Chapter 19: The Continent of Perpetual Night

Chapter 19:
The Continent of Perpetual Night

 

ON THE TWILIGHT RING of the nightside continent, the flora resembled normal photosynthetic plants, with trees recognizable in shape and appearance, at least to the point where Shinji could still comfortably call them trees. But deeper into the continent, the story changed.

There, Shinji and Quatre found a silent forest thick with white flora and undergrowth—or more likely, some kind of fungus. Whatever they were, they didn’t require much light to thrive. Although, the forest wasn’t completely dark. Some vegetation emitted light, either redirecting it from the shelf’s edge or somehow creating it. Around them grew clusters of photosynthetic organisms muscling in to soak up the light, which came in all different colors and reflected off the plants in a soft glow.

After four excruciating assaults on his taste buds, Shinji found a fruit that was edible. He and Quatre ate it as they flew Super Eva over the nightside continent, colorful clusters of flora passing below.

The view reminded Shinji of a night market.

“It’s like someone cast a magic spell and erased all the people from a festival,” he said softly.

He realized Quatre was staring right at him and immediately grew awkward.

“Magic?” she asked.

“I-I just meant that the forest looks festive,” Shinji stammered, “but at the same time, still. That’s all.”

“Oh.” Ayanami took a crunchy bite of the red fruit.

But to Shinji, the stillness of the forest felt more like absence than order. He sensed an unknown presence all around them, and he suspected there might be more than train tracks buried underneath these forests.

 

They came upon a giant tree towering far above the surrounding forest. It stood nearly five times the size of their Eva.

The tree had thousands upon thousands of branches—at least, that’s how Shinji thought of the appendages—which glowed as if from countless hanging lanterns. Shinji narrowed his eyes, attuned his senses to wavelengths outside the visual spectrum, and observed that the light wasn’t being produced by the tree itself but by flowers on a crawling vine that had colonized the barren tree.

“In my foster home, I saw a glowing tree like this in a picture book with paper-cut art. But this tree is dead. I wonder what it was like when it was still alive.”

“The picture book… Did you…” Quatre trailed off.

“Did I…?”

“Did you like that book?”

Shinji searched his memories and then shook his head. “I don’t remember it very well. Except that it was scary but beautiful.”

“Scary but beautiful,” Quatre repeated. “Scary” was the only part she understood. Her self-awareness had been driven by fear. She’d turned traitor and even killed Shinji once.

But, unexpectedly, the pairing of the word “beautiful” with “scary” seemed to resonate with her. “So then, this must be scary but beautiful, too.”

As Super Eva circled the majestic tree—large enough to make even sequoias seem like saplings in comparison—Quatre’s gaze remained transfixed upon the spectacular, three-dimensional constellation of its lights.

Then an alarm announced a hostile presence.

Shinji and Quatre jolted upright. Super Eva dropped altitude and quietly approached the target.

This time, they didn’t find the mutant Eva-0.0 with Kaji and Trois, but instead an Angel Carrier, standing still as if hiding, deep within the white fungal forest.