Greener Here: The Downfall
Characters
(Me-sha) Misha - A Lion
Zanus - A Tasmanian Devil
Part Three
"How could someone like you leave such a beautiful place?"
Misha, lying on his back, suddenly opens his eyes, and a tear rolls down his cheek. He put his hand over his heart which was beating rather oddly.
"What? Why am I crying? Why does my heart feel so heavy? Wait, where the heck am I?!"
Misha suddenly gets up but wobbles and struggles to stand straight. Almost all of his magic had dissipated, which was the case upon attempting to revert. But still could feel the heavyweight on his chest.
"Looks like I passed out the moment I arrived. It must be a side effect of using Garden Gate, or it might be because it was my first time using it."
"Using what?"
"Huh? Ahhhhhh!"
Misha screams at the top of his lungs as he sees a creature he hasn't seen before. His claws spring out, and his hair all stands up. His tail straightened as well. The creature looked at him oddly and with a face as if he offended them.
"Seriously, that's how you behave to the girl that saved your life?"
"Huh, saved my life?"
"Look, I know I look weird to you, but you're just as weird to me. I've never seen an animal like you before."
"Huh, what do you mean? What's going on?"
"What do I mean? Did you hear me? I said I'd never seen an animal like you before. That's what I said."
"So, you've never seen a lion? Not even once?"
"What's a lion? Is that the type of animal you are?"
"Well, yes."
"Nope. I've never heard of it before."
"Oh, I see. Um, about earlier, I'm sorry for that. You happened to startle me while I was in thought, and it had nothing to do about what you look like. Frankly, I wasn't expecting to meet anyone so soon from the outside."
"It's alright. And what do you mean about the outside?"
"Well, I…"
Misha stopped himself before he could continue anymore. He'd never met this animal before, and since this wasn't The Garden, it's not a good idea to say where he's from. Just for precautions, he'd have to make something up.
"Well, you see, I live far from here, so I never went out much is what I meant. By the way, you said something about saving me, right? Well, thank you."
"I see. And it's not a big deal at all. I was passing by when I saw a green light not far away from where I was. So, I went to check it out, and you were lying on the ground there."
"Thank you...ah...um…."
"Oh, my name is Zanus."
"Thank you, Zanus. My name is Misha."
"That's a name I've never heard before. You're not from around here, are you?"
"Well, I've never heard of your name where I come from. And you'd be correct."
An awkward silence overfilled the area over them. Misha had been so busy that he didn't realize he was near a riverbed. But this riverbed was not like The Garden. The water was dark and seemed to give off a disturbing presence. He hadn't felt anything before since he was too engrossed in the new environment and Zanus. She seemed to walk on two feet as well. So, to Misha, it appeared the animals on the outside were somewhat like the ones back home. But he couldn't help shaking the feeling that something was odd about her. Also, the exterior was rather dark, and the sun here was red.
He began to walk around away from Zanus in silence. The air to him felt uneasy and somewhat weird. His later gaze drifted towards the sky. There appeared to be multiple moons that were too many to count. Upon looking past the moon, he saw something he'd never seen in the sky that he'd only read in books. It was something called a planet. It was massive and a brilliant sight to behold. The planet was golden yellow as it appeared to radiate light from itself, almost resembling a sun. What a view, Misha thought to himself.
"Why do you keep looking at the sky like you've never seen it before?"
"Ah, well, you see where I come from; it's hard to see these. So, coming out here, the sight is magnificent when I'm closer. Especially that big golden one there."
"So, you say, but you can see this view just about anywhere. Are you ok? You didn't hit your head or anything, right?"
"No, no. You see, it's just that where I come from, we don't get to see things like this often. I'm a little jealous, that's all."
"Ok, I didn't want to ask, but where are you from?"
"Somewhere far away."
"Well, I know that. I'm asking where in this Patch or which part of it?"
"Patch? I don't see a Patch. All I see are dead trees in this forest."
"Huh? Of course, the forest is dead, and it's been dead for eras. Some great mystical war took place. Of course, that's if you believe in fairy tales."
Misha immediately became more interested in the topic. It was his chance to learn more about the outside world, but Misha reminded himself that he'd have to be careful. It was strange to Misha how she asked him where he lived. What did she mean by Patch, he wondered?
"Excuse me, Zanus, you said something about a great battle. What was that?"
"Huh, you want to know about that fairy tale. Why is that?"
"Well, where I come from when we travel to new places and meet new animals. We usually like hearing stories, and animals back home love to hear about our adventures. Even if it is a fairy tale."
*Sigh* "Fine, but after, you must tell me where you're actually from. Promise?"
"Ah, I'm about that...it might be a little…."
"Then I guess I won't tell you then."
"What?! That's not ugh...fine."
Maybe there isn't harm in telling her. Besides, it's not like she can get in. The Book of Knowledge did say you must carry the mark. And another thing to consider, it's strange, but I hardly sense any living things with magic here. Zanus doesn't appear to have any at all, but that doesn't rule out other animals that live here. For now, I should form a mutual acquaintance.
"Hehe. Alright, where should I start? Let's walk while we talk."
"Alright. Lead the way."
"Well, eras ago, a great war occurred here. During those times, my animals fought others from a different world."
"My animals? Wait, I thought you said this was a fairytale?"
"Well, I'm just telling you how it's told. Now just listen. As I said before, these animals came from a completely different world. They massacred us and killed our forest. Well, I've been told differently from animals within our Patch. Some say the world was poison, and others say a mysterious creature came from the sky and cursed us all. No matter how the stories that they told. throughout generations, we animals know one of those is true."
"How could you possibly know if you say it's a fairytale?"
"Well, that's because the forest never grows leaves. Everything from the grass to the trees never grows. No matter how much we plant or water them. Nothing, nothing ever appears. Never a sign of life."
"I see. You said a creature may have cursed this world. Have the stories ever described what it looks like?"
"Hm. If my memory serves me right, it looked like a child, and we'll look more like a teenager. But even so, no kid is that powerful, and besides, magic isn't that powerful."
Did she just say magic?
"Wait, you know magic?"
Comments (0)
See all