Three Spheres

Chapter 101 - Sin

Maidowa is a fishing town in northern Ruber, surrounded by a dense rainforest. It was in its depths that Harel Ionani, a woman in her early 30s, the daughter of an Albanian man with a Ruberian lady, heard a soft cry as she searched for fruit for her jellies. There was no hesitation: She went in the direction of the distress call until she arrived at a damp cave, under the roots of a fallen tree.

The smell of rotting flesh filled her with nausea, but she kept going as the crying sound increased. She was taken by a terrible surprise to see a child just a few days old in the lap of a woman... already dead. There was an arrow piercing her chest. Harel took a step forward so her eyes adjusted to the dimness.

It was then that she saw that creature, shaped like a huge man, with its skin red and thick, full of cracks and terrible wounds. The small horns on the head and shoulders protruded, as did the large white canines, showing its non-human nature. The face, serene, was partially obscured by long black hair.

Suddenly, it gasped.

Startled, Harel tripped over the slime stones and fell. The baby cried louder. Her heart raced. She knew it was a Fabulare, but she had never seen anything like it. The little one's cries of hunger and cold, however, defined her actions: She ignored the fear of the unknown and touched the child. At the same moment, the creature opened its gray eyes, like cold, dying stars. Harel froze in place. The monster moved its arms slowly, stroking the dead woman's hair with one hand while it held the child out with the other. Its voice sounded like an intimate, deep, secret whisper:

_ Take care... of our... son....

Tears mingled with the blood from the wounds. Harel took the child for herself. Her body moved by itself in a desperate attempt to protect the helpless. Looking quickly over the little one, she concluded: "It's a boy... completely normal". Her chest warmed and she wrapped the baby in her own coat. The crying gradually diminished until sleep took over.

Turning to the Fabulare, Harel mustered the last bits of her courage and asked:

_ Who are you...?

The creature smiled, slowly closing its eyes. It answered:

_ I'm like you... but older. _ It sighed _ Something between the soul... and the being... Tauh.

With trembling hands, Harel fled from the cave. "It isn't possible..." she thought as she ran back to her house. "This child... is some kind of hybrid? But that isn't possible...", she watched intently at his delicate features. With a bemused laugh, she said:

_ You're pretty, little one... I can't leave you on your own, right? Even though you are... an... an... abomination...

The decision was simple, even though the situation itself was an absurd mystery. Harel has always believed that facing problems without complaints is the best way to live. Finding a child in the forest, without even being able to confirm its origin, was definitely problematic, but she preferred to think of it as an "opportunity": She always wanted a child, even without interest in getting married, besides, of course, the impossibility of even getting pregnant due to her chronic illness. Whatever he was, the little person in front of her needed someone and she could take on to that role.

The next day, she took the child to the police, notifying that she found him at her doorstep, in a basket. Social assistance helped on the adoption and record bureaucracy. The hardest part, however, was defining the date of birth. As for the name, there was no doubt:

_ He will be named after my father, Johan. It's an Albanian name, but I always thought it's very beautiful... It suits you, little one! _ She laughed at the baby.