She had never seen her friend so distraught, Ana thinks as she looks at Yachi. The events of the past few weeks have challenged them all but Yachi seemed to be taking it harder than anyone else.
Her mind drifts back to when she had first met Yachi. There was a sense of occasion then but nothing like this. She was the first student in the realm of the astral guardians, joining Lai and Yachi who had for years maintained the remnants of this once revered organization from opposite corners of the globe. Never before had the guardians gone beyond their Himalayan home for gifted youths to train and teach. But with neither Lai or Yachi in their homeland it was clearly time to break with tradition. While Lai and Yachi had not seen each other in the physical world for almost decade, the psychic links formed via their gifts allowed them to communicate across the globe every other day.
Who else could they trust? They knew they must pass on their knowledge, they were the last of a tradition centuries old. It was a simple choice ultimately, they went to the astra. And it was here they noticed Ana.
An aura could not lie. Yachi and Lai had watched her for weeks. She knew they were there but couldn’t fathom what they were; Ghosts? Demons? They soon spoke and in time Ana overcame her fear of these voices in her head and spoke back. Her mother, who also had some of their natural gift, also noticed and came to know Lai and Yachi. Slowly they taught Ana the many other possibilities of her gift beyond fortune telling and carnival tricks. They recognized she had the talent and a good heart so she became their first student. Lai and Yachi were careful and very protective as they took her under their wing... But then, they had come through some dark times.
At first the association was very loose. Lai would teach via psychic link or visit her in the astra. Occasionally, Yachi was there too. Her mother remained suspicious and kept a close watch on all this but independence was a way of life to her gypsy family and Ana was allowed free reign with her gift.
Soon there were more students. Sapi, who they knew from their Himalayan home was first and Yachi soon began to bring Mruyadgi and another of his friends, Xi.
As the classes continued Lai became more confident. All three students were naturally gifted. Lai just channeled their talents, gave them a focus. Much of their learning just came from practice and having someone else to share the experience with.
Over the years she had seen the school grow into the many astral guardians from all corners of the globe it had recently held and now, in a few moments of insanity, it had broken down to almost nothing.
She knew the disintegration of the guardians must be particularly hard on Yachi. He was rightly proud of the rebuilding from an isolated group of monks deep in the Himalayas to a global collection of astral planars from all walks of life. Each new planar had brought a unique perspective on their talents from their homeland, what they meant, how they were used. They had all learned much from each other, Ana had gained comfort to hear that people from all over the globe had her gifts and shared her experiences, some such as Lai and Zhani came from cultures where they were revered for their abilities rather than ostracized as she had often been.
It had been a simple choice for Ana to join her friend and former teacher when the rest of the high council was focusing on healing Lai. She couldn't let him feel abandoned after all Yachi had done for her. Yet there was little she could do to help him in the cyber-realm with all the problems it involved. Ana had often felt helpless since joining Yachi. She had spoken to Peta, the computer expert about the cyber-realm encounter where her fellow guardian Achachak died but she didn't really understand the questions Peta asked her, so it had been a short and fruitless conversation. She knew of the astra and auras not of computers and networks. Given these frustrations she was more than happy to organize this meeting with Dean and Mruyadgi. It would be good to have these two back with us, she thought, while she had not always got on very well with Dean, who she felt could be arrogant and bullying she didn't wish the fate of Achachak upon him or anyone and all reports of his generosity, such as with the computer system they had used to access this cyber-realm couldn't be denied.
So she had prepared the realm where they held their high council meetings, arranged the time with everyone and they should soon be arriving. She hoped Mruyadgi and Dean were feeling better than when she had last contacted them only a few days ago. While far from surprised at the lingering effects of their close call; as she was still shook up after her own brief and far less dangerous encounter, she knew how much everyone would appreciate seeing these two back to their old selves. And after the last week or two anything that could lift the group's spirits would be most welcome.
