Mesilithia Page 2

  The man looks around, sighs and returns his sword. "How are you called?"

  "Ugh, ugh,..my name is David."

  The man looks surprised as he walks closer to David, and bends down to his level. "And your wife?"

  "Her name is Katie," David replies.

  The man looks down, mumbles to himself as he stands scratching his head. "That's not possible."

  "What is it? Do you know where he took her?

  Please I have to save her." David pleads.

  The man looks at him, "Come with me."

  "Thank you, Thank you," David says as he tries to stand.

  The stranger lends him a hand and helps David up. "I will not make you any promises, but maybe my Lord and Lady can help you. I am a soldier, not a leader."

  David tries to straighten up, wipes his face off.

  "What is this place? Where am I?"

  "You are in Mesilithia. You are a long ways from home I believe. For some time our land has been ravaged and destroyed by war. Many have died, in a fight to reclaim the land." The man explains as he walks forward, motioning David to follow.

  "How long has this war been going on for?"

  David asks.

  "40 nyias."

  "Nyias?" David says, confused.

  The man smiles looking at David, "A very long time, keep up."

  As the two men walk, David is mesmerized by the forest. Everything is different, most of the trees have white leaves, they almost look as if they could glow. The sky is a sunset orange, the temperature is almost perfect. The sounds of the forest, however, are frightening. Howls, screams, the man ahead does not even react.

  "Hey, what's your name?" David yells, trying to catch up after getting side tracked by a tree that had splatters of red color on the leaves above.

  "Rud," he says. It has to be him, he speaks like her.

  "Nice to meet you, thank you for helping me."

  Rud looks back at David, and nods. "We must travel quietly and quickly, it is not safe after dark."

  As Rud and David near a stream, Rud unsheathes his sword as he smells the air. "David, stay close to me, and do not scream."

  "What is it?" David whispers as he looks around nervously.

  "I smell a snite creature nearby, it smells as though it is wounded."

  "Wounded? Should we help it?" David asks.

  "No, they are our enemies and will try to kill us." Rud quietly tells David, while treading softly through the woods.

  David turns to his side as he hears rustling, Rud hears it also, he turns and walks toward a large tree.

  As Rud goes around the corner he grabs a creature by the throat and holds it up high. Pulling back his sword, the creature struggles to get free. The creature looks like it is maybe 2 ft tall, like a child. Its top half looks human, except the back and sides look like black rubber, while the front is a flesh toned color. It has no hair or fur. The bottom half, on the other hand, is completely black, it has two legs that are long, like a human’s, but no toes.

  "Wait, it's just a child!" David says putting his hands up in protest.

  Rud pulls his sword back, looks at David, and says in a low harsh tone. "It does not matter, it will attempt to kill you. Snites eat your heart and absorb the soul. They trap the souls in their bodies until they die. We will free the souls of our brethren by killing every snite we find. I have taken a vow."

  "But, you’re going to kill a child, it doesn't know any better." David pleads.

  Rud stands there looking at the snite. "Alright here," Rud throws the creature toward David.

  David rushes to the creature, "It's alright, I won't hurt you..." David reaches out, the creature moves toward David, the look of fear on its face. "It's alright, come on."

  The snite looks at Rud, then moves closer to

  David. The snite can hear his heart calling to him, he is hungry. Unable to resist, the snite leaps onto David knocking him to the ground and unveils his sharp teeth as he grabs David's face.

  "AAAHHH, AHHH, RUD, RUD, NO, NO!"

  The snite and David wrestle as David tries to break free, the snite trying to tear into David's chest.

  Rud stands there, staring at them, "But he's just a Baby...." Rud says mockingly, with a mischievous smile on his face.

  "OKAY OKAY, I TAKE IT BACK, PLEASE

  GET IT OFF!"

  Rud walks over grabbing the snite by the neck once more, putting his blade through the snite's chest. The creature’s body goes limp, as its blood drips to the ground. Rud drops the body to the ground and sheathes his sword.

