Aisling Murphy's Arc

Chapter 7 of 12

Aisling leaned against the ancient stone and shut her eyes. Sleep pulled her under again. She did not fight it. She wanted to see her people. She wanted to know what happened after the chieftain led them to the pyramid. The dream opened on warm grass. The stepped pyramid rose high, its stone terraces pale in the sun. The chieftain stood at its base in his tall feathered crown. Beside him waited a woman in a bright patterned dress, her black hair in long braids. The chieftain's people knelt in rows before the silver disc. Zyx came down the ramp, red skin shining, black eyes wide. The people pressed their faces to the dirt. They lifted their hands. They cried out, calling the strangers from the sky gods. Aisling watched the other Martians step forward. They liked the sound of it. They raised their arms and let the people kneel. They took the gifts of fruit and gold. But Zyx did not raise its arms. It stepped toward the chieftain and reached down. Zyx took the man's hands and pulled him up from his knees. "We are not gods," Zyx said. "We came from a dead world. We wish only to live beside you." The other Martians turned. They frowned at Zyx. They had wanted the kneeling. They had wanted the power. Zyx ignored them. It knelt in the grass with the chieftain's people and showed them its hands, empty and open. Day after day in the dream, Zyx stayed with the people. It taught them to read the stars. It showed them how to shape stone and track the turning sky. The woman with the braids worked at Zyx's side. She learned faster than anyone. Zyx watched her, and its black eyes softened. They built a life together. The woman was the chieftain's daughter. She and Zyx started a family. Their children ran through the grass near the pyramid, laughing, chasing each other. Their skin glowed red and brown at once. They wore the people's bright beads and the people's painted marks. The villagers called them demigods and bowed as they passed. But Aisling saw the truth. The children were not gods. They were half Zyx, half the people of this land. They were something new. In the dream, Zyx turned and looked straight at Aisling. It knew she was watching across all the years. It raised one long hand, the same way it once greeted the chieftain. Aisling woke with the sun on her face. The ancient stone stood over her. She understood it now. The others had played at being gods. Zyx had chosen to be a teacher, a husband, a father. Its blood had mixed with the people of this land. And that blood ran down through the years to her. She pressed her hand to her chest. "I am part of them too," she whispered. She stood and looked up at the wide sky, more sure than ever of who she was.