Within the Heart

I closed my eyes. My world seemed to be fading. Ending. Deep down I knew that it wouldn’t end here. It couldn’t end here. I’d fought too hard to see everything collapse before me. I wouldn’t give up now. The journey ahead would be dangerous and we’d quite literally be risking the life of hundreds of people. But that day I decided that we would be the survivors. The ones who would tell the stories years from now. The ones who’d be able to say that they crossed the galaxy and found our new home among the stars. The ones who lived through the total destruction of our once beautiful planet, Zenqua.

5 YEARS LATER…

I had been only 16 when I watched the moon, Solaris, collide with our home planet, Zenqua, creating a giant mass of rocky debris in our solar system. It was incredible luck that our entire population didn’t have to witness the horrific destruction from the surface of the planet. We had been evacuated, and had launched into space with mere hours to spare. As I laid in my quarters, eyes shut, I remembered the adrenaline as I’d raced to get my little brother into the evacuation ship. I remembered the ache in my back and arms as I’d carried our sick mother, half delirious with fear. Even though I was turning 21 in a few days, that alien feeling of being in space, being so far away from anything beautiful or comforting still hadn’t left me. “Eve.” My brother Ben’s voice pulled me out from my memories. “Eve”, his youthful voice echoed again from behind the steel door. He was almost 15 now, though sometimes he seemed older than I was. It’s funny what near death experiences can do to a person.“They’re all waiting downstairs.” He sounded unsure if I would answer him or not, which was a fair assumption. I didn’t talk much these days, but today was different. I would have to talk to a lot of people at the funeral. “Tell them I’ll be down soon”, I said, a bit sharper than I meant to. So I added more softly, “Thanks, bud”. I heard his footsteps retreat and sighed as I got up out of my cot. I was already dressed and ready. It was my incredible ability to procrastinate that had kept me from going earlier. I looked in the tall mirror that stood up against the far wall in my room. My thick, wavy hair had grown darker over the years and was now a deep brown colour that fell almost to my hips. I was tall, slim, but strong. The dress I wore revealed the lean muscles that showed in my arms and legs. The eyes that looked back at me were wide, round, and as green as the greenest forest on Zenqua. At least, that’s what my mom had always said. Now that she was gone I wondered how I would describe the colour of my eyes… after consideration I decided she was right. I turned away from the mirror and braced myself for what the next hour would bring. Without dwelling on my own grief too much I briskly left, closing the door behind me as I went.

The funeral had gone smoothly. I’d managed to make it through without fully breaking down in front of everyone, though I doubt anyone would have judged me too harshly. My mother had been well loved by many people. She was kind, charismatic, and always knew how to win people over. Her loss would be felt deeply and completely. The nurses said that her passing was quick and quiet, sometime during the night. She’d been sick for years so it wasn’t completely surprising, but no one thought that it would’ve been this soon. I stared down at my hands as I blinked away tears. I was in the cafeteria, but I didn’t care if people saw me cry now. Out the corner of my eye I saw a woman take the seat across the table from me. Her voice was gentle. “My name is Iris. I was a friend of your mom. I have something that I think belongs to you.” I looked up. She was smiling and her hands were held open. In them was a tiny wooden box she gestured for me to take. I took it and gently undid the latch that secured it shut. It held a heart shaped locket, made from a metal I didn’t recognize. It was the colour of the greenest forest on Zenqua… “What is it?” My voice was shaky. “It belonged to your mother,” she replied, “She wanted it to be given to you.” I turned the locket over in my fingers and studied it closely. It seemed to have letters engraved into the metal. “I don’t know this language,” I said. “What does it say?” I glanced up to see Iris studying me closely with thoughtful eyes. She took a deep breath before answering. “It is an old language once spoken on Zenqua in its early years. It says, ‘One’s fate is held within the heart’.”

