by A. Mani
The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
Copyright (c) by A. Mani
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If you have found this, It means you were looking. If you were looking, it means, you were lost.
I was lost once. Not sure what I was looking for. I believe, In your Era, you call it a ‘voice‘. Well, now that I have found mine, nothing would stop me. Just like a wild animal, free, out of it’s cage. I know that out there, I might fall, I might get hurt. I know that out there, I might get bruises out of my own truth. but I’m willing to take that risk. In the name of freedom, I’m willing to tell, what they don’t want you to know.
As me, you might keep on reading. Now that you found it- nothing would stop you. You will try to make sense out of these written words. try to make a story out of them. A story with a beginning. A story with an end, a happy one- hopefully. A story with new characters, interesting places, you have never seen. A story with foreign languages and unfamiliar scents. All joined together to a dance of a guiding line.
Only this is not a story. This is a Secret.
In your Era, when you get curious about the past, you turn to your books- history books. His- story. You take the words as simple facts, written in stone. Even though it is not your story ,even though you were not there- you pass it on. You believe it. You don’t question it. I guess you just don’t know how. I can not teach you, since I am still learning myself. As I said, this is not a story so I can not call it mine. It is a secret, I am willing to share. Since they made so much effort to hide, I am willing to make the same effort to reveal.
This is the secret of hidden Anomaly.
Land of Anomaly existed thousands of years ago and it was hidden from future generations to come. Why? That is why I am writing these pages. I am sure words are not enough to express what is in my heart and mind. I can only promise, I will do the best I can.
Land of Anomaly was divided into two sections:
The civilized zone, where I was born and the wild zone, where I was reborn.
You would think in a land, named Anomaly, things would be complicated. But they were not. They were simple. Just as simple as black and white, light and darkness, good and evil. Years of animosity and hostility between the wild zone and the civilized zone and one deadly final battle, drew the clear line between both sides, and nobody was allowed to interact with the other side. That was the story I was told. That was the story that was passed on from generation to generation.
I was born on a spring day. The sun was too lazy to shine that morning. My father told me, it probably knew, it could take the morning off, since someone else is about to do it’s job. I brightened the room the minute I came out. I brightened our kingdom. Finally, I brightened the entire civilized zone. That is why my father named me ‘Yellow diamond‘. My mother and my sister told everyone, I was named that way because of my green, yellow eyes. But my dad said it was because, yellow diamonds are rare, just like me.
My father was the king of the civilized zone and we lived in our kingdom named, Ko-Ey-Nor, which means, mountain of light. Our kingdom was high enough to enjoy the sun, yet low enough not to get burn. It was surrounded by the bright side of nature: light, gardens, water lakes, fruits and cats. Yes cats.
Cats had an integral part in Anomaly. The same cats, you call ‘wild cats‘. The same cats, who are in extinction in your age. The same cats, who the only connection they have with humanity, is behind bars and inside locked cages. Those ones, used to be a part of our humanity. Those ones used to walk freely among us.
The day I was born, a little cat was born. A little cat everybody called a ‘genetic disorder‘. It had no color, all white, with little black stripes and light blue, sad eyes. It was a little tiger. My father always claimed, that it was only my imagination, That tigers could not have sad eyes, because tigers never cried. All our tigers were orange colored with black stripes and green, yellow eyes. This little tiger was an outcast. It was doomed. Doomed, until I was old enough to save it.
I named it ‘Shadea’, since it followed me everywhere like a little shadow and brightened my day, every time our eyes met. It was a female tiger. A very intelligent cat. As oppose to all other cats, she learned how to communicate with humans real fast. We communicated through the art of dance. I called it dance, others called it conversation. Every human in the civilized zone was accompanied by a cat, from morning till night. The cat was our friend, helper, protector and confidant.
Shadea and I were inseparable. In mornings, right after practice and meditation, in the palace’s garden, (all citizens of civilized zone were invited to morning training), Shadea and I used to perform our little dance, in front of all kids and adults. Shadea used to stand in front of me and I used to impersonate her catwalk to the sounds of our audience’s applauses and cheers. Dancing was not allowed in the civilized zone. Shadea was my excuse for exploring that magnificent art. My big sister, Emerdi, used to snitch on me to our parents all the time. She was jealous of my close relationship with my cat and all the other cats in civilized zone. She was envious of the fact, I was adored by all civilians. My mother used to get angry with me and punish me but my father always laughed and said:
“That’s my little yellow diamond. Cats follow her everywhere, it is only natural she will follow them back…”
That loving reaction of my father, only made my sister and mother even more angry with me. Later on, I discovered that because of all the love I was getting by our kingdom‘s people. And because of the fact I communicated so well with our cats, my father was considering passing leadership of the civilized zone to me and not to my sister although she was the older one. That made animosity between me and my sister even bigger. So big I used to count the days until she would leave to ‘Eygra- Rama‘.
