by Davi Cao
Their voices grew louder to make themselves heard. The overall excitement vibrated their bodies, the promise of rapture boiled their mood. They banged their hands on the chairs and knees, clapping, raising their arms, calling for the Father’s mercy.
To speak with the one true Creator, Zach had an idea. He stood up, dodging the seeking hands that hoped to grab him, Colin’s puzzled look, and got one of the resistant objects in the flowerbed, one used to make the bangs heard by the World Voice.
Instead of hitting one stone on the other, he placed one inside his mouth, pushing it down to try and make it fit in his jaw. Stopped by the object’s big size, jammed between his teeth, he raised a hand with another object and threatened to hammer it down his throat by force. He would make a loud bang, a bang emanating from his vocal cord, his voice would reach heaven, at last.
Colin held Zach’s hand before he fulfilled his will. He took the stone from the man’s mouth, and pushed his fingers in Zach’s closed fist, getting the other stone out of his grip.
“You guys are acting like children!” Colin said, pushing Zach to his chair. “If you keep doing these things, you won’t survive once we are out, you are do . . .”
“God has spoken to me!” Dalana burst into the middle of the circle, shaking her head with violent contortions of her neck. “He has a word for all of us. He wants to find us; can you hear that too? He does, oh, yes, He does! He wishes for our company! And He will find us, won’t He?”
“Amen to that!” Zach waved his hand under Laura’s scrutiny.
“Do you know where He will find us? Uh, do you know? No, not in this world. Does God inhabit such a merciless place? Is God’s dwelling in this Hell we’re in? No, He lives in Heaven! The place He has prepared for us will give us eternal bliss. We will live in peace, we will never fight, we won’t ever need anything. Only love. Love from our Creator, from our friends, from our family, from our brothers and sisters sharing the same world. We will inherit Heaven, because thus spoke our Lord! Not this world, no, not this slimy hell, for this is a place of suffering, and God can’t find us here unless we decide to leave.”
Laura lost the rigidity of skepticism, offering Dalana the docile gaze of a believer, conquered by the words of truth and hope that spoke to her deepest feelings. Colin smiled at his friend’s effort at controlling the humans, curious to know where she would go with the herding.
“We will leave this place, won’t we? We will find Heaven, won’t we? We will be happy in there, enjoying love, forever and ever, never worrying about anything. A wonderful life awaits us, just believe it and we shall have it. But God needs a proof of your love. He doesn’t like death, no, no, he wants life, he wants you alive, all of you, to find Him there, in Paradise, in Utopia! What happens when you embrace one another too much here in Hell? Yes, you know it, it burns your skin, it makes you lose yourself. That’s not right, is it? If something brings pain, that’s not God’s way, that’s the devil’s way. If you lose your flesh, you are not waiting for Heaven. You are trying to have it now, and no, you can’t have it now. You have to pray. Pray and wait, and it will come to you. You have suffered long, but not long enough. The more you want for Paradise, the better it will be when it comes.”
“I want Heaven ... I want to find God and ease his loneliness,” Charlotte said.
“Then you shall have it. Pray and wait, my sister. And when the devil comes talking to you, resist it. If you choose his way, you will never find God.” Dalana swirled her hands in the air.
Silence returned to church. Quiet in their chairs, humans prayed and hoped they got to live long enough to see the new world.
Utopia had a million facets, Colin realized. For every person or creature, perfection had a distinct lure, even being the mere byproduct of a collective image as that of Heaven. It had something for everybody, and yet, when he thought about his power, about someday creating a world of his own, he would keep things the same. People would still starve to death, they would still fight and wage wars, because those issues represented problems, and humans needed to solve things.
Colin called Dalana to a private chat at the church’s corner. She answered his invitation with a rigid face, giving long, slow strides where he waited her.
“What, are you going to bash me for speaking of Utopia? Humans like Ut—” she began to say, rolling her eyes up.
