Once Known as Genesis

“The nightmares again?” the male asked.

“Yes.” She dug her face into his chest, clutching at the fabric of clothing there. She knew his name was Eamon; however, she could not remember much about him. “Everything was darker than it is now. They took me. There was fire and quaking and a hailstorm. Then silence.”

Ithunna’s nightmares began seven months ago—seven months ago when the poison thickened within the atmosphere and became fatal. The pestilent cloud blocked out every ray of sun, and all who inhaled it withered away within days. To find another living soul had been a miracle, and so far, it was only the two of them. Despite this, he continued to hold on to hope, knowing that other survivors had to exist out there.

Ithunna’s presence kept Eamon alive and resistant, which was why the Wraiths—birthers of the poison—wanted her for themselves. So far, he had been protecting her from them, especially now that their presence became more prominent.

Within moments, Eamon noticed movement outside the window. A lone figure walked through the ashen background. Tall and willowy with a tattered cloak attached, the stranger headed right for their cabin. This stranger watched the pair’s silhouettes through the glass. Dirt covered his form, and he clutched a locket in one gloved hand. He stared at the partially constructed cabin ahead, knowing that his target lay within it. These new surroundings—this new world—it had once been flourishing.

How did this poison grow thick enough to demolish it all—enough to summon him?

When the figure’s approach grew that much closer, Eamon stepped out of the cabin, blocking the entry. He glimpsed behind him to ensure that Ithunna was okay beneath the covers of the cot, hidden from view. Then he stepped forward so that he could take a good look at the visitor.

“Who are you?” Eamon asked, clutching his bow tightly. “Tell me where you’ve come from and what you’ve seen from beyond.”

The cloaked man stopped a couple of feet away from his addresser, eyes focused on the other’s face. He assessed Eamon for a prolonged period of time since the male held a very familiar atmosphere—an atmosphere that Eamon seemed to realize as well when his gaze met the other’s.

“Wait,” Eamon said, lowering his bow as his own awe rose. “You’re…you’re Omega.” An expression of incredulity decorated his features. “As in ‘Omega, once known as Genesis.’ How…how are you here?”

“This darkness conjured me.”

“But…that can’t be…” Eamon stared at the man and swallowed. Legend had it that Omega would reawaken when he desired to start a new world with Ithunna, but only one factor could rouse him—one factor that could not be the darkness, but something other…

Omega stepped forward, interrupting the other’s thoughts. “I know she’s in there. I must take her with me.”

Eamon’s eyes widened. “Take her? But…”

Omega strolled past him with ease, his size being enough to cast him aside. He searched the cabin’s dim interior before unfolding his hand to gaze down at the golden locket that had a severe crack through its heart shape. Within the crack was an ethereal blue glow, which stole his attention for a lingering moment. Then he set his eyes directly toward the covered cot across the floor.

“Please,” Eamon said, reentering the cabin. He looked from Omega to the cot and back to the mysterious man. “Please don’t take her. I am this close to getting her to the River of Espero. I’ve protected her this long!”

“Not hard enough,” Omega muttered as he stepped toward the cot.

As though feeling his presence as a familiar one, Ithunna removed the blanket from atop her and peered up at him with her dulling gaze that had once been so bright. She stared long, attempting to register that energy that pulled her toward him yet she found so foreign.

She had been jubilant once—vivacious, nurturing, giving, and filled with so much soul. Now she lay here, a decaying form of what Omega used to remember.

“My word, what have they done to you?” he whispered in such pain that reverberated throughout the room. His fingers once again clutched at the locket whose crack deepened upon the sight of her. He knelt beside the cot to slip her into his arms.

She went with no resistance. Her eyes never left his face, even as he stood with her in his protective hold. She whispered the only question that repeated in her mind:

“Why do I know you?”

The question created a well of sorrow within Omega—a well that would be filled if he stayed here; and that would be shattered if he took her with him and did what was necessary.

“The Reintroduction has to take place,” he said as he took a step toward the exit.

Eamon shook his head, desperate breaths exiting him. “No, no. You don’t have to go that far. I’ve already—”

“You’ve gone far enough.” Omega stopped to glare at him. “Everyone has gone far enough. What sort of world are you seeking to live in? That one out there? The one where you can’t get far outside before your lungs fill with the toxins you created with your tainted souls? The one where nothing thrives anymore because all of you people wanted to possess her?”

Eamon shook his head. “That was the Wraiths...”

“That was all of you!” Omega clutched Ithunna more closely as he attempted to control his heavier exhales. “Your kind brought the Wraiths here to begin with…all of your kind gave them a purpose in destroying her—in destroying everything.” His voice lowered as he felt the locket pulsing in his grip akin to an actual heart ready to burst. “Then over time…instead of kicking them out…your kind kept them here…for millennia.” Liquid emotion caressed his eyes. “Without you, the Wraiths don’t exist; and if I exterminate them but leave mankind alive…. Preposterous…” He shook his head. “I have to undo all of this…to save her in a way that you will never be able to.”

