Elias Thorne's Arc

Chapter 2 of 3

The tall stranger led Elias deeper into the glowing forest. Elias kept close, watching the blue-skinned back ahead of him. This creature had recognized his machine. It had not killed him. For now, that made it the only guide he had. The stranger stopped and drew a brass device from a leather pouch. Elias tensed. But no blades sprang out this time. The thing was a recorder, polished and engraved, ringed with dials and gauges. A glass tube glowed at its center. The stranger turned a dial. A small gear inside began to spin. Then the stranger pointed the device at Elias and waited. "You want me to speak," Elias said. He did not understand why. But he understood the gesture. The stranger tapped the brass panel, then tapped its own throat. A clear command: keep talking. So Elias talked. He walked and studied the plants and named what he saw. "These stalks glow from within. Cold light, no heat." He touched a red cap and pulled his hand back fast. "Sticky. Note that." His pencil scratched his cuff. The stranger walked beside him, amber eyes moving from his mouth to the spinning gear and back. It said nothing. It only listened, and the glass tube glowed brighter with each word he spoke. Elias filled the silence because silence frightened him. "On Earth, light needs fire or current. Here it needs neither. The rules are wrong. Or mine were." He laughed, thin and tired. "The Society would call this a fever. Let them. I have proof now. I have you." The stranger's ears twitched at the sound of his voice. It tilted the device closer. Elias slowed. He looked at the careful way it captured every word, and understanding cooled his chest. "You cannot understand me," he said. "Not yet. But you mean to." He pointed at the recorder, then at his own lips. "You are learning my speech. Building a bridge." The stranger stopped walking. For a long moment it studied him. Then it pressed one long finger to its own chest. "Nyra," it said. The word came slow and clear, shaped for him to catch. Elias breathed out. "Nyra." He tapped his own chest. "Thorne." Nyra dipped their head once. They closed the recorder's lid over the glowing tube. The gear stopped. Then Nyra turned and pointed ahead, where the fungi thinned and pale light broke through. Elias followed with a lighter step. He had feared he was alone with a mystery no one could share. Now a mind on this world was reaching toward his own. He walked on, glad to be understood and understanding!