Protogenesis: Before the Beginning

by Alysia Helming

  I turn to see that Nick has safely escaped Janus’s continued tirade by jumping over the side of the roof and down the outside stairway. No!

  Janus grabs my arm and leads me swiftly down the stairs and into the kitchen, where he opens a cabinet and pulls out some sort of new age healing concoction. He grabs my forehead to examine my cut. I hear a sharp intake of his breath, which makes me nervous that the laceration must be much worse than I suspected. He hands me a small hand mirror.

  I glance at my image. The gash is gone. Feeling faint, I struggle to remain standing as it fully sinks in that my head is completely devoid of any cuts or imperfections whatsoever. I have miraculously healed in less than thirty minutes.

  Remarkably, Janus doesn’t even appear surprised. Why not? He just shakes his head at me and slams the door as he heads into his room.

  One thing is for certain. The stakes have been raised. This is so much bigger than a local mafia street gang. There are people here on Earth working for the gods, and they want me dead.

  26 – Scythia

  I feel paralyzed. I rack my brain, trying to figure out what is going on. Why would Zeus want to kill me? If not because I went through the portal to Gaea, then why? Some essential piece of the puzzle is missing. Zeus shouldn’t care about me or my mother. We’re just regular people from Earth. But I know too much now to trick myself into believing that story any further. Ares mentioned the Prophecy, which I’ve heard before from Janus and his band of weirdo friends. The key to it all is my mom.

  The bloody ripped cloth that Nick placed around my head lies on the ground. I touch my head. I can’t believe this super healing ability. I’ve experienced so much change since I went through the portal. It has made me into a much more powerful, capable version of myself. Suddenly, I’m filled with intense gratitude for this strength. It makes me realize that I can sit here and cower in fear, or I can go and do something about it. I’ve been given these powers for a reason. Both Sarantos and Ares all but confirmed that my mom is alive. I’ve got to get back to Gaea to find out more.

  Suddenly, a terrifying thought hits me. If my mom escaped Zeus in the fire, then he must be looking for her too. Once again, I feel warmth on my chest, but this time, I feel a strange pulsing on my neck…the cypress tree necklace. Somehow, I know that the tree on Gaea is my next step in finding Mom, but how to find it? The answers are in Gaea. I need to go back through the Gate.

  There’s a problem with this, though. I need Bastet and the stone on her collar. Panic fills me: I don’t remember her coming back through the Gate with me. I can’t think like this. She must be here somewhere! I’m going to find her.

  As I make my way upstairs, our apartment is completely dark. I can hear the soft snoring of Janus sleeping in the other room. I slowly close his door to keep from waking him. Softly, I call out for the cat. “Bastet! Where are you?” Frantically, I look everywhere I can think of…behind the furniture, in the cabinets. I fear that I’m making way too much noise, but there’s no sign of the cat anywhere! All my hopes are dashed. I sink down into the couch depressed, in total despair. Maybe she truly is trapped on Gaea. My eyes fill with tears.

  Wait—a soft scratching sound is coming from Janus’s room. As I move close to his bedroom door, the sound grows louder, like someone is directly opposite me on the other side. Suddenly, an orange paw shoots out towards me from underneath the door, then swiftly disappears. It’s Bastet! Janus must have locked her in there to keep her from me. Relief floods me at the sight of her, but the thought of Janus locking her away is awful.

  I try the door handle, slowly turning it to avoid any noise, but it’s locked! Crap, now how will I get Bastet out of there? I pace back and forth, thinking through my options. There are none. I guess I’ll have to wait until tomorrow. Argh! I throw my hands up in the direction of the door. In my mind, I envision the door opening…and then, miraculously, click! The door does open, and Bastet trots out with a smug, satisfied look on her face.

  In a flash, she shoots past me, running at full tilt out of the apartment and down the stairs. I sprint fast to keep up with her. As if reading my mind, she’s heading for the bookcase that is the secret door to the basement. Effortlessly, I disable the lock, and we head down into the basement. There, lying in wait for us, is the mirror. Its surface is already enabled to the magnificent blue shimmering surface that has become so familiar to us. Without even turning to look back at me, Bastet leaps through the Gate. I follow close behind her.

