Iggy Joutsen – Люби Меня До Смерти/Love Me To Death (страница 6)
Only now did I notice that I was standing naked. Before I had time to think about what she said, the boxers and pants flew into my hands with the help of my friend's telekinesis.
"What would I do without you?" Now it was my turn to say something sarcastic.
"Don't worry about your look. It will go back to normal over time. After you take your powers under control, your inner self that has shown up now will fade away. It happens to everyone. You may call it a kind of transition period. When you get used to your new powers, learn to control them, and feel comfortable with the energy in your body, you will never want to return to your previous state. Believe me. I know this from my own experience."
"I didn't know about your transition. What did you look like?"
"You don't want to know. I went through it. No one is an exception to the rule. It happened the year you served in the army. Thank God! I'm glad you didn't see me then: I was a terrible bitch."
"I think you had been a bitch before that."
We laughed heartily. I felt a little better. I wanted to enjoy life again.
"You still have much to learn. The transition is just the beginning. There are many rules and restrictions that you will need to learn by heart. The most important rule you should know right now is that under no circumstances should you ever use your powers in public. They may forgive violations of some laws, but that one is punished by death only. In the entire history of humankind, only two Bernauses have committed it, but I'll tell you about them later. Now let's do yoga, because there is no better way to find the shortest path to harmony with yourself and the world around you. Besides, you can't go out like this. We'll wait until dark. I'll also tell you a brief history of our kind. There's no future without knowing the past."
6. History Lesson
"Millions of years ago, a meteorite fell on Earth," Ema began the narrative and, after a moment of intriguing pause, continued. "Its fall brought neither destruction nor changes to the place where it found peace, only illuminating the whole area with an unearthly light before going out.
No one still knows how big that meteorite was or what it looked like. Several million years passed, and there was no trace left of the crater it had made. It had been covered with many layers of soil. The surface became overgrown with impassable thickets and swamps. It was impossible for any living creature to pass through these dense thickets. Even birds avoided flying over them. As if some unknown power was guarding the peace of the mysterious meteorite, which we now call the 'Almighty Stone.'
After people settled the neighboring areas, they started making up legends about that mysterious place into which no animal would dare enter and no bird would dare fly. Many brave men challenged their gods (in ancient times they believed deities and other supernatural creatures inhabited that forest, so no mortals could enter there, neither during their lives nor after death). All attempts to penetrate the dense thickets ended in failure. Some went mad, some disappeared, and some, in their madness, inflicted injuries incompatible with life, but most never returned. As a result, the thicket gained infamy among the nearby tribes. Humans gradually began to desert the area.
The reason wasn't just the fate of those who tried to enter the forbidden zone despite taboos, but strange and inexplicable visions and sounds that, while harmless, frightened anyone who encountered them. Shamans, the so-called witch doctors present in every tribe, asked their ancestors' spirits for answers, which turned out to be ominous. So the people decided to leave their native lands, inhabited for centuries. They believed angry gods were driving them away for some inexplicable reason – though in reality, these were just the first signs of the Almighty Stone's awakening.
People always interpret strange phenomena negatively when they can't find logical explanations. Another thousand years passed before the Almighty Stone finally awoke. By then, nearly everyone had forgotten about the thicket, as the locals had left the surrounding areas long ago. The trails had overgrown. Rocks surrounded it with dense walls. No one tried to conquer those thickets anymore. Yet the legends, long turned to fairy tales, still lived among people.
When the time came, the Almighty Stone awoke fully. The forests opened up. The rocks parted, crashing down. The earth was engulfed by earthquakes, first cracking slightly, then splitting wide until finally, the Almighty Stone freed itself from its long captivity. Shining with bright blue light, it released energy that scorched everything around, leaving only dead soil. A pillar of light rushed skyward. Witnesses thought gods had descended from heaven and fled from the glow and noise.