Dark Ages
Chapter 1 : Children of Gaia
The moon was awfully bright this mid-summers night, its light poured upon the wild and untamed forest of the Parthians. The sky was of a deep blue, a rare blue that complemented the stars and the iridescent orb perfectly. The moonlight seeped through the dense forest, it lightened the deepest crevice and the darkest hole of the abundante wilderness. On an almost indistinguishable path, hidden in the masses of foliage, was a pair riding on a carriage, passing quietly into the unknown.
O
As I travel through these quiet but lonely woods, a certain understanding has been communicated. I feel their loneliness, their solitude, we share the same sentiments. For the past month, I have felt nothing but this. A nostalgic sense of detachment, an escape from reality, an out of body experience. Because, this all feels so unreal, so vague in my mind. My home, my family and friends all gone. How could this be? It only seems like yesterday since I had diner at the shrine with my wife and my sister-in-law. We were all happy, so content to be together, to be alive! Why did it have to go all away? Why did my life have to change so suddenly? If it weren't for my wife, my Luna, still being here with me. Would their truly be a reason to live? Most certainly not, the only thing that is keeping me grounded, keeping me here is my wife. I can't wonder or fathom the things that are currently going through my love's mind. I know she is strong, but her sisters death must be killing her.
But I can't help it. I can't go back in time. She is indefinetly gone, and all I can do is be there for her. But how can I, when these negative thoughts keep assaulting my mind. I feel guilty, responsable for bringing this hell upon her. I thought that when I came back to my native homeland, I would be able to escape the decaying society, the rotting world of the mainlands. But oh how wrong I was to assume such foolish thoughts, the evil that had struck there, has followed me here like bad omen. I'm cursed. I hoped for peace and I got destruction. I had momentary light to then be plunged into the darkness that had once consumed me. No. No, I am wrong. I do have light, its in the form of my wife as I have been hers. I will not despair. I refuse to succomb to it when I know their is hope out there. In times like these its hard to have hope, but I believe in what Sakura said and I trust in her wisdom although she was young. Faith is what I have, in the savior who will soon deliver us from evil, who will revive the light. Time can only tell when he will come.
O
I'm tired, so very tired. Physically, meantally and spiritually exausted. My Art is the only person who is keeping me going right now, I mean really, his singing is calming and nurishing. These woods are never-ending, I'm going to go crazy if I don't see change. Oh, finally! We're stopping for the night. We travel for two days straight, then rest, so we can cover more ground faster. Down side is that we're dead tired by the end of the cycle. That's fine, we want to put as much distance from home, from the destruction, as possible. It's the past and we want to move on even though it pains us. Can't doddle to much or else you'll be consumed in the memories.
« I'm going to go find some wood, you stay here and take out the food I won't be long ». He said while getting off.
« Fine, but hurry. Something is not right here, I sense it. » I said while observing my surroundings.
« Don't worry, I feel it too. » He reassured me with a comforting look.
As
I watch my Art leave, my warmth leaves me and the cold seeps in its
place. I walk towards the carriage, grab the dry meat and stale bread
and check our provitions. Next time will have to kill so we can
replenish our stock. I take that in note, so I can tell him later. I
open one of the boxes my sister gave me and take out the blankets and
pillows for the night. The wool ones will do this time because its
unusually cold. Ah, he's back. I prepare our bed and go out to get some
herbs while he's starting the fire.
-
I enter the forest and I already feel fear spreading through my
mind. I hate this sensation, it makes me feel weak and frail. Funny,
it's not the first time I have walked through the woods. Frankly, I use
to love it so much that I would stay for the longest time ever. This
would often terrify my sister, since she would think I had be attacked
by some misfit or what not. Oh, there's the little plant I was looking
for, blue mint, cures colds, just one of the many things I learned from
Nadasaki. Now to go back...wait...what is that sound. Crying. I hear
someone crying, a child. I yell for Artemis and rush towards the source
of the sound. Low tree branches scratch my face while I run but I pay
no attention. I'm closing in, it's getting louder and louder. I clear
one more curtain of leaves and end up in a little clearing.
-
There, sitting in a nest of flowers, I find not one but five little girls of around 2 years of age huddled together for warmth. Shocked, I approach them cautiously as not to scare them. A girl with silvery blond hair was the one that I heard crying, as she still is bawling her eyes out probaly because of hunger. Their are two toddlers on each side. On her left their is a blue haired girl in which she is currently crying on, and a black haired girl who looks like she is scolding the wailling one. How odd. To her right their is a brunette who is patting her arm and a golden blond who looks like she's going to start too. They all stop and stare with their big, frightened eyes when the twigg under my foot had snapped, instantly giving me away. Time stands still for a moment until my husband pops up.
« Luna, what's wrong. » He says a little out of breath. He rushes towards me and looks me over, panic written all over his face, trying to find something that caused me to call him.
« This. » I said pointing at the kids. They looked really scared when Artemis had appeared.
« Oh, » he replies stunned at the sight of five lost children.
« Is someone else here, a parent, guardian. They couldn't have winded up here by themselves. » he said while searching the area for someone to magicaly pop up.
« There is no one. And if there where they would have came just as I have. They are alone, this I am sure of. Look around you, Art, there are no tracks, no traces of anyone. »
« You're right, I see nothing. But Luna, do you sense an aura or a trace of one? »
« No, I can't and that scares me. I can usually tell if someone was here at least a week back, but I can't feel anything at all. »
« That's strange they wouldn't be able to survive on their on for that long. Well unless they're cannibals and ate one of their group. »
« Artemis, don't be ridiculious. » I said while smacking him on the side of the head.
« Ow! » he muttered, « Then what would be your explanation for this. »
I stood there quiet, pondering on what he just said. I chuckled as I saw the little ones franticly switching their gazes from me to him, then back to me. I stared for quite sometime at their cute little faces when it dawned upon me.
« Sakura » I muttered under my breath, « Sakura! She said that someone was waiting for us... or going to. What that doesn't make sense... argh whatever! It must be them. » I pointed at the girls, stumbling on my words. « It has to be, she foresaw this meeting back in Tamoe, this must have been part of her vision. I know it! »
« Ok, ok, calm down. There's no need to get all worked up... »
« But, I'm... »
« Yes, yes, I think you're right. It makes sense with the map, her urging us to leave early and go... » he blabbed on while staring intently on the girls.
« Art, » I said stopping him, « look their shivering. Hurry back and get some warm blankets and food for them. » He left as soon as I had finished, thinking the same.
I came down on the ground and took off my shawl wrapping it around them. They cooed contently, I then urged them to come, into my embrace for futher heat as we waited. They crawled rather cutely as they hugged me and I back. I started rubbing some warmth back into their shivering forms while I sang to them, gently lulling them to sleep. It was an old song that Nadasaki used to sing to us when we couldn't sleep. Funny, now I remember why I use to fall asleep so fast. I yawned and surrendered as well to the dream plane as had my little friends.
This was how my husband found us when he came back.
Please R & R.
. : . : ta killah : . : .