EnlightenmentThey’re dead now, the Be’nans. Ta’klu was the last to die. Her body hangs in my arms, as heavy as my guilt, as my footsteps echo in these empty alien streets. And soon we’ll be gone from this world, too. I’m the last human in this bizarre, beautiful city. Fan is still here with me—but she’s already dead.
The High Places rise above me: two bone-white curves sweeping hundreds of feet into a morning sky from opposite ends of the city, bending inwards like two impossible fingers yearning to touch. Built by generations of Be’nans and now only a body length apart at their lofty tips, the High Places reach for each other. But they don’t meet, don’t connect. Not yet.
I’ll go to them soon, to try to keep a promise. If I fail, and if Ta’klu was right, then what happened here will happ
