He felt lost. Abandoned to a dark nothingness. Only illuminated by fleeting flashes of painful images that passed through him like lightning. All of them seemed to belong to another time, to another life. He was barely able to become aware of himself, of who he was and what had happened to end up like this.
Sometimes he heard voices talking, but he didn’t know where they came from. He believed they were talking about him but he didn’t recognize them, nor did he fully understand what they were saying. They came from everywhere and at the same time from nowhere. He felt so confused and disoriented, lost in the darkness…
A new burst of light illuminated everything. Suddenly he discovered that there was an object lying on the ground right in front of him. He leaned down to feel it. It looked like a huge book, whose covers were hard and rough to the touch, as if they had symbols or characters marked on them. He tried to discern the shape of it by following them with his finger and found a larger one in the central part. He was unable to see what it was but its shape seemed very familiar, although he did not know why. He tried to open the book and suddenly a blinding light surrounded him and absorbed him inside…
He was in a cozy living room. In its center was a fireplace in which flames crackled, slowly consuming the wood that served as fuel. In front of it was a sofa with an elderly man sitting on one end. He was leaning over the coffee table looking over some documents. Next to them was a smoking pipe and a kind of large leather tome. His skin was pale and his hair was short and gray. Numerous wrinkles crossed his serious face as he unrolled a large sheet and placed it ceremoniously on the table. Many names and lines that interconnected them with notes and dates were written on it. If the man saw him, he made no sign to react.
A door opened at the end and a small figure appeared. He closed the door and approached with tentative steps towards the light of the fireplace. He couldn’t have been more than eight years old, but he had great bearing. His blonde hair seemed to glow with the brilliance of the nearby flames. His blue eyes shone with a spark of intelligence as he approached and saw the large sheet of paper on the table. As he looked at them he knew, it was him. Somehow they were the same person. He was seeing himself when he was a small kid. But why was he unable to remember this scene?
‘Grandpa, what are you doing?’ Asked the kid with feigned shyness.
The old man looked up to observe him with interest. It seemed like he was studying even the smallest detail of the kid. He took his pipe, put in tobacco and lit it. He inhaled and let out a long, pleasurable puff before returning his focus to his grandson.
‘Do your parents already know that you have come up here?’He asked seriously.
‘Yes, grandpa. They are busy with the baby and I have already finished my chores. I told them I wanted to keep you company. I want you to tell me more stories, please,’ the boy asked with his eyes lighting up, like someone waiting to receive a candy.
Martin sighed and his serious face became affable as a big smile appeared on his face.
‘Grandpa is working right now, Luis, I don’t have time to tell you any stories. But you can stay and keep me company, as long as you don’t distract me,’ he ventured to say when he saw the disappointment on his grandson’s face.
‘Thank you Grandpa!’ He burst out in joy as he gave him a hug.
Luis sat next to Martin and began to rapidly analyze everything on the table.
‘Grandpa, what do the names on that paper mean?’
‘Hadn’t we agreed that you weren’t going to distract me?’ Martin snapped angrily.
He pierced his grandson with his gaze, but he stood firm with his challenging face, determined not to give up easily.
‘It’s ok, you win. It’s obvious that you’ve gotten your father’s warrior spirit,’ Martin said, laughing.
‘What are you doing grandpa, what are these names and dates for?’ Luis asked without containing his eagerness.
‘Calm down Luis, calm down, if there’s one thing you’re going to have to learn in this life, it’s to be patient. Well, what I’m doing is investigating our past. Discover where we come from in order to better discern where we are going.’
‘And how can some names tell the past?’ He asked incredulously but increasingly interested.
‘Look, I’m going to show you.’
Martin held the sheet closer to his grandson. He took his hand and guided his finger down until it stopped at his name, along with his date and the place where he was born.
‘This is our genealogical map that represents our ancestors. Here you are. You were born on October 20, 1989 in Seville.’
‘And at my side is Tristan!’ He said, amazed, seeing his name, which seemed like a recent entry.
‘Exactly, your newborn brother also takes his place by your side. Do you want to know something?’
