Chapter 5
Can you feel it?
The air?
The magic.
I feel…many things.
What do you sense?
Beauty.
Really?
Yes, I sense, calmness, and beautiful things
Things?
Well, and you.
Really?
Yes. I sense your thoughts before you speak.
I do not speak, I only guide.
What?
You must sense everything, not just us.
There is something in the darkness.
Something here?
No, I only sense us here.
Really.
I feel others…just outside of here.
Other beings?
…
Other sensations?
I sense and feel a great blanket.
Blanket?
Yes, something that is covering everything.
Can you feel it?
The magic?
Yesss.
I think so.
********************************************************************
Her body felt like connected sacs of lead. She heard a bird's cawing in the distance, but it was vaguely alien. Her body was sprawled on the ground and her face was slightly embedded in something grainy and cool. She opened her eyes to a view of small ant like insects fighting over a piece of Nutri-grain bar they had scourged from her pack. They weren't a foot away, in her shadow and... they were talking.
"Tis mine! You rapscallion, let go!" One said.
"Tisn't, tis mine! You let go!" Said the other.
Cryn was never one for bugs and so she rose with a start, towering over the ants. At her movement both insects looked up, screamed and ran away, their prize forgotten. She hadn't really registered their unlikely choice of communication and instead tried to steady her thoughts.
Her sudden rise produced a blood rush and a headache. "Oooh" she clasped her head and blinked her eyes. She was surprised to find half of her face and body covered with sand. "Did I sleep outside?"
Cryn looked about her surroundings, and to her surprise, found no car, no cabin and no friends. In fact, there wasn't even a canyon. Just desert. Yellow and rust red sand packed here and there but mostly in various sized dunes. The ground itself had a soft, sinking consistency. Her tennies where half submerged in the soft sand.
Gazing out once more, in search of anything recognizable, her gaze met only with outlandish surroundings. An occasional cactus like plant could be seen or movements like a lizard would catch her eye, but the landscape spread as far beyond what she could see, with a reddish/purple/blue sky to back drop it. It looked like there were mountains in the distance, but the mounting heat waves distorted anything that far away. There were the remains of trees scattered about, twisted and dead. "What a desolate place this is." She mused aloud.
A hot breeze picked up to her side, and blew the fine dust off the sandy ground. She turned her back to the breeze to protect her eyes and tried to breath through her nose in a meager attempt to filter her air intake. A spark of annoyance rose up through her innards and lit a small temper.
"I must be hallucinating! I've heard of sleep deprived induced 'trips' but never did I expect it to be like this!" She gestured to her surroundings as she talked to the air with slightly slurred speech. She caught her movements, and speech pattern, and shook her head again, as if to clear it. It only brought on another ache.
Cryn squinted at the glare of the reflected light and turned around to see the remains of a dark gray wall that had been shattered. Still with the varying breeze to her back, she tried to peer into the distance beyond the remenate wall. There seemed to be a good half mile of ancient looking walls in various forms of decay and destruction. However, the walls seemed to remain more intact the further in the distance.
Though it seemed like morning, Cryn could feel the heat already beating down, and around, from a curiously redder sun than she had seen yesterday. The walls would at least provide some shelter in the increasing heat and so she decided to set off for the more intact structures. She grabbed her back pack and briefly glanced inside. All was still there except the one Nutri-grain that was sprawled on the ground. She reached in and grabbed her SPF 30. After applying some to her face, ears and hands, she put the bottle back in her bag and continued forward. Or in whatever direction it was that the walls were.
She felt like she was still waking up from a coma and tried to repeatedly dispel the sensation. Her only success was to pay attention more to her surroundings than to her own mind. It helped a little bit. She reached into her pants pocket and brought out the bag of worry stones that Grandfather had so graciously given her. She separated out an ill regularly shaped obsidian stone with a thin blazing scar of white quartz and put it in the pocket opposite the bag. She couldn't really decide on what one worry she had at that moment, so she decided to let it take care of all of them. With luck.
Though the first quarter mile, or so, of walls had been in much the same state of dilapidation, they seemed to regain their composure fairly quickly. Upon closer inspection of these walls (the majority now intact), there were various niches where an occasional brown/green plant could be found, of various sizes. At a particularly healthy looking plant, Cryn stopped to make a quick sketch of it. She had, at one time, a real fascination for biology. But her impulse for the quick sketch was more than just curiosity... it was more like an impromptu nag. Her brow creased a bit when she sketched the surrounding masonry. It was odd in it's consistency and only noticed when studied up close. When she finished, she re-placed her sketchbook and grabbed a cereal bar.
