Something cool was touching my face, which was a change because my whole body felt…warm. I felt incredibly warm actually. W-where was I? what had happened? I had passed out…Where was Ash?!
Is she okay!? What happened?
I felt the dampness again on my forehead and a sting.
"Ow…" I hissed through my teeth. "Shit…" I opened my eyes to my face to face with an upside down wrinkled dark skinned face and piercing grey s.
"GAH!" I shouted, sitting up quickly then wincing in pain as a sharp pain shot up my spine to my head. Shouldn't have done that… I put my hand to my head o feel some type of cloth round around it.
"Wouldn't touch that if I were you, boy." I head a deep yet soft voice say behind me. I turned to see the wrinkled face of an old woman, with cloudy blue eyes in the dim light. She was fairly large, but with a soft looking face. Her hair was all grey, contrasting with her darker brown skin. Her hair was tied in a bun, with sort of…hair…loop things at the side leading to the bun. She wore blue attire. It was like a big dress, with a fur lined hood, and a rim of fur around just under the torso. There was tight cloth across her chest forming a X in a darker blue and at the joints of the arm. The trims of her sleeves were fur lined as well and she had a kind of wave pattern on large cloth around the trimmings of the sleeve and above the fur on her chest.
"W-who are you?" I asked. She continued to stare at me without saying anything. "Where am I?" I asked again. I looked around. I was in what looked like a dark brown…tent. TP actually. What on earth? I looked down to see that I was bare chested, but hand bandages around my upper torso. I touched my head and winced again. I had bandages around my fore head as well. I looked around. I was on a sort of mat, sitting in what seemed to be a sleeping bag, lined with fur. It was warm that was for sure.
The woman picked up a cloth from a wooden bowl with water in it, squeezed it dryer and looked back up at me. She beckoned me forward with her hands. I regarded her for a moment before crawling back towards her. I knelt before her, and she placed the water onto my cheeks and neck.
"You are in the Northern Water Tribe village. We found you outside. I have been treating you. Call me GranGran." I stared at her wide eyes as she continued to pat me with the cloth. "You were lucky. Just a scratch and a bump. Your friend though…she's a little trickier."
"my friend? Ash?" Where is she? Is she alright?" I asked desperately! Ash! Where was she? The woman patted my cheek, her touch be rough yet gentle.
"Do not worry young one, your friend will be fine. She had been treated, but she needs her rest." I nodded. That was good.
"Thank you…" I said looking up at her. Her face broke into a smile as she stood up.
"I've brought you some clean clothes. I think you're well enough to get out of here, if just for a little while. But be careful, you had a nasty blow to the head." I nodded as she exited through the curtain to the left, letting in the light of a fire outside in. I looked to the side of the bed to see an assortment of clothing. I was just in my boxers and that was in. I grabbed what looked like a dark blue pair of trousers, but they were loose and baggy but thick to keep warm. I pulled those on, then what looked like a long sleeved under top that acted as gloves as well. I pulled in on to feel it as very warm. Then in was a kind of…tunic thing. It was like a T-shirt but was long and I assumed I tied it around the waist. I did so but with a little bit of distress from my arm. Then there were what looked like boots, that went half way up my calf, they were a deep brown. They were like no shoe I had ever seen before but oh well. Once it was on I struggled to my feet slowly, groaning slightly. I felt a tiny bit of success when I was fully standing up. I took a hesitant step forward and pushed aside the flap/door thing.
My eyes widened. I was in what looked like a little camp. All around me were tent/tepee things like the one I had just come out of. It was like nothing I had ever seen before…at least I don't think so. This place seemed slightly familiar to be honest.
Where was I? How did I get here? We crashed I remember but that was it…
While I was looking around in awe I didn't notice the old woman come over to me.
"Good to see you out," She said. I turned to her and nodded. Yes, I suppose it was good…sort of…
"Why don't you come over and warm yourself up?" She asked. I nodded and followed her over to a large fire a little off. The small village seemed to be surrounded by a wall of snow.
