The tale of Zayra [in Review]

04. THE TRUTH

||Extraterrestrial, take me away
I want a star that's all mine.||

Extraterrestre - Eugenio Finardi

×~×~×

Migraine, that's what it is.
I can react, it won't hurt me.
"I'm fine, I'm fine," I keep telling myself.
Everything goes black. No, I have to react.

"Zayra! Zayra!" a female voice keeps repeating this name, a sweet and calm tone reverberates in the atmosphere. Why is this woman persistently calling out a missing person?

I manage to open my eyes and find myself suddenly, I believe, in space... But, I'm floating in some kind of transparent tunnel that leads me somewhere, only I'm not moving, I let myself be carried, cradled by the flow of energy. In front of me, I see two figures, probably several meters tall, like the statues of ancient civilizations. Compared to them, I am tiny, like an ant, in their presence. They are the two people from the painting, the king and the queen, but what do they want from me?

Compared to the portrait seen earlier, their faces look a bit aged: King Shad is a man of tall and powerful stature, but the weight of the years has slightly bent his imposing figure. His broad shoulders are now slightly hunched, but his posture still denotes the authority he has gained over the years. His almond-shaped eyes, once intense and sparkling with ancient knowledge, now carry the weight of decades of experience. Under his bushy eyebrows, his eyes shine with mature and shrewd intelligence.

His mane of brown hair, once wild and untamed, is now tamed by time, but still flowing with some silver strands that capture the light like fragments of stars. His beard, gray and honored by the wrinkles of time, frames a face that reflects the weight of his regality, but also the wisdom acquired over the years. The king's face now embodies the history of a decade of melancholy and anger, while his figure is a living testament to his long tenure as sovereign.

Queen Selene, tall and graceful as ever, is now enveloped in an aura of majesty that evokes the starry firmament. Her hair, once silver threads, is now slightly gray and shines with a dim brilliance that reflects the passing of the years. Her skin, while retaining the clarity of moonlight, now bears slight wrinkles that tell her story. Her eyes, large and gray, still shine with the reflection of the full moon, but now contain cosmic secrets and bitter tears born and planted over the decades. The clothes they wear are very simple, not regal at all; to look at them they may seem like two normal people, certainly not rulers.

"Zayra, we can finally talk to you. Do you know how many times we've tried to contact you...?" Queen Selene tells me. "I'm sorry, I think I don't understand. I think you have the wrong person," I say, worried but serious. "Zayra, have you ever wondered about the reason for your constant nightmares or headaches?" the King asks me.

"Excuse me, Sir," I reply, emphasizing the last word with a calm tone, "I am Nerina, not Zayra. It's true, I don't know the reason for my ongoing problems, but if it was you, why make me suffer so much? And to tell me what?" I ask angrily.

"Okay, Zayra... I mean Nerina. We apologize very much, we too suffered when we saw you in pain, but we had no other means of communication," the Queen explains.

"Yes, uh, okay, you're stalkers. But I still don't understand: what do I have to do with all this? Why did you call me?".

"You are our daughter, can't you realize? Until now, we have kept an eye on you, but we could not interact with you. Well, apart from when you were little. However, that's not the point," the King reports.

Me? Their daughter? What?! Are we sure? Isn't this a candid camera?

"I repeat: you have the wrong person. I'm not a hundred and sixty years old. Unless I'm a descendant," I underline.