Status: This is the strangest story you will ever have the pleasure of reading.
The Entanglement of Cat and Rin Schrodinger
Ch. 11
Chapter eleven
Cat
I absently twirl my fingers around the edge of the glass Shomei gave me, making a faint ringing sound.
Shomei is across from me in a leather arm chair. “I’ll start after the wars. They happened about five hundred years ago. Before, this world had been split into many little devisions. Shires, if you will. One shire, called Enim was larger than all the others and had a ruler that wanted more. It sounds like the classic story of power and greed, but Emin had a secret. They also had something the other shires wanted. A weapon of sorts, you could call it. Enim was completely capable of taking over the world, because of this weapon, without the help of other shires. But they did need alliances. It’s the classic story after that, as I’ll leave you to guess. Battles raged, shires took sides with Enim or not. Those who didn’t fought together and with each other. No side actually won the war, they just killed and destructed until they couldn’t kill and destruct anymore. To this day, no one can figure why Emin didn’t win, if they were so powerful, or what their secret weapon was.
“In any case, the result of the war was devastating. The northern part of this world was nearly obliterated. Whatever Enim’s secret was, was lost forever. We wanted to know how much we could destroy ourselves and we found out. But this is not really important. What happened after is.
“And decades passed. People tried to start new countries, new beginnings. They were hopeful, but to no avail. Then, sixty years after the wars ended, a new leader began to rise out of the ashes. Perhaps that is what gave them their name: Bennu, the phoenix.
“Bennu began speaking ideas across the regions, ideas for a new world, a new hope. A real hope this time. So people listened. They build from the ruins a new empire, which they called—”
“Pax Illume.” I cut in.
“Exactly. It was our renaissance, full of artists, bright ideals for the future, and most of all, hope. Bennu set up a government that was sure not to fail or become corrupt. This government was placed in an ancient city which the people slowly rebuilt into their central metropolis, which they dubbed Tomiichi, ‘the City of Wealth’. Bennu left behind a legacy and a new world.”
I looked up from my glass. “I don’t get it. Pax Illume seems like a wonderful planet. That kind of legacy would never happen in my world. We always seem to make things more…complicated.”
“Hmm. As a populace, we may seem more straight forward, but Bennu’s plan was really quite childish. The thought that a government couldn’t become corrupt after so long, or least think that everything would stay a perfect nation founded on nothing but hope and a need for good and the end of destruction is juvenile and foolish.” I didn’t think Shomei was capable of looking this angry, but his eyes flash green and black as he describes Pax Illume’s hero.
“What happened?”
“In short, humanity happened. It seems we cannot go against our nature to want. Some territories felt too different to be connected to the whole nation. Others had leaders that wanted to be back in power. Even more thought that the people of the Pax Illume had rediscovered Enim’s secret, and keeping it all to themselves. Bennu handled all difficulties beautifully, but after a leader like that dies, there is some chaos. The leaders succeeding Bennu were meek and decided not to start civil war again and again. Sometimes that choice would be the smartest and only thing they would do in their rule. Terrirtories peeled away from Pax Illume one by one.
“The renaissance continued, people rejoiced, but Pax Illume got smaller and smaller. Again, nothing was wrong with this. But the higher ups government officials living in Tomiichi were benefiting from Pax Illume’s wealthy status, so they began to panic. They enforced tighter rules and higher taxes. They were deeply afraid of another secession. Anti-government agendas were scouted out and annihilated. The nation became more wary of strangers and most of all, their own kind.
“ A deep rooted fear of all things unknown such as seers was growing. Even normal people such as scientists who were, at the time, finding new important discoveries were shunned and discriminated. The flawed reasoning behind all this I can guess is people didn’t want to be thought of looking for the legendary secret of Enim.Who knows what would happen to them if they were suspected. We were slowly going towards another dark age. Is this boring you?”
“Not at all.” I say.
