Chapter two: My Worst Birthday Present

It's been nine years now since that fateful night. Sommi took the two of us to Kai village in the Nenak state of Aishy*. He wanted to be seen as my father instead of my new master so he keeps the incident that happened in Dakima a secret, but he can't legally adopt me unless he has my mother's consent-If she's still alive... Today is the 4th of Furreku* which is also my birthday! I'm sixteen now so that makes me an adult! I wonder what Sommi will have in store for me this year? Then again, we're not really all that rich so he normally just makes me a wood carving. I don't mind it all that much. It's the thought that counts; right?

I look at the clock. "Almost there," I mumble to myself as I sit at the desk of a fruit shop. It's almost the evening shift and I can head home to spend the rest of the day in a more relaxing way. The big hand strikes 4 o' clock and I look over to my boss, Thek. "Alright Thek-kan, my shift is over. See ya tomorrow."

He looks up at the same clock. "Oh yeah, see ya."

We both smile at each other and I punch in my time card.

"Oh yeah, and happy birthday Vila," he notifies me.

"You've already said that, Thek-kan," I say, giggling.

"I just wanna make sure." He chuckles back and then jolts upward. "Hey Vila, didn't you mention something about groceries earlier?"

I give out an annoyed sigh once I realize what he's talking about, "Aw, that's right! I gotta get some supplies for the next few days. It's that time of the week again." I begin to storm off to start my shopping and wave back at him. "Thanks! Enjoy the rest of your day!"

"No problem, and I will!" He calls back to me.

I finally get the groceries that I need and head off to my little lav* in a hurry. My mind is in such a flurry that I accidentally run into someone hard and fall to the ground. I quickly get up and begin to gather my dropped belongings. "I'm so sorry Sir!" I lift my eyes from the ground to see the person I just ran into. His figure makes me pause and study him for a moment.

He stands tall, maybe about six feet and three inches, and wears a long tethered black cloak that hides him in mystery. Underneath his straw hat I barely see his bulky green face with scales. His right eye is red with a black slit for a pupil, but his left one has a scar that cuts deep into his brow and trails down into his lips with a glass eye to replace his original one. He must be a mitsu* from Kiram.

"Uh..." I'm marveled at this strange man.

"Watch it, pipsqueak," he growls under his breath.

I snap back into reality and pick up my things. "I-I'm so sorry." My feet scamper away on the trail to our house. As I finally see the hut, I start to pant from the rather long distance and take a moment to pause. I look up to see it on the hill with the sun setting behind and I smile to its beauty. Something is off, though, but I'm not sure what... I clutch the bag of groceries to my chest and jog up the rest of the hill to the front je-il*. It's torn up, and worse, someone tore it to pieces... What happened here? My mind is full of curiosity and confusion as I stand and try to contemplate over what's going on.

Should I go in?

I take one step towards the entrance and then another until I cautiously step over the threshold... The place is a mess. There's furniture broken and thrown all around. Everything is out of place. I begin to feel a pit in my stomach as I see the kitchen knives on the floor, some have blood stains on them. I quickly put my things down as I run to the back of the lav where Sommi cuts the wood for winter.

"Sommi?" I call out. No response. Some of the surrounding trees are sliced in half. What great force could have caused this!? There's a deadly amount of dried blood in the grass. It looks like enough for the person, whoever they were, to die from the loss. It better not be Sommi's!

"Sommi!" My voice is more worried. I hope he was able to defeat the attacker, or whatever it was. "Sommi!" Why isn't he answering!? I run back into the house to see if I missed something. I check the rai* box that we hide behind the kitchen stove. My feeble body forces the stove from the wall, but there's nothing left of that little box. We've been robbed, but why, who would do this!? My weak knees make it difficult to get back onto my feet and I run back outside towards our emergency gathering spot which is the small lake nearby.

I carefully slide down the steep hill towards the body of water until it's in my sight. My feet stumble a little as I walk from the slope in a hurry. "Sommi!" I call out again, but he doesn't answer. Where could he have gone? I run around the lake calling out his name as many times as I can, but no one answers me. I'm screaming his name at the top of my lungs for him to hear, but not even the birds dare to respond with their sweet melodies. All this time the same question spins through my head.

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Where is Sommi?

My strength eventually leaves me and I fall to the ground, sweating. I don't know where he is... What do I do? What am I supposed to do? The fear wells up in my eyes and the tears begin to stream down. Have I lost him forever? Will I ever see him again?... No, I refuse to give up! I'm not gonna lose him so easily! I know what to do! I wipe the tears away and stand more firmly. I need to get to the police, that's the rational way. I take off in the direction of Kai village and start running down the hill. I'm careful as to not be so reckless and hurt myself, but I still wanna make it there quickly before it gets too dark.

