Neither Jake nor Alice moved for the rest of the time spent stuck in the barren white world, not wanting to risk separating in the dark and sliding away across its slippery surface. They didn’t have to wait long, though, as about ten minutes after Jake’s return the darkness around began to break as the skyline lit with the dim purple glow that announced the sun’s imminent arrival. Its glow bounced off the reflective surface of the ground and created a dazzling display that blinded both Jake and Alice, who shielded their eyes from the upcoming sunrise. Taking hold of Alice’s hand and the pack of supplies next to him, Jake kept his eyes shut tight in protection from the bouncing rays of the rapidly rising sunup till he felt a familiar weightless feeling take hold in his chest and found himself falling in rapid free fall.
The pair landed with a loud splash as they sank ankle-high into a stream. Looking around they seemed to be on a large bank of low-cutting rivers and boulders. Webs of rivers cut through the ground creating a branch of sand banks and dunes of wet mulch that felt unstable to stand on. The rivers varied wildly in size, some several meters long while others only measured an inch or two in length. Currently Alice and Jake stood in the middle of one of the larger streams, though it didn’t run too deep as it was clogged with loose sand and rocks.
Looking around for a moment, both soon slogged through the stream's flow till they reached one of the larger riverbanks. Sitting side by side in the sand the pair leaned forward to take steady sips from the flowing stream, careful not to inhale any loose particles of sand. After both had their fill of water, Jake turned to Alice with a serious look,
“We need to get smart about this. That’s twice now this has almost happened. From now on, no splitting up from one another. Especially not in the wild. We stick together. Got it?”
Alice nodded, though she seemed distracted. She’d been out of it for a while now, losing focus not long after Jake had returned. Her eyes were focused on her hands, a haze falling over her gaze as she stared down lost in thought. She tried to feel them again, the tangled strings knotted throughout her. How it snaked and pulsed and danced with power hidden just beneath her skin. She tried to remember the feeling that came to her, force her hands to pulse with light again.
Yet nothing came, she lost focus once Jake returned. It was only for a short while, a minute or two at the most, yet it was long enough for that feeling to fade. Lost from her head, like trying to grasp hold of a dream it escaped her. And like a dream, its memory didn’t fully leave but instead stayed agonizingly close in her mind. Mocking her as she flexed her fingers, cracked her knuckles, balled her hands into fist. Nothing she did worked.
She drew her fingers closer to her eyes, less than an inch away, and looked for any sign of the tangled strings under her flesh, drew her hands up so they caught the light in hopes of reflecting the strings, and picked and prodded her flesh in hopes of feeling them. Nothing was there; any evidence of her success had faded away like a phantom. Jake simply sat for a moment, watching her with a confused expression on his face. He’d had more he wanted to say on the matter of ensuring they weren’t separated, but seeing how unfocused she was, he simply let out a sigh and let the issue go for the time being.
Pulling his knives free of his pocket, he busied himself polishing and practicing his aim with various targets laid out amongst the sand banks and boulders that surrounded the two. He felt too tired to try and explore, and Alice seemed too out of it anyway. So, the pair simply sat, engaged in their various tasks. They didn’t say a word to one another till it was time to eat.
Alice hadn’t noticed how hungry she’d gotten. She’d given up trying to physically examine or feel the strings that crossed underneath her skin and had instead fallen back to simply trying to sense and draw forth their presence. She had little success with this, and by the time she was drawn out of her concentration by an offer of berries, she felt exhausted.
Taking hold of the berries, she gave Jake a small smile before plopping one into her mouth and biting down. They were souring fast, just some hours ago you could barely taste the sour flavor of the berries but now the flavor mixed with the sweetness in equal parts. Glancing over toward the bag, Alice asked,
“How many of these do we have left?”
“We lost a lot yesterday, and we’ve been eating them. Maybe one more meal's worth, if that. Probably should save them, don’t know where we'll land tomorrow.”
Alice nodded, it sounded smart to her though she wondered if the berries would last much longer. Silence fell between the two as they ate for a moment before, Alice looked up and asked,
“What is an ‘American Idiot’ anyway?”
