Dispersion: What you have never been told...

Agaethi from before human race

I will be frank: I miss all the comforts that come with living an urban life in the 21st century. I tried to replicate again and again so many of the modern-day inventions that grew so close to my heart, but with little gain. Who would have thought crafting toothbrushes and showerheads would prove to be so difficult!

I crossed nearly all entries on my list. After the previous day's events and the famed merchant's arrest, no one bothered surveying his merchandise which was all scattered on the ground and full of dirt by the time the fighters took him.

"You are making a disaster out of the kitchen again." The wife of my benefactor burst inside the chamber.

"I know, I know... I'm sorry. But I promise it will be different this time. I have almost everything I need." She inspected the kitchen with a doubtful smile then sat, cross-legged, beside me.

"Your world..." Her words were almost a breath. "Is it that different? Do people there kill, lie, and betray?"

"Aunty, there are bad people everywhere." I sighed."It's much less violent where I come from, but there are different kinds of dangers to my world than anyone here would understand."

"A cruel world." She lowered her gaze.

"It is what you make of it." I placed my hand on her delicate shoulders. So pure and beautiful. She possessed the charm of a fairy mistress that could twist the minds of the toughest men. Yet she decided to settle for a shifter. A medium-rank shifter of no particular beauty or wealth.

"What is it that you are making?" She asked, peering inside my bags. "Let me guess: you either robbed the whole of Synthepia and the Majestic Creed will arrive any moment to have your chi clenched or you had that brat with you."

"Who?"

"Your little dove, the brownie boy."

"Xandi is not a brownie."

"So he is your lover." She flashed me one of her cutest smiles.

"Aunty! I am not such a wench." I could tell without looking that my whole face was ablaze.

"Yeah, right... I forgot that carefulness was not in your dictionary." She pulled one of the copper lamps out of the heaviest bag. "Remind me to thank your little dove later."

Xandi, my lover? I shook the images that came to me with us holding hands, doing intimate things only real couples would feel comfortable doing.

Xandier...He deserves a beautiful and righteous woman beside him, who doesn't cause him unnecessary headaches. Basically, a woman that is my opposite.

"I have to admit that your latest invention for measuring time is fantastic." She smiled at the oak clock hanging on the wall across us. "Clock, was it? If you keep at it, your future as an inventor might look quite promising."

I averted her haze as I usually do. Aunt Anoki had a peculiar way of giving compliments.

"You are kind. " I whispered."But it wasn't me. I just copied an invention from my own world."

Lady Anoki tucked both of my palms between her own, caressing my fingers like a mom would caress a child."

"Who says that?" she asked.

"I cannot invalidate my predecessors' accomplishments."

She giggled. "Silly Maelys, how many worlds and parallel universes do you think there are in total?"

"Hundreds?"

"Millions. And those are just the ones we are aware exist." She signaled me to follow her up the zig-zag, chi-powered staircase. She never before allowed me to even come close to it.

It shone like a hand full of sparkles at my feet. Even though the staircase was made out of something solid, like navy glass, I felt like I was floating among the stars. Somewhere beyond Agaethi, or even the Milky Way. The higher the staircase rose, the more the scenery shifted, leaving way to myriad bubbles of memories of all shades and sizes. Memories of the faraway times, way before I was born. Memories of things, people, and places I should have never witnessed.

"Back then, people only knew of three things: survival, protecting those they love, and perpetuating their convictions and values." She pointed at the bubbles in the middle that gave off a turquoise luminance.

"The United Nation of Agoria, way before your people ever came to inhibit the Earth. We lived quite peacefully, beings of all races and abilities with only occasional internal conflicts." More than a nuance of sadness stained her lips. "No one ever felt the need for a ruler. They couldn't conceive the thought of being unable to discipline themselves enough and constrain their crazy impulses for shallow matters like wealth, beauty, and power." Images of snow-skinned beings, too tall and peculiar-looking to resemble humans appeared on the surface of the spheres. All were in lotus pose, poised before a temple floating in the skies.

"For them, peace and connecting to all there is meant life. They worshiped nature, the universe as a whole, and always seemed to emanate happiness and gratitude for their lives. It was common practice for everyone to meditate and laugh every single day.

"Sounds like an utopic world." Waving at yeat another bubble that showed the picture of a Centaurus stabbing his own fellows."But not everyone could lead such a life."

She nodded."Aurelius, you know the name. The lad ravished getting involved in business that never concerned him."

"The Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius?" My eyes went saucers."He knew of your existence?"

"Every great leader your world had known knew. They were all bribed, silenced by our Creeds and Spiritual Blenders."

"What about him? Why was Emperor Aurelius different?" Aunt Anoki extended her hands. One of the shiniest spheres floated towards her and tripled in size.

"Look."