by Anni Antoni
So, my first day on Earth, I wandered into some small, rural settlement, in Europe somewhere, I believe. I was very hazy about geography in those days, still am, but anyway, it was a small and primitive settlement. People were working in the fields beyond.
Now you must remember I came with nothing, no money, food or water, and I possessed no human skills to negotiate with. Luckily, we Guardians don't need food to the same extent humans do, but I was mindful of the fact I needed to blend in. I needed to look and act like everyone else.
Looking back, I realize now I was expected to fail in my mission. Never one to be interested in the politics of our kind, I had no idea there might be some hidden agenda.
Somewhere at the back of my mind, I remembered a controversy surrounding our group of Warrior Angels when we were granted permission to live among humans. Foolishly, I never thought beyond that, never realized we were envied to the extent we were, never realized how I was betrayed.
I wandered to a group of three scruffy looking men, chatting together on the outskirts of the settlement. I had learned the language they spoke, but, no doubt, I spoke with an accent strange to their ears.
As I approached, they stopped talking and looked at me suspiciously. “Can I find work around here?” I asked the nearest man.
“Work? Where are you from? Who are you with?” He looked me over and a deep frown creased his brow.
“Oh, I’m by myself. I'm a traveler, and I have been traveling for a while,” I said, trying to be casual and appear harmless, giving him a smile.
“Liar!” One of the group sneered at me, edging closer.
“No.” The third man, shook his head. “You’re no traveler. You’re too clean. Your clothes are new, and so are your boots.”
“What are you really, a spy?” The first man asked. The men surrounded me and slowly closed in. This was an unexpected reaction -- so much suspicion. Earth was supposed to be some sort of paradise, not like this... I tried to placate them.
“No, please believe me. I mean you no harm. All I want is to work somewhere.” The three of them exchanged glances. I should have been more suspicious, but, as I explained, I had this romantic notion of the nobility of humans.
The first man gave me a tight smile. “Come with us,” he said. “We might be able to help you after all.” I went with them willingly, suspecting nothing.
We left the outskirts of the town and walked a short distance to a forest. The men walked into the forest, as if they were familiar with it, beckoning me to come with them. Becoming more puzzled as time went by, still I followed, until we came to a halt in a clearing. One man moved behind me two stayed in front.
"Why are we here?" I looked around the clearing, seeing nothing. The men were behaving oddly, grinning at me, their eyes glittering, as they moved in close. Something felt wrong. Of course, I wasn't frightened. I was stronger and quicker than any of them, and I was immortal, which they didn't know. The main concern I had, at that time, was trying not to alarm them.
One man pulled a knife and leered at me. “We want your clothes and your boots,” he said, and laughed.
“Why?” I asked, innocently. They had clothes of their own, although they were worn and dirty, I noticed.
“They’re good quality, better than ours and too good for you.” Another of the men snapped at me.
What could I do? I didn't want to harm any of them, and I remembered the stern instructions given. With a sigh, unsure of how to act towards the men, I took my clothes and boots off and handed them over. Passing my clothes to one of the other two, the man waved the knife under my nose, grinning up at me.
The man with my clothes looked through my pockets and turned to his companions, clearly puzzled. “There’s nothing in his pockets. He's got nothing. He must be with someone.”
The man brandished his knife in my face. “Tell us who you're with. Where are they?”
I shook my head. “Sorry,” I said. “I'm alone. You have had your fun. Obviously, you have no work for me, so if you will return my clothes, I’ll take my leave.” At last I started to think sensibly and to realize I needed to stand up to them.
“He can only be a spy,” one of them whispered urgently, and his eyes darted from side to side. “We could be in trouble if his companions find out.”
“Yes, that’s right. Kill him. Kill the spy,” insisted another of the men under his breath.
The man holding the knife moved behind me. With lightning-quick movements, he reached one arm around my waist to hold me steady, and stabbed me in the heart with the other hand before I realized I was in any danger. In shock, bleeding profusely, I fell to the ground, gasping, barely conscious.
Greater than the shock of being stabbed was finding out how treacherous these humans were. What cold, hard hearts they must have, prepared, as they were, to take a life so readily. I was appalled at their animal savagery. Nothing had prepared me for this.
“Come on, let's go. He’ll be dead soon with that wound, so he won’t be talking to anyone. At least we get some good quality new garments. I want the boots.” One of the men laughed as they shared my clothes between them and left without a backward glance.
Mortified, I crawled under a bush, preparing for the few days it would take to heal. Arriving with only the clothes on my back, by the end of the day I'd managed to lose them. Now I had nothing. My superiors would be ashamed of me, but no more than I was ashamed of myself.
On Earth with absolutely nothing, how could I bring value to humans? How could I carry out my mission? Cold, naked, in pain from my injuries, not to mention the pain of realizing my stupidity, I huddled in misery under the bush trying to sleep and heal as night came on. How inept, how stupid I was. The pain of my humiliation was far worse than the pain of my wounds. To make matters worse, snow started to fall.
Chapter 4.
Tables Turned
Birds were singing somewhere. Daylight. Even though my eyes were shut, I sensed it. I blinked my eyes a few times. They wouldn't open. I screwed my eyes shut tight and concentrated, then attempted to force them open.
