Their Call, Calico: The Series
Part Twelve
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Based on Original Published Work by Author
☯ Legend on reading Calico’s Life:
☴ Indicator for dialogue: “ ”
☶ Indicator for thought, and lyrics: Italic Font
☱ Indicator for action: Bold Font or wording with quotations.
☳ Poems and Songs [ are indicated ]
☷ Names : Bold Italics
☵ Setting set inside: Brackets: {SETTING}/{BOLD}
Lemur walks to where the helicopter carrying Yurry ascends, and watches the humans go up in the air. { She wonders if this is what it is like to leave the world like the rain falling back to the clouds.}
Calico paces on over.
Calico:
“ They mourn and lose just like we do. I could feel their pain because I have felt it, and I know you have.”
Lemur:
“Calico… I hope you are here, when I leave the world. I don’t want to leave family.”
Calico:
“ That is life’s unfathomable; it means what we really want to know, and desire to be true, is separate from our understanding, no matter how much we long to be one with it.
After all, like you told me, to have time means to be present while we can exist. ”
Lemur:
“ It is the truth.”
Rendemra’s body begins to move, and his eyes adjust. He gets to his paws and looks around. He sees Gammina licking her wounds while lying down where the three left her. She sees Rendemra eye her in amazement.
Gammina:
“ Stay away from me.”
Rendemra:
“ You’re alive, my grubby is alive! Aw yes, now to save your entirety, my Gammina.
To kill a bear: Calico! ”
Calico turns around as does Lemur.
Calico:
“ ( whispers to Lemur ) A presence calls for my time, Lemur. Whatever happens, keep on living, keep your heart open, you will be surprised how fathomable the unknown puzzle pieces of life can be. ”
Calico walks away from Lemur with a clear mind, and a focus on his life, and the lives he must protect.
Calico:
“ Stay away from my lover! Your time, Chip, has come to an end. No more using the clannars, the elephants, the avia kind. And no more concealing the murder of Galarxemra! ”
{ Mornona, Pengall’s lover, a white Siberian tiger, and her two grubbies hop off one of the still standing huts with a roof.}
Mornona:
“ I might be late to this war, but we have just fallen in sadness as my Pengall and his brothers were brutally wiped from the face of the kindwa ( Mornona begins to pace back and forth between Calico and Rendemra, while her grubbies go and sit on the stained Great Labyrinth circle).
It appears there are greater divides than loyalty can bend.
What is this? How long have we served under you, and relied on your honesty to instill our values of such labor, and the hunts?
Is this true, Rendemra. Did you frame Krengall’s death, and warp my lover’s father? Of what breeding is truly a Pure Kind? Prey or Predator? ”
Rendemra:
“ Trust has vanished in this village because of this outsider, this bear which is not even a real panda, but a mix of kind bloods — ”
Mornona:
“ But you ordered for his protection like the new shipments. Yes… in much the same manner. ”
She is like Corinthia, maybe she is a long lost sister.
Mornona:
“ Why would you protect your own kind, but not the kind of those that serve you through their sacrifice? ”
Rendemra:
“ If your Pengall was still alive, he’d claw some sense into you.”
Mornona:
“ He is not, bear, and he died protecting you and your walled garden of ruin.”
{ Several pure kinds which had run off or went to the Great Bonsai are now arriving upon this discussion.}
One Pure Kind:
“ Why is a clannar in our village? They don’t belong here, and have lived with the other kinds, as it is their role under Chlorestigon. ”
A Pure Kind Maffa:
“ Shoo, and go forth, find your ravage elsewhere. You are not of our worth. ”
Mornona:
“ Oh, what lies have been carved, when doth protection beseech a favor of guidance from up above. ”
Calico:
“ Are you alone? If so, then you are quite brave. ”
Mornona:
“ Look at that? Out of all the pure kinds, the only one that has pure decency is the kind that is not so pure to begin with. But, Calico, and I know your name, and I know many of your names (stops to look around at the approaching pure kinds), I speak on my clannarship, while the many tend to their dead.