  "Let's go." Rud says turning away from David.

  Still laying on the ground in shock, David slowly gets up, looking at the body of the snite. "I really hope this is just a bad nightmare," he mumbles as he walks to catch up with Rud.

  As they walk away, a voice calls out to them from the snites body, "Thank you." Rud stops and looks back, as David slowly turns to see 4 bright lights that shine an array of multiple colors. David has never seen anything like it before, he feels the biggest sense of love, an unexplainable beauty, unlike he has ever felt. He lightly sees the outline of a woman, two children and a baby, all with wings.

  "…for releasing us."

  "Be at peace." Rud says as their souls silently burst, and disappear

  ~gorath~

  "Walk carefully, we are nearing the cliffs." Rud finally speaks after walking quietly for a few hours.

  As they walk, David starts to hear water. As they walk further, the sound becomes louder. The refreshing smell of water reminds him of a hiking trip he and Katie took when they were dating.

  "Katie, come on! It's not that far!" David says to Katie as she slowly comes up the trail.

  "You know, for a second date, a movie would have been fine. Really. I'm not hard to impress."

  Katie says while trying to catch her breath.

  "Yeah, but I only take girls I don't really like to the movies."

  "Well.... you must really like me then....Are we almost there? I smell water, it smells amazing."

  "Yeah, come on, I'll slow down," David says smiling, reaching his hand out to Katie.

  David has never taken a woman hiking, but he knew when he met Katie that she was the one. The one he would share his life with.

  "David," Rud says, bringing David back to the present. "Welcome to Gorath.” Rud turns, dropping off the cliff.

  David rushes to the edge to see Rud soaring thru the sky, he can’t believe what he is seeing. This is real, he's flying, how is this real? As David starts to look around he is in awe, Gorath is a city carved into a cliff. The cliff is covered in caves that are mostly hidden behind a giant waterfall. The cliff is curved like a cove, with balconies and buildings all around it.

  As David looks, he sees others flying as well, children, women, some have pointed ears, their wings and skin color varies. A woman with white wings, light blue skin, white hair, and green eyes flies past David, waving at him as she soars in the sky. Her gold boots shimmer in the sun and she wears what appear to be white tights. Her light pink dress extends past her thighs and almost looks gold when she moves. All the different creatures wear different types of clothes, some wear no clothes at all. I feel like I’m in a twisted medieval age. There are also people who can't fly, they look normal, oh wait, they have tails. A woman is standing in a cave looking at David as she talks with Rud. Her tail looks almost like a horse’s tail, the rest of her looks human.

  David looks down to see what is below. It seems to go down forever. As David looks up, the cliff goes higher, he is standing in its shadow. David looks to the sky, he gasps and his jaw drops when he realizes the sky has 4 moons... 2 are large and white, another is a small light yellow moon, the last is a small lavender moon.

  "David."

  David jumps when a rough voice comes from behind him, saying his name. He turns to see a creature with orange skin. He is muscular, with arms the size of David's leg, he is big in size but not tall. His face looks almost human, and he has
brown fur outlining the top of his head and chin. Wearing dark brown pants and a matching vest, he is barefoot, exposing his rather large toes.

  "Are you David? Rud sent me," the creature asks.

  David shakes his head not able to find his words while staring at the creature’s appearance.

  "I am called Loo, follow me."

  Loo leads David around the edge of the cliff, to a large red tree with no leaves. There is a boulder resting next to it, David jumps back as the boulder slides away. A man emerges wearing what looks like bifocals of some sort. He has dark hair pulled back in a high ponytail, and his skin is a dark yellow. His clothes are probably the most normal David has seen yet. He wears blue pants, with a dark blue jacket, and blue undershirt. "Come on, come on, come on," the man says hastily.

  "Took you long enough, were you waiting for me to knock?" Loo says to the man, while leaning on the red tree.

