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The sun was hidden periodically by rolling hills and lush spinneys as the car glided smoothly over the roadway. Danil stared through the passenger window watching the stray beams of vivid colour that leaked through intermittent cracks in the wall of terrain. His mouth hung open in awe of the wonders passing through his retinas; potent hues of husky orange puncturing shades of green and brown for which no name surely existed.
He resisted the urge to let out a heavy breath, and instead blinked sharply and forced himself to look at the road ahead. His concentration fell then on the stretching shadows that played across the immaculate tarmac, and stardust twinklings that sparkled at their edges as the falling sun refracted omnidirectionally.
Danil forced his mouth closed and pursed his lips tightly. Through faultless peripheral vision, he watched the smile creep up one side of his brother Luiz’s face as he drove the vehicle towards home in the failing light. Danil forced himself still and stared pointedly at the glove box. Still he noticed as Luiz moved his head fractionally and began to slow the car. The car’s vector shifted, and the familiar road home was replaced by some nameless dirt track squat between two lines of trees tall enough to consume any lingering traces of full daylight.
Danil aimed an inquisitive glance at his brother, but Luiz only smiled to himself, awaiting the question.
“I give up,” Danil said sheepishly “what’re you doing?”
Luiz’s smile deepened before morphing into a smug grin. He glanced at Danil, and then directed his attention back to the twisting variables of the disused road ahead.
“Word for word,” he whispered cryptically “that’s exactly what I said.”
Danil shot him a look of pure exasperation. In that moment, he viewed a hundred thousand emotions playing their way across his brother’s face. Chief among them…
“What are you talking about?” Danil demanded. Luiz was always too fond of games, surely not an advantage in his profession.
“When Dad took me up this way,” he replied calmly “I said the same thing.” Luiz’s eyes never left the winding road, now illuminated by headlights that overpowered the natural colouration of the surface and the overgrown shrubbery at its edges.
“Dad…?” Danil mouthed almost silently as a surge of repressed feeling bloomed through his mind. A frown formed on his brow as he subconsciously fought the reflexive urge to purge emotional pain through his tear ducts.
Luiz’s face became serious as he said “I remember I asked why we weren’t going home,” he blinked, and as his eyes opened, Danil thought that there was less focus than before “you know what he said? He said ‘We are going home Luizano, we’re just taking a different way today’” Luiz’s voice as he mimicked their father was indistinguishable from the late man himself. Danil felt his cheek twitch involuntarily.
“'We’ve never been this way before, papa’, I said” the shadow of a smile played across Luiz’s features “’I know that Luizano’ he told me, ‘that’s because this is a secret way’”. Luiz looked straight into Danil’s wide eyes “'you can keep a secret, eh chico?’”
There were a hundred questions Danil could have asked. When was this? Why did Dad never show me this route? Is it actually any faster? He didn’t bother to ask any of them. His mind was filled with memories, his heart overflowing with loss. For several minutes they drove on through the wilderness, with nothing but the contented humming from the engine intruding on the void between them.
With an abruptness that might have been sudden, were it not for the emotional torpor, the trees vanished, replaced with solid rock to one side, and grey, empty sky on the other. Luiz trundled on a few hundred metres more, and then brought the vehicle to a halt. Leaning his head back against his seat, Luiz swivelled his eyes to look sideways at his brother.
“I think Dad wanted to bring you this way too,” he said gravely “when you were ready.”
Danil frowned “Ready for what, Luiz?”
In response, Luiz disengaged the engine, and stepped out of the car. Danil watched for a few moments as he started to walk along the rock wall ahead of them, before exiting the vehicle himself to pursue.
“Not so fast, eh chico?” Luiz said in his father’s voice as Danil caught up to him. He produced a blindfold from his back pocket and proffered it to his sibling. Danil looked about to make a fuss, but Luiz simply shook the blindfold gently in the air and smiled knowingly. “Just put it on, ah?”
Danil failed to hide his irritation as darkness covered his eyes. The myriad shades of twilight that washed over the world turned to darkness as his vision was cut off. Time stretched beyond imagining as his brother led him across some unknown path in the darkness. The particular cruelty of the act on this of all days not lost on either of them.
And then he was stopped. Danil heard the quiver in his brother’s throat as he expelled a full lung of air. Luiz’s hands grasped his shoulders, and his breath came past his ears as he whispered “Open your eyes, brother.”
