Deserted

by L. M. McCleary

  “What could have been here, Ponika?” I patted his neck as he continued to graze.

  As I looked skyward at the towering pillars a sudden thought crossed my mind. The slabs of stone reached higher than the tallest cliff faces…I could see for miles if I managed to reach the top. Putting a small pile of leaves on the ground for Ponika I grabbed tight onto the ivy, hoping the pillars would block the wind from blowing away my horse’s meal. The vines were surprisingly sturdy; at first glance they looked flimsy in the blowing wind. I had never been one for climbing but this was worth it; all I knew was that I shouldn’t look down. Oddly enough I seemed pretty good at it; I hurled myself up with ease. I was almost at the top when I felt a sudden vibration within the dark-stoned pillar I was climbing. I froze as I listened; the earth was rumbling below me. I held on for dear life as I looked down at Ponika who was glancing around nervously. As the earth rumbled, the pillar started to move; the ivy suddenly ripped from my hands as the base of the pillar cracked and the earth jutted forward. Ponika danced around in a panic, neighing at me worriedly. I scurried down the flaying vines as fast as I could as the tower started to lean, shaking violently as it aimed towards the pillar next to it. It was picking up speed at every passing second but I was too far up to jump down. I could see the second tower coming up fast; I knew I wouldn’t make it off my pillar in time. I braced myself for the impact as the pillar I was on crashed into its neighbour and I jumped, grabbing the peeling ivy on the new tower and continued my journey downward with Ponika frantically following me as I went. The ground below started to crack open in various places and spines from some beast emerged from underneath, moving incredibly fast and throwing shards of earth in every direction. Yet Ponika, bless his heart, still followed me, darting away from danger but always coming back to wait for me. All the towers were shaking now and most of them had already fallen. I had to jump again onto another pillar as they all fell, still climbing down as fast as I could grab but I was still too high up to jump down without injury. I looked at Ponika as the earth rumbled and saw him just barely bolt out of the way of the moving creature underground. More of the beast was exposed through the gaping earth; it was a dark brown and covered in scales and at one point I think I saw a large, unblinking eye…although it was moving too fast for me to know for sure. As I leapt down the loose ivy I was reminded of the story Kay had told me about a similar creature when we were in the library; some kind of giant worm. I had assumed it was fictional, like I always did…just how much did he read that was actually true?

  Finally reaching a safer distance to the ground, I jumped, doing my best to roll as I landed but a sharp pain shot through my foot all the same. I knew it was just a sprained ankle but it still hurt as I limped my way onto Ponika who tried desperately to stay still for me. I was barely up his back when he took off as the earth rumbled even harder at our feet. I couldn’t see where the worm was now but I could still feel its vibrations. As I adjusted myself on Ponika’s back the ground around us suddenly exploded, sending sharp chunks of soil into my legs and arms as I tried to protect myself. Ponika, somehow, never missed a step as he was pelted with shards all along his sides. Clutching my now injured arm in my hand I saw the earth behind us shatter as the creature’s scales emerged from underground. It was moving incredibly fast and my heart raced as I saw it get ever closer. The giant worm had started to raise its head from beneath the soil, exposing the beginnings of a massive jaw; it appeared ready to swallow us whole. Just what exactly was this thing?

