Where Dragons Haunt (The Diaspora Book 1)

by Scott Meaders

  Zoe bent down to pick a flower, not out of wanting to, more out of boredom, having nothing else to do as the path ended in the midst of the flowers. He was not sure what to do so he reached down. Zoe was surprised when he saw a face on the flower. He stood up abruptly and looked at it. The flower now was looking up at him and smiling. He looked at the other flowers that were around, and he now noticed each of them having a face as well. He said to himself out loud, “What strange thing is this?”

  The flower thinking that Zoe was talking to him responded, “I do not at all find it strange that a flower has a face”

  “You can talk!”

  “Well, of course I can talk, I am probably older than you and you can talk, can you not?”

  Zoe was not sure what to say with regards to the flower’s wisdom. He couldn’t believe that a flower was talking to him. “How do you…um what are you?”

  The flower bent down a little looking at himself, “Well, I look like a flower, I am going to guess that I am a flower, but you must of course mean what type of flower. I am a Makarios also known as a happy flower.” With that the flower gave Zoe the biggest smile.

  “But what are you doing down here in this well?”

  “We are not in a well; we are in a field.”

  Zoe could tell that the flower had no knowledge of what he was talking about. He decided to ask another question, “Do you know how to get out of the field as I no longer see a path?”

  “Why no, I don’t! Do you?”

  “I wouldn’t have asked you if I knew.” Zoe became a little frustrated at the flower. “Have you seen anyone else come by here?”

  “Yes, and you headed in the direction of that waterfall.”

  “I…I have never been here before.”

  “Oh, but it was you, and you talked to us about a boy named Zoe. You told us not to talk to him because of his evil ways.”

  “But my name is Zoe!”

  A huge whispering went out among the flowers. It was a wave of hushed talking starting from him and working its way through the field. Then the flowers together uprooted themselves and they used their roots as legs and ran away. The mad rush of flowers was a crazed sight. All the flowers were gone within a short amount of time leaving a barren desolate land. As Zoe recalled a look of terror on their face, he wondered what he or the thing that looked like him had said to them before he came this way.

  Zoe decided to find out. If the imposter had gone to the waterfall, maybe he was still there. He walked in the direction of the waterfall that he could see in the distance over the terrain. It seemed that everything even the trees had uprooted themselves along the way. The flowers in their mad dash had warned all of the living things along the way. In turn they fled from before his path. This angered Zoe, that someone was saying things about him without having known him.

  When he reached the waterfall, there was nothing there but a pool of water. There was not even a stream running out of the pool. He noticed that the water was a dark green. Zoe looked around and saw no one. He was very upset and sat down on a rock looking down into the water, placing his carrying sack next to him. Zoe could see his reflection in the water. “Stupid well,” he spoke to himself again.

  “Now, now Zoe, such harsh words.”

  Zoe looked around. He saw no one. He didn’t like the sound of the voice; it sounded eerie bordering on evil. “Who’s there? Show yourself!”

  “Do you not know who I am?”

  “No I don’t!” He thought for a second and realized something he didn’t at first, “And how did you know my name?”

  The diabolical voice sounded out again, “Look around you, do you not see anyone?”

  Zoe looked all around he saw no one. There was no one within 20 miles. “No there is no around as far as I can see.”

  “Try looking in the water.” The voice sounded out again.

  He looked down and could see nothing in the water deeper than his reflection. “I still see nothing!”

  “Not even me,” his reflection spoke. Zoe could not believe his eyes. He looked about him to see if someone were perhaps playing a trick on him. He again looked down at his reflection to hear the image speak again. “Yes, Zoe. It is a strange thing that you are seeing me face to face for the first time. I have been waiting for you!”

  Zoe scrunched up his face in disbelief, squinting to get a surer look. The figure laughed at him. “Who are you?”

  “I am you; are you such a fool to not even know thyself? Ah, even the greatest of men throughout many ages never knew their true selves. How could I have expected a boy lost in a well to know anything of himself? Ha, Ha!”

