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Flit screamed as the demon howled
with rage. Both of them scrambled back
away from the wall of fire at the same time.
As soon as the Demon retreated far enough from the flames into the
forest, the wall of thorns returned.
The demon’s eyes burned red with a
flame of their own, staring Flit down.
The beast it rode roared, snapping its jaws at him. Then the demon spurred its mount and road
away. The monster’s massive body,
causing the ground to shake with each bound.
Flit’s heart continued to pound for
several minutes after the demon disappeared.
He remained on the ground starring at the opening in the thorns. How am
I to get home? Am I trapped here? A prisoner?
It wasn’t until after the sun had
set and darkness began to settle in that Flit realized he had sat motionless
for quite some time. He rose to his feet
and the crying started again. The ghosts! His anxiety returned. He glanced around searching for any hint of
the white specters but nothing moved except the water in the fountains.
Flit decided to find a spot to wait
out the night. I just wish the sobbing would stop.
How am I to sleep with that
crying? Please let those spirits stay
way. He found a spot under one of the fountains where it would protect him
on three sides. He crawled into the
opening and curled into a ball, wrapping his arms around his legs.
The darker it grew the louder the
wailing grew. Every now and then Flit
made out a word or two.
“Why?” the voice would ask. “I loved you,” it bemoaned. “You betrayed
me,” it lamented.
Flit started to tremble. The constant crying began to wear on his
nerves. He wondered if the man was a
ghost or something else.
As night continued to take over, the
gardens grew increasingly darker and darker.
The gardens had a strange glow Flit had never seen before. He could make out the shapes of trees and
shrubs better than he had ever done before.
He couldn’t distinguish colors but definitely trees and bushes. Every now and then a small flash of light
would blink, traveling across the gardens.
They appeared to be floating slowly in all directions. There was also an
abundance of the usual night time insects making their normal racket.
What
are they? A trick of some kind to lure me out of hiding?
He adjusted his position to relieve
some discomfort and gain a better view of the area. The wailing continued to come and go, but
seemed distant with this new development to hold his attention. He checked for anything else moving about the
gardens, with no results.
The strange silvery light that
covered everything in the gardens seemed to be shifting at a very slow
pace. It had originally been about three
feet or more away from him but was now only a foot or so. With each passing moment it inched
closer.
Flit’s heart started to race and his
mouth grew dry as he looked for anything waiting out in the darkness. After not spotting anything, he nervously
extended his hand out towards the strange sliver light. He paused a moment before finally pushing his
hand out into the glow. He didn’t feel
anything unusual on his skin. There was
no warmth or coolness to the light’s touch.
He noticed his hand created a shadow on the ground telling him it was a
type of light source.
“It’s
moonlight,” a female voice spoke in his ear causing Flit to jump and smack his
head on the stone above him.
He wrapped his hands around his head
and gritted his teeth. Tears formed in
his eyes and it took several moments for the pain to subside. He fought the urge to vent his pain with any
noise, hoping to avoid any more interaction with the unseen.
He tried to wet his lips with his
tongue while his eyes danced around. “Please leave me alone,” he whimpered.
“You will need us if you want to get
past the demon,” another voice spoke and the ghostly form of a blond woman in a
white dress swirled around in front of his hidings spot before disappearing.
“T—the d—demon?” Flit stuttered and
the image of the black creature flashed across the front of his mind.
“He controls the boarder of these
gardens.” A redheaded apparition materialized for a brief moment and then
dissipated. “You won’t escape him without our help.”
“Y—you want to help me?” Flit’s
voice was barely a whisper.
“Yes,” several female voices spoke
at once and two different female ghosts glided in and out of his view. “You are very special, Flit.”
“Me?” Flit started to gain a little
courage, speaking a little louder. “I’m
nothing. Not even for a malo. I don’t even have any real friends.”
“You have a good heart, Flit,” the
original blond spoke, appearing and then fading. “You can come out, we will not
harm you.”
“I’m scared,” Flit acknowledged.
“What if you are just tricking me? Luring me to my death?”
There were several giggles.
“We have been waiting for you for
centuries. We need you,” the redhead
stated. “Our father needs you, Flit.”
