"You don't need to close the door," EUe said, as I stepped out of our abode. "There's no one here, remember?"

I begrudgingly pulled my hand away from the handle, leaving the door open.

EUe started walking down the path. "Come, this way," he said.

The plants growing along the pavement were waking up as evening settled in. Sprigs of flowers poured their soft glow across the stone in dappled rouges and blues.

V bobbed between EUe and I as I followed along, and then whipped around in front of us as I came abreast of EUe.

"Where are we going?" I asked. "And why?"

V turned around to face us. "The Ecumene had a network not unlike ours, though it was nowhere near as sophisticated," he explained, floating backward with ease as we walked.

"We called it the Philharmonium," EUe said. "We could use it for… well, nearly everything: talking to one another over long distances; create images, recordings, and more, and sharing and modifying them."

"It sounds a lot like what my people call the Internet," I said.

"When I was living in the real gladiators' village, the Philharmonic Temple in the center plaza was where we would go when we wanted to use the Philharmonium, or rent an access port for our personal use."

The village's central plaza came into view. EUe pointed to one of the largest buildings, atop a short set of monumental stairs. "That's the Temple, or, well, it's a digital recreation of it."

"How does it compare to the genuine article?" I asked.

"While it houses records, just like the real one did," EUe said, "the records chronicle life among the Vyxit, instead of UlU and twEfE." He looked up at the building, and then looked me in the eyes. "Some things are better shown than told."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I've often dreamed of how I would tell my story if someone ever came to find me. And it's not just my story. It's the Vyxits'."

"I… I see," I said.

EUe stepped inside, with V following in after. However, I hesitated, and V noticed it immediately and hovered back out of the arched entryway to investigate.

"Is something the matter?" he asked me.

How could I tell the little guy I was absolutely torn without giving it all away?

The tension was almost unbearable.

I wanted to believe that EUe would be understanding if and when I told him what I was and what I hoped to accomplish. And yet, even though he'd shown me nothing but kindness so far, I still had my doubts.

How many times had I placed my faith in something, only for it to be wantonly betrayed? I was scared, darn it! I didn't want that to happen here. Angel, I was already walking on eggshells. It was only the fear and the urgency that kept me on target.

My wife was dead, and I hadn't even held her funeral. What kind of husband doesn't give his wife a funeral?

Focus, I told myself. I couldn't let my thoughts wander. They'd turn back to Pel if I did and… well, I just wouldn't be able to function if that happened, and I really, really needed to function right now. The information I was getting from EUe and V was vital to the extreme. This might very well be my last chance to break into the Vyx Network like this, and everyone was depending on me to come through for them. So what if I was doubting myself (again)? I refused to let myself screw this up! I owed it to the people I loved to find a way to set things right. That's what it means to persevere, doesn't it? To take the next step?

EUe stepped in to view. He leaned against the entryway. "Genneth?"

"It's a long story…" I said. "I…" My feathers bristled as I let my gaze sink toward the patterned stone beneath my feet. "My wife is gone." My voice was as low as my spirit. "I—"

—But EUe stepped forward and grabbed one of my hands and held it. "When did it happen?"

I looked up at the dome. Beyond it, I could see stars in the night sky. I warbled. "Just before I arrived here."

"Gods, I'm so sorry." EUe put his other hand on mine. "I know that pain." His feathers puffed up and ruffled. "I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy."

"Does it ever get better?" I asked. Of course, as a professional neuropsychiatrist, I already knew the answer, I just couldn't believe in it anymore.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

I didn't know if I could believe in anything anymore.

"No, it doesn't," EUe said. He looked me in the eyes. "It's like the tide: it comes and goes. You can't stop it from returning, but… you can delay it, at least sometimes. Distractions help, though joy helps even more."

Shaking my head, I pulled my hand free and clenched my fists. "I… I'm sorry. I didn't mean to burden you with my misery. You've already suffered so much."

"That doesn't make your heartache any less valid."

"I know." I folded my wings against my back and looked to the Temple's entrance.

"Are you alright now?" V asked.

"No," I said, "but… I have to keep moving." I nodded. "Let's go. Show me what you wanted to show me, before my demons catch up with me again," I added, with a clack of my beak.

EUe nodded. "Follow me."

We stepped inside.

I looked up and whistled.

The Philharmonic Temple was a wedding cake of ceramic and plastic. My whistle bounced off the concentric layers of vaulted, egg-shell roofs up overhead. The ceiling alone was a feast for the eyes. Brightly colored, rigidly geometric patterns decorated almost every inch of its magnificent surface, which rose and fell in beveled, polygonal niches and parallelogramed flower petals. Mighty pale green columns held up the roof in a ceramic recreation of the giant herbs from Lantor's mist-forests; elU, EUe had called them.

