Shovia striding in, balancing three steaming cups of caff on a cardboard tray. "Sorry it took me so long. You wouldn't believe the line at the caff shop. But oh, my Elu, it was so worth the wait!"
I raised an eyebrow. "Let me guess, you've seen a hot guy?"
"Two." Shovia grinned. "I've seen two hot Elurians step out of a hover-car in front of the Pilgrims' Lodge."
Morek's lips twisted in distaste. "Drakking foreign pilgrims."
Shovia ignored his derisive response and turned to me. "We have to go there tonight and hang out in the bar with them."
I rolled my eyes. "Did they invite you to join them?"
"No, but that's why I want to go there tonight, all dolled up and ready for conquest."
She was incorrigible.
"How do you know they will even be at the bar?" I asked.
"Where else would they be?" She put the tray with the caff cups on the desk. "It's not like there is anything else to do in Skywatcher's Point at night."
I shook my head. "The pilgrimage is in five days. We are supposed to purify our souls and minds in preparation. We shouldn't drink alcohol or stay up late." Or engage in the other activities that I was sure Shovia had in mind.
"Oh, don't be such a spoilsport, Kailin." She plopped down on a chair. "We have to go!"
"Did you see any Elurian ladies at the caff shop?" Morek asked, sounding hopeful and no longer upset about foreigners joining our pilgrimage.
As long as those foreigners were female, he had no problem with that.
"I didn't see any at the caff shop,” Shovia said. “But maybe some are staying at the lodge, and some might still arrive during the next day or two."
I doubted that. In the five years I'd been living in Skywatcher's Point, I hadn’t seen any Elurian pilgrims, male or female. In fact, I was surprised that two had made it this year, and I had to admit that I was curious about them.
Morek puffed out his chest. "On the slim chance of meeting a wealthy, Elurian beauty, I'm coming as well." He looked at me expectantly.
I sighed. "Fine, but I'm not staying late. I want to be in bed by nine."
Shovia squealed with delight. “I promise that you won't regret it! Now, let me tell you about these guys. One had these piercing green eyes that seemed to glow like a drakking aurora, and the other one..."
As Shovia launched into a detailed description of the men, I tuned her out.
Elurian pilgrims had to desperately want to become dragon riders to go to all the trouble of getting here.
The extensive security checks, the tests, the genealogy proofs, and then proving themselves worthy to their fellow pilgrims. Elucians thought of Elurians as soft and spoiled.
Most resented the competition for the coveted spots on the Dragon Force, which was absurd since one either had the gift or not, and the number of participants didn't matter. It wasn't as if there were quotas.
We needed as many riders as we could get.
"Earth to Kailin," Shovia's voice cut through my thoughts. "Are you even listening?"
I blinked. "Sorry, I was just thinking about all the trouble Elurians have to go through to join the pilgrimage."
Shovia grinned. "That alone is reason enough to pursue them. I like tenacious men." She flipped her long, glossy hair over her shoulder. "So, are we done with this boring refresher? Can we start planning what we're going to wear tonight?"
"We are not done," I quashed her enthusiasm. "I didn't explain electromagnetic field fluctuations yet." Shovia's disgruntled expression made me laugh. "Think of it this way. If the conversation turns to dragon navigation, do you remember enough to impress the Elurians with your knowledge?"
I knew she didn't. Science had never been Shovia's strong suit.
She groaned dramatically. "That's not how I plan to impress them, but I'll stay if you promise to make it quick."