(GE Copy)

Chapter 11: The Glimmer of the Heart

“If all that should ever exist be light, how then to make any matter of anything if we had not the contrast of shadows which to make us sorely weep?”

Well, it wasn’t a bad day out. Aaron was still cynical about having to return to the land where everything wanted to kill him. Yeah, he wasn’t letting that one go. Most of it faded into a pout, that he still volunteered his body forward even given his rotten attitude. He would lighten up from time to time, but was more focused on the discomfort of every angle for his next fight or flight.

Between the weeping birch, their path crossed into a wetland which flourished heavily with brightly lit mossy islands. Flowers abundant. Blue bells and purple snapdragons sprawled the rabbit trails around the four foot tall sharp rocky mounds in the bog. The whole space around them smelled of damp wood and garden soil, humid and tranquil. “How long do you suppose it’d take for me to make whatever nature deity here want to rip my nuts out and tie them to the bow of a copperwood?”And from his words, the completely naked, unclothed friendly female fairies returned to their holes never to greet him after.

The trees were left behind them as they turned to the open lake of wooden spikes. Wind carved stakes of once-was trees which lost their strength and succumbed to the flood. With the side of a rocky hill on their right, and the vast pond on their left, they could see out and catch glance of the mountains in behind the overtaken watery forest. Sophie wanted to examine it but Aaron piped in “Perfect place for an ugly water creature to come up and try to bite a guys dick off...” But the unseen sylvan in the lake slanted her maiden eyes, and slipped back into the pond from whence it’s tall, all natural wet body emerged. Her beauty never to be understood.

Their path became a steep cliff side where the wide road was all the footing between the safety above and the drop off below. “This is the worst place to be.” Aaron shook his head. “Imagine it, you’re in a hallway, couple squawking dumb chuckles come humming by heh heh heh heh, looking for the next dweeb to give a swirly. You got in front and behind... Now imagine those feather brains get an idea in that thick skull, ‘it’s time to throw poor nonathletic Aaron’, that’s me, ‘off the side of a mountain’ for their sick laughs.”

And the Harpy looked out to him from grooming it’s young silky feathers. It’s face curdled from a sirens soft skin to the contortions of an old hag in disgust. “What a fucking jackass!”

“YEAH!...” The other agreed “Let’s mess with him! Heh heh heh heh!” So they did. Dive bombing him from the cliff. And instead of seeing firm flopping harpy tits, all he could see were sharp talons. Never lunging to harm vitally, but enough to submit him under their mercy.

Pouting heavily under the sting of his abrasions, Aaron retorted “See what I told you about this place? It freaking hates me.” Applying a pearl of salve onto his cuts.

“Can’t say you didn’t have it coming.”

“Mrs. Karma’s come to rub it in my face? What did I do to them? That’s called prophecy and affirmation.”

“Karma doesn’t work like that. It’s not some magical fiat currency for giving people a bad day. Just a reactive force. I swear, you’re more depressive today than Zackery.”

“Just saying everything I don’t want to hear, are we?... Shit... I am like Zachery aren’t I?” Spitting the dirt from his mouth. “Yeah, just... Give me some time, won’t you?”

They sat by the roadside, resting from the hike yet far. Aaron returned his human patch kit back to his side purse and moped long enough to get over it. The overcast above shading them in their recuperation. Sophie still calm as can be.

“How do you deal with this?” Aaron asked, peeking up from his arm crossed knees. “Getting chased for your life... I know you didn’t do it your whole life. You’re always so much more calm. Unjaded.”

“I’m not gonna spiel you entirely with probability. The likelihood of getting run over while crossing the street, however much higher in towns full of old folks like home and Peachland, is of course much less dangerous than where we are now, yeah. There’s that. But it’s a state of mind, a fortitude of sorts. People risk their lives in the frozen north, desolate isles, and jungles of poisonous creatures with no more than the athletic skills of an office worker and the brute of a paid bodyguard beside them. All in the name of research, understanding... You’ve done it, albeit you’ve had a lot more scrapes than me, but I don’t think I’ve ever lost my cool.”

