The Dreamer: Origins Act I - A Forgotten Past VI: Freedom, - TopicsExpress

The Dreamer: Origins Act I - A Forgotten Past VI: Freedom, at Last Never had they seen such vivid colors. They were accustomed to the shades of gray and white at the Ice Palace. Above them was the bluest sky with naught a cloud. Surrounded by a wealth of shrubbery and wildlife, they could not recall the last time they had seen such beauty from so close. They had been left to use their imaginations as they looked upon the lush jungle lands from the gated windows of their cells. Freddie watched several dozen pontaccios feed on the vibrant green grass, their white feathers shining in the sunlight. Above them on the far end of the land, there was a waterfall that rushed to escape a channel cutting through the force field that protected the palace. The waterfall fed a vivid river that flowed into the vast jungle before them. Butterflies of countless colors swept across the flora. A lovely lilac-breasted roller soared high up a tree to its nest. These trees were healthy, with light brown bark, lush green leaves, and ripe, low-hanging fruit. Fawns grazed alongside the channel that eventually flowed into the Larris River as the stags and doe rested on the soft grounds on either side. The kids had already become acclimated to the warmer temperatures. Their moods reflected the same. No longer were they fighting to survive from one minute to the next. Hunger once again settled in as the temporary relief of the morning glories had worn off; however, they were surrounded by a plethora of options. They began to yell out their desires for dinner; unsurprisingly, there were no requests for liver porridge. Tony took the lead and assigned individual tasks for dinner preparations. “John, gather as much fruit as you can carry. It should be easy since they’re hanging low. Ivy, go and milk a cow or a goat, whichever you find first. Freddie, prepare a fire, with enough wood to last us through the night. Pippy, go and scout the area. Sprint back here if you see anything of interest, or yell out if you get into any sort of trouble. I’ll catch and prepare a pontaccio.” Everyone was ecstatic with their newfound freedom. The kids ran off in all directions to prepare the dinner they had desired for so long. John ran directly toward the trees and bushes and picked some fresh mangoes, berries, and avocadoes. With his shirt packed with fruit, he ran back to the campsite, where Freddie had already begun to prepare a campfire. Freddie made good progress with his makeshift ax, which was crafted out of a slender tree trunk and a sharp-edged stone and was held together by a soft yet tough branch from a nearby mackelroy tree. In the distance, Ivy attempted to coerce a goat to provide some milk, but the goat did not give it up easily. It hopped away each time she approached. Ivy displayed some frustration and soon tripped over herself, getting dirt in her mouth. As she looked up and spit the dirt out, she saw John laugh at her. “Oh, so you”—she spat out the rest of the dirt—“think that’s funny, huh?” She grabbed a nearby rock and tossed it way above him, toward the top of the tree. “Ahahahahaha, I thought you had good aim, Ivy,” John laughed as he dropped a few fruits from his shirt because his belly hurt from laughter. “I don’t like you anymore, OK?” she yelled. John’s laughs ceased, and he replied with nerves in his voice, “Wait…you like me?” She smiled radiantly. “Sure, you have all those powers. Why wouldn’t I?” “Oh,” he replied as his smile transformed into a frown. “Hey, John…” Ivy looked at him with her irresistible smile. “Yeah?” He still felt a bit down by her reply, as the powers were not his own. She continued. “You should know…that I…do have good aim!” Suddenly John heard a commotion. It sounded as if it originated above him. A vertical stampede of ripe somachis, tomato-like fruits that grew on trees rather than vines, fell on him. He tried to run away but slipped on the splattered ones already on the ground. As he lay on his back, the rush lasted for several more seconds, until he was orange. She ran over and offered him a hand. He reluctantly accepted, and she pulled him up. They both managed to stay upright, barely. She said to him, “But you should know…that I do like you.” She ran off as she giggled. John had the biggest smile he’d ever had. He called for her attention as she ran off. She turned around as she continued to jog sideways. As he was about to yell back that he liked her too, one last somachi smashed against his head and oozed into his mouth. She giggled again and turned in the direction of the goat. John watched her continue her efforts to milk it. The tensions of the