Eygra- Rama is a place, only Ko-Ey-Nor’s children were sent to. A place where you got knowledge and manners, nobody else could afford. My sister was not eager to go there. She had a friend named, Sag, whom she loved very much and did not want to be separated from. Sag became a part of our family, after his family was murdered on a battle against the wild ones. His father and uncle protected my father, therefore my father adopted Sag and treated him like his own son.
Sag was a beautiful young man. He was very tall and built as a young god. He just recently celebrated 18 winters. He was sent to Eygra- Rama for a short period of time. My father did that for him, although he was not a kingdom child.
I have suspected many times Emerdi was in love with Sag, and that was why she had refused to leave home. What led me to this suspicion? I am about to tell you…
One evening, as I was walking with Shadea along the lake of Ko-Ey-Nor I heard a beat. An unfamiliar one. A beat that sounded like danger, yet felt so sweet. I knew this kind of a beat was not allowed in our zone. Some claimed, it had aroused the devil. I was drawn to it. It was like my feet had a life of their own. I had to know where it came from.
The wind blew the big sheet, as I was getting closer. I left Shadea by the lake so she would not make any noise. The sheet was tied to the little forest’s trees, Trying to hide everything I was determined to unveil.
It was Sag playing that beat with his big strong hands over, what looked like a piece of wood. Emerdi was there, moving slowly to the forbid
den rhythm. At first, she moved her hands like they were a per of snakes. She did that in slow motion. She was all covered, only her eyes and arms were exposed. Sag kept looking at her eyes as the rhythm went faster and faster. Their eyes were locked on each other. Their eyes became one. At one point Emerdi took her veil off and remained completely naked. Sag kept playing, as her serpentine body walked closer and closer to him. It was like, they were both possessed. All rapped in demented motion and forbidden beat.
Then, the music stopped.
After a moment of silence they both jumped on each other, covering every exposed part of their bodies with their lips and tongues. At that moment, their bodies became one and the sounds of wooden beat was replaced with the beat of sin. Loud, wild moans filled the cool air, like two wild animals getting ready for a battle. They did not see me. At that moment, nobody existed but them.
I could not explain what I felt when I saw my sister an Sag together. I did not really understand what they were doing, Since I only celebrated 7 springs. Yet, this lack of insight did not spare me these feelings I did not wish to feel. As I walked away from the little forest towards the lake, where Shadea was waiting for me, I was thinking: That was Sag, the boy that always played with me and Shadea, even when I was just a baby. he was my friend. He was my brother. I looked up to him and on that night, I felt I had lost him. He was not mine anymore. And I could not resist but wondering, were those feelings, a consequence of the aroused devil?
“We have to do this Emerdi”. Sag whispered as he stroked Emerdi’s naked body, laying next to him.
“Are you sure there is no other way? There has to be!” Emerdi cried.
“Your father is determined! Leadership would be passed to your little sister. Ko-Ey-Nor’s kingdom will be hers!”.
“I can not even tolerate the idea of you and her together!” Emerdi said and turned her back to Sag.
“You know this is all an act… Emerdi, we have to do this! For the sake of our future! Can you tolerate the idea of her, being the queen of civilized zone? Owning everything that should have been yours?!”
Emerdi kept quiet, as Sag kept whispering to her:
“You will go to Eygra- Rama, while I get close to your little sister… by the time you are back, me and her…”
“NO!!!” Emerdi cried.
“Sag, trust me, I will think of something else. Something brilliant! You will not have to be with her and she will not get the crown! There is no way I am going to let her have everything that is mine!”
Sag looked at Emerdi’s eyes and could see, there was nothing he could have said or done to change her mind. Emerdi was a stubborn, strong young woman and when she wanted something, nothing could have stoped her! not even the fact that, that was her little sister, they were talking about.
The next morning my mother, my sister and I went to the Treasures Center. We had to find beautiful fabrics and gemstones for Emerdi before she left to Eygra- Rama. Treasures center was a place, where we kept our kingdom’s treasures. Some were ours by legacy, some were stolen from the wild zone, after a loss in a bloody battle or as an act of revenge. The name of our kingdom, Ko-Ey-Nor, was after the biggest stone that we had kept in our center. The rumor was, we had stolen the stone on our last battle with the wild zone. but my father said, this stone always belonged to his ancestors.
As we were walking down the road, I noticed a little figure walking toward us. That was Sia, the witch from the wild zone. Sia was the only one that could walk on both zones without anybody harming her. Sia was a small woman, about my height and always wore black cloak, that covered her entire body and face. The story behind Sia was, when she was a kid, she was brutally attacked by a group of men. The men were from both zones, and ever since that day, people believed her swearwords could set one’s destiny, and out of fear of her whispering curses and evil prayers, everybody had kept away from her. Including my mother and father. So she could travel her way freely between zones, like a free bird.