Wind breezed through the temple's many open arched entryways, tickling my wings and tail feathers. The breeze carried a dulcet scent off the nectar fountain burbling in the center of the ground floor. The periphery of each of the temple's floors was ringed round in statues of twEfE. Each one was painted in vivid color.

Several short pedestals bearing sundial-like objects were spread around the floorspace. When I blinked my second eyelids, I could see the pataphysical threads twitching and glistening all over the dials. The dazzling power was barely even constrained.

"This is… incredible…" I said.

"Yeah," EUe said, in a far-off way, "it's nice. It was built before the advent of the Philharmonium. Originally, it was a temple to Ela-tU. Technically, it still is."

"Eelatoo?" I asked.

"The Golden Herald," EUe explained, "the Nectarbringer, the maker of our race, and chief among our gods. He held dominion over conquest and victory—and glory. Always glory."

"I notice you used the past tense there," I said. "Why?"

EUe twittered in wry amusement. "My people were wrong about… well, pretty much everything. Even no, I can't say for sure that our gods are real. I do think there's something out there, but… that's the only conclusion I'm willing to draw."

"What kind of something?" I asked.

He clacked his beak sardonically. "Something between nothing and everything."

I clacked my beak too. "Whadda you know," I said, "that's another struggle we have in common."

"You've had trouble with matters of faith?" he asked.

"Oh, you have no idea." But I turned the topic elsewhere. "Are all of these statues depictions of your gods?" I asked, pointing at the statues.

"No. They honored some of our greatest citizens—of UlU, however, not the Vyxit." EUe pointed at one of the statues. "That is Ukwa-lele-an,"

The figure wore a somewhat oversized, hooded beige robe all around their body. It reminded me of something a Lassedile monk might wear. The hood was down, showing the patch of bright, red feathers on their neck. A few stray green feathers atop Ukwa-lele-an's head curled upward like wayward commas.

I assumed the red meant Ukwa-lele-an was male.

EUe continued his narration. "Ukwa-lele-an discovered how to graft a blossoming elU branch to a preexisting plant, and that doing so made the plant receiving the graft bloom. Thanks to his work, the productivity of Rubies' nectar groves increased by orders of magnitude."

He pointed to another, up on the second level.

"That is wUEUe-hata. For nearly two-hundred years, she held the record for most nectar harvested in a single month."

The statue showed a small-built female—no red patch on her throat. She wore short breeches and a simple brown vest, standing with her wings outspread. Her eyes were wide, eager, and inquisitive.

I noticed EUe paused before pointing to the statue beside wUEUe-hata.

The male twEfE depicted had several feathers sticking up at the top of his forehead, like a fan. He had longish legs and wore something like a cross between a blazer and a smock, with gold-painted symbols decorating its hems. He held some kind of bowl in one of his hands, only it was filled, and its top was covered in… buildings? It looked like a city.

He held a second city in his other hand, only this one was covered by a glass dome.

"Uka-yen," EUe said, softly. "He's the runetic engineer who discovered how to build the atmospheric islands and the first lunar colonies."

"Atmospheric islands?" I asked. "You mentioned those before. What are they?" I blinked. "Wait… did you just say lunar colonies? As in… on the Moon?"

EUe nodded. "Let me show you."

He led me over to one of the sundials. Keeping my translucent second eyelids closed, I watched in fascination as he interacted with the threads of energy coursing through the device. A moment later, a great sphere several times our size appeared over the sundial. Light continuously streamed back and forth between the sundial and the sphere, as if tethering the sphere in place.

"Is this the Philharmonium you mentioned?" I asked.

"Yes," EUe said, without turning to face me.

At first, the Philharmonium was blank; just pure energy.

EUe made some gestures with his hands. Waves and threads flowed between him and the sphere, on which an image coalesced. It was as if drops of watercolor paint were falling into place, one after another.

I gasped.

It was like something out of a dream.

The bottom of the image was dominated by a view of the world we were on—planet, that was the word Suisei would have used; UlU, EUe had called it. The edge of the sky formed a curved horizon beneath the backdrop of starry space. The atmospheric islands floated in that backdrop like pieces of the sky; eggs of air and earth, blue and green, and a good match for the depiction held in Uka-yen's statue's right hand.

Pathways of atmosphere formed phantom rivers that link the islands to one another, and to the sky of the world beneath them. Dirigible airships sailed the sky-rivers with bright vermillion balloons, bound for the islands' cities. The rivers continued onward, curving toward the pale moon, which loomed large in the image's upper corner. I could make out some of the domes of the settlements on the moon. They were alive with light, and if I squinted, it was almost like I was looking at Elpeck from a distance.

It was magnificent, through and through.

EUe and V stared up at it in silence.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.