Chapter One
1 FY (Fabella Year)
Not many people remembered their birth, but one faun did.
His ebony body cracked to life from the bark of a tree.
The warm tropical wind whipped past stubby raisin black horns.
Long fingers freed themselves from the tree trunk.
Jet-black hairy shins ending in hooves fell beneath him.
The faun emerged into life in the form of a kid of approximately ten years old, not a baby. The young faun was clothed in only a linen undergarment around his waist. Blazing pain seized him the second sunlight hit his cobalt blue irises. A couple of moments passed before he bravely overcame the sting of using his eyes for the first time. The rising sun streaming through a lush canopy of mangrove trees lit up his dark face. Vibrant flowers in every color bloomed around him. Dust glittered in the still air. The fertile soil and soft emerald green grass sagged under his freshly created black body.
A teen boy wrapped in a sky blue robe with a gilded collar and lilac cuffs towered over him. His messy licorice black hair hung over his dazzling sapphire eyes, only emphasized by his golden bronze skin color. This boy didn’t appear to be blessed with any supernatural abilities. He was human.
“Welcome, dear faun. Welcome to Fabella,” said the human boy.
With those few holy words of comfort, the boy trailed off through the ferns and flowers populating the jungle, until he inexplicably vanished.
The wild, untamed world shifted into focus. Fresh emerald green leaves, moss, and grass coated everything around the faun. Aside from the minuscule bit of tree bark behind a tower of ivy, flowers added the only color other than green. Red, blue, yellow, and violet petals drifted freely through the humid tropical air. Some tulips and daisies loomed large as trees. A few humongous mushrooms even provided much-needed shade from the punishing sunlight streaming through the palm tree canopy above.
According to the boy, the name of this world was “Fabella.” The faun mouthed the word with his lips. “Fah-behl-uh. Fabella!”
So far, Fabella appeared to be a paradise. The incredible merging of colors made him weak. Coconuts lost their grip on the palm trees above. One almost hit him on the head. The faun craned his neck up to the heavens to glimpse curious blue primates scurrying in the canopy. Other life besides him lived in this mystic world.
With an enormous amount of difficulty, he summoned the power to rise on his own two hooves … for about three seconds before tipping forward. Standing took a lot of hard work. Still, he persevered and kept trying to rise. On his twelfth attempt, he enjoyed sweet success in finding the right balance.
Walking turned out to be a different story. The faun wobbled a bit as he dragged one hoof forward. He fell again but pulled himself back up to take another step and another.
The ground shook violently beneath his hooves.
The faun spun around just in time to meet a stampede of centaurs as they came galloping through the jungle. Centaurs, an odd cross between humans and horses, kicked up a cloud of dust as they ran. Each of the half-breeds appeared to be a boy or girl from the waist up, but their lower body took the form of a colt or filly.
The faun stumbled clumsily about as he struggled to teach himself how to run. To his complete and utter astonishment, the faun discovered his ability to sprint at a breakneck pace. The stampeding centaur’s speed matched his own as they raced together over upturned roots and dry leaves.
The faun paused his mad dash at the foot of a gorgeous waterfall. Water rebounded off massive boulders on its way to a crystal clear stream. The sun’s playful rays shimmered on the surface. A cool mist sent shivers down his spine and spread goosebumps all over his toasted brown body.
The centaurs plowed unrelentingly through the river. An explosion of shimmering droplets burst forth as the herd galloped to the opposite shore. An innate animal sense pulled the faun west in the same direction. Something in his heart propelled him forward.
People great and small were birthed from the palm trees, sand, dry leaves, and bright flowers. The whole world sprung to life. Everywhere the faun looked, a brand new child climbed out of puddles, rocks, and clouds of dirt. The faun instinctively knew every species of people by name. No adults existed. All forms of life, even the animals, awoke to life as younglings.
The faun bolted through the wild, untamed jungle. Magnificent flora and fauna smacked him in the face, and bright, beautiful flower petals floated autonomously through the heavy humid air. He needed to find the boy, only that mysterious teen might make sense of this crazy world. He ran till the bright blue sparkling seawater lapped at his hooves.
Crowds of boys and girls of various humanoid species gathered around a sun-bleached boulder on the beach. They all watched and waited for something wonderful to happen. The faun found himself stuck in the middle beside a thin elven boy about a head taller than him.
Elves looked just like humans, except for their pointed ears. The tall, slender, elf boy next to the faun smiled weakly. He returned the smile, for some reason, it made him more comfortable.
A massive fire crackled nearby. Children closest to the blaze yelped as the embers singed their arms. The faun distanced himself from the oddity. Watching a couple boys writhe about in pain was enough to convince him the fire was a bad thing.
A dazzling explosion of blinding blue light burst to life on the beach. In its wake stood the black-haired teenage boy in his sky blue robe.
“Welcome to Fabella. I am Lord Lukis, your almighty god of light. May my name protect you. Let your lives be free and blessed with goodness.”
“Loo-kis,” The faun liked repeating new names.
“All of time has culminated in the creation of this new world I have spoken into existence.” Lord Lukis paraded around the crowd of children. “Fabella is everything. Everything you see, hear, taste, smell, and feel is Fabella.”
The faun picked up a leaf from the ground and stuck it in his mouth. Fabella tasted okay. Then again, this was the first thing he’d eaten.