The blindfold fell away.
Danil gasped and stepped backwards as the imagery assaulted him with the vehemence of a physical blow. Before him, beyond the cliff’s edge, the setting sun sat lazily on the horizon, expelling an infinity of colour across the evening sky. Eyes enhanced by nano-technology that very morning drank in the picture and translated it into an ultra-hi definition video.
Sun beams danced into his eyes and played beautiful shapes across the cloudscape as his unwitting brain struggled to comprehend what it was seeing; the Sun as God himself would witness it.
Goose pimples rose on every inch of his skin as his jaw fell open. There was no power on earth that could stop the tears streaming out now as Danil sank to his knees in the dirt.
Luiz watched his brother’s reaction from a discrete distance, his face filled with pride as it had been in the car on the journey here. The beauty of the sunset was not lost on him, but he wasn’t here to indulge in its magnificence. The loose dirt crunched quietly as Danil’s knees fell into it, a look of absolute exaltation etched into his face. “Would you look at that, papa,” he said quietly to himself as he shed a tear of his own “My little brother’s all grown up.”
He resisted the urge to let out a heavy breath, and instead blinked sharply and forced himself to look at the road ahead. His concentration fell then on the stretching shadows that played across the immaculate tarmac, and stardust twinklings that sparkled at their edges as the falling sun refracted omnidirectionally.
Danil forced his mouth closed and pursed his lips tightly. Through faultless peripheral vision, he watched the smile creep up one side of his brother Luiz’s face as he drove the vehicle towards home in the failing light. Danil forced himself still and stared pointedly at the glove box. Still he noticed as Luiz moved his head fractionally and began to slow the car. The car’s vector shifted, and the familiar road home was replaced by some nameless dirt track squat between two lines of trees tall enough to consume any lingering traces of full daylight.
Danil aimed an inquisitive glance at his brother, but Luiz only smiled to himself, awaiting the question.
“I give up,” Danil said sheepishly “what’re you doing?”
Luiz’s smile deepened before morphing into a smug grin. He glanced at Danil, and then directed his attention back to the twisting variables of the disused road ahead.
“Word for word,” he whispered cryptically “that’s exactly what I said.”
Danil shot him a look of pure exasperation. In that moment, he viewed a hundred thousand emotions playing their way across his brother’s face. Chief among them…
“What are you talking about?” Danil demanded. Luiz was always too fond of games, surely not an advantage in his profession.
“When Dad took me up this way,” he replied calmly “I said the same thing.” Luiz’s eyes never left the winding road, now illuminated by headlights that overpowered the natural colouration of the surface and the overgrown shrubbery at its edges.
“Dad…?” Danil mouthed almost silently as a surge of repressed feeling bloomed through his mind. A frown formed on his brow as he subconsciously fought the reflexive urge to purge emotional pain through his tear ducts.
Luiz’s face became serious as he said “I remember I asked why we weren’t going home,” he blinked, and as his eyes opened, Danil thought that there was less focus than before “you know what he said? He said ‘We are going home Luizano, we’re just taking a different way today’” Luiz’s voice as he mimicked their father was indistinguishable from the late man himself. Danil felt his cheek twitch involuntarily.
“'We’ve never been this way before, papa’, I said” the shadow of a smile played across Luiz’s features “’I know that Luizano’ he told me, ‘that’s because this is a secret way’”. Luiz looked straight into Danil’s wide eyes “'you can keep a secret, eh chico?’”
There were a hundred questions Danil could have asked. When was this? Why did Dad never show me this route? Is it actually any faster? He didn’t bother to ask any of them. His mind was filled with memories, his heart overflowing with loss. For several minutes they drove on through the wilderness, with nothing but the contented humming from the engine intruding on the void between them.
With an abruptness that might have been sudden, were it not for the emotional torpor, the trees vanished, replaced with solid rock to one side, and grey, empty sky on the other. Luiz trundled on a few hundred metres more, and then brought the vehicle to a halt. Leaning his head back against his seat, Luiz swivelled his eyes to look sideways at his brother.
“I think Dad wanted to bring you this way too,” he said gravely “when you were ready.”
Danil frowned “Ready for what, Luiz?”
In response, Luiz disengaged the engine, and stepped out of the car. Danil watched for a few moments as he started to walk along the rock wall ahead of them, before exiting the vehicle himself to pursue.
