II.4 — различия между версиями

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(не показано 14 промежуточных версий этого же участника)
Строка 15: Строка 15:
  
 
{{Quotation|''Bélénor Nébius, narrator''|
 
{{Quotation|''Bélénor Nébius, narrator''|
:"''Listen to me, I'm the Sacred Warrior, sent by the Kamis to gather the survivors! You must trust me!"
+
:''"Listen to me, I'm the Sacred Warrior, sent by the Kamis to gather the survivors! You must trust me!"
  
:"''I won't say it again, go away! No matter what you say, I know exactly who you are. I don't want anything to do with you, so leave us alone!"
+
:''"I won't say it again, go away! No matter what you say, I know exactly who you are. I don't want anything to do with you, so leave us alone!"
  
 
Dejected, Pü stared at the Zoraï. Standing with arms outstretched and palms turned backwards, she was shielding with her body the hollow of the tree in which her children seemed to be hidden. Pü, who had never seen children since the beginning of the invasion, could hear their sobs.
 
Dejected, Pü stared at the Zoraï. Standing with arms outstretched and palms turned backwards, she was shielding with her body the hollow of the tree in which her children seemed to be hidden. Pü, who had never seen children since the beginning of the invasion, could hear their sobs.
  
:"''But I alone am able to protect you! Don't think that all the kitins wandering the surrounding area as harmless as the placid harvesters who busy themselves on the surrounding hills. I've fought patrols of far more dangerous insects, whiche specifically hunt isolated homins! They operate in small groups of five or six, and can be distinguished by their green and white carapace and elongated abdomen, similar to the tail of a scorpion. By the time you see them, it'll already be too late to react!"
+
:''"But I alone am able to protect you! Don't think that all the kitins wandering the surrounding area as harmless as the placid harvesters who busy themselves on the surrounding hills. I've fought patrols of far more dangerous insects, whiche specifically hunt isolated homins! They operate in small groups of five or six, and can be distinguished by their green and white carapace and elongated abdomen, similar to the tail of a scorpion. By the time you see them, it'll already be too late to react!"
  
 
Seeing the terror spring up in the Zoraï's eyes, Pü realised he had said the word too many. He had failed. He had failed again. For this was not the first group of survivors he had encountered since leaving the Eternal Garden two months ago. On his travels, he had discovered that many Zoraïs had taken refuge at the top of the great doraos that populated the region, places inaccessible to most kitins. The first time he found himself mask-to-mask with one of them, he was overcome by an excitement he hadn't felt for a long time. It had to be said that in the three years he had spent at the Kami's side, he had never met another homin. So, although he had been deeply absorbed in his training during this period, he had sometimes felt a crushing loneliness, often exacerbated by his suicidal crises. Of course, the Kami was always present at his side. But unlike a human, or even a pet, the Kami was not there to converse, take an interest in him, or offer him companionship and affection: his sole mission was to prepare the Sacred Warrior for the glorious destiny that awaited him. Their relationship was therefore limited to a precise objective that Pü found difficult to adhere to, and the Kami, by remaining mysterious, proved ''de facto'' inaccessible. Fortunately, although in her own enigmatic way, the Voice had always been present and had persevered in her efforts to brighten up these lonely days.
 
Seeing the terror spring up in the Zoraï's eyes, Pü realised he had said the word too many. He had failed. He had failed again. For this was not the first group of survivors he had encountered since leaving the Eternal Garden two months ago. On his travels, he had discovered that many Zoraïs had taken refuge at the top of the great doraos that populated the region, places inaccessible to most kitins. The first time he found himself mask-to-mask with one of them, he was overcome by an excitement he hadn't felt for a long time. It had to be said that in the three years he had spent at the Kami's side, he had never met another homin. So, although he had been deeply absorbed in his training during this period, he had sometimes felt a crushing loneliness, often exacerbated by his suicidal crises. Of course, the Kami was always present at his side. But unlike a human, or even a pet, the Kami was not there to converse, take an interest in him, or offer him companionship and affection: his sole mission was to prepare the Sacred Warrior for the glorious destiny that awaited him. Their relationship was therefore limited to a precise objective that Pü found difficult to adhere to, and the Kami, by remaining mysterious, proved ''de facto'' inaccessible. Fortunately, although in her own enigmatic way, the Voice had always been present and had persevered in her efforts to brighten up these lonely days.
Строка 27: Строка 27:
 
So, exalted by this first encounter, Pü thought he could impress these survivors by showing them his new magical abilities. After all, his training had proved effective: difficult though it had been, he had indeed managed to defeat several patrols of kitins, alone, whereas two years earlier, before his encounter with the Kami, he could only flee from them. Unfortunately, his superhomin power had also intensified the fear these Zorais felt towards him: his black mask, whose significance was known even in these regions far from his native stock, terrified them. The central government's propaganda had clearly born fruit. To top it all off, Pü was cruelly lacking in conviction. Not believing himself in the destiny promised to him, he found himself quite unable of convincing anyone. At times, he even felt he was sabotaging himself.
 
So, exalted by this first encounter, Pü thought he could impress these survivors by showing them his new magical abilities. After all, his training had proved effective: difficult though it had been, he had indeed managed to defeat several patrols of kitins, alone, whereas two years earlier, before his encounter with the Kami, he could only flee from them. Unfortunately, his superhomin power had also intensified the fear these Zorais felt towards him: his black mask, whose significance was known even in these regions far from his native stock, terrified them. The central government's propaganda had clearly born fruit. To top it all off, Pü was cruelly lacking in conviction. Not believing himself in the destiny promised to him, he found himself quite unable of convincing anyone. At times, he even felt he was sabotaging himself.
  
:"''You're monstrous! screamed the homina, as her children's sobs burst into tears. Go away! Leave us alone!"
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:''"You're monstrous! screamed the homina, as her children's sobs burst into tears. Go away! Leave us alone!"
  
 
Pü lowered his mask in defeat.
 
Pü lowered his mask in defeat.
  
:"''Fine. As you wish. I'm going further west to look for other survivors. I will make sure I come back around here in a few weeks. Remain cautious, and bear in mind that the heights of the trees offer only relative safety: the flying kitins are on the prowl and can attack both at ground level and at altitude."
+
:''"Fine. As you wish. I'm going further west to look for other survivors. I will make sure I come back around here in a few weeks. Remain cautious, and bear in mind that the heights of the trees offer only relative safety: the flying kitins are on the prowl and can attack both at ground level and at altitude."
  
 
Pü bowed briefly and jumped from the branch on which the makeshift camp was set up.
 
Pü bowed briefly and jumped from the branch on which the makeshift camp was set up.
 
   
 
   
:"''Don't despair, my boy. I firmly believe that one day soon, some people will be able to see the kind-hearted homin who hides behind that black mask. For deep within your being lies an enlightened soul who wants only the good of his neighbour. I've seen it."
+
:''"Don't despair, my boy. I firmly believe that one day soon, some people will be able to see the kind-hearted homin who hides behind that black mask. For deep within your being lies an enlightened soul who wants only the good of his neighbour. I've seen it."
  
 
Pü nurtured the hope that the Voice was right. Ever since he left the Eternal Garden, he had seen himself as a liberator, travelling around Atys not to spread the faith in Ma-Duk and wage the Sacred War, but to seek out and gather the survivors of the catastrophe, to protect them from the kitins. Admittedly, before his departure, the Voice had assured him that the Black Kami's will was not to interfere in his decisions, and had therefore strongly encouraged him to follow what his heart dictated. However, after discussing this at length with her, Pü had begun to suspect that the Kami's commitment concerned only choices about the manner in which the Sacred War was to be waged. Perhaps by repeating that he was free to fight this battle in his own way, the divine creature was subtly confirming that he was inevitably obliged to fight it. Uncertain of what the Kami would think of his desire to lead his life differently, and aware of his ability to observe him from a distance, Pü had chosen to hide his true convictions from the homins he had met so far. And in secret, he had simply allowed himself to dream… Saddened by this latest setback, but as resolute as ever, Pü didn't waste a moment and firmly grabbed the first vine within his reach as soon as he landed on the branch below the one hosting the family. Without any further ado, he set off westwards, deeper into the depths of the Shrouded Jungle.
 
Pü nurtured the hope that the Voice was right. Ever since he left the Eternal Garden, he had seen himself as a liberator, travelling around Atys not to spread the faith in Ma-Duk and wage the Sacred War, but to seek out and gather the survivors of the catastrophe, to protect them from the kitins. Admittedly, before his departure, the Voice had assured him that the Black Kami's will was not to interfere in his decisions, and had therefore strongly encouraged him to follow what his heart dictated. However, after discussing this at length with her, Pü had begun to suspect that the Kami's commitment concerned only choices about the manner in which the Sacred War was to be waged. Perhaps by repeating that he was free to fight this battle in his own way, the divine creature was subtly confirming that he was inevitably obliged to fight it. Uncertain of what the Kami would think of his desire to lead his life differently, and aware of his ability to observe him from a distance, Pü had chosen to hide his true convictions from the homins he had met so far. And in secret, he had simply allowed himself to dream… Saddened by this latest setback, but as resolute as ever, Pü didn't waste a moment and firmly grabbed the first vine within his reach as soon as he landed on the branch below the one hosting the family. Without any further ado, he set off westwards, deeper into the depths of the Shrouded Jungle.
  
The Dark Jungle was the area of Zoraï country least familiar to the young Zoraï. Located in the north-west, this region owed its name to the colossal shadow cast by the Great Mountain. It was said that its summit, connected to the network of celestial roots running across the skies of Atys, could be seen from the Dragon's Backbone and the Munshia Plateau, situated at the northernmost reaches of the inhabited world. This exceptional size made it difficult for the rays of the Day Star, always at its zenith, to reach the base of the colossal root structure, and explained the tendency of the Zoraïs in the area to suffer from melancholy. As Pü drew closer to its flank, from which he was now only a few dozen kilometres away, his visual horizon was effectively swallowed up by the immense shadow. But for him the weight of sadness was not greater than it usually was. Having spent his childhood in the dark depths of a felled sky-tree stump, Pü found this environment strangely familiar. Almost too familiar for his comfort. On leaving the Eternal Garden, he had planned to head south-west, to search for survivors around the city of Taï-Toon. However, having grown up in this region, he had rejected this very idea. It would have taken him too close to the ancestral stump, which he now saw as a mausoleum. He would visit Taï-Toon another time. He then imagined returning to Zoran. However, knowing that the town might still be inhabited by the Antekami, from whom he had wrested the Black Kami, he thought it unlikely that he would be able to persuade them to follow him. Nor had he any desire to do so. So he set his sights on the most westerly city in the country: Zu-Galam.
+
The Shrouded Jungle was the area of Zoraï country least familiar to the young Zoraï. Located in the north-west, this region owed its name to the colossal shadow cast by the Great Mountain. It was said that its summit, connected to the network of celestial roots running across the skies of Atys, could be seen from the Dragon's Backbone and the Munshia Plateau, situated at the northernmost reaches of the inhabited world. This exceptional size made it difficult for the rays of the Day Star, always at its zenith, to reach the base of the colossal root structure, and explained the tendency of the Zoraïs in the area to suffer from melancholy. As Pü drew closer to its flank, from which he was now only a few dozen kilometres away, his visual horizon was effectively swallowed up by the immense shadow. But for him the weight of sadness was not greater than it usually was. Having spent his childhood in the dark depths of a felled sky-tree stump, Pü found this environment strangely familiar. Almost too familiar for his comfort. On leaving the Eternal Garden, he had planned to head south-west, to search for survivors around the city of Taï-Toon. However, having grown up in this region, he had rejected this very idea. It would have taken him too close to the ancestral stump, which he now saw as a mausoleum. He would visit Taï-Toon another time. He then imagined returning to Zoran. However, knowing that the town might still be inhabited by the Antekami, from whom he had wrested the Black Kami, he thought it unlikely that he would be able to persuade them to follow him. Nor had he any desire to do so. So he set his sights on the most westerly city in the country: Zu-Galam.
  
Erected on the eastern slope of the Great Mountain, precisely where the Ti-aïn gushed forth, Zu-Galam stood as the most imposing homin fortress in the region. In spite of this, its size hardly distinguished it from the many small towns lining the shores of the vast Temples Lake, and it was far from rivalling Zoran and Taï-Toon. In short, its size was in keeping with the modest population of the Dark Jungle. Zu-Galam, on the other hand, enjoyed national renown, due to the perpetual deposit of exceptional raw materials it harboured, coming from the depths of Atys and rising to the surface through the mountain's veins. The source of the Ti-aïn, which took the form of an impressive waterfall a hundred metres wide, split the town in two and snaked through an imposing system of suspended nets. These nets, of varying mesh sizes, were strategically placed to collect the resources generously offered by the Kamis through the flow of water: fragments of precious amber, indestructible fibres, pieces of ancient bark and valuable seeds. As for the vegetable oils mixed with the water, they were separated by a decantation dam further downstream. Once cleaned and sorted, the resources were transported to Zoran in long river convoys.
+
Erected on the eastern slope of the Great Mountain, precisely where the Ti-aïn gushed forth, Zu-Galam stood as the most imposing homin fortress in the region. In spite of this, its size hardly distinguished it from the many small towns lining the shores of the vast Temples Lake, and it was far from rivalling Zoran and Taï-Toon. In short, its size was in keeping with the modest population of the Shrouded Jungle. Zu-Galam, on the other hand, enjoyed national renown, due to the perpetual deposit of exceptional raw materials it harboured, coming from the depths of Atys and rising to the surface through the mountain's veins. The source of the Ti-aïn, which took the form of an impressive waterfall a hundred metres wide, split the town in two and snaked through an imposing system of suspended nets. These nets, of varying mesh sizes, were strategically placed to collect the resources generously offered by the Kamis through the flow of water: fragments of precious amber, indestructible fibres, pieces of ancient bark and valuable seeds. As for the vegetable oils mixed with the water, they were separated by a decantation dam further downstream. Once cleaned and sorted, the resources were transported to Zoran in long river convoys.
{{WIP}}
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Pü, qui remontait en ce moment-même les berges du Ti-aïn en s’élançant de liane en liane, aperçut deux épaves. Curieux, il s’arrêta pour les observer. Renversées et bloquant le fleuve dans une section peu profonde, les péniches échouées entravaient le flux naturel de l'eau, dont les reflets huileux et iridescents trahissaient l'effondrement du barrage de Zu-Galam. Et tandis qu’il portait son regard en amont du fleuve coloré, d’autres épaves lui apparurent, plus nombreuses encore. En cet instant, elles représentaient autant de réminiscences du désastre passé que de balises vers sa destination à venir.
+
Pü, who was just heading up the banks of the Ti-aïn, darting from vine to vine, noticed two wrecks. Curious, he stopped to look at them. Upside down and blocking the river in a shallow section, the stranded barges impeded the natural flow of water, whose oily, iridescent sheen betrayed the collapse of the Zu-Galam dam. And as he looked upstream at the coloured river, other wrecks appeared, even more numerous. At that moment, they were as much reminders of the past disaster as beacons pointing the way toward his future destination.
 
