Bright Eyes

21. Trust Me

Damien, Jack, Sander, Max, and Lyn were looking at some sort of star, hovering a distance above the water, its luminescence more radiant than the daylight surrounding them. That is, if stars took the vague shape of a human being. That is, if stars knew to turn their backs to mortals, knowing full well that one look at their immaculate faces would have unpleasant consequences . . .

No one said a word. In a succession of low waves, water crashed against their legs, again and again, the only sound heard amidst the deep quiet.

    Then a voice—the voice of three male voices in unison, a peal of thunder resonating through the heavens—proclaimed:

    IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE END. AND THE DEATH OF THE ANCIENT WAS THE BIRTH OF THE NEW WORLD, AS IS THE MANNER OF ALL WORLDS.

    IN THE BEGINNING, IN THE END, A WORLD DARK AND VOID AND HOLLOW, NOTHINGNESS, NOTHINGNESS, NOTHINGNESS. AS THE OLD WORLD LAY DEAD, ELOHIM—THE KING OF ALL WORLDS, THE LORD OF ELYSIUM—WALKED ABOUT THE VAST OBLIVION. THUS BEGAN THE BIRTH OF THE NEW WORLD.

    BY HIS POWER, THERE CAME FORTH LIGHT. AND THERE WAS LIGHT, AND THERE WAS DARKNESS, AND THERE WAS DAY, AND THERE WAS NIGHT—

    The sun began its sudden descent, and slid down the vivid orange skies, sinking into the sea, disappearing completely in its graceful exit performance. The expanse then turned a deep dark blue, and a million stars sparkled against the pitch-black tapestry. A few beams of white light shot across the vault of heaven. A colossal cloud of stars drifted above, a giant celestial whale swimming across the cosmic sea. Like a time lapse video, only one that wasn't viewed on a screen but from all angles around them, one that enveloped them entirely in its beauty and enchantment.

    "Duuude!" Max exclaimed. His eyes were wide and had fixed themselves on nothing else but the sky. He spun in his place, like an exhilarated child, his line of sight flitting from one direction to the next. He was grinning, and couldn't stop himself from doing so.

    Sander's mouth was open, and a smile crept to his lips. His green eyes glowed with wonder. "The most amazing thing I've ever seen," he said to no one in particular.

Then the sky turned dark blue once again, the stars still glimmering in the shadows, and a fire, glowing a bright yellow, crept up the horizon, a golden sphere waking from its sleep, rising up, up, up, till the endless space around it was a gentle azure. The tide rose, and the sea began to move in low waves, water sloshing against their thighs, soaking their pants and sprinkling heavy drops of seawater onto their shirts and hoodies.

    THEN CAME INTO CREATION TWO EXPANSES TO COVER THE WORLD, the voice went on to say, THE SKIES ABOVE, AND THE SEAS OVER THE SURFACE OF THE WORLD.

    Lyn shut her eyes as she held her breath, noticing a little too late that the water had risen so quickly and by now had gone over her head. She pushed herself up, kicked the water beneath her feet. Her head emerged out of the surface, and she drew in a sharp breath, then spat water out of her mouth, limbs flailing below to keep herself afloat.

    She blinked several times until her vision was no longer a blur. Lyn saw her friends in the water, hair soaked, drops rolling down their skin. The floor beneath their feet moments back had vanished deep under the sea.

    And the calm lasted only a moment. Just enough time for them to realize—or rather assume—what had just happened.

Then the water began to pull them to one side, and, unable to swim against the current in time, they found themselves swept up against a wall of brine, which crashed over them before Jack could manage to finish his swear word. ("Oh—" and the sea drowned the expression out.) And the wave threw them under, and pushed them back, seawater filling their noses and mouths and stinging their eyes.