“Not so fast, eh chico?” Luiz said in his father’s voice as Danil caught up to him. He produced a blindfold from his back pocket and proffered it to his sibling. Danil looked about to make a fuss, but Luiz simply shook the blindfold gently in the air and smiled knowingly. “Just put it on, ah?”
Danil failed to hide his irritation as darkness covered his eyes. The myriad shades of twilight that washed over the world turned to darkness as his vision was cut off. Time stretched beyond imagining as his brother led him across some unknown path in the darkness. The particular cruelty of the act on this of all days not lost on either of them.
And then he was stopped. Danil heard the quiver in his brother’s throat as he expelled a full lung of air. Luiz’s hands grasped his shoulders, and his breath came past his ears as he whispered “Open your eyes, brother.”
The blindfold fell away.
Danil gasped and stepped backwards as the imagery assaulted him with the vehemence of a physical blow. Before him, beyond the cliff’s edge, the setting sun sat lazily on the horizon, expelling an infinity of colour across the evening sky. Eyes enhanced by nano-technology that very morning drank in the picture and translated it into an ultra-hi definition video.
Sun beams danced into his eyes and played beautiful shapes across the cloudscape as his unwitting brain struggled to comprehend what it was seeing; the Sun as God himself would witness it.
Goose pimples rose on every inch of his skin as his jaw fell open. There was no power on earth that could stop the tears streaming out now as Danil sank to his knees in the dirt.
Luiz watched his brother’s reaction from a discrete distance, his face filled with pride as it had been in the car on the journey here. The beauty of the sunset was not lost on him, but he wasn’t here to indulge in its magnificence. The loose dirt crunched quietly as Danil’s knees fell into it, a look of absolute exaltation etched into his face. “Would you look at that, papa,” he said quietly to himself as he shed a tear of his own “My little brother’s all grown up.”
Verdict in a nutshell: Quite marvellous. Sumptuous descriptions. Extra point for using 'omnidirectionally'. 8.8 out of 10.
You're right of course. Nanotechnology was the inspiration behind the entire piece, and I naturally felt obliged to include a credit to it. I would probably rewrite it as "Enhanced eyes drank in the picture" or something.
The original principle is based on the concept that our eyes are only human, and that surely we only see a fraction of what light truly holds, regardless of how 'hi-def' we make the gadgets around us.
The original principle is based on the concept that our eyes are only human, and that surely we only see a fraction of what light truly holds, regardless of how 'hi-def' we make the gadgets around us.
That, my friend, was a great read and a lovely ending.
I felt the 'nano-technology' line stalled it a little, but other than that I loved it.
I felt the 'nano-technology' line stalled it a little, but other than that I loved it.
The sun was hidden periodically by rolling hills and lush spinneys as the car glided smoothly over the roadway. Danil stared through the passenger window watching the stray beams of vivid colour that leaked through intermittent cracks in the wall of terrain. His mouth hung open in awe of the wonders passing through his retinas; potent hues of husky orange puncturing shades of green and brown for which no name surely existed.
He resisted the urge to let out a heavy breath, and instead blinked sharply and forced himself to look at the road ahead. His concentration fell then on the stretching shadows that played across the immaculate tarmac, and stardust twinklings that sparkled at their edges as the falling sun refracted omnidirectionally.
Danil forced his mouth closed and pursed his lips tightly. Through faultless peripheral vision, he watched the smile creep up one side of his brother Luiz’s face as he drove the vehicle towards home in the failing light. Danil forced himself still and stared pointedly at the glove box. Still he noticed as Luiz moved his head fractionally and began to slow the car. The car’s vector shifted, and the familiar road home was replaced by some nameless dirt track squat between two lines of trees tall enough to consume any lingering traces of full daylight.
Danil aimed an inquisitive glance at his brother, but Luiz only smiled to himself, awaiting the question.
“I give up,” Danil said sheepishly “what’re you doing?”
Luiz’s smile deepened before morphing into a smug grin. He glanced at Danil, and then directed his attention back to the twisting variables of the disused road ahead.
“Word for word,” he whispered cryptically “that’s exactly what I said.”
Danil shot him a look of pure exasperation. In that moment, he viewed a hundred thousand emotions playing their way across his brother’s face. Chief among them…
“What are you talking about?” Danil demanded. Luiz was always too fond of games, surely not an advantage in his profession.