“Unless it’s squirrels...”

“...I can sit and learn from it, and if you can learn from it, you probably won’t clean the kitchen knife sideways. Life is pretty civilized in our town, sometimes that civility makes men into creatures of the night to pray on the weak to feel like they mean anything anymore. Out here it does seem more chaotic and unpredictable but if you can open your ears, or whatever signal receiving orifice that gets you by, you might pick up on how to coexist. Like how to wash a knife in a sink of sharp objects, or the wilds of the Rocky Mountains... Of course, this place could just be a deadly rain forest on Epinephrine and energy bars. If we live, we’ll be excellent travel guides.”

“I felt so confidant, until the end... pbthh.” Aaron huffed “I’m being showed up by the girl who never gets out of her house. I’ve survived this far. Taken a lot of licks but I’m still flapping. Unless some four legged butt-munch wanna get involved... Shit...” But this time, no one came.

Their staggering rocky footing slipped out many a large stone from under them. Unsettled rocks which fell down from above over the ages to no doubt cause carts and hikers endless trouble. Aaron could smell a strong boldness in the air, which woke him from his numb, thought heavy mind. It was a cold, moist, visceral scent and the mountain barrier could no longer withhold it over top of them as the first drops of water began to pelt behind them. Rain clouds began to appear from the blinds of the mountain summit and it’s brisk drops ripped the heat from where it touched.

“Oh, good... I was just thinking how I would hate to be nicely warm and dry when monsters are trying to split my legs like a wishbone...”

“Thought you got over that...”

“Still working on it. You think I pissed off some storm deity, or is he just coming for a casual stroll?”

It took ten minutes from the first drop until the muddy melting roads didn’t seem like a good place to be anymore. Not that the loose debris of the steep cliff side instilled confidence in anyone at this point. Down the valley where the horizon met the field, the crack of thunder rolled by like a parade from one end to the other. Aaron counted his blessings that it stayed at bay to light up someone elses yard.

Ahead was a turn in the hill which exposed the lower level, and a flat dressed itself with broken abandoned equipment. They could see an adit, with a wooden overhang. There was no clearly defined path down there, but it seemed to be their best effort to escape the rain. As their descent into the area loosened, Aaron had second thoughts but the slick, sliding rocks, made it more treacherous for returning. He caught himself, landing at the flat as the last large rock foothold rolled out under his hasty cleave for solid ground.

All the rotten, shambled, wood was thoroughly soaked. The cart which overturned was too shallow with it’s rim all degraded. The one person shack was tilted, and rocked when he tested its strength. Though looking inside, the floor was splintered and seemed like a deathtrap all around. The smithy and the tent where a woven cover once laid was torn from it’s holdings and the weathered fabric soaked beside the structure in a tattered heap. It tore apart as Aaron tried to straighten it’s stiff, mud encased bindings, and he tossed it aside like the day it was first discarded in this site.

He was wary of the rock’s lip. A mine shaft with a cover seemed an excellent home for a bear. Or worse. Aaron peered in, tired of the cold mountain rain. The dingy cover over top leaked, being as it had a massive hole in it and one of the boards hinged loose but the instant relief of the shelter was homy. Sophie joined him here in it’s shelter at the rocky sphincter. She pulled out the device she had brought. It was soaking wet. “Great, now we lost our anomaly finder.” Aaron dismayed

She looked back at him, puzzled. The device seemed still operable even while the water leaked out from it’s sides. “Why would I make something that could be damaged by water... on a planet that’s mostly water? The fact that man hasn’t even tried to overcome that, is a clear proof that they’re grubbing money in selling you replacements for things.” Pulling the rest of her belongings out to dry “I swear, if they made car paint that dissolved when gas accidentally leaked on it at the pump, they’d mandate all cars be painted with it for... I don’t know, eco reasons. Just like the overpriced cups at the diner on North Victoria.” Pulling out one wet soaking Walkman of man made origin. Aaron was pretty certain he’s never seen Sophie have to reboot like a computer before, as the shock stunted her every thought. Seconds later, after kicking around in the bios settings, Sophie contested “NEEOOOOOH” of full volume and distortion.

