by Reece Dinn
Barren continued walking. 'Come. It's not too far now.'
The two Koku-swords followed after him.
'So we're linking with the elements, is that what he meant?' the girl Guard whispered into Koma's ear.
'Sure. That's what he meant.' Koma walked on, slipping a little on the grass as she began her descent down the hill.
More flashes of colour. She was quickly getting used to them, but there was still a nagging feeling that something was wrong. Is it that mist? Is that what's watching us? No. This is different.
The valley weaved through the mountains in a southerly direction. Barren's direction was aimed more to the north, towards a short mountain with a long flat peak that wasn't even high enough to be covered with snow.
The tingling sensation spiked. She took in a deep breath.
'Kanisha. Kanisha,' a familiar voice called from behind her.
She looked back and was suddenly in the shack she and her family had lived in during her childhood. Its interior was darker than she'd remembered it being, the only light coming in through a small window near the roof. Their only furniture was a couple of futons that they shared between the five of them.
A young Jayeh was gazing up at her with her big, blue eyes, holding a yellow flower in her hand. She couldn't have been more than five or six.
'Look, Kanisha,' said Jayeh, raising the flower up to Koma's face. 'Is it not beautiful? Does it not smell sweet?'
'It smells of pollen,' said Koma, in the Dragon's Tongue, but her voice sounded different, younger and the words came out of her mouth unbidden.
'Horobi gave it to me. He said that one day he shall marry me. We shall be wed under the moons and stars.'
Koma sniggered. 'The Baker's boy down the river? Is he the one with the boil upon the end of his nose?'
Jayeh shook her head. 'That is Horobi's younger brother. Horobi is the tall boy, near as tall as his father. He is missing his left little finger, from when he accidentally chopped it off.'
'You wish to marry a man foolish enough to sever his own finger?'
'He is a good man, or one day will be.'
'I believe mother has much grander prospects for you than a marriage to a baker's boy.'
Jayeh's face crumpled up. 'He said he loves me.'
Koma sighed, shaking her head.
'Koma? Koma?' Someone shook her.
She was back in the mountains. The male Guard had hold of her arms, big, grimy fingers pressing into her skin. She whimpered a little and squirmed out of his grasp.
'Koma?' asked the Monster. 'What's wrong? What happened?'
She took in a deep breath, doing her best to calm herself. 'Nothing. I just remembered something, I think.'
The Monster peered closely into her eyes, unsettling her. 'You were talking to yourself, in a strange language. Is that the language of your homeland?'
'What? I...' Oh no. What if someone recognised it? 'No, Sabu. You must be mistaken.'
'Whatever you were saying,' said the Guard, 'it sounded very elegant.'
She pulled a face at him and moved past them both. Great. What a time to slip up. In a place where they can shoot me and just leave me for dead, in a place where no one would find me.
The girl Guard was dancing, mumbling to herself while flailing her rifle around in her hands like it was her dance partner.
'Some of you may experience an influx of memories,' Barren shouted back to them. 'Again, don't panic. It is simply your mind tuning to Olsap's energy, so you will be able to see your loved ones. It is quite alright. Once you are aware that they are memories they will be easier for you to handle.'
They continued walking. The further Koma walked the more she felt that presence within her mind. The flashes of colour in her vision became more frequent, and more distinct. They began to form into shapes. Balls of light and streaks, like a shooting star, flying across her sight.
The tingling sensation spiked again.
'You do not have to live your life alone,' said Koma's mother. She was dressed in a blue dress with a white apron that hung over the front of it. Her blonde hair was tied back with a small piece of string.
'I am not alone. I have all of you,' said Koma. Please let me be just saying this in my head.
'But not for all of your life. Your sisters shall marry. I will not live forever. Who will you have when we are gone?'
'I do not need a man, mother. Men are disgusting, obscene, rowdy creatures who jostle each other, and swagger through the streets to display their worthy attributes. I do not care for them. I do not want one in my life, ordering me around as if he owns me. I certainly do not wish to mate with one of them. Have one mount me and grunt like a beast while he plunges his manhood into me, over and over again, his sweat dripping on to me. No. I shall not.'
Her mother sighed. 'What about a woman then? Do you prefer women?'
'For company, yes? However I do not wish to be bound to a woman either. They are demanding, weak creatures, always wishing to obtain pointless, meaningless items, or obsessing over their appearance. Giggling with one another, or gossiping about everyone and everything that they can. No. To be bound to one would be no better than to be bound to a man.'
'So what shall you do with your life, Koma? Live alone beside the river, fishing? I can not allow that to happen.'
'Please, mother. Leave me be?'
Koma returned to the mountains once more.
They were nearing the rise Barren was aimed towards. It was covered in pale green grass all the way to the top.
The tingling spiked again.
Donoko sat beside Koma as she watched the ludwifs swimming along the river bed. She hadn't the energy to fish today. In truth she never did, she merely forced herself to do it.
'I wish to ride a dragon one day,' said Donoko. Her blonde hair hung messily over her shoulder.
'So do I,' said Koma.
