Humankind is odd. They tend to overthink relatively simple things. They want answers to everything and everyone. They search for a 'Beginning' and they want an 'End '. Where did we come from? Where did animals come from?
Where did life come from? Why are we different? Why are we sentient? What is life and why can we harness it? What exactly is life energy and time and why can't we harvest it? Why do some things harness life and why do some things provide life?
If we keep pushing our limits, can we find others like us? Are there more life forms out there who can think, speak, learn, and evolve as fast as us? If there are, where are they? And...if life on earth is so abundant, are we truly, really, the FIRSTS?
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Don't tarry. Don't stray. Don't be distracted. Taking a deep breath, Farrah rose her saber towards her opponent. Her brown eyes which glow a plain amber in the sunlight focused on the target in front of her. The noisy intercom in her ears turned low.
Her surroundings blurred beside the target before her. Now. The saber in her hands was hot, it was burning. The vivid energy within her own body synchronized with the green energy blade turning it a vibrant starlight silver. With all her might Farrah swung her blade down towards the target dummy. The whizzing of the unstable blade made her brown eyes flicker slightly as the moment the blade was to make contact it fizzed out into nothingness.
Farrah froze in place, sweat dripping down her cheeks and chin. Her eyes stared at the untouched target with a mixed mirage of emotions. Her shoulders were stiff, her hands swelling with pain from holding onto the energy sword longer than she should have. "Ok, that's enough." The hand placed on her shoulder shook the child awake from her daze. The blade pried from her hands deactivating the moment she let go.
Nine-year-old Farrah could only stare at her blistered hands blankly. Her tongue curled and tasted the metallic bitterness of her own making. "Well done." The person who took the sword from her said this without meaning anything much, genuinely praising her from the bottom of their heart. But did she do well? Did she actually do well?
She didn't believe it. Turning to face the others behind her, the instructor kept their hands on her shoulder as if knowing her internal conflict. "Did everyone see it? When your spiritual link with your Aniala is synced the color of the blade should change just as Farrah's did." The excited student unaware of Farrah's self-loathing excitedly chatted amongst themselves. One of them raised their hand with a wide grin and an eagerness to learn.
"Yes? Student Mya?" "Instructor! Will our link with our Aniala synchronize the same color as Farrah?" The instructor was patient when explaining to the energetic children. "Everybody's syncing will differ just as everyone's Aniala differs. Although Anialas are classed and placed into categories to make it easier to understand. No matter what color, shape, or size of your Aniala and synchronization levels the potential for everyone is the same."
"- Everyone grows differently and their Aniala's in turn also specialize differently. They are unpredictable miracles to humankind. That is why, the Grand Ceremony exists. To welcome all who are born with the Aniala into the world as blessings. Just like how a tree can be called a tree but there are different shapes, colors, and sizes depending on their environment. Humans can also be considered the same and grow according to their environment and efforts."
The instructor very lightly squeezes her shoulder making her know the words were mostly meant for her to hear. Farrah purses her lips, an unhappy light crossing her thin diamond eyes she hid as best she could. After this answer, it made the children more excited. "Instructor, is there any possible way we can tell what the form our Anialas will take shape as?" The instructor smiles kindly at the children whose eyes shone brightly back at him.
"That depends on your own will and spiritual energy. Like a fingerprint or DNA, everyone is different if even by a single strand or personality. Never let yourself be bound by the rules of nature and let yourself grow. Anialas are tailored for their soulmates. When you embrace your Aniala, they in turn will embrace you and together you will be stronger. Never forget that."
Farrah shrugs the hand on her shoulder off as the children chatted animatedly amongst themselves. Farrah with pursed lips left the training room alone. Her tiny shadow casting lingering signs of solidarity and resentment. The instructor could only sigh to themselves softly watching the troubled child leave without a care for the ones around them. Turning to the children left behind who didn't seem to notice their peers leaving. The instructor claps his hands to regain their attention. "Now, can anyone tell me-"
Farrah stood outside the door of her house, her tiny shoulders seemingly burdened by the world's problems. She visibly hesitates before bringing a hand up to the door to let it scan her bracelet and ID her. A tiny scanner the size of a pea emits a bright light accurately finding the bracelet around her wrist. "Farrah Yang, welcome back. Shall I notify Kara Yang and Richard Yang of your return?" The child stiffens, "No."
The door slides up allowing her to enter the neat home. Her family lacks neither food nor money, they could still be considered to be doing well. As besides the house AI, there was another one inside cleaning the home as she entered. The one cleaning was a simple one that got rid of waste and did dishes her mother couldn't be bothered to do on her own. It was a relatively newer model her older brother gifted their parents with. Shaped like a round bun, and around three feet tall and a foot wide it got around on with three silent thrusters so it was relatively popular with the middle class as a cheap cleaner.
Seeming to sense her spiritual energy, the robot turns in her direction and lightly tilts its bun-like body down. It didn't have a voice unlike the home AI and only greeted her like this very simply before going back on its merry way cleaning the dustless house. The first thing she noticed besides this was the large screen on the wall playing a drama her mother must have been watching before she went to do whatever else she did. Before she could be caught, Farrah enters the kitchen and presses a button on the side to open the fridge and slip out a meal packet, and returned to her room. "Turn off the television." Her last mutters were caught by the house AI who obediently did as she said shutting off the noisy thing.
She didn't have to open her room as sensing her aura the house opened and closes her bedroom door for her. "Lockdown mode." Was the last thing she mutters glumly before quickly finishing the tasteless meal packet and closing her eyes. The bland bedroom that didn't have much decoration besides a single photo and two windows darkens. The shades close as the whole room enters a comforting darkness. Incomprehensible stars lit the ceiling with beautiful purple milky ways and silver stars.
With it, the soft sound of a very light and soft piano. Like a distant dream drifting her off to sleep. As if sensing her dimming consciousness, the house very softly asks her. "Would you like to set an alarm?" Farrah, burying her head into her pillows shook her head wordlessly.