  "Must hurry. Must hurry. Getting dark. Getting dark," the man replies.

  As David climbs down the hole, he realizes he is in a cave as he follows Loo. The path doesn't have much light, and everything feels moist from the waterfalls. There are so many paths, one could easily get lost.

  Loo leads David to a small room with a bed and clothes. "You can rest here, my Lord and Lady will return tomorrow. I will send someone to tend to your wounds."

  "Thank you," David replies.

  David looks at the clothes, wondering if he will be able to figure out how to put them on.

  Knock, Knock

  "I'm here to tend your wounds, Loo sent me." A woman from outside the door announces.

  David opens the door to find the woman he saw from across the cliff, "Come in."

  "Your name is David?"

  "Yes."

  "I'm Selphie, I'm a nurse. Please sit down."

  "Yes, um, okay." David can't help buy stare as he sits on the bed. She is very pretty with auburn hair and light brown eyes, she is tall and slender....and has a tail. The tail resembles a horse’s tail, and waves around as she moves. She is wearing brown tights with a dark green long sleeve extended top that ties along her sides.

  Selphie cleans his head, and nose. She does not speak as she stitches the gash above his eye.

  "Are your Lord and Lady nice? Will they help me?" David asks.

  Selphie stops stitching as she looks at him,

  "Yes, I'm sure they will try."

  David shakes his head and stays silent until she is finished.

  "Thank you Selphie," David says as she leaves.

  Selphie turns back to David, "Get some rest."

  ~TIME lOST~

  After changing clothes the night before David spent some time adjusting to the clothes he was given. Brown pants that tie in the front, but are loose fitting on his legs. A white shirt that actually fits well across the chest and torso but is long, falling around his hips. The brown jacket was obviously meant for someone with wings as it has two holes on the back for the wings to fit through, with ties that go straight down underneath the holes to secure the jacket around the wings. After adjusting and fighting with the ties, David instantly fell asleep from exhaustion.

  Upon waking he half hopes it had been a nightmare. He steps out of his room to explore a little. Walking down a long corridor, he enters a room that is lit with candles around the walls. He sees a woman turned away from him. She wears a light purple dress with an intricate gold design at the bottom of the dress, the top has short sleeves that rest off her shoulders. She has long brown hair that flows down her back in between her wings. Her wings are white at the top but then transition to a metallic gold color... She turns toward him.... he's frozen. Is this real? Am I dreaming? He then steps forward, not speaking, afraid he will wake up.

  "David?"

  "............."

  "You’re really here? After all this time.....you look the same..."

  "......." David feels as if a rock is in his throat.

  "Are you going to say anything?"

  "......Katie..."

  "Yes David, it’s me.... I'm real, I'm here." Katie says as she steps forward.

  David reaches out to Katie, pressing his hand against her face, staring into her green eyes. "Katie," he sighs as he wraps his arms around her. "Katie I thought I had lost you..." David’s body trembling,

  "What happened? How did you get away from him?"

  ".........David," She looks him in the eyes, “what is the last thing you remember?"

  "Yesterday, that man taking you, the explosion.

  I hope the kids are okay, why?" David asks panicked, "Don't you remember?"

  "David of course I do, but......I have been here...." she looks at David with tears rolling down her face, trying to say the words. "I have been here for over 50 years.”

  David shakes his head in disbelief, "No...no… It was just yesterday." He wipes the tears from his face, "It’s not possible. It was yesterday."

  "David, we think time works differently here, a few minutes back home is years here." Katie said, trying to comfort David.

  "It doesn't matter, we're together, we can go home," David says as continues to hold her.

  Katie slowly pulls away, "David, I tried everything to get home, for years. It was impossible." As she looks down, "David, I didn't know that you jumped in after me-"

  "My Lady, they are meeting," a guard interrupts.

  "I'll be right there."

  David looks at her, "you’re the Lady?"

  "Yes."

  "And the Lord?" David asks.

