NOVA Extra: The Author Interviews Shadow [WIP]

Q: Thank you for coming in for the interview today. So, to start off, just for the record…what is your full name?
A: My full name is Lilikhan Takh of the First Gyllei House of Tazikmier-Kalahanta…I'm interested to know why you decided to interview me without knowing that first.

Q: Ha, it's just for the record. But moving right along. Do you have any nicknames?
A: I suppose you could count my alias, "Shadow", as a nickname. But that's more business. Among family and friends I used to be called "Lilik."

Q: May I call you Lilik?
A: Only family and friends ever called me Lilik. Now I have neither, and that name is just an unfortunate reminder of when I did. I can name seventy-six ways I could torture and kill you should you try.

Q: I'll take that as a no.
A: You understand me correctly. Address me as "Shadow."

Q: Very well. Shadow, how old are you?
A: I'm about 182 Sahkolt, coming up on 183. [pause] You don't know what a Sahkolt is? Oh, alright, I'll use the Rikh timescale [1], although I dislike it…243 Rikh. [pause] In the name of Sey and Daea! That means nothing to you? Saulkher!! [2] I'm losing patience with this. Alright, if I were to compare to you Earthlings…I'd be in my mid-20s in your lifespan…are your units of time very long, or are your lives very short? I fear to ask.

Q: I'm not quite sure how to answer really. But next question. Where were you born?
A: I was born near the banks of the Savenet River in the nation of Exxa. Planet, Reyma, of the Casadel Major system. My clan remained mostly in the Exxa nation, even though the people were hostile towards Gyllei there, and we would've had better treatment in the Jeriome nation…better than frequent raids and massacres by the government's own army. Saulitheri… [3]

Q: We'll move on shortly, but I'd like to know a bit more about your people. The…Gyllei, was it?
A: Yes. I am of the Gyllei race. We are a nomadic, clan-based people in the Exxa, Jeriome, and Selah nations of Reyma. We travel in caravans, mostly traveling by land but also sometimes by water. My clan was the Tazikmier-Kalahanta clan--a fairly recent union of the ancient Kalahanta clan, and the powerful Tazikmier. In the Jeriome nation, we are treated well--revered even--for our powerful magic. If there has been drought we can bring rain to the fields. When there is plague, our magic can heal many devastating illnesses. We are honest in our trades and bring peace and good harvests with us. In the Selah nation, we aren't treated well or revered, but they don't actively hate us, we do our own thing--we keep to ourselves and the Selians keep to themselves--and neither interferes with the other, save for occasional trade or business dealings. In the Exxa nation, although it is the original home of our people, the government fears us because we do not abide by their laws [4], we do not let them dine with us [5] or ask to dine with them, and they fear our magic. They know they cannot control us, so they try to kill us off. Their armies are always raiding our caravans, massacring our clans, killing us off.

Q: I see, that's why you're being killed off, but tell me about your people? Your traditions, customs, rituals?
A: Why should I tell an outsider like you something like that?

Q: Alright, point taken. So, moving on. Where do you live now?
A: I drift around, but my main dwelling is in a cave within Mount Asaral, at the heart of the Seile Woods in the country Selah. Their are hundreds of caves in Mount Asaral, much of the mountain is a maze of tunnels--I have one that I call my home. I've set it up quite comfortably.

