Luckily, his tiny
tail didn't get in the way - Onica was lost somewhere in the desert, she
apparently found exploration more engaging than following a nasty fast-walking
dune. Children of the desert never really cared about the adults and did
whatever they wanted, exploring the desert on their own. Mattias too now felt
like one of them as he avoided cooperating with his colleagues. Maybe the fact
that he was younger than Enitheris and Eim could excuse him a bit.
The idea of
building everything from scratch when history was only just beginning to unfold
was far too fascinating, and Mattias was excited to see how far he could get.
With his touch, he gave form to different materials he found throughout the
planet and they turned into fine components, transformed later into tools, and
then assembled into simple machines. There must be other solar systems where
technological progress and cooperation with planets was much more developed and
maybe Mattias' humble creations could reach them, take a look, find a
reference. This would take Icarus' growth to unimaginable level in no time.
Let's begin just with a few improvements of this radio set…
The cave Mattias
found for his hiding spot was rather unusual. From the inside it looked more
like a man-made room with smooth walls, as if it was meant for someone to be
here and ask questions. And Mattias spent a long time here trying to comprehend
this new unknown world as well as its newborn god.
As the scientist
was exploring the desert, he came across cliffs surrounded by sandy lakes that
merged peacefully with the ocean, so he named that place Liquid Rocks. Deeper
in the Canyon valley, there were stone giants of different even shapes,
floating high in the air, and in the open desert - Amber Dunes - he found some
strange rock formations resembling stairways, though they didn't lead to
anything, just up into the sky. But there was one thing that was bothering him
more and more, that he never managed to find - the sun.
Its light was
seen in everything on the planet: every pebble, rain drop, clasp of the clouds
- all of them had this special energy, beautiful glint of Icarus. Yet he was
never seen in the sky, and his presence felt intangible. Maybe if…
'Transmission
active. Mattias, confirm you can hear me.'
Mattias flinched
when all of a sudden Enitheris' hologram appeared before him. Confused, he
frowned and waved his hand through it - a hologram for sure.
'Awaiting clarity
confirmation.'
The scientist set
his face in serious expression, realising that he could be seen.
'Yes, standing
by. Am I talking to..?' Mattias made an uncertain pause, cherishing
insignificant hope that his devise reached a highly developed civilisation with
their own AI.
'This is
Enitheris. Currently deploying experimental communication network - the
Interlink. Your radio system is unreliable in any case.'
Such a shame it
was good old Enitheris. Mattias dropped his gaze and blocked the view of
deconstructed radio set he was so irresponsibly experimenting with.
'Conveying message:
atmospheric anomalies detected. Please, assemble children at Universum.
Awaiting confirmation.'
Mattias sighed
and looked at the darkening sky. There was no sign of children around, and he
wondered if there was a chance that they weren't as dumb as they might seem and
would eventually decide to come home without him bothering himself. But
Enitheris won't let him be so easily.
'Right, right…
When should I bring them back?'
'Preferably:
now.'
Mattias moaned,
folding arms behind his head, and then gave the grey sky a frustrated look.
'Instructions
understood.'
The hologram
disappeared as soon as Enitheris got her desirable confirmation. Mattias set
off light as he had everything he needed with him - his unlimited power. Sadly,
it was useless when it came to dealing with those little monstrosities.
The Canyon was
completely silent, with no trace of little vagrants. Mattias knew that they
shared with him this passion of hiding and they even mastered the ability to
somehow disappear into the thin air every time he ran into one of them. It
wasn't that they were cautious of him, they just didn't want to be bothered,
which could be also said about Mattias. It was all good until he had to take
part in their silly game.
Mattias climbed
the highest cliff and took a look around. The desert answered him with no
slightest movement, as if it was protecting children's secrets. The ugly
darkness was already streaming across the valley, and Mattias shivered at this
sight. He didn't know what it supposed to mean, but in any case Enitheris was
just exaggerating, right? The Promised Land is a place where nothing bad can
happen.
Suddenly,
Mattias' attention was caught by something previously invisible during the
bright day. The lines of silver ghost were slowly appearing in the deepening
blue, it was quite a surprising revelation that their little planet had a moon.
Mattias was stunned for a moment, trying to recall it, but it seemed that the
moon never appeared in any of his dreams. Nevertheless, now this was only good
news, he could use some additional light.
Restless, the man
continued his way along the ridge until he got to the very end of it, where the
ocean could be seen. Usually calm, it was now covered with waves of the high
tide brought by the moon, as if they were an unspoken warning, and the noise of
those waves was blending into young whispers. Children!
They were sitting
on the rocks near the shore, bearing tension in their posture. As Mattias
followed the direction of their interest, he saw a rocky path intertwining with
glaciers, which managed to stay unnoticed from Universum side. A group of boys
was running along the path across the ocean, straight to the snow lands, and
the weakening mist opened the way for them.