goat had eased, and eventually it let her milk it. Though she lacked a proper bucket, she had created drinking cups out of some overgrown apples by carving out the centers. A little ingenuity went a long way in the wild. John finally turned his eyes away from Ivy, who glowed as he had not seen before. He began to wipe his clothes of the smashed somachis all over him. As he raised his head, he saw Tony stare at him. The older, taller kid did not look pleased. They broke eye contact, and Tony returned to his efforts to catch the elusive pontaccio. He ran left; they ran right. He ran right; they ran left. They scrambled between his legs when he stood upright and between his arms when he dove. The pontaccios were quick but not incredibly smart. They ran wildly within the same area, a peculiarity in their behavior, as pontaccios insisted on not being removed from their favorite feeding spots. Tony grew frustrated and grunted to show it. He was not upset with the pontaccios, as he knew he would eventually catch one. It was who he could not catch that was at the root of his frustrations. Pippy weaved left and right past the trees of the forest. It was so lush with bush that she could not see its end. Eager to know where it would eventually end, however, she began to ascend the tallest tree in the area; it was nearly seventy-five feet in height. She found some strong and flexible branches of the curious mackelroy trees nearby. The branches felt almost like rope as they hung droopily. They would eventually fall off after several years, but no one understood why. Pippy tied the flexible branch around its mother tree and then around her fist for a firm grip. She was endowed with great balance and determination. Within minutes she had scaled the tree, and what she saw was amazing, enough to cause her to gasp and fall silent. She looked in every direction, eyes wide open. Pippy had made a discovery that the others needed to know about immediately. She quickly but cautiously descended the tree and sprinted back toward the camp. Pippy’s sense of direction was second only to Norman’s; she rarely got lost in surroundings that were even just barely familiar. She returned to the camp, where Freddie already had started a fire, with plenty of reserve wood off to the side. John still had not sorted out all of the fruit; he was meticulous about these kinds of things. The setback was the forty-five minutes it had taken him to wash properly in the river to rid himself of the somachis that had found their way everywhere imaginable. Pippy observed John. He watched Ivy relax as she lay down and tossed up her carved-apple cup, angled slightly so a few drops of fresh milk would fall into her mouth. These kinds of acts were so natural for Ivy she sometimes did not realize she had done them. Tony, meanwhile, plucked the last few feathers from the pontaccio he had finally caught. Pippy finally yelled out at the foot of the camp, out of breath, “Hey, I have to show all of you something. You’re not going to believe this!” Tony asked her to relax because they would have plenty of time to see whatever it was she wanted to show them. For the moment, they would feast. Tony skewered the pontaccio and roasted it over the fire. He had even managed to find a few spices locally and added some seasoning. Pippy relaxed once the pontaccio was served. The feast was under way, and they soon forgot their problems. Tony initiated a relaxed dialogue. “Hey, John, can you toss over a mango?” His tan had begun to subside ever so slightly, as he had not soaked in the sun during sunrise. The sun shone brightest against the east wing, and he often basked in its glory. His crush on Ivy was obvious, but no more obvious than that all of the other young boys who got butterflies from her presence. It was said that his tan was only on one side because he only looked to her window, which exposed the left side of his face for unhealthy periods of time. John appeared distracted. “Sure, here you go. So…um…” Tony interrupted. “Go ahead. What’s on your mind, John?” “Is anyone going to talk about Jacob?” Pippy jumped in. Tony answered, obviously distraught, “He was…a great friend, a great leader…a brother to us all. It’s a tragedy.” John was heavily impacted by the remarks and at a loss for words. Tony continued. “I’m sorry, John. I know you are…We’ll talk about this another time, when all of us are ready.” Ivy broke the awkwardness and unashamedly asked one of the questions that had been burning within her and no doubt the others. “What did you mean when you told William that he had better be quiet or else?” Pippy and Freddie looked on as they each took a bite of pontaccio and waited eagerly for Tony to