***
…and at the same moment off on the outskirts of Orion’s Birth.
“They’re so beautiful…” Anna gasped as the details of Orion’s Birth’s shimmering stone walls came into focus before her. “I’ve heard of their beauty but never have seen them before.” A light like the colors of the inside of a seashell seemed to hover over the place.
“I’ve always loved lying in the sands along the walls’ center and staring up at the ocean surface above,” Maanta spoke to her while taking in the beauty of this place he loved so much.
“Is it true that the forbidden fluid air flows from the sand in the center of this place?” Anna asked.
With a puff of his slim pale chest, Maanta put on a brave pretense. “It does. But if you know when it comes it’s easy to escape from.”
“There, in the outskirts along the far side of the walls.” Sift thrust his massive arm forward while pointing at small things moving to and fro in the distance before them. “We will find Amaranth and the others there.”
As they approached Amaranth and his companions they were reminded once more of the destruction the tailfinned beings had reaped in Meridia. Couples and trios of Meridians scattered across the barren waters before them, appearing to be but a husk of the population the city had once bore witness to. A weary looking Amaranth approached them, swimming with exhaustion.
“There are but ninety-three of us remaining,” Amaranth spoke. “Around 3,000 of our people lived and thrived in Meridia. These few were leery to follow me when I warned them of the oncoming slaughter but as it started they were quick to group and flee from their homes. I fear now though that fear has overcome them. Here we are stranded in the barren depths with broken families and little means of survival. They have lost their spirits and fear the tailfinned beings following us.”
Sift placed his large hand on Amaranth’s slumped shoulder. “As I have said, I am part of a civilization of people who wish to lend our allegiance to anyone opposing the tailfinned beings. We will teach your people how to fight and defend themselves. Our peoples will retake Meridia together, bringing happiness to your people once more.”
Amaranth’s deep old eyes turned up, peering into Sift’s. “They will be fearful of your peoples’ dark skin. They wish for their world back but especially now, fear what they do not know.”
“In time they must find a way to look past the skin color to come together as one and defeat our common enemy,” Sift said. “My people reside leagues to the north of this place and their assistance would be a great help on our travel there. As the morn comes I think we should send young Maanta on Lola’s back to my realm to ask for warriors to assist us in our journey there.
“Lola is swift and knows the way. And Maanta is brave and a frequent wanderer of unknown waters, so he will be safe and able. I would go myself but to leave you without a warrior here to protect your people would be wrong. They lived in peace before two nights past and cannot defend themselves yet.”
Amaranth thought for a moment. “And what of Maanta’s safety? He is but a boy. What if he, instead of us, is attacked by the tailfinned beings?”
At that moment a low bellowing hum of whale noises echoed from the waters above. As Sift and Amaranth were deep in conversation Maanta had noticed a giant whale moving slowly there. He had gone to kill it so that his people would have something to eat. Speeding toward it on the back of Archa, he speared it in the back of the skull in an attempt to take it down and was now attempting to guide it toward a cliff by tugging on the lodged spear. The whale moaned again, thrusting its body back and forth in an attempt to throw the boy.
“He possesses quick wit, agility and a knowledge of the vast outer waters that not many of your people have attained,” Sift spoke with certainty while watching the boy’s abilities and his battle against the great whale’s strength. “Not many men can take down a whale alone.”
Amaranth opened his lips as if to call for some of the stronger young Meridians close by to assist Maanta.
“No,” Sift spoke. “By doing this himself he learns certainty of his own strength.”
The two watched while above, a boy, their friend Maanta, flexed his muscles in an attempt to topple this goliath of a whale. Slowly he drove it toward the cliff, all the while calling for Archa to help move the creature where he wanted it to go. Another loud whale moan bellowed in the depths as the creature collided amongst the cragged cliff and dark gray stone floor, finally arriving at its place of perishing.
“I suppose you’re right.” Amaranth watched in amazement. “Maanta will be more than able, or at least as able as any of us would be.”
The whole camp was watching now as Maanta said a prayer over the dead whale, remounted Archa, spun in the waters and jutted toward his friends once more.
