Ukrit

Dis ting be blottin’ out de skies, thought Ukrit. He snuffed. And it smell worse den death! Shadows bathed the forest surrounding the Tai scout, their shroud dimming his vision. But de elda’s want a report, so I gon’ git a report. Perhaps it wasn’t true darkness; daylight did peak in through gaps in the Makeapuu trees.

Overall though, the unnatural darkness unnerved Ukrit. He crept low, spear in hand. A thin leather thong wrapped about it, for when he bound it to his back for travel. Today he kept it ready, uncertain what this journey would bring. He continued to stalk through the trees.

Okadake Village be right ova dis hill, Ukrit thought, following the old trail. Under other circumstances, he’d enjoy this trip, and the prospect of seeing his grandparents again. They’d given up hunting to be leatherworkers, and retired to Okadake Village. Seeing the mass before him, however…

It be alright, pe’haps de gods were merciful, pe’haps dey be quick, he hoped. The trail crested before looping down into the valley of Okadake. He knew he’d not need to travel down. Ukrit also felt in his bones that his grandparents were most likely dead.

Murky water stagnated in the basin, rank with death. Ukrit wrinkled his nose, and his lips curled away from his tusks in disgust. A new mountain of rock sank in the water, fallen from the sky to fill the valley. It overlapped the hills and continued off into the distance as far as he could see before the hills obscured his vision.

Dis ting smell o’ death and sometin' else, he thought. It not rock, though that’s what he felt he saw. Grim curiosity overcame the worry for his grandparents. Gods grant ya peace, grandmotha’ and grandfatha’. Until we meet again.

Revulsion filled him at the thought of swimming through the murk slowly filling the valley to reach this new mountain, so he determined to travel around it, to where the rock came out of the depression and flowed into the next.

In all ma days, I ain’t neva seen nuttin' like dis. Ukrit wondered if the other scouts had found anything hopeful - or helpful. Probably not. Always de first. Prob’ly gon’ be de first to die hea’.

Skirting the valley, he headed a bit east, then north. He heard animals, even if he didn’t see them. Life had resumed here. Dis ting may be a threat, but not a deadly one. Not now, anyway. I tink dat time is past. Ukrit struggled through the underbrush, now that he was off the normal paths. At one point, he stopped to curl up the braid of his hair to the back of his head, fixing it there with a short stick.

He moved quicker now, less worried about stealth now that he knew he stalked a lifeless mountain. Sweat slicked his bare, pale green chest as his powerful legs strode through the trees. Ukrit hacked away branches in his path with his shortened throwing axe, but it took most of the day to skirt the valley of his grandparents.

As the sun began to set, he entered a clearing, and the other smell was its most potent. A fissured rock wall rose above him, fragmented and chipped as the adjacent ground was unsettled by this new addition. Massive rock slabs interlocked across the wall, ever so slightly curved. Dey look like dey can move. Dey look like...flesh. Dat’s not right, Ukrit thought. Almost like fish scales. Or lizard.

“Tonight I be campin’ here,” he said, beginning to search for firewood. “No sense breakin’ my neck tryin’ to climb dis in de dark.” He snuffed. “Pe’haps not dis close,” Ukrit decided.

***

Miranda

“MOMMY!” Miranda screamed, jerking awake. Her sudden motion caused her to slowly start spinning as she became aware. Sticky liquid began flowing down her legs from above her, suspended upside down as she was. It trailed down her torso, past her shoulders to her arms, where it fell to the ground in a gooey mess, solidifying. Like a fly caught in a web, her rotation was arrested.

The dream had been so real, like a memory. She could almost remember it herself, but it had been from her mother’s view. Unconsciously Miranda tried to reach for her chest, remembering the piercing pain she thought she’d felt, but the fluid bound her, and she could not reach up. She closed her eyes to remember. The last thing she saw was that glittering blue eye, calling her close. Then memories only. Father. Mother. MOTHER!

She remembered her mother. Why couldn’t she do that before? Mother had been so pretty, surely she should have remembered her. Impressions danced at the edge of her mind, like she could almost remember why she couldn’t remember. Did it matter? Mommy was there!

But mommy had died. Miranda tugged at the tendrils wrapped around her. She didn’t want to die like mommy. She strained and pulled and twisted, but no effort made any difference. Mommy had been sick. She remembered this. Sick and thin, wasting away. Daddy hadn’t been able to help mommy. Then he never spoke of her again.

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Now he’d lost Miranda too. If he hadn’t, he would have found her by now. Daddy always knew where she was. He was always there for her.

Not anymore.

Daddy had forgotten her too.

She was on her own.

Tears welled up, dripping down her bald head, and fell to the ground below her. Miranda understood now. Why would daddy betray mommy like that, and forget her? Why would daddy betray her and leave her forgotten? He was a grown-up, and didn’t need her anymore. She loved him so much, but now she knew he did not feel the same.

Why would he? She was a burden and a reminder of mommy. That had to be it. Well, she wouldn’t be his burden any more. The more she thought about his sadness, and how her mother had been erased from her life, the more furious she became.

