Yarp is the Sky

The forest thinned.

Elorae stepped past the final outstretched branches and stood at the edge of an open world. The trees no longer protected her. Above her stretched a vast sky in a blinding hue she didn't yet have a name for—bright, endless, too bold to be real. Turm? No, didn't feel right. Perhaps yarp. As yarp as the sky... it had a bit of a ring to it. She made a note that once she met a denizen of this world to learn the proper names. For now, though, the sky was yarp.

Now that she was in the open, she could see far. Much too far. Seeing as far as she could, no ether to cloud her vision, made her feel far more exposed than before. Elorae closed her eyes and steadied her breath. She had already done the unthinkable. Bridged the gap between worlds, traversed through the cracks in reality. If she could do that, then this should be easy.

Eyes open, Elorae cast her vision afar.

Towers. On the horizon, still distant, there was evidence of a city. Even better, somewhere inside, she felt it.

The idea she had lost, the one that had spilled in the crack, the one that had been the cause of so much trouble. Had she not gone outside of her demarcation she would have never been **** to Vaelith. Had she had the wisdom to listen to her superiors, she would have never had to risk her life to find it again.

And yet she hungered to find it. It was, after all, her creation. How had it grown? How had it blossomed? Was it thriving in its new host? And there was a host, she was sure of it. Its pull was like a second gravity, her eagerness to see it doubling the effect.

Stepping forward, she flinched. The surface of the ground was no longer the soft grass. It was hard, flat, most certainly not natural. It stretched off into the distance, like an arrow toward the city. A road! The creatures that inhabited this world had made roads. Roads and cities, just like Elorae's own home. She wondered what other similarities existed.

A howl split the air.

A huge shiny metal beast surged toward her from the distance—impossibly fast, growling like it was made of fury. She stumbled back as it raced past, a blur of motion and colour she couldn't name. Another followed. Then another.

She watched, awestruck. These were not animals. They had no hunger, no breath, no ether. They were hollow, but they moved with purpose. Artificial creatures. Inside she could see... humans! Just like her, only wearing a blindingly intense mix of colours, including her favourite: yarp.

Their bodies and hair, too, held the colours of the world. One zipped by with a bright, warm coloured hair. The next with hair so dark it reminded her of the nighttime. Yet another with hair with a colour she recognized from the bark of the trees. She decided to call that colour bark.

If there were humans, that made these artificial creatures useful.

She stepped forward again, raised a hand, and tried to signal.

The creatures ignored her.

And so she tried another tack.

Her fingers trembled. The idea of reaching for her power felt… dangerous. She wasn't here to disrupt this world. Not like before. But if she wanted to reach the city, she needed help. And help wasn't coming on its own.

Besides, this was a new world. No watchers. No Regulators. No permission.

Just her.

The freedom was terrifying. Just like stepping out of the forest and seeing to the horizon, the lack of structure for the use of her power made her overwhelmed. Overwhelmed and excited.

She centered herself and let the shimmer build in her fingertips. Not wild—measured. A delicate idea, just enough to shape thought without erasing will. Not domination. Just... a suggestion.

You see a someone in authority. You want to help.

She focused on one of the approaching metal creatures, choosing one smaller, rounder, with a softer colour. She let the idea fly.

The creature slowed.

The creature stopped.

A moment later, the door creaked open and a large man in a uniform burst out, breathless, red-faced, eyes wide with reverence. He hurried to the back and opened a second door with a flourish.

"Your Highness," he panted, "please—please allow me to drive for you!"

Elorae hesitated. Guilt pricked her. Your highness? Had she used too much of her power? How susceptible were these humans?

"I'm not…" she began, then caught herself. He can't know what I am. He only knows what I made him believe.

She slipped into the back seat. The inside was too cold, too angular, but clean. Like someone had tried to engineer comfort instead of feel it.

The man leapt behind the wheel.

"This is your... transport?" she asked.

He blinked at her in the mirror. "Uh—yes, ma'am. My car."

She repeated the word to herself silently. Car. A name for the beast.

The car began to move. She watched the world slide past in smears of impossible colour.

"You're very kind," she said quietly.

He straightened. "I—I live to serve, Your Grace. Anything you need."

Elorae was shocked. The small amount of her power that had been utilized, the tiny sliver of an idea, seemed to have rooted deeply in this man and changed his entire perspective. She would have to be careful.

Still... it didn't hurt to test...

...for science...

"Anything?" she asked.

He nodded, eyes still on the road.

"Would you... please sing a lullaby? Like you would to a child."

To her surprise, he immediately began to hum, then softly sing—a sweet, wobbly melody about stars and sleep. He seemed confused by his own actions, but couldn't stop.

"I'm sorry," she said, realizing how deeply her power had penetrated into this man's core being. "You don't need to do that anymore."

He stopped mid-note, embarrassed.

"Thank you, Your Worship," he mumbled. "But—I hope it pleased you?"

"It did," she said, a little too quickly. Then added, softer, "You're not a servant. You really don't have to act like one."

"But Your Highness, it's my purpose to help you," he said, like it surprised him.

Shit.

Elorae knew that there was no alternative for this man. Her power was far too potent on this world, and her first attempt to use it had changed this man in ways she had never intended. There was no way around it, he would forever be hers.

She turned her attention back to the window. Everything was so intense here— colour, distance, shapes, all of it an **** to her senses. Still, she didn't hate it. It had a sort of beauty of intensity. She wished she understood it more. The idea of being able to document it, share her findings on her return home, was enticing. But it was an idea she dismissed. Without seeing it, people would never be able to understand the context of what she spoke. This experience was for her and her alone.

The city grew closer, swelling with each passing moment.

Somewhere inside it, her idea was thriving. It had fused to someone, changed them. She didn't know if it was beautiful or monstrous now. But she would find it. She had to. Her power might be potent on this world, but back in her own world she would require help, the kind that she hoped her lost idea could provide.

The car dipped into the chaos of the city's outer edge, swallowed by lights and motion.

She leaned forward, eyes wide.

Closer. So much closer.

And when she found the one who carried her spark… she would finally see what her creativity had become.