A Dark Enlightenment

The young boy stepped forward unnoticed, leaving the terror-stricken crowd behind him. Before them stood five giants with anatomies comprised of living, impenetrable stone. They were colossal and profoundly muscular. Towering over everyone at around 16 feet tall, their heads seemed to touch the sky. The monster standing in the middle looked down at the boy and smiled insidiously, cracking its knuckles. Yet the child strode on towards the metal platform that would seal his fate. It wasn’t until he had placed both feet on the platform that he heard his mother’s scream and turned to look. “NO!” she cried, tears already streaming down her face as his father yanked her back into his arms. “But he’s only six!” she bawled. “He’s just a boy!” But the chime of the platform had already rung out. The boy felt the cool tingle of the blue energy enveloping his body, finalizing his decision. His father watched him, horrified, tearing up himself as he fought to hold back his mother. But the boy simply locked eyes with him, smiled, and said the single word, “Family.” To which his father, regaining his resolve, nodded and replied with the same word.

We were in the midst of the third World War when the Kryx arrived. The chaos we had wrought upon each other was nothing compared to the destruction of the invasion. Humanity was unprepared. It all started in Africa with the discovery of a new element we called elixinium. Nobody knew where it had come from, but soon after it made its appearance the miracles began.

When the initial footage surfaced, we thought it was a hoax. The short clip began in a dark room showing a small window in the room's door. An eerie green light shining in the next room illuminated the window briefly. "I'm not going to show you my face for my own safety," whispered the voice of the anxious woman recording the shaky footage. "But I believe the world needs to see this. What I'm about to show you is very, very real." The camera crept up to the small window and slowly angled itself to peer through.

Once the visual focused, there was a room full of people in lab coats surrounding a seated amputee that had been strapped to his chair. The man was missing his right hand and looked terrified, but the people surrounding him just watched and took notes. As the camera panned, a lab-coated woman walked into view brandishing a syringe of bright green fluid. After giving the seated man something to bite down on, the lab-coated woman proceeded to inject him with the slightest portion of the fluid.

Suddenly the room was bathed in that same eerie green light from before. The light’s intensity forced the woman to step aside, shielding her eyes. When she did, the camera was overwhelmed by the light's brightness for several seconds. Yet you could hear a muffled blood curdling scream.

"Now watch closely, " the camerawoman whispered offscreen. The footage cleared just enough to make out the seated man shaking violently and screaming in agony. But it was the glowing stump at the end of his right arm that the camera zoomed in on. Under that green light, the flesh there rapidly regenerated, growing a new hand in seconds.

"You see that?" The camerawoman whispered, retreating back into the shadows of the dark room. "They're calling it elixinium. It has healing properties like nothing this world has ever seen. It can heal virtually any ailment. And, as you can see, it exists. This can’t be kept under wraps." The clip ended there.

As I said, we were skeptical after that first one, but the following two shook us. The second video contained proof of elixinium eradicating incurable diseases like cancer, aids, and dementia in seconds. If this was real, it could change the world as we knew it. No more sickness or disabilities of any sort. But the attention grabber was her third clip.

In this final clip, the daring informant had barely begun to film yet another experiment when she was spotted. She ran but her pursuers caught her with ease. Just before the clip was cut, she was able to release the approximate location of the facility in Africa. It was her subsequent media silence that caught the eyes of the world’s governments. And it was America's decision to send special forces to sort out the truth that caught the eye of my struggling newspaper publishing firm.

My company saw this as an opportunity for a game-changing story. As the paper’s photojournalist, I was sent on the next flight to Africa. Once the plane landed, I grabbed my carry-on and sprinted to my bag at the baggage claim. After my routine equipment check and a sigh of relief, I immediately took a taxi to the Airbnb that my company had set up. It wasn’t until I knocked at the house’s front door that I realized I didn’t know what situation I was walking into.