Q: Tell me about the cave, if that isn't too much.
A: May as well, since you brought me this far just to ask these questions…I won't tell you where in the mountain it is, but I'll tell you about the cave. There's seven chambers. The first one, at the mouth of the cave, is where I keep my meals. I cook them there, since that's where the entrance is, smoke from the fires can go through there. Most of my meals are simple--fruits and vegetables harvested in and around the woods, meat cooked over the fire from whatever I can hunt, a bit of linkae [6] if I'm hungry. I keep water there. I cook and eat there. That chamber leads into a second chamber, which I leave mostly bare, except when it is in use--I train and mediate there, so if necessary I can bring woven matts, targets for practice, dummies for striking practice, whatever I need. This room branches off into two others. On one side, the chamber that is my work area--where I keep my books, my records, my transmitter [7], my tools [8], most of my work items. It has some furnishings, a few tables and a bookshelf, boxes and bins for tools and supplies, a stool made from part of a tree trunk, a chair made from netted rope that hangs from the ceiling, similar to what you would call a hammock I suppose, that I can rest in when I read, should I not require the table…the only other chamber with a table is the one where I eat. Then in another chamber behind that one is my storage area, where I keep all of my weapons when they're not in use, all of my clothes, all of my preserved food, an extra supply of water…whatever I don't currently need, but need to keep close by. On the other side of the second chamber is a narrow passage to the chamber I rest in. It's set up with a bed I built. The structure is four large tree limbs that I stripped, then stood up as corners. They are tied to four more limbs which serve as tension rods. I used sinew to stretch an animal hide between those limbs. On top of that, I laid a Pikil fur [9] to soften it. I made a pillow by stuffing part of a Pikil fur with a mix of softened strips of hide and feathers, and I have two more furs as blankets when the weather is cold. There's plenty of traps I can rig in the doorways if I plan to sleep, so it's quite comfortable. My bow and my quiver sleep by me--I hang them on one of the corner limbs so they are always within reach. Bonding between a warrior and their weapon is sacred, after all. My altar is also located in that room--I always pray several times daily, with the way I make a living, I would surely burn for one missed prayer, Sey is unforgiving of those who are ungrateful in regards to her blessings. Behind that is a room where I clean myself at the beginning and end of the day--cleanliness is divinity, one who lives in filth will find his spirit filthy. In that room is a basin I can fill with water for cleansing my body, and another I use to carry out soiled water once I've used it to clean myself. My caves are well-equipped--I have woven several baskets I can use to bring food I gather into the caves, I have made ceramic bowls that I can cook linkae in and eat it from, and ceramic jugs to transport water, I have separate basins for clean water and soiled water as well as a wheel for spinning ropes from fiber and sinew…in the opening of the cave [10] there is a shade I have built from waterproofed hides, wooden shingles, and wooden posts, so that the rain doesn't flood my home if it falls heavy. I have ritual items--masks, drums, bells, flutes, staffs, feathers, symbols, images, horns, everything I require for my religion's ceremonies--stored by my altar. I have been there for some time, I've had time to build all I need…it's a home that suits me well.

Q: You've spoken quite a bit about your religion. You mentioned your altar, religious ceremonies, the sanctity of cleanliness, prayers, ritual items…you take your religion very seriously, then?
A: Yes. My religion is a very significant part of my life--it is what I was raised on, my people's cultural traditions and my family's history all stem, ultimately, from the fingers of our deities--Sey, the Great Mother Goddess; Daea, her consort, the Holy Protector; Miklaren, Goddess of the All-Seeing Eyes; Anklat, the Time God, who stores the past in his mirror of history, all of the Gods and Holy Spirits…their stories were to me, what is to you of Earth, your fairy tales, your Bibles, and your superheroes all in one. I was told their stories at night as a child, I sung their praises at our ceremonies of welcoming, initiation, maturation, arrival, matrimony, and departure [11], I worshipped them, I idolized them, I dreamed of them. It was what gave me my family, and now that my family is gone, it is what keeps me close to them. My family taught me all about our religion. It is a way to connect with them now that they're gone.

Q: So your family, that was our next topic. Tell me about your immediate family--your parents and your siblings, if you had siblings.
A: My parents were born members of two separate clans--my father, Azaliek Takh, was from the Nineteenth House of Tazikmier. My mother, Shosalei Eveim, was from the Ninety-Eighth House of Kalahanta. When the two clans were joined, part of the joining ritual was that the youngest unmarried house [12] of each clan would be placed in marriages. The clans' matchmakers recommended my parents to marry, and they agreed on the match--they were married within one Sahkolt of their meeting. My mother was a sorceress and a historian of the most ancient Gyllei clan in existence--she was a descendent of the prophet Ataylo Kalahanta himself, and she was very powerful and very kind. My father was a gifted craftsman and trader from a younger, but extremely powerful, clan. Her comprehensive knowledge of the roots of our people, and his expertise in where the branches had led, joined to form our family tree. I was the second of three children--my older sister, Khyorali, came 59 Sahkolt before myself, and my younger brother Joralemahon, 17 after. My sister was an incredibly powerful seer and psychic…she could have become a legend as a prophetess if she'd lived longer.

