Volume 2 Chapter 23 Going Home

Chapter 23 Going Home

I

Earth was trembling.

Le Meraviglie, the most glorious city in Desertia would soon turn into dust and ashes. The Mother Matrix had been neutralized, and Le Meraviglie, the mechanized city, had stopped functioning.

Its ground was sinking deep into the earth and its buildings were falling as well.

Dodging the falling parts and jumping across cracks, the four were running at their fastest speed on the outer wall of the pyramid, which was sinking, collapsing and falling.

Luckily, the four had parked the flying obelisk near this pyramid so that soon they found where their aircraft was and jumped upon it.

Yanni put his hand on the crystal ball which served as the steer of this flying obelisk.

Slowly, driven by Yanni, the flying obelisk commenced to fly away from Le Meraviglie. It used to be a prosperous city but now it was nothing more than a pile of cinders.

Civilization needed to be built within centuries but it could be destroyed within minutes, and all sins would be washed in the end. Machines had no sins, but humans always had.

They were coming home.

Though they had won, their quest failed. They came to Desertia to help Stasha search for an answer but the answer was still hidden. They had stopped the mechanization but the mechanical substance of this world was unchanged.

The universe might really be a long string of numbers and digits. There was no magic, no believes and no loves in this world. Everything was fake, and everything could be analysed.

Maybe Achenosiris was right. With or without the Mother Matrix, the age of machines would finally come.

II

The four were driving this flying obelisk in turn.

Now it was at dawn and Floria was driving while the others were resting.

Aisling was looking at Cuore Celeste seriously. This mysterious gemstone was glowing slightly in her gaze, as if resonating with her magical power.

“You can feel the Sanctum of Life, right?” queried Yanni tenderly.

“Yes. It is sealed inside this gemstone. I can feel it,” answered Aisling.

“Can you, uh, unseal it and go inside Cuore Celeste?” pursued Yanni.

“I think I can. This gemstone is calling me at all the time as if calling me to go home, ” responded Aisling.

“Can you feel other elves who are living inside the sanctum?” questioned Yanni.

“For sure I can. I can see a lot of faces, faces of high elves. They’re calling me, and waiting for me. I believe that something is waiting for me inside the Sanctum of Life. Anyway, I’ll try if I can enter the sanctum,” whispered Aisling.

Closing her eyes, Aisling began to touch the stone gently.

There were particles of lights flowing among her fingers, which were merging gradually into the gemstone. Cuore Celeste was trembling, and reacting crazily, colour began to appear on its transparent surface.

Red, orange, green, blue, purple … It was shining madly and its colour was changing constantly like a kaleidoscope. Aisling opened her eyes and the gemstone stopped reacting. Everything became quiet once again.

Feeling headache, Aisling sit down on the ground, panting heavily.

The sun was rising from below the eastern horizon, pouring its warm light down on the surface of the sea of clouds. Darkness was dissipated, and once again, a brand new day began.

Aisling was still looking at Cuore Celeste. Bathed in the sunlight, it was as bright as a shining star. She had tried to communicate with the stone but she failed. There was something stopping her from accessing the gemstone.

She could feel that the Sanctum of Life was sealed inside it but somehow she was not able to go inside. She didn’t know why. Standing up, she tried once again. She put her hand on the surface of the gemstone.

It was another surge of magical power, in which Aisling was reacting with the gemstone. After this meaningless reaction, Aisling felt a gust of nausea. She nearly fainted. She failed again.

Emotionlessly, she looked at Yanni and Stasha.

“Why can’t I enter the Cuore Celeste? It’s like there’s a door in front of me. It is not locked but I can’t open it no matter how hard I push it,” complaint Aisling.

“That sounds strange. Maybe you’re just too exhausted after the battle. Have a long rest and after you recover, you may succeed,” proposed Yanni.

“That’s a good idea. I’ll rest … Maybe the real reason why I can’t go into the sanctum is that I am not ready,” breathed Aisling.

“You’re not ready, why?” asked Stasha.

