Chapter Ten

Observer at the Equinox / B.K.

March 20. Tuesday. 7P.M. 125 S.A.

Lugrin, Lake Lemac. France

The creature flapped its huge wings, thinning in the same way that the blanket of twilight spread out, bringing the night.

Its dark silhouette merged with the darkness of the forest, and therefore its misty and blurred form made it impossible to say for sure what its real shape was.

Huge. Black in color.

Its wings flapped at a rhythm that could not be followed. In fact, it could not be sure what were the shapes of those wings, due to the speed at which they flapped. But, from its movement and the sound it made over the treetops as it passed by, it could be estimated to be more than seven meters long.

But no one could see its wings, nor its semi-humanoid body that seemed to have no head, or if it had one, it was really flattened. No one could hear the sound of the treetops.

And no one could see its two red eyes, which, like burning coals, were piercing the sky.

The creature moved its eyes and, sheltering under the blanket of the night that had just begun, stretched out its forelegs and reached for a tree branch thick enough to support its weight.

Its eyes were fixed on a point to the east, over the lake.

The wind brought the sounds of young shrill voices and it looked toward the spot. It must have been about a kilometer away. Lights were moving through a rather large glade, and the voices seemed animated. There was happiness, excitement and it seemed to be a joyous event.

But that didn't matter to the creature. It was not the reason it was there.

And so, it averted its gaze again to the east.

As if it was waiting for something.

***

The lights produced by drones in the shape of luminous balls danced in the air, illuminating the figures ten meters below. These had motion detectors and while they almost always tried to follow the course of the ball, other drones were in charge of illuminating the entire playing field.

"Pass it, pass it!" shouted one of the young boys.

"I'm free here, asshole!" said another.

"Watch your mouths!" said the voice of a father.

The twenty-two young aerial soccer players danced in the air, trying to get the ball.

The name aerial soccer was nothing more than a name. The game still had the same rules as soccer had in the past, the only difference being the boots and the skill of the players. Special boots, with pressurized air chambers gave the players the ability to jump up to three times in the air and do all kinds of jumps and aerial acrobatics.

It was a friendly match, between the clubs of Leman and another one from the village of Saint Gingolph on a field with almost no trees and short vegetation.

The youngsters from Leman had found the field some decades ago and, with the passing of the years, and the quarrels with the neighboring clubs, it had been decided to use the place to hold friendly matches between the towns near the lake. Over the years it had become a tradition that had passed from father to son. Although there was never a lack of encounters that ended in pitched contests that had nothing to envy to battles of the ancient times. Luckily, for its participants, the carrying of a three-layered energy shield was a mandatory requirement to practice the sport, since injuries were quite common.

The team that won the most victories during the summer season had the right to use the field for their own matches as they saw fit for a period of one year.

Last year it had been the Saint Gingolph team that had taken the summer victory, but that was coming to an end in a few months, and nearby teams had been challenging each other to train new members and gauge the performance of their opponents.

"Let's see. They sure are fast. I'd break every bone in my body if I played that."

"It's less violent than the Capture the Flag Moon Championship at least," said a mother.

"Yes, that's true."

The one who had spoken first was Enzo, one of the parents of the children who were playing.

"You're not from around here?" another parent asked to him.

"No, I work up there," Enzo said, and pointed to the orbital belt. "I'm off for a few days and wanted to come see the kids' game. My son recently joined the team, we moved in November to Gingolph."

"Do you like the place?"

"It's pretty calm. And the neighborhood is nice... even though I've heard some weird rumors about the place," Enzo said, scratching his temple.

"Ah, the enchanted lake, I guess."

"Yes. It's a legend that comes from the Great War, right?"

"That's right. After the war there started to be all kinds of rumors regarding it being haunted, after some fighting that went on around here, and on the other side of the lake. You guys haven't seen anything strange?"

"No... luckily. What kind of rumors?"

"UFOs, ghosts of soldiers who died on the spot, strange phenomena with the clocks in some points, mysterious voices coming from the bottom of the lake… those are some examples."

A bead of sweat trickled down Enzo's cheek and he smiled. He had certainly heard all sorts of rumors, but he couldn't imagine what they were. With feys having become an everyday occurrence, he didn't find that urban legends from another time were still as alive as ever, especially with the Dark Events.

"Nothing dangerous has happened, has it?" Enzo asked, suspicious.

"No, we have military security around just to be on the safe side, but nothing has ever occurred that would endanger the lives of the inhabitants. I imagine you mean the DEs, right?"

"Yes."

"Well, the whole lake is listed as an DE, but not dangerous. I have my cousin who works at the base nearby and they always joke that they would have to move the station somewhere else that requires it more."

"Huh?! I didn't know that when they sold me the property!"

"Calm down man. It's a DE class 01-Green- Red."

"Red? Isn't that the most dangerous classification?"

"Yes and no." Explained another of the parents, a plump man who was drinking a beer. "It has Red classification because the Red type is of unknown range amplitude, because it's the whole lake. But it's class 01, it's not even up to 1. I can assure you, I've lived for 20 years on this land and I've never seen or heard anything unusual."