She detected a being on her psychic link, the presence seemed weaker than those she was used to among the other guardians she thought as she engaged it with a greeting. It was soon followed by another and two more which she also engaged but not before noticing that the first actually belonged to Mruyadgi who usually had one of the stronger astral presences of the high council, let alone the guardians. Well at least he was back us among the astra she thought as she completed the final psychic links. She and Mruyadgi were now joined by Dean, Yachi, the two new planars; Billy and Jason and Peta, their computer expert. The others had already welcomed Mruyadgi and Dean and were asking how they were feeling but it was clear to all the planars there that they were weak. While their astral profiles were clearly recognizable, they seemed lifeless and slow. The brief response of 'Good thank you' required extra concentration from the planars and it had little effect on the dull auras of the two recently returned planars. Ana reminded herself that it was an improvement on the last time she had communicated with them and she had no right to be disappointed, When Yachi came across the psychic link, 'Let us begin.. perhaps we can start with your experience Ana?'
Yachi had undoubtedly noticed what Ana had and quickly responded by moving into the meeting rather letting all the attention dwell on the two recently recovered guardians. And so Ana began retelling the dramatic events that took one of their old friends from them and beyond this realm;
'I was with Zhani, who is not currently planing with us.' Ana began referring to a guardian they had not seen or heard from since their recent high council meeting and subsequent split.
'It was my second trip into the cyber-realm. After a tricky start there were quite a few of us there and while we were all still a little sceptical of this bizarre new realm we were coming to grips with the strange new sensations involved in planing there. Like most of us, I was concerned as we returned to the astral realm, following Yachi's instructions to us all across our psychic link. When we arrived back to the ports there were several other guardians waiting to be transported from the cyber-realm back to the astra. While I now know that we were returning because of what had recently happened to our friends, Dean and Mruyadgi at the time I had no idea what was happening. None of us seemed to know but we were all similarly suspicious and concerned and thinking about it since I'm glad I didn't know of the attack on Dean and Mruyadgi and the dangers we were fleeing. We waited what seemed an eternity with enough doubts and fears of this strange new realm growing in our idle minds. However, thanks to our new friend Peta.' she motions toward Peta as she continues
'Soon there were only a few of us remaining; Zhani, myself and our beloved and dearly missed friends Achachak and Lai. And that's when we were attacked.
It was physical, of metal and wires. It had no aura or other astral qualities.' Her aura becomes translucent and its brightness develops elements of a dull grey as she continues, ‘One minute we were in the hub waiting for the ports to return to the astra and the next moment we were in encased and my astral sense became weak, Achachak and Lai were barely recognizable despite being next to me, I remember... feeling like I was entombed-'
'No, you must be mistaken, what attacked us was living, thinking. It was unlike anything we’ve encountered here, these robot creatures. It could have been of this cyber-realm but it was more astral, like us.' Dean interrupts sounding more like his old s
elf than when he had first arrived to meet them.
'Well what I saw was nothing like that and seeing as you weren’t there Dean I’d appreciate it if you didn’t tell me what you don’t know. I’ll remember what happened for the rest of my days and I’m certain that it’s unlike what you speak of.' Ana responds hotly. As the first and only lady on the high council Ana was used to clashing with other guardians, while Dean was used to being listened to and getting his way. In fact, this was not the first time they had disagreed and neither were in the habit of taking a backward step.
'Hold on you two. I think we’ve all seen enough arguing of late. All we want for now is to hear all the details from you both. After we have all the info then we can try and decipher what it may mean.' Yachi interjects and directs to Peta, 'What can you tell us of their encounters from your knowledge of the computers, Peta?'
'Ahh... Sure, first I have details of Dean and Mruyadgi' Peta responds slowly, taken by surprise at the abrupt change of direction in the meeting, 'So, for most of their session the behaviour I see from the network server is fairly unremarkable, they are behaving like any other type of web traffic. But then Mruyadgi's connection to the network becomes very weak, effectively disappearing from my reports and soon after both he and Dean disappear from the server logs and my reports.'
'That must have been when we were dragged from the cybersphere' Dean agrees with the report, 'Remember, Mruyadgi?'
'How could I forget' is his grave reply as Peta continues.
'When I first saw this I was surprised that the E-evac was later able to get you two away from your attacker and out of danger.'
'And luckily you did or we probably wouldn't be here with you now' Mruyadgi added and Peta continues outlining what she knows of their ordeal.
'I would have thought that after you two disappeared your connection to the server and to me would be lost. However you reappear in the logs a few minutes later and while it took several attempts, the E-evac did work. So your connection to the server seems to have remained despite dropping of the logs. There are still many things like this that surprise me with you astral planars and this cyber-realm. So Dean you think that what attacked you was another planar rather than a new type of internet traffic or computer software that you just hadn't seen before?'
