While eternity passed, the seven of us tentatively divided. Uncertainty hung in the air. Two tiny rats cowering by a wall, stiffly silent, compared to the wailing rat who was running around in search of an escape. Two others tended to the poor sister, who still trembled about on the blood smeared stone. Nobody dared move her, but they tended to her wounds as well as they could.
The shadows loomed behind. Where King resided, it seemed like the perfectly domed room had a dent. A black tumour, pulsating and pushing against the green light, emanating from the stone.
Nevertheless, the room was spacious. The rats gave each other a wide girth, and mother could fit comfortably. We could be running around and stay clear of the puddle of green goo. Then again… if we were the size of rats that may not be impressive.
One black rat approached me.
‘King is quite something.’ He said, and I realised this was the guy that interrupted King's speech. He nervously sat down beside me, trying to carefully lean with his arms on the ground, which turned out to be too short to reach beyond his knees. In the end he effortfully balanced his tail on the ground and slid his heels down slowly to sit down.
‘He’s a lot.’
‘Yea well…’ He fell quiet for a moment, looking puzzled. ‘I feel like we should listen to what he has to say.’
‘Why?’ I asked, and the rat shrugged weakly.
‘He lifted someone in the air by his shadow. I can’t even move my shadow! He seems real scary.’
‘I don't think he's so scary. What do you think he has to say?’
‘Uhm, maybe who we will be? Don’t you think he knows something?’
‘Yes! He did say he had a stronger thing on things, or something.’
‘Yea, something.’ My brother said.
‘Let’s go ask him then!’ I said, and my brother's eyes widened. I got up.
‘What? We can’t bother him now!’ He exclaimed. A bit flustered, I backed away.
‘Why not?’ I asked, and he gaped at me, showing sharp buck teeth.
‘He said he was tired and was going to rest. You want to bother the guy that beats up people after receiving sass?’ His voice quivered nervously as he struggled to get his words out. ‘He even put up, like, some kind of thing around him.’
‘Ah, I guess you’re right. Let’s give him another moment?’
'Hardly the point!'
I shifted my soft butt on the hard stone next to my tensed up brother, who kept his eyes in a shocked daze. Meanwhile, the two cowardly rats were still being cowardly, and the violent girl had dragged herself up to hands and knees, throwing up wildly. To relieve the tension, we chatted about tails.
Eventually my patience ran out.
‘Alright, let’s go.’
‘I still say we don’t even try it. He’ll… he’ll come at us.’ He nodded nervously. ‘We wait.’
‘It’s fi--ne. Just follow me. He can hardly move.’ I said, pulling him up by his arm.
‘I want to live.’ Said he.
’Oh, hush.’
The flustered little rat followed me, nervously. Seemingly, not because he wanted to come, but because he was scared to be left behind. His attitude bothered me a bit.
‘See? It’s like a wall. We came here for nothing.’ He said, after rapping his knuckles on the solid, black surface. He chuckled nervously, ready to turn back around.
I felt it would be fine. Reaching my little grey arms towards the black veil, sparks ran through my fingertips, raising the hairs on my arms as my claws dug into the shapeless wall, grabbing the shadows as if a cloth. With a slight pull, it slit open like curtains. Behind lay more darkness.
‘Are you coming?’ I asked, not looking back. my brother swallowed a lump and followed me inside.
---
Four black eyes glinted in the dark. It was like we entered a whirlpool of darkness, inescapable and never still. Impossible to grasp. The big rat rumbled angrily from the darkness, sending my brother into a slight seizure. ‘It could only have been you.’
‘Well, yes.’
Unfazed by the breach of his shadows, King grunted, staring at me from the shadows. It was less dark behind the veil than expected, just moody. Kind of like a room with pitch-black walls, cosy, separated. I stood in front of King. My little brother cowered. The scenery wasn’t for everyone.
‘So, do you care to explain your presence?’ There was exasperation to the big guy’s deep voice, but the everlasting grimace shimmered eerily in the dark. All this anger seemed unreasonable to me. However, the guy felt calmer. I wasn't suspended in the air, after all. Meanwhile, our little brother watched in horror, with little pink claws around his chest and wide eyes.
‘You said you would give us something.’ I said. ‘Like a name.’
‘You barge in with demands? How disrespectful.’ King growled, but was interrupted.
‘Excuse me, King,’ brother started, disgustingly meek. ‘we didn’t mean to overstep. We’ll leave at once.’ He pleaded. He looked at me and then looked down with a shameful grimace.
‘Shut up, I do demand.’ I said.
My little brother didn’t move away, yet I saw him stir. In turn, King relaxed and let out a big sigh, still showing his sharp fangs in a stiff smile within the pulsating shadows.