“When Dad took me up this way,” he replied calmly “I said the same thing.” Luiz’s eyes never left the winding road, now illuminated by headlights that overpowered the natural colouration of the surface and the overgrown shrubbery at its edges.
“Dad…?” Danil mouthed almost silently as a surge of repressed feeling bloomed through his mind. A frown formed on his brow as he subconsciously fought the reflexive urge to purge emotional pain through his tear ducts.
Luiz’s face became serious as he said “I remember I asked why we weren’t going home,” he blinked, and as his eyes opened, Danil thought that there was less focus than before “you know what he said? He said ‘We are going home Luizano, we’re just taking a different way today’” Luiz’s voice as he mimicked their father was indistinguishable from the late man himself. Danil felt his cheek twitch involuntarily.
“'We’ve never been this way before, papa’, I said” the shadow of a smile played across Luiz’s features “’I know that Luizano’ he told me, ‘that’s because this is a secret way’”. Luiz looked straight into Danil’s wide eyes “'you can keep a secret, eh chico?’”
There were a hundred questions Danil could have asked. When was this? Why did Dad never show me this route? Is it actually any faster? He didn’t bother to ask any of them. His mind was filled with memories, his heart overflowing with loss. For several minutes they drove on through the wilderness, with nothing but the contented humming from the engine intruding on the void between them.
With an abruptness that might have been sudden, were it not for the emotional torpor, the trees vanished, replaced with solid rock to one side, and grey, empty sky on the other. Luiz trundled on a few hundred metres more, and then brought the vehicle to a halt. Leaning his head back against his seat, Luiz swivelled his eyes to look sideways at his brother.
“I think Dad wanted to bring you this way too,” he said gravely “when you were ready.”
Danil frowned “Ready for what, Luiz?”
In response, Luiz disengaged the engine, and stepped out of the car. Danil watched for a few moments as he started to walk along the rock wall ahead of them, before exiting the vehicle himself to pursue.
“Not so fast, eh chico?” Luiz said in his father’s voice as Danil caught up to him. He produced a blindfold from his back pocket and proffered it to his sibling. Danil looked about to make a fuss, but Luiz simply shook the blindfold gently in the air and smiled knowingly. “Just put it on, ah?”
Danil failed to hide his irritation as darkness covered his eyes. The myriad shades of twilight that washed over the world turned to darkness as his vision was cut off. Time stretched beyond imagining as his brother led him across some unknown path in the darkness. The particular cruelty of the act on this of all days not lost on either of them.
And then he was stopped. Danil heard the quiver in his brother’s throat as he expelled a full lung of air. Luiz’s hands grasped his shoulders, and his breath came past his ears as he whispered “Open your eyes, brother.”
The blindfold fell away.
Danil gasped and stepped backwards as the imagery assaulted him with the vehemence of a physical blow. Before him, beyond the cliff’s edge, the setting sun sat lazily on the horizon, expelling an infinity of colour across the evening sky. Eyes enhanced by nano-technology that very morning drank in the picture and translated it into an ultra-hi definition video.
Sun beams danced into his eyes and played beautiful shapes across the cloudscape as his unwitting brain struggled to comprehend what it was seeing; the Sun as God himself would witness it.
Goose pimples rose on every inch of his skin as his jaw fell open. There was no power on earth that could stop the tears streaming out now as Danil sank to his knees in the dirt.
Luiz watched his brother’s reaction from a discrete distance, his face filled with pride as it had been in the car on the journey here. The beauty of the sunset was not lost on him, but he wasn’t here to indulge in its magnificence. The loose dirt crunched quietly as Danil’s knees fell into it, a look of absolute exaltation etched into his face. “Would you look at that, papa,” he said quietly to himself as he shed a tear of his own “My little brother’s all grown up.”
He resisted the urge to let out a heavy breath, and instead blinked sharply and forced himself to look at the road ahead. His concentration fell then on the stretching shadows that played across the immaculate tarmac, and stardust twinklings that sparkled at their edges as the falling sun refracted omnidirectionally.
Danil forced his mouth closed and pursed his lips tightly. Through faultless peripheral vision, he watched the smile creep up one side of his brother Luiz’s face as he drove the vehicle towards home in the failing light. Danil forced himself still and stared pointedly at the glove box. Still he noticed as Luiz moved his head fractionally and began to slow the car. The car’s vector shifted, and the familiar road home was replaced by some nameless dirt track squat between two lines of trees tall enough to consume any lingering traces of full daylight.
