by JB Dutton
* * * * *
Noon unlocked the rooftop access door and pushed it open, creating an arc and small mound in the pristine white snow. We stepped out into the chill night air and I pulled my winter coat tighter around me.
The view of Manhattan was stunning from the roof of the Warrington. The Hudson River on one side, the Empire State Building and all the lesser skyscrapers on the other. To the south, the resurgent Ground Zero buildings and above us, the Milky Way.
He took my hand, our boots crunching underfoot, and said, “What do you see up there?”
“Stars, the Moon.”
“Do you want to see what I see?”
I gazed at his soft, soulful, beautiful features.
“There’s nothing I want more.”
He reached for my other hand and entwined his fingers with mine. We were holding hands the same way he had done with Silas in the classroom the day we met. I felt a flutter in my stomach.
“Close your eyes, Kari.”
I did as he asked and waited to feel his touch, my whole body tingly, yet still.
“Now look upward. But keep your eyes closed.”
I lifted my head. And then the most amazing thing happened.
I could see. But the stars above me were black and the sky was white. Yet not white. Patterned somehow. Like a web of swirling, shimmering, translucent shapes.
Noon’s voice filled my head once again. “That is my universe. That is the universe of Dark Matter. That is where I and the other Embodied come from. Now look back down at me.”
I gasped. The building wasn’t there. My hands holding Noon’s hands weren’t there. And in front of me, where Noon should have been, was a floating diamond pyramid made of the same shimmering substance as the sky above.
“This is what I really look like. My true form.”
I let go of his hands and opened my eyes. The world instantly returned to normal. I was speechless.
“Your universe is the Light Universe, filled with matter and energy, and you think that it’s everything there is. But, as some of your scientists have discovered, the vast majority of the universe is filled with Dark Matter and Dark Energy.”
“Okaaay...”
This was as intelligent as I could possibly sound right then.
“We found a way to create a portal into the Light Universe and embody ourselves in organic forms that you can recognize. But our minds are still part of the Dark Universe.”
“But how come I can hear your thoughts? Are you, like, psychic or something?”
“I’ve been with you your whole life, Kari.”
“Huh?”
“Let me try to explain,” he continued, softly. “The synapses in the human brain can be influenced on a quantum level. We can vibrate your universe’s quantum energy and create resonance in its objects, like a crystal glass that hums in harmony when the right note is sung. You’ve literally grown up in tune with me.”
This was all too much. I walked away toward the edge of the building. I looked out over the city and took a deep breath. The sharp air filled my lungs and cleared my head. I heard Noon’s footsteps crunching across the snow-covered roof behind me.
“Kari.”
I turned around quickly.
“No, I don’t get it. And I don’t even want to get it!”
He reached me. I was breathing hard. Completely overwhelmed. When my eyes flicked up to his, they looked different. For the first time, I saw empathy. He could feel my confusion, my suffering.
The tension in my stomach dissolved as he moved even closer.
Then I kissed him.
At first, he didn’t kiss me back. In fact, he didn’t even move. I pulled him closer and something in him changed. He responded. With his mouth, with his hands, and with his body.
I could hear his voice in my mind, at first barely audible.
“I love you, Kari.”
Then clearer, but still quiet, like a whisper.
“I love you.”
Then louder and louder until it filled my whole being. I felt like huge ocean breakers were crashing over me one after the other, powerful and unstoppable.
Unable to bear it any longer, I broke away. Noon was staring at me, confused, shaking slightly. Maybe it was an illusion, but it felt like all the sounds of the city had fallen silent.
“I love you, Noon.”
I saw the flicker of a smile at the corner of his perfect lips, then he looked down.
“This is why I had to go away.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“We can’t do this. We can’t fall in love. We’re putting everything in jeopardy.”
I shook my head. “What?! What could be so frickin important?”
He let go of my hands and sighed. “The Temple of Truth. It’s not a religion, it’s not a cult – it’s a project. And if I don’t stop seeing you I’ll be destroying the work of millennia. My family, my friends, have given so much, and now I’m risking it all for selfish reasons, for this human emotion.”
“But I’ve never felt anything like... this.”
“Neither have I,” he admitted. “That’s the problem.”
He paced up and down, struggling with the turmoil he was clearly feeling.
“We just can’t be together,” he continued, “I’m not even human. You should go back to Cruz.”
No. I wasn’t ready to hear this.
