Death Journey
Book One: Jaded Skies
Prologue
The sky had once been blue. It held a vast bowl of saccharine winds with a plump orange sun. Each day the sky would greet inhabitants below with hope of continuity—the sky would promise another tomorrow to cradle the world with safe whispers of peace. Eventually, night’s glamour melted the sugar of blue sky into a black glaze.
There used to be stars. People could still see them then. The stars’ innocent glimmers suspended in newly dried night as if they meant to swoop down from the atmosphere and catch the people down below. Those days were filled by sweetness and prosperity, with laughter and haunting lullabies. But that was when the sky was blue.
Now, it was undeniably red.
Nothan’s muther made this story part of their nightly routine ever since the boy first opened his strange colored eyes. At first, she would hold the infant tightly in her arms, making sure no threats could snatch the bundle away. When danger that could dethatch from the shadows or swiftly appear from above did not show, Nothan’s mother let the sweet song of another time drip from her mouth like nectar. The air around them would realize the gravity of this melody and pressed in upon both mother and babe, binding them closely together. Even when Nothan grew, and with him the impatient nature of a child, he forced himself to find the patience to gently climb onto his muther’s lap and listen to the beauty of the woman’s words.
On the night of Nothan’s eighth birthday he dared to ask a question that burned in his head each time the story was told. Whenever his muther finished her story of a blue sky utopia a shock of sadness struck the trailing few words. This unspoken unhappiness hit the boy each time like the weight of many oceans. Her sadness kept Nothan from ever asking his question. But today was no day to be a coward. He was eight now, a young man.
“Is that story really true, Mummi?” Nothan asked, holding his breath tightly inside of his chest. He snuggled closer to the tired woman and heard the distant thunder of his mother’s stomach. She let him eat her portion of tonight’s dinner again. He protested that he wasn’t hungry, but his muther was just as stubborn as he was and refused to tell him her stories if he did not eat. She always knew how to pinpoint his weakness and relay it back at him with a terrible gusto.
As a response to her son’s question, she let a tiny sigh pass through her full lips. Then she smiled a smile at Nothan that drenched her eyes with melancholy. The adoring light that graced her being whenever she saw her son doubled.
“My father used to tell me this story. His mother told him. Her mother told her. The web of tellings go as far as the time when the sky was blue and there was no need to tell of something as normal to them as our red sky is to us.”
Nothan felt the usual rush of wonder flash in his veins. So it was true. It was true! He wanted to jump off of his muther’s lap to dance around a room that could barely hold two people for sleeping let alone dancing. As soon as he dipped his leg down to try he managed to catch his mother in a rare expression. He froze in shock.
Her face had lines. Dozens of small, delicate lines etched around her deep brown eyes. Her light brown mouth. Around her high cheekbones. She hunched forward as if a malicious creature sat jovially upon her shoulders. And her hair. Defiant layers of gray jut out from the back of what used to be the darkest of black pony tails. Nothan’s heart squeezed with unexplained fear. It clutched at his throat and threatened to cut away his breath. His muther was getting older, and on her face was the same yearning he himself had just hoped for. Something she had long past given up on.
A blue sky.
I’ll get her a piece of the blue sky. Nothan silently vowed. And that would make her happy again. I know it will.
The problem was finding the right time to do so. Nothan went to sleep that night with a great anticipation flashing through his fingers and toes. A plan was already formulating. As with any child of his age, the plan replayed over and over with each repeated version grander and more dashing as vivid dreams only confirmed the boy’s ambition.
Two days later Nothan left.
“But Nothan, w-w-won’t your Mummi and Doddi not l-like this? I know they w-w-won’t. They tell us not to l-leave w-without them,” A petite boy a couple years younger than Nothan squeaked. “Do you know w-w-what’s out here? It’s scary Nothan!”
“Shush, will you,” Came Nothan’s stolen phrase from his dother. “That’s why I’m bringing a kid like you with me. You like all that curing people stuff.”
“So you really think monsters w-w-will come out?”
“Of course!” The older boy answered immediately. Noticing how uncomfortable his companion became, Nothan added, “But if they come at you, I’ll get them with this!” He brandished the sharp edge of a reddish brown disk he carried over his shoulder. He’d been practicing using the blade for the past two days.
“Put that back over you! Do it! Do it!” Squealed the blond child, almost dropping his own disk as he covered his freckled face with his hands.
