The Life of Gaia

CHAPTER 0.6: Zantas

Well, I'm not going to tell you exactly how my childhood was, because there's nothing to tell anyway. 

My mother gave birth to me shortly after my encounter with the giant purple eye, and under my father's enthusiastic gaze they told me that my name was Gaia, even though I already knew that. Then I suddenly died, or so it seemed to everyone in the hospital room (in other words, my body shut down after a few minutes, but not what I had inside). Later I understood that it was right: after all, my destiny should not have been fulfilled in this world. 

From the moment Elmerninis found me, my physical life had no meaning: he had marked me as his enemy, that was all that mattered. 

Once I was dead, my soul separated from my body for a moment - just long enough to see my weeping parents leaning over me - and then, abruptly, it was in the garden of a gigantic gray and white castle. My "body" had grown during the journey, giving me not only the physique but also the mind of a girl about two decades older than me. 

Here, for the rest, only a few fractured scenes come to mind, nothing coherent, such as colored flowers that shine in the light, armed people with white masks on their faces, the majestic entrance that cuts through the walls ... just that. They are such absurd memories to think about that my mind must have labeled them as dreams. I walked through endless corridors and was led by someone into a gigantic throne room. 

From that moment on, I have no idea why, but I remember everything to the last detail.

I have imprinted in my memory every sensation that that vaulted room gave me, and a little frightened on the one hand, but mostly excited by these extraordinary things that were happening to me, I keep in my heart the image of the three large thrones that stood on one of the six walls of the room and took up most of the space that I was in. Don't get me wrong, they weren't in the center of the room or anything like that, but there was something so regal about them that you couldn't ignore them.

The first, leftmost throne was as white as a baby's teeth. Its back was shaped in spirals and arcs that intertwined in a harmonious way and then ended in an oval shape in the middle. This was definitely my favorite.

The second throne, the central one, was lower than the other two and had an ash-gray color. On its handles were geometric motifs formed by broken lines that ended in upward points, giving a strong sense of order.

The third throne was a different story. Its entire surface was patterned to resemble a swirl, with every inch of material converging into a large dark circle in the center of the seatback. In places, the pitch black crystal that formed the throne was empty, making the appearance of this thing even more oppressive and disturbing. I wondered if this circle would swallow the entire room.

°Gaia.° A voice boomed in the room. I jumped into the air in fright, turned abruptly to where those words seemed to have come from, and found myself looking at the first throne. Above it floated some kind of strange animated symbol.

°Welcome to Divine Castle. Forgive me for bringing you here, but I had no choice. Elmerninis let you die at birth, and I couldn't lose you. You are the "Life".°

The little thing's voice sounded somewhat masculine. I looked at him for a second in what seemed to be his eye, and then I answered him.

"Okay, I'm sure you have a lot to tell me. But could you please do it down here? I'm not very comfortable looking up." When he didn't react, I wondered if I had just made a big mistake. The flying sign, however, just mumbled something and descended, landing in front of my nose.

°You are just the one. He wasn't wrong ° was the only thing he said. Then he looked at me for a moment.

°You need clothes, you can't stay naked like this: if Luna saw you, she'd make a thousand fuss. These will do.°