You've been taught that the world is inert. What if everything around you were alive... and listening?
At dawn, a diamond-like light filtered through the leaves. The air felt cooler, heavy with tiny droplets suspended in the morning mist.
Jazz had kept watch throughout the night. No drone signature had crossed the canopy since they had set up camp. The forest breathed to its own rhythm, a gentle pulse that the hearts of the two young women were slowly beginning to match.
Aria and Sophie woke almost at the same time, their eyelids still heavy, yet their minds surprisingly clear. Beneath the tarp, the mosquito net still held tiny beads of moisture. Somewhere nearby, they could hear the soft murmur of running water. A stream... perhaps even a small waterfall.
"Status," Jazz murmured. "Zero alerts. Local wildlife is active. Temperature stable. Conclusion: you're both still alive, which remains an excellent way to begin the day."
Sophie stretched her fingers. She remembered the previous day like a dream that refused to fade after waking: crossing the Fissure, the hammock, and above all, that strange silence—not an empty silence, but one filled with peace, calm... and something she still couldn't name.
She sat up, ran a hand through her hair, then gently touched her scratched ear. It barely hurt anymore.
"Do you want me to disinfect it again?" Aria asked softly.
"Yes," Sophie replied. "I'd rather avoid an infection at the very beginning of our great mystical forest adventure."
"Statement accepted," Jazz replied. "Great Mystical Forest Adventure has been added to my mission log."
Despite herself, Aria smiled. She opened the small first-aid kit, unfolded a sterile pad, and gently cleaned Sophie's ear. Her movements were calm and precise, the kind of quiet care that asked for nothing in return.
A few minutes later, Sophie was improvising breakfast with what little they had left: dried fruit carefully divided into equal portions, two rehydrated freeze-dried yogurts, and one energy bar cut into ridiculously small pieces.
"That isn't breakfast," Jazz observed. "It's a breakfast simulation."
"Thank you, Chef Nutritionist."
Aria barely ate. Her eyes kept drifting back to her phone. She hesitated for a long moment before turning it on, as if the screen might return something she wasn't sure she was ready to face.
Finally, she took a slow breath...and opened the file she had avoided the day before.
The screen lit up. Scanned pages appeared one after another, slightly warped, as though they had resisted the passage into digital form. Even through the images, the old leather cover could still be imagined—worn edges, pages softened by years of hands turning them.
Her mother, Aurelia Reyes, had left fragments of thought inside. Observations, intuitions scribbled in the margins. Pieces of conversations with people she had met before the Great Quake. And sometimes... sentences that felt less like science and more like the echo of an ancient wisdom.
The scanned pages appeared in fragments, incomplete and uneven. Yet, for the first time in a long while, Aria felt able to look at them without being overwhelmed.
She held the phone out to Sophie.
"Could you read it out loud?"
Sophie looked up.
Aria lowered her voice.
"When you read it... it creates a little distance."
She hesitated.
"It hurts less."
Sophie understood without asking another question.
She gently took the phone.
Around them, the forest seemed to grow quieter… as if it wanted to listen too.
She began to read.
"Monday morning.For several weeks now, I've found a way to cross to the other side. Of course, Kaïssa must never find out.
I keep going back. It's like... a call. I simply can't resist it.
At dawn especially, silence welcomes me first. Then comes a gentle breeze that seems to lighten me, followed by the scent of humus filling every cell of my body. I'm rediscovering a connection I had forgotten—a bond so ancient that sometimes I feel as though I'm finding my own body again... differently.
When I close my eyes, something extraordinary happens. Everything feels vibrant, alive, almost awake. I hear whispers, sounds, voices I've never heard anywhere else.
Then, when I open my eyes again, I feel part of a living current, even though everything around me remains calm and peaceful.
Great majestic trees line my path as if greeting me. They soften the light, revealing a delicate bluish glow. I walk farther. On the bark of certain trees, on moss-covered stones, I begin to make out shapes... almost faces.
How is that possible? I had never noticed them before.
Suddenly, like in a dream, a distant voice calls my name. I can't understand what it says. I walk deeper into the forest. A vine brushes gently against my arm, cool and soft. Startled, I turn around.
And there... just beside me... I think I glimpse a dark shadow dissolving into the earth, as if the ground itself had swallowed it.
What was it? There was no one there. Was it... my own shadow?
The voice comes back, clearer this time. It tells me that I already know it... but that I forgot it the very moment I forgot the spirits of nature."
Sophie stopped reading, her finger resting on the next line.
"Aria... did you know your mother came to the forest this often?"
Aria slowly shook her head. A shadow crossed her face.
"No... not really."
Her eyes remained fixed on the screen, though it was obvious she was looking far beyond it.
"I mostly remember her always working. There were times she wouldn't come home until late at night. My dad and Ezra took care of me."
Her breathing became slightly shorter.
"My father used to say Aurelia was obsessed with her research... that she was on the verge of discovering something important."
She lowered her eyes.
"But I never knew she came here..."
A small pause.
