...pation

“and next time, we have a new story.. Once upon a time, the land was overrun with savage beasts, forcing humans to take refuge in dark caves. The beasts had seemingly sprung from nowhere and their horns and claws and immense strength threatened to overwhelm mankind and bring about its demise. But just as when humans had lost almost all hope, a brave young man stepped forth, wielding the magic of the heavens.
At his side was a woman with flaming red hair gifted in the arts of war. Together, they led the counterattack against the beasts. After years of fighting, they finally triumphed over their enemies. The people hailed the young man their hero king. He, in turn, chose the crimson-haired woman to rule as his queen.
However, on the day of the coronation, a jealous witch who had wanted to become queen cast a curse on the new sovereigns, dooming them to eternal sorrow. The warrior queen took sick and, a few days later, died. The king mourned her for years, eventually growing weaker and frailer until one day, he left the kingdom to his most trusted friend and disappeared. So come back next week!”

The young lady, a storyteller who took care of the children, closed the papers in front of her. I would lean against the wall, watching her wrap up. She had become a close friend since I rescued her in the forest. It had been a nice trade off. She liked to hang out with me, even while I was training, and I found her company rather soothing. There was something about her that kept me coming back for more. I guess it was that lazy vibe, and a mutual attraction that kept us together. For now, that was all I needed to enjoy the days with her.

332

Mika’s heart beat painfully within her chest, as she ran faster than she'd ever thought possible. She didn't know what was behind her, and she didn't want to know; whatever the thing was, it happened to be both terrifying and gaining on her. Suddenly, a hole opened up in the ground before her, and she fell into it. She clawed desperately at the dirt walls that encaged her, attempting to climb out, but it was useless; she was trapped. The air around her grew cold as the thing that had been chasing her peered down on its prey, preparing to pounce.
Mika woke to the sound of her own screams. ' Just another nightmare,' she thought to herself as she turned on her lamp. The glowing orb dimly lit the room. 'Simply another horrible, repetitive nightmare.' The storyteller sighed, glancing at her time keeper. It was mid-morning, meaning she didn't really need to be out of bed for at least four more hours. However, as she'd learned in the past few weeks, once she was awake, it would be difficult to get back to sleep. Giving in to this reality, Reaching over to her desk, she pulled out a story she was working on, and began reading it to calm her nerves.
The basic idea of the nightmare was always the same, although the details often varied. Sometimes Mika found herself running through unending hallways with many locked doors, other times she found herself lost deep within a dark forest. The shadowy figure that chased her ,however, was always present., and always only a few meters behind her.

302

“you see? That’s what really sucks about the whole thing. It started after the incident where we met, and hasn’t gone away..”
I laid there, sprawled across a tree branch in a pair of loose pants and opened shirt. She sat on the ground, leaning against the tree below me while telling me about her nightmares. It was an interesting issue, and it made me wonder if there was anything else going on that we should have known about. After all, there were people who could tamper with your memories. Master had told me that much. The amount of hazards out there were endless, and you had to be absolutely resolute to be successful against them. I would roll over on the branch to look down at her.
“Have you ever tried turning around and punching the shadow? Ya know, fighting back in your dreams?”
“of course not! I’m not like you!”
“hey, what’s that tone supposed to mean? I was just giving you a friendly suggestion. Ya know, when I meet someone who is stronger than me it makes me sick. All I can think about, even in my dreams, is getting strong enough to beat them. I work myself to the bone training until I can do that. Now, I’m stronger because of all of that work. I think some training would be good for you.”
“I’m a writer, not a fighter.”
“then fight for your writing..”
I would roll back over, resting my head across another branch. It was comfortable out here, mostly because she was here with me. I had never really complained about spending time with anyone else. Normally I didn’t have many friends since my time was taken up by training with my master. He was a loner by nature but had to be. He said he couldn’t let anyone find out about what he knew and what he did. One had to wonder what he was doing now. Did he just wake up one day and discover that he could control lightning? It was a difficult concept for me to understand so I let it out of my mind.

377

“try it sometime, you will be surprised.”
I said my words lightly, trying to keep them mostly to myself. Mika had been rather jittery the last week and it was growing as a concern of mine. Why I felt concern for someone else and not just myself really was beyond me. It was like she completed me in some way. Maybe I could tell her about my adventures through the gates, and into the forbidden land. I had a feeling that she would probably not give me the reaction I wanted, but that could be saved for later. I didn’t want to give her something else to worry about. On the other hand, it might give her some inspiration for the stories she reads to the children. She was doing a great service by taking care of the kids for people and that made me smile. Actually, it made her smile, which made me smile. Rolling over, my body would fall to the ground before stopping inches above its surface. Twisting, I would come to rest next to her, leaning on the same large tree. It was a beautiful day outside, and we were spending it together. It wasn’t far from here where we both met. She was all covered in mud and running from those two other spirits who didn’t have the best of intentions. Speaking of that, I never got to ask her why they were chasing her…
“hey… remember that day we met..”

260

I would be greeted with a long sigh. It was obviously something she didn’t want to talk about at first. I figured it might still be this way so I ignored it and didn’t press it any further. That was when she rather surprised me by opening up. I didn’t know much about her at all, and she knew a lot about me other than my sacred art. The art of lightning was kept secret to everyone outside the single inheritance line. Leaning my head over to look at her, she returned a gentle smile.
“They are from somewhere else, somewhere darker. They said they came through the gate looking for treasure, and found me. I don’t know where they were from or what they wanted, but they said I was a perfect catch and tried to capture me. I was frightened, and ended up sliding downhill and landing on the banks. That’s where I got all muddy and stuff. I kept running, even though I knew I couldn’t outrun them. Honestly, I thought my existence was over until you saved me.”
“No problem. “, I replied casually. It wasn’t a big deal to me, I just couldn’t stand by and watch something like that happen. After all, she was rather beautiful and I didn’t want anyone laying their fingers on her if she didn’t want it.
“So, you said they were from the other side? Do you ever wonder what’s out there? Maybe a whole new world?”
“sometimes, I like to imagine a better place, and I use it for my stories for the children.”

282

Again, this young lady had the ability to absolutely surprise me. There was something about everything she did that made me smile. Maybe it was the way she walked, or the way her eyes would look gaze off into nowhere. Even while we were sitting here, she had that same gaze. It was pure, simple, clean, beautiful, all of the things that I admired. “Ashu, can I tell you a story?”
Well, that was an interesting question. Of course she could have told me a story. I didn’t really know how she came up with these things. They were parts of visions she had in her memory, things that made no sense at all. I didn’t really take any consideration of it, but I did know when to stop and listen. This was one of those times, and this was when I would listen.
“ It was a still night. A young girl could feel the windless darkness smothering any noise that normally echoed throughout the forest she called home. No sound of crickets or birds… No breeze to lift the heavy feeling in the air. It was as if the ground itself was holding its' breath; about to plunge into some unknown abyss. She sighed lightly, trying to make it as quiet as possible. It was not a night she wanted to be out. A foreboding feeling was telling her to turn around and stay in her comfortable gardened home before some annoyance arose. Or maybe some danger.”
She would stop and sigh, closing her eyes for a moment as if physically pained from the words. I didn’t know what meaning they had to her, but I could tell when she wasn’t in an enjoyable state. Leaning over, I put my left arm around her, cradling her into my side. She stayed silent for several minutes while we sat there under the trees. Golden beams of light would break through the foliage, scattering shadows around us. This was the last time I would ask such a silly question..


364 /1949