  Zoe became angered at the ridicule from the figure. He lashed out, “Oh yeah, well if you are me, then you are just my imagination. You are nothing more than that. At least I am real!”

  “Oh, but I am real Zoe. I live inside of you; I live in the dark crevasse of your mind, that part of you that is hidden from others, the part that sent the flowers running. That is who I am. You see, I told the flowers your true self and as you can see even the trees flee before you!” The reflection let out a diabolical laughter.

  “No…No, I wont believe you…NOOO!” Zoe yelled out covering his ears from the voice he heard while shaking his head.

  The reflection then reached his hand up out of the water penetrating the surface. He reached into Zoe’s pack and took out the blue orb and held it above the water for a moment.

  Zoe looked wondering at the sight he had just seen; not only could his reflection talk, but it could do things. He yelled out trying to stop it, “Give it back.” Zoe reached out his hand as if to receive it.

  The reflection brought the orb into himself below the water’s surface. Then to Zoe’s dismay, the figure started banging the orb on a rock under the water until it cracked open. Zoe was terribly frightened at this. Bubbles started to erupt from the blue orb which made Zoe feel even more insecure with his surroundings. Then a strange thing happened. The reflection looked nothing more than a reflection showing Zoe to be a little more deviant than he had ever been before. Zoe thought through the encounter with his reflection and then he realized he was the one that cracked open the orb and threw it into the water. There never was any other creature there. At this Zoe turned to run.

  He ran until he was out of sight of the place he had discovered himself—the something in himself that he hated. He turned around and put his hands to his face falling to his knees. He wept over the vile things he saw about himself, his dire circumstances, his lack of family or friends, life. His tears streamed down his face hitting the soft dirt below. The tears flowed releasing the pain he had—so much pain, so many tears. His tears did wild and strange things. As the tears became so many, he found himself being flooded in his own tears being pushed down a hillside towards a jagged cliff. His tears carried him closer to death’s door than he had wished, and this sudden realization caused his tears to cease as his fears mounted. He suddenly had his body thrust out of his tears headlong into a pile of dirt bruising his face and shoulder as if the tears were repulsed by him.

  When he opened his eyes next to his face, he found a beautiful bracelet with strange markings on the beads. He reached out his hand while pushing himself up out of the dirt with his other hand. He took the bracelet in his hand while resting his aching body. Looking the bracelet over he ran his fingers over the markings of which he could not read. He slipped the bracelet on and felt a surge of energy flow through his body. Nothing else happened as he thought surely in this place something magical would occur, but nothing.

  Zoe found a resting position on his back looking up at the blackness above. He wished he could be back with his wizard friend. He wished his so-called parents were still alive. He even wished that his brother had not died. Why does everything always have to go wrong? He thought to himself.

  Zoe had fallen half asleep while he thought of many sad things, though he refused to shed a tear. In the midst of his slumber, Zoe felt a small tickling sens
ation on his leg. He took his hand and swiped at it alleviating the irritation. The irritant came back, and he again relieved himself in like fashion, but he felt that he had hit something with the back of his hand. Half awake he looked up to see through his blurry sleep thousands of little figures sneaking up to him with weapons. Fear could be seen in his eyes and the spears started flying and the bowmen released their arrows. He shielded his face with his forearm feeling the slight sting of hundreds of tiny arrows and spears.

  A shriekish scream came out from the boy as the pain rushed from his arm to his mind. He cursed and yelled hellish things wishing for the little people to be gone. In the midst of his pain a large animal came rushing out of the bushes. The creature was medium build and ran on all fours. The animal had two mouths each having a long serpent like tongue. The brute was quickly making its way toward Zoe who was still being attacked by the little people. When the beast got within reach of the little people, both tongues started rapidly grabbing five to ten at a time, devouring them in one gulp. The monster made its way to Zoe and continued to devour the little people until they retreated few in number. The two-mouthed fiend had done its work and turned toward Zoe waiting before him.

