The Forgotten Light

Prolog 1

She pressed on the bike's pedals with all the strength she had left. Rubble crunched under the old wheels, small rocks were thrown aside, and sand rose into dust as she sped through the desolate neighborhood.   

It seemed to her that rocks and sand covered the entire Earth. She had seen nothing else for two days. The baseball cap and oversized military jacket her mother had quickly thrown on her provided protection from the sun, but the heat still mercilessly seared her delicate skin.   

"Get out of here, Fairlight!"   

Apparently, the ship that circled in the dark in the sky above their home meant something much worse than she thought.   

She hesitated, hearing her mother's order. She looked at her and had no idea what to do. Finally, her mother, always tough and showing no weakness, dropped to her knees in front of her and grabbed her in her arms with tears in her eyes.   

"Please, sweetheart. You have to run."   

She had no idea what was actually happening there. What was to come? Why did she have to escape, using the stone corridors under the house that led her out into the middle of nowhere?  Her legs ached as never before in her life. She was not used to walking such distances between huge canyons. Soon, however, she was able to find the road, and by it the ruins of a house. She was unlucky about the water, but it was there that she found the old green bicycle.   

Since then, she has kept to the road, driving a slalom between abandoned, half-burned cars and holes in the asphalt.    

A familiar ominous sound tore through the desert surroundings. She turned around and saw a black dot on the horizon. Her heart leapt to her throat, and in a panic she forced her legs into greater effort. There were no trees in the area to hide in, and the mountains were too far away. They'll find her, they'll see her...

Looking around frantically, she spotted huge rocks, an opportunity for hiding. She bounced to the side, praying for extra seconds and that no one would notice the dust coming out from under the wheels of her bike.   

The sound of powerful engines seemed to be approaching her a hundred times faster than she was approaching the spotted hideout. She could almost feel the hot gust of wind hitting her back. Her eyes burned with a living fire that also consumed her dry throat every time she took a heavy breath. Out of fear and exhaustion, she felt that any moment she would lose consciousness.   

The moment the huge ship was a few hundred meters behind her, she turned abruptly between the rocks. She fell over with her bicycle, raising an even larger cloud of sand into the air, which was immediately blown away by the machine flying over the girl's head.   

She didn't move for a long time after the deafening roar of the engines disappeared behind the line of mountains.  With her last strength, she pushed the bike away from her and leaned comfortably against the stones. She wanted to cry.   

She was alone, terrified, lost.   If she had enough water in her body, tears would surely moisten her eyes.   

She was alone, terrified, lost...

***

She emerged feeling a bitter chill and a gusty wind. She didn't even know at what point she fell asleep. She wrapped herself more tightly in her mother's military jacket and a moment later rain poured down from the sky. The rocks contacting above her head protected her from getting wet, but nothing could protect an eight-year-old child from the fear of the dark and storm. She cowered with clenched eyes, and the sound of lightning brought back unwanted memories...