As she passed us by, I accidentally came across her and she dropped something. I helped her pick up, what looked like some sort of an old box with little pieces of black burned woods.
“Thank you my sweet child”. she said to me. I could not see her face but her voice sounded old and weak. My sister rushed to take me away, as my cat Shadea was still sniffing her quietly.
“how many times have I told you to stay away from strangers?” my mother cried.
As I was looking back to see where my cat was, I noticed Sia grabbing my sister’s hand and whispering something in her ear. Emerdi was terrified, she pulled her hand back and walked away.
It is funny how random, insignificant events, can determine someone’s fate.
It has been two years since Emerdi was sent to Eygra- Rama. Those years where the happiest period of my life. Every morning began with my dancing performances with Shadea and there was no one, to snitch on me to my parents.
You would not believe who was my biggest admirer- Sag. I used to see his big blue eyes looking at me as I was dancing with Shadea. Sometimes I felt he was looking at me, nearly the way he was looking at Emerdi, on that night by the lake. But it was just my wild imagination.
My father spent more and more time with me, telling me about the history of our kingdom and kept saying that one day, I would sit down with my own child, just like he was sitting with me, and pass on our ancestors story.
Telling stories was not allowed in the civilized zone, unless they were stories, which were passed on by Ko-Ey-Nor’s kingdom. My father said, it was important for future generation to learn the truth. And there was only one way to learn about it. Our way. I adored my father but could not help but wondering, there were several ways to tell a story, just like there were several ways for me to get back home. Sometimes I went through to forest, sometimes I walked by the lake… yet, I always ended up at home. Why was it so important to choose a certain path than the other. My father said, sometimes bad choices would force us to face certain things, we wished we had never seen. So it was better to avoid them in the first place. And I thought, choosing one path, only makes you wonder about all the others you did not.
What led me to that thought, was that one hot summer day, I accidentally took the wrong way and got to ‘Didam Valley’. Didam valley was a long narrow pit, that separated the civilized zone from the wild zone. No one was allowed to go near that valley. Some said this huge pit was created by the tears of the mothers and wives, who had lost their loved ones, on a bloody battle between both zones.
Since I was already there, I got closer and closer to the pit, so I could look down. The pit was so deep, I could not see it’s bottom. Suddenly, I heard a little voice:
“hello”.
I looked up and saw a boy smiling at me, he was about my age, maybe a little older.
“hello” I answered and hid behind my cat. I could see he was a wild boy. his skin color was dark, his eyes were dark and so was his hair. We were not allowed to speak to the wild ones.
“what happened to your cat?” he asked me with a smile.
“Nothing” I hesitated “if you are referring to her color, she was born this way.”
“Why is she crying?” he asked with a sad voice.
“My cat never cries!” I answered immediately “My cat is a tiger and tigers never cry!” My response surprised him as if it was the first time, he ever heard that.
“what’s her name” he kept asking
“Shadea” I said “what is your cat’s name?” he had a big black, wild cat standing next to him, ready to hunt. Luckily, there was a narrow, huge valley between us.
“Gya” he said “that’s my girl” he shouted, as he was tapping her massive body.
“Why are you bleeding?” I asked after I noticed the big cuts on his arms and legs.
“What do you mean why? Don’t you get scratches from your cat?” he asked with a surprised face.
“No. never.” I said. “why would your cat harm you?”
“O
h, it is no harm” he laughed “just a way to express itself. All wild ones are bruised” he added. What made me remember, I was talking to a wild one.
“Sometimes I wish humans were color blind, just like animals” I said.
“I am sorry if I have offended you, I just never saw a white cat before” he apologized.
“I was not talking about my cat.” I said to him “I just have this strange feeling, that If we did not see colors, we would not have this huge pit between us.”
I do not know what made me say that and I could see, he could not understand me either. So I just said:
“We are not suppose to talk to each other. I am sorry, but I must leave.” And just before I left, I yelled:
“Aloe vera plant would lower your pain”.
“Wait” he shouted “tell me your name..”
I ran away with my cat and never looked back. That was the first and I wish I could say, the last time, I ever got to Didam valley.
But I couldn’t.
“Where did you learn these moves?” Sag asked me as I was leaving for morning practice.
“my cat taught me…” I laughed.
Sag was not laughing, he just followed me, although he had to start his work day with my father.
“the way you move… it is almost… almost as if you were a wild one”. Sag’s words made me hold my breath for a moment. Why would he say that? He knew it was forbidden for the civilized to move like the wild ones. I did not tell him, I knew he was doing that with Emerdi. Yet, for him to accuse me of something so wrong, that he himself committed.
“why would you say such a thing?” I asked him.
“don’t be scared” he grinned “I will not tell anyone”.
“There is nothing to tell Sag” I said.
“I see, I made you upset” he said to me “let me make it up to you… come by the lake this afternoon, I prepared something for you.” Sag walked away and left me there, curious.
“I see you are not wasting any time…”