<center>[[file:Sep-chap-2-3-8.png|40px]]</center>
 
<center>[[file:Sep-chap-2-3-8.png|40px]]</center>
Sur la route de Zu-Galam, Pü s'était représenté plusieurs états différents dans lesquels la cité pourrait se présenter à lui, envisageant divers scénarios. Celui qui dominait ses pensées était inspiré par ce qu'il avait vu de Zoran : une ville ravagée par les kitins et les bombardements de la Karavan, mais encore peuplée de survivants qu'il aspirait à rassembler. Aucun d’entre eux, cependant, ne l’avait préparé à affronter l'horreur du spectacle qui s'offrit à lui lorsqu'il écarta le feuillage de la branche où il se tenait.
+
On the way to Zu-Galam, Pü had pictured several different states in which the city might present itself to him, envisaging various scenarios. The one that dominated his thoughts was inspired by what he had seen of Zoran: a city ravaged by kitins and Karavan bombardments, but still populated by survivors whom he aspired to bring together. None of them, however, had prepared him for the horror of the sight that befell him as he pushed aside the foliage of the branch he was standing on.
 +
 
 +
Just a few hundred metres away, the once majestic citadel of Zu-Galam, set against the Great Mountain, seemed to have turned into an incessant teeming of legs and thorns: the monstrous creatures had taken possession of the valley and had set up one of their nests in the troglodyte city. Although Pü had already observed kitins' nests over the past three years, he had never seen these creatures settle in a homin city. However, having already witnessed the manoeuvres of the insectoid harvesting armies, he immediately understood why the kitins had settled there: it was to mine the inexhaustible deposit of raw materials present. The idea of an invasion motivated by the theft of surface resources, which had seemed far-fetched to him at the time, had become increasingly plausible over the months, and was now the most convincing explanation. Naturally, during the three years he had spent with the Black Kami, Pü had had the opportunity to question him about the reasons for the invasion. However, the divine creature didn't know the answer. Unless she simply refused to give it to him.
 +
 
 +
Keen to get closer to the nest so he could get a better look at it, Pü swept his eyes over the valley, looking for the safest route to adopt. But immersed in the darkness, it was difficult to plan anything. True, the thousands of moving chitinous carapaces reflected the rare rays of the Day Star that lit up the region, making it possible to make out the city from relatively far away. But this was not enough. So the Zoraï closed his eyes, regulated his breath and concentrated on his immediate surroundings. The ambient buzzing suggested numerous kitins were flying over the valley. Projecting his new sense beyond the foliage, Pü easily recognised the signature of the abominable fire-breathing dragonflies, the same ones that had initiated the attack on his family stump three years earlier, and which he had fought on many occasions since. Present in large numbers, they moved back and forth between the edge of the jungle and Zu-Galam.
 +
 
 +
Since he had developed his new sense, Pü had had the opportunity to probe the jungle from top to bottom. He had come to recognise the way sap circulated in the bodies of the different organisms that populated it, and to classify them according to the density of the flow. For the time being, he had identified three main categories: Kamis, characterised by an extremely dense flow, flora and fauna, whose flow was dense, and homins and kitins, endowed with a less dense flow. This classification, established empirically, surprised him at first. Indeed, knowing that all homins were capable of practising magic innately, unlike many species of animals and plants, he had assumed that they would have a profile close to that of the Kamis. These observations led him to re-evaluate many of the prejudices he had held about other species on Atys, as well as the true nature of what a “magical manifestation” could be. As for the kitins, he was still struggling to understand why their profile was so similar to that of homins, when so many factors seemed to distinguish them…
 +
 
 +
Pü, whose attention was now entirely focused on the flying kitins, tried to delve into the matter. Unfortunately, his train of thought was interrupted by a muffled, sizzling, monotone voice which emerged straight from nothingness.
  
À quelques centaines de mètres de lui seulement, auparavant majestueuse citadelle dressée contre la Grande Montagne, Zu-Galam semblait s’être muée un grouillement incessant de pattes et d’épines : les monstrueuses créatures avaient pris possession de la vallée et avaient établi un de leurs nid dans la cité troglodyte. Bien que Pü eût déjà observé des nids de kitins au cours des trois années passées, jamais il n'avait vu ces créatures s’installer dans une cité homine. Toutefois, ayant déjà assisté aux manœuvres des armées de récolteurs insectoïdes, il saisit immédiatement pourquoi les kitins s'étaient implantés là : c’était pour exploiter le gisement inépuisable de matières premières présent. L'idée d'une invasion motivée par le vol des ressources de la surface, qui lui avait paru farfelue à l’époque, avait acquis une plausibilité croissante au fil des mois, jusqu'à devenir aujourd'hui l'explication la plus convaincante. Naturellement, durant les trois années passées auprès du Kami Noir, Pü avait eu l'occasion de le questionner sur les raisons de l'invasion. Cependant, la créature divine ignorait la réponse. À moins qu’elle ne refuse simplement de lui révéler la vérité.
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:''"Follow me."
  
Désirant se rapprocher du nid afin de mieux l’observer, Pü balaya la vallée du regard, à la recherche de l'itinéraire le plus sûr à suivre. Mais ainsi plongé dans l'obscurité, il était difficile de planifier quoi que ce soit. Certes, les milliers de carapaces chitineuses en mouvement reflétaient les rares rayons de l’Astre de Jour qui éclairaient la région, permettant de distinguer la cité de relativement loin. Mais ce n’était pas suffisant. Alors le Zoraï ferma les yeux, régula sa respiration, et se concentra sur son environnement immédiat. Le bourdonnement ambiant indiquait que de nombreux kitins survolaient la vallée. Projetant son nouveau sens par delà le feuillage, Pu reconnut sans mal la signature des abominables libellules cracheuses de feu, celles-là même qui avaient initié l’attaque de la souche familiale trois ans auparavant, et qu’il avait combattu à maintes reprises depuis. Présentes en nombre, elles faisaient des allers-retours entre la lisière de la jungle et Zu-Galam.
+
With a start, Pü opened his eyes again. A fourth category was then added to his classification: a Karavan female agent, floating in the void at his height, was now standing in front of him. A multitude of questions immediately sprang to his mind. What could this agent possibly want of him? How had she spotted him? What threat did she represent? Had he become powerful enough to oppose her? And above all, why was there no flow of Sap circulating inside her body, making her completely invisible to his new sense? Pü, who had never had the opportunity to observe so closely an agent, didn't let himself be overwhelmed by more questions. He was immediately captivated by the hominoid entity, the embodiment of the absolute enemy in his culture. His eyes scrutinised the all-black jumpsuit, which hinted at feminine forms without revealing a single square centimetre of skin. The helmet enveloping her head, consisting of a wide white visor and a breathing mask, was concealed beneath a hood. Finally, a black veil draped around her hips resembled a short cape. The whole suit of armour was considerably worn, marked by numerous traces of impact and dirt scattered here and there.
  
Depuis qu’il avait développé son nouveau sens, Pü avait eu l’occasion de sonder la jungle de long en large. Il en était arrivé à reconnaître la manière dont la Sève circulait dans le corps des différents organismes qui la peuplaient, et à les classer selon la densité du flux. Pour l’heure, il avait identifié trois grandes catégories : les Kamis, caractérisés par un flux extrêmement dense, la flore et les animaux, présentant un flux dense, puis les homins et les kitins, dotés d'un flux peu dense. Cette classification, établie de manière empirique, l’avait tout d’abord surpris. En effet, sachant que tous les homins étaient capables de pratiquer la magie de façon innée, contrairement à beaucoup d’espèces d’animaux et de plantes, il avait supposé qu'ils auraient un profil proche de celui des Kamis. Ces observations l'avaient amené à réévaluer bon nombre de préjugés qu'il entretenait à l'égard des autres espèces d'Atys, ainsi que sur la nature véritable de ce que pouvait être une « manifestation magique ». Quant aux kitins, il peinait toujours à comprendre pourquoi leur profil était si proche de celui des homins, alors que tant de facteurs semblaient les distinguer…
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No doubt waiting for an answer, the agent moved forward slightly. Instinctively, the Zoraï's left hand moved to the hilt of his sword. Serene, the agent repeated herself, offering Pü the chance to experience something his parents had already told him about.
  
Pü, dont l'attention était désormais entièrement focalisée sur les kitins volants, essaya de creuser la question. Malheureusement, il fut interrompu par une voix étouffée, grésillante et monocorde, sortie tout droit du néant.
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:''"I said, follow me!"
  
« Suivez-moi. »
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Her command flapped the back of the Zorai's skull, nearly causing him to lose his balance and fall from his branch. The agent now exuded an aura that was both threatening and fascinating, exerting a psychic pressure on his mind. Although this was the first time Pü experienced a mental attack from an agent, as a Black Warrior of Ma-Duk, he had been trained from childhood to resist such psychic manipulations through long sessions of meditation. Or at least to minimise their impact and quickly regain control, should he ever be confronted by an agent. However, he was aware that a simple homin could not resist one of them indefinitely. But since his encounter with the Kami, he was no longer a simple homin…
  
Dans un sursaut, Pü rouvrit les yeux. Une quatrième catégorie s’ajouta alors à sa classification : une agente de la Karavan, flottant dans le vide à sa hauteur, se tenait désormais devant lui. Une multitude de questions surgirent aussitôt dans son esprit. Que pouvait bien lui vouloir cette agente ? Comment l'avait-elle repéré ? Quelle menace représentait-elle ? Était-il devenu suffisamment puissant pour s'opposer à elle ? Et surtout, pourquoi aucun flux de Sève ne circulait-il à l'intérieur de son corps, la rendant ainsi totalement invisible à son nouveau sens ? Pü, qui n’avait jamais eu l’opportunité d'observer un agent d'aussi près, ne se laissa pas submerger par plus de questions. Il fut immédiatement captivé par l'entité hominoïde, incarnant l'ennemi absolu dans sa culture. Ses yeux scrutèrent attentivement la combinaison entièrement noire, qui laissait deviner des formes féminines sans révéler le moindre centimètre carré de peau. Le casque enveloppant sa tête, composé d’une large visière blanche et d'un masque respiratoire, était dissimulé sous une capuche. Enfin, un voile noir drapé au niveau des fesses de l’agent évoquait une sorte de courte cape. L'ensemble de l'armure était considérablement usé, marqué par de nombreuses traces d'impacts et de saletés disséminées çà et là.
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:''"My boy, at this particular moment, I think it appropriate to advise you to cooperate. You don't know what this agent's plans are, and it's unlikely that you'll be able to escape her if she insists that you accompany her. As for considering attacking her, I urge you not to even consider such an option."
  
Sans doute dans l'attente d'une réponse, l'agent avança légèrement. Instinctivement, la main gauche du Zoraï se dirigea vers le manche de son épée. Sereine, l’agente se répéta, offrant à Pü l'occasion de vivre une expérience dont ses parents lui avaient déjà parlé.
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Pü stared at the agent's visor for a few moments, then released the hilt of his sword. One day, he would put his new skills to the test against the Karavan. But that day had not yet come.
  
« J’ai dit, suivez-moi ! »
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:''"Right, I'll follow you."
  
Son ordre claqua au fond du crâne du Zoraï, au point qu’il manqua de perdre l’équilibre et de chuter de sa branche. L'agente dégageait désormais une aura à la fois menaçante et fascinante, exerçant une pression psychique sur son esprit. Bien que ce fût la première fois que faisait l'expérience d'une attaque mentale d'un agent, en tant que Guerrier Noir de Ma-Duk, il avait été formé dès son enfance à résister à ces manipulations psychiques grâce à de longues séances de méditation. Ou du moins à minimiser les dégâts et à reprendre rapidement le contrôle, dans l'éventualité où il serait confronté un jour à un agent. Cependant, il était conscient qu'un simple homin ne pouvait résister indéfiniment à l’un d’entre eux. Mais depuis sa rencontre avec le Kami, il n’était plus un simple homin…
+
The agent dropped down in altitude and beckoned Pü to join her. He obeyed and calmly climbed down from the dorao on which he was perched. Once on the ground, he realised that being two metres tall, he towered over the agent by several heads. Then he remembered that when in his original form, the Black Kami was even much smaller… Without uttering a word, the agent headed south, walking along the edge of the jungle. Pü, also silent, followed her. On the way, he had another opportunity to examine her in detail: in the end, although there was no Sap flowing through her body, she was for all that not undetectable. The Sap, after all, permeated everything on Atys, including the air. But, as nothing seemed to be able to penetrate the agent's armour, it can be seen as an intense dark spot lost in the middle of an ocean of light. Pü confirmed his observations when he reached his destination, where four other specks of darkness were chatting. They were all standing in front of a strange teardrop-shaped device. Fifteen metres long and five metres at its most bulbous point, this vehicle, which Pü had already observed flying at a distance, was endowed with numerous technological attachments whose function he ignored. It also had side doors, one of which was open at the time. It was the first time Pü was seeing one of Karavan's infernal flying machines at such close proximity.
  
« Mon garçon, en ce moment précis, il me semble opportun de vous conseiller la coopération. Vous ignorez les desseins de cette agente, et il est peu probable que vous puissiez lui échapper si elle insiste pour que vous l'accompagniez. Quant à envisager de l'attaquer, je vous exhorte à ne pas même envisager une telle option. »
+
But something else caught his eye. One of the agents, again a female, was wearing a black and yellow suit of armour, which was also dirty and damaged. Although Karavan armour and devices were generally black, her mother had taught him that certain specialised individuals wore other colours. According to her knowledge, if accurate, the agents dressed in yellow belonged to the Karavan's intelligence corps, responsible for monitoring and exploring Atys. It was rare to come across them. When the agents finally turned towards Pü, he, despite having been trained to have no fear of anything, couldn't help but swallow. If he thought he had a chance against a lone agent, whatever the Voice said, he knew there was nothing he could do against five of them. Neither fight nor flight.
  
fixa quelques instants la visière de l’agente, puis relâcha la poignée de son épée. Un jour, il mettrait à l'épreuve ses nouvelles capacités contre la Karavan. Mais ce jour n'était pas encore venu.
+
Still silent, observed the five white visors. In a moment of sudden clarity, he remembered the words of Zunak, the antekami leader he had met at Zoran. If the story Zunak had told him was true, he had seen the face of an agent who had been seriously wounded in battle, just after the swarm had ravaged the City-Temple. It was a face that was familiar to him, but which did not correspond to any known homin species. He had also revealed that the agent had immediately begun to suffocate and spit blood once his helmet had been removed, and that his face had rapidly decomposed afterwards. These details, if true, would explain why the agents wore such armour and why there was no flow of Sap circulating through their bodies: unlike all other organisms on Atys, the Sap was toxic to them. This reinforced the theory that the Karavan was extratysian in origin and gave Pü a strategy for attack: if he ever had to face an agent, his best chance would be to succeed in piercing his armour.
  
« Bien, je vous suis. »
+
The agent in yellow, who had just picked up an object through the side door of the vehicle, moved towards its bulging end and beckoned Pü to come closer. The unusual object she was holding out to him consisted of two identical black tubes connected by a hinge.
  