“Stay here with them, please. If something happens to us, if we all ... If we all die outside, who’s going to take care of them? You’re the best, look at how quiet you made them. Someone must keep in their minds the idea of a painless place.” Colin’s hands hovered over her arms, tempted by her presence.
“Is there pain in the places you imagine?” She smiled at his finger contortions at her sides.
“Yes, of course. I can only think in human terms.”
“That’s not good reasoning. We can be humans and live like immortals, even our creations, if we so choose. If there is pain in the places you imagine, then allow it to exist right here and right now.”
“It’s not about me ... Look, what will happen to them if we’re gone? They stand no chance.” Colin recoiled his arms on himself, hugging his chest.
Ai.iA, waking up from her own meditation, all her limbs hidden and her two heads staring blankly at the walls, jumped high with the sound of Colin’s pleading. In one precise leap, she fell in front of Dalana, making a bang with her arrival.
“We need all the help we can get. She’ll threaten OOOO with us.” Ai.iA turned her upper head to Colin.
“It’s not needed. For OOOO, one Creator dying is bad enough. It won’t allow one to perish, much less two. A third one is useless, and we’re just risking ourselves. I don’t care much if I disappear. My world is dead, and I can’t create good stuff in here, it’s just not my profile to be creative. But Dalana has a lot to offer,” he said.
“OOOO won’t let us perish. We won’t die! And we will be more certain of that if we have her with us. Like you said, it will be impossible for it to allow our deaths. So, we will win, and I’ll get to have a world of my own, at last! Don’t worry, I’ll give you free space to use as you wish,” Ai.iA said.
“So many bad things can happen up there ... Have you ever faced the World Voice’s pillar? I did, a few times. It messes with your mind, even if you think you have everything under control. It might kill us for real. Dalana, please stay with them. Don’t let them lose Paradise.”
“I want to help. If I don’t, why am I here?” Dalana widened the blanks in her eyes. “When everybody is tired, I’ll create a new world, which won’t last long, because they’ll get bored and play with it, tormenting my creations until I give up. And then I’ll wander the new worlds helping others, always helping, because if I don’t do so, I won’t exist to them. And I want to exist! I will help you, no matter what you think. That’s the only way I can be more than a mere set of boring ideas.”
“See, she will help. Stop trying to change her mind. In fact, if OOOO doesn’t come soon, we’ll have to get up there and find it. If we take longer, who knows when another Creator succeeds at destroying this world before me!” Ai.iA said.
“You’re not boring,” Colin said to Dalana, ignoring Ai.iA’s speech.
“Not when I’m helping you.”
“So, don’t help me. Let me know the real you. Then I’ll be able to tell if you’re interesting or not and get the chance to help you and also be someone.”
Taken by the World Voice’s plight, who spoke relentlessly in the depths of their heads, they hugged each other at the same time, pressing their heads on their shoulders and embracing their bodies with careful hands.
Creators, they wished for something, they could have it, and the words crossing their minds wanted to find a new presence, wanted to become one with whatever lay in front of it. Colin’s cells started to mingle with Dalana’s, and it felt so good that he couldn’t let go of it.
∙ 21 ∙ Sacrifice
“I will find you ... When I find you, I’
ll never let you go ... You’ll be with me forever ... Speak to me, say something I can understand ... I don’t like being alone, I need you ... Don’t stop, please ...”
A new presence attached to his body rewarded his existence, an existence so devoid of satisfaction and bleak, Colin wanted to get out of that world, to go to a place where he could meet his friends and do what he always did, helping others in their projects.
He and the World Voice shared a trap, along with the will to escape it. Someone to help him in it, to guide him out, another person. Colin hugged Dalana, a body that allowed him to flee the void of sensory deprivation, beginning a pleasant travel away from loneliness.
“Get off, you two, wait for OOOO so that you can let yourselves die!” Ai.iA said, punching them with her two thick rods. “Not now, it’s a waste of potential!”