“It’s happening too fast and I think I am not prepared to face the future. If there are really other elves in the sanctum, will I leave you three and live with them? And will I have the chance to come back to this world after I enter Cuore Celeste?” questioned Aisling.

Stasha and Yanni looked at Aisling in silence without saying a word. They didn’t know the answer as well …

“By the way, I’ve found this beside Achenosiris’ corpse,” Aisling showed Yanni and Stasha the golden ball that she found.

“What’s it?” queried Stasha.

“It seems to be the remaining of the Matrix,” guessed Aisling.

“It’s dangerous, you shall destroy it!” proposed Yanni.

“No, I won’t … I can feel the power of life inside it …” answered Aisling, lowering her head.

“The power of life? Are you kidding me? It’s just a cold machine!” yelled Stasha.

“Yes, but … Thought It’s only a machine now, I can feel the potential of life … It is trying to evolve into an intelligence, and it is trying to be alive. My mom told me that all forms of lives should be treasured, no matter organic or mechanic. Though the matrix had been controlled and abused by Achenosiris to do bad, I won’t destroy it, because it can finally evolve into a new form of life,” murmured Aisling, holding the remaining of the Matrix tight in her hand.

III

One week later.

The flying obelisk flew across the infinite ocean between Desertia and Normania successfully and arrived above the camp of Wildshadow tribe.

Their adventure lasted for nearly two months and now this journey had ended. They stopped the process of mechanization, but Le Meraviglie, the most prosperous city of Desertia, had been destroyed. They had defeated Macchina Gloriosa but they hadn’t found the answer that Stasha wanted.

It was a bright cloudless afternoon when they arrived at their tribe. They landed and parked the flying obelisk beside the camp. The tribal barbarians were staring at this aircraft in surprise.

The barbarians were a little afraid of this flying obelisk and thus they maintained a certain distance from it but the Farseer walked up to the front of the obelisk.

Floria, Yanni, Stasha and Aisling opened the gate and walked out of the flying obelisk. Finally they had gone home after their thrilling quest. Home, sweet home … There was no other place in this world better than home.

“Mom!”

Upon seeing the Farseer, Stasha ran up to her mother and hugged her tightly.

“I met dad in Desertia,” muttered Stasha.

“Ramesses? How is he?” asked the Farseer.

She wasn’t much surprised, as if she had already known that this would happen.

“He sacrificed when fighting with a powerful enemy. He died honourably, and he is in fact the King of Lower Desertia,” answered Stasha.

“Lower Desertia … This kingdom was destroyed 38 years ago …” muttered the Farseer.

“Yes, and I am the last of the royal bloodline of Lower Desertia,” answered Stasha.

“So you’re a princess, right?” asked the Farseer.

“Yeah, what a surprise,” Stasha forced a smile, trying to forget the sorrow of losing her father.

Both Stasha and her mother didn’t say anything. They hugged each other tightly and the Farseer stroked Stasha’s violet hair tenderly.

However, they didn’t cry.

Lazily and softly, the sunlight was pouring down from the sky and shone upon the vast land. In the distance, the Grey Factory had been completely wrapped by unstoppable weeds. Maybe in the far future, the same fate would happen to Le Meraviglie too.

No matter how glorious a thing was, at the end of the time, it would become dust and ashes. There was no absolute eternity in this world. One day even death itself would die after aeons and aeons.

Aisling walked up to the Farseer and showed her Cuore Celeste, the transparent gemstone.

“What is this? Is this a souvenir for me?” asked the Farseer, smiling.

After playing with the gemstone for one minute, her expression became serious.

“This is not a normal gemstone …” she muttered, staring carefully at this gemstone which seemed normal.

“For sure it isn’t. This gemstone is called Cuore Celeste. The Sanctum of Life is said to be sealed inside this gemstone,” explained Aisling.

“I said that it will be an important journey for you, Aisling. You have found where you belong too, right?” asked the Farseer.

“Am I really belong to the Sanctum of Life? I always think that I belong to the world of humans. Sometimes I even want to be a human,” murmured Aisling.

“Maybe you can write your own destiny, Aisling. You’re powerful, girl. Maybe your fate is up to your choice,” the Farseer smiled.