"That there hasn't been a weird case with someone who appeared a few days ago from the lake?" asked a mother, while still with her eyes glued to her son, who was doing a pirouette in the air at the time.

"I didn't hear anything."

"It wasn't here, it was in Monthey," another parent reported at the time. "I think Pyrene was investigating. I have my cousin who works as a nurse, and she got a rumor that another hospital transferred someone who had just come out of the lake."

The parents remained engrossed in their talk, as the young boys continued their encounter.

Enzo's son hadn't had much luck in the match, being a little shorter than the others, he hadn't gotten many passes. Much less the chance to score a goal in the round net. Although he was fast, he was no match for the other players who seemed to have been practicing for years.

He stopped, turned off his cleats and sighed. All that running and jumping, trying to even snatch the ball, had tired him out. The play was now centered on the opposing side, so he used the moment to take a breather. Amidst the hubbub of screaming kids, and parents chatting far beyond almost fifty yards away from him, he was at a point on the field that only he could hear at first.

It was a distant buzzing sound in the sky. He had never heard it before.

It sounded like something cutting through the air, almost like the sound of a ship. But the ships he knew didn't make that sound as far as he knew. Although there was one type of ship that he recognized as being similar, although it could not be possible.

He looked up and, in the semi-darkness, he could see nothing in the sky. At least at first.

The sound was coming from the east and, looking up against the already dark sky, he thought he saw some white and yellowish-red lights in the distance, twinkling in the firmament against the stars.

The boy activated his night vision and there he finally saw it.

The boy opened his eyes and froze, not understanding what he was seeing at that moment. Or rather he understood it, but he didn't understand what it could be doing in the sky.

He had seen it a few times in the historical video manuals at school, in the history of the space race. But yes, there was no doubt about it.

Everyone had turned and were now looking in the same direction as the boy. The chatter had stopped completely because it was so audible. Even the other players had stopped and looked up at the sky, as the ball finally made its way down the field and was lost in the trees.

They were all listening to the sound and staring up at the sky. It seemed to be coming toward them from their perspective.

"It's a plane," the boy muttered, as he watched the other teammates run in panic in the direction of the trees accompanied by their parents.

The huge plane was heading almost straight for them, following a parallel line to the coastline of the lake beach, from which they were not far away at all. On the left side of the plane they could see how part of the wing was destroyed and, from the engine, smoke and fire were coming out.

Everyone present fled in haste and it turned into chaos in less than a second, where everyone was running for cover towards the forest that was close to them in a southerly direction, as the plane seemed to be heading in a direction that was on the north side, although very close. Too close.

Enzo rushed to his son and, with a speed he didn't know he was capable of, ran with his son to shelter in the forest along the others, while behind him he felt the heat wave.

The huge plane had just crashed less than a one hundred and fifty meters from where they were, between the sands of the small beach and the waters of the lake. The shockwave that followed the explosion was just as impactful. Like an invisible, destructive tidal wave, it shook the ground with relentless force. Nearby trees swayed, their branches shaking as if dancing to the rhythm of the chaos. Vegetation in the immediate area was uprooted by the roots, and the earth itself seemed to tremble under the power of the detonation.

The left turbine and what was left of the wing were blown away and, as if it were a huge fiery spinning top, it bounced off the beach and ended up getting lost in the trees of the forest. The right wing raised a column of water from its impact and ended up destroyed against the water, while the turbine exploded. The fuselage was destroyed in parts, by the plane's own momentum, and traced a furrow on the shore of more than two hundred meters from the place of impact, while several parts flew through the air and scattered in a wide radius.

Accustomed to their quiet lives and without many shocks in their routines, the event had left them all with their mouths open. Because of the DEs they were used to seeing news of disasters or strange cases occurring both on and off earth. But it was totally different to see it through a news broadcast, or to read about it. That hell was searing into their retinas. It was there, just a few hundred meters away and they could feel the heat of the fire close enough.

The evening night was illuminated and the fuel tanks exploded, forcing the astonished witnesses to close their eyes due to the sudden glow. Some of the autonomous vehicles that had been parked near the beach, and some of the near shore stands and huts, burned in the flames. It was fortunate that they were the only ones present at the time, or it was not a tourist season, or it would have turned into something worse.

Plumes of fire and smoke billowed from the shore of the beach, hiding the silhouette of the moonlit orbital belt. It was as if someone had decided on the spur of the moment that the burning of the Böögg should take place a month earlier in the year.

Even though the plane's drag was away from them, the fuel was blown from several places and the fire quickly reached the nearest trees. Even so, they were too far away to be affected.

Still, everyone watched the spectacle in horror, and with expressions that did not allow them to understand exactly what had happened. But they were thankful that at least they had been able to react quickly to take shelter and get as far away as possible. The fire had barely reached the far side of the playing field, but if it had been any closer, the consequences would have been worse. The pungent, acrid smell of burning metal and fuel filled the air, leaving a bitter aftertaste in their gullets. It was an aroma that seemed to permeate their senses, an odorous hint of the tragedy that had been unleashed.

