The Humanarium.

Chapter 22: The descent.

Fascinating. Only once I have separated them can I see how much they vary as a species. I do not want to have them interbreed. I think twenty or so containers will suffice.

'Grandpa,' Sonora said, running towards Gorman and flinging her arms around him. Tears streaked down her face. 'I'm so glad you came.'

'Just in the nick of time I would say, my dear,' he said as he took her arm and started to walk away from the men. 'Will you bring my stick. Harl? Quick now, we must hurry. They're almost on us. We don't have much time left to cut through the barrier.'

'Is it true, Grandpa?' Sonora asked.

Gorman sighed as she gripped his arm and forced him to stop.

He cocked his head to listen.

'We've only a little time, Sonora,' he said, 'but yes, my dear, it is true. I'm sorry for not telling either of you. It shames me in more ways than one.' He tugged at her gently to get her moving.

Harl was speechless as he followed them. Had he really just witnessed Gorman kill those men? The old man had been so fast, almost inhuman. He remembered the confrontation on the bridge with Felmar which had left him feeling the same way.

After walking in silence for a short time along the moss-covered forest floor, Gorman spoke.

'When I was a boy I lived a life beyond these barriers, a life far from the realm of the gods that you can see through the vision.' He pointed through the forest towards the Sight and the vast space beyond it. 'I remember little of that life, for fear blocked much of my memory from those times. Children can adapt quickly where an adult would let their mind linger on the past. When I came here it was in the same way as you Harl, except I did not know of barriers or cages.'

He stopped as they brushed against a tree and ran one of his hands across the bark before moving on.

'My family lived in Delta, an underground city full of thousands of people, until death came for us and we were forced to leave. Winged creatures we called hivers attacked the city, killing hundreds. Of the people who fled Delta only a few survived. I left with my parents in a small convoy, but we were attacked en route by hivers. We had taken shelter in a small cave, when the hivers flew in and killed everyone I was with. My father, mother, my two sisters, I watched them all torn to shreds by the creatures. But by a horrible miracle I survived by hiding under the bodies of my family until the hivers had left.

'Eventually I stumbled out into the wild, not knowing where I was going. I walked for many turns, completely lost and utterly alone. I had my eyesight then, but my footsteps through that world might as well have belonged to a blind man. I had no idea what path to take nor any clue to the way back home. In the end exhaustion took me and I collapsed. I don't know how much time had passed, but, when I awoke, one of the gods was towering over me.

'It scooped me up in its hand and I must have fainted from fear, as when I woke, I was lying on a bed and surrounded by councilmen arguing over my fate. I know now that your grandmother had brought me to the council tower in secrecy and when I started struggling for breath, it was she who managed to find a cure.'

'The same breathing problem as I had when I was in the god's realm?' Harl asked as Gorman stopped at another tree.

This time, as Gorman ran a wrinkled hand across it, Harl spotted a series of small carvings in the bark. They were old and healed over, but they must have been deep enough for Gorman to understand their meaning.

'The same,' Gorman said, changing direction, 'except reversed, if you will.' He gestured around them. 'Your lungs are used to air within this land, but mine were accustomed to the air in the realm of the gods. I was incredibly lucky to have her around to find a potion to correct my breathing. She must have mixed and poured dozens down me before one finally worked. She made me a large amount of the mixture and eventually taught me what ingredients to use to make my own before she passed.'