I followed the woman, and noticed several other people. Women and children. That was it. Where were any men? Not that a society needed them to thrive apart from reproduction but I wonder if there were any besides myself? not that I was a man obviously.
"Would you like some warm soup?" she asked to me. there was a large fire with a stove over it cooking something. It smelt nice. There were three woman besides GranGran, and they were watching me carefully. There were also a couple of children, sticking close to their mothers. Were they afraid of me? I suppose I was a stranger that randomly showed up in their village with an almost dead girl… Yeah, I'd be afraid too.
"That would be nice," I smiled at them. I saw some of the women blush and some of the kids looked a little less afraid. Me and Ash could do that to people when we wanted. Dazzle them. even though we were young we could still do that to people. She always said that we had promising careers as models. I bet she could if she wanted too…
"Sit yourself down," she instructed. She said it with such authority that I dare not disobey her. I dropped. I did as I was told and sat down on what looked like a blanket thing beside the fire; the others were sitting on them as well. I watched out of the corner of my eye as some of the children approached me hesitantly, the smaller ones hiding behind the eldest.
"Hey," One of the asked. It was a boy, with dark skin just like everyone else in this little village. He looked to be about eight or seven with messy light brown hair. There was another boy who looked to be of that age as well, with dark shorter hair, and a little girl of either six or seven with little dark pigtails.
I turned to the little boy who was watching me curiously, as if summing me up. he seemed like a little worrier, wanting to protect the people of his village from the stranger. How cute.
"What's your name?" He asked me boldly, pushing his chest out as if the rival me.
"West." I said in a calm voice, trying to prove that I wasn't a threat. The boy frowned.
"What kind of a name is West?" He asked in confusion.
"Hodako!" A mother chastised the boy, sending me an apologetic smile at the child's behaviour.
"it's alright, I don't mind. It is kind of a strange name." She smiled. GranGran came back over and handed me a bowl with warm liquid in it, it smelt delicious. Only then did I realise just how hungry I was. Man, I was starving.
"Here, drink up. It will give you strength." She stated. I took the bowl in my hand.
"Thank you…" I just held the bowl in my lap for a moment. And I stayed there, by the fire for a while, sipping the stew until it was all gone. More women and children started to gather around the fire, talking, laughing, and having their stew. I wasn't there at the moment. Ash and I had that in common, that we could just phase out of things, like we were dreaming while awake. We would then tell each other about our dreams. We would dream of wonderful things. I tended to thing about rushing rivers, large mountains and the great ocean. She thought of birds flying, and burning fires. It was strange, but we both very comforted to tell each other what was either bothering us or what made us happy…
"West!" My head snapped up too see the little boy standing in front of me. he was grinning at me, his eyes sparkling in the reflection of the fire. It had gotten dark very suddenly, but I didn't feel the cold. The talking had stopped now, and they were all watching the exchange looks between me and the small boy.
"Y-yes?" The boy glanced at GranGran.
"What's your friend called?" I smiled fondly.
"Her name is Ash." The boys eyes widened.
"are you guys lovers?" I nearly choked on the process of swallowing saliva.
"W-what? N-no!" I stuttered, my cheeks blazing.
"Hodako, that's enough. Don't pester the boy." GranGran ordered. The boy pouted and walked back over to his friends. There was more silence, and I realised that everyone was either watching me or GranGran. What were they staring at? Why was no one talking? Talk about your awkward silences…
"West…" GranGran started, looking over at me. "Where did you come from?" I stared at her blankly. I…don't actually know what happened. I guess it hasn't fully sunken in yet. Where the hell were we!? How on earth had we ended up in the South Pole?! Fucking crazy… I don't even think I'm in the same world anymore…this is all so strange. I've never heard of people living in the South Pole…unless…
"I don't know… I don't know how we got here…" I mumbled.
"What happened to you and your friend to cause such injuries…?" I didn't answer straight away, but stared at the ground. "I found metal stones lodged in her wounds. What kind of a demon did this to her?" my gaze snapped up to hers, and she blinked at the intensity of my gaze.
