002. [Audio]

[willezurmacht]

[The rattling of trees can be heard in the background, and the chattering of people - oddly far away.]To those who have been here far longer than I... this weather. Is it commonplace for the skies to be so indecisive? Snow in Autumn, thunderstorms, windstorms... it seems rather chaotic, don't you think

Comments

[Voice]

[sucker_punches]

I wouldn't say any of it is common, but it does happen from time to time. There was one time when the sun didn't rise for days. As for the natives... they go through phases.

Relevant to your interests how?

[Voice]

[willezurmacht]

I'm sorry, young lady, did you say the sun did not rise?

[Voice]

[sucker_punches]

Yes. It happened in December.

[Voice]

[willezurmacht]

That sort of thing seems the province of magic. Still, it shouldn't be possible.

[Voice]

[sucker_punches]

What shouldn't be possible doesn't seem to matter here. People shouldn't be able to come back from the dead either.

[Voice]

[willezurmacht]

[Now that gives him pause. But not for the normal reasons.]

No?

I can barely think of an acquaintance of mine who hasn't experienced a resurrection. Sometimes many.

[Voice]

[sucker_punches]

... really.

[She doesn't sound totally shocked. Maybe a bit... weary?]

It isn't nearly that common where I come from.

[Voice]

[willezurmacht]

Life is a dangerous game, young woman, and one that carries many stages. It seems, to many, death is little more than another of those.

Of course, even there, such miracles are normally reserved for those labeled abnormal by the human population.

[Voice]

[sucker_punches]

I'm getting used to the idea, seeing how often it happens here, but I still find it... disconcerting.

Abnormal? Like the Scorched?

[Voice]

[willezurmacht]

It can be disconcerting even when one is accustomed to it. Particularly given the injustice of those left unrevived.

[A little pause.]

Yes, those comparison is... not entirely without merit.

[Voice]

[sucker_punches]

Do you mean that being revived is disconcerting, or that seeing others revived is?

[Somewhere in there is the veiled question of whether he, himself, has died and come back.

Thoughtful pause.] In our case, we're different because we come from other worlds, because we apparently don't age, and because some of us have powers. Is it something like any of those?

Re: [Voice]

[willezurmacht]

Primarily, I'm referring to the tendency of the innocent to remain in the grave while the guilty return to plague the world repeatedly.

[It's not that he didn't notice it.

It's just that he's ignoring it.]

Indeed, young woman. On my world there are some born with abilities beyond those available to a normal human. These people are reviled, cursed. Sometimes slaughtered, or forced to register their existence with governmental authorities. At times they are enslaved.