“This will be enough food to hold us over for a few days.” He looked at them with a reflection of pride upon his face, glad for what he had been able to accomplish for his depleted people. “It’s sad though that such a majestic creature has to die in order for us to eat.”
“Yes, it is sad.” Amaranth smiled at Maanta. “But it is also Gelu’s plan that we should use animals for our nourishment. I’m sure our people will gratefully accept this gift of life Gelu has provided us. There is a pool of molten flowing rock near by where we can eat and make preparations for the days to come.”
“Why haven’t our people camped within the walls for protection from the elements and from our enemy?” Maanta was befuddled, knowing that the rising stone walls of Orion’s Birth could provide a good temporary home until they could travel on to Sift’s realm.
“They fear the air flowing from Orion’s Birth’s center and they fear the stories of its poisonous ways,” Amaranth spoke.
“But air only bubbles-up from the inner ring of wall. There is no air in the outer rings. Surely they will understand that and know that they will be safer there than in open water.”
“We will speak of this and many other things tonight, young Maanta, as we partake of your catch, but first Sift and I have a proposition for you. We wish for you to travel to Sift’s people on Lola’s back to ask them for assistance in the journey to their realm. We need Sift here, in case we are attacked again, or else he himself would do this. Will you go?”
An adventure, Maanta thought. This will be a new place with new exciting people and happenings. But do I really need more adventures now? “When would I leave?”
“Tomorrow, as the morning’s light first plays across the ocean’s crest.”
“And how would I get there? I’ve never been to the place where his people are.”
“Lola knows the way,” Sift smiled as he spoke. “She will be all the direction you require. I am certain that they will recognize her as she arrives. My people will know who sends you.”
Gelu, help there not to be any tragedies befalling me on this adventure, as there have been on the others recently, Maanta thought to Gelu in his head. “I will go,” he spoke, “but I will miss my fellow Meridians.”
The darkness from above slowly swept within the ocean’s waters as the group rested before night-meal. Maanta and Anna wrapped themselves in kelp blankets other Meridians had brought with them and napped, huddling close together for warmth. Their riding companions fed on small fish bobbing around a nearby coral reef, and Sift helped Amaranth and other members of the larger group prepare the fallen whale for night-meal. Meticulously, they cut out pieces of meat, then warmed and cooked them over the close-by pool of molten rock.
As the night succumbed to pitch darkness, the Meridians and Sift met to eat.
Amaranth’s wise, weary eyes looked over the crowd as he hovered in the waters before them, molten light shimmering across his form. “Before we partake of this night meal we must give thanks for what has been provided us.” A soft silence fell over the waters and all but Sift bowed heads and shut eyes.
“Dear Gelu, thank you for all you have given us in these darkest of hours when many of us
surely doubt you. We know our sadness pains you and your pain saddens us in return. For you care for us in such greatness that you deserve the ultimate happiness. We find that in these last few days we have depended on the glimmers of light you provide us to give us the smiles we require to move on. This food, this glimmer of light, is a blessing you’ve sent us. May this whale which has perished for us to live, be blessed with a glorious existence in the heavens. We love you as we have always loved you. May we and all people be worthy of your blessings. Amen.”
While divvying up the pieces of whale, a warm, solemn and content feeling fell about the company.
A cool red glow lit their expressions, and they lost themselves in conversation, irrelevant to the tragedies in their hearts. This was the first real meal most had had and they were escaping to happier worlds of companionship and tale-telling. Maanta stared within the glowing lava leaping from molten stone to stone in the pit. He could not escape reality as the others did. There was no time to rest. He would be off again tomorrow on a league of adventure all his own.
“Take care of yourself on your journey.” Anna looked into his eyes, a hint of worry dancing in the back of her own. “I’ve just barely gotten to know you and somehow it feels as though you are the closest thing to family I have left.”
“I’ll be careful.” He touched her soft hands. “And I’ll miss you.”
She smiled and blushed and the night went on with the two holding hands, watching as the molten stones burned on. They would sleep side by side again this night holding hands and savoring their slumber, knowing they would be apart in days and nights to come.