341. About beings like her, 7

(Rose)

Ana returned, weeks late. She had flown over a land she hardly recognised.

The changes in weather that followed each other here kept her away for a long time, and she chose to take her time wisely instead of rushing ahead in lands she didn't know.

The sea had receded for more than two kilometres now in the distance.

Beyond that distant bay, there was a clear cliff in depth. The shallow waters were gone, or the land had risen. The depth below revealed another city, even bigger than ours it seemed.

Only until today it had been always fully sunken.

We lost about five metres if not more in sea level. I didn't think that could be possible.

And we saw in our dry days the sunken city quietly appear like an illusion over the horizon and the sea. A good level below our plateau and sea short cliffs now.

My project to flood the underground failed.

The tunnels were now above sea level, making it a lost cause.

And also there were many grounds and walls we just couldn't dig through. It would have required mechanical tools with big engines we just did not have.

The drought became harsher. And unfortunately came the day when our source dried completely.

Meanwhile, winds from the south carrying sands began raining it over, covering our steps and marks softly.

When Ana returned, we were already packing.

We weren't happy about it, but it wasn't to abandon our home just yet however.

We were planning to go into the mountains, find altitude, and possibly another source where to wait for cooler days.

Ana landed a little abruptly before us, spraying sand all over us.

We were happy to see her return after all this time apart. We hugged her long enough that she began cawing her displeasure. Then after we listened to what she had to say.

She told us and explained as best she could her discoveries. She uses English in simple and short sentences, so the way she speaks is a little rough, but it's still amazing.

What she had mainly found however, I would later not have been able to explain in better words than the ones she chose.

A - Lord of nightmares.

A being-like-her, somewhere in the north.

~

The migratory birds leaving this area as the weather rapidly changed headed north.

They split into two main groups over the sea.

Some of them kept heading north over the sea.

Most of them headed west, returning to the main land after a shorter while. Ana followed this group.

There she found a coastal area not that far away from here, with significantly nicer temperatures.

A large area like a bubble of cool air in summer. Dozens of kilometres wide. She could see stormy clouds gather around this bubble, where cold and warm air met over this frontier.

Inside this domain easy to fly into for a bird, lied one city most importantly.

As she was flying around there with the other birds heading toward the city in the middle of this sphere of cool air, she witnessed a peculiar event.

She saw nightfall rise from the city, instead of the horizon.

Night usually covers the sky gradually from the east as the sun sets in the west.

Not there, to Ana's surprise.

Night came out like clouds of rain or smoke gradually covering the sky of this city.

It rose somewhere around the middle of this domain, and spread rapidly, covering the city, the land, the sea, and high into the dome of sky.

Ana got caught in that suddenly falling night like everything else.

And it suddenly made her dream in a different way.

She had bad dreams. The worrying kind.

It was a painful experience.

But then, she woke up, still flying into the sky.

This odd night didn't last.

Ana saw the other birds waking up as well, still alive and themselves. Some had begun a fall but recovered in time.

The night had disappeared as quickly as it appeared.

It left Ana with a feeling of apprehension hard to describe. She had felt something scary inside that night.

The other birds all settled in this cooler and steadier countryside that many of them seemed to already know of.

Ana looked around, searching for a little more information about what was going on like we would have done.

She's a bird, but she has wisdom.

And she saw another cycle of unusual night happen that same day.

It was like a very slow pulse of this entire land.

Every few hours, this night would spread over everything, for a moment, fill the bubble covering the city and surrounding lands, and then vanish.

A pulse, or a breath.

From something much larger, as if it came from the land itself.

Ana did not let herself fall asleep this time through however.

She used her own power of beings-like-her to resist.

Her invisible self kept scattering that darkness flowing around her, refusing it from flowing through her body and mind.

Ana was cawing with anger and instinct at this force of nature, with all the anger of an angry crow.

Her instinct told her there was a hand behind that darkness, and she stood against it, whatever it was.

Ana's fierce I can hear. But her family was quite a group of predatory birds as well, and she's one of the smallest from the group we met.

But they were not mere birds, and Ana is certainly a little more as well.

She refused to let this odd darkness take over her flesh and flow through her brain.

And... Her instinct and temper paid off.

From the shroud of this artificial night, it appeared.

Ana met the lord of this land, which came to see what was happening there, and in the end to meet that unusual bird. Ana calls it the lord of nightmares.

They discussed.

For the short time of one artificial night, they met and spoke to each other. They were both a little surprised to meet something able to speak, in a very different form, but with some underlying similarities.

A little like kindred spirits from two very distinct species...

Ana asked if we could come to stay in this area while the weather was dangerous in our land.

I wonder if she expected how scorched it would be by the time she returned.

The lord of nightmare didn't say yes.

Because it didn't like humans, and stated so openly.

Meaning unaware travellers are likely to die around its domain I can already guess. That was not a very friendly start.

But it didn't say no either.

So there was a chance, and Ana took it.

She told us this lord agreed to meet one of us before committing.

A chance to negotiate whether we could be guests, or not.

According to Ana, the scary thoughts sipping through your mind in permanence around it, this lord didn't appear ill intentioned.

Only like most beings-like-her, it followed its own logics.

Giving nightmares to everything in its surroundings or even entire domain regularly, it didn't mean there were evil intentions behind or unwillingness to help others.

So despite being an unsettling situation, it was worth a try.

Ana took some time to recover before heading home. She had the time to confirm the idea of a meeting with the lord of nightmares. Even though it was plaguing her dreams, it did no other harm to her.

Then she returned to us carefully.

I agree so much with Ana.

I want to meet it.

Badly...

To discuss and negotiate with a being-like-her, face to face and using words like civilised species.

I really am excited to meet it.

R - Actually I think that might more or less be the first time that one of their kind wants to speak before deciding to act. So it's already quite a promising start.

Ana nods to my comment. Bleue is more reserved but agrees as well.

We will try that too.

So we will split up.

Bleue will head as planned toward the southern mountains even beyond the steppes, looking for a source of water still flowing.

And I will deviate from my western aim to head along with Ana somewhere on the north western coastline.

In two weeks, we will meet back home, and review our options.

The mountains sources. The cool land of nightmares. Or if we're really down our luck, neither of them.

In which case it would be either to survive through the summer or migrate somewhere north even further.

We will see when we reunite in about two weeks.

Bleue and I kissed each other goodbye a little more firmly than usual.

We're a little stressed and uncertain about what's to come.

But we trust each other.

We kiss each other one last time before letting go of each other's hand.

Goodbye my love.

See you again very soon.

~