Capítulo 10: CHAPTER 10 - THE PHARMACY AND DRAMATIC!

Back in the lab she pulled open the drawer with the curious greeting card and looked it over once more. Where it was once blank, the front had a word that was cursive like a signature, "Dramatic". Opening it up, she held her eye close and read each line carefully, "It must be quiet in there. That is what I have thought since the first day I saw you. Maybe one day that will be different. Priya, there are things that are special about you that are even beyond your wildest dreams. I have selected you for the task at hand, not only for your unique qualities and aptitudes, but because of your exquisite, inexhaustible creativity. If you care to respond to this summons, come to Albatross Convenience Pharmacy on Sixteenth St and place this card in the aisle of greeting cards where there is an empty space". Visualizing the route and all the stop lights, Priya realized it was not more than twenty minutes away. "Hey, are you ready for the night screening?" Eric asked as he walked in through the door, stretching out his hand to offer her one of two tickets. "Ah … I'm so sorry. Not tonight. I've got to go on a solo mission". Priya could see how the letdown weighed on him, "Oh, I thought you really wanted to see this. That's okay. We can do something tomorrow". "Can I take your jacket, I feel like changing my look today", and she threw it on since the night would be cold and kissed his cheek before locking the lab behind her. Rumbling down the road, she could feel a palpitating dread of the mysteries that would soon be laid bare. Then, in her heart she felt a weak, incidental spark of audacity, with the knowledge truth would set her free. By now, only a few random cars eked down the twilight encrusted roads. Looking at the clock, she could see midnight had passed without her notice. After rolling into a space and shifting the stick into park, the driver got out and peered into the brightly lit building. "Guess I'm the only one," Priya noted, throwing open the door. Pleasant shopping music wafted through the store like a lullaby as she turned the corner into the greeting card aisle. "Not a lot of people appreciate you, do they?" Priya thought as the different colors and patterns dazzled her eyes. Hesitating for a moment, she placed the card into the single empty space in the middle of the aisle, and as she did the music ceased, and a voice came over the intercom. "Stand back" it ordered in a deep resonating voice. Flames crept across the assortment, until, enhanced by the flavoring of the colors, they swelled. Translated into fuel, the cards bent into limp and blackened forms until the aisle disintegrated itself and the flame abated. Wiping away the smoke from her face, she found a stairwell and walked down, then through a long hallway that had at its end a door, the kind that you would see for a maintenance room. "Here we go '' Priya said and pulled the coat around her for warmth before twisting the handle. Inside was a little room, not much larger than a lounge, with a box of an old timey television with antennae sitting on a stand across from an easy chair and a coffee table. Priya picked up the VCR tape that sat on the table and pushed it into its slot, then plopped into the seat, musing on how its comfortableness would be the takeaway from this whole experience. Fuzzy static lingered on the screen until the face of a gray bearded man became apparent, "Hello Priya, you are the most beautiful part of my conspiracy. If you're watching this now, I'm already gone. My name is Dramatic, one of the Voices of Reason that were conceived in the primordial time. We are Gazers who witness the focal element … the ultimate reality of this place. By now, you should have seen it as well, as your genetic potential has allowed you to achieve the phenomenon. I have explored outside, and seen how our place is separate among many, a Bacteriae slithering on a nugget of shiny silver. The ultimate reality of ours is Imagination, disembodied and chaotic. It is turbulent. To renew itself it fills vessels with its essence, separating it for a time until the boundary is broken and it returns to the ocean of its source. This is the RODI which is the "Re-manifestation-Of-The-Divine-Imperfection '' which brings about the Matryoshka Realms. Realms within realms, the process is continuous. We live in the Bacteriae Elementum that is a construct of that focal element. From grand studies our race instructed the cosmic tree to help oversee the RODI, and we noticed that the breeze through the foliage brought about life through the many realms, including your own. Eons passed and countless realities faded until I knew with certainty the labor of the Maelstrom Allegiance, must end, for the chaos must be given order. It is that which our people gather magic to accelerate the RODI beyond its limits. To that end I spoke with Telenon, the alpha and leader among us, but by that suggestion he cast me out as an exile. By that time our Bacteriae was visited by new friends, with technology the likes of which we had never seen that rivaled our powers. The Rikiral were friendly explorers, but Telenon and the followers who are my brothers and sisters of the Voices of Reason could not abide any further interruption, and descended to earth, loaning them with our incalculable magic to fight against them. A small faction of your people joined the Rikiral in their struggle, your father among them after gaining the abilities granted by them. Priya, it is true that your mother was a Rikiral woman. Her true name was Cala Amnilow, her human imposter name being Claire Aphrodite, but that guise faded quickly, and the extent of her family is unknown to me. Do not think that is the sole and pivotal reason I chose you. The reason is clear and I will not restate what you already know. There is no alternative to our present dilemma. An individual must become the MIND of the Imagination, that disembodied essence which has no vessel, and bring order to that which is uninhibited. Telenon will be the final obstacle, so do not underestimate him. Well acquainted you are already with the cancer of his shadow, for I could not stop it from seeping into the phenomenon. Time can cause problems sometimes, and cruel fate has made it so the instructions here in this tape are the most help I can provide to you. From the primordial soup we came like virtual particles. Me and the other Voices of Reason by nature pass into hibernation within void for a cycle and return. At first, they only lasted for a day or so, but as time passed, they extended to a week, and then years, and then ages. Telenon was the first to discover that reincarnating within another can stave off a hibernation cycle. But the others have elected to do so in honor of the Maelstrom Allegiance so that their strength will be undiluted when they return. Roughly sixty years ago, it was my time as well, but I came here, and was reborn into the body of a convenience store employee who just happened to be walking down the greeting card aisle. I saw their shapes and colors, and it was as if they called to me. I accidently fell upon the aisle of greeting cards, and the sharp tips of the cards pierced me like falling upon a bed of spikes, and my blood spilled over the assortment. From the Intercom came a voice, "Hey Chris, stop being so dramatic and get back to work", and I found myself inside it, until I reverberated outwards, escaping, and the sound of the intercom materialized into my new body. Since then I have preserved this spot. This quiet age has one guardian. I am sorry for this, but it is just you and him. As a Voice of Reason, I have complete confidence in you. Either way, when I return, I will see someone different than what I did that day when you stood under the canopy of umbrellas. Take the lessons you have learned and apply them. Good luck". Later that night a car came screeching to a halt at about half past one. Wiping the sand out of his eyes, Eric stumbled to his apartment door and looked down. Priya leaned against the passenger's door and waved at him with one hand. "Just thought I would test out the new guy" she yelled. "Ohh … okay" he reacted. A devious smile crept across her face, then jumped back into the car. "Later" she called and drove off into the night as Eric stood there, slightly confused. Closing the door behind himself, he laughed at what he had gotten himself into. And so Priya took the comfy chair back to her apartment and placed it in the center for her to get the best view of the TV.