Prologue

In the 21st century the Earth collided with a comet that came from the depths of space. And although the scientists were aware of its existence, it was impossible to avoid the impact using technologies then available to humans. The Earth’s orbit changed and its axis shifted even more. Almost the entire continents disappeared. It seemed that the life on the Earth was coming to an end. The Earth was only getting two hours of sunlight per day. The climate change killed almost every living thing. And as if that wasn’t enough, the door suddenly opened for viruses and bacteria from prehistoric times that had been locked underneath a thick layer of ice…

However, humans survived although many of them were unable to get rid of the bacteria and viruses completely. These found a shelter in their bodies and humans were getting more and more ill. The remaining part of humans was resilient to the attack of diseases and their strong immune system allowed them to survive and produce healthy offspring. The Earth, or rather what has remained of its continents divided into camps of dangerous people prone to illness on one side, and the healthy and strong on the other side. Life changed – constant fighting and hatred took over the inhabitable part of the Earth. The situation changed when Arkan, a ruler who succeeded to maintain peace between the two camps, came to the throne. But Darius, the representative of the Southern Part of the Earth had different plans.

He’s been here again, I realised. I keep my window open every night and when I wake up in the morning, my white, transparent curtains are almost always shifted to the side. It doesn’t happen every day but lately he’s been coming very often. Is he worried about me? Does he miss me? Hm…

I am Syra. My parents gave up on me before I even came into this world and left me right after I was born. My father, Valer, allegedly remarried. That’s all I know, I’ve never been told anything else and, the truth is, I don’t even care.

I was brought up by Levant from two years, before that I don’t remember much. He’d never wanted to take up my father’s place and now I understand why. It’s year 2211 and yesterday I celebrated my 25th birthday. All alone here, in my apartment on the top floor of a Madison Square Skyscraper in New York City. I’m sitting on the roof with only the night sky above me. How I love looking at the moon! It calms me down and I always get a feeling that it’s a living creature full of love. So full of love that it wants to share it with everybody. I’ve been living on my own since I was 18 when Levant asked me to marry him. I refused and that’s when it had all began.

1 Memories

“I can’t breathe in here, it’s too hot”, I told Darrek.

“Don’t breathe then,” he said, and then smiled, revealing his beautiful white teeth. He was smiling because he knew there was nothing else I could say. He liked winding me up and then he would watch my reaction, grinning at me mischievously.

I’d known Darrek for about ten years. We met during a snooker game. He was the only one who beat me and of course took all the money I had won that night. Later, when I was leaving the club, he stopped me at the corner. When I wanted to push him away, he grabbed me by my elbows from behind and held me tight.

“Hey baby, I don’t want to hurt you,” he whispered in my ear, smiling.” I just want to give you your half of the money. You deserve it; it was a great game, after all! You kept winning all night against everyone! Except me on the end, of course, hahaha”. He smiled.

I pushed him away from me and tried to make the angriest face ever. But he ignored it and continued talking.

“Well, if you don’t want it, I’m not going to force you to take it, “he waved the money in front of my face and laughed.

I stood still, waiting for that awful laughter to stop and then told him not to worry, that this was the first and the last time that he had beat me. He cracked up again and his laughter was so infectious that I had to smile, too. He let me loose and handed me half of the cash. I took it because I needed it. I was starving and wanted to pay for a hotel room to get some sleep. I had fled from Levant’s house that night, naively believing that he wouldn’t be looking for me. Somehow, Darrek knew I was on the run. I didn’t know how he’d found out, but he knew. Perhaps he just sensed it. He didn’t say anything, though and I was very grateful for that.

“Where did you get this wine, Syra? It’s really delicious.” Darrek asked, bringing me back to reality. I just smiled. He was very attractive in his torn jeans and white sleeveless T-shirt, his beautiful blue and always smiling eyes were looking at me from behind his long eyelashes and his almost 6.6 feet strong body moved closer to me. He took my hand and kissed it, then turned it around and pressed a leather band with a pendant into my palm. It was in the shape of a small motorbike. It was made in such a detail that I could recognize all the bike’s parts.