Danil aimed an inquisitive glance at his brother, but Luiz only smiled to himself, awaiting the question.
“I give up,” Danil said sheepishly “what’re you doing?”
Luiz’s smile deepened before morphing into a smug grin. He glanced at Danil, and then directed his attention back to the twisting variables of the disused road ahead.
“Word for word,” he whispered cryptically “that’s exactly what I said.”
Danil shot him a look of pure exasperation. In that moment, he viewed a hundred thousand emotions playing their way across his brother’s face. Chief among them…
“What are you talking about?” Danil demanded. Luiz was always too fond of games, surely not an advantage in his profession.
“When Dad took me up this way,” he replied calmly “I said the same thing.” Luiz’s eyes never left the winding road, now illuminated by headlights that overpowered the natural colouration of the surface and the overgrown shrubbery at its edges.
“Dad…?” Danil mouthed almost silently as a surge of repressed feeling bloomed through his mind. A frown formed on his brow as he subconsciously fought the reflexive urge to purge emotional pain through his tear ducts.
Luiz’s face became serious as he said “I remember I asked why we weren’t going home,” he blinked, and as his eyes opened, Danil thought that there was less focus than before “you know what he said? He said ‘We are going home Luizano, we’re just taking a different way today’” Luiz’s voice as he mimicked their father was indistinguishable from the late man himself. Danil felt his cheek twitch involuntarily.
“'We’ve never been this way before, papa’, I said” the shadow of a smile played across Luiz’s features “’I know that Luizano’ he told me, ‘that’s because this is a secret way’”. Luiz looked straight into Danil’s wide eyes “'you can keep a secret, eh chico?’”
There were a hundred questions Danil could have asked. When was this? Why did Dad never show me this route? Is it actually any faster? He didn’t bother to ask any of them. His mind was filled with memories, his heart overflowing with loss. For several minutes they drove on through the wilderness, with nothing but the contented humming from the engine intruding on the void between them.
With an abruptness that might have been sudden, were it not for the emotional torpor, the trees vanished, replaced with solid rock to one side, and grey, empty sky on the other. Luiz trundled on a few hundred metres more, and then brought the vehicle to a halt. Leaning his head back against his seat, Luiz swivelled his eyes to look sideways at his brother.
“I think Dad wanted to bring you this way too,” he said gravely “when you were ready.”
Danil frowned “Ready for what, Luiz?”
In response, Luiz disengaged the engine, and stepped out of the car. Danil watched for a few moments as he started to walk along the rock wall ahead of them, before exiting the vehicle himself to pursue.
“Not so fast, eh chico?” Luiz said in his father’s voice as Danil caught up to him. He produced a blindfold from his back pocket and proffered it to his sibling. Danil looked about to make a fuss, but Luiz simply shook the blindfold gently in the air and smiled knowingly. “Just put it on, ah?”
Danil failed to hide his irritation as darkness covered his eyes. The myriad shades of twilight that washed over the world turned to darkness as his vision was cut off. Time stretched beyond imagining as his brother led him across some unknown path in the darkness. The particular cruelty of the act on this of all days not lost on either of them.
And then he was stopped. Danil heard the quiver in his brother’s throat as he expelled a full lung of air. Luiz’s hands grasped his shoulders, and his breath came past his ears as he whispered “Open your eyes, brother.”
The blindfold fell away.
Danil gasped and stepped backwards as the imagery assaulted him with the vehemence of a physical blow. Before him, beyond the cliff’s edge, the setting sun sat lazily on the horizon, expelling an infinity of colour across the evening sky. Eyes enhanced by nano-technology that very morning drank in the picture and translated it into an ultra-hi definition video.
Sun beams danced into his eyes and played beautiful shapes across the cloudscape as his unwitting brain struggled to comprehend what it was seeing; the Sun as God himself would witness it.
Goose pimples rose on every inch of his skin as his jaw fell open. There was no power on earth that could stop the tears streaming out now as Danil sank to his knees in the dirt.
Luiz watched his brother’s reaction from a discrete distance, his face filled with pride as it had been in the car on the journey here. The beauty of the sunset was not lost on him, but he wasn’t here to indulge in its magnificence. The loose dirt crunched quietly as Danil’s knees fell into it, a look of absolute exaltation etched into his face. “Would you look at that, papa,” he said quietly to himself as he shed a tear of his own “My little brother’s all grown up.”