As the light came closer, Zoe could make out a beautiful creature being the source of the light. He watched as she sang to him of angelic wonders. He stood there forgetting the bones, the stench, forgetting his own fear. The creature came close and spoke in his tongue, “Young boy, how fair you are. What is your name?” Zoe looked upon the creature with adoration and wanted to walk towards her. He could not speak as he was spellbound by her beauty. Zoe made his way through the bones along the wall not speaking a word as she sang out harmonious wonders drawing him nearer and nearer, closer and closer. He stood before her naked beauty now and beheld the glorious creature.
Again she spoke to him, “Fair one, I must know your name. Please keep me not in want as I am here for you.” Her words rolled off her tongue in angelic beauty. She reached out her hand as she spoke and held his chin lightly caressing his face.
Zoe opened his mouth to speak, but a blast of light was heard behind him causing his focus to shift momentarily; turning he saw a blinding light. Both Zoe and the creature covered their eyes. “Silence! Speak not your name!” Zoe heard as the command resounded forth with power and authority.
A hissing sound was heard from the angelic beast and Mikael spoke to the creature, “Beauty that is but upon the skin—fall off and display the ugliness of your bones!” At that moment Zoe turned back to the creature and saw the beauty of the creature fade having her flesh melt off and fall to the ground revealing a hideous creature that was both fearful looking and vile. Zoe screamed and ran making his way to Mikael, the source of the light. The creature reached out after Zoe, but Mikael with anticipation drew a sword and swung it loping off the woman’s appendage. The creature hissed and ran for cover deep within her lair.
Zoe coming to himself looked up at Mikael and gave him a hug realizing the dire circumstances he had just been saved from. “Now, now boy we will have none of that,” he said lightly giving Zoe a pat on the back realizing the anguish the boy must have been in. They made their way up the spiral staircase and came to the waters. With a wave of his hand, the waters withdrew and allowed for them to return to solid ground, from were Zoe had originally tried to enter the enchanted waters.
Once they were on solid ground again, Zoe let out all of his anguish, “Whew! Oh my! Mikael I don’t know…I know, but Whew! I am so glad to see you! How did you find me?”
“Well, yes the finding of you would have been difficult if I were looking of which I was not.”
Zoe was confused, “What do you mean? You must have been looking for me? You found me.”
“No, I was not looking for you as you would think. I was sent here to this spot to get you. Hagious saw it best that I come and find you. Hagious was the one that showed me to you, as I was not looking for you.”
“Oh,” Zoe said sounding a little disappointed.
“Yes, but know this that the god of gods was looking for you!” Mikael said with a smile.
“Yes, I suppose. The creature was so beautiful, how could it be so, so beastly looking?”
Mikael found a place down upon the ground, a comfortable spot, “Well, I suppose sometimes the most beautiful things can be the most dangerous. Things are not always as they might appear Zoe.”
“Yes, I can see that now, but how was I to know?” Zoe recalled his brother’s death by a pretty flower. Zoe’s mistake would have led to the same fate as his brother’s had if not for the god Hagious. He sat down being overwhelmed with all that the journey had brought his way.
“Zoe, not is all for you to know. The gods have never given all of their knowledge to the inhabitants of the land. We learn, and by learning we grow. You must grow now and know that not all beautiful things are as lovely as they seem. Ha, I can tell you a few beautiful women in my day that were not as they seemed, indeed! Ha!”
Zoe took the wizard’s lightheartedness to himself as it seemed intoxicating and relaxed from his earlier distress, but he wondered about the future, “So what must we do now?” Placing an importance upon—we; his knew hope was that he would not be going alone.
“‘We’, ha! ‘We’ must rest!”
“But what of that foul place and that creature that lies below?”
“Worry your little heart for not; she will not come to us, and besides you have a wizard! Ha, great wizard indeed!”
Many hours passed and a few setting of the suns elapsed as the two found rest. They ate, rested and even played a few wizards games to delight themselves in merriment. This place in the midst of the Yellow Forest was named correctly by Zoe, Anap-auo—a place of rest!
When the fire was blazing and Zoe was asleep, the Wizard smoked upon his pipe letting the smoke rise into the night’s sky. He felt a presence and spoke into the wind, “He is only a boy; why must the gods send him to his death?”
“Oh, listen to this wizard! Oh! All of creation, hear this man. Listen to yourself Mikael. You forget yourself.”
“But he is only a little boy.” Mikael turned to see the figure of Hagious before him.
“Only a boy; it was this same boy that you, Mikael, turned away from in the forest when his was a babe. You, Mikael, question the gods when you were going to let this little boy die and not know the troubles of life.”
Michael was frustrated and threw his pipe down, “I…I didn’t know what I was doing. I didn’t know better, but now I do. I would think the gods would know better.”
“So you have grown attached to the boy by playing a few of your wizard games and having the boy by your side for a time. And this time has now made you wiser than the gods? You forget yourself Mikael. It is I who show you knowledge and bring mysteries to light. Mikael, when the boy was in trouble, tell me, were you looking for him?”
Mikael realized his folly. The boy would be dead without Hagious, and he had not cared even to search for the boy or care of his whereabouts. “What do you plan for the boy?”
