Chapter 4:
The Ugly Light
-Duke Ellington
Vishta slowly pulled the knife out of the wooden slab as the pile of rotten flesh slid off the bottom of her boots.
The beast stood before her, picking its jagged teeth and smiling with satisfaction. There were plenty of things that go bump in the night, but this was something totally surreal for anybody to experience. Remember those things at night that seemed real, but were just a dirty pile of clothes that had eyes and teeth? Well, these were all very real for Vishta.
"H-How do you know my name? What...who are you?"
Putting its elongated hands up, the beast began to clear its throat. Noticing her knife, it smirked and took one step back.
"I come with peace young Vishta. Do not be startled by my sudden appearance. I am here to relay a message from a friend. Nothing more."
“Then you better speak up quickly and tell me who you are and why you are following me!” Vishta said roughly.
She was clearly nervous and feared for her life. Her knees were shaking and her palms became slick with sweat. Everything in that moment became a living nightmare. Grotesque as the beast was, it never tried to attack her or hunt her down. Something was strange about this beast and she was going to find out.
“Give me one good reason I shouldn’t kill your ass where you stand!” she warned forcibly.
Sitting down on a tree stump nearby, the beast answered.
“Because…” it said. “If I wanted to claw my way in your gut and pull out your throat I would have before your hand touched that scrawny knife of yours. So I ask again...please, lower your weapon. Let us be civilized shall we?”
What savage beast has manners like that?, she thought. Vishta lowered her knife, but she was not convinced enough to completely let it go. A silence overcomes them both and the song of nature grew louder and louder. The air was so thick you could cut it with a knife. Her patience was running thinner by the minute. The dagger in her hand was thirsting for blood until finally, after what seemed like a long stare-down between the two, the beast spoke.
"My name is Kahune, just Kahune. But only you can call me 'Kaba' for short. And no need for the introduction I already know who you are young Vishta Saturi.”
" I travel alone...I have always been alone. I don't know you and you couldn't possibly know shit about me. Kaba...what the hell are you?"
Scrunching its face and smirking with all razor sharp teeth, Kaba looked at the knife and looked back at Vishta in a snarling way.
"Your right, I don’t know you. But you have no clue what I’ve sacrificed to be here. I am everything you have forgotten to be...I will keep it short. As I have said before I am here to deliver a message. More or less, I am a herald sent to watch over you. Nothing more, nothing less. Here take this..."
Kaba handed her a envelope wrapped in leaves. Vishta hesitantly took it and held it between her fingers. Her knife still clutched as tightly as before.
"A letter from SKY. Open it when you are ready. Soon enough you will have to decide young Saturi. Change must happen. Change will dawn upon the olden ways of Emayrah. Either at will or by force."
"Why are you telling me this? Why should I care about happens to Emayrah? I am just---"
"You are JUST what Emayrah needs you to be. What we all need you to be. It is what you have always been. I am guessing those flashes of yours have not been getting better eh?"
Shocked, Vishta looked away clenching her eyes in embarrassment. Her stare at Kaba became enflamed with disdain.
"You don’t know shit about me!"
"Humph...I know more about you then you could ever remember. No need to waste time. Soon you will realize its not just about you. You will soon arrive at your destiny...rather you like it or not!"
Backing away in a hurry, Kaba quickly left the camp, fading graciously into the darkness. Kaba had completely disappeared into the night beyond the shadows of nature.
The further it walked away, the more Vishta felt relief. She knew it was too late to feel any regrets now. Her belief in divine timing had always moved her forward. Soon, dawn had begun to break, and she was exhausted. The rush of mixed emotions had drained her body dry. Dropping the knife onto the ground, she leaped inside the hammock and eventually fell asleep.
To Vishta, that whole interaction cost everything to slow down.
The mission ahead became more important than ever before, and the past was but a memory.
Suddenly, a strange feeling had filled the air disturbing her aura, awaking her out her sleep.
