Shortly afterwards, everything fell silent. But this silence did not last long. Saeyo stepped into the inner circle of the clock that had been drawn on the floor, and Bob followed suit a moment later. Slowly, all of Saeyo's senses returned to their original state.
And the voice made contact with them once more. This time, however, it did not seem as though the voice was speaking inside his head, but rather through his thoughts. It was almost as if a second voice, apart from his own, had appeared within his mind:
'It seems you've worked out what you need to do. The last of your race… What were their names again? Now I remember. The last Aziyakians to appear here had already died after I entered their minds. But the important thing is that the millipedes had something to satisfy their hunger.'
Saeyo waited until the voice in his mind had finished speaking, so as not to confuse his own thoughts, and then broke the silence:
"So you entered our minds, even though you knew we might die… And we're not Aziyakians, but a human and a…"
The voice didn't have the same manners as Saeyo and simply cut in:
'I have entered your minds, but you are the first ones I can actually talk to. I wonder how many years have passed since I last had such an honour. But I didn't realise that your world had already
evolved to the point where your race has even split into several.'
Bob's exchange of information, meanwhile, followed a similar pattern, except that he communicated solely through his thoughts. When Saeyo realised this, he followed his example.
'Wouldn't you actually know all that anyway, since you can read my thoughts?'
The answer to Saeyo's question followed immediately after he'd asked it:
'Theoretically, I could. But I can only see the thoughts floating on the surface.'
Saeyo waved to Bob to get his attention and pointed with his index finger at one of the five walls of the room.
Bob followed his instruction and looked up at the wall not far away, which showed two people touching a crystal.
Without giving it a second thought, they stepped beneath the breathing crystal, which hovered above the centre of the enormous clock. At the same time, they stretched out their arms and put their hands on two points of the crystal.
***
The room was plunged into total darkness. All that could still be made out was a blue crystal, whose glow did not even pierce the darkness.
Saeyo's and Bob's bodies defied the laws of gravity and lifted off the floor. Their hands, which were still clutching the crystal as it continued to rise, caused it to spin ever faster.
For a brief moment, Saeyo felt the room light up completely. But he did not find himself in the same room. Yet before he could properly make out what was happening, the darkness took hold once more.
This time, it was the endless darkness that spoke:
"In you, Saeyo, I recognise that you are one of the most ordinary types of living beings. Perhaps that will change one day, but judging by the state of your soul, I can't guarantee anything. As much as it pains me, I see nothing special in you. You, on the other hand, Bob. I have never seen a living being of your kind before. Your soul… It is broken. Instead of seeing just one whole soul, I see only two separate halves, each missing its original counterpart. Strange."
The two floating figures listened in silence. They had no desire to think or speak. They simply wanted to follow the voice and not interrupt it.
The only thing that spoke was the infinite darkness, which could cause itself to bloom. With every word, the surroundings bloomed further and further, until the darkness vanished without leaving even the slightest trace of itself behind.
Beneath them lay a meadow stretching beyond the horizon. The meadow was flat, and a few hills could be made out in the distance. A wide variety of flowers bloomed on the ground. They covered the meadow and released a wonderful scent into the world.
Tiny, spherical insects hovered around the flowers, sharing their life-force with them to save the meadow from extinction.
In the centre of the meadow lay a blue lake, whose surface gently reflected the sun's rays. A simple fence made of wooden planks stretched around this lake.
From the centre of the lake, an enormous tree towered upwards. The sun's rays, shining through the leaves into the lake, were noticeably stronger that day than on others. Hanging from the tree's branches, leaves of every possible shade of violet swayed gently in the wind, while the trunk and the branches themselves were brown and glistened in the sunlight.
Near the fence, a small hut stood. It was small, and the wooden planks were covered in scratches. The door stood wide open. Other wooden planks had been placed at an angle and met in the middle, where they formed the roof.
A chimney made of red bricks rose from the roof. Smoke polluted the air as it spread through it.