L'agente diminua son altitude et fit signe à Pü de la rejoindre. Il obéit et descendit calmement du dorao sur lequel il était perché. Une fois au sol, il réalisa qu'avec ses deux mètres de hauteur, il dépassait l'agente de plusieurs têtes. Il se rappela ensuite que lorsqu’il revétait sa forme originelle, le Kami Noir était bien plus petit encore... Sans prononcer un mot, l’agente se dirigea ensuite vers le sud, marchant le long de la lisière de la jungle. Pü, également silencieux, la suivit. Sur le chemin, il eut de nouveau l'occasion de l’examiner en détail : finalement, bien que son corps ne fût traversé par aucun flux de Sève, elle n'en demeurait pas indétectable pour autant. La Sève, après tout, imprégnait tout Atys, y compris l'air. Or, rien ne semblait pouvoir pénétrer l'armure de l'agente, la transformant en une intense tache sombre perdue au milieu d’un océan de lumière. Pü confirma ses observations lorsqu’il arriva à destination, où quatre autres taches de ténèbres étaient en train de discuter. Toutes se tenaient devant un étrange engin évoquant la forme d'une larme. Mesurant quinze mètres de long et cinq mètres dans son extrémité la plus bombée, ce véhicule, que Pü avait déjà observé voler à distance, était pourvu de nombreuses excroissances technologiques dont il ignorait la fonction. Il disposait également de portes latérales, l'une d'elles étant ouverte à ce moment. C'était la première fois que Pü voyait de si près l’une des infernales machines volantes de la Karavan.
+
:''"Take this, on this side. You have to look through it towards Zu-Galam. I need your eyes."
  
Néanmoins, quelque chose d'autre attira son regard. L’un des agents, une femme encore, portait une armure noire et jaune, elle aussi sale et abimée. Bien que les armures et les engins de la Karavan fussent généralement de couleur noire, sa mère lui avait enseigné que certains individus spécialisés arboraient d'autres couleurs. Selon ses connaissances, pour autant qu'elles soient exactes, les agents vêtus de jaune appartenaient au corps de renseignement de la Karavan, chargés de surveiller et d'explorer Atys. Il était rare d’en croiser. Lorsque les agents se retournèrent finalement vers , lui qui avait pourtant été entraîné à n’avoir peur de rien, ne put s’empêcher de déglutir. S’il estimait avoir ses chances face à un agent isolé, quoi qu’en dise la Voix, il savait ne rien pouvoir faire contre cinq d’entre eux. Ni combattre, ni fuir.
+
Wary, but compelled, Pü took the object. It was light and cold. Each tube bore at its end a lens made of a particularly clear amber, allowing it to be seen through.
  
Toujours silencieux, Pü observa les cinq visières blanches. Dans un moment de clarté soudaine, il se souvint alors des paroles de Zunak, le chef antékami rencontré à Zoran. Si l'histoire qu’il lui avait racontée était vraie, il avait eu l'occasion de voir le visage d'un agent gravement blessé au combat, juste après que l'essaim eut ravagé la Cité-Temple. Un visage qui lui était à la fois familier, mais qui ne correspondait à aucune des espèces homines connues. Il lui avait aussi révélé que l'agent avait immédiatement commencé à suffoquer et à cracher du sang une fois son casque enlevé, et que son visage s'était rapidement décomposé par la suite. Ces détails, s’ils étaient vrais, expliqueraient pourquoi les agents portaient de telles armures et pourquoi aucun flux de Sève ne circulait dans leur corps : contrairement à tous les autres organismes d'Atys, la Sève était toxique pour eux. Ceci renforçait la théorie selon laquelle la Karavan était d'origine extratysienne et offrait à Pü une stratégie d'attaque : si jamais il devait affronter un agent, sa meilleure chance résiderait dans le fait de réussir à percer son armure.
+
:''"You can increase the gap between the two tubes by turning the notched circle between them.... Yes, like that."
  
L’agente en jaune, qui venait de ramasser un objet au travers de la porte latérale du véhicule, se dirigea vers son extrémité bombée puis fit signe à Pü de s’approcher. L'objet insolite qu’elle lui tendait se composait de deux tubes noirs identiques reliés par une charnière.
+
Pü adjusted the tubes to the distance between his eyes before pressing the device against his mask. At first, everything he saw was blurred. Then the object made a slight sizzling sound and automatically adjusted itself to his vision. The Zoraï was surprised to realise that he could now observe Zu-Galam as if he were standing right next to it, in full daylight. The agent then took an object no bigger than a finger out of one of her pockets, from which a red beam emanated. She leaned to one side and pointed the object at the city.
  
« Prends ça, de ce côté-ci. Tu devras regarder au travers en direction de Zu-Galam. J'ai besoin de tes yeux. »
+
:''"Good. I'll guide you. Look at the southern gates of the city, outside the walls, near the slope of the Great Mountain. You should see a red dot of light. I'd like you to tell me which of these tunnels lead to the underground levels of Zu-Galam. We'd like to get in there and plant a bomb to kill the kitin queen dwelling there. Our surveying equipment is out of order, so we need information from a local resident."
  
Méfiant, mais contraint, Pü prit l’objet. Il était léger et froid. Chaque tube possédait à ses extrémités une lentille faite d’une ambre particulièrement claire, qui permettait de regarder au travers.
+
At these words, Pü mentally prepared to inform the agent that he was not from the area and therefore could not help. Instead, he stopped dead in his tracks. There, in the teeming hustle and bustle of the kitins, on the heights of Zu-Galam, a specimen larger than its fellows caught his eye. If its carapace twinkled with shades of blue and orange, it was above all its legs that singled it out. For he was missing one. It was it.
« Tu peux augmenter l’écart entre les deux tubes en faisant tourner le cercle cranté situé entre eux. Oui, comme ça. »
 
Pü ajusta l'appareil à l'écartement de ses yeux avant de le presser contre son masque. Au début, tout ce qu'il voyait était flou. Puis l'objet émit un léger grésillement et s'ajusta automatiquement à sa vision. Le Zoraï fut surpris de se rendre compte qu’il pouvait désormais observer Zu-Galam comme s'il se tenait juste à côté, en pleine lumière du jour. L'agente sortit ensuite un objet pas plus grand qu’un doigt d’une de ses poches, d'où émanait un faisceau rouge. Elle se pencha sur le côté et pointa l’objet vers la cité.
 
« Bien. Je vais te guider. Observe les portes sud de la cité, à l'extérieur des murs, près du flanc de la Grande Montagne. Tu devrais voir un point lumineux rouge. J'aimerais que tu m’indiques lesquels de ces tunnels permettent de rejoindre les sous-sols de Zu-Galam. Nous aimerions nous y infiltrer pour poser une bombe afin de tuer la reine kitine qui y gîte. Nos équipements topographiques sont hors-service, nous avons besoin des renseignements d’un habitant local. »
 
À ces mots, Pü se prépara mentalement à informer l'agent qu'il n'était pas de la région et ne pouvait donc pas aider. Cependant, il s'arrêta net. , dans le tumulte grouillant des kitins, sur les hauteurs de Zu-Galam, un spécimen plus grand que les autres captura son regard. Si sa carapace scintillait de nuances bleues et oranges, plus distinctif encore étaient ses pattes. Car il lui en manquait une. C'était lui.
 
 
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<center>[[file:Sep-chap-2-3-8.png|40px]]</center>
De nombreux cycles étaient passés depuis que le premier contact entre les Ambigus et les Kitins avait eu lieu. Les primates, issus de la Matrice, s’étaient infiltrés dans le Grand Œuf et avaient détruit un nid isolé. Pour seule réponse, l’alliance kitine connue sous le nom de Nuée Ardente, s’était reformée et avait envahi la Matrice, brisant ainsi la Coquille et rompant l’interdiction immémoriale d’en sortir. Comme attendu, les Ambigus représentèrent une faible menace en comparaison des Stériles, dont ils partageaient pourtant l’odeur et les caractéristiques morphologiques. Ces derniers luttèrent ardemment afin de protéger les Ambigus, dont ils semblaient être les gardiens. Mais malgré leur pouvoir incommensurable, ils ne purent faire face aux millions de Kitins qui déferlèrent dans la Matrice, et la contre-attaque se transforma rapidement en une vaste opération de fuite. C’est une fois seulement la grande majorité des Ambigus enfuis que les Stériles firent étalage de leur puissance en faisant pleuvoir le feu sur les armées de la Nuée Ardente. Au même moment, dans les profondeurs du Grand Œuf, des Primessences se réveillèrent et tentèrent maladroitement de prendre la Nuée Ardente à revers. L'alliance inattendue entre les Stériles et les Primessences, habituellement ennemis, aboutit à l'anéantissement de centaines de milliers de soldats et à la mort de nombreuses reines kitines. Toutefois, le nombre de Stériles tombés, bien que nettement inférieur, fut suffisant pour que les Primessences se retirent, que les Stériles cessent leurs assauts de feu, et que les reines survivantes déclarent la victoire : les Kitins avaient désormais une patte dans la Matrice, et rien ne pourrait plus jamais les faire reculer.
+
Many cycles had passed since the first contact between the Ambigus and the Kitins. The primates from the Matrix had infiltrated the Great Egg and destroyed an isolated nest. In response, the Kitin alliance known as the Burning Cloud reformed and invaded the Matrix, thereby shattering the Shell and breaking the immemorial ban on leaving it. As expected, the Ambigus posed little threat compared to the Sterile, despite sharing their scent and morphological characteristics. The latter fought hard to protect the Ambigus, for whom they seemed to be the guardians. But despite their immeasurable power, they were no match for the millions of Kitins who flooded into the Matrix, and the counter-attack quickly turned into a vast escape operation. Only when the vast majority of the Ambigus had fled did the Sterile show off their might, raining down fire on the armies of the Burning Cloud. At the same time, in the depths of the Great Egg, the Primessences awoke and clumsily tried to catch the Burning Cloud from the rear. The unexpected alliance between the Steriles and the Primessences, usually foes, resulted in the annihilation of hundreds of thousands of soldiers and the death of many kitin queens. However, the number of Sterile casualties, although much lower, was sufficient for the Primessences to withdraw, the Steriles to cease their fire assaults, and the surviving queens to declare victory: the Kitins now had a foothold in the Matrix, and nothing could ever drive them back.
 +
 
 +
That said, winning the war did not ensure the absence of dangers in the conquered territories. Small groups of Steriles continued to threaten the balance, systematically attacking isolated kitin detachments and prowling around the new kitins' nests established in the Matrix. From its promontory, the kinkoo seemed to scan the horizon, its gleaming skull swivelling from left to right, interpreting the chemical signals of the kipestas it had sent on mission. These kipestas, which were numerous, were responsible for navigating between the kitins' nest and the area where five Steriles had been spotted. Although there didn't seem to be enough of them to reach the queen and wipe out the nest, they could still cause serious damage. Once their presence had been detected, the kizarak lord of the kinkoo, who now ruled alongside the queen, ordered him to mobilise all the soldiers in anticipation of an imminent enemy attack. For the kinkoo, the responsibility was immense, commensurate with the role he now played within the kitins' nest as head of the armies. A role he had never actively sought, although he had always secretly longed for it. Neither a kizarak nor a queen, the kinkoo was in effect not a royal kitin, and was therefore not supposed to possess an individual conscience that would allow him to nurture his own dreams. If the royal kitins of the kitins' nest were to find this out, his life would be in jeopardy. So the kinkoo secretly cherished his new status, taking care not to let any hint of emotion leak out in the chemical messages he sent to the other kitins. He knew how lucky he was.
 +
 
 +
It has to be said that his first mission in the Matrix ended in lacklustre success. True, he had returned victorious, having completed the destruction of every Ambigus' nest his lord had ordered him to destroy. But the occupants of the first of them had been particularly tough, even going so far as to make him doubt himself. Between them, these Ambigus had slaughtered all his kinchers - the subspecies that formed the basic ranks of his soldiers - as well as a number of his kinreys - the elite subspecies to which he belonged - and had even cut off one of his legs. Fortunately, neutralising the following nests was infinitely simpler. So it wasn't so much the kinkoo's intrinsic skills that had propelled him to the rank of army leader, but rather a series of favourable circumstances.
  
Cela dit, remporter la guerre ne garantissait pas l'absence de dangers dans les territoires conquis. Des petits groupes de Stériles persistaient à menacer l'équilibre, attaquant systématiquement les détachements isolés de kitins et rôdant près des nouvelles kitinières établies dans la Matrice. Depuis son promontoire, le kinkoo semblait scruter l'horizon, son crâne rutilant pivotant de gauche à droite, interprétant les signaux chimiques des kipestas qu'il avait envoyés en mission. Ces derniers, nombreux, étaient chargés de naviguer entre la kitinière et la zone où cinq Stériles avaient été aperçus. Bien qu'ils ne semblent pas assez nombreux pour atteindre la reine et anéantir la kitinière, ils pouvaient tout de même causer de sérieux dommages. Une fois leur présence détectée, le seigneur kizarak du kinkoo, qui régnait désormais aux côtés de la reine, lui avait ordonné de mobiliser tous les soldats en prévision d'une attaque ennemie imminente. Pour le kinkoo, la responsabilité était immense, à la mesure du rôle qu’il jouait désormais au sein de la kitinière en tant que chef des armées. Un rôle qu’il n’avait jamais activement recherché, bien qu'il l'ait toujours secrètement désiré. En effet, ni kizarak, ni reine, le kinkoo n’était pas un kitin royal, donc n'était pas censé posséder une conscience individuelle lui permettant de nourrir des rêves. Si les kitins royaux de la kitinière venaient à l'apprendre, sa vie serait en péril. Ainsi, le kinkoo chérissait en secret son nouveau statut, veillant à ne laisser transparaître aucune fragrance d’émotion dans les messages chimiques qu’il adressait aux autres kitins. Il était conscient de sa chance.
+
It all began when the most ancient and powerful kizarak lords of his nest were annihilated by a Primessence in a destructive assault on the very heart of the lair, nestled in the depths of the Great Egg. The surviving kizaraks, including his own lord, had then to manage alone the vast nest alongside their queen for several cycles. It was only after the Burning Cloud had declared victory, and the Queen's armies had secured the area of the Matrix intended for her, that she decided to reorganise her territory. For the first time since her own hatching, she decided to lay a queen's egg. Her aim was to found a new kitins' nest in the Matrix to extend her area of influence, without however giving up the ancient nest where she had hatched. Obviously, she knew she was playing a dangerous game, aware that her queen-daughter would one day become independent, and might then decide to turn against her. However, such was the destiny of all kitin queens: to build vast kitins‘ lairs and sire new queens who, in turn, would establish powerful kitins’ lairs, enabling the kitins to dominate the entire Great Egg and, from now on, to colonise the vast unexplored areas of the Matrix.
  