What had been a friendly and familiar meeting had turned into an inferno in just a few seconds.

Some of those present emerged from the trees to look at the tongue of flame that stretched along the coast and took a few hesitant steps forward.

"Where did that come from?" Enzo asked, hugging his son.

But he wasn't the only one asking the same question. That thing had come out of nowhere. But what struck them was that, from what they had seen before it crashed, that plane had been out of production for well over two hundred years.

It was a relic of a time long gone. What could it be doing there?

***

The creature had its eyes fixed on the fire.

It was as if those red eyes could see every detail, as if it were on the spot no matter the distance.
For a moment the creature's basilisk gaze was fixed on the trembling forms of the witnesses.

But it did not care about them at all.

 

 

The creature blinked and the telescopic gaze erased the silhouettes of those present from its vision angle. For the last time it looked at the fire and then, leaping onto the branch, it propelled itself into the sky where it once again spread its wings.

And without further ado it flew away.

A silent witness to the event. As it had always been.

Always watching. Always recording in its retinas events throughout history.

That was its only function. Insect, man, monster, machine. It didn't matter what it had been called throughout the ages.

Its existence was beyond the definitions of the sentient beings beneath it.

It gave one last swift flap of its wings and, at much greater speed. faded into the night.

***

Wednesday, 12AM.

Almost complete darkness and silence surrounded the place underwater.

Such was the darkness that it was impossible to know how big it could be. It could be an incredibly large room, or perhaps a little smaller, but large enough that the white light in the center did not illuminate the walls.

There was only one white light in the center that could help a little to elucidate the dimensions of the place. It was approximately six meters above the floor and illuminated the concrete floor, where some cables of different sizes, connected to machines, snaked along it.

Under the light was a strange-looking armchair, almost Giger-esque, and black in color. As if it were half a armchair, half quantum computer of the Ancient Era. The upholstery part looked like leather, but it was the frame that looked strange. It was as if someone had tried to blend a piece of furniture, but maintaining a strange, almost alien, aesthetic sense.

From the back of the armchair, on both sides, there were cables and thin symmetrical structures that seemed to extend upwards, as if they were the legs of a spider. Almost forming a kind of metal and crystal throne with nanoelectronic parts, that connected with machines on the sides, that looked almost as strange as the armchair itself.

The machines on the side had some red lights flashing at intermittent intervals, with some nixie tubes displaying changing numbers every second.

And, sitting in the armchair, rested what seemed to be a child of no more than ten or twelve years old, who kept his eyes closed at that moment. Almost as if he was listening attentively to something that could not be perceived by common sense.

The boy was dressed only with some baggy cargo pants, revealing a naked torso with an almost deathly pallor. His hair was dark blond, somewhat long, and a few messy locks covered his right eye. But his hair moved slowly, floating weightless. His hair and the endless lights of the machines were the only thing that seemed to have some life in that moment. The boy didn't even seem to be breathing.

To his arms and other parts of his body were connected thin wires coming out of the armchair, through which flashed streams of red lights at different intensities.

The sound of a beep, that seemed to come from another side of the room, made him open his eyes, revealing red eyes that seemed to have a light of their own. He moved his head slowly and his hair slowly followed the movement. He looked straight ahead and in the distance saw a pale blue light flashing against the darkness.

The wires connected to his body came loose and hid in different parts of the armchair. And the young boy stood up, revealing that on his back there were more of them connected, following the path of the spinal column. One by one these were released, and the boy floated and moved forward, without moving a single one of his muscles, entering the darkness, heading for the flash. At the same time, the plugs on his back, where the cables had been connected, began to close by a kind of tiny plates.

A splash of water was heard and the boy emerged from what appeared to be a liquid wall, contained by some kind of force field that prevented it from overflowing.

He walked over the concrete dripping with water and came to an illuminated table where a hologram with an envelope was floating.

The boy touched it and almost instantly two cubes unfolded and then intertwined, with binary matrices circulating on their faces at a constant speed.

"Codificata Gematria. Hyperdimensional Kamea?" His voice sounded as if it had a certain metallic tone.

For a few seconds the boy stared at the ones and zeros, with an unchanging expression of tedium, until he frowned and began to manipulate the hologram by moving the cubes and reading and rereading the strange message. The expression had changed and now he certainly looked shocked and angry at the same time.

It was as if he had just read something he didn't like at all in that tangle of numbers that moved without apparent sense in different directions. The boy stared for several seconds at both cubes, until he finally bit his lips in a grumpy mood, while shaking his head.

"Son of a... bitch..." he said angrily, but his words were slurred. The boy walked around the room thoughtfully and gritted his teeth. "Shin is going to be pissed by this."

He moved his fingers once more across the hologram and separating the cubes took one of them and examined it. From the same hologram sprouted a new message, projected in a new window although this time it was simply a few words.

[Would you like to accept the invitation, Mr. B.K.? Y/N]

B.K. grimaced, and drew a Y on the screen with the invitation.

"Tsk... when did this start?"