There was something so familiar about this place, as compared to the one she just left. The one with a hidden sun, a giant tree, a gemstone crusted box and a woman with wings. She had been there, while it not really existing, similarly to Alveda’s classroom, a place only she could see. But this place was real and if she and Tyler hadn’t parted in the way that they did, she surely would’ve tried her damnedest to prove it.
Pfiefer couldn’t help but lose track of the sounds that were made every time her feet contacted the earth, and she couldn’t help but forget how each sound directly corresponded to her coordinates and why all of that mattered in the first place. Those details seemed lost to her now because the path that she and Tyler had created was no longer defined by the thousands of footsteps that had molded it into its very existence, but instead, by the hundreds of craters that had sunk into the earth in every place beside it.
Pfiefer thought harder on the subject of familiarity as she ventured through this, now, uncharted territory but she couldn’t reach a decent enough explanation that couldn’t be disproven. There were no trees, no box and the only woman was she. There was nothing that could’ve given her the impression she was back there, yet there was something so familiar indeed.
She quickly abandoned all matters of the current subject and, instead, shifted her focus towards the holes. Pfiefer took several mental snapshots, as though to remember them later as she tiptoed around them, peering into each one she snapped along away, with each one of them displaying differing degrees of indistinguishable depth. Her beats grew quicker as her stomach grew queasier, the more she walked passed them, hoping she never had to find out just how deep the blackness went; although her mind stayed curious. The darkness of the night sky did nothing to help illuminate the darkness of the holes mere inches from her laces. But she had hoped the light from the stars, which had somehow managed to grow closer since she’d last seen them, would aid her in her quest; to no avail.
She looked no further than her carefully placed steps, bending down for any rocks she could drop down the hole; her fingers plunging into the powder a consistency of flour that was reflective like glass. Lifting one into the light of the stars, it glistened a beauty too precious to lose so she made a snapshot to mark the occasion and delved back into the gleam at her feet. She picked another that was even more incredible than the first. This time she sacrificed it in the name of science, confident her third attempt would’ve rewarded her even more handsomely, and heaved it into the darkness with all of her strength.
Pfiefer tucked her hair behind her ears, as though the sound she was waiting for would somehow be heard as she methodically maneuvered around the large hole, in hopes she could align herself in a better position for when the rock hit bottom. But then a soft, waterlessness of a man’s voice ruined her experiment and her concentration.
“Where…have…you…been…all of my life?”
Her first reaction was to jerk forward causing her to immediately push back on her heels so as not to dive head first into the hole before her, only to slip into a crater behind her that had not previously been there.
The hole was smaller compared to the one she dropped the rock down, but deep enough to have engulfed her horizontal body lying flush on the bottom of the pit yet still, easy enough to have jumped across had she not been distracted but her heart didn’t know the difference. Pfiefer sat up and dusted the dust from her clothing; it took a moment for her heart to slow its ever-increasing pace when a faint light caught her eye’s attention. Pfiefer leaned back and sunk her dirt stained purple painted nails into the ground behind her in order to gain a better view of the sky.
It was a faint color, the same hue as the ground she once stood on, until the grey’s turned to greens, reds and more of a vibrant array. It was that tree she realized she was looking at, with its devilish leaves once again like a firework in the night sky; only crisper. The scene of that boy and she under a tree filled the darkened sky, while a voice she did not recognize provided subtitles for their foreign film replaying, until it was gone but not before she could capture it. Snap.
She watched the colors grow black and remain for several seconds and Pfiefer erected instantly, thinking she would be buried alive. Pfiefer climbed her way out, rolling onto her back and laid staring into the night sky that appeared to be much closer than it actually was. It wasn’t long before her heart’s speed had finally shown a decline and when it was back to normal, she picked herself up and dusted herself off once more.