'Yes, it definitely wasn't like data-trails or even cyberspheres and net-hubs and I guess it was different to what Ana saw,' he communicates slowly 'Because it was more, I guess human-like than the metals and wires which she spoke of but, I don't know that it was a planar it looked like something else again, certainly it was far more powerful than any of our astral profiles in the cyber-realm. Do you agree Mruyadgi?'
Mruyadgi agrees and adds that their attacker came at them from outside their cybersphere as well as dragging them from it during the attack.
'Really,' notes Peta, 'well I don't know how I could track it... it may not even be possible but I won't give up yet, there are many things we don't understand here, so hopefully once we know more I can find a way.'
'Nothing like this occurred to me.' adds Ana.
'So it seems we are talking of two different creatures' observes Yachi.
'And that's just what we've noticed so far' adds Jas.
'Well, let's just focus on what we know for now boys' Yachi responds quickly. 'What else can you tell us, Peta?'
'Not too much unfortunately, most of the network data relates to the planars, while there is a link between them and the network, we don't see all of what they see and we don't record all of the information they pass to us. I don't know what else I can say about what attacked Ana or Dean and Mruyadgi... I need to think more about what they have told us, maybe I can set something up so we can understand more of these creatures if they are encountered again...'
'Madre de dios!' Ana exclaims, 'I pray that it is not me that runs into either of these evil beasts'.
'So you were inside a cybersphere when you were attacked, Ana?' Peta asks.
'Yes. And I'm not sure I would ever leave them if what attacked Dean and Mruyadgi came from out there.'
'And the creature which attacked you, it came from within the cybersphere?'
'Yes. We were at the ports where we enter the cyber-realm when it attacked.'
'Will that help you Peta?' asks Billy, 'If the attack happened just outside the ports between this network and the internet, will that make it easier to get details of what happened?'
'It will' she replies, 'But it's no guarantee that I can find out very much about this creature. I still don't really know what I'm looking for, I've already reviewed the logs around the time when this occurred and there was nothing too unusual that I noticed. I can look again but I still don't really know what I'm looking for?'
'Is Achachak, well, is he still with us?' Jas asks the group. For some time there is only silence until Yachi responds,
'Unfortunately, despite the efforts of many of our fellow guardians, the worst has eventuated and our dear friend, Achachak, will not be returning from the astral realm to his physical body.' The mood remains solemn as silence quickly replaces Yachi across the psychic link until Jas, realising he has brought the delicate mood of the remaining planars down, hastily moves to another topic,
'So.. Peta, how did you get Dean and Mruyadgi away from this creature, whatever it was?'
'An E-evac. Though it didn't work when they first asked for help and I'm not sure why but neither of them responded to the commands from my computer. While this is strange it is not uncommon when accessing the internet, I've since investigated but found no details of anything particularly unusual, again. So I can't say if it was the internet or something related to the planars and their encounter.'
Jas continues once Peta is finished, 'So, it seems robots attacked Ana and... ahh, killed Achachak but other planars attacked Dean and Mruyadgi?'
Billy continues along his friend's train of thought, 'Yachi, what do you think's more of a concern? There could be thousands or even millions of the robots, Can they follow us through the internet and find our network? That's basically where Ana was attacked? And what about other planars like whatever Dean and Mruyadgi encountered? Could they be another entity that, like the cyber-realm has recently morphed from some mysterious power?'
'I don't believe anything like this has happened before, so I'm not sure if anything from the past is relevant.' Yachi says as he thinks of the history of the astra. 'It has been centuries since anything as monumental as the birth of a new astral world, little is known of how the astral realms we know actually formed.' He pauses before continuing, 'Though changes capable of creating a new realm could potentially create beings more powerful than anything we know despite many of us having spent many decades in the astra.'
'Aren't we forgetting something' says Ana. 'While the cyber-realm and the disturbance and all of these things seem to be throwing everything we know about the astra into turmoil, they don't necessarily explain every mystery we encounter in the cyber-realm. Psi spends all her time in the astra and Peta's report tells us that she was back in the cyber-realm. It's hard to believe she did not know of this disturbance before Yachi. Why did she not let the High Council know- was she trying to big note herself again? Much points to her being this disturbance.'