Q: Where is your family now?
A: They're all dead. When I was 53 Sahkolt of age, my clan was massacred by the Exxa army. My parents were both killed, as well as every other adult. My sister was the oldest one left alive--although it wasn't for the soldiers' lack of trying to kill her, Sey blessed her with the power to fend them off [note: One form of magic used by the Gyllei, which Shadow and her sister both could use, is called the "Hand of Sey" and it is the ability to harness elemental forces and use them at will--Khyorali's skill in using the Hand of Sey is one of the two main reasons the soldiers were unable to harm her, the other being that her psychic ability enabled her to predict all of their attacks before they happened and form a counterattack prior to their strike]. She protected my brother and some of the clan's other children and me, and we were the only survivors. She took the youngest to an orphanage, and then the three of us--Khyorali, Joralemahon, and I--set off to find another way to live. Khyo and I were too old to stay at the orphanage. Joral could have stayed, but he didn't want to--he chose to stay with us instead. Joral was killed a few Sahkolt later…it gets kind of blurry here, my memories of what happened…we were scavenging for food in a slum, and something went wrong…I don't remember who it was that killed him, or anything…but I killed them, I avenged my brother. it's all a blur from there. But I remember we wound up in one of the Thieves' Court gangs, working under the Thief Lord. I was 135 Sahkolt of age when Khyorali died. I don't remember much of anything about that, but…I remember I gave her a traditional burial outside of the Capitol City…and then I left all of the Capitol City, the Thieves' Court, the Thief Lord, all of it, behind. There was nothing left for me there. I wound up…here, alone. [13]

Q: Right, so here you are now. And how do you make a living?
A: If you didn't know what the word "assassin" means, why did you even request to interview me?

Q: So you're an assassin.
A: Blood trade. Bounty hunting and assassinations. What else do you need to know?

Q: Alright. Well, how tall are you? How much do you weigh?
A: I suppose you'll want me to use your foreign Earth measurements…very well. I weigh 170 pounds. And my height is….five feet, ten inches. Feet? Isn't that also what you call the lower extremities? Why do you kroukdameri [14] call a unit of measurement as a lower extremity? It makes no sense.

[to be continued]