Pfiefer resumed walking, more carefully this time, although she had thought she had been pretty careful before. She stared into the sky, waiting for the lights to return yet she kept a close eye on the ground at her feet, to ensure it was still there beneath them. And on one of the instances where her mind was on her sole, she witnessed the grayish glass underneath it rise up from the ground and lift just level to her larynx before continuing its path towards the black back drop of the sky; leaving a small crater behind, which Pfiefer was currently standing in now, although she didn’t notice her sink into it right away.
“Legend tells the tale of our kind. It is the story of how all life came to be. You are special to our story.”
The voice serenaded the silence, bright lights filled the sky in varying images. The colors grew black and remained, then floated away, with no trace they had once been under her feet. A crater conquering its territory like a blemish does to skin, its presence erasing any memory of a time before it. The boy would swap his tune for several more times before Pfiefer was able to make out the relay.
“I’ve been waiting so long. No, that’s too honest. We’ve been waiting for you. No, that’s too creepy. You are important to this story…to Legend.”
“Tell me what you want to know, I will tell you anything. I sound like a fool. Um, darkness lived for many years until one day, when the sun came, and they…no, no, no.”
“Sometimes, in life…what is wrong with me? We are meant for things that…this is so stupid.”
“The truth is, I am not really sure what to say to you. I mean, you are going to come here and what do I say? What do you say to the girl you have been waiting for all of your life? I just don’t know.”
Each time his voice was heard, the dust from her feet would rise up and fill the sky, amassing into a different yet distinct image. Multiple pictures fading into another while the boy filled in the gaps with his narrative. The dust would float away as he would completely abandon his focus and then more would rise again as he would attempt another. And Pfiefer, too, would abandon her focus and would regain another, but not in the same way. She struggled to see the image being displayed while climbing out of the hole it had just made and just before she would make it out, she would shield her eyes and cower her body, in anticipation of it falling down upon her, while trying to avoid the next crater created from his revision.
The rise and fall of these arrangements would carry on for several more bouts. Images of storms and suns, daughters and waters, in colors of blues and fires and a girl just trying to remain dirt-free filled the night. It’s easy for her to have missed it. Such a beautiful pendant attached to a thin, black chain but she did. Pfiefer, so excited to have finally caught up to his arrangement, filled with ardor to finally have attained it, but then the arrangement and the pendant stopped; midair.
“How long have you been here?”
The voice scribbled over the colors in the sky, leaving black in place of its final image of she under that tree. For the first time since she’s arrived gravity took over as the dust she had been waiting for, finally fell on to her feet, passing her along the way. The necklace doing something similar as it fell around her neck, so graceful in its execution that not even its giver was aware it had succeeded, when the uneasy voice had shifted its commentary to a question directed at her. But Pfiefer only clutched her knapsack tighter because the rise she was expecting never came; fearing only for her treasure’s safety and much less her own. She jumped when he reached out to touch her, his soft fingers barely missing the back of her neck and turned to face him so violently the boy couldn’t help but worry her anger was directed at him.
“D…Don’t be frightened,” he squeaked.
But fright didn’t exactly comprise of her whirlwind. Irritation towards a forgotten pattern she had finally mastered and rage towards a Mother who had not even warned her nose she had company were about the only things behind her ire.
“You had startled me.” He eased.
“Ditto.” She returned less grittily than her brows implied, “where did you come from?”
“There.”
He pointed to the hole Pfiefer had hurled the rock in and her eyes immediately widened as she began scanning his body for indication he had been hit. She had submerged the idea of asking him several times before, finally, it slipped through without her permission.
“I am sorry.”
“It’s okay.”
“You read my mind?” Pfiefer asked with wonder.
“Don’t give me too much credit this time. There wasn’t much else it could be.” He said trying to diminish her excitement while the glowing girl looked upon him perplexed. So, he decided to show her. “I see you found it. Do you like it?”
Pfiefer thought a short while about his question and though she wasn’t able to do the same as he so quickly, when she did, it was still impressive nonetheless. By looking down in the direction his eyes indicated when he asked his question, she was able to read his mind. She placed the small item in her hands; a tiny woman, her frail arms and legs wrapped tightly around a thin cylindrical glass tube with a tiny cork atop. She had two small wings, large in comparison to her body, attached to her back and pointed ears, just like the lady in the tree.
