Before it all began, there was a huge storm. Around 10 PM that evening massive dark clouds started gathering and furrowing around the seashores, lightning zigzagged across the sky, with bright flashes and light moaning turning to roaring thunder sweeping across the distance. Out at sea the storm was already raging on, and this all slowly crept up on the shores of Santini Bay. In the distance the lights of the storm warning began blinking on and off in a ghastly red, marking the storm making land near the town of Darwinton. In the harbour smaller and larger boats, fishing ships and cargo ships alike rocked around in the increasingly wild waves that sprayed white foam around as they crashed against everything in their way. The waves were strong enough to tighten the ropes and other safety devices around each vessel to the point of almost tearing them apart and sending them out into the middle of the raging waves aimlessly. The Opaque and angry green color of the water was completely different from the usual quiet azure you’d see during a normal, peaceful day. Santini bay has always been like this, having two very different faces, and when the party really began, storms usually came at the town at full blast. Only two old friends, two sailors stood the siege of the wild winds and raging waves however, still struggling to fix the rigging holding down the cargo on deck. Crates were full of valuable and plentiful wares and they wanted to absolutely make sure it was safe.
„Just a bit more, Karl! It needs to be tight...“ the long bearded old sailor said to his friend, having to readjust his worn old raincoat every two seconds.
„Ja, ja, ich weiss schon...“ his german friend responded, who originally had a meeting with a fair lady that evening, and had freshly shaved, some of the foam still on his face slowly melting away in the rain constantly blasting at his face. „But this blasted thing just won’t budge...“
Suddenly, one of the rigging burst with a loud banging sound equal to a gunshot, and wind dragged a number of crates into the seawater beyond the edge of the ship.
„Scheisse!“ Karl cursed and even threw his old cap stomping on it in frustration. „I told you we need new harnesses! These old pieces of shit can’t hold for the life of me!“
„Just stop complaining and finish fixing these!“ Edwin, his colleague slapped him over the shoulder. „The sooner we’re done, the sooner we can get under a roof!“
About two more minutes of struggling and they were finally successful and ready to head to safety. However as Edwin was about to enter safety, ready to call it a day, he noticed Karl still standing still, as if completely struck by something.
„Hey, are you okay? What happened to you?“ he tapped Karl’s shoulder, which only sent the other man falling over like a bag of beans. „Why shiver me timbers, what the hell’s gotten into you?!“
Edwing looked up at the sky, as yet another lightning crossed the row of clouds above them, lighting up the night sky bright as daylight. Rain was coming down in buckets, and he was already soaking wet everywhere he could imagine. Gigantic drops of rain fell from high heavens at increasing pace, but it seemed like there was an unexplainable glow to them.
„What in hell...“
A huge raindrop fell right in front of Edwin’s face, and as the silvery glimmer shone in his face, the man suddenly collapsed and fell right next to his already unconscious friend.
All that remained for the next morning was clearing away the debris left behind by the storm. The wild, unrelenting waves and the raging winds carried a lot of trash and sealife ashore, which gave officials of the town a lot of work to get done by the early hours of the morning, but luckily enough by the time the majority of the people awoke, most of the job was already as good as done, and all that remained was the sizeable puddles on the sides of the road.
When Sam Richards, 17 year old, Darwinton resident woke up that morning, he was only greeted by what remained after the rain the previous night.
„The level 6 storm that struck down on our town damaged the warehouse quarters and the beaches last night, but luckily it didn’t reach all the way into the heart of our homes.“ the new reporter announced as he turned the tv on, making breakfast. „However numerous people were found unconscious in various areas. According to reports they were unharmed, but there is no clear information on what may have caused their passing out, and it is unclear, if they will wake up anytime soon.“
This did catch Sam’s attention as he was just about to start eating, and even increased the volume to hear it better.
