Umoya

Have you ever had that lost feeling when you first wake up? Everything seems to be moving in slow motion, but your thoughts are accelerated causing an instant panic through your numb body.

I take my first deep breath, my first conscious deep breath in over 300 years. My lungs expand and I hear and feel the crackling ice that once embodied me, slide down my body.

My eyes slowly open, blurry, I see the top of my chest first. The emblem, the heart shaped locket…

As soon as I see it, my mind flashes back… is this a memory? A dream?

I see myself seated before a large crowd of people. They stand at attention looking forward to a man on the stage holding the same locket from the emblem. Umoya… Our Energy…

“We have proven time and time again to be superior over the Nagual and Voleno.”

Hearing his deep harsh voice, I feel my heart drop. Even looking at myself now, I can barely glance at the man. My father, the man beside me, he shakes his head in disapproval.

He continues to speak,

“They are all savages! We have stood still and watched for far too long as these… “Vanhu Vemoto”, People of fire, scorched our Earth, their own home. Pathetic!

To the Naguals who claim to be people of the soil… How then, with such a connection to the land and the animals it bares…

How could they create the very instruments that would render them extinct?" He says as he lifts the heart shaped locket and from its core a deep strong ember radiates.

“Pathetic!

Umoya! Your children are HERE!”

The Kaal crowd before us cheer in agreement. You can feel their energies radiating and surging through the arena.

“Umoya!” he continues

“Today we will protect you. Today we will save you.”

He takes a few steps forward toward the crowd, he lowers his tone drawing them in closer.

“There was a time we didn’t need these bionic suits and enhancements to connect with Umoya.”

He lifts his arm and removes the bionic sleeve. As it detaches, the blue streams, like veins, connecting him with Umoya begin to dim.

“There was a time when purely through our mind, heart, spirit, were able to, to connect and flow with Umoya.”

Before the streams completely dim, he reattaches the sleeve, allowing the streams to flow fluid and strong once more.

“Today we will accomplish something our ancestors never even dreamed possible. As the Voleno and Nagual’s pillaged our Earth, we sat and watched in silence but not in vain. Yet again our intelligence has proven superior.

EMAS will allow us to not just save Umoya but save ourselves as well. At 0900 Project EMAS will initiate beginning the process that will simultaneously connect each and every Kaal with Umoya. You see, our advancements far surpass the wildest dreams of our predecessors, our ancestors…”

He begins to pace back and forth at the edge of the stage. His eyes starring directly at the glaring face. They are mesmerized by his words…

“As their Umoya flows within us. As we connect with them. Imagine their joy. Their pride! Amusement in the accomplishments of their Kin!”

I feel the ground around me shake and rumble. The crowd can’t be that loud?

I’m in a dream!

I open my eyes and everything around me is shaking and rumbling. I realize I’m fastened and standing upright.

Pod! This is a pod! We get released from the pods after 300 years. And outside, my family, our new world…

I see a caption begin to type on the screen of the pod.

“Good morning Tapiwa. Activate Voice?”

Sure?

“Good evening Tapiwa” I hear echoing in the pod.

Wow! who said that?

“This is EMAS the system guide to your new world. Think of me as a map and digital data base of your planet.”

“We will reach base in 15 seconds. My AI is synced to your suite. You will need to continue sanitization protocols before breaching the surface.”

The surface… The Sun, air.

The pod opens and I head toward the only door in the room. Everything is pitch black, but a lighted sapphire path leads to another pod. I stand before it and the glass door slides open.

I sit in the chamber and steam instantly fills the pod as the glass screen closes. It doesn’t have a scent, but it feels refreshing and light on my skin.

The pod begins to vibrate. A locked logo appears on the pod door.

“Are you ready?” EMAS asks.

I feel my heart pound within my chest as the pod begins to rise to the surface. I look up, but my eyes instantly close out of panic and fear. I drop my head down and can hear my heart pounding in my chest.

This new world…

I open my eyes and as the light blinds me, I wake to the heart shaped locket once more, in the hands on the man on the stage, Commander Shomari, I remember him now.

I see myself again watching him as he raises his arms before the roaring crowd.

He takes the ember glowing heart shaped locked and places it in the EMAS main frame. The crowds instantly silent. We all stare and watch the glowing ember light. The EMAS system holding the locket begins to radiate its sapphire stream almost at the same rhythm of the amber core. The amber core then begins to fade, slowly drifting and disappearing into itself.

Once completely gone, I feel an emptiness fill within me.

“Watch now!” Commander Shomari says bringing my attention back to him.