Eventually they opened, and I looked around. Everything was covered in a light sprinkling of white. Was that what they called snow?
Ah, now I remembered. I'd crawled under a bush, injured. I looked down at my chest. It was blue and covered in dried blood, but there was no visible injury. I held out a hand, my arm stiff and heavy as I lifted it, and it was blue as well. Extraordinary! I'd never been blue before.
With my consciousness returning, I became aware of how cold I was. Never in my short life had I been so cold. I shivered, violently, and decided to get up and move to make myself warmer.
With difficulty, I turned over on my hands and knees. Then, slowly, I forced myself from a crouching position into a standing position. All my movements were slow, heavy and hard to control. What was happening?
A thin coating of ice crystals dusted my skin. Brushing it away I wondered, had I been frozen? I must have slept through the night. Whether I slept for hours or days I didn't know, but instinct prompted me to keep moving, now I was awake.
I looked down. To my surprise, I was blue all over. Arms, abdomen, legs --everything was blue and stiff. I looked at my manhood. It too was blue and stiff, standing to attention. Amazing!
Of course, being immortal we live through things that would kill a human. Snow was a new experience. I realize now, I'd been frozen while I healed and I was thawing out in the morning sun. Slowly I straightened and stamped my feet.
The numbness in my arms and legs lessened as I moved, even though I still shivered, but I needed my clothes. Without them, I couldn't exist in the human world.]
One of the things I remembered learning was that mankind is awkward about nudity. People like to keep themselves covered with clothing. Guardians had no such compunction, but I would need appropriate clothes to interact with humans.
The men I had encountered, and foolishly trusted, came to mind. They had taken my clothing. Immediately
, I decided to get my clothes back from them. It was critical to my mission, which I would not abandon, as I refused to believe all humans were as unpleasant as those men.
As I wondered where they were, with a blast of air, I was standing behind them. I had accidentally discovered how to flash, which is what we call our ability to teleport. Yet another thing untaught. The joy at discovering I could think of a location or a person and instantly be there, outweighed any resentment I had at my lack of training.
Luckily the men were still in the forest, I thought, as I focused on them. They had not returned to the settlement or anywhere near civilization. Each of them was wearing at least one item of my clothing and, as yet, they were unaware of my presence.
Anger at their deception and treachery filled me. How dare they steal from me and try to kill me, unprovoked? All I wanted was to be useful. I drew myself up to my full height and frowned. As angry as I was, I had no desire to harm them -- I only wanted what was rightfully mine.
"Give me my clothes," I demanded. My lips wouldn't move properly and my words came out slowly with a hollow tremor. The men, seated around a fire cooking something for a meal, turned, stood up as one, and huddled together. One of them whimpered.
The one I originally spoke to, put up his hands. "It wasn't my idea. They made me do it."
"Give me my clothes," I repeated, just in case they didn't understand the first time.
"Yes, here, have your cloak,” said one man, taking it off, putting it near my feet and backing away.
Another man, now bare-chested, crept forward. “Here -- your tunic,” he said, eyes wide open, staring at me. “I just borrowed it. Honestly. I would have given it back."
The third man was undoing my leggings. Without a word, he handed them to me and backed away. Grey-faced, he seemed to have trouble breathing.
“Now my boots,” I said, raising my arm slowly and pointing to the man who was wearing them, my voice hollow and slurred.
Shaking, he sat down and undid the laces. He quickly took them off and crawled forward, placing them at my feet. Scurrying backwards he fell and landed in a heap at the feet of the others.
Strange, I noticed they seemed intimidated, even afraid of my presence. This was so different to their previous attitude. What had caused this change?
Yes, I feel your amusement, Joe addressed the presence in his head. But what could I know about human superstitions? I had no knowledge of ghosts or how much humans feared them until much later… Allow me to continue my story…
“I need to borrow a knife,” I added. I had no intention of going into the settlement yet, and I needed a useful implement. At least one of them had a knife – the one used to stab me. One man came towards me with a knife held in his hand, offering me the handle. "Honestly we didn't mean to hurt you. Keep the knife." He said, shaking in obvious fear.
I couldn't understand why they were so afraid of me because I was still the same person they had attacked previously. However, I decided to take advantage of the situation and accept it without question.
Now I had my clothes back and a knife, I needed to get dressed and stay by the fire for a while to warm up.
“Thank you,” I said politely. “Now you can go. I have all I need.”
Surprisingly, they cooperated and ran away, even though they were half dressed, one minute there and the next nowhere to be seen.
As soon as the men ran away, I dressed in my clothes. I took a seat near the fire which was blazing brightly. Fish were cooking in a pan. They looked ready to eat, so I ate some. Ah, they tasted good and warmed my insides. It was wonderful to feel warm again. I rubbed my arms and legs and gradually warmth flowed through my veins.
I sat by the fire warming myself and trying to work out what had happened. The humans had been violent and treacherous one day, the next they cowered in fear before me. Would I ever understand them?
