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The beginning. The start of it all. The fateful meeting.
Grove of Dreams, part 1.
Dedicated to Katejina, forever my love shall be with you.
"It's time."
"Already?"
"Yes, you have arrived."
"Me? You mean we."
I woke then, and I felt the sun on my face. I slowly opened my eyes, bewildered, and looked around at the environment in which I found myself. I notice that I was no longer in my father's truck, and I sat up frantically searching for it. I couldn't find it anywhere. The area I awoke in was very grassy, circled with trees and open to the bright blue sky. To my left, I saw a small pond, and it’s water glittered in the sun. Alongside the pond stood a Cherry Blossom Tree, whose leaves were bright pink and flustered as they were in full bloom. At the pond, I could see what looked like two animals and a human figure, but as I strained to look closer, I blacked out.
"Cold... so cold..." I moaned.
Cold... that is all I felt when I glanced up from the small area in which I slept. Cold so freezing it gnawed my bones. I pulled my jacket closer around me and brought my legs to my chest to conceal the warmth. Through the intense humming of the truck's engine and passing cars, I drifted back to sleep once again.
This time when I awoke, the sunlight still lit up the field in which I lay, but there was a shadow looming over me. Still groggy from the incident in which put me in a state of unconsciousness beforehand, I squinted at the person standing above me.
"Are you O.K?" a voice said, as I tryed to regain my sight.
"I... I think so...” I said, as I brought a hand up to my head. My forehead was wrapped in bandages, and when I brought my hand back down there was a bit of blood.
“You had quite a fall there, are you sure you’re OK now?”
“Yeah, I’ll be fine…” I fidgeted around, wiped my eyes and regained my vision. Until now, I had no idea the shape or face of which my "rescuer" had.
“I was really surprised to see another person here…”
"It's alright,” I laughed, “The truth is, I don't really know why I am here, or even how I got here."
I said with a puzzled look on my face. By the time I had said this, I failed to notice that my friend here was a young woman; she looked no more than seventeen years old. I also realized that she was a catgirl. Her ears twitched as she looked at me and her tail swished back and forth.
“Very interesting indeed,”
“What’s that?” I said. She leaned closer to me.
“I have not seen another person in this forest for a very long time.”
"Ohh, I'm just lost is all!" I said, laughing.
"Awww, so you want to leave then?" she said as she slid down next to me, looking sad.
“Oh hoho, don’t get me wrong. This place is very beautiful, and so are you…”
"Huh? You really think I am beautiful?" she said as she looked down, blushing.
"I may have spoken too soon," I laughed. "I have an unhealthy attraction towards your kind."
"Unhealthy? What's wrong with liking people like me?" she asked, surprised.
As I was asked this question, a big smile happened upon my face.
"For me, nothing, I think the ears and tail look absolutely beautiful on girls."
Indeed I did think she was beautiful, her hair was that of clear blue ocean water, her ears and tail a deep indigo. She had dark red eyes, ones you can get lost in, and I couldn't help but stare at them as I spoke. She was tall and slender; she had the body of an athletic girl, which was understandable because of her feline qualities. She wore a simple white dress, separated at the waist but tethered by lace until the thighs; it had two shoulder straps that were loosely connected so they hung off her shoulders. She had a bandage around her left wrist, wound tightly, which seemed to serve no purpose.
“Hmmm, what are these strange clothes you wear?” She tugged at my jacket.
"H-hey! Don't change the subject! Have you never thought someone could like you for how you looked?" I said, removing my jacket and letting her rummage through its pockets.
"Mmmm, well, I’ve never really thought about it."
She stuck her tongue out at me and continued searching my jacket.
"Say, what is this?" She pulled out a yellow highlighter.
"Oh, that is used to make words easier to read on paper." It was too late; she was already using it to highlight my face instead of words.
"Hey stop that, it tickles!"
"It does huh?" She said devilishly. She then proceeded to pounce me and find any other weak spots I might have in order to entertain herself.
"H-h-hey! Why so close to warm up to strangers? THAT is unhealthy!" I managed to say through my laugher.
"Well," she started, "like I said, I haven't seen anyone in this forest for a long time, and well… you don't seem like a bad person." she finished with a smile. She was looking closely at me with a devilish smirk.
"Have you ever been outside the forest? I mean, you couldn't have been here your whole life, right? What about your parents? Friends? Anyone?" I asked her, thinking that she couldn't have just been condemned to this forest for some unjust deed.
"Well, yes, I have been here as long as I remember. The last person I saw must have been a couple years or more ago. I have never had any friends.
“Oh…”
“There was one man however; he said he brought me here." She looked off into the distance, with a longing look upon her face.
"He took care of me since I was small, he said that the world rejected my kind, and I would be safe in this forest."
She looked down, fidgeting with her tail. "When he left, he said it was for the best and that he would return one day. That is the only reason I have stayed, I have been waiting for him to come back. When I saw you, I thought you were him because he wore these same strange clothes."
As I listened to her story, I wondered what kind of man this person was, what would be so important that he needed to leave this girl alone to fend for herself, not that she couldn't, but the thought of it boggled my mind.
"What was his name, do you know? Surely he could have told you that in case you ever needed to look for him."
"Hmm, I did keep a paper he gave to me, he said he wrote his name on it, but I was too sad and in tears to look at it."
“I tried to read it some time later, but it was in a language I didn’t understand.”
She showed the paper to me.
The parchment it was written on was unfamiliar to me, it was thin but very durable, and the words looked as if they were written just minutes ago.
It was written in Japanese, but in a form which I barely understood.
"It says 'Tryphon Sakizen', it sounds like a mix of Japanese and ancient Greek, but... that doesn't sound like it would be someone's name." I handed the paper back to her, and she placed it in a pocket I hadn't seen beforehand.
She sat closer and hugged me.
"Thank you, at least now I have a name to go along with his face. Say, what is your name? I never asked."
“Oh, that’s right… My name is Jake, although I have been known as Dreadhawk at times.”
"Jake it is then! Will you be my friend Jake?" She beamed a smile at me.
I laughed a bit,
"But of course I will, how can I turn a pretty face like yours down?"
I smiled back at her. By this time the sun had begun to set and the last blades of light were fading through the trees.
“My name is Katejina, though you can call me Kat…” she blushed.
Such a lovely name.
“Alright, Kat.” I smiled.
I helped Kat collect fallen branches and set up a fire. She helped me construct a make-shift bed with long blades of grass thatched together. We started the fire and setup our beds. The sun had set and the sky was turning its dull shades of pink. I bid her goodnight and rolled over on my side, and pulled my jacket closer. She sat and watched as I slept, the crackling fire reflecting in her burgundy eyes. The sky faded out to purple, then to black, and the stars shined brightly as the moon glowed.
 Dreadhawk Dragontail · Mon Oct 09, 2006 @ 05:46pm · 0 Comments |
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