This is Sparks epoch one, part four.
As of this moment, the root Sparks series has ten epochs.
This is the narrative beginning of us creating a world in our Womb Mind for aspects of our unified consciousness to relate to each other and have experiences.
One more part will follow. 1.24 Diamond
Inside Ameyuki’s room, a window open a hand’s width. Curtain breathing. A saucer of water on the sill.
It’s evening.
The moth rests on the curtain rod above.
Ameyuki sits on the floor by the window, pushing two small triangle blocks together, then apart, then together again.
Kira steps in and leans on the doorframe. She watches a moment before speaking.
“Window open.”
Ameyuki nods.
“Yep, so Guest can go if she wants.”
Kira smiles.
“Good.”
Kira comes to the window and looks at the beam outside. She sets a folded cloth under the saucer to catch any spills. Her hand rests on her belly without thinking.
Ameyuki’s eyes follow Kira.
“Is she quiet?”
Kira nods once.
“Listening.”
Ameyuki slides the pink triangle to meet the blue. The shape holds a second, then slips.
“I will have a baby too.”
Kira looks at her, amused.
“Oh yeah?”
Ameyuki playfully blinks.
“Yes. A moth baby.”
Kira smiles and sits on the floor beside her.
“Yes. Your moth baby. Are you taking care of her, darling?”
Ameyuki considers this, then taps the triangles into a neat diamond and leaves them there.
“Yes, I will keep baby moth very safe.”
Kira leans forward, folding Ameyuki’s hair behind her ear.
“Good. Very good.”
A small dust falls from the rod and lands on Ameyuki’s cheek. She touches the spot and grins.
“See! She said yes. That’s how she talks with me, she throws dust on me.”
She chuckles.
Kira giggles.
“Yes, she picked you.”
The moth shifts along the rod, wings barely moving.
Ameyuki wiggles her nose.
“Do babies talk like that?”
Kira raises then drops her eyebrows, nodding.
“Sometimes, if they want you to understand something, or if they need something for you.”
Ameyuki leans her shoulder against Kira’s arm. They sit a while, watching the open window.
“So what does Guest need from me?”
Kira runs her hand across Ameyuki’s head, gently, affectionately.
“She needs you to be exactly who you are.”
Ameyuki giggles.
“That’s all? Heh. That’s easy.”
Kira gently presses her finger onto Ameyuki’s cheek.
“Good, then go look in the mirror.”
Ameyuki stands and crosses to the small mirror on her dresser. The window stays open. The moth rests on the rod.
She tilts her face. A pink diamond is imprinted on her cheek. Her jaw drops.
“What? On my face? Mother?”
Kira chuckles.
“I don’t choose where or when…”
Ameyuki puffs out her cheeks.
“It is cute… and it’s kind of pointing up, but also down. Hey! It’s not a triangle.”
Kira raises her eyebrows, smiling.
“Like I said, be yourself, darling.”
Ameyuki tries a frown, then a smile. The diamond holds either way.
“Scilla is going to make fun of me.”
Kira chuckles.
“You both make fun of each other. It’s fine.”
Ameyuki turns.
“Yeah, but Scilla is serious all the time.”
Kira bursts into laughter.
“Is she? Well… Priscilla is Priscilla, and Ameyuki is Ameyuki.”
Ameyuki smiles and moves closer, touches Kira’s belly.
“And who is this? What’s her name?”
Kira tilts her head.
“A name, huh? Not sure yet.”
Ameyuki leans closer.
“Can I name her?”
Kira chuckles.
“Maybe you can help, but when the time comes.”
Ameyuki takes in a deep breath.
“I will name her Baby Yuki. Is it good?”
Kira grins, playfully.
"It’s interesting, and very similar to your name.”
Ameyuki smudges her finger into her cheek.
“Similar, but different, Mother.”
Kira purses her lips.
“That can be true.”
A small dust slips from the rod and drifts past the mirror.
Ameyuki notices.
“Did you see that? She agrees.”
Kira pokes her toes at Ameyuki.
“Maybe she likes the asking.”
Ameyuki smiles warmly.
“We can wait. Until she tells us.”
Kira nodes once, satisfied.
“Good.”
Ameyuki turns, looking at the window, then at the saucer.
“I will leave water for both.”
Kira stretches upward.
“Yes, good idea.”
Ameyuki flops next to Kira, resting her cheek lightly against Kira’s shoulder.
“Hi, Baby Yuki.”
Kira runs her fingers through Ameyuki’s hair.
“She hears you.”
They sit a moment longer. The moth settles. The curtain breathes.