“Your father?” Flit questioned,
thinking he hadn’t seen any male ghosts.
“Yes, he is the creator,” another
female specter appeared and zipped by his hiding place.
“Creator?” Flit poked his head out a little
farther to follow her until she vanished.
“He created this world,” another
female mist appeared right in front of Flit’s face and then floated backwards
away from him.
Flit flinched but recovered
quickly. Curiosity tugged at his mind
and he wanted to know more. “Of this
garden, you mean?” He slipped out of his hiding spot to sit cross-legged on the
ground in front of the fountain. The
strange silvery light descended on him from a strange beautiful white orb in
the sky. “What is that?”
“It is one of the moons of
Eilisor. It is only seen from these
gardens anymore,” the redhead materialized for a few moments.
“The pollutions of Hadder, hide many
beautiful things from the eyes of Eilisor,” a different spirit flew by.
“Haddar!” Flit shivered. Everyone living in the world of Eilisor feared
the name. He controlled Eilisor with
blood and dark magic. The malos told terrifeing
tells how their people where used as entertainment in Haddar’s arenas. Hundreds of malos ripped to pieces and
gobbled up by horrifying creatures.
“Yes, Haddar’s evil covers all the
lands. Only this garden is safe from his
influence,” the blond spoke. “He is not
strong enough to enter here, but he guards our borders with the demon you saw.”
“To keep you in or to keep others
out?” Flit swallowed, realizing he was now part of the first equation.
“Both, but more to keep anyone from
leaving,” several ghosts responded at the same time.
“Then how am I to get home? How am I to get back to my people?” Flit felt
panic starting to spread through his body.
“Why didn’t he stop me from coming in?”
“He didn’t see you as a threat. But he does now,” the redhead spoke. “You have eaten the fruit. Your eyes are open a little.”
“What?” Flit shook his head. “Why would that matter?”
“All the fruit of these gardens have
magical properties. We were trying to
talk to you before you tasted it, but your eyes were shut and you couldn’t
see. It wasn’t until after you had eaten
the fruit that we could appear to you.
The same with the demon. He knows
you know and will hunt you wherever you go,” the blond stated.
“So, I’m trapped here…forever!”
“No, we can aid you. Besides our father has a great work for you to
do,” the redhead said.
“But I don’t want a demon hunting
me. Why would anyone want me, a malo, to
help them? I’m a nobody,” Flit protested. Goose pimples spread across his body at the
thought of that terrifying demon running him down.
“You heard the father’s voice and
you see the gardens. You are the first,”
a brunette ghost swirled around him.
“I…I what? I didn’t hear any man’s voice and how could
anyone miss this beautiful garden’s.
That is if they get through the thorns.”
Flit held out his arms in the moonlight, searching for scratches and
puncture wounds, but his skin was smooth without any marks.
“You heard him crying,” a couple of
ghosts stated together.
“T—that was your father? And why is he crying?” Flit questioned.
“Because all of his creations are
corrupted and evil,” another spoke, doing a pirouette in front of him and then
dancing away.
Flit now marveled at the beauty in
these strange misty creatures. He
noticed how he felt a strange joy being in their presence. “His creations?”
“Yes, he is the father of all. Even you Flit,” the blond stated rolling over
and over as she zipped by.
“But his son rebelled against him and uses his powers to control and
conquer life everywhere,” another woman appeared right in front of his face and
then dissipated.
“Who is his son?”
“Haddar!” they all hissed.
“Hadder is the father’s son?” Flit
tilted his head to the side.
“Yes, he was destined to rule Eilisor
in peace and justice, but he is evil. He
abused and twisted his powers,” still another spirit spoke.
There were so many flying around,
Flit had trouble tracking them all.
“And what does the father need me
for?” Flit questioned.
“To kill Haddar,” they all spoke at
once.
It felt like a huge weight had
dropped onto Flit’s shoulders and he struggled for air. “Y—you w—want me to k—kill Haddar. He will have me drawn and quartered and then
let things start to eat me alive before I die. How can I, a single malo, take
on not only Haddar the most powerful being on Eilisor but his vast armies which
are as great as the sands on the sea.”
“You already showed great
promise. Others have entered these
gardens but have failed to see them.
Only the pure in heart can do so.
