A Glimpse of Eternity
Hardly noticeable like a spirit of light in old sagas they appeared next to him. At a closer look two eyes came in sight, watching him directly. They belonged to a fine carved face with barely visible wrinkles, which in combination with his vitality concealed his real age perfectly. But the tired eyes told the traces of millennia deeply burned within, marking the first impression as an illusion. As quickly as it had appeared the blurred image faded away, replaced by endless darkness. Rejhus recognized the eyes: They were his own.
Rejhus fascinatedly regarded the plain surface which had shown his mirror image a short time ago. This was the only distraction left which still succeded in getting him out of his jellylike apathy during the everongoing longer and longer journeys.
Gloomy red stars glowed in the far distance like degrading rubys in velvet black. They ressembled the last ember remaining of a burnt down fire, still warm but already incapable of enlightening the surrounding. Rejhus remembered the blazing flames of a flourishing fire well, like many other memories kept from a childhood far away. During that time, fire was a luxury one could at least afford once in a year. But now even a spliced match was too precious for just lightening it up in flames.
Within the velvet ocean a bright titanic wheel approached like a small galaxy. It was one of the newbred power sources, the last possibility which has remained for gathering energy in a dying universe. Energy which formed the basement for life once escaped from the effete spheres which were now sacrificed for the sole purpose of survival.
Deep in thoughts Rejhus watched the abandoned ruins of worlds which once were the place of the climax as well as the breakdown of innumerable glorious civilizations, a long time before they rushed to their final destination in the center of the ever esurient pharynx of the gigantic maelstrom. The work of whole cultures could be destroyed within a glimpse, only for allowing the last survivors taking their breath once more. There was nothing to regret with it, it was better to use the ruins already mouldered to dust for the last time than to perish with them. Nothing was to be lost anyway since the whole knowledge of all civilizations ever existed was already archivated long time before. Collected with enourmous efforts, sorted and stored, available to everyone. However, this was not a dignified end since there was no one able to understand and oversee it.
One of these stars might have been his home as well it came up in Rejhus mind. Where he was once born in a time before the large upraise, when he could live in the middle of his fellows rather than beeing on a trip taking half an eternity just to get to the next settlement. Was there still someone left remembering him? What was it worth beeing able to live longer than all his ancestors together wehn the time gained consisted just of emptiness, as empty as the space around him.
It was not more than a desperate try to flee from the unavoidable anyway. New power sources may pretend to exist forever though everyone was aware of their limited life span, and every droplet gained from them was another step forward without return.
Rejhus´ fingers slid down the wall before him. A layer as thin as a finger guaranteeing him to survive in a comfortable environment surrounded by the cold monotony outside. This eggshell which now was his home felt soft and common, letting him feel like beeing captured within an escape proof prison cell. A dungeon for all those innocently doomed to stand on top of evolution.
A shiny swarm of filigree debris passed majestically. They looked like hawks avalanching towards their unawared prey. He had seen them in one of the remaining eternal gardens. Creatures reborn from ancient fossils after their extinction like Phoenix out of the ashes in order to get a better life within an artificial paradise than they originally ever had before. Rejhus had perserveratively watched them longing for their unlimited freedom out of reach for him.
Just a handful away they entered the zone of no return, reaching towards the pivot of the lifegiving hadean. Their splitted parts performed a complicated dance, seemed to communicate with each other and mixed with the spare dust, still keeping their pirouettes and incomprehensible gestures. He tried grabbing them but got only the outer wall.
He leaned back disencouragedly, but slowly he understood the message given to him. There was still a lot to do while it was only seconds before his future would resettle again. It was not the end lying before him, it was a new beginning. A beginning which will bring him back home again.