  My vision starts to spin as the world around me swirls into the blur of colors and lights, all racing forward to merge dynamically into the epicenter of the now-familiar vortex. But instead of passing out like before, I walk smack into a pale, white-haired, silver-eyed boy, maybe eight or nine years old. He looks a lot like Thomas. Upon impact, we both tumble back onto the soft, sandy ground on the Gaea side of the Gate.

  Bastet, my mountain lioness, is crouched low next to the boy, hissing. We’re standing on the hot sand, facing the vast stretches of desert, which we can easily see through large gaps in the crumbling stone open-air structure. Long ago, the roof must have caved in here because the edges of this place are littered with scattered tiles. Far off in the distance, another sandicane with gale-force winds swirls in colossal fury. An imposing man dressed in harsh desert gear and a gas mask pokes a lit-up spear into my side. The pain is far worse than Xonos’s spear last time.

  In an instant, I grab the white-haired boy’s shirt, pull him in front of me, and wrap one hand around his neck, holding him as my hostage. Bastet roars in a murderous fury. Her voice echoes throughout the enclosed area, causing the walls to shake and shudder. Ancient décor crumbles from the stone arch above the Gate.

  “I don’t want to hurt him!” I yell at the man who just tried to attack me. The white-haired boy trembles in fear under the weight of my hand. “Stand down!” I yell.

  I can feel the man’s intensity through the eye shields of his gas mask, but he says nothing. It’s a standoff. His arm muscles ripple. He yanks off his gas mask and scowls. He takes a moment to study me before his scowl relaxes into a wry grin. He says, “Impossible. You’re a Dreg!”

  As my vision clears, I’m greeted by the image of Serina and Xonos, standing off in the background, grinning ear to ear. We study each other for a moment in curiosity but then visibly relax as I release my hold on the boy.

  The man takes a raspy breath through a ventilator. His voice is incredulous as he asks, “You…you can breathe here?”

  Serina interrupts, “Yeah, she so totally can!”

  “Serina, no!!” Xonos socks her on the arm, annoyed. The man looks from one kid to the next, shaking his head as if they are in some sort of trouble. Xonos puts his hands out. “I swear, we’ve never seen her before. Not ever.”

  Serina comes to my rescue. “Yes we have! Xonos?”

  His eyes grow livid, and incredulous. “Serina! Use your brain!”

  The man takes off his gas mask and flashes me a smug, knowing look, then asks, “How many times have you been here?”

  Something about his face makes me want to immediately tell the truth. There’s no messing around with this guy. “Twice,” I say, trying to sound confident. If I have any hope of finding my mom, I need to play ball…and win.

  The man frowns at the twins, raising his eyebrow in shrewd silence. They shrug, trying to feign innocence. Xonos turns his back to us, lip jutted out in a full pout.

  The man sighs as he stands to his full height. “Well, that’s just great.” He extends his arm towards me in a friendly gesture. “I’m Minios. These two kids are in my charge. I have been training Serina and Xonos to someday guard this Gate. We were just preparing for their coming-of-age ceremony, which will happen today.” Minios’s expression is reproachful and irritated
. “Clearly they aren’t ready for such an important responsibility yet, since I’ve heard nothing about your being here before now. May I ask how you came across this Gate…from Earth? Where was Janus?” His voice is laced with frustrated annoyance at the mention of Janus.

  I explain that Janus is my godfather and that my cat, Bastet, has a cat’s-eye stone on her collar that activates and opens the Gate.

  Minios and the twins jump back in amazement, as if this is the most incredible thing that they’ve ever heard before. “Ah, yes, of course, Bastet,” Minios says as he glares into the giant cat’s amber eyes. “I should have known you were behind this!”

  Bastet stands to her full height and roars.

  “You don’t scare me, old girl!” He shakes his head, laughing at her. Bastet paces back and forth, clearly annoyed with him, but then settles back down on the hot sand.