“Happy birthday, Syra!” he said

“Waw, it’s beautiful. I’ll wear it all the time to remind me of you. Thanks, Darekk.” I whispered and leaned over his shoulder.

We stood there for a while in silence and after Darrek started to apologized.

“I really wanted to come yesterday, Syra, I really did. But the clan was in trouble. Sandro lost it again and got into a fight with one of your black birds. ”Sorry”

“That’s ok,” I said. “Anything serious?”

“Not really. They’re both having some time off after I’d taught them good manners.”

“Heh,” I exhaled impressed. “I bet they will remember the lesson for a long time.” We both laughed.

I always had a good laugh with Darrek, his laughter was infectious. When he smiled he had adorable dimples, his full lips looked even fuller and the large scar on the right side of his face completely disappeared. Although the scar wasn’t too bad anyway. It was just a thin line and it suited him but it was quite visible because his shaven skull made it stand out. And of course, nobody could miss the scorpion tattooed on the back of his neck that spread out to his right ear, either. Darrek was very tall, very well built and women found him irresistibly attractive. But I didn’t think about him that way, he was just my friend, best friend. We may have been in love with each other in the beginning of our friendship but after our first attempt to kiss, we both got a vague look on our faces and then started to laugh. At that point we understood that the friendship option would be the best for us. Since that evening we’ve become inseparable allies and even when Levant’s people found me after my short runaway and brought me back home, I knew that I would be seeing Darrek very often.

“Would you like some more of your red wine?” he suggested. “We have to celebrate your 25th birthday properly. I bet you were sitting here on the roof yesterday evening all by yourself thinking about silly things, am I right? Though I do have to admit this place is beautiful.” He bowed to add some gravity to what he had said.

“Shut up Darrek, will you? And yes, I’ll have some more wine, thanks,” I said jokingly. “Darrek?”

“Yes, Syra?” He turned to me handing me over a glass of wine, with an intense look on his face.

“Do you think there’s a way back?” I went on.

“I don’t know, Syra,” he answered. “But I know there’s always a way forward.”

We joined our glasses and after a sip of the red wines the memory of the night when I’d found out that I’m wasn’t a mere human started to reappear. Levant told me the truth and that was why I ran away. I didn’t understand what was wrong with me during those last couple of days, why I sometimes heard what people were saying even though they were too far away from me, and why my back ached every time I started walking faster.

Now I knew the answers and I also knew why I’d always felt such a strong bond between me and Levant. At times I couldn’t understand such a connection was even possible. He was like my father, after all. Well, I’d thought of him as of my father since I was little, although he’d hated it when I called him Dad. He brought me up as my parents abandoned me after I’d been born. One evening we were sitting together in front of a fireplace and I was determined to ask him about all those weird things that were happening to me. All of a sudden, he started to talk about it as if he’d felt what was going on in my head. My uncertainty led to the one and only answer, the answer I’d considered a joke from the very beginning. But I was wrong.

“Yes Levant, I do experience all those aches,” I remember nodding in agreement to everything he was saying.

“Syra,” Levant said in a strange, mysterious tone, “when you were a little girl, you were injected with a DNA sample.” He was very quiet.

“Excuse me? What DNA sample?” I asked, unable to take in what he was trying to tell me.

“A crow DNA,” he said a little louder. “You are half-human and half-crow. Just like me and well, most of us,” he said and stared into the fire.

It felt surreal. I had no idea what he was talking about and what he meant by the half-human half-crow thing. Who were the other people he’d just mentioned?

“I don’t understand Levant “

“You will understand when you finally experience a transformation yourself. It should happen in no time, transformation can happened any time it’s individual.

For somebody it could happen straight away for others in few years, you are the example of the second option. I thought myself that for you it would be much faster, because you were injected rest of us the crow DNA just inhaled from air.

“Ahh that’s why I had to get the injection with DNA?”

“Yes, because of that too.” He finished and quickly left the room. All my thoughts were mixed up. It was that night when I decided to run away from home. That night I met Darrek.

I did understand it after my first transformation. I was twelve and transformation happened right after Levant’s people found me after my short runaway.

It turned out that I could change into a crow and fly wherever I liked, and then, after I landed, I turned into a human again. It happened just like that.