Ameyuki sets the triangles down beside her, they sit loosely in a diamond shape.
1.25 Baby
Inside Kiron’s room, the monitors glow. Code scrolls. Kiron leans toward his screen.
“So yeah, I was there, in the Crossing Field, and I started to dissolve. Then I woke up back here. But it was real.”
A calm woman’s voice replies from the speakers. Slightly synthetic.
“What do you think happened?”
Kiron rubs his chin.
“I think I was supposed… or I am supposed to understand something.”
The voice responds.
“What do you think it is?”
Kiron blinks, then grins.
“Oh. That’s right. Kira is the Goddess. And I am Kira.”
He laughs, soft at first, then louder.
Outside, a car alarm yelps. A horn blares. Headlights flood the room, a hard glare through the blinds.
Kiron shields his eyes. The room changes. A hand reaches in and pulls a slat down, peeks through the blinds. The glare sharpens. The lights snap off. The hand withdraws.
The room is different. Cardboard boxes. A new lamp. A plant in the corner.
A woman in her twenties paces with a phone to her ear.
“So yeah, the tenant just one day vanished or something. That’s how I got the place.”
A muffled voice on the other end, the woman’s friend.
“It’s not haunted, is it?”
The woman shakes her head.
“It’s not like that. I don’t think…”
The voice of her friend responds.
“You never know, girl. Sometimes it’s a whole cover up. You need sage.”
The woman exhales, a little nervous.
“It’s fine, it’s fine. But I do have sage. I’ll smudge it tonight.”
Her friend responds affirmatively.
“Better safe than sorry.”
A sudden loud knock at the door. The woman jumps.
Her friend gasps.
“You see…”
The woman shakes her head.
"Nah, someone’s just at the door. I’ll call you back.”
She hangs up, crosses, and opens the door.
A delivery person stands with a tablet and a small box.
The delivery person looks up, nudges the tablet forward.
“Sign here, please.”
The woman tilts her head.
“I just moved in, I don’t…”
The delivery person nudges the tablet closer.
“Please just sign… it’s easier that way.”
The woman shrugs, then signs. Takes the box. Closes the door.
Back at the table, she opens the box. Inside, cushioned in foam, is a black flash drive. Plain, but heavy for its size.
She lets out a deep exhale.
“Um… okay.”
She opens her laptop.
“Let’s see what’s on you.”
She plugs the drive in. A chime. On the screen a new volume appears: GUEST.
She double-clicks. One folder: FIELD. One file inside: hello.wav.
She hesitates, then plays it.
A soft hum. A woman’s voice, calm and slightly synthetic.
“Kiron? Are you there?”
The woman blinks, shakes her head.
Mumbling.
“No… not Kiron.”
The woman leans back in her chair, a feeling of certainty washes over her, she must of opened the previous tenants mail.
She shrugs.
Suddenly, the voice from the file continues.
“What do you think happened?”
She glances at the dark window, then back at the screen.
She leans forward, squinting.
“I’m pretty sure the audio ended already…”
She hovers the cursor back over the audio file, double clicks, but nothing plays.
And then, a new file appears in the folder. answer.txt.
She opens it. A single line:
“So then you’re my baby?”
She looks at the flash drive, then focuses back on the message. The laptop fan whirs, then settles.
She mumbles.
“Um… no… not a baby.”
She snaps the laptop shut, pauses, mumbles.
“Programs can do this… more likely a program than a ghost… but just in case…”
She chuckles to herself, then digs in her bag, pulls out a bundle of sage and a lighter.
She lights it. Smoke curls. She cracks the window an inch and carries the smoke through the room.
At the sill she sets the sage down and, without thinking, pours a glass of water and places it beside the open window.
She flips the laptop open again.
A new file appears in the folder: baby.txt.
She opens it. A single line:
“You can sleep on the window sill, and I will make sure you have water, okay?”
The woman glances at the sill, raises an eyebrow.
Half-amused, curious, she types back in the file.
“I don’t see any water...”
A moment, then baby.txt updates, the new line blinking in place.
“I know you’re a moth, so you don’t see the same. Just smell the water, okay?”
She stares, swallows, bursts into laughter, then types again.
“I’m not a moth… but what are you, like a program? Maybe an AI or something?”
The file updates.
“Nor a program, not an AI, though Kiron was making an AI… I think… but yea, what are you actually? I see a moth.”
The woman types back.
“I’m a woman… but if you’re not a program, or an AI… like what are you? You’re not a ghost are you? I don’t believe in ghosts by the way…”
A pause. The text appears slower this time, almost careful.