“Well...” Rubbing his ears. “We rang the doorbell...”

“How am I supposed to sleep without the sound of my babies!”

“Ba... Oh, your fur babies...” Aaron answered himself. A clicking noise approached them from outside, until a loud smash rattled the adits’ overhang and a large rock rolled off into the mud. A few more rocks could be heard rolling down in behind it. “Explains the big one on the side there...” Looking at the boulder which probably put the hole in the roof a few years back. “You got a light in that Giant Foods bag of yours?”

Still ravaged by the loss of her cat recordings, Sophie reluctantly received as was asked. She withdrew a bright beam which uncovered the depth of the tunnel. It was long, but Aaron admired the premium quality of this light which was not much bigger than her thumb itself.

A rustling happened outside “What kind of beast runs around in this weather? Anything else should be sitting under a tree” But they could also hear the snickering of a pitch which seemed a little too natural and they crept back into the hole. “S-Sophie?...”

Instinctively she drew her hand, proudly prepared. “Tasers!” The device fizzled in the soaked state. She flung the device around to force the water out from the arcing rods.

“Lets get in.” Aaron dragged her, before the sound outside could isolate their location, and or let Sophie electrocute herself. They swiftly walked in, keeping the light on low until they met with the darkness of a curve to sever their line of sight from the entrance. Inside was a large operation, with ducts above and to their sides. It seemed much more intensive than the outside site. On their side seemed to be a more illustrious muster point than previously seen, with a desk carved into the rock and a bed in behind. Or, what used to be a bed. The desk bore some scraps of paper, but the notes in whatever language were unusable. Aaron could see something attractive in the back of it’s carved out hollow. It was a stone which had a marvellous composition. Like half a gemstone buried in the cement of it’s host rock. He considered the state of absence, and tucked the treasure away in his pocket. Still along the straight, they didn’t turn yet at any crossroad and they took to analyze the use of this worksite.

Sophie set her light to shine in the oddest of colours. One which each surface reflected a different iridescent hue dependant on it’s angle. She could also alter the wavelength that came forth in real time, as it shone between a scheme of blue and purples, to reds and oranges.

“That’s neat, how does it do that?”

“It just shines a wavelength of light which is converted on the surface to something we can interpret and reflects back depending on the composition. Comes with a slider for isolating different isotyp... I’m Sorry, we’re out here because you’re tired of my dad’s scientific explanations.”

“No, that’s really fascinating... I like watching it in action...”

“Want to try?” Handing Aaron the magic wand.

“How likely is it to blind me?”

“It’s not an intensity, so unless your eyes can see microwaves it’s no different than any other light. UV, and gamma exist all around us at all times, your kind just doesn’t have the receptors that some animals have. Imagine being a butterfly with 15 different colour receptors and having to fly. I only have five, and it’s a pain in the ass to open my eyes every morning.”

Aaron shone the wave around, quickly finding the slider. Some materials, once the light was in his hands became easy to isolate where his instant feedback would pick out the colours which made sense to him. There were some, with a flat plane, with no gradient nor speckles. When he approached them, they were flat faces of crystalline glimmer. And setting it back to normal light, it appeared as a clear coating of quartz on the granite that formations broke off of when the mining cracked the sides of the passage. He rubbed his eyes, as the different wavelengths began to mess with his vision.

Around the end of their tunnel, they met with a fork, and Aaron couldn’t remember his which-hand-rule for the life of him so he chose right.

The deeper they stumbled about in the shaft, the more things they could pick off of the walls. There was a strange blue formation, almost velvet looking but it was deceptively hard like the lichen of a boulder. Aaron chipped away what he could but it shattered into a crumble with only a few big pieces. Some of these patches became verdescent and it fascinated him.