“What?” Jake asked, confused as to how Alice would have heard that term, or heard of America period.
“You mentioned it yesterday, ‘Something Something: American Idiot’, on your shirt. Was wondering what the hell it was.”
“Oh, that. Just the name of a band and an album, listened to it a lot back,” Jake said before he thought a moment and looked toward her a curious look on his face. “Wait, do you know what a band is?” Alice shook her head no. Jake was silent for a moment, unsure how to explain. Finally, he looked her in the eyes and asked,
“You know what music is, right?” She rolled her eyes, clearly insulted.
“I’m not an idiot Jake. I’ve heard of Music before. Once I even snuck past the great concert halls.” She smiled smugly for a moment, though Jake just nodded along.
“Good, good. A band is like that, but smaller. Like four or five people usually? I don’t know the exact number needed to make a band, but they’d play and record music on albums.” Alice nodded along; a bit unsure about what some of the words he said meant but generally following along with him. “Anyway, long story shirt that’s what Green Day: American Idiot means, it's my favorite band and album.”
“Really?” Alice said leaning forward.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
“Yep, surprised you remembered that.” By now, the pair had finished their berries, and Jake had picked one of his knives up again, preparing to resume his practice when Alice asked from beside him,
“If it was your favorite band, you must know their music pretty well, right?”
“I suppose so, why?” Jake asked, glancing at her with an uncertain look.
“Back home, the Broken would pass the time with songs and stories. I’d love to hear some from where you’re from!” She leaned closer to Jake, eyes wide with eager anticipation. A sort of uncomfortable grunt intermingled with dread escaped the back of Jake's throat as he looked into her eyes. Desperately trying to think of a way out of singing for her, any way out seemed to die the longer he looked into her hopeful face.
“Fine, fine…” Jake grumbled causing Alice to lean back and give a small clap. Jake cleared his throat as best he could before:
“DoN’t WannA Be AN AmERican IdiOT…” His voice escaped crackly and shaky, completely off-pitch. It was also all he could get through before Alice fell backward laughing in hysterics. Looking toward her, feeling hurt, he saw now her eyes held no glint of hope or anticipation for his performance but the satisfaction of completed mischief. Jake sputtered over himself, too embarrassed to speak properly before turning round from her, taking hold of his knife, and resuming his practice without another word.
“Oh come on, come one…” Alice said, wiping a tear from her eye, “Give it another go, pretty please?”
“Piss off,” Jake muttered, eliciting a series of cackles from Alice as she fell back into the sand. Laughing at her well-done work, she laid still for a while, reluctant to resume her endless and frustrating work trying to draw out the strings that lay within her. It felt pointless, the longer she tried the more she began to wonder if it had been a mere fluke that allowed her to successfully sense them before. They were so lost, so faded…
So lost in thought was she, she didn’t notice she’d drifted off to sleep till Jake was shaking her awake. Uncurling herself, she looked around bleary-eyed to find the world dark under the spotted ceiling of stars. The moon shone far above, a greenish color. Sitting up she locked eyes with Jake. He looked exhausted, deep bags ran underneath his eyes.
“Wake me in a bit, ok? We should sleep in shifts from now on. It’ll help us keep watch. Night.”
Then without wasting any more time, he collapsed to the ground and a few moments later began snoring softly, his face half buried in the sand. Alice watched him sleep for a moment, amazed at how fast he could fall asleep as if almost on command before she looked out toward the stream rushing past her. Her hair swept past her caught in an errant night breeze.
A chill ran up her spine, yet looking around she saw no evidence of a fire. She supposed they had nothing to burn. What she did notice was the blanket, still dirty with blood, draped around her. It had fallen away when she’d sat up without her notice, yet now it caught her attention. Glancing toward Jake, a small smile crossed her face before she took hold of it and threw it across his sleeping form. It seemed only fair.
Turning back to focus on the night sky above and the stream whistling past her she lost track of time. Lost in thought trying to feel what rippled and pulsed within her, lost in the beauty around her, shivering in night air, slowly minutes turned to hours. She cast a glance around the camp, wondered if she should try to pack some before sunrise or if Jake had everything he needed on him before he collapsed when she suddenly jumped at a cracking sound off in the dark.