There were many, many of our kind, and besides us there were also mutants and humans. Darrek belonged to the human clan and his uncle, Jackuel, was the leader of the clan. The country was divided into four parts North, South, West and East and each of them was governed by somebody else. The West belonged to the humans. They didn’t turn into crows because their descendants’ immune system was strong enough to resist the crow DNA released into the air.

The South, on the other hand, was inhabited by the mutants. Their immune system lost the fight with the infection but their bodies were weak and the transformation didn’t happen the way it was intended. The crow DNA took over their bodies and souls; making them very nasty both from the outside and inside. They were dangerous and extremely ugly. They transformed into mutated birds that didn’t bear any resemblance to crows. They also lost their resemblance to humans when transformed back. I didn’t understand how it was possible for Arkan, the mightiest of the crows and the leader of all three clans, to keep the mutants under control. There must be some kind of an agreement between them, I assumed but I couldn’t say what exactly it was about.

Arkan was the one responsible for the way things were at the moment. It was him who’d released the crow DNA into the air and made people inhale it. And thanks to him we lost the chance to live a normal human life. I wasn’t sure what to think about it because somehow, I got used to the life me and the people from the North and East lived. Our bodies simply accepted the crow DNA the way it had been designed and we became half-human half-crow. And now, it was actually us who control the DNA. Transformation is easy no pain just natural change into the crow and back.

“You seem very distant tonight, Syra, what’s up?” Darrek interrupted my thoughts. “Don’t you like the wine? Or have you had enough? Come on, today we celebrate! Let’s go party!”

I smiled and reached out to feel his strong hand in mine.

“Sure, give me a minute and we can go,” I said.

I put on my dark skinny jeans, black sleeveless polo-neck top, thick studded belt that hung down to my hips and remembered to hide a small knife in my boot. You never know… I let my long, straight black hair down, applied some lip gloss and I was ready.

“Let’s go!” I shouted.

There was no answer, just a note left on my table.

“I’m waiting for you downstairs… I didn’t want you to make fun of me again for not being able to run as fast as you fly. This time I’m the faster one.”

The smiley face at the end of the note made me laugh. You’ll drive me crazy one day, I thought and flew out.

“Looking great as always,” Darrek said once I’d landed on the street next to him.

“I’ll have to keep an eye on you all night and ignore the pretty girls in the club,” he mumbled and then grinned. “Not that it’s a problem but…”

I laughed with him.

“Thanks, but that won’t be necessary, you know I can take care of myself.”

“I know, Syra. But when I think about it, I actually like being your bodyguard, there’s always something going on…” he said, whispering in my ear.

We joked and laughed before entering the crowded club.

The club was full. I liked that place. The music was great and everybody used to come there, not just, crows, by humans and mutants, too. We didn’t compete with each other, well, except for some individuals who would try to provoke a fight. But that didn’t happen too often.

“Hey, Syra!” Lea, my other friend, shouted at me.

I came to her and hugged her. Lea turned to Darekk and smiled at him shyly. She fancied him, she might even be in love with him, I thought. I’d tried to give Darekk several hints about how she feels about him before. “Lea? We’d grown up together, she’s like my sister,” was all he would say. We sat down at a table and ordered some drinks.

“I got a feeling that it’s going to be a very quiet night without any fights,” Darrek said.

“Sure, that’s because you’re here,” Lea said and we both laughed. “Nobody would dare to cause problems when you’re around,” she gave him a compliment.

No one except one of the guys who’d just came in. It was Sandro and his company of four. They sat down at a table opposite to ours. Sandro sat in the corner and kept giving Darrek dirty looks. They weren’t very fond of each other and I had a feeling that Lea was the reason. I had the impression that Sandro fancied her. Couples, fights and jealousy, I thought, I’m lucky to be free of these kinds of problems. I wasn’t interested in anyone and I didn’t think there was anyone who’d fancied me. On the contrary, men seemed to avoid me. It may have had something to do with Darrek looking after me, but I didn’t really care. All I wanted that night was to have some fun and celebrating my birthday with my friends.