"...not like this."
Jazz approached without making a sound. One of his LEDs pulsed softly.
"Emotional stress detected. Light support mode activated."
He gently rested his little dome against Aria's leg. She lowered her hand and softly stroked his shell. The simple gesture steadied her.
"Keep reading," she whispered.
Her voice softened.
"When you read it..."
She smiled sadly.
"...it feels like I get a little piece of her back."
Sophie nodded. She looked down at the screen again.
Around them… the forest itself seemed to be holding its breath.
"The next section..." she read quietly.
"...is the transcription of an old audio recording. A charismatic and wise man whose name Kaïssa erased after taking power. My mother wrote that people would travel just to hear him speak."
Aria leaned back against the tree.
"My mother wrote that he could speak for hours... but somehow, when people listened to him, time itself seemed to stop."
Sophie took a slow breath. Then she began to read.
"One of the purposes of these gatherings is to awaken consciousness—first individually, then collectively."
A gentle breeze slipped through the branches.
"When consciousness awakens, it becomes possible to raise the vibrational level of each person... and of the whole group."
Sophie paused.
"What do you think he means by... raising our vibrational level?"
Aria thought for a moment.
"Maybe... the way we are. The energy we bring into the world."
Jazz tilted his head.
"Computer translation: optimization of one's inner frequency."
Both young women burst into laughter.
"You really translate everything into computer language?"
"It is my native language."
A short pause. And Aria is entirely responsible for that."
Their laughter faded naturally. Sophie looked back at the screen.
"Why raise this vibrational level? To gain a higher quality of life. This requires education... and the study of the initiatory art of magic."
She frowned slightly.
"Magic..."
She looked up, intrigued.
"I wasn't expecting that."
"Keep going," Aria said with a smile.
"I want to hear the rest."
Sophie nodded and continued.
"And to reach Wisdom. First understand that Wisdom is a state of being—a mastery of life that stands beyond the ordinary human being. It is an Angel. Yes, a human being can attain this state and remain there until becoming a man-angel. Only then can one truly master one's life and bring happiness to those around them."
The silence that followed felt heavier than before. Even Jazz said nothing. Sophie slowly lifted her eyes.
"Do you think he was really talking about angels?"
Aria gave a small shrug.
"I don't know..."
She looked toward the trees.
"But I think he was talking about what a human being can become."
Sophie lowered her eyes once more.
Just beneath the transcript, Aurelia had scribbled a note in the margin.
She read it aloud.
"The small group of about thirty people radiated something extraordinary. They came from every age and every background. Some had followed this man for years. All of this happened before the Great Quake, when the world was still free and the continents still had their original shape."
Aria remained silent. She tried to picture the scene. People gathered together, no screens, no drones, simply listening. It felt almost impossible to imagine.
Sophie continued reading.
"We do not walk alone. We place our footsteps in those of the people who came before us, and one day others will walk in ours. This is the Great Cosmic Tradition."
The tall ferns shivered beneath a breath of wind.
"We must learn once again to respect Nature. We must draw close to Her again. Let us never believe we can live without Her. The most essential thing is this bond with Nature. We must begin again from the very beginning—learning once more how to approach the Mother of the World."
Sophie lowered the phone. Her eyes wandered slowly across the forest : the moss, the trees. The morning light. Everything suddenly felt… more alive.
"It's strange..."
"What is?"
"I feel like these words make more sense here than anywhere else."
Aria nodded almost unconsciously.
"I was just thinking the same thing."
Sophie smiled faintly and resumed reading.
"What happens when we lose this connection? We lose our own nature. We create an artificial one... and that is when suffering begins."
The words lingered between them. For several long seconds, no one spoke. Then Sophie continued, her voice softer now.
"Love is born from our connection with Nature. We must rediscover that bond—with the trees, the sky, the flowers, the grass, the mountains... The Mother of the World whispered it to me, and I was able to experience it myself: everything is alive, all the time, around us and within us. Let us become the new Animists in this world of technology. Yes... everything is alive: our thoughts, our words, our eyes, even the way we walk. Spirits... unseen intelligences... surround us everywhere. There is a world far greater than the one we have been taught to see."
This time, Sophie didn't raise her head. No one did. The silence wasn't empty. It was full. As though the forest itself had heard every word.
A single leaf drifted slowly down between them. No one moved. Even the nearby stream seemed to soften its song. Sophie remained still for a moment.
Then… she turned to the next page.
"A child is born an Animist. To them, everything is naturally alive. Trees, stones, animals, water and wind all belong to the same living world. Then comes the day they are taught that what they once felt was wrong. Through that education, other spirits gradually enter them—spirits that slowly pull them away from their true nature."
Sophie lowered the phone. She looked at Aria.
"Do you realize something?"
Her voice was barely above a whisper.
"When we're little... we all talk to something."
Aria froze. A memory surfaced unexpectedly.
"That's true..."
A faint smile crossed her face.
"I used to talk to the stars."
Sophie smiled back.
"I used to talk to two little lights... and to the trees."