Inside the tube were rainbow granules of what looked like sand, or more precisely, what looked like the powder from the feather the boy burned from his necklace. Pfiefer admired the angel once more and the substance inside her grasp deciding on whether or not to inquire further about the mystical ash. She let the small woman fall against her belly button, deciding not.
“Yes, I like it,” she accepted her gift graciously.
“Ok. You win. I guess it is pretty cool.” He glowed.
“So, what’s…” Pfiefer began, deciding to ask what she had previously dismissed.
“It’s an answer,” he replied before she could finish and before she could even ask her next question he did it again, “to a question you will have in the future.”
“Incredible.”
“You really are.” The boy looked on to her with amazement.
“Ditto.” Pfiefer laughed equally amazed.
It was him in the flesh, still adorned in black speaking real words, not flavors like last time; snap, snap. She stared at this boy like no other who had jumped from the movie scenes of her dreams to right before her. It was only fitting she couldn’t find the right words to say and luckily for her she didn’t have to. As they went round and round, answering each other’s questions before the other could even ask, passion filling the space between them; the kind of love the moon had not seen in sometime.
“I am only a boy,” he answered.
“The first time I remembered them I was six.” Pfiefer began, “I remember having ones before then but I can’t recall what they were.”
“Yes. We are on the moon.” He answered laughingly. He even threw in two freebies. “It’s only possible when you are one of us and yes, the craters are my doing, sometimes it gets lonely.”
“I knew it!” Pfiefer shrieked before clarifying his last response. “I normally can’t read minds. But with you, I can just feel what you are going to say. I’ve gotten lucky a couple of times with Tyler. Nothing like this though.”
“No, you are not human.” He said a bit confused.
“I don’t think so. My whole life I’ve always felt a little different. I know I am meant for great things. Even if I am the only one who believes it.”
“Magic.” He answered. “It’s the only thing that defies, what the humans call, gravity.” He paused. “It’s actually more complex than that. I will explain it to you one day.”
“He’s my best friend.”
“The land of spirits,” he said. He cocks his head back slightly, his eyes closed briefly while he spreads his arms out widely to each end, his skin soaking up the warm moonlight beneath him. She looked at him, bewildered from his response, and he too stared at her, equally sharing her confusion regarding her naivety on the subject.
“No. I haven’t.” Pfiefer responded. “But it sounds like a fairytale. Legend.”
His response produced no words and instead a touch. He pulled her warm fingers into his leading her well past the hole she had dropped the rock down and many more for that matter. There wasn’t a crater before her eyes now, it was completely leveled terrain and even though it was darker on this part of the surface Pfiefer enjoyed every bit of the confidence her shoes felt, until the ground gave way beneath them.
Billions of particles of grey dust passed through them and filled the sky. Leaving a crater behind much bigger and deeper than all she had passed before it. She and he stood at the bottom of the pit of darkness, a pit so deep in fact, on the surface of the moon the top of his head, which stood a good foot above hers, had not even shown.
It was so dark in there; the light of the stars could not be seen. Pfiefer used her other senses to accommodate for her loss. The warmth from the boy’s hand slowly faded as the coolness began to engulf her slender fingers when he let it go but his shoulder blade was quickly felt as she realized he had placed her hand there shortly after. His hands around her hips were felt next and he pulled them downward. Pfiefer reached for the ground in the darkness keeping her hand firmly on his blade. He knelt down with her, so she didn’t have to let go and arranged her more comfortably on the bottom of the pit, removing the knapsack from her back and placing it next to her, tucking his flannel printed shirt beneath her head for added comfort.
“Yes, I am okay.” She whispered in the blackness. “But do you mind if…”
“Okay,” he promised. “I’ll use my words.”
“What are you doing now?” She asked ever so hesitantly. He picked one of her hands up and placed it around the bottle. “Your words.” She demanded to him after she realized his question was not audible.