  Minios turns back to me. “I’m guessing that Janus doesn’t know that you’re here. We have a strict code that forbids anyone to ever allow a Dreg to pass to here from Earth. I would have heard about that for sure.” He taps his ear twice, then says, “I need to let him know immediately.”

  He knows Janus? I feel sweat on my palms, and my heart quickens with fear.

  Minios taps his ear again in frustration. “Blasted Drakon dung! Too much static!” He turns back to me. “There’s only one thing to do, then. You have to go back.”

  No! I can’t go back now. I need to find Mom. Time is of the essence.

  “Wait!” I startle them. “I need to find the Lone Cypress Tree.”

  The kids look at each other as Minios begins to chuckle. “Oh, is that so? An urban myth. A fairy tale. It doesn’t exist.”

  Serina pipes up. “That’s not true! Athena knows where it is!”

  “Athena?” I ask. Finally, a lead. She will know where Mom is. I need to meet her.

  “Serina, no!” Minios scolds her, then turns to me, hands out as if to apologize. “Look, Athena tells these kids many stories at bedtime, so they believe this stuff, but honestly…”

  Just like my mom. She used to tell me similar stories when I was a child. This is the key. It’s got to be. I feel the cool silver of the ring that sits on my finger. My mind spins with possibilities. I point to the strange white-haired boy cowering in the corner. “Who is he?”

  Minios looks skeptical for a moment. “Janus hasn’t told you?”

  I nod and explain, “He said that he was helping refugee orphans in Greece.”

  Xonos clears his throat while Minios grins. “I’m guessing you don’t buy that story now, eh?” He laughs. “So I’m sure you’ve gathered that Janus, like me, is a Gatekeeper?” I nod in agreement. He explains that the white-haired children are from Zeus’s pyramid city, New Olympus, where they are regularly abused or tortured, often for sport.

  “We funnel the kids out, and Janus finds families that are willing and able to adopt the children on Earth. It’s a way we can make a difference here, slow and steady, one child at a time,” Minios explains. His voice is full of meaning and purpose.

  Finally, it feels like someone is telling me the truth! While this is refreshing, I’m disturbed that Janus has kept so much from me and lied to me about Thomas. What other tall tales has he told me? I knew I couldn’t trust him. Something still bothers me about all this. It feels like child trafficking. “But aren’t you taking these kids away from their parents and homes?” I ask.

  “No. In New Olympus, the children are taken away from their biological parents when they are only a year old and raised together in group facilities until they come of age at thirteen,” Minios explains.

  This makes some sense, but I’m losing patience. I need them to take me to see Athena.

  Suddenly, I feel the tip of Minios’s spear under my hand, lifting it up towards him. His eyes grow wide in quiet contemplation as he studies the silver ring on my finger. After a moment, he whispers as if awestruck, “The ring of Artemis. You…this is very unexpected. Athena will want to know.” His expression shifts as he becomes distracted by the incoming dust storm. “We need to leave soon or risk getting swallowed up by that storm.”

  Suddenly, a loud screeching noise pierces my ears. A horn sounds. Minios and the kids exchange horrified looks.

  “What’s that?” I ask, sure that I don’t want to know the answer.

  “Cyclops,” Minios says harshly. “Shhhh!”

  Directly in front of us, two oversized shadows pass by us.

  “Quick, let’s hide!” he whispers as he ushers us across the sandy structure to where some old shelving units sit toppled over and half buried in the sand. We peer through the old rusted metal slats, watching in horror as the shadows suddenly materialize into rugged one-eyed monsters. Upon closer look, though, I see that they’re wearing heavy, oversized black gas masks with a large red roving mechanical eye in the center and a strip of black hair covering the top like a Mohawk. I can hear their ragged breathing as they shuffle with a limp and rest directly in front of the Gate.

  “They must be here to hide from the storm,” Minios says.

  “Who are they?” I ask.

