The Blood Summoner - Chapter 20
“Papa, read me a book.”
One young halkand another,older onelay half-asleep on a pile of green leaves, with everything around -the walls and ceiling, made of living wood. The room was cramped and dark, except for the small streaks of light seeping through the gaps of leaves and branches on one part of the wall.
“Hmm, what kind?” The older halk said, caressing the young girl’s brown hair with a comb of his fingers. He embraced the girl with his rougharms and brown wings, seemingly providing a warmth only a fathercan give.
The girl then struggled and wiggled out of herfather’s loving grasp, thereafterstanding and looking around the cramped room. She then parted the patch of branches and leaves on one part of the wall, revealing a hole big enough for her to pass.
She climbed out of the hole as many more streaks of green and yellow lights welcomed her, lightly playing with her delicate skin and feathers.
As soon as she got out of the hole, she spread her majestic wings wide as she then glided down below, landing on a woodenplatform many meters below the hole she crawled out of.
She eyed the surroundings. She was inside a giant hollow sphere made of living wood, a bloat of some kind inside a colossal tree. She glanced back to the hole she came out of, seeingit being carved deepinto the wall.
The livingwalls naturallycurved and arched, forming a giant spherical room with many wooden platforms hanging from the ceiling, alternating with one another till they reached the top. The platforms hung from thick and bulky vines which then connected to the ceiling -a green canopy.
Willows of light orbs floated endlessly in the still yet gentle air, like giantpuffs of dusts demanding awe and attention. The girl thenwent up close to these willows, lightly playing with them as some flashed yellow,while some flickered green -with the golden eyes of the girl reflecting the mirage of colors.
It was apparently nightfall, as the colossal moon’s gleam of light was seen through the ceiling made of branches and leaves.
The girl then snapped out from her trance as she remembered her task: find a book. She rummaged around the floor, seeing all the unkempt wooden toys and books left hanging around the wooden platform.
She raised a book to her face, butthrew it rightafter. Another one she held and observed, but seemed uninteresting to her perspective. Then finally, shefound another one under a pile of toys, and decided she wanted it.
“Papa, this one!” She raised the book over her head.
She then saw her father pokehishead out of the hole, seeing his father’swarm smile shining down upon her. He then lept over and spread his great brown wings, gliding anddescendingto the wooden platform.
“Hoh, you want this one?” He asked, fingering the leather cover of the book with a seeming doubtful face.
“Yes!”
“It’s a human’s book.” He said, turning the pages of the book -seeing the black ink. “Interesting, haha.”
“Okay then, hold on tight Bepa!” He said as he swept the girl’s feet and took her in his arms, embracing her tiny body as he flapped hiswings once, twice, and thendarted straight upwards, passing the many platforms, and went through the ceiling of leaves and branches.
He then slowly landed on top of the giant tree, on the canopy which wassupposedly their ceiling. Moonlight rained down their figures as they gleamed at the horizon, seeing the line of hundreds and hundreds of giant trees with bloated, sphericaltrunks, making a forest for giants.
Sparkflies lined the leaves of thecanopy, greeting the two halks with a mirage of violet and purple lights. He laid the girl gently down, and with a hush of his mouth, he read aloud the book.
“Once upon a moment, a princessnamed Kara was waiting on a tower’s window, waiting for the one she was destined to be with.”
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“Boring!” Her father shouted, shutting close the book as it made a loud thud.
“What?!” The girl said in surprise. “Papa, continue!”
“Now, now, why don’t you hear oneof my adventures instead?” He said, showing a smug look on his rugged face as he swung his imaginary staff. “They don’t call me ‘Rhasta the Great Magician’ for nothing!”
“But you’vetold me like, a hundred times already!”
“You haven’t heard this one.” His father hushed, bringing his finger to his lips as he thenstarted to brag about the times of the past. He started from his early chickhood, then transitionedto his growing years, then on and on it went. The night seemingly draggedon, them both bantering back and forth with all kinds of things really, as finally, they fell asleep on top of the canopy -with starlight hanging over their heads.
A red, ominouslight dashed along the canvas of the night.
As the girl fell deepasleep, she felt a burning sensation tugging at her chest, flickering like wildfire. “It’s a dream.” She told herself.
She waswrong.
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On the coming of the next morning, where the sun was high up in the sky, she found herself laid on top of the canopy -feeling like dried fish.
She sat up and surveyed the surroundings, her dad nowhere to be seen. She stood up, hopefully increasing her range of vision, and yet she still couldn’t find him.
What she did find was the sound of a riot below,inside the hollow tree.
With curiosity in mind, she then dropped down through the woods and leaves below her feet, entering the hollow trunk. She spread wide her wings to glide in a slow descent, however, something felt wrong.
She couldn’t feel her wings.
She tried and flapped with all her might but to no avail, falling fast in a deadly descent. She was dead for sure, but as her shortlife seemingly flashed before her eyes, a figure came to her rescue as it grabbed her mid-fall, securing her landing.
It was her father, staring at her as he laid her beside on the wooden platform.
“Thanks, papa-”
“Whoare you?!” Her father howled, aiming the question at her.
“What do you mean-”
Disgusting.
Disgusting.
Disgusting.
These were the words that she heard from the crowd of halks surrounding her.
Crowds? Why are there crowds?Why are they crowding over her in the first place? Why are they inside her home? And why… do they have such faces against her?
“What’s going on?!” She cried.
Disgusting.
Disgusting.
Disgusting.
Nobody answered her call. All there was were murmurs andwhispers, gossips and such. She wavered, but yet she tried to steady herself as she pushed against the wooden floor, trying to make sense out of all this.
However, something felt wrong. Very wrong.
Her hands felt wrong.As her gaze wandered -although hesitant, to her pair of hands, it all came falling apart.
“These… aren’t my hands.” She said as she raised them both, frightened at what she beheld. She prayed to the Great Beings above, hoping this was just like any other dream.
But it wasn’t.
Red, fleshy layers covered the entire hand, with bloodshot eyes dotting the skin -staring right back at her frozen face. Veins pulsed and protruded, like an enigmatic nightmare that the girl wasn’t able to fully comprehend.
Shethen turned her head back in a rush, hoping to see her wings as they were, but all she saw was a pair of branching bones instead, bloodymembranes connected to her shoulder.
She vomited.
Disgusting.
Disgusting.
Disgusting.
.
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“Papa, help me…”
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.
“Disgusting.”
