Edesse 1. Alagan

2 - Prologue

Nothing. Nothing had gone according to plan. A few months before, life had turned her upside down. Certainties yet so ingrained, were lost, but undoubtfully, she had loved. And she was dead, at least for a moment, a moment when her entire life flashed before her eyes. No more fear of her father. Her present would burry her dark past. At this moment, she would only recall the memories of her lover. His burning kisses and the warmth of his hands had haunted her days and she would do anything to feel them again. She had grown up in the 5C–Five Continents–in the middle of skyscrapers and Technology, a world excessively connected where the oligarchic government of the Chamber of Fifteen ensured controlled development of its citizens and protected them from the RTO - Radical Terrorist Organization. One duty: performance, according to which the 5C allocated a house, balance and drugs to its nationals. For this polluted civilization with no organic consumption means, the system worked. Point was being made out to crime and the risk of kidnapping. In return, one could project himself into virtual reality in the Matrix and invent leisure activities and travel. It seemed so far away now. So artificial. On the unspoiled island of Edesse, outside the Fifteen's jurisdiction, nature had preserved its rights.

And under that blue sky she had only seen in picture, the young woman learnt to live normally again amongst a fauna and flora she was told vanished, alone with her conscience and her round stomach. No Network on Edesse, even less matrix, no technology at all, just birdsong and the whisper of the wind and deciduous forests.

It was time. The woman took a wool blanket she had crafted, a bucket of water, a knife and a sheepskin. She went hobbling, belly forward. A sharp twinge in the lower abdomen cut her short of breath and forced her to stop walking in the direction of the location she had chosen carefully, so that she gathered her air. Housed in a cave, she had lit torches in the morning. Another violent contraction made her howled. The pain was prolonged. She went on the road and had to slow down repeatedly as spasms were coming closer. Once inside the cavern, leaning her back to the rock, she waited the next jolt that would upset her being and  started getting undressed. On her deformed stomach, her visible veins were as white as the sap that oozes from the ground of Edesse. The next contraction arrived, more violent, longer than the previous one. She screamed, gasped, and finally exhaled. Taking advantage of a moment of respite, she wiped her sweated forehead. While rapidly breathing out through the mouth, she straightened, lied down the sheepskin and inserted the knife in her mouth before new cramps, stronger than the previous ones, took possession of her body. Her roar bounced off the walls of the cave. 'Breathe. You carry within you the fruit of your redemption.'

A fluid mass wet her feet. As her muscles tensed and her jaw contracted, her being was suffering from the harm that her heart had just freed. The next convulsion tore a hoarse cry, and she lost touch with reality. Feeling an irresistible desire to show the world her baby, she focused on counting. In a squatting position, her back still pressed to the rock, she visualized the child and saw again the image of her lover. In this altered state, she sat with him on Edesse's throne. In a flash, she contemplated her future. Her gift of prescience had reappeared. She pushed as hard as she could, until she could feel the head of her son down in her womb. 'Nothing will no more oppose my love,' she yelled in the test.

Her teeth crunched on the knife handle, chiselling its wood. She expired in fits, visualizing the little body she already adored, starting his way. Cheeks burning, tears around the eyes, at that time nothing but a feeling of love and fullness invaded her being, making her insensitive to physical pain.She screamed with rage and impatience to finish and finally expelled the left shoulder of her baby. Then a hand under his hot head and the other under his armpit, she gently pulled him outward. The second shoulder passed and at this point, no pain could hurt her any longer. Soon the entire body of the little new man was completely cleared. She took him in her arms and sank down on the cosy wool, stared at him, kissed him while he cried deeply. Her son was born.

And with him the promise of a better life. She sighed happily and laid her cheek against his warm skin. She then cut the cord that still connected them together. With the addition of water, she cleaned his face and hair to notice, under the brown mass reddened by blood, a prematurely white lock. She then gazed into the cover, and the woollen cloth magically wrapped the child she pressed him against her. 'Hello you,' she whispered,exhausted, while contemplating her progeny.

The baby blinked and sought her breast from the end of his lips. At this time, she knew that nothing could ever separate her from her son. All her previous life paraded before her. Remorse and regret would haunt her future. But past mistakes would shape the aggressiveness with which she was preparing to defend the destiny of Edesse. As long as no one would stand between her and her son. For her it was clear she had given birth to the chosen one.