by S D Huss
tales of eleutheros
-Secrets Of The Spirit-Sent-
S.D. Huss
Copyright © 2019 Sebastian Huss
All rights reserved.
ISBN:
DEDICATION
To my wife and children, your love and encouragement are what made this all possible.
To my friends and family, who endured countless hours of proofreading.
And to Vincent, who, while he lived, brought unparalleled joy to all of us.
Chapter 1
The foliage under Daniel felt damp and cold on his stomach where he lay. Slowly, he stirred, moaning as he moved his arms and fingers as if discovering them for the first time. His blurred vision began to focus when he opened his eyes, and all he could see before him was a dark, thick forest. His groggy mind began to clear, and after several seconds of staring at the strange scene, Daniel's confusion set in.
“Where...?” He mumbled to himself. “Where the hell am I?”
The night was filled with the sounds of nocturnal wildlife that sent shivers down his spine. -A forest? - He thought.
The last thing he remembered before going unconscious, was that he was at a convention with several friends. And then, a bright flash of light. His thoughts then turned to them.
Daniel grunted as he brought himself to his knees and then stood. “Henry? Angelo?” He called, before being interrupted by a cold, uncomfortable feeling around his feet. He looked down only to see that the sandals he had been wearing had escaped him. There was a sigh of disappointment and he began to scan the area. He was in a small clearing of the forest, but there was very little ambient light. Details of this wooded prison were shrouded, and what little light there was only provided enough to give the wet mud at his feet a faint shine. “There’s no way I’m going to find my sandals in this.” He said to himself softly.
It was an unfortunate situation, but there were also more pressing matters that demanded his attention. The fact that he was exposed to the elements, and that the temperature was dropping, meant that he had to act.
-I’ll figure this out later-, he thought.
Daniel felt around the pockets in his jeans and pulled out his keys. Among the metal pieces that dangled from his key ring, a small black LED flashlight was attached. He pressed a small button at the end of it and a bright beam shot from the lens.
The area was illuminated, and to Daniel’s surprise, what he saw was something he was not remotely familiar with. There was a long pause as he soaked in the sight of these alien looking trees and plants. Bright colors peered back at him as he gazed, attempting to comprehend it.
“What the...?” Was all he was able to muster.
Even with the flashlight, He could not see every detail, but it was obvious that he was not in any type of forest he had ever seen. Even the soil beneath him had a slightly blue hue to it. Daniel started to take small steps, being careful not to step on anything sharp, like rocks or twigs and made his way into the strange forest.
-Where could I be? - he thought, trying to bring some explanation to his current and odd situation. The flash of light was all he could remember, but where it came from, or how it happened was still unknown. Daniel’s thoughts again turned to his friends, who had been with him at the convention.
-Where are they? - he thought. -Did they come here with me? -
His mind was a puzzling mess; nothing but mounting questions, and very little to go on.
Daniel's thoughts were interrupted however when a cry came from deeper in the forest. It was a high pitch and caused him to freeze. There was a tense pause as he listened for it again, the nightlife of the forest still brimming around him, unaffected.
It shattered the night again, but this time it sounded like a cry for help.
He cursed his bare feet and made his way to the source of the voice as quickly as he could.
Dashing into another small clearing Daniel could see a slim figure, knelt beside another lying on its back. He shined his light on them and beheld a young woman who looked at him with dark brown eyes; her hair was also brown and was pulled back into a ponytail. Her face was puffy and red like she had been crying for some time. Daniel recognized her; she was next to him at the convention when the flash of light came. He remembered the light sweater she had on and her tight jeans.
“Please! Help us!” She called out again, looking at him.
Daniel pushed into the clearing and brought himself beside her. Now he could see the figure on its back clearly. It was the man who was with her at the convention. His Dark hair was matted with mud and what looked like blood, dried and crusted with streaks going down his forehead.
“A head injury…” Daniel said aloud. It was not the first he had seen. Having spent eight years in the United States Marine Corps, the man had grown accustomed to strange and violent wounds of all kinds.
“Is he going to be ok...?” the young woman sniveled, wiping more tears from her cheek.
He remained silent as he scanned over the young man again, trying to observe any other wounds that may be present. There were slow streams of clear fluid dripping from his ears and nostrils. Daniel brought his fingers to his neck, pressing firmly against his artery. He seemed to have a weak and irregular pulse, and haggard breathing. Shining his light on the head wound, Daniel saw that it was a pretty bad gash across the upper right side of his head. Opening one of the young man’s eyes, He shined his light into it, checking to see if there was any reaction to the bright and invasive glare. There was none; only a large and unresponsive pupil.
