Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

RIVER OF NO RETURN

Sometimes the river brought him peace. Sometimes she brought him silence. Today she brought him remembrance.

He looked at the still water and wondered why he had not changed even though the boy had grown. He called him father and he loved him like his own son. What name should I give him, he often asked himself. He did not have any names in his memory. Not even his own.

Then he saw her , in the water , standing behind him. He kept still. It was as though he knew that she was not really there. Just some yearning in him for someone he loved and was searching for.

He had felt her close to him when he was in the land of dreams. He had hoped that one day he would find her in the time when he was awake. It was to be today.

So he kept very quiet and waited, so afraid he would lose her. Lose her again.

He saw her fingers on his shoulder and he longed to touch them and hold her at last.

Their eyes met as he looked at her in the water.

His tears formed ripples in the water.

Tell me what to do, his heart cried. I am lost. So lost.

Her tears fell on her fingers and down to his shoulder. And he heard her say, “I will always be with you.”

“Come to me” he pleaded in his heart, “I do not know how to find you.”

“ Why are you crying, Father?” the boys voice broke in .

Zaklion looked at his son. Then he looked behind him. There was no one there.

He choked back his tears and held his son close. He hugged him like he was going to lose him.

And somewhere faraway came a voice “ You can make it..You have been trained to dive and swim. I have not been trained like you. “

Then he saw a hand clutching his and a bracelet of beads shining like stars . He saw creatures surrounding him and laughing, pulling him up in the water. He felt a hand, her hand , pulling him down….down…till he was pulled by swirling current …and then he saw her eyes ..her eyes…and heard her voice calling him..Zaklion..

Thursday, September 25, 2008

The Land Of Dreams

In the land of dreams there was nowhere to rest his feet. He was struggling to keep up with his lady who was vanishing from his sight. He cried.His head was throbbing. She was gone and she was there. Where is she?

A hand clutched his and tightened and dug into his flesh. He was losing himself. Was he swimming in the right direction? Where was she? He turned this way and that. The Deep Blue pressed into him and burnt his lungs till he cried out and gulped in the air. But it was water that he breathed in. The hand dragged him down.

Before all became darkness he saw a bracelet shinning around the hand and it seemed to come alive like a snake. Then it glistened and exploded. Lights flashed in the Deep Blue.

He saw her eyes and knew it was her.

“ Who are you..You betrayed me..” he cried to her. And her eyes brimmed with tears.

He opened his eyes slowly. He was awake and yet he was asleep. What were those scars at his wrist. Why could he still feel the pain of something cutting into his flesh?

Where is she now? Who was this lady he was looking for? Zaklion did not know. For Zaklion had lost himself . Yet in the Land Of Dreams sometimes he remembered bits and pieces of another land, another person like him. Here he was all alone.

He did not know his own name

Some nights he heard a voice telling him: “ If you knew who you are, you would not look at her that way. “

Now he had a child he saved and he did not know who he was either. So he was guided by his instinct. He protected the child from the lizards and the voices that he sometimes heard in the jungle. The boys skin was brown like his. That made him happy. Sometimes he saw himself as another in the Land Of Dreams...

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

The Voices

He woke to the sound of voices faraway. Oldish voices chanting in prayer. Minggled with the sound of a baby crying. His instinct to protect snapped him out of his dream. He moved swiftly through the misty jungle towards the babies cries.

The voices became louder. Then suddenly the jungle vanished and he was on a rock . Below him he saw giant lizards swimming in tea . Only the tea changed into mud and then into mush.

What was that in a gong going round in circles? A baby in a gong circled by lizards. Gnashing teeth swimming round and round.

Zaklion leaped from the rock and ran to the baby. Why was he running and not swimming? Is this not water? Why do I run on water? Yet there was not enough ntime to ponder.

He snatched the baby away from the reach of the reptiles. Murder in their eyes. Or was it a form of sacrifice? What do I care? He ran from the lizards . He leaped on the rock. Today we remember him as leaping lizard. Some say he came from adifferent world. Some say he was a God.

No one knew he was a man looking for someone he lost trying to find his freedom. Can you lose something that you always hold inside? He believed he would find her again one day. When he slept he saw her in his dreams. She looked different somehow. She no longer had the skin of a tree. Her body was now silky like his. He was no longer silver or blue. He was finally the same .

The voices called out to him. That child belongs to us!

His instinct told him to regard those voices as the enemy. He would protect the child even though he did not understand who he was.

Friday, October 19, 2007

Dark Angel

The Wood Prince rested in his long boat enjoying the trees of his Woodland Kingdom. Generations of trees planted by generations of Wood Fathers. The water rippled with each stroke of the paddle.

A thin mist hovered around them.