„The quote on quote victims of the unexplained phenomenon were all of various ages and there was no direct connection between them, except for all of them having been found outside, despite the horrid weather last night.“
„So... They passed out, despite coming to no harm? Interesting.“ Sam mumbled to himself.
This was also when his mother, Christine entered the kitchen and took her place across from him, taking up the morning paper, which was soaking wet when Sam picked it up, but dried it with a hair dryer, and began eating while reading.
„Morning!“ she greeted with a smile before doing so.
„Same to you. I’ll be out within the next five minutes, but have a good appetite!“
„Thanks!“
Sam thus returned to his morning routine, brushing his teeth, getting dressed, socks, shoes, jacket to protect against the winds, his backpack and off he was already. Before he could leave though, Christine called out to him for one more thing.
„Sam, don’t forget the laundry in the afternoon, okay?“
„Sure!“
And with that, the door finally closed behind him and he had 10 more minutes before he’d meet Lena, his childhood friend who’s been his greatest support through the hardest of times. Eversince his father left them for another woman, the whole household fell onto him. He even moved out of town so they definitely couldn’t count on him in anything anymore. His mother was working all the time, probably even running away from her problems, so they had laundry done by a laundry service and had food ordered from a local Hash-house. Even Sam himself worked every afternoon to get some extra, and be able to go out at least sometimes during weekends and have some fun. Life was miserable enough as it was, and they also lived in a small, broken down one storey house which stuck out like a sore thumb from among all the other houses of the neighbourhood. As the only man of the family now, Sam was in charge of taking care of the house in and outside, but seeing how he also had school to attend, and work as well, so a lot of the times keeping the house tidy was an extra chore he couldn’t afford to tend to, but when he did, he usually also asked for help from his friends. At times though, problems arose that needed the help of a professional. Even now he was just calculating their next upcoming expenses, not even paying attention to his surroundings, as a car just zoomed past him, spraying him with water, getting him wet from bottom to top in a puddle’s water. This was probably the biggest wake up call that morning and he jumped back, hoping not to get even more, but his pants were beyond saving anymore.
„Oh great... Just what I needed...“ he mumbled to himself as he approached the edge of the pavement, to see how bad the damage was, using his reflection as help. „What the...“
However, as he approached the same puddle he was sprayed from, to his not so small surprise, it wasn’t his reflection he saw. The crazy part was, it wasn’t even anything normal, like the sky, or a distorted image of something else nearby, it was the image of a girl, a young woman even with silvery white hair, deep greyish blue eyes and with an expression probably just as perplexed as his. She wore white robes, with a green collar and golden highlights and had a stack of books under her arm. The two of them looked in what was probably supposed to be a puddle with their reflection, and they even made the same motions while doing so.
„Who are you?“ Sam asked half out loud as he could already hear Lena, his friend calling his name from afar.
He reached his hand out and so did the woman on the other side and for whatever reason, there was this strange silver glimmer to the puddle itself around them that was getting stronger and brighter every moment. their fingers were slowly coming closer and closer.
„Sam? Hey, what’re you doing?“ Lena asked, but she was already late.
Sam and the woman’s hands touched through this strange window between worlds maybe, and the ever brightening glow became a blinding light that suddenly envelopped everything, and it all faded to white and silence.
As the late summer rainshower passed through, the city of Teareal was left with large puddles on the roadside. With the early after rain breeze however, life quickly returned to the green city. Frogs croaking from all around and the birds that hid among the tree canopies now chirping once again, the cool moist afterenoon greeted whoever decided to go for a walk. Along cobble covered road a small child came skipping around barefoot, going from one puddle to the next jumping around and racing the frogs, as if trying to catch them. Joyous child laughter and a happy little verse followed the little girl, who was no more than five years old, wearing a light, clean white dress that was already stained brown with all the mud she got herself covered in from her feet pitter-pattering around in every small surface of water, all the way to her silvery white hair that waved around while running around like a flag in the wind.
„One frog, two frogs, badadumm! Don’t jump around like a silly clown!“
She jumped after each frog like a cricket, dancing around and croaking like the frogs herself.
