The Girl from the Legends

The Girl from the Legends
The silver light pouring from Aiden's backpack intensified until it illuminated the entire plaza.
The woman didn't move.
Neither did Aiden.
For one painfully awkward moment, they simply stared at each other.
Aiden cleared his throat.
"So..."
Nothing.
"...Nice apocalypse you've got here."
Still nothing.
He nodded slowly.
"Right. Tough crowd."
The woman tilted her head ever so slightly, studying him with unsettling intensity.
She looked almost human.
Almost.
Her skin carried a faint pearlescent shimmer, like moonlight reflected on water. Long silver-blue hair fell almost to her waist, moving although there wasn't a breath of wind. Thin glowing lines traced delicate patterns beneath her skin around her temples and neck, pulsing softly with every heartbeat.
But her eyes...
They weren't blue.
They weren't green.
They changed.
Tiny galaxies swirled inside them.
Aiden blinked.
"...Okay."
"I've officially reached the point where eye contact feels scientifically impossible."
She frowned.
"...Scientifically... impossible?"
Her voice was melodic.
Soft.
Perfect English.
Aiden's eyebrows shot upward.
"Oh thank God."
"You speak English."
She looked confused.
"...What is... English?"
Aiden opened his mouth.
Closed it again.
"...Good question."
He pointed at himself.
"Aiden."
He pointed toward her.
"You?"
She remained silent.
Aiden waited.
Five seconds.
Ten.
Fifteen.
"...Is this one of those mysterious warrior things where you don't tell strangers your name?"
"No."
"...Then?"
"I have not decided if you deserve it."
Aiden sighed dramatically.
"Ouch."
"Straight to emotional damage."
For the first time...
The corner of her mouth twitched.
Not quite a smile.
More like her face had briefly considered smiling before changing its mind.
Progress.

She slowly walked toward him.
Every step she took caused tiny flowers of blue light to bloom beneath her feet.
Aiden looked down at his own boots.
Nothing.
He frowned.
"I feel underappreciated."
She stopped two meters away.
The Orb floated out of Aiden's backpack by itself.
"What?"
"No."
"No, no, no."
"Personal space."
The Orb ignored him.
It hovered between them.
The woman stared at it.
Her breathing became uneven.
"...The Heart Seed..."
Aiden looked at the Orb.
Then at her.
"...You call this glowing bowling ball the Heart Seed?"
"It was lost."
"For..."
She looked upward as if calculating.
"...approximately..."
"...four thousand eight hundred and twelve cycles."
Aiden blinked.
"I don't know how long your years are..."
"...but I'm guessing that's a while."
She nodded.
"A very while."
Aiden smiled.
"See?"
"We're already becoming friends."
She looked horrified.
"No."

Suddenly—
The Orb flashed.
Images exploded around them.
Not visions.
Holograms.
An entire civilization appeared.
The empty city around them transformed.
Buildings became alive.
Thousands of glowing beings filled the streets.
Children laughed.
Flying creatures soared overhead.
Music echoed through crystal towers.
Waterfalls flowed through impossible architecture.
Aiden slowly turned in place.
"...Holy..."
"...this place was alive."
The woman's expression softened.
"It still is."
Aiden looked around.
"I don't see anybody."
"You are."
He blinked.
"What?"
"They chose sleep."
The holograms shifted.
Citizens entered enormous crystal chambers.
One by one...
they lay down.
Light surrounded them.
Their bodies dissolved into pure energy.
The energy flowed into the floating spheres Aiden had mistaken for lamps.
His jaw slowly dropped.
"The eyes..."
"The floating things..."
"They're people."
"They're dreaming."
"They're waiting."
"For us."
"No."
She looked directly at him.
"For someone."

The hologram disappeared.
Silence returned.
Aiden rubbed the back of his neck.
"So..."
"...I'm guessing waking everyone up is probably bad?"
She looked surprised.
"You assumed correctly."
"I've watched enough movies."
"When ancient civilizations start waking up..."
"...someone usually explodes."
She didn't understand the joke.
He sighed.
"I miss Earth."

She finally extended her hand.
"My name..."
She hesitated.
"...cannot be translated perfectly."
"Your language would pronounce it..."
She spoke softly.
"Lyrae'na."
Aiden attempted it.
"Leer...Ray...Lyn..."
"No."
"Lyr..."
"No."
"...Can I call you Lyra?"
She considered it.
"...Acceptable."
Aiden grinned.
"See?"
"Friends."
"No."

They began walking through the silent city together.
The floating spheres watched them from above.
Aiden looked around like a tourist who'd accidentally wandered into Atlantis.
"So..."
"You've been alone here?"
"For how long?"
Lyra answered without emotion.
"I was born after the Great Silence."
"You were...born..."
"...after everyone went to sleep?"
"Yes."
"And you've been here..."
"...alone?"
She nodded.
Aiden stopped walking.
"Wait."
"Completely alone?"
"Yes."
"For thousands of years?"
"Yes."
"You didn't get..."
"...bored?"
She frowned.
"What is bored?"
Aiden stared.
"...That might be the saddest sentence I've ever heard."
She genuinely didn't understand.

They crossed another crystal bridge.
Halfway across—
Lyra suddenly froze.
Every glowing line beneath her skin dimmed.
Her eyes narrowed.
"What?"
Aiden whispered.
She raised one finger.
"Listen."
"I don't hear anything."
"Exactly."
He looked around.
The city had become completely still.
Even the floating spheres had stopped moving.
Something...
was wrong.
Then—
One sphere fell.
It simply dropped from the sky.
It smashed against the crystal street below.
Instead of breaking...
it cracked open.
A black liquid spilled across the ground.
The liquid began crawling.
Against gravity.
Like living ink.
Aiden took one careful step backward.
"...Please tell me that's normal."
"It is not."
The black liquid spread rapidly across the street.
Then another sphere fell.
And another.
And another.
Dozens.
Hundreds.
The entire city echoed with the sound of crystal crashing.
Every sphere that hit the ground split open.
Darkness poured out.
Not people.
Not energy.
Something else.
Something ancient.
Something hungry.
Lyra's calm expression vanished for the first time.
Fear.
Real fear.
She grabbed Aiden's wrist.
"We have to run."
Aiden didn't argue.
He'd learned something important over the past few days.
When the mysterious alien girl who's survived alone for thousands of years says run...
...you run.
Behind them—
The black liquid rose into hundreds of humanoid shapes.
One of them slowly lifted its head.
It had no face.
Only two burning crimson eyes.
And when it looked directly at Aiden...
It smiled.