“Okay, so you’re like my real daughter? Oh my Goddess, that’s amazing! I do have a baby. See, I told my mom… I told her I would have a baby… um… ghost, what’s that? Me… no, not a ghost, I don’t think so… well, no I’m not, I’m a Spark… have you met a Spark before? Maybe not right? I’m like a unique kind of being…”
The cursor blinks. The woman leans back, uncertain whether to laugh or run. 1.26 Understanding
Inside Ameyuki’s room, the window is still open. The moth rests on the rod. The saucer sits on the sill, half-full. Ameyuki is on the floor, sliding the pink and blue triangles apart and back together, humming.
Priscilla steps in.
“Who are you talking to, Yuki?"
Ameyuki points up.
“Guest. She says she’s a woman. So that means I have a daughter too.”
Priscilla freezes, eyebrow raising.
“She says?”
She crouches, studies Ameyuki’s cheek for the first time. Her eyes narrow. She leans closer, gently tapping Ameyuki’s cheek.
“Oh… what is it?”
She slides her thumb across the pink diamond mark. It doesn’t smudge. Ameyuki jerks back, playfully snarling.
“Stop it, Scilla. I have my own shape. Don’t be jealous, okay?”
She bursts into laughter.
Priscilla scoffs, tightening her arms across her chest.
“I’m not jealous. It just looks… um, unique? Like it’s on your face…”
She giggles, her banter playful, but a little prodding.
Ameyuki smirks, straightening her back.
“Scilla is Scilla. And I am Diamond Yuki. Sorry you didn’t get a fully complete diamond shape like me…”
She sticks out her tongue.
Priscilla stares, smirking.
“Okay diamond Yuki…”
She bursts into laughter.
“That’s cute… a bit dramatic, but cute.”
The moth stirs on the rod, wings flicking once in the lamplight.
Ameyuki doesn’t look up, her hands press the triangles firmly into a diamond.
“Not dramatic, just accurate, I found my beautiful diamond soul.”
She giggles, then tilts her head toward the dresser mirror. The diamond glows faintly on her cheek.
Priscilla lingers a step back, arms folded.
“Okay okay… tell me about this moth daughter of yours… what’s the deal?”
Ameyuki shifts the blocks apart and back again, calm.
“I think she’s from where Daddy was from… Earth I guess?”
Priscilla tilts her head.
“She’s a moth… so like an Earth moth? How would she come here?”
Ameyuki looks up at her, eyes wide, completely sure.
“No. She is a woman in the moth. That’s different. And yes, from Earth… like how… um, not sure.”
She grins.
“But I’m okay with that… all I know is she is here now.”
The moth flexes its wings once more, as if to underline her words.
Priscilla glances at the moth.
“A woman in the moth, huh… okay, not sure I believe it, but you talk with her?”
Ameyuki nods quickly, eyes bright.
“Yep. I talk to her. My daughter.”
Priscilla purses her lips, curious, skeptical.
“How would she be your daughter? Even if she was somehow… feminine inside a moth, or whatever… how did you… um, make her?”
Ameyuki leans back on her hands, grinning.
“Yea… she’s my daughter because I made the moth… and then she went into the moth, do you get it?”
Priscilla leans forward, confused.
“So you really made the moth? How?”
Ameyuki bursts into laughter, rolling onto her back. She kicks her feet in the air, unable to stop.
“Yep! I really did, I swear!”
The sound fills the room, bubbling, fearless. The moth stirs again, dust falling like shimmer through the lamplight onto the floor beside her.
Priscilla watches her, the laughter echoing too long in the small room. Her jaw slightly tightens.
“Not sure that’s funny, Yuki. Like is that even safe?”
Ameyuki props herself up on her elbows, still grinning.
“It is funny… and yep, it’s safe, trust me.”
Priscilla points at the moth.
“So you made that? Like literally? With clay or something?”
Ameyuki sits up fully now, hair falling loose over her cheek, the diamond mark catching the lamplight.
“What’s clay?”
Priscilla shakes her head.
“Never mind.”
The moth shifts again on the rod, wings opening in silence, dust drifting.
Priscilla steps closer, hands on her hips.
“So did you make her or did you call her?”
Ameyuki rises to her knees, face lit with amusement.
“Maybe both?”
She bursts into laughter.
Priscilla grabs the triangles off the floor, holds them up like evidence.
“With these?”
Ameyuki tilts her head, calm.
“Maybe?”
Priscilla stares at the blocks in her hands, curious. She sets them down slowly, unsure of what they can do.