reply. Tony hesitantly spoke up. “Well…Her Majesty erases the memories of all her captives. This is why you guys can’t remember your past.” Ivy now appeared excited. “First of all, why do you keep saying ‘Her Majesty,’ and second of all, what do you mean ‘you guys’?” “Ivy, please calm down. I don’t want you to…um…” He changed course from where he was about to take the dialogue. “Well, Jacob, William, and I were allowed to keep our memories.” Tony’s reply did not do much to calm her. Ivy was becoming increasingly more anxious. “Calm down? No! I will not calm down! Why you and not us?” She was a firecracker. Once lit, it was only a matter of time before she exploded. And with a short fuse, it usually did not take long. The others, with the exception of John, were curious as well and echoed, “Yeah, Tony, why?” Tony answered, “I don’t know…” before he looked away and avoided eye contact with them. Ivy shot back, “Sure you do! There must be a reason, and you’re going to tell us!” Tony, now annoyed and frustrated, tossed down his mango and snapped back at Ivy, “Look, I don’t know! OK? Just drop it.” Everyone fell silent. Tony changed the subject. “So…Pippy, what did you see before?” Pippy could not describe what she had seen with justice and replied, “Um…I think it’s better to see it for yourself.” John, Freddie, and Ivy remained quiet for different reasons. Tony displayed his frustration unsubtly and replied, “Well, the sun has just about set, so it’ll have to wait until the morning. We need to get some rest.” They each retired in a corner of the camp, close enough to the fire to stay warm during the night hours. Each one lay on his or her back, quiet, as they gazed into the night sky, which was littered with stars that shone from far away. John heard some light footsteps approach. “Do you mind if I sit with you for a while? I’m not tired yet,” Ivy whispered to him. “Keep it down,” Tony whispered as annoyance bled from his words. John replied to her, “Of course not,” and he sat up. “I’m really sorry about Jacob,” she began. “It’s OK…Well, it’s not OK, but I guess it has to be…I just wish—” Ivy interrupted. “Hey, it’s not your fault. It’s none of our fault. We tried. You tried.” He hesitantly replied, “Yeah, I just…You’re right.” She changed the subject. “So, what do you make of Tony? What do you think he’s hiding?” “I have no idea, but whatever it is, it seems very sensitive.” “I’ve heard some things about him, but I don’t know what to believe. There’s a rumor that he was a palace guard, but I don’t see how that is possible since they don’t select kids for those positions. But what do I know? I can’t remember anything. Few of us can. I don’t remember if I was a hunter, if I enjoyed dancing, if I could horseback ride, or if I was a beggar. I don’t know who my family is. I just have these instincts with no memories of ever using them before I got here. I don’t know who most of the captives in the palace are, even if they have familiar faces. I don’t even know if I had a boyfriend,” Ivy said as she glanced at him and noticed him gulp. “Maybe you were a horseback hunter who liked to dance as you shot your arrows. And maybe…Rob…was your boyfriend,” John replied, the nerves exposed in his voice. She replied excitedly, “Rob? Please! He’s a jerk. He takes advantage of all the girls, making them do all of his duties while he does nothing. I would never! I prefer nice quiet boys who have superpowers and save the world,” she said as she pushed him with her shoulder, nearly knocking him over. John struggled to make eye contact with her and tried to change the subject. “Have you ever wondered how many stars there are in the sky?” Ivy ignored his question and answered with a question of her own. “You know I don’t bite, right?” “Of course I know. Otherwise, you would…um, kill me with your poison…right?” he answered nervously. “What are you talking about?” “Well, don’t they call you ‘Poison Ivy’? So I could die with a bite, right?” She giggled as she spoke. “No, silly! First of all, it’s not ‘Poison Ivy;’ it’s ‘Poisson Ivy,’ and I’m named after a wonderful and fancy fish native to the shores of the Buv’re. I don’t remember ever tasting it, but I smelled it one time in the kitchen, and there was a familiarity to the scent. I figured I must have tried it, right? Everyone misunderstands me because of my accent! I got tired of correcting everyone, so I just let them call me that, and it stuck. And secondly, I do bite!” John was confused. He looked off to the side as he searched for an answer and replied, “But I thought you just said—ouch!” Ivy had bitten him in his left hand and was running off toward Pippy, who was still up. He could see them giggle uncontrollably