"Anymore there??…"
Nothing answered. Nobody was there. Everything was silent except for the singing insects whose songs were carried by the winds. Whatever it was, it passed by quickly. She simply put it off as a remanence of last night’s vibes. Vishta allowed Kaba’s presence to disappear from her memory for the moment. But a heaviness rested in her gut and left a shit stain on her conscious mind. At this point, she was fed up with distractions of all kinds. In moments like these it is so easy to run away from others. But to run away and leave yourself behind, is close to impossible.
Sooner or later, Vishta had to get to the bottom of whatever is going on. As always, nothing would stop her bullheaded ambition to figuring things out.
A new journey awaited hours later at sunrise. Vishta retrieved a Nano particle transmission. A virtual letter on metallic paper sent from the head directors of Proxima camp. Every morning the workers would receive new updates on objectives that must be completed on schedule. Goals must be finished promptly - day in and day out. The leading camp director sent out transmissions to all personnel except Vishta, who was sent a more personal transmission:
All other personnel must report to base camp immediately at 1600 hours for updates of the latest stock brought in from the fields this week. Vishta Saturi, please report to base camp at 1200 hours for a more personal debriefing of the quota and latest stock. Thank you.
- Proxima Scorpii Camp 232
Confused, she questioned why she had to come earlier than everyone else. There was a strange tone about that transmission. She did not pay it any mind and decided to throw it in her bag. She assumed a worker had sent a complaint up to higher-ups about her seizure episodes.
What in the hell they want from me of all five-hundred workers?, she thought.
Time was of the essence and she had no time to waste. Taking the map out from her bag, she was already near the rural town of Ectron and would pass by Imana, a small province not too far from base camp. She could have easily taken the boat across the river to skip by Imana and arrive straight into base camp. But Vishta wanted to be a smart-ass and take the long way on purpose. The directors sending her the transmission on late notice triggered her pettiness. So, she would take her time and make them wait for her.
“These assholes are the reason why I am here in the first place. Guess they'll find out who I really am real soon!"
One of her favorite places to stop by on her bucket list was Imana. Imana was a place where rare berries grew, and the natives grew more than 340 species of the juiciest berries known across Endorea. From blackberries to green berries to spike berries to berries the size of babies. They even had berries so intoxicating that they could make someone’s mood change instantly.
Vista was not going to miss that for the world. She would pick as many berries as possible and eat as much as her heart desired. She planned to sneak a full sack of them home with her before Proxima confiscate an foreign items from workers and ship them out of Endor. Secretly, she was a major foodie and enjoyed the best meals she could sink her teeth into. Not many things made her happy, but healthy food is her ultimate medicine and remedy. Especially food that was sweet and colorful. For her, wealth was health.
"Baba you loved smoothies, fresh fruits and remember those sweet juices we would drink? Remember how we made fresh juices using our feet like ancient times and got sick as hell?
"Hahaha - We threw up for DAYS!"
The nostalgic memories brought back the painful ones along with them. Her face gloomed and chin tucked beneath her vest. A warm tear crept down her cheek.
"Dammit Baba...I miss you soooo much..."
It had been a long time since she had a lathering fresh smoothie. The thought of her father and the fruit from Imana combined became bittersweet.
Time had flown by and she was slowly, but surely. She had finally arrived at the borders of Imana. She took a break from walking long-distance and remembered there was a rendezvous point near Imana where workers could hitch a ride to main campus. Nearby, Indigenous people had gathered in a circle under a tree while holding a tub filled with a variety of flowers and herbs. Smoke had risen in the air as embers from the fire danced into the sky, flying toward the clouds. It was clear a ritual was taking place.
The natives gathered in a circle wearing head feathers of all colors draping down their backs. They wore face paint made from color coated powder and adhesive sap from plants. Their faces were so saturated with colors that she could barely make out one person from the other.
There were leaves spread out in the middle, a spray of blood on the leaves along with strange symbols drawn on the ground using grains of salt and spices; the smell was overwhelmingly flavorful.
The geo symbols were foreign to Vishta. She had never seen anything like them in her entire life.
