Genesis

Descent

In the dead of the night, when all were soundly asleep in their homes, a young girl walks about under the clear starlit sky. She puffs a warm breath of air on her chilled palms and rubs them on equally cold thin shoulders. She had long been warned by her folks not to travel beyond outskirts of their humble village especially after night fall. But the adventurous child pays no heed to their wise words and wanders into the rice fields for the umpteenth time. Even without the guidance of the stars and the light of the moon, she knew the land she was born and raised in by heart. She was confident that she could avoid danger, be it wild animals, vagabonds or thieves. She is but a whimsical naïve child who knew no fear of the world.

During her stroll, she noticed a flashing light from the heavens. When she looked up to the sky she realized the moon was brighter and bigger than she had ever seen it before. But the light suddenly dimmed and a shooting star from the moon fell. Her eyes followed its trail and saw it fall behind the mountains not far from their village.

"Harthy!"

She heard her mother's voice calling out to her from their home followed by her father's voice. They realized she was gone and now came out to look for her. Had it been any other night she would've obediently returned home to their awaiting embrace and angry scolding. But not tonight, not when an adventure awaits her. As stealthily as she could she ran further away from the village, following the cleared path used by travelers.

By the time she reached the other side of the mountain, she was out of breath. She bends down on her knees and gasps for air while wiping off the sweat on her face with the sleeve of her white sleeping robe. The moment she raised her eyes she was surprised to see a big crater on the ground. There was a stream nearby and water slid down to the deep hole on the earth.

It was too dark to see what was on the bottom but she could hear the sound of water below. She had thought it was a real star that fell on the ground and was expecting to find a big shiny rock or something like that. Carefully she slid down the steep slope, feeling for the end of the hole with the heel of her sandaled feet. When she heard a cracking sound she stopped her descent and felt around with her hands.

With a gasp she pulled her hand back, pain prickling and numbing her hands. Strangely the shards embedded on her hands glowed and gradually became brighter. Soon enough she realized these shards were scattered all over the place, making the crater seem like a curtain of stars. And that's when she saw the body at the center only a few meters away from her.

It looked human, except the skin was glowing like the shards and the long hair was pure white. She called out to the body with her small voice, innocently concerned. Slowly she approached the body, the shards cracking with every step underneath her sandals. The closer she came to the other, the brighter the light became.

"Are you okay?" She asked, kneeling down and putting her cold hand on the others even colder shoulder. Instantly the body turned its face towards voice and the girl screamed. Her wails echoed in the crater but could not reach her village beyond the mountain. Soon her wails stopped leaving only the dead silence of the night. The glowing light flickered once then vanished as well. Moments later footsteps are heard and a girl climbs out of the hole. She has the face of the girl named Harthy and even wore were plain white night dress and brown sandals. Except she had longer hair reaching below the calves and her expression was blank.

She could hear voices from the distance calling out a name. No human should be able to hear from that far but she did. There was no understanding or comprehension of the name that was desperately called out and to her it only sounded like 'RT'. She walked opposite from the source of the voices and wandered into the woods. That night, two parents lost a daughter and a lake came out of nowhere. No one knew of the falling star or realized that a new being is now living among them.The only witness was forever lost in the void, no longer existing, not among the living.