The Long Lost

by Rebecca Woods

  “We’re fighting an enemy not seen in this land for thousands of years. We have to be careful. We have to consider every single possible way of understanding and defeating this creature. This unfortunately means that we keep some secrets from each other. That does not take away from our common goal and what…what I hope is a growing friendship between you and I”.

  He looked uncomfortable for second, as if not realising he would say so much. This was the longest conversation we had ever had after all. I felt my anger fade away. Like he did not know what I had been through, I had little knowledge of what tortures and trials had led him to the Free Falaira.

  Now it was my turn to look away.

  “You said yourself that you have noticed my attitude towards you changing. This is because I have seen you strain yourself to get where we need you to be. I said to you on the first day that you had the right to fight your enemy. We started training you because we also think that you have more potential than you realise”.

  “You…really think that?” Woodarch was complimenting me, this was strange.

  He smiled and I could tell he had read that thought. I felt new warmth between us and liked the feeling.

  “So, you were about to tell me about the dream?” he said.

  I thought back to the murky misty river and the dark sky. I remembered the river that was wider than I could see clearly and yet so beautifully macabre. I remembered the feeling of homecoming as I heard the voices but also remembered how alone I always felt.

  “I hear them and I want to go to them” I said, lost in memory. “I am alone though. I am always alone”.

  He looked at me, something in his eyes that I could not read. Was it apprehension? I could not tell.

  “Khalashaya is never alone in the dream he says”.

  “Neither am I,” said Woodarch slowly. “You are the only Falaira in history to be alone in the shared dream.”

  “It really is a shared dream then?”

  He looked at me, surprised.

  “I guess I forget how little you know about your own people. Yes, the dream is shared by us all and we dream it when our ancestors are closest to us, when the barrier between the living and dead worlds is weakest”.

  I thought about the world of the dead and how I seemed to be looking into it when I dreamed. It was a beautiful thought that some part of me could possibly survive after my death. I had been told for my whole life that women did not have souls and became nothing. A lifetime of teaching fought against the budding flower of this new possibility inside me.

  “Those voices, they always make me…yearn to go to them. I have to stop myself from wading into the river”. I was really opening up now, having rarely ever mentioned this.

  He smiled and I thought I detected a smidgeon of relief in his expression.

  “That is good at least”.

  “But I do not wish to die” I said.

  “It’s natural to crave that completeness that you sense in the dream, as if you have got a sense of what these lives are all about.” he said, looking wistfully at the sky.

  “What is so terrible about being alone in the dream?” I said, wondering why this seemed to spook him so much. “I was living on New Earth for my whole life; if Khalashaya is correct then we’re talking about a world not even in this galaxy. How could I be expected to be exactly the same?”

  “That is true. After all, you are the last Long Lost in existence. We sensed only you. We have no one else to ask. They could all have found themselves alone in their dreams”.

  He looked very sad, as if the concept of this was almost too much for him to have to consider.

  “Is it that terrible?”

  He looked at me again and I noticed the rugged harshness of his face even more at that moment as the breeze picked up his blonde hair and teased it slightly.

  “Yes”.

  He looked away and then seemed to shake himself out of his melancholy.

  “Right”, he said, shifting his body so that he was facing me. “Go and have a rest because we’re going to do something about your connection to your people”.

  I was alarmed.

  “It’ll help you understand us more. You have that right Auriana. Just do as I say”.

  We got up and walked back to the house.

  “What do you think this place is?” he asked me.

  I sidestepped a strange looking plant that was threatening to catch my dress. Woodarch caught me as I tripped and laughed. I blushed and looked away.

  “The Gleema look after everything and everyone. All Falaira have to work but they can choose what it is they want to do so long as there is capacity for them to do that. Obviously you always need someone who wants to grow grain, vegetables and tend to the animals.”

  There was something strange in his voice as he said this; I sensed regret along with a keen anger and defiance. I wondered whether to probe this further and had the decision taken out of my hands.

  “I grew up in one of those cities. I spent my childhood years playing in the sun forests amongst the glittering trees and diamond lakes. My whole family lived there happily until we were discovered”.

  There was definite regret and sorrow in his voice now. I decided to say nothing and let him say what felt right for him to say.

  He looked at me and I nodded to acknowledge him.

  “My mother joined the Free Falaira when I was six months old. My father went along with her although they had both gone through The Dream. There are…ways in which one can reconnect with that part of his or herself although you can never go back fully. They found out how and went through the process. My sisters and I never went through The Dream.”

  “I know what it is to have to hide your natural self from those that would harm you” I said slowly.

  “Yes you do”.

  There was silence as we walked up to the large house and entered.

  He left me at the entrance and nodded before walking away.

  I started walking back to my bedroom. Usually I was anxious to get to my safe space and be alone to assimilate everything that I was learning but I found I did not want to be alone. Also, it was very unnerving being almost revered by the Gleema and the serving Falaira. I would never ever get used to that.

  A scream suddenly pierced my head. It had come from the room to my right.