Darrek kept us entertained all night with his funny comments on everyone who happened to pass by our table. Sometimes it was just impossible to stop him. He didn’t really mean everything he said. He just wanted to make us laugh. That night he was particularly keen on making fun of us, crows: “Listen, buddy, if you don’t like what you hear, take off,” he’d say at every single occasion and then laugh like a lunatic. The truth is, he was the only one who’d found it hilarious but we just all laughed with him. When Lea’s girl-friends joined us, Darrek was in his element. But even when he was showing off, he’d still keep an eye on me. That was typical Darrek, he was always going to protect me. But if a beautiful woman passed

2 The Secret

“Well, you look quite serious; I suppose I can’t say no. Is everything ok?” I asked.

“Sure,” she said.

“But?” I said and smiled.

“Syra… I want to be a crow like you. I want to be able to fly, to be one of your kind.”

I stopped walking and looked at her in surprise.

“Lea, you know that’s impossible. Your clan and your family have always been strong and you resisted the crow DNA. You should be happy for the way things turned out for you. And anyway, it’s too late now. There’s nobody who would want to infect the air now,” I said.

“Why do you want to become a crow so much? Why would you want to leave your human clan?”

“I feel useless. Our clan is all about men… It’s them who attend all the important gatherings; it’s the men who know all the secrets. I… well, us – women - we are just things men use to entertain themselves with. You know, most of the women don’t really mind that, but I do. I want to be in a clan where I could be equal, just like you. And anyway, I know something and there’s no one I can tell, and that’s why…”

“Now wait a minute, Lea. Slow down,” I interrupted her. “Take a breath, ok?” I smiled at her. “First of all, I understand your reasons. I would probably feel the same way. You’re twenty, you want to belong somewhere. I would love to help you although I don’t think you should give up your clan so easily.” I looked at her seriously. “Unfortunately, it’s too late. You know very well that there’s nothing that could turn you into a crow.”

Lea looked down. We walked in silence for a while. The street was busy with people coming out of bars and we had to try hard to avoid them. The atmosphere of the city was very strange. I didn’t know why, maybe it was just me.

Some streets looked almost exactly the same as two hundred years ago. For instance, Fifth Avenue in downtown Manhattan was very much the same and Herald Square that we were just passing, remained unchanged, too. It was only now that I actually noticed all that. Arkan used to tell me many stories about what the city used to like back then. He even gave me several paintings depicting the old New York City. I hung them on the wall in my apartment in Madison Square that was opposite the Flatiron Building, one of the most famous buildings in New York. The rest of the city was, however, devastated after an explosion of a nuclear missile in 2160. Buildings in those parts of the city remained damaged or unfinished.

“Sorry Lea, I got lost in thoughts. What happened yesterday? You wanted to tell me something.” I looked at her.

“Well…,” she started. “You know, yesterday I went to Jackuel’s house. Izzara wanted me to deliver a letter.”

“Izzara?” I asked. “The wise woman?”

“Yes, her. She sends messages to Jackuel from time to time.”

“Ah, is that the secret?” I asked.

“No, Syra, it isn’t! Will you please let me finish? I’m trying to tell you something here.”

“I’m sorry,” I apologized. “Please, go on.”

“So... I went to Jackuel’s house, just as I did countless times before. Darrek answered the door. Aaah, he’s so handsome,” she sighed. “Well, anyway, I came in and found Jackuel waiting for me in the room with a huge fireplace. It was furnished with beautiful antique furniture. The large windows were half covered by heavy dark red curtains and the room smelled of wood and punch. The ceiling was very high, decorated with frescos. Jackuel obviously simply ignores modern times and has the room decorated in ancient Gothic style.”

“That sounds interesting,” I grinned a little bit ironically. “I’ve actually never been in that room before, hmmm. What an interesting story.”

“Syra, now you’re reminding me of Darrek. You’re being sarcastic just like him.”

“Sorry, honey, go on. I’m listening.”

“Well, the room was mysterious and calming at the same time. I handed the letter with the message from Izzara to Jackuel and he asked how she was. You know, just the normal small talk. I told him that she is very well and that I help her now. I was about to leave when I saw Jackuel leaning over the fireplace, reading the message. Suddenly he tore it and threw the pieces into the fire. It must have been something very disturbing because he then touched his chest and fell on the floor. I shouted at Darrek and ran to help Jackuel. Darrek came quickly running; he was on his way to club. He had to go there because someone was causing trouble again. I think it might have been Sandro.”

