Short Stories

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In Search of Taivas

“We must be very quiet or the snakes will hear,” Alykas whispered to Felmond, who was wrestling a little too boisterously with some thick underbrush in the Rung Coram jungle. The Lyst trees towered high above them, spreading their massive leaves in a canopy so dense that they could have easily forgotten there was a sky. Above the canopy rain was falling steadily like it always did. Below the travelers felt nothing but a mist and the oppressive humidity they knew far too well. “It should be at the top of this hill,” Alykas motioned to his friend while he wiped a mixture of sweat and water from his eyes.
“I hope you're right, it can't come soon enough for me.”
Alykas knew what he meant. They had been on the run for so long now seeking shelter from the swarming snakes. They crept carefully across the muddy moss, brushing away insects and trying in vain to avoid scratches from the thorny underbrush. He had always been able to figure things out, but was becoming so discouraged. His stocky, athletic build carried him confidently through the mud, while the determined look on his sharply carved face belied the nervousness he felt inside. He looked over at his companion, noticing as if for the first time that he seemed too thin to be healthy. In the dim jungle light Felmond's long face stretched with waxy skin and his eyes darted constantly back and forth as if trying to decide between two options. What would they find at the top of this hill?
The two carefully approached one of the towering Lyst trees and pushed two branches apart. They found a clearing with a few dozen crudely constructed log huts. In the light of the clearing they could see that the residents had obviously used the thick, large leaves of the Lyst trees to construct their tapered roofs to cover them from the rain that fell steadily without the protection of the jungle canopy. There was no sign of any inhabitants. Alykas rubbed his eyes to clear them of sweat and water. It seemed to him that the ground was moving.
“Snakes,” muttered Felmond, “just like all the other villages.”
The village was strewn with thin, spindly, mud-colored snakes. They were everywhere, completely covering the ground to several layers, crawling across the leafy roofs, and even inside the huts. Alykas could see them still scouring the area with eyes that appeared like tiny points of blazing red. He felt an icy wave of disappointment. “All those people,” he said softly.
They both quietly backed away from the tree and continued on their way, not speaking until the infested village was far behind them. When they finally came to a stop, Alykas noticed that Felmond was visibly showing the distress he also felt. His eyes were moving back and forth more rapidly than they had before. Alykas searched for words to encourage his friend. “There's still one more place, don't forget about Taivas,” he spoke finally.
“And what do you expect to find there,” Felmond snapped. It was just like a shadow had fallen from the surrounding darkness of the jungle onto his face.
“I don't know,” he said slowly. “I just know that the jungle belongs to King Kataastasaan and his Styrande. We'll find something.”
“ARE YOU BLIND! In which of those villages did you see the King or his Styrande army protecting the people?” Sweat poured down his face while the dark lines deepened. “All I see is that the jungle belongs to the snakes and that those Klatterstall people control the snakes!”
Alykas didn't respond. The two continued their laborious journey in silence, splashing through the swampy mud with the mist falling through the Lyst leaves soaking them thoroughly, adding more weight to their already heavy spirits. They were exhausted, hungry, and quickly losing hope. All their provisions were soaked, they had no food and no shelter, and certainly nothing to protect them from the snakes or whatever else might happen upon them in the wild jungle.
“We'll make this long journey to Taivas only to find it also inhabited with snakes, just like all the others,” spat Felmond at long last. The two had stopped to rest on a log of a fallen tree. Alykas noticed that the scowl seemed to have settled permanently on his face. “That is, if the snakes don't get to us first.”
Alykas thoughts drifted back to their own small village called Piccolo, and how it had been overthrown weeks earlier. The snakes had come and swarmed the village in such a massive number that no one had a chance. Most were paralyzed and captured by their poison. Once the people were immobile the Klatterstall had come and taken them as captives to a life of slavery in Lunsod, the city of the Klatterstall. He and Felmond weren't in the village at the time, having been out hunting, and as far as they knew were the only ones to escape. Since then they had been wandering the jungle searching for a place of safety. “Look, it's really not much further-,”
“What's that!”
“What's what?”
“I heard something.”
The two both stood up slowly and looked around. The blood froze in their veins as they saw pairs of red eyes on every side peering at them through the jungle darkness.
“Run,” screamed Alykas, while the snakes descended upon them from everywhere.
But Felmond didn't move. “I'm going over,” he called after Alykas.
Alykas stopped and looked back at him even as the snakes swarmed all around him. “Are you crazy!”
“No. The Klatterstall accept anyone who gives up to them.”
“It is a life of slavery!” Snakes were falling on Alykas from the trees and crawling up his legs.
“You've been deceived! What if Taivas doesn't even exist? What if it's not where you've been told? What will you do when you get there and it's taken over by the snakes, just like everyplace else?”
Alykas was horrified to see that Felmond’s eyes too now had a red tinge, and amazed that the snakes left him alone. He turned just when one dropped from a tree and landed on his head, its narrow head, red pinpoint eyes, and hissing tongue staring him in the face. He grabbed it writhing in his hand and threw it to the ground. Swarming snakes covered his entire body while he tried to pull them off as fast as he could.
“You can't beat them. You can't escape them. Give up! Admit there is no Taivas! Even now the Klatterstall will still accept you!”
But instead Alykas ran as fast as he could while the snakes tried to crush his legs and arms, coiled around his midsection and covered him with paralyzing stinging bites. He flailed, grabbed, and threw them while he ran, the snakes twisting hard against him. The slow poison of the many bites worked through his system faster because of the intensity of his flight. He ripped his clothing and skin on underbrush, ploughed through the swampy mud. He was covered from head to toe with mud and snakes, but kept running as hard as he could until he had fallen face down in a filthy pool from fatigue, unable to go any further. The poison was working its way through his body, affecting his mind and paralyzing his muscles. He wouldn't last much longer.

