Chapter 38 Moro and Zumi

I dream of being back in Deikeren, and riding fast through the woods and fields until I arrive to a city of Kaure in the nearby province of Orontein. There I get into a fight on the street with Iris (the logic of our dreams!). He attacks me, but then some woman pulls out a big sword and defends me. She takes me to her home, full of strange things she said she invented.

A lot of events happen, until I see her trying to kill me and Iris, and then storming the king’s palace with a handful of knights. She takes over the palace using a Faith Star, just like the one I have, but way more bright and powerful. She is ready to proclaim herself the queen, with only me and Iris standing between her and the king.

I offer her my ship in exchange of not taking over the country. She then walks out without saying a word, to my ship in the field behind the city walls. She gets in and files into the open blue sky.

I wake up with Yasen breathing in my face. That’s a new thing for a hologram.

“I’m not a hologram anymore, Demi. We landed when you were asleep. It was strange being on the ground watching you land and standing by your side as you slept – all at the same time. Then I just ran to the ship to be with you.”

I notice that I’m without a shirt, and Yasen begins to cover my face and chest with hot kisses. Every kiss gets me higher and higher on neurotoxin to the point where my whole body is just one pleasantly tingling cloud.

Finally he lets me go. I get up and feel confused, but refreshed.

“Good news.” Immaul appears in the air in front of me as we are on our way out. “Your friend Relemill has recovered completely. Indeed it was the correct medicine. He will remain on Ashtarma with Iris for now.”

“Thank you!” I say heartily, albeit I struggle to remember who are these people and what is “Ashtarma”.

Then the memory comes back in one painful wave. Maybe I did not need any of it in my new life now…

Right before leaving the ship I turn around because I feel that someone is watching me, and I catch a fleeting glimpse of Eva. She does not dare to come say goodbye, and for a good reason. But I do not hold a grudge. I now hold a river of neurotoxin from Yasen, and that sums up the state of mind of yours truly. There is no room for a grudge! There isn’t even any room for common sense anymore.

I walk out and gasp in surprise. Both because of the breathtaking view and because I’m afraid we landed on a wrong planet! It’s all dark-green forest as far as the eye can see, and it is moving, although there is no wind. But the most spectacular thing is hundreds of gray and white domes seen through the foliage.

The domes are not smooth, they look like knotted roots of big trees that grew around something the shape of a mushroom, and yet, I know, they are dwellings of ederi. Further away is the ocean. Its waters shimmer, lit up by an unknown source of light. More domes are scattered along the oceanside, some in the clearings, and some partly hidden by the trees.

“Welcome to Crumbling Rose.” Says Yasen, pleased by my amazement.

“But… but the devastation, and the black stones everywhere…” I mumble, gathering my scattered wits.

“That’s just the plains. And surely we have our stones here, too. We are rebuilding our society, as you see!”

We take a ramp to get to the ground, and I notice that my ship is on a tall flat hill, rising above the sea of greenery. As we go down the hill I tell Yasen of the strange dream.

“I sent it to you, so you can see what I saw in the black stone. This is when I tried to deflect the ship off its course to Crumbling Rose.”

“I don’t get it. Why? Did you need the ship?” I say, noticing the trees around. They keep on changing shape of their foliage, and some foliage folds into signs and symbols I can’t understand.

Now I know why the greenery was moving without any wind. These are the same “talking” trees I saw on Ashtarma!

“Demi, the aggressive woman in your dream was your mother!” Yasen picks up the pace and runs the remaining distance to the foot of the hill where a group of ederi is waiting for us.

“Wow… There is no way! She never acknowledged she was my mother! She tried to kill me!”

“In the future I discovered she escaped Deikeren, has amnesia, and is highly intelligent and powerful.”

Wait a minute… This is not how I remember my mother. But the amnesia would explain why she was alive and never contacted me. It still does not explain her disappearance, but if the woman in the dream was indeed my mother, she did look like her. Now I can see it.

However there is no more time for that. We approach a group of ederi of about 5 people, and all of them bow to us. Actually, to Yasen.

He nods, and leads the way to a big white knotted dome among the trees. One ederi, with hair darker than others, keeps on looking at me with an obvious disdain and sense of superiority. Others seem to have the same opinion, they are just not as blatant about showing me my place.

“There is no need to stare me down.” I finally say. “I will not serve any of you. I only submit to Yasen. I want to make it painfully clear.”

“How dare you?” That black-night haired ederi hisses in my ear.

I stop and look him straight in the eyes. I have nothing to fear, I’ve already lost everything. Neither do I particularly care to be nice to everyone here.

This obnoxious guy is about to burst with anger, when Yasen puts his hand on his thin shoulder.

“Let it go, Moro, let him be. Just concentrate on things I told you to think about.”

“Yes, sir.” He answers and walks inside rather hastily.

Now we’re talking business.

Yasen is suddenly lost in heavy thoughts, going into the dome, and I get ready to do the same, when another ederi comes to me. This one has unusual green eyes. The greenish gamut of his flowery shapeless clothing actually brings out these beautiful eyes. His nose is shorter than others, and his hair is tied up in a knot.

“Never mind Moro, we welcome you here, Ari’s grandchild. We hope Ari’s bloodline will bring us the long-desired renewal. My name is too complicated for you to remember, so you can just call me Zumi.”

“Okay, I appreciate that.” I answer.

We hurry into the opening and I see a small stage with a white background and several intricately carved chairs around it. The group is already seated, and Yasen presses a button on the wall for the background to light up with a map of the sky.

Zumi and I sit in the back.

“As you know, I rushed to bring Leozarit Gidealis here, only to lose her hopelessly. At this point I calculated the possible trajectory of her ship, and came up with three galaxies between Milky Way and Andromeda where her ship could have careened.” Yasen sighs and looks at a distance. This does sound really bad and inept.

“That’s a lot of places to look. We’ll be at it for a while!” Says Moro.

“Yes. And that’s why we need a better solution. We all understand that rebuilding the infrastructure of our civilization is an easy task. The hard one is to rebuild ourselves so we can present us to Leot in hopes he’d take us back. Leozarit is the key to that. It is upon all of you, leaders, to save the situation.”

Zumi takes my hand and squeezes it. I get tense, because I don’t know if I should allow it or withdraw. It feels good though. We continue talking even as Yasen goes on about where he thinks she might be, pointing to various stellar clusters.

“I watched the footage of your childhood. You are able to track people and objects. Once you found a girl in the middle of a forest, miles away from your city. That’s remarkable. Can you help us find your mother this way?” Zumi whispers quietly in my ear.

“Hm-mm… That’s kind of far-fetched, don’t you think?” I answer, studying his fingers without any fingernails. They curl around my hand at an angle suggesting that they contain no bone.

I wonder if these are actually tentacles of a sian, just transformed into fingers. If these guys produce neurotoxin, they must be way more on the side of a sian, than a human.