Enitheris got to
her feet carefully and took a few cautions steps. Soft, tall grass swayed
across rolling fields that stretched endlessly to the horizon, and clouds
drifted lazily across the open sky. Yet her gaze was searching, as if she
wanted to cling to something that would soothe her mind, give the promised
peace.
And eventually,
she received the answer - a sphere of wind, suspended just above the ground. It
felt like something familiar, and Enitheris held her breath as a sudden
realisation came to her. As she touched the sphere, it began to unravel
instantly, revealing a tiny silhouette within. It was still woven into the
current of wind, elusive, intangible. Enitheris realised she had no time to
waste, and without any second thought she tore the hem of her dress and covered
the part of the newborn's face. She drew a small round sign on the cloth,
locking the wind inside the glyph, hoping it would help the child to gain
shape. Back on Icarus-3G she used to do the same with children she guided as
the planet's winds were too severe for their weak eyes. She couldn't explain
why she did it again. This child wasn't meant to be a human.
Time seemed to
stand still as she was holding the newborn on her arms, securing him with her
cloak and waiting for him to respond. The wind, captured by the glyph, was
gradually becoming lucid, moving in a calm rhythm, in and out. He was
breathing!
Enitheris was
stirred to the core, here it was - long awaited retribution, the answer from
the beloved deity. She hugged the child gently.
'Novi.'
And so Enitheris'
new life began in this strange yet familiar world - Icarus-1. Under the clear,
quiet sky, among the peaceful fields, with the curious small creature in her
arms. Filled with purpose, she walked forward with surer steps, holding Novi
close. Whatever lay beyond the next hill, she was ready.
But there was
still room for wonder. When she ascended the hill, the sight ahead made her
stop short - the vast green plain below was dotted with dozens of shimmering
spheres.
***
Mattias refused
to believe that he wasn't dreaming until he dived into sand with his whole
face. As it was glittering in his hair like on soft blankets of dunes around,
he was laughing. He was glorifying Icarus and the miracle of being alive.
Peace at last.
Yes, he will lie here in peace, drinking the desert's warmth, he was so tired,
he deserved an eternity of rest in this beautiful, perfect place…
'Right, now it's
getting a bit boring.'
Mattias smiled
excitedly and turned around, ready to explore the new world. He could almost
hear this call, luring him to the depths of the desert, a sense of hidden
mysteries of nature, new ideas, opportunities, inspiration! He didn't notice
how he began to run, and running was easy, and the air was delicious to
breathe. Now, here it is - something shining in the distance.
'Field log, entry
number one. Spotted an anomaly in the desert…' Mattias imagined holding a
recording device in his hand and couldn't help letting out a chuckle. 'Just
think of it, the first entry made on this planet! This is a historic event,
damn, I will take all the fame.'
The anomaly ended
up being a small sand spout, connected to the light of the sky like an
umbilical cord. Mattias got nervous. He had an unsettling feeling that he
became a witness of something important, but extremely fragile. While he was
waiting and thinking what to do, the spout began dissipating, revealing a
little figure, clad in simple, but exquisite gown.
Mattias moaned.
'Child? Oh, not
again…'
He was ready to
continue his travel, but with the corner of his eye he noticed something
familiar about this child. Cautiously, he drew nearer and bent over its face.
It was a girl.
'Onica?'
The girl was
busy. She had an important job of sifting the sand through her tiny fingers and
giving it a taste, but Mattias was eventually honoured with a brief glance.
Seemed she didn't really care whether she was Onica or not.
'Do you remember
me? What happened? Where is Lee? Why are you so small? Can you speak?..'
There was a
pleasant, calming rustle of the wind - the man's voice. Onica was delighted to
watch the glitter of sandy streams, stirred by the light wind. Impatiently, she
was grabbing some more sand to make those gorgeous, shiny, golden cascades…
'It's my hair,
you, little monstrosity!' Mattias yanked his lock from her greedy fingers and
sighed. 'Right. Never mind, we'll investigate all of it later. Now just follow
me.'
He stood up, looked
around and chose the most appropriate course - ahead. This alarmed Onica, who
had already got used to Mattias as part of the environment, familiar since her
recent birth. She reached for him, but his steps were big and quick, so she had
to figure out how to walk as soon as possible so as not to lose this walking
dune from her sight.
***
Eim could still
feel the lingering sensation of weightlessness, but now every part of his body
was filled with calm, soothing pleasure. The terrible events on Icarus-7E faded
and dissolved into memory, like a dream. Eim opened his eyes. From the soft
blue above, rays of light reached him, beckoned him.
Following a
sudden impulse, Eim pushed upward and broke the surface of water. Sounds around
him burst into clarity, and the splash felt deafening, but the bright light
revealed the beautiful world. On one side there was a gently sloping rocky
shore, dotted with mirror-like lakes, and on the other - the endless sea,
washing the horizon. This felt oddly familiar as if he returned into his most
precious dream. Eim was now certain he had found a better world.
The man started
swimming, but soon enough he came across the place, where the ocean was
shallow, and he could walk as if on top of the soft water surface. In time, he
began noticing that it was disturbed not only by his steps, but also light
touch of the rain. There were no clouds in the sky, but a water sphere,
floating just above the sea and melting to lightest drops. It was concealing a
silhouette of a child.
'Lee!'
