Myrrh

"Let's play hide and seek in the mushroom forest

The place where life comes from

But don't you dare to forget seeking for me

When the counting time stops."

"Note from the day after yesterday"

I was nothing but a little girl of turquoise hair and pale skin. I was no clavat, no selkie, no lilty or yuke; I was just Myrrh.

It's been a long time since we separated… My friends, all of them, have gone to a strange land, they have all danced between the flames of wrath; is it that they all forgot about our past? The land has crumbled because of their acts, the blades have resonated over the skies and millions of people have all disappear between the rages of magicite. Cry, cry, scream, they are all screaming now… screaming for what happens now… is it that they forgot about yesterday? They have all changed; they are not the ones I met on that yesterday's yesterday. But this forest remains the same, but I remain the same. Same heart on different body, waiting for their return...

Chapter 1: Remembrance

The morning glance was blurry but refreshing and Callum had woken up early to practice with his lute. His thumb and index running soflty, one after each other, showing his great skills to everyone in the town of Tida, were themselves a spectacle for people of all ages. Every single day, Callum, the skillful clavat, would direct himself to the center of the town, to play with his loved lute, to sing to clouds grateful for another day.

Callum was a romantic youngster, who, however, didn't have any family but the kids with whom he played after lunch.

One of those kids was a cheerful and playful selkie named Selt Reen, another orphan, who enjoyed Callum´s music. Every day, after Callum headed to the center of town, Selt Reen woke up, combed her hair with her fingers and washed her face in a small stream of clean water; then, she would take a tambourine and direct herself to Callum, to accompanied him, to dance by his side while palming her gracious tambourine with her childish hands.

People, all assembled, would deliver some fresh bread to the kids as a reward for enlivening the entire town of Tida.

After the repertory, Callum and Selt Reen, with their hands full of bread, would come back to the alleys to reunite with their other friends.

"We came back!" Selt would say by the time they'd arrived "Callum and I brought some bread to eat!"

Two other kids would always come to their call and happily greet them.

"Bread…again?"would have asked Lily, a small lilty with her cheeks all dirty but red-hued "I don't want bread anymore!"

"But bread is really nutritious" would always say wise Yukelis, the bookworm yuke.

"But it tastes so plain!"

However they would all eat the same bread every day.

"Hey, Callum!" Selt Reen would talk to him after lunch "I think someone is missing!"

Callum, as every other day, would disagree by moving his head from left to right. Callum was mute, however he could hear perfectly fine.

"Well, then, never mind!" she would say

And they were all going to continue their routine every day like we've never met. I wonder where their memories of me had gone… Or could it be that this passage was nothing more than a false memory of mine repeating continuously in my mind? How did they come to forget me, Myrrh, their friend?

….

Chapter 2: My name

We met at the mushroom forest, yes, at that magical place that was said to be the cradle of all life. We were all little kids when we first met. I remember I had got lost at the forest, I don't remember what I was doing there, I don't even recall having parents or anything but that I was no clavat, no selkie or lilty or yuke; I was a strange creature of radiant turquoise hair and white skin. When they found me, they were all surprised to see some kind of being as different as me; however, with the pass of time they just accepted me as their friend.

Since that time, we started playing hide and seek at the mushroom forest, going all around that mystical land, playing all time from midday to sunset. We were all friends, they started bringing me bread from their homeland and they even gave me a name…"Myrrh".

Since that day I was called Myrrh and everybody but Callum named me like that. But I knew he couldn't do it so I could forgive him. Oh, I would love to go back to that time where our smiles were always crossing and our hands were always hugging each other…

Those were the happiest days in my life.

Chapter 3: Tida

Welcome to Tida, the sunniest village anywhere!

A week after meeting Callum, Selt Reen, Lily and Yukelis, the selkie invited me to go with them to Tida, their homeland. At the beginning I was somehow afraid, since I had got lost at the mushroom forest I had never left that place…I had configured it as my own homeland.

But I accepted her invitation, not because I was so curious about the town, but because I wanted to listen to Callum's lute.

"He won't play it outside town!" Selt Reen said to me when she was trying to convince me "he may forget how to use it!"

She was joking; I believed it on that day.

On the day of the "trip", Selt Reen, Callum and Lily came to the mushroom forest and guided me to the town… I have to admit that when we reached Tida, I was impressed. The great door opening and the entire people going everywhere, doing their own errands, the gardens overflowing a whole bunch of flowers and the fields painted in gold because of the pacific wheat which dance I wanted to follow. It was more a village than a town, the alleys were not so narrow as I thought they would be. The majestic trees were in full bloom, their green leaves combined perfectly with the red and yellow of their flowers. Tida was, as its welcome sign would say: The sunniest village anywhere! There was no doubt that the sun shone even brighter there than in any other place.

Tida Village was a lovable place to live, its vegetation, its cheerful farmers and gracious major; Oh, but what delighted me the most, was to listen to Callum playing the lute, so skillful, so graceful and Selt Reen dancing next to him, palming her tambourine.

"When I get older" told me Lily, smiling "I want to play the oboe…,right now I'm just a bulb with no arms…"

"I want to play as skillful as Callum!" she exclaimed after jumping everywhere "I want to dance as Selt Reen too! I want to express everybody my joy just like they do!"

I smiled to her and she did to me either.

"Oh!" she realized "Yukelis is not coming today…" her smile was gone "he said he wanted to read more of a book I stole for him"… she walked far from me and stood in front of both the clavat and the selkie… "he used to play the accordion with us…" she commented me "but since he's been into those books, he has not played anymore… And I wanted to play with all of them here, in Tida, in this plaza!"

Lily started crying…

I hugged her and Callum and Selt Reen did it too.

"Don't cry, Lily" told her Selt Reen "when we get older, we'll play all together"

"Will we be still together when we grow up?" Lily exclaimed in the middle of tears.

Her concerns passed through everybody's minds but at that time we just comforted each other minds by thinking that a separation was not possible.

"Hey, everybody!" we heard Yukelis coming from behind, holding a luminous sphere "you won't believe it!" he exclaimed.

Then we just look how he cast a magnificent spell, an artistic aura of both mystical and enigmatic shine. We all enjoyed the spectacle; however, I could feel that behind that great light was an enormous shadow dancing a symphony of doom.