Aisling nodded but she seemed unconfident. Her hands were trembling slightly in anxiety.

“What is that small ball in your hand, Aisling?” the Farseer noticed the remaining of the Matrix that Aisling held in her hand.

“It’s the remaining of the Matrix. I won’t destroy it, because I think it may evolve into something alive in the future. It is not like Achenosiris. It is not evil. It is pure without anger, hatred, violence and wickedness,” speculated Aisling.

“Umm … That’s interesting. You can give it to me. I’ll keep it,” suggested the Farseer.

“Thanks,” expressed Aisling gratefully.

“By the way, Floria, Yanni, your father has forgotten everything. His dementia had become worse and worse. You shall go to see him,” proposed the Farseer.

IV

The four went inside the tent of Floria and Yanni. Their father was sitting on the sofa. His eyesight was gone as if he were a lifeless zombie.

He used to be the most excellent smith in the tribe but since he got serious ill six years ago, his health had been going downhill.

There was a music box beside his bed.

“Is that a music box?” questioned Yanni.

“Yes. Two week ago, we contacted a doctor in a nearby city. He said that music therapy can help to cure dementia along with a kind of medicine called orpheum. He said that music boxes always worked well in his past work experience,” explained the Farseer.

“How does his therapy work actually?” inquired Floria.

“He lets the patient drink a cup of orpheum and then plays the music. If the music is great enough, the patient will start to remember something. It’s believed that the music of highest quality can be found inside the music boxes,” answered the Farseer.

“Has dad been through the therapy?” pursued Floria.

“Yes, but it doesn’t work. He has drunk Orpheum and listened to the music in the music box, but therapy is useless,” sighed the Farseer.

“That’s so bad,” murmured Yanni.

“Stasha, maybe you can try. Perhaps your music is better than the music of those music boxes,” proposed the Farseer.

“Really? But I haven’t performed any music since I found out the existence of music box, and the music produced by machines is perfect and impeccable. How can I be better than the music boxes?” asked Stasha.

“The greatness of a song isn’t determined by any academic measurement or the number of people who likes it. Just try, Stasha …” encouraged the Farseer.

“Well … I’ll try, please give my harp to me,” agreed Stasha finally.

Yanni went to Stasha’s tent to fetch the harp while Stasha was sitting cross-legged, meditating and making up melodies.

After five minutes, Yanni went back with Stasha’s harp. Floria fed her father a cup of Orpheum.

Stasha began to play the harp.

Coming out from among her fingers was an affectionate song. Although it didn’t have a special melody, it was unique and beautiful because it came from a kind heart.

The sound of the harp was like the sound of water in the streaming river. It was a river in a flowery forest. Birds were flying in the cerulean sky. It was a world without the pollution of humans, a world without necrology and mechanics.

When the night came, there would be stars decorating the sky, which sent the message from somewhere distant in the universe. Gently, Stasha began to sing.

Though her voice was not perfect, it was beautiful. The mouth of Floria and Yanni’s father began to move a little.

“Who … who are you …” he looked at Yanni and Floria, “Yanni … Floria … It’s you two …”

“He remembers!” exclaimed Yanni.

His father had forgotten his and his sister’s name for more than one year. Now he remembered. Stasha’s song worked …

Stasha kept singing, and after her song was finished, the father of Yanni and Floria looked at the four and the Farseer.

“I remember, I remember all the things … In the old days, in those sunny days, we can see … We can see the blue sky and when the night is coming, we can see the galaxy, and sometimes even the nebulae. I remember that grassland with carnations, roses and dandelions … There I meet her, the mother of you two. I remember, I remember …” muttered their father, looking at Floria and Yanni affectionately, his voice trembling in fatigue.

After saying those world, he fainted.

“Dad, dad …” called Yanni, shaking him, “stay awake, stay awake please! Wake up …”

However, he wouldn’t wake up.

Remembering the memory of the past has costed all his vigour. He had died.

“No, no … You have remembered … Don’t go …”

Yanni lowered his head. Tears were streaming down his cheeks.

It was the first time for Aisling to see Yanni cry.