  I didn’t even think about what I was doing, just went in.

  The Eurikaya

  The door was heavy but I managed to push it open, I entered the room, which turned out to be a large lounge complete with resplendent chairs and a large low table in the centre. A Gleema I did not recognise was pinned against the wall on the far side of the room. She was covered in blood including her face and the white tunic she was wearing. I tried not to scream and ran over to her, feeling fear grip my insides like a hot vice.

  Her mouth and eyes opened wide and I saw fear in her eyes as they caught mine.

  She seemed to be trying to speak.

  As I reached her I saw that her blood-covered mouth was trying to say “stay back”.

  The door opened behind me, I felt hands on my shoulders.

  “What had happened?” It was Khalashaya.

  “She screamed, I came in”, I flustered.

  I went to move towards the woman. Khalashaya gripped my by the shoulders and looked at me with a hard expression.

  "RUN!”

  The woman’s mouth then fell open and emitted a piecing scream. I had heard that scream before. At my father’s house and in Khalashaya’s images of the exodus of the Long Lost; it was coming and I was rooted to the spot, terrified.

  The woman seemed to sag against the wall and I could see she was finished.

  Then the black thing started to come out of her. The scream was ear piercing and seemed to ricochet around my head painfully.

  One second it was barely perceptible against the woman’s skin, the next it was in front of me.

  The stench of something foul hit me as I took in what was in front o
f me. Like the thing I had seen before, I was staring at a man-shaped creature which was taller than me and seemed to float a few inches above the ground. It was black as the blackest night on New Earth except that there were no stars to cast a warm benevolence upon the darkness. It was like I was staring into the mouth of Oblivion, or its cousin: Hell.

  Its face, if you could call it a face, was blank except for a gash for a mouth and huge red eyes that blazed like the fires of Hell. I was well versed in where the male faithless went after death and this creature was surely one of the natives. Never had I ever seen something so evil, something that emanated such malevolence.

  It beheld me and smiled.

  Bile rose in my throat and I felt my stomach churn. I was new to magic, I had mastered a lot but was still no match for this creature.

  I knew I was about to die, it was about to kill me in the same horrible way it had just dispatched the woman. It came towards me. I felt Khalashaya pulling me back but it was like my feet were rooted to the floor. He started to utter an incantation and I felt rather than saw a forceful wind start to pick up around us.

  The screaming got louder and louder.

  It lifted its right arm and slowly raised it to my face.

  Then it disappeared.

  The woman’s body slid down the wall to the floor and slumped there, still.

  I turned round and looked at Khalashaya, shocked beyond belief. Why had it left me alone? Why had it seemed to analyse me and then disappear after killing the woman in such a horrible way. This creature seemed to be an evil thing that killed indiscriminately, yet it had spared me.

  I felt very weak all of a sudden. Khalashaya opened his mouth and then closed it again. His face was chalk white and his green eyes were narrowed, his mouth a firm, tense line.

  “Let’s go,” he said sharply.

  He walked me back to my bedroom came in with me, shutting the door behind him.

  He then put the palms of his hands over the door and muttered some unintelligible words; the door glowed like fire and then went back to normal.

  I saw that the thin gaps that were previously around the door had melted away, the door was fused to the wall.

  I felt apprehensive. He hadn’t spoken to me on the walk back. I had tried to catch his eye a couple of times but he had stared straight ahead, his face still firm and fixed in its expression. What was he thinking? What was going on? I was very scared.

  He closed the curtains that led to my balcony and sat on my bed. He ran a hand through his long hair and I saw that his face seemed to have aged ten years in ten minutes. He breathed deeply.

  “What just happened?” I said, feeling my fear come through in my voice and hating myself for it.

  “It must never be spoken of” he muttered. “Do you hear me?” His voice rose menacingly. “You’ll be killed straight away if anyone finds out; well, if anyone in the know finds out anyway”.

  It was like the immediate aftermath of discovering my father’s body. My world was once again crumbling and I had no idea what was going on. I was angry, partly as a result of the fear and growing hurt that tore through my gut and partly because once again I was being spoken to in riddles.

  “Why?” I said.

  “It is best if” he began.

  “Best if I don’t know, like when you and Woodarch had that conversation about me on the bird? I heard all of it! Don’t patronise me Khalashaya. I might not be accustomed to a world where magic is practiced but I am learning quickly and I will know what you know”.

  His eyes found my face and seemed to be searching for something. I knew I must look as angry as I felt.

  “I almost died back there. We both did,” I continued.

  “I don’t think we were in any danger” he said slowly. “At least, I don’t believe it would have harmed you. It certainly seemed interested in you though”.

  But it had killed my father trying to find me. It had searched for me on New Earth and killed the one person who might have stood in its way of accomplishing its aim, of dispatching the last of the Long Lost that had defeated its kind thousands of years before.

  Khalashaya was right to be confused; it should have destroyed me on sight. I was surprised that it had not at least attempted something all the time I had been on this world.