“Okay, I am sorry.” The boy hissed. “I am placing something in your hands. Do you know what it is?”
Pfiefer seized the bottle in her grasp, gripping it so tightly the rays of light inside could not be seen. As she acquired its shape, she couldn’t help but notice how similar it seemed to the one she had watched the boy collect her tear with earlier or like the one the woman around her neck was holding or like the one she had been given so long ago, although she couldn’t tell whether or not this one was blue too.
“Open your hand silly.” He laughed.
Pfiefer reduced her grip slightly and a light slipped through the cracks of her clutch, bright hues in every color known and unknown to man. It gave off faintly enough to see his dimples with. She felt the boy put his cool fingers around her warm ones once more, as he positioned her wrist so that the bottle was facing upright.
“Keep the bottle up okay and open it.”
Pfiefer did as the boy asked and removed the cork from the bottle. The colors that were once inside escaped into the air and in that second of freedom dimmed their light down to nothing. Pfiefer waited a long while before turning towards the boy although she wasn’t sure he could see this action in the dark.
“Yes, I am ready.” She answers the unspoken question and gathers herself as the dark-haired boy clears his throat and begins.
“Once before time…”
And just as it was uttered, the lights returned with their full glory, collecting themselves enough to spell out the phrase in thick, off-white letters. Pfiefer turned to the moon-eyed boy and showed him a smile that stretched across her face, a smile she was sure he had seen under the luminescence. She quickly turned back to the show so as not to miss another snapshot. The boy tried his hardest to mask his enthusiasm watching the girl fill up with such enchantment but was overcome with the delight. He collected himself, cleared his throat and continued and as he did, so did the pictures that filled the sky:
In the beginning, there was no balance, no harmony, no order or chaos, no life or death, no happiness or sadness, no good or evil, no up or down, no yes or no. In the beginning, there was Spirit, there was Earth, there was Air, there was Fire, there was Water, and there were Faery.
Life was simple and kind for the Fae for millions of years as they prepared for the arrival of man. The Fae and Elementals performed their many tasks, prepping the land human now call Earth, but will always be known as Terra to them. Finally, when the fae had molded the land into an inhabitable place, human arrived but not without many complications; as man, woman and faery shared the space known as Terra.
When man became aware they were the top of the hierarchy, their superior minds fueled superior intellect and they slowly began to challenge the world around them. And thus, it was born: balance and harmony, as well as war, chaos, jealousy, hate, sorrow and pain. Faery believed Human brought tragedy to Terra, essentially creating evil into existence simply by defying what was good. Human could not settle for the simple life that the Faery were accustomed to and soon, many improvements were made. But of course, each improvement was not without some sacrifice, however, the cure always justified the cancer since what they were trying to achieve, they thought, was for the greater good of mankind.
But Faery folk believed life should be enjoyed purely, and that if the cure created cancer in just one life, that it was not justified. Faery believed that advancement only brought chaos and misery not only to mankind but, subsequently, to all kinds below man, the kind that Faery felt Human could no longer see even with all of their superior intellect.
But fae had no right to question the dealings of the men above them, the men they were created for, their one true purpose in life, and so eventually, there was war and it was brutal. Although Faery had magic, they did not understand hatred, or revenge, they weren’t able to use their gifts to harm their sole purpose in life because they wouldn’t and so humans slaughtered the one thing, inadvertently, keeping them alive. The Fae dwindled in numbers and consequently, Terra was ravaged nearly beyond repair.
Then the Heavens came down and brought darkness on the land, punishment for such a dangerous disregard for lack of compassion for one another. For 3 days, Human and Faery awaited their fate in darkness. Finally, on the 4th day, a small light from a tiny orb millions of miles away illuminated and spread its warmth on half of the infertile ball, darkness unable to fully let go, remained clutching the other half of the rotating sphere; and just like that the decision was made and it was of foreshadowing of things to come.
