"Truth is One: Sages call it by various names.

It is the one sun which reflects in all ponds;

It is the one water which slakes the thirst of all;

It is the one air which sustains all life."

—Rig Veda 3000 BC

Earth

Kingdom OM

2999 AD

I was falling.

Free falling through space at a speed barely visible to the human eye.

Something had gone wrong.

"Emergency," the flat, robotic voice rang through my small pod. "System malfunction," echoed as I fought through the force of gravity and managed to place my hand on the emergency fail—safe screen and slow down my descent.

As I breached Earth's atmosphere, I caught glimpses of barren landscapes devoid of all life. Wastelands of areas that at one time sustained human civilization. It was a heartbreaking sight. But before I could take in the devastation, my pod veered toward a pocket of land, sitting like a beautiful oasis among desolate ruin. Greenery, mountains, lakes, and oceans all came into view. But something was wrong with the electrical system, and I couldn't gain control. Everything flashed before me. Through the circular window directly in front of my eyes, I saw a quick view of a fluffy cloud, then the bright glare of the sun.

And then nothing but darkness.

As I fell in and out of consciousness, time seemed to stand still.

"You're going to be all right," a deep voice broke through the fog as I fought the oblivion determined to consume me. "Don't move. I've got you."

Moments later, I saw tanned hands unfasten my safety harnesses and gently lift me out of the pod. A human face so savagely masculine and raw, then flickered into something else.

A lion. A majestic king of the wild that had at one time roamed Earth, before they were driven to extinction.

It was something I had never seen before, and yet in an instant, before I could marvel at the sight, he was human again.

Darkness took me.

Everything seemed to flash before me. Brief snippets of a story I would one day have to string together into a linear tale that would make sense to me.

"Stay with me," the voice was soft as I was pulled protectively into a chest.

Was I dying?

"Please," I begged. For what, I didn't know.

Before I could find the energy to speak again, my body was hit with a wave of exhaustion as my mind was flooded with memories from the distant past.

***

My mother often said there were moments in one's life that would forever change the way we viewed the world. My first came when I was sixteen. I was living a happy life on the planet Akasha in a cocoon of peace and blissful ignorance.

"Siren, you must learn to control your emotions." My mother's soothing voice broke through the inferno that raged in my mind. "You cannot allow your Shadow to control you."

In that moment my innocence was lost to me forever.

She pulled me away from the giant screens, where I had just watched footage of the Cetacean Massacre, the brutal assassination of almost all my people on Earth hundreds of years ago. I saw people shot down in their homes. Explosions caused bodies to fall lifelessly to the ground. The screams of children fell on deaf ears. Painful pleas that are now burned into my mind for as long as I live. I had reached the age the Elders believed was acceptable to finally see our Cetacean history. The tragic horror our people had suffered.

I had never felt such rage.

The last time I flickered into my Shadow was when I was a child. And now as a young woman, I was unable to control myself—and my Cetacean ancestor emerged for a brief moment. I could feel the familiar tingling sensation in my forehead, like a thousand needles prickling my skin at once, the telltale sign I was about to flicker. Part of my face morphed into my dolphin Shadow, and I saw a vision of myself swimming freely in the ocean on Earth—among my Soul Particle ancestors. It took me a moment, before I could invoke the one word that would center me.

Arcana. My maxim.

Once the word came, I regained control and flickered back to myself.

My mother's ethereal face was etched with sadness and disappointment.

"My beautiful angel, your rage betrays you." she said as she watched me. "What you see is the way of man."

"This is not our way. We do not destroy. We do not kill." I yelled.

"No, it is not our way," my mother agreed. "But nevertheless, you must learn to forgive."

"How can we forgive this?" I asked in outrage as I pointed at the screens. "How?"

She smoothed out my brown hair as her bright blue eyes gazed into ones identical to her own. "My darling, what does this anger bring you?" she asked softly. "You only cause yourself distress. You cannot change the past or cruelty of man. You can learn from it, and choose a different way."

I looked away from her. My mother was always so calm and knowing. I had never even seen her Shadow. She could move on, but I could not forgive. Not yet.

Maybe not ever.

"Why did you show me this?"

"Siren. I want you to know your history," she explained as she knelt before me. "You and the three others are the future of our race and tasked with helping find a way for our Breed to live. How else can you fulfill your destiny? You have to know where you are going, who you will interact with, and why it is so important you never betray who you really are."

I looked away. How would I be able to coexist with these people, these other breeds, if I couldn't bear to even look at them? How would I be able to keep my secrets?

"How do you live with this?" I whispered.

"I live in hope," she told me with a smile.

"How can you expect me," I began slowly as my gaze narrowed on hers. "How can anyone expect—"

"Would you choose extinction for us?" My mother asked quietly. "After all this time, after all that was done to ensure our survival—must our Breed die?"