Because There Is a Future

Chapter Eighteen

Sophie woke up to a loud knock on the door.

"Coming!" She yawned, putting her clothes on. (She liked to sleep in only her undergarments.)

A young woman stood outside the door. She had beautiful dark chocolaty skin, dark hair tied in a braid, full pink lips, and bright blue eyes. "Hi Sophie! Lady Veta wanted me to get you."

Sophie glanced at her current clothes: It was a wrinkled white tunic and black pants. And since Veta was apparently a lady... 

"It's fine, she was in her nightgown anyway." The woman said. "I'm Evexanda, by the way. But everyone calls me Eve. Foreseer."

"Wow, that is so cool." Sophie said, walking down the stair with Eve. "What kind of jobs do people have here?"

"It's mostly divided up into abilities. Everyone here has one of the three, I'm not kidding. Here, Veta's like the leader, but there are lots of tiny groups that support it. They all run the government. That's where a lot of jobs are. Sort of like the, er, I forgot the name, was it Emissars? And Reges? You know, in your area. And of course, about 20% of the population own their own individual shops. It's not like we need money, because we all get birth funds. Anyway, like I said before, there are jobs based on abilities. So, like the foreseers predict the future for people, and the shapeshifters change their forms and spies on the other species, even the other elves. A few Compellers go with them to get out of any tough situation if they ever get in one. But other than that, people don't interact with the other elves. And you'd think we can just forget about them, because we have enough population ourselves, but in school, everyone has to learn about them and our history. They're a bit... Odd, no offense. Who would trust a matchmaking system when there is a deeper, more important feeling of love? And who would judge a people by their abilities? It's insane. Of course, that's in my uneducated opinion."

Sophie shook her head. "Yeah, I totally agree. I hate the matchmaking system, and it doesn't help that I'm unmatchable. But like, who cares about abilities? Elves are magical as they are."

Eve laughed. "I know right? Humans are like, oh, I can walk, talk, swim, and we're awesome. Veta told me a lot of things about you. You're part human, elf, and part alicorn, right?"

"Wait, how does she know about that? It's honestly creepy." 

Eve shrugged. "She has her ways. I don't know. And what's funny is that you don't look like alicorns at all."

Sophie couldn't quite hide her surprise. "You know what alicorns look like?"

Eve snorted. "Duh! Why wouldn't I? My parents have, like, too many of them to count - I'm sick of them and their sparkly glory."

"...They have a lot?" 

"Yep. It's so sad that the Unicorns and the Mammoths are extinct, though. Cool creatures."

"They're not." Sophie confirmed. "There are lots of Unicorns and Mammoths in the Lost Cities."

Now it was time for Eve to be surprised. "What?!"

"Yeah, and there, everyone's thinking Alicorns are extinct! I found one once, and it was huge news. Like people were thinking I reset the timeline of extinction."

"Well," A female voice said, "It seems like you guys found out about the extinct-but-not-extinct theory."

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Sophie and Veta sat, face-to-face, both sitting in a comfortable chair, both in their comfortable clothes. 

"So... What you're telling me is," Sophie confirmed, "all the animals are not extinct, and they are either in the Lost or Hidden Cities?"

"Yes." Was Veta's short, uninspiring response. "And I'm sure you're wondering what the hell, uh, excuse my morning mood, you're doing here this early in the morning."

Sophie nodded. 

"I only told you the history of this place yesterday. Today, it's time for answers. Do you have any questions on anything?"

"How much do you know about me? And the elves at the Lost Cities?" Sophie asked. 

Veta smiled. "We don't know everything about everyone. Just the ones we're curious about. And we check the elves simply to see if they had a memory break about us. And I guess to know what creatures who us aren't are like."

"You still haven't answered the first question." Sophie pointed out. She knew she was being rude - but Veta couldn't just stalk into her life knowing everything about her.

"Yeah, I know. The reason is only known by me. So, your Black Swan buddies, like the Fork, ("Forkle", Sophie corrected.) doesn't know about this."

"Even though they created me?" Sophie blurted. How was this possible? Mr. Forkle was supposed to know everything about her, for the good or worse. 

"Yes. And I only know because of the genes of the elves. You see, the matchmaking system in your place is to create powerful offsprings with abilities. When two elves with abilities have an offspring, they will be guaranteed to have a special ability. With one elf with an ability and another elf without an ability, there is about a 60-40 chance of their offspring to have an ability. But the Council in the Lost Cities want there to be a 100% chance. That's the mere reason behind the matchmaking. But forgive me, we weren't here to talk about the matchmaking system. It is about you. One of your parents had a Forgotten ability. Sophie, you landed in the 60% category. You have one of these abilities."

Sophie's mouth dropped open. But how was this possible? She was way past the manifesting age. And if she actually did have one, she would have already manifested. There had to be some sort of a mistake. 

"There is no mistake," Veta said, reminding Sophie that Veta had an indefinite access to her thoughts. "I'm sure Evexanda told you that everyone here had one of these abilities. But no one randomly manifests unlike the abilities in the Lost Cities - it has to be triggered. Every one of them. Follow me."

Veta took out a purple leaping crystal ("purple was for the Hidden Cities," she told her) and told Sophie to grab on to her hand. They leaped away to who knows where. 

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The place was made of amethyst gemstones. The sign ABILITY TRIGGERING was on the top. 

"Hello, Lady Veta." A man greeted, kissing Veta's hand. "Who do we have today?"

"Sophie Elizabeth Foster." The man nodded in understanding. "You look so similar to-."

"Come along now, Sophie." Veta ordered. Sophie walked down the hall with Veta until she reached a chair. It was white and looked nothing more than a couch. There was something like a headrest on the back which glowed pink. A round gadget-like object was placed on the table next to it. 

"Can I trust you?" The words had slipped out of Sophie's mouth before she could stop it. 

"What? Of course, you can, I won't hurt you in the slightest." The man rejoiced, but Veta studied Sophie carefully. 

"Yes, Sophie." She whispered. "You can." 

Sophie sat down on the couch, and the man put the circular round object on Sophie's head. It fit snugly. 

"It'll start in thirty seconds. Tell me if something hurts." The man told her. 

Sophie didn't know how she felt. Happy about the new ability? Scared? Confused? 

Before she knew it, something buzzed in her brain. Warm waves of energy seemed to enter her body, gently pushing her nerves. It cradled it. 

Then, something like a jolt of electricity went through Sophie's body, and the world faded into nothing but darkness. 

Thank you so, so, so much for 800 reads! You guys are all amazing. I love every single one of you. 

SilverFox out <33