From Chapter 23: The Ancient Awakens
Page 331…
Dr. Rodriguez leaned over a console, her shoulders slumped from the weight of the ordeal. Her fingers trembled slightly as they passed over the touch screen. She anxiously scanned the data on the subject’s health status. Her eyes darted frantically between the lines of code and the biometric indicators. The entire laboratory held its breath.
“It’s working,” she whispered to herself at first, as if not daring to believe it. Then, she raised her head, and her voice, though trembling, echoed in the room. “It’s working. Everything is… as it should be.” A smile of relief broke the mask of tension on her face. For her, this was not just a historic moment for humanity or the culmination of a career. It was something deeper, a personal purpose that went beyond the resurrection of a ‘god’.
President Harper, with steely determination on her face, gestured for Dr. Rodriguez to continue. After verifying the instrument readings, the scientific team began the awakening procedures again. This time, given that the previous reactions had shown the being had a full connection to its body, they would wake it gradually, aiming to facilitate a gradual comprehension of its surroundings.
New chemicals entered its body, progressively neutralizing the anesthetic. After a few minutes, its eyelids opened again, revealing eyes still clouded with disorientation. On its face, the discomfort of being in its body again was evident. It spasmodically opened and closed its palms, trying to familiarize itself with the sensations and aches of its muscles. Its breathing remained calm and its gaze swept over the audience, which watched it with awe. Terry straightened in his seat and a spark of hope rose within him, while Rhea leaned closer and grabbed his arm, both anxious and curious about what would follow.
The being, the ‘Ancient’ as it was called by the laboratory’s scientists, changed its expression from one of confusion to a steely gravity that bordered on contempt. It seemed to perceive its environment and the events unfolding around it.
Opening its mouth to speak, it was interrupted by a loud, wet cough. It coughed up a thick, mucus-like fluid instead of words. A wave of disgust passed through some, and murmurs spread across the observation platform. They fell abruptly silent at its second attempt.
With a grim expression, it let out a thunderous roar that carried bottomless anger. A protest followed, words in an incomprehensible language. Its speech was rhyming and rhythmic, similar to the recitation of verse.
Alexander adjusted his glasses, his pupils dilating as he heard it.
“It reminds me of ancient Middle Eastern dialects,” he shared with his companions, dumbfounded. “I would need more time to analyze it, but it sounds similar to Sumerian or Akkadian.”
“There’s a rhythm to it, almost as if it’s reciting an epic or an invocation,” Rhea added, her breath held. “Its meter reminds me of ancient Greek poetry.”
“Perhaps we are hearing the first language ever spoken on this planet,” Terry thought aloud. “The foundation for all the others that followed.”
Continuing to process its environment, the Ancient’s gaze paused. It locked for a moment on Persa, looking deep into her eyes. Her hands began to tremble. Her breath caught, and she burst into a convulsive sob. The air around her seemed to ripple, like the heat of midday. It wasn’t just a look; it was an invasion.
* * *
In the blink of an eye, the laboratory was swept away as if in an endless river of time, its flow distorting reality. Memories swirled like fallen leaves in the eddies of its currents. Persa found herself transported through the veils of time, back to the cherished chapters of her past. She could relive the moments as if for the first time, feeling not only her own emotions but also those of everyone present in each of her memories. She was everywhere and everyone at the same time.
In that fleeting moment when the entity’s gaze locked with Persa’s, a deep connection was forged that transcended the physical realm and delved into the timeless expanse of the spiritual plane. The brief second in the tangible world translated into hours within the complex corridors of her mind. Time on the spiritual level unfolded differently from the linear progression experienced in the physical world. It was a place where moments remained eternal, each memory crystallized in its own temporal stasis. She felt her body become relaxed and ethereal, submerged in the flood of memories.
She remembered her childhood, a canvas painted with the vibrant colors of family, love, and the bittersweet echo of her mother’s presence.
She saw her mother’s eyes—she didn’t remember them, she saw them—crinkle at the corners as she smiled at her. She wasn’t tall, but Persa had to lift her head to look at her. A slender, graceful figure, frozen forever at thirty-one, the age at which Persa’s memory decided to hold her captive. Her mother—her mom—a scientist who willingly gave up a flourishing career to embrace the profound responsibilities of motherhood.
The memories began with the warmth of her childhood, in the embrace of the family bonds that formed the foundation of her identity. She relived the echo of evenings spent around the family table, with the aroma of home-cooked meals wafting through the air. The resonance of her mother’s laughter, the comforting touch of her father’s hand, and the playful teasing with her brother painted a canvas of a happy life. Persa’s heart ached with a mixture of joy and sorrow as the vivid images enveloped her in their warmth.
She saw herself curled up by her mother’s side, comparing her small hands with hers. She recalled hikes that lasted for hours, where her mother would show her constellations in the night sky, weaving tales of brave princes and dragons. In the embrace of her mind, Persa revisited places from stories whispered to her before sleep in the quiet of the night. She recalled the gentle guidance of her hand, which navigated her safely through the complexities of growing up. These images, though distant in the physical world, resided within her like cherished heirlooms, testifying to irreplaceable moments.
Then, reaching the zenith of the temporal exploration, came the shadows. The sterile hospital room became her new reality, and the smell of antiseptic replaced the familiar homey fragrance. Her mother, a lighthouse in the storm, slowly faded with each passing day.
A fist of raw emotion struck her as she relived the last memory she had of her. She heard her own voice, as she squeezed her mother’s emaciated hand on the bed, making promises she couldn’t keep. Lies. Sweet, necessary lies that they both knew. She, though weak and pale, with her unquenchable smile and loving gaze, flooded Persa with love until the very last moment.
The low-voiced conversations with the doctors and the echo of the final beep of the heart monitor plunged her into a void that swallowed everything. Persa felt her body shrink, the weight of loss plunging her into darkness.
She could hear only the beating of her heart and her breathing, but muffled, as if she were underwater. An existential terror gradually overcame her, as it seemed she had been there for endless hours. She curled up like a baby and hugged herself, the cold darkness penetrating her bones.
Then, within the utter blackness, a speck of light was born. It grew, expanded, and the formless void transformed into a stellar tapestry, where galaxies spun in a celestial dance. Like a star growing larger as it approached, a radiant figure emerged, a silhouette that exuded an unearthly glow.
The Ancient, a manifestation of light and energy, stood before Persa as a transcendent entity, its outlines shifting like liquid sunlight. Persa, though without any reference points or sense of direction, rose and stood upright before it. Its immense size, twice her own, made her feel like a child looking up at an adult…
