by Nico Augusto
The boys had told them many stories, once they were sure Pratt wouldn’t be around to punish them any longer. They told horror stories of neglect, mistreatment and abuse that seemed to often be of the military torture variety. One of the boys told them that after Yann escaped the first time he was punished for several days by Mr. Pratt. Part of the punishment the man liked to dole out was isolation. It was a terrible thing for a young boy to be deprived of any sight or sound other than four small walls and his own cries.
Pratt had tried to refuse to leave the orphanage, rambling on about his closet and how he couldn’t leave it. He said the voices told him secrets about disappearing children and other dark things. That caused the police to check out any local disappearances, but none were connected to Pratt. He was forced to leave and he lost his license. The orphanage was closed and the children re-located.
Mr. Pratt now lives on the streets and is often seen shouting at the voices in his head.
DAKOTA SUPERMARKET
The stocky man was doing his shopping in a small grocery. He whistled leisurely as he put milk and cornflakes into his cart. Taking them up to the counter, he paid for his purchases and put them in a paper bag. He smiled at the cashier, at everyone around him and at no one in particular. He took his groceries out to his car and once he was inside he began to drive towards the forest.
He drove as far as the forest path and then parked the car. Taking his shopping bag he slammed the car door and took the small set of stairs that lead up to a small cabin.
Inside the cabin was really small. It was cluttered with things that were mostly used by a hunter. There was a cross-bow hanging on one wall and a couple of rifles leaning against another. The place was dusty but there were prints on the floor where the dust had been disturbed recently by someone’s boots. A pile of clothes was heaped in one corner, jackets and blue jeans and men’s underwear. The place smelled of dirt and old sweat and had an underlying smell of decaying meat. There was very little furniture and what there was looked as if it had been fashioned out of logs and stacked up to form a chair or a table. There were no real pictures or photographs on the walls, but the ones that were there were hand drawn and all of the banished. One wall was lined with small backpacks in various styles and colors, leaning there as if the children would be returning for them soon.
There was a small sketch of a door frame on the wall and as Frank carried his groceries over to the counter a black shape passed through it. There was a simultaneous knock on the front door. His first instinct was to pick up his knife and hold it behind his back. The kitchen counters were full of knives, not the kind you buy for culinary use, but the ones with the serrated edges that were used for hunting…and killing. The knocking got louder and more impatient…Frank touched the handle of his knife and went over to the door, opening it abruptly.
Frank stood frozen as he finally laid his eyes upon the Banished. His face registered first shock and then turned quickly into a smile. Nobody had ever cared about him and finally, someone was paying attention.
“Finally, we meet each other …”
END OF SEASONS
Many trains came through the seasons as Yann waited for Ani. It was a beautiful, happy place and Yann had grown content here passing the time and convening with nature in the arms of his loving parents as he waited for his best friend Ani to join them.
When Ani arrived on one of the trains at last, the two friends rejoiced in their reunion. Yann picked up the little guy and hugged him into his chest tightly, never wanting to let him go again. He’d been happy here, but without Ani he hadn’t felt complete.
“Come Ani, I want to show you around.”
Ani followed Yann across the expanse of rich, jade grass and in between two grand trees that marked the entrance to a forest. The leaves on the trees were rich with color, oranges, yellows and reds lit them up as if they were on fire and the flames were licking up towards the sky. Thousands of colors floated slowly to the ground as the leaves shed from the trees. Every so often one would softly brush against a cheek or land on a shoulder. The sounds of the natural opera around them made them want to dance and as they danced their way further into the forest they discovered even more of nature’s magic.
Here and there brown squirrels with big, fluffy tails chased their acorns across the roots and soil. When one was caught they would sit and nibble quietly at it and the look in their little eyes made it apparent they were savoring it. Yann and Ani realized that the group of squirrels was a family. The mother squirrel was just a little bigger than the other and Ani wondered if she was expecting. He went towards them slowly and then sat down where he could watch them. The squirrels took him in with their eyes and then they looked at Yann. It seemed like they were trying to communicate, but Yann was having trouble understanding their signals. He watched as one of them reached its small paw out and placed it gently on the side of Ani’s face. That was when he understood. There were no words they were trying to convey…it was a feeling, the most important one of all, love. As Yann watched in awe, the little squirrel family collected around his friend in a circle. They all reached out and put one of their tiny paws on Ani’s fur. At that moment, Yann had a memory of their long trip, the contact with the Shaman, and every animal along the way. After the squirrels finished offering vows to Ani, they turned and disappeared back into their trees. Ani looked at Yann and his face was illuminated by the sun. He looked happy and his eyes were shining like the surface of one of the perfect lakes they had seen on their adventure.
