A light in the dark

Twilight sets in as the sun has just gone down. Night is taking its full form. My eyes slowly open, and all I can see are lights flickering far in the distance. How did I get here? I ask myself. What’s happened? And then, I hear a faint voice coming from the north of where I had been.

“Alandrija! Where are you?” I could hear in the distance, but my body would not move, and my voice silenced. I tried to speak, but nothing would come out of my throat. I’m here! Come, and find me! That was all I could do, speak in my head, and get more and more frustrated. How long I’ve been here, I couldn’t tell you, but I can bet it’s been long enough. The raids will soon begin, and I am no where near a safe place. What do I do? I need to think. Fast. I say to myself. First, I need to move my body again. I start with my feet, and coax my toes alive. It works, and I’m able to move my feet, and my legs again. With that, comes my arms, and finally, I can lift my head. But, my voice still won’t come. Dammit, I think to myself. Then, I look around, and notice that the calling for me has stopped. Why? I think, and dread fills my mind. They can’t have been captured already? If so, it means they’re close by. Shit! I can’t move fast enough. C’mon, body! Regain your strength! I shout in my head. I keep doing the same thing thinking it will make me move faster, and it does. I can get out of the way, or at least find a place to take shelter. But, there’s nothing around here. Where to go? Fuck! Then, I look down and notice something flashing on my arm. It’s my digital watch, so I take a look at it, and it tells me where I am. Thank goodness! I think, then look at it again, and it shows me the location of something I had been searching for. The reason I’m out here in the first place. I forgot. Yes! It’s this that I have been looking for all this time. The heart-shaped locket.

Sitting for a moment, trying to remember the plan I had for the trek out here in the open. Why did I think it would be out this far? I can’t seem to think why I came all the way out to this particular location, so far from the place I called home. “Yet, my compass keeps flashing at me, telling me there is something around here,” I say to myself. Then, I notice that my voice has sound again. I jump for joy in my head, then get back to my plan. “I came out here with someone. Yes! Cody! Where the hell did you go?” I try to look everywhere, but no one is in sight, or sound. “My compass is telling me it’s here. So …,” I look around again, and try to think of what my compass could be telling me. What am I supposed to do now? I ask myself. I wish you were here, Cody. You’d know what to do …

***

Wandering around in a place he isn’t familiar with, Cody searches for Alandrija. He looks around the buildings, inside and out. But, nothing. He decides to search out further, into the unknown. Could she have gone all the way out there? It’s not safe. I need to prepare, Cody thinks. He sees a weapons shop at the end of the street, and heads toward it. He finds all kinds of guns, daggers, swords, even bow and arrows, manual and automatic. This is great. No one is here because … of the raids. I better gear up, and split! So, he does just that, and leaves the store, fully equipped to take on anything that could be out there. I hope I’m ready. But, Alandrija, I’m coming for you.

He runs straight out into the darkness with only the light attached to his jacket to guide him. It feels terribly scary in this open darkness, and it feels like he is prey to anything flying above, or something that could be running for the kill. No! Keep your mind focused, Cody! Alandrija is the target! He yells in his head as he runs.

Looking left and right, hoping that he’ll find some kind of sign that will point in her direction. Where could she have gone? “Alandrija! Where are you?” He yells, then finally stops in his tracks. Trying desperately to catch his breath, he doubles over, and rests his hands on his knees. I know you’re out here! I know it! He thinks to himself. As he is recovering, something appears to be close behind him. He takes a swig of water, then caps the bottle and stows it away. He turns to find a rasstle staring at him, teeth barred and growling. Mutherfucker …, is all that pops up in his head. The raids have begun, well … it has four legs, so it can run faster than me, and it’s mouth is just as big as my head. What to do? He wonders, not taking his eyes from it. Does it have friends? He’s backing slowly away from it, and it follows him. He’s got a pair of daggers attached to his thighs, so he puts a hand on each, readying them for the fight that he knows will ensue. And then, he senses a second rasstle behind him. Once this happens, the first rasstle lunges his way as the other jumps at him from the top of what it was standing on. He tumbles out of their way, then stands facing them. Slowly, each rasstle is coming at him, both growling viciously. Cody dawns his daggers, each a well enough size to take them on. He grips them well, then he decides to go for it. He slides between them, and slashes their legs. Before they knew what was happening, the two rasstles were on the ground in their own blood. Breathing hard, Cody takes another look around to make sure they didn’t have anymore friends lurking about. The coast looks clear, so he wipes his daggers before stowing them away. The rasstles squirm on the ground, whimpering, and trying their hardest not to die. But, death would come for them soon, so Cody decides to leave them, and continue his search.

