Brain-Pan

“How Dig came into being is something disputed and trivial to us anyway.” Sedgewick moved his hands animatedly as he spoke. “Therefore, I will begin where history became relevant to you. Quite some time ago, after the Exiling of the Ancients and before the Uprising…”  

    It's just like that year in school. Memories flooded Vara’s mind. Memories of long hours with a tutor who reeked like cabbage. Thankfully, that family gave her up before she had to learn science.

    “…and that is why we have the word ‘cibus.’ And now, the etymology of--”

    “Um, Sedgewick.” Leo nodded toward Vara.

    “Oh! Um… wow.” Sedgewick stared at Vara, who lost within her own mind again, had forgotten to make her face look intrigued. Vara tried to cover up her bored face by lifting her suddenly heavy eyelids, and snapping closed her hanging jaw, causing her to bite her tongue.

    “I’ll be right back!” Sedgewick darted off as fast as his aged legs could move. From a distance, Vara could see the old man perusing piles of books, running his fingers of the spines to keep track.

    “Did I offend him?” Vara asked Leo, who was still on the table across the room.

    “No… Sedgewick is-- He is different.” The colorful lizard stood out amongst the dull grays and browns of the room as he made his way towards Vara’s seat.

    “Yes. He is strange. How did you meet him?” Vara quieted her voice, unsure if Sedgewick had a spare ear lying nearby.

    “I do not remember meeting him. We are both rather old, you know. He has always been here as long as I remember. Of course, there was a time when he was quite the celebrated scholar. He was well-respected in the realm of academia.” Leo’s voice had a strange way of showing emotion. Something… familiar…

    “Yes, but was he always like this?” Vara pushed herself up in her seat to see if Sedgewick was coming.

    “Well he has always been eccentric. But he got worse after his wife and son…” Leo trailed off. He must have known them.

    “I see.” Vara felt a burning in the pit of her stomach. She regretted leading the kindly lizard to such a sad topic. Silence ensued.

    A crash broke the quiet. The crash was that of large heavy books falling.

    “Here we are!!!” Sedgewick shrieked. The old man ran back in long strides. He held an enormous book in his thin arms. The man was quite a sight, with his tufts of hair flailing above his ears and his glasses askew.

    With a huff, Sedgewick set the tome on the table, dust clouding the air. He flipped the large pages open and reached inside the book. It was hollowed. After getting a good grasp on the thing inside, Sedgewick turned around toward Vara with a great, brass-plated cylinder.

    “I almost forgot about this one. I am quite proud of it, really.”

    Sedgewick, hands shaking with excitement, placed the cylinder on a pile of books to the right of Vara. He pressed a button on the top of the cylinder. The metal plates lowered, glimmering. Beneath the plates, was a spiraling crystal, with tiny scratches marring the nearly clear surface. The crystal seemed to light up the room, reflecting light this way and that, making fleeting rainbows as Sedgewick fiddled with it.

    The diamond stood on a tall brass base that had little knobs all around.

    Sedgewick darted towards the windows in room and pulled on a lever. Shutters slammed shut and the room went dark. Sedgewick pressed a button on the crystal’s base, igniting a small flame inside the crystal which projected images that flecked the black walls like stars on a cloudless night.

    “Now, let me tell you about Dig. Centuries ago, a tyrannical ruler squirmed his way into power. He oppressed the leaders of the tribes that populated the planet.” Sedgewick adjusted tiny knobs as he spoke, Vara saw the image of an angry man, sitting on a throne.

    “Yet one tribe leader stood up against this evil ruler. Many rallied with him, but the tyrant had already amassed an army, stronger and larger than the small rebel forces.” Drawings of war filled Vara’s eyes. “Soon enough, the rebels were forced into exile. They were placed on a set of barren islands, left to rot. The islands were primarily populated with lizards. The people starved until they were forced to eat the lizards, which to them were ugly and foreign creatures.” Vara glanced at Leo who shifted uncomfortably, not looking at the picture on the wall.

    “These people relied on the lizards for sustenance, but as they hunted the beasts, they soon realized something was quite strange. The lizards thrived in such a hostile place by eating rocks. When a lizard went a long period of time without eating rocks, its skin grew soft. That was--”

    “Hold on! Are you saying that my great-grandparent was a lizard? No offense Leo.”

    “What? Of course not! Now let me continue. These people, after eating the lizards and ingesting other dreadful items, developed an ability much like the lizards. These people acquired inhuman abilities. They grew great in numbers, trained for generations, and returned to their homeland. The people of Dig were still under government oppression. The exiled people, with the power of ten men, easily defeated Dig’s ruler and set up a new monarchy- a monarchy of peace and free market. Lizards were brought from the islands to the mainland and the royal bloodline became known to biologists, as cibus sapien. But twelve years ago, the kingdom continuing as it had for centuries, was overthrown by a dastardly plan. Xanfar, the king’s right-hand man, began to pervert the uses of the royal bloodline, by creating his own. He secretly recruited malcontents and trained them, making a new cibus sapien from methods I dare not speak. Along with the jealous Bakra, the queen’s older sister who was first betrothed to the king, Xanfar overthrew the monarchy. Bakra slew her own family and all with the royal bloodline, seizing control of Dig without a drop of cibus blood in her body.” Sedgewick’s voice quaked with anger.

    “And what happened to Xanfar?” Vara asked eagerly.

    “No one knows what happened to Xanfar. Some say he is alive still, his body disfigured by his own perverse use of cibus powers. Others say he was driven mad by the sight of the royal family’s death. A family he had been a part of. And that, Vara, is how Dig came to be oppressed by such a cruel mistress.” Sedgewick’s face showed eerily in the light of the crystal. “A saying has made its way through history about the royal bloodline with such strange abilities…

Be careful little eyes what you see.

For evil may soon surround you.

Be careful little hands what you touch.

For poison thorns prick through.

Be careful little head what you face.

For pride may sting like angry whips.

Be careful little mouth what you taste.

For life and death are on your lips.”

    Sedgewick’s eyes seemed to fill with fire, the candlelight reflecting in his eyes. He stepped toward Vara.

    “Vara, you are a cibus sapien. You are of the royal bloodline.”

    Vara’s mouth could not find the words to speak.

This part was about twice the size of the previous, I just couldn't break it.I hope it kept your attention, though.

God bless and don't forget to use YOUR brain-pan!

-Manny