The intricately carved arches of the entrance gave way to crumbled sections of beautifully curved buildings, each higher than the next. Multiple windows and bland paint made for a bleak and depressing scene. Other than the harsh rasp of the crows, or the lonely howl of an abandoned dog, my foot steps were the only sound echoing off the desolate streets. As I sink to my knees before the ruins of my city, my home. I cry and remember. I remember how it all started. I remember why I am alone.

"If you don't get up, I'll give your presents to the dog, last warning." My mom never did manage to get me up on time.

"I'm up, jeeze, I thought you were supposed to be nice to me on my birthday."

"I'll be nice as soon as you get down here."

"Fine, fine, I'm coming." That's me, my sixteenth birthday. Where I live, every boy is given to the Strivs on his sixteenth birthday. The Strivs are an alien race than is supposed to take our people and teach them to use the full potential of their brain. They're an odd race, usually somewhere around seven feet tall, although they're very skinny and have sharp features; they are missing mouths, so they talk telepathically. The oddest thing about the Strivs is their similarity to plants. They don't eat; they only need sunlight and constant moisture. Disturbingly, no one can prove if they do open your brain potential because no one has ever come back with memories. The Strivs won't let them tell us about what happens. Of course, the Strivs send some people back to serve as parents to the rest of us. Why or how they decide to send people back is a mystery. Today is the first, last, and only day of my life. I look in the mirror at myself for the last time for awhile. My messy black hair can only be tamed at the cost of nearly a bottle of gel, so I don't bother anyways. My hair doesn't bug me, but my height does. I'm only 5'1" and the shortest in my class. But, as things go, I don't believe I look all that bad, though I wonder if that will even matter.

"Hurry up and pack. Your father and I have gifts for you."

"I'm already packed and I'm coming, so just be patient for another fifteen seconds, sheesh."

"Zane, be nice to your mother. Jess, be nice to Zane." That's my dad, always the peacemaker.

I finally get down to the main room of our massive round living building to see the few presents my parents have set out on the table. The Strivs don't like many personal objects, so we have to pack light.

"So what'd I get?"

"Open the presents and see, Mr. Impatient."

"Fine Mom, but I had to get impatience from somewhere."

I'm finally allowed to open the first present. Inside I find a few engraved dog tags. The first says: "Home," the second: "Family," the third: "Spirit."

"I...wow...thanks Mom and Dad." I put the tags on right then. I still wear them, never took them off. The second present is a teenager's dream come true: an inch-thick disk that looked like a flat raindrop as big as my head.

"You guys saved enough to buy me a hoverboard? That's awesome!"

"It took awhile, but we figured it would be a nice going away gift."

"Thank you so much guys." You see, on my world, anyone at any age can fly hovercars, because there are different lanes, one for each age, until 20, when there's only one lane. But a hoverboard can bypass any age limits. And it's the fastest object a person can ride, faster than a hovercar. I was looking over my new hoverboard when the City bells rang; fourteen bells as big as two-story houses rang every day to call the new sixteen-year-olds to the stations with enough noise to literally shake the buildings. "Well, bye then guys," I said as I hugged them both, gathered my things, and sprinted out the door into a world I was utterly unprepared for. The trip takes two years in stasis, so techinically we're 18 when we get to Strivvic 'Naa, the Strive home world, but the anticipation erases all fears. I slowly step into the small, form-fitting pod after storing my things next to me, and close my eyes.

***

At least, that's how it's supposed to go on the trip, but I was unlucky, a first. I lay in that little pod for two years, slipping in and out of sanity. I didn't go to sleep, because the pod kept me awake with constant nutrients. I eventually lost track of time. I couldn't even move because the pod kept me motionless. And so two years passed, second after slow second going by as years. But I couldn't die. I cried because the pod wouldn't let me die.

***

This one's awake. Poor creature never slept, said strange voices, voices in my head, a saving change from two years of sleepless insanity.

What will we do with him?

Test him with the others. Open the pod.

I was finally free, but they kept me down. I panicked and tried to shout at them through my mind to let me go, but they withdrew and I couldn't talk to them anymore. I flailed until I felt something like a warm sensation ease through my body, flowing from my mind. I fought it at first, out of panic, but it felt good, like a relief from everything. But at the edges of the sense, there was a stench of deep depression that came from the Striv connected to me. I groggily stated this: "You're so sad. Why?"

Because I have to destroy all the lives and emotions of every one of you. But do not worry, it is my punishment. You are fine now little one, fragile one and that is all that matters... You can sleep now.

And I do, I sleep for the first time in two years.

***

Wake up Zane. The voices again.

"Eh? What's happening? I didn't do it," I say groggily. This brings chuckles, a room full of them.

You did nothing wrong fragile one. We wish to tell you something. Everyone has been tested, even you. Your...interesting trip has opened something in you that even we do not fully understand. This new ability seems to embody an entirely new entity channeled through you. See for yourself.

And then, the most amazing thing happened. I turned blue and semi-transparent. And wings, the wings too. Strange things with thin membranes, as glowing and transparent as the rest of me. It was the coolest thing I have ever seen. But then I started talking, or to be more exact, my body started talking without me.

"The Wanderers are unhappy with your race." I guess you could say I said this, although I had no control anymore. Even my thoughts weren't my own anymore.

"If you claim to be against us, explain the charges." The Strivs are obviously speaking aloud for my benefit.

"These people are being imprisoned. You free their minds then enslave their bodies. The Wanderers have deemed this wrong. Now suffer the repercussions of your actions."

This is all I can clearly remember. All I can see afterwards is something that is...vague. I can remember feeling something like rage, but it was mixed with a sense of satisfaction at first. Then I felt guilt. I felt those people die. I felt two worlds slowly but completely erased. I felt the blue entity inside me destroy it all. Then I blacked out.

***

And so my tale comes full circle. I woke up back at the entrance to the glorious city I left. But changed. I remember my childhood, but not what happened between Strivvic 'Naa. I don't care anymore what happens. It's over. I have nothing. No way to go anywhere, no one to talk to, nothing to eat or drink. I am essentially doomed to die. I can sadly say I'm almost glad to go. But now I can remember the ruthlessness of that blue creature as it killed everything. "Why did you kill them all?!" I shout, full of hate towards this being that has invaded me. "Why did my people have to die if we were the imprisoned ones?! Tell me now! The only reason you were here is because you were in my body, so I deserve an answer!!!" In response, the blue light inside me manifests itself outside my body.

"If we had not, some would have survived. Those that did not reveal the existence of the Wanderers would restart the system. It was hoe they were raised. But you have seen more than them, you are more awake. Even the Wanderers cannot begin to imagine the depths of your brain and conscience you have gained control of. We are impressed, and wish to study you."

The things I then shouted were vulgar enough to unnerve even the Wanderer's monotone and emotionless features. In other words, its eyes went wide and it cocked its transparent eyebrow (at least I believe that that's an eyebrow, transparency makes for odd features). But then I began to wonder, what do I have left? What could I possibly lose by going with it? So I decided. "What do I get if I do come?"

"A home, a new family, and a chance to search your confused spirit. You will see the wonders of every galaxy with us, as one of us. You will have the ability to right the wrong, to fix the broken, and to save the doomed."

The gears in my head worked furiously. What if the Wanderers caused the wrong by creating their version of right? If they believed that if there was no hope for something, they were destroyed, what kept them from passing this on to other races? What would happen if I fixed the wrong by becoming a Wanderer to destroy them? Was I willing to destroy myself? After two endless years and an eternity of torture watching two races die, yes, yes I was. "I have decided to become a Wanderer."

End of the Beginning