Il faut dire que sa première mission dans la Matrice se conclut par un succès sans éclat. Certes, il était revenu victorieux, ayant accompli la destruction de chaque nid d’Ambigus que son seigneur lui avait ordonné de détruire. Mais les occupants du premier d’entre eux avaient été particulièrement coriaces, allant même jusqu’à le faire douter. À eux seuls, ces Ambigus avaient massacré la totalité de ses kinchers - la sous-espèce formant les rangs de base de ses soldats - ainsi qu’un certain nombre de ses kinreys - la sous-espèce d’élite à laquelle il appartenait - et lui avaient même tranché une patte. Heureusement, la neutralisation des nids suivants fut infiniment plus simple. Ainsi, ce n'étaient pas tant les compétences intrinsèques du kinkoo qui l'avaient propulsé au rang de chef d'armée, mais plutôt une série de circonstances favorables.
+
The egg of the future queen-daughter was laid at the same time as many of the kizarak lords' eggs. While some of these eggs were intended to replace the lords eliminated by the Primessence, to assist the Queen Mother in the reconstruction and governance of her nest, the others were programmed to hatch at the same time as the Queen Daughter and pledge allegiance to her. Among the kizaraks who survived the attack of the Primessence, the lord of the kinkoo was chosen to lead the colony responsible for transporting these eggs to the territory of the Matrix recently acquired by the Queen Mother, with the aim of laying the foundations of the future kitins' nest. His lord had naturally accepted this prestigious mission, which few kizaraks could boast of having the experience to carry out. In addition to extending the Queen's authority, kizarak lords were also responsible for establishing new nests and taking command of them. This role could be exercised indefinitely in the case of an ordinary nest, or, more rarely, on a temporary basis for these destined to evolve into autonomous nests led by their own queen. The kitins had adopted this approach recently in their history, in response to their rapid expansion into the Great Egg, which had led to violent inter-colonial conflicts and the destruction of many isolated nests. So, despite occupying the highest rank in the kitin eusocial pyramid, just below the queen, the kizarak lords were in fact a relatively recent subspecies of kitin. They were the result of one of the last evolutionary strategies employed by queens, whose ability to consciously shape the biological traits of their offspring made them so unique and formidable.
  
Tout débuta lorsque les seigneurs kizaraks les plus anciens et puissants de sa kitinière furent annihilés par une Primessence lors d'un assaut destructeur au cœur même de la kitinière, nichée dans les profondeurs du Grand Œuf. Les kizaraks qui survécurent, y compris son propre seigneur, durent assumer seuls la direction de la vaste kitinière aux côtés de leur reine durant plusieurs cycles. Ce n'est qu'après que la Nuée Ardente eût proclamé la victoire, et que les armées de la reine eurent sécurisé la zone de la Matrice qui lui était destinée, que celle-ci décida de réorganiser son territoire. Pour la première fois depuis sa propre éclosion, elle prit la décision de pondre un œuf de reine. Son objectif était de fonder une nouvelle kitinière dans la Matrice afin d’élargir sa zone d’influence, sans pour autant abandonner l’antique nid où elle avait éclos. Évidemment, elle savait jouer un jeu dangereux, consciente que sa reine-fille deviendrait un jour indépendante, et pourrait alors décider de se retourner contre elle. Cependant, tel était le destin de toutes reines kitines : ériger de vastes kitinières et engendrer de nouvelles reines qui, à leur tour, établiraient de puissantes kitinières, permettant ainsi aux kitins de dominer l'intégralité du Grand Œuf et, désormais, de coloniser les vastes contrées inexplorées de la Matrice.
+
After a short rest in the depths of the Great Egg with his lord, the kinkoo returned with him to the Matrix, proud to be part of this important undertaking. He was appointed to ensure the safety of the colony throughout its journey. A colony made up of his lord, kidinaks responsible for transporting and protecting the royal eggs, a squadron of kipestas messengers and several hundred workers and soldiers. Among them were a large number of kirostas, kitin soldiers of higher rank than the kinchers, easily identifiable by their long, tapered abdomen equipped with a venomous stinger, and recently formed into specialised patrols to hunt down the Ambigus. Arriving at his destination, the kinkoo realised that the place where the colony was to be established had been judiciously chosen, given the profusion of raw materials that this former Ambigus nest had brought up from the depths of the Great Egg. Enough to build solid foundations and provide highly nutritious food additives for the larvae to be born. The kinkoo was present when the egg of the one who was to become his new queen hatched, a moment of intense emotion that he barely managed to conceal from his lord, who himself was fortunately too absorbed in the event. The cycles that followed were uneventful, and the kitins' nest developed rapidly. The young kizaraks and the new queen reached maturity without a hitch, served and protected by an armada of devoted kidinaks, small ovoid kitins whose existence was entirely devoted to the service of the royal kitins, and confined to a specially adapted environment by the workers obeying the lord of the kinkoo. Until the queen daughter would begin laying her own eggs, the kizarak was responsible for developing the nest. So, as the personal enforcer of the kizarak lord who founded the nest, the kinkoo was promoted to lead its armies. Sitting temporarily at the side of the queen-daughter, his lord kizarak occupied a position that was both complex and prestigious, responsible for guiding the young queen and keeping the queen-mother informed of her actions. The kinkoo was aware that the growing independence of the new queen he served, and the emergence of the future kizarak lords she would spawn, could one day threaten his lord's life. Nevertheless, he preferred not to dwell on this thought.
  
La ponte de l'œuf de la future reine-fille fut réalisée simultanément avec celle de nombreux œufs de seigneurs kizaraks. Si certains de ces œufs étaient destinés à remplacer les seigneurs éliminés par la Primessence, pour assister la reine-mère dans la reconstruction et la gouvernance de sa kitinière, les autres étaient quant à eux programmés pour éclore en même temps que la reine-fille et lui prêter allégeance. Parmi les kizaraks ayant survécu à l'attaque de la Primessence, le seigneur du kinkoo fut choisi pour diriger la colonie responsable du transport de ces œufs vers le territoire de la Matrice récemment acquis par la reine-mère, dans l'objectif d'y établir les fondations de la future kitinière. Son seigneur avait naturellement accepté cette mission prestigieuse, dont peu de kizaraks pouvaient se targuer d’avoir l’expérience. En effet, outre le rôle d'extension de l'autorité de la reine, les seigneurs kizaraks avaient également pour mission d'établir de nouveaux nids et d'en prendre le commandement. Ce rôle pouvait être exercé indéfiniment dans le cas d'un nid ordinaire, ou, plus rarement, de manière temporaire pour un nid destiné à évoluer en une kitinière autonome dirigée par sa propre reine. Les kitins avaient adopté cette façon de faire récemment dans leur histoire, en réponse à leur rapide expansion dans le Grand Œuf, laquelle avait entraîné de violents conflits intercoloniaux et mené à la destruction de nombreux nids isolés. Ainsi, bien qu'occupant le rang le plus haut dans la pyramide eusociale de la kitinière, juste en-dessous de la reine, les seigneurs kizaraks constituaient en réalité une sous-espèce de kitins relativement récente. Ils étaient le résultat de l'une des dernières stratégies évolutives mises en œuvre par les reines, que leur capacité à façonner consciemment les traits biologiques de leur progéniture rendait si uniques et redoutables.
+
Especially at this precise time, when five Steriles were threatening to attack the kitins' lair. Five Steriles and one Ambigu. That was the new chemical information he had just received from a kipesta. At this moment, the kinkoo was cursing the inadequacy of his sensory systems for the vast expanses of the Matrix and the resulting dependence on the kipestas for intelligence gathering. Knowing that kitins were evolving very rapidly, he was convinced that future generations would be equipped with far more advanced visual organs. This was already the case for the latest kitins to be hatched. However, he himself would never benefit from such improvements.
Après un court repos dans les profondeurs du Grand Œuf auprès de son seigneur, le kinkoo repartit donc avec lui vers la Matrice, fier de participer à cette importante entreprise. Il fut désigné pour assurer la sécurité de la colonie tout au long de son périple. Une colonie constituée de son seigneur, de kidinaks chargés de transporter et de protéger les œufs royaux, d’un escadron de messagers kipestas, et de plusieurs centaines d’ouvriers et de soldats. Parmi eux se trouvaient notamment de nombreux kirostas, des soldats kitins de rang supérieur aux kinchers, aisément identifiables à leur long abdomen fuselé équipé d’un dard venimeux, et récemment rassemblés en patrouilles spécialisées pour traquer les Ambigus. Arrivé à destination, le kinkoo réalisa que l’endroit où la colonie allait être établie avait été judicieusement choisi, compte tenu de la profusion de matières premières que cet ancien nid d'Ambigus remontait depuis les profondeurs du Grand Œuf. De quoi bâtir de solides fondations et de quoi fournir des additifs alimentaires extrêmement nutritifs pour les larves à naître. Le kinkoo était présent lorsque l'œuf de celle qui allait devenir sa nouvelle reine avait éclos, un moment d'émotion intense qu'il parvint à peine à dissimuler à son seigneur, heureusement trop absorbé lui-même par l'événement. Les cycles qui suivirent se déroulèrent sans incident, et la kitinière se développa rapidement. Les jeunes kizaraks et la nouvelle reine atteignirent leur maturité sans encombre, servis et protégés par une armada de kidinaks dévoués, ces petits kitins ovoïdes dont l'existence était entièrement consacrée au service des kitins royaux, et confinée dans un environnement spécialement adapté par les ouvriers obéissant au seigneur du kinkoo. Jusqu’à ce que la reine-fille commence à pondre ses propres œufs, le kizarak était chargé du développement de la kitinière. Ainsi, en tant qu'exécutant personnel du seigneur kizarak fondateur de cette kitinière, le kinkoo fut promu à la tête des armées de celle-ci. Temporairement assis aux côtés de la reine-fille, son seigneur kizarak occupait une position à la fois complexe et prestigieuse, chargée de guider la jeune reine et de tenir informée la reine-mère de ses actions. Le kinkoo était conscient que l’indépendance croissante de la nouvelle reine qu’il servait, ainsi que l'émergence des futurs seigneurs kizaraks qu’elle pondrait, pourraient un jour menacer la vie de son seigneur. Néanmoins, il préférait ne pas s'attarder sur cette pensée.
 
  
Surtout en ce moment précis, ou cinq Stériles menaçaient d’attaquer la kitinière. Cinq Stériles et un Ambigu. Là était la nouvelle information chimique qu’il venait de recevoir d’un kipesta. En cet instant, le kinkoo maudissait l'inadaptation de ses systèmes sensoriels aux vastes étendues de la Matrice et la dépendance qui en résultait vis-à-vis des kipestas pour la collecte de renseignements. Sachant que les kitins évoluaient très rapidement, il était convaincu que les générations futures seraient dotées d'organes visuels bien plus perfectionnés. C'était d’ailleurs déjà le cas pour les derniers kitins éclos. Toutefois, lui-même ne bénéficierait jamais de telles améliorations.
+
Five Steriles and one Ambigu, then. But not just any Ambigu. According to the last message he'd received, his scent was similar to that of the two Ambigus who had cut off his leg many cycles earlier, inside the first nest he'd destroyed. Consumed by rage at the humiliation these primates had inflicted on him, he believed then he had eliminated each and every one of them. Obviously, he was wrong: at least one had survived.
  
Cinq Stériles et un Ambigu, donc. Mais pas n’importe quel Ambigu. D’après le dernier message qu’il venait de recevoir, son odeur était semblable à celles des deux Ambigus qui lui avaient tranché la patte, de nombreux cycles auparavant, à l’intérieur du premier nid qu’il avait détruit. Consumé par la rage face à l'humiliation que ces primates lui avaient infligée, il croyait avoir éliminé chacun d'eux. Manifestement, il s'était trompé : au moins un avait survécu.
+
One had survived, and was now heading at full speed towards the kitins' lair. Was this the start of the enemy assault? Possibly. Three of the Sterile had taken off in their turn, while two others had hurried back to their flying mounts. Without further ado, the kinkoo ordered the kipestas around him to pass on the battle orders. Shortly afterwards, the lair expelled a torrent of kinchers and kirostas who rushed towards the enemy. The kinkoo knew that many of his soldiers would soon be reduced to dust by the Sterile, but that was their function. Recently, having reached a new level of individual consciousness, the kitin general had briefly felt empathy for the lower-ranking kitins. This was the first time. While he himself projected himself into the future alongside his lord and queen, whose longevity was high, these were condemned to live only a few cycles. As soon as them dead, as soon replaced. However, this disturbing thought did not trouble the kinkoo for long. For he immediately understood that this was their role. They were merely pawns, manoeuvred by the royal kitins in accordance with the queen's supreme plans. And in the end, wasn't that what he himself was? A non-royal kitin, condemned to live according to the wishes of his lord and queen? In a way, yes. But…
  
Un avait survécu, et se dirigeait maintenant à pleine vitesse vers la kitinière. Était-ce le début de l’assaut ennemi ? Possible. Trois Stériles s’étaient élancés à leur tour tandis que deux autres avaient regagné à toute hâte leur monture volante. Sans plus attendre, le kinkoo ordonna aux kipestas présents autour de lui de transmettre les ordres de bataille. Peu après, la kitinière expulsa un torrent de kinchers et de kirostas qui se précipita vers l'ennemi. Le kinkoo savait que beaucoup de ses soldats seraient bientôt réduits en poussière par les Stériles, mais telle était leur fonction. Récemment, ayant atteint un nouveau niveau de conscience individuelle, le général kitin avait brièvement éprouvé de l’empathie pour les kitins de rang inférieur. C’était la première fois. Alors qu'il se projetait dans un avenir aux côtés de son seigneur et de sa reine, dont la longévité était élevée, ces derniers étaient condamnés à ne vivre que quelques cycles. À peine morts, aussitôt remplacés. Cependant, cette pensée dérangeante ne troubla pas longtemps le kinkoo. Car il comprit aussitôt que là était leur rôle. Ils n'étaient que des pions, manœuvrés par les kitins royaux conformément aux plans suprêmes de la reine. Et finalement, lui-même ne l’était-il pas ? Un kitin non-royal, condamné à vivre selon les désirs de son seigneur et de sa reine ? En un sens, oui. Mais…
+
A new message, forcing the kinkoo to refocus his attention on the fight: five Steriles, one Ambigu and one Primessence. Erratic electrical impulses ran through his ventral nerve chain and the heat in his haemolymph rose slightly.
Nouveau message, obligeant le kinkoo à recentrer son attention sur le combat : cinq Stériles, un Ambigu et une Primessence. Des influx électriques erratiques parcoururent sa chaîne nerveuse ventrale et la chaleur de son hémolymphe grimpa légèrement.
 
  
La situation devenait de plus en plus complexe.
+
The situation was becoming increasingly complex.
 
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<center>[[file:Sep-chap-2-3-8.png|40px]]</center>
filait à toute allure en direction de Zu-Galam. Grâce à ses nouveaux sens, il pouvait anticiper les mouvements des agents de la Karavan qui le poursuivaient - trois silhouettes sombres se détachant dans la lumière - même s'ils lui tournaient le dos. Les deux autres agents, qui s’étaient précipités dans le véhicule volant, les suivaient depuis les airs sans s’attaquer à lui. Parsemée d'arbres, la vallée menant à la citadelle offrait peu de cachettes. Ainsi, le Zoraï ne pouvait compter que sur ses sens aiguisés et son agilité exceptionnelle pour esquiver les tirs des trois agents qui le poursuivaient. Ces tirs énergétiques, peu concentrés, semblaient ne pas être destinés à le tuer, mais plutôt à le neutraliser.
+
was speeding towards Zu-Galam. Thanks to his new senses, he could anticipate the movements of the Karavan agents chasing him - three dark silhouettes standing out in the light - even though their backs were to him. The other two agents, who had rushed into the flying vehicle, were following them from the air without attacking him. The valley leading to the citadel, sparsely wooded, offered few hiding places. As a result, the Zorai could only rely on his keen senses and exceptional agility to dodge the fire of the three agents chasing him. These energy shots, which were not very concentrated, did not seem to be intended to kill him, but rather to neutralise him.
 