  Khalashaya cleared his throat.

  “Back in the days of evil, before the Falaira defeated the Eurikaya, there were rumours of a creature that was too terrible to behold, even more evil than the Eurikaya. This was because the creature was half Eurikaya, half Falaira; the amalgam pulling in the very worst of the evil at the heart of the Eurikaya and the Falaira but also having the magic of the Falaira running through its veins”.

  “Such a creature would have been unbeatable surely” I said. “Yet the Eurikaya were defeated. The logistics of such an amalgam are confusing to say the least”.

  “Like I said, these abominations were just rumours…said to have been stalking the forests in the last days of the war”.

  He looked at me.

  “You will be somewhat familiar with the word these creatures were known as”.

  I was getting even more scared now. I felt my heart rate rise as I asked the next question, instinctively knowing I was not going to like the answer.

  “Why?”

  “Because it was daubed in blood on your wall the day your father was murdered”.

  I felt a gasp leave me as my hands flew to my mouth. My legs felt extremely weak all of a sudden and I sat down on the bed.

  I saw the scene in my mind’s eye and felt my remembered terror as I had pieced the letters together that night.

  “Are you saying the creature that killed my father was a Molecha?” I said.

  He walked over to the door that led to the balcony and looked out, seemingly at the stars above. I followed him and looked up at his face. His face was set in a hard expression but I saw the light of the stars reflected in his like they were mini universes. He looked at me, his face tightening as his eyes found mine.

  “I’m not certain,” he said.

  The thought of our enemy being even more invincible and evil than originally thought was not a pleasant one.

  “There are lots of theories about the Eurikaya…how they came into being, why they have such a hatred for all Falaira”.

  “Is that what you have been trying to find out?” I said, I saw his face change. He did not know Woodarch had told me.

  “Yes I know you have been researching something, I want to help! I want to fight back!”

  “The tribe has always dedicated itself to preserving the memory of the Long-Lost and of the innate magic that we all have. Part of this is trying to solve the mystery of the Eurikaya. Where did they come from? Why did they hate us so much?”

  “And what did you find?”

  “That the Gleema have a lot to explain,” he said. “They’ve spent so many years after the destruction of the Eurikaya squashing magic and demonising those who wish to stay true to their natural selves”.

  He smiled but it did not reach his eyes.

  “It's like...I can sense something here that I am not allowed to see".@

  He turned and walked over to my door; unlocking it, he turned and looked at me. He had masked his expression once more.

  “Stay here. I am going to find out what’s going on. I’ll be back”.

  He smiled again suddenly, this one was more genuine; like he was trying to comfort me. It made me feel strangely emotional, his sudden changes in mood were starting to have more of an effect on me than I liked. I wondered if he knew this, if he knew the significance of the fact that he was my best friend in the whole world.

  He was the only person in this world and the world I had come from that I could trust except for Leeh and she was one of the Gleema. It struck me for the millionth time that if Khalashaya were to leave me back in Zafiya that I would be completely vulnerable.

  “Do not worry”, he said, evidently reading my thoughts again. “I will be
back for you”.

  He turned and left.

  Gleema Dan

  I went out onto the balcony and looked up at the stars. Somewhere out there, tucked away in the vastness of infinite space was my old home, the planet of my birth. I didn’t know how far away it was but it was out there.

  Strangely, I missed it at that moment, and I really missed my parents.

  I realised that I could not sit idle while I waited for Khalashaya to come back. I sensed rather than knew that the next chapter of this story would start when he returned. Something was in the air, it glittered like stardust on the sea and I could almost taste it. The death of the Gleema and the fact that the Eurikaya had not killed me was going to prove to be a game changer.

  Around me, loud conversations and a scream punctured the thick darkness around me like the millions of stars above. I was going to have to take some sort of action, to position myself in a non-vulnerable position when Khalashaya returned. I wanted to be ready for anything.

  In the last few days, I had been developing my senses more and practicing my ability to sense things about the people I touched; as well as this, I had also learned to do this from objects they had touched.

  I pondered upon this and then noticed the picture Gleema Leeh had given me. I had hung it above the bed where I could see it when I woke up in the morning and the fiery colours and dramatic textures never failed to make me stop and stare.

  Khalashaya had said there was a mystery about the Gleema he was trying to solve.

  I would have to concentrate very hard when touching the painting but I would in theory be able to sense something about Gleema Leeh that would help Khalashaya. Gleema Leeh was a mystery in herself, nothing like the other Gleema in that the Dream didn’t seem to have robbed her of that extra spark of something I sensed in the magical Falaira but not in the Gleema. I wondered, like I had many times since coming to Deloran, whether the Dream took more than magic away from the Falaira.

  I turned my thoughts back to the task at hand and wondered whether my ability to sense things from touch would help me here.

  I remembered a conversation I had had with Khalashaya and Woodarch about this ability and they said that being able to sense memories and emotions from an object someone had touched was not a common ability but that they wanted to see if I could do it.