The sun climbed higher in the sky. It was a beautiful place. There was a small stream a few yards away which bubbled and burbled as it trickled past. The sun shone on my back through the lush trees, warming me, and birds warbled as they flew overhead or hopped through the trees.
Once I had warmed up a little, I stood and stretched. It felt good to move normally again. I went for a brief walk to the stream.
The water trickled merrily across a rocky bottom. Several medium-sized fish swam past, and I realized this would be a good place to camp.
I couldn’t deal with humans yet. They were too unpredictable. What if they were all like the men I’d met, self-interested, violent and untrustworthy? The thought gnawed at me.
That was my first encounter with humans. I'd met the worst of them on my first day. Later, I found more humans like them but also kind and noble humans, as I’d mistakenly thought all of them would be. It took me ages to understand them. To this day, they still surprise me.
Later, when I was better established, I discovered the reason those men became so afraid of me. A rumor came to me about a naked blue ghost living in a local forest who came out of nowhere demanding clothes.
Those men believed they had killed me and I came back from the dead in search of my clothes. They must have related the tale repeatedly, changed to remove their guilt, of course, and the story spread. The tale amused me greatly when I heard it.
But on that day, sitting quietly by the fire, I considered my options. I could stay where I was. It was certainly a beautiful place to stay, but I remembered the snow when I huddled naked under the bush.
t would not be pleasant staying outside in the snow. I needed shelter.
I could look for a cave, I told myself, but looking around, I realized there were no hills nearby. Therefore, the likelihood of finding a suitable cave would be remote.
I could excavate some sort of dugout shelter. That was a difficult option, without tools, so I rejected it.
Perhaps other, friendlier, people lived at the settlement, but I didn’t relish going there. If I encountered the men I had already met, who knew what would happen. Would they try to attack me again or run away in fright?
Or worse, perhaps they would persuade all the villagers to attack me. I had no idea what to expect.
My best option was to seek another settlement, I decided. There must be friendly people somewhere on Earth.
I needed to learn about humans and how their society worked. But how? I had been advised to keep away from humans until I knew them better.
How crazy was that advice? It wasn’t even possible, I realized, now I thought about it. How could I get to know humans better by keeping away from them?
For the first time since coming to Earth, I felt insecure as I seriously wondered about the sanity of my superiors. This whole assignment was a nightmare with no way out.
Chapter 5.
Joe Finds a Friend
The forest became my home for a few days. A hollow tree trunk sufficed as shelter, and I had plenty of water. Fish were available if I wanted to eat, so plentiful and easy to catch they almost jumped into the pan I had inherited.
The peace and tranquility of the forest soothed my soul after encountering the violent humans. I was content if not exactly happy.
Walking through the forest one day I heard what sounded like weeping. Determined to find out what was happening, I followed the sound.
The sound soon led me to a clearing further along the stream. A disheveled, plump woman sat on the ground weeping, as though her heart was breaking, a broken wagon nearby. Close to the stream, a stocky horse, tethered to a tree, focused on munching grass. Three small, pale-faced children sat unmoving on the ground beside her, silent, their eyes downcast as if waiting for something unpleasant.
I couldn’t work out what was happening until I looked closer. The wagon leaned at a precarious angle, and a man was pinned underneath. It appeared to have slipped while he was working on it, and trapped him, crushing his chest.
I ran over to the woman. “Allow me to help,” I said.
She turned a grief-strick
en face to me. Through her sobs, she stammered. “It’s too late, he’s been trapped for hours and lost a lot of blood. He’s unconscious now and I fear death is near. As much as I tried, I couldn’t move the wagon.”
Immediately, I knew what had to be done. “Stand back please. Go over to your children while I lift this wagon off him and see what can be done for his injuries.”
The woman, hesitant at first, did as I asked once I directed a mild compulsion her way. Barely conscious, the man’s eyelids fluttered. His chest was a mess, crushed by the wagon, but the injuries looked relatively straightforward.
Without intervention, his injuries would have been fatal, but fortunately, useful healing skills and knowledge had been instilled into us. Healing was one thing we had been taught well.
I lifted the wagon easily and moved it aside. He was still alive and groaned as the pressure was taken off his chest. Fresh blood bubbled from between his lips with the release of pressure, indicating damage to his lungs, I remembered, from a knowledge transfer session.
Sitting down, I placed my hands on him, preparing to transfer healing energy. He raised a hand, reaching out, grasping my tunic.
“Please,” he whispered. “You have a kind face. Please take care of my wife and children. When I’m dead, they will have no one to protect them.”
The effort of speaking obviously caused enormous pain. Blood spurted from between his lips, he gave a weak cough and lapsed into unconsciousness.
The man was near death. I had to work fast to save his life. Blood loss and shock compounded the injuries. No matter what I did, once he was dead no amount of healing would work. Urgency added speed to my actions.
“I won’t let you die,” I whispered fiercely, not sure if he could hear. I laid my hands on his chest and directed as much healing energy through him as possible.
Immediately his body relaxed. It was a good sign. His life energy, although depleted, was strong.
For about an hour I sat with him, directing healing energy through him constantly. At times his eyes opened, then he lapsed into unconsciousness again. Gradually his recovery took shape.