Divine Evolution (2021 Watty Awards Shortlist)

CHAPTER FIVE

Sometime later found Cyann cleaner than she'd ever been in her life, her blond hair freshly washed and combed, wearing a high-necked, long-sleeved belted dress that reached her ankles. The dress was so soft, it felt like goose down, and all of it was white and trimmed with gold piping. Even the suede ankle boots were white and fairly gleamed in the overhead lights. Actual boots! She nearly cried with joy when she put them on, even if the color was impractical. She also stuffed herself with selections from the meat and cheese tray waiting for her. Part of her wondered how the food and clothing had appeared and who else had access to her room; the other part was too excited to care.

Now she sat in front of what Reeva referred to as a monitor—a window mounted to her wall, that wasn't actually a window. It was a large, flat square that broadcast moving pictures and sound based on what buttons she pressed on the hand-held controller. At first, she watched with interest and kept pressing buttons to see what would happen next. The material was divided into two sections. The first section was a simplified orientation package that explained the layout of the building, training halls, entertainment facilities, and meal schedules.

The second was a breakdown of the Ministry and the purpose of the Emissary selection, a basic explanation of Dragoron society, and a summary of the mysterious Creators who had given the Dragoron their reason for existence and place in the Timespace. It was enough to give an idea of what her role might be, but she suspected the explanation barely scratched the surface.

It seemed Niko's people wanted to enlighten the universe, one world at a time. They were both explorers and saviors, traveling the universe and charting the spirals—dense clusters of stars, dust, and gas all swirling in a winding, circular sharp—looking for inhabited worlds. Once they found such a world, they catalogued and judged, guiding it on a course that would bring it into harmony with the rest of the civilized worlds. If the world was too new and the life too young, the Dragoron left it for things develop naturally, checking in periodically. If the world was older but not progressing as hoped, they would nudge it in the desired direction. If the world achieved the level they deemed acceptable, the Dragoron would introduce its people into the Galactic Homogeny, to which all civilized worlds belonged, with whatever rights and privileges went with such standing. If the world was too far gone and its races couldn't be salvaged, it would be quarantined from the rest of the universe. And if the world was deemed a threat, it would be destroyed rather than risk infecting the rest of the spirals.

When a new planet was found in the spirals, it was the Emissary's role—her role—to immerse herself in that world as her Dragoron Primary deemed necessary, and report back her findings. Primaries often had many worlds to tend—some had dozens, which made it impossible for the Dragoron tend to everything by themselves. They need a trusted intermediary to work on their behalf. The Emissary would be linked to the Primary through the marks—the sharing of blood spherions, managed by the sibyl system—which would allow the Primary to share knowledge with their Emissary through the vast distance of the Timespace.

She could appreciate how majestic, noble, and purposeful it sounded. However she couldn't say she fully understood what was expected of her, nor did she get why Niko's people wanted to help the universe in the first place. This business of the Creators, who had slipped into an alternate Timespace eons ago and left their creations, the Dragoron, behind as caretakers, sounded a bit wishy-washy. Maybe it was supposed to be awe-inspiring, but to Cyann, the Creators sounded rather selfish. They'd created a race to look after things for them, and then they'd flitted off to do something else. It all just seemed...rude.

It also didn't answer any of her immediate questions. It didn't say anything about what it meant to be Wraithborn or explain how she might have ended up in the fishing village. There was nothing specific to her situation, and for some reason, that bothered her. If the answers existed, they certainly weren't in the orientation package. However, the package mentioned a records repository. That sounded promising. Plus, it would give her an excuse to leave her room and explore.