Eleven's Ghost

Chapter 7: A New Age

The blue orb burst, and it was the brightest star humanity had ever seen. All ten underground cities were engulfed in blue light. The explosion was so strong that it blew off the entire ceiling. It exposed humans to the sun for the first time in five thousand years.

As the blue light ended, a white one met them. The blue light was cold, and the white one was warm.

Just as there is evil, there is also good.

What will humans do when they see the light after the dark?

Nothing.

They gazed at the true blue sky in awe, realizing that its blue was permanent, unlike the cold blue light. What they didn’t know yet is that they no longer felt scared to go outside. Their fear ended. Their curiosity kicked in. The one hundred million remaining humans gathered in one spot and looked around at the desert that expended before their eyes.

“The air… is not poison?” one of them whispered.

“I can breathe…”

“WE CAN BREATHE! IT’S NOT POISON!”

“Warm…”

“The sun… SO WARM! WE HAVE ENERGY!”

“FREE ENERGY!”

Yayis gazed up at the sun with watery eyes and smiled weakly. He felt someone patting his shoulder. Shams held his hand. “Are you okay?”

Yayis nodded several times and wiped his tears. “It’s just been so long since I saw everyone so excited, so human-like.”

Shams glanced at the villagers kissing the sand and touching the air. They looked like children, newborn, innocent and free.

He smiled faintly and nodded. “Yes…” He lowered his head. “But… Since I was always part of the logistics team, this isn’t my first time seeing this. I don’t feel excited.”

“I know you are.” Yayis patted his hair and smiled. “You’re just as excited because this time, you’re free.”

Shams raised his eyebrows, looking up at the sun. He frowned, putting his hand in front of him. “Ah… I always hated the sun. It blinds me.”

“You’re not supposed to look at it directly.” Yayis’s gaze softened. He sat down on the sand.

“Oh!” A villager pointed at the sky as dark clouds gathered suddenly. “What is this?”

Yayis stared at the clouds, surprised. “Rain…?”

Shams glanced at him. “Rain? What is… rain?”

He blinked as a drop of water fell on his nose. “Ah!” He hid behind Yayis, scared.

The red-haired laughed, amused by his reaction. Then, it started raining heavily. Everyone got scared at first, but they stopped panicking, seeing that the water was sweeping off the sand to show soil underneath it. Shams touched the brown mud. “What is this?!” He smelled it curiously. “It smells… so good!”

“That’s soil. You can use it for different things.” Yayis looked away, nervous. “I haven’t been alive for too long, but my father told me about it. He said big trees can come out of this. So big! They can be as big as a fully grown adult or even bigger! Some trees are just huge! They reach up to the sky!”

Shams stared at him with shiny eyes. More people gathered to listen, not caring about how Yayis gathered his knowledge or about his race. Yayis smiled brightly, seeing the light in their eyes.

“There are birds that live in those trees, and their sound is so beautiful! There are also animals that take shelter there. Wild animals! There are so many different animals! There are also small plants and herbs. They’re used for food and medicine. So many types! The old humans used the soil so much. They called those who work at the land farmers. They called those who use herbs to make medicine herbalists. They called those who cook with the herbs chefs. The soil is a precious gift from God. It’s a true treasure!”

Yayis didn’t realize how excited he was. “We… We must get rid of all this sand!”

“But… We can’t go beyond the green zone!” One of them said.

Yayis shook his head. “We can. There’s no boundaries to how far we can go.”

“He’s right.” Un spoke. “We can do this. Together.”

She looked up to the sky to stare at the rain. “The world is much bigger than we previously thought. The old humans knew. They lived here. Whatever drove us to live underground for five thousand years, we must overcome it. We must grow stronger and defend that which belongs to us.”

She slammed her foot against the ground. “This land belongs to us! Humans! We should use it properly and stop hiding. The sun is our friend, and so is the rain!”

She glanced at Yayis. “I want to send you to the grey zone. You and all the explorers we have available.”

Yayis nodded. “I will go.”

She held his hands. “I want you to find a trace of the old humans.” Her eyes were filled with determination. “Anything will do. I want you to dig for clues. Anything.”

He frowned. “You think… It will help us? Anything?”

She smiled confidently. “Yes. Certainly.”

She patted his shoulders. “Go right away, and be back soon.”

He nodded and went to join the team of explorers. Shams was about to join him, but Un stopped him. “You will stay with me.” She grinned. “We will work hard to store all this sand into jars. Sand is precious. We will store the jars underground and move our belongings here to make several bases. It’s a lot of labour, and you’re a strong boy. I need your help, okay?”

Shams nodded instantly. “No problem!”

For days, weeks and months, the one hundred million humans worked together to gather all the sand. Without noticing, they cleared the green zone and moved to the orange zone. They cleaned the orange zone and moved to the red one. The sky wouldn’t stop pouring along the two years where they cleaned the land and discovered the soil.

They built shelters from the rain above the ground and carried on working relentlessly. Meanwhile, Un and the nine other village leaders trained people to fight and defend themselves so a second tragedy doesn’t happen. Iblis never showed up again, and two years went by peacefully.

The blue drop was the marking of a new age for humanity.

A new history started for humans.

However, none of that was satisfying for Shams. He sat on the grass, under the shade of one of the trees that grew overnight on a stormy day. He gazed upon the distance, waiting for Yayis. His gaze saddened, not seeing anyone. He stood up, squeezing his grip around his axe. He gritted his teeth and dug it in the soil. “I don’t want to lose him too,” he whispered, “Two… years.”

He felt tears filling his eyes. “Do you think two years are nothing?” 

He screamed and slammed his axe into the earth again. He fell to his knees, crying and screaming. “DO YOU THINK IT’S NOTHING? YAYIS! ZULTAN!”

He started punching the soil and gasping in pain. “Did another giant appear and swallow you? Here? In this cursed orange zone? Did it?”

Un listened to him, hiding behind a tree. She folded her arms and lowered her head, gazing down thoughtfully.

“He didn’t tell us about the giant.” Another woman stood next to her, straightening her jacket and removing dust. She had a straight face. “What’s the story of this giant?”

Un glanced at her. “Telata?!”

The black-haired woman gazed at Shams. “I never quite believed Alu’s version of the story. I feel like you’re hiding something from us, Un. I don’t know what it is, but I will find out.”

She started walking away. Un then ran towards Shams and sat in front of him. “Would you tell me this story of giants? I… I should know.”

Shams lowered his head. “Why not? It’s not like Yayis or Zultan will come back if I don’t say anything.”

He sighed and started speaking. “We had no time to tell you, even if wanted to do so. It’s… Everything happened so quickly.”

He glanced up at gazed at Un, his green eyes filled with longing and sorrow. “We went out to gather resources as usual, and I decided to run away to explore the zones beyond the green zone. I had deep admiration for Sirkus, and my curiosity to see them up close and explore the water kingdom got the better of me. I wanted to explore the world. You know I always wanted to join the exploration teams, but I wasn’t allowed because of my young age.”

Un nodded. “Okay. What happened after you ran away?” She seemed impatient.

Shams carried on talking, and a man with black hair standing above a tree branch gazed at him in silence. His blank grey eyes were icy.

“Did you find what you were looking for?” his shadow spoke.

The black-haired remained silent.