The door swung open seconds after my knock. A man who was about my age greeted me. He wore a white dress shirt and slacks. Wire framed glasses sat on his face, magnifying his kind yet somber eyes. Those eyes exhibited a certain greater wisdom that was both unsettling and comforting. I wish I could say that these features were what I noticed first, but I’m ashamed to admit that, for me, his most prominent trait was his color. The man's skin was as black as coal.

“Uh… Oh! I’m sorry. I assumed you spoke English,” the man said. “Um…Shikamoo? Balao? Bonjour? Uh…”

Suddenly I realized I hadn’t responded to the man’s initial greeting. “Oh! Sorry. English works just fine,” I blurted, forcing a laugh. “I’m Linda Cochran. The photojournalist for-”

“I know who you are, Ms. Cochran,” the man said with a genuine smile. “We’ve been expecting you.”

We?

“Your company notified us of your arrival when your plane landed. I’m Dembe Murenzi. Welcome to Rwanda. Please come-”

“Papa, who is it?” Dembe’s much younger doppelganger joined him in the doorway.

"Oh son, this is our American guest, Ms. Cochran. Say hello."

"Oh hello, sister," Dembe's son said warmly. "Welcome. My name is Aman.”

Sister? “Oh uh hey Aman,” I said with a friendly wave. “Nice to meet you. You can call me Linda.”

“Okay, sister Linda. Come on in.”

Really? I could feel my face scrunch slightly. What is this, a cult? I’m clearly as white as it gets.

“Yes, sister,” Dembe added. “Please come in. I'll take you to your room.”

I almost threw my arms up in defeat. Yep, it’s a cult. “Yes. Thank you," I said warily. "The flight was exhausting."

As he led me to my room, I inspected my surroundings for any signs of imminent danger. The interior of the home was as normal as any family home. At some point, we passed the wife who was cooking in the kitchen. She appeared to be a kind, rational woman until she turned to acknowledge me. "Welcome, sister," she said with a smile. "I’m Aurore. Please join us for dinner when you're ready."

If I wasn't toting the two of my bags that Dembe couldn't carry, my palm might've smacked my face. What's with these people? "Thanks for your hospitality," I managed to say before she was out of sight.

Nothing else seemed out of the ordinary except one room we passed in the hallway. Through its open door, I could see a classroom with a single child’s desk and chair set before a whiteboard. My first thought was that this was a normal homeschooling situation. But there was more. In the few seconds it took me to pass the doorway, I was able to make out the classroom’s odd décor. Its walls were covered with images of trees. Family trees. Many of them seeming to belong to random people. Some were the normal, logging names and relations. Others seemed to log personality traits and physical features. Some were hundreds of years old while others were brand new. And in the center of the room, on the back of the student’s chair, perched a spectacular stuffed barn owl whose plumes blended with the rest of the room so perfectly that I almost missed it. Unfortunately, it was placed in such a way that its creepy eyes stared directly into my soul as I passed. It was similar to those ominous portraits with eyes that follow you. Then, just as I felt a chill run down my spine, it moved. I jumped when I saw that its head was turning ever-so-slightly as it followed my stride.

“What's wrong, sister?” Dembe asked, concernedly. “What happened?”

“Nothing. Nothing. I’m fine,” I said. “I just thought I forgot something at the airport. It’s fine though. All here.”

“Oh I see. Well let’s move on. Your room’s just up ahead.”

“Right,” I said, moving again. I glanced up at the owl once more before it was out of view and those eyes were still fixed on me. Once they were gone, I could still feel them following me through the walls. Weird.

When we got to my room, I thanked Dembe again and told him I'd be turning in early.

"If you must. But the wife's offer still stands," he said. "If you get hungry, come join us. There's enough to go around."

"Thanks but I'll be fine. Really. I just have an early start tomorrow."

He shrugged. "Suit yourself. We'll leave a plate in the refrigerator. You don't know what you're missing," he said with a wink. "Sleep well."

"Good night," I said as sweetly as I could muster before I shut the door. “Oh!” I swung it open again. “Dembe, I forgot!”

“What is it, sister?” he said, turning back.

“ I was just curious. What are you teaching your kid in there?”