„Three frogs, four frogs, bubaloosh! You won’t lose me you little baboons! And Five and six and ten and more... !“
Finally she stopped, her hands clasping something carefully, just enough for whatever it was among them, not to let them escape.
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„I caught you and you won’t go no more!“
Among her hands she held a small green tree frog which looked at her with its big, bulging orange colored eyes, croaked once more, before skipping along, leaving the child laughing in the sweetest child laughter one could probably imagine.
„Alright now, enough playing around, Thalia! Your mother won’t wait forever.“ her father finally arrived picking her up in his arms. „And look at the mess you made out of yourself. How am I going to explain this to your mother?“
Thalia, as her father called her was indeed covered from bottom to top in mud and by the time her father got her at least a bit cleaned up they were both pretty much dirty.
„Now look at us both!“ Areal, Thalia’s father finally said. „What am I gonna tell your mother, what happened to us?“
„Mommy won’t mind.“ Thalia said giggling and wiping some more mud off her father’s face. „She always laughs when I play outside and get dirty.“
„Well, that’s fun and all, but we’re not home, right?“
Thalia was very much like her mother, in her nature, her way of thinking and especially her appearance. The white hair, the beautiful, very expressive and always very much alive greyish blue eyes she had, she was almost the spitting image of Aria. Her father, with his brown hair and equally brown eyes, her father was so different, people often told him, of course just jokingly, that he wasn’t the child’s father. Back when he was a child though he was just as lively, just as adventurous and fun loving as his daughter, so it’s safe to say at leats she took after him in something. Back then, Areal himself was the type to get into all sorts of trouble as well. Thalia La’Arua was in fact the perfect mix of both worlds, and at the age of just five, she was like a a force of nature to recon with. The fact stood, that as her father took a better look at her, he had to realize she changed so much since they last met. Back then, Thalia was still an infant, sitting on her mother’s arm, with just two teeth in the front, and was still too small to even crawl around never mind run around, play and talk as sweet and lively as she does now. She did know how to laugh, smile, and use those beautiful eyes of hers to charm anyone, luckily by now though she was able to tell what her problem was if she had any. She was the type though, that you couldn’t take your eyes off for a second. How much she’s changed, and how much more beautiful she became... In just five short years she became a fine little lady, in all the possible ways... Well, aside from the mud of course.
„There, much better already.“ her father finally said once he was done washing her up, and lifting her in his arms. „You may still be a bit muddy, but at least your hands and face are clean.“
Thalia now looked her father from bottom to top and shook her head.
„And you want to see Mommy like this?“ she asked in a cheeky tone, something she learned from her mother. „You’re all dirty.“
„And who did this to me, hmm?“
They both laughed finally moving on. Areal La’Arua has been away from home for almost five and a half years due to his work, but this was something completely normal among their people. Now he was at home though, and looking at his jacket, his shirt and pants were covered in mud which now made both father and daughter equally funny looking. This was also how they entered the hospital, as they called the great building the best doctors of the city and half the country worked in. In the city of Teareal buildings were all built either onto or into trees, their canopies. The hospital as humans called it originally, was built into the large, hollow trunk of an ancient tree. The windows on the plain white walls were just enough to let some light inside, however the entrance was like a large, decorated old gate that a lot of people came and went through daily. To Thalia, this was all that was for sure, and the fact that doctors all wore white rhobes and they help ill or injured people. The idea of a hospital was actually something one of Areal’s colleagues, another adventurer brought home from his journeys. It didn’t take long to convince people that old priests and magicians whose methods were mostly grounded in superstition and were already long outdated needed to be replaced by well trained doctors. One of these people in white rhobes was Dr. Aattah Karool, a lizard man with whom Thalia was familiar, since she and her mother visited him numerous times before.