“Good. In any case, the common community, the fearful ones, grew deprived and called themselves the Nomin, the poor, the government became richer and became known simply as the Choa, the aloof, and Pax Illume suddenly became an aristocracy. We are falling back into ruin as we were before. Many tried to rebel, are still trying. But in the worse possible way. Because it is nearly impossible to get to any Choa communities or houses, let alone the target city, the capitol Tomiichi, so they then struck out against their own people. The rebels began burning houses, destroying whole villages,all the while hoping to get the attention of the Choa like frustrated children. The result is a burning, starving country full of people being ignored by others. We have become less than human.”
Shomei stopped there. I blinked, waiting for the rest, how Pax Illume got to where it is today, for the rest of some hopeful story about humanity as a whole. But then I remembered how Shomei had used the word humanity like a curse word, a blight. “You mean it’s still like that?”
“Yes. The rebels grow stronger with each day. We are full into a civil war, in theory. It only needs to escalate, for one more crazed individual Nomin to join the rebels. Perhaps the reason you haven’t seen any of the rebels’ effects is that this village is sacred to the people. Bennu was born here in this town one hundred years ago. No one may touch it, and the people who live here are very lucky indeed.”
I can’t think of anything to say to that. The seemingly pristine world I stepped into is about as flawed as my own, and to top it off, it’s in the middle of a civil war that can’t even touch the ground I am standing on. I draw my knees up to my chin on the chair and put my head in between them. This might be the beginning of the shattering of the lovely dream world I’d inhabited since landing in this world. “So,” I say breaking the silence. “Why me?”
Shomei’s out of his chair now, staring out the window. “Why you indeed…” I hear him mumble. He trails his finger along the ledge, picking up dust. “Cat,” He says softly. “Look at the painting behind my desk. Who is it?”
I look at Shomei’s illumination of the dark haired woman in armor I noticed yesterday. Her eyes are closed and there’s a radiance seeming to emanate from her body. Then I start to notice. The color of her hair to the shape of her face to the arch of her eyebrows. It reminds me so much all of one person I didn’t realize I missed these last few hours. It’s my mom, but not quite. I find myself standing in front of the painting, staring at the bridge of the woman’s nose. That stupid looking nose. I whirl around.
“It’s me.” I say.
Shomei smiles, eye flashing as if he’d just told a very good joke. “Yes,” He says. “And no.” He joins me in front the painting. “This is Bennu, the so called greatest leader Pax Illume has ever known.”
I stare up at the woman and try to match the images of a national hero Shomei has described to me with the serene, almost childlike face of the lady in armor with the green vines twirling around her body.
“No,” I say “I’m pretty sure that’s me.”
Shomei sighs and sits back at his desk. “Meina,” He starts, “when she was very young, made a prediction. It was one of the most lucid visions she’s ever had. When she’d came out of her trance, she’d started to cry. I thought it was because the vision had been frightening, but she said she was crying because she was so happy. She said that her home was going to be saved by a girl who wore an exact resemblance to Bennu. I remember not only surprised by this sudden prediction , but the fact that Meina somehow knew that Pax Illume needed saving. She knew even less about the outer world at that time then she knows now. She then went on to say that the girl would come from a different world and take her name would be—”
“Katherine…” I trailed off for him. Katherine, I think again in my head. Meina and Shomei’s odd habit to call me that. Shomei telling me they’d been waiting for me when I’d first met him .Meina waiting for me at the rift. The little girl with bluebells in the village that waved with she knew me. Why’d I’d been pulled through of all people. But then Meina howling this morning... ‘I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.’ And ‘You’re the wrong Cat….’
The door bangs open cheerfully and I whip around. The key to a whole nation’s salvation is standing there with a blanket around her, rubbing her eyes sleepily. “Cat…” she says turning her huge brown eyes on me. “I had the weirdest dream…”
Shomei puts an arm around her and leads her in. I shift uncomfortably in my chair. Meina grabs Shomei’s arm and whispers in his ear. I can only make out the words “show...”. Shomei seems apprehensive, but nod his approval. Then she turns and says, “I think the best way to make you understand is to have you dream.”
“Um, see, I don’t really feel sleepy right now and—”
“No, silly. I’m going to show you.”
Meina grabs my arm somewhat violently and holds my face with a strong grip. “Look, Cat.” And I do. Meina’s black pupils grow until I can’t see any of the innocent brown color I’m used to seeing in Meina’s eyes. She hisses, “And, let go.”