Mattias swore and
swiftly jumped down, rushing to the children on the shore.
'You, get to the
fields!'
It was clear that
the children were more interested in waiting until their friends came back, so
they were just…
'I said NOW!'
Alerted like
little birds, the kids left their observing post and rushed away from the angry
man. Mattias turned to the ocean and darted to chase the boys.
The rising wind
turned the journey across the slippery surface of the glaciers into an
unforgettable experience, but the boys were nimble enough to make it to the icy
peaks ahead of Mattias. They noticed that the man was after them, so when he
got to the foothill of the snowy mountains, he could see with his own eyes how
the children do this annoying trick with disappearing. Like small, quick
animals, they dashed along the cliff wall to sniff out a slightest crack before
vanishing into a narrow passage. Moments later they were already on top of the
wall, trying to figure out how to climb higher.
'Hey!'
Disturbed by
Mattias' voice, the lads turned around and gave him an assessing look. Since
they saw that the man was still far away, they lost their interest and returned
to studying the wall. Only one boy that seemed to be the oldest of them strayed
away and approached the cliff edge, stepping on its blade boldly, and gave
Mattias a dangerous, wild look. He, same as the other boys of his group, looked
a bit different from other children of the desert - he had smoldering symbols
all over their body, and his temples were ornamented with red markings
reminding scars.
Stupid kids,
Mattias thought. The sky was getting heavy, it descended upon the icy cliffs,
devouring their shine. Mattias tried to stay calm, but he knew that if
something happened to the children, Enitheris would tear Mattias into pixels
for sure.
He sighed and
started looking for the way to the boys, but the passage they had found earlier
was too narrow for the grown man. Mattias didn't want to waste time searching
for another passage, so he used his powers to pave a path for himself - after a
series of small explosions, there appeared a fine ladder to the top. The
children first flinched and pressed to the wall, but when they realised what
Mattias was doing, they looked at their own hands with interest. Mattias
already regretted that he gave them this idea as those stupid creatures were
now bombarding the wall to continue their ascent, which resulted in an
avalanche onto his head.
'Stop it,
idiots!'
Fighting off
falling chunks of ice, Mattias continued chasing the boys, and the snowy
mountains kept shuddering with constant explosions. But suddenly both the man
and the boys stopped the confrontation as the icy peaks were blown up with
something truly horrible - a child's desperate scream.
Mattias exchanged
startled gaze with the kids. He could see that they didn't expect it at all and
they were scared. As he closed the distance between them, he spoke to the
youngsters:
'Return to the
fields. I'll take it from here.'
The children
looked uncertain. They communicated with a glance for some time and then
decided to let the man in on their secret. The boldest boy, the one who was
threatening Mattias moments ago, leaned to the wall with his ear and patted the
ice, inviting Mattias to do the same.
The ice wasn't
cold, it was nothing to the touch, as if deprived of its nature in the growing
darkness. But after some moments the man could sense it pulsing with a faint
heartbeat. It seemed so familiar yet elusive, hiding in stones, drops of the
rain, up in the clouds, so beautiful and dear. His eyes went wide with sudden
realisation.
'So you've been
seeking the sun…'
The boys looked
at the man with hope, but he turned back into depth of the icy valley. It's
glossy surface was already reflecting the surging emptiness of the sky.
'Go back. It's
getting dangerous here, and I'm sure I heard someone screaming.'
'Brother!' the
boldest boy protested.
'Yes, I will make
sure to bring our brother sun back.' Mattias was getting annoyed, but fear in
eyes of the children made him soften and lower his voice. 'I promise.'
Reluctantly, the
lads left the cliff and set off to the rocky path across the ocean. The oldest
boy, though, didn't leave his place, watching Mattias venturing deeper into the
icy valley.
The cold cliffs
crumbled under his feet as the man used his energy to push himself far ahead.
Chunks of ice were falling upwards the same way like in his long forgotten
memories. He was rapidly covering the most of the frozen desert in just several
jumps of fiery blasts until beyond another dune he faced the wall of black
nothingness ahead.
'What the rust…'
Then there was a
strange vision. He recognised a golden-haired boy, treading towards him through
the peaceful desert, and his halo was leaving sheer blackness in his wake.
Mattias couldn't move, he couldn't think and feel - he was just a statue
waiting for the inevitable. The boy's eyes were radiating affection, he reached
for him with his fragile hands, with demanding love of a child, but the touch
was nothing but pain, and the statue began crumbling where Icarus touched his
knee.