'I wish to ride a dragon across the mountains. No, across the whole world. See all of the continent, and the one across the sea. Perhaps fly further out and discover new lands for the Emperor to conquer. There could be places the Ragi never discovered themselves before they ascended to the heavens. I shall be the person to discover them.'
Koma smiled, feeling a happiness she hadn't felt in years.'I shall come with you. Ride by your side.'
Donoko shook her head. 'Sorry big sister. I must do this by myself.'
The memory vanished and she was back in the mountains..
No one in their party was paying her any attention, save for the Koku, preoccupied with their own memory hallucinations. The Monster had a big smile on her disgusting face and was babbling incoherently at the sky. Does she think her father is up there?
The tingling spiked again.
Flosha climbed up the tree to where Koma was perched on the topmost branch. Flosha's round, plump face was bright red from both the exertion of the climb, and her sheer determination to reach her sister. Her green eyes seemed to glow in the light, their colour matching the lush green leaves of the tree. Her grey leggings were dirtied from whatever activity she'd been doing prior to climbing the tree, as was her green tunic. She climbed the tree clumsily, but by sheer force of will she reached the top.
'Congratulations,' Koma said when her sister sat down beside her.
Flosha's short, black hair was damp with sweat, but she didn't seem to care. 'Why do you hide up here all the time? I speculated that there would be some spectacular view to witness, but all I can see is more river, grass and people.'
'It is comforting to be up here, away from people,' she winked at her, 'although sometimes they find a way to bother me anyway.'
Flosha giggled. 'Kanisha, you are peculiar.'
Koma returned to the mountains. She was climbing the rise.
'You okay, pretty girl?' asked the girl Guard walking beside her.
Koma rolled her eyes. 'Never been better.'
The Guard's face was flushed, her features scrunched up from the effort of walking. Traversing these r
ises in all that armour must be exhausting. Yet she is not complaining. Perhaps I should show her more respect. 'Are you well?' she asked the Guard.
'Yer care?'
And that's why I don't bother. Koma shook her head and hurried on ahead, nearly slipping on a patch of wet grass.
The shapes of colourful light no longer flashed in and out of her vision any more, they were there all the time now. Balls of light that frequently shifted colour floated around the landscape. The trails they left behind marked the air with rainbow coloured light. The sky itself had shifted from blue to a pale shade of pink.
Barren reached the top of the rise and turned back around to wait for the rest of the party to catch him up.
This is wrong. It can't be real. Whatever is out there is playing with our minds, bringing forth memories. It can't be me tuning to the energies of the elements, surely? The heavens are far away from this realm. There is no way that there can be a place that links them. There can't. This Shadar religion is a joke. The savages' way of interpreting the world around them. They have no clue as to how this world actually works.
She crested the top of the rise.
Below, down a small slope, a plain of short white grass stretched out into the distance, mountains rising up of either side of it. Hundreds of balls of light filled the air all across the plateau. At the foot of the slope several wooden posts marked, what she assumed to be, the boundary of the Olsap plateau. I was expecting something a little more extravagant than this.
The rest of the party reached her.
'Behold,' said Barren. 'The Olsap Plateau.'
'Where is my father?' asked the Monster. 'I don't see him.'
'He'll appear, if he can, once you step across the boundary and onto Olsap itself.'
'Then what are we waiting for?' She set off at once down the slope.
The Guards clinked after her.
'If you see any Benigradans,' the Monster said to them over her shoulder, 'shoot them. I don't want any of them to see my father.'
Koma followed her down.
Barren hurried to her side. 'Is there anyone you are hoping to see here? Lost family members?'
'No,' Koma said, coldly.
The Monster was down the slope and about to cross the boundary. I hope she crosses it and this energy blows her apart.
It didn't.
'What's with all the colours?' Koma asked Barren. 'And why is the sky now pink?' The sky had shifted colour in the blink of an eye.
'It's merely the energy affecting your vision, I believe. Nothing to worry about.'
Koma scowled. 'Who said I was worried?'
'You look worried.'
'I think you're wrong about this place. This feels wrong.'
'It is startling when you first experience it,' said Barren, softly. 'Everyone is uncomfortable. It is only natural. Nothing can prepare your mind and body for the energy of the elements in their purest form.'
'That can't be right.'
Barren eyed her curiously. 'Then how would you explain it?'
She shrugged. 'Not the way you do.'
'Then until you can explain it better I feel mine shall suffice.'
They reached the bottom of the slope.
The Monster wandered around aimlessly on the white grass, looking about herself, calling out to her father. The Guards were looking around too, their rifles poised, ready for any sign of danger.
Koma hesitated at the boundary.
'It is perfectly safe, Koma,' said Barren. He stepped over it.
The two Koku-swords walked on by, not stopping as they passed over the boundary.
Oh, why not? If I get blown to bits all the better. She stepped over it and onto the white grass, breathing a sigh of relief when she didn't explode.
The girl Guard stopped dead in her tracks, dropping her rifle. 'Dad?' she cried.
A man wearing a brown moustache and combed brown hair, and dressed in a dark grey cloak, appeared before her. The man's arms spread open wide as if he was about to embrace her. She rushed towards the man, but passed right through him. She tripped over and crashed to the ground. The other Guard rushed to her side to help her up.