Ai.iA inserted two waist rods between the bellies of Colin and Dalana, and used the pressure to push herself into the middle of their bodies. Fitting herself in the small gap opened by her tools, she squirmed her two heads to open the way to her entrance, repeating a mantra in her mind to avoid the World Voice’s dangers, “I will destroy everything, I will make ruins out of ruins, I will fight until either me or my enemy falls, I will crush it all ...”
Although their chests now made contact with Ai.iA, instead of with their human bodies, Dalana and Colin insisted on their embrace, keeping their arms together. And before they had the time to consider Ai.iA’s body as a new presence and involve her in their matter’s blending, she expanded all her rods in a big push, throwing them to separate sides. Dalana fell on the floor with a back roll, Colin hit his head on a chair.
“Thank you, Ai.iA.” Colin rubbed a hand on his temple. “This is a dangerous world, it’s easy to forget that.”
“It must be destroyed. OOOO is taking too long up there, so we must find it now. Let’s go, it’s time already.” Ai.iA hopped to the corridor, leading them out.
“Wait, I must say goodbye first,” Dalana said, while Ai.iA stopped at the church’s entrance, waiting for her words.
Dalana entered the circle of humans, who prayed in unison for the new world to come. Colin, noticing her intention, recreated the flower bed around the flames, which had become a mass of pink ooze, having every petal mingled with every stem and with each other. They looked natural once more, yellow and red, sweet flowery scent, a much needed Terran touch. Dalana nodded at him.
“My dear ones, you have to be strong and resist. We are going to the upper world, to face Hell’s heart and try to get us all a better place to live. You can have all the food and water that you need in the room next to the lab, and the atmosphere in here will last for a very long time. We hope to get back to you soon, and I’m sure you’ll be fine until then. Remember God’s will. Resist temptation, wait for Paradise. We’ll be here with you,” Dalana said.
“We need ... We need your help. Don’t go.” Laura stood up in haste towards her.
“I am helping you by going up there.” Dalana turned around to face Laura, spreading her arms wide.
“No, you’ll help us better if you stay ... This a dangerous place,” Mat said, joining Laura’s plea.
“I’m afraid ... We’re all scared, and we want you; you and Colin. Don’t go, you two, please.” Amanda closed her fingers in prayer.
“Stay with us, don’t abandon us ...” Charlotte shook her head with tears flowing down her eyes.
Their voices echoed the World Voice’s misery. Colin heard it too, “Don’t ever leave me ... Stay with me, please ...” and regretted their experiments with the resisting materials. Had they left the World Voice alone in its void, never hearing anything from the other dimension, it would remain depressed, and those particular humans had good defenses against sadness. Against hope and desire, however, they risked dying if left on their own.
Colin thought about a guardian, about leaving someone in their place to ensure the people’s safety. An angel of sorts, an emissary of Paradise, capable of soothing their desperation and compensating for the lack of friends. A fantastic creature, but still a piece of old Terra, blending the best of his limited ideas with those of Utopias’ maker, Dalana. He wished for it, watching the humans approach Dalana in zombie hunger.
A creature of light, of skin made of spectral white, bald, dressed in blue, with a smile so benevolent as to inspire immediate trust. An angel showed up in the church, floating above the flowerbed.
Laura fell on her knees, raising her hands to the angel. Mat cried, Amanda smiled and loved the divine creature with her fists closed under her chin. The angel flew among them with slow flaps of his wide wings, trespassing human matter without effect. It belonged to another dimension, where human touch couldn’t penetrate.
“They’ll be fine now. I think we can go,” Colin said to Dalana.
“You did great. See, if someone had to stay with them, either of us would be fit for it, right?” Dalana said, smirking at him.
“The idea of Paradise didn’t come from me. I just followed along.” He blinked at her, while they followed Ai.iA towards the lab.
By anticipation alone, the upper world made Colin quiver. The trouble he had to walk on melted land, the sinkholes, the omnipresent pillar, the deserted and ravaged landscape, those memories reminded him of his urgency to have Terra back. It could take ages, though, until he discovered Mae’s hideout.
