Ch. 6
The woods were dark, creepy, foreboding, and overall not very inviting. I could still hear Miggins arguing, and knew I had to get deeper in so they could not call me back as well. All noise ceased with just a few steps in. The trees blocked out all noise and sight, I was blind to the world around me. To say I stumbled is an understatement, I flat out fell several times, bruises and cuts added to the ones already healing. The further in I went the denser the foliage, but the first rays of the sun were creeping through the trees and I could finally see where I was going.
I wondered why MIggins would send me on such a dangerous mission alone, unless he believed it really was safe. By this point I just went with it, truly believing that my involvement in the forth coming fight would get me home. And I remember that there was still a small part of me that was resisting the facts at hand. It was a fact that I was somewhere new, that my family and friends could not help me out of it, and that I was needed by a humanlike species to stop, or fight in, an impending invasion. Yet even with this knowledge I still wanted to believe that it was all a lie, all made up inside my head. I might have been in a coma and never known it. There are stories where people go on wild adventures while in a coma, I’ve even read some, though I believe that the ones I read were fiction, but either way it was a possibility.
The forest grew friendlier with every step, the sun continued to rise, its light continued to increase and through it all I was imperious to the fear that should have been present. I stumbled along through the trees in a half aware state of mind, focusing most of my thoughts inward on my predicament and on the ways that I could help the Hurdeen. I was so preoccupied I almost missed the first animal to cross my path. Directly ahead, some fifty yards away, stood a Doe. My first reaction was to blink wildly, making sure that every time my eyes reopened it was still there, and it was. How could it be? How could another planet, light-years from home possibly have the same wildlife? Unless Dimitrius brought it, that would explain it. I stuck with this theory, but two others entered my head. The first one being that I really was in a coma, and that Hurdeen was merely a state of my own subconscious, and that the Terror Bringers were nothing more than an idea, that I had to fight with to discover my true self. And it made sense; I recalled one of the council members saying that I needed to find my power, or a cleverly derived trick my mind was playing so that I would “discover” my true potential. My other theory was that a divine creator really did create the entire universe and populated planets similarly. This conclusion would make my mother, a devout Christian, happy, and it sounded alright with me.
All this went through me in a matter of seconds, and in this time the Doe had spotted me. We both stared directly in each other’s eyes, neither of us wanting to move. Back home a deer would run if a human got too close, but I could not be sure if the same was true for their Hurdeen counterparts. I took a step forward; it fled noisily through some shrubbery. For a while I stayed where I was, looking for more explanations, none came. Perhaps I was just blowing everything out of proportion. The animal could have just looked like a deer; it might have been something entirely different. I really didn’t get a close up look. But deep down I knew that it was a deer, very much the same as one back on Earth, and with its appearance, everything changed once again.
I don’t know how long I stood there, contemplating the rarity of life, and to a greater extent similar life on other planets, but when I moved again a fleeting wave of paralyzing shock coursed through me. There was a person directly to my right, and I had only just noticed them. They had sprung up without warning; I waited for a blow, a strike, and my body to fall to the ground. Several seconds later I was still waiting, moving my eyes ever so slowly to get this stranger clearer in my vision. They were taller than me, and wearing mostly black with a lighter color, possibly white up the middle.
“Hello Bessie.”
Another shock, they, he judging by the voice, knew my name. I turned slowly to take in his entire form; I was not prepared for what I saw. It was a man, probably in his mid twenties. He wore a nice suit: black pants and jacket, white shirt, gray vest, fingerless gloves, a black tie, intricately patterned with silver, and a black fedora to top it all off. He was obviously more schooled in Earth clothing then Miggins. There was a pleasant look to him, as if perpetually content of the world around him. I noticed light brown hair under his hat. His eyes were fixed to me as he waited patiently for me to respond.
“H-hello.” I finally sputtered.
“That was a deer you just saw.” He said with a hint of wit.
“Who are you?”
He just stared at me with a slight smile.
“Where did you get those clothes? Do you know Dimitrius?”
No change in his face.
“Are you there?”
I suppose he didn’t want to talk to me after all. I started away from him, fearing that he might be dangerous. When I was a few feet on he spoke again.
“If you are planning on going anywhere you might want to be on the path.”
I looked back, he was pointing to something a little ways away. I looked but could not see what he was pointing at. I went in that direction and sure enough a dirt path was right beyond some bushes. He came onto the path with me.
“My name is Poiye.”
“Nice to meet you, how did you know my name?”
Same stupid smile.
“Are you ever going to answer me?”
Still nothing.
“I guess not.”
He came in close. “I don’t answer questions, only statements.”
“That doesn’t make any sense.”
“It doesn’t need to.”
“Well, it would be nice if it did. So if I can’t ask you any questions then . . . um . . . I am going the right way.” I pointed down the path.
“That way will take you out, and get you to the house you are seeking.”
“You sure do know a lot, we both know Miggins, and he told you to come check on me, on my way to Dimitrius, who you know.”
“You accuse me of a lot,” he said, more serious than before, “I do not know a Miggins, or a Dimitrius.”
“But you must, how else would you know my name and about the path? Come to think of it I don’t think that Miggins ever knew my name.”
The usual smile returned when I asked the question.
“You can be annoying.” I muttered.
“If I was you, I would hurry to the house before night, the person you seek might not be there if you arrive too late.”
“Because you are the person I want to find.”
“I must be going, but do not fret, we will meet again, I promise.”
The events of the previous few days were nothing compared to what happened next. Poiye, who was standing close, his smile in place, began to fade out. At first he was in perfect clarity, and then began to blur, to grow fainter every second until he was gone and nothing remained. I don’t recall the exact thoughts that must have been racing through my mind at that exact moment, but I must have been thinking how I had just witnessed a true act of impossibility. This Poiye was a strange character, although I found a certain safety in his presence that lasted after he vanished. I hoped that he would be back; there were things I wanted to say to him.
At some point, a long while later, I came back to myself and started down the dirt path through the forest, to an unknown destination. The trail curved and wound, but overall stayed in the same general direction, going deeper into the trees. Hours passed, not unkindly as the day was not as hot as the previous one. The real trouble was that a long walk such as that one works up a mighty appetite. The bag Miggins had given me was full of all kinds of strange food, and most was very good; the only problem was that I ate most of what was in there in a matter of minutes. He may not have known the amount of time it would take to get to Dimitrius, and thought just a little bit of food would be enough. I didn’t pa
nic, figuring that I would soon get to the house he had described outside of the forest, and get more food there. I wasn’t sure if the house was supposed to be in the forest, or just outside. I hoped that either way it would be easy to spot.
While traveling along I felt numb, the actuality of the environment had finally started to sink in, but it was nowhere near complete, it would take a long time for me to truly believe anything that was happening. If the disappearance of Poiye did anything for me at the time, it was to show that reality can sometimes be just as amazing, and odd, as fantasy. Before that everything that I knew came straight from a credible source, and could be reasoned out to be correct. I had just entered a time in my life when my eyes, instead of my brain, were going to teach me more than I could have ever imagined.