The Great War (addition of Chapter 2)
Chapter One: Anuja
For a few brief moments, my body is numb and limp. Then the pain comes. It crawls slowly up me like a spider. It wraps itself tightly around me and squeezes. I am suffocating in its rigid grasp...
Choking...
Choking...
Then the cold, seeping into me, chilling my bones and my blood until I shake uncontrollably. Vaguely I’m aware of a shattering noise; whether it’s my teeth or my shivering bones I do not know. With each breath, each heartbeat, ice clenches harder and harder around my body.
I hear screaming. It’s terrible, like the screeches from a raven. Briefly I wonder if the agonized screams are my own, but I dismiss the idea quickly. No mere mortal could make such horrible sounds, such awful, demonic sounds.
The sharp, stabbing pain is gone now, washed away by the torturous cold. I feel like ice cubes are being pressed against my bare skin. I shudder and shake, and I wait in silence for death to come.
My very body has become a block of ice; the cold has permeated my very being, and I cannot escape it. I pray that death won’t be cold. It occurs to me that this is death; if it is, I must surely be in Hell. Then where are the flames, the scorching heat? Why is my skin blue and not bloody red?
Suddenly I hear a voice. It whispers something, but the throbbing cold that pulses through my veins drowns it out. I want to beg the voice to help me, to make the terrible ice on my skin go away, but my frozen lips don’t move.
The voice speaks to me again, this time louder. “Anuja. You must get up now.”
I’m so weak I can barely comprehend the words. I lie there helplessly.
“Anuja,” the voice repeats, sharply this time.
My head is reeling. I can barely move. How am I supposed to...
But even as I think this I am stumbling to my feet. I wince as my hands press against the hard ground and force my body into a standing position. My legs feel like stilts. I wobble, fall...
A hand catches me, and a shoulder appears for me to lean on. I see a man’s face. “Hello, Anuja,” it says.
I blink dazedly and repeat in a slurred, drunken voice, “Anuja?”
“Yes, that is your name,” he replies.
I’m blinded by a bright light. “Who are you?”
“I am Kafil, your guardian.”
Am I in Heaven? “Guardian from what?” I murmur.
He smiles down at me. “All in good time, young Anuja. But first, you must eat. You will feel stronger them.”
I realize suddenly that I am indeed hungry. Starving, in fact. I feel as if I haven’t eaten in days. I nod weakly.
Kafil scoops me up so he is carrying me in his arms like an infant. Then he begins to walk. My eyelids are incredibly heavy, and it’s a struggle to keep them open. I’m barely awake as Kafil props me up against a tree and presses a cup to my lips. I take a small sip. The liquid is warm and sweet. I drink the entire cup. Then I can stay awake no longer, and I fall into a deep sleep. I dream of darkness; infinite, unbounded darkness.
When I awake my vision is fuzzy and blurred. I take a look around me for the first time. My eyes widen with astonishment as I take in the incredible scene surrounding me.
Everything is an icy blue color, from the cold, smooth ground on which I walk to the great, draping willow trees all around. Even the cloudless sky looks like one great sheet of blue.
But the strangest thing is that everything within my sight seems to be connected to me in some way. As I inhale, they whiten, becoming almost transparent. Then when I exhale, they return to their silvery blue color.
Kafil stands in front of me, and I peer around him to find myself staring at a great, beautiful river.
Like everything else, it is an iridescent blue, and pulses in harmony with my breathing. It stretches from horizon to horizon, though it is only a few feet across. As it flows gently, it makes a soft tinkling sound, like wind-chimes.
I kneel before it and dip my hand into its water. Quickly I realize that is isn’t water at all, but thousands and thousands of tiny blue crystals. As I draw back my hand they sift through my fingers like sand.
I pick up one and examine it closely. It’s no larger than a lilac petal, and I would have mistaken it for a diamond or sapphire if not for its shape. It is a tear-drop form, smooth and pearly in the palm of my hand.
Remembering that Kafil had promised to give me food, I wonder if these crystals are what I’m supposed to eat. I pop it into my mouth. At first I feel nothing, and then it begins to burn like a tiny flame. I spit it out immediately, and it falls back into the river and disappears. My tongue is numb in the spot where it had been.
Kafil, who had apparently been watching me out of the corner of his eye the entire time, is grinning amusedly at me. “So much to learn,” he says, shaking his head. “Come, Anuja, I will show you what you’re supposed to eat.”
Feeling embarrassed and naive, I follow him to one of the willow trees. As I look closer I see that it bears small berries, nestled at the spot where the branches sprout from the trunk of the tree. Just to be sure, I ask Kafil if they’re edible.
He laughs. “Yes, you may eat one.”
“One?” I repeat, disappointed.
“Trust me. One is all you’ll need for now.”
I carefully pluck one of the berries and drop it into my mouth. I’m relieved when it doesn’t burn like the crystal did, although its reaction is odd anyway. The instant it hits my tongue it dissolves to a sweet, sugary powder, which, after I swallow, I find has completely filled my empty stomach.
I turn to Kafil. “Now can you tell me what I’m supposed to be protected from? And why everything here is blue? And how I—”
“One at a time, Anuja,” Kafil says patiently. “Come, let us sit, and I will explain everything to you.”