But, you do not know mine. Pity.
Did you know, I was forced to love and breed with my son after you sent my lover, Gengall to collect Calico? You, oh Rendemra of the pure kinds, said it was the way Krengall would have wanted it!
Gengall of course was always timid. He was claw-deep in pain, after you ordered his fatta’s death. It’s no wonder he became as a grubby is to discovering the bullfrogs, but instead, with grubbies of the same!
Let this be a lesson, against the stream, my name… just one of many… that you should adore and grace upon… is Mornona, and I have seen your tiniest of days, and your loudest of roars. I am the most welcome of all, and do not ever tear my stance into one which you think tremors at a sole presence.
Bravery, Calico, is for those who have something to fight for. Survival, is when those who have nothing, find what they can do to live, and those who are brave (Mornona laughs) feel like they need to lead the survivors around. But of course, when they do, what good is a survivor’s bravery if the entire role of their survival is based on the dependency of one’s bravery? Of one who now has everything, while the others wonder how they can be of use to their protector, their leader.
Like you say, Rendemra, manipulation is key.”
Rendemra:
“ What good is a sole clannar, Pengall’s lover no doubt, if she doesn’t have all of her clannars here to protect her. How is she a purveyor of truth? Simply, you know that you won’t survive, and I will order the clannars to-”
Another Pure Kind:
“ Order?”
One Pure Kind:
“ Rendemra said order, is he the ruler of clannars? ”
The pure kinds begin to murmur about Rendemra.
Mornona:
“ The first stone…
Your great and wise Rendemra sent generations of our kind to pillage the earth of your brother planet. Oh, you will see just some of those deaths in his tower of graves.
How we did sacrifice, and kill off kind population after population.
No, no, no, you are all to blame. That’s better.
You did not complain, you were given optimum luxury…you practically lived like gorilla whores. And, look — you lived in huts while we died in filth and flame.”
Rendemra:
“ The best of empires ( Rendemra goes to the top Great Labyrinth circle wall and motions Mornona’s grubbies to leave, and they scurry off), the best of empires I learned when I … when I lived in captivity-”
A Pure Kind Maffa:
“ Rendemra is not a native pure kind? Is he a zoo kind? ”
Rendemra:
“ (feels his power slipping, but continues to feel strong and confident) The best of empires are forged on the massacres and hardships of others, and all the spoils of wealth and regality favor the boldness of the ruling… such as the ruling kind, the ruling families. Right… right, you are, Mornona.
But it is not bravery, it is how to survive, to create, and build, not by peace and countless years of freedom, but by control. You need to be isolated, imprisoned, or subtracted from the ruling to develop a drive to be free. This is what drives improvement, this is what drives self…self-betterment. Isolation enforces a state of morality.
To the lessers, it’s a fractured mess; and I witnessed this, too. I know from which all of you stand, because I felt it. I, from up high, suffered like all of you-”
Mornona:
“ Speak as the dry dirt, fall under the rain.”
Rendemra:
“ Yet, my pure kindship, it is time to continue that power once more. Wouldn’t you all rather live in peace and harmony, one with the texts of our ancestors where fresh persimmons are in abundance, and love is celebrated over all? We can live in a paradise of our choice, and not have to worry about the trivial needs of survival. We can celebrate our choices, what we stand for, and the reasons to be brave to progress further.
You might not understand this, now, yes… you all are eager to return to the fountain baths, you are all tired and need a cold mattress, and to play joyfully with your grubbies underneath the tree-”
Calico:
“ And while not realizing that you waddle around in the blood of gorilla whores, tusk kinds, clannars, and Gammina’s maffa, Lassuria, in your tower! Forbidden- my rear!
You slaughtered the gorilla whore maffas and grubbies who slept on those.”
Rendemra:
“ Enough! I have given all of you protection and true guidance, I have saved our kind, when Calico has killed us off.
