Chapter 2

Zooficus tempore

Edain was born two weeks and four days later, at three in the morning, in one of the hospitals of Arcadia. He was a peaceful, healthy baby boy, with big brown eyes. Everyone fell in love with him immediately. His grandma said that he would be exactly like his father, at least in character.

Edain grew up in his parents' house, and it was soon obvious that his grandmother had been right: he was as curious as one can be, incredibly smart (like all of his siblings) and not exactly willing to follow the rules. He and Thais became very good friends, and it was not unusual to see toddler Edain's messy handwriting on the letters that Thais received. He inherited his mother's brown hair and brown eyes and his dad's huge smile. Lune called him mini doctor when he got excited about something. Overall he was a very sweet boy, although kinda cheeky, and the doctor worried about what would happen to him when they took him to the academy. He feared that Rassilon's methods might clash with his innocence. But then again, he had feared the same thing with all his other children and they had been alright, he told himself. Runa, Ainur and Thais had been inspired by the time vortex and grown to become amazing people, just like their mother. Why wouldn't the same thing happen to Edain?

However, the doctor's fears turned out to be unnecessary. Edain went off to the Academy on his eighth birthday, and wrote home that same night to say that he had a horrible headache from looking into the vortex, but otherwise he was fine. The letters kept coming during the schoolyear, and it soon became clear that he was taking into his father's footsteps, with a passionate love for physics and the outside world. He was top of the class in physics, math and chemistry, but barely passed the rest of subjects.

Time went by, and suddenly he was ten years old and starting his third year at the academy. This year he had a fantastic microbiology teacher, and he got really interested in the subject. It really was fascinating, he thought, all those microorganisms and the things they could do. One may even find out how life started, studying them. He started going to the lab in his free time out of pure interest.

One of these times, he discovered some bacterial cultures stored at the back of the class. They had started them at the beginning of the year, right? Yeah, there was one with his name at the bottom. He wondered what might have grown in it.

"Let's take a look at this." God, he was starting to talk to himself. As if he wasn't enough like his dad already. "Bah, who cares." He put the plate under the microscope, and almost dropped it in surprise.

"Woah, what's that? We haven't seen anything like this. Alright, I'll fix the microscope and check again."

Said and done, he checked a second time. The microscope was perfectly fine, so it really was a different culture than he expected. He lifted the culture a little to take a look at it under the light, and the crystal plate slipped from his fingers. It didn't fall, but he did touch the culture with his bare finger.

"Dammit. You have to wear gloves in the lab, Edie. I didn't have any cuts on this hand, did I?"

Sure enough, there was a papercut on the side of his finger.

"Great. Well, I hope that wasn't dangerous, or I just got…"

Infected.

Was everything suddenly really cold or was it his imagination? Nah, it had to be him, you don't get sick that quickly, do you? Okay, it was fine, he would just regenerate.

Alright, now he couldn't feel his hands. He was definitely going to regenerate. What a waste of energy, he wasn't even twenty yet.

His knees failed and he fell on the floor. The plate broke into a thousand pieces. Okay, he was really cold now. Freezing didn't cover it. He had to get outside, to the sun… but he was going to regenerate in just a few seconds, so it didn't really matter…

Everything turned dark.

He heard footsteps on the doorway, but couldn't see anybody. What was going on? He was awake, he was sure of it. Why couldn't he see anything? He hadn't gone blind, had he? Okay, now he had trouble breathing. Blimey, it was like a starwhale had stepped on his chest. Wait, no, starwhales didn't have legs, they couldn't step on him. He gasped for air, but still couldn't breathe. His lungs seemed to be closing.

More footsteps, and he heard muffled voices, but they were so far away it was impossible to identify them. Someone started shaking him, and he cried in pain. A single touch felt like fire. They lifted him, and suddenly he was burning from head to toe, and it hurt so much he couldn't even scream. He kept gasping for air, and even the tears that felt from his eyes burned his skin. The fire was taking him with it, like a wave.

They were taking him away, and he stayed silent, biting his tongue so that he wouldn't scream. He still had his eyes opened, but the world remained dark. Why wasn't he regenerating?

The voices around him faded out even more, but someone kept moving him. Maybe they were taking him to the hospital. Scared as he was, that calmed him down a little. The doctors would get it right, wouldn't they? He would be alright.

Someone took him in their arms again, and suddenly there was much more noise. Now other people's touch didn't feel like fire, but like needles clawing onto his skin. His tongue hurt so badly he was sure it was bleeding. God, he was so cold it was actually burning. How he hadn't frozen yet, he had no idea.

Someone punctured him with a needle (at least that's what he thought it was) and the pain was so big he screamed. Still, it got a little better after that. The cold faded, and the voices got closer. There was a faint light in front of him, but he was certainly not going to follow it. He refused to die today.