[1] Because each of the planets in the Galactic Union had a different timescale, a "universal timescale" called the "Rikh timescale" was created. All local, national, and planetary governments have two clocks--one calibrated to their local timescale and one calibrated to Rikh timescale--for the sake of clarity in arranging Galactic Council meetings and other governmental activities that involved multiple planets.
[2] Gylleiak, "#%@*!!"
[3] Gylleiak, "#%@*ers…"
[4] Because the Gyllei are essentially gypsies--nomadic and unaligned in terms of citizenship and politics--and speak a different language than the majority of Exxa, and because they are clan-based and their laws are dictated mostly by their religious codes, and their justice system is a combination of the judgments of the clan elders and an open-forum democracy, they adhere to neither the laws, the legal policies, nor the governing of the High Order House or Parliament that makes up the main body of the Exxa government.
[5] The Gyllei are very secretive about their traditions and culture, and will not be very open with those who are not Gyllei about their culture or way of life. While this was meant to protect the secrets of their culture and powers from outsiders who may exploit them, it essentially backfired and made the Gyllei easy scapegoats and a highly feared, hated, and misunderstood cultural group. Because of this, when the military began massacring their clans, many civilians in the nation Exxa reacted with indifference or even excitement.
[6] Linkae: a rice-like grain native to the marshy areas in the northern hemisphere of Reyma.
[7] As a part-time member of the Shockwave Alliance, she keeps a transmitter so that she can be given job offers as they arrive, can request assistance--information, transportation, supplies, etc.--as needed, and can negotiate all fees and compensation prior to making an exchange.
[8] Tools for cleaning, repairing, honing, etc. her weapons, lock picks, night vision goggles, surgical tools and other medical supplies, monitoring equipment, etc.
[9] Pikil: a large, herbivorous animal with pronged horns native to the Seile Woods--it has long, thick fur
[10] The cave Shadow generally calls "home" is underground. The opening she uses as an entrance and exit is in the ceiling of the cave--she drops down to enter it and climbs upward to exit.
[11] Ceremony of Welcoming = celebrating the birth of a child. Ceremony of Initiation = similar to a baptism. Ceremony of Maturation = a coming-of-age ceremony where a child is given their first earrings and becomes eligible to participate actively in minor religious ceremonies. Ceremony of Arrival = another coming-of-age ceremony where a child proves they are ready to become a full-fledged member of the clan, is tattooed with the clan's symbol, and becomes eligible to participate actively in all religious ceremonies as well as clan meetings. Ceremony of Matrimony = marriage. Ceremony of Departure = funeral.
[12] The Gyllei refer to each generation as "a sacred house"--so the Nineteenth House of Tazikmier would be the 19th generation of the Tazikmier clan, the Ninety-Eighth House of Kalahanta would be the 98th generation of the Kalahanta clan.
[13] How these events really happened: Lilik and Joral were searching for food in one area (Khyo was searching another area and was going to come find them shortly) and stumbled across a slum. They searched through empty shacks for food and found one where there was a large box full of fruits, and they started eating without thinking. The shack's occupant arrived quickly, accompanied by several friends. He was startled to see a pair of strangers eating his food and called out to them, pulling out a knife and telling them to identify themselves. Joral reacted to the voice first--not speaking Exxam Eit, he saw the young man holding out a knife and thought he intended to kill them, and attacked. Being both smaller than the young man and weakened by hunger, he was overpowered within moments and killed right in front of Lilik. She ran at the man, screaming in Gylleiak (their native tongue) and killed him quickly by snapping his neck. She grabbed his knife as he fell and rampaged around the shack, killing 1 of the 4 people the shack's occupant had brought with him and injuring 2 more, when the last one standing was able to place a paralyzing hypnosis on her. The last one--a woman--kept Lilik still with the hypnosis and shocked her by speaking Gylleiak to her. She introduced herself as Eyaliat sal'Taig, wife of the Thief Lord, and explained what had happened. Lilik spat back that she didn't care why it had happened, the man had killed her brother. Eyaliat said, "You've killed him already, and two of my friends. Have you had enough revenge yet? If you have, then speak to me. What is your name?" Lilik replied, "What does it matter? My sister and I have nobody else in the world! Our entire family was killed off already…it was just the three of us left…and now Joral's gone…" Eyaliat said, "Tell me your name, and your sister's. I will try to help you two. It won't be enough to bring back your brother, or my friends, but there's enough blood here. Stop while there's still a chance for you and your sister to survive this." Lilik finally conceded and told Eyaliat their names, and then broke down crying. Eyaliat picked Lilik up and carried her out of the shack. Upon leaving the shack, she called out to somebody who was passing by to have the injured tended to, and then carried Lilik to the Master's Quarters (she was joined by a highly-alarmed Khyo along the way, and explained to her what had happened) where Lilik and Khyo were first introduced to Aram satak'Lin (also known as "Dragon"), the Thief Lord, who took the sisters in as apprentices and became their mentor, teacher, protector, and friend for the next 64 Rikh. In their 65th Rikh with him, Eyaliat became pregnant, and Aram stepped back from training Lilik and Khyo to attend to Eyaliat. After she gave birth, he spent some time helping her to recover before returning to Lilik and Khyo's training and his duties as Thief Lord of the Capitol City Thieves' Court. Shortly after he returned to training Lilik and Khyo, tragedy struck--Aram lost his wife and his infant daughter in one day: heeding a warning from Khyo that his family was in danger, he rushed home to find he was too late. Eyaliat lay dying, having been stabbed through the chest and fallen unconscious from blood loss. He tried desperately to save her, but nothing could be done--she was already too far gone. He was overcome by grief as he laid her body on the bed and looked into the crib, intending to find comfort in his daughter's face--but the blood-splattered crib was empty. He searched frantically for his daughter, but she gone. Khyo had stood in the doorway (having come along on his orders while Lilik, the quickest of them, ran to get backup) through most of this, but when Aram crumpled to the floor, weeping bitterly, she approached him to try to comfort him. When she touched his shoulder and tried to speak, he shouted at her--"You saw this coming, didn't you? How could you not tell me this was coming sooner? I could have saved them--we could have saved them! My family is dead because of you!"