Arkhorza, The Origin: Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The Puppets

In his humble abode, Syzer could be found in the little workshop he had created. In this workshop there were an assortment of different materials he had created lining his walls. Wood, stone, fabric, wool, you name it and he had it in some capacity. His shelves were also crammed with various little creations, either created using his mind or created with his own hand. His floors were carpeted in material he had decided were no good for use. While he had many creations, there was one thing he lacked. Living things. And this is where Syzer’s greatest ambition began.

He launched himself through the air, grabbing an assortment of materials and landing in his rickety chair by the desk. He dropped all of his materials on his desk and simply stared at them, arms crossed. After a bit of pondering Syzer had decided what he was going to make. He wrapped differently coloured fabric around his hands like a glove and wove it together with a needle and some string, Black fabric for his black hand, and white for his white hand. Then, around his hands, he willed the needle to stitch together pieces of fabric to form two humanoid shapes on his hands, only lacking legs. He took the hand puppets off of his hands and placed them on his desk.

Syzer picked up the black puppet and looked at it, a tiny dot of his own black hand floating into it. “You will be named Nycthus.” Syzer said, “my shadowy side, quieter. And you,” he picked up the white puppet, a dot of his white hand floating into it. “Will be Faethus. My brighter side, loud and rambunctious!” and he put the two puppets down.

The two puppets sat motionless.

Syzer frowned, wondering why it hadn’t worked. He used his will to weave the pieces of himself  into the puppets as they began to vaguely glow and form eyes. Faethus had one eye in the centre of his face, deep and shadowy. Meanwhile his sister Nycthus had eyes like spotlights, bright and illuminating. Still, the puppets sat motionless. Syzer once again tried to think, as he put his hands into the slots of the puppets. As he did this, he felt a loss of control in his arms as the two puppets began to move. Shadowy tendrils formed from Nycthus, trying to pull herself off of Syzer’s hand, while Faethus formed massive claws to push himself off of him.

Syzer smiled widely, taking the two puppets off of his hands. In which, the two puppets seemed to lose all signs of life. He punched the table in frustration. Not yet accepting defeat, Syzer decided to try one more thing. He focused all of his mind on the two puppets, the same way he did to create his house. Nothing exists but the minds of the puppets, only focus on the minds of the puppets. Puppets. Puppets. Puppets.

And so Faethus and Nycthus stood, with minds of their own. The two immediately tried to run out of the house. “N-no! Wait!” Syzer cried, trying to run after them. And strangely enough, they did. He at first appeared confused but soon realised what had happened. “Of course, you have parts of me, you have my will!”

Excited and overjoyed, Syzer picked up his two puppets and dashed out of his workshop and through his house, kicking his front door open. Gorn, trying to create life themselves while sitting in their new bed, snaps their head over to him. They smile at the sight of him. “Gorn, Gorn, look what I made!” Syzer proclaimed, holding out Faethus and Nycthus in his hands to show them. They blinked, this had become a regular thing. Syzer would come out and show Gorn whatever new creation he had made. But this was different, as Gorn watched Faethus and Nycthus move by their own accord. And the old centaur centipede was shocked.

“You created life. Without using one of the voices? None of the voices are in there, right.” they said with a reasonable amount of concern, but Syzer responded accordingly. “Of course not! I don’t see why that would be a problem but of course not.” Gorn laughed and hugged Syzer very suddenly, which came as a surprise to the child. “You’re a prodigy my friend! A prodigy! Think of all the amazing things we can do with this wonderful discovery.. Life!”

“Yeah, I can have more friends to play games with. Only, these two don’t speak. I want more people like me and you.”

“That will come with time. How did you make these two?”

“I manipulated my will to form life in them. I also used tiny bits of me to make them.”

“Ah, I see. So we must come up with a way to create life without parts of us in them.” Gorn clapped their six hands together. “Very well. Leave me be Syzer, I have some work to do.”

“Okie dokie!” Syzer flew off back into his house with Faethus and Nycthus in hand, while Gorn began to experiment and create their own life forms.