“I plan the dragon’s heart and the owl’s breath for this child, a foul beginning and a foul end. But neither the beginning nor the end are out of reach as you shall be a comfort to him at the start and the end.”
The wizard was saddened knowing the boy’s fate, “How long does he have to live?”
“Time is not given to you. You will be there to see him through both. Lead him to the place you know of, the people of the Asphaleia—the last place of safety.”
“But they are a vile group,” he turned to see, but Hagious was gone.
Mikael got up and went to the boy giving him a slight kick, “Get up. We must go.”
Zoe sat up and looked at the night sky, “But it is still night!”
Mikael poured water on the fire extinguishing the flames of light, “When the gods bid go, you don’t wait for the light of day!”
Chapter 8
I do not know what I may appear to the world;
but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy
playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself
in now and then finding a smoother pebble
or a prettier shell than ordinary,
whilst the great ocean of truth
lay all undiscovered before me
~Isaac Newton~
They walked on in the night for some time hearing the shadows fearfully move about them. Zoe kept close to his guide realizing as long as Mikael was near, darkness, things lurking in the darkness, kept there distance. For five long hours the two walked on in silence letting the noises of the night be their only conversation. Zoe followed as Mikael seemed to be leading the boy to a spot only known to the elder.
When the first sun came up allowing for the shadows to stretch across the land, Zoe gained some courage to speak, “Teach me!” This seemed out of place for Zoe to say such a thing, but he was wanting to learn from Mikael; he was wanting to know things that Merim-nao kept from him. He wanted to know of the gods, of the future, of the darkness that lies within the Yellow Forest.
He looked down at Zoe with a quirky look shaking his head in disbelief, “Teach you?
Ha! Upon the dragon’s wing, I have heard of such fancy, but you my child are the biggest fool of them all. Teach you! Ha!”
“Why not? Is it because I am a child? Or is it because I am of lowly birth knowing neither mother nor father?”
The wizard stopped to look him in the eyes, “I can teach you nothing.”
“Why?” the boy challenged.
“You know not what lies within! Only until you know yourself can you then begin to learn.” Mikael turned to go.
Zoe stood still calling out, “How can I learn myself? I am who I am. There is nothing more to me.”
The wizard called out over his shoulder, “Oh dragon’s breath! Do you not even know that you don’t know yourself?”
Zoe ran to catch up to his companion. He thought over the words the man had told him and wondered what he could be saying. He was a boy, sure enough. He had some fears, darkness, being alone, death; he also feared the gods. He loved the food of the heavens that his mother-keeper had made for him from time to time. He had feared his father-keeper’s hand. He was now alone—what more was there to know about himself?
Finally he spoke again, “What is there to know about me? How can I learn if you will not show me?”
“No Zoe,” he rarely called the boy by name, “I cannot be your teacher; you must go to the place of the dragons and the owls. That is the only place where you can learn who you are. Then upon a dragon’s wing ask me to teach you! Ha!”
Zoe was fearful that Mikael knew of his visions; he wanted to hide his knowledge of the place, “There is no such place! You make it up as to not have anything to do with me. You will lead me to the middle of this forest and leave me there to die!”
“Ah yes! The rising of the second sun, we will rest here. To be sure boy, I would leave you hear to die! If only the cursed gods were not so fool hearted and stubborn! This Hagious is the worst of them all! Foul breath upon the wind, Ha! Indeed, if I could curse myself from being a wizard, I would leave you to die with the night eye watching. Oh yes, even the eyes of the night have desired you, and I was not allowed to give you to them. Foul breath indeed!” Mikael paused for a moment while he found a place to lay down upon the ground. “You must go to the place were dragons haunt and owls do congregate; you must and will!”
“How would that help?” Greater fear arose in Zoe. It seemed to him that Mikael was leading him to his doom without knowing it. And there was nothing Zoe could do to avoid it. He stood there and watched as the wizard closed his eyes and dozed off to sleep with ease. How could this wizard rest at such a time—in such a place?
Zoe looked around not liking his surroundings one bit—trees surrounding on all sides, pressing in, stifling the air. The air itself was humid having its own mind, pressing on all sides. Thorns and thistles growing, lurking around every tree as if alive wanting to leap upon a helpless victim. The overhanging limbs darkening every way of escape hiding creatures, vile creatures of the Yellow Forest.
All this fear mounting as Zoe looked about--imagining every horrible thing that could come upon him. Then a tiny little creature came out of the bushes. Zoe took a step back being surprised at its approach, not being fearful of its presence. A sweet odor passed through the air mesmerizing the child. Zoe lost all fear as a euphoric presence came about him. He smiled and looked at the funny little creature loosing his ability to rationalize during dangerous circumstances.
The little creature crawled away on all fours having fur covering everything but the ballpoints of the limbs and all of his face. Zoe followed having no will of his own thinking nothing of the danger that could be lurking behind the trees. At first when the creature went around a tree, Zoe became panicked fearing he had lost something of great value. Turning and spinning around, lost in the mist of the Yellow Forest, he became fearful, until the creature reappeared. It took one of its three claws at the end of its leg and motioned for Zoe to follow. Zoe was overjoyed having found this creature. He ran to catch it in hopes of—he was not sure why he wanted the creature, just that he must catch the thing.
