Niebieski
When a flower blooms, it is
perfect. It is opening up to the day as if completely cleansed, though it’s not
at the beginning of its life and has already passed through many stages, it is
now pure again. It will be facing new challenges and struggling for survival.
It will be blemished and the delicate petals that surfaced at the bloom will be
penetrated in some way or another. It will never be as pure as it was in that
one state. But some seeds or buds never make it to the blossoming stage. There
can be nothing as perfect as that new bud opening up and finally being
something more beautiful than before, finally reaching its peak and potential.
When it was just a bud it was pure and young, but it wasn’t at its prime, it
was merely getting started and had no idea the hardships and changes it would
face, it wasn’t self-aware. But how could it have been? It’s still imperfect as
a bud, there is still a chance for it to fail, but it isn’t until the bloom
that those imperfections are truly seen, valued, and appreciated. They are
appreciated because the bloom itself is a sign of life and it is a miracle. We
are all born with original sin. We are born fresh, new to this world, but we
carry a weight on our shoulders. We all reach our ‘bloom’, our ‘peak’ at
different points. We reach our prime when we can wash that original sin from
our bodies, when we are faced with it and expel it, when our imperfections and
humanity shine through but compliment us rather than down size our potential.
The Niebieski flower blooms every
evening as the sun sets. Its petals close during the lighted hours of day and
open only to the night sky. They have an almost translucent look to them, yet
still glow blue and sparkle along the veins of 6 foot long foliage. These
flowers grow on Niebieski trees at the ends of the branches. It is a backwards
photosynthesis. The Niebieski flowers are energized by the rays reflected by
the moon. They are often referred to as Moon Flowers. They do not bloom just
once; they bloom every night like new. So no blemish, no injury or penetration
of any sort will withstand through the day time hours. By the next night, the
petals and the entire flower will be pure and new. Fresh.
But not much is known about these
Moon Flowers. The Niebieski Trees and flowers only grow when surrounded by
Murk. Many mistake it for water but it is not. A black substance, it is lighter
than water and a deep black in color. Gathered at the bottom of a Murk pond is
Dust from the veins of Niebieski Flowers and when reacting with Murk, Dust will
create a glow throughout the ground, returning itself to the roots of Niebieski
Trees and through to the Flowers. The
process is continuous and is therefore a cycle replenishing itself. The
perfect, flawless system.
The glow of a Niebieski Tree is
mesmerizing. Literally. It is hard to look away from a Niebieski Tree or
Flower. Even Murk is entrancing. The glow will catch your eye and you will
always find yourself looking back in the direction of the Moon Flowers’ glow.
Yet so little is known about these curious life forms. They have become a
product of the State, a tourist attraction used to take advantage of the
curiosity of people. Tour guides lead groups out to the Murk where they come to
a bridge and will not carry on any further. The groups will be told it is for
the environmental safety of the Niebieskies but that is a lie.
When the Niebieski Flower was first
discovered an Environmental Science Professional, James Gord and his partner
William B. Hensworth set out to collect samples of Murk and Niebieski bark,
nectar and petals. Upon arriving at the roots of the Niebieski Tree, Hensworth
noticed an insect of an unidentified species hovering around Gord’s head.
Seeing the bug, Gord became interested and in the moment, all interest turned
to obsession.
Hensworth described the experience as such, “Gord saw the
insect. He wanted to collect it in a vile as a sample to take back to the lab;
we hadn’t even gotten any of the other samples so I just started on the
Niebieskies. I always like to look at those Moon flowers, and that Murk. It’s
beautiful. I could look at it forever. But when I turn away I… I always forget
what it was like to look at it and so I look at it again… And then it’s the
same thing. I only want to look at the Niebieskies. Nothing else seems
important. And since I can never remember the joy of looking at the Niebieskies
once I turn away, I want to take one with me. I want to take the flowers and
keep them for myself. So I picked one of the Flowers right off the branch, it
didn’t come off easy but I got it. But it didn’t glow anymore… It just looked
like a leaf. And that happened each time I tried to take a Flower. It just
wouldn’t work… Why? I just wanted a Flower… I don’t know why I snapped out of
it then but that’s when I noticed the insect and Gord was already walking
towards it, un-phased by the Trees or Flowers. He just followed that bug. He
kept saying ‘I know, I won’t ever get
this chance again. I have to go’ and I tried to keep him from going into the
woods because I kept losing sight of him. It was ghost like. He would be there
one minute while I tried to get samples and then he’d be gone because he wanted
to follow that damn bug. And I was still fixated on the stupid Flower and at
some point he really was gone and I went back into some trance, obsessed with
getting a Moon Flower until I came to back at the hospital… I don’t remember
anything else that happened”
Of the 13 people that went out in
the search party for Dr. Gord, only four returned. Their experiences were
described quite similarly as Dr. Hensworth’s. They would become entranced by the
Flowers, Murk or this insect (later named the Konec Bug). The pull of energy
that draws a person to these grows weaker at a distance. Bridges along the edge
of a Murk pond are just close enough to keep tourists captivated and wanting to
get closer without an obsessive pull. Their eyes and thoughts will wander
curiously back to the beauty of Niebieskies but it will not over power them.
Tour guides leading Niebieski
seeking groups are not trained extensively. Those with interest in learning
more about the species have the career option of joining the NRF (Niebieski
Research Foundation). Here, they go through a two week training process before
they are let out alone to visit a Niebieski Tree and witness the bloom of a
Flower. This is a test and to pass it, one must return. Once a member of the
NRF, you will participate in monthly outings to Niebieski Trees and Murk ponds
where people have been reported missing. The mission of your group is to find
evidence of what might have happened. Today, no more than 650 people are
members of the NRF in the entire world. I am one of them. The details of my
experience with Niebieskies are irrelevant to my story however, all incidents I
have witnessed seem miniscule when next to the Group 17 Incident.
Tour groups go through waiting
periods before they may be accepted into our system and permitted to see a
Niebieski Flower, some travelers come to see the Flowers again and again. But
there is a limit. In order to prevent obsession and casualties, the NRF
conducts personal surveys on all those wishing to apply for entrance into a
tour group. They are asked to answer questions that will give us an idea of
their personality and will power. They are put into groups with others that
will complement their personality type and with a specialist tour guide trained
in dealing with them.
I am a Raske Tour Guide. I real
with Raske, or difficult personality types. These are the people who are
determined usually to get closer to the Niebieskies and will push their limits,
the people who are strong willed but easily lead astray by curiosity. Group 17
was my Raske tour group I led out to the Niebieski fields. I don’t remember the
date of the tour or what I was wearing or even the names of the people in my
group, but I remember their backgrounds from the survey.
Four people were in my group, Raske
Groups usually have the smallest numbers. A girl with soft blonde hair and
freckles was in this group. She couldn’t have been older than seventeen. A big
man, muscles excentuated through his tight shirt, stayed by her side most of
the tour though their records showed they’d never met before. A brown haired
boy, around nineteen carried around a pencil and paper, scribbling away madly
and taking notes, interrupting me to add in his own facts about Niebieskies. And
the last member was David, I remember his name because he was my trainee, a
young, nervous man of about 25 who was going through NRF training.
Tune in later for more!!!!
