Prologue: Paradise

Translator: Liliki

Humanity has finally reached paradise.

There it was able to free itself from old age. Wrinkles. Problems with hearing and vision, physical weakness became unfamiliar to it. There were no more diseases and injuries. It was capable of always remaining young and living a pompous life.

There was no more death. If old age does not come, then life will continue. Even illnesses and catastrophes could not take someone’s life. It was no longer a necessity to hold onto the mortal body, which only held down. Eternal life, prohibitive entertainment, total bliss. Humanity opened up the gates of paradise with its own hands. It was exactly in this paradise that Angela was born. Blessed, she was cared for and raised, laying high hopes.

Once she set off with her parents to the coast. The water, covered with a thin layer of ice, untouched sandy beaches. Pleasant sounds, like the sound of bells. Young Angela was very impressed by this wonderful beach. She fell in love with the endless sea and sky. This feeling always warmed her heart. She felt that she knew this alluring world.

Then something else unforgettable happened.

Angela squatted down, grabbed some sand and made a slide. Having finished the top of her mountain, she rested her hands against it, and then pressed. She pressed her hands to her chest and made a wish. Become a flower.  In response to her desire the sand hill started to flatten and fall off. The sand grains began to move down and the hill became very small. The cone shaped mountain began to change its shape. From the bowels of the sand hill began to appear a flower. Angela imagined in her mind a sweet cosmos.

The flower was made from the sand. Leaves, stem, and the flower itself: everything was made of grains of sand. A sea breeze blew, the grains started to fall, but the form was held. On this sand beach anything could be created. However, for now this was Angela’s limit. She looked around. Her mom looked at her with pride and smiled. Her dad’s eyes were also filled with warmth. Angela again began to build something.

Thinking over what to do this time, she heard a voice calling out to her. She turned around echoing it. A girl with short emerald green hair stood there. She was approximately the same as Angela. She pointed at the cosmos.

“Did you make this?”

“Mhm”

“I also want to. How is it done?

“Well…”

Angela hesitated. It was so simple, but she doubted whether the girl could cope with this. Angela herself did not have friends her age, so she was very glad that someone paid attention to her.

“I will show you now…”

Angela grabbed some sand and touched it with her hands.

“Like this. And then you just make a wish.”

This time she made a tulip.

“Wow.”

The girl’s eyes gleamed. Angela smiled gladly.

“By the way, what is your name?”

“Kristine,” answered the girl.

“And I’m Angela. Nice to meet you.”

“Yeah. I came to sea for the first time. It’s so cool here.”

Angela was so happy that she got a friend. Kristine made a pile of sand.

“What to wish for?”

Worried, she put her hands on the sand and made a wish. The grains of sand started to fall but in the end nothing happened. There was only a pile of sand.

“Huh?”

Angela started to laugh, and Kristine looked at her reproachfully.

“Sorry, sorry. You hesitated too much when you chose. It is necessary to think of only one thing.”

“Only one thing. Only one thing…” whispered Kristine, making another pile of sand. She was too worried and wasn’t able to concentrate.

In the end it turned out something like a potato.

“Huh? Why?”

Angela laughed again. Kristine pouted.

“I’m sure it’s all the sand.”

“That’s hardly likely.”

Angela took Kristine’s sand, made a wish, and an anemone grew right on the spot..

“There.”

Kristine pouted and silently gathered a new pile. She took it with both hands. The sand started to move. The surface began to crumble, and this time everything turned out differently. There was something under the sand. And this something broke out from the top. A strong. hand, closed into a fist.

“Aah!”

Kristine yelled. Surprised, Angela also jumped. The pile fell apart and out came something with human outlines. The hand jerked, shaking off the sand. The leg, emerging from the sand, made a furious blow. Kristine looked at the small, but extremely strong creature. Angela has already seen such. It was an arkhat, the guards of paradise. This miniature form of him was furious. He crushed Angela’s cosmos, kicked her tulip, and stepped on her anemone.

On the verge of tears Angela turned to Kristine:

“Why did you make him?”

“I don’t know! I didn’t wish for anything yet!”

The result of Kristine’s resentment, of not being able to create objects, lead to this embodiment, which they did not know at the time.

The arkhat looked at Angela and Kristine. There was no comfort, but only anger in his eyes. While the girls looked, he stuffed his hand into the mountain of sand. He pulled out a sword with a long blade. He guided the huge blade toward them.

“Oh but… This can not be,” Angela managed to mutter, as the arkhat flung himself into the air.

This was Paradise. Its citizens, Angela and Kristine, couldn’t get injured. Especially from a sand doll. But they were too scared, so they ran. Angela was looking for someone who could save them, and saw her parents. Her mom and dad just smiled but did nothing.

“Angela, behind you!” Kristine yelled.

The arkhat was in the air, sword high up.

“No!”

Snap, snapped some fingers. After this the arkhat crumbled into dust. He became normal sand. In front of them stood a real beauty. Her shiny emerald green hair blew a sea breeze. With one snap of a finger she made the arkhat to disappear.

“Mom…” Kristine said relieved.

“What a child,” Kristine’s mother frowned, “I told you not to cause trouble to strangers. And this is what your stubbornness led to.”

“Sorry,” Kristine answered.

“You don’t have to apologize to me. But to whom?”

She turned to Angela:

“Sorry.”

“Please forgive my daughter.”

“It’s fine,” Angela shook her head.

“Thank you. You’re a nice girl. And where are your parents?”

Angela pointed to the people, standing behind. They were still standing aside and smiling. They didn’t even budge.

Kristine’s mom sighed with regret:

“I see…”

She stroked Angela’s head.

“Grow up to be a good girl.”

Angela did not understand why she said this, but nodded her head in answer. After, Kristine’s mom examined the remains of Angela’s flowers.

“You tried so hard… We can’t leave it like this.”

She took a bit of sand and began to scatter it. It started to move, as if it gained its own will and started taking the form of flowers. Cosmos. Tulip. Anemone. The flowers, that Angela made from sand. The flowers were everywhere. Besides, they were not the colour of sand, many of them shone brightly. Before Angela’s eyes grew a real garden.

Kristine exclaimed delightedly, “That’s great. Let’s play together again somehow.”

“Ok Kristine. Now you understand how important it is to be psychologically prepared? Come here. Well, will you play some more?”

“Yep.”

There was displeasure on Kristine’s face but she couldn’t contradict her mom, so they left together. Amazed, Angela stayed at the amazing garden of sand flowers. It seemed to her, that only Kristine’s mom was capable of doing such a thing. Being too useless, she now felt embarrassed. Completely exhausted she turned around. There were here smiling parents. Only then did she realize, that these were just dolls, sent by Paradise.

Humanity reached Heaven. There is no old age, death is no longer power, you can get anything you want. Humanity got neverending freedom. But any freedom requires responsibility. For the happiness of humanity, those who fulfill their duties, receive a greater freedom. Kristine’s mom was like this, and this became Angela’s goal. For the sake of justice it will be said. In Paradise - Deva - there is no place for slackers. It is on this, that the new world holds.