  Thankfully, Ponika needed no instructions; he charged forward faster than I had ever seen him go. He zigzagged in his path, trying to force the massive beast to make sudden turns that it was not swift enough to do. The worm started to slow as it constantly tried to align itself to our path until it abruptly stopped. Ponika continued on regardless but I kept my gaze on the giant creature, watching as it sat motionless in the upturned earth. It glared at us, but would not follow. When it was a mere speck behind us, I could barely see its figure turn around and disappear into the ground. I assumed a victory – somehow we had survived - and I clapped Ponika on the side of his neck in joy, praising him. No sooner had I congratulated him when a large rumbling echoed in the distance. I assumed at first that it was just a remnant sound of the retreating creature, but I couldn’t be too sure: this sounded farther away than the havoc we had just escaped from and I saw no signs of the previous beast. Ponika continued to charge ahead and I listened intently to the world around us. This felt different…it seemed to be a long, low growl in the sands as opposed to the vibrations we had felt earlier. Did we really cause the giant beast to give up his chase…or was there something else out here that the worm didn’t want to associate with? Ponika never stopped either way though, continuing to charge into the night, long after the quakes and vibrations were just a distant memory. I had to urge Ponika to slow down as he started to pant heavily; I really wanted to tend to his bruises but I couldn’t get him to calm down enough to stop. I still had my salves in my satchel that were perfect for minor scrapes and bruises; I had hoped that they would be strong enough for both of our injuries.

  When I had finally calmed Ponika down I encouraged him to travel slowly. I hopped off his back and limped alongside him, worried for his health from what we had just escaped. I rummaged through my medical kit, knowing that, if nothing else, I had my ‘miracle cure’; it was guaranteed to fix any wound. I had little of it, though, and didn’t want to touch it unless absolutely necessary. Thankfully, the bruises were not as bad as I feared and I had the perfect lotion to fix them. I rubbed the medication on my horse’s injuries and while he protested the salves at first, he eventually calmed himself; the medicine must have started working. I applied some salves to my own bruises, revelling in the soothing sensation that came upon me from the cool liquid. My supplies were now dangerously low, but the bliss I felt from the ointment would not let me stress about it – not yet, anyway. We had almost stopped completely in our trek just from sheer exhaustion, but never gave up entirely. It gave us plenty of time to enjoy the feel of the medicinal lotions, at least, and to pace our racing hearts. I wasn’t sure if it was the effects of the medicine or perhaps my injuries but I remembered walking in a sort of haze, closing my eyes and enjoying the cool feeling on my skin as my injuries started to heal.

  *

  I bolted my eyes open to the feel of harsh sand ripping across my face. Had I been sleepwalking again? The winds billowed harsher than ever before today; I could barely see my own footsteps behind me. I still walked alongside Ponika, whose face was as downward as he could go; the poor thing had sand beating at his eyes. I threw my hands across his face, doing my best to shield him from the raging sandstorm as I guided him forward.

  “We’ll get out of this soon enough, boy.” I had to yell my words at him over the sound of the wind, my voice muffled through my bandana.

  The wind, of course, had picked up and we found ourselves yet again in the middle of a sandstorm; the one thing I had told myself I would always avoid was now the safest place in the wasteland. As we travelled through the blazing storm I noticed the earth ahead appeared to fall away and the outline of a ruined building came into view. As we inched forward, I finally saw where the sand seemed to be slipping away to; a giant rift in the earth had now halted our progress and the sands around us streamed into the darkness that permeated the scar, constantly falling and sliding away under our feet. As I stared into the nothingness before us I thought back to the creature we had just escaped. Was this scar the work of such a beast? Or perhaps something even larger?

  “Elite worms…” I mumbled to myself with a short laugh. How could something so ridiculous actually feel plausible now? “Well there’s no going this way, boy. Let’s find a way around.”

  I looked again for the shadow of a building I had seen earlier and with a stern hand on my horse’s back, we trudged ourselves towards it.

  On the very precipice of the rift was a beautiful cathedral; my heart
leapt at the sight. Most of it was destroyed and pieces scattered around me yet it was a majestic piece of work…the closest I had ever come to architectural perfection. I could see it in my mind’s eye, standing tall in all its glory. Could this have been created by one of the legendary artists of old?

  I reached towards the ornate structure, cherishing its majesty beneath my fingers. It was embedded deeply in the sand; I couldn’t tell if I was gazing at its ruined rooftop or its doorstep. The top portion of the cathedral was entirely gone and covered in hard sand, while large slabs of the building jutted sporadically towards the sky. Large dunes oozed from every orifice in the cathedral, although one window did have a small section of stained glass still intact. It shone a ruby red through the twisting sands and shards could still be made out in the rubble around it. As much as I longed to study it, I knew I risked stepping on hidden glass in the sand if I was to approach it and so I stayed back, admiring its beauty from afar.

