Eleven's Ghost

Chapter 4: History Books

Yayis clenched his jaw and turned his back to his mother. “Let’s go, Shams.”

Shams held his sleeve and nodded. They walked along the long, dimly lit street, carefully avoiding the workers who were carrying around wood and iron.

“Yayis… I mean… Alu…” Shams glanced up at Yayis. “Do you have… parents?”

“I have a father. I don’t know who my mother is.” Alu’s hair returned to normal by then. “I never thought about her. My father alone used to keep me busy all day.”

“Wha?! Who is your father?”

Alu didn’t answer. The black smoke rose up and hit the insulating balls trapping the factories around them. The fake stars painted with holograms flared in the sky and drifted mid-air.

They stopped in at a small cosy café and ordered. The faint orange light barely lit Yayis’s face, and he nervously crossed his fingers. “If I tell you who I am in detail, you will reject me. I can’t do that. Not now. Not ever. For the Zultan’s sake, I must keep your trust in me.” He tilted his head to the side and gazed at the boring scenery of humans coming and going outside. “I still owe you an explanation though.”

Shams nodded. “I… knew Zultan ever since I was six. He… He always protected me from mean people and helped me grow stronger. I… know I’m not very strong right now, but at least I speak up for myself.” He laughed. “There was one thing… I could never understand though.”

Yayis frowned slightly and leaned closer to Shams’s face. “Which is?”

“I don’t know why he’s so obsessed with taking care of his animals. I mean… I love animals too, but… I feel like he’s exaggerating.”

Yayis looked away. “Well…” He sighed and rested his face on the table.” The quiet guitar music played in the background as he spoke. “What do you know about Zultan’s father?”

“He’s an explorer.” Shams started. “Ever since the condition above the surface became really harsh because of the angel and jinn fight, humans moved underground and started a new life there. They lived in small villages separated by bridges and walls. Due to the small number of humans left after the tragedy, it is very easy to attain self-sufficiency. Humans divided themselves into teams. Each team is tasked with something. Some work here. Some go to the surface to bring supplies like rare rocks and sand. This logistics team cannot go beyond the green zone that stretches thirty kilometre squares around the exit from the entrance. There are only ten green zones scattered across the desert. Aside from the logistics team, there’s the explorer team. The explorers are trained very vigorously and are allowed to leave the green zone. They can access the orange, red, blue, black and grey zones. The man that shined most amongst the explorer is Zultan’s father. Everyone knew who he was. He was first known as one of the few humans who insisted on having a normal baby using traditional reproduction methods and genetic engineering. He even got married, and his wife was also a brilliant explorer. When Zultan turned two, his mother died, and the father changed ever since. He left his son behind and… he went on a ten year old exploration to the grey zone. It’s the biggest zone, and it’s said that nobody ever reached it before.”

Shams stopped to take a breath. “But… Zultan’s father did. He sent back a letter to our village chief where he joined pictures of the border. Nobody saw those pictures aside from our village chief and the governor of Earth. Only those two saw them. Zultan’s father returned when Zultan turned twelve. I still remember that day. He came back from his exploration trip, and Zultan seemed so eager to meet him again. I don’t know what happened after that, but Zultan went missing for one whole year. When he came back, he seemed different. Less… expressive. More distant. He was still kind to me. I don’t know where he went, and I never asked. Zultan became agitated each time I mentioned his father, and then everyone in the village started calling him the son of a traitor.”

Shams looked down sadly. “It got very confusing for me ever since then. Zultan always… asked me to grow stronger and trained me a bit. His training was very rough, and he was a strict teacher, but I had fun anyway. I didn’t understand many things, but I was happy just having him as my big brother. That’s all I wanted. But now…” He clenched his fists. “Now, he’s no longer with me.”

Yayis listened quietly. He removed the cloth around his eyes and kept his eyelids closed. He rested a hand on his. “Look at me.”

Shams looked at Yayis and smiled sadly. “I’m sorry. I kept going on and on, and you’re the one who’s supposed to do the explaining.”

Yayis shook his head. “I’m the one who asked you. I’m sorry for making you talk while you’re still hurting.”

He stood up, spreading his arms. “Do you need a hug?”

Shams sat on the desk and they hugged for a few minutes. Yayis patted his light brown hair and sat him on the bench beside him. “When the wife of Zultan’s father died, the man changed. He started looking for ways to bring her back. He worked harder as an explorer to reach the other side of the planet because he believed the water kingdom had more advanced technology that would help him. He reached the grey zone and got to the border, but what he saw there was nothing he imagined.”

Shams frowned. “What do you… mean?”

“There was no water at the border, only ice.” They heard a woman speaking.

Shams glanced behind him and saw the village chief, dressed in her blue gown. Its wide sleeves covered her arms and the fabric stretched down to the floor, barely touching it. She had a sword strapped to her waist, and the loose dress covered most of it. The dress covered her neck. Her dark brown hair was braided and decorated with blue gems. She smiled at Shams and sat in front of them.

“I had to find you two.”

Shams frowned. “Why?”

She eyed him. “Because it’s time for you to go.”

Shams’s eyes widened. “Go… where?”

“To train for Sirkus.” She glanced at Yayis. “You still didn’t tell him, I see.”

Yayis shook his head. “I was waiting for you. I knew you were coming, Un.”

Un nodded and placed a letter on the desk. “Open it, Shams.”

Shams took the letter and saw pictures inside. His eyes widened, seeing the border. He didn’t notice the tears streaming down his face.

“The earth…” he whispered. “It’s split?!”

She nodded. “There is no border. There’s a split between both halves of the planet. In his letter, Zultan’s father explained that he studied the edge of the cliff. He said it wasn’t made by a blast or a war,” she paused, “It was cut very precisely in half. It’s as if someone cut them using giant scissors.”

Shams frowned. “So… Someone deliberately… cut the Earth in two parts.” He glanced at Yayis. “But why?!”

Yayis rested his hand against the window and gazed at him in silence, his eyes filled with hesitation. Shams then realized that he had his eyes open and covered them. “Aaaa!” He glanced at Un, scared. “He’s human! He’s human!”

She smiled, amused. “I know who he is. Don’t worry.”

Shams sighed in relief and looked back at the pictures. “And… did Zultan’s father manage to get to the other side?”

“Certainly. However, he’s probably no longer here now.” Un looked away.

Shams frowned. “You mean… He’s… dead?”

“No… Not at all. I meant that he’s probably in the headquarters of Sirkus, in the academy.”

“You… keep on talking about Sirkus… Aren’t they our saviours? Why… do you keep saying they’re bad guys? I thought they just came to Earth and tried to entertain us with their circus shows. They even chased away the jinn and angel that tried to hurt us.”

Yayis sighed. “How can an entertainer save the world from a “fight between an angel and a jinn”? It’s obviously a lie. The history books you read are fabricated. The history you know is a lie. It's all a lie.”