The Adventures of Mr. Dirge & Lady Freckles [ Part VI ]
Freckles’ Resolve
I was in mid-air. A harness was strapped to my torso. It was made of a mystical cloth that doesn't break; black and thick it was. Heavy metal rings held the edges together. The two bigger metal rings held the strap going upwards. Inary, in his beast form, was carrying me and flying across lands and distances. It seemed like he knew exactly where he wanted to go. It seemed like everyone I've met has been making decisions they did not understand, but only believed that it’s what they needed to do.
I reflected on how I went with Inary without thinking, how I decided to leave the house in the first place all those days ago. A lot of what has been happening didn't make a lot of sense; but I let the thought slide and focused on my main goal. I had to find Freckles.
After flying for a couple of hours, we landed at the edge of a barren hill. The hill stood alone. It was massive and brownish, with a lighter hue of beige at the bottom. Surrounded by an empty green field, the hill stood out of place. Illogical. We walked along the edge from the south side, looking for an “entrance”, as Inary put it. I saw a tree, in the distance along the edge of the hill. It stood alone, as it seemed at first, but when I got closer I noticed another one was behind it. We realized that these trees marked the entrance. The trees leaned against each other creating an arch over the massive cave entrance. As we walked in, Inary started talking.
“While you were training your mind, Freckles was learning a new skill; one that she will have to use eventually” Inary explained, “she’s been training with dragons”. At first I thought he was just joking. “Dude, it’s really not the right time to joke…” I spoke. Inary smiled and uttered “You’ll see”, just as we arrived to a great hall inside the hill. It was like the entire hill was almost empty from the inside. The hall was dark, barely lit by the hundreds of lanterns scattered around on the floor. The lanterns were very strange; they gave off a very warm green color. At the center of the hall, right under the peak of the dome, stood a great stone dragon; barely visible. It had a shimmering hue of green. Inary walked in and stood facing the dragon. He uttered some words and suddenly, red fire engulfed most of the ceiling brightening up the entire hall. But that fire did something else, the stone dragon is now moving; the sound of cracking stone gave it away. I slowly started moving backwards towards the tunnel, but what was happening was too awesome to miss. The stone dragon stretched its wings, covering half of the hall from both sides. From grey stone to scaly and leathery green skin — the same shade of green the lanterns gave off — the dragon awakens.
“Hello, Dirge” I heard her voice in my head say. I was held back in awe. The dragon was looking straight at me, with a very calm and serene face. She turned and started walking towards me; shrinking in size with every step. By the time she reached me she had transformed into a woman.
Clouds of electrically charged green smoke rose from every lantern in the hall and swooshed through the air smashing into her; charging her with energy as she looked at me –while I stood in awe. This was not just a dragon that transformed into a lady, I thought; and that was even before I found out what she’s actually capable of. She had long, dark brown hair. Her skin, ever so white, looked like it is made of soft stone. She wore tight, high-waist shorts; green shirt and black converse shoes. Her face was calm, always. Her jaw-line, ever so fine, felt like it was there only to house that wide smile; a smile that pushes your pupils into dilation. Her stares fall peacefully on my awe, she approached me and we spoke.
“My name is Rei, I gave this realm color” she said. “Gave color ?” I did not understand. “She drew this realm into a reality, Dirge. You, me, Freckles, those trees outside … ” jumped in Inary. I looked back at her shocked and said “You created us?!!” She laughed as soon as those words fell on her ears. “You are yet to understand the irony at play here Dirge. I did not create this reality, this dimension, I only gave it color. But that is more than you need to know now; there are more important matters.” She said, “You seek Freckles, but you need to know first. You need to know the truth about Freckles”. “The truth?” I asked while my mind ran through a million idea of what that truth could possibly be. She continued “Freckles, like me, is a dragon. She had forgotten who she was a long time ago. When she met you, she started remembering but couldn't make sense of it. She’s safe now, don’t worry. She is just learning to fly again, like she used to. I will draw a portal that will take you to the valley where she’s finishing her training. Beware though, that valley is now infested with zombies”.
“One more thing …” I uttered “I need to find Charly before I leave”. She noded her head and called out for Charly. Charly appeared from the dark side of the cave. She came running towards me; like she would back in the days, when I would come back home from work, . All the helplessness that had taken over me, and the feeling of defeat, they went away as soon as she started licking my face. Rei pulled out a pencil and waved it in shapes that wrote out letters that had a dark green glow in a language that I did not understand. The letters started merging together to form the image she wanted to draw. A portal appeared in front of me. I thanked Inary and Rei and told Charly that it’s time to go. As always, she understood what I said. We step through the portal; but unlike what I had imagined, It did not feel like going through a portal. It felt like taking a regular step forward. But a step that threw you kilometers away.
I looked around the jungle valley I had appeared in, and I could feel that danger was everywhere. A sudden explosion, not too far away to the left, caught my attention. I took the high grounds and ran along the tree branches while Charly followed me running behind the bushes in subtlety. I look ahead and I saw her. That freckled goddess that had my blood pumping constantly and chronically from the moment I laid my eyes on her for the first time and ever since. But she was in trouble, surrounded by zombies. Her gun still at hand but now she had a blade too. A short red serrated blade hung at her left side while she danced around kicking zombies’ asses. Unsheathing-slashing-sheathing at speeds my eyes could not comprehend. It was only a moment until I remembered that I too have acquired new powers. Tricks I learned back at the Fey.
Right above where the fight was, and with countless zombies all around Freckles, I stood in Nelumbo’s grace. Five seconds later, I pulled out my blade and descended right in front of Freckles, facing the zombies that were now gathered right in front of us. I slashed the air in front of me, once, once again, then twice, then trice, then five times. As I sheathed my katana, the zombies started falling. At first one, then another one, then two, then three; and it went on until all the zombies had been cut. That was the secret art of the Spiral Slash; the use of nature and math to create magic.
I turned to Freckles, she was acting like she didn't care that I pulled of an epic trick. She’s a dragon after all. With only a smirk on my face, and no words spoken, I walked towards her and grabbed her by her waist. She put both hands on my face as I closed in to kiss her…
Thank you Rei; may you always give colors ☺
