Atom was found inside the underground tunnel. He was absorbed in the reading of a worn volume.
He had discovered that book in a forgotten corner of the library some days ago. The dust accumulated on its cover had hidden it during years, perhaps decades.
Even he, who was passing the majority of his free hours among books, had not found it until his fingers brushed it by accident.
The title, engraved in golden letters that were fading like ash, was saying: Encyclopedia for the Enlightened.
"What we are today is not more than stardust. The earth that you tread, the nitrogen of our body, the iron of your blood, the calcium of your teeth, the carbon that dwells in you and in me, were born in the nucleus of the stars. When these stars explode in a supernova, they liberate to the space the elements formed in their interior. With the time, these elements group themselves to form new stars, planets, and other celestial bodies. Each time that we contemplate the nocturnal sky, we observe a fragment of our own history. All the elements that compose us were created in the heart of stars that shone before that the world existed. What you are and what you touch is stellar matter; we are, in essence… Children of the Stars."
Atom never tired of rereading that magnificent introduction. The idea that each atom of his being had been forged in the burning heart of a star was making him feel insignificant and transcendent at the same time.
"An Enlightened is someone who has activated the stellar nucleus of his body to manipulate the energy and use his prodigious abilities. While some powerful creatures are born with their stellar nuclei already formed, the majority are born with them in latent state. To dominate the control of the stellar energy is the greatest challenge, but upon absorbing the nucleus of a stellar beast, the success is guaranteed."
"The stellar nucleus is a spherical space mysterious and enigmatic located in the solar plexus within the body of the Enlightened. Upon being of ethereal nature, it does not occupy physical space as would do an internal organ. The nucleus is infinite in vastness and, in paradoxical form, infinite in smallness. In contrast, the stellar nucleus of a stellar beast is a sphere of energy rare that manifests itself upon dying the creature, being only the stellar beasts of third evolution or superior capable of generating such nuclei."
"I see, there is much to learn," thought Atom while he was closing the encyclopedia. He accommodated himself on the earthy bed, with the back supported against a wall cold and rough.
In that world, existed various forces, and the Enlightened could be classified in diverse principal professions. The most known were the warriors: individuals that had submitted to a ruthless training and that had awakened their latent abilities.
Their physical attributes were surpassing by far those of any ordinary human. Not only were they possessing superior physical capacities, but also dominion over multiple weapons and martial arts.
The kingdoms of the known world, together with their aristocracy, were composed by warriors that had reached certain level of power and prestige.
Atom immersed himself in his musings, imagined how it would be to become one of those formidable warriors, or perhaps even in a mage capable of controlling the mysterious forces of this universe.
In truth, it was not mattering to him what path he was taking, as long as it was granting him the power that he was needing to protect himself.
His hands closed in fists in instinctive form, Atom was resolved to discover his own potential and place in this dystopian society so different from the one he had known in his previous life.
Without prior warning, an explosion shook the surface. The roar descended by the tunnel like a bestial bellow.
A violent tremor threw him to the ground. His body hit the earth with force, and the dust rose in a thick cloud.
What had happened?
From his position under ground, he could not see anything. But the sound of the explosion made him think that his house had been bombarded.
A bad premonition seized him.
"Aurore…"
The face of a girl appeared in his mind. His younger sister. The only family that was remaining to him.
Atom paled. His eyes opened wide. The fear paralyzed him for an instant.
Was he going to lose her also?
"Aurore!"
Atom came out frantic from the library.
He stumbled with remains of splintered wood and fragments of collapsed structures. The floor was covered by a pile irregular of debris.
The pieces of wood, some broken in sharp angles, were indicating that the house had collapsed with violence.
He opened way among the remains, among chunks of rock and dust suspended. He saw it.
In the center of the crater, a girl was floating in the air. She was seated with the legs crossed, in a meditative posture.
Her eyes were remaining closed. Her expression was reflecting a calm serene, as if she was immersed in a profound trance. She was floating in the center of a crater that had razed with the entire house.
The ground was burned.
The walls had disappeared.
The air was smelling of ash.
Ha ha…
His jaw was hanging. He could not close the mouth. Aurore was having almost five years. Only five…
She had awakened as an Enlightened.
At the beginning he did not recognize her. He thought that he was seeing things, but when she landed, the girl raised the gaze.
They looked at each other in the eyes and Atom knew it.
"Aurore? Are you you?"
The girl sketched an awkward smile, with a trace of fear and emotion evident in her shining eyes, now silver-colored.
Aurore had changed. Not only on the outside. Something more profound had moved.
"H-Hi, Atom."
The two remained there standing.
None was knowing what to do, what to say, how to react. Atom still could not believe it.
Could the awakening alter the genetics of a person?
The little one in front of him, was the girl most adorable that he had seen in his life.
Her eyes were telling him that he was seeing a girl with the hair long, disheveled, white like a white rose.
Up close, that disorder was seeming more swan plumage than hair. Soft, wavy, as if the wind had caressed it without permission.
The fringe was covering barely the half of the forehead, leaving exposed a face oval and tiny. Her round eyes, silver, were moving with restlessness under the perplexed gaze of Atom.
She was radiating such innocence and tenderness that she could melt the heart of anyone, and was seeming a doll, urging the people to hold her in their arms in protective manner.
"How much time are you going to continue looking at me like that?"
Taken by surprise, he shuddered, but not by the words in themselves, but by the emotions that were intertwined in them.
Aurore was seeming to feel uncomfortable, embarrassed, but also excited. And anxious.
"Sorry," he said in loud voice. "I am still assimilating everything. What happened exactly?"
But before that she could satisfy the curiosity of Atom, the expression of Aurore changed in abrupt form. Without emitting word, she turned the face toward the sky. Atom, intrigued by her sudden behavior, imitated her gesture with rapidity.