“Oh yeah, Darrek mentioned it to me earlier today,” I said.

“Darrek carried Jackuel upstairs to bed and when I passed by a table I saw a letter stuck under a candle holder. That letter hypnotize me even it was composited on four parts I don’t know why but I took it opened it and read it, well, I red part of it. It said

“Jackuel, my brother, forgive me for what had happened to you and our youngest brother Samuel. It’s all my fault…”

Arkan

I put the letter back where I found it because I heard Darrek rushing down the stairs. I think the letter has been there for a long time, it looked old. I shouted at Darrek that I’ll go get a doctor but he told me that the doctor was on his way. I ran out very disturbed. Later, when I was thinking about what happened, I realized that Samuel was Jackuel’s and Arkan’s brother. That’s how I understood it from the letter. What do you think?”

She’s right, I thought.

“The three of them are brothers,” I whispered. “Arkan, Jackuel and Samuel. Hmmm…”

“But since our human clans were so strong, how come Arkan is a crow and Jackuel, on the other side, is human?” Lea asked. “And yet, Samuel is dead. It’s very strange, isn’t it? Do we actually know how he died? Was he a crow or a human? How come he was the brother of Arkan, the most powerful of crows and at the same time the brother of Jackuel, who is human? There’s a secret behind it all, Syra, and I’m going to find out what it is. And when I do, maybe it will help me to become a crow.” “Maybe there is still something I can do to turn into a crow.”

“Oh my god,” I thought.

“You can’t tell anyone about what you have just told me. You have to swear, do you hear me? No one can know. It will be our secret, do you understand, Lea?” I said.

Lea nodded and said: “So you do admit that there’s something, I don’t know, something that allows to…”

I didn’t let her finish: “No, Lea, there is no such thing, “I tried to sound convincingly. “And even if there is, this information could cause chaos among all three clans, do you get it?” I whispered anxiously. “The mutants are waiting for an opportunity, everyone can tell. No, no, this simply has to stay between me and you,” I emphasized again. “You can’t tell anyone, ok? Not even Izzara or Darrek.”

“You’re the only one I told, Syra,” she said. “So you do think there’s something fishy about it, don’t you?” She said eagerly. “How is it possible that our leader is a crow and Jackuel, his brother, isn’t? The three of them should be on the same boat. They’re from the same clan and they should’ve turned into crows. Unless there’s something that can prevent from the transformation? ”

Oh yes there probably was something, because I was injected with DNA, not inhaled it! That was Levant said to me long time ago!” Hm…I kept this thought for myself. Lea mustn’t know.

“And who was Samuel anyway? Mutant, human or crow?” And how did he die?” She kept repeating her questions.

“I don’t know,” I said, irritated, and instinctively started to look around just to make sure nobody was listening to us. There was no one suspicious besides crows leaving pubs and bars in a drunken haze, and I was sure that nobody could have overheard our conversation. I suppose it was only at that moment that Lea realized the gravity of the situation and looked at me with deep understanding. We kept walking, both deeply lost in our thoughts. When we got to Lea’s house I put my arms around her and I felt that she was somehow pleased. We were now connected by a very dangerous secret. When she disappeared into the house I turned back and saw a silhouette behind a window of a house across the street. When the figure saw me, it hid behind the curtains.

It was probably Izzara, I thought.

I took off and after a couple of minutes I was in my apartment waiting for the sunrise, wondering what could have been in the letter Izzara had sent to Jackuel. I sensed that something wasn’t right and things weren’t the way they should be. I had to be careful and didn’t want Lea to get too involved in the secrets. She’s not ready, she hadn’t had any training and she could easily complicate the situation. I sighed and my feeling that something dangerous was coming, intensified.

“Enough already,” I told myself. Every day, the sun would come out for only two hours, from four to six in the morning. It was my time to relax and I tried to enjoy it as much as possible, knowing that the rest of the day would be dark and gloomy.