Let go of me! She thought. Her arms began to glow and she looked down at them. Wisps of smoke came up her arms, swirling up her torso to her feet, lost in the gloom above. She focused her fury on her right hand and yanked. Whatever held her bound shattered into dust. Miranda concentrated on her other hand, yielding the same result.

More of the substance came down her legs but she was ready now. Remembering daddy pushing her on the swings at the playground, she began to whip her arms in front and behind her. The ooze splattered down away from her, unable to solidify and trap her. She began to twist again.

:Miranda, bounce!: came the voice in her head again, the new one.

“I don’t know how!”

:Shake yourself loose then,: it replied. She began to twist and contort herself, and felt the fluid give a bit at her ankles.

Encouraged, she decided she had a better idea. She reached up with a hand and hooked it behind her knee, and pulled her torso up, walking up with her hands. Extending her reach and bending her knees, she grabbed at her ankles, then past. More of the fluid flowed around her hands to encapsulate them, but she was ready. Heat flared, and the tendrils released. Only then did she realize her mistake.

She fell to the ground and it knocked the wind out of her. Stunned, she took a moment to orient herself and let the feeling return to her limbs.

“I need to get out of here,” she said, but didn’t exactly know where “here” was.

:Glowing seems like a useful power, Miranda,: the thought suggested. She agreed. Her legs were covered in sticky slime that kept trying to climb up, so she started walking as soon as she could.

“I don’t glow!” she argued with the thought. :I beg to differ: came its reply.

“I don’t know how! YOU glow!” A mental chuckle met her indignance. She was mad again. First she felt abandoned by her father, and now this thought in her mind mocked her. Her hands glowed once more.

Mesmerized, she raised them up and she could see further. One far wall was black, shot through with orange cracks, but a tunnel opposite it went away and down. :Go that way,: the thought urged. It looked like a way out to her, so she entered the tunnel, determined to get away from the sticky ooze that kept trying to restrain her.

As she passed down the tunnel, two glowing purple flames, shrouded dim by black mist, descended from the ceiling and began to follow.

***

Ukrit

Ukrit stirred awake, mist shrouding the landscape about him. He’d retreated somewhat from the strange rock wall that smelt wrong, hoping to get some comfort in sleep. The Tai had failed. Strange dreams he could not quite recall teased the edges of his consciousness, ephemeral remnants of his fragmented rest.

Can’t escape dis smell, he thought. It be ever’where. Wrinkling his nose, he brushed at it and shook his head. Time ta get on wit’ dis. Though hungry, he picked up his spear, re-wrapped the thong about it, and trudged back to the rock wall.

Surveying what he could in the misty morning half-light, he found places to pick a path to climb up. Shattered rock gave way to the larger interlocked slabs. Massive as they were, he discerned a subtle ribbing that whorled around, thick and large enough to grab. Easy enough to climb. With his first tentative touch, he recoiled. Unsure of whether the slab was blazingly hot or deeply cool, he looked at his hand with surprise.

Finga’ prints, dey be like finga’ prints, he surmised, comparing the whorls to his own fingertips. Da elda’s gon’ want to hea’ moah’. Seeing no damage, he gingerly grasped ahold once more, and cautiously climbed.

Growing daylight burned the mist away, and he soon reached the summit of his climb. Nothing he had ever experienced could have prepared him for the sight he beheld.

“By da GODS!” he exclaimed. “Would ya look at dat! Mountains got nuttin’ on dis!” Ukrit saw that he had climbed the arm of a massive beast, very like a lizard but with wings carefully folded upon its back. He could not gauge the size of something this huge. Looking down the sweep of neck, a head towering above the trees rested on the ground, gray beard-like strands arrayed around its jaw like tendrils. Behind and up the body went, till the rest of it was lost in the fog-shrouded hills.

“Nevah seen a beast like dis. It do be asleep tho’. I hope.” That massive head drew his attention once more, and he noticed now a half-lidded eye, glittering a dull blue. Ukrit changed his assessment. “Mebbe a tinny bit awake.”

He knew his peril now, seeing this beast spread out before him. To this flying lizard, he was but a fly, or smaller. Just as easy to crush. Awe and fear collided with duty and unmistakable curiosity.

Despite the smell and the strange feel of what must be scales, now the Tai scout moved quickly. The broad expanse of the arm lent comfort to his decision to proceed, content with renewed surety he would not fall. Climbing up to the back was even easier, and from there he traveled down the spine to the lizard’s neck. He marveled at the way the wings curved and tucked near the back and down the sides, unobtrusive for objects so massive they could lift a beast like this into the air.

Noon-time sun dwindled his shadow to nothing as he wiped sweat from his brow. Ukrit regretted not having refilled his water pouch earlier, and it nearly was empty. As he got nearer the business end of the lizard, doubts crept in.

“You’d best not wake, lizza’d. Don’t want to be killed like a fly. But da elda’s need to know. I need to know.” Saying the words, he realized he wasn’t sure what exactly he meant to learn, but knew it would be important. Passing between two massive, rocky mounds on the top of the lizard’s head, he looked down the gap of brow-ridges. It was the only way down to the snout.

“I hope ya don’t be ticklish,” he muttered mid-climb.

:I’m not,: came the reply. Astonished, Ukrit lost his grip and fell.