Above him, he noticed a hard rock sheet, that was uncomfortably off kilter from the surrounding roof. Inspecting it’s edge, Aaron noticed the water lines carrying with them a strange white formation. With his last encounter, anything in here that looks fuzzy couldn’t be soft; although, he could also see tiny crystals forming between them. He poked it with a stick, and they fell out from the wall but he couldn’t seem to locate the tiny stones. “Hmm...” Sophie mentioned. “Salt.”

“You...” Looking up, Aaron dismayed. “You didn’t just lick the random shit that came off the wall did you? Could be strychnine for all we know.”

“Like the kids say, you only live... Shit... I can’t bring myself to gratify it, that was really dumb now that I think about it, yeah.” Spitting the remainder onto the ground.

Way up ahead was an opening along the left side, and a frightening one at that. Aaron couldn’t capture the sheer gravity of it no matter how close they got. It was as though their mining operation led into a cave and continued to bore in the side of it. Even Sophie’s high grade torch couldn’t penetrate the darkness. “Got a magic missile?” Aaron joked, to no reply. They were left to gander into the void. Somewhere they hoped to spot the specular refraction of any of her fine wavelengths but it turned back null. Aaron could feel his whole flooring and wall slip towards the void and he staggered back to press his back onto the shifting wall. Even touching it’s safety felt like he had fallen in. Sophie was unaffected, and after his nerves returned, he slowly returned to the prospect. “That is the weirdest vertigo I’ve ever felt. Did you feel nothing there?”

“Not particularly, no. Its a void... It has nothing to do with your fear of high ceilings, does it?”

“I can’t see one, but... Kinda, yeah. It feels like my nightmares.”

“Like when you told me you like feel gravity will magically shift, and drag you against the roof... Always confused me how the sky and clouds don’t have the same effect on you, I know they look soft and fluffy but you’d go right through them and land eventually. I’ve still tried to understand how this phenomenon occurs in you” Tempting herself forward and back to try and instill the same phobia response.

“It’s more that it’s just so... Big...” Crawling on his knees to look out, while two feet behind Sophie. “I think there is more to see... Back wh-where we came.”

Noticing the fear within him, she retracted from the edge, and felt a subtle response of the atmosphere becoming much lighter that was not there before. “What in hecks name?...” Looking back to Aaron. She hopped up, testing the ground strength but the atmospheric anomaly vanished, and it only brought him terror. Understanding his concerns, she doubled back to avoid the chasm that the path had taken along side. They continued straight from their intersection, which was their left-hand originally.

For what appeared ahead to be a tailings deposit, turned to be a structural failure instead as loosely compacted dirt and gravels collapsed part of the roof in this room. Aaron peered carefully past the support beam, but the room was quiet. His ears peeked and he looked behind, seeing nothing. “It’s too early for paranoia.” He uttered.

The flashlight revealed some facets and the intrigue sparked his curiosity. Still a bit shaken, but anxious. He snuck quietly towards the pile, combing the hard dirt to reveal a sharp useless lump underneath. He could hear the shaking of his breath as he did it, like each grain of dirt was a marble in a machine ready to break overtop him. Finally pulling something of value from this trip. It was a small clear crystal upon it’s host. Aaron’s eye shot back to their entrance. The sound from behind him was a sharp one and he could almost see a shadow moving. It wavered, flickering like a tall knight under a veil as Aaron’s vascular system widened fully. Aaron pointed behind Sophie and the light revealed nothing. It was an open passage. Nothing, and no one remained there, only his anxiety.

Aaron heard another noise, one like something fell, and he slipped back out of the collapsed chamber. His hand propped against the wooden beam, careful against rubbing it’s splintered edge. Aaron recuperated from the stress. He could hear more sharp noises, which came into focus like the plipping of water. It echoed all around them, from the walls and everything. Sophie looked for an answer but a smile strickened her face. “What a strange thing?... Finally, I have no idea what the hell that is. It’s like a natural wonder. Aaron, there might actually be interesting shit outside of people after all.”