If your heart wasn’t pure, you would have only seen a decaying overgrown
garden with no fruit or working fountains,” the redhead told him.
“Did any of them leave?” Flit
swallowed.
“None survived,” a couple of spirits
stated.
“What happened t—to them?”
“The demon killed them. The demon killed them. The demon killed them,” the all repeated.
“And you want me to k—kill
Haddar. I’m not going to make it out of
these thorns.” Flit rose to his feet and waved his arms at the thorny walls. His fear of these spirts vanished faster than
the ghosts themselves and he paced around the area. The pressure of being trapped or slaughtered
by a demon squeezing his thoughts. “And
poor Jett. The camp must be wondering
what happened to us.”
“I will help you,” a deep calming
voice spoke, stopping Flit in his tracks.
Flit glance all around but could
only see the gardens and the swirling female specters. “Who was that?”
“The creator,” the soft female
voices spoke.
Fear of being asked to do something
he didn’t want to do, forced Flit to stop asking questions. He slunk back to his hole and crawled inside,
wrapping himself into a ball. He lay on
his side watching the female ghosts come and go until he couldn’t keep his eyes
open any longer.
###
Flit awoke to birds chirping. He was rather annoyed at the chatterers as he
was having one of the best night’s sleeps he could ever remember. Their song carried a happy tune which seemed
strange to Flit. “Where did those
buggers come from?” he grumbled and then his eyes snapped open. The
Gardens.
His heart started to thump inside
his chest. He lay motionless, using his
eyes to search for the ghost or anything else.
He stayed still until the pain in his hip and shoulder became
unbearable, so he slowly crawled out of his hiding place. He took a long drink from the fountain after
verifying he was alone.
The hunger pangs in his stomach led
him to the fruit trees where he ate his fill once more. He discovered he still had one of the sacks
he and Jet were to use for gathering berries and loaded it full.
“It will not survive beyond the
borders of the thorns,” a female voice spoke in his ear, causing him to drop
the bag, spilling fruit all over the ground.
“It will rot,” another stated from a
different location.
Flit glanced around after regaining
his composure. He recognized the voices
from the night before. In the daylight,
he couldn’t see any ghosts or spirits.
A sudden knot in his stomach replaced the light feeling he had after
convincing himself that last night had been a dream. It wasn’t the fact the ghosts were real that
bothered him, but if they were there and the demon would be too. This also meant the desire they had for him
to kill Haddar remained.
“I just want to go home,” Flit
pleaded after a few minutes of silence.
His chest heaved as if he struggled for breath.
“And so you shall,” the deep male
voice responded. “You will need help. I
do not expect you to defeat Haddar on your own.” I brilliant flame appeared,
burning in the air. It hovered above the
ground about two feet and rose up in a pillar of fire. It consumed no fuel to feed its flames.
“But I’m a nobody. Friendless.
Even my own people don’t like me,” Flit stated, trying to make a case
for avoiding this responsibility. “I
can’t even defend myself, let alone win some battle. I won’t make it past the demon.”
A brisk wind whipped through the
trees, causing Flit to turn his head to keep loose flying debris from getting
in his eyes. The wind flew around him
and then disappeared. When Flit opened
his eyes a beautiful white flower with five large pedals spun around as it floated
down from the air above him. Flit caught
it out of the air and then noticed it belonged to the tree the wind had started
from.
“Take this flower and keep it
safe. It will hide you from the eyes of
the demon,” the deep soothing voice stated.
“You must never let it out of your possession. If you should lose it, the demon will know
where you are and come for you.”
“How can a flo…”
“It is a special flower. It will stay alive for several weeks. You must return before the last pedal
falls. For a dead flower will have the
same results as losing it,” the creator spoke.
“Why do I need to come back?” Flit
asked.
“To stay alive and to learn,” the
voice stated and the pillar of fire started to die.
“What am I to learn?” Flit asked.
“Patience. First you must learn patience and to follow
instructions. Return before the last pedal
falls,” the voice grew fainter and the flames were almost gone.
“WAIT!” Flit stretched forth his
hand toward the disappearing fire.
“Show the flower to no one. Thieves will be drawn to its beauty.” The
pillar vanished.
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