  Zoe was afraid and yelled out to scare the beast, “Ahhh! Go away! Get out of here!” The animal seemed confused at his requests. The creature promptly obeyed the demand and turned about and left the way it came.

  Chapter 12

  Another friend, another door;

  another foe, another wall.

  ~Chinese proverb~

  Zoe felt a burning in his wrist that he had not noticed while the little people attacked. Now that he was no longer under the stress of pain from the little attackers he could turn his attention to his current distress. He looked down at his wrist to see that the bracelet was glowing each letter being brightly defined. He moved it aside to look at his wrist and saw that his skin was burned as if by fire. He was furious with anger at his foolishness of putting on something in this cursed place without knowing what the possible effects would be. He removed the bracelet only to realize that he no longer had his carrying bag. Thinking back he realized he must have left it by the pond when he took off running, but he didn’t know the way back as his tears carried him to this unfamiliar ground. He was beside himself as he held the bracelet and looked around.

  Zoe saw a figure walking his way. Zoe became afraid not knowing what he should do. Should he hide? He looked around and found no place of secrecy. He thought of running but realized that running would be of no use as most things could outrun him. He looked in the opposite direction and saw a little boy waving to him coming out of nowhere. He was beckoning him to hurry to him. Zoe looked back at the approaching figure. The figure stopped and seemed to be afraid of something. Zoe turned and ran for the boy.

  Zoe saw a huge wall of rocks that came up out of the ground. He looked closely because he thought he saw a door in the rocks. The boy had a look of worry on his face motioning for Zoe to enter into the doorway. Zoe ran through the open door into utter darkness as the boy came in afterwards and shut them in.

  Zoe stood motionless regaining his breath wondering what creature was pursuing them and what new friend he had met. As he stood there he could hear the breathing of his companion; he seemed regular enough. Zoe still was not sure he had done the right thing.

  The boy, revealing his young face, lit a torch. The flames illuminated the cavern they found themselves in. Zoe looked around, high up into the top and deep into the mysterious caves. He oriented himself and looked back to the face of the boy next to him. His stature was similar to Zoe’s, being about the same build and height. They had the same color of hair and eyes, but markedly different facial features. The boy’s face was not as round as Zoe’s and he seemed to have a pointier chin. His nose was also slightly crooked as if it had bent to the side.

  The boy spoke first, “I am so glad you came when you did. There are so many things, wonderfully horrid things out there that could hurt us.”

  Zoe liked the way he talked, almost like the way he thought. Zoe replied with a question, “Do you live here?”

  “Oh, no. I don’t think anyone would want to live here. It is like a trap, once you are here there seems to be no way out.” The boys looked around. “We should probably find a way out.”

  “Why don’t we just…” Zoe stopped in mid sentence noticing that the door that they had gone through had vanished from sight.

  The boy saw the distress on Zoe’s face, “Don’t despair we can find a way out, I am sure of it, together we can do anything!” A small reassuring smile came on the boy’s face. Zoe nodded to show that he accepted what the boy said, but inside he was terrified. “We should find a way out now. It might take some time.”

  They started walking on in silence. The boy let Zoe pick the caves they were to follow as there were many tunnels leading in various directions. With every step the two seemed to be building a friendship. The silence was broken when Zoe felt comfortable enough to let a weakness be known, “I am very weary from the day’s events. I need to stop to gain some strength.” He looked at the boy hopeful to see a friendly response.

  The boy did not disappoint him, “Ok, let’s sit…here is a place as good as any in here.” He pointed to a place illuminated by the torch. There seemed to be an arrangement of rocks almost set up for the two of them—a place for each to sit and a place for a fire in the middle. Zoe found this to be strange, and yet he was leading.

  They found some twigs and a few pieces of wood lying around, placed them in the rock pit and started a fire. They took their seats, the boy with his back to the rocky wall and Zoe with his back to the open darkness behind. Zoe wanted to sit where the other kid was, but felt uncomfortable with asking such an idea. Please sit here in the dangerous spot while I sit in safety, he thought to himself realizing that he could not ask the boy to trade places.