The faster Zoe ran the faster the creature ran drawing him farther and farther away from safety, until at once Zoe ran into a small opening forged be the creature himself. All of the vegetation had been torn away—trees, shrubs, thorns and thistles were all removed, by this creature and the others. Zoe stood in the midst of this opening turning around realizing where he was, in the midst of a trap. From under every leaf a creature in like fashion to the one that brought him to this place revealed itself. They came by the droves, several hundred of them toppling on each other closing in slowly as predators about to strike. The one creature was different from these only in color and build. Zoe noticed that there seemed to be fifty or so different types of the same creature, each having its own obligation for the greater good. These fiends of hell lured him here, and now he would find his end.
Yet for no apparent reason all of the creatures started looking around as if noticing something that Zoe could not see. Fear spread amongst them as a wave hits the seashore and spreads out in an increasingly thinning formation pushing the inhabitants of the land backwards, causing the creatures quickly to scurry away leaving Zoe unharmed. He was bewildered at such an encounter. First he was lured away from Mikael by this creature to an unknown place. Then when he was in the midst of their trap, they revealed themselves, only to retreat for some unknown reason. Why do the gods treat me such! Zoe thought to himself. If they wish me dead, would they not have had the opportunity? He was beginning to believe in the madness of the gods.
Zoe was beside himself as he could not remember which way he had come. Again, he found himself alone in the midst of the Yellow Forest. He decided to go towards the two suns as they were now to the right of him. There was no reason to go this way, just that his mind and heart agreed that this was the path of choice. As he walked for a time, Zoe noticed a change in scenery. There was no longer an ominous despair, nor was the darkness foreboding of evil intentions. He found a clearing that lead to an open meadow. He remembered back to the previous time this had happened as things did not fare well for him.
As he walked on he came to a cobblestone bridge with fencing of some metallic form. He cautiously walked onto this bridge and looked about. He saw bright orange flowers swaying gently in a breeze that he had not noticed until now. There were also dark purple flowers as companions whose flower formed a cone of sorts. The place was tranquil; Zoe was lead on in heart and mind as he saw over the bridge a dark cave with dark moss hanging from the rocks above obstructing a complete view into the cave.
Zoe didn’t like the idea of going into this cave, but again his heart made him go, almost against his will. He walked slowly and cautiously toward the cave fearing what might be inside. In time he reached the opening of the dark hole in the side of the mountain that seemed to come from nowhere. Zoe walked in not looking back.
As he went farther and farther, the darkness crept around the child enveloping him. He went around a bend in the cavern and found no light from the outside land to give aide from its far-reaching hand. He continued on stumbling from time to time, as he could not see three inches in front of his face. He walked as if his eyes were sown shut and no light existed, blind to the objects that lay in wait.
Then in the distance Zoe could see a faint light. At first he thought he was imagining it. But he noticed that the light was a flame of some sort as the flame grew the closer he came. The light was a welcomed guide, but an unfamiliar sight. The flames were not ordinary by any means as a twinge of bluish white danced together forming the rays that allowed his eyes to see.
He came closer and realized there was a figure of a person sitting by the fire. Zoe was thinking about turning around for fear of the figure, but the man spoke to him, “Come.” Zoe still did not want to go as he was afraid. He thought again about running in the direction from which he came. The voice, which was a man’s voice came again, “I did not invite you just to be rejected by you.” The voice came with authority,
not one to be dismissed. As Zoe came closer to the fire, the figure of the old man almost hidden by his cloak was revealed by the light of the flickering flame. Zoe stood motionless staring at the man wondering who he was.
The man motioned to Zoe to take a seat opposite him, having the fire between them. Zoe obliged and sat down on a stone that seemed to be placed there for him. He was feeling uncomfortable. He wondered why he was here and who this man was?
“You want to know who I am and why you are here.”
Zoe was afraid; he realized the person before him could read his thoughts. He didn’t want to think. He wanted to hide. Zoe spoke trying to hide what he was thinking, “What do you mean, why what?”
The man took off his hood revealing the white glory upon his head and the grizzly beard that he wore more clearly. The old man looked intently at Zoe, “You also hide the truth much to your own harm. You hide truth from those that would help you.” The man spoke in a gentle voice not forcing the truth, but revealing the truth. The old man spoke of everything that Zoe was wondering, but never answered any of his question. The man was perplexing to Zoe. In the one sense he seemed like the gods, but he also was gentle having a kindness of sorts.
Again Zoe asked, “Who are you? And what is truth?”
“You are like a boy who once walked along the ocean. Do you remember?”
Zoe thought back of a journey he took with his family. One time he had seen a great body of water, his father called it the ocean. He remembered looking for pretty shells and rocks. He fell so far behind that he lost sight of his parents. He was the whole time looking for shells and rocks while his family was leaving him behind. He nodded in recognition that he remembered.
Where Dragons Haunt (The Diaspora Book 1) Page 5