As he started his way toward the exit again, Eamon’s eyes followed him. “I’m trying to fix it. I’m trying to understand! How were you even able to revive without me? The same thing that kept you alive is the only thing that can supposedly revive you…right?”

Omega paused right before the door. He stared out into the desolate wilderness. A good question, but not one on which he should spend his energy. He had pressing matters to attend.

It was why he exited the cabin, leaving behind a desperate Eamon who begged for him to stop.

Omega left the lone man quite a distance away. He left to a hill that overlooked the cabin: a cabin that stood among a region of nothingness. This world was unrecognizable. When he first awoke, he thought that he had awakened in a completely different planet only to discover what the inhabitants had done. Ithunna’s oceans, forests, mountains, skies—all that she nurtured had transformed into barrenness.

Now, huddled up against a barely living tree, she stared at him. She stared at him with a gaze that registered unfamiliarity toward him—a factor that pained him just as much as seeing this world rotted.

Omega stepped toward her and crouched to gaze at the woman who was once so carefree and who had given him purpose just as he’d done for her. It had been all before he had gone into a slumber to become a part of the essence she nourished—an essence that was to provide for the humans.

“You don’t remember me at all?” he asked while attempting to search for that soul he once knew.

Ithunna shook her head gently.

It was an action that pierced his chest and caused the locket to pulsate again. He took the trinket from his pocket and noticed its blue glow fading even more.

“What is that?” She looked at it curiously.

“Something that once kept us both whole. Without it, I cannot go on. Neither can you.” He faced her. “That’s why we must perform the Reintroduction…and start everything all over.”

As the moments ticked, he felt the heavier presence of the Wraiths who pursued her. It was the reason why he had stood away and spoken to her about the river where he planned to take her—only to discover that she had vanished from the tree and fled back in the direction of the cabin. Back there. Toward that man. Toward the one who would be unable to defend her against the incoming dangers.

Toward the one whose incapability would only spell inevitable doom.

Why would she go back to the human?

Omega rushed after her, weaving his way through the somnolent trees and rocks, and to the bottom of the hill where he saw her reunite with the man who appeared adamant to shield her weakening form and defend her from the growing darkness that inched closer.

Ithunna was so at ease with him—a way she had once been with Omega. Comfort echoed off of her in waves that the cloaked figure could feel from this distance. Comfort that displayed that she actually…trusted that hopeful human.

Trusted.

Hopeful.

A soft sigh slipped through Omega’s lips as his thumb rubbed along the locket. The unexpected warmth he received from it caused him to glimpse down and notice that the blue glow had brightened, and some of the cracks had mysteriously vanished.

At that moment, he knew.

Ithunna would go on…

…but without him.

As the Wraiths surrounded the cabin, Omega proceeded forward. Eamon sensed the approach as he stood guard beside the fallen, fading Ithunna. The shadowy figures were closing in just as they had two nights ago—only this time, they strengthened due to Omega’s reemergence.

‘There are too many.’

Eamon fired an arrow at one of the grotesque hostile creatures, squelching that voice in his head.

‘They’re coming from all sides.’

He shot at another Wraith and silenced that second guise of doubt.

In the short distance, Omega’s growing presence warded each Wraith away. The blue energy from the locket dispelled the shadows, causing them to disintegrate.

Eamon watched in surprise, unable to understand why Omega would use his power in such a way—knowing that with each Wraith slain, a piece of the man died as well.

Omega knew however—he knew from the moment that Ithunna returned here—that this was the necessary action, regardless of how much it hurt him. With his air so powerful, the Wraiths could not even get within the vicinity without shriveling into dust.

Omega knelt beside Ithunna and gazed over her face one last time, witnessing how peaceful she appeared even so close to death. “You will always feel me with you,” he whispered. The backs of his fingers slid along her cheek before he stood. He faced Eamon, sensing that resilience, even in these moments of adversity.

Now he knew why the human reminded him of himself.

Omega stepped in front of Eamon, took his hand, and pressed the locket into the man’s palm.

Then the cloaked one stepped back to regard Eamon’s visage, giving him a single nod. Afterward, he turned and strode down the path from which he had come.

Eamon opened his palm to reveal the locket, which had a healing crack through the heart’s center. A mystical blue aura emanated forth—an aura that incinerated the nearing Wraiths.

An aura that Ithunna received and absorbed in one single gasp.

Eamon immediately faced her, seeing color restored to her countenance. Her eyes were bright, her skin was aglow, and she suddenly remembered a lone figure with a tattered cloak—a figure that helped foster her essence. She turned her head in search of this figure.

But Omega had gone.

A new light had shone down, and with it came the dawn.