Session 0 - Instead of a Prologue

8 Highwater 850

Talik Klost squinted and tilted his face toward the sun. The boy almost purred with pleasure, feeling the warmth wrap around him as the wet tracks near his eyes finally dried. Along with it, the resentment toward the local elder faded — the one who had once again called him a "clumsy fool". Talik tried to understand why he was called that, since he hadn’t done anything wrong or broken anything, at least not today. Since early morning, when Talik, as usual, had been gathering sheep around the village into a flock, he hadn’t even gone near the elder’s house, yet the man had still been angry for some reason. For some reason, today those words were especially unpleasant; even his mother’s explanation that he was "special, not stupid" did not help him calm down.

Talik opened his eyes and looked around, checking whether all the sheep were there. This was his "main task", as his mother said. Whenever Talik heard this, he would involuntarily straighten his shoulders. He liked being useful, especially in such an important task as herding sheep. Talik really liked sheep; in general, he liked animals, but sheep — especially, because they were warm, soft, and like little clouds. And they were very smart; they could tell when it was time to go home, or even show the way if Talik felt like he was lost. That is why phrases like "stupid sheep" offended him. So every morning he solemnly promised his mother to protect the sheep from all dangers. His mother would only smile and stroke his head. For some reason, others laughed at this, and the elder would again call him a "fool" and add, "good thing there are no predators here".

Talik was sure that no one could herd sheep better than him. His mother said he was special, which meant he was not worse. He especially liked it when, listening to how he pulled yet another sheep out of a crevice, she would say that he was as strong as his father, and that his father would be proud of him. Remembering this, the boy looked at his arms, which really were much thicker than those of the other boys. He listened for a long time to the cracking of the jacket fabric when he bent his arm, until the sheep reminded him of themselves with their bleating. He began to carefully examine each sheep. Talik could not count, but he could always tell whether all the sheep were there.

After making sure everything was fine, Talik stretched, wiped the remaining tears with his sleeve, and began looking at the sky — yesterday he had seen a very beautiful cloud. However, the sheep kept bleating, as if something was bothering them. Talik looked around, but everything was as usual — a cozy green meadow surrounded by mountains, a few birds in the sky, and nothing unusual.

The bleating was getting louder; it frightened the boy, but he remembered his promise to protect the animals, so he only clenched his fists tighter and looked around, waiting for danger. Something unusual did appear. From above. With a loud rumble, "something" tore through the sky and fell behind the hill, shaking the ground. The frightened animals rushed in different directions. Talik tried to calm them, but this time the sheep, who were always obedient, for some reason ignored him.

After searching around the pasture, he found some of the animals. Making sure that the sheep he had found had calmed down and were peacefully grazing, he set off after the other group that had run exactly in the direction where that same "something" had fallen. In fact, beyond the second hill he found a small crater, in the middle of which lay a strange crystal of an even stranger color — black, but as if with tiny flickering stars. Without thinking, Talik picked up the crystal. It seemed to him that the moment he touched it, the crystal vibrated slightly, but it lasted only a few seconds, and the crystal was very unusual, so Talik put the find into his pocket to give to his mother, and continued the search.

When he had already gathered all the sheep together, Talik noticed a strange warmth in his pocket, where the found crystal lay. Taking it out, the boy again began to carefully examine the find, turning it in different directions. Suddenly, the crystal began to crumble into dust, however, instead of swirling and settling on the ground, this dust was drawn to his hands and covered them. It seemed to Talik that something was penetrating under his skin. Crying out in fear, he tried to throw the crystal away, but it firmly stuck to his palm, covering it with more and more layers of fine dust. Moreover, there was a feeling as if fire was moving inside him, rising higher along his arm. Only the daily promise to protect the sheep made him not abandon the flock and not run home to his mother. Whimpering from the inner heat that had already covered both hands, Talik drove the flock home. He tried in every possible way to hurry the sheep, who were not ready to return so early. The fear of leaving the sheep mixed with the fear caused by the pain. His hands no longer burned; instead, it felt as if they were squeezed and twisted in different directions at the same time. When Talik could no longer endure it and looked again at his hands, he saw that they had shriveled, becoming much thinner. This sight was too much for him, and he ran, forgetting about the flock. His steps were becoming heavier; the inner fire and pain were replaced by weakness that increased with every moment.

He reached the village barely moving his legs; from weakness he could not shout, only silently opened his mouth. He saw that he had been noticed, that someone was running toward him, they were shouting something, but he could not make out the words — a strange loud hum that suddenly appeared around drowned everything out. From the way people began to look around, Talik understood that the hum was heard not only by him.

The next moment everything around was covered by an infinitely bright white glow.

When Talik could see again, he was lying on the slope of a huge crater. Not just large — the crater seemed endless. Looking around in fear, the boy did not see either the village or the road he had walked. Around there was only black and cold ground. The next discovery was that he was completely naked. Talik did not understand where he was or how he had gotten here. There was an unbearable urge to run, no matter where, just away from here. Unable to resist it, the boy took a few steps, but his foot slipped aside. He fell and rolled down to the bottom of the crater. The attempt to stand up caused unbearable pain — his leg was bent at an unnatural angle and something was sticking out of it. And only then, lying on the cold ground, he finally understood the most terrible thing: he did not know where his mother was.

From pain and from this realization, tears began to flow on their own.