Orbs Again
This is a spoilerrific scene from the revised version of The Church and Its Orbs, which is the new working title of Gemma's story.
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Today the no-souls among us would finally get the powers the Church had denied us. You could feel the tension in the room; simply breathing without hyperventilating was difficult enough for me. Ellie, Wren, Kelsey and I sat on the couch while everyone else clustered around on the two armchairs or the floor. Felicia was nowhere to be found; I suspected she had turned herself invisible.
A disembodied voice shouted, “Yay, you're all going to have your powers activated!”
Yes, Felicia had turned herself invisible alright. If a thirteen year old catgirl hacker could get her powers, I could get mine too. Kelsey was to go first.
Diana, holding an orb in her hand, called out, “Kelsey, it's your turn.”
Samantha watched placidly, as if this weren't remotely exciting to her. Stormy observed everything with a goofy grin on her face, as if this were just an amusing game because her orb had turned purple before it strangely became green. Kelsey stood up, looking far more nervous than usual. Who wouldn't be nervous, though?
Diana proclaimed, “May this orb glow with the strength of your soul,” thus activating it for the next person to touch it. She handed the orb to Kelsey.
It glowed red.
My friend smiled. “Thank you,” she said. “I wonder what my power is going to be.”
The dean smiled back. “You'll have time to figure that out soon enough. First, let's get Ellie here activated.”
She picked the next orb up off the coffee table as Ellie rose from the couch. Ellie herself bounced up and down on her feet, like she found this as amusing as Stormy did.
Diana proclaimed again, “May this orb glow with the strength of your soul” and handed it to Ellie.
It glowed purple.
That shouldn't have been so unexpected, as Ellie's parents were Purple Orbs themselves. She used to be friends with Ruby, and my sister tended to befriend only those of suitable status. An expected Purple Orb was perfectly suitable, an unexpected no-soul was not.
Ellie exclaimed, “Holy balls, it's purple!” before sitting down and staring at her orb in amazement.
She really shouldn't have been so surprised, but I could understand it. After being a no-soul for so long, who wouldn't shout “holy balls” upon getting a purple orb and the attendant powers? I wondered what her power would be; it usually took a few minutes to several days for the power to manifest. Ellie had a look liked she couldn't wait. Who could, when they were a Purple Orb?
My heart hammered in my chest. It was my turn. After discovering I was the product of an affair, I didn't expect a purple orb, though that would have been amazing. I would settle happily enough for a red orb and finally get some power. What the Church had done to me, to all no-souls, was horrible and needed to be reversed.
Diana scooped up the third orb and announced, “It's Gemma's turn now.”
I stood up and tried not to shake too much.
She proclaimed for a third time, “May this orb glow with the strength of your soul.”
After a deep breath to try and calm myself, I took the orb from her.
It didn't glow.
Just like the first time in the Temple, I closed my eyes and willed the orb to glow. Why was this happening again? This could not be happening again! Everyone's eyes burned into me. My own eyes started to fill with tears. I yelled, “It must be broken! How can it not be broken? I mean, everyone has magic; it's not like you guys are trying to cover up my power to punish me for what my mother did.”
Samantha spoke quietly, “Not everyone does.”
What?
She continued, “Not everyone has magic. It's an extremely rare mutation, but some very few people in this country are born without it.”
I protested, “Not me!”
Samantha sighed. “I'm afraid so.”
My vision blurring, I started trembling. No, no this was wrong! Through my tears, I spotted a nice vase on a pedestal. I aimed. I threw my orb at it. Perfect shot. It smashed to pieces with a satisfying crack. Everyone gasped, but I didn't care if they hated me for destruction of property. What about destruction of hope?
Diana tried to smooth things over, “We still need to do Wren's orb. Gemma, I'm sorry about what happened. We'll talk about it later.”
