But Adrian was sure that in a battle of equal numbers, the Empire’s fleets would hold their own, maybe even have an edge. But the Shara Daim could bring much larger numbers against them. And that was why he needed to either make peace with them or force them to do what he wanted them to. But to change the mind of an entire species, he first needed to change the mind of one.
Adrian reached his destination. He nodded to the four guards standing outside of the doors, and then entered.
Chapter Two
Anessa was seven years old, and already she was taller than every other child was in her school. However, she was the only one who had yet to gain her Sha abilities. It meant that she was not really a part of her class. She knew that they talked about her with their minds by the snickers and looks they gave her whenever she entered the classroom. The only one that spent any time with her was Garaam. The short, white-haired girl liked spending time with Anessa for some reason that she never quite figured out. But she was thankful for it, and because of that simple fact, Anessa swore that Garaam would always have her friendship in life.
Today, Anessa was the one charged with cleaning the classroom. She didn’t understand why it was necessary; her parents had machines that did the cleaning, so there was never the need to do it by hand. But the teachers said that it was supposed to teach them responsibility. She didn’t really care one way or the other, so she always just set about doing the task. Cleaning wasn’t a hard task, and she could usually tune it out, think on other things while she worked.
However, this day was different, as something kept nagging at her. Her body felt strange, her mind somehow clouded. But she didn’t tell anyone; she didn’t need to be sent to the medbots, or far worse—home. Already the other kids called her weak because she didn’t have the Sha; if she was sent home for being sick, she knew it would only get worse. Kids with the Sha rarely got sick. So she pushed herself to the limit, not showing any outward signs of her unease. She tried to hurry her work, finish as fast as possible and then leave for home, but her hands tingled and it slowed her down.
The sound of the classroom door opening startled her, and she turned around to see two boys and a girl enter the room. Seeing who it was, Anessa’s stomach dropped, but she didn’t shy away from Tarasks’s cruel look. He approached, followed closely behind by his two companions. She didn’t know them well, as she tended to avoid the other kids, except for Garaam.
“Look here, it’s the freak!” Tarasks said laughingly, his companions joining in a moment later.
Anessa looked around the room. She was almost finished; the teachers might not even notice if she doesn’t finish. It was better than staying here, and if the teachers did notice, she would rather take their punishment than being insulted and bullied by the kids with the Sha.
She turned and started to leave the room, but something grabbed hold of her leg, keeping it in place. Anessa froze as she realized that one of them had used his Sha to keep her leg in place. It was impressive, Anessa knew; Tarasks was being called a prodigy with the Sha. She had overheard the teachers one day talking about him; they were saying how being able to use Sha to grab and lift objects at such a young age was amazing. They said that he might even one day become a Dai Sha. She turned and saw Tarasks pointing a hand at her leg. He was shaking a bit at the effort, and then suddenly Anessa could feel his hold slipping.
“Where are you going? We want to speak with you,” Tarasks said. He walked over to her before she could try to free herself and grabbed her by the shoulders. He pinned her against the wall with his hands, letting go of his Sha. Anessa could’ve pushed him away easily; she was bigger and stronger. But there were three of them, and all had the Sha. They might not be able to hold her for long, but it would be enough.
“Are you sure that you are a Shara Daim?” Tarasks asked. “I mean, you don’t have the Sha; how can you be like us?”
“It doesn’t come to everyone at the same time,” Anessa murmured.
“You trying to convince yourself that you aren’t a freak?” Tarasks asked laughingly while he poked her in the middle of her chest.
“I need to get home. Please,” Anessa said quietly as she tried to move away. The tingling spread over her entire body now, and she could barely think straight. She only knew that she needed to get home.
Tarasks didn’t let her get away. He pushed her against the wall hard, and Anessa hit the back of her head against the wall. Suddenly she only saw darkness, and pain, and then something spread through her body like fire. The next thing she knew, she was on the ground, her hands extended in front of her, and someone was screaming. She realized that it was her that was screaming. Her throat was hurting, and she stopped. She looked around and saw Tarasks’s friends looking at her in horror as they backed away slowly. Anessa turned her eyes in front of her, looking for Tarasks.
She saw him in the middle of the room. He was suspended in the air; red stained his clothes and was dripping down onto the floor. Chairs and tables were all around him, broken to pieces. Six long, pointed legs of the tables and chairs were piercing Tarasks’s body, keeping him impaled above the ground, the twisted tables and chairs beneath him.
Anessa woke up in the bed in her quarters on the Empire’s base, where she was being kept as a prisoner. She shook off the memory that had come to her in the dream; it had been a long time since she had thought back on the moment she’d finally received her Sha. The life she had had before the Sha never really seemed real to her; it was not who she was now. And now for the first time since she was a child; she found herself without the Sha. It was not a feeling she liked experiencing.
She looked around the quarters as she stood up; they were spacious, but strangely arranged. The quarters were separated with walls into different rooms, which wasn’t the case among the Shara Daim. However, it was still far from what her people would have given to their prisoners. But this Empire was strange in more than one way. She moved her shoulder and was immediately reminded of the device there, piercing her skin and the Nursha organ inside her body, draining any energy that it stored, making it impossible for her to use the Sha. The device didn’t interfere with her movements—she could barely feel it—but its existence was a constant reminder of her failure.
However, while she couldn’t use any of her advanced Sha abilities, her body still had enough passive energy for her to have very limited access to her less demanding mental Sha abilities. Which was how she felt her visitor before he entered her room.
She sighed and got to her feet as he stepped in, followed by two beasts that always seemed to follow him around. She turned around and gazed down on him, ignoring the beasts. She towered over him, like she towered over all the others she had seen here, both Human and Nel. Anessa had noticed the respect the others gave him, the presence he had among them; he was obviously the most powerful one among them. Anessa knew that her size meant nothing against him; in a fight without Sha, she was outmatched.
He was looking at her face, refusing to lower his eyes and look at her naked body. She had noticed his uncomfortableness the first time he had come to her room and encountered her naked. Shara Daim wore their Shur At at almost all times; they could be formed into any shape and size imaginable and were very comfortable clothes. But she no longer had hers, and was forced to use the clothing provided by her captors. And while they were comfortable enough, she was not yet used to them, and preferred to not wear any clothes inside the rooms given to her. The fact that it made her captor uncomfortable was an added bonus.