as they spoke to each other while looking in his direction. He grinned nervously in return before Tony spoke up again. “Come on, guys. We need the rest!” He slammed his palm into the soft ground. John lay back down as he watched Ivy and Pippy doing the same in the distance as they continued to gossip and giggle. He looked up into the stars and tried to tally them, as if it were possible. The more stars he counted, the more they began to outline the face of Ivy. But he would never be able to approach her, even if he saved the world. No one was shier than he was. She may as well have been as far as the stars were. As he stared into the stars, he slowly faded away. John was once again in a dark room. Midwa waited for him. He was not at full strength. The chocolate rodent started to speak to him immediately, with an uncharacteristically nervous voice. “John, I know I told you that dark times are coming. But they are here. The Ice Queen has received news of your survival, and she’s preparing an army.” John continued to feel lost. “I don’t understand. Why would she need to build up an army? She could have killed me a thousand times if she felt I was a threat.” Midwa spoke with a sense of haste. “You’ll understand in due time, young one, but for now, you have to forge a fellowship with your friends. You will need one another to get to the Fire King’s castle.” John yelled in protest, “But that’s suicide!” Midwa took a deep breath. He attempted to calm John, as well as himself. “John, you must remember…the key is his ring. You must rid this kingdom of the darkness that Agri…the Ice Queen casts upon it. You must save those children for the sake of the future generations who will suffer the same fate if you decide to do nothing about it.” John was unsure how to reply to such a loaded statement. “But…” Midwa broke the silence. “I believe in you, John. Remember, I am with you. My powers are yours, but use them wisely.” Still confused, John replied again, “But…” “John!” yelled Ivy, inches from John’s ear. Morning had arrived, and the sun was already high in the sky. “Not again,” John whispered to himself. “Come on, John. Pippy’s going to show us what she saw yesterday!” John jumped up to his feet and ran over for a brief breakfast. The others had consumed nearly all the remnants of the previous night’s feast. His left foot felt as good as new. They quickly gained ground on Pippy, Tony, and Freddie. They were once again at the tree where Pippy had made her discovery just a day earlier. The tree was strong enough to support two kids at a time. They scaled it in tandem, which allowed them to look after each other in case one of them slipped. Tony and Freddie got a head start and eventually reached the top after half an hour of cautious climbing. Freddie wanted to scale it at a quicker pace, which was facilitated by his curiosity about what could have impressed Pippy so much. It took John and Ivy a bit more time for preparation, as he was nervous to hold her hands for so long. She occasionally peeked from behind the tree and teased him by sticking out her tongue and making funny noises. “Ivy, stop. That’s dangerous!” he said to her. “Oh, come on, John. Stop being such a square,” she said and then suddenly slipped. John grabbed her hand almost instantly and pulled her back up. There was something extra behind her smile as she spoke. “My hero owed me one from the cavern. It seems he just repaid his debt.” She began to shy away from eye contact suddenly. The only eyes she had shied away from until this point were the Ice Queen’s. They soon reached the top along with Tony and Freddie and were in awe, as if a veil had been lifted from their eyes. The Ice Palace was directly in front of John, with Ivy’s face set against it. There was a dramatic contrast between her warmth and the frigidity of the palace. A huge storm was raging outside the palace, making it barely visible. It was enclosed by a field of energy, which gave the Ice Queen the ability to control the weather with incredibly concentrated force. John turned his head to the right and saw that the north did not end at the kingdom Belghan. It went beyond rather extensively. He looked at Ivy to tell her to turn around to look at it, but she was mesmerized with what she saw. Her jaw remained dropped. He saw the reflection in her eyes and immediately turned around. He was mesmerized as well by the distant islands of the East, commonly referred to as the Islands of the Phoenix Dragons. There were five caverns separated by just as many islands. Each was ruled by the phoenix dragon of its corresponding element: fire, ice, earth, wind, and water. He had seen the tamed phoenix dragon of ice in the lair