The once amber light, now a light sapphire, growing the more I stare at it. I’ve never seen anything so beautiful…

“Now begins the process! EMAS…

Umoya, our Kaal superiority and intelligence all combined. Has allowed us this opportunity to not just slow down time like our ancestors. No, no, no. We will not just slow down time in a village, city, kingdom, let alone continent. We will slow down Earth itself. Giving us the opportunity to wipe our slate clean. Giving us the opportunity to cleanse this earth and only leave those pure. We, The Kaal. EMAS will then launch its pods all around the world. Sowing the necessary seeds to grow in the next and final stage. EMAS will accelerate Earth’s evolution, bringing us to the Mesozoic Era, the last time believed our ancestors were able to connect with Umoya. That is where we will learn!”

“Pod release in thirty seconds.” EMAS speaking brings me back to reality.

Although tinted, I see the beaming Sun through the clouds and a smile breaks across my face. The pod door opens and as I step out, the sweet fresh smell of the earth and grass fill my lungs.

I realize there are a few pods around me and assuming they must be my parents I dash toward them. Before I reach the first pod, a boy no younger than me jumps out.

“Oh hey!” he shouts.

“Do you know where my parents are?”

Before I can respond, our attention is grabbed by another person jumping out from the third pod. A girl our age… Something doesn’t feel right…

“Where is everyone else?” she asks as she slowly approaches us.

“I’m not sure.” Responds the boy.

“This isn’t how the process was supposed to go. We should go back down and find our parents” She adds.

“Or we can explore!” yells the boy running toward a jungle of thick vegetation.

“Stop!” yells the girls chasing after him. “You don’t know what’s out there!”

They disappear into the wildness of the forest, and I have seconds to decide to follow them or not. My heart begins to race, I feel the adrenaline fill within me. I look at my suit and see the sapphire blue veins vibrate and flow through me and to the heart shaped locket. Umoya…. I have her. I dash after them hoping they haven’t gotten too far.

As I push through branches, leaves and trip on overgrown roots, I stumble onto path. I can hear the girls voice echo from further up the path and I begin chase after her.

“Something created this path.” EMAS says from my suit. “It might be best to stay off it.”

I slow my pace to a slow walk and veer off the path and begin the walk parallel from it. I hear the girl scream; I begin to hear what sounds like laughter…no more like mischievous child giggling.

“Stop” I hear the girl say gentle but in a frightened tone. “You’ll hurt it.”

I peak from behind a tree and see the boy poking something with a stick. I move closer to get a better look. He has a small animal cornered as he pokes it with a long branch. I take a few steps closer; it looks like an overgrown monkey.

“A homo habilis” EMAS states. “Well, one’s child.”

A what? Why would that exist?

“Commander Shomari intended for them to be used in the EMAS program.”

The helpless animal shrieks for help and the girl jumps back.

What are you guys doing! I charge toward them.

I push him away from the little animal and he trips over himself laughing, barely showing any remorse.

That’s the first thing you do with life you find here?

I turn to face the terrified animal that’s already run off.

I turn back face the two of them, I freeze at the sight behind them.

“What?” says the boy and as he slowly turns around he sees the seven foot tall figure behind him. Covered in thick brown fur. No visible face, arms or limbs. From the forest behind them emerge two more.

I channel Umoya through my suit and as I feel her energy flow through me, I see the boy and girl down the same. The energy we channel flows through our body and then to our arms, forming in our hands before we release the energy blasts in their directions. The figures barely seem alarmed or threatened. They wait until the very last moment, before executing their defense. They effortlessly raise and reveal what seem to be arms. As the blasts approach them, they catch and absorb Umoya into themselves.

“That’s impossible!” yells the boy.

The creatures then return the blasts in seconds, giving us no time to react. I black out on impact but wake to the blaring alarms from the arena.

Commander Shomari has just begun the EMAS process. I just entered my pod, but something doesn’t feel right. My father appears before me as my pod begins to secure.

“My child,” he speaks. “You always said the future is in the youth. You saw and heard Shomari today. He can’t rule let alone live in the new world. Your new world. The systems have been overwritten.”

At this point, he can’t even fight back the tears in his eyes.

“Everything will go as planned with EMAS. But no human over the age of 17 will wake when the time comes. The future belongs to the youth. EMAS will guide you.”

My eyes open and as I lay on the ground, I see the creatures slowly approach our bodies and carefully examining them…

What is that? I whisper.

“Subject unknown” EMAS responds. “We would need to collect a DNA sample for further analysis.”

As the creature begins to bend over me, I see sapphire blue eyes glow from what seems to be its head. The eyes stare deep into mine, as though searching my soul. The creature suddenly snaps its head forward and the sounds of yelling and shouting soon follow.

From the forest emerges four or five more kids our age with their suits fully charged. The creatures disappear into the darkness of the forest as our heroes swiftly approach.

Now there are more of us.