Just to their left the ground began to rumble and the trees to shake. Instead of floating to the ground, the leaves began to fall by the handfuls. As the rumbling grew louder, the friends could see a massive black silhouette approaching. They were paralyzed once more simply by the virtue of how unexpected it was…and how magical. A huge black rhino was coming in their direction. Yann knew that the black rhino was one of the rarest on earth. His father once told him that legend said they have been here so long that they have seen everything about the history of the humankind. This beautiful and massive creature walked past them with a glance in their direction, but he didn’t stop. The boys watched him until he was gone and then moved on. After coming out of the other side of the dense forest they arrived at the edge of a huge cliff. The trees were thick along the slope of it and each one grew in a different shape and direction. The artist’s pallet was never as rich as the colors that danced around them. The vibrant hues of Autumn had arrived on the new chill that crept in to the air. It wasn’t the bite of a wintery bluster, but just a nip to let them know a new season was at hand. Beyond the nature coated leaves of the trees the brilliant blue sky was blanketed with soft clouds that attempted to block out the brilliant glare of the sun as it began to descend in the sky, preparing itself for a night’s rest.
Yann and Ani go closer to the cliff’s path. The void was infinite as the air passed through it. From a distance they could see the plain with its usual flow of life.
Yann’s wings begin to flap…gently at first and then harder. A luminous halo surrounded them and Yann leaned forward and took Ani into his arms. He kissed his muzzle and stroked his ears. They looked calmly into each other’s eyes and the short moment seemed like an eternity. Then holding tightly to his little companion Yann ran and jumped into the void. His wings stiffened and caught on the wind. They were gliding through the air and the moment was so full of sensations that with words it would be indescribable.
As they soared across the sky the day was replaced by night and the clouds separated to reveal the stars. Yann gazed upon the constellations he loved; he could see Perseus and Canis Minor.
After a dozen minutes of flight they were in the middle of the plain. There were numerous animals and humans. Yann suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder. It was Tim, his father. The family was finally together, and Elise took Ani into her arms.
“We’ve been waiting for you …" Elise told him.
Smiling, Tim said, “Are you ready, m
y son? It is time to turn the page, huh? Ani, you took your time coming here.” It was two long years between the time that Sarah sent Ani back to earth and the time that Ani was brought into Seasons on the train. Two full seasons had passed in Heaven and although Yann spent his days in a place that both stimulated and calmed every one of his senses, virtually wrapped in a blanket of peace and security, shadowed by the love and adoration of his parents, he had missed the part of his soul that Ani had taken back to earth with him, and he had longed for nothing more than the day they would be reunited.
Now that Ani was here, the family could enter the end of seasons and their new lives could at last begin.
“Where are we going, dad?” Yann asked his father.
“Don’t worry … “Elise told her son, “You’ll see, my dear, everything will be all right!”
“Do you see that little chalet, over there?” Tim asked him, pointing to it. “This is where people are going … Isn’t this plain beautiful? Look, a flock of birds, they’re flamingos! They’re going to the same place we are … We are all the same, my boy, shadow and dust. I wish our time could have been longer.” Tim was crying.
“Come on, my heart, let’s go. It is our new start,” Elise told him.
Looking at Ani, Yann said, “Are you ready? You have so much to tell me … It will stay engraved in our genes.” The boy took the dog he loved so much into his arms for the last time. Yann and Ani would always love each other, but they would love each other in different places and in different forms throughout the centuries to come. From one life to the next, their souls would recognize each other instantly and their past lives together wouldn’t be conscious memories any longer but simply the overwhelming feelings of love that happens between souls that are destined to travel through time together. As Yann held his little friend in his arms for the last time, they shared a vision; perhaps it was a hint or a reflection of another life yet to come.
TOKYO 2023
A small girl approached a tiny kitten, alone on the street. She leaned forward and took it in her arms.
In their native language of Japanese the little girl said, “Look, Mammy, Daddy, a kitten! Can we take it home? It looks sick.”
“Well,” her father said, looking at her mother, “I guess we can.” With a smile he said, “I think it is a girl cat, look.”
“Oh yes, it is “so cute”!” the little girl said.
“You will have to give her a name, my darling,” her father said.
“Darling! That’s a nice name, isn’t it, mom?”
******
NEPAL 1973
A man was sitting on an armchair covered with colored plaids. He seemed very comfortable. In his room, there were plenty of different trinkets. He was writing a book. His feet were stretched out close to the chimney and the fire crackled. He’s almost unrecognizable from the strapping young man he’d been for so many centuries. It was Reynald and he was at last becoming visibly older with glasses and greying hair.
As the last descendent of the Ancient People on Earth, he’s writing his memoirs. He closed the notes and stretched before getting up off the sofa. He had to pick up the little beige dog that was lying across his knees. She was a French bulldog and he put her into his jacket. At his feet another one just like her only male lay in the floor.
His wife approached and kissed him on his cheek.
“I am going to pick him up.” Reynald told her, “It is time…” he sighed heavily.
“He is waiting for you up there,” his wife told him.
“Thank you … Thank you for all…” he said.
She stared at him for a long time and then smiled. Reynald left the house then, stepping out into the beautiful, clear day. The sky is a brilliant blue and the sun splashed light and color across the valley.
