INE

The darkness was a long haul. I kept zoning in and out of it frequently, and each time the light shined over me, my conscious became more alert, more stable and more wistful.

At first, my senses were frigid, nothing but an unlit void, built like a hard wall that couldn't be passed. Eventually, I could realise the darkness, its cold, slender fingers uncurling to loosen the wall. When the wall broke, I could sense my skin, the first sense of touch, my sight, my hearing. The weight of the crumbling wall fell onto my chest, where I discovered

I was frail—too insentient to understand my form. But the more I wondered, the more it seemed to drain me. Long before the long lost blackness could collide my mind again, all that was left was one wisp of thought, disappearing fast from the veil of the awareness.

What am I?

The bright rays passing through the glass enclosure beat down my face and pierced my eyes. I rolled over to avoid it.

Surprise took hold of me. I couldn’t roll my form over before this.

Excited, I began to squirm.

My movements caused the safe cocoon around me—a glass orb—spin. A yelp left my throat. The pleasant surprise slipped off my awareness and fear gripped my senses at once. The orb was tossing down a slopping path. I gasped when upended, and breathed out shallowly when levelled to the ground.

Frightened, I wriggled about the sphere. Only to make the situation worse. There was something pressing against my back, something hard and long. With great patience, and painful struggle, I was able to get hold of it and bring it to the front.

The orb kept spinning… down and down. My head was beginning to reel with it. I took in a sharp breath and focused on feeling the jagged edges of the thing press against the soft skin of my palm. I bit my lips as I tried to steady myself from getting my front and back rammed against the dense surface of the orb, over and over.

I rammed the jagged thing in my hand onto the orb.

It cracked and splintered into a thousand pieces.

Relief washed over me like those gleaming rays trying to hurt my eyes. It came along with a deep sigh. This feeling was new.

I ran my hands over the damp surface beneath me, sensing, inferring. It was evenly spread… green, some prickly, some lush and smelling of rot and mud... the words came to me as I sensed each of their presence. But the green... it was all around me—to the right, to the left, under and towering far above, too. 

I sat upright on it. Grass... earth... I realised the names by perceiving their colour, form and smell. Creepers, wildroses, shrubs, trees, I touched the water drops on the grass... dew. Then, raising my hand, I felt the warmth of the annoying gleaming rays. They were radiating from a ball of light at someplace too high to touch—t͟s'ehāyi (the sun).

At a certain distance from where I was seated, a volt of white-backed t’imibiriti (vultures) was busy hissing and grunting at each other as they feasted on a carcass.

I used to watch them while lying inside my orb. I could know the name watching their form and their habits. They rested on the crowns of the trees in the day, foraged in the darkest hours of the night, and brought food to the young ones when they found something.

Pulling my limbs to my chest, I watched them feast on the rotting flesh. The t͟s'ehāyi was rising overhead.

I didn’t know how long I’d been sitting there, observing the forest. I moved when something huge in size flew past the high canopy. It circled the space over me before taking an abrupt downward dive.

At first, all I could see was its humongous dark brown wings, snapping the branches of the trees on its way down.

The t'imibiriti screeched in fear one moment, and took a flight in the next. It was so sudden that I didn't have time to grasp what was happening. I stayed there on my knees, staring at the beast as it landed on the ground in front of me.

I wanted to scream, but couldn't. Panic was heavy in my chest. I clenched my fingers into a fist. They’d gone cold all of a sudden.

The Bird Beast padded towards me. Sparing a glance at the broken orb, it cocked its bird face at me. No thought about its form crossed my mind— except maybe just a sensation of an old fear revoked, and a familiar pang of pain and burn rose on that spot on my chest.

Clutching my throbbing chest, I lowered to the ground.

The beast half-circled me. It was surveying my form closely. I couldn't sense it. It was as if it left no trace of its presence. All I saw was a giant bird... mostly an eagle... teal head, dark-brown wings, a tawny body, a tail, talons on its front feet and hind legs of a lion. However, it felt very familiar.

"I see you've woken up," said the beast in a strident male voice.

I gulped.

The beast stopped treading around me. It bent down to one of its brawny legs and picked on a string. When the string came undone, it tossed it towards me.

"You'll need it," it said—more like ordered.

I stood up reluctantly, fully aware of its watchful gaze. I didn't know if I was deluded by fear, but I could really see warmth in its round bulging grey eyes, and maybe some despair too. When I hesitated to move any further, it sat down on it hind legs as if to ease my fear. I stepped forward and retrieved the string from the ground. It was a plain blue coloured string with a wooden funnel attached one end.

The beast scanned the trees around. "Has it occurred to you as what place is this?"

I shook my head. "No..." calling it beast would be a bad idea. So I settled for less crude word. "...Tilik'i - Wefi, Imīwi (Big-Bird Mister)…"

The beast threw its head back and laughed—loud and light-hearted.

"It's called Idanwe."

As soon as I heard it, I realised that it had something to do with magik. Yes, the mystical woods of Idanwe. It carried magik within it. Something inside me urged to find the magik, to get hold of it and drink it. I probed around to find a trace of the ethereal powers, butstopped when it dawned that the magik was indeed in its invisible, imperceptible form. It was silly to think that I could drink it. Or was it?

The beast stood up, his manner was grave and intimidating.

"You'll have a long stay here, Ijji (child). It’s going to be lonely… I’m sure you'll learn new things to keep yourself occupied," he said, now more interested in the surrounding than me.

He seemed to be sniffing the air through his indiscernible nose. "Times can be despairing and on occasions, dangerous as well. But you shall endure it all... you shall live here for as long as it takes, for it is the only way that you shall survive."

I bobbed my head in agreement. Survive. I needed to survive. The ultimate aim of every form in this world was to continue to survive.

"I will."

No matter what it took.