"Not demons. Humans." I spat the world out as if it were poison. I rested my elbows on my knees, my hand clasped together in front of my face. I turned to look at the fire, scowling. "Filthy, Horrible, cruel, evil men." GranGran didn't respond straight away. I meant what I said. They were evil! God I hated how humanity could be so corrupt. It was disgusting and I never wanted Ash to be near people like that every again.
"West…how did those men get metal in her?" Everyone was listening closely to what I would tell them. I will tell them. They should know. I sighed.
"Where I come from…where we come from…Is not this world…" How can it be? This was too strange to be Earth anymore, well, not our earth. There was a number of gasps around the fire. GranGran studied me.
"You come from a different world? The spirit world? No…" I shook my head. Why did the 'sprit world' sound familiar to me? where had I heard it before? Why did it sound so familiar. Everyone was looking at me, expecting me to tell them more about the world that we come from.
"Our world…is very corrupt…" I said slowly, staring into the fire, the red and golden flames filling up my vision. "Humans have… slowly destroyed and polluted our world…People of our world can be greedy…evil…cruel…" I scowled at the fire.
"We developed weapons, thousand of them."
"What kind of weapons?" A woman asked.
"Was it one of them that hurt your friend?" The boy asked. I nodded, my scowl disappearing. I didn't want to frighten anyone.
"Yes…She was hurt by one of them. A gun."
"Gun? What's a gun?" Another woman asked.
"A gun…is a hand held weapon, about this big," I showed them how long the gun was, the one that had been used. "They shoot at you, like an arrow."
"As fast as an arrow?" What primitive times this must be. Where the hell were we? The middle ages or something? I turned to the boy with a serious expression.
"A hundred times faster…" My gaze travelled back to the fire. No one spoke after that, but from their faces I could tell that the idea of such a weapon scared them. I sighed and turned to GranGran.
"Can I see her?" I asked. She nodded and stood up, and walked away towards a tent. I stood as well, and handed my bowl to the woman who had made it, and gave her a warm smile.
"Thank you, it was very delicious." She nodded with a shy smile. I followed GranGran into the darker area of the village, that led to a warm tent. The old woman hobbled in there, and I followed, the only sound being the crunching of snow under the boots that I was wearing. I pulled aside the flap door to see a small fire in the middle of the large tent, making it warm. The only light was the fire, softly crackling. I looked and found GranGran standing next to two sets of mats and furs. One of them had a person inside. Ash.
I ran over to where she was and fell to my knees down next to her and looked her over. She was wrapped up with furs around her, keeping her warm and comfortable. She had a bandage around her head, and covering her right eye. If I seem to remember, she had been given a nasty cut down her right eye. I felt my eyes filled with tears as I touched the side of her face. She looked so fragile…
"When will she wake up?" I asked, turning to GranGran. She studied me for a moment before answering.
"In the next day or two, she should wake up." I couldn't help but feel relieved. She would wake up…thank goodness…
I let out a breath that I didn't realise I had been holding. Now that I knew he would be okay, I had to stay with her. I didn't want to leave her again, I won't let her out of my sight now.
"I'll sleep here tonight then…" I whispered. GranGran nodded her head and made her way out of the tent. I took off my Tunic thing, and the boots, then pulled some of the furs that were by me over my body, and lay down next to Ash. I stared at her face. She was beautiful. Her skin was the colour of snow, and smooth and soft to the touch. Her nose was small and the end curved to give her what was called a 'button nose'. Her lips were full and naturally pouty, and a rosy pink colour. Her eyes were naturally innocent looking, open and curious. Her hair was the colour of wheat, a warm right gold. It was swept across her forehead, before falling down to her shoulders in curled ringlets. Her hair shone like the sun in the light, and it was as smooth as silk. It was a lovely feeling to run my hand though her hair, apart from when I encountered knots there, usually making her yelp in pain as she never really brushed it.
It pained me not to see her eyes open. I yearned to see her sit up with that bright smile she always saved for me…But she wouldn't. She wouldn't wake up yet...
The last thing I saw before I fell asleep was Ash's face.
