Beyond the pillar

Chapter 3: Woman

Lying on the rocks, satiated and covered in blood, I stretched out my hand toward the great light in the sky. How many eyes does this voyeuristic god have? Some are closed. Where do you go and forget about us for 30 hours? As I sat up, I saw what seemed to be a forest in the distance.

"Well, it's time to meet those who eat light. Why was I born in such an inhospitable place? A city would be nice, full of food and Thinkers. I wonder, can I eat beings of light?"

The path gradually became less gray, and the color green began to appear. Colorful flowers swayed back and forth, making strange noises; their language was incomprehensible, like music.

"I feel like I have a lot of knowledge and yet so little. There should be some body of water around here; this blood is starting to dry."

Tall and sturdy trees formed a green canopy that allowed only a few rays of light to pass through. The murmur of water reached my ears, and I followed it, wondering why the trees don't talk to each other.

I managed to reach a small lake surrounded by green and yellow trees, some birds, and a girl kneeling at the shore, filling a bottle with water. She was tall and slender, with blue hair, dressed in black, wearing boots, a skirt a few inches above the knee, and a long-sleeved, loose sweater.

"Hello!" I approached.

"Ahhh!" The young woman screamed, falling backward. "Hey, it's not polite to sneak up on people like that."

"Educa... what? I'm Ross. What do they call you?"

"God of Light! Are you injured? You're bleeding a lot." She approached, inspecting my body with concern.

"No, this blood isn't mine. It's so good to see another Thinker. I'd like to ask you many things, after washing up, of course."

"Another? The Pillar is full of us." The girl searched her backpack for some clothes, placed them in her hands, and reshaped them into a sleeveless black hoodie, which she handed to me. "I don't see your luggage; put this on."

"Incredible how easily you materialize things. It took me a lot of work to make these pants."

"Are you referring to the corpse you're wearing on your legs? Didn't they teach you to create clothes in preschool?" She moved closer to me, her blue eyes and long eyelashes exuding femininity from every pore. "Where have you been?"

The birds suddenly interrupted with the sound of their wings as they took flight, murmuring.

"Poor girl, she doesn't feel his bloodlust; he's sure to devour her," they whispered as they hurriedly flew away.

I took off my pants and submerged myself in the lake to wash off the blood. The crystal-clear, cold water not only removed the dirt from my body but also made the nervous girl glance at me shyly, blushing.

When I emerged, she was completely red and seemed to be trying to say something. She quickly took my pants and made improvements to them with her materialization, then threw them at my face.

"When you want to materialize an idea, knowledge isn't enough. Affinity and emotions enhance the materialization. It's much easier to imagine something complex when you like it, isn't it? And put on some clothes already!" she said, sitting on the grass.

"'Like,' again? Hmm... little brain, not so fast. Emotions? Can you start from the beginning?"

I quickly got dressed and sat next to her. I observed her and put my face about ten centimeters from hers, which began to redden again. I could see myself in her bright eyes; she had a sweet aroma, similar to the flowers I saw earlier. She pushed me away.

"Don't you know how to respect personal space? You're more like a 'non-Thinker.' You're a child in an adult's body. I'll explain, but first, I'll introduce myself."

"I'm Galatea, a scientist of nature and the laws of the Pillar. Well, right now, I'm collecting samples of the blackish liquid to devise a light storage system, like a kind of battery," she explained.

I think she's referring to the black liquid I saw earlier. I asked her to tell me about the Pillar and the other forms of life that exist when one of the eyes of the light orb closed.

"The eyes of the orb are closing. How many hours of light are left?" I asked as I picked my nose with a finger.

"Where have you been all your life? Well, someone must have abandoned you and locked you in an attic or something. Every two hours, one of its eyes closes. There are 15 eyes in total, and it's not a big orb; it's the god of light."

Every two hours. If it still has 5 of its eyes open, there must be about 10 hours of light left. How do the beings of light survive the next 30 hours of complete darkness?

"10 hours!" I replied.

"Good boy!" she responded, patting my head. Sitting in front of me, she opened her arms, and by bringing her delicate hands together, she formed a ball of fire with beautiful red, yellow, and orange flames, almost the size of my head. She compressed it until it became tiny, then it made a small explosion of reddish and orange colors.

"I'll tell you what you want to know, Ross."