The sound of cracking and splitting rock reached her ear, off in the distance to her left. Soon similar sounds began to come from her right, then dead ahead, then behind her. Soon she was surrounded by the crackling sound of splintering rock. She gulped as the splintering grew louder, more violent till all at once a series of resounding booms shook the earth. The sound of splashing water rang out in the air and Jake sat up with a start, looking around confused.
He opened his mouth to ask questions yet hadn’t the time as another thunderous boom shook the earth. Splintering and falling rock hit the water and splashes rung up all around the duo. Standing up, Jake drew his knives from his pocket while Alice drew her hands close to herself, desperate to try and see what was happening around them in the dark.
Her internal cries went unanswered at first, yet with another thunderous boom, ever closer than before, her desperation turned to blind panic, a need to see in the dark. And she felt it, the string within pulsing in a knotted web that curled and wrapped around her whole being, stopping at her hands now that burst with light. Flickering out as she lost focus from shock, she quickly latched onto the feeling forcing the light to flicker and pulse and illuminate the dark.
They stood surrounded, wadding through the waters of the branching streams stood the boulders. Some were several meters tall some standing shorter than Alice or Jake. But now, illuminated by the light pouring from her hands they were all revealed. Hundreds of them. Panic gripped tight of both Jake and Alice. The light flickered again, and in her panic, Alice lost focus of the string and felt it slipping from her grasp. Jake stood frozen a moment, staring ahead at the army of boulders that advanced ever closer with each thunderous step. Swallowing a gulp, he stepped forward arm raised ready to throw a knife forward into the dark, hoping to at least distract the nearest boulder approaching them so they could escape before a thunderous voice rang out,
“We…Mean…No…Harm…Guardian…Of…The…Blessed…One…” It spoke slowly in a sleepy tone, yet its voice was likely gravel and sand ground together, horrid and loud it froze Jake on the spot before he could act. Swallowing a gulp, Jake stepped back toward where Alice stood, voice caught in both their throats they weren’t sure what to say. The boulder took this time to approach further and speak again, its voice horrid voice digging into the skin,
“We…The…Elves…Seek…Only…To…See…The…Blessed…One…To…Pray…”
“Blessed One?” Alice asked unsure what the elf across from her could be talking about.
“What?” Jake said, mouth agape in awe as he took in the lumbering pile of rocks moving closer toward them from out the water, struggling to identify the creature as anything other than a golem, maybe some type of troll. Certainly not a golem. Blinking several times as he tried to process the new information his head snapped to Alice,
“Wait, why can we understand them?” Alice nodded stepping back away from the elf concern growing on her face as if she two just noted how odd that was.
“We…Who...Seek…The…Blessed…Ensure…They…Understand…Us…Please…Blessed…One…Let…Us… Pray…Let…Us…Offer…”
Alice gulped, a frightened look appearing on her face as she shot a look toward Jake who simply stood there confused, unsure of what to do. After a while Alice spoke up, raising her voice in hopes of reaching all the gathered elves,
“I’m sorry, I think there’s been a mistake maybe. I’ve been cursed, not blessed, are you sure you don’t want him, or maybe…” But she was interrupted by the elf across from her who threw himself to the ground.
“No…Mistake…Has…Been…Made…Let…Us…Pray…We…Bring…Tribute…”
Alice looked pale, unsure what to do, before finally giving a small nod. The other assembled boulders followed the lead closest to the duo, throwing themselves to the floor. Low sounds of grinding stone and falling sand soon rhythmically filled the air, a hymn that ground the soul. Alice and Jake stepped back, away from the praying boulders, and stood silent, watching their mass. Neither could be sure how long the elves were at prayer, minutes or hours, but the time seemed to fly by. Soon the boulders began to move again, rising and retreating away back into the dark where they rested.
The elf closest to the pair rose from the floor and gently lay a bundle across the sanded dune, looking up at the pair,
“We…Pay…Tribute…To…The…Blessed…One…And…Her…Honored…Guardian…” The elf said, before struggling to bow one last time and turning away, retreating into the dark.