Urban Haze

[Shu]

We’re stronger than those before us,
We must take what is given.
Steel walls, creations used for protection,
No longer will we huddle in tents,
We must take what is given.
No longer do we let the beasts have their fill.
Worry no more.
The machines will keep us safe.
~ Torun Dir’Ogun; Direnway Chieftain ~

Blinding light seared his eyes, tears forming at the corners as he went to rub his face and wipe them away. His skin tingled after walking through the gate, goosebumps forming all over his body. There was a sense of static clinging to him but it wasn’t the same as the well-known embrace of electricity. Another sensation that felt alien and familiar all the same, a mockery of what static should be but at the same time it felt like it was so much more.

Shū decided then and there that he did not like stepping through the gate.

As the haze encompassing his vision settled, the first thing he noticed was the sound. A buzz of people all around, a cacophony of metal and the low hum of people talking. Loud cries in the distance and the whizzing of large objects flying overhead as they cut through the air. Blurry vision gave way to clarity, his eyes widening and his jaw hanging slack.

Fantastic spires of metal reached for the sky, reaching heights equivalent to the tallest of mountains Shū had climbed. Metal boxes flew through the sky, their colors as various as the speeds they traveled. They zipped and zoomed here and there while others plodded along slowly, one after the other. Shū twisted his body to keep a bright yellow one in sight as it peeled across the sky overhead. Floating words of light dotted above him.

Welcome to Coruscant. It was quaint in comparison to the magnificence of everything else. Shū wasn’t sure how he understood the words but he did and pushed the nauseous feeling in his gut down.

“If you hold your mouth open any longer flies might get in there.” A voice broke through the trance the city had over him. Shū blinked several times before snapping his mouth shut and tightening his lips in annoyance. It was the captain of the stormtroopers he had followed here, though he was wearing his ivory helmet once more.

“Great, isn’t it? This is all thanks to the Emperor…” He seemed to take in the landscape as his troopers piled into one of the metal boxes behind them. After awhile of them both taking in the scenery, he faced Shū once more and stood there in silence. The captain seemed to be contemplating something before finally speaking.

“Look, I know this must be disorienting but you’ll be fine. You’re a prime. We have terminals all over the city that can explain to you wh-” He stopped, a chuckle escaping the confines of his helmet as Shū gave him a suspicious look.

“Come with me.” He waved the shaman over to a plastic screen sticking out of a curving piece of metal. With a swipe of his hand, lights lit up and formed words. There was even a female’s voice to accompany the contraption which spurred a flurry of questions to spew from his mouth. Again a chuckle left the captain as he tried to calm Shū down.

“Give it a second. This terminal has all the answers you need, what it means to be a prime and how you can help the Emperor in his mission to better the Omniverse.” The captain explained, pulling up a menu with another swipe of his hand.

“I…see.” Shū said cautious as he looked around. He paused in his quick survey, head craning slowly back to the figure standing near the vehicle the stormtroopers had piled in. Metal limbs and autonomous movements sent shivers up his spine, the small hairs on the back of his neck standing on end.

Electricity suddenly took to the air as the shaman’s eyes widened and his pupils dilated. Its copper skin glistened in the sunlight but it seemed to have detected him as a threat as it seemed startled with the shaman’s malicious glare. White armor blocked his view and the static in the air died as he saw that the captain was standing in front of him, weapon pointed at his chest once more.

“Listen, you have to accept this is a new world. Machines, the metal-men from your world, roam these streets. Some of them are sentient, self-aware. Others maintain this city. I don’t expect you to accept it right away but this is Coruscant; we have rules you have to follow. And you will obey them. No violence, shaman.” There was a coldness to his words that shook Shū from his violent urges. Green eyes lingered on the lenses of the trooper, he knew the man’s face and knew the kind of glare he would be giving the shaman. With a reluctant nod and defying every urge to look at the metal-man again, he followed the instructions of the captain.

Leaning how to use the device was simple enough. The way it was designed was obviously for people like him who had never had experience with such technology. For all its beeping and chirping, which Shū found unnecessary, it held more knowledge than the even the most devout of story keepers. There was a cry from the vehicle and the captain waved off his compatriots as he pointed more things out to the electrical shaman.

