Seasons of Heaven

by Nico Augusto

  As they jumped Yann suddenly felt a strange vibration. Looking down at his backpack he saw that it was the wings that he kept attached there. They were vibrating and shining with an internal light that seemed to be trying to burst out of them. That had definitely never happened before. Yann was amazed by the magical sight and he said,

  “Wow, that’s cool! Did you see that, Ani? Come closer, I will carry you.”

  Yann can see a door…an entrance to where he doesn’t know. The poles are between them and it, so with Ani in his arms; he continued to jump across them until they reached it without effort. Yann felt like Ani was as light as a feather, lighter than he’d ever been before. He wondered if it was because of the magical wings.

  Yann and Ani stood in front of the door, wondering what was behind it.

  On a beautiful beach shore… James opened his eyes very slowly. He looked around, realizing that strangely he was lying in the sand, underneath the hot sun. He could hear the whisper of a breeze and as he looked next to him, he saw Sarah. He was confused; he didn’t understand what had happened.

  “James…Honey… Are you ok? Do you hear me?” Sarah prodded him gently.

  “Holy shit, I have a terrible headache…What happened? Where are we?” James asked her.

  “Well, I guess we’re on a beach. I don’t quite understand, I can’t recall everything...”

  “Come, let’s go find some water.” James said to her. He pushed himself up off the sand and then helped Sarah up next to him.

  “Look!” James pointed to a small lake he could see a ways off in the distance. He moved closer to it and waded in. It was shallow at first just over a foot and a half deep or so. He continued to walk across it when it suddenly became deep all at once and he lost his balance.

  “Watch out! What is that?” Sarah called out to him. She was right behind him, close enough to reach out and grab his arm.

  “I have no foggy idea, but it seemed really profound,” he told her.

  They both plunged under the water and were startled by what they found. There were a series of waterfalls hidden underneath the surface. They were enormous and terrifying and they realized at once they were safer on the beach. They climbed out of the water; both of them were in a mini state of shock as they climbed out and headed back to the beach. When they got there they discovered they were surrounded by palm trees.

  “We’ll try to build a shelter for the night. We will wait for the rescue here, what do you think about it?”

  “I don’t know why should we need a rescue? We must be dreaming,” she said, looking thoughtful. “Let’s stay the night on this beach and tomorrow we’ll try and figure it all out.” Sarah told him.

  “Ok,” he started collecting the palm fronds to use for a shelter. Sarah pitched in to help him and they worked as the sun softly dipped down into the ocean casting a soft orange glow across the ripples of the gently waves. They worked for several hours with James lost in deep thought throughout. He decided that he’d get up early in the morning and work on figuring out what they should do next.

  The shelter was small but it was sufficient for their needs. When James woke in the morning he found that the wind had destroyed much of it during the night. The bright sun was pounding in and the reflection of the turquoise ocean in his eyes was so radiant that it was almost surreal.

  “Look, Sarah …” James turned to the side and realized that his wife was no longer there. “Sarah! Sarah, where are you?”

  He jumped up and looked all around him. Then he ran his fingers through his hair and caught his head with both hands. Sarah’s gone!

  He called out to her again with tears filling his eyes, “Sarah, Sarah! For God’s sake, where are you?”

  He looked like a desperate man, searching the ground next to him and all around the shelter. There was no sign of her…not a trace of anything. Sarah had simply vanished. Panicking, James began picking up every leaf, every stone and every shell that he came across, looking for a clue. The entire time, he called out her name.

  He was so intent on his task that he wasn’t paying attention to what was in front of him. When he did look up, he was stunned by what he saw. Several feet from the entrance to the jungle was a huge stone that seemed to have a human profile. James got closer to it and realized suddenly that it was a Moai, a statue from Rapa Nui, the Easter Island.

  “What the fuck? What is this doing here?”

  He inched up even closer to get a better look, putting his right hand on the statue. When he touched it, it began to glow with a bluish light across its surface.

  James was shocked and intrigued at the same time. “Where does the light come from?” he wondered aloud. “How the hell did I get to this place?” None of what had happened to him since he woke up on the beach seemed at all possible. It was all so confusing.

  He suddenly remembered Sarah. He had to find her! He shook off the magical feeling looking at the statue had given him and anger replaced it. He started looking for his wife again, cursing loudly as he did. He almost forgot about Sarah. But he had to find her. He gets angry, he used some coarse language.

  Huge palm trees blocked his path as he tried to move forward. The dense vegetation made his progress slow, almost impossible. James began going through his pockets trying to find something he could use to clear the way. His wallet and credit cards were there and his ID and some receipts. In his back pocket, he found a packet of cigarettes and his zippo lighter.

  Frustrated, he sat down and lit a cigarette. “Fucking forest…”

  He smoked for a bit and then stubbed his cigarette out in the sand and got back up. He was thinking again, trying to decide the best way to make a torch and a knife before night fall. He already had what was most difficult to obtain: the fire itself. All he needed to do was find a robust branch and some sap for the torch.