 
Dès que Pü eut reconnut le kitin bleu orangé, son engagement à rassembler et protéger les homins victimes de la catastrophe fut éclipsé par l’ancienne promesse qu'il s'était faite : celle d'exterminer tous les kitins d'Atys. Car ce kitin était responsable de tous ses malheurs. C'était précisément contre lui que son père et son oncle avaient combattu et péri, il en était certain. La vision cauchemardesque de ses aînés, poitrine contre poitrine, les torses transpercés par la patte coupée de la créature, était encore gravée sur ses rétines. Puis vint l'image de la tête de son frère. Puis celle du corps inerte de sa mère. Ce kitin, le plus grand de l'essaim qui avait décimé sa tribu et le dernier à avoir émergé de la faille, avait été désigné par son père comme le commandant de l'armée monstrueuse. Bien que rien n'ait pu confirmer cette supposition, le fait de le voir dominer les autres kitins depuis le sommet de Zu-Galam semblait valider l'importance du rôle qu'il jouait, tout en soulignant la difficulté de parvenir jusqu'à lui : avant de réussir à l’atteindre, Pü devrait se débarrasser de plusieurs centaines de soldats.
 
  
Les premiers à arriver à son contact furent des kipestas, ceux-là même qu’il avait observé un peu plus tôt faire des allers-retours entre la lisière de la jungle et Zu-Galam. Ayant compris ces derniers mois que la plupart des kitins redoutaient le froid, il n’eut aucun mal à les faire reculer. Mais cela n’était que temporaire. Malgré leurs blessures, les créatures volantes revenaient à la charge, tentant de lui infliger de violents coups de queue et de l’atteindre avec leurs flammes. Entre les tirs incessants des agents et le nombre croissant de kipestas qui se massaient au-dessus de lui, parvenir jusqu’à sa cible s'avérait être une tâche extrêmement ardue. Il avait beau en avoir parfaitement conscience, il n'avait aucune intention d'écouter la Voix qui le suppliait de rebrousser chemin. Rien ne pourrait le dissuader d’accomplir sa vengeance. Ni sa voix intérieure, et ni les cris grésillants des agents qui lui ordonnaient de s'arrêter, et dont les tentatives de contrôle mental avaient perdu toute efficacité sur lui. En ce moment de colère intense, sa volonté était inébranlable. Certes, la Voix et le Kami Noir l'avait aidé à apaiser la haine qui l'avait consumé après son départ de la souche familiale. Mais il était loin d’être totalement guéri. Le Zoraï calme et mesuré qu'il avait été jadis était mort depuis bien longtemps.
+
As soon as Pü had recognised the blue-orange kitin, his commitment to gather and protect the homins who had fallen victims of the disaster was eclipsed by the old promise he had made to himself: to exterminate all the kitins of Atys. For this kitin was responsible for all his misfortunes. He was certain that it was precisely against this kitin that his father and uncle had fought and died. The nightmarish vision of his elders, chest to chest, their torsos pierced by the creature's severed leg, was still etched on his retinas. Then came the image of his brother's head. Then the inert body of his mother. This kitin, the largest of the swarm that had decimated his tribe and the last to emerge from the rift, had been designated by his father as the commander of the monstrous army. Although nothing came to confirm this assumption, seeing him dominate the other kitins from the summit of Zu-Galam seemed to validate the importance of the role he was playing, while also underlining the difficulty of reaching him: before he could be reached, Pü would have to get rid of several hundred soldiers.
  
Peu après, lorsque les fondations de la citadelle se mirent à trembler au loin, Pü réalisa qu'une gigantesque armée de kitins avait été déployée au sol. Elle fonçait droit vers lui et arriverait à son contact en quelques dizaines de secondes à peine. Ou plutôt au contact des agents de la Karavan, qui représentaient une menace bien plus importante. Encore à sa poursuite, ils n’avaient toujours pas réussi à le neutraliser, et devaient désormais faire face à un nuage de kipestas déchaînés, qui se transformait en cendre à chaque tir réussi. Là était probablement sa chance. Se faufiler dans la masse en laissant les agents accaparer l'attention. Pour autant, il était peu probable que les kitins marcheurs le laissent tranquillement passer. Si seulement il était capable de voler comme les kipestas. Il pourrait alors se rendre directement au sommet de Zu-Galam. Pü eut cette pensée alors qu’il bondissait depuis le sommet d’un talus. Et comme par miracle, il s’envola.
+
The first to come into contact with him were kipestas, the same ones he had observed a little earlier going back and forth between the edge of the jungle and Zu-Galam. Having learnt over the last few months that most kitins dread the cold, he had no trouble getting them to back off. But this was only temporary. Despite their wounds, the flying creatures kept coming back, trying to inflict violent blows with their tails and to hit him with their flames. Between the incessant gunfire from the agents and the growing number of kipestas massing above him, reaching his target was proving to be an extremely arduous task. Although he was well aware of this, he had no intention of listening to the Voice begging him to turn back. Nothing could dissuade him from carrying out his vengeance. Not his inner voice, nor the sizzling cries of the agents ordering him to stop, and whose attempts at mental control had lost all effectiveness on him. In this moment of intense anger, his will was unshakeable. It was true that the Voice and the Black Kami had helped him to appease the hatred that had consumed him after he had left the family stump. But he was far from being completely healed. The calm, measured Zorai he had once been had long since died.
  
Déconcerté, Pü ne perçut pas immédiatement la pression qui enserrait son dos et sa taille. Croyant qu’un kipesta venait de l'agripper, il leva la tête et se prépara à repousser la créature. Mais en lieu et place de la libellule monstrueuse, c’est un immense oiseau noir qu’il découvrit, l'entourant de l'un de ses serres. Le Zoraï n’eut guerre besoin de plus de temps pour sentir dans sa chair qu’il s’agissait du Kami Noir, métamorphosé. Alors qu'ils prenaient rapidement de l'altitude, il supposa que le Kami était venu l'assister dans sa traque, bien que celle-ci n'ait rien à voir avec la Guerre Sacrée. Grisé par la sensation de voler, et exalté par la décision de la créature divine, Pü ne put retenir un rire. Il était envahi par un mélange de soulagement et d'excitation. Soulagé de savoir que, contre toute attente, le Kami soutenait ses choix. Excité à l'idée qu'il atteindrait plus facilement que prévu le bourreau de sa famille. Dégainant son épée, le Zoraï fixa le sommet de Zu-Galam, scrutant la pénombre à la recherche de reflets bleu-orangé. Il était prêt. Au même moment, sous lui, l'armée rampante , scintillant de teintes jaunâtres, blanches et vertes, se ruait à toute vitesse vers les agents de la Karavan en pleine retraite, tandis que le véhicule volant s'était éloigné et avait entamé la poursuite du Kami.
+
Shortly afterwards, when the foundations of the citadel began to shake in the distance, Pü realized that a gigantic army of kitins had been arrayed on the ground. It was heading straight for him and would reach him in just some dozen seconds. Or rather, reach the Karavan agents, who represented a far greater threat. Still chasing him, they still hadn't managed to neutralize the Zoraï, and now faced a cloud of unleashed kipestas, which turned to ash with each successful shot. This was probably his chance. Sneak through the mass and let the agents take all the attention. Even so, it was unlikely that the walking kitins would let him pass quietly. If only he could fly like the kipestas. Then he could fly straight to the top of Zu-Galam. Pü had this thought as he leapt from the top of an embankment. And as if by a miracle, he took off.
  
Puis brutalement, l’horizon pivota sur la gauche. Assez pour que ne puisse plus observer Zu-Galam sans se tordre le cou. Le Kami était en train de faire demi-tour. Passé les quelques secondes d’incrédulité, le Zoraï protesta :
+
Unsettled, Pü didn't immediately perceive the pressure gripping his back and waist. Thinking a kipesta had just grasped him, he raised his head and readied to push the creature away. But instead of the monstrous dragonfly, he discovered a huge black bird trapping him in one of its talons. It took the Zoraï no time at all to feel in his flesh that this was the Black Kami, metamorphosed. As they rapidly gained altitude, he assumed that the Kami had come to assist him in his pursuit, even though it had nothing to do with the Sacred War. Intoxicated by the sensation of flying, and elated by the divine creature's decision, couldn't hold back a laugh. He was overcome by a mixture of relief and excitement. Relieved to know that, against all odds, the Kami supported his choices. Excited at the idea that he'd be able to get to his family's executioner more easily than expected. Unsheathing his sword, the Zoraï stared at the summit of Zu-Galam, scanning the gloom for blue-orange reflections. He was ready. At the same time, below him, the creeping army, shimmering with yellowish, white and green hues, was rushing towards the retreating Karavan agents, while the flying vehicle had pulled away and begun its pursuit of the Kami.
  
« Non ! Je dois me rendre au sommet de Zu-Galam ! Vous vous trompez de direction !  »
+
Then, suddenly, the horizon swung to the left. Enough so that Pü could no longer watch Zu-Galam without twisting his neck. The Kami was about to make a U-turn. Once the few seconds of incredulity had passed, the Zoraï protested:
  
Aucune réponse de la Voix. L’immense oiseau était en train d'accélérer et de gagner en altitude. Était-ce à cause de l’engin volant qui les avait pris en chasse, et qui était en train de les rattraper, que le Kami avait décidé de rebrousser chemin ? Submergé par une nouvelle vague de colère, Pü commença à se débattre.
+
:''"No! I have to get to the top of Zu-Galam! You're heading in the wrong direction!"
  
« Occupez-vous de la machine infernale de la Karavan si ça vous chante, mais portez-moi d’abord jusqu’à Zu-Galam ! »
+
No response from the Voice. The immense bird was was speeding up and gaining altitude. Was it because of the flying machine that had been chasing them, and was now catching up, that the Kami had decided to turn back? Overcome by a new wave of anger, Pü began to struggle.
  
C’était la première fois qu’il s’adressait au Kami sur ce ton. Et le fait que que la Voix ne lui communique aucune réponse, alors qu'elle l'avait assailli de suppliques lorsqu'il avait décidé de foncer vers Zu-Galam, ne fit qu'attiser sa fureur. La bouffée d’émotions positives qu'il avait ressentie peu avant cédait désormais la place à une haine sourde. Perdant toute raison, Pü se mit à frapper les pattes de l’oiseau avec son épée. Mais la créature divine n’eut aucune réaction. Le Zoraï hurla.
+
:''"Take care of the infernal Karavan machine if you feel like it, but carry me to Zu-Galam first!"
  
« Je vous ordonne de me lâcher ! Vous m’entendez ? Lâchez-moi ! Lâchez-moi ! »
+
It was the first time he was addressing the Kami in this tone. And the fact that the Voice had given him no reply, despite having besieged him with entreaties when he had decided to head for Zu-Galam, only fueled his fury. The flush of positive emotion he'd felt earlier was now replaced by a dull hatred. Losing all reason, Pü began to strike the bird's legs with his sword. But the divine creature had no reaction. The Zorai screamed.
  
Les premiers tirs de la machine karavanière frôlèrent l’oiseau, qui réussit à les esquiver en exécutant quelques pirouettes habiles. Malgré les violentes secousses, Pü tentait désespérément de se libérer de la puissante serre qui l'enserrait, en multipliant les coups d'épée. Confronté à l'inefficacité de ses attaques physiques, il se tourna vers l’incantation de puissants sorts élémentaires, qui se révélèrent tout aussi inutiles. Entre les griffes du Kami, il se sentait insignifiant, impuissant sur tous les plans. Mais sa volonté, elle, demeurait intacte. Guidé par l'instinct, Pü agrippa un des serres avec sa main libre et ferma les yeux. Sans savoir d'où l'idée lui venait, il se sentit soudain capable d'investir l'esprit du Kami et de le dominer. Alors, durant un court moment, l'oiseau vacilla. Puis, la serre chauffa. Si intensément que Pü, plus surpris que blessé, fut contraint de la relâcher.
+
:''"I order you to let go of me! Do you hear me? Let me go! Let me go! Let me go!"
  
« Mon garçon, il est vain de poursuivre. Vous feriez mieux de renoncer. »
+
The first shots from the Karavan machine grazed the bird, which managed to dodge them with a few deft spins. Despite the violent jolts, Pü, multiplying sword blows, tried desperately to free himself from the powerful talon that was gripping him. Confronted with the ineffectiveness of his physical attacks, he turned to the incantation of powerful elemental spells, which proved equally useless. In the clutches of the Kami, he felt insignificant, powerless on every level. But his will remained intact. Guided by instinct, Pü grasped one of the claws with his free hand and closed his eyes. Without knowing where the idea had come from, he suddenly felt able to take over the Kami's mind and dominate it. And so, for a brief moment, the bird flickered. Then the talon heated up. So intensely that Pü, more surprised than hurt, was compelled to release it.
  
Entendre la Voix s’exprimer enfin ne fit qu'accroître davantage la colère de Pü.
+
:''"My boy, it's pointless to carry on. You'd better give up."
  
« Tu es si bavarde lorsqu’il s’agit de m'empêcher d’agir, et si absente lorsque j’ai besoin de communiquer avec le Kami ! Dis-lui de me relâcher !
+
Hearing the Voice finally speak only increased Pü's anger.
  
– Le Kami ne vous relâchera pas, mon garçon. Cela pourrait vous coûter la vie.
+
:''"You're so talkative when it comes to stopping me from acting, and so absent when I need to communicate with the Kami! Tell him to release me!"
  
– Alors qu’il me dépose, peu importe ! Je dois atteindre Zu-Galam ! Je dois tuer ce kitin et venger ma famille !
+
:''"The Kami won't release you, my boy. It could cost you your life."
  
– Vous êtes bien trop sagace pour croire que la vengeance apaisera vos tourments, mon garçon. N'aviez-vous pas découvert une vocation, il y a quelques semaines ? Celle d’aider vos semblables à survivre aux nouveaux dangers de ce monde ? C'est cette quête qui vous permettra de reprendre le cours de votre existence et de vous reconstruire.
+
:''"Whatever! Let him drop me off! I've got to get to Zu-Galam! I must kill this kitin and avenge my family!"
  
– Que tu vives dans ma tête ne signifie pas que tu sais ce qui est bon pour moi ! Ton rôle est de me transmettre les paroles du Kami. Là est tout unique raison d’être ! Tu m’entends ? Demande-lui de me déposer quelque part !
+
:''"You're far too wise to believe that vengeance will ease your torment, my boy. Didn't you discover a vocation a few weeks ago? To help your fellow homin beings survive the new dangers of this world? It's this quest that will allow you to resume your existence and rebuild yourself."
  
– Le Kami vous entend, mon garçon, répondit la Voix, désormais empreinte de tristesse. Il affirme qu'il ne vous laissera pas approcher Zu-Galam. Que les risques sont bien trop grands.
+
:''"That you live in my head does not mean that you know what is good for me! Your role is to transmit to me the words of the Kami. Here is your unique reason for being! Do you hear me? Ask him to drop me off somewhere!"
  
