Irked by her tone of glee, he responded with out hesitation, “Unfortunately. He tried to kill us.”
“He what?” Sofia said with astonishment. “Why?”
“That mission we did on Black Island. It was all part of their plan. I killed the men at the highest level,” he said, unaware of the saddened expression the young boy was bearing as he listened to John from over his shoulder. “That allowed Banks and Central to take control of the worlds.”
Bewildered by the news, Sofia was brought back to the reality of their present circumstances. As she thought about Maryanne and Stephen, the fantasy world she was enjoying so much had suddenly vanished. Her innocent mindset lost out to the cares of the cold, hard worlds she had wanted so much to leave behind. Gone was her dream. And a deep, unforgiving thirst began to set in.
Under the blackness of her demeanor, the child released Sofia’s hand, listening to her and John converse. There was very little expression from him… until John said, “Maybe we could find our ship. If we could somehow get it working again we could probably return back to the Island and I could kill him, putting an end to their plans.”
Hanging his head down in grief, the child despondently led them over one last sandy hill where they were presented with another pool of water, less clear and mildly bitter in aroma. Holding his hand out, as if to offer them a drink from its glassy waters, he seemed disappointed, but neither John nor Sofia noticed as the desire of thirst burned within them.
Scooping up the water in their hands and taking their sips, they noticed in the reflection on the pond’s surface, the airship was standing erect behind them, reaching up to the flames of the sky. As they turned back to look upon it, the particles of the Savior fell over its silhouette and into their eyes, blindingly white and arrayed in softness.
With her bare feet strolling through the cool, green grass of a world without death, Sofia looked upon the ball of light that radiated from her hands. Turning her palms over, the light fell to the ground, disappearing into the pores of the soil, like water poured upon dry sand.
John watched as Sofia’s feet playfully trampled through the crimson waters of the Red Sea. He had somehow returned to the planet of war, but, while he instinctively knew that the great battle was playing out in the distant valley, he also knew that he had to run to Sofia, she had something of great importance to tell him.
Strapped inside the tracked transporter in the loading bay of the airship, Sofia awoke beside John, who was yawning and stretching as if he, too, had just risen from a deep slumber. The rumbling of the reverse thrusters was wailing outside. The sudden sensation of slowing down from a rapid descent began to bear down upon their sense of orientation. Before they could question each other as to the strange events that had befallen them, the air transporter touched down and the bay doors immediately began to rise.
The familiar breeze of red dust blowing in was indicative of the fact that they had somehow managed to return to planet Red. Its choking air and distant booming battle sounds were characteristic features of the ruby painted world John had come to know so intimately.
Exiting the tracked vehicle, John walked around to meet Sofia. Taking her by the hand, they proceeded to the ramp outside.
Surprised to find the young child already standing at the bottom edge of the downslope, they approached him from behind as he curiously bowed his head. Nearing him, they could see that he had been weeping for, what appeared to be, an impossibly extended duration of time, as the crystalline pool of water resting at his feet seemed to have formed from the tears he had been shedding.
“Why are you crying, little boy?” Sofia asked as she knelt beside him and placed a loving arm over his shoulder.
Lifting his hand he pointed to the world below. The explosive nature of the planet had intensified ten fold since the last time they had experienced its deadly display. The overview of the land from their mountainous outlook allowed them to see that the carnage of the Valley of Death had spread like a cancer to the surrounding regions, reaching even to the heart of the ruins. Hundreds upon hundreds of columns of smoke arose from the burning heaps that littered the battlegrounds upon the layers of corpses, the blistering explosions and the constant chatter of small arms fire. It was all an accompaniment to the blackness of the heavy air that polluted and poisoned the planet.
As John looked upon the war weary scene, he could not help but feel the burning wall of hatred naturally building up inside of him. As if the young child had, once again, been given access to the thoughts going through John’s mind, he cast his tearfully youthful gaze upon him and, pushing Sofia’s arm away, he held his hand out to them, as if to offer a drink from his waters.
The sudden thirst that overcame John was oddly familiar, and he could feel the skin of his lips suddenly drying up and withering. His tongue became strangely sticky, as if someone had opened the tap to his body and drained him of all of his fluids. The crystal waters of the pool looked so inviting. Giving into his desire to quench his craving, he fell at the boy’s feet gulping the salty liquid.
Heartbroken at the child’s insistence of removing her arm from him, Sofia’s mouth began to dry, and the appetite for liquid refreshment caught her unaware. Seeing John partaking of the bitter waters made her hunger for it as well, forcing her to bow down beside him. Dunking her hand into the spring, she brought the cool, refreshing waters to her mouth and drank.
The special particles of light from the Savior traveled along the rays of golden bars that broke through the clouds. Scorching a path across the land, the flames of its wrath devoured everything in its course. As the lights reached the young boy, with Sofia and John at his feet, the brightness poured into their eyes, filling them with the whiteness of its purity.
Searching through the rich dirt of the fertile valley, Sofia dug passionately for the light that she had lost. She knew it illuminated John’s body, giving it life. The palms and fingers of her hands were covered over with soil, but that meant John was nearby. She only needed to find the light.