“Heh...” Aaron brushed off. His sight caught something along the wall but it faded, and as he moved toward it, all that remained was the solid wall. The noises returned like a wave which coursed through the tunnel. Songful clicking and chirps echoed deeply as though off of a silent frosty lake. Aaron saw another bulge and watched it move. He was certain now, asking for the flashlight. The light shied it back into the wall. It seemed to wriggle as it became one with the rock. He felt something fall onto his shoulder. It was hard, and cold. As he shook it aside, it pelted off the hard ground and the living rock absorbed back into the surface as if were sinking into thick pudding. Soon a few more stretched out from the rock, finding their way to the kids.

Aaron backed off from it, only to feel a ball and chain upon the heel of his shoe. The creature was intently crewing upon the leather of his boot. Aaron shook the foot, but it wouldn’t budge until the patch of leather came with it. They were creeping out from the walls and dropping from the ceiling. Lots of them, blocking their exit back. The sounds of song turning a difference shade of creepy without the muffled wall in between them. Aaron grabbed Sophie, retreating her from their central mob. It backed them into the room with the loose roof, and the swarm increased their march. Aaron took to corral them around the mound, hoping to free up their exit and slip in behind but the downpour continued. It began to peter into the chamber and make a hindrance on the second exit. The emerging of these little shits however distracting weakened Aaron’s knees to the thought of further structural failure. Aaron dropped his bets, and ran for the last bastion of escape. Throwing aside any unwanted guests that landed from above.

Sophie was trying vigorously to relight her taser, but Aaron tossed it from her hands. One of the rock slugs merged with it, carrying it within him. It arced pretty fiercely along it’s back. It was now a slithering, pure bread, stone cold, hungry ass, mother thuckling taser monster. So, ‘A’ for effort. At least she didn’t electrocute herself.

Upon the corner, came a stairwell with carvings that had chipped away from the local water table, run down the walls, and created a mossy baseboard outline of it’s previous shape. When the line moved along the wall, they lost their sense of balance, and stumbled across the crumbly stairs. They didn’t really care how deep the pond at its base was, though it’s hindering leg locks etched their enemies closer behind them. They could feel a water current but saw not the exit where the water escaped beneath the wall. Perhaps a crack must have emptied it into another chasm below. Ahead lay a dry pathway, still in sight of their assailants. Their sloshing tracks echoed down the hall while they made use of the straightaway to outpace the tiny creatures.

From under the rickety overhang, they passed into a large room, where the mining equipment had been kept. Rusted metal and eaten wood, it was a deathtrap to trip in. To their left was a huge crevice running vertical with the wall where a formation of glints had sparkled light into the room, and the other side, a shaft where tracks sent into unknown depths. Aaron made his descent, begging Sophie to follow suit. With so many angered unhealthy suppositories, there was no point in splitting up. A sparking emitted from their entrance, with the amalgamated taser worm pursuing rapidly.

Sophie ducked for the shaft. The climb down became a steep stumble, where the floor slipped out and piled against the cart at the bottom. Aaron climbed first over the sharp glinting rubble that was left by its owners in a hurry. Still loaded to be picked up at the bottom. He spewed from the tight squeeze of the cart and exited, tumbling forward with a stagger to regain his full tilt. Sophie following with more biological difficulty. Fixing her shirt as she left, she hollered out to Aaron. “Over there! That pond!” Detouring to the side, it caught Aaron’s advantage short. “They mustn’t like water, there was no way of crossing the last one on foot, they must have avoided it otherwise my taser would be shorting out right now.” Hopping into the abandoned pond. Aaron looked to his options, deciding to buddy with her instead of stranding. He leapt a good couple of feet past the pond’s edge, plunging into the water. As he emerged on the other side, Sophie helped lift him up. Aaron wiped the crud of the flooded hole off his face. It stank, and the silty grime was terribly powdery. At least they should be safe past the moat and in the retreat of a narrow passage to elsewhere.