Cat
I absently twirl my fingers around the edge of the glass Shomei gave me, making a faint ringing sound.
Shomei is across from me in a leather arm chair. “I’ll start after the wars. They happened about five hundred years ago. Before, this world had been split into many little devisions. Shires, if you will. One shire, called Enim was larger than all the others and had a ruler that wanted more. It sounds like the classic story of power and greed, but Emin had a secret. They also had something the other shires wanted. A weapon of sorts, you could call it. Enim was completely capable of taking over the world, because of this weapon, without the help of other shires. But they did need alliances. It’s the classic story after that, as I’ll leave you to guess. Battles raged, shires took sides with Enim or not. Those who didn’t fought together and with each other. No side actually won the war, they just killed and destructed until they couldn’t kill and destruct anymore. To this day, no one can figure why Emin didn’t win, if they were so powerful, or what their secret weapon was.
“In any case, the result of the war was devastating. The northern part of this world was nearly obliterated. Whatever Enim’s secret was, was lost forever. We wanted to know how much we could destroy ourselves and we found out. But this is not really important. What happened after is.
“And decades passed. People tried to start new countries, new beginnings. They were hopeful, but to no avail. Then, sixty years after the wars ended, a new leader began to rise out of the ashes. Perhaps that is what gave them their name: Bennu, the phoenix.
“Bennu began speaking ideas across the regions, ideas for a new world, a new hope. A real hope this time. So people listened. They build from the ruins a new empire, which they called—”
“Pax Illume.” I cut in.
“Exactly. It was our renaissance, full of artists, bright ideals for the future, and most of all, hope. Bennu set up a government that was sure not to fail or become corrupt. This government was placed in an ancient city which the people slowly rebuilt into their central metropolis, which they dubbed Tomiichi, ‘the City of Wealth’. Bennu left behind a legacy and a new world.”
I looked up from my glass. “I don’t get it. Pax Illume seems like a wonderful planet. That kind of legacy would never happen in my world. We always seem to make things more…complicated.”
“Hmm. As a populace, we may seem more straight forward, but Bennu’s plan was really quite childish. The thought that a government couldn’t become corrupt after so long, or least think that everything would stay a perfect nation founded on nothing but hope and a need for good and the end of destruction is juvenile and foolish.” I didn’t think Shomei was capable of looking this angry, but his eyes flash green and black as he describes Pax Illume’s hero.
“What happened?”
“In short, humanity happened. It seems we cannot go against our nature to want. Some territories felt too different to be connected to the whole nation. Others had leaders that wanted to be back in power. Even more thought that the people of the Pax Illume had rediscovered Enim’s secret, and keeping it all to themselves. Bennu handled all difficulties beautifully, but after a leader like that dies, there is some chaos. The leaders succeeding Bennu were meek and decided not to start civil war again and again. Sometimes that choice would be the smartest and only thing they would do in their rule. Terrirtories peeled away from Pax Illume one by one.
“The renaissance continued, people rejoiced, but Pax Illume got smaller and smaller. Again, nothing was wrong with this. But the higher ups government officials living in Tomiichi were benefiting from Pax Illume’s wealthy status, so they began to panic. They enforced tighter rules and higher taxes. They were deeply afraid of another secession. Anti-government agendas were scouted out and annihilated. The nation became more wary of strangers and most of all, their own kind.
“ A deep rooted fear of all things unknown such as seers was growing. Even normal people such as scientists who were, at the time, finding new important discoveries were shunned and discriminated. The flawed reasoning behind all this I can guess is people didn’t want to be thought of looking for the legendary secret of Enim.Who knows what would happen to them if they were suspected. We were slowly going towards another dark age. Is this boring you?”
“Not at all.” I say.
“Good. In any case, the common community, the fearful ones, grew deprived and called themselves the Nomin, the poor, the government became richer and became known simply as the Choa, the aloof, and Pax Illume suddenly became an aristocracy. We are falling back into ruin as we were before. Many tried to rebel, are still trying. But in the worse possible way. Because it is nearly impossible to get to any Choa communities or houses, let alone the target city, the capitol Tomiichi, so they then struck out against their own people. The rebels began burning houses, destroying whole villages,all the while hoping to get the attention of the Choa like frustrated children. The result is a burning, starving country full of people being ignored by others. We have become less than human.”
