The First

by A. Claire Everward

  “With these concerns in mind, with the future of our species in question, we took a leap. We actively decided to cultivate those who would be more in touch with what we worried would be lost, our essence. Keep us from losing our way, and give us something we knew humans would never have. We encouraged those who were more compassionate, empathic. In tune. From the time they were young children, we let them take their own way. They were regular members of our society, Firsts like all others, but we nurtured them as a symbol of what we knew we must keep alive within us, allowed them to be what they wanted, and kept them safe, for they tended toward a sensitivity that made them more susceptible to being harmed by both a word and an act.”

  She paused, steeling herself for what she was about to say to this woman who had grown all her life among humans, with their history and knowledge in her mind.

  “Then, some generations on, something happened that our ancestors did not foresee. A child was born, a girl. At first she seemed like all other children, but as time passed we saw that she was different. She was highly independent, strong-willed. She would intervene without hesitation when she thought injustice was done. She protected the weak. She protected all life. She seemed to know when one of us was hurting, even if we were far away, and would do all she could to help. She had a way of . . . she had foresight. She knew, she simply knew, and she could feel us all, was empathic to the emotions and thoughts of every one of the Firsts in existence. She was kind and emotional, unrelenting and insistent. And strong. She never gave up, in any situation.

  “As she grew up her abilities grew. And we let it be, allowed her all the freedom she needed and only watched over her. In all our time in this world, we had never seen anything like her. It was as if she possessed something inside her, a light, a power she was one with. Firsts came to her for help, for counsel, for guidance, and gradually, naturally, she became our leader. First among the Firsts.” Neora smiled, her mind on the stories of her ancestors, the past of her people.

  “When She died, an old woman, something broke within us. It was as if we lost hope, our Light was gone. It was literally gone. The Firsts were still the same, but all that She had built into us in Her lifetime, all that She had awakened and guided within each of us as individuals and in all of us as a people, was lost.” Neora raised her eyes to look at Aelia, her eyes bright. “But then another child was born. A girl with that same Light in her. A new guardian of our people. And after her, another. Always one. Always a girl. And throughout long centuries the Light remained among us and guided us like a beacon that always shines, forever keeping the dark at bay.”

  Neora paused and sipped her tea, her hand shaking, the memory now becoming an effort for her, a painful one.

  “And then She stopped being born. We waited, hoped, but no girl was born with the Light in her since.” Neora sighed. “We never lost hope. We don't know why She appeared, why She came to us in the first place, and we don't know why She left us, why the Light had left us. But this is exactly why we could hope, choose to believe, that She will return as She has before. Throughout the centuries we have never lost sight of what She has taught us and never stopped believing that She would come back to us.”

  Her words were eager again. “That is why the Keeper was eventually created—a woman who is chosen from among volunteers who have come of age, to keep the teachings of the Light alive, maintain the hope among our people. When the Keeper passes, her successor has already been chosen and taught, and immediately takes her place. It must be so, for while the Light guides its bearer, passing her its knowledge, the Keeper is but one of the Firsts and must learn from her predecessor.” She smiled proudly. “That is the way it has been throughout the centuries, and it ends with me.”

  Aelia contemplated incredulously what she was hearing. And then it struck her. “Ends?”

  “That is the way it should be. The Firsts have never stopped hoping, waiting for the return of the Light and its bearer. The child, the girl. She is constantly searched for, and the Keeper awaits news of Her discovery. Once She is here, once the Light is back, the Keeper will make way for Her, and She will take Her rightful place among us.”

  The old woman smiled and closed her eyes, as if in silent contemplation. “And after all this time, these endless years, the Light is finally back. She is here.” She opened her eyes and said, “You are here.”

  Aelia's mind called for her to protest, to express confusion, disbelief. But her very soul, that place deep within her where that now familiar feeling had been growing, changing her, stopped her. The rationality of who she’d been all her life, which was telling her that what she was hearing could not possibly be real, was faced with the quiet conviction that came from within her that this was all true, whispered by a part of her she could not acknowledge just yet.

  She closed her eyes and tried to calm down, organize her thoughts. But the turmoil inside her was too great. She opened her eyes, startled, when she felt Neora's hand on hers. The old woman spoke soothingly.

  “I know it is a lot to take in. But the fact is, that although you grew up among the humans of this planet, that is not what you are. You are one of us, one of the Firsts. And not only that, you are our Light.”

  Chapter Nine

  The plush room was silent. Aelia was standing by the large picture windows looking to Aeterna's grounds. Outside, peace reigned on the vast hills, peace that clearly did not reflect in her state of mind. Neora was sitting quietly on the sofa, watching her. No matter how eager she was, how thrilled, she had to be patient. This young woman had a lot to absorb, a lot to accept. There was time. Now that She was here, protected, among Her people, there was all the time in the world. And it would happen. What was destined to be, would be.

  The Light would rise again.

