CHPATER SIX: A HUMAN OF EARTH

CHAPTER SIX

A HUMAN OF EARTH

THE whole surrounding was illuminating when I opened my eyes. It was the same illumination that blinded me when I was delirious because of the stab on my abdomen. Of that thought, I touched and inspected my abdomen, there was no trace of any wound present. I was standing in the center of the illuminated place when I tried to walk and heard a voice.

Har het ime re luy vasde.

Naser het powehis re luy kawe.

Colowem het resenpe re luy ive.

I did not understand any single word the voice uttered. Those were like Spanish words but none of them I recognized. The voice was soft and enchanting but deep and it repeatedly uttered those words. For the fourth time it uttered the words, another voice was echoing with words I truly understand.

Hear thy name and you will be saved.

Answer thy whisper and you will wake.

Welcome thy presence and you will live.

The voice became louder as it repeated the words until it became deafening. Suddenly, an image of a shadow of a man standing on a serpent’s head, once I saw when I was delirious, showed and in a cold, deep, harsh, and sharp voice, he called my name.

“Altheina….”

The light shifted the whole space into total darkness, then my eyes glanced at the side of the space where there was only light a pile of bodies of creatures I have never believed to exist drenched in blood gushing from every stab of swords and axes and arrows. Then they blasted like a bomb that let me scream of fear.

The second thing I knew, I woke up with my crystal sweats dripping off my face and my whole body trembled in fear. I screamed and screamed and screamed as the sight of the piled bodies of creatures kept coming back in my mind. Suddenly, beings came to my aid, one of them staying on my side hushing me down while the others remained silent and concerned standing at my other side and in front of me.

“Hush, my lady,” a voice said which I recognized immediately. It was Aresdor who sat beside me.

I calmed a bit but my trembling remained heightened. Aresdor tapped my shoulder to calm me more but the pile of creatures drenched in blood flooded my mind.

“Save them…” I stammered. “Save those creatures.”

I started to cry in silence.

“Everything is fine for now, my lady,” a voice I also recognized.

It was the voice I heard first in my, well, you could call it a dream. I let out a sigh before brushing my ruined face because of the screaming and crying I have done. I managed to tilt my head and inspected the whole place.

Everything in that place was majestic. The light rays of the sun gave the whole surrounding its terrifying beauty and elegance. I was in a bedchamber overlooking the magnificent view of the falls with a rainbow crossing over it. Then I turned my gaze to the creatures around me. Aresdor, the Foolish Wizard, was sitting beside me. I tried to pull out a smile which he answered with a smile in return. Even if my vision was blurry because of crying, I was able to see him in a better perspective. He was wearing an old-fashioned blue rug robe, his hand holding a blue pointed hat and the other hand holding a wooden cane with a symbol of an eagle guarding a crystal between its feathers. He has a long dirty white beard reaching to his chest, a long dirty white hair reaching to his abdomen and his eyes colored with ash. His features justified his 50’s.

Then I turned to the creature standing at my other side. It was Eowan. He was not expressionless but he only gave a little concern with nothing else. Whatever I saw when he carried me and rode with me on his horse disappeared once again and was shifted to a more disturbing stare, his light blue eyes were full of questions. He was wearing a light brown silk long dress robe trimmed with gold and sparkling silver designed in spiral shapes. He has a rounded face fitly for a prince with those Elvish ears. But what caught me the most with his entire look was his golden hair. It was long and straight reaching to his abdomen; tiny braids in front were tied in the back of his head exposing his elegant face. However, he was wearing a silver metal forehead dress in a spiral with heart shapes in between covering his forehead.

Then I gazed out at the last two creatures standing in front of me. The other one, I recognized as Ashmir who was with Eowan when they came to Aresdor’s aid to transfer me to a safer place. He was dressed in a green silk long dress robe trimmed with gold as well. He has a heart-shaped face and yellow golden eyes that matched well his long golden hair. His hair was darker than Eowan’s and it was fashioned the same as Eowan but he was not wearing the same metal forehead dress.

The other one beside him, I did not know. He was older than the other two and had a more intense three folded forehead than Aresdor. He was neither frowning nor mad but his dark brown eyes were filled with interest and curiosity. He was wearing a gold silk long dress robe trimmed with glittering gold as well and had a more light golden hair than Eowan fashioned in a half ponytail in his back. He was wearing a gold forehead dress as well. I noticed, not one of them spoke and dead air in the elegant bedchamber filled in.

“You must be…” I uttered in a low voice breaking the long silence.

“He is lord Elmarone, my lady,” Aresdor said instead.

“Welcome to Flevion, my lady. We’ve been waiting for your coming,” he said in that same soft, enchanting, deep voice but was filled with interest.

“He cured you, my lady.”

With what Aresdor stated, I touched my abdomen and inspected it. No dressing, no wound was evident. That was when I realized I was wearing a plain white silk long dress.