When the sun was out, everyone, the crows, humans and mutants went into hiding because they weren’t used to daylight. Most of them were led only by the fear of losing eyesight and nobody wanted to take that kind of a risk and just start to learn how to stay in the sun. That would be quite a long process. It was only about being patient.

I was an exception, together with Levant. I was up at the sunrise since I’d been a little girl. It was thanks to him that I gradually got used to the sunlight, and just as his eyes had adapted to it, so had mine. I was very thankful to him for teaching me that. I didn’t know anyone around besides the two of us who could spend time in the daylight, but I’m sure there is more of us.

The sun had risen up and I felt its rays on my skin. I was darker than everybody else because of the time I spent in the sunshine and my skin adapted to it. It was a beautiful feeling - the city got quiet for two hours and it was probably the best time of the day for me and I enjoyed it to the fullest.

As I was sitting on the roof, looking up at the sky, a handsome black crow flew a couple of metres above me. His big deep eyes were looking right into mine. The moment seemed to last for eternity and I couldn’t take my eyes off him. I wasn’t even able to fly up and find out who he was. I was too stunned by the powerful moment and completely taken aback. Even long after he had flown away I kept wondering who he might have been and how come he was able to fly at the sunrise. I was sure that only I and Levant could bear the sunshine here.

“Who was he?” I wondered. I couldn’t forget those intriguing eyes.

I sighed. It couldn’t have been Levant, I would have recognized him although I hadn’t seen him for a long time. I wasn’t going to be able to avoid him for any longer, though. The celebrations during which Arkan was going to announce his successor were going to take place in two days. But whose eyes were those? And who else can fly when the sun is out, I wondered. Hmmm…

Arkan was very old although the crows grew old at a much slower pace and could easily outlive three human generations. Arkan had been through a lot and wanted to retire now. Although he was still going to be behind all the decisions, he had to choose his successor, the future leader of all the clans. The present leaders of each of the three clans were coming to the celebrations too, although I wasn’t sure whether Nivan from the East was coming. He was very sick.

A meeting like this happened approximately every thirty years. I had to attend because Levant was said to be the chosen one and it was well known that I was like his own daughter. He was my step-father. Most of the people didn’t have the slightest idea that we stopped seeing each other. Shortly after I’d refused his proposal to marry him, he married someone else. His wife’s name was Clea and they had a seven year old son Gavin together. I was at their wedding; I was there when Gavin was born and also when he transformed into a crow for the first time at the age of five.

I stopped meeting Levant because Clea didn’t approve of it. She wasn’t particularly keen on me. Actually, I thought she probably even hated me. It was quite obvious the last time we’d met. I could still clearly remember our conversation.

“Are you still hanging out with those bloody mutants?” She said instead of hello. By bloody mutants she meant Darrek’s clan. In Clea’s world, humans and mutants were the same thing. Revolting and of no value. She respected the crow race only.

“They’re no mutants, Clea,” I said sharply.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “Well, you should be careful, because one day you may turn into one of those monsters, too, if you spend too much time with them,” she laughed.

I did my best to stay calm. I forced a smile at her and left. Clea was Nivan’s daughter and she lived in east before she married Levant. She was the only crow who turned half white after transformation. She was beautiful direct and, I had to admit, quite witty, but two-faced, too. I thought she was a great manipulator. She always looked very neat, wore the most stylish clothes and she and Levant were the perfect power couple. They were living examples of beauty, power and dignity. Her coldness and sarcasm scared me sometimes, though. She used people to get what she wanted and then she simply got rid of them with grandiosity, replacing them with new victims who fitted into her new plans. I didn’t want to get trapped in her cobweb of intrigues, so I preferred to listen to what she had to say and then simply ignored her.

My empty glass woke me up day-dreaming. I stood up and walked to the edge of the roof to look at the city. It was so quiet at that time of the day it was unbelievable. I had weird feeling like somebody was watching me. Hm…I went to my room and with full of thoughts in my head I felt asleep.

Koniec ukážky

Vytvorenie elektronickej verzie Dibuk, s. r. o., 2015

Vytvorené prostredníctvom Publico.sk

Table of Contents

Prologue

1 Memories

2 The Secret