Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 66222 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 331(@200wpm)___ 265(@250wpm)___ 221(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66222 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 331(@200wpm)___ 265(@250wpm)___ 221(@300wpm)
“Sorry,” Harry said, knowing that it was a sore subject for Seyn. He patted Seyn’s shoulder. “He’s not a monster, you know.”
Seyn scoffed. “He’s your brother. Of course you’d say that. Anyway, I’m not here to talk about that asshole.” He looked at Harry curiously. “What’s wrong, Harht?”
“Harry,” Harry said. “I got used to the name and I like it very much.”
Seyn just nodded. “So, what’s wrong? You give off some really negative vibes.”
Harry sighed, waved his hand to remove the 3D image of Earth and opened the security settings of the room.
“What are you doing?” Seyn said.
Harry silently turned off the cameras and looked at his friend. “I don’t have the bond to Leylen’shni’gul anymore.”
“What—Are you serious?” Seyn said, wide-eyed. Of course he was shocked. It was unheard of.
Harry nodded. “I felt it gradually weaken on Earth and then it kind of broke, I think? Just the night before my parents recalled me, actually.” He fought a blush, remembering that night, and said quickly, “I thought the bond might rebuild when I returned home, just like my other telepathic links to my family, but it’s been twenty-two days and nothing has happened. I don’t know what to think.”
Seyn was frowning. “Have you talked to Leylen’shni’gul? Does she still feel the bond on her end?”
Harry shook his head. “She’s still in that boarding school on Meniiuf II. No communications are allowed unless it’s an emergency.” He hesitated. “I don’t know if I should tell anyone.”
Seyn raised his eyebrows. “Why not? I’m sure the mind adepts will just reestablish the bond. I mean, it’s been in your mind forever; it shouldn’t be hard.”
“I...” Harry bit his lip and glanced around the room, paranoid that someone would overhear. “I’m not sure I want the bond back.”
Silence.
When Harry dared to look at him again, he found Seyn staring at him.
“Okay,” Seyn said slowly. “Who are you and what have you done to my best friend? You always made fun of me when I bitched and whined about my bond to your brother, and now you suddenly don’t want the bond, either? You never had a problem with Leylen’shni’gul.”
Harry sighed. “It’s just...” He ran a hand through his hair. “I feel so much better without it. I feel like I was half-blind all my life. All my senses are better now.” It was true. The world felt much more vibrant, the colors brighter, his senses heightened, his telepathy much stronger. He felt better, stronger, more. He’d never been against the bond before, but he hadn’t known what he’d been deprived of. And now he couldn’t imagine going back to that.
On the other hand, if he got bonded again, maybe he would stop feeling so... terribly achy on the inside. Apparently negative emotions were much stronger now, too.
“I don’t get it,” Harry said. “Why does the bond make our senses worse? We’ve always been told the bond improved us.”
Seyn looked away, his pale brows drawing close.
When he spoke again, his voice was tentative. “I’ve heard some rumors when I was on Planet Bienr last year... I thought they were bullshit, but... maybe they weren’t.”
“What rumors?”
Still frowning thoughtfully, Seyn played with a lock of his long silver hair. “They have these legends... of the Contact with our ancestors. They were scared of them, Harht. They claimed that some of our ancestors could kill with their minds.”
Harry started laughing, but when he noticed how serious Seyn was, the laughter died in his throat. “Surely it’s not true?” he said.
Seyn shrugged. “It’s been thousands of years. I always thought it was fucking weird that our history books were so hush-hush about the decades between the Great War and the Bonding Law. The Contact with Planet Bienr happened around that time, too.”
His brows furrowed, Harry considered it. It was true that the sixty years between the end of the Great War and the introduction of the Bonding Law were barely documented. What was well known was the fact that the biological weapons used in the war affected the population greatly, making women infertile and worsening the quality of men’s sperm. Desperate to save the population from going extinct, Calluvian scientists started an experimental genetic program that aimed to fix people’s reproductive systems. It had fixed it, but due to limited testing, there had been unforeseen consequences. The genetic experiments had caused mutations of various kinds, bringing back extinct physical traits and affecting people’s telepathy. The historical database didn’t have much detail, only mentioning that the non-physical mutations disappeared when the Bonding Law had been implemented. According to the Council’s reports, the disappearance of the telepathic mutations was just an unexpected side effect of the childhood bond.
“But what does that have to do with the bond dulling our senses?” Harry said, bringing his knees up and hugging them. Since his return home, he found himself constantly craving the comfort of physical touch humans gave so freely. While Calluvians did touch each other, they did it mostly behind closed doors and far less frequently than humans, preferring telepathic touch. Harry wondered if this newfound craving for physical touch had to do with the absence of the bond. He tried not to think of another reason for his need for physical comfort. Thinking about it hurt.