  Getting a knife was going to be much more difficult. James looked ahead into the dense forest in front of him. He had no idea what it might hold. Were there any dangerous animals? He needed something to defend himself, just in case. He started back into the forest, stepping around a large pile of wood on his way. He began calling out Sarah’s name again. Where was she? Did she go into the forest? Did something take her?

  James continued to yell out her name with tears streaming down his face. His voice was almost gone as he cried out,

  “I lost her, I lost her.” Over and over. He had no idea where he was, or how he got there. He felt almost amnesiac, but yet he sensed that his wife was still here somewhere, close by. None of it made any sense.

  Suddenly, out of thin air, a strange silhouette appeared in front of him. It stared at him and began vibrating like glass during an earthquake. It began to zigzag, slowly at first and then faster and faster. James was frozen to his spot, watching it in disbelief. What the hell was it?

  Suddenly it was coming closer and James yelled out at it, “Don’t move! Stop! Shit!” The air temperature dropped suddenly. It was freezing and James stood paralyzed as the thing came closer and closer. He finally found his voice and began to scream.

  “What the fuck do you want? Leave me alone!”

  He closed his eyes with such force that the time seemed to stop for a second. When he opened them again there was a stained glass window right there in front of him. James could distinguish a dog silhouette and a long hospital corridor behind it, the scene was bathed in a greenish light that glowed in the darkness of the forest.

  “What a nightmare!” he screamed, “And you? You!”

  Suddenly he could see the head of his son Thomas, fixed at the top of the silhouette.

  “Stop! Leave my son alone!” he screamed at it.

  He was angrier than scared now, how dare it use Thomas? He began chasing it and it moved forward in a dislocated manner, trying to escape. James followed it to the entrance of a staircase that led down. The silhouette plunged into the staircase and James followed it running ten floors down, deep into the earth until at last the ground gave way underneat
h his feet and he fell into the void. He crashed down violently onto the ground. The place he fell into was so dark, that all he could see was blackness. He held up his hands and couldn’t even see those in front of his face. As he tried to move, he felt his back twitch and spasm. Grimacing in pain he groaned out,

  “Ahh! My back! I will catch you. I... I..” Suddenly remembering that he had light he reached into his pocket and took the lighter out. Lighting it up he could see everything. He was still in the middle of a jungle but the silhouette had disappeared. James wondered if it was because of the fire. He couldn’t see anything around him except for the trees and vegetation but he somehow knew that he wasn’t alone in this lost paradise. Trying to think quickly, he gathered up enough palm fronds to make a small shoulder bag. Then he filled it with a stock of branches. At least he would be able to make a fire if he needed to.

  He knew it wasn’t enough. He needed to find a weapon and he needed to get back to higher ground. If he was up high, he could at least look down and get a better gauge on his environment while he looked for Sarah. His chances would be better…

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  “THE TASK”

  As they stood there looking around they were suddenly approached by a soft white silhouette. Neither of them was afraid. Somehow Yann knew that the silhouette belonged to the voice and that it was here to guide them.

  “You’ll be far from idle,” she told them, “On your journey you’re going to discover two special stones. These are irradiated stones and they’ll be easy to recognize because of the light they filter. One stone will be found in the south and the other in the north of this land. In order to find them, you’ll have to cross an enormous field that each is surrounded by.”

  “What do we do when we find them?” Yann asked.

  “You’ll take them and place them at the top of the two towers. Once that is done, your mission will be complete. You will find your parents and the mysterious being that haunts the beauty of our place here will be liberated at last.”

  The silhouette vanished as quickly as she had appeared. At least the two friends knew what they had to do now. Their first decision would be which way to go first. After careful consideration, they decided the path to the south seemed easier to access, so they went that way.

  The forest was thick in front of them and as they entered it, they went in knowing that the horrible thing they called the Monster was roaming within. It wasn’t long before they could hear it moaning and they knew they had to be as quiet and discreet as possible.

  Yann told Ani telepathically that it would be like playing hide and seek. He and Ani were both good at that game. He found a tree that he could climb, trying to see where the monster was so that they didn’t walk right into it. Ani did his part by sniffing the ground and using his excellent sense of hearing.

  They walked like that, stopping to check again occasionally until they came to a river. Yann picked Ani up and carried him across. On the other side there was a small hill and Ani wiggled into a hole in the ground. Yann was impressed when he saw that his friend had gone to the end of the hill to push up a stone that would make it easier for Yann to climb. They were working together as a team while still maintaining their cover from the monster.

  After crossing the hill, Yann stepped on something and looking down he realized it was a piece of white paper. He bent to pick it up and saw that something was written on it. It was haiku, a short, traditional form of Japanese poetry. It consisted of three phrases of five, seven and five syllables respectively.

  Yann recognized that the language was Japanese, the same as in the stories he read in his comics. He couldn’t understand the words, but he was hoping that he might be able to use the comic books he carried in his backpack to translate them later on.

  “Someone else has been here, Ani.” Yann told his friend, excitedly, “I found a writing that someone left behind.”

