"Beware the Eastern Sun"
Chapter 3
"And in the fury of the mind, dream became
reality, and reality a mere dream..."
-Days of Light, Days of Dark by Taichi Kamiya
Pain. A throbbing feeling. Tai tried
to open his eyes, but his vision would not resolve. Pulsing headaches. It was
too much. But a cool, moist feeling came over his face, and he eased out of
consciousness...
"Tai...Tai?"
He rose from his lying down position,
and stared forward, dazed. He was on the shady side of an overhanging outcrop
of rock. The rush of running water was heard, and outside, the glistening of a
stream in the sunlight could be seen. Rising to his feet, he slowly took in the
world around him with an amazed wonder. He walked out of the shade and was
compelled to look in the crystal clear water. For a second, he almost saw the
reflection of someone he knew, but then his own prevailed. Leaning close, he
reached into the water and took a sip of the cool, refreshing water.
"Tai...Tai?"
Tai immediately got up and looked
around him, but could not see anyone nearby. He ventured along the stream,
searching, and a flicker of movement caught his eye on his side of the bank. In
a meadow of yellow-green grass, there stood a boulder, well away from the
stream. On it sat Sora, who looked calm and peaceful. She looked up at him and
smiled as he stared at her.
Overcoming his initial shock, he
smiled and ran towards Sora, screaming her name. She didn't seem to react, but
just sat there, smiling at him. When he neared her, her smile faded. She
frowned and looked up at him.
"Tai...Tai?"
"Sora, I'm right here."
"I broke my digivice. Can you fix
it?" She held out her hands towards him. In it was the broken remnants of
her digivice.
"Um...Sora. I'm not an expert on
these..."
"Please Tai. Please," she
pressed further, more insistent. "I broke my digivice, can you fix it for
me?"
He was at a loss for words. This was
not Sora. In fact, when he thought about it, he couldn't conceive how he'd even
come to be there. "I...uh. Why don't you ask Izzy?" He began to back
away.
Sora's hand quickly reached out and
grasped him. "I need you Tai. Please, please help me. Fix it."
Tai turned away for a moment, thinking
of a response. He could feel her arm quivering as it weakly grasped his.
Turning back to her, he began, "I really can't do..."
"Fix it Tai. Now."
It was not Sora. Standing before him
now was Matt, giving him that dark look that he always wore when he was mad.
Tai's breathing became ragged and he began to feel a great sense of danger.
"Come, Tai. Come see the
world." Matt's eyes were glowing with energy as he rose from the rock.
Despite his efforts, Tai could not
move. He was literally frozen in his position. He watched in fear as Matt
approached him, and put both hands on his head. Suddenly there was a bright
flash.
He was floating in the air, and below
him was Sora and Mimi. They were sitting peacefully, and talking despondently.
Looming above them in a tree was a great black raven. Its cawed and cawed,
making awful screeching sounds, but the girls were oblivious. Finally, it
descended upon Mimi and tore her face with its claws. She screamed once before
she fell and the raven began to feed on her face. Sora lay on the floor, too,
choking on some invisible force that drained the life out of her body as it
shriveled up.
"Fix it, Tai. Fix it."
Then he was above a grassy meadow. A
pervading sense of calm came about him. Kari appeared running and stopped before
him, looking up almost at him, but past him. He tried to scream at her, but no
voice issued forth. Then suddenly a dark shadow descended upon her and darted
away as soon as it had appeared. Kari merely sat and wept. As she wept the sky
turned a blood red and in the distance, a black hooded figure bore a body in a
shroud down a river at a slow deliberate pace.
"You must Tai. You must fix
it."
He heard a gurgle. Turning to his
left, he saw Joe on the floor, his glasses broken, and his red-cracked eyes
bulging. A thin stream of blood flowed from his mouth that became a river,
gushing with violent speed. Near Joe, Izzy sat, typing away at his computer
with a look of concentration on his face. He idly took a cup that sat by him,
dipped it in the river of blood, and took one healthy draught, without his eyes
ever leaving the screen.
"I need you Tai. I need
you."
Finally, a cold wind rushed through him
(he was there, yet not). He could not see anything. Then the constant drip of
water could be heard from behind him, and a figure, faced away from him, was
garbed in white clothes covered with mud. Unwillingly, he drifted near the
figure, and as he approached, the shape turned and the face of T.K. looked back
at him, seemingly aged and worn. He approached yet further until he stared at
him straight in the face.
"You must fix it. All of
you." His mouth moved, but the words sounded in his head. For a moment
there was a pause as T.K. looked at him, but then he turned away and there was
another brilliant flash...
"Tai...Tai?"
He opened his eyes, but was met with
brightness. Squinting, he tried to focus. Hovering above him were the heads of
Sora and Mimi. His head no longer hurt as much, but it still throbbed, making
him feel uneasy. He rose to a sitting position and looked around him. He seemed
to be in some sort of makeshift hut, on a bed that was more of a board. Joe and
Izzy were nowhere to be seen.
"Tai! I'm so glad you're
OK!" Sora hugged him, squeezing the breathe out of him.
"Take it easy, Sora," Mimi
cautioned. "He's still recovering."
"Oh yeah." She withdrew.
"Do you feel all right?"
"I guess." He rubbed the
back of his head to soothe the pain. "Where am I?"
"Our own little place," Mimi
replied with a smile on her face. It was so good to see her smile again.
"Don't worry. You'll be safe here."
"Joe. Izzy..."
"Already fine. They got up about
an hour ago. They're outside touring the area."
Tai sat with a pensive look on his
face. "Mimi. Sora." "Wow. It's been ages..."
"I know," they both replied
wistfully.
Silence dominated the room for a brief
moment before He took flight.
"So how did I get here?"
"Well," Mimi began.
"Sora had this...hunch, let's say, that we should start looking for you
guys again. Well, we were deep in the jungle, and as I said we should turn
back, there was a giant earthquake. When it stopped, we looked up at the sky,
and there was a trail of smoke. So we followed the smoke to a clearing and
there were you three, just lying there on the ground. Your digimon were there
too. You all looked so badly beaten up that we'd feared the worst. But when we
came up close, we still heard you breathing, so we got our digimon to help us
bring you back here. We're a long way from where you guys last were."
Tai thought for a moment, and suddenly
hit his head with his hand. "Ow." He rubbed his head. Shaking it, he
began, "I forgot! Where's Agumon?"
"Right here buddy!" An
assertive voice came from behind.
On the bed and leaning against the
wall was Koromon, who had been right next to him the whole time. He looked
healthy, except for a small bandage across his head. But he was grinning at him
brightly and seemed no less the digimon than he ever was.
With Sora and Mimi helping him up, Tai
rose and made his way outside. The crisp air was refreshing, and the sights and
sounds of nature comforted him. A small, red songbird nearby called to its mate
and they began a duet, flitting from branch to branch. In the shadows of the
underbrush, a white rabbit twitched its nose as it regarded the human observers
with cautious eyes. The trees swayed to a light breeze, causing the sunlight to
flicker and dance on the ground of soft, packed earth. A small lake lay still
in the distance, reflecting the sunlight back to the heavens.
It was all too real to be real.