Chapter Six
The lush green scenery of McLaughlin City National Park and Wildlife Reserve has never seemed so beautiful to Archan as it does today. Maybe it’s some unknown effect of the ring or the fact that Archan by all rights should be dead. No matter what the reason is, Archan enjoys it. Cars and other vehicles drive through the designated driving area and children are at play enjoying the last days of summer.
Archan heads off the main path toward the area in which he woke earlier that day. After searching to find the exact location and not seeing anything that seems familiar he thinks, “It all looks the same, beautiful, but the same.”
“Close enough,” says the griffin.
Archan turns around to find Cana standing in an open field close to the main path.
“Hey, what are you doing there?! Someone might see you!” barks Archan.
“You’re the only one who can see me, remember master?”
“Oh yeah... wait, didn’t you say something about there being an exception or exceptions?”
“There are certain situations, such as if I choose to reveal myself. Certain near extinct species and the other can see me also.”
“The other? What other?’
“There is one like you and there is one like me but they serve the land and the sea.”
“Huh?” questions Archan.
“Nevermind, we don’t have much time, master. The Shelto will be here soon, it’s already in flight.”
“How do you know that?”
“It told me. It’s a unique and extremely rare species. It’s a living oddity to this world. It was never meant for this world.”
“It? Why do you keep calling it an it? That’s kinda rude for a so-called protector of nature to talk about a rare species.”
“Well, master, how should I address the Shelto?”
“Well, you could maybe give it, the Shelto, a name instead of calling the poor unfortunate creature an ‘it’. Or even the ‘Shelto’. Both are too laboratory-like to me.”
“Oh highest Zardan, you have chosen wisely.”
“Huh?”
“Nothing, master. What would you like to call it.....the Shelto? But after this little naming venture, master, we must start your training. Time is short.”
“First, please stop calling me master.”
“And what would you like me to call you?” Cana said with a hint of sarcasm.
“Archan will do just fine.”
“Yes, Archan.”
“Thank you. No problem. Well, first, what gender is this creature?”
“Both.”
“Androgynous?”
“Let me give you a brief description, then can we move on?”
“Sure, once we name him...well, you know what I mean.”
“Yes I do. The Shelto is what man would have evolved into in a different realm. A realm from which I come. But there humans, as you know them, ceased to exist centuries ago. In my realm creatures, well, the simplest way to explain without taking too long is that they evolved into the state in which humans are in your realm presently. Well, without the bickering of course.”
Trying to crack a joke, Archan says, “So, you mean like jackal comedians?”
“No. I knew you would not be able to truly grasp the world in which I live. Ages ago the last of the Shelto was sent here. Similar to how your world has set up wildlife reserves. We knew the Shelto would be safer here. Since it breeds internally without the need of a mate, it could repopulate here. At the time your world was still very primitive. But something went wrong, the offspring's started to develop characteristics that varied extremely from one generation to the next.”
Cana paused for a moment to let some of this sink in to Archan. Then Cana continues, “Eventually the natives figure out how to capture some, while others died of the natural effects caused by these genetic imperfections. Most of the species went into hiding and slowly became a myth. This particular one is the last living one.”
“So, are you guys responsible for Big Foot too?”
Cana’s tone expresses his frustration, “No. That has nothing to do with us, but you need to think and not speak.”
Offended, Archan fires back, “Hey, you don’t have to be so rude. I wouldn’t have asked if I knew the answer. And aren’t we on the same team?”
Cana, who had been speaking to Archan the whole time telepathically, tells him by the same manner, “I simply meant you should address me through your mind and thoughts, not your mouth because you have on-lookers.”
Archan looks to his side and finds that a small crowd is watching him. To them he is standing in the field by himself and apparently talking to himself. He’s embarrassed and at a loss of words.
One of the men in the crowd asks, “You okay, buddy?”
“Um...yeah...um just rehearsing for a play. Yeah, the fresh air and nature’s beauty helps.”
The people in the crowd seem to buy this excuse as they start to fan out. With his thoughts Archan apologizes to Cana. Cana accepts.
“Are you ready to train now?”
Archan thinks but still mouths the word. “Yes.”
“Good, first, let’s start with something you can’t control.”
“Huh?”
Cana asks Archan to stretch out his hand. When he does Cana claws him drawing blood.
Even though he felt no pain, out of instinct Archan says “Ow...wait a minute. That didn’t hurt. What gives? I‘m bleeding, but no pain?”
“You are not invincible or immortal, but the ring numbs all pain. Now, touch your palm to the ground.”
He does and when he lifts it after a few seconds there is no sign of the cut. It’s completely healed.
“The more serious the injury, the more time the healing process takes as it takes more out of the Earth.”
“That would explain the missing days.”
“Yes. You were near-death, with multiple life-threatening injuries when I rescued you.”
“Wow, really?”
“Yes. Anytime you have an injury or illness, Mother Earth will heal you. She is the only thing consistent throughout the realms.”
“Oh, I see.”
“Now on to your ability to talk to this realm’s creatures. Once your powers are fully mastered, you will have the ability to command all creatures great and small, in the air and on land.”
“What about the sea?”
“No. There is another”
“Well two out of three ain’t bad.”
The griffin gets straight to the point, “Let’s try it on that bird in the tree over there. All you have to do is focus on the bird. Go ahead. Command it with your thoughts to have it come over to you.”
Archan can hardly believe any of this is happening to him. It still seems like a dream, but he figures he’ll give it a try. He looks at the bird, “Bird. Come over here.”
The bird doesn’t move.
Cana tells Archan to try again.
“Bird, come here.”
Nothing again.
Frustrated Archan thinks, “Crap, this is not working.”
Cana tells him, “You need to focus on that particular bird. You need to let the bird know who is the master.”
Archan turns back toward the bird with a more determined focus until bird droppings landed on his shoulder.
“Yuck, what in the world?”
Cana shakes his head. “Birds do seem to have a weird sense of humor and you did say ‘crap’ correct? Your command was not focused on any particular bird as you thought. So, any bird could hear you and one chose to answer your command.”
Again frustrated, Archan thinks, “I don’t get respect from birds anywhere, not at home and not out here either.”
He turns back toward the original bird, “Bird! I command you to come here now!”
The bird flies over and lands on his shoulder.
Cana replies, “Good job but we still need to keep working.”
A
rchan smiles, “Okay, what’s next?”