Immortalys

Chapter Twenty-One: The Dream

The horizon above the pale sand was hazy and glittering with sunlight. Altair squinted against the brightness which glared between two dilapidated buildings made of corrugated metal. Between his fingers he clutched the worn strap of a brown bag. He glanced around to see hordes of people, luggage and children in their arms, running up to the center of the old trashed square where a huge spaceship sat hissing on the stones. The craft was chunky and dark with paint peeling along the top edges; below the bulk of its main body, a ramp was opened to load passengers and their luggage. Men and women dressed in skinny black uniforms ran in and out of the doors, grabbing bags from people and loading them. Near the top window of the craft, a foreign symbol glimmered in gold.

Altair's gaze raked over the spacecraft, knowing he had seen it before, knowing he had been here before... but his mind seemed fuzzy and slow. How long had it been since he had seen this?

"Altair, give them your luggage," said the woman who was standing next to him. She was several centimeters shorter than he was and had gentle dark eyes that seemed to read his very thoughts.

Obediently Altair held the brown bag out to one of the officers of the giant spacecraft, and she took it and boarded with it. He turned back to the small woman at his side and felt a numbness inside of him that he remembered so clearly. "...I can't leave you, Laeota," he heard himself reply huskily in a higher-pitched voice than he thought he possessed.

"Yes, you must." She reached up and placed her little hands tenderly on his shoulders. "I couldn't stand having you here during the war. They've already taken Cegnam, Rayrang, and Traldom, my own sons..." She shook her head slowly and a tear leaked out from her eye. "I couldn't bear to have them discover you."

"Laeota..." Altair murmured. "I'm afraid of what will happen to you."

"I don't know what's next for me," she replied softly. "But I can't leave if there is any chance of seeing my sons again. I am stuck here, Altair." She put her hands on his face. "But you are not. You are free. Go and do something with your life. Something amazing."

Wait... no, Laeota! I can't leave you like this!

Darkness closed over Altair's eyes. Panicking, he saw Laeota's face disappear from before him, and he squinted into the sun again at the horizon, wondering why his vision wasn't working right, wondering why the scene had suddenly been cut.

I know that memory. It wasn't finished yet! Come on, finish it!

I knew her. I loved her.

Dimly Altair saw more scenes racing through his mind: a huge dusky room filled with books, the coldness of metal at his right ankle... his own white hand as he caressed the star map on the wall... raised voices, lights flashing, an explosion... looking down at his wrists restrained in a dark box, hearing the hiss of frozen substances in the room, seeing the thick nitrous vapor... a hazy light in a small room, the curious and wary face of Laeota as her hands curled around the doorframe, watching him... his own racing heart as three boys tore after him across the house, Cegnam's muscly hand closing around his throat... the look in Laeota's eyes as the young Altair grasped her in a hug, as he presented her with some finished project, and she barked at the three boys to stop eating her desserts in the kitchen as she embraced Altair in her arms...

These seem to have faded from my thoughts, he found himself thinking. They just remind me of how much I do not know.

I'm here to discover my heritage. Where I really came from.

I'm finally on Amn-Heuthe. I get to discover who my real parents are.

"You want to know who your parents are?"