The warmth of water was up to John’s knees as he approached his love while she bathed in the Sea of Red. Its waters dripped from Sofia’s hair, forming circular ripples upon the glassy surface into which she was submerged.
“Come closer, dear,” she said, holding out her arms.
The water was up to his chest by the time he reached her. As he held his arms out, Sofia fell into them, dipping her head back and looking into his eyes.
“What did you want to tell me?” he asked.
“John, my dear, this is the day that you will find all the answers that you have been seeking.”
He wanted to inquire more deeply, but the brightness of a blinding light was consuming the world.
The cargo bay doors of the transporter began to open and Sofia and John found themselves overlooking the scorched flatlands of Raw. Basket Town was in chaos. Like the warzones of Red, the blackened funnels of smoke lifted to the heavens from the buildings and vehicles that fell victim to the rebellious battles. Screams and wailing filled the air in an accompaniment of small arms fire reminiscent of the Valley of Death.
Running down the ramp, Sofia stopped at the edge of the cliff beside which the transporter had landed. Horrified by the visions of violence, she covered her eyes and fell to her knees. As John walked up beside her, the burning wall of hatred filled his heart. Seeing the destruction of the people brought back the corruption of his mind. The first thoughts to enter in were flooded with vengeance.
The young boy, teary eyed and mournful, took him by the hand and looked to the sky. Certain he had seen the child before, John noted mentally every detail of his actions: the movement of his arm, the upward gaze, the short stepped gait. The light of the Savior hid behind the rapidly forming clouds, and then, without any hint of its approach, the rains began to fall.
Pooling around their feet, the waters filled the land, muddied and murky to behold. But the puddle of liquid around which the child stood was as clear as a dia
mond, sparkling and pure.
Under the coolness of the storm, Sofia pushed back her yellowy-white bangs and began to thirst. The battles of the valley had become obscured and muffled, too difficult to sense through the torrential rains. Seeing John and the young boy a few meters away, fogged by the mist that was forming over the warm land of Raw, it appeared that her mate was bowing down to the child. Running through the soft, wet soil, she found him lapping up the bitter waters in which the young boy stood. Kneeling beside him she joined him in the pool.
The cloudy skies began to abate, and the Savior’s lights filled the air. Blanketed with the warmth, the clean brightness of its purity once again entered their eyes and filled their souls.
The light of John sprung forth from the grassy soil at Sofia’s feet, like the flowering plants in the newness of the springtime. The message that she had delivered to him at the Sea of Red had become his awareness: he was rising up like the stars of the night.
John held Sofia in his arms. The waters of the Sea dripped warmly across his hands.
“Where will the answers come from, Sofia? Please, answer me,” he pleaded.
She opened her eyes. His image was reflecting off the blackness of her pupils. Like strings of time, they played a melody of beauty that only he could hear.
The sky filled with the brilliance of the reverse thrusters of millions of transporters descending upon Red’s surface around the sea, shaking the planet to its very foundation. The light of the Savior burned with fury, blinding John from witnessing the continuance of its power.
The bay doors opened once again. Sofia and John were standing on the ramp leading to the overgrown, ivy patches of the ruins of Labor’s launch facility at the base of the mountains: a place they had once thought to be named the Red Plant. Devoid of human life, the vegetation had concealed its once ash-laden soil, hiding it beneath layers of grass, bushes and youthful trees. The warehouses that used to extend for kilometers were now covered over, appearing like mounds of natural formations, rolling away in the distance. The brightly lit fencing was long torn down with nary a hint of their ever having existed. A thick strip of grass, like a pathway, meandered away from the burnt out umbrage that fell under the devouring heat of their transporter.
Descending the ramp, neither John nor Sofia could believe the changes that had taken place in their former planet. As far as they were able to see, the Highway’s tunnel had fallen in upon itself, leaving heaps of overgrown concrete in a trail of moss and ivy covered rubble that twisted through the valleys and hills, into the world beyond. The young boy was somehow already taken to walking upon its path when they passed through remains of the ivy-coated pylons standing erect at what had once been the entrance to the compound. Waving his hands, the child waited for them to catch up.
Climbing along the Highway’s remains, the spaces in the concrete slabs and boulder-shaped rubble revealed the skeletal remains of the dead, trapped within their transporters or crushed under the fallen roof and walls. By the bleached bones that lightly protruded from the soil outside of the ruins, it appeared that some of the people had tried to flee from the terror, but died en route to the forest while attempting to make their escape.
The damage was concise and thorough, leaving nothing alive within its walls, and leaving nothing intact as to its structure. Whatever happened, Sofia thought, it must have been a terrible sight to behold.
Following the course of destruction, both she and John knew that they would be eventually reaching the boundaries of Labor City. Fearing what they would find at the end of the line, Sofia intuitively walked closely beside the young boy with maternal protection, subconsciously vigilant and prepared to do everything in her power to keep him safe.
After several hours of traversal, it became quite apparent to John that the Savior had not so much as moved a single centimeter across the open expanse above. It had remained static upon its skyward resting place, hanging as it were, like a glowing ornament upon a wall of ocean blue. Had the planet come to a standstill? Had it stopped rotating on its axis, he wondered. With the bizarre nature of their journey, he kept the observation to himself and pressed onward.