“You felt human enough to me when we kissed.”
“Kari, I showed you my real form just now when you closed your eyes. All of us, all of the Embodied, are crystals of Dark Matter. When we pass through a portal into the Light Universe we materialize as carbon pyramids.”
Okay... just like the pyramid that Cruz had seen in the ToT apartment.
“And once we’re here we become Embodied in the carbon-based life-form of our choosing, with a diamond pyramid at its very center.”
I was listening, but I didn’t want to hear.
Noon carried on. “So when you hit Cilic here – ” He gestured toward his solar plexus, “you disrupted the link between his Dark Matter self and his Embodied form.”
“Like I said,” I persisted, “You seem human.”
“I know it’s not easy to understand, but although I’m real, physical flesh and blood, I’m not... a normally functioning human. None of us are. We don’t have pain receptors on our skin. We’re tougher and stronger than you. We don’t eat, we don’t need to sleep, and – ”
“Wait!” I interrupted. “I saw beds in the Temple of Truth apartment.”
“We aren’t stable. We aren’t viable organisms. And if we don’t return to the Dark Universe every so often, our Embodied forms suffer a catastrophic failure. Resting just prolongs the period of time we can remain Embodied.”
“A catastrophic failure? What... you mean you could die? Without warning, just like that? What period of time are we talking about?”
“No, it’s not death, Kari. We simply revert to the diamond pyramid form, like Cilic did. There’s no set period. Usually, after a few weeks of being Embodied, we can tell that we have to return. Maybe months. We don’t know what influences the time period, but we have no choice – we have to go back.”
“Back home.”
“I guess so. But I couldn’t begin to describe ‘home’ to you.”
Right at that moment he seemed so lost, so alone. Like a wounded soldier who has crossed a mountain range to deliver a vital message. Or a sailor stranded on a deserted island.
I took his hands in mine. Looking into his eyes, they were hungry but still hesitant, maybe even scared. I wanted him to know it was okay, that I wanted him. I leaned forward and pressed my lips gently against his, then pulled him closer. This time he responded faster. I felt his hands squeeze my hips. Our mouths opened and our tongues touched and explored. It was amazing, unbelievable, timeless.
And then I heard a noise. Right there, on the rooftop.
We both reacted to the sound. Silas was standing in the access d
oorway, watching us. The man who had vanished in the beam of light between two diamond pyramids in the arena.
“Oh no,” said Noon under his breath.
Silas looked at us for another second, then left silently. Noon walked away from me, rubbing his forehead.
“You have to go see Cruz, Kari.”
“What?!”
“Just talk to him. Please.”
“But I need to know more! What’s this project? Why did Aranara and Cilic need me?”
“I’m sorry, but I just can’t tell you,” he said, every word filled with anguish.
I rushed up to him and grabbed his hands, but he pulled them away.
“Why do you have to keep me in the dark?”
He smiled ironically. “Because I’m trying to keep you in the light.”
I groaned with frustration. “Fine, don’t tell me anything. But at least help me find Mom.”
Noon looked at me sadly. “I’ll do what I can. I’m sure she’s okay.”
“Yeah, well, I’m not sure. Oh forget it, I’ll just call the cops.”
He put his hands on his hips. “That won’t do any good.”
“Why not?”
“Because this is beyond them. Even if the Embodied aren’t in tune with every human the way I am with you, any of us can influence someone’s behavior as long as we’re in close proximity. Especially if the person has no reason to think they’re being manipulated. Believe me, if Aranara doesn’t want it, there won’t even be an investigation. And from now on, you need to be on your guard – try to sense if your thoughts are becoming fuzzy like when Cilic made you fall asleep in the limo. If anything seems strange, be skeptical and concentrate on what’s really there.”
My emotions were running high. I suddenly felt chilled to my bones. I had to get off the rooftop, away from the confusion I felt from Noon and back to the comfort of my bedroom.
I looked him straight in the eye.
“I love you, Noon, whatever you are. I don’t even know why I love you, but I do. And right now you’re hurting me because no matter what you feel for me, there’s something else you love even more, and that’s the Temple of Truth.”
I stormed past him, teary-eyed, and ran to the access door.
Back home, I threw myself down on the bed and cried my heart out. Everything was so simple six months ago and now there was absolutely nothing I could count on.
Except... maybe Noon was right. Maybe I should see Cruz.