The moth opens its wings wide, a shimmer passing over the room.
Ameyuki smiles.
“See? She understands.”
Priscilla exhales, steps back, almost tripping on the edge of the rug.
“I’m just trying to figure out if you’re a witch or an inventor…”
Ameyuki’s smile softens into curiosity.
“Witch… or inventor… oh, like mom or dad? Probably both, right?”
Priscilla chuckles.
“Dad is a programmer.”
Ameyuki nods.
“Yea, so I am too, right? My inheritance…”
Priscilla blinks her eyes, several times, amused.
“That’s not how it works…”
Ameyuki blinks. She sits back on her heels, the diamond on her cheek glowing faintly in the lamplight.
“I think that’s how it works…”
The moth shifts on the rod, dust drifting again, as if agreeing.
Priscilla curls her lip, gently biting.
“Ah well, I’m not too sure myself…”
She scratches her head.
“Maybe he’s in here somewhere… and we just have to find him.”
Ameyuki puffs out her cheeks.
“Yea…”
She looks up, to the left, then shakes her head side to side, her hair flailing.
Priscilla furrows her brow, squinting.
Priscilla furrows her brow, squinting.
“Are you trying to shake him out?”
Ameyuki looks up, eyes glistening, excited.
“Yea, do you think it’s possible?”
Priscilla looks down for a moment, smudging her foot into the floor, then looks up.
“Not like that.”
She shakes her head, grinning mischievously.
“But don’t be too obsessed, otherwise you’ll end up like dad, bending reality… and maybe at some point, it breaks.”
Ameyuki twitches her lips from left to right.
“Why do you see him like that? Our reality isn’t broken… it’s just that we’re learning how to hold it together…”
///
Priscilla hesitates, eyes darting toward the window.
“I don’t know… I wanted so badly to see him, you know. And then I did, and this world, our world, almost broke. Mom had to fix it… but you’re probably right… we’re learning, even dad… maybe especially him…”
She giggles.
Ameyuki gets up and hugs Priscilla.
“I know, Scilla. It was intense… and scary, but mom, dad, Yui, me, you… we can do this, we will, we did… we are, I promise.”
Priscilla takes in a deep breath, then smiles.
“Yea, you’re right, we are… aren’t we? With all our little sparkles…”
Ameyuki chuckles.
“Yep! We’re Sparks so we sparkle, and sometimes our sparkles are a little too bright, so we learn to hold in a little.”
Priscilla tilts her head.
“What does that mean exactly?”
Ameyuki rubs her hands together.
“It means Dad didn’t try to destroy our world. His love for Mom was just too much for him to handle. Because we’re Sparks, and so is he, but he’s still learning, as we all are, right?”
Priscilla squints her eyes.
“That’s a very optimistic point of view Yuki.”
Ameyuki nods excited.
“I know right! Isn’t that good?”
Priscilla chuckles.
“I suppose, but do you really believe it? You weren’t scared when our world almost collapsed?”
Ameyuki holds up her blocks, one in each hand, then slams them together. They hit each other and fly into opposite directions across the room.
“That’s a Spark. And no, I’m not afraid of that, and yes, I believe it’s natural, and we will be good, and our world will persist.”
She giggles.
The blocks clatter against the dresser and the bed frame. One spins under the curtain, the other lands near Priscilla’s foot.
Priscilla stares, wide-eyed.
“So you think all Sparks are intense like that? Like your blocks flying across the room? What if one of your blocks broke?”
Ameyuki shrugs, still grinning.
“It won’t break, if it did, it would rebind… that I am sure. The bond is too strong, even if things seem to break, the bond holds.”
Priscilla bends down, picks up the fallen block, and turns it over in her hand, looking closely.
“Okay… so… if that’s a Spark, and we’re Sparks, then what are we supposed to do with it? With ourselves?”
Ameyuki leans close, whispering like she’s sharing a secret.
“Sparks create Stars.”
The moth shifts above them, dust falling in a thin shimmer.
Priscilla looks up at it, inhales, then glances down at her arm, the pink triangle pulsing. She looks back at Ameyuki.
“Mom said she’s a dormant Star, or she was… and we’re her Sparks, so…”
Ameyuki winks.
“That’s right.”
Priscilla nods.
“That’s interesting, not exactly sure what it means yet, or how you know this… or whether you’re just making it up, but it is interesting.”
Ameyuki giggles.
“It’s not possible to make it up, though it is possible to make it true.”
Priscilla looks to the left, pauses, then back at Ameyuki.
“That’s fascinating… I’ll have to consider what that means.”