It all peeked Vishtas curiosity so much so that she decided to step in for a closer look. A strange effect had taken over her mind. Within arms-length of the circle, there was a woman in the middle chanting and screaming a language of Endorean mixed with an unknown dialect. She looked way beyond the age of sixty. Standing five feet tall, she had dark crinkle skin with long puffy white hair that touched her ankles. The pitch-black paint on both sides of her face mimicked the same symbols drawn inside the circle, symbols of triangular geometrical lines.
(Drawings from her journal)
She wore jewelry made of fish bones and the teeth of beasts from head to toe. Her jewelry shook as a tune of beads rumbled inside beating drums. Dancing and stomping the ground with all her might, sweat from her body sprayed into the fire, causing a roaring blaze.
Her legs kicked while her arms did a ballet through the air. Like the wind she became free. Rippling through the grass and around the trees, it was as if a wild spirit entered her body, controlling each limb like a puppeteer. Her presence left shadows behind the glow on the horizon of the setting sun.
Vishta walked even closer, becoming a part of the circle. Joining the elder woman in dance was a three-foot elder man who spat fire. Everyone backed up as the fire spun forward causing dust from the ground to rise into the air surrounding him like a tornado. The same mystical wind that surrounded the elders had suddenly taken refuge inside of Vishta. Falling to her knees, angles of light shot out her body, burning it up like serpentine fire.
Her purple eyes became a glowing white. Then a gust of wind shot her astral body into a place where there was a bank of black water. Waves crashed against the edge of a limestone palace coated with gold and sparkling crystals of lapis lazuli. The sky formed a tunnel full of fire above the clouds as flames rained down upon the pier of the towers on the palace.
Plasma spears flew from the waters toward the towers as well as arrows laced with blue electric fire. Shadow-like figures moved past the windows quickly until they disappeared into the darkness. Thunder crashed as the waters roared, then a piercing light shot through the tunnel of clouds on top of the palace. Vishta found herself standing on top of the thrashing waters looking toward the windows of the towers with tears in her eyes screaming, as the fire melted the stone to mere glass and rubble. A screeching pitch from the sky split the waves of water and crashed the towers together as golden bricks fell toward the sea of blackness. Finally, a huge wave of blood came crashing on top of her. Suddenly two people were standing over Vishta.
She heard blurry voices going back and forth above her body. It was the elder woman and the fire eater. In the Endorian language the elder spoke to the man,
As her vision and hearing became clearer, she had a closer look. Beside the fire eater’s foot was a bucket of water with dried sea sponges inside it.
The elder woman had another sponge, a wet one, inside her hand wiping Vishta’s forehead – the water was ice cold. She tried speaking common language to Vishta.
“Young one, you okay?”
Blinking fast and scrunching her eyes to get a clearer vision of whatever is surrounding her, she raised her head up and realized she was being held in the elder’s arms. The fire eating man helped her by grabbing Vishtas arms and lifted her up carefully.
“Wh-what happened?” Vishta asked them.
“You pass out and hit your head hard. Too much smoke from the fire?” she looked at the man humorously.
He just shrugged his shoulders, “Mm-mm.”
Confused, she was wondering what she had seen in that vision or dream. It felt so real - such altering pain. She even questioned if her menstrual cycle finally came on. It normally came on twice a year for other women but once a year for Vishta since her body flowed differently. The fire eater opened his pouch and pulled out a handful of green berries. He put his hand over Vishta’s mouth and slowly fed her berries, letting them fall on her tongue as she chewed and swallowed them whole.
“Here, eat these and swallow them all. Within time your body will go back to its normal state of balance. Get plenty of rest til then...”
The berries tasted bitter with a taste of sweetness in the middle of the pit. Like a strawberry flavor with the saltiness of a green olive. She did not like them very much, but both natives encouraged her to eat the whole handful and flush it down with water afterwards. When she came to her senses, her body returned to normal, and the elder woman dragged over a wooden stool for her to sit on. Vishta thought about the black waters and the golden towers she had seen in the vision.
Where was I? Where did those angles of light come from? she said to herself.
She had so many questions and yet no answers for any of them.
END OF CHAPTER 4
Comments