  They sat there for a moment not speaking, both feeling a little uncomfortable. Then Zoe spoke, “You said you were not from here. Where are you from?”

  The boy looked sadly at Zoe, “I am lost. I don’t know where I am from originally, but I stay with an old man. He takes care of me.” Zoe was surprised to hear that he had neither mother nor father as well. “He teaches me things and tells me of my destiny—that I must do things. I feel very sad about it, but I know the importance of it. Oh, my words must be tiresome to you. I must not speak of such things.”

  “No, you don’t weary me. Why shouldn’t you speak of these things?”

  The boy looked around, “My master has forbid me to. He says that, oh, it is not important.”

  Zoe was very fascinated about the boy’s history, but thought he had better let it go. Zoe realized that he had never known the boy’s name, “What is your name?”

  When Zoe said this, the hair on his back started to crawl. He saw in blood red writing letters starting to appear; before the boy had a chance to respond Zoe read,Thanatos in the big blood red letters. “How foolish of me not to have told you my name,” the boy said as he looked into the fire, “my name is Thanatos.” Thanatos waited for a moment and then responded, “I don’t know your name either.”

  Zoe’s eyes became wide as he saw upon the wall a warning in the same familiar letters,Don’t Tell! He was beside himself as the letters disappeared. He didn’t say anything; he just look intently at the blank rock wall.

  Thanatos noticed that Zoe was looking over his shoulder and turned around to see what had captivated his mind. Nothing, but a blank wall. He turned back to Zoe, “Is everything ok?”

  Zoe looked at his new friend and wondered what was going on, “Um…yes. I um am ok. I was just. My eyes are playing tricks on me. I think I need to rest.”

  Thanatos was understanding, “Ok, I will keep watch and let you sleep.”

  Zoe found a place on the ground where he could see the wall and a side profile of Thanatos. He closed his eyes, but found no rest for his soul. He was constantly opening them to see if the boy
had moved or was doing anything suspicious. Zoe also kept his ears alert for any sounds that might clue him in to Thanatos’ movements.

  Some time had passed and Zoe dozed off. He awoke to the sounds of markings, rock against rock. He opened his eyes and saw the boy with his back to him looking down a dark cave. He looked up at the wall and saw a picture unfolding before his eyes. It was of them. Zoe saw Thanatos standing as he was and saw himself upon the ground where he lay. The drawing became animated gaining life. He saw his figure raise up and take a large rock in his hands. His figure then walked over to Thanatos and struck the unsuspecting boy with great force in the back of the head. The picture of Thanatos fell to the ground lifeless.

  Words then produced themselves below the picture,Must Act Now, Only One Chance! Zoe became frightened. Was he to trust the writings on the wall or the kind person that seemed to mean him no harm? He was perplexed as what to do, and it seemed by the warning on the wall that he had little time to decide. He took a deep breath and then spoke, “Zoe!”

  Thanatos turned around having an equally perplexing look on his face, “What did you say?”

  “Zoe, that is my name.”

  Thanatos became filled with rage and charged at Zoe with the fierceness of twenty. Fear filled Zoe quickly being confused at the change of events. He lifted up his foot and put his hands over his face to protect himself. Thanatos being close when the foot was raised ran right into it hitting his midsection. He fell over grabbing his stomach gasping for air having the wind knocked out of him.

  Zoe got to his feet and looked about at the confused events. He looked to the wall and saw the wordsNow! He didn’t hesitate. He grabbed a large rock and brought it down upon Thanatos. The first blow was thwarted by the boy’s outstretched hand. Thanatos cried out in pain. Zoe raised the rock as Thanatos was trying to crawl away. The rock came down with force with a deadly blow to the back of Thanatos’ head. The boy collapsed under the blow. Zoe raised the rock again, bringing it down with equal force hitting his head once again. Zoe repeated this several times crushing the boy’s skull.