The concern on his face faded into a smile. “Just a little genealogy,” he shrugged. “I want him to understand where he comes from. Where we all come from. I just have this feeling that…” He trailed off, staring at nothing in particular.

“Go on,” I prodded.

He chuckled. “I just have this feeling that such knowledge will be important some day. Like…in the right hands, it could change the world.” He shrugged again.

“Hm,” I said pensively. “And the owl?”

“Oh Archie?” he said. “He’s Aman’s pet. He’s never far from the boy. That’s how I wanted it. Barn owls are known for their intelligence. The close relationship between Archimedes and Aman is symbolic of wisdom being always with him.”

I nodded in silence for a brief moment as I let that soak in. “I see,” I finally replied. “Well uh…good night.”

Dembe chuckled again. “Good night, sister.”

At the crack of dawn, I woke to my cell ringing. “H-hello,” I answered, drowsily.

“How’s it coming?” my boss Hugo’s gravelly voice replied.

“Well seeing as how I just got here yesterday, it’s not coming at all.” I responded, already aggravated.

“Well, hop to it! This story could save the company!”

I sighed. “Alright. I’m on it,” I said, wearily. “Oh! What’s up with this Airbnb you got-”

He hung up.

Half an hour later, I was heading for the front door when I glanced up and stopped in my tracks. The Murenzis were holding each other in the living room and staring at the TV with looks of horror. When I walked around them to see what had their attention, my breath caught in my throat. A breaking news scene was showing the moment the U.S. soldiers had located the suspicious facility. The area had been encased in some sort of dome-like perimeter fence. When the American soldiers attempted to cut through, they were immediately gunned down. “Until now, I was giving you the benefit of the doubt,” the U.S. President said as the video cut to her. “But it is now clear to me that this specific region of Africa is indeed hoarding the source of the elixinium element with no plans to relinquish it to the world. I don’t know who you are or what you’re up to, but I speak for America and its allies when I say that hoarding an element as precious as this is as good as a declaration of war. Give up the elixinium source or gather your troops for battle. You have been warned.”

I didn’t have to ask Dembe. He simply looked at me and said, “You can stay as long as you need to.”

That’s how it all began.

Every nation attempted to seize control over the site of the elixinium source at once. Whenever one seemed to prevail, others sent agents in to steal as much as they could and stash it on their own land. Once the secret depots were found, other nations sent armed forces in to steal from them. And this just went on and on until nations chose to resort to terrorist attacks as tools of persuasion. Thus the start of a new world war. And from that, all the civil, race, and gang wars were ignited. It seemed as if humanity was searching for any and every reason to hate each other. The world had never been more divided. Little did we know that the worst was still yet to come.

One day, during all the madness, the dark clouds of war parted for a moment as several great ships descended all over the world. These spacecraft were like nothing we had ever seen. Their size alone proved they couldn’t have been built on this planet. Suddenly our current predicament didn’t matter anymore. Everything seemed to pause as mankind immediately stopped what they were doing and looked to the skies. The news broke the media. Wherever you looked the event was streaming live. One ship hovering about 500 feet above the old facility in Africa opened its doors. A group of awestruck bystanders had already gathered at the site. Every camera’s eye was glued to the ship’s opening.

From the Murenzis’ living room, we watched the TV in anticipation as the single ship released its occupants. Five figures fell from the opening. They seemed to drop forever, gathering speed as they did so, until they burst through the roof of the structure with an effect as powerful as a cannon blast. The building crumbled instantaneously. Once the dust settled, humanity gasped in unison at the sight of the monstrosities. There, in the rubble, stood a group of towering beings comprised of stone. One of them wearing a cape-like garment was marveling at a fistful of luminescent green elixinium.

“What are they, Papa?” Aman asked.

Dembe just shook his head, at a loss for words.