Suddenly my foot runs into a loose rock and I lose my balance. As I'm trying to regain it, something pushes me and next thing I know my feet aren't on the ground anymore. I see the slick grass and rocks coming closer to my face and feel my legs heading towards the sky. I'm falling! Darkness engulfs me.

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A grey color fills my vision in an empty room. There’s a strange figure in the distance in this vast greyness. I can't see it too well, but I think it's a person... It looks like a person... Who is that? Do I know them?... The figure has this-darkness around him, it gives me an awful chill... The figure seems to be coming closer and his appearance is slowly becoming more distinct... His face... His face is adjacent to mine; but why can't I move? His ghostly pale face is inches away and I can barely feel his cold dark lips touching mine. I can feel the coldness stiffen my entire body with an unknown fear; but what am I afraid of? I look into his eyes... Nothing but obscurity... Obscurity...

Nothingness...

My eyes suddenly open as I gasp deeply for air with a squeak from my dry throat. A few coughs escape my mouth as I begin to regain control of my body. Something stings in the back of my head. I bring a hand to where it hurts behind my noggin and feel a thick liquid. Am I bleeding? The numbness of my body subsides enough and I try to sit up. Apparently, I fell on my back with my head facing downhill, so I actually have to roll over a bit in order to sit up correctly. I try to gain the strength and stand on my feet slowly, but a surging pain in my ankle forces me to collapse and slide down the hill some. "Damn it," I mumble to myself as I get up from my belly and sit back down. I look at the sky and see that the sun is already setting, leaving me with very little natural light. "I have to hurry." I quickly get back up, and this time I'm careful to make small steps as I hardly apply pressure to my injured foot.

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After a long time of limping down the mount and over the trail, I finally make my way to the village. "Police, police!" My throat is still dry from when I passed out and breathing so heavily from the altitude change, but I manage to get someone's attention.

"Vila," I hear a familiar voice as I see a silhouette of a person holding a lamp, "Is that you?" He comes up to me with the dim light revealing his muscular face.

"Melek!" I say with a raspy voice.

He quickly comes up to me and holds me up.

I grab onto his shirt and look into his eyes with desperation. My hoarse voice makes it difficult to explain to him what I know, "Melek-The house, it's a mess!- Sommi's gone!"

"Vila, you're stone cold!"

Suddenly my knees buckle underneath my weight and Melek is quick to hold tight of me. Melek is swift to gently drop the lamp and lift me off my feet. "Why is your skin blue?" I hear him say so sweetly.

"What's going on?" His father, Sheriff Arikon, comes up to us.

Melek turns to reply, "I think there's something going on at Sommi's lav."

"What?"

"She said that the place is a mess and Sommi's missing."

Sheriff Arikon looks to me with a worried look on his face and then tells Melek what to do, "Go and take her home to your mother. I'll send a search team to her place."

Deputy Melek nods and takes us both to his house. The warmth of his buff body slowly replenishes mine with life as I cradle in his arms.

Why am I so cold? Aishy is a warm place so the night air shouldn't have affected me so much when I was out.

He steps into the door. "Mother, Vila needs a blanket and some warm tea," he gently calls out as he lays me on the sofa and starts to inspect me for any injuries.

His mother, Vielm-kan, walks up and checks my temperature from my forehead. "Oh dear, you're as cold as a rock my girl!" She scampers over to one of the living room cabinets and pulls out a blanket. "What happened to you? Did you take a long swim in the lake or something?" Vielm-kan then lightly places the blanket over me and then feels for any bruises around my noggin.

The back of my head doesn't hurt anymore strangely, and my ankle is fine now. I speak softly from exhaustion, "I'll be fine Vielm-kan it's Sommi you should worry about." My touch slowly comes back and I begin to feel everything like how a body should work.

"What about Sommi, has something happened to him?"

As I strive to muster up an answer I'm trying to make sense of the whole situation myself. "When I came home, I found the place a mess, and I couldn't find him anywhere." My voice begins to crack as droplets form in my eyes.

Vielm-kan wraps her arms around me in comfort. "Oh sweetie, there's no need for tears. You just rest up and we'll see what tomorrow brings us, alright?"

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Aishy- The first country on Fupum to be known, basically the mother of all countries.

Fupum- This word actually comes straight from the ancient language, Crenhis. There’s no direct or legitimate translation, but it supposedly means “Core,” or “Heart.” It’s believed that this word is referring to the concept of the planet’s cornerstone. This is the name of the spherical planet that Vila lives on.

Furreku- The month of June.

Je-il- A heavy piece of fabric that is used as a door for entryways or windows, basically the main substitute for wood and or glass.

Lav- A small home or one-room-hut for peasants.

Mitsu- A crocodile or alligator anthro. They usually live in the country Kiram of Fupum for the extremely warm temperatures. Kiram is on the Eastern quarter of Fupum.

Rai- The currency for the residents if Fupum.