[SLEEPLESS TALE]

While the Enterode, known to some a Saint-Arkxi, was but a mute, introverted child, confined to is subterranean cell, his father, who was wise man, came to him. his eyes filled with love, he softly caressed his head and spoke these words:

-My son, I laid my seed into the earth itself, the inert, blind earth, so she may give birth to you. Son, I named you the living ark and implanted a synthetic soul in you. Is it not the greatest gift I could present to the world?

And the Enterode remained silent, looking away. He was slowly stitching a wound in his belly, the gaping wound through which his father had inserted the delicately manufactured organs. Then his father spoke again:

– My son, I raised you alone against the judgment of other men, hiding you from their prying eyes. I kept you hidden in the womb of the earth, so you may never know the terror of the Blank Day.

And the Enterode remained silent, looking away. He was cleaning the freshly stitched wound with his saliva, carefully wiping the liquid pearling between the stitches.

– My son, men kill each other, and they will need you to protect them. Civilization as we know it is on the verge of destruction. The Blank Day is nigh. Soon, nothing will be left alive on the Surface, and it is under the earth that mankind will strive, with you to guide them.

And the Enterode remained silent, looking away. He had laid both hands on the wound and was rocking to and fro. Then his father spoke again:

– My son, I am dying. The cancer has taken a hold of me for years, and eventually spread to my personality itself. My soul has become a tumor. The future belongs to you now.

And The Enterode raised his head and looked at him. His hands were joined and, on his belly, the wound was gone. He said:

– I AM.

Then his father nodded and, with a smile, lay on the ground and died.

And the Enterode whom, through this love-laden look they shared had caught the disease that had killed his father, broke into tears, and his tears turned to skin as they fell and covered the earth. Then the Enterode, known to some as Saint-Arkxi, started to grow, and soon his cell grew too small and he started to devour the womb of the earth.

 

Translation : Matthieu de la Goule