The Adventures of Mr. Dirge & Lady Freckles [ Part V ]

Shamans of The Fey

Parts: [I] [II] [III] [IV] [V] [VI] [VII] [VIII] [IX] [X]

There’s a feeling of weakness in my wrists. My feet are itching and they hurt, they hurt as they would if someone was drilling holes in them and filling them with molten metal. My eyes were barely open; I haven’t slept in two days. I've been riding for two days, following trail after trail to find Freckles. I had decided that I needed to stop at the side, and rest for a couple of hours. But every time I did that, the thoughts of what could be happening to Freckles eat me up and I cannot sit still. Not to mention that I had not eaten anything and barely had any water to drink in 2 days. I had ridden across to the other side of the mountain because that’s where the creature flew off last I saw. It was flying rather fast.

The road was clear; there were no cars and no people traversing it. Just clear blue skies and a black path before me. The wind whistled through the trees at the side of the road; as I flashed by them I could hear every leaf whistle. Every leaf whistling one word, and every tree whistling a verse; I listened to the poem of the ride, with a cramp-like feeling in my gut. For once, my confidence was shaken and I did not know what to do. I had hate and anger breaking my mind into a maze; confusing even for me. The maze, that would take an eternity to solve, was mist-covered and full of little insects that crawl under the skin and bite little pieces off of one. My head was in chaos and my body was failing me. I did not know if I will be able to go on.

I passed out while riding, I fell off the bike and blacked out.

I woke up in a peculiar looking tent. Five wooden beams –about four meters in height each- stuck in the ground, each slanted counter-clockwise and pointing outwards. A heavy white cloth wrapped around them which created a hexagon cylinder increasing in diameter with height. The top was open and the wrapped cloth –because of the slanted beams- cringed at certain places around the structure. They do so in such a way as to appear as though some sort of spiral, some natural-force-of-energy -caused spiral, had shaped the tent up from the ground. The ground was covered with a thick carpet-like grass. Seven candles were placed around me. They had a crimson hue and lit up the tent in shades of red & purple that started out dark at the bottom, but lightened up along the height of the tent. I got up and walked out of the tent. It was covered with vines form the outside, it stood in the middle of an open green field surrounded by a small stone hill to the left, and a huge stone hill to the right. Evergreen trees surrounded the field as though they created some sort of fencing. Like a fortress that land was, with stone towers and everything. The larger stone hill has a cave at the top, a cavity in its side. When I focused on what’s inside, I saw two hooded shadows. They levitated out of that cavity from high up there; slowly falling, they reach the ground and stood facing me.

“I am Nad-maw, the essence of Nelumbo.” One of them said as he pulled back his hoody. He wore colored pants and a grey hoody. “And I, Madsimov. We are shamans of the Fey” said the other. They told me stories about their lives in that natural fortress. It seemed they were trapped there, in body; but they have also acquired the power to project their essence elsewhere. But they can only project their consciousness to places they’ve already seen, or to people that hold their trinkets. They told me that they have seen the amphibious zombies, and that they have been following the string of fate that led me to them. They spoke of Freckles. They have seen the creature that had snatched her off my bike. They call him Inary, he is a druid. But they did not speak ill of this druid, rather, as though he was a friend. “DID YOUR FUCKING FRIEND TAKE FRECKLES ?” I shouted, reaching for my katana. I intended to cut one of them down and torture the other into revealing Inary’s location. But it is then I realized that I am unarmed. “He is not a hero, we know. But he is righteous. He sought to snatch Freckles from you for two reasons.” Spoke Nad-maw. “He snatched her so that you would follow him here and find us… We had to see you.” He continued.