  I climbed the dunes before me and sat upon the decimated roof, gazing out across the fissure for quite some time. I thought on Kay and my father, somewhere out here in the raging winds. Did they once find this cathedral, too? I wonder what they would have said…what they would have done. My father, if it were possible, would have painted its image on a canvas. Kay, though…I think he would have lovingly caressed the cathedral’s foundation, as fascinated by it as I was myself. And then…he would sit and gaze across the wasteland; perhaps he was once in this very spot?

  I miss you, Kay. I wonder if you ever sat here and thought the same of me.

  Journal Entry #6,

  Things were finally looking up today. Ponika and I had wandered on the edge of the earthen scar for a while until we found a path around it and continued on. The sky was readying itself for nightfall by that point and the wind had kicked up hard so I wrapped my bandana tightly around my face, though it did nothing for my eyes as I strained to find a safe haven for us. I almost completely missed the tents to my left that had flapped fiercely in the windy onslaught. Of course they were deserted but thankfully their supplies were not. There were two tents full of food and water and even sleeping bags! I had never seen one in person before but had heard of them through my reading; definitely more comfortable than the rocky floor of the mine shaft from earlier. There was even a large tarp set up with wooden stakes for Ponika, which made me wonder if whoever was here before me had an animal of their own. Could animals not be quite as rare of a commodity out here? It could explain the stacks of oats and grains they left behind, although it still begs the question: why did they leave it behind? Just who, exactly, had been here and what drove them out? I suddenly remembered the small child from the train; could he have done this? Maybe this entire campsite was prepared for someone like me…but it didn’t make any sense. Who were those kids? Pirates, surely, but they didn’t seem as bloodthirsty as I had thought them to be. Were there more than just Pirates out here?

  Whatever the reason, I plan to rest here for the night, come what may. We’re both well fed and watered up and should be for some time now; I’m pretty overjoyed at our find tonight. Ponika is already out cold but I’m having trouble finding the same rest. My mind has been running with thoughts all day. I tried to forget the frightfulness of the worm and when I pushed its memory from my mind I found that I would think upon that flower. It was so beautiful…I wish I could still look at it, to hold it in my hand and study it. Was the world really populated by them once? A country full of flowers…I remember my dad seemed to think on them in fondness.

  My father used to paint; it was something him and my mother often bonded over, though I rarely saw her join in his work. He was in the basement one day, painting a green field full of colourful flowers of varying shapes and sizes. I would often watch him work when I was very young and I would always be in awe of it; this time was no different. He was so absorbed in his painting that day that he didn’t even notice me sitting on our storage boxes, my legs dangling off the side as I watched every stroke of his paintbrush.

  “It’s beautiful, daddy. What is it?”

  His smock was covered in paint and a blue streak raced across his forehead. “It’s called a flower field; maybe you’ll see one someday.”

  “It’s real?” I had looked at it in shock then; I thought my dad made make-believe pictures.

  I remember him sighing then; he usually smiled at my excitement but not this time. “It used to be real,” he had said eventually, “though I doubt it is anymore. And soon enough, no one will even remember them.”