As she wandered further in, the walls were at their seemingly correct construction. Towering and connected, the walls were now leading in a most ridiculous path. They hadn't met into a dead end yet, though she expected one at any turn, but the openings became fewer and her choice of paths began to take on perpendicular qualities. She sighed after having to backtrack and start her path over and over again, her sense of direction guiding her back to where she thought she last left off. At least the ground steadily turned from unpacked sand, to a harder, more dirt consistency, allowing more efficient (and less tiring) travel.
She could have sworn, many a time, that things were moving about her. The movements had a great variety, it seemed, but none would stay put long enough to catch with an eye. It was very frustrating. Especially since Cryn knew she hadn't fully regained her senses. But before she started lashing out at the walls, her rationale told her that she still didn't know the who, what, when where and how of the situation she was in.
She decided to rest a minute and started to replay events she could remember. She and Cat and went to visit Grandfather. They had talked about…her sleeping. How she never could get a pleasant night sleep without... talking.
'Talking?!' she mentally started. 'What has talking got to do with my not sleeping?' She shook her head, awaking a dull ache back into her skull. She leaned against the monolithic wall, her head bent against it.
The second she touched the wall, she had a flash back. She was floating... floating among stars and…and then it ended.
'What?' she thought. "How could I have been floating amongst stars?'
"I am going out of my mind."
"Cor, we all be out o'r minds here missy." A strange squeely, little voice spoke back to her from a particularly large niche in one of the walls opposite her.
Cryn went over and bent down to investigate and found a florescent orange and red worm with blue hair and bug eyes looking at her. "Excuse me?" she said in a disbelieving voice.
"I said, we all be o't 'our minds here." She replied. "But, everyone knows that. You…you a newbie?"
"What!? I don't even know where I am, nor can I believe that I'm talking to a worm!" Cryn stated, surprisingly calm, but with a hint of whine.
"What's this, too 'good for a worm? You're a bloody nose aren't cha?" The Worm started to crawl off but Cryn stopper her.
"Wait! Please wait, I...I'm terribly sorry, it's just, well…worms don't talk were I come from."
"What's that? Your worms don't talk?" The worm turned and laughed. "Well of course they talk!" It laughed again. "They probably don't want to talk to the likes of you!"
And with that the worm was gone. Cryn sighed and sat down. 'What a strange place.'Looking through her bag she found another Nutrigrain bar. 'Worms actually talk! That or I'm still on one wild trip.' She devoured the one in about two bites, but had nothing to drink it down with.
'What am I going to do?' She pondered her options. It felt awfully good to sit. Too good in fact. 'Well I shouldn't just sit here, I'll never get up if I do.' She brushed herself off and once again started off in the direction she thought was headed.
She had to back track more and more as the walls were now leading into dead ends. But the ground was getting ever firmer, so she used that as a guide as to her progress from the outer desert and prayed that it wasn't some illusion. She continued to trudge on, hoping to contact another creature that could help her on her way. She gave a twisted smile at the thought of trying to find a 'talking creature' to help her.
'Man, am I tumbling down a rabbit hole.'
After another long peroid of nothing but walls and sun, Cryn noticed a slight change about her. It seemed as if the dry air was getting moister, but the sun still beat down, hotter than ever now that it was directly overhead. She glanced at her watch. It read a quarter after five.
"But that's impossible, the sun is directly overhead."
'The time, how off it is.' Her mind told her.
"What?! Why is it that my mind talks to me as if we are two people?" Cryn was getting really annoyed and frazzled. She hadn't had restful sleep for over twenty-four hours and not to mention the forgotten dinner picnic back at the cabin. She groaned with her stomach, the Nutri-grains had done nothing but make her hungrier. She disregarded a thought to conserve the rest of her cereal bars and ate the last three. After her 'lunch' she just stared at the receding walls in front of her. They were taking her nowhere and it was beginning to really set in that she was in a unique and totally foreign situation.
"How'd I'd get myself into a situation like this?" She rummaged through her bag and brought out her sunscreen. She squirted some out and lathered it on her neck and face. Unfortunately, she used up the last of the elixir when she covered the back of her hands. It was fortunate that she wore a light, but long sleeved shirt and pants, though she was feeling mildly sick from the sun. She had never liked prolonged exposure before and always hated it when her parents sent her and Nanny to go to the beach or any outside activity on a sunny day. It just wasn't her thing. Winter to cloudy and 65 degrees F was her range of preferred weather.