She didn't mention that her undoubtedly-expensive vase was in pieces. Diana grabbed the last orb. Wren rose silently. She seemed a little stunned at my outburst. What, it wasn't like I hadn't done that before.
The dean proclaimed for the last time, “May this orb glow with the strength of your soul.”
Wren took her orb.
It exploded.
I ducked. Stormy quickly shielded everyone from Wren, who was holding the orb. Her shield went up around Wren herself. Brightly-glowing purple shards flew out from the former orb. A column of shards surrounded Wren inside the shield before they fell to the ground. My roommate should have been dead from the force. Instead she was glowing like a purple orb did as she leaned against the shield. What in the gods-damned darkness was going on?
Stormy dropped the shield. I noticed Felicia had become visible again. Wren collapsed onto the pile of shards, still glowing that intense purple. After several stunned moments, she stopped glowing and mumbled, “What just happened?”
I stood up. “Your orb exploded. And you started glowing.” I paused, remembering something absolutely impossible. Glowing like that meant...regeneration, like the gods did if they were killed in human form. But that would mean...
Wren, still on the pile of shards, insisted, “I didn't glow. That's impossible. Humans don't glow. And their orbs don't explode. You're making that up.”
“No,” I said, “humans don't glow. Only one kind of being glows like that.”
She asked, “And what kind of being would that be?”
I didn't want to tell Wren what I thought she was, but I had to. “Wren, the only entity that glows like that is a god in human form.”
She hissed, “Don't bullshit me.”
Before I could tell her I wasn't, Matilda spoke up. “She's not bullshitting you. How else do you think you survived an explosion in such a contained area?”
Wren squeaked, “Luck?”
Matilda snorted. “Some luck, then.
She insisted, “But I have memories of being human. It's impossible, totally impossible for me to be a-a...”
Just like my having no power was impossible? If that horror were possible, why couldn't Wren somehow be a goddess without realizing it? It seemed perfectly plausible to me. What luck I had! To know three gods and have not a single ounce of power myself. I wished I had another orb to throw at another expensive vase.
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written for 500themes prompt #422 - "Disembodied Voices"
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Today the no-souls among us would finally get the powers the Church had denied us. You could feel the tension in the room; simply breathing without hyperventilating was difficult enough for me. Ellie, Wren, Kelsey and I sat on the couch while everyone else clustered around on the two armchairs or the floor. Felicia was nowhere to be found; I suspected she had turned herself invisible.
A disembodied voice shouted, “Yay, you're all going to have your powers activated!”
Yes, Felicia had turned herself invisible alright. If a thirteen year old catgirl hacker could get her powers, I could get mine too. Kelsey was to go first.
Diana, holding an orb in her hand, called out, “Kelsey, it's your turn.”
Samantha watched placidly, as if this weren't remotely exciting to her. Stormy observed everything with a goofy grin on her face, as if this were just an amusing game because her orb had turned purple before it strangely became green. Kelsey stood up, looking far more nervous than usual. Who wouldn't be nervous, though?
Diana proclaimed, “May this orb glow with the strength of your soul,” thus activating it for the next person to touch it. She handed the orb to Kelsey.
It glowed red.
My friend smiled. “Thank you,” she said. “I wonder what my power is going to be.”
The dean smiled back. “You'll have time to figure that out soon enough. First, let's get Ellie here activated.”
She picked the next orb up off the coffee table as Ellie rose from the couch. Ellie herself bounced up and down on her feet, like she found this as amusing as Stormy did.
Diana proclaimed again, “May this orb glow with the strength of your soul” and handed it to Ellie.
It glowed purple.
That shouldn't have been so unexpected, as Ellie's parents were Purple Orbs themselves. She used to be friends with Ruby, and my sister tended to befriend only those of suitable status. An expected Purple Orb was perfectly suitable, an unexpected no-soul was not.
Ellie exclaimed, “Holy balls, it's purple!” before sitting down and staring at her orb in amazement.