  Katie's eyes fill with tears, "I thought I was never going home. After I was here for years, I married Lord Wicket. I thought you had stayed there and figured you would have moved on..."

  David pulls away from her, "I...I...don't know what to say."

  "I'm so sorry David," Katie says sobbingly. "I waited, I hoped you would find a way. I tried everything."

  "If you knew time was different, then why didn't you wait longer?" David asks angrily.

  "The only reason we think this now, is because you are here. No one had any way of knowing that time moves differently here. If I had known, I would have waited."

  "You have wings..."

  "My Lady, they can't wait," the guard says again.

  "Okay, I'm coming." Katie walks toward the guard. "David, rest and just take some time, this is a lot for both of us. We both need to think...I'm sorry, I have to go."

  David didn't look at her, he felt confused, angry, betrayed.

  "I'll be back in a while." Katie tells David as she turns to leave.

  ~IMPOSSIBLE~

  "So, what do you think?"

  "I'm not sure."

  "C'mon Selphie the way he talks? He's even dressed the way she used to."

  "Rud, it's not our business." Selphie snaps at

  Rud, while looking out of the cave. Understanding how he feels she sighs and looks at Rud, "I think it is him."

  Rud looks down, "How do we tell her, or him?

  She tried so hard to get home, how is he here?" Rud ponders aloud while pacing across the room.

  Selphie stands quietly looking up at the night sky. Lost in the stars and galaxies, her mind wanders back...

  "Katie! Would you not stomp off like that?!"

  "I'm not asking you to help me!" Katie yells back, pushing Selphie away. "I have to get home. I have to see my kids, my husband! Why don't you understand that! This has nothing to do with me!"

  "Katie, we need your help! You see our people dying! These are your people! Would your family want you to let people die?!" Selphie yells at Katie as she paces back and fourth.

  It was true, she knew her kids would not want that. Katie stops pacing, "I'll help you...but then I'm leaving."

  Selphie stood quietly, wondering how Katie would react. What will she do?

  "They are coming," Rud quietly tells Selphie, then turns to Loo who is sleeping. "Loo, they're back."

  Katie lands first, dressed in a black cloak, she pulls back her hood as she moves aside for
her husband to fly in. Lord Wicket follows and lands, wearing a similar cloak, he removes his hood.

  Rud, Loo, and Selphie all bow. "My Lord

  Wicket, my Lady Katie."

  "Did everything go well?" Rud addresses Lord

  Wicket.

  "Yes and no," Wicket replies with a heavy sigh.

  Lord Wicket is tall and well built in stature, he has dark tanned skin and long black hair that reaches well past his shoulders, with vibrant blue eyes. When he speaks, his deep voice instantly draws the attention of everyone in the room. His wings are the same as Rud's starting above his shoulders and going down to his knees. The color is black at the top, then it transitions into a metallic gold.

  "They have not reached the forest yet, but they will. We will need to start preparations first thing in the morning." Katie tells everyone.

  "There are over a thousand," Wicket says as he walks down a corridor with everyone following behind.

  "A thousand? They outnumber us 2 to 1," Rud states aloud.

  "So, leave em to me, I can squash them all with my fist." Loo states while holding his large orange fist up in Rud's face.

  "This is serious Loo, I'm only stating the truth."

  Rud says, pushing Loo's fist away.

  "All I heard was, bla bla bla I'm a winbit," Loo says mockingly.

  "I'm not a winbit, I'm just being prepared." Rud defends.

  "Yeah, a prepared winbit," Loo shrugs.

  "You overgrown orit-"

  "That's enough you two, we need to get ready to fight twice as hard." Selphie says looking sternly at

  Rud, cutting him off.

  They all enter a room with a table that is covered in maps and strategies. Wicket walks to the table looking for a specific map.

  "Was everything alright here, while we were gone?" Katie asks them.

  "..........umm..." Rud looks at Selphie.

  "Well..." Selphie looks at Loo.