“Why don’t you head to one of the parks here? I always go there to clear my head. This one over here,” He mentioned as a map pulled up, pointing at a corner circle, “Doesn’t have many androids or machines. When you clear your head, get a hold on how to use Omnilium, and get some decent clothes on, why don’t you go to one of the recruitment offices? We could use another prime on our side…”

“Side? You mentioned that before in the…” Shū searched for the word before it popped into his mind, “The Nexus. You said Camelot. I don’t understand why you would be at war and not make peace.”

“We’re not technically at war…look, it’s complicated. The Emperor was the first prime here and has helped a lot of people. I don’t hate some of the people in Camelot but they’re going about things all wrong, if they just listened...” There was a long pause as the captain tapped the edge of the screen, staring at it for a while before speaking again, “Just go to a recruitment office when you’re ready, the officers assigned there can break it down for you better than I can.”

“I will follow your guidance, captain.” Shū said, realizing the captain seemed conflicted about something but didn’t press the matter. The stormtrooper raised his hand to the shaman, the shaman taking him by the forearm and resisting the urge to pull him close as was custom. Suddenly Shū was pulled closer with a firm squeeze of his forearm. A smile broke out on the dark-haired shaman’s face and he liked to imagine the captain was smiling as well.

“You can call me Turk. Good luck, Shū En’Asena of the Enirah.” The pronunciation was terrible but appreciated all the same.

“Arnaya protect you, Einde guide you, Turk of Coruscant.” Once more the man under the helmet chuckled as he hoped into the large vehicle. There was a vibration to the air and then it miraculously lifted off the ground, zooming away like so many others that lined the sky. There were others milling about the platform, other groups of stormtroopers coming and going but no one paid him any mind.

Standing there, taking in the scenery and seeing how far into the horizon the urban sprawl continued, Shū walked over to the same terminal and tapped it a few times before getting the response the captain had told him about. After tampering with it for a while and going to talk with one of the caretakers of the vehicles afterwards, he was flying in one of the metal containers in a matter of minutes.

Like the gateway, it was also an experience he did not enjoy.

[Shu]

Shū had been sitting on the bench for several hours, staring at the orb in his hand. It swirled with an array of colors, the shaman moving it back and forth between his fingers. Fingers wrapped around it, the green-eyed man feeling it shift in size, before revealing the same orb. If he could snatch color from a rainbow this orb would be the result. This Omnilium.

Green hills rolled along the park, oddly shaped trees bunched up here and there in an attempt to replicate nature. The concept of a park was truly puzzling to him. Not as puzzling as the Omnilium, which he could summon as easily as breathing, but bizarre all the same. Trees did not grow in perfectly aligned rows, they did not stand apart to offer some sort of symmetry. They were wild, took what ground they could, created forests in an endless sea of branches and leaf.

Here…it was all pretend, almost as if the person who designed the layout had never seen a forest. Or had and just wanted to bend it to some sense of control. Thoughts eased in and out, the occasional person not paying him any mind. There he was, in a skin-tight white suit that was stained with blue liquid. Dark bags were stamped under his eyes yet the mesmerizing orb seemed to calm him.

It was an arduous task in paying the 'cab driver' his fare at first but the man was willing to work with the shaman. Would have been worse if the man wasn’t so patient. There was comfort in knowing traders were the same no matter where you went. They would get what was owed to them and if teaching a fresh Prime was part of the process, so be it. Taking a deep breath, his eyes finally pried away from the shimmering orb to survey his surroundings.

Unable to keep a physical form, the orb puttered out before it was absorbed back into Shū. The shaman didn’t like it but he didn’t dwell on it too much either. Legs aching, he forced himself up as he walked over to the pond that sat in the center of the park. At first it was jarring to see the man staring back at him, Shū unable to recognize his own face, but with focus he was able to overcome that anxious tick in the back of his mind.

There were parts of him that he knew was his. Green eyes were a telltale sign, even the flecks of purple in his pupils was unique enough for him to sigh in relief. He moved on quickly, noting that his eyes were too familiar. Pangs of heartache hit him but he suppressed it as he ran his fingers along the back of his neck, a smirk reaching his lips as he felt the scars. New scars dotted his body but the familiar marks brought back terrifying memories that were somehow comforting.