On screen, the cape wearing creature began to speak. “Dear Terrans,” he boomed in unexpectedly perfect English. “I know you can all understand me. This device-” he pointed to a metal object jutting from his neck, “-makes sure of that. So listen well. We are the Kryx. We are gatherers of this beloved substance that I currently hold in my hand. I believe you call it elixinium. We scour the universe for this substance and it has come to our understanding that your planet is a producer. So we’ve come to relieve you of it. Unfortunately, it grows underground at random, so we’ll have to rip your planet to shreds to do so.” At that, the Kryx Leader lifted a mighty fist and the doors to every ship surrounding the Earth opened, releasing small armies of stone giants. “Go, my brethren!” the Leader bellowed. “Go forth and strip this world to its very core! Don’t stop until we have every last morsel of elixinium this planet has to offer! Remember, once a deposit is found, waste no more time in that area! There will be at least a mile between it and the next! You won’t find more than one deposit in a single area!”

Our eyes were locked onto the screen as each of the creatures fell from the sky and landed with the effects of bombs going off. I instinctively covered Aman’s eyes as the camera caught the moments that people couldn’t get out of the way in time. The damage caused by the impacts was catastrophic alone, but soon after landing, each of the giants began pummeling the ground with their fists. Wasting no time going around structures or people, they simply plowed through them. Nowhere was safe. They were everywhere.

That’s when it hit me. They were everywhere. I turned to Dembe and Aurore. “We gotta get out of h-” Half the house suddenly caved in. The blow was thunderous. I felt like I had been hit by a truck. “Dembe!” I cried out from under the rubble. “Aman! Aurore!”

“Linda, I’m here!” Dembe yelled, throwing the debris aside. “I got you, sister!”

As he pulled me to my feet, I could see Aman and Aurore already at the car. “Come on!” Aurore yelled.

“Archie, here!” Aman called out, quickly following it with a series of clicking noises. Archimedes immediately flew to him and perched on his wrist as the boy hopped into the car’s backseat.

“They’re right,” I said. “We gotta get outta here.”

“I agree,” Dembe replied, almost carrying me. “But where?”

I started to shake my head, but then I saw the TV. It was somehow still working, and its screen was still showing the rubble that used to be the facility. For some reason, that area wasn’t under attack. It baffled me for a moment. Then I remembered something the Kryx Leader had said. You won’t find more than one deposit in a single area. “There,” I said, pointing at the screen.

Dembe looked at the screen confused at first, then nodded his understanding and we were off. On the way out, I saw my camera bag in the rubble and threw it over my shoulder.

The trip there was perilous and we barely made it. We survived thanks to Dembe’s shockingly adept defensive driving. I held onto my sanity by snapping photos of the Kryx raining down on us and of the destruction that followed. Luckily, my company had thought to place me close by. It seemed to take us hardly any time to get there. When we arrived, we quickly joined the large crowd of civilians and soldiers that had accumulated in front of the Leader and his guards. He was sitting on a crude throne made from the rubble that was the factory. The people were begging and pleading with him while he just sat and laughed.

Then someone had an idea. A guy in a Hawaiian shirt who sounded like a New Yorker yelled out, “You gotta give us a chance! Where’s your honor?”

“How dare you, peon!” the Leader spat. “The Kryx pride themselves on honor!”

“Okay then prove it!" the tourist retorted. "Make us a deal we can work with!”

The Leader thought for a moment. “Fine. Hear me, Terrans. We Kryx are mighty warriors. If there is one among you who is the same, let him challenge one of us. Put your greatest warrior against ours. It is your one and only chance to save your world.”

“That’s not fair!” the Hawaiian shirt guy said along with several others.

The Leader continued, “To make it fair, have your warrior step upon this platform.” He waved his hand and an extravagant metal platform fell to the ground from the ship above. “When he does so, he will be imbued with the power to borrow the strength of all those he knows to be his kin for the duration of the fight. He needs only to call upon them. You will have one chance to choose a champion for this contest. I have already chosen mine." He snapped his fingers and a smug looking Kryx guard stepped forward, taking his place near the platform. The guard seemed somewhat larger than the others. "If your champion comes out the victor, we’ll leave your pitiful planet and never return," the Leader went on. "You have my word. But once a Terran steps onto this platform, let no other step forward to assist him. Any that do shall be destroyed immediately.”