I will fight Calico to the death, to maintain my leadership as emperor to these lands. ”
Gammina:
“ My (her tears start streaming) maffa had a name… Lassuria. How beautiful. ”
Mornona:
“ Calico, are you brave, or a survivor? ”
Calico:
“ I made a promise in the flame, that I would fight for my kind-”
Mornona:
“ Brave.”
Calico:
“ That is true, but I want to end this. Pure kinds or panda need to live, not under control, not in a separate paradise, but in a space we can claim temporary or stable, to maintain a balance between the other kinds. We can’t do this in isolation through orders, and on the shoulders of others; we have to learn to be self-sufficient. I am not the most experienced of bear kinds, but I have to learn as we all do. I was an outsider, too. Survival is not called easy living. ”
Rendemra:
“ T’was I, Calico, who gave you life in this forest. This crazy tiger maffa, Mornona, just wants us broken so she can take advantage of our corpses. If we stay together… you have no idea what power we will possess. It is time, Calico. ”
Calico:
“ It is my time! You have long had ours! ”
{ Calico roars, and runs with ramming speed. He heads past the Pure Kinds and Mornona into the Great Labyrinth and pounces onto Rendemra.
The heads of the melted Buddhas are all contorted and warped out of place. The battle for the chalice of power has begun.
Several ROKA and U.S. military helicopters land nearby.
Mornona and her grubbies head back to the roof to watch the grand event play out.}
Rendemra:
“ I’ve killed panda before, Calico. You won’t be my first.”
Rendemra shuffles to the side, growls and lunges to cover over Calico’s mouth.
Lemur:
“ Move, family! ”
Calico moves down underneath, and bites Rendemra’s neck. Rendemra snorts, and backs up. He paces. Calico does the same, but starts panting.
{ One of the U.S. soldiers, of the twenty sent to survey the area with the ROKA soldiers points out to the fight. }
U.S. Soldier:
“ It’s a deathmatch between the pandas! Let’s survey that! ”
The U.S. Soldiers, and soon the ROKA soldiers, begin to circle the match cheering and betting.
A ROKA Soldier:
“ Looks like the natives are powerless and, unfortunately, the real fight begins among themselves. The private military messed up this peaceful habitat.”
Another U.S. Soldier:
“ This happens all the time in war. You take away their leadership, and, some- they will fight to maintain their struggles to keep a false sense of normality in place.”
Rendemra:
“ Looks like the Therochordis are here to watch us bleed to death. You first. ”
Calico:
“ Speak for yourself, I am my own kind. You are kindless! ”
Gammina:
“ The trail is yours, Calico, we are here together. ”
Rendemra:
“ It’s Calico’s death trail! ”
Calico and Rendemra, run at each other, and pierce each other down taking quick swipes at each of their faces. Calico rips out a piece of Rendemra’s nose, and blood fans out of Rendemra’s whiskers.
Rendemra turns the wrestling position over, to shake his head whipping his blood over Calico’s face. He goes into Calico’s face and sinks his teeth around the area of Calico’s right eye and starts pulling. Calico tries to use his paws to pull Rendemra out, but proceeds to rip skin off his face. Calico uses his left paw and jabs it into Rendemra’s eye. More blood streams down Rendemra’s face.
Rendemra backs off, and let’s out a horriffic roar and shriek which terrorizes the grubby pure kinds and the soldiers.
Their claws begin to paint the Labyrinth in a new coat; their own coats are drenched in it as well.
Rendemra, stands on his back legs and roars and shrieks. Blood starts to go out his backside again, and stops.
Calico rises up, and growls, and they slowly confront each in a bipedal state. Suddenly, Rendemra drops down and goes in to castrate Calico. He bites at his testicles. Calico, goes head over Rendemra and bites into his rear where the blood came out.
Rendemra shrieks in pain as Calico pulls out part of his lower colon. He writhes in agony and swipes at nothing while curling up.
One of the U.S. Soldiers:
“ Brutal! These animals! ”
Another ROKA Soldier:
“ Such beasts! ”
Calico backs up.
Calico:
“ You are free Rendemra, it’s now time — your time — to speak to the clannars outside the wall. Ask for forgiveness like the text have taught us to (Calico catches his breath, and drools out Rendemra’s blood).
