* * * * *
As time always seems to pass more quickly when you manage to find a piece of happiness, the evening before my departure crept upon us. I remember that night like the calm before the storm.
“Tell me about the legend of your people again, Alessia,” Terin pleaded, trying to keep me from leaving for the last time as I wished him good-night.
Smiling, I made my way to the edge of his bed and sat down.
“When I was a girl, I knew a creature that spoke to me of a land called Enor.” I began predictably.
“Was he a monster?” Terin asked as if on cue, delighted, his eyes shining.
“Oh, a terrible monster to behold,” I shook my head, “but not a monster inside, I think.”
“And his name was Ornenkai.” Terin interrupted.
“Yes, that’s right.” I nodded. “Very little was known about this creature, but his body was made of dark metal and his eyes were cold and quick.”
“But you weren’t afraid of him,” Terin insisted, applauding my bravery.
“No. He came many times to visit my... father, and though he was quite fearsome, I wasn’t afraid of him.”
“He was the one who told you about the legend.” Terin added, nodding excitedly because he knew the story well enough to tell it himself.
“Yes. He told me that there was once a lost civilization called Enor, and that they had believed that all living things were bound to their own cycle of life. All of our cycles together made up an infinite sphere of life stretching across the universe.”
“Across the big universe,” Terin added enthusiastically, gesturing with a wide sweep of his arms.
“Yes. And even if these cycles overlapped or converged, such as yours and mine, the people of Enor believed that none of us could break from our own cycle. Our own path, you might say. Or in other words, our own destiny.
“The Enorian legend said that for all time the cycles could not be broken, but truth be known, no one has ever been given to know upon which path he travels.”
“Except the One,” Terin interrupted again, his eyes widening.
“Yes, the One.” I nodded. “The Enorians believed that One path alone followed no cycle. And that this One person would have power over life and destiny in the universe. The person whose existence began at a singularity point, who was himself like a living singularity, would be bound to no cycle of life. He could be born or die at any time. Long had the people of Enor waited for that One, but not even they had known when the One would appear. And he would be the One to change the fate of the entire universe…” I trailed off, for by now, Terin’s eyes had closed.
“I wonder who he is, this One man.” Terin spoke through a yawn. “Maybe he has already been born.” He mumbled, beginning to fall asleep.
Factum abiit, monumenta manent. The event is past, the memorial of it remains.
—Ovid
Chapter Eight
The Last Immortal : Book One of Seeds of a Fallen Empire Page 14