Obediently I sit cross-legged on the glassy ground beneath the tree. Kafil sits down next to me, rests his hands on his knees, and begins in a solemn, quiet voice, “For all of time, there has been the same story, repeated over and over for many millennia. It is called Suursodan.”
Kafil pauses, as if lost in thought, and I repeat blankly, “Suursodan?”
He nods gravely. “It means, the Great War.”
************************************************** ********
Chapter 2: The Great War
Kafil is silent for what seems to me like a very long time. “The Great War?” I repeat softly.
He nods. “Yes. It is a battle that has been raging since the beginning of time. No one knows how or why it started, but most agree that it will never end.”
“But what is it, exactly?” I ask, a hint of impatience edging into my voice.
Kafil doesn’t look at me, just gazes out across the river. “I have already told you,” he answers simply.
I try to keep my voice level. “You haven’t told me anything. Who is fighting this war?”
Kafil raises his eyebrows, as if in surprise. “Why, you are, of course.”
“Me?” Now it’s my turn to be surprised.
“Yes, you.”
“Who am I supposed to fight?”
Kafil sighs. “It is called the Orohb.”
“The Orohb,” I repeat. The name frightens me. “What is it?”
“It is a—” Kafil pauses, then resumes so quickly I’m unsure if I have imagined the slight hesitation. “It is a terrible creature, forged from fire and smoke. A demon, I suppose you could call it.”
“A demon?”
“Yes.”
“Suppose I refuse to fight this Orohb thing. What happens then?”
Kafil shrugs nonchalantly. “Then you die.”
My voice comes out a squeak. “Are you threatening me?”
Kafil shoots me a look that says, “Are you the biggest idiot in the world?” Out loud he says in a matter-of-fact voice, “I’m not going to kill you. The Orohb is.”
“But how can it—”
“The Orohb does not need to fight you directly in order to take your life,” Kafil says, cutting me off. “Like every fire, the Orohb needs fuel to stay lit. That is where you come in, Anuja. You are the fuel.”
My face is blank. “I don’t understand—”
“The Orohb cannot generate its own heat,” Kafil says, his voice verging on sharp. “Therefore it must steal it from you. Between the two of you is an invisible energy field.” He pauses. “No, not an energy field, more like a conveyor belt, going from you to the Orohb and bringing your energy with it.”
One question is buzzing around my head like a crazed bird. “Kafil,” I say, my voice high and quiet, “why me?”
Kafil looks down at me, his face hard and cold. “Because, Anuja,” he says to me, “it is your destiny.”
For a long time, neither of us speak. Finally I break the silence. “The Orohb is the reason I’m so cold.”
Kafil glances over at me. “Yes.”
“And it’s only going to get worse as it steals more and more energy from me.”
“Yes.”
“So I really have no choice in the matter, do I?”
“No, you do not.”
I moan and put my face in my hands. “So where do you fit into all of this?” I murmur. “Why are you here?”
“I already told you, Anuja, I am your guardian.”
“But if it’s my fate to fight the Orohb, why do I need a guardian?”
Kafil shrugs. “I suppose I am not your guardian, precisely. Really I’m closer to being your teacher.”
“You’re going to teach me to fight the Orohb.”
“Yes.”
I ponder this a moment. Then I ask, “Does the Orohb have a guardian too?”
Suddenly Kafil’s face changes. I see a flash of something... anxiety, and... do I spot a glimmer of something else?
Remorse?
“Kafil, are you alright?” I ask him, worried.
And just like that his face is back to normal, stone-hard and without emotion. “Yes, I’m fine.”
I stare at him for a moment, analyzing his inhumanly-passionless face and searching for a trace of emotion. I find none.
“So, when does my training begin?” I ask, changing the subject.
“Right now, if you wish,” Kafil replies. Without waiting for my answer he gets to his feet and begins walking down along the riverbank.
I follow him. His strides are long and fast, and I nearly have to trot to keep up. I cannot judge how far we walk, because everything we pass looks the same: blue and frozen. Finally Kafil stops. “This spot will do.”
He kneels down on one knee and dips his hand into the river. When his hand returns there is a single crystal held between his thumb and index finger. He uncurls my hand and presses the smooth teardrop into my palm.
Then he takes a step back, staring at me expectantly.
I look down at the crystal, then back up at Kafil. “What am I supposed to do with this?” I demand.
“Levitate it,” Kafil replies.
“How?”
“I cannot explain it to you. You know the answer.”
Again I look down at the tiny crystal in my hand. I hold my hand up level with my eyes and say to it in my most authoritative voice, “Levitate!”
The crystal doesn’t move.
I hear a sound. I look up and see Kafil is trying to suppress a laugh.
Annoyed, I look back at the crystal, as if the answer will reveal itself to me.
“You know the answer,” Kafil repeats softly.
I close my eyes and search the corners of my mind, trying to find any kind of response. I find only darkness. “Kafil, I can’t—”
“Look, Anuja,” Kafil says. His voice sounds pleased.
Obediently I open my eyes to find I’ve moved my hands without realizing it.
The hand which Kafil had pressed the crystal into faces upward; the other hand hovers above it, palm facing down.
But this is not what amazes me. As I look closer, I see a tiny blue teardrop in the space between my hands.
It is levitating.
I look back at Kafil, a look of shock on my face. I see he is smiling. “Your first lesson,” he says, “is complete.”