‘Of course grandpa!’
‘I have been studying our lineage for many years. If you look at the map, all of our ancestors only had one descendant. It is the first time that an Oden has more than one child. Your father was the first to father two,’ he said pleased.
‘Why’s that? How do you know?’
‘You see young man, whether by chance or by other designs, in our family there has never been more than one descendant. And do you want to know something else? They have always been men.’
‘Have there never been girls in the family?’ Luis asked incredulously.
‘I’m afraid not. Although who knows, after Tristan you might have a little sister one day,’ he said smiling.
‘But how can that be grandpa?’
‘Well you see Luis, human beings are defined by a thing called DNA.’
‘What is DNA?’ Luis interrupted him.
‘Calm down young man! You see, it is the genetic code that marks each of our physical traits. The fact that you have blue eyes and not brown. May your hair be blonde and not black. You understand?’
‘Yes I think so. So, we’re not from here?’
‘How come we’re not from here?’ Martin asked strangely.
‘At school all my friends are dark or brown and I am the only blonde with blue eyes. If I understood you correctly, Grandpa, it means that my DNA is different from yours. Does that mean that our ancestors have had a different origin than my friends?’
‘Yes and no, but I see that you understood it very quickly,’ Martin said pleased.
‘Where are we from then?’
‘That is what I have been trying to discover for years, what is our true origin. But if you look at our genealogical map you can discover our most recent past.’
Luis looked avidly at the paper following his grandfather’s instructions. He passed from his name, and that of his newborn brother, to that of his father. He had also been born in Seville like him. He continued up until he reached the name of his grandfather Martin and what he saw surprised him.
‘Grandpa, you were born in Germany!’ He exclaimed.
‘That’s how it is, my child.’
‘That’s why your accent has always been weird!’
‘Exactly, despite having been in Spain for so many years I still carry the influence of my native language.’
‘How did you leave Germany and come to Spain? It must be a great story,’ he asked, fascinated.
‘It’s actually a very long story, and a very sad one too,’ he said as his face seemed to grow tired for a moment.
‘Tell me grandpa, I’m older now!’
‘Another day Luis. I’ll just tell you that your grandfather had to flee Nazi Germany to protect our family’s legacy, our most valuable treasure,’ he said, turning his gaze to the heavy leather tome on the table.
‘ Dad told me about World War II! But here it says that it was before.’
‘Yes, I left long before it started, shortly after Hitler came to power, but as I told you, it’s a long story for another day,’ Martin concluded.
‘And what is that book, why is it our most valuable treasure?’ Luis did not want to miss the opportunity to absorb all the information possible from his grandfather.
…we’re still going to have to do a lot of testing, but it’s completely changed. His metabolism, motor capacity, brain activity…
Suddenly, voices flooded the scene, resounding like echoes that filled everything, shaking the scene, making it blurry at times. Luis and Martin ignored them, as if they didn’t hear them or notice anything strange.
‘This book is our legacy. It has been passed down from generation to generation, although it has not always had this form; it has been transcribed many times.’
…he need time to adapt to the changes you have undergone. The data indicates that his mind is immersed in a process that I cannot yet understand…
‘Can I see it grandpa?’
…if I force him as you ask, I could cause irreparable damage. I insist that we must wait for him to wake up on his own…
Martín took the book with his trembling hands and turned it over, showing its top cover. The leather looked old and full of marks, or perhaps they were some kind of symbols that he couldn’t identify. Except the largest one that dominated the rest, which looked very familiar. Luis approached with great interest…
‘What I am going to show you, Luis, is something that you must keep a secret forever and not reveal to anyone, not even your father. You have understood?’ Martin said very seriously as he opened the book and faced his grandson.
…error, but if there is no other way and the captain says we need it… Interrupting the coma…
He wanted to get closer to see what he was looking at, what was inside the book, but everything began to blur and crumble with a blinding light. His childhood self and his grandfather disappeared, the living room too, and the whiteness dominated everything, while the voices outside became increasingly clearer…