She tried to belay her discomfort and focus more on her environment.
All of a sudden the walls straightened out, but before Cryn could enjoy the change, she realized just how straight and long her path had become.
'Another puzzle.' Her mind said. She just accepted it and continued on, searching the walls for some physical clue.
After what seemed like a few hours, or only two by her still ticking watch, she stopped to stretch a sore calf, and to take another short break. There were no cooling shadows from the walls and her medium length hair was falling out of place. She undid the hair band, and swooped it all back into a bun/ponytail again. Her sweat was attracting the fine dust in the air, and dampened her hairline with grime.
'Sheesh, I haven't had this much physical activity since ski team.' She grunted, flashing back to high school and the ridiculous sport she trained for everyday. Though she mentally chided herself for becoming so winded so early. She wasn't even running. But the thought of ski team brought to life another memory of her parents. She had enjoyed skiing, but it wouldn't have mattered if she didn't.
"It wasn't my choice." Her parents had always liked bragging rights for their cocktail friends and ski team was an expensive show sport. 'How could they have NOT forced me into ski team?'
She had quickened her pace a little while thinking of her parents but had also put her direction on autopilot. She stopped when another wall abruptly broke her path.
"What am I supposed to do?" Cryn asked aloud. She was starting to really feel sick from the heat and sun. 'A pale skinned girl shouldn't be out in weather like this.' She sighed again. "I have no food, no water and no sunscreen. Who knows how long until night falls. I need to get somewhere and fast."
"Ah ha ha! Get sssomewheresss fassst? In the Labyrinth? You sssure have a funny sssense of humor!"
Cryn glanced around to see an anteater-like creature ambling toward her. Its lips were at the end of its long snout and it's tongue flicked out when it talked though it's small mouth. And though it was fairly big, she doubted it would or could hurt her with that mouth. Plus she wasn't going to make the mistake of insulting this creature so she tried a more polite introduction.
"Hello, I'm Cryn. Can you tell me more about where we are? The Labyrinth? That is what you said right?"
"Tisss right, we be in the Labyrinth. You...you didn't know that eh? Well, my poor girl, your not going to lassst very long, I'd wager." The creature shook his head and eyed Cryn. "Well, the name'sss Arthyraniusss. I've been wondering thessse wallsss ever sssince I gotsss lossst, beforesss I can rememberss."
"So is there any water or berries or anything? Anything to eat?" She asked hopefully.
"Well, there'sss ssstreamsss and riversss throughout thesesss partsss. But the only thingsss tassty to eatsss are wringsss." At Cryn's bewildered face he explained, "Ya knowsss, sssix legsss, antennesss, talksss an awful lotsss."
"Oh, well I saw some little bugs just outside these walls, fighting over some food. They had six legs and were so high" She indicated with her hands.
"Aye, thossse probably be themsss. Cor, you weresss outssside thessse wallsss? Why you'd comesss in 'em? Ssssssssssssstupid girl." He sighed and went about his way.
"Well...Thanks for nothing Arthrus." She called after him. Without turning he replied with a grunt "It's Arthyramiusss…"
'Well at least I know I won't die of dehydration...for sure. I've just got to find a water source.' She didn't want to think about water cleanliness, she'd take her chances with any water now.
Almost if on cue, Cryn heard the sound of moving water. She couldn't believe it at first, but following the sound, she eventually came about a mid-size stream. It had a quick current for a stream, and it was incredibly deep. So deep, in fact, that it was a dark as night when gazed upon straight down. It looked very artificial.
Cryn didn't care and her mouth tried to water, but only felt cottonier. She couldn't wait. Diving down to her hands and knees, she voraciously gulped the cool water. It was cool and sweet and good. It was so cool and sweet and good, in fact, that she couldn't stop until her stomach ached with the abuse of being a water balloon. She sat on her haunches and gazed at the river a while unable to get up. Her face indicated that her mind had stopped all concious thought. She soon fell over onto the sparse grass that banked the unnaturally straight stream bank. She was deep asleep before her head hit the ground.
Unbeknownst to her, there were almond eyes watching. Eager eyes that watched anything fall to the streams power of thirst. But before the oppertunistic predator could pounce, a wall, same as the others, grew up and around the sleeping creature.
The predator sulked back, annoyed that it's hunger would remain un-sated until the next victim happened along.
It was too dumb to realize that the very Labyrinth was protecting this human girl.