It was broad daylight when we infiltrated the Bête Noire field. From the looks of the darkening skies, we were in the field for a considerable amount of time. I had Caleb shut his eyes the whole way out; his vision would only open more opportunities for the field to play tricks on him.
He was extremely jittery. He shuddered from the things he heard that I couldn't perceive. His hands gripped tightly around my arm while entrusting me with our future of getting out of this grassy labyrinth. Of course, it was only right for him to entrust me with this great responsibility. I was the master of directions and the Lord of intuition.
We will not get lost, I assure it.
Caleb made another leap accompanied by a scream. He pulled me in for an embrace.
Asphyxiation will surely be the death of me.
"Ca-can't do this…I'm so scared…" he wept, sniffing through his clogged nose.
His body heat caused me to bathe in my own sweat.
"Please bear with it for a bit more. We are getting closer."
I believe.
I was never good at consoling someone. If anything, I had more potential in heaving down their self-esteem and crushing whatever dreams they had for the future of their grandchildren.
Lucius was the son blessed with the talent to inspire people and to bring out their best qualities; I was the son accursed with the power to shut people out and to shut them out for good. It was not personal issues with the person of interest. It just came naturally with my tongue. It was my fluency.
I didn't mean it.
Honest.
I swear on Lettice's life that was perhaps non-existent now. Who knows.
While I slowly guided Caleb's trembling form, a soft melody sounded in my mind. It was a melody from a song that I was quite familiar with when I was just a child, but ever since they stopped singing lullabies to me, the lyrics faded with time.
A humming began as I tried to remember how okaa sang to me and how Lucius would take her place whenever she wasn't around. Their voices merged inside my head.
I couldn't remember anything good from my past. Memories come back as nightmares that I would much rather prefer to forget for good. However, they were indissoluble stains that would never wash off. I was a child back then. I didn't know suffering or pain caused by evil. I would cry for the simplest of things and get consoled by the greatest of gifts. Then they decided to take away everything from me in fear of losing me.
"Why did I become you?" Would be a question that the child Lucian would ask if we ever met.
Indeed, what have I become?
Did my parents take pride in what I turned out to be? Was I even seen as a child to them? What worth did I have?
"That's really nice…" Caleb murmured. "I don't remember hearing this from my mother."
The humming stopped. My lips slightly curled.
"It really is a nice lullaby," I blankly praised.
"You heard it too?" Caleb asked with his eyes still shut.
"Yes, I supposed we can hear the same things now," I simply replied before the humming started again.
The lullaby helped ease the werewolf, diverting his attention from the past that haunted him. The end of the meadow was visible through the curtain of grasses. I faced Caleb tapping his cheek for him to let go.
"We're here."
Caleb opened his puffy eyes, sighing in relief.
"We made it," he sighed, slumping his shoulders.
"The others aren't here yet," I reminded him.
There was a forest waiting for us ahead. His stomach growled.
"Let's set up a camp and wait there. I want to be as far as possible from this field!" he suggested in a hurry.
A pyram was started. The fire became more luminous as the sky darkened. I built a small roofless house for us so we can gaze at the stars. Caleb gathered wide leaves to serve as a mattress for our tired bodies. He also questionably showered his urine at the trees surrounding our house saying that "It would keep away intruders." I didn't know the correlation between his urine and intruders but he looked very pleased with himself.
Caleb's stomach continued to growl. He squeezed his eyes shut, punching his gut in an attempt to quiet it down.
I have grown trees that bore fruits just outside our dwelling, but werewolves cannot be satisfied with a plant-based diet.
"I still forbid you to eat meat," I told him.
He became teary-eyed.
"Bu-but—"
"I am aware of your sexual desires so I will welcome your ling with supreme joy," I deadpanned.
Caleb smacked his hands all over his face, scrambling away. Although it was really against my principles, I didn't want Caleb to starve to death.
"I was merely developing my sense of humor. Please, by all means, find food that would suffice your fluffy instincts," I approved against my will.
Caleb nodded, rising with eagerness.
"I'll be quick! Please don't move away from our campsite!"
I watched his body get engulfed in darkness. I released a short sigh as I watched the pyram.
After eating another peach, I lay down on the leaf, staring at the sky. The sound of crickets filled the atmosphere. Multiple thoughts raced inside my head. My eyes kept sweeping outside to see if Caleb returned. I never thought that being left alone could be this bothersome. For eighteen blue moons, I was in the seclusion of my room. Even if my parents lived in the same castle, they never did make me necessary in their life. I was just there for them to have the means to say "Yes, we have a son. He is staying at the left-wing."
The bright and lively flame reminded me of my brother. He was brilliant, adored and needed. He shone the light that I could never emit.
"Would you ever come back?" I asked.
All his talk about trying to make up for lost time was all a lie. He never really kept his promise. Not to me.
'What do you feel?'
I jolted to my feet, looking around for him. My heart dropped to my stomach when I realized that there was no Lucius or Argo around. I sat back down, twisting my shirt with the grip of my hand.