Daniel pulled the light away and thought for a moment. It was clear this man was the victim of a severe head injury, and there was really no hope to help him. He glanced again to the young woman beside him. Her eyes, large with worry and filled with tears.
“I think he was just knocked out,” Daniel finally said, reassuring his new companion, cursing himself secretly for his dishonesty.
“Let’s elevate his head and shoulders for a little while before we try to move him. See if he regains consciousness.” Daniel removed his peacoat and bundled it up like a pillow, carefully placing it under the unconscious man’s head. -At least he will die without pain…-Daniel thought to himself.
The young woman leaned in and wrapped her arms around the injured man. Daniel stood and began to once again ponder his situation.
“What do you remember about the convention?” He said looking down at the girl.
“I just…” She said, sitting back up. “I’m not sure… I remember a bright light…”
She looked to Daniel, trying to find some explanation for this bizarre mess.
“I woke up here… Next to Robert. I saw a lot of blood and… I thought he was dead.”
Tears began to well up again as she spoke. “Where are we?”
Daniel gazed off into the darkness, still in deep thought. “I’m not sure… But we have to find some sort of shelter.” He was again reminded of the cold as it pricked at his skin. And now without his coat, things would be a lot more uncomfortable. He looked up at the night sky through the canopy of the forest, attempting to find some sense of direction.
“My name is Katrina…” The young woman said, looking down to the unconscious man beside her. “And this is Robert… He’s my boyfriend.”
Katrina looked again to Daniel who was spinning slowly looking straight up to the sky. “What...? What are you doing?” she asked curiously.
“I’m looking for the little dipper.” He said, still focused on the sky.
Katrina looked puzzled as he said it.
“You know, the star formation? At the end of the little dipper is a star called Polaris. Below this is the big dipper… Take the two stars at the end of the big dipper and make a straight
line to Polaris. That always points north.” Daniel scanned the ocean of stars above and managed only to frustrate himself. “Where the hell are all of the constellations?”
Katrina looked up and saw nothing but a mess of little lights. “Are you an astronomer or something?” She asked.
“No… I’m not.” Daniel hung his head and sat down beside Katrina, unsure of what to do next. “My name is Daniel… I was at the convention with you and Robert.”
The young woman thought about it for a time, trying to remember him. “Well I don’t remember you, but I sort of figured you were there since you asked about it.”
Daniel smirked a little. “You and Robert bumped into me during that bright flash.”
Katrina just shrugged, too tired and confused to comment any further. She pulled her legs up and hugged her knees, resting her chin on them; she was obviously cold.
Daniel stood again as he noticed this. "I better find something to use as a shelter or at least start a fire." He said.
It was then that Katrina noticed his bare feet. “Oh my God… Your shoes! Where are they?” Daniel looked down at his mud-covered feet and back to her. “It’s nothing… As soon as we get a fire going, they’ll be fine.”
With that, He walked off into the darkness of the forest from the small clearing. He used his flashlight to try and find some sticks or twigs dry enough to start a fire, but the alien forest refused to relinquish anything. Daniel examined the forest floor now, more closely. There were bushes that seemed to react to his light. The sight froze him as he looked on at this unusual behavior. Turning his light on and off recreated the reaction every time.
The bushes seemed to curl in on themselves as if to escape this unnatural light.
“What the hell...?” he said to himself.
But before he could investigate further, he heard a faint whisper and a cracking noise behind him.
Daniel whirled around quickly, shining his light at a tree. There were what looked like several branches growing out of the trunk. The sight was unnerving, and Daniel began to step back. They continued to grow outward several feet, until stopping and falling to the ground. Daniel slowly approached the tree; he had never seen anything like it in his life. Several more branches began to extend from some of the trees before Daniel. They writhed like wooden tentacles as they pushed out of the trunk and again fell to the muddy ground. The tree looked smooth, more like skin covering it than the rough bark he was used to seeing. Strange aromas began to fill the air. Sweet smells confused his senses, and again the faint sound of whispers and laughter haunted the night. Daniel looked to the towering trees that surrounded him, and an unbelievable fear began to claw at his mind; the darkness taunting his thoughts, and as he now believed, played with his perceptions. Finally, close enough to inspect, he knelt to the branches that grew out of the tree, only to fall off. To his surprise, they were quite dry.
◆◆◆
Katrina sat, still clutching her knees close; she was shivering now and had fallen into despair. Daniel had been gone for nearly twenty minutes in his search for firewood, and for all, she knew he was lost. Tears rolled down her cheeks again as she thought of home. Her apartment, her friends, her job, and her car.
