Veil One

For over an hour, Nate kept running. Stumbling towards an apple tree, he sank to the ground. He tilted his head and admired the vast expanse of the valley before him. The drop was steep but grassy. He let himself slip over the wild grass until he reached the bottom with a thump. Lying flat, he caught his breath. Then needed to run again.

By nightfall, he collapsed in the middle of a meadow.

The next morning, he woke up to a birdsong. Joy was contagious, but he remained cautious. “Trust only me.”

After another day alone, there was a chasm in his heart.

He crunched up in agony.

Then Lauryn was there. She held her hand out, willing him to continue. He smiled, getting up to follow her when she faded.

Lauryn!

But Lauryn transformed into a dancing Kenya.

The dancing Kenya into StarLight.

Nate’s foot caught on a root, sending him tumbling onto the grass.

The images of Lauryn’s disappearance on the Zambezi River and Kenya transforming into StarLight played over and over in his mind.

Then it hit him.

I lost her! I lost Star!

Nate’s eyes widened with shock.

***

I lost Star to the lowest vibrations of the earth. She lost hope. She descended into despair, into Machia Veil! It was all coming back to him. A hurricane split us apart. With our vibrations lowered, we lost our capacity to move and change forms. We lost it all. We couldn’t find each other, and Star fell.

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Paired with losing Lauryn; he fell to his knees, lying on the grass in a foetus position. Unable to breathe, his eyes wide in agony. He dragged himself towards a tree and leaned his back on the tree trunk.

***

Upon awakening the next morning, the emptiness returned. Nate got up and walked fast. Adrenaline coursed through his veins, pushing him to run faster than ever before. Through a flat expanse of pasture. Down a lush valley, the sun glinting off the river that meandered through it. Up the hill, the sun was setting in the distance. He traipsed forward, his exhaustion growing until he stopped, and the trees were no longer visible. He hoped to find refuge beneath a tree, like the night before. As he ran, the terrain transformed to an arid desert. A vast expanse of sandy dunes stretched out before him without a single tree in sight.

It shook him.

He stopped running. There was trouble ahead. The landscape stretched for miles, an endless desert of sand and rock, with no rivers or trees to break it up and no vegetation. He ran towards a dune, hoping for something different on the other side.

He was hungry and thirsty. An hour passed, and Nate started singing at the top of his voice.

He weaved the song into a skip.

Soon his eyes fell heavy with fatigue.

He rested.

***

By mid-afternoon the next day, a strange hush filled the air and in its stead voices in his head grew louder.

What was happening to him? There was an inner voice that was louder than ever. It was a child’s voice.

This young inner monologue intrigued him. It began with I must leave this place. I am going to find a forest.

Then the child spoke up again. I must leave this place. I am going to find a forest.

Then again. I must leave this place. I am going to find a forest.

And again. I must leave this place. I am going to find a forest. Yup.

Stop!

I got it! Yes, that’s what I want!

I must leave this place. I am going to find a forest.

I must leave this place. I am going to find a forest.

Stop!

I left Kenya alone.

I left Kenya alone. What is she doing now? I wonder.

Stop!

Nate covered his ears, wishing for his inner monologue to go away.

***

His throat was dry. His inner voice continued when a glimmer sparkled in the distance.

“Could it be?” He narrowed his gaze to be certain. “Water!”

He ran towards a shimmering lake, surrounded by tall, swaying palm trees.

But when he arrived, the land was dry. The lake was nowhere to be seen.

Another lake came into view to his right, and he dragged himself towards it. But again, it vanished.

He dropped to his knees. Trembling with his endless stream of thoughts. He covered his ears and fell to the ground, hiding from the blinding, searing heat of the sun. He lay there. The grains of sand beneath him. Facing the sun, he closed his eyes and felt the heat seeping into his skin.

“I am dying.”