Mahana feels muddy. The air seems heavy. She’s seeing double.

« It's only a mild sedative! There really is no danger! » The flight attendant is right there. Her legs look like they’re two meters high. The little girl has neither the strength nor the will to turn her head. She can only look at her in silence.

« Those things happen! The stress of boarding, the flight, it affects the behavior of children. It's just a panic attack! Call me if they wake up before landing. »

The plane is shaking. It sways like a leaf in the wind. The vibration intensifies. The passengers are on edge. It’s an old aircraft, one can tell.

« Ladies and gentlemen, we’re experiencing strong turbulence. Go back to your seats and fasten your seat belts! »

The whirring sound becomes deafening. The hull creaks. Ice cold air roars in from the vents. Plinking noises can be heard all around. The flight attendants go back and forth between the seats. They’re struggling to walk. They can be heard saying:

« Keep your seatbelt on tight! I’ll bring you a blanket right away. »

Mahana feels like everything’s in slow motion. Her head slowly turns towards the window. Ashton is lying down. She can’t tell whether he’s asleep. Everything outside is caught in a thick fog. A few flashes fill the aircraft with a gloomy blue glow.

She jumps. Her brother has just taken her hand. More turbulence; a luggage compartment snaps open. The bags tumble to the ground. The plane starts to lean very clearly to the left. Is it turning back? The strap of a cart comes off. It slides down the aisle with a terrible racket. The engines roar. The pilot went full throttle. The airplane is losing altitude.

The hull bends. Someone screams. People are starting to panic. The nose is up. Is the aircraft going up? A dull bang can be heard. A seat pulls off the ground. The air is sucked out. The roof is gone. The sky can be seen. It looks like it’s folded on itself to form an immense eye. A frightening sight. Mahana is flat on her chair. A terrible wind stings her face. Ashton squeezes her wrist. The little girl slowly turns her eyes towards him. The hull is torn like paper. A wing wavers, then explodes in thousands of fragments.

The plane is falling apart. It’s being sucked towards this strange giant eye by an unknown force. Suddenly, the seat of Ashton flies away. Here he is floating outside the aircraft, held back only by a length of metal cable. Elliot gets up. He uses the last of his strength to climb over the seat. Bravely, the boy has tightened his belt around his arm. He grabs the cable, which tears his skin. The blood spurts out. He pulls with all his strength. A thin golden aura envelops his body. Mahana can hardly think. She raises her arm to help but has no strength.

The cable breaks. Ashton is sucked away into the void. The other wing bursts. The plane starts spinning like a crazy carousel. A woman shouts. She is hysterical. Elliot grabs the girl's arm. His hand is bloody. The ground is approaching inexorably. It looks like a wall. The boy is projected back. His fingers slip. He is now in the middle of the aisle, his foot stuck under a cart. Mahana cannot do anything. The impact knocks her out. Everything becomes silent.

« Accessing memory. »

It's hot and dry. A desert stretches as far as the eye can see. The sand is black, and the sun is magenta. The little girl feels good. The wind warms his face. What is she doing here? Where did the plane go? Her body begins to move on its own. The girl no longer controls her movements. Is it a memory? She slides down a dune, a scepter in her hand. It shines with a scarlet glow. A simple gesture is enough to remove a ton of sand.

There is something below. It's the top of a huge cube. Mahana puts her palm on the surface. The object starts to glow. A mechanical noise can be heard. The ground is shaking. The thing opens like a box. It contains a tiny orb. It's so small, it seems absurd it should have been wrapped in something so big. The girl takes it. She is in an adult’s body.

« Did you find what you were looking for, your Highness? » The voice is coming of her pocket.

« It's smaller than I thought. »

« A catalyst does not need to be big. Unlike... »

« Seh. Will you shut up for a moment? »

« Yes, your Highness. »

This little object is precious. It's an artifact with fabulous power. Mahana knows she needs it for a ritual. Everything else is blurry.

« Immortality in the palm of my hand. » She breathes.

