Saints: It Begins

2 ACE

He had been coming and going. In and out of consciousness for as long as he could remember, and remember was a bad choice of words at this moment since there was significantly little he could remember. He saw himself in flashes, in various places wearing some kind of uniform with A.C.E. written in cursive around the spot above his heart. He also saw, in some other flashes of what seemed like memories, the same abbreviation in the capsule as they were prepping him for transport. Who “they” were was lost on him and where this transport was going was a mystery but these memory flashes only helped to draw one conclusion: My name is Ace.

Ace, from what he could gather from the flashes of memory that came to him, was supposed to be in a deep anaesthetic sleep. Therefore, when he first started to see the old woman’s stooped image flickering in and out of focus in his mental vision like a weak video signal was being transmitted directly into his brain, he assumed it was due to some hallucinogenic effects of the drugs used on him.

Then the images were no longer of the old lady alone but as time wore on, the image of the old lady sharpened into one of her standing in a forest and beckoning Ace impatiently to come along and follow her then she would turn and leave, going with the whole vision and leaving his mind blank for a while. Then the memory flashes he’d had over a hundred times by now would return to haunt him.

Then, one day- or night, or whatever time it was outside his mind- Ace noticed that, when the old lady and her environment appeared in his mind again, they were in the highest definition of focus. Ace wondered if he had been dreaming about the strange sensation of flight and the beeping and bopping of machinery, which sometimes penetrated his consciousness from time to time. If he had dreamt up the bumps and thuds he heard or felt, whenever whatever he was flying in hit something or encountered some turbulence.

But no, something in the back of Ace’s mind was telling him that this was the dream. But everything looked and felt so real that it was close to impossible to even imagine that any of it could be a product of hallucinations. No drug ever manufactured by man should be able to induce such detailed imagery in anyone’s mind.

Ace had ‘woken up’ on his back in the forest he’d been seeing the old lady in. there were sounds of various animals, insects and birds. Some of these sounds were familiar to Ace, the throaty croak of toads, indicative of the presence of some swampy water nearby, the chirps of some birds and their hatchlings in their nests high up in the trees and the screeches of some birds of prey soaring high overhead in search of their next meal. Even the creaking of the crickets, as they were disturbed out of the grass by Ace getting up made familiar sense to him.

However, upon all that, this forest still felt and looked alien to Ace. There were some animal sounds that sounded so out-worldly and unfamiliar – not that his memories were anything to go by. The trees also looked weird because, if memory served, trees were supposed to have green leaves and brown trunks. But the trees in this forest were variant in leaf colours and the trunks were alternating between many shades of brown, from trunks so light they were almost white to those that were so dark, they appeared almost black.

Are you coming or would you like to take in the scene a bit more? said the crackling voice of the old woman, which caused Ace to turn to face her.

Well, come on boy, we don’t have all day. She said, turning around to leave just like in the visions he’d been having earlier.

Ace realized that he hadn’t heard the old lady’s words with his ears but rather directly in his head. The voice had no language but somehow he understood it. By now, it was obvious to Ace that the old lady was definitely not human, what with the pointy ears and, on the few instances where he got to see her with her mouth open, pointy canines which formed a complete set of short fangs.

The strands of her hair were very white and so were her – eyes! Ace could see the outline of the iris and the patterns in them and the black of the pupils but the eyes were definitely white, speaking of eons of accumulated wisdom far advanced and beyond the age she looked. The old lady’s skin was well wrinkled but had a certain pearlescent hue to its complexion that could be descriptive to no race Ace could think of or remember. But, then again, what did he remember anyway?

“Um, excuse me, but who are you?” Ace asked the woman as they walked along a dirt path that passed through the grazing fields of some very dark coated deer as stoutly built as horses if not more. The bucks in the herd seemed even nobler with their heads held high, supporting antlers like crowns – the envy of all who saw them. One buck, obviously the dominant male of the herd due to his even more majestic poise and head of antlers, stood on a small hill like a statue, watching protectively over his herd. They paid no attention to Ace and his travel-buddy, as if they didn’t even know they were there.

There was a prophecy that one, of the ancient world, would come into our world and herald an era of freedom for all the oppressed. The old woman began, speaking, or not, in that way of hers that sent chills racing up and down Ace’s spine and throughout the rest of his body.

The Adwin and Akoma sent six of their number out into Xanap to search and train those they thought would be the fulfilment of the said prophesy. However, since the ancient one in the prophecy never came to Xanap, the task of tutoring the six have been handed down through the generations in anticipation that, one day, the prophecy would come to pass.

“So you are one of the six then?” Ace asked, a bit fascinated and confused by the story he was hearing.

No, I am the one before the six.

“Huh? Wait, let me get this straight, so first the Adwin and the Akoma sent out six people to find and train six others whom the first six thought were the ‘chosen ones’?”

Yes.

“And, for the longest time, the six haven’t found the right six for the prophecy yet?”

Correct.

“But you are not one of the six. You are the one before the six.”

Yes. This was laden with a lot of frustration, which was evident in the extra wrinkles that appeared on her face.

“Right, now that that is out of the way, explain.”

I am on assignment for the ancient ones and not the Adwin and their cohorts. When the prophecy was given, the ancient ones foresaw a seventh, the one from the ancient world, who would set everything in motion. They preserved me to train him in all he needed to know in order to fulfil his destiny, even before the Adwin sent out their first six. Ace could read a little pride in her tone as she spoke – or thought or whatever.

“And you think I’m that ‘chosen one’?” there was no answer. “So, tell me, what makes you so sure that I’m the person you’re after?”

An asteroid knocked your ship off-course. Your trajectory is now for Xanap. She said matter-of-factly, as if this explanation solved all the mysteries of the universe. Then, she impatiently added; if your curiosity has been satisfied, I will very much like to begin my assignment.

***

The training started in earnest as soon as the old alien-looking lady brought Ace to a waterfall, the entrance to a very spacious and homely cavern. By way of introduction, she asked Ace to refer to her as ‘Master’ while she insisted on calling him ‘Nuchu’.

She took him through a series of exercises and teachings, which she called ‘Suban’. This involving seven lessons divided into two parts, ‘Hunam mu Suban’, the physical part consisting of lessons in ‘Kordada’, a fighting style (which the Master kept referring to as a dance) where he learnt how to fight with his bare limbs and then with many different weapons, some familiar and some not so much.

There were also lessons in peace making and keeping, humility, honour and justice, laws and varying legalities among the people of the planet and the general histories, legends and myths of Xanap. As an afterthought, the master also taught Ace how to speak the common tongue of the ‘Pact’ and that of the ‘Ancient ones’.

After what seemed like many, many months- though Ace noticed no sunsets or sunrises- the master said, the six waiting for you on Xanap are also at the level of training I have brought you to. As she spoke, Ace realized that, he had been so engrossed in the training secessions that, he hadn’t notice that his Master was regressing in age.

It seemed that with every passing meeting since the first, she had been growing younger and younger, like someone with an accelerated form of the Benjamin Button disease. Now, she looked as old as a preteen on earth, probably a ten-year old.

A great storm is brewing ahead of you and it is time for the seven to assemble. So WAKE UP. She said, then, all was white.