Everyone will walk you out Rendemra. This will be your grand procession. No need to kill you now, as you have made quite the mess for all kinds to witness. After all, we could use some fresh morning air. ”
Rendemra can barely move. He cries and screams.
Gammina:
“ Leave Rendemra.”
Rendemra:
“ I should have…(he pants and stops)…them murder…you…with…Lass..ur..aa.”
Rendemra gets up and loses his balance and falls off the Labyrinth wall, and shrieks.
The soldiers walk away, mortified, and return to their survey mission of the area.
Lemur goes from behind and bites Rendemra’s back leg, and he falls over on the painted trail.
Lemur:
“ For my maffa, my fatta, my family, and for the red water you caused on Calico! ”
{ Rendemra leaves a trail of red paw prints on the passage to the main gate. As led by Calico with the exclusion of Gammina, the remainders of the pure kind village follow Rendemra to the gate. Calico and Lemur figure out how to remove Mirra’s rifle, and they open up the doors.
Outside the gate are the charred remains of at least a hundred tigers. Scattered around are the maffas and grubbies in mourning. The pure kinds of all ages stand outside the wall in complete terror and wonder.}
Calico:
“ And this is where we leave you, Rendemra.”
Calico ushers all the pandas to move back into the main gate. As the last villager returns, Mornona exits the gate by Calico.
Mornona:
“ Oh, how we have long waited for this day.”
As Calico closes the door, the screams and shrieks of Rendemra descend into another preying burst of rain and mist.
{ Calico and Lemur wander to Gammina, who remains by the Labyrinth.
Some of the younger grubbies are in complete astonishment as they have never gone out those gates.
Other, once outsider pure kinds, like Calico, take a moment to reflect on the devastation, the journeys that they took to get to the dragon wall, and the realizations about Rendemra and their Temple Village.}
Calico:
“ Gammina. ”
Gammina tries to speak but begins to wail in immense sadness.
Gammina:
“ I should feel relieved that it’s over, but I am so at a loss for what could have been. I now know of a maffa, once, that I could have called my own, and… I know, I know, that I was never really loved, I-”
Calico:
“I love you, my Gammina. I want you to know that you are no longer alone. You are my family, as is Lemur. I wasn’t with you all your life, but I will love you till the end.”
Gammina starts quivering and shaking.
Gammina:
“ Oh Calico, Calico, Calico. It’s so painful.”
Calico places his head on Gammina’s neck as she continues crying. Lemur, stands slightly, to then put her head on Calico’s neck.
{ As the rain clears up, the survey teams ascend up with the beating blades of propellars whipping against the fractal of sound and silence, weaving in and out; the waves of balance and force unite, and disembark all at once.
There are no hymns, no schedule to abide to for the morning prayers at the Great Bonsai. All is but a wasteland, and time is its root.
Suddenly, the dragon door bursts open, and the pure kinds and family members stop dead amidst the bang.
Six of the tiger maffas, Mornona, Zajtra, Turostosa, Joukostos, Nyeraz and Tibaraa stealthily lace back and forth through the turf and debris as if the land was a canvas natively designed for their anatomical biology, and they were the horsehair bristled brush.
Mornona and Zajtra are the only two who carry Corinthia’s fur pigment, whereas the other four carry the glimmer of a newly lit torch in lines of charcoal. Turostosa is anorexic as her body is infested with multiple tape worms, but she continues to pace with the other more muscular tigresses. }
Mornona:
“ Calico, to the Great Labyrinth, now! ”
Lemur quickly unhinges from the pile of care, and Calico carefully leaves Gammina whose tears are just beginning to dry.
The six tigresses waltz their way ahead of Calico to the blood drenched Labyrinth, and do not seem to even display a hint of worry due to the blood on their paws.
Turotosa has some sort of dead rodent in her mouth, while the other five are holding body parts of Rendemra. Mornona goes forward, and places Rendemra’s torn off head into the center of the circle. }
The villagers quickly rush to the area, but Gammina motions to Lemur to stay close to her.