The world beyond the house’s door destroyed his expectations. Mud solidified and now rippled in frequent waves, looking for new things. Gray matter spikes took the horizon, rivals to the World Voice’s pillar itself for the throne of the sky.
On his first step outside, the ground swallowed him, slowly like vines, doing what the Voice inspired it to do. He got rid of its gripping with one foot, but when both got stranded he had to roll to the side and get up with a quick push from all his limbs. It took him five hard steps to start missing the melted mud.
Dalana, hopping instead of walking, managed to move around with less hassle, inspiring Colin to drop his dependency on Terra’s walking styles and try something different for once.
“There you go, come on, like a bunny from your world, it’s solid enough to hold our weight, and don’t stop for long.” She matched her jumping strides with his clumsy leaps.
Ai.iA, punching the ground with her bottom rod, hovered in front of them unaffected by the ground’s craving, keeping a tenuous interaction with the world. The three of them, running on the land with little contact on the planet’s crust, followed a random straight line.
Nobody had any clue of OOOO’s whereabouts. They moved to give Ai.iA time to craft clones of herself that multiplied in every conceivable direction, then launching luminous kites to the sky, spare eyes for a broader vigilance. At last, she inserted bullets in the ground, cylindrical packages that dropped atomic probes which would sweep large underground areas until finding new presences.
They found OOOO. Following one of the clone’s sightings, not far away from the path they traced, the dominant Creator lay half swallowed by the land, next to a tall mound which grew by the second, threatening to become a pillar aiming for the sky.
OOOO’s head spun on its neck in the rhythm of clock, marking the seconds. Only one of its legs escaped the ground’s craving, the others all immersed in slime and buried down. Half its neck was exposed to the purple space’s vacuum, its goggled eyes looked for no target at which to aim.
Ai.iA hit OOOO’s face with her head, punching it with her waist rods to wake it up from its trance and remove it from the ground. Colin hopped around in fear of stopping to help and being swallowed as well by the hungry regolith.
OOOO stared at him and at Dalana, smiling with ease, stopping its head spin. It made no effort to quit its half tomb, however, leaving it to Ai.iA to find a way of getting it out of there. She blew the land up with an implosive device, freeing OOOO up in a sudden burst.
“Jump there, tell us your decision! What has the council said?” Ai.iA asked, pushing it out of the tempora
ry crater.
The hole crumbled over OOOO before it moved, to which OOOO made no effort to leave. It accepted the world’s violence, it delivered its frail body to the desperate land. And yet, the Creator’s body showed no signs of having lost matter to the hungry ground. Its legs kept their usual thickness, its neck displayed the same gaudy tissues wrapped under its chin, its colorless skin lost none of its countless wrinkles.
“Did you give up on your world? Are you letting yourself die?” Colin said in the middle of a jump.
“Or will we have to disappear, because you want us dead?” Ai.iA spoke to OOOO’s head, its only part still lying above the surface.
“Don’t die, please ... You must live, must you not? Live with me, in this world, admiring my creation, you see? That’s how it should be ...” OOOO said.
“What has the council decided?” Dalana intervened, hopeful for their decision.
“Stalemate ... It’s up to me to decide, and I don’t want to give up on my world, do I? No, I like the World Voice!”
“It was interesting, yes, I agree with you, I learned to appreciate it, you know well I did. But it’s enough already, my friend, please, it’s not interesting anymore, it has showed us all it has to offer. It’s time to let others create a more interesting place, isn’t it?” Colin fell down and stayed, needing focus to make his plea.
“You are wrong, aren’t you? The World Voice speaks differently now, it can change too, and who knows what else can it do! It’s not fair, is it? To have it destroyed when it showed its potential!”
“So, you’re just going to let us die?” Colin watched the impending doom come ahead of him.
“Don’t die, please, stay with me ... We will have fun in my world, won’t we?”
Colin opened his mouth to keep on arguing, but Ai.iA shut herself down. She stopped hopping, impacting the ground with her bottom head. The crust under her skin felt a new body, molecules needy of love began climbing her. Ai.iA told no jokes.