The waheela that tried to claw out the back of his skull was something that he would of hated to recall but he had been forced to tell the story so many times that it became nothing more than another mark of the hunt. His hair looked different, lighter in color, and his skin looked ashy. Of course he was filthy, if the smell was any indicator, but some of the color in his skin had faded. Shū thought again how long he had been imprisoned but shook the thought aside and teetered back onto his rear.

Rubbing his chin, grunting in annoyance when he felt the stubble, the shaman crossed his legs and held out his hand. Concentration was difficult but he could feel the change in the air. When the computer program had told him how primes could summon anything, he was skeptical. Yet his interaction with the cab driver proved he could. Sweat beaded on his head, the shaman wincing as he tried to envision what he wanted to appear in his hand. Controlling his breathing was difficult at first but he persevered, minutes passing by until he felt the solid weight of the item in his hand. Slowly opening his eyes, he smiled and let out a small cry in victory.

This drew the attention of some onlookers but he ignored them, holding up his prize. A knife. Not just any knife but the one his grandmother had given him. That wasn’t his intention but he was happy with the result all the same. Crawling back over to the pond to look at his reflection, Shū proceeded to heat the blade with an electrical charge. After pricking himself several times, he completed shaving in no time. Splashing his face a few times was refreshing, the cold both biting and stinging.

Pulling at a piece of the material covering his body, he sneered in disgust. Twisting his body to look all over, he couldn’t find a way to get it. Tugging on it several times proved pointless as well. Growling in frustration, the shaman proceeded to cut away the clothing till he stood there...

Buck naked.

It’s a bit colder than I thought…

Not as bothered by this as others were, he shrugged as he left the tattered clothing on the ground. Normally he would wash it and cut it into strips for bandaging but wanted no part of the odd article of clothing. It represented the machines and the people that destroyed his home. Though after observing others, it wasn’t the most ridiculous outfit he had seen. Startled gasps and covering of eyes were directed at him, the shaman starting to suspect that modesty was something treasured here. They were just like those of Direnway in that sense.

Rolling his eyes, he snatched up the tattered rags and began twisting them and tying them together. Slipping on the makeshift loincloth, he gave a curt bow as he waded into the pond. It wasn’t the cleanest water he had even seen, the shaman wise enough to avoid drinking it, but all he wanted to do was clean himself.

“Hey! Get out of there!”

Blowing water from his face as he wiped his hair from his eyes, a man in familiar white armor was standing at the edge of the pond.

“Des'pora. Why?” Shū asked, a tad annoyed that his bathing was interrupted. There was two of them, both identical to the ones he had met before.

“Why? Can you believe this guy?” The trooper jeered, looking at his companion who only gave a shrug in response. “Look, this lake is for looking only. You need to go to a restroom for that! Or...you know, j-just get out!”

While the shaman didn’t appreciate having a weapon waved at him, he adhered to the guard’s request. It was actually amusing that the man called it a lake, it was far too small for such a title. There was no sense in trying to start a fight, he was a stranger in a weird world that had its own customs. As he walked up to the stormtrooper, he bent down to retrieve his knife and the metal placard. An ivory boot stepped on the blade as the weapon was pressed against his skull. Glancing up at the man, trying his best to subdue any murderous intent, Shū gave a brief smile as he released his grip on the handle.

“I’ve seen several people carry arms. I’ve only just learned how to summon my grandmother’s knife, I would prefer you didn’t mar it anymore.”

“Summon? You’re a prime?” The trooper asked, a change in tone as he removed his boot quickly. It was an odd response but Shū accepted it, if the voice from the terminal had told him anything. Primes, while not necessarily rare, seemed to have some measure of respect. Or rather, fear if the current situation was any indication.

Giving his comrade an elbow, as if to convey some encouragement, the trooper puffed out his chest and squared his shoulders.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re prime. We have rules and laws. No bathing in public spaces, no wielding dangerous weapons without proper authorization, and no…” There was a pause as he searched for the right word, “Public indecency.”

“Very well. I take responsibility for not observing your laws. It has been a difficult experience for me, you see. Am I to receive a beating or will you be taking a piece of my body?” There was a cold chill along his back but it was more from the repercussions he may face than a chilling breeze. It was his own fault, he should have found out what he couldn’t do. The other trooper was waving off bystanders as Shū and the angry stormtrooper stood there in awkward silence.

One in full clad armor, the other standing patiently as a gust of wind lifted his loincloth...