Rely

Viktor saw it confused, but misunderstood it and immediately rowed back. "I mean, it's okay, you don't have to. I just thought, maybe… it's close enough! ”She stared at him and understood the words that had ripped them out of their thoughts. He said that the meaning of the stones would soon be woven into their destiny so that it became visible to their intuition. And that it would happen soon and that Aurelia wouldn't have to think so far into the future to see this.

She was uncomfortable with these thoughts. “Viktor, you know how it is. Once I'm in and looking for it, it doesn't stop until I find it. And if it's too far away ... then I can't go back. "

 He continued to look pleadingly at her. “What if we try what we did in Argentina? It worked out pretty well at the time! ”Aurelia gave back an angry and horrified look. He wasn't serious!

 "Do you mean you would be willing to knock me down for this information?" The sentence sounded indignant and Viktor made an apologetic expression.

 “No, I mean yes, I mean…. you know what I mean by that! "

 She remembered that night and the pain that was still throbbing in her head two weeks later. "You're crazy!" She said, trying to sound hard. She thought about the stones and that she unfortunately had as bad a feeling about them as he did.

 "Maybe it's really important!" He pressed on, making a pleading face. Viktor noticed immediately that her resistance was crumbling, he was aware that she was reluctant to refuse him. "What if it could cost us all our lives ...?"

 Aurelia gave in with a sigh. "Okay! But if you don't hit hard enough you will experience your blue miracle! "

 He nodded resolutely and she got up to put something on. She was already cursing herself for this decision. It could only go wrong, one way or the other.

She opened her tiny closet, which was more of a locker and contained her few belongings. While she was slipping into black sporty clothes, Viktor pretended to be lost in himself and had his eyes fixed on the small ashtray in which the little stub was still lying. He had become even more moral since he was married, and seeing her half-naked was not his idea of true fidelity. She complimented Meredia on such a catch. There weren't often such men, she thought objectively. If you lived that long, normal relationships lasted longer, but the incredibly long time threatened to become boring and one-sided. Therefore, the difference from such a conventional relationship was particularly evident in both of them. Something had happened to them that each of the Elevenders, at least potentially, was intended to do from birth.

 The second they were born, it was clear that a match would be created for them. They called it Elevation because this particular connection strengthened the strength of the individual Elevender. This mystical event was anchored in their stories and legends from the very beginning of the existence of their race. However, that meant that the perfect match would come, not that it would be found. Although the world had grown ever closer together due to the leap in development and the extensive technical centralization that had emerged at the beginning of the 21st century, it was difficult for the Elevender to live on their side in large societies. As they were being followed by the others, they were forced to hide underground in small, fragmented groups. They used secret communication channels that had to be renewed again and again before they could be discovered. Some chose a lonely existence, completely separated from any civilization. And some, whose powers could be outwardly hidden and who were under control, lived hidden among the ordinary population and led a slave life similar to theirs. This meant that one did not run into many of their species. It also happened that the counterpart was killed before one even met, the other was even born. And not to forget, there were of course the others. This was arguably the most unfortunate combination. As she sat down on her bunk, she wondered anxiously if Viktor had had a choice with Meredia. 

 He cleared his throat intently and slid further forward in his chair. His eyes stared almost hypnotizingly into hers as he prepared his muscles to act quickly.

 "Ready? You remember the sign? ”She asked. He nodded simply and looked determined. He grabbed her hand in his left hand and held it like a vice.

Aurelia concentrated. She began to let go of this, closing her eyes naturally. She focused the stones, looking for them in the endless raging stream of images and impressions. The stream swelled into a raging river. That always happened when she moved from the imminent future to the more distant one. It penetrated the future in layers. After each decision that she hypothetically made, further events fan out. The number of images increased exponentially, which explained the increasing strength and bondage of their power. It was like a tree branching out into infinity. From each fork of a branch five more small sprouts grew and from these again and so it went on. But the more there were, the more difficult it was to make out a single one from the millions and millions of images that carried them away. The impressions made her forget what she came for. She got lost. Only once, back in Argentina, had she gotten to the point in her visions where she had completely separated from herself. Then the impressions contained no more future of their own. It was other people's. But she shrank from crossing this invisible limit. Despite the pain, she had been grateful to Viktor that he had saved her from going any further into this world.

 It happened to her today too. But Viktor's hand, his iron grip, made sure that her question about what she was looking for would not be completely forgotten. It was like a light haze that still hung somewhere in her mind and through the veil of which some images emerged more clearly. This type of focus reached a climax when she suddenly found herself in one of the scenes.

Everything was bathed in a blazing light. It stung her eyes and she had to turn her face away. It was so bright that it even penetrated the now closed eyelids and made them shimmer orange from the inside. Then a blackout fell on her, protecting her from the consuming, penetrating light. She blinked and opened her eyes.

 She saw a figure, at first very dark against the glistening background. Then after a short period of accommodation, she could see more.

 There was a man. His auburn hair was wavy and short, it came straight to his ear. The light made them shimmer in many facets, including bronze and golden-blonde strands. His eyes and the areas around them were shaded by a wave of hair that hung over his face. His mouth curled up in a gruesome but confusingly attractive smile. It attracted her, but it also scared her. He was an Elevender without a doubt. On his suit, which clearly resembled a uniform, an inverted triangle was embroidered in gold on the left above the heart, penetrated by a turquoise, curved symbol. Surprised, she realized that the radiant light was emanating from him, she could feel an incredible power in it. But he left out the spot where she crouched at his feet.

 He was holding something in his outstretched hand, a small black pea. The sight gave rise to another tinge of negative feelings. Before she could explore him and his surroundings any further, something stung her heart hard. It was as if a fire pierced that little pumping muscle, and it reluctantly began to stumble against the disturbance as it burned up in the center. Her breaths got out of rhythm and the fire spread to her bloodstream, eating her inside. She felt sick with pain, as if the chaos of this situation was expanding from her psyche to her body.

She could no longer hold the picture, she had seen why she had come, even if she had not had the opportunity to look at everything very carefully and to make sense of what she had seen. Now she was drifting aimlessly and dazed with hellish pain through the vortex of the future. There was nothing more to attract her, nothing to give her direction, no clues as to where to go forwards or backwards. Then a memory appeared, as if from a long time ago, a long time ago. There had been something!

 A hand that she held. The memory seemed so old it seemed hazy. Then she understood. She felt something heavy on her skin that she pulled back like an anchor in a whirlpool. Before the chain to this fixed point, which was groaning threateningly tight, could break, all her concentration gathered together. It forced the strangely distant nerves to conduct impulses and the muscles to move. Shortening her length piece by piece until she managed to squeeze briefly but firmly the hand that was holding her own.

 You can rely on Viktor.