It seemed as though she was stuck in some nightmare, unable to wake.
“Pull it together Kat…” She whispered aloud.
With weary eyes, she looked down at her unconscious boyfriend. His skin was now pale and slick with sweat. It pained her to see him in such a condition. She sniffed again as she reflected on happier times.
Suddenly she heard footsteps approaching from the darkness. She looked up quickly in fear and put her hand on Robert’s chest. Then she saw the flashlight that Daniel carried, shine broken through the trees. Katrina sighed in relief as he entered the clearing and placed down almost a dozen large pieces of what looked like wood.
Daniel sat down beside her, puzzled from his experiences in the forest.
“Wow… That’s a lot of woo--” Katrina paused as she noticed how odd it looked.
“Is this wood?” she asked Daniel, curiously picking a piece up and looking at it more closely.
“It came out of a tree…” He said slowly.
“Like… literally. A tree crapped it out.”
Katrina looked at him confused. “A tree what?”
“These things grew out of a tree… right in front of me, and just FELL on the ground. That’s not the worst of it…” He took a long pause “There is… something out there, I could swear there were voices in the wind.”
Daniel shook his head and pressed his hand over his eyes in an attempt to clear his head.
Katrina shivered at the thought and looked again at the strange piece of wood in her hands. “This doesn’t look like any branch I have ever seen.”
Daniel continued to massage his brow. “Well… one thing is for sure. We aren’t in California anymore…”
Katrina placed the wood back into the pile where she picked it up, shivering she looked at Daniel. “Well… it’s pretty cold out here…”
He nodded and started to dig a pit for the fire. “Why are you doing that?” She asked leaning in closer to see.
“I’m making a fire pit. Last thing we need here is to burn down this forest while we sleep.”
Katrina looked to their surroundings. It was still too dark to fully grasp the forest, but there was clearly damp mud beneath them. “It seems pretty wet here, I don’t think we have to worry about a fire.”
Daniel just continued to work, now placing rocks around the edge of the newly dug pit. “From my experience, you can never be too careful.”
Katrina didn’t reply, she just focused on his work.
He finally began to place the wood in the pit and prepared the site for flame.
“I've never seen anyone make a fire like this before," Katrina said, expecting a blaze to be created from scratch. She gazed, still captivated by the sight before her.
“Really?” Daniel smirked, pulling a lighter from his pocket.
Katrina began to laugh a little, causing Daniel's smirk to become a full-blown smile. The laughter brought a much-needed change in atmosphere, but it faded all too quickly as he attempted to light the strange leaves and grass he'd also acquired.
The stubborn material refused to burn, even after several minutes of constant attempts. “What the hell is this stuff?” Daniel finally said frustrated.
“What’s wrong?” Katrina asked.
Daniel continued to hold his lighter to the wood until the little flame started to burn his fingers. Annoyed, he threw the lighter to the ground. "I don't get it! These big pieces of wood won't burn like this, fine… But this grass? Or these dead leaves?" He said picking up a strange leaf. "Wait, are these leaves?"
Then, in an instant, the pile of wood burst into flames.
“Holy shit!” Daniel yelled, falling back. Katrina just screamed in a high pitch that could raise the dead. The two then sat silent, in awe of what had just happened. The wood crackled and popped as the fire whirled about, warming all who were near.
“How the… hell!?” Daniel shouted, jumping back from the intense flame.
Katrina did the same but in the opposite direction.
Confusion swirled between the two and was only amplified by the bright red inferno that danced between them.
Whispers began to emanate from the dark tree line around them, this time louder and now clearly in a strange language.
Daniel’s eyes met Katrina’s as terror gripped them. Wind began to howl past their shoulders, stinging their bare skin.
Katrina heard movement below her and she looked quickly to see Robert's hair blowing as if there was a much more powerful gust focused on the unconscious man. She moved to crouch by his side in a feeble effort to shield him from the frigid assault, but as she did so there was a loud gasp and Robert's head shot up. His eyes opened wide and Katrina let out a startled cry. The voices and winds ceased in that instant as if it was deliberate.
Robert was confused, cold, and scared, but Daniel more so. He looked at the man, completely stupefied. -He… was on the verge of death…- he thought to himself.
Daniel had seen head injuries before, and though he was no doctor, usually when clear cerebral fluid poured from orifices like your nose or ears, it meant you were going to be a potted plant in the hospital for the rest of your life, or a dead man.
Katrina broke his daze, calling to him. “Help me calm him down!” She had a large smile on her face and tears dripping from her eyes.