The crowd gasped in unison.

The Leader smiled and held up a finger. “One champion alone. One chance. That’s all you get.”

Everyone looked around at each other, searching the crowd with faces fraught with terror. Faces that begged and pleaded with each other. The weak calling upon the weak for a miracle.

The Leader chuckled. “Now who will you ch-” A gunshot rang out followed by a ricochet as a spark flashed on the Leader’s head. The creature wasn’t even phased. “Really?” he said. “Come on-”

“EVERYBODY DOWN!” a soldier yelled.

The crowd screamed and fell to the ground. Dembe yanked me down and covered me and his family just before a barrage of bullets flew over our heads. The cacophony of gunfire was deafening. I tried my best to cover both my ears and Aman’s. At some point, I glanced up and saw another soldier scream something unintelligible into a two-way radio. Soon after, an armed Black Hawk chopper hovered overhead and began to unload its guns at the creatures. The military had unleashed hell on the Kryx Leader and his guards. Finally I saw a soldier yell another order resulting in a cease of all gunfire. We watched as the smoke slowly faded, anticipation in our eyes.

"I didn't think I had to explain this," the Leader continued, waving away the last remnants of smoke. We could now see that they were totally unscathed. "But such weapons won't hurt us. There are a select few of your weapons that may stand a chance, but you can't use those without harming yourselves in the process." He smiled that ruthless smile again. "I've done my research." The air that had lightened with sudden hope regained that heavy weight of despair once more. The crowd let out a dispirited groan.

"Rise, Terrans," the Leader ordered. "Rise and send out your champion. You have two Earth minutes to decide."

Everyone tentatively returned to their feet. When Dembe released us, I helped Aman up. To my surprise, though the boy looked a bit shaken, he hadn't shed a single tear. Not even a whimper. Tough kid. As he dusted himself off, Archimedes fluttered from his arm and alighted on my shoulder. "Whoa!" I said, tensing up.

"That's right, Archie," Aman said. "Stay with big sister. She'll protect you."

I gritted my teeth. Is this really necessary?

Aman scanned the crowd of frightened people. "Sister?" he said, his tiny hand gripping mine.

“Yeah, kid?”

“What happens if nobody fights?”

I glanced up at Dembe and Aurore and we shared a grim expression before returning our gaze forward. It took everything in me to keep from crying, and yet I knew the boy could feel me shake. What do you say to a child in such a situation? To regain composure, I did what I do best. I reached down into my bag, grabbed my camera and started snapping shots of the scene.

I got a wide shot of the entire site, a couple of the distraught crowd, and a few close ups of the Leader himself. As I was zooming out for another wide angle, I noticed a small figure walking toward the platform in my shot. What? I zoomed in on the figure and waited for the view to focus. When I saw who it was, my heart stopped. “Oh my God…” I muttered. “AMAN, STOP- OW!” I started to sprint after him, but was stopped short by a sharp pain in my shoulder. Archimedes had gripped me with his talons. I shot him an angry look and saw that he was staring straight at me. His demeanor seemed oddly meaningful as he broke his gaze and looked forward. I did the same and saw that one of the Kryx guards’ eyes were fixed on me. He would’ve pulverized me. My focus returned to Aman just as he was stepping onto the platform. A loud chime sounded as he did so, bringing everyone’s attention to him. The crowd froze with heartbreak.

“NO!” Aurore cried out. She started to run forward only to be stopped instantly by Dembe. “But he’s only six! He’s just a boy!”

As I watched the tears run down her face, I realized I was crying, too. I looked to Dembe for any form of consolation but found that his attention was on Aman. The two of them had locked eyes. I saw Dembe tear up as a strange blue field of energy formed over his son beginning at the platform, but Aman appeared unfazed. He simply smiled at his father and said, “Family.”

Suddenly Dembe’s whole demeanor changed. He was his normal confident self once more. With a nod, he repeated, “Family.”

Dumbfounded, I returned my focus to Aman and watched in anticipation as the terrible scene unfolded.

