Sky Ain’t The Limit – Prologue – ScarsLikeVelvet

Prologue or The Ins and Outs of Sentinels and Guides

Sentinels and Guides were known to the world for a long time and considered by history as its staunchest protectors. Some parts of society adored, really worshipped them on occasion, while others considered them an abomination, albeit a useful one. One that could be forced to work in dangerous jobs where their abilities could do the most good, be used to their full extent, and where those who hated Sentinels and Guides alike didn’t bat an eyelash if they got hurt or lost their lives.

General society often considered them a bit of a myth because while they were not exactly rare, most Sentinels and Guides did their very best to hide what they were to protect themselves from being forced to work in professions they didn’t feel drawn to.

While society considered them all the same, in that Sentinels were the ones with heightened senses who needed Guides to keep themselves on an even keel, they were so much more.

Sentinels, in general, were people with all five of their senses enhanced to levels far more acute than a normal person could ever hope to achieve. They were able to see, hear, smell, taste, and feel everything many times more than the normal human would ever be capable of, with or without technical enhancements.

A Sentinel could read the fine print of a newspaper from like fifty feet away with no problems, tell how many people are in a closed room from the body warmth these people give off as well as the number of heartbeats through the walls separating them. They could listen in on conversations in rooms that were considered soundproof, and many more things.

They were also able to piggyback one sense on another with training to enhance their senses even further, and some had an additional ability, a so-called sixth sense, which could, for example, be empathy on par with a Guide’s ability to sense emotions.

Of course, those abilities didn’t just come with positives. The sensory input a Sentinel deals with on a daily basis can become overwhelming quickly. Imagine being able to hear a pin drop in the apartment across the hall, and then being in a crowded mall and having to suffer through this kind of noise. Smells that others find enticing become overwhelming and often completely repugnant to such sensitive noses. Spicy meals would be a no-go for someone whose taste buds have become over-sensitised to such an extreme level. Fabrics that normal people have no problem with would scratch and irritate the skin of Sentinels to the extreme, as their tactile sense is hyperactive even when dialled down. Too bright lights and colours would cause constant headaches.

These things weren’t the only drawback, though. There are these things called Zone-outs. Those are the moments when a Sentinel becomes so focused on one sense alone that they subconsciously close off all input from their other senses. This leads to the Sentinel getting ‘lost’ in that one sense, falling into a catatonic state, where they become incredibly vulnerable to attacks.

Sentinels cannot usually get out of a zone-out alone, as at least one other sense has to be stimulated for the Sentinel to stop focusing on the one they zoned in on, which is where the Guide comes in. To balance out a Sentinel’s acute senses, Nature gave them a ‘human’ shield in the form of Guides.

A Guide is the Sentinel’s partner. The person who watches their back and helps them control their hyperactive senses. They will ground the Sentinel, be a calming influence on them, and are often the only one who can draw a Sentinel back out of a zone-out or ease a particularly bad ‘spike’ if they can’t outright prevent those spikes from happening.

Guides are the ones who will ‘guide’ their Sentinels through certain exercises that will help the Sentinels gain and maintain control over their senses.

The most popular and well-known concept among mundanes in this regard is the visualisation of ‘dials’ similar to the ones on old stereos/radios you had to turn to increase or reduce volume, bass, etc.

When a Guide helps their Sentinel control their senses, they are usually close to them and talk them calmly through the process of assigning each sense to a dial. The dial usually has a scale from zero to ten, where Level 0 shuts the sense off completely, which can be dangerous, but might be necessary in some situations. Level 10 is the one that leads to spikes and zone-outs and is to be avoided at all costs unless absolutely necessary. Levels 4 or 5 are considered the ‘human’ levels, the ones that are the most neutral and comfortable for a Sentinel.

Under the guidance of a Guide, a Sentinel can dial their senses up and down as needed, for example dial up sight if one needs to spot a sniper hiding somewhere miles away, or dial down hearing so as not to be hindered by loud noises when one needs to focus on something else.

A Sentinel can learn to use those kinds of dials on their own, but it is very taxing and hard, and often leads to unpleasant outcomes if done improperly.

So being a Sentinel isn’t just all rainbows and roses, no matter what some people think. But there are positives. Like the fact that nature made the Guides perfect for their Sentinels.

A Guide’s scent is pleasant for the Sentinel, their heartbeat grounding, and they provide a shield from the overwhelming input their senses give them 24/7/365.

On the flip side, the Sentinel offers a sense of protection or ‘shielding’ for the Guide’s more empathetic nature, helping them keep a distance between their own emotions and those of everyone around them.

Sentinels and Guides bond with each other when compatible, both on a physical and metaphysical level. These bonds can be platonic, or romantic/sexual in nature. All the same, they usually all share a so-called ‘bonding bite’, which is a deep bite mark at the nape of the Guide’s and sometimes the Sentinel’s neck. These bonds come with a deep connection between the pair, which they can utilise to different degrees.

Sentinels are often considered as more primal, territorial, possessive and in some cases almost feral, while Guides are considered being the calming influence without an aggressive bone in their body, which sometimes couldn’t be farther from the truth than the sun from Pluto, as both Sentinels and Guides come with the same variety of countenance as the general populace.

There is also the fact that every Sentinel could walk different paths in life.

There was the Path of the Guardian, who stood as the protector of the Inner Peace of the Tribe, a natural form of law enforcement, if you will.

The Path of the Watchman, who stood guard over the Tribe and was considered the last line of defence in times of war.

And the Path of the Warrior—the one the general population focused on and wished to force every Sentinel onto—which was pretty much what was written on the tin. The Sentinels who walked the Warrior’s Path were those among the Tribe who went to war for it. They were the ones who headed out to stop war from coming to the Tribe’s doorstep.

The Sentinels walking the Path of the Warrior are the ones drawn to professions in law enforcement and the military, as they speak to their sense of justice.

And this is where our story begins.