Like mother sun and lover moon, or brother day and brother night, Faery and Human must inhabit the same Earth separately. What it meant was that in one inch of land a Human and Faery could stand, could reside, could eat, could perform, unbeknownst to the other. Human was not to cross over to Faery land, however, Faery was demanded to watch over Human, to protect them from themselves as always and were granted more tools to aid in this request.
Among the many tools, time was created, for record-keeping. But it also represented Faery and Human’s brief history together. Three hundred and sixty-five days each year, to represent that no matter how terrible the days get, the 366th day, which will always technically be the first day of the year, will always bring light and new beginnings.
The End
The lights held their place in the sky, as Pfiefer laid staring at the six bold letters that were fading away before her, not quite ready for the story to be over. The boy stared at her, waiting for some kind of reaction but didn’t get it and Pfiefer picked up on this, intending to detail her precise level of amazement to him, but something she was preparing for stood in her way.
His face grew disappointed, and like that, darkness overcame him, as well as everything else surrounding them, including the lights in the sky. Pfiefer jumped with a fright so fearful, ignoring the countless times in the relay when it didn’t fall, remembering the one time it did. She climbs out of the hole still on her knees before rolling over to her back, gravity deciding never to return to this place again.
“Did you not like it?” The beautiful boy replied, hovering above the girl engorging large amounts of air.
“Of course, I liked it, I loved it!” Pfiefer said with excitement, “I just wish it didn’t have to end.”
“Well, I’ve got more!” the boy said relieved, “The Princess and the Penny, the Beauty and the Bee, which is kinda like Beauty and the Beast except a much better version if you ask me but it’ll have to be some other time.” Pfiefer looked upon him disheartened and even before she could get the words out he answered.
“Yes, you are a Faery. Yes, we live in everything around us, the plants, the sky, the darkness. Everything.
They stared at each other that way a little longer until finally Pfiefer’s lips began to move, a reaction she didn’t want to happen since it wasn’t in the way she hoped. She would’ve much preferred her lips move closer to his, or vice versa, she didn’t care which.
“So that was Legend?”
“No. That was only a brief recount of our history. We would need more time than you have to give in order for me to explain it all. But as far as Legend, I think you should ask your mother to tell you that.”
Pfiefer contemplated her smart remark before tossing it away. “So, I get the sense you are trying to get rid of me?”
“It’s not that.” He said without clarification.
His pause grew to be too much for her heart to handle, so Pfiefer stubbornly started off in a random direction in an attempt to look for the exit. She shouted something made just for him, though she didn’t bother turning back to face him directly. Feeling as though her welcome was too thin to wear out any further. “Two questions.” She paused, “how do I get back?”
He jogged to catch up the short distance she had escaped and held her shoulders tightly so that she wouldn’t move. “Stop. Close your eyes and focus,” he said.
“I meant, how do I get back to you?” she clarified.
The boy moved his lips closer towards her ear when he whispered, “I know what you meant.”
Pfiefer had already closed her eyes and was just about gone when the boy remembered her second question and shouted it to her just as she disappeared completely. His voice rumbled through the darkness that was suddenly no more. Almost everything looked just as it had before she left and Pfiefer even turned around to see the familiar ash tree in the distance. She turned back following the familiar trail she and Tyler had created towards her house, ignoring the earth’s warnings at her feet, sifting through an inventory of snapshots.
“Eres.” Pfiefer said aloud, settling on the last one.
She stopped dead in her tracks clutching the tiny gift around her neck soaking up all of the small gifts memories. She liked the sound of his name as it rolled off her tongue but couldn’t ignore the vibrations on her back any longer. So she looked back suddenly and almost as sudden, was struck with paralyzing fear.
“Oh shit!” She said loudly, “how could that be?”
Pfiefer stared, not at the ash tree swaying against the wind’s gentle breeze, but at the warm sunlight peeking through its magnificently green leaves and bathing everything around her. Sunlight that, up until ten seconds ago, had not been there.
This work is created by, written by and belongs to Aecko and shared here for entertainment.