Return to Earth

Chapter 15

At Petrovitch's urging and after the man was sated, Kierst decided it was best to talk to the him right where he was. There was no sense in shocking him any further by showing him things he couldn't possibly understand. Looking at him should've created a sense of one adult talking to another, but Kierst couldn't help thinking he was more child than man.

Even after drinking the water, the man's voice still sounded harsh; as if he'd been spending most of his like yelling at things. "You're them, aren't you?" Kierst was going to ask for something more, but the man read his confusion. "The people from before."

Kierst shrugged his shoulders as the words left his mouth without thought. "People from before?"

The man nodded with a smile. "Must be to not of heard of them."

Kierst didn't know how to answer, since the words made no sense. "Why don't you tell me who the people from before are and I'll tell you if we're them."

There was a nod as the smile grew. "According to the stories, man sought to challenge Solis."

Rather than let him continue, Kierst had to know what the whole Solis thing was. "Who's Solis and, what's the other one? Loon?"

He scratched his head and began to speak to Kierst as if he were a child, which irked him. "Solis and Luna. Solis is God." A finger pointed to the sun. "Solis brings us light and warmth and protects us from Luna, the moon. Pure souls go to Solis when we die, and impure souls go to Luna to spend eternity in a dark, cold place.

"Man built towers to touch the face of Solis, while living beneath the waters to temp Luna. They weren't satisfied with what they had built, so they created ships to travel to space and live close to Solis. It wasn't out of a desire to be close to Solis, but to prove Solis was no longer needed.

"As punishment for man's arrogance, Solis sent a fire to send the world into darkness. The darkness led to a terrible war between the forces of Solis and the forces of Luna. Solis won and everything that hadn't been destroyed in the fire and war was torn down or blown up to return man to a state of obedience to Solis.

"Those in space and under the waters continue to live there with plans to tempt Solis. When our belief is weakened, they'll return to temp us to join them. We call them the people from before.

"Now that you know, am I right about you?"

Kierst didn't hear any fear or anger in his voice, just curiosity and risked the truth. "We are."

A grin crossed his face. "I knew it. I just knew the stories had to be true."

Kierst kept his voice calm as he asked something he didn't want to know the answer to. "Shouldn't you want to kill us for being here?"

He shook his head as his tone showed only a seriousness to his words. "I'm supposed to turn you in to let the elders to determine your fate, rather than the church, which is the same as killing you, but not all of us believe your return is a bad thing. Most do, but I'm not one of them."