We heard a quiet rumble and I looked out the windows. We were approaching a ship much, much bigger than ours. I felt a sharp jerk as we changed direction, and the captain gave an announcement that we were going to land on the larger ship and try to get temporary help. We knew we’d run out of food in only a few days and we were still far from any habitable planets. The problem was that we didn’t have any real destination. The ones we’d passed so far were uninhabitable in every way. One was pure blue with only water covering the whole surface, and huge storm clouds were visible even from the windows of the ship. Other planets had been rocky and desolate. So here we were, seeking help from a ship full of people we knew nothing about. The landing was smooth and we all began filing through the air lock connecting to the big ship. My fingers found the smooth, cold metal that hung from my neck. I wasn’t usually one to wear necklaces, but I would wear this one for her. When we were at the final door separating us from the unknown, everyone stopped and I could feel the tension as people began to question this plan of action. I stepped through the tight crowd and found my brother’s hand. “Come on”, I said to him with an encouraging smile. “Let’s show these people how to be brave.” He gave me a grin and squeezed my hand. Together we found the door and gave a push. I gasped. What was on the other side was wholly and completely unexpected.

Our ship seemed old and dingy in comparison to the one we’d just set foot on. The room was brightly lit and all the walls were painted white. The floor was also white and seemed to be made of marble. There were vine-like plants that grew along the edges of the windows, so beautiful it was almost taunting. There was a delicious smell drifting by and I could hear the clanging of dishes from a neighbouring room. I turned to see that the people creeping in behind us were just as awestruck as I was. This ship was so full of beauty and life, whereas ours had been forged merely for the purpose of surviving something terrible. After a moment, the realization hit me. This wasn’t a transport vessel, or an evacuation ship like ours. It was simply a home. Only seconds later, a small, stout woman wearing a long, deep blue dress came to meet us. Her hair was silver and extremely curly, and her blue eyes were fierce as they surveyed us. As she scanned the room her eyes stopped on me for a good long while, as though she recognized me. But before my cheeks could get too warm, she moved on. When she spoke there was an unexpected sort of pity in her voice that made me want to cry. “My dear friends”, she said, “How very sorry I am that this fate has come to you. My name is Esther. I am one of the 60 oracles that reside on this vessel. For years oracles have been cast away by countless societies, so, as you can see, we created our own society. I suppose you could call it a club.” Her eyes found mine and she gave me a wink. “People either tend to fear our gifts, or seek to use them to cause harm. But do not let us frighten you. We have known of your coming for quite some time and we welcome you.”

We were then shown where to sleep and were given a tour of the ship. Their kindness seemed to be never ending. We lived with them for two weeks before the dreams began.

I am in a forest. I can hear the drip, drip of a nearby creek. The air is warm. I can feel the sweat trickling down my back. In the distance I can see a figure sitting on a rock. She is wearing the same blue dress that Esther wore when we first met, but when she turns I see her face clearly. It’s me. I can feel goosebumps prickling up my arms. The me on the rock just smiles. “Aren’t you curious?”, she says, “Why don’t you look inside?” “I- I don’t understand”, I manage to stammer back. “Don’t you?”, she replies, “You must wonder what’s inside. You must.”

I woke up in a sweat. Every night for 5 nights I’d dreamed these strange dreams. I jumped as I heard my door creak open. It was Esther. “Come”, she said in a hushed voice, and beckoned for me to follow.

I stared at her blankly. We were in her private quarters and she had just given me the most bizarre piece of information I’d ever heard. “So let me get this straight”, I said, my mind still groggy from sleep, “You’re saying that there’s some ancient prophecy about someone in my family at some point using a locket to save our people from some unknown harm? And you think that’s me? It seems awfully vague. I’m sure that there are many more generations to come after me. I’ll just pass the locket down like my mom did.” “No, hun”, she said kindly, “There’s much more to the story than that. The prophecy clearly states that the one whose eyes matches the stone will be the one who uses it.” Before I could let that sink in she asked, “Now I want you to tell me, have you had any peculiar dreams lately?” I blinked, unsure of what to say. Her eyes were thoughtful, like Iris’s had been. I turned the locket over in my hands and thought about my dream.

“Why don’t you look inside?”

An idea came to me, and I slowly lifted the heart up to the light. There was a tiny hole, almost imperceptible. I squinted and held it up to my eye. For a moment I saw nothing. “Oh!” I gasped with excitement, “I can see something! It’s a compass!” The inside was dark except for a tiny compass in the middle. “As I move it the arrow glows! It leads somewhere!” Esther went to a phone and began dialling someone. “I’m getting a ship ready for us.” She said, and put a hand on my shoulder. “You and I are going to go find out wherever that leads to.” “You think it’s a planet?” I asked grinning. She returned my smile. “I think it’s something that you were destined to discover.” My mind drifted to a beautiful array of oceans, green landscapes, and an image of my mother. A part of me wondered if she’d known all along…