Shomei stopped there. I blinked, waiting for the rest, how Pax Illume got to where it is today, for the rest of some hopeful story about humanity as a whole. But then I remembered how Shomei had used the word humanity like a curse word, a blight. “You mean it’s still like that?”
“Yes. The rebels grow stronger with each day. We are full into a civil war, in theory. It only needs to escalate, for one more crazed individual Nomin to join the rebels. Perhaps the reason you haven’t seen any of the rebels’ effects is that this village is sacred to the people. Bennu was born here in this town one hundred years ago. No one may touch it, and the people who live here are very lucky indeed.”
I can’t think of anything to say to that. The seemingly pristine world I stepped into is about as flawed as my own, and to top it off, it’s in the middle of a civil war that can’t even touch the ground I am standing on. I draw my knees up to my chin on the chair and put my head in between them. This might be the beginning of the shattering of the lovely dream world I’d inhabited since landing in this world. “So,” I say breaking the silence. “Why me?”
Shomei’s out of his chair now, staring out the window. “Why you indeed…” I hear him mumble. He trails his finger along the ledge, picking up dust. “Cat,” He says softly. “Look at the painting behind my desk. Who is it?”
I look at Shomei’s illumination of the dark haired woman in armor I noticed yesterday. Her eyes are closed and there’s a radiance seeming to emanate from her body. Then I start to notice. The color of her hair to the shape of her face to the arch of her eyebrows. It reminds me so much all of one person I didn’t realize I missed these last few hours. It’s my mom, but not quite. I find myself standing in front of the painting, staring at the bridge of the woman’s nose. That stupid looking nose. I whirl around.
“It’s me.” I say.
Shomei smiles, eye flashing as if he’d just told a very good joke. “Yes,” He says. “And no.” He joins me in front the painting. “This is Bennu, the so called greatest leader Pax Illume has ever known.”
I stare up at the woman and try to match the images of a national hero Shomei has described to me with the serene, almost childlike face of the lady in armor with the green vines twirling around her body.
“No,” I say “I’m pretty sure that’s me.”
Shomei sighs and sits back at his desk. “Meina,” He starts, “when she was very young, made a prediction. It was one of the most lucid visions she’s ever had. When she’d came out of her trance, she’d started to cry. I thought it was because the vision had been frightening, but she said she was crying because she was so happy. She said that her home was going to be saved by a girl who wore an exact resemblance to Bennu. I remember not only surprised by this sudden prediction , but the fact that Meina somehow knew that Pax Illume needed saving. She knew even less about the outer world at that time then she knows now. She then went on to say that the girl would come from a different world and take her name would be—”
“Katherine…” I trailed off for him. Katherine, I think again in my head. Meina and Shomei’s odd habit to call me that. Shomei telling me they’d been waiting for me when I’d first met him .Meina waiting for me at the rift. The little girl with bluebells in the village that waved with she knew me. Why’d I’d been pulled through of all people. But then Meina howling this morning... ‘I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.’ And ‘You’re the wrong Cat….’
The door bangs open cheerfully and I whip around. The key to a whole nation’s salvation is standing there with a blanket around her, rubbing her eyes sleepily. “Cat…” she says turning her huge brown eyes on me. “I had the weirdest dream…”
Shomei puts an arm around her and leads her in. I shift uncomfortably in my chair. Meina grabs Shomei’s arm and whispers in his ear. I can only make out the words “show...”. Shomei seems apprehensive, but nod his approval. Then she turns and says, “I think the best way to make you understand is to have you dream.”
“Um, see, I don’t really feel sleepy right now and—”
“No, silly. I’m going to show you.”
Meina grabs my arm somewhat violently and holds my face with a strong grip. “Look, Cat.” And I do. Meina’s black pupils grow until I can’t see any of the innocent brown color I’m used to seeing in Meina’s eyes. She hisses, “And, let go.”