« A rather absurd quest for an Eloah. Don’t you think? »

« There is more than one form of immortality, Seh. That of the soul interests me more than that of the body. »

The memory fades. It's pain. It took her out of the vision. The little girl wakes up at the top of a tall pine tree. It’s dreadfully cold. A snowstorm is falling from the sky. An orange glow comes from all directions. It's a huge fire. The forest is burning! The plane has exploded all over the area. The girl starts shaking. She feels like even her bones are shivering.

« Mom! » She yells. Tears come to her eyes.

The wind is blowing. It covers every sound. Mahana looks up. The heavens look like they’ve been torn open. The clouds are sucked into a hole. She can’t stop feeling pain. A long metal slat is stuck in her leg. The blood is flowing out.

« Mom! I'm here! » She goes on.

The frost bite numbs her limbs. She has no choice but to get off the tree, to get close to the fire. The little girl slides along the trunk and falls atop a snowbank. It's frozen. Her injury hurts her. The poor girl has to crawl on the ground. She leaves a red trail in her wake. A hand comes to rest on her shoulder. Something strong lifts her up. It's Elliot! The boy is still alive! He holds her tight against him.

« You are... »

« Hush! Keep your strength! I will help you walk. »

The boy seems exhausted. His shoulder is bleeding. Yet his strength is exceptional. The fire is spreading. There are seats strewn all over the place. The charred corpses of the passengers are still in. Elliot puts a hand over the little girl's eyes. Nobody’s survived. He wants to spare her this sight. The temperature is a little nicer here. Their eyes sting with the smoke. The wind brings a strong smell. Kerosene, maybe.

The child collapses in the snow. His injury is getting worse. The blood flows abundantly. A small, thick red puddle has formed on the ground.

« You won’t die. I promise. » He breathes. The boy grabs some snow and squeezes it against her wound. It turns crimson. He smiles. His hands are shivering. His skin has become pale.

The girl wants to help him, but her body does not react. Her injury doesn’t look good either. Elliot takes her hand and squeezes it between his fingers:

« You don’t remember anything, do you? » Mahana does not know what to answer. The images that come to her don’t make sense. Are these really memories? Maybe she’s gone insane with pain.

« Why did you come back? You’re playing a dangerous game. »

« I don’t understand a thing you’re saying... » The little girl stares at him with a look full of innocence. Elliot sighs:

« That’s okay. »

A golden aura flares over his skin. The little girl does not react. This image looks familiar. Her pain disappears. The piece of metal comes out of her leg and falls. Mahana notices that a scarlet halo has enveloped her skin. She feels good. Elliot's wound closes.

« Your enlightenment has begun. It's too early! I'm going to do something to stop it for a few years. »

He puts his palm on her forehead. A sharp pain runs through the little girl’s spine. The earth is suddenly cracking apart. Some trees fall. A voice screams inside her skull. The girl resists, but Elliot does not move. Thousands of images follow each other in her head. Nothing makes sense anymore. She is taken to a different place each time. The ground bursts. The little girl feels like she’s everywhere in the universe at the same time. She can see cohorts of people living their lives. There are so many they can’t be counted. They all talk at the same time. The comedown is brutal.

« Everything will be all right. The process will resume when you’re older. »

The little girl collapses. She's shaking. Her aura dissipates. The poor child feels like someone just ripped an organ out of her. He kisses her on the forehead and walks away. She grabs his pants.

« El... wait... » The girl descends into unconsciousness.

« Soon you won’t remember a thing. It will be better. »

He disappears between the trees. The little girl's eyes close. Time passes, but how much?

« Over here! I’ve found a survivor! She’s still breathing! »

The rescuers found Mahana in hypothermia a few hours after the crash. The little girl is unscathed. A true miracle. She is the only one to have survived. A great many passengers died in the incident; the few survivors swept away by the Canadian cold. The girl woke up in a Calgary hospital; the last thing she remembered was the morning of her departure.

She was informed of the death of her brother and her parents. A few days later, the Canadian authorities sent her back to her aunt. The airline offered a nice amount of money to her family to keep the whole thing under wraps. The television remained very interested in the leader of rescue team for quite some time. A man who used to be cynical, but who suddenly became a priest after the incident. He kept telling the same story to anyone who’d listen. Something guided him to this little girl, whom he discovered enveloped in a halo of golden light. A disembodied voice told him then:

« Save her! »