A moment later, a simple farmer walked out from inside. His skin was the colour of the blue sky. He wore black trousers and a white shirt. His tail swayed behind him in rhythm with his slow steps. The two horns above his eyes were quite dark in comparison to his eyes. However, the right horn was half broken off.
He stopped in front of the fence and leaned against it. With his blue eyes, he gazed deep into the water, and shortly afterwards, a small fish appeared at the water's surface.
The lake was deep and cold water sometimes splashed upwards.
The fish spun several times and opened its mouth. One could see its sharp teeth, which could cut through almost anything, including the Aziyakia's horns. Its scales were green and its fins were as white as snow.
The farmer reached into the bag hanging from his back and pulled out a large piece of meat, which he threw into the lake. The fish lunged at it and tore it to shreds in an instant. A cheerful smile spread across the farmer's face, revealing that his teeth were even sharper than the fish's.
Saeyo and Bob watched closely, as if it were the most natural thing in the world that the hall had turned into a scene from a distant land.
The man looked up at the sky and enjoyed the fresh air. He relaxed until something attracted his attention.
A strange sound rang out, and shortly afterwards several cracks appeared in the sky, forming a circular portal.
The portal radiated a menacing presence that not even the farmer, the fish, or all the insects nearby could withstand. Black clouds could be seen behind the portal. Something emerged from within these clouds. So they turned blue and fled from the portal. The clouds grew larger, but immediately dissolved into the air. The only thing left to be seen was a transparent being, peering out from the portal at the farmer.
In his white eyes lay a black spiral. This spiral-shaped iris twitched every time the astral being looked around. With every passing second, the black spiral spun faster and faster in a circle. And as this happened, the colour of his eyes changed to match that of the farmer's.
A cold shiver ran down Saeyo's spine.
The blue crystal, which Saeyo and Bob were still holding with one hand as they floated around, suddenly began to speak.
"That was the day my brothers and sisters banished me to the world of mortals and took everything from me."
Saeyo and Bob were invisible to the farmer. But the same could not be said of the transparent being. He noticed them. Nevertheless, he looked away, seemingly uninterested.
It was thrown out of the portal by some unknown force and glided slowly downwards. The deeper the astral being fell, the more it began to transform. Its transparent appearance changed and began to take the form of blue skin. Two arms formed, their five fingers ending in short claws.
The being's body transformed into a younger version of the farmer. Meanwhile, particles from the air transformed into a pair of black trousers and a white shirt.
Its spiral-shaped eyes remained the same, but a mouth, which had not been there before, suddenly appeared on its face. Two ears and a nose also materialised. They were the same colour as his blue skin. However, he lacked horns and a tail, unlike the Aziyakia who was watching him land. The astral being became an Aziyakia. Not only did he become one, but he was now also a child.
He fell straight into the water. The fish that had been eating gave up its meal and swam away just before he landed, to hide in the depths of the lake. Water splashed upwards and the leaves on the tree got wet.
The farmer watched the scene intently and noticed that the child was not swimming back up to the surface. He did not hesitate for long and leapt over the fence into the water. Even though the child was an unknown being, the farmer would never let it drown. He did not want to stand by and watch it suffer such a horrific death, and he didn't want a dead body in front of his house either.
Saeyo was impressed by the farmer's sense of morality, but lacked the strength to do anything other than watch the scene play out.
As he continued to watch, a man swam to the surface holding a young Aziyakia. One might well have taken it for his own son.
He laid the child down on the wet ground, and the child immediately spat out the water he'd swallowed. The child tried to catch his breath, but his body took over and he began to breathe just as anyone else would.
The farmer climbed out of the deep lake and sat down beside the boy. Saeyo and Bob looked down and found it strange how quickly the man had adapted to the situation. The rescuer cleared his throat:
"You need some new clothes. Otherwise, you'll catch a cold in no time. May I ask your name?"
Despite his physical transformation, he found it easy to speak. He didn't keep the farmer waiting long:
"Call me Aquaixos."