Felmond, meanwhile, was escorted by hundreds of the narrow, spindly snakes to a burly man wearing a slimy coat of armor, a tall spear, and red eyes that shot out of the darkness between them. The Klatterstall pointed his spear to a valley filled with hundreds of people from many other villages, laboring at various difficult tasks, building a city for the Klatterstall called Lunsod. It was to be a dark city composed of heavy brick that would torment the people of the jungle for many years to come. “You will work here,” commanded his gruff voice.

“Help him to his feet,” Alykas heard through the haze of his snake induced paralysis. “Hurry! Get him inside!” He felt two Styrande guards half carry him between the elaborate iron gates of a city.
Several days later he awoke in a clean, dry room, his head still throbbing wildly. “Welcome to Taivas,” a tall man with thick, dark hair who introduced himself as Seifu said. “I am with the Styrande."
"Wha- what happened?" Alzkas was rubbing his pounding forehead. Everything around him looked so fuzzy.
"You received a great deal of poison in the jungle, but you believed the King and so you are here today."
“Poison-” Alykas half mumbled, hazily remembering all the people of his own village carried off by the Klatterstall."
"It is meant to paralyze so that the victims can be taken for slavery, but the amount you received could have easily killed. However, King Kataastasaan has technology beyond both our understanding. He saved you.”
When Alykas continued to massage his forehead, Seifu motioned towards the door. "I think some fresh air would be a great help." Seifu then escorted him on a tour of the city with brightly painted houses and buildings laid along polished stone streets that shone in the brilliant sunlight. He introduced Alykas to so many people that day that it would be a long time before he would know all their names. They finally came to a park in the middle of the city where they sat down to rest in the warm sunshine. There Alykas, his head much clearer, noticed a plaque with an inscription. “What does that say?”
“That is in the Common Tongue of the Kingdom, the language developed by King Kataastasaan for his people. It's a reading from the ancient text the King gives to all the members of his Styrande. It reads:

'Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.'”

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