The day after
A furious blizzard blown for the rest of the day and the following night, after the Stormloader departed, carrying the Vanguardians, the dead body of Mick and the bodies, set to stone, of Kristogar Velo and Larry Lance. The barren wasteland resulted by the impact of the Nibiru with the Antarctic continent was being covered by snow, once again undistinguishable from the surrounding frozen landmass.
Managing to keep himself alive through the fierce winds, a lonely shape is seen flying across the dense, low clouds, beating his wings in deep, ample movements. Every once and then, the eyes of the being went to something hanging from his neck, looking for the confirmation of his position, that the instrument could give him.
Because the thing is a GPS, and the being is obviously not a bird, but the metahuman known as the Raptor.
As he keeps flying toward his appointment with the Prince of Hell, Lord Kwaizel, his once friend Naecken, only one though crosses his minds. A phrase he heard almost two years before: "the Green will emerge from the Red, bringing life where none existed before... put the disc on Naecken´s forehead..."
Finally, the reading from the GPS shows the right spot. Just, there is no trace of the fortress, of the army, of the Annunaki. Just snow everywhere, and the constant howling of the wind. The former Eurostar looks around dismayed, understanding he arrived too late.
Edulcore Ciccotto falls on his knees, worn off by the fatigue of a flight across half the globe, an effort totally useless. Then, raising his head, he recognize in the distant shape of the snow covered ground the forms of a human body, although of gigantic proportions.
Ed runs there, waving away the snow with his feather covered arms, revealing the red body of Naecken. His head, open in half.
Tears cross the face of Euro. "If only I would have arrived before, Nae..." he thinks. His hand goes to the disc hanging from his neck, the amulet that his "future self" gave him that day in Mandelovia. In a sudden outburst of rage he tear away the amulet from its necklace, and put it on the dead being's head, to cover the horrible wound. "rest in peace, my friend" whispers the metahuman.
Slowly, the amulet begins to spin, starting to glow. It's a green aura, that engulf the whole body, and slowly dissipates, leaving the body as dead and motionless as it was.
Euro frowns, uncertain of what just happened.
Then, the red body shrivels, shrinking into red mold. The head opens in two halves, and a green gem opens, revealing a green stem that sprout out, growing to an height of more than two meters. And the stem change shape, enlarging, until it takes the form of a green female body, with two little small horns on the forehead. And the being opens up her eyes and then smiles.
"Nae?" wonders Edulcore.
"Yes, my friend. I am Naecken."
Cicciotto is speechless.
"Thank you for having advanced my evolution, Euro." The female being look around, at the barren land. "Mine is the power of life, friend." Naecken opens up her arms, and the rocks and ice around them flourish with trees and flowers. The sun glows above them."
"You... you can do this?"
"I can do more... I sense your loss, Euro. You need not to worry anymore." In the arms of Naecken now is a child, around two years of age, with blonde dreadlocks.
"Eddie?" marvels Edulcore.
"Yes. Your son, Edulcore. Take him, gave him all your love."
Edulcore takes the kid in his arms, tears of joy running down his cheeks. The kid, when in his arms, begins to crying louder.
"Now I have to go, Euro. The war to my former self has brought so many deaths and so much destructions, I have to take care of that. And then there is this plkanet to turn into a paradise, like this small patch of ice. Farewell, my friend".
Euro raise his eyes from the crying kid to the green woman. "What? You want to transform the whole planet?"
"Yes. I can. I can transform the deserts, the oceans, the iced lands into gardens. I will create the paradise and then I will resurrect each man and woman, giving back life to all who have suffered from hate, violence, famine and disease. I have the power of life, Euro, it's my duty to perform".
"Wait! You want to change the global environment to house the billions of humans that have died? You want to give immortality to humankind?"
"Yes. That's what I can do".
"And do you think humankind whant it?"
A puzzled look appears on the face of Naecken. "How could be possibly refuse it?"
"I have met people that renounced to immortality when they had the chance to do it. They lived in a city on the shore of a lake, whose waters gave eternal lif3e to whoever drank them. They had to, because they were the keepers of the dragons, and when they had to run away from their former country, they had just one surviving dragon. Thanks to the waters, they were bale to keep him alive and themselves to keep and serve him, until the day the found a mate for the dragon who finally laid eggs. That day, they gladly renounced to immortality... and you know why? You know for what they renounced immortality? For LIFE! Immortality for them had a cost... it stripped them of creativity. They renounced to bear children, because they would have overpopulated their place... but they also renounced to art, to music, to literature... because they grown tired of it, after they began to simply reproducing what they had done for so long, having no young minds to produce something new. Naecken, immortality kills life. It kills evolution. You want to kill this planet!"