Mornona:
“ Calico, come to our presence. We will not harm you; we bow at your privileged grace. Clannars! ”
Four of the other five tigresses (excluding Nyeraz) place their blood soaked items below, and bow down as Calico climbs onto this arena of death.
Mornona:
“ Turotosa, be a majestic tremor and deliver our gift of promise to Calico.”
Turotosa releases a painful exhale and carefully bends up her curved spine. She quickly snatches the rodent, that still seems somewhat alive, and paces around to the front of Calico. She eyes him from head to paws.
{ Gammina’s eyes glow with anger.}
Turotosa runs her jaw up against Calico’s expecting paw. She deposits a dying brown free-tailed bat. He can feel its cold beating chest against his paw, and it proceeds to urinate its last onto his open palm.
{ Calico forces himself not to take offense to this. }
Calico:
“ I deliver thanks-”
Turotosa completely ignores Calico and slides back to the other tigresses.
Mornona:
“ Raise up this gift so that the villagers are aware of its significance. ”
Calico stands up on his back hind paws and raises the now-dead bat up in the air.
Mornona:
“ This is an aviamorphis, and the gorilla whore simply call it a bat. Like ourselves the aviamorphis feeds on life, but lives a life mostly in darkness.
For without our eyes, life is but without a sun.
But, Chlorestigon still exists despite one not being able to see the beauty of its bounty of warmth through the shape of time. It is our time eternal, of what we may see, and what we may not. May you and your fellow pure kind live a long life and persevere through what lies ahead of you, and what cannot be forseen.
The clannars send our deepest praise. ”
Calico:
“ I give thanks and praise-”
Mornona:
“ Hush, Calico.”
Lemur laughs at the interplay.
Gammina claws at the ground near Lemur to silence her reaction.
Mornona:
“ The following is a process which we have been ordered by Rendemra countless times to do with kind victims. Calico, I must ask this beforehand, can you beat the stones to summon Chlorestigon’s light and flame?”
Calico nods, still holding the bat above his head as if this is a rehearsal to a ceremony.
Mornona issues a glance to the others to begin.
Mornona circles around Rendemra’s lashed apart head.
Mornona:
“ You carried a pulse of the sun, that pulse is now back into our lives. It is no longer bound by choice, by desire, by scorn, by wrath. It runs in the water, and refracts off of the skin of all. From grubby to leader, lightness to the dark, your journey of the shell has been broken. Rest.”
Mornona, then walks back to the others.
Zajtra brings over Rendemra’s heart, and places it next to Rendemra’s head. She begins to circle the heart and the head.
Zajtra:
“ I bring before the pure kind the fruit and roots of the body. It is nestled between two bodies squeezing our juice so that the fruit remains alive, and the fruit keeps the pulse alive in its warmth. Without a house of movement, the pulse escapes. Now the fruit has died, and its seeds will go into the wind. Chlorestigon, you have been found — recite.”
The Tigresses and the Pure Kinds:
“ Chlorestigon, you have been found.”
Zajtra bows before Rendemra’s head and heart, and returns to the tigresses. Joukostos, the largest of the tigresses comes forward and sprinkles Rendemra’s vertebrae pieces around the heart and head.
Joukostos:
“ These are the bones, as Rendemra called them, to us, these are the rocks of the body. For the body is a world within itself, as the brother planet is of Cholesto’s body. And as far reaching as we may feel the space around us is, the sky, and the ground below our paws, we are pulses existing in a body; and from our bodies, a body of our birth moving closer together.
It was no accident that the pulses traveled to the brother planets. For the brother planets have been traveling closer to the maffa. When the rocks are broken, there will be no distance, and we are one.
Chlorestigon, you have been found.”
The Tigresses and the Pure Kinds:
“ Chlorestigon, you have been found.”
Joukostos bows to the pile and signals to Nyeraz knowing of the pain she must be in to be the carrier, this time. Joukostos waits for Nyeraz to walk closer. Joukostos carefully goes up to Nyeraz.