– Je me fiche de savoir ce qu’il veut ! C’est ma vie ! Tu m’entends ? Ma vie ! Si je dois la risquer en voulant venger ma famille, c’est mon choix ! »
+
:''"The Kami hears you, my boy,'' replied the Voice, now imbued with sadness. ''He says he will not let you near Zu-Galam. That the risks are far too great."
  
La Voix se tut soudain. L'oiseau, ayant franchi les branches inférieures de la Grande Montagne, accéléra brusquement. Il zigzaguait entre les feuilles gigantesques, tentant de semer le véhicule volant de la Karavan.
+
:''"I don’t care what he wants! It’s my life! Do you hear me? My life! If I have to risk it by wanting to avenge my family, that’s my choice!"
  
« Je ne vous pardonnerai jamais ! Jamais je n’aurai dû libérer le Kami des Antékamis ! Jamais je n’aurais dû te laisser s'immiscer aussi profondément dans ma tête ! Je ne laisserai personne se dresser comme un obstacle à ma vie ! Ni toi, ni lui ! » parvint à crier Pü, malgré la puissance du vent qui lui fouettait désormais le masque.
+
The Voice suddenly fell silent. The bird, having crossed the lower branches of the Great Mountain, suddenly accelerated. It was zigzagging between the gigantic leaves, trying to lose the Karavan’s flying vehicle.
  
C’est une voix hésitante qui reprit la parole.
+
:''"I'll never forgive you! I should never have freed the Kami of the Antekamis! I should never have let you get so deep inside my head! I won't let anyone stand across my life! Not you, not him!" shouted Pü, despite the power of the wind now whipping his mask.
  
« Mon garçon, souvenez-vous de nos discussions, de nos réflexions sur la possibilité que le Kami Noir vous oblige à mener la Guerre Sacrée ? Selon ce qu'il vient de m'indiquer, il se désintéresse de savoir si vous choisirez de protéger les innocents que vous croiserez ou de combattre les fidèles de la Karavan sur votre chemin. Pour mener la Guerre Sacrée, il vous suffit de vivre… de vivre selon vos propres termes.
+
It's an hesitant Voice who spoke again:
  
– Si c’est réellement le cas, alors qu’il me ramène à Zu-Galam !
+
:''"My boy, do you remember our discussions, our reflections on the possibility for the Black Kami to force you to wage the Sacred War? According to what he's just told me, he doesn't care whether you choose to protect the innocents you come across or fight the Karavan followers found on your path. To wage the Sacred War, all you have to do is live… on your own terms."
  
– Non mon garçon, vous n'avez pas saisi. Pour mener la Guerre Sacrée, vous devez simplement vivre, vivre sans chercher à mourir.
+
:''"If that's really the case, then let him take me back to Zu-Galam!"
  
– Mourir ? C’est vous qui vous êtes persuadés que je courrai à la mort ! Vous doutez de mes capacités ! J’aurais pu semer les agents de la Karavan, éviter les kitins mineurs, me faufiler à travers Zu-Galam et affronter le monstre qui a décimé ma famille ! Je ne suis pas fou ! »
+
:''"No, my boy, you didn't get it. To wage the Sacred War, you must simply live, live without seeking to die."
  
Pü s'entendit prononcer ces mots, qui résonnèrent aussitôt comme un aveu. Fou ? Non, malade serait mot plus exact. Il était parfaitement conscient de ses tendances suicidaires, ayant plusieurs fois envisagé de mettre fin à ses jours. Il en avait largement discuté avec la Voix et avait même tenté de se suicider une première fois lors de son ultime duel avec le Kami. Jusqu'à présent, il avait réussi à identifier ces crises pour ce qu'elles étaient. Alors, avait-il réellement tenté aujourd’hui de se tuer à nouveau ? Était-il à ce point aveugle ? Pü balaya de son esprit ces questions dérangeantes. Que ce soit la folie ou la maladie, il avait le droit d'espérer, de tenter, d’échouer. Après tout, c'était de sa vie dont il s’agissait. Elle lui appartenait. Absorbé par cette réflexion, il ne réalisa que tardivement qu'il avait lâché et perdu son épée. Ses pensées étaient confuses et ses membres étaient lourds. Il peina à articuler :
+
:''"Die? You're the ones who convinced yourselves that I would run to my death! You doubt my abilities! I could have lost the Karavan agents, avoided the minor kitins, sneaked through Zu-Galam and faced the monster that decimated my family! I'm not mad!"
  
« C’est… C’est ma vie. Elle m’appartient.
+
Pü heard himself say these words, which immediately sounded like a confession. Mad? No, sick would be a more accurate word. He was perfectly aware of his suicidal tendencies, having considered ending his life several times. He had discussed it at length with the Voice and had even attempted suicide once during his final duel with the Kami. Until now, he had managed to identify these crises for what they were. So, had he really tried to kill himself again today? Was he really that blind? Pü swept these disturbing questions from his mind. Whether it was madness or illness, he had the right to hope, to try, to fail. After all, it was his life that was at stake. It belonged to him. Absorbed in this reflection, he only realized late that he had dropped and lost his sword. His thoughts were confused and his limbs were heavy. He struggled to articulate:
  
– Mon garçon… Comment vous l'exprimer, souffla la Voix, visiblement accablée. Veuillez m'excuser pour la cruauté de mes mots, mais hélas, votre vie ne vous appartient plus. Ce sont les mots du Kami. À ses yeux, vous n'êtes pas Pü, fils de Looï et Sang Fu-Tao. Vous êtes le Guerrier Sacré. Vous appartenez aux Kamis. C'est pour cela qu'il empêchera toute tentative de votre part de mettre fin à vos jours, quoi qu'il advienne. »
+
:''"It’s… It’s my life. It belongs to me."
  
ne pouvait plus prononcer aucun mot. Son corps ne lui obéissait plus et il peinait à maintenir sa concentration. Ainsi, sa vie appartenait aux Kamis ? Il était devenu leur propriété ? Un esclave prophète au service de leur cause ?
+
:''"My boy… How can I put it to you?'' the Voice whispered, visibly oppressed. ''Please excuse the cruelty of my words, but alas, your life no longer belongs to you. These are the words of the Kami. In his eyes, you are not , son of Looï and Sang Fu-Tao. You are the Sacred Warrior. You belong to the Kamis. That is why he will prevent any attempt on your part to end your days, no matter what.”
  
« Pour prévenir toute action de votre part lorsqu'il se téléportera avec vous, le Kami a plongé votre corps dans un état de sommeil. Il ne pouvait pas, pour des raisons qui m'échappent, se téléporter à proximité de la Karavan. Il devait d'abord les distancer, ce qui est désormais accompli. »
+
Pü could no longer utter a word. His body no longer obeyed him and he struggled to maintain his concentration. So, his life belonged to the Kamis? Had he become their property? A prophet slave serving their cause?
 +
:''"To prevent any action on your part when he'll teleports with you, the Kami has plunged your body into a state of sleep. He could not, for reasons that elude me, the vicinity of the Karavan agents. He had to distance himself from them first, which is now accomplished."
  
À ces mots, l'oiseau émergea des derniers feuillages, déployant ses immenses ailes noires pour ralentir sa course. Au-dessus, illuminé par l’astre maudit de Jena, le ciel flamboyait de mille feux. La lumière crue contrastait fortement avec l’obscurité de la Jungle Enténébrée, à jamais engloutie sous l’épais branchage de la Grande Montagne. Malgré sa paralysie, Pü était pleinement conscient et émerveillé par la vue du réseau de racines de la Canopée qui s'entrelaçait autour de lui, un spectacle que sans doute aucun homin n'avait jamais observé de si près. En d'autres circonstances, la splendeur de ce panorama aurait sans doute éveillé en lui un sentiment d'allégresse. Malheureusement, les conditions présentes ne firent que nourrir son cœur d’une profonde mélancolie. Voler si haut, loin des conflits d'Atys et de son existence matérielle, aurait dû symboliser une échappée vers la liberté. Mais il avait été éveillé à la réalité de sa condition : non pas libre, mais enchaîné. Un être condamné à vivre. Il n'était qu’une pièce sur un plateau, manipulée par les Kamis selon les desseins divins et cachés de Ma-Duk.
+
On these words, the bird emerged from the last foliage, spreading its immense black wings to slow its course. Above, illuminated by the cursed star of Jena, the sky blazed with a thousand lights. The harsh light contrasted sharply with the darkness of the Shrouded Jungle, forever engulfed under the thick branches of the Great Mountain. Despite his paralysis, Pü was fully conscious and awed by the sight of the Canopy's network of roots intertwining around him, a sight that no homin had ever seen so closely. In other circumstances, the splendor of this panorama would have undoubtedly awakened in him a feeling of joy. Unfortunately, the present conditions only fed his heart with a deep melancholy. Flying so high, far from the conflicts of Atys and his material existence, should have symbolized an escape towards freedom. But he had been awakened to the reality of his condition: not free, but chained. A being condemned to live. He was only a piece on a board, manipulated by the Kamis according to the divine and hidden designs of Ma-Duk.
 
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{{NavChap|[[Chapter II·III - The fire and the ice]]|[[The Sacred War#Table of contents|Table of contents]]|[[Chapter II·V - The Fortunate and the Called]]}}
 
{{NavChap|[[Chapter II·III - The fire and the ice]]|[[The Sacred War#Table of contents|Table of contents]]|[[Chapter II·V - The Fortunate and the Called]]}}

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Примечания : (Nilstilar, 2024-10-20)


II·IV - Doomed to live

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Jena Year 2484
"Listen to me, I'm the Sacred Warrior, sent by the Kamis to gather the survivors! You must trust me!"
"I won't say it again, go away! No matter what you say, I know exactly who you are. I don't want anything to do with you, so leave us alone!"

Dejected, Pü stared at the Zoraï. Standing with arms outstretched and palms turned backwards, she was shielding with her body the hollow of the tree in which her children seemed to be hidden. Pü, who had never seen children since the beginning of the invasion, could hear their sobs.

"But I alone am able to protect you! Don't think that all the kitins wandering the surrounding area as harmless as the placid harvesters who busy themselves on the surrounding hills. I've fought patrols of far more dangerous insects, whiche specifically hunt isolated homins! They operate in small groups of five or six, and can be distinguished by their green and white carapace and elongated abdomen, similar to the tail of a scorpion. By the time you see them, it'll already be too late to react!"

Seeing the terror spring up in the Zoraï's eyes, Pü realised he had said the word too many. He had failed. He had failed again. For this was not the first group of survivors he had encountered since leaving the Eternal Garden two months ago. On his travels, he had discovered that many Zoraïs had taken refuge at the top of the great doraos that populated the region, places inaccessible to most kitins. The first time he found himself mask-to-mask with one of them, he was overcome by an excitement he hadn't felt for a long time. It had to be said that in the three years he had spent at the Kami's side, he had never met another homin. So, although he had been deeply absorbed in his training during this period, he had sometimes felt a crushing loneliness, often exacerbated by his suicidal crises. Of course, the Kami was always present at his side. But unlike a human, or even a pet, the Kami was not there to converse, take an interest in him, or offer him companionship and affection: his sole mission was to prepare the Sacred Warrior for the glorious destiny that awaited him. Their relationship was therefore limited to a precise objective that Pü found difficult to adhere to, and the Kami, by remaining mysterious, proved de facto inaccessible. Fortunately, although in her own enigmatic way, the Voice had always been present and had persevered in her efforts to brighten up these lonely days.

So, exalted by this first encounter, Pü thought he could impress these survivors by showing them his new magical abilities. After all, his training had proved effective: difficult though it had been, he had indeed managed to defeat several patrols of kitins, alone, whereas two years earlier, before his encounter with the Kami, he could only flee from them. Unfortunately, his superhomin power had also intensified the fear these Zorais felt towards him: his black mask, whose significance was known even in these regions far from his native stock, terrified them. The central government's propaganda had clearly born fruit. To top it all off, Pü was cruelly lacking in conviction. Not believing himself in the destiny promised to him, he found himself quite unable of convincing anyone. At times, he even felt he was sabotaging himself.

"You're monstrous! screamed the homina, as her children's sobs burst into tears. Go away! Leave us alone!"

Pü lowered his mask in defeat.

"Fine. As you wish. I'm going further west to look for other survivors. I will make sure I come back around here in a few weeks. Remain cautious, and bear in mind that the heights of the trees offer only relative safety: the flying kitins are on the prowl and can attack both at ground level and at altitude."

Pü bowed briefly and jumped from the branch on which the makeshift camp was set up.

"Don't despair, my boy. I firmly believe that one day soon, some people will be able to see the kind-hearted homin who hides behind that black mask. For deep within your being lies an enlightened soul who wants only the good of his neighbour. I've seen it."

Pü nurtured the hope that the Voice was right. Ever since he left the Eternal Garden, he had seen himself as a liberator, travelling around Atys not to spread the faith in Ma-Duk and wage the Sacred War, but to seek out and gather the survivors of the catastrophe, to protect them from the kitins. Admittedly, before his departure, the Voice had assured him that the Black Kami's will was not to interfere in his decisions, and had therefore strongly encouraged him to follow what his heart dictated. However, after discussing this at length with her, Pü had begun to suspect that the Kami's commitment concerned only choices about the manner in which the Sacred War was to be waged. Perhaps by repeating that he was free to fight this battle in his own way, the divine creature was subtly confirming that he was inevitably obliged to fight it. Uncertain of what the Kami would think of his desire to lead his life differently, and aware of his ability to observe him from a distance, Pü had chosen to hide his true convictions from the homins he had met so far. And in secret, he had simply allowed himself to dream… Saddened by this latest setback, but as resolute as ever, Pü didn't waste a moment and firmly grabbed the first vine within his reach as soon as he landed on the branch below the one hosting the family. Without any further ado, he set off westwards, deeper into the depths of the Shrouded Jungle.

The Shrouded Jungle was the area of Zoraï country least familiar to the young Zoraï. Located in the north-west, this region owed its name to the colossal shadow cast by the Great Mountain. It was said that its summit, connected to the network of celestial roots running across the skies of Atys, could be seen from the Dragon's Backbone and the Munshia Plateau, situated at the northernmost reaches of the inhabited world. This exceptional size made it difficult for the rays of the Day Star, always at its zenith, to reach the base of the colossal root structure, and explained the tendency of the Zoraïs in the area to suffer from melancholy. As Pü drew closer to its flank, from which he was now only a few dozen kilometres away, his visual horizon was effectively swallowed up by the immense shadow. But for him the weight of sadness was not greater than it usually was. Having spent his childhood in the dark depths of a felled sky-tree stump, Pü found this environment strangely familiar. Almost too familiar for his comfort. On leaving the Eternal Garden, he had planned to head south-west, to search for survivors around the city of Taï-Toon. However, having grown up in this region, he had rejected this very idea. It would have taken him too close to the ancestral stump, which he now saw as a mausoleum. He would visit Taï-Toon another time. He then imagined returning to Zoran. However, knowing that the town might still be inhabited by the Antekami, from whom he had wrested the Black Kami, he thought it unlikely that he would be able to persuade them to follow him. Nor had he any desire to do so. So he set his sights on the most westerly city in the country: Zu-Galam.