‘If it wasn't you, acting in this way, I would execute you. Anyway, you’re right. It is within my power to give you a blessing. This blessing may tell you who you are, if you have any potential. You have a great potential, so I could already tell you what you will become. However, this quivering boy is a mystery to even me. Only the blessing will tell.’
‘So, you don’t know about him?’
‘No, I do not.’
‘Well okay, but you know me? Tell me about who I am.’
‘Telling you outright would not do. It’s better to show you, about yourself and about this world. simultaneously, I’ll test a theory of my own. I will bless you now.' My impatience must have shown, because King seemed to grin before he told me through a deep chuckle. 'You are a knight.’
The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
---
My vision fills with deeper black, until I’m swallowed by a void. Softly, slowly, sounds start to fill it up. A faint light seeps through, like a dream.
‘All your efforts have bore delicious fruit, my friend.’ Says a fat hairless blob, wearing black robes.
‘Shut you fat ugly face priest.’ Says a foreign voice, coming from my throat, and I can feel a savage grin carved into my face.
Suddenly, I am in a different place, entirely different. A beautiful place with light so unlike the green rock, it sends me reeling. Sounds so vibrant, I become disoriented.
A feeling of being alive and valued bursts from me as I take in the enormous hallway of finely worked stone full of people, an overwhelming crowd, all chanting a single word in celebration.
After I walk down a long green carpet to a beautiful altar, the cheers slowly die down.
I reach stairs leading up to a majestic figure of a regal man with a beard and crown. The only sound ringing through the room are my footsteps and the beating of my heart as I climb my way up. Each step takes an eternity. Every second bliss.
Finally, I confront the man, my cheeks tired from smiling. When I see the man’s face it feels as if I’ve come home. He looks proud. We smile for a second more, without sound around. Overflowing with pride, I get on one knee and the man speaks. He lifts up the most beautiful sword, a snake engraved along the blade, and brings it down to my right shoulder. ‘By the power invested in me as king of Estaldia, I name thee, saviour of the realm.’ And he repeats the same word which the crowd chanted. ‘Anite.’
Cheering breaks out, and the sound pushes me back, until I only hear an echo. A sense of longing fills me, this is what I want. And a sentiment fills me as I look upon these creatures, clapping and cheering with such frenzy. I should be human.
---
I blinked as I realised I was back in the black room. In front of me, King looked curiously at me. To the left of me, my brother seemed equally curious, but also confused. My heart still pounded. My fur stood up straight. I looked at my hands and then at the big guy.
‘I’m Anite.’ I whispered, and King chuckled contently.
‘Yes, your a knight, a champion of the realm, a beacon of fear fear to our enemies. I will need strong warriors, if we are to conquer this world again.’
‘This is what you meant. You made me remember. If that's what it means, if I could be like that, I will be the greatest knight in the world.’ I laughed and danced and suddenly, I stopped in my tracks, eyes wide. I held my hand up again, realising something. ‘I must have a sword. A worry for later.’
My little brother still stared at me, deeply confused. In response, I slapped him on the back, laughed, turned towards the veil and exited. Shouting my name.
---
When I walked out of the darkness, I was met with curiosity and confusion. I was in a very good mood compared to moments earlier. Learning a little bit about myself just made me feel so great.
Chuckling gleefully, I walked. Spirits up, chest raised, ready to take on the whole cave. If we’d ever get mother out of the way. When I neared the green rock, my thoughts drifted. Perhaps, because it was so beautiful amidst the bleak stone. It was probably what made me who I am. As I looked at it, I could see the actual liquid inside. Moving. Swirling like a vortex. Mesmerised I sat down near it, and filled with content I stared while the green glow hit my face. Inside it, the green liquid violently whirled, splashing and crashing into the translucent cage. The power was most certainly trapped, but seemed to damn near shake the large stone in its struggle to escape. It made me wonder what this place was. Mother tried to escape too, but could not break the stone. If we ever got her out of the passage, what would we find at the other end of that tunnel? What other wonders were there to find?
Moments later, my brother also left the darkness, and joined the other siblings to talk with them. It didn’t take him any effort to get their attention as they swarmed him just as he appeared from King’s private space, showering him with questions. I wondered why they didn’t come ask me, do they feel differently about me? Perhaps they found me unapproachable.
Only my violent sister stayed put, somewhere between too dizzy to understand and pretending not to care. The white circle around her eye shaped to an angry frown, but some bile still hung from her chin. At least she seemed to be better now. Well enough to be annoyed anyway.
Now that I saw all of them grouped together, they all looked nearly identical. All of them black rats with little pink feet and ears. Adorable, but hard to keep apart. The only ones who differed were obviously, the big guy, the violent sister with her white spotted, green eye, and me. I looked down on my tummy. I appeared grey. The big guy was just as black as the rest, but he had that huge size and those four eyes. Maybe though, King used to be a normal rat like the others. Perhaps then, I was the strangest of the bunch.