Joukostos:
“ (whispers to Nyeraz) Your pain is almost over.”
Nyeraz opens her mouth and Rendemra’s colon slides out like a stream breaking free from built-up debris in a pipe. Joukostos grabs the colon to carefully keep pulling it out. The colon exits as does Rendemra’s lower intestines and Nyeraz’s mucus from keeping it nestled in her digestive tract and her thoracic area.
Nyeraz collapses down from the build-up of stress in her body.
Joukostos walks with the tubing around Rendemra’s pile until it acts as a garland around the display. Joukostos returns to the other tigresses.
Mornona:
“ Nyeraz, your strength should now be restored. Rise. ”
Nyeraz quickly forces herself to accept this. She recalibrates herself into a standing position, and then proceeds to vomit more mucus and phlegm. Nyeraz catches her breath, but then starts to cough up Rendemra’s fur and some extra fur balls.
Nyeraz takes a deep breath and calms her nerves. Her body recollects itself to an easeful state.
Nyeraz:
“ Why do we eat? Why do we need to drink? Why do we sleep? Why do we live? The body contains a tunnel, and the entrance is our mouth and the exit is our rear. We are a state of distance, and we move by becoming one with each other state of distance. Just like the flaming rocks of Chlorestigon, we need to be propelled to move, to function, to wonder and to pray. When we swallow, it travels through us, and the body can continue its ever present path to where it was meant to be.
Chlorestigon, you have been found.”
The Tigresses and the Pure Kinds:
“ Chlorestigon, you have been found.”
Nyeraz bows to the mound, and then returns to the tigresses.
Lastly, the youngest maffa of the clannars, Tibaraa. She slowly counts her paw steps as she walks forward to ensure that her movements are correct. She then pours out one of the clawed digits of Rendemra’s front paws onto the top of Rendemra’s head.
Tibaraa:
“ Legs, paws, wings, fins, tails, claws, fluids and slider strings are the means for which time and distance collide. Without, our bodies become rocks and despite our state without motion, we move because we are inside the closing body.
Like a stream in a hole, it dries up. Like the rain on the mud, it dries up; and like the tears after weeping, they dry up. The water goes somewhere even if it seems to us: motionless. Chlorestigon, you have been found.”
The Tigresses and the Pure Kinds:
“ Chlorestigon, you have been found.”
Tibaraa bows to the mound, and then goes to the other tigresses. Mornona walks forward.
Mornona:
“ You may give the aviamorphis to Gammina, but come back with the stones so that we may begin.”
Calico complies, and Gammina gives her love a broken smile as he places the dead bat next to her. Lemur finds some rocks near one of the fallen torches and hands it to Calico. He retuns to the circle.
{ The tigresses are now in a formation around the mound, each standing almost an exact distance apart, bowing before the mound. }
Calico goes to the center, and eyes back at Gammina. Gammina closes hers and lowers her head. Calico ignites the pile and stands back.
Mornona:
“ Chlorestigon, you have been found.”
The Tigresses and the Pure Kinds (except Gammina) :
“ Chlorestigon, you have been found.”
{ The flames grow and catch onto the still wet blood stains, but the tigresses are unflinching despite how close the flames dance near their whiskers.
Rendemra’s skull hollows out, and starts cracking apart.}
Mornona:
“ Chlorestigon, you have been found.”
The Tigresses and the Pure Kinds (except Gammina) :
“ Chlorestigon, you have been found.”
Gammina:
“(whispering to herself) Thank you, fatta. For without you, I would never have been…For teaching me to paint, to be of your society…for choosing Lassuria…For without you, I would never have met my Calico… ”
{ Rendemra is no more, and the flames die out. }
END OF PART TWELVE
Including Content from the original story published in the author’s work
The Trails To Attrition © 2007, Wasteland Press, Inc.
ISBN-13: 9781600471520© 2024, Their Call, Calico: the Series
Wasteland PressAdam Mullin (a.k.a. Good Day, Adam)