  “Cyclops. Desert nomads. Most are survivors of the Gaean plague, called the Scourge, which destroyed their eyesight and minds, then drove them mad.”

  Through the holes in the structure, we can see the dust storm fast approaching. In the distance, multicolored bolts of lightning strike in brilliant flashes of green, red, and purple, which is incredibly beautiful in an eerie, dangerous kind of way. Minios taps his earpiece again. “Still no communication!” He slams his hand on his head, totally frustrated.

  The Cyclops closest to us whips his head around in our direction. His large red eye roves around the structure as if he’s scanning for predators, or worse, prey. Then suddenly, his mechanical eye stops, frozen in place, aimed at the structure where we’re hiding. I feel a shock of adrenaline as he hoists a massive rusted weapon in front of him and starts shuffling towards us.

  He’s almost to the edge of the shelving unit when Bastet jumps out, stopping the Cyclops dead in his tracks. She roars.

  A violent flash of lightning shoots past my face.

  Minios turns to me and the kids. “Time to move!”

  Bastet remains behind to fight as the other Cyclops joins his friend. I’m horribly concerned for her, but there’s no time to think. We’ve got to get out of here.

  As we rush through the crumbling vestiges of the old city, I’m surprised to see a compact desert blimp hidden here, lying in wait for us. Its massive camouflaged sails rise high up into the sky, like a sailboat for the air. We leap on board.

  “Wait!” I cry. “We can’t leave Bastet!”

  Minios frowns and shakes his head. “I’m sorry, but we have no choice.” He maneuvers the controls, and the blimp starts to pull away from the surface. We’re five, then ten meters away. The image of Bastet dead at the hands of those monsters fills my mind. No!!

  Suddenly, just off in the distance near where we departed, I see her. The two Cyclops are hot on her tail as lightning bolts streak past her, barely missing their mark.

  “There’s no way she can make it! We’re too far away!” I cry.

  Then, almost as if in slow motion, Bastet leaps across the incredible distance between us. I can barely breathe as I watch her body sail over the vast desert sands. Next I hear the scratch of her claws, then the thud of her landing on the balcony of the blimp as it rushes away. Overwhelming relief rushes through me as I run over, wrap my arms around Bastet, and kiss her fur. “You made it!!”

  As the fierce winds swiftly carry us across the vast desert sands, Minios explains that Gaea’s main power source, lumite, is inaccessible to a
nyone outside of Zeus’s pyramid city, so they must rely on the sun, water, or wind. “While you on Earth treat renewable energy like it’s a hip fad, here it is all we have to survive. We make it work because we must. Of course, it also makes the air easy to breathe where we live.” He points to his mask. “No need for extra oxygen there.”

  We barely stay ahead of the massive storm as it licks the back of the blimp, causing us to shudder and sway. My stomach feels queasy, as if I’m going to heave at any moment, so I place my head between my knees. While this is uncomfortable for me, I’m totally ecstatic to be going with Minios and the kids. Finally, the chance I’ve been waiting for!

  Peaceful calm falls over the blimp, and I feel the heat of the hot red sun on my back. We grind to a halt. Slowly, I lift my head and open my eyes. Here in the middle of the vast desert sands, the blimp has docked on the edge of a gigantic hole in the ground. The mouth of the cavern is at least the size of a football field. I feel I’ve seen something like this before somewhere on Earth. That’s it: It’s a cave in the rainforests of Mexico: the Cave of Swallows.

  “Welcome to our city, which we call Scythia,” Minios sighs as we both take in the sight of this amazing place. “Home to the Prometheans.”

  “As in Prometheus, the god?” I challenge him. “I thought he died after he risked everything to bring fire to humans.”

  “Your stories about the gods on Earth, what you call ‘mythology,’ are grounded in reality but are only partially true.” He nods, smiling. “Prometheus is very much alive but not here…on Earth.”

  A huge crowd has assembled around the edges of the mouth of the cavern, looking down into the dark depths of the immense crater. Minios leads me through the mass of people, shoving through the crowd to reach the front and edge. The twins and white-haired boy are whisked away.