that Her Majesty had constructed for him, but as he looked into the skies to the east, from afar, he saw the phoenix dragons of wind and water as they flew about. Aeris, the phoenix dragon of wind, and Aquaris, phoenix dragon of water, had just completed their cycles of dormancy and were up in the air to reacquaint themselves with their respective elements. They flapped their wings tirelessly as they worked together to re-master them. As Aquaris exhaled a rush of streaming water, Aeris divided it into multiple streams and directed it back to the phoenix dragon of water, striking it from several directions simultaneously. Not to be outdone, Aquaris took an even deeper breath and blasted Aeris with a constant stream of brutal water. The phoenix dragon that commanded the element of wind was unable to deflect the stream. It was too strong, and its lungs had begun to flood with the water. As Aquaris noticed that its sparring opponent had begun to weaken, it stopped its stream and inhaled all of it back. Aeris was overpowered this round and still had some weeks before it would reach full strength. It would be as strong as Aquaris, but as it lagged behind in its rebirth by days, it had to be patient and continue its practice. They both descended back toward their respective caverns to rest for the remainder of the day. They were known to be active during the late hours. Perhaps the day exercises were temporary until they returned to full form. John turned his eyes to the west. Though his view was partially obstructed by the palace, he saw the fanciful kingdom of Buv’re. It was the richest of the three known kingdoms. Even from this distance, the gold and silver glistened. The surrounding landscape even appeared to be sprinkled with gold. It appeared civilized compared to what they had just witnessed to the east. His eyes took their attention above, toward the sky, which was filled with several planets of different colors and sizes far in the distance. As the sun erupted, it contrasted beautifully against the calmness of the blue skies. Beneath the sky, he saw the edge of the jungle they were in, where the rushing channel became a powerful waterfall and descended a great distance into Lake Tarin, where the Ice Palace once was. The lake fed into the Larris River, which flowed from the far north to the southern perimeter of the lands of the jungle before it ceased to flow. As he had seen from the gated windows of his cell, the lush, forest-filled lands below accommodated several dozen villages. He had not seen them during the mid-morning hours, however, and was amazed by how vivid the jungles radiated and how active the wildlife was. He even saw a few leopards weave in and out of the trees as they hunted. The villagers were out and about, and they went on with their daily routines. Gardens were tended to. Young kids played games as elders yelled at them to be careful where they threw their toys, which often ended up through their neighbors’ windows. Folks greeted each other in the streets and spoke freely, unlike the Ice Palace, where they had to sneak away to speak to each other, or at least talk under their breaths. Those who spoke in the palace and were caught were punished with dreadful cooking duties. As Rob was a chatterbox, he often experienced the punishment, but unlike others, he was able to persuade the guards to let him sneak in a bite or two of pontaccio. He looked farther up and beyond the jungle. A desert was situated past the green lands and was home to colossal giants that roamed endlessly, or at least it seemed that way. They were visible even from this great distance. They appeared to be made of the sands of the desert, but it was difficult to tell, as the sandstorms often obstructed visibility from outside the realm. Beyond the desert, the hues transformed significantly into a deep blue sea that spanned the length of the horizon. The waters were ever calm and uneventful. If John were not so afraid of the sea, he would not mind a swim there—if he could swim, of course. The others would definitely enjoy it, however. Farther beyond to the south, the vast castle of the Fire King rose, partially veiled behind darkness as balls of fire aggressively erupted through the ominous clouds of several shades of black and gray. He took one final look as Tony called for a meeting at the base of the tree. They descended and regrouped in order to form a plan. As they engaged in a healthy debate, some argued in favor of an attempt to descend to the lands below, while others insisted they could survive in their newfound paradise. Ivy agreed with the latter and insisted the lands below were impossible to reach since there was no way to descend