Nothan decided not to tell the boy that if there were monsters out right now, they would have come parading out because of that sudden shout and not in result of Nothan’s slip. But the boy kept his mouth shut and replaced the disk on his back to mask light brown skin to the red dirt of the children’s surroundings. Nothan had to be careful of what he said to Jayce. The skinny, brown eyed child just lost his eldest brothi to one of his creatures over a month ago and was still sensitive to snappish remarks. At least, that was what his mummi told him.
“Sorry,” Nothan mumbled as he brushed past Jayce. The older boy headed towards a set direction. To where the barely visible moon every now and then flickered underneath the dark red sky. The large orb reminded him of the one time he saw glass in a rare passing Trader’s Group. Smoky clouds seemed to glide both over and underneath the glowing moon just like one could peer past glass.
Every now and then there would a moment when a streak of blue bubbled underneath the moon’s glass plane. A flash that happened so quickly that Nothan questioned himself each time he caught it. If Nothan were to find a piece of blue sky, he would need to go towards the moon.
The two boys went on for what they thought were days, though in truth the time passed was only a few hours. Jayce fingered his pack nervously, knowing that the leather skins, their only source of water, lay drained inside. Alongside the skins were the remnants of the rations the boys had smuggled from their small home. Every now and then, Jayce bent to pick interesting plants that were almost hidden in clumps of red dust to calm his racing thoughts, but never let the gap between Nothan and himself deepen.
“Nothan?” Jayce began, breaking the sturdy silence that had lasted for the better part of thirty minutes.
“Hmn.”
“Do you think your parents are looking for us?”
Nothan heaved an over exaggerated sigh and turned around to face Jayce.
“They’re looking after the new people right now. They were so busy that they forgot about breakfast. They never do that. I don’t think—” Before Nothan could finish his comment, the thick red dust that seemingly clung to the air stirred in a blast of wind. Nothan, caught off guard, lost his grip on his disk. It was tugged away by the wind as he glumly watched its progression. Tufts of his black hair struck his face, blocking his view. A resounding clatter stole his attention away. Jayce had also lost control of his disk, but not because of the wind.
“N-Nothan,” Jayce whispered. His complete attention was directed on something behind the confused eight-year-old. “We really shouldn’t be here.”
“Why not?” Nothan asked. His question was answered as soon as he turned around. The red smog had vanished with the wind. Nothan tugged at his ragged, thin shirt and gave himself permission to gulp. He had not intended to lead Jayce straight to The Skeleton Forest. The very name even gave the headstrong Nothan severe chills.
The Skeleton Forest was a terribly dark area, for this forest was not made of trees, grass, and roaming forest animals. Scraps of decaying metal heaped upon each other up to eighteen feet high lay in scattered piles. Black. Gray. Dead. Nothing that loved the living would dare enter this haunted place, though a faint reminder of what had been a road offered the idea that The Skeleton Forest had once been welcoming. The scarlet composition of the dust and muck behind the boys stopped as soon as it touched this faded road. Nothan’s parents spoke of The Skeleton Forest with unshielded fear in their eyes, telling the children never to set foot in the place. 374Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1KjjUKPvoK
“I’m g-g-going back,” Jayce moaned, swiveling around and back the direction they had come from. Nothan caught his shirt, halting the frightened child.
“We can’t now! You see that over there?” He pointed towards the middle of The Skeleton Forest, his hand shaking as he did so. Jayce struggled in Nothan’s grip like a dying fish, only ceasing when he realized that he was simply wasting energy. He did as Nothan said and followed the direction of his friend’s finger.
Was that something flashing in the middle of the black metal skeletons? Yes, it was. It vaguely resembled a scrap of blue material covered with various forms of debris.
“It’s a piece of sky.” Nothan said. He repeated once more to drive the point of joy into Jayce, “A piece of sky!” A broad smile flickered to each corner of Nothan’s face. “Come on, Jayce! All I need to do is get a piece of that to Mummi, and then she’ll feel better. She won’t be sad anymore!”
“I’m not going in there,” said the tiny boy. His eyes glazed. The smell that came off of his body was nothing short of pure fear. “I’ll w-w-wait here. You go.”
“Fine. I’ll be back,” announced the boy who was oblivious to Jayce’s shuddering frame. Nothing was as important as the piece of sky. That was the goal. If Jayce decided to be a coward, that was his problem. Nothan only needed himself for this part anyway.
The older boy didn’t flinch. He didn’t squint his eyes from fear. He simply strode into the mass of The Skeleton Forest as if the rusted black metal did not take horrid shapes in his mind with the intention of harm.