It seemed King gave orders for when brother exited, because the other rats started lining up in front of the shadows eagerly. Presumably to receive the blessing. While waiting to be summoned the little rats asked brother questions, raising arms and a ruckus. He seemed nervous, not knowing what to tell them. All in all, the mood took a turn for the better. Only sister kept sulking in the distance, and like me, stared at the stunning green stone. Captivated by the strange whirlpool within. Though, instead of seeming happy like me, she wore a deep scowl.
The first sibling in stow entered the void. Brother waved the rest goodbye and made his way to me.
‘Hey, uhm... Anite, I guess.’ He said, and I couldn’t help but smile.
‘Indeed, that is my name brother. What is yours brother?’ I asked, only slightly smug, and he made an irate face and sighed full of exasperation. ‘What’s wrong? Is your name not as beautiful as mine? It is fine, not everyone can compete with me. I’m Anite after all.’
‘I cannot take you seriously if you’re like that.’
‘Come on. I’m just so happy.’
‘Ugh, never mind.’ He leaned on his tail again and slowly slipped his heels on the ground down beside me, landing on his butt with a defeated look. He took his face in his tiny pink hands. He kept it for several seconds until he finally spoke. ‘It turns out I’m a guard.’
‘So? Isn’t that fine? You’re a warrior, a soldier. That’s great.’ I exclaimed, but he shook his head at my words.
‘You had a vision right? Well, so did I. Suddenly, I’m standing in another place looking in front of me for hours and hours. Literal hours. Just guarding some gate. Nothing happened! I didn’t talk. I didn’t fight. I think I hummed once! I just stood there, waving at people. Hours!’
‘So, what now?’ I asked, and he took a deep, frustrated breath.
‘No, that’s the worst part. You got a name from the vision, as part of your blessing, right? My name didn't come up at all. Then, our mighty King decided to name me himself.’
‘Isn’t that fine?’
‘Man…’ He let a silence drop for a while. ‘I’m Bart. Bart the guard. It's so lazy. I’m not sure that it even really rhymes. Life sucks.’
Seemingly, Bart got down easily.
‘Maybe I stood there for days even. Time felt weird.’
I put an assuring hand on his shoulder.
‘Nobody has guard duty for days. I know this must be frustrating for you, but just remember, whenever you get really sick of your name…’ I looked away for emphasis and then looked back. ‘you can’t have mine.’
‘This is all your fault.’
‘No really, it’s mine, you can’t have it.’
‘You’re a real dick, you know that.’
‘No Bart, I’m a ratman… You think a ratman would make a good knight?’
‘Naturally.’
As we talked, the next rat to enter the shadows reappeared. It seemed to be the fourth male. He was weeping weakly. Slowly he strolled towards the other side of the room. Unlike me, he didn’t get side-tracked by the stone. Nerves of steel, this one. No one seemed to have the courage to ask him what was wrong.
‘Want to go ask his name?’
‘Oh please, as if I’m not depressed enough.’
Curiously, we knew nothing about ourselves. Not even our names until now. Through the banter and novelty, a wrongness belonged to the scene. We were born, and we could speak. Supposedly a deer will fall when it's born and then run moments later. This felt different. There was so much unknown. Curiosity got the best of me.
‘I have an idea.' I proposed to my brother. 'Let's tell each other what we look like. I’ll start with you. Okay, you see all those other rats?’ I asked. He nodded confusedly. ‘That’s what you look like, I suppose. Now do me.’
‘I hate you.’
‘Yes yes, for further details shuffle closer. Now do me.’
‘I’ll do something to you alright.’
‘Don’t be sore.’
He moped for a little before he squinted his eyes at me.
‘You’re entirely a light grey and your eyes are… blue. Get up for a bit, actually. Ah yes, just what I expected. You’re a bit taller.’ He said, disappointed.
In the distance one of the girls exited the void. She seemed to have a content face and happily sat on the ground before the stone. The violent girl on the other hand seemed to have reached the limits of her patience and shakily stumbled off towards the dark room. She grabbed the shoulder of the first girl in stow and put on a smile, seeping strange intent which made even me shudder.
’You wouldn’t mind fucking off, would you?’ The girl shook her head quickly, and sister gleefully shoved her out of the way to jump into the void. A few minutes later she loudly emerged from the darkness, punching the air.
‘HAHAHAHAHAH, I’m Brynn, BRYNN!! YEAH, MOTHERFUCKER!!!’
So loud.
She jumped about in excitement until she fell to her knees and puked all over someone’s pink feet. A whimper echoed through the room, and somehow Bart softly laughed.
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