Heartstone - Chapter 5: Chapter 5
You are reading Heartstone, Chapter 5: Chapter 5. Read more chapters of Heartstone.
The snowstorm howled like a wounded beast, whipping at Nikola’s coat as he pushed through the frozen mountain pass. Baby Avera, swaddled tightly to his chest, whimpered softly, unaware of the weight of the world on her tiny shoulders.
Nikola’s boots crunched over ice-covered rocks, blood from a shoulder wound seeping into his sleeve. Behind him, the smoke of the burning village faded into the distance—so did the past.
Hours turned to days as he climbed deeper into the forgotten wilds, guided only by instinct and desperation. Finally, at the edge of a frozen cliff, the world opened into a quiet valley—untouched, sacred, and ancient.
He found a cave near a hot spring. Primitive yet protective. Here, far beyond satellites, drones, and soldiers, Nikola built a quiet life. He crafted shelter, hunted game, and taught himself the ways of the land. He raised Avera with stories and silence.
But he never forgot.
And unbeknownst to him, in the folds of Avera’s cloth, the flash drive.
Night had fallen hard. Wind whispered through the trees outside the cave, but inside, the fire crackled in a steady rhythm. Nikola sat cross-legged, wrapped in a wool cloak, cradling baby Avera in his arms. Her tiny breaths puffed softly against his chest, eyes closed in the innocence of deep sleep.
His eyes, however, held the weight of a hunted man.
From the corner of the rough pack, he pulled out the small, cold object—the flash drive. It glinted faintly in the firelight, a sliver of modernity in a world he had rejected. He turned it over in his fingers, frowning. There were no computers here. No screens. No way to access whatever secrets it carried.
"I don’t even know what’s in you," he whispered, as if the device might answer.
He looked into the fire. “But I think they killed for it. They killed a man.”
He considered throwing it into the flames. Ending it. But something stopped him. A whisper from memory.
Nikola tucked the drive back into a small leather pouch and stitched it into the lining of Avera’s blanket. Someday, he believed, she would be ready. Someday, she would unlock the truth. And maybe then… the world would finally see.
Nikola’s boots crunched over ice-covered rocks, blood from a shoulder wound seeping into his sleeve. Behind him, the smoke of the burning village faded into the distance—so did the past.
Hours turned to days as he climbed deeper into the forgotten wilds, guided only by instinct and desperation. Finally, at the edge of a frozen cliff, the world opened into a quiet valley—untouched, sacred, and ancient.
He found a cave near a hot spring. Primitive yet protective. Here, far beyond satellites, drones, and soldiers, Nikola built a quiet life. He crafted shelter, hunted game, and taught himself the ways of the land. He raised Avera with stories and silence.
But he never forgot.
And unbeknownst to him, in the folds of Avera’s cloth, the flash drive.
Night had fallen hard. Wind whispered through the trees outside the cave, but inside, the fire crackled in a steady rhythm. Nikola sat cross-legged, wrapped in a wool cloak, cradling baby Avera in his arms. Her tiny breaths puffed softly against his chest, eyes closed in the innocence of deep sleep.
His eyes, however, held the weight of a hunted man.
From the corner of the rough pack, he pulled out the small, cold object—the flash drive. It glinted faintly in the firelight, a sliver of modernity in a world he had rejected. He turned it over in his fingers, frowning. There were no computers here. No screens. No way to access whatever secrets it carried.
"I don’t even know what’s in you," he whispered, as if the device might answer.
He looked into the fire. “But I think they killed for it. They killed a man.”
He considered throwing it into the flames. Ending it. But something stopped him. A whisper from memory.
Nikola tucked the drive back into a small leather pouch and stitched it into the lining of Avera’s blanket. Someday, he believed, she would be ready. Someday, she would unlock the truth. And maybe then… the world would finally see.
End of Heartstone Chapter 5. Continue reading Chapter 6 or return to Heartstone book page.