I’ll just grab the piece of sky and leave. That’s all. The boy thought. His poorly made leather shoes barely did anything to protect his sore feet. He could feel the remnants of another lifetime dig into the soles. Nothan’s growing excitement covered pain as he crept closer to the piece of blue.
There it was. Blue sticking out from underneath the threatening rubble. Nothan turned to check on Jayce, but the boy was gone.
Never should have brought him.
He went back to his work of figuring out how he should shake loose the blue from the piles of gunk. He examined the area. The blue was distracting, though. It resembled the leather of his shoe more than the wispy clouds of the sky. But this had to be what he was searching for, since the only blue he had ever seen were his eyes when in saw his reflection in drinking water. Nothan inched closer, slowly reaching for the piece of sky. Before his hand could land on its intended mark, the blue piece shuddered and then trembled.
“Nothan! Get out of there!”
The boy whipped around. His heart jerked when he saw his dother of all people, shadowed by Jacye, dashing towards him. Nothan was in trouble now. How was he going to get the blue piece to his muther if he had been caught? And of course Jayce would somehow mess this whole endeavor up.
“I said get out of there, Nothan!”
In a matter of milliseconds, a tremendous force smacked Nothan across his skull. Multitudes of showering lights exploded in his vision. The impact of his back to the littered ground below tore the breath from his lungs and splintered his spine. A pitiful groan slipped out of Nothan. Seconds inched away. He could taste blood pooling in his mouth. Tears dribbled down his eyes to track sideways off of his dirty face.
Screams knit with the fabric of static air. Nothan could barely recognize the pitiful sounds belonging to Jayce. In fact, he was hardly aware of his own sense of self.374Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6ykINKNBE3
Nothan, terrified, focused every ounce of energy to perform one action: to open his eyes. When he achieved his goal, the pain coursing beneath his skin branched down to his bruised bones. His shouts blended with Jayce’s, but he continued to strain his body, inching up.
Arms circled around Nothan’s child frame. The boy noted tan streaks of white around his sides and glanced up. His dother had scooped him up. Nothan was safe now, feeling the muscled strength of the older man cradling his battered body. Nothan let himself sag only to be stirred when his dother’s arms tensed.
“Nothan, when I throw you—”
“Throw me?!”
“Shush, will you? When I throw you, I don’t care how hurt you are, you take Jayce and run back home immediately. Please, just don’t look back. I’m leading this thing away from you.”
Nothan had no choice. He was in the air and skidding to a halt in the red dirt before he could understand the importance of his dother’s rushed advice. Sobbing, he pulled his limp body from the harsh ground. Blood dripped from his back and torn arms.
“We have to go,” Jayce whimpered, suddenly beside the injured boy. Nothan did not answer. Instead, he took a shuddered breath and disobeyed his father.
He looked back.
For many years to come Nothan would resent that foolish choice—his mind delivering the gruesome vision multiple times as if to mock him.
Before Nothan and Jayce was the piece of blue, yet it was connected to something that had nothing to do with the sky. A large reptilian creature probably close to fifteen feet in length seethed in glory of its proud catch. Multiple appendages that served as segmented arms were paired on the sides of the creature. They flailed in primal delight. Bright green eyes with ebony flecks in place of pupils glimmered at Nothan tauntingly. Its elongated snout curled in a faux grin, displaying its rows of yellowing cracked fangs. Nothan ignored the creature’s shimmering scaled mass. He pinpointed his line of vision on the scrap the thing held in its front set of sharpened claws.
“DODDI!”
The thing reared in its thick back legs, shaking its horned face from side to side. Salvia flung in either direction and landed in soupy puddles at the thing's feet. It snorted. Low grumbles chattering in the creature's throat that seemed to indicate its satisfaction. Enormous webbed wings snapped open, creating a short flow of stale wind. It then closed its clawed paws tighter around Nothan’s dother, shoving the lethal points into the man and skewering him alive. The man gave no cry. He only sighed as if this death was what he had been waiting for. Nothan’s dother twitched and fell limp. A singular drop of dark blood splattered to the black ground. With that, the thing took into the air. It intentionally passed over the frozen children.374Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk5HUv4a2tN
The creature, what Nothan later found out to be called a dragon and one of his creatures, swept its whip-like tail underneath itself to steady its flight. The iridescent blue of its scales mirrored off of the limp man’s dull eyes.
The last memory Nothan remembered of that day was of his dother’s eyes, and the reflected blue reminiscent of the sky.374Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOfCTQtaDsJ
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