She really shouldn't have been so surprised, but I could understand it. After being a no-soul for so long, who wouldn't shout “holy balls” upon getting a purple orb and the attendant powers? I wondered what her power would be; it usually took a few minutes to several days for the power to manifest. Ellie had a look liked she couldn't wait. Who could, when they were a Purple Orb?
My heart hammered in my chest. It was my turn. After discovering I was the product of an affair, I didn't expect a purple orb, though that would have been amazing. I would settle happily enough for a red orb and finally get some power. What the Church had done to me, to all no-souls, was horrible and needed to be reversed.
Diana scooped up the third orb and announced, “It's Gemma's turn now.”
I stood up and tried not to shake too much.
She proclaimed for a third time, “May this orb glow with the strength of your soul.”
After a deep breath to try and calm myself, I took the orb from her.
It didn't glow.
Just like the first time in the Temple, I closed my eyes and willed the orb to glow. Why was this happening again? This could not be happening again! Everyone's eyes burned into me. My own eyes started to fill with tears. I yelled, “It must be broken! How can it not be broken? I mean, everyone has magic; it's not like you guys are trying to cover up my power to punish me for what my mother did.”
Samantha spoke quietly, “Not everyone does.”
What?
She continued, “Not everyone has magic. It's an extremely rare mutation, but some very few people in this country are born without it.”
I protested, “Not me!”
Samantha sighed. “I'm afraid so.”
My vision blurring, I started trembling. No, no this was wrong! Through my tears, I spotted a nice vase on a pedestal. I aimed. I threw my orb at it. Perfect shot. It smashed to pieces with a satisfying crack. Everyone gasped, but I didn't care if they hated me for destruction of property. What about destruction of hope?
Diana tried to smooth things over, “We still need to do Wren's orb. Gemma, I'm sorry about what happened. We'll talk about it later.”
She didn't mention that her undoubtedly-expensive vase was in pieces. Diana grabbed the last orb. Wren rose silently. She seemed a little stunned at my outburst. What, it wasn't like I hadn't done that before.
The dean proclaimed for the last time, “May this orb glow with the strength of your soul.”
Wren took her orb.
It exploded.
I ducked. Stormy quickly shielded everyone from Wren, who was holding the orb. Her shield went up around Wren herself. Brightly-glowing purple shards flew out from the former orb. A column of shards surrounded Wren inside the shield before they fell to the ground. My roommate should have been dead from the force. Instead she was glowing like a purple orb did as she leaned against the shield. What in the gods-damned darkness was going on?
Stormy dropped the shield. I noticed Felicia had become visible again. Wren collapsed onto the pile of shards, still glowing that intense purple. After several stunned moments, she stopped glowing and mumbled, “What just happened?”
I stood up. “Your orb exploded. And you started glowing.” I paused, remembering something absolutely impossible. Glowing like that meant...regeneration, like the gods did if they were killed in human form. But that would mean...
Wren, still on the pile of shards, insisted, “I didn't glow. That's impossible. Humans don't glow. And their orbs don't explode. You're making that up.”
“No,” I said, “humans don't glow. Only one kind of being glows like that.”
She asked, “And what kind of being would that be?”
I didn't want to tell Wren what I thought she was, but I had to. “Wren, the only entity that glows like that is a god in human form.”
She hissed, “Don't bullshit me.”
Before I could tell her I wasn't, Matilda spoke up. “She's not bullshitting you. How else do you think you survived an explosion in such a contained area?”
Wren squeaked, “Luck?”
Matilda snorted. “Some luck, then.
She insisted, “But I have memories of being human. It's impossible, totally impossible for me to be a-a...”
Just like my having no power was impossible? If that horror were possible, why couldn't Wren somehow be a goddess without realizing it? It seemed perfectly plausible to me. What luck I had! To know three gods and have not a single ounce of power myself. I wished I had another orb to throw at another expensive vase.
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written for 500themes prompt #422 - "Disembodied Voices"