Once the blue energy had fully enveloped the boy, it disappeared. The Kryx howled with laughter. “So this is your champion?” the Leader asked through his fit.

The crowd shouted their denials.

“SILENCE!” the Leader bellowed, shutting us up instantly. “It is done! Let the battle begin.”

The opposing Kryx folded his arms, grinning mischievously. “Go ahead, Terran child. Call upon the strength of your kin.”

Aman looked up at the mighty giant before him. “Kin? You mean, my family, right?”

“Yes, child,” he chuckled. “Family.”

Aman glanced back at his parents. Dembe smiled and nodded again. “Well,” the boy said. “There’s my mother Aurore and father Dembe…”

Immediately after he mentioned them, the crowd gasped. I looked over and shrieked at the sight of Aurore’s body dissolving as it was converted into nothing more than bright blue light. Her essence then zipped forward and was absorbed by Aman. Dembe touched my shoulder, looked into my eyes, and smiled once more. “Everything will be okay,” he said just before his body faded into energy and was absorbed as well.

“Then there’s my Uncle Bati…” Aman continued, “...and my Aunt Ishimwe…”

Upon saying this, two more essences flew from nowhere and into him. And it just continued from there. He mentioned cousins, nieces, nephews, grandparents, great grandparents, great-greats and still had more. Each name closely followed by a flash of blue light. With each absorption, the crowd’s hope grew until, finally, he stopped. It seemed his list had come to an end.

His Kryx opponent laughed. “Is that all?”

The boy grinned. “No. My father taught me that they were just my immediate family. I’m related to everyone with African ancestry. That includes everyone whose skin looks like mine.”

Suddenly the greater percentage of the crowd shone bright blue and disappeared in a flash. Then an even greater whoosh of light flowed over us, lasting longer. The entire site was lit up with blue light for a few seconds before it finally ended.

Now the Kryx seemed uneasy. “A-alright. I-is that all?”

Aman shook his head. “No. My father taught me that looking deep enough into history, you’d find there was once something called Pangaea. This was a huge landmass made up of all the continents in the world. It was Gaea, the motherland. The continents broke off of this Pangaea and spread apart over time as families sometimes do. But we all started off together here in Africa, the motherland.”

All the Kryx’s eyes widened.

No way! I couldn’t help but grin.

Aman smiled smugly. “So that includes the Asians, Indians, Pacific Islanders…” As he listed every race of the world, the biggest whoosh of blue essence flowed past us. The experience seemed to last forever. The wind roared as the light rushed past causing me to double over, covering my ears. I was laughing the entire time. When it finally died down, I looked up to see Aman looking right at me. “And the Caucasians,” he concluded with a grin. “Which includes my big sister Linda.”

At once, I felt the weirdest sensation of weightlessness as I watched my body dissolve and shine. There wasn't much time to marvel at this before I was yanked forward, suddenly seeing through Aman’s eyes and hearing with his ears. The silence of the world was deafening. I had never heard anything like it. The one sound that remained was that of our opponent's stone body quaking with fear. This small clatter of rock echoed in the new stillness of the world.

Then Aman took a step forward. Whoa. In that single step, I felt immense power. The immeasurable power behind every human being on Earth taking the exact same step at once. Everyone was together here in this moment experiencing everything just as I was. As Aman was. We were Pangaea.

As Aman stepped from the platform and strode forward, the stone giant shook even more. "S-s-so," the Kryx uttered. "Th-that's i-"

"Yeah," Aman said. I could feel him smile. "That's it." He then shot forward, moving faster than anything ever recorded. In two swift strides, he closed the distance between them. Midway he had raised a fist, our fist, and I could feel our arm tense for a punch. Do it, little brother! Using the momentum, the entire human race thrusted its fist forward to collide with the giant's impenetrable shin. The impact set off a blast like that of a missile explosion. When the light dimmed and the dust settled, we saw the Kryx Leader and his cronies cowering beyond the rubble that was once their friend.

"Now," Aman said. "Leave my family alone."

How’s that for a story, Hugo?