“Thank you,” I managed to say.

Then another long silence filled the whole place. I bowed down for a while and closed my eyes. When I opened my eyes again, a few strands of my hair slipped off my ear. I was bewildered by what I saw. My hair turned to its original tinge, to its yellow golden color.

“What have you done to my hair?” I asked half-angrily for whatever they did to my hair.

For a moment, no one responded. I turned to Aresdor but his expression was flat, same goes with Eowan and Ashmir but lord Elmarone seemed to be very interested.

“What have you done to my hair?” I asked once again in a lower, deeper voice.

Finally, someone answered but not the answer I expected to hear.

“We needed to cleanse you, my lady. The she-Elves bathed and dressed you,” lord Elmarone answered.

“That doesn’t answer my question, does it?” I asked.

“Yes it does,” Aresdor finally claimed in a very intriguing voice.

“The water that was used to bathe you has a special enchantment. It is an enchantment that enables us to determine what the real identity of a creature with fair and gentle beauty is,” lord Elmarone explained in a deeper voice.

“Creature with fair, gentle beauty?” I asked in a lower voice.

“A creature that possesses a beauty fairer than a she-Elf is a mermaid, my lady,” Aresdor answered.

I remained silent waiting for more answers but the thought of a mermaid gave me a shivering feel. I know in a magical world like Eafros, mermaids could exist as well but the thought of mermaids on Earth filled my mind. The memory I remembered involving mermaids gave me a terrifying fear.

Aresdor spoke once more. “And a creature that possesses gentler beauty than any creature in this world is your kin, Man.”

I managed to talk once again, meeting Aresdor’s eyes.

“What’s that got to do with my hair?”

“Mermaids, when they are out of their beloved seawater, take forms of a she-Man,” Aresdor answered deeply but I just shrugged off because I could not grasp whatever they were trying to say at that time.

“For us to identify a she-creature, whether she is a she-Mermaid or a she-Man, is her hair,” Ashmir stated after a long while of staying silent. I looked at Eowan but he just met my eyes with coldness.

I frowned. My mind was not clear at that time and it was hard for me to understand everything they were talking about. Another long silence took over. It was Aresdor who broke the long silence that stroked my spine into shivers and fears.

“What we are trying to say is that a she-Man, or rather, all human’s most distinguishable feature that differs them from mermaids turned into their human forms is the tinge of their hairs, my lady,” Aresdor explained that made me terrified for a while.

I gradually comprehended what Aresdor said and it hit me.

“Human’s hair color is…”

I stopped midway through my statement because I could not believe what was happening at that time.

Aresdor finished my word that another long silence took over.

“Is black, my lady.”

I tried to recover the shivers of my spine but the thought of what they would do to me those times kept me on trembling thus, I remained silent. None of them spoke for a few more minutes until it was Aresdor again who broke the dead air.

“If you were to ask what hair color do mermaids possess, I’d say they are to various degrees in many various colors…”

He paused trying to get a response from me but I gave him a dead stare. Then he turned his gaze to my yellow-golden hair that was almost on the same degree as Eowan’s golden hair.

“But none of them possess black or… golden hair,” Aresdor finished.

A cold statue I was, and I felt I was not breathing for a few seconds. I tried to recover and managed to ask Aresdor in a stammering voice.

“Then who possesses golden hair?”

Aresdor’s gaze passed my head then he looked in front of me and I immediately got the answer.

“Their kin, my lady.”

I analyzed the whole scene that happened at that time. The enchanted water they used to bathe me has a spell that can enable them to return the original hair color of a creature most especially the three creatures: Man, Mermaids, and Elves. Man has a natural black tinge, while Elves have golden hairs in varying degrees, and last, Mermaids possess various tinges of hair except for black and gold. And because they all saw me with black hair, they believed I was a true she-Man of Eafros. But when the enchantment brought back my original yellow-golden hair, they became confused about what creature I was. I started to cry once again but none of them tried to comfort me that time.

“What creature are you, my lady?” Eowan asked, breaking the silence in his soft and gentle but cold voice.

I could not just say I was a she-Mermaid because my hair was yellow-golden and I could not just claim I was a she-Elf because I lack the features of an Elf. The way they stared at me, mixed in with interest, curiosity, anguish, and furious gave me the idea they did not know what my real identity was. I was left with one option; to tell them the truth.

I gathered all the strength I have left. I wiped the tears that kept falling down my cheeks. I sighed heavily and stared at each one of them before turning my gaze down at my lap.

“I am a human…”

I paused, waited for any response but they remained silent.

“But I am no human in this world.”

I waited for any reaction but the whole bedchamber remained dead. I lifted my head and saw all of them in a surprising state. I thought, maybe they do not also believe there was another world other than theirs.

Then Aresdor cried, “Indeed.”