They looked behind them from down the shaft. Sophie’s light was the only tell for their safety as the breathless two stood regaining their strengths. It was quiet, pleasantly, as to say very unpleasantly. From the opening of their runway there was a thud upon the ground on their side of the lake. It buzzed, and hummed, sparking. It was a taser, without a wielder. The plicking returned, and Aaron continued down the hall, still exhausted. He ran, knowing the rocky herd crawled in through the walls. Sophie’s energy tapered off behind him. They found an old dump, perhaps the previous tailings deposit. Then again, everything here looked like a dump. It glowed with a light hue, like the hanging crystal wall mount two rooms back. If they weren’t being chased like this, it would be excellent to gleam through.

Aaron struggled to find an exit this time, but the only passage was locked behind the rubble. Sophie staggered into the area, finding herself a seat. “Come on, help me unclog this thing...” Aaron commanded. “What... What is that beeping?” Hearing a high pitch blerping.

“That... Would be our oxygen supply... Don’t bother,” Waving off the exit. “If it’s been sealed for any time, it’s void of good air to breath anyway.” Moving her device to the seam to confirm. She sat upon the rubble with shaky legs. Aaron could see the speckles of the terrible tape worms slither in from the walls, hovering in around them. One dropped upon the ground, hollering, and rolled away. Another approached from the wall, which Aaron shied off from towards the girl. “I’d say ‘hold me’ but physical contact is the last thing I want right now” She contested.

“No last hour hand holding then, I guess...” Watching them approach. “Was kinda hoping this was the type of situation to warrant a last will and testament kinda thing.” Their enclosing slowed to prolong their suffering. Maybe they would eat them alive from the inside. Perhaps squirm around until they too were amalgamated like the objects around them. Maybe they’d turn his intestines into a theme park slip and slide.

They refused to etch any closer, just sitting there, plipping and plapping, their clicks lowered to a confused tone of discord. It was no last words, they seemed stuck. Aaron began to understand, taking the device from Sophie’s hand, bringing it’s tonal relay back to them. “HA! Not so fun when it’s someone else’s beeping, is it?” Pulling a perfect Zachery, as the worm fell onto him, climbing inside his hand where the device was overstretched. “SHIT! SHIT!” Flinging his arm about, as he fell backwards. It ejected and flew out from his skin, with no sign of entry, flying back into the fray.

“I’d really like to sit here until they all make like hosers, but the longer we’re here, the more oxygen were depleting.”

“You’re an alien! You gotta have a better tolerance than me for this shit!” Crawling back into the pile of cons. Looking back, he noticed the dim glimmer coming out of the stone. Flicking it out into the crowd he intended more to scare them off by holding a stand but their scurry was from the glinting from within.

“Aaron...”

“I’ve already put two and two together.” Shaking his head. He reached in, pulling from what he could find was a massive cluster of stone. Rolling it out, he cleared their original entrance. From the insides came a few new pieces. From the pile grew a few larger ones. From underneath came powder of crystal dust. It repelled them as he threw it, and like the geodes he rolled, it was enough to back them away into the depths of the stone. He gathered it around him, walking like an aura of steel surrounded him. They soon tired of their prey and backed off into the unknown.

They left the confines of the tailing pile and oxygen depravity to the room before with the moat. This room, upon closer inspection was a branch of a cave system that had an operators overview above where they walked in. It looked like an office, but large with many windows, it seemed to have a different purpose.

Finally freed from the threat of their ‘friends’ which buggered off, Aaron could feel something. It tingled as though he was always aware of it, until some part of his consciousness caught up to notice it too. He could feel a great number of things and it stilted him. Sophie called to him from the entrance of whatever building they were next to but Aaron could only look up and marvel to her. “Feels warm, like a static but it emanates like a radiant wave... This is probably very cancerous, isn’t it?” Looking into the wavering hue of his hand held glowing gemstone.

“Might be the caltons you are feeling.”

“Your father was talking about those.”