without the palace guards discovering them. Also, they had just been shut off from the Ice Palace, as the only way back was to encounter the undead army once again. Tony argued that they could not stay there indefinitely because the Ice Queen would eventually find them. Ivy begged John to side with her, but he could not after what Midwa had told him in his dream. “We need to find a way down. We need to get to the Fire King’s castle. It’s the only way.” Tony jumped in. “That’s suicide, John! How do you suppose we make it across? The only thing that awaits us over there is death!” After a long silence, John responded, “Death awaits us in the Ice Palace, and death may await us in the lands below. And yes, death may wait for us at the Fire King’s castle. But death also awaits us here in this supposed paradise. We have a choice. We can do nothing, here, and just survive for as long as we can at the expense of all those innocent children in the Ice Palace…or, we can do something about it. We can give some meaning, some purpose to our lives. At least we would know that we tried to make a difference.” Tony replied, “How do you suppose we do that?” John displayed confidence in Midwa. “Midwa said the key is the Fire King’s ring—” Tony interrupted. “John, the rodent is gone! We need to work with what we can see, OK?” It was a jab to his confidence, but John continued. “We need it to defeat the Ice Queen, but more importantly, we need to stick together. Or else we have no chance.” Tony was not convinced. “And you’re sure we can do this?” John now spoke with some uncertainty. “I…don’t know. But we have to try.” Tony slowly approached John and stopped just short of him. He then looked to Ivy and then around at the others, who all shared a look of concern. He was slowly losing the tan that gave him his moniker, Two-Tone Tony. His eyes returned to John’s, who was nervous with what was about to happen. “OK, we break camp at dawn. Let us have one last day of peace.” Tony then thrust John backward and yelled, “Tag! You’re it!” as he ran off into the forest. John looked at the others, confused. He then walked up to Ivy, who had a blank look on her face. “Um…tag, you’re it!” And John quickly ran off into the forest as well as he held a smile for the longest he had in a while. “Hey!” Ivy yelled out. She ran over to tag Pippy, but she and Freddie had already begun their sprint toward the forest. It was not long before Ivy caught Freddie off guard and pushed him into and through a bush as she tagged him. Tony and John stood beside each other in silence as they attempted to hide behind a narrow mackelroy tree. Tony broke the silence. “I’m sorry, John. There are ugly truths in this world that I don’t wish any of you to know.” “But that’s not for you to decide.” “Yeah, you’re right…I’ll try to explain everything if and when we reach the land below. We should be able to, but we are going to need to be careful. And one more thing…there are things you don’t know about Ivy. Just…don’t hurt her, OK?” “What are you talking about?” Tony answered cryptically, “Well, as I said, I’ll explain everything when we reach below. For now, I think we should try to enjoy this moment.” “Agreed,” Ivy replied. She had just snuck from behind them and heard only their last words. “Whoa, where did you come from?” Tony yelled nervously, giving away their position to the others. “I was trying to run away from Freddie”—she paused—“before he tagged me!” The boys looked at each other, and John spoke. “Wait…what?” “Tag! You’re it!” she shouted as she pushed both of them simultaneously, knocked them both down, and ran away. Ivy appeared to run away in slow motion in John’s eyes. “Hey! John!” Tony bellowed and finally snapped him back to the present. “So you have a thing for her, don’t you?” he asked, grinning. “Well, no, I mean…I guess…” John’s words stumbled over one another. “Well, everyone does,” Tony said. “But be careful. Like I said, there are things about her…” “Like what?” John asked even more inquisitively than the last time. “Like an extra toe?” “No!” Tony laughed. “Like I said, we’ll talk when the time is right. Oh, I forgot to tell you…” “What?” John asked nervously. But as soon as he asked the question, Tony pushed him to the ground. “You’re it!” echoed as Tony ran away. They went on to play for hours and occasionally broke for a snack. When they were not chasing one another on the forest ground, they chased one another up trees. None of them, with the exception of Tony, could recall such a feeling of excitement and genuine fun. They played and ate well until the sun began to set, which prompted one final feast before they embarked on their adventure. Coming Soon: VII - Falling Hard