The others seemed to recover from the surprise as well. For a few more minutes, we stayed in another silence. No one talked, no one blinked, and no one gasped. Then Eowan broke the silence.

“Where did you come from?” he asked.

I sighed again before answering him. “I came from a world named Earth.”

Another silence. Then lord Elmarone managed to ask once more.

“What brought you here to our world?”

I again sighed before turning to lord Elmarone and answering him.

“An amulet transported me here.”

There was another wave of shock.

Aresdor asked almost in a whisper, “What amulet, my lady?”

I tried to recoil the memory I had with that amulet and described it to them.

“It was a six-petal flower, sword-shaped amulet protected by a spiral lace with a noble cut colorless diamond gem on the center connected to a silvery necklace chain.”

That froze them once again but they recovered faster from it, their faces hungry for answers.

“Is it in your possession, my lady?”

I bowed and shrugged. Next thing I knew they were all exchanging words in a language I did not understand but I could tell they were all mad for whatever I did. Their voices rose in each statement they threw with each other that was deafening to my ears. It did not last for long. I shouted.

“If you were angry about whatever I did, at least talk in a language I can understand!”

That silenced them. Hot tears fell again ruining my cheeks. Then their furious, and angry faces turned to calmness. They all gazed at my face, particularly at my forehead. They stared at it intensely as if something was there. Aresdor was the first one to talk.

“Did you lose the amulet, my lady?”

Calmness was in the voice of Aresdor when he asked me but I sensed something more disturbing behind those words.

“Did you do it on purpose?” Ashmir posed that stirred my irritation.

“I did not lose it on purpose,” I firmly answered Ashmir, staring at him with irritation. “I lost it when I was following a pack of Orcs.”

“Why were you following a pack of Orcs?” lord Elmarone asked in a softer voice, no hint of madness in him already.

“I needed a lead. That amulet brought me to a world I have always doubted to exist. I did not have any choice but to follow them and had a lead to where I should go,” I explained but Ashmir interrupted me again.

“How did you lose the amulet?” he asked.

“Can you at least wait until I am finished with my words?” I asked him back angrily.

His type irritates me the most.

“Let the lady explain herself, Ashmir,” Eowan finally stated.

He just remained silent on my side standing with his hands folded at his back.

“I kept a safe distance from them when one of them noticed me. Afraid of being seen, I decided to hide in a bigger tree. A branch of the tree tugged at my neck but I did not pay attention to it. It pulled something from me but I did not look back. When I gazed towards the Orcs, the amulet was already in their hands. I wanted to get it back..,” I explained.

My tears fell again.

“But someone trapped the whole forest into illumination. Some of the Orcs were killed by the light but some of them escaped,” I finished

“Someone?” Aresdor curiously asked while looking up at the ceiling.

“I assume by his looks, he is a wizard, like you, Aresdor.”

Aresdor looked at me and asked, “How does he look like?”

“More like you also except he was all white.”

Aresdor then whispered the name, “Beradir.”

“Then the Elthefyl is in his hands now?” lord Elmarone asked.

“Elthefyl?” I asked back in confusion. It was the first time I heard it.

“No, he doesn’t have the Elthefyl. If he has it, he may have conjured its power now,” Aresdor answered lord Elmarone which increased my confusion and curiosity.

“Maybe he cannot conjure its power because your kin is no longer its heir,” Eowan stated then all of them stared at me with growing interest in their eyes.

The anger that aroused from them when they heard I have lost the amulet faded and was shifted to excitement and passion not of love but action and adventure.

“What is Elthefyl?” I asked innocently when a she-Elf entered the bedchamber carrying a tray of food.

Aresdor grins as lord Elmarone smiled at me with utmost interest while Ashmir just nodded and Eowan, well I could not describe his eyes and face. He was not smiling but his eyes did not express anger and madness. Something behind his eyes was more interesting than any of them there.

“Answers will be heard my lady, and the truth will be told. But for now, you need to first attend to your needs most especially now that we know who and what you really are,” Aresdor stated sheepishly when I heard my stomach grumble.

I did not know how long I was asleep, which means I did not know how long I was starving.

All of them leave the room. The she-Elf maid laid down the tray on a table in the balcony of the chamber then she came to me. She helped me stand and walked to the balcony. The whole place was breathtaking and I could not stop admiring it.

“Please have a nice meal, my lady,” the she-Elf stated in a chanting voice.

She was very beautiful. I guess all Elves were.

“Thank you,” I said.

The she-Elf then paid her goodbye. I followed her with my eyes to the door of the chamber when I saw Eowan was still standing there. He met my eyes and I knew for a second, his light blue eyes were smiling, a heartwarming smile. Then he left the room without saying any words. I was left in the chamber and enjoyed the meal they have served.

“Indeed. Mamami, the magical world is very interesting,” I thought as I recoiled all the stories my great grandmother had told me about this mind-blogging magical world and entities.