Gemini

Gifts

I felt my body sliding downwards, as if I were in the depths of the ocean, in a slow and controlled descent into total darkness. In ancient times they believed it took days before reaching the bottom of Hades, but in my condition I would not be able to disprove them.

I continued to descend for an indefinable time, bereft of references in total darkness. But I reached the bottom.

Being at the bottom of the abyss was not very different from being in the rest of the abyss, with the slight difference that I was no longer falling. There wasn't much I could do down there, so I closed my eyes and tried to think. I didn't feel very dead: I didn't feel anything, that's true, but I blamed it on the characteristics of the place. However, I could feel my body and I could move it. «If this is death, it's not so bad» I thought. «It will just be incredibly boring down here». Slowly I fell asleep in the tranquillity of that place, leaving my mind free to wander.

«At least, supposing that I can get out of here, I can tell that I gazed for so long into the abyss that I fell in it. No one's gonna believe me, of course, but hey, that would be a pretty damn cool story to tell» I thought.

I am not sure how it happened but little by little my consciousness rejoined my body, if you know what I mean; I began to perceive light passing through my eyelids. With great difficulty I tried to open my eyes, being momentarily dazzled by the light outside.

«Hey, you're finally awake Ellie» I hear a familiar male voice say. «Nate? Is that you?» I ask the voice softly. «Yes Ellie, it's me».

When I finally manage to open my eyes I see him sitting in front of me, his beautiful green eyes now red from tears and with a faint smile on his lips. As he sees me open my eyes he throws himself on me, holding me in his arms.

We remained like that for a good minute when I finally tried to get up without success. I abandoned my intention for the moment and looked around: I was sitting, or rather almost lying down, under an enormous tree, whose leaves let through a few glimmers of light that managed to reach my body. «Where are we?» I asked a little puzzled. «We are just out of Andúnë Ellie, remember? We were walking through the woods looking for a quiet place to be and practise, but at one point you froze and fainted. I didn't know where to take you so I took you under this huge ash tree, luckily you recovered». His words only added to my confusion: first of all, I was not aware that there were woods just outside Andúnë, and then practising what?

Passes for the woods, but the second question intrigued me.

«This feels really weird» I thought. «I can tell something's off, but I don't know what». I thought I was pretty good in geography and botanics, but now you're telling me that ash trees can grow spontaneously at our latitudes?

Something probably was off.

Anyhow that was a minor inconvenience at that moment, I needed to know what we were supposed to do out there in the woods.

«I apologize in advance because I may be about to ask very stupid questions» I started to say. «But what should we practise?» As I spoke he stared at me with that usual smile of his, which I found irritating at first, but which had become so dear to me over those three years. «Well, we had to practise our Gifts, and we chose to come down here where no one could see us» he replied quietly.

Things were getting weirder and weirder.

Let me just correct myself: something is definitely off.

«Ok Nate, I don't remember any of this. And that's a problem. I'm afraid I'm still half numb from passing out. I can't even remember what these Gifts you speak of are» I told him a little worriedly. «Don't worry if you don't remember something, you have to give your body time to recover from the shock.

For the rest, if you have questions or doubts, all you have to do is ask. But we were saying, the Gifts. We all have our own unique DNA don't we? Think of the Gifts as an integration, as a little extra sequence that encodes in each of us a particular ability that occurs completely randomly.

They have ascertained that the Gifts are not hereditary, but have not yet been able to understand how it is that this extra sequence is created. The abilities it can confer are varied: to some it has given exceptional memory, to others the ability to change their body temperature at will, to others extraordinary physical performance, and so on. It has taken us a while, but mankind has managed to achieve a kind of equilibrium as far as the use of the Gifts is concerned. Not all the Gifts, however, are equally likely to appear in two individuals. There are two in particular that have a significantly lower frequency of appearance: we're talking about one appearance every nine billion, practically none. These two, however, always appear together in pairs in the same year, which is why they have been called Gemini, the Twin Gifts, and also because they have virtually identical characteristics that are totally different from those of the other Gifts. Usually Gifts have a limited scope of applicability, they can hardly extend their effects outside of those who manifest them. But the Geminis do not, they are the only ones whose area of influence is the outside and not just the inside. Those who are born with the mark of the Gemini are usually feared by others, they are shunned by everyone and feared all along the world...» at this point I interrupted him.

«Sorry to interrupt, this story is very nice and interesting, but I have two questions. The first: why would they treat them so unfairly? What did they do wrong to them? They can't hold it against them just because they are different from the people. The second: how can they fear anyone in particular if they can't even recognise them?».

I can see him sighing, as he always does when I say something that he would have said before I interrupted him: «As I was saying before someone, er, interrupted me, recognising them is quite easy: those born with the Gemini mark have a kind of birthmark, which looks quite similar to a number two written in Latin characters actually, either on the right arm or on the left arm. People fear them because as I told you their control exercised by their Gifts extends to the world around them, they fear them so much that they have given them a specific name: Deva and Asura, the Twin Gifts of Creation and Reality. The Devas are branded on the left arm, the Asuras on the right arm. The only ones who can really understand them are their Twins, the others who are branded, the only ones who can experience what it feels like to be branded and live in these conditions».

«It appears, however, that no more than two Geminis can live at the same time, and the "new generation", let me call it like that, cannot take over until the previous one has disappeared. There are still many things that mankind doesn't get about the Gifts» he concluded.

As absurd as the story continued to be, I thought it was very interesting and couldn't help but feel a little compassion for anyone carrying the Gemini's burden. «Is it known if anyone has already been born with the mark?» I asked him in a fit of curiosity. «It was only recently discovered. It goes without saying, but immediately after people found out hatred and fear came from all sides. It happened that they were born in the same town, something that had never happened before, they say» he replied in a strange tone of voice, in which I caught an unusual joking vein.

«Ok thanks for the information, but that's not what I meant. Do you know their names?»

Instead of answering he seemed to ignore me to fix something in his shirt.

After a while I saw him raise the sleeve of his right arm: «Hail Sister, our souls were more kindred than we already thought» he says, showing me the Gemini's mark on his right arm.

It took me a while to process his words, but as I looked down I saw it, it was right there, in plain sight on my left arm: the Gemini's mark.