"I feel lonely."
I will try and get some sleep. I was certain that Caleb and the others would be back as soon as morning sets in. We will travel by morning, heading to the place where onii had told us to go. I will look for a man named Saber. Lucius will be there. All his characteristics made him withstand the journeys that he had turned into my favorite bedtime tales as a child. He was no mere fallacy.
The silence was so loud that it woke me up. The fire that Caleb had started had weakened. It needed more wood to fuel it to its original flare.
I walked out of the house to see if there was anyone else with me, but I found nothing but a strange tree. It was bearing a fruit that I had never seen before in my entire existence.
The leaves' colors were alternations of green and silver. They were glittery. It reminded me of something.
The fruit was long in length. Its skin was red, covering the fruit's pink edible part. There was a tiny slit in the middle of the exposed consumable part that dripped with white juices.
What an odd fruit.
I peeked inside my pants. My eyes went back and forth between my ling and then the fruit. I never knew a ling could grow from trees. I made a discovery worth mentioning to my brother and Caleb.
The tree spoke. Its voice was heavy and deep, brimming with enthusiasm.
"Salutem! (Greetings!), I am Tom. I am a professional baby-maker, fruit bearer, fortune-teller, bystander, day sleeper, afternoon sleeper, night sleeper, and dawn sleeper. Would you like a penisot?"
Was I just offered another ling? Where will I put it? I will just have to set it aside as a spare.
"When are you awake? You seem to sleep all day."
"I am awake when the moon is full and when I feel someone's hormones rush to the south near me. Libido is my energy and love is the foundation of my existence. Why let it shoot outside when he can shoot inside? Let the energy flow inside of you and be free!" he exclaimed dramatically, its branches bouncing.
Have I sleepwalked and went to the fields? Was I seeing and hearing things that I was not supposed to?
"I do not understand. Would you care to demonstrate?" I asked the tree.
It laughed over my evident bewilderment.
"Ah my boy, although you are beautiful I do not fancy beings that do not have branches. I have a leaf fetish. But would you like to make a detka with me?"
My eyebrows furrowed. I turned away. "You are confusing. I will leave now."
"Wait! Wait! I apologize for not explaining further."
The tree cleared its non-existent throat.
"I collect samples from my foreseen heroes and create fine specimens out of them in the future. I feel something very special about you, therefore, I would like to have your child."
I looked around me and found no signs of any people that could help me out of this situation. This tree was also part of nature. It would be uncharacteristic of me to ignore its plea no matter how demented it was.
Now that I think about it, I didn't remember growing this tree. Where was my peach tree?
"What would you take from me?"
"I will just take a strand of your hair, that would be enough," it chirped.
I reached up to my head and plucked a piece. I will just do what the tree says so that I can get back to sleep. But it was nice to know that this was how detkas were made. Lucius didn't tell me that we made them with a woody perennial plant that talked.
"Where shall I put this?" I questioned, raising my fingers that were holding the strand of hair.
"Place it on the surface of any leaf of mine. That leaf will determine the fate of your child."
If I was made in the same process, did it mean that my okaa placed her hair on the wrong leaf which brought about a series of unfortunate events in my life? I had to choose wisely because the future of my detka depended on it.
I placed the strand on the surface of one of the leaves. The leaf curled around it, shimmering and disappearing in sight.
"What will happen now?"
"That child will be born from a fairy in a future that will be unknown to you. You are an odd fellow…and so will be your child. Thank you for your transaction! You have now made an affair with a tree!"
It faded away just as I opened my eyes to reality.
It was a dream.
It was a peculiar dream.
The skies were still dark. The pyram had grown visibly weaker. There were still no signs of Caleb or the others.
I grew uneasy from their lack of presence. I went out of our humble dwelling, seeing the peach tree that disappeared in my dream. A twig snapped to my left.
"Caleb?" I called out.
I stayed still, listening more to my surroundings. The crickets were still there but now they were harmonizing with the frogs. If the one who made the sound was Caleb, the werewolf would surely greet me in the most cheerful way possible. Someone was eating behind the peach tree from the slurping noises it was making.
"Caleb?" I repeated.
I cautiously approached the source of the sound, concluding that the one behind this wasn't my werewolf companion. This obnoxious way of eating…it must be—
"Crowley?" I spoke out louder.
The munching stopped.
I arrived at the other side of the tree, finding nothing but bones that were still coated with fresh blood. There were raw vegetables that were bitten and left out to be munched on later.
The person behind this was definitely not Caleb. He would never eat vegetables.
"It must be a wild animal," I mumbled.
And that wild animal must have left from the sound of my voice.
I turned around, bumping against a hard object. That wasn't there before. A huge male stared down, blood dripping down his lips. My eyes scanned lower, seeing the bone he was grasping. He lazily tossed it to the side.
Dark scales covered a part of his cheek, chest, and arms. His vermilion eye trained on me. His other eye was covered with a patch that might look intimidating to some people.
"Meat tastes good with vegetables. You should try it."