From below a troubling tremor reached the Wood Lady who sat at the other end of the long boat. She kept her eyes still eventhough the words she heard cut into her. " Why have you betrayed me? " She slipped from the boat and vanished into the water. The Wood Prince did not even notice her departure. He remained intoxicated with the beauty of the heavenly trees. He was drunk with the majesty.

Quietly she swam away. She climbed unto the bank and spirited away through the trees. They hid her from the proud prince. They knew her. She played with them. She climbed up her tree friend and called for the Eagle. The Eagle carried her to the Deep.

" Do not try to reach the Deep. It is too far even for one as brave as you." The Eagle told her. I have to. There is no one else who can do this but I. My mother has taught me that even if I have only a cup of water to take on a long journey, I should still go.

" Ah. But this is not about drinking my young one. This is about living. What is the use of giving your life?"

"Let me meet the Deep. Thank you for always being my helper." The Wood Lady replied.

And so the Eagle took her to the Deep. He let her down gently in the dark mass. She swam down, down, eventhough she was not a strong swimmer.

A bracelet of wooden beads she wore shone in the deep. It guide her to the one she was earching for. Then she saw him, floating lifelessly upwards. She swam faster to take him down.

Suddenly around them there were little dancers going round and round them. She held on tight to Zaklion. The little dancers swamped them and swallowed them.

The wooden beads that shone and guided her broke. The beads floated in many directions filling the Deep with a burst of light.

From within the little dancers two lifeless forms floated upwards. The little dancers circled them triumphantly.

The beads also floated upwards with their strings of light.

Deep deep below two spirits moved down. Until a swirling current sucked them. They fell through the watery tomb.

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Silver River

Why did they bother to sneek away Zaklion told himself. Zeema could hear them even if they made no sound. He could see them even if they covered themselves. His thoughts were interupted when he noticed that his hand was shimmering. Another hand held his, this time gently. And the two became the same. Two silver forms protecting each other. They became one person. One hiding the other.

There is a way, I will lead you there. Glasios spoke with her eyes. Lead my Wood Lady, Zaklion said in his heart. Yet his expression remained that of the Travellor. The one who leaves. The one who has no time for friendship. The one who was trained for the highest duty to North Blue.

" You are coming, aren't you? " he asked. Now that escape was becoming a reality, he dared to hope that they could trully find a place where he could simply be a man and just be with her.

She could not lie. I am not trained to dive. The Deep will take you to where you want to go. If I go I may not ... she turned away her eyes.

" Then I will stay with you. There is no place I want to go if you do not come, my lady..." Zaklion clutched her hand. He felt that she belonged to him. So what if she was the Wood lady. So what if there was a Wood Prince. He was the Travellor. Surely he could find a journey that would take them to freedom.

In the silence of Silver River, Zeema could not see the two happy warriors as the cherished the moments they had before sunrise.

When Zaklion was asleep, Glasios pierced the sky with her eyes. A silver being swooped down soundlessly. It lifted Zaklion with its tallons. When he could see he was dangling over a dark mass. Then he fell and hit the water.

He heard Galsios guiding him. Dive, dive, you must believe. Dive deeper than you can go. You will find the way. He swam steadily. He felt that Glasios was swimming with him.

Then his lungs began to burn . Still he continued with his steadfast belief. " If this will bring me to you, then I must go on.." Until he no longer felt the burning and he began to breath.

The Deep went into him. And he saw her swimming ahead, turning and smiling in her confident way. He forgot all the pain. He closed his eyes . He began to float upwards.

There was no one with him in the Deep. Too late he realized that he was too far down to rise up again. There was no one swimming ahead of him. " Who are you, Wood lady? Why have you betrayed me? " And he floated upwards. All hope had left him. The Deep overpwered with him.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

THE CHIP

She tightened her grip around his wrist. When she opened her palm a chip was revealed. It seemed to be there and not there.

Zaklion sheilded his face instintively. "Can he see us?" he whispered, looking away.

She closed her fingers again . She did not answer. Her eyes pierced the cloud covered sky. A Silver winged man appeared . He took the chip and vanished into the sky. Zaklion thought he saw a blast of light. Did the chip explode? What special powers did it have? Was it trully gone and he free?

"Glasios, are you sure you want to go with me? What about the Wood Prince? How can you leave him? " Zaklion asked.

" By the time he realizes I am gone I will be too faraway.." she laughed.
She smiled. So certain of what she wanted.

They made their way to the Silver River . There was a way out of North Blue. It was through the Deep. Only a strong diver with a strong focus would find the way. Glasios knew that Zaklion could make it. She was not trained in diving and that was not her way out of North Blue. She would guide him there. He did not know that he had to take the journey alone.