“Areas that are of high conductivity tend to excrete them. Same effect happens before lightning strikes, when a person’s hair raises. Not like psychological terror hair raises, but as a response to the caltonic shock. No pun intended. Though... I could have taken that pun if I really wanted it. It’s a cool party trick, but not much more. Like the nut working the gem stand said, yeah most crystalline structures have a way of aligning different energies, congratulations on passing elementary school lady! It’s scientifically factual, but the conflict between the type of energy and each person’s specific chemical layout is less effective than eating garlic to boost your immune system... So... I’m still pissed about the malachite incident. It’s like if you made a religion about cheese cultures, yeah it’s there, but... Now you’re just favouring your cheese deity over another. It’ll probably still give me noxious gas, while Steve is high on the hog sucking brie and provalone.”

“I missed most of that.”

“Where would you like me to continue from?”

The glimmer reflecting from his eyes. “This thing... It reminds me of why I love to come out here, why I put up with all the bullshit. You know after getting your balls run out of town more times than you can count, it sure makes a person forget how deep these things are. I felt this a few times, even without the stones. It’s easy to get distracted but... I’m not feeling the excretions or whatever... I, feel what is inside it. Like, I’m reaching within and touching it.” Intently focusing his eyes on his grip of it and the feeling of his hand moving while stationary.

“Highly improbable, the time it takes to reach your nervous system and to your brain is delayed, you can only feel what you’re touching. Meaning it’s likely a distortion caused by feedback”

“Well... If you think I’m nuts, more power too you, I’m not sure I care at this point. Some part of me wants to scream and defend it, but the other is focused on understanding this... What I feel, if you have the ear for it, doesn’t feel like what my body is touching. Feels like something deeper... Am I doing it again? When you said I do something, when I’m passionate, something weird happens that I don’t see... Is it happening now?” The glow shimmered, not from the glow in the rocks anymore, but from the sheen of his eyes, more clear in detail than sight it self.

“Yeah, actually... Like... A lot. Probably more than usual.” She said, beginning to feel uncomfortable at the intensity of his sight. Like a strange wind that blew in from the stagnant musty air. To him, his sight developed sights previously unseen; the glowing inside her transparent tendrils becoming as bright to him as the light around him, until it all faded. He shook his head “But...” She noted. “You lost it the second you brought it up.”

“Yeah,” Irritated. “I kinda figured.”

“It’s one of those mysteries about people, I guess I just don’t understand, sorry. All I can see is the surface, bond to bond, calton to calton.”

“I know why I lose it... That part of me, that memory sits right next to something else, I know that if I brought it up, the thought would try to erase itself. It’s a type of hypnosis that’s locked some things away in there without me...”

“Yeah, I’d agree. If anything...” Seeing a darkened haze around the room “It’s the complete opposite of earlier.”

“Glad to know I’m on the right track. Seems all I can remember is the surface level events, words, factitious ideas. Nothing that explains anything, just words scratched into the walls of my mind, waiting for me to pick them up and make sense of it all. I really gotta pity the stoners. Seeing unicorns and shit, and never being able to remember a damn thing about it. I feel like I’ve been drugged, living out some horse shit I can’t remember. Just feels like the whole world is trying to attack a person, everything and it’s mother all bunched in together taking their fucking kicks at me while I’m down, beating me into submission. I get two fucking feet out, and they yank the line back in like a dog collar: The road with the leaves instead of needles, The hotel, the return ship... Like someone trying to tie me up every time I get too smart for them. And worst of all, I have some shit ape who magically locked away my memories. FUCK!” Kicking the rock wall. “Steel toe boots! Don’t go kicking rocks without them!”

“You’re not making sense Aaron.”

Furiously returning to her, “These are the only things I can say, because when I get to the details, he makes me forget them. Why does he still think he can control me?” Shedding tears “I want someone to know, anyone who can help me. I can’t handle all this pain alone. Why? Why am I the target of all of this? For wanting to know the truth? When I discover something magical, and I am silenced for it. Like what I felt, when I touched that stone...” Forcing the words out of his mind before they could be erased. “And I felt... The force. With another hand... Living light... I...” Being almost entirely drained of his strength, like the tap had been halted and all that was left was the dribble from a faulty hose. “I’ve completely forgotten. We are here in this cavern, right? I didn’t like, dream I showed up here, right? What just happened?”