The light has left them only a little while ago, and Cody wishes this hadn’t happened while they were out on their search. They were together not long ago, and he keeps wondering why this happened to them again. If only we had been touching when time warped, we would be together. He looks up at the sky, wishing they had done just that.

***

Wracking my brain, I sit here, not bothering with my flash light. Tears start coming because of the frustration I’m feeling at the moment. “What are you telling me? How is the locket around here? There’s nothing out here, dammit!” For a moment, I can’t help but cry my frustrations. But then, I notice I’m starting to feel better, and think a little clearer. I need to find Cody. That’s the first thing I’ll do, I think to myself. Which way was that voice coming from? I think it was … pointing north, I start walking in that direction. The walk took me to a small area that was once a very small community. Each place of dwelling was no longer in use, but I could see very little of the surrounding. I could hear something, though. It sounded as if an animal was dying. I followed the sound to find two rasstles in a pool of blood, hanging on for dear life. In a way, I felt sorry for them, but at the same time, I couldn’t help but feel relief that two more of these vicious creatures was on their death bed. Thinking that more of them might be around, I left the premises in a hurry, and found myself in the middle of nowhere, once again. Will this night ever end? Only, it’s just begun.

Thoughts of the dark, the raids, the locket and Cody swirl about in my mind. It’s slowly making me mad, but I know that I have to maintain what sanity I can. I need to find him … he’s …, but just then, I see far in the distance a flashing light. Could it be? “It’s definitely a human!” I say in surprise. I start gaining in speed as I run, and as I get closer, I hear my voice start to shout.

“Cody! Cody? Is that you?” And, to my surprise, the owner of a man’s voice shouts back.

“Laan? Alandrija? Yes! It’s me!” Cody shouts, and we nearly bowl each other over in a hug. I feel so lucky that we have found each other in this blind chaos. “Oh my god, Laan! I was so worried! Are you alright? Run into anything? Any raids while you were on your own?” He asks.

“I haven’t seen any other sign of life since we parted back there! What happened?” I ask him.

“The time warped, yet again. It keeps happening now that the world has come alive again.”

“Right. This is the second time. It’s so odd. Anyway, my compass has shown me where it is! The locket. We’ve finally found it, Code!”

“Are you serious? I’m so relieved! Where?” He asks, and my expression changes from excited, to somewhat tragic.

“The middle of nowhere. I’ll show you.” I bring up the previous destination I had been at, and we follow it back to where I was when I woke. Once there, my compass is going crazy with light, and I tell him that it’s supposed to be there. He looks around, and sees that there really is nothing else here. He nods his head, then takes a paper that’s been folded from his pants pocket.

“I knew this would come in handy one day.” He says, then shows me what he’s got. “It’s a spell, Laan. My grandmother gave this to me long ago, when I was just a boy. She said that one day, it will speak to me, and that I should always have it.”

“You’re kidding me, right? This is gonna help us?”

“Yes! I have to say this spell, and … something should happen, though I don’t know what,” Cody says with a smile on his face. He kept on looking at me as if I were the one to chant it.

“Well, let’s not waste time! Go on, then!” I say, and he quickly starts to chant the words. It wasn’t a particularly long spell because after he said a few lines, something did start to happen. The wind started blowing, and there seemed to be a faint light growing under us. I felt as if we were floating for a moment, and then, the light flashed and we were standing on top of a mirror. No, it wasn’t a mirror. I looked down, and let my eyes begin to focus.

“Cody? What is that down there?” He, too, had to focus his eyes for a moment.

“Looks like … a city? A ruin … from the great wars, Laan. Oh my gods, I don’t believe this!” We looked through the glass we had been on top of in complete amazement.

“What’s this?” Cody asks, as he looks closer. Floating just under our feet was something golden. I had to get on my knees to see it clearly. Then, I realized what it was.

“It’s … my great-grandmother’s locket.” I say as I look up at Cody.

“We did it, Laan. We found it!”

The heart-shaped locket, full of mystery, and question. All that would be answered in the days to come.