Many people think the Erea are human, just evolved differently. My society was once completely at peace. War was a word I had never heard said, and it didn’t even live on in the oldest of memories. War was something for myths and legends – like the legends of the Erea.

People believe the Erea were people whose world was utterly at war, and constantly. People say all the pain and hurt that they felt all the time was so awful that they needed a way to negate it all. And so they evolved with the ability to ‘retreat’.

That’s all it’s called. No special name, no special interest – seemingly, for people are secretly taken with this power. Apparently, to escape from all the pain, Erea can retreat from it all and lock themselves away in their minds where they no longer feel anything. They appear in the place where they are most at peace, doing something that calms them, even if they’ve never done it before – like an illiterate person reading, as I believe Shae’s mother did when she retreated. There, they could hide from all the pain until it was safe for them. People venerate this power, now that our world is utterly torn by war. They want a way to escape.

But is it truly an escape? Yes, it may save the Erea…but the consequences can be deadly for everyone else. At the moment, most Erea are leaders of warriors, simply because they usually live longer than the other warriors. But what happens when they retreat? They cannot lead their warriors any more, and they die. All of them. This happened with Iris. I just can’t believe it. The power seems more like a curse to me. I would never abandon my people, willingly or unwillingly. I’d die first. So should this power be revered?