The little house was built high in the mountains, on the slope of a steep ridge, at the heart of Nepal. Reynald went up the green hill above their house, with the dog still snuggled inside his jacket.
A young boy sat waiting in the grass.
“Hello father,” Matt said as his dad approached.
“What a beautiful day it is, isn’t it? How are you today?” Reynald asked his son.
“I don’t know. Did you finish?”
Reynald handed the finished book to his son and sat down next to him. They are both sitting in the middle of the deep grass, rippling in the breeze. The little dog Leia climbed out of Reynald’s jacket and sat between the boy and the man.
Matt looked at the dog and said, “She follows you everywhere, doesn’t she?”
“She never abandoned me … There is no other companion as faithful as her. This is the time for you to know the truth about me as well as about the role you will play…Treat this book like a bible. Follow its rules and lead the Circle of Light. The right one has to be found…the Hero that can unleash the power of the Ancient one and save our future.” Reynald ran his hand through his son’s hair and gave him a light hug. Matt looked down at the book in his hands. On the first page of the book, in the Navajo language it is written:
“Seasons of Heaven.”
Reynald was passing on the book to his son because although he had lived a long and very productive life, he knew that it wouldn’t be forever. Reynald’s life eventually ended in 1974 in the city of Nepal. He was 6553 years old…
HOLLOW EARTH
After separating himself from Reynald, Olham penetrated a small cavity. At the end of it was a cave about three hundred feet long. It contained numerous stalactites and a number of horsemen wandered the cave like ghosts, protecting the remains of the ancient city. It was about 20 feet high and there were blocks of stones that hung from the ceilings with a number full of stalagmites. There were narrow holes that led off here and there into narrow blind chambers, and walls completely made of stalagmitic material. Olham passed through a widened passage sneaking in gently, passing through a widened passage that entered into another wide chamber with successive rows of pillars that were about twenty feet high. He had a plan.
He wanted to draw the attention of the horsemen so that Reynald could recover the irradiated stones.
The cave was dark, the only light coming from a yellow halo left on the walls by the ghosts.
Olham hit the ground with his walking stick, creating a beam of a blue light that smashed one horseman who disappeared in a flash. In the following second, all of the horsemen rushed towards Olham.
He created a sphere of energy that protected him and killed some of the horsemen that touched it.
Olham then jumped onto the rock shaped as a toboggan and began sliding. The other horsemen started chasing him.
Olham believed that now Reynald was certain to recover the stones. The old druid arrived at the bottom of the rocky ramp and started running towards an inland lake, a cold heart of the inner land.
According to the ancient stories, there were numerous connections between the inner earth and the outside, but nobody knew the details. Olham had to find the exit by himself, but at least he got rid of the horsemen. They could not touch the water because of their energetic shield.
Olham kept running until he reached the lake shore. He entered the lake slowly and progressively. He could see the horsemen out of the corner of his eye. There was a small army of them. They sat on sickeningly frail horses staring at him with eyes that were barely more than empty sockets. Their noses were completely sunken and their faces stretched tight across their skulls with teeth showing through their lips and jaw. The water was freezing cold in the swiftly running lake. It was being fed constantly by the many waterfalls that surrounded it. The sandy, rocky bank was littered with the vibrant greens and yellows of the vegetation that grew alongside and on top of it. Olham waded in, and at that moment a loud crack sounded, like a detonation.
Reynald had removed the stones from their base.
The horsemen understood at once and angry, they turned around to go after the real culprit. Olham watched them go, hoping that Reynald would have e
nough time to escape them.
The old druid plunged into the water. Taking a deep breath, he opened his eyes. Only a small amount of light was visible under the surface of the lake. He still had his walking stick which lit up and created a sphere which he was able to breathe inside of. He knew he needed to find the exit and quickly. He moved slowly and watched as his shadow passed along the walls making him look twice his own size.
He could see a wall above him made out of rectangular stones and as he swam further he came across the remains of an old drowned city. Olham knew the story but he’d never imagined he would find the city in this cave.
It was straight and pyramidal, with a flat dome.
Meanwhile, Olham penetrated the hole and entered a long corridor. On the walls he noticed the drawings and the inscriptions in Sumerian, the original language of the Ancients.
This was where they used to live when they arrived in the Earth. Since then, their cities had become flooded. Human legend of the Mu continent was in fact a reference to these submerged cities of the Ancients.
Olham exited the corridor. He turned his head to see that in fact he was inside of a pyramid. From there he went inside of another small cave. The particles of phosphorescent dust moved through the water and the light beams blasted through the surface of the lake. It was an awe-inspiring sight.
Hundreds of stalactites looked like an underwater rock cemetery. When he dived in between them he could see bubbles coming from underwater channels to other caves and remnants of stone buildings that had gone to their watery graves during the floods. He swam alongside the fish, mostly in the darkness but every so often shards of light would break through the trees that surrounded the surface of the lake and illuminate the rough cold rock walls as he made his way towards the exit and put more space between him and the horsemen. At the bottom, the sand became more and more delicate and the plants appeared fluorescent green.