'They are not physical,' Barren shouted. 'You will not be able to touch them. Sometimes you can converse, sometimes you can't. It is dependent on how close they are to being reincarnated.'
More people appeared around them and the party dispersed to go meet with them. One of the Koku-swords sat down cross legged before a man and woman with serene expressions. Their bodies appeared to be surrounded by a pale white light.
The dead really are appearing to their loved ones. How is this possible? They should be in the midst of a holy war, in service to the Ragi, or the Old Gods. This isn't possible.
'Father. Father,' cried the Monster, becoming more and more hysterical. 'Where is he?'
Koma hurried over to her.
'Koma. Where is my father? Why won't he come to me?' The Monster lunged at Koma and buried her face in between her breasts.
Koma's stomach suddenly churned, her skin breaking out in pimples and sweat. She grabbed the Monster by the shoulders and pushed her back.
'Where is he?' the Monster sobbed.
'He is..'
Someone appeared behind the Monster.
'He's here, Sabu? Look.' Koma pushed her away.
The Monster spun around. Stood before her, dressed in a cerulean robe with golden patterns along the hemlines, was the Monster's father, Lomobu, the former Saban of Predemgada. His thin blonde hair gleamed. The soft features of his kindly face smiled down at his daughter.
'Daddy,' squealed the Monster, and she rushed towards him.
'Sabu. You can't touch him,' Koma yelled, but her words went unheard.
The Monster dived at her father's ghost and passed right through it, landing face first on the grass.
'Ow,' she cried.
Koma rushed to her side and helped her up, conscious of her hands touching the Monster's gaunt body. 'Sabu. He's a ghost. You can't touch him.'
The Monster ignored her and hurried back to the ghost of her father.
Lomobu's ghost turned to face her, still smiling. He reached out with one of his hands to touch the Monster's face. His fingers passed through her.
'I felt his fingers,' she screeched. 'I felt them. They were warm. Daddy, Daddy, it's really you isn't it?'
The ghost didn't respond.
'Oh, daddy, I've missed you so much. I miss you every day. I can't believe you're gone. They did this to you. So they can be together. They're evil, but I will stop them. I promise you, father, I'll stop them. Even if I have to kill them myself, I will.'
Koma hurried to her side. 'Sabu, remember, the others can hear you,' she whispered in her ear.
'My old friend, it has been too long,' said Barren, approaching Lomobu's ghost's side.
The ghost turned to face him and held out a hand, still smiling. Barren raised his hand to the ghost's and their hands passed through each others.
The Monster's face flushed with anger. 'Hey,' she snapped. 'this is my time with my father. GO AWAY.'
Barren's face fell. 'My apologies, Sabu. I-I-I-I was..I was just paying my respects.' He hurried away, crestfallen.
Come to the most sacred place in the land and end up getting shouted at by a brat. Brilliant.
The Monster began babbling to her father's ghost so fast that it hurt Koma's brain trying to follow it. She left her, heading over to the scolded Koku-bier. He was mumbling to himself, looking up at the sky.
'I wouldn't worry about her,' said Koma, in an attempt at a reassuring tone. 'You know how moody she can be.'
'It is..it's fine,' he said.
'You got no friends or family to see here?'
'No. They've all been reincarnated.' He looked at her, then his eyes glanced up and over her shoulder. 'Some more people have appeared. They look similar to you. Are they family of yours?' He pointed past her.
'What?' Koma spun around. Her heart thudded to a stop.
Tears welled up in Koma's eyes. 'No. It can't be.'
Three girls appeared around her, all of different ages. Koma knew their faces all too well.
'No. It's not real. It's not,' she whimpered.
The oldest girl had long, shiny blonde hair. She was dancing, her pink dress puffing up around her as he twirled. Another girl had short black hair, and wore a dirtied tunic and leggings that shifted colours. The grin on the girl's plump face was infectious. The youngest of the three girls was running around, flapping her arms like they were wings while she pretended to spew fire from her mouth.
One small step after another Koma approached them. 'No. You can not be here. It is not possible. You are all alive. They said you were alive.'
Donoko ran around Jayeh as she continued to twirl. Their mother grabbed Flosha as the girl ducked down to pick up something that Koma couldn't see. All four of them wore kindly smiles, expressions serene.
Koma trembled as she spoke. 'It is inconceivable. You should not be here.'
Her mother and sisters ceased moving. All four looked in her direction, then her sisters rushed to her.
'You are alive,' she said. 'The Ragi gave their word. I did everything that was asked of me. Everything.' She collapsed to her knees.
The three girls stopped in front of her, their mother coming up behind them.
Tears streamed down Koma's face. Her stomach twisted into knots. 'I gave everything to them. They said they would protect you. Why? WHY ARE YOU HERE?'
The ghosts didn't respond.
'It was a lie. All of it. They lied.' She reached out to touch their faces, but her hands passed right through them.
The pain became too great, the sliver of hope she'd been clinging to for so long finally snapped, and it all burst out of her at once as one gut wrenching, agonizing, heart breaking scream.
End of Part Three.
Part Four
Kitaz
The Village of Oaraz, and
surrounding areas.