--and struck her hard. He was blind with rage and grief as he lashed out at her, beating her full-force and not even realizing when she stopped struggling. Lilik arrived and found Aram still screaming with fury and beating her sister's dead body. She struck him, throwing him to the ground and screaming "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!!" as she snatched up her sister's body away from him. She could tell immediately upon touching her sister's skin that she was already dead. When Aram hit the ground, he awakened from his blind rage and saw what was happening clearly--his family was gone and in his fury he'd accidentally killed one of his prized subordinates who had only been trying to help. Once the shock wore off, he started to cry and knelt in front of Lilik (who was saying a tearful prayer for her sister), apologizing again and again to both of them and saying he didn't feel he deserved the title of Thief Lord any longer, he couldn't protect his own family and didn't deserve the faith or trust of the court. He tried to pass the tile on to Lilik, but she looked up at him, pulled out a knife, and swung at him, not letting him finish his sentence. He dodged in time to not have his skull split on her knife, but she opened a long gash on his face and swung again, opening another gash on his face as he retreated hastily from her attacks. She yelled "You know what your wife told me? That time I didn't kill her, and she brought us to you? She said 'There's enough blood here'--well, what now? Is there finally enough blood for you? Well, too bad, you're not going to live through this one! You killed her! You killed my sister! You're a dead man!" as she attacked again, and he blocked her attack. The fight continued--Lilik attacking again and again, fueled by rage, and Aram, slowed by guilt, confusion, and grief, barely managing to defend himself--until the backup that Aram had sent Lilik to find arrived and stopped the fight. Aram stopped his subordinates from harming Lilik (although they were ready to kill her when they saw what was going on) and said, "Lilik, take your sister, leave the city, and give her a proper burial somewhere she would like. If you wish, you can return then, and we can discuss you taking over as Thief Lord. I'm no longer fit to hold this position." She spat at him and said, "This isn't over, Aram satak'Lin. And don't call me Lilik--only my family can call me that, now no one will ever speak that name again. I will return to this city, and when I do, it will be for one reason and one reason alone--to kill you." She then left the Capitol City, taking a few of her belongings and her sister's body with her, and gave her sister a burial at the foot of the tallest tree she could find in a grove by the Fa-Riyul river.
Why her answer doesn't convey this: She doesn't remember any of it. After burying her sister, she spent 2 Rikh isolated from all other people, having no contact of any sort with anybody. In that time, her memories proved too painful for her to handle, and she gradually (subconsciously) sectioned off all memories relating to her sister's death and Aram's betrayal, so that in her conscious mind she has no recollection of any of it. Because Eyaliat was so heavily involved in her memories of her sister's death, she wound up literally sectioning off any recollection of Eyaliat's existence rather than face the pain of knowing that that day, she not only watched her sister being killed by the man she had come to look up to as an older brother, but she also lost her goddaughter (Eyaliat and Aram's daughter, Yalil) and her best friend and savior (Eyaliat). Instead, she has no conscious memories of Eyaliat or Yalil, and she does not remember who killed Khyorali, or even that she was killed by someone--she just remembers that her sister is dead, and that she left the Capitol City to give her a burial and simply chose never to return. In NOVA, it's later a plot point that Shadow doesn't remember who Eyaliat is, or that it was Dragon who killed Khyorali. In Volume 1, when the NOVA operatives are battling Pain and his "undead summons", Shadow's battle against the dead Pain summoned to fight her--her sister and her brother--has just concluded, and she goes to check on Dragon. She finds him paralyzed by undead-Eyaliat's hypnosis (his other opponent already defeated) and pauses for a moment, thinking that the girl looks familiar, but is unable to place her face. Then the girl calls out to her: "Lilik…please, stop me…kill me…don't let this go on…there's enough blood, please, don't let me kill Aram…" and she draws a knife, preparing to finish Dragon off. Shadow leaps into action without thinking, finishing off Eyaliat and rescuing Dragon. As they move on, she tells Dragon, "This whole thing is horrible, sick…I'd stick around to gloat but I want to kill the saulithe who's doing this…you'll just have to thank me later for saving your life." and makes a mental note to ask Dragon later who the girl was, but in the events that transpire later, forgets to ask him. It isn't until Volume 2 when he speaks to her about the incident, thanking her for saving him but also apologizing to her, as fighting Eyaliat must have also (he believes) been very hard on her. She realizes he is speaking of the undead summon he had been forced to fight, and the name sounds familiar to her. She thinks to ask who Eyaliat knew her name, but thinks better of it and decides to take an indirect approach to finding out. She says, "It was necessary. She was about to kill you. She begged me to stop her from killing you…I didn't think, I just acted." He says, "Well, out of everyone who would have helped me, I would've thought of you last…you, I would think, would just let her kill me and move on, after what happened, with Khyo dying the way she did…or just kill me yourself while I was down. You always struck me as vengeful. But I guess even you're capable of forgiving and moving on…" When he says this, she sits bolt upright, realizing that there was some correlation between the death of "Eyaliat" and her sister's death. Slowly her memories resurface. She turns to face him very slowly and says, "It was you…you killed my sister…all this time it was you…" Dragon says, "I know. I still regret it, I never forgave myself for losing control like that…but at least you did…" He looks up and sees her with her bow drawn, an arrow pointed straight between his eyes. She is crying and says, "Tell me this is not true…tell me this memory is false…you wouldn't…you…why? Why?" Dragon is confused and says, "What are you doing, Lilik? All of a sudden like this? Calm down! What is happening to you? Did you forget all this time, or--" At that moment, he pauses. "You didn't remember. That's why you didn't kill me when you found me on the Yima. That's why you didn't speak about Eyaliat to me, why you didn't kill me when you had the chance. You didn't remember what happened…"
[14] Gylleiak, "strange people of other homes"--essentially, "weird foreigners" or "crazy aliens".