Sofia could not help but look to the West, hoping to see the place that they had once called home. The thick green of the forest, and the distance that would need to be covered to reach it, were much greater than their view allowed, and she knew it. But still, the yearning for the peace that she had while it lasted was something she believed would never leave her. Holding tightly to Sofia’s hand, the child looked contently upon her, as if he were in a state of emotive unity with her, enjoying the peacefulness of life as she did.
As the Savior still had not changed from its position for an unimaginative number of hours, John understood that they were actually going to make the entire trip to Labor before the Great Star had set over the westerly horizon. It seemed remotely impossible to traverse such a long distance in a single day, as he remembered several nights transpiring before he and Sofia had made the full journey. But an unmoving light source had not been available to them before. The impossible was seemingly possible, now.
Highly aware of his surroundings, John had an incredible sense of well-being. The thirstless strength that carried him onward allowed him to effortlessly move through the ruinous heaps of concrete without so much as breaking a sweat.
Fully healed of her wounds, Sofia could hardly remember what the suffering felt like. She was able to traverse the land with as much ease as John, hopping from structure to structure. Physically, she seemed as fit as she had been years ago, on that day when they left the City through the wound in the Highway’s wall.
The young boy provided their pace without ever tiring. He was peculiar in his own right, so quiet and secure. His aura was a living entity all its own. Sofia wondered why it was that he was leading them in the direction of Labor, but she did not have the desire to ask him.
The hike across the Highway’s ruins, slithering through the valleys and across the forest-lined fields, was time consuming, but enjoyable. Sofia and John felt at home, as if they had never left the forests of Labor in the first place. Were it not for the burning wall of John’s mind that would creep in during their discussions of sensitive topics, the thoughts of other planets existing in the farthest reaches of their little portion of the universe, the wars and disputes between the varying factions vying for power, could have easily been forgotten, concealed under a perspective of deliberate ignorance.
Although there were many hours to waste away, time had finally made an allowance for the two of them to get reacquainted. But neither John nor Sofia considered for a single moment about bringing up what had transpired during their time apart. It was much too painful. Instead, they kept close to each other. That was comfort enough.
Having only traveled once near the Highway, the world around them was unfamiliar in particulars. Generally speaking, it was still home. But with each passing minute the city drew closer, and the anxious feeling bubbling in John’s stomach grew more intense. There was no way to tell what it was that awaited them at the end of the day’s journey, but they continued to put their faith in the child, following him wherever he led.
Chapter Forty-Five
Labor had finally come into view. It was nothing like John and Sofia had remembered. From the distance that they were observing it, and after their experiences with the other worlds, the breadth and depth of the once thriving metropolis seemed so minute in comparison, especially when considering the ravaged state in which it presented itself to them.
The overlapping rooftops had collapsed long ago, decaying in the streets under thick layers of moss and green brush, allowing the light of the Savior to saturate its once hidden face. The walls of the city, the Corral, had also fallen into disrepair and waste, leaving only hints of its past existence visible under the free roaming grass.
As they advanced nearer to the City, John’s fire began to kindle. The memories of its claustrophobic, controlled environment had jum
ped to the forefront of his mind. Although the landscape had changed, and the Great Light from the sky was leading the way, it was still Labor, no matter how much he tried to rationalize upon it.
From the street level view, just outside what had once been the original border of the Corral, the City appeared to be a ghost town. Its streets were deserted and barren. The peoples were scarce, perhaps hidden in their apartments waiting for the Savior to return to his home on the other side of the planet, and the night skies to present them anew. Or, perhaps, John thought, they were all dead, destroyed by the ravages of a violent uprising, like that of Raw.
Holding Sofia and the young boy back, John insisted that he lead the way in. Following close behind him, Sofia gripped the child’s hand firmly as they passed through, what had once been, the red brick structure that coupled the City to the Highway.
The eerie feeling of returning to their place of origin, but under differing circumstances and environmental conditions, was somewhat overwhelming to Sofia. Although the memories of her youth were not so wonderful, it was the place from which she and John had made their vows to each other that they would always be one. It still held that special place in her heart.
With the rooftops destroyed, the buildings seemed to John to be so short and unimpressive. The dull, blue-gray dreariness that once pervaded the culture was now green and vibrant, allowing only scant glimpses of its morbid past to peek through the unfettered growth of the natural world. The inhabitants, if there were any left, and if they still shunned the Light above, would now merely exist as nocturnal beasts.
Walking beside Sofia, the young boy grasped the reins of her heart with maternal care, giving her the sense that he was her own. His fingers were about the same size that her son’s had been on the day that he disappeared from her life. His hair was similarly shaded. His eyes were as equally bright. Sofia wanted to kneel down and hug him, but she refrained, for she knew deep inside, somewhere out there, perhaps hidden in the City, his mother was waiting. She would do whatever she could to reunite the woman with her little boy. But if she could not be found, then Sofia would keep him for her own, providing the love he lost, just as she hoped someone, somewhere, was providing the same for her child.
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