Chapter
Four: Reasons Forbidden
Sunni laid her head down on the
Great Book and fought to stay awake. The clock in the hall struck four o'clock.
Then, a faint shimmer woke her up. She looked and saw that it came from the
book. Immediately all her fatigue vanished and she rapidly turned the pages,
searching for the source.
She found it in the back, a page
humming a deep black glow.
She scanned the top. It was written
in words, glen words of the ancients. They were rather hard to decipher but she
was determined to try.
"If…seen…may you go…blind…if
heard…may…you…go…deaf…no matter what…the cost…these words…and horrors…must
be…forgotten."
The next moment, the blackness
flared. Sunni barely covered her eyes in time. Had she covered them a minute
later, it would have been too late and she would have lost her sight. Sunni
rubbed her eyes and stared at the words.
"Barbic…these are Barbic."
But instead of letting out
frustration, she grabbed a pen and paper and copied the words down. She would
have to ask Buddi when she saw him again.
Then, suddenly, the book flared and
shut with a slam.
Sunni ran from the room.
* * *
Ursa opened the wooden door to the
underground cavern and stood to one side. Buddi rushed through. She grabbed his
shirt,
"Now Buddi, you know where you
aren't allowed, right? I expect you to stay out of those areas. I trust you."
Buddi nodded. Ursa smiled and said,
"Okay, I'll be back for you at lunch
all right?"
Buddi nodded. Ursa turned to leave
but then said,
"And be careful Buddi, snakes and
rats get down here,"
Buddi called back, "Okay, already!"
Ursa left.
Buddi gazed around. He still
remembered this place. Ursa'd first shown it to him when he was eight. She had
told him he always had to have an adult with him because some books and legends
that they kept down here had legends too dark for 'her cub's tender eyes.'
Buddi tried the sections he was
allowed in but found nothing. Finally, the cub looked up and towards the back,
where the 'forbidden volumes' were. It was dark and full of dust and cobwebs
back there. But he needed answers. Buddi swallowed hard and ran back before he
changed his mind.
Buddi didn't even know where to
look. Finally, he decided that it would be in the last place he'd look. So the
cub decided to look there first. His thinking was rewarded. He found a
collection of books, covered in cobwebs. He pulled out the first. He blew the
dust from the cover.
"Wolves of the- No. Not that one,"
he tossed it over his shoulder. "Darkness to-No, not that one either." He threw
that over his shoulder too. Finally, he picked up a thin volume. It was
labeled, Tales From the Dark Side of the Woods.
Buddi opened it up and scanned the
contents.
"Let's see…Pits of Despair,
Dreamers, From SunDarkness, and…THE SILVER KEY!"
Buddi immediately flipped to the
starting page. There was picture of the key he'd found. Buddi tucked the book
into his knapsack, just as the door opened.
"Lunch Buddi!"
Buddi ran over to Ursa, glad she
hadn't seen where he'd come from. He decided to wait until after she'd put him
to sleep to read it.
* * *
"Buddi?"
Buddi looked up from the book and
swiftly slid it under his pillow. He hadn't got a chance to read it yet and he
was bursting. He looked up. Ursa walked in and sat down besides him on the fur
quilt. She raised an eyebrow at him.
"it's eleven Buddi. You know what
that means."
Buddi sighed. "yeah, yeah. Lights
out."
Ursa nodded and helped him under the
quilt. She ruffled his hair and said,
"If you get cold, come get me,
okay?" Buddi nodded. Ursa blew out the candle and left.
Buddi waited a good ten minutes and
then lit the candle again and pulled the book out. He read and lost myself in
the past. A past twisted with evil, deception, and darkness…
900 years ago
A twenty-year-old Gummi walked down
the halls of Gummi Glen, pouting. No one let her try magic. They told her that
she didn't have enough control. Control, hah, she had plenty of control. They
would see one day. They would see. They teased her as it was, the other cubs.
She would show them all one day.
She had a plan for that night. She
would obtain her own power. She had a way. It was wrong but she was shocked
that she didn't care. Her victim deserved it.
"Hey! Emi!"
The Gummi turned around. She scowled
in disgust. It was Naomi. That Gummi was twelve and a major brat. She was so
sweet; you could have poured her over pancakes. Emi hated it. Her very looks
showed innocence, which everyone seemed, convinced she was.
Emi was tall, with midnight black
fur and hair. Her hair was curly and fell in spirals to her waist. She tied it
back. Her dress was dark brown and she had on no shoes.
Naomi was pink with short hair, a
lighter shade than her fur. It only went to her shoulders. She wore a yellow
dress with a red sash belt. She wore yellow lace up boots. Emi hated her.
"What do you want?"
"Do you wanna go to Dunywn with me?"
"Why would I wanna go anywhere with
you? Let alone that place that only thrives because we aid it?"
If Naomi was hurt she didn't show
it. She shrugged and ran off. Emi smiled. Her time was near. Soon, no one would
tease her. All would either serve her or die resisting."
* * *
Buddi gasped and stopped reading for
a minute. "No way. Emi can't be…was Celina…a Gummi bear?"
His curiosity fed he read on.
* * *
Emi snuck into the library. She knew
what she had to do. She'd read it form an ancient dark legend. She slid into
the corner and waited. Like a cobra, she sunk into the shadows, like a serpent
waiting for prey.
She thought of herself as one such.
Then, her prey emerges, their
magician, an elder female named Amiko. She was in her late fifties and had dark
green fur with a head of green frilly hair. She kept it in a bun. Emi made her
move.
She ran snatched the medallion from
around the elder's neck and ran. Amiko immediately took after her. As they ran,
Emi led her to the outside. She smashed the medallion with a rock she scooped
up and as she ran, popped pieces into her mouth. By the time they were outside,
it was gone and flowing through her blood.
She whirled around, eyes shining.
"I've lived with you all for too
long. I'm making my own way. I want things, things that you said no Gummi
should desire. I do."
"Emi…"
She never finished. That day, Emi
truly let the evil inside her overtake her. Her goodness died in a single act.
She grabbed Amiko by the neck and
tightened her grip. She never let go, never loosened. Until, Amiko laid dead in
her arms.
She smiled.
She felt no regret.
From that day, Emi went on, she
killed for leisure and power. However, despite her power, she was not strong
enough to win in her present time. She fled to the Dimension of Time and snuck
forward into the future. She saw the time when she could conquer. But she was
not strong enough presently to do anything. She would need a pawn.
Once her pawn had done their work,
she would kill them as well and then finish the work herself. Once, that was
done, she could fight herself, destroy whatever was enough to stop her and then
overtake one small kingdom at a time. She wanted power, domination. And she
would not stop.
The Ancient Gummies knew that their
kind might be alarmed by such information. They wanted to forget. So they
sealed information on Emi in a room in the glen and locked it with a silver
key. They flung the key to the woods far away. But Emi had told them as she left,
"I am no longer Emi. Emi was weak. I
am not. I am Celina."
* * *
Buddi dropped the book. He was
shaking. He never wanted to know that. But a room in the glen. He'd have to go
to Sunni. He was scared. He wished that he were little again so he could run to
Ursa's arms.
Buddi dared the gaze at the page. He
noted a line he hadn't read. As he read, his brow ruffled with confusion but a
spark of hope lit up his face.
The last line said,
"For all to forever see the
brightness of the sun,"
"For the end of Celina, two clans must become one."