  Aelia couldn't wrap her mind around what Neora had told her. “It doesn't make sense. Why now?” She couldn't breathe. “You said that in the past they were all identified as children, young girls, the . . . Light. I'm not a little girl, and I'm . . .”—she lowered her eyes and blurted out—“I'm damaged. Those girls, they were protected, you protected them. But I, the world I lived in, I'm not . . . I couldn't possibly be . . .”

  “Aelia, look at me.” The old woman‘s voice was gentle.

  Aelia kept her eyes lowered.

  Neora took the young woman’s hands in hers. “Look at me,” she insisted and Aelia raised her eyes.

  “I was told a little bit about you, you know. Ever since my people”—she stopped and smiled—“our people discovered who you are, they have been trying to collect information about you. And although they have not had much time to do that, I think I have a pretty good idea of who you are. And Benjamin, he told us what he had seen—” At Benjamin’s mention her voice broke, and it was Aelia who squeezed her hand gently to comfort her, give her strength.

  The gesture made Neora smile through tearful eyes. “Look at you. You are you, do you not see? The life you have lived may have done a lot, but it did not change who you are, who you were born to be.”

  And as Aelia's eyes reflected doubt, she added, “trust me, child. You will see. The fact that you have become one with the Light in so short a time shows me that it is true, the prophecy—”

  The doubt in Aelia's eyes turned into a question, and Neora quickly changed the subject. It was too early, far too early for that. Getting up, she smiled. “But that can wait. Come, child, you must rest. There will be plenty of time for us to speak.”

  A thousand questions in her mind, Aelia nonetheless complied. She was, she realized, exhausted. The past days, and this place, this woman, the Keeper, her revelations . . . just a bit of rest, she thought. Just a bit of time to absorb it all.

  “Where is Kyle?” she asked. “The man I came with. I need to see him. Where is he?”

  “I should like to meet him myself, to thank him,” Neora said. “But would it be all right if you were to see him a little later?”

  “Why?” Even as she asked, Aelia focused o
n Kyle, found him preoccupied but safe, and she relaxed.

  Neora marveled at what she was seeing, and at what she already knew it meant. “He has his own truth to learn,” she said.

  She bid the young woman good night, and Aelia allowed herself to be escorted back to the main entry hall and its two staircases. She walked up, past Keepers watching her from pictures growing more ancient with each step she took, and was led across the wing and to an expansive set of rooms in which a woman, Sonea, stood ready at her beck and call. But all she wanted was to be alone, and Sonea took leave. Mindless of her surroundings, Aelia went directly into the bedroom, sat at the edge of the bed for a long moment and then lay back, just for a moment, closing her eyes. This must be a dream, she thought. It has to be.

  There was no darkness this time, in her sleep. Only the Light, and the kindness in the eyes of her past forms. And the words, deep in her sleeping mind.

  Welcome home.

  Neora walked toward the stairs, her gait slow. She could finally allow herself to feel the weariness accumulated in her over decades in which she stubbornly maintained the hope she as the Keeper could not lose. After all this time, the girl was here. And while earlier Neora only knew what Benjamin had told Ahir, what he had seen, now she had seen for herself. There were still many questions, and so much more needed to be said, to be done, but that would wait. These past days had clearly taken their toll on Her, and She needed to rest.

  The old woman sighed. Tonight, finally, she too could sleep, even though she was still the Keeper and would maintain this role for a while yet, she knew. The girl had to be taught all that She would have known had She grown up among Her own people, among the Firsts. But more than that, because She had been taken to live among the humans and had not been allowed to grow up with the Light, be one with it throughout Her life as would normally be the case, She still needed to transition fully into what She was to be. Worse, from what they had been able to find out about Aelia, She had had a difficult life, and that in itself must have served to hinder all that She might have become long ago. It still could.

  And it wasn’t only about Her. Ever since Ahir told Neora and the Council that he believed She was found, there had been voices worrying that because the Light was only awakening now, when Aelia was already in her twenties, She might not fully become one with it and might not achieve Her full potential. Which would mean that She would have to be kept protected at Aeterna, for Her own safety and that of Her people, until Her last day. And then the waiting for the Light would begin again.

  But how would the people feel if that were the case? They needed Her now. Would they still hope? They were already rattled by the fact that when the Light finally returned, it happened in this way. They could not understand how She was taken away, subdued for so long, so easily hidden. They would likely wonder what it all said about Her. Would She, could She, once again be First among the Firsts?

  Neora sighed. She herself was not sure what to think, even now that she had spent some time with the girl—the woman, she should call her. None of the Firsts now living had actually met a Light, nor none for many generations back, and none knew what to expect. All they had were the ways taught to them since birth and maintained by the Keepers, and stories, legends, really, passed on through the ages. None of them had actually felt the Light, its presence, that which the stories said that She was able to do, the way in which She connected with Her people. Even the Keeper herself, with what she knew she should be sensing within her, even she did not recognize what it was that she felt from Her. It was too subtle, a trace of an ancient memory long gone. If that was all Aelia could do, could she really awaken in all Her people what the Light had in the past?