“You have one person who remembers what you said... That’s something. But if it’s truly as hard to understand as you say, I’m not sure any words scratched into my mind are going to help you either.”

“So, I did say all that shit, then, huh? Wasn’t just a dream then... Feels like I got so pent up, that I kinda... I guess...” Slapping himself gently. “You heard all of it, then, right? With the wanting someone to know what was going on? I have no idea what that was about... Kinda embarrassed about that, really. Probably best you ignore it, I don’t really want it coming back up again. Bad enough I said it to begin with, like... What the hell was I talking about, right? Man, it’s like everything's fuzzy around me, you sure I’m awake? Can’t see, barely hear...”

“Mmm...” Sophie nodded, a tear falling from her eyes.

“If that was someone else... You’re, and I can’t believe I’m gratifying this... But, back seat analogy... I really wish he wouldn’t go around spouting horse shit in my mouth anymore. I was perfectly happy finding gemstones. The hell did I do to my toe anyway?” Sitting down. “Feels like I hit something with it. Mind handing me my pack? I got an idea how I’m going to slip some of these stone out of the wall, before I forget.”

“I still want to check out the office...

“You’re right, I don’t really want to remember much right now.” Limping for the door. “I mean, how hard could it be to pop these things out, right?” Following Sophie up the stairs.

The top door was installed with a great cunning craftsmanship that inundated most of the surrounding equipment’s design. Inside the carved space were tables and shelves which were raided and empty, with a large stack of papers in the centre. Musty, dim writings, where impressions of ink upon them nearly faded entirely. Underneath the top of the pile, the inscriptions became more contrasted, and the dark hue impacted the words onto the page once more; words whose inscriptions were illegible by earthly teachings.

“I wonder when they came here...” Looking about, Sophie left her thought on the line, looking for some other semblance of their presence.

“You say that like you know who it was.”

“That’s coz I do. These are Altarian writing, like the guys who picked us up. Father called this script Isial, it’s just strange that they were here all of maybe a few hundred years ago, judging by the degradation and moisture content... And no I can’t read it.”

“Thought they were in space or something.”

“Father told me once, that we came from a place called the primordial gates, and that they spread out from there which created Tapia, and the other outer realms. It wouldn’t be a stretch to believe Altar was a recent development. Recent to... A few hundred years.”

Aaron marvelled, trying to comprehend: in the space between here and the edge of the galaxy, there was a people who had just crawled out from the rocks, and immediately learned to fly, leaving their world behind. It couldn’t be, there must have been a better explanation but Aaron couldn’t imagine one with his small mind. Perhaps, what was locked away would give him a clue to how such enigmas could persist. Perhaps, it was written by another walk of life, those who still inscribed using the ancient language; or perhaps they simply made a return visit. “Stagna’s my old stomping grounds...” He remembered, of the rooftop, some vague part of him able to connect with the importance of that thought though barely. Perhaps, there were still many walks from afar, mingled with the people of Earth, unknowingly alien themselves; perhaps, some very well aware of it.

Aaron had laid there for an hour, still awake in bed. He returned home just after supper and cleaned up. A hand full of luminescent stones on his dresser, as well as the scraps he found earlier. For the first night in a while, Belship was the last thing on his mind. Honestly, somehow, Aaron was content.

Looking at his findings shimmer in the night off the mica of his bedroom ceiling, he remembered the moment. Though it wasn’t, it sure seemed like the first time it occurred to him, until it soon flooded back like the rest of these events that were erased. Aaron finally had a break from his oppression. Even if it was all in the sanctity of his head, where no one would ever know, he knew. Once it dissipated again, like the times before, he accepted this natural phase but still remembered one thing. If he wanted to understand what he was not allowed to remember, he would need to pave something down in the sand that the bastard couldn’t take away from him, a system of remembering... And a lot more gemstones to remind him what that feeling was. The feeling of the hand that was not his, and the energy which his mortal body could not physically receive. “A living light?...”

Worst of all, was knowing that beyond the gremlin and his treacherous contracts, there was a deeper voice which tried to silence him or... Perhaps, Aaron simply let him.