Erected on the eastern slope of the Great Mountain, precisely where the Ti-aïn gushed forth, Zu-Galam stood as the most imposing homin fortress in the region. In spite of this, its size hardly distinguished it from the many small towns lining the shores of the vast Temples Lake, and it was far from rivalling Zoran and Taï-Toon. In short, its size was in keeping with the modest population of the Shrouded Jungle. Zu-Galam, on the other hand, enjoyed national renown, due to the perpetual deposit of exceptional raw materials it harboured, coming from the depths of Atys and rising to the surface through the mountain's veins. The source of the Ti-aïn, which took the form of an impressive waterfall a hundred metres wide, split the town in two and snaked through an imposing system of suspended nets. These nets, of varying mesh sizes, were strategically placed to collect the resources generously offered by the Kamis through the flow of water: fragments of precious amber, indestructible fibres, pieces of ancient bark and valuable seeds. As for the vegetable oils mixed with the water, they were separated by a decantation dam further downstream. Once cleaned and sorted, the resources were transported to Zoran in long river convoys.

Pü, who was just heading up the banks of the Ti-aïn, darting from vine to vine, noticed two wrecks. Curious, he stopped to look at them. Upside down and blocking the river in a shallow section, the stranded barges impeded the natural flow of water, whose oily, iridescent sheen betrayed the collapse of the Zu-Galam dam. And as he looked upstream at the coloured river, other wrecks appeared, even more numerous. At that moment, they were as much reminders of the past disaster as beacons pointing the way toward his future destination.

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On the way to Zu-Galam, Pü had pictured several different states in which the city might present itself to him, envisaging various scenarios. The one that dominated his thoughts was inspired by what he had seen of Zoran: a city ravaged by kitins and Karavan bombardments, but still populated by survivors whom he aspired to bring together. None of them, however, had prepared him for the horror of the sight that befell him as he pushed aside the foliage of the branch he was standing on.

Just a few hundred metres away, the once majestic citadel of Zu-Galam, set against the Great Mountain, seemed to have turned into an incessant teeming of legs and thorns: the monstrous creatures had taken possession of the valley and had set up one of their nests in the troglodyte city. Although Pü had already observed kitins' nests over the past three years, he had never seen these creatures settle in a homin city. However, having already witnessed the manoeuvres of the insectoid harvesting armies, he immediately understood why the kitins had settled there: it was to mine the inexhaustible deposit of raw materials present. The idea of an invasion motivated by the theft of surface resources, which had seemed far-fetched to him at the time, had become increasingly plausible over the months, and was now the most convincing explanation. Naturally, during the three years he had spent with the Black Kami, Pü had had the opportunity to question him about the reasons for the invasion. However, the divine creature didn't know the answer. Unless she simply refused to give it to him.

Keen to get closer to the nest so he could get a better look at it, Pü swept his eyes over the valley, looking for the safest route to adopt. But immersed in the darkness, it was difficult to plan anything. True, the thousands of moving chitinous carapaces reflected the rare rays of the Day Star that lit up the region, making it possible to make out the city from relatively far away. But this was not enough. So the Zoraï closed his eyes, regulated his breath and concentrated on his immediate surroundings. The ambient buzzing suggested numerous kitins were flying over the valley. Projecting his new sense beyond the foliage, Pü easily recognised the signature of the abominable fire-breathing dragonflies, the same ones that had initiated the attack on his family stump three years earlier, and which he had fought on many occasions since. Present in large numbers, they moved back and forth between the edge of the jungle and Zu-Galam.

Since he had developed his new sense, Pü had had the opportunity to probe the jungle from top to bottom. He had come to recognise the way sap circulated in the bodies of the different organisms that populated it, and to classify them according to the density of the flow. For the time being, he had identified three main categories: Kamis, characterised by an extremely dense flow, flora and fauna, whose flow was dense, and homins and kitins, endowed with a less dense flow. This classification, established empirically, surprised him at first. Indeed, knowing that all homins were capable of practising magic innately, unlike many species of animals and plants, he had assumed that they would have a profile close to that of the Kamis. These observations led him to re-evaluate many of the prejudices he had held about other species on Atys, as well as the true nature of what a “magical manifestation” could be. As for the kitins, he was still struggling to understand why their profile was so similar to that of homins, when so many factors seemed to distinguish them…

Pü, whose attention was now entirely focused on the flying kitins, tried to delve into the matter. Unfortunately, his train of thought was interrupted by a muffled, sizzling, monotone voice which emerged straight from nothingness.

"Follow me."

With a start, Pü opened his eyes again. A fourth category was then added to his classification: a Karavan female agent, floating in the void at his height, was now standing in front of him. A multitude of questions immediately sprang to his mind. What could this agent possibly want of him? How had she spotted him? What threat did she represent? Had he become powerful enough to oppose her? And above all, why was there no flow of Sap circulating inside her body, making her completely invisible to his new sense? Pü, who had never had the opportunity to observe so closely an agent, didn't let himself be overwhelmed by more questions. He was immediately captivated by the hominoid entity, the embodiment of the absolute enemy in his culture. His eyes scrutinised the all-black jumpsuit, which hinted at feminine forms without revealing a single square centimetre of skin. The helmet enveloping her head, consisting of a wide white visor and a breathing mask, was concealed beneath a hood. Finally, a black veil draped around her hips resembled a short cape. The whole suit of armour was considerably worn, marked by numerous traces of impact and dirt scattered here and there.

No doubt waiting for an answer, the agent moved forward slightly. Instinctively, the Zoraï's left hand moved to the hilt of his sword. Serene, the agent repeated herself, offering Pü the chance to experience something his parents had already told him about.

"I said, follow me!"

Her command flapped the back of the Zorai's skull, nearly causing him to lose his balance and fall from his branch. The agent now exuded an aura that was both threatening and fascinating, exerting a psychic pressure on his mind. Although this was the first time Pü experienced a mental attack from an agent, as a Black Warrior of Ma-Duk, he had been trained from childhood to resist such psychic manipulations through long sessions of meditation. Or at least to minimise their impact and quickly regain control, should he ever be confronted by an agent. However, he was aware that a simple homin could not resist one of them indefinitely. But since his encounter with the Kami, he was no longer a simple homin…

"My boy, at this particular moment, I think it appropriate to advise you to cooperate. You don't know what this agent's plans are, and it's unlikely that you'll be able to escape her if she insists that you accompany her. As for considering attacking her, I urge you not to even consider such an option."

Pü stared at the agent's visor for a few moments, then released the hilt of his sword. One day, he would put his new skills to the test against the Karavan. But that day had not yet come.

"Right, I'll follow you."

The agent dropped down in altitude and beckoned Pü to join her. He obeyed and calmly climbed down from the dorao on which he was perched. Once on the ground, he realised that being two metres tall, he towered over the agent by several heads. Then he remembered that when in his original form, the Black Kami was even much smaller… Without uttering a word, the agent headed south, walking along the edge of the jungle. Pü, also silent, followed her. On the way, he had another opportunity to examine her in detail: in the end, although there was no Sap flowing through her body, she was for all that not undetectable. The Sap, after all, permeated everything on Atys, including the air. But, as nothing seemed to be able to penetrate the agent's armour, it can be seen as an intense dark spot lost in the middle of an ocean of light. Pü confirmed his observations when he reached his destination, where four other specks of darkness were chatting. They were all standing in front of a strange teardrop-shaped device. Fifteen metres long and five metres at its most bulbous point, this vehicle, which Pü had already observed flying at a distance, was endowed with numerous technological attachments whose function he ignored. It also had side doors, one of which was open at the time. It was the first time Pü was seeing one of Karavan's infernal flying machines at such close proximity.

But something else caught his eye. One of the agents, again a female, was wearing a black and yellow suit of armour, which was also dirty and damaged. Although Karavan armour and devices were generally black, her mother had taught him that certain specialised individuals wore other colours. According to her knowledge, if accurate, the agents dressed in yellow belonged to the Karavan's intelligence corps, responsible for monitoring and exploring Atys. It was rare to come across them. When the agents finally turned towards Pü, he, despite having been trained to have no fear of anything, couldn't help but swallow. If he thought he had a chance against a lone agent, whatever the Voice said, he knew there was nothing he could do against five of them. Neither fight nor flight.

Still silent, Pü observed the five white visors. In a moment of sudden clarity, he remembered the words of Zunak, the antekami leader he had met at Zoran. If the story Zunak had told him was true, he had seen the face of an agent who had been seriously wounded in battle, just after the swarm had ravaged the City-Temple. It was a face that was familiar to him, but which did not correspond to any known homin species. He had also revealed that the agent had immediately begun to suffocate and spit blood once his helmet had been removed, and that his face had rapidly decomposed afterwards. These details, if true, would explain why the agents wore such armour and why there was no flow of Sap circulating through their bodies: unlike all other organisms on Atys, the Sap was toxic to them. This reinforced the theory that the Karavan was extratysian in origin and gave Pü a strategy for attack: if he ever had to face an agent, his best chance would be to succeed in piercing his armour.

The agent in yellow, who had just picked up an object through the side door of the vehicle, moved towards its bulging end and beckoned Pü to come closer. The unusual object she was holding out to him consisted of two identical black tubes connected by a hinge.

"Take this, on this side. You have to look through it towards Zu-Galam. I need your eyes."

Wary, but compelled, Pü took the object. It was light and cold. Each tube bore at its end a lens made of a particularly clear amber, allowing it to be seen through.

"You can increase the gap between the two tubes by turning the notched circle between them.... Yes, like that."

Pü adjusted the tubes to the distance between his eyes before pressing the device against his mask. At first, everything he saw was blurred. Then the object made a slight sizzling sound and automatically adjusted itself to his vision. The Zoraï was surprised to realise that he could now observe Zu-Galam as if he were standing right next to it, in full daylight. The agent then took an object no bigger than a finger out of one of her pockets, from which a red beam emanated. She leaned to one side and pointed the object at the city.

"Good. I'll guide you. Look at the southern gates of the city, outside the walls, near the slope of the Great Mountain. You should see a red dot of light. I'd like you to tell me which of these tunnels lead to the underground levels of Zu-Galam. We'd like to get in there and plant a bomb to kill the kitin queen dwelling there. Our surveying equipment is out of order, so we need information from a local resident."

At these words, Pü mentally prepared to inform the agent that he was not from the area and therefore could not help. Instead, he stopped dead in his tracks. There, in the teeming hustle and bustle of the kitins, on the heights of Zu-Galam, a specimen larger than its fellows caught his eye. If its carapace twinkled with shades of blue and orange, it was above all its legs that singled it out. For he was missing one. It was it.

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Many cycles had passed since the first contact between the Ambigus and the Kitins. The primates from the Matrix had infiltrated the Great Egg and destroyed an isolated nest. In response, the Kitin alliance known as the Burning Cloud reformed and invaded the Matrix, thereby shattering the Shell and breaking the immemorial ban on leaving it. As expected, the Ambigus posed little threat compared to the Sterile, despite sharing their scent and morphological characteristics. The latter fought hard to protect the Ambigus, for whom they seemed to be the guardians. But despite their immeasurable power, they were no match for the millions of Kitins who flooded into the Matrix, and the counter-attack quickly turned into a vast escape operation. Only when the vast majority of the Ambigus had fled did the Sterile show off their might, raining down fire on the armies of the Burning Cloud. At the same time, in the depths of the Great Egg, the Primessences awoke and clumsily tried to catch the Burning Cloud from the rear. The unexpected alliance between the Steriles and the Primessences, usually foes, resulted in the annihilation of hundreds of thousands of soldiers and the death of many kitin queens. However, the number of Sterile casualties, although much lower, was sufficient for the Primessences to withdraw, the Steriles to cease their fire assaults, and the surviving queens to declare victory: the Kitins now had a foothold in the Matrix, and nothing could ever drive them back.

That said, winning the war did not ensure the absence of dangers in the conquered territories. Small groups of Steriles continued to threaten the balance, systematically attacking isolated kitin detachments and prowling around the new kitins' nests established in the Matrix. From its promontory, the kinkoo seemed to scan the horizon, its gleaming skull swivelling from left to right, interpreting the chemical signals of the kipestas it had sent on mission. These kipestas, which were numerous, were responsible for navigating between the kitins' nest and the area where five Steriles had been spotted. Although there didn't seem to be enough of them to reach the queen and wipe out the nest, they could still cause serious damage. Once their presence had been detected, the kizarak lord of the kinkoo, who now ruled alongside the queen, ordered him to mobilise all the soldiers in anticipation of an imminent enemy attack. For the kinkoo, the responsibility was immense, commensurate with the role he now played within the kitins' nest as head of the armies. A role he had never actively sought, although he had always secretly longed for it. Neither a kizarak nor a queen, the kinkoo was in effect not a royal kitin, and was therefore not supposed to possess an individual conscience that would allow him to nurture his own dreams. If the royal kitins of the kitins' nest were to find this out, his life would be in jeopardy. So the kinkoo secretly cherished his new status, taking care not to let any hint of emotion leak out in the chemical messages he sent to the other kitins. He knew how lucky he was.

It has to be said that his first mission in the Matrix ended in lacklustre success. True, he had returned victorious, having completed the destruction of every Ambigus' nest his lord had ordered him to destroy. But the occupants of the first of them had been particularly tough, even going so far as to make him doubt himself. Between them, these Ambigus had slaughtered all his kinchers - the subspecies that formed the basic ranks of his soldiers - as well as a number of his kinreys - the elite subspecies to which he belonged - and had even cut off one of his legs. Fortunately, neutralising the following nests was infinitely simpler. So it wasn't so much the kinkoo's intrinsic skills that had propelled him to the rank of army leader, but rather a series of favourable circumstances.

It all began when the most ancient and powerful kizarak lords of his nest were annihilated by a Primessence in a destructive assault on the very heart of the lair, nestled in the depths of the Great Egg. The surviving kizaraks, including his own lord, had then to manage alone the vast nest alongside their queen for several cycles. It was only after the Burning Cloud had declared victory, and the Queen's armies had secured the area of the Matrix intended for her, that she decided to reorganise her territory. For the first time since her own hatching, she decided to lay a queen's egg. Her aim was to found a new kitins' nest in the Matrix to extend her area of influence, without however giving up the ancient nest where she had hatched. Obviously, she knew she was playing a dangerous game, aware that her queen-daughter would one day become independent, and might then decide to turn against her. However, such was the destiny of all kitin queens: to build vast kitins‘ lairs and sire new queens who, in turn, would establish powerful kitins’ lairs, enabling the kitins to dominate the entire Great Egg and, from now on, to colonise the vast unexplored areas of the Matrix.