„Doctor... “ Areal greeted his wife’s doctor in charge with a bow and a handshake, who accepted it with a sorrowful smile. „How is Aria?“
„I think we should talk about this in private.“ the doctor responded in his hissing voice, and he even had a bit of a lisp. He turned to Thalia and opened the room’s door next to them. „Why don’t you head inside to your mommy until then, Thalia?“
Thalia gladly nodded and headed inside, the door soon closing behind her, leaving the two men alone. For a long minute there was a deep and bothersome silence before Areal spoke.
„So, how severe is her state?“
„I’m afraid, you know exactly by now.“ the doctor said with a worried and tired expression. „Withering is something noone’s ever managed to survive before.“
Areal turned deathly pale at this and slid down, finally ending up sitting down on one of the chairs lining the corridor they stood in, burrying his face in his hands, trying to fight back his sour tears and not crying out of despair.
„How much time does she still have left?“ he finally asked in a faint voice. „How much do I have to prepare the child for it?“
„Well...“ Attah stuttered, but there was no point in trying to mislead the already stricken man, „We discovered her illness far too late. Until just a week ago, she could fight it back, but finally her body gave in...“
„How long?!“ Areal could yell right now, just out of frustration and despair, but he steeled himself and just quietly demanded an answer with his eyes ablaze.
„A month maybe.“ Attah finally spat out shaking his head. „You know exactly how quickly the patient’s health deteriorates in the final days.“
„Yes... I know.“ Areal finally stood. „If you’ll please excuse me, I’d like to see my wife.“
Aattah just stepped aside to give him free way, sighing with a heavy heart and returning back to his job.
Once entering the door, painted in the most beautiful green colors of nature, in an artistically carved wooden bed lay the woman that stole Areal’s heart a little less than 20 years earlier, and now looked at him with a face as pale as the moon itself, having thinned down terribly from her illness, yet still gleaming with motherly pride and deep, unwavering love, all in a charmingly beautiful smile. Her lush, beautiful, snow white hair covered most of the bed in itself, and her child, who was like the spitting image of her, sat in her lap, in a loving embrace. As soon as her husband entered, she lifted her opaque and dull eyes up to see him and seeing him, even her smile changed suddenly, life returning into her entire being, seeing the porigal boy, the one who’d conquered her heart finally returning after five long years. And at that, in such hard times.
„Hello, Aria...“ her husband uttered with a heavy heart. - Are... Are you okay?
Areal changed alot since they last met. Contrary to a popular old habit, he grew a beard, his hair was a mess, his clothes, aside from the mud on them, although neat, still worn and torn from all the globetrotting lifestyle he’s lived for years. His jacket he received from non other than his wife, and his boots especially showed signs of wear and tear. It was about high time to get new ones, and yet, he couldn’t take the heart to get rid of them, after all, these were mementos of the home he’d left behind.
„Areal...“ the woman’s voice was just as weak as she herself. „Dearest Areal...“
And she was already crying, and only a few heavy footsteps separated them from eachother. Something, that her husband crossed as if flying, to finally embrace his love after not having seen her for such a long time. Five years in the life of an elf is like a few minutes, yet if you have a beautiful wife like Areal had, not to mention their child, who are waiting for him at home, sooner or later even the greatest bums of the world will start becoming achingly home sick. For long minutes they just sat there in eachother’s arms and their daughter just watched them, hardly understanding why the two stringest people she’s ever seen in this world, would now cry the tears of joy and sorrow over their reunion.
It wasn’t easy to at least lure Thalia away from her mother, who started complaining about her pain returning and the doctors and nurses asked them politely to leave, since she’d be put to sleep by the medicine she received. No point in them staying any longer then, thus Thalia and Areal slowly walked home. Not even Thalia was in a playful mood, as when early afternoon anymore, and her father was also in a dark mood, so they just slowly paced down the street leading to their home.
