Chapter 2

A world of peace without you here to find

A dragon. That is a dragon, sitting there, made of crystal and green. The green is underneath the clear crystal scales of the creature not unlike some corals who hold algae in its tissue. This is a plant crystal dragon. Who is talking.

“- in short your not human” the dragon, no wait Alexis the dragon is Alexis, finishes the information she was giving to Solus. Who didn’t catch a thing.

“…What”

“You’re not human.”

“…What”

“Well, to be more correct, you are an enhanced human. Even more basically, you are an ancient subspecies of human that was almost annihilated in The Devastation.”

“The Devastation?”

“A big hundred-year-long war that drove about 7 races to extinction.”

“huh”

Some of this makes sense. Solus didn’t look much like their parents, and healing so quickly and being able to be struck by aluminum bats and barely have a bruise is decidedly not normal, so that makes sense. On the other hand, what the actual fuck? A dragon is currently telling them that by definition, they quote technically are human, but a different kind of human, an ancient one at that. There is also this talk of another world that they keep not explaining. Solus, about .5 seconds from completely checking out, asks, “Sooooo what did you want to talk about?”

Blinking Alexis responds with a hint of exasperation, “My stay in this world is coming to an end. I have a lot to report and even more to manage. Inanis is under my protection at the moment, but I am willing to bring you back with us so you can see the other world, our world. Given that I feel only your inborn magic in you, I believe you have not had the opportunity to visit our world, is that correct?”

“Yes.” Feeling overwhelmed at the opportunity, thinking on what all could happen, what all has happened, Solus finally has an answer to some of their questions, but so so many new ones have formed in their mind. One thing, however, is the light they needed to see, they can leave. They can leave this place and never look back. It doesn’t matter what is, more accurately, they don’t care what it is.

“What do I need to do?”

“Nothing. I just need to finish a few things and wait for low tide so we will leave after a late breakfast tomorrow morning.”

Looking to Inanis, Alexis asks, “Do you need anything?”

“No.” he pauses, turning to Solus, “Do you?”

“I should probably grab a few things from my house.”

Turning back to Alexis, Inanis says, “I’ll go with them to answer any questions I can.”

Alexis starts to shift, slowly disappearing from the world. “You two have fun just be back in the morning Solus. Inanis, be back before dark. We have to finish packing tonight.”

“Right, yeah, finish packing. Finnish packing tonight.”

“You haven’t started have you.”

“No, no, I've started.”

“uh huh.”

“yep.”

Blinking Solus starts to back away slowly. “I'm gonna go…”

“Be safe, Inanis go pack.”

“Darn.”

Chuckling, Solus leaves with their thoughts as their only company. The sky has cooled the earth, the sea waving hello as the tide rises, following the shore with the sun to the right, they make their way to their parents' house.

The large house with perfect paint and a picturesque plot is a known envy to anyone who gives a shit about appearances, and that is all it is, an appearance, a mask, a show to the world that the people who live here are those you should envy. A smile to hide the teeth used to devour the uniqueness of Solus, their sister, their father, their mother. For being different is something to abhor in this world, but maybe, just maybe, that won’t be the case in the next.

Jumping over the 5-foot fence and hopping down the fire hatch to the basement, Solus sneaks into their room to change. Dropping Inanis’s clothes into a paper bag and changing into their own, dropping their binder and switching to a bra, and swapping shoes because they are covered in blood. Solus retraces their path out the fire escape back over the fence, bringing a book bag, walking to the front door, and heading inside.

“You are late, Dear Daughter,” Their Father, Robert, remarks, sitting next to the radio listening to the weather for the next day. Despite being almost freakishly tall themselves at 6’2”, Solus is still the runt in a family of giants. Robert is over a foot taller at 7’4”, and sitting at the table, looks Solus directly in the eyes.

“Care to explain while I get dinner ready?” their mother, Jody, asks while looking down at their child. At 6’6”, Solus’s mother is also taller than her children, the youngest of whom sits at the table doing her homework. Amice is Solus’s younger sister, 14 to their 16 and 6’4” to their 6’2”.

Sighing while moving to the table to start on their own homework, Calculus, because numbers, of course, needed both normal letters and Greek ones, starts to speak, “I was getting help from the Apothecary lady with my bio homework.”

“Really?” Deadpans Robert, his own scarlet hair hiding his face as he goes back to reading the paper, while listening to the radio, Don’t they say the same thing?

“Yes.”

“So if I call Ms. Alexis, she will confirm you were over there today?” Robert turns a page, the radio goes on to talk about some sort of city council vote about road construction.

“Yes.”

“FOODS READY, COME AND GET IT.” Jody’s voice fills the room with the alto resonance that the singers can do, not shouting but speaking in a way that the room talks with you.

The smell of mediocre chicken Alfredo wafting from the kitchen leading the rest of the family to the desired pot of slightly undercooked pasta and chicken cooked enough to be cooked through but not enough to put any crust on it.

“Thanks for the food.” Everyone says at once.

Sitting down to eat in silence, the clattering of cutlery and the creaking of chairs is the only conversation between the perfect family. Getting up for seconds the rest getting up for thirds and fourths, Solus leaves, grabbing some paper, bringing their bag, going to the storage room, grabbing the duffle bag used for longer trips, then locks themself into their room.