  Neora straightened up, held her head high. She was the keeper of the faith, and her faith was the strongest. She had made her choice when she herself was younger than Aelia was now, and had not wavered since. She had no doubt—what was to be, would be.

  Movement shook her from her reverie. She had now reached the top of the stairs, her lady's maid following close behind her, ensuring the old woman's safety. The head of her Council and her dearest friend, Ahir, was standing there, leaning on the banister and looking down, as if he was having a hard time deciding what to do. He moved hesitantly toward the stairs, then stopped again. Neora motioned her lady's maid to go ahead of her and approached the old man. “You should go to him.”

  Ahir looked at her, his eyes almost beseeching, and then he looked toward the stairs again. Neora put a gentle hand on her friend's arm. “Go, talk to him, Ahir.”

  Ahir closed his eyes and breathed in deeply. He opened his eyes, squeezed her hand affectionately, and proceeded slowly down the stairs.

  Rolly took Kyle inside through a door that led to a far wing of the great house. On the way he explained that not only was Aeterna constantly monitored technologically, security teams were strategically deployed throughout it at all times, and these worked together with the defense units of the Firsts’ defense force, trained to ward off possible attacks. But Kyle found it difficult to believe what the man was saying. So far he had seen no indication of the kind of security layout he was hearing about.

  They walked through beautiful, clearly ancient corridors that easily countered Rolly's words, looking more into the past than into the futuristic image he was conveying to Kyle. But then, after Kyle had already lost track of where they were, they stepped through a set of antique doors directly into an elevator concealed behind them. The elevator doors closed, then opened again almost instantly, and Kyle stood in place, gaping. Before him stretched a wide corridor that leaped centuries ahead in time.

  Two men stood just outside the elevator, both visibly armed. They stood aside, letting the newcomers through without a word, even Kyle.

  “You seem to have some clout here,” Kyle noted.

  “I'd better. I'm the head of defense and security for Aeterna.”

  Kyle raised a brow. “Why's the head of defense and security meeting trespassers at the perimeter?”

  “Perimeter? You were well inside our territory by the time we intercepted you. Aeterna extends farther than you may think. It even owns miles into the air and sea. If you were unfriendly it would be easier to deal with you on our territory, in our jurisdiction.”

  “That's commendable. And yet?”

  Rolly raised his hands, palms out. “I'm not evading, I will answer. I just think it would be more understandable in the context of things.”

  Kyle decided to give him the benefit of a doubt, and he focused on where they were, glancing curiously around him. Here, the ceiling was translucent, and Kyle couldn't discern where the lights came from. They seemed to be equally dispersed, yet they also flowed along with them as they walked, as if changing their intensity according to their perceived need.

  They passed several intersections with other, smaller corridors, and eventually reached a huge, semicircular room, the entire curved wall of which seemed to Kyle to be a single fluid screen, broken into changing views of the house itself and of the grounds and hills around it. Facing it were individual stations, each comprising a seat in which a person sat, comfortably reclined, intent on a holoscreen showing data and multidimensional images of locations on or above the grounds. All had what looked similar to earpieces, through which they seemed to command the systems and speak to one another. Behind them stood a higher supervisor's station, a half circle coinciding with the screen, which allowed the shift's supervisor, a stern woman, to effectively walk behind the individual stations as well as to face any point on the wall views. Kyle was taken aback. The layout was highly advanced, making any command and control center he'd ever seen seem antique.

  Beside him Rolly laughed, recognizing his astonishment. “Welcome to Aeterna's control center.” He led Kyle inside and showed him around, explaining. Each and every person in the room was intent on his or her work, and despite the size of the place and the activity level in it, it was nearly silent.

  “This is where our
entire security is controlled from,” Rolly said quietly as they walked through the room. “The people you see receive to their individual stations real-time data from the sectors they are assigned. They communicate directly with the technology, as well as with their peers in here or with the security teams outside, through implanted linking devices that they activate through the earpiece, as you called it, which they put on when they are on duty. And if there’s any need they’re able to deploy either additional security means or the supplemental defense units. All data comes from our equivalents of your cameras and sensors, which cover the entire grounds. We also have satellites positioned—”

  Kyle interrupted, thinking he misheard. “I'm sorry, did you say satellites?”

  Rolly smiled. “Yes, we've got our own satellites that are invisible to humans'”—he corrected himself quickly—“to the satellites used by the governments or companies you're familiar with. This allows us to have at our disposal constant coverage of Aeterna and numerous other sites worldwide.”

  He fell silent, took a long look around him. “When it comes to Aeterna, we simply cannot let our guard down. And starting the day She was discovered we've gone to our highest security threat level. It wasn't difficult, really. We didn't know when She would eventually get here, so we've been prepared for, well, quite a long time.”

  Kyle stopped walking, confused. “Wait, she? You mean Aelia, don't you? You knew she would come here?” His mind went back to Rolly's reaction to her when they had arrived on Aeterna's grounds, to the welcome they received, to the way she was ushered into the great house as if she were . . . someone important. Yes, that's it. Someone awaited.