One of the voices seemed familiar, didn't it? Yeah, it was, it sounded like his sister. Thais was there? He tried saying her name, but the starwhale on his chest wouldn't leave, and the air was running out.

As if somebody had read his thoughts, it suddenly got easier to breathe. The starwhale didn't leave, but it did lift a little of the weight off his chest. They must have put an oxygen mask on him. He heard Thais' voice close to him. The words were unintelligible, but it was her. Edain wanted it to end, he wanted to go with his sister and let her fix everything, but it just hurt too much. He couldn't even move.

There were more voices, all speaking really quietly, as if they didn't want him to hear them. Didn't they know it was bad luck to talk about death in a hospital? He recognized his dad's voice among the others. Dad! But he was on a trip! He'd come for him? And that was his mother, and Runa and Ainur. All his family was there. But that was good, wasn't it? They didn't think that he was going to die or anything. Nah, they didn't. Mum and dad would fix this, like they always did. Yeah, that was it. Don't worry, Edie, mum and dad will end this. Of course they will. And he was so tired…

He let the tide take him. He couldn't fight it anymore.

Edain was unsure how long he'd been in the darkness. He would wake up every few hours, and hear the voices by his side, but still wasn't able to see, didn't matter how many times he opened his eyes. He was as tired as one can be, and every inch of him hurt. The voices had been getting clearer, though. When he had first heard them, it felt as if they were speaking through a broken radio. Now, he could understand everything. The pain had faded a little, too, so maybe he was going to get better. He'd be scared, but honestly, he was too tired for that.

This time, the first thing he noticed was that he was feeling much better. The pain was gone, and all that was left now was an echo. His body felt like he'd gone through a blender. He tried moving his fingers a little. Hey, he could do it! Well, it hurt like hell, but he could do it! And he could see light through his eyelids. It didn't look like he was dying, though. No one feels pain after they die, right?

He tried breathing a little, and was so surprised to notice the starwhale was gone that he actually started coughing. He turned around instinctively.

He stayed still for a second, realizing what he had just done, and opened his eyes.

The light blinded him for a good couple of seconds. He closed his eyes again, waited a bit, and then took another look outside.

He was in a hospital bed, right next to the window, and the daylight filled the room. The sun was rising. Dad was sitting on an armchair next to his bed, sound asleep. Runa slept on a chair in a corner. Mum and Thais were in the other bed, and Ainur was sitting on the floor, his back against dad's armchair. All asleep. They looked horrible, honestly. Edie guessed his family probably hadn't left the hospital for days. It was weird; he wanted to cry and to smile, all at the same time.

He reached out to his father and shook him a little. Touch didn't burn anymore, he noticed. Whatever had happened, it was gone. Dad slowly opened his eyes, looked at him and froze in surprise. He seemed to be restraining himself from hugging Edie.

"Hey" he said softly, "How are you feeling?"

Edain tried answering, but couldn't. There was a lump in his throat. He sat on the bed and threw his arms around his dad. Every muscle in his body complained, but he didn't care. Dad held him tightly, and Edie started to cry. The lump in his throat cleared, and he was so tired that he fell asleep again on his father's lap. It was a nice sleep this time. There were no nightmares, and certainly no pain.

He woke up again a few hours later. He still fell as if he'd been ran over by a hoverbike, but a bit better than before. He was actually very hungry.

Everyone was awake now. Mum was the one sat next to him, and she looked the happiest Edain had ever seen her.

"Good morning, Sleepyhead", she said. "You made it."

"Hi mum". His throat felt rough. "What happened?"

"You got infected by a bacteria called Zooficus tempore. It would've killed you, but the doctors managed to inject you an antibiotic before it was too late. It's okay, though. You're out of danger now."

"Oh. So that's what was in that plate. Good to know."

Mum rolled her eyes, but dad started laughing. Edain tried sitting on the bed again.

"Now Edie, don't do that" dad said. "You've fought the Zooficus for three days. You really don't want to make big efforts right now."

"What?" Edain froze in shock. "I've been here for three days?"

"Yup."

Edie fell on his back, his eyes fixed on the ceiling. Had it really been three days? It was hard to count time when you were fighting for your life, he supposed.

"Okay. But can I go home now?"

"Not just yet" said a new voice. A doctor and two nurses had come into the room, and Edain sat up instinctively. His dad was pretty much the only doctor he trusted.

"It's good to see you awake, Edain" the doctor continued, "but we still have to check a few things. And I have some news for you, so I suggest you laid down for a second. You might need it."

"Doctor, I don't think it's a good time to…"

"Believe me, Lune, it's the best moment to do it." The doctor fixated his eyes on Edie's. "You see, Edain, that bacteria didn't just give you fevers. What it tried to do was to stop all of your cells at the same time. The antibiotic that we gave you avoided that, but you haven't got away without a sequel."

Edain didn't answer. It felt as if the ground was cracking under him.

"The Zooficus tempore has stopped your growing cycle. You're an Ankuris."