  I was too young to understand then, but I think I do now; those flowers were before my time…from before the Reckoning. Dad rarely talked about those days so I don’t know what happened…no one does. All I know is that things were much prettier back then. But, I dunno…looking out at the wasteland around me, there’s a sort of gentle beauty in it all; a lonesome peacefulness, I suppose. It’s hard to understand for someone living in town, I think, but the more time out here the more I start to prefer it. If only I could find a Provider of my own, though…

  I was starting to nod off while going over my journal entry but found something rather interesting from the corner of my eye; a book…an actual book. Its corners were sticking out underneath a small bag of supplies in a dark corner of the tent and I immediately picked it up. Its condition is incredible, too; it appears untouched by the ravages of time. It has a green cover made of some kind of stringy fabric that moves when I touch it. There’s golden letters imprinted on the surface but for the life of me I can’t figure out what they say. Now, all of us kids learn the alphabet from our parents and English while growing up, but this, however…these are unfamiliar words to me. Even the letters don’t look quite right. Could it be…cursive? My dad often wrote things quickly that resembled letters I knew and when I asked he said it was ‘cursive’ and that someday he would teach it to me, if I was interested. I was little, though, and easily distracted so I quickly forgot all about it. These golden words…they are similar, but messy.

  Opening the book, the first thing I notice is something written in red marker on the first page. The entire page is almost covered in various symbols I have never seen before and a language I’ve never heard of, although what looks to be a name sits in the centre of it all.

  “Tsvetan Krastanov…” I whispered the words to myself a few times, having never heard them before. I could only assume it was a name by its position on a blackened line that dashed across the page but I couldn’t be too sure; nothing seemed familiar in this book.

  I flipped through the next few pages and saw much of the same; red marker scribbled everywhere atop a book that’s language appeared similar to my own…yet slightly different. ‘Sanitas Mentis’ is mentioned a few times but I’m unsure of what exactly it means. I assume this is an educational textbook as the pictures are few and consist of images of the body; a brain in particular. I know that much, at least, from the biology my dad used to teach me. I’m going to continue to study it for a while and see what I can learn and hopefully after that I can get a full night’s rest. Regardless of what I find out, this has been a truly great find. A book in perfect condition…could there be more out there?

  *

  I heard sounds at night again; something sniffing at the tent flaps. I assumed it was Ponika and I called to him, urging him back to sleep before I turned over and attempted to get back to sleep myself. I twisted and turned in my sleeping bag, though, and eventually lay there, staring up into the dark greens of the tent’s roof. My mind wandered as I tried to doze off again, causing me to jolt awake time and time again. Feeling a little aggravated at Ponika for waking me up to begin with, I decided to get up and stretch when I noticed the large hoof mark in the sand outside. It wasn’t Ponika’s; it looked big enough to fit both my feet inside and then some. I listened for the sounds of any stray animals but all I heard was my own horse’s occasional snore. I poked my head out of the tent’s flaps and saw Ponika sleeping quite peacefully on the small m
at across from me; whatever came through here, it apparently didn’t bother Ponika any. The tents were still upright and our goods were still where I had left them. Whatever beast it was, it either wasn’t hungry enough to bother us or it was an herbivore…though how it could possibly survive in the wasteland like that is beyond me. Unless…maybe there’s a source nearby? A wellspring of vegetation and life? It obviously wasn’t hungry if it didn’t take anything, and how else could it be surviving out here?

  …could Kay have been right? Not even just Kay…but the library itself? I remember seeing a globe in the library and even an atlas that showed the world with plentiful greens and water; hell, apparently most of the globe is water! Somewhere around here must be the paradise I always dreamed of...

  I crawled out of my tent, my heart now racing in excitement. There was no sleep for me tonight, not now. Smiling at my horse, I sat down and leant against him. He grunted in response, but continued to sleep. He needed his rest; we could look for the oasis in the morning. A smile kept creeping its way onto my face as I thought about what could be nearby. It was supposed to be a dream; I didn’t expect to ever find a land like that myself. Even with all of Kay’s flights of fancy that I indulged in, I never truly believed it existed deep down. I merely enjoyed the stories we told together and nothing more.

  Making myself comfortable at Ponika’s backside, I stretched my legs out and stared up at the clear night sky, watching every twinkling star as I tried to make out a constellation. The moon was particularly bright tonight; the brightest I had seen it on my travels. It reminded me of Kay. Hell, what didn’t these days? But tonight was familiar. We once talked on a night just like this one.