Naecken shakies her head, weeping. "No... no... no..."
Ed continues to press: "You thaked me for helping you evolution, and at the same time you want to stop it on Earth? You want to remade the planet into a garden for man, destroying the life of millions of other species? And you say you are here to giving life?"
"No.. no... I don't want it... I don't want to harm anything... anybody..."
Euro stops. The kid is still crying hard.
Naecken looks at the Italian hero. "What I should do? You have always helped me..."
Euro looks at the sky. "There are billions of places where you can create life where nothing was before, Nae. You can create whole global ecosystems, and start civilizations. I am sure THAT is your purpose. You can leave the planet, right?"
Naecken looks up. "Yes, I can. I didn't consider it. Seems an important tasks."
"I am sure it is" says Euro.
"But what about the millions of deaths I have caused? I have to repair it!" says Naecken.
"No, I don't think so. Death is part of life, Nae. It's not the opposite. There is no life without a birth, but also there is not life without a death. Leave those souls in peace, Nae. I am sure one day you will find a way to pay your debt with the humankind."
Nae looks at the kid. "And what about him? I have to take back my gift?"
Euro looks at his son, who has finally fallen asleep, smiling at the beautiful features of his little face. He remains silent for a few minutes, that seems to last like centuries.
"No, I can't let you take him away another time."
"I fear you will regret this decision, Euro. I resurrected him to live in a special world, under my protection... it will be different now... There are things you doesn't know about him..."
"I will take care of anything. Now go, Nae, please..."
"Very well. Farewell, my friend, I will never forget you!" The green woman begins to levitate toward the sky, until it finally disappears even from the incredible sight of the Raptor.
"Neither I" whispers Ed.
"What a moving departure!" yells a strong voice, well known by Edulcore.
"Saros?" exclaims Ed, turning toward the tall, muscular figure, now sporting long curly black hairs, like the paintings of Sumerian gods.
"Yes, it's me. Just call myself EN.KI, now that I stepped back into my godhood, Cicciotto"
"Godhood? What do you mean?"
The former Saros grimaced. "My men and women... the surviving Annunaki... fought valiantly your comrades, Cicciotto. They were all killed... and the residual power of their former status as gods... little remain of the time when humans worshipped us... fled back upon myself. And what was almost nothing, when shared between the twelve of us, has become much being all for myself. You understand, human?"
"What I don't understand is why no one has come to look for you..."
"Because I had Inanna posing as me. She was killed, and your comrades though that I was the one that found death."
"Ah. You hided like a coward letting all of them... your sons, daughter and relatives... to die... so that you could steal their energies..."
EN.KI smiles. "Think as you want. The fact is that I am a god again. You stole all from me... first my organization, the Hoods, and then, through your friends, my own relatives... what I want now is revenge, Cicciotto, and I will have it."
The Raptor steps back. "what do you want to do? Killing me?"
"Eh. It would be too easy for you. For how pain I could inflict to you, what loss could you endure? Even if I simply would take your son, what kind of loss would it be, having you been with him for just hours? No, Cicciotto, it will be not so easy. I will let you live, now. I will let you re-create a life for you, and for your son. I will let you love him, see him grow. I will let you find the love of a woman, and possibly have other son or daughters. I will let you find your place in the world, find old and new friends. I will let you forget about me. Then, one day, I will begin to take it back, one piece at a time, until you'll have lost everything.
EVERYTHING."
Edulcore Cicciotto nods. "Just touch my son and I will tore your heart from your chest with my bare hands. You are warned!".
EN.KI shakes his head. "Fool. You can't even grasp my power, now. Anyway, this garden will revert back to snow in seconds, and your kid will die of frostbite. Take my saucer, it's right behind you. I don't need it anymore."
Euro turns, to see a flying saucer ready to leave.
"You know how to pilot it, Cicciotto. Take it, and fly away. Next time we'll see, you'll beg me to kill you!"
Edulcore Cicciotto donesn't say anything. Holding his son, he gets aboard, and mere seconds after, the vessel takes flight, disappearing toward north.
The garden fades into nothingness, leaving the former Saros standing in the midst of a barren land of rocks and ice.
THE END