„Go on ahead, honey, I’ll be right behind you.“
This was how Areal sent Thalia ahead, just to see the small house he’d built with his own hands and with the help of friends 6 years ago, when they came home from Thorpio, their home for 14 years before that. The house itself was built under the roots of a huge Arauna tree, protected from winds, storms, and snow even. Although this also meant having to light lamps in the house every evening much earlier, this was still a cozy, quiet little home. The three of them lived a rather sweet and peaceful life here. When Aria learned she was pregnant, they still lived in their old home in the far north but even there the joy was so great that their home itself could spread wings and fly away with its owners themselves. But now they come back to the home they’d built just for themselves for living here in this city, it was deaf silence surrounding them. The happiness was gone, and Areal could feel the pressure of that even now. Soon a lantern was lit inside as Thalia, in spite of her young age, was well rounded around the house. Inside a flawless clean house awaited him, but in the middle of the kitchen, there was the bucket full of the water that’s already gone cold a hundred times since Aria collapsed right next to it, and was taken to hospital. Thalia was living with her grandparents since then so everything was left untouched since then. Thalia meanwhile went to her room and he was left to put everything back in its place. He felt a sharp pain in his chest just thinking what his wife had to go through without him. Once he was done, they sat down to have dinner. The bread was dry , since noone was at home to make some fresh, and this was already sitting in the corner of the cooler for days now. A little chewy, and Thalia wasn’t really too satisfied with it either.
„ What’s wrong, honey?“ her father finally asked, after watching this go on for long enough. „You don’t like it?“
His daughter shook her head and handed him the last few bites. Areal himself had to admit, he didn’t really want to eat all that much, but he wanted to give his daughter a good example.
Bath time went by in complete quiet, just the water splashing every now and then. Thalia was so much more lively the evening before with her grandmother, but now, she didn’t feel like playing around in the water, just sat around in the hot tub full of foam. She just let herself get washed in the places she couldn’t wash herself. Finally, when she was already in bed, a question she’s been keeping to herself until now suddenly slipped out.
„Daddy... Will Mommy be okay?“
Areal made shrugged with a painful expression his daughter luckily didn’t notice. He just smiled mildly and caressed her cheeks.
„Of course, honey, she’ll be fine. She’ll be home soon.“
He just couldn’t take the heart to tell her the truth, even though it was painfully clear that he’d have to tell her sooner or later. Finally he gave his daughter a kiss on the forehead, covered her in her blanket and put the lantern out. Once the door closed, Thalia hugged her ragdoll her mother made for her, and soon fell asleep smiling.
However, just after midnight, the small girl, who’d been sleeping as peacefully as an angel, started thrashing around in bed. Clearly she was being tortured by bad dreams and she finally woke up in tears. She looked around in confusion and tried figuring out what hapened, or where she was in wain. After fidgeting around for a bit, she found the lantern on the drawer next to the bed, and once light was made, she was rubbing her eyes, trying to get used to the lighting.
„Wehre am I?“ she mumbled still half asleep. „What happened to me?“
This was when she noticed her hands and this scared her even more.
„What... What happened to my hands?!“
She finally made out where she was, and finally got out of bed, took the oil lantern up and walked to the mirror, that was just across from the bed. For some time she just stared at her reflection, before suddenly starting to scream at the top of her lungs. She tripped backwards in terror and dropped to her butt onto the floor.
„Thalia?!“ Areal suddenly burst into the room hearing his daughter’s scream, thinking she was in trouble, but once he saw her sitting in front of the mirror, he calmed down slightly. „What’s wrong, honey? Are you sleepwalking?“
„I...“ Thalia could only stutter, but soon pulled herself together and threw herself in her father’s arms. „I saw something scary... A monster!“
„Aww you...“ Areals reassuring voice and her patting her head seemed to calm Thalia down. „You just had a bad dream is all.“
Finally Thalia went back to bed, got another kiss and the lantern was still placed back to its place. Lights out once more, and she was once more left alone. What Areal could not know however, was that Sam Richards‘ consciousness awoke in Thalia’s body that night.