Timestone

Chapter Thirty-Six ϟ Vakzeek

The brightness of the zero-realm energy pushes everything from my vision as my thoughts spin out of control. My mom hinted that the temple was necessary to meld one's mind to the zero-realm. I've experienced the oneness with the universal energy before, even without the aid of the temple. But this time, it feels nearly as powerful as it did in the temple. I'm grateful that my mind has slipped out of time for the moment to pull myself together while my body and Andrik wait frozen on the outside.

Andrik is my brother. Andrik . . . my brother. I don't want to accept it.

The Andrik standing in the control room is older than the brother from my mom's memories. His hair is thinner. His face is fuller. He wears a thick beard and a bigger stomach. Even though I only caught blurry glimpses of his younger self in my mom's memories, I can't deny it's him.

A lost memory materializes in my mind for the first time since I awakened in the cave. It's just a short, fleeting glimpse of Andrik and me as children—the two of us playing in our backyard, pretending to be space men. It's where my love for all things space began. Andrik and I would always argue over who got to be Neil Armstrong. I think of the countless times I exited our pretend lunar module to be the first human to step foot on the moon.

Then, another memory flashes through my mind—the day Andrik entered the engineering academy. I remember how proud I felt to be his brother, wanting to follow in his footsteps.

Next, a memory of passing my level one space pilot training. Andrik came to my graduation ceremony. I remember how I felt when he offered a sincere congratulations.

I can vaguely remember flight school. The engineering academy I attended required every cadet to minor in a field applicable to space travel. I chose flight. Completing the level one training meant I was proficient at flying smaller space vehicles—precisely like the orbital shuttle where I sit.

As I continue floating in the energy of the zero-realm, my anger dissipates against the nostalgia of my memories.

Then, something strange happens. My memories take on a fuzzy form, and they're pushed from my mind. Something foreign forces itself into my head—unlike anything I've ever experienced.

But then I realize—I have felt this before. Something similar invaded my mind when I initially entered the temple. The unnerving presence bounces around my head. It sorts through my thoughts and analyzes my mind. I exert effort to push it out.

The white energy begins to billow, almost like smoke. It gathers until it takes on the same animal-like form I saw in the temple but now, I can make out more detail.

The figure morphs in and out of existence. Its bluish-green skin appears shiny. An oblong head sits atop a slender body. A single vertical slit, that looks like a mouth, sits below two large black eyes. A dark spot in the skin surrounds its right eye and extends around the right side of his head, ending in a single antenna-like protrusion. It has either four arms and two legs or two arms and four legs—it's hard to determine which. Each appendage has thorn-like protrusions and ends in three gangly fingers. My chest fills with fear at the terrifying sight.

The entity finishes probing my mind and begins to communicate with me mind-to-mind.

"You are Miro human," it says. "I am race Vakzeek."

The voice feels so foreign. It doesn't even seem human. It feels like static, clicks, and buzzing, yet somehow, I understand.

"Communicate, now," the voice demands.

"Who are you?" I ask.

"Analyze. Assimilate communication patterns. Hold."

I'm not quite sure what the voice said, but it scans my thoughts once again. My mind scrambles. The entity pushes an understanding to me that it's analyzing the communication patterns of my brain. The scanning stops, and the voice speaks to me in clearer thoughts—but still strange.