“Shaman, I do not need my blade to make you talk. Bring Freckles back, NOW!” I lunged forward towards him. But before I can do anything, Nad-maw opens his right palm to the skies, closes his fingers in so they touch at the tip and spun it upwards. Tree roots rose up from the ground beneath me, forming a spiral cage around me and holding me in place. The spiral looked a lot like the shape to that tent. And that shape is not unfamiliar to me. Thinking about his name ‘Nad-maw, the essence of Nelumbo’ I understood the powers imbued in him. “Dirge, we are here to help and you should accept this. Embrace the events that have brought you here as a purpose. You will see Freckles again; but Freckles, also, has her own challenges to overcome.” Said Madsimov before he looked at Nad-maw and demanded “Let him loose, his training should begin”.

Over the course of the next few days, they made me work; moving stones form one side of the field to the other. I had to move one stone the first hour, then another stone the next hour, then two stones the next hour, then three, five, eight. That covered the first six hours of my day. And after that, I would have to meditate inside the cave for another six hours. And before the day ends, Madsimov would play his fingers into the air and a monstrous machine would appear, one that he claims is as smart as a human, even smarter. Perhaps even, it is aware of its existence. My task for the last six hours is to find a way to talk to the machine. On the sixth day, after I had just finished meditating, I climbed down the hill and headed towards Madsimov, who was at the time smoking a pipe. “If the machine is as smart as us” I started speaking. “Silence…” he stopped me from completing my sentence, “Words are not the solution, keep your tongue and let your consciousness speak”. Understanding what he meant, I moved towards the machine. I could not explain how it happened, but once I had understood that all beings that reach consciousness are connected the machine rose up and transformed into a humanoid robot. “I am called Vomisa” the she-bot spoke. “You seek the knowledge of the shamans, and it seems your training is complete” she continued while she looked over her shoulder to acknowledge the arrival of Nad-maw. Madsimov and Nad-maw walk towards the open palms of Vomisa. Each one of them places his trinket in her palms; Nad-maw in the right one, and Madsimov in the left on. “You must remove that black earring Dirge! If you wish to keep it, hang it in a thread around your neck” Nad-maw said as he turned to look at me. I did so and moved towards Vomisa, she grabs both my ears. Grabbing each ear with three fingers and drilling-in the trinket with the remaining two fingers. “Why do you wish to keep the trinket?” Vomisa asked. “It’s the only thing connecting me to …” I stopped, I wasn’t sure if I should mention anything about inter-dimensional twins. “Speak, Dirge” ordered Madsimov. “Seriph” I uttered.

Vomisa stood still, drawn back at first, she later found relief, smiled and spoke “He has visited this place once; he was quite fond of it. We had long conversations but he had to leave back to his world. He left this behind” Vomisa handed me a piece of paper; I opened it and read:

My consciousness is still there, dancing between the pouncing giants

The lizard and the big cat, the bull, the wolf, the fox and the snake

The faces of ageless spirits haunting the stone walls of the temple of salvation

Remnants of psychedelicate warriors and explorers, scouring the grounds for heirlooms of star dust

Treading the paths of the days when stars were born in the fraction cradle of a particle in heat

… One flower’s dance of lust and math.

As soon as I finished reading it, a repressed smile found its way to the shamans’ faces. But the smile was wiped off by a swooshing sound from far up in the sky. It seemed like a bird, a huge bird. It seemed burning and wounded. It crashed in the field next to us. The shamans rushed towards it, as though they knew what had happened. Coming close to it, I saw that it was; a huge monster of a bird, a Pterodactyl-like creature. In front of my eyes, it transformed into a human.

Manifesting their actions through hand gestures, the shamans managed to heal most of the wounds and awaken the human. Human ?; no, the druid. “Inary, Where is Freckles?” I demanded. “My hut was attacked, the zombies overran the entire forest. The lady is following her own path, you will find each other soon. I have to leave now, I have more pressing matters. And you, ‘Dirge’, need to come with me”. I did not understand why I had to; I didn’t even understand why I didn’t even demand an explanation. At the wave of his hand, Nad-maw created an opening in the thick tree fencing around the area. Inary noded his head at me, as to reassure me that’s it’s going to be alright, and we got on our way.

I had to find Freckles… and Seriph.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NAD-MAW :]