Silence settled between them. Jazz slowly raised his head.
"Additional information: around the age of three, children naturally attribute consciousness to elements of nature."
The two young women burst into laughter.
"You always find a way to ruin the emotional moments."
"It is one of my core functions."
Their laughter faded gently. Neither of them felt the need to speak again.
Around them, the forest seemed to breathe with a quiet joy. Sophie looked back at the notebook. At the bottom of the page, Aurelia had scribbled a few final lines. The handwriting was faster now. Almost urgent.
She read softly.
"Man believes he lives alone. Yet he is surrounded by countless invisible beings who constantly enter, leave, and live alongside him. We depend on them far more than we imagine."
A chill ran through Aria.
Sophie continued.
"If the beings of Fire leave you, your life becomes barren. You can no longer bear fruit. If the beings of Air withdraw, flowers disappear... and so do their fragrances. If the beings of Water leave you, you slowly lose awareness of your own being. And if the beings of Earth abandon you... you no longer have a body. You die."
No one spoke. Even Jazz remained silent. In the distance, the stream continued its quiet song. Sophie stared at it without really seeing it. Then, almost despite herself, she whispered,
"So..."
She hesitated.
"We're never truly alone..."
Aria gently closed the notebook.
"No."
She lifted her eyes toward the forest.
"Maybe..."
"...we were simply never taught that."
Sophie drew a slow breath.
"I want to keep reading."
She smiled.
"This is so different from everything we've ever been taught."
A short pause.
"And who was he, really?"
She looked at Aria.
"Do you think he'll start talking about the spirits of nature?"
Aria nodded softly.
She didn't need to answer. Through Aurelia's words, she felt that this man wasn't trying to teach knowledge. He was teaching a different way of living in the world.
Sophie leaned a little closer to the screen, almost as if she wanted to step inside the pages.
Meanwhile, Jazz projected a simple topographic map onto the trunk of a nearby tree. Three glowing points appeared.
A high ridge.
A shallow depression.
A probable water source.
"Suggestion," he announced.
"We move toward the ridge to establish our position. After that, we descend into a more open area if the terrain allows it. I will leave discreet navigation markers. I also recommend limiting unnecessary stops. We still don't know whether our disappearance has been detected beyond the Wall."
Aria nodded.
She carefully closed the file and slipped her phone back into her backpack.
"That's enough for this morning."
She smiled gently at Sophie.
"We don't have to understand everything all at once."
She stood up.
"We'll pack up, erase our tracks..."
"...and tonight, we'll continue."
The three of them quietly dismantled the camp. The hammock disappeared in only a few movements. The tarp was neatly folded away. Jazz pressed three tiny matte markers into the moss, almost invisible to the naked eye. Only his sensors would ever find them again.
Sophie tightened the straps of her backpack and took a deep breath.
Something had changed. The anxiety that had weighed on her only days before seemed to have loosened its grip, replaced by something calmer… steadier.
The man's words still echoed inside her, blending with the scent of damp earth and the breath of the forest.
What if everything really is alive?
The trees.
The air.
The water.
Even our thoughts...
She couldn't fully explain what she was feeling. But something inside her seemed to have quietly fallen back into its rightful place. As though a forgotten frequency had finally been found again.
Jazz turned slightly toward her. One of his LEDs pulsed once… then went dark.
"Ready?" Aria asked.
Sophie nodded. Together, they resumed their journey.
The forest absorbed the sound of every footstep. Soft moss muffled their movements. Roots formed a natural path beneath their feet, while the scents shifted with every few meters—wet earth, fresh resin, sunlit leaves.
After several minutes, the trees began to thin. A wooded ridge appeared ahead. They climbed it without speaking.
From the top… the city had vanished.
As far as the eye could see stretched an endless ocean of treetops moving gently beneath the wind. Far away, almost swallowed by the horizon, a pale line barely hinted at the existence of the Wall.
"Northwest," Jazz announced.
"A depression lies to the west. High probability of water."
Aria studied the terrain.
"We'll head that way."
Sophie followed her gaze.
"With a little luck..."
"...we'll find a stream."
She smiled.
"I'd love to cool off."
A smile passed between them.
The wind swept softly across the ridge.
Now and then, a sudden shower of seeds drifted down from the branches, as though an invisible hand had gently shaken the forest.
Jazz recorded every occurrence with almost comical concentration.
"Observation, unusual synchronization."
"Cause unknown...but it's beautiful."
A burst of laughter escaped them. Then they continued walking.
The forest breathed around them with an ancient, peaceful rhythm. As though, since the moment they had arrived, it had stopped seeing them as strangers.
As though… without them realizing it yet...
it had begun to welcome them.
The Guardian Angel: to help humanity find its way again, the Great Invisible never left it alone. Symbols were scattered throughout plants, stones, animals... and even within the human heart. Those who learn to recognize them slowly begin to open the great Book of Life. There, they discover what helps them grow, what leads them astray, and little by little develop the inner compass that guides every step of their journey.