The egg of the future queen-daughter was laid at the same time as many of the kizarak lords' eggs. While some of these eggs were intended to replace the lords eliminated by the Primessence, to assist the Queen Mother in the reconstruction and governance of her nest, the others were programmed to hatch at the same time as the Queen Daughter and pledge allegiance to her. Among the kizaraks who survived the attack of the Primessence, the lord of the kinkoo was chosen to lead the colony responsible for transporting these eggs to the territory of the Matrix recently acquired by the Queen Mother, with the aim of laying the foundations of the future kitins' nest. His lord had naturally accepted this prestigious mission, which few kizaraks could boast of having the experience to carry out. In addition to extending the Queen's authority, kizarak lords were also responsible for establishing new nests and taking command of them. This role could be exercised indefinitely in the case of an ordinary nest, or, more rarely, on a temporary basis for these destined to evolve into autonomous nests led by their own queen. The kitins had adopted this approach recently in their history, in response to their rapid expansion into the Great Egg, which had led to violent inter-colonial conflicts and the destruction of many isolated nests. So, despite occupying the highest rank in the kitin eusocial pyramid, just below the queen, the kizarak lords were in fact a relatively recent subspecies of kitin. They were the result of one of the last evolutionary strategies employed by queens, whose ability to consciously shape the biological traits of their offspring made them so unique and formidable.

After a short rest in the depths of the Great Egg with his lord, the kinkoo returned with him to the Matrix, proud to be part of this important undertaking. He was appointed to ensure the safety of the colony throughout its journey. A colony made up of his lord, kidinaks responsible for transporting and protecting the royal eggs, a squadron of kipestas messengers and several hundred workers and soldiers. Among them were a large number of kirostas, kitin soldiers of higher rank than the kinchers, easily identifiable by their long, tapered abdomen equipped with a venomous stinger, and recently formed into specialised patrols to hunt down the Ambigus. Arriving at his destination, the kinkoo realised that the place where the colony was to be established had been judiciously chosen, given the profusion of raw materials that this former Ambigus nest had brought up from the depths of the Great Egg. Enough to build solid foundations and provide highly nutritious food additives for the larvae to be born. The kinkoo was present when the egg of the one who was to become his new queen hatched, a moment of intense emotion that he barely managed to conceal from his lord, who himself was fortunately too absorbed in the event. The cycles that followed were uneventful, and the kitins' nest developed rapidly. The young kizaraks and the new queen reached maturity without a hitch, served and protected by an armada of devoted kidinaks, small ovoid kitins whose existence was entirely devoted to the service of the royal kitins, and confined to a specially adapted environment by the workers obeying the lord of the kinkoo. Until the queen daughter would begin laying her own eggs, the kizarak was responsible for developing the nest. So, as the personal enforcer of the kizarak lord who founded the nest, the kinkoo was promoted to lead its armies. Sitting temporarily at the side of the queen-daughter, his lord kizarak occupied a position that was both complex and prestigious, responsible for guiding the young queen and keeping the queen-mother informed of her actions. The kinkoo was aware that the growing independence of the new queen he served, and the emergence of the future kizarak lords she would spawn, could one day threaten his lord's life. Nevertheless, he preferred not to dwell on this thought.

Especially at this precise time, when five Steriles were threatening to attack the kitins' lair. Five Steriles and one Ambigu. That was the new chemical information he had just received from a kipesta. At this moment, the kinkoo was cursing the inadequacy of his sensory systems for the vast expanses of the Matrix and the resulting dependence on the kipestas for intelligence gathering. Knowing that kitins were evolving very rapidly, he was convinced that future generations would be equipped with far more advanced visual organs. This was already the case for the latest kitins to be hatched. However, he himself would never benefit from such improvements.

Five Steriles and one Ambigu, then. But not just any Ambigu. According to the last message he'd received, his scent was similar to that of the two Ambigus who had cut off his leg many cycles earlier, inside the first nest he'd destroyed. Consumed by rage at the humiliation these primates had inflicted on him, he believed then he had eliminated each and every one of them. Obviously, he was wrong: at least one had survived.

One had survived, and was now heading at full speed towards the kitins' lair. Was this the start of the enemy assault? Possibly. Three of the Sterile had taken off in their turn, while two others had hurried back to their flying mounts. Without further ado, the kinkoo ordered the kipestas around him to pass on the battle orders. Shortly afterwards, the lair expelled a torrent of kinchers and kirostas who rushed towards the enemy. The kinkoo knew that many of his soldiers would soon be reduced to dust by the Sterile, but that was their function. Recently, having reached a new level of individual consciousness, the kitin general had briefly felt empathy for the lower-ranking kitins. This was the first time. While he himself projected himself into the future alongside his lord and queen, whose longevity was high, these were condemned to live only a few cycles. As soon as them dead, as soon replaced. However, this disturbing thought did not trouble the kinkoo for long. For he immediately understood that this was their role. They were merely pawns, manoeuvred by the royal kitins in accordance with the queen's supreme plans. And in the end, wasn't that what he himself was? A non-royal kitin, condemned to live according to the wishes of his lord and queen? In a way, yes. But…

A new message, forcing the kinkoo to refocus his attention on the fight: five Steriles, one Ambigu and one Primessence. Erratic electrical impulses ran through his ventral nerve chain and the heat in his haemolymph rose slightly.

The situation was becoming increasingly complex.

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Pü was speeding towards Zu-Galam. Thanks to his new senses, he could anticipate the movements of the Karavan agents chasing him - three dark silhouettes standing out in the light - even though their backs were to him. The other two agents, who had rushed into the flying vehicle, were following them from the air without attacking him. The valley leading to the citadel, sparsely wooded, offered few hiding places. As a result, the Zorai could only rely on his keen senses and exceptional agility to dodge the fire of the three agents chasing him. These energy shots, which were not very concentrated, did not seem to be intended to kill him, but rather to neutralise him.

As soon as Pü had recognised the blue-orange kitin, his commitment to gather and protect the homins who had fallen victims of the disaster was eclipsed by the old promise he had made to himself: to exterminate all the kitins of Atys. For this kitin was responsible for all his misfortunes. He was certain that it was precisely against this kitin that his father and uncle had fought and died. The nightmarish vision of his elders, chest to chest, their torsos pierced by the creature's severed leg, was still etched on his retinas. Then came the image of his brother's head. Then the inert body of his mother. This kitin, the largest of the swarm that had decimated his tribe and the last to emerge from the rift, had been designated by his father as the commander of the monstrous army. Although nothing came to confirm this assumption, seeing him dominate the other kitins from the summit of Zu-Galam seemed to validate the importance of the role he was playing, while also underlining the difficulty of reaching him: before he could be reached, Pü would have to get rid of several hundred soldiers.

The first to come into contact with him were kipestas, the same ones he had observed a little earlier going back and forth between the edge of the jungle and Zu-Galam. Having learnt over the last few months that most kitins dread the cold, he had no trouble getting them to back off. But this was only temporary. Despite their wounds, the flying creatures kept coming back, trying to inflict violent blows with their tails and to hit him with their flames. Between the incessant gunfire from the agents and the growing number of kipestas massing above him, reaching his target was proving to be an extremely arduous task. Although he was well aware of this, he had no intention of listening to the Voice begging him to turn back. Nothing could dissuade him from carrying out his vengeance. Not his inner voice, nor the sizzling cries of the agents ordering him to stop, and whose attempts at mental control had lost all effectiveness on him. In this moment of intense anger, his will was unshakeable. It was true that the Voice and the Black Kami had helped him to appease the hatred that had consumed him after he had left the family stump. But he was far from being completely healed. The calm, measured Zorai he had once been had long since died.

Shortly afterwards, when the foundations of the citadel began to shake in the distance, Pü realized that a gigantic army of kitins had been arrayed on the ground. It was heading straight for him and would reach him in just some dozen seconds. Or rather, reach the Karavan agents, who represented a far greater threat. Still chasing him, they still hadn't managed to neutralize the Zoraï, and now faced a cloud of unleashed kipestas, which turned to ash with each successful shot. This was probably his chance. Sneak through the mass and let the agents take all the attention. Even so, it was unlikely that the walking kitins would let him pass quietly. If only he could fly like the kipestas. Then he could fly straight to the top of Zu-Galam. Pü had this thought as he leapt from the top of an embankment. And as if by a miracle, he took off.

Unsettled, Pü didn't immediately perceive the pressure gripping his back and waist. Thinking a kipesta had just grasped him, he raised his head and readied to push the creature away. But instead of the monstrous dragonfly, he discovered a huge black bird trapping him in one of its talons. It took the Zoraï no time at all to feel in his flesh that this was the Black Kami, metamorphosed. As they rapidly gained altitude, he assumed that the Kami had come to assist him in his pursuit, even though it had nothing to do with the Sacred War. Intoxicated by the sensation of flying, and elated by the divine creature's decision, Pü couldn't hold back a laugh. He was overcome by a mixture of relief and excitement. Relieved to know that, against all odds, the Kami supported his choices. Excited at the idea that he'd be able to get to his family's executioner more easily than expected. Unsheathing his sword, the Zoraï stared at the summit of Zu-Galam, scanning the gloom for blue-orange reflections. He was ready. At the same time, below him, the creeping army, shimmering with yellowish, white and green hues, was rushing towards the retreating Karavan agents, while the flying vehicle had pulled away and begun its pursuit of the Kami.

Then, suddenly, the horizon swung to the left. Enough so that Pü could no longer watch Zu-Galam without twisting his neck. The Kami was about to make a U-turn. Once the few seconds of incredulity had passed, the Zoraï protested:

"No! I have to get to the top of Zu-Galam! You're heading in the wrong direction!"

No response from the Voice. The immense bird was was speeding up and gaining altitude. Was it because of the flying machine that had been chasing them, and was now catching up, that the Kami had decided to turn back? Overcome by a new wave of anger, Pü began to struggle.

"Take care of the infernal Karavan machine if you feel like it, but carry me to Zu-Galam first!"

It was the first time he was addressing the Kami in this tone. And the fact that the Voice had given him no reply, despite having besieged him with entreaties when he had decided to head for Zu-Galam, only fueled his fury. The flush of positive emotion he'd felt earlier was now replaced by a dull hatred. Losing all reason, Pü began to strike the bird's legs with his sword. But the divine creature had no reaction. The Zorai screamed.

"I order you to let go of me! Do you hear me? Let me go! Let me go! Let me go!"

The first shots from the Karavan machine grazed the bird, which managed to dodge them with a few deft spins. Despite the violent jolts, Pü, multiplying sword blows, tried desperately to free himself from the powerful talon that was gripping him. Confronted with the ineffectiveness of his physical attacks, he turned to the incantation of powerful elemental spells, which proved equally useless. In the clutches of the Kami, he felt insignificant, powerless on every level. But his will remained intact. Guided by instinct, Pü grasped one of the claws with his free hand and closed his eyes. Without knowing where the idea had come from, he suddenly felt able to take over the Kami's mind and dominate it. And so, for a brief moment, the bird flickered. Then the talon heated up. So intensely that Pü, more surprised than hurt, was compelled to release it.

"My boy, it's pointless to carry on. You'd better give up."

Hearing the Voice finally speak only increased Pü's anger.

"You're so talkative when it comes to stopping me from acting, and so absent when I need to communicate with the Kami! Tell him to release me!"
"The Kami won't release you, my boy. It could cost you your life."
"Whatever! Let him drop me off! I've got to get to Zu-Galam! I must kill this kitin and avenge my family!"
"You're far too wise to believe that vengeance will ease your torment, my boy. Didn't you discover a vocation a few weeks ago? To help your fellow homin beings survive the new dangers of this world? It's this quest that will allow you to resume your existence and rebuild yourself."
"That you live in my head does not mean that you know what is good for me! Your role is to transmit to me the words of the Kami. Here is your unique reason for being! Do you hear me? Ask him to drop me off somewhere!"
"The Kami hears you, my boy, replied the Voice, now imbued with sadness. He says he will not let you near Zu-Galam. That the risks are far too great."
"I don’t care what he wants! It’s my life! Do you hear me? My life! If I have to risk it by wanting to avenge my family, that’s my choice!"

The Voice suddenly fell silent. The bird, having crossed the lower branches of the Great Mountain, suddenly accelerated. It was zigzagging between the gigantic leaves, trying to lose the Karavan’s flying vehicle.

"I'll never forgive you! I should never have freed the Kami of the Antekamis! I should never have let you get so deep inside my head! I won't let anyone stand across my life! Not you, not him!" shouted Pü, despite the power of the wind now whipping his mask.

It's an hesitant Voice who spoke again:

"My boy, do you remember our discussions, our reflections on the possibility for the Black Kami to force you to wage the Sacred War? According to what he's just told me, he doesn't care whether you choose to protect the innocents you come across or fight the Karavan followers found on your path. To wage the Sacred War, all you have to do is live… on your own terms."
"If that's really the case, then let him take me back to Zu-Galam!"
"No, my boy, you didn't get it. To wage the Sacred War, you must simply live, live without seeking to die."
"Die? You're the ones who convinced yourselves that I would run to my death! You doubt my abilities! I could have lost the Karavan agents, avoided the minor kitins, sneaked through Zu-Galam and faced the monster that decimated my family! I'm not mad!"

Pü heard himself say these words, which immediately sounded like a confession. Mad? No, sick would be a more accurate word. He was perfectly aware of his suicidal tendencies, having considered ending his life several times. He had discussed it at length with the Voice and had even attempted suicide once during his final duel with the Kami. Until now, he had managed to identify these crises for what they were. So, had he really tried to kill himself again today? Was he really that blind? Pü swept these disturbing questions from his mind. Whether it was madness or illness, he had the right to hope, to try, to fail. After all, it was his life that was at stake. It belonged to him. Absorbed in this reflection, he only realized late that he had dropped and lost his sword. His thoughts were confused and his limbs were heavy. He struggled to articulate:

"It’s… It’s my life. It belongs to me."
"My boy… How can I put it to you? the Voice whispered, visibly oppressed. Please excuse the cruelty of my words, but alas, your life no longer belongs to you. These are the words of the Kami. In his eyes, you are not Pü, son of Looï and Sang Fu-Tao. You are the Sacred Warrior. You belong to the Kamis. That is why he will prevent any attempt on your part to end your days, no matter what.”

Pü could no longer utter a word. His body no longer obeyed him and he struggled to maintain his concentration. So, his life belonged to the Kamis? Had he become their property? A prophet slave serving their cause?

"To prevent any action on your part when he'll teleports with you, the Kami has plunged your body into a state of sleep. He could not, for reasons that elude me, the vicinity of the Karavan agents. He had to distance himself from them first, which is now accomplished."

On these words, the bird emerged from the last foliage, spreading its immense black wings to slow its course. Above, illuminated by the cursed star of Jena, the sky blazed with a thousand lights. The harsh light contrasted sharply with the darkness of the Shrouded Jungle, forever engulfed under the thick branches of the Great Mountain. Despite his paralysis, Pü was fully conscious and awed by the sight of the Canopy's network of roots intertwining around him, a sight that no homin had ever seen so closely. In other circumstances, the splendor of this panorama would have undoubtedly awakened in him a feeling of joy. Unfortunately, the present conditions only fed his heart with a deep melancholy. Flying so high, far from the conflicts of Atys and his material existence, should have symbolized an escape towards freedom. But he had been awakened to the reality of his condition: not free, but chained. A being condemned to live. He was only a piece on a board, manipulated by the Kamis according to the divine and hidden designs of Ma-Duk.

Bélénor Nébius, narrator