  They continued their journey through the deep forest, going back and forth between terror when the monster was nearby and they had to hide, to amazement at the awe inspiring sights they saw along the way. After hours of travel they at last came to the end of the forest. As the vegetation opened up they could see a cliff to their left. There was an entrance in the middle of it with torchlight dancing and sending up crackling sparks along each side. The sight was made much more fantastic by the fact that the fire seemed to be fed by some kind of resin that continuously ran over the side of the cliff.

  Yann cautiously approached the dark entrance. He was getting the impression that someone lived there. Taking down one of the burning torches, he and Ani went inside. Yann was afraid, mostly because even with the torch it was so dark. He trusted in Ani’s flair and sense of vision. The dog went ahead to check the path before Yann crossed it. There was water everywhere around them and stalactites hanging from the ceiling.

  Strangely, there were wooden signs that told them where to go. Even odder, the directions were written in a Sumerian language, but Yann and Ani understood them nonetheless. They came to a place where they had to climb and jump from one side of the path to the other. At a glance, their surroundings seemed almost impassible, but the path continued to emerge as they advanced.

  The oxygen was thin and because of Ani’s medical problems, Yann noticed he was having difficulty getting a good breath. Yann picked him up in his arms and carried him over to the side of the path to get some water. They started on their path once again and in the darkness, Yann began to slide. As he was sliding it was as if time was passing, but in slow motion. He slid until he fell flat to the ground. He had his eyes closed and when he stopped moving them, he opened them up and saw that the place they’d been in and this one were not the same.

  ********

  If Yann had been asleep he would have recognized what happened next as simply a nightmare, but how could he call it a nightmare when he continued to stay awake? He and Ani had gone from sliding along a muddy path one minute to sitting in the four wheel drive of Yann’s parents the next. Yann was in the driver’s seat with his hands on the steering wheel. He turned his head to the right and he saw Ani, sitting in the passenger seat.

  As the vehicle passed the security rail of the bridge, the glass and plastic exploded into the air and the wheels took flight. A thousand feet or more underneath the car, the water stagnated and the fall of the vehicle carried Yann and Ani away. Yann watched through the shattered window of the car, powerless to do anything but be an unwilling participant in the scene. The water was dark like an inky pool and Yann tried to scream as a huge shark jumped up out of the water with its mouth wide open. He was so paralyzed with fear that no sound came out. It was all happening in slow motion and as time dragged on Yann’s terrified heart threatened to beat out of the inside of his chest….Just as the entire scene disappeared and Yann and Ani were once again back in the cave.

  “I have a headache, are you all right, Ani?” Yann asked, still shaking from the trauma of what they’d just gone through.

  Ani barked and Yann went on to say, “Ok… that was terrifying, and so strange. It felt like I’ve already saw that scene... I don’t know if that was real but I heard Mummy shouting...”

  Ani barked again and Yann told him, bluntly, “I am sure...”

  Yann got up and looked around. There were more signs along the wall with the same writing as were on the small piece of paper that he had found. There were two of them, attached to the strings of the samurai armor. Scattered pieces of paper were all over the ground beneath the signs.

  “Look Ani, more pieces of paper. Let’s pick them up and I will put them in my backpack.” He picked one up and told Ani, excitedly, “Look at this one, it is really nice...It looks like…Let me see…Like a dragon.”

  He observed each piece as he picked it up, wondering what a samurai could have been doing in this cave. Is it possible that somebody else could have been there before them? There must have undoubtedly been others, Yann thought.

  A sudden scream rattled the cav
e and sent a chill running through Yann’s body. The mysterious thing must have found them. The air in the cave became suddenly colder and the atmosphere darker. It was as if the monster was able to announce its presence even without sight or sound. Yann’s spine tingled…

  Yann realized that they needed to hurry if they were going to find the stones before the creature found them.

  “Let’s go, Ani!” They ventured further into the dark, moist environment of the cave until they were completely engulfed in a chilling blackness. The only light was the orange and blue flicker that danced off the torch that Yann carried, casting shadows across the ovoid shaped walls that smoothly curved to the floor. Yann used the smooth wet walls to hold onto and Ani stepped lightly as the loose stones shifted and slipped underneath their feet with every step. The noise the rocks made underfoot echoed off of the dense stone walls and beyond that they could hear the sounds of water dripping into water. When Yann held the torch up high he could vaguely see the giant stalactites and bat roosts that loomed overhead. The walls became more covered with the strange writings, as the sounds of the water loomed closer. The journey through the cave was long and unsettling but the two adventurers pushed forward until at last coming to a body of swiftly running water. The water in the stream started with a crash and a foamy white rush where a curtain of white water washed over the rocks and dropped down into the wildly churning pool at the base of the cave. Yann stopped and surveyed the environment trying to decide what to do. The water seemed to be the only viable exit from the cave. Yann could see a small wooden boat tied up near the slick, rocky embankment. After some consideration he decided that it was their only choice. “Come Ani,” Yann told him. They stopped in front of the boat and looked around in awe of the way the cave shimmered with blue light that seemed to be suspended from the ceiling.

  “The stone has to be here,” Yann said. The walls were covered with drawings of mechanisms and Yann decided that it had to be some kind of ancient workshop. Yann saw a large rock just behind them with a large puncture that opened it up so that metal or something like it could be seen from the inside.