The first thing to go into the bookbag is their journal, drawing notebook, art supplies, several pairs of underwear, and toiletries.  Into the duffel bag goes a week's worth of clothes, a sleeping bag, and a pillow. After pausing, they put a second pillowcase into the bag.

Standing and stopping. Taking a minute to just exist, not breathing, not thinking, just feeling the weight on their feet. The tension on the ligaments of their body from the hundreds of micro adjustments of their balance, the coolness of the air on their flesh, the feeling of blood pumping through their body, the humidity of the air changing inside their lungs.

An exhale brings the mind back. An inhale brings the thoughts to the front. A sob brings the Emotions crashing down. Today was a lot. Crying silently, they sit at their desk, setting the paper down and grabbing a pen.

“1978/10/17

When you see this, I will already be gone. Do not try to find me, you will not be able to. I'm writing this to save your time and your energy. Your daughter died a long time ago, but it’s time for the body to finally leave too. I do not know if I'll ever see you again. You weren’t good to me, but its not your fault you didn’t know how to be better. An image may be worth a thousand words, but it will never tell a story. We are more than a perfect-looking family, we are people, and it's hard to be a person when forced into an image.

Goodbye,

-Solus Carmine”

Leaving the tear-stained paper where it is, Solus Carmine, the Hyper-Human or whatever it is called, decides to help Inanis pack.

Knocking on the apothecary door, no one answers. Its closed, of course it's closed the sun went down half an hour ago, but the lights are on in the back. So, going around the back to Inanis’s room, Solus knocks on the window this time.

Opening the window, blinking, “You know she meant the morning, right. A late breakfast means a breakfast a bit later, not 7 in the evening.” Drawls Inanis.

Blushing mildly, Solus replies, “I know that I just wanted to help you all pack and maybe spend the night so I don’t oversleep or something.”

“Fine, come in.” Standing aside to let Solus climb in, the room being somehow messier but cleaner at the same time. Half-filled boxes litter the floor, but the once-littered floor is otherwise clean. The mostly empty shelves are now barren, the dresser half empty. “so,” Inanis says, handing Solus a tape gun, “if you can tape the boxes on the left while I finish and you can have the bed in here or the couch in the game room.”

“I'll take the couch.”

The morning comes the same time it always does, way too fucking early. With the sun just under the horizon, waking Solus with its warm rays shining directly in their eyes, they sit up, cramped, kinked, and uncomfortable in 10 different ways.

Yawning, they begin to move towards the smell of cooking meat, sausage in a skillet, butter browning too. And what is that, what is that? Is that, “Are you making homemade biscuits?”

Jumping a bit, “Ah- Yeah.” Inanis stutters, “I’ve got some Butter sausage as well. I didn’t know what you prefer, but if you don’t like this, you're not going to do well in the other world.”

“That’s fair, food is food, but butter is divine.”

“Facts.”

“Indeed.”

Chuckling a comfortable silence falls accompanied by the soft sizzling of sausage grease and butter. Alexis’s voice rings in the room, “In ten minutes, I’d like to start moving things into the truck so I can get out of the greenhouse.”

“Yes ma’am!” the two say.

After eating, Inanis goes to get the truck and move it out back while Solus cleans up and puts the cookware away. Going outside Solus asks “why are we leaving so much stuff behind?”

The voice of a dragon slithers behind Solus. “It's for a friend of ours, he’s coming to take over my position.”

“Your position?”

“As an observer of your world and its history.”

“Oh.”

Once the truck is loaded with both people and things with an invisible dragon leading the way they follow the sea north. As the sun bleeds into the ocean lighting the abyss around the stars the dragon Alexis leads off of the path, the truck following. Venturing into familiar woods where just a day prior, Solus had given themselves to the fury of the waves for it to wash off just as easily as the blood did. In that same clearing, Alexis stops and turns to the truck, speaking.

“In about ten minutes, the sea will fall below the gate. When that happens, we will go through the truck will be left here and the next observer will take it back to town. When you cross the gate you will be underwater, so hold your breath and swim straight I'll be coming in after you.”

“Okay.” Solus affirms, “What are we doing in the meantime?”

Inanis asks, “Have you ever saddled a horse before,” rhetorically, “cuz we about to saddle a dragon.”

“As much as I would like to debate you on equating me to a horse, that is a sadly accurate comparison.”

Chuckling Inanis starts to use some straps and tie everything they can, which is a lot to Alexis. Using the straps, they tie bag after bag around her torso like a mule, and by the 10-minute mark, they have fully packed the dragon with all of their stuff and walk into the low tide.

“Watch for a white stone just in front of that, is the gate it's mostly invisible, so be careful.”

“Got it.” And with that, Solus walks towards a small whitish stone, the light dancing in front of it lightly. As they get closer, it dances more with the sky and sea, switching places every ten steps. Five feet from the stone, the word stops. Like a frozen game, the audio cuts out and vision stays in place, but this isn’t a game and the feeling of death comes close and breaths on your neck, the smell of the moon tears you apart, and your body does not know where it is anymore. The right hand isn’t there, the left is inside the eyes, the organs taste sweet.

Then nothing but salt. Water fills Solus’s lungs, this stopped being an issue years ago after the first attempt. The light in their eyes speaks of dusk, not dawn, but the ground is visible, and they start swimming towards it.