With clenched
heart, Eim darted across the shallow seabed toward the sphere to catch a
fragile boy, who was falling with the rain.
'It's all right,
it's all right... No, no, Lee, just hold on!'
Maybe he wasn't
supposed to intervene, and Lee had to wake up inside the lake, the same way Eim
did. Holding the newborn on his arms, he had never panicked so much in his life
- for the first time, everything was unpredictable for the prudent scientist.
Gathering his
thoughts, Eim braced himself and laid Lee down in the shallow water near the
shore. He touched his head and split the time, trying to evoke lucidity in
child's mind. It seemed like an agonizing eternity, but Eim was focused,
everything would work out.
When Lee finally
began to breathe, Eim felt an incomparable relief.
'Lee, pilot of my
heart!' Eim said tenderly. 'You are young now, like this planet. I feel all
your memories have left you, and perhaps you will no longer remember me, but
that doesn't matter. No, it's good. I'm glad you are a child now, cleansed of
all the pain you've endured. But I haven't forgotten what I did. My conscience
and my memory will stay with me… So that there would be no more mistakes. I
promise, I will protect you, my boy.'
Although his eyes
were closed, Lee wasn't sleeping. He was comfortable on Eim's arms, listening
to his voice, enjoying his first lazy morning. He had all the time in the world
now, so there was no need to open his eyes straight away. Warm drops of the
rain, someone's affectionate whisper and kisses full of unconditional love -
Lee was just taking those all for granted.
Suddenly, the
pleasant freshness of the lakes was disturbed by an uncomfortable heat. Eim
felt someone's presence.
'Hey!' Mattias
exclaimed, glaring at his old enemy. 'So you survived after all!'
'Oh, my friend!'
Eim beamed. 'How do you like the weather? Just look who we have here…'
Mattias went
closer and looked curiously at the newborn. His eyebrows flew up the moment he
recognised Lee.
'So strange… You
know, I think I saw another child looking like Onica on the way here.'
'Onica? Where is
she?' Eim's face lit up for a second only to drop next moment. 'Wait. You left
the child in the wilderness?'
'Well, it doesn't
seem like my job anyway…'
'You left the child.
Alone.'
'I didn't! I
just…'
Mattias murmured
something, trying to avoid disapproval in Eim's gaze, but, to his relief, Onica
immediately announced her presence with loud splash. The two whipped their
heads toward the clumsy creature, who was struggling with puddle-deep lakes on
the shore, enormous for her size. As soon as little Onica stubbornly overcame
all the trials and reached Mattias, she plopped into the water next to him with
a tired sigh, turned around to see where she was and started playing with water
this time, giving Mattias a suspicious look every now and then to check if he
was still on his place.
Eim burst into
laughter.
'Yes, that's
Onica's determination, I see the resemblance!'
'Is she going to
follow me everywhere now?' Mattias wasn't as charmed, looking at the girl with
uncertainty.
'No, my friend.
From now on it's you to be there for her!' Eim patted his shoulder with his
free hand.
Meantime, Lee
started feeling curious about another child and the game she was playing. He
felt too lazy to do something about it and just stretched his hand out,
checking if it was long enough to reach the shining droplets. Suddenly Mattias
and Eim felt how time split around them, and droplets stayed hanging midair.
Onica didn't like this and made an angry face. With quiet hissing, the droplet
turned into vapor.
'Amazing! They
still have their powers,' exclaimed Eim and sat near Onica, giving Lee
opportunity to get to know a new or rather forgotten friend. Lee, however,
looked intimidated by the silent warning in girl's gaze and rushed to climb
back onto Eim's arms.
'That's… curious.
And we still need to figure out why they turned into children,' said Mattias,
watching the two little ones with academic interest.
'Query of higher
priority: why we did not change into children.'
Mattias jumped on
his place. Enitheris' appearance was unexpected as usual.
'Oh, Enitheris!
Nice to see you, dear friend.' Eim was radiating happiness. 'I see you've found
a child too! It seems we have quite a mission from Icarus.'
Mattias rushed to
check the child in her hands, and his heart sank when he realised that it
wasn't Lumi. Why should it be Lumi in the first place? Maybe her time hasn't
come yet, maybe she woke up somewhere else on the planet, but she surely made
it for Icarus, right? Mattias was stabbed by that thought. For some reason he
believed they were supposed to be together whatever comes - Lumi, Enitheris,
Eim, Onica, Lee, and… And Atlas was now gone.
'Our precious
Enitheris is right,' Eim continued meanwhile. 'Every creation of Icarus was
meant to be renewed inside his sun. But what about us? We remained the same.'
'And all our
knowledge stayed with us…' Mattias added thoughtfully.
All the three
exchanged looks. It seemed they shared the same idea.
'We need to teach
them. Tell them the truth!' Eim whispered with excitement, watching how the sky
responded with the light rain - more children were appearing above the ocean.
'Colleagues…'
Mattias made a
few steps away, as he spotted something in the distance. It was the same
mountain ridge from his dream, from the dream they all shared - a gentle
mountain slope merging with shining glaciers. And its foothills flowed into
green hills. And there was an ocean shore on their side. Mattias felt his heart
pounding, and he could tell that others felt the same. This place was truly the
heart of their world.
Eim rose to his
feet with a triumphant smile.
'This will be
another Ark.'