…and then there
was nothing. No sounds, no air, no more solid ground under his feet. The
perfect reality of the newborn planet was torn into facets, beautiful dreams,
sweet lies. He was seeking the truth, the sun, but there was someone he left
behind, someone important…
'Mattias,
say something! Just anything…'
Lumi's
voice brought him to his senses for a brief moment. Here she was, crying
inconsolably over his weakening body inside the Power Core as the hot pipes
were eating the last of his energy. Was it all just a dream? But dreaming
wasn't in nature of a scientist. He calculated that he wouldn't make it to
Icarus, he knew that his story would end here, so why not giving in to dreams a
bit more?
But
she was crying and crying, and crying, annoying child. She didn't let him drift
into a peaceful dream, so Mattias weakly opened his eyes again. He was lying in
the bottom of that nightmare, staring at the dark eye above the cold desert, feeling
the burning ice under his back. But he could still hear Lumi crying.
Mattias jumped to
his feet and widened his eyes. Yes, it wasn't another dream, he could hear her
clearly, among the glaciers deeper in the valley. As he forced himself to break
free from the gaze of the destroyer, the man gathered energy for the next jump,
but instead he just fell down the slope, rolling on his way and getting painful
bruises. A sharp pain shot through his knee, the wound stung unbearably, making
him moan. Where did his power go? He tried to make a ladder in the glacier to
climb up again, but he couldn't summon any explosions. His body felt now
awkward, uncomfortable, as if… as if he was a human again.
Panic clattered
in man's temples. No, even so humans do have one benefit - persistence. Once
this didn't let them go extinct in the face of a destroyer, right? Mattias
clang to the crevices in the wall and began his heavy ascent. Every touch of
ice was now unbearable, but it wasn't as bad as was the void's breathing to his
back.
Everything around
was dissolving into blackness, but the top of the glacier remained untouched
under the protective light of the moon. The gravity weakened to its approach,
making the man's ascent easier despite the injured leg, and Mattias thought it
was somehow reassuring to have the silver ally on his side.
As soon as he got
to the top, the man saw two shining silhouettes sitting on the ground, and one
of them had a familiar bluish-pink tint - Lumi! She had a blindfold with a symbol
on it - Enitheris' clothes scrap, and she appeared to be made of vapour,
similarly to Novi, who was sitting next to her with his arms wrapped around his
knees, staring blankly into space.
'Lumi, is it
really you? What's going on here?'
Mattias stumbled
over his words when he noticed Enitheris lying unconscious beside the children.
'Lumi didn't
meant to! It's all Lumi's fault, Lumi, Lumi!' she screamed, as she saw Mattias.
The girl spoke clearly, with full sentences, even though she had just awakened,
while older children were still struggling with how to use words.
The man touched
Enitheris with a trembling hand, and she felt like a lifeless stone.
'Soot, soot,
soot!'
Mattias turned
around anxiously, there was hardly anything else to the endless blackness
anymore.
'Now, we need to
move fast. Can you walk?' he told the children as he took Enitheris on his
arms. The cut immediately notified about itself, but Mattias kept stubbornly
walking with a limp, gritting his teeth. The children followed him closely as
they were heading to where, presumably, the shore was.
The moonlight was
fighting the void, its pale rays shattered one by one, but it won them a
faintly lit path. It was harder and harder to walk, Mattias was stumbling all
the time, as he felt the destroyer taking away his last. He didn't see the
frozen dunes and ground under his feet, but Lumi and Novi were running ahead
with unyielding confidence. It seemed to be eternity, but suddenly Mattias
sensed how his legs became incredibly heavy, and something slowed down his
pacing.
'Eim! We're
here!'
The doctor
loosened his grip on the timespace, letting them through. In the distance there
was still the mountain ridge standing on the other side of the ocean, where the
children were safe.
'Break the time,
don't let it in!' Mattias shouted as soon as Lumi and Novi crossed the
dangerous line and ran freely to the refuge. Next moment he fell to his knees,
leaving Enitheris on the ground.
However, he
received no response, and the darkness continued flowing into the valley,
merging with the ocean.
'Eim? Do you hear
me?'
Exhausted,
Mattias forced himself to look up at the doctor. He was standing motionlessly,
looking straight into the eye of the destroyer, and there was awe on his face.
'Damn, Eim!'
He was always
fascinated by destroyers, but there was no chance to touch, to feel…
'Eim, don't let
it in!'
What is on the
other side?
'Eim,
children!!'
The doctor
flinched, coming to senses, but it was too late - there was no time to split,
there was nothing at all, or rather everything at once. Broken facets of the
frozen land, shattered ocean and fragments of starlight merged into a
magnificent crown of the dark eye, shining horizon of disorder.
But before they
could savour this freedom inside the oblivious dream, the night fell apart in
the bright flash of a radiant spear.
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