Lukis gestured to a dwarf with sandy skin to his right. “This is Col. He’s the first living child, and he is your chief.”
One look at the stocky four-foot dwarven Col (Kohl) made the faun think Lord Lukis needed a bit more practice in creating people. Everyone watched as the tribe’s chosen primordial leader got knuckle deep into digging boogers out of his nose. Col was no masterpiece.
“Listen to him,” continued Lord Lukis. “Help each other. Fill the world and subdue it. Be kind to all. In this world you will have troubles, don’t be surprised when they come. Learn to deal with setbacks, and you will have a life full of glory. You’re all part of my grand masterpiece. There’s no room for terror because I’m by your side.”
The faun had a sudden desire to touch his grand creator with his bare hands. He staggered forward, lost in wonder in the face of the divine creator of the world, pushing aside other boys and girls desperate to lay his hand on the hem of Lukis’ sky blue robe. A pinky finger length away from the Lord of Light, the faun tripped and fell to his face.
Lukis parted the throngs of people and helped the faun up to his hooves. The warm, graceful, tough of the almighty creator on his bare shoulders, filled him with love. “You will stumble in this life, but the most important thing is how you pull yourself up. Care after this world, good faun. I entrust this responsibility to you. Rest easy, my son, this is the beginning of something good.”
With those final words, Lord Lukis faded into nothingness. The faun, Col, and all the other children would need to fend for themselves in a tropical paradise. None of them knew how to make a fire or build a shelter. Everyone would have appreciated a little direction, but Lord Lukis, in his “infinite wisdom,” left everything up to a dwarf with a vacant space between his ears. Doubt began to enter his mind over how this new world might work, and he hadn’t even been alive for one hour.
Dimwitted Col just stood awkwardly on the rock, not knowing what to do. “So, um . . . I’m hungry. Is anybody else hungry?”
KABOOM!!
Claps of thunder echoed through the sky, rain pelted down, and bolts of lightning crackled overhead. The young faun fell to the muddy ground as the crowd scattered in all directions. No one in the world had experienced a thunderstorm before.
Rain drenched the tropical island. Lightning flashed in terrifying bright blues, oranges, reds, and yellows. Storm clouds blocked out the sky and plunged the world into near darkness. Nobody had any parents to crawl beside. Safety could only be found with each other.
Meanwhile, the faun searched in vain for a place to find shelter from the rain. Caves were the natural place to drift toward because they were the only dry place in the jungle. All the caves were full of people.
Everyone looked to Col for leadership. A role he could not possibly hold. Chief Col jabbed a thick shaking finger at the faun. “Lord Lukis said that faun would save us.”
All eyes shifted toward him. The faun had no idea what to do. Criticizing Col was easy when the job of providing shelter to the tribe rested on his shoulders. Now that the responsibility shifted to him, the faun realized how difficult being a leader could be.
He backed away from the rabid crowd of youngsters and dove inside a cave. There was only one small spot left next to the elf he stood beside during Lukis’ speech. The elf scooted over to give the faun more room.
“My name is ‘Fadir (Fah-deer),’” introduced the blue-haired elf. “What’s yours?”
A name lingered on the end of the faun’s tongue as he said it out loud for the first time in his life. “My name is Emit (Ehm-it).”
Chapter Two
25 FY
The people of the tropical island decided to call their tribe “Adele.” If you couldn’t stand up and walk on two feet, you were an animal, not a person. Being considered a person mattered a lot in the Creation Age of Fabella. If you weren’t a person, you were food.
Ten species of people existed in Fabella:
Merfolk (Mer-fohk) – These were amphibious humanoids with two webbed feet permitting them to walk on the surface. Tentacles, teeth, and shells from slain predators of the deep adorned their bodies as clothing and primitive jewelry. They rarely left the water because merpeople went into respiratory shock when their skin got too dry. It was only safe for them in the rain.
Harpies (Hahrp-ees)– Wings layered with feathers spanned across the backs of every harpy. Harpies flew so fast that whatever they wore came right off; many of them soared around buck-naked. The second they lifted off from the ground, these bird people flapped away from the island to explore other parts of Fabella.
Humans (Hue-mahn)– Due to their unremarkable stature and slower running speed, human beings encountered a tremendous amount of trouble trying to contend with other people. In fact, all Adellans considered humans to be the weakest of the full-sized people. They wore whatever they killed, mostly animals that posed little threat and were easy kills.
Fauns (Fawns)– Male bucks and female does had horns in a variety of shapes. Fauns walked on hooves attached to a pair of hairy bowed legs starting under the knee. Their sharp horns made fauns excellent hunters. Bucks and their doe mates showcased monster pelts with pride to elevate their status in the tribe. The fiercer the monster, the more respect that faun earned.
Elves (Ehlvs)– Standing at approximately the same height as an average man, elves appeared to be similar to humans. They could not grow any hair except the kind atop their heads. What hair they had ranged in every shade of the rainbow. Many elves’ hair color adopted a royal blue or a vibrant violet hue.
Goblins (Gawb-lins)– Predominantly dark green, wrinkly, knuckle-dragging, goblins could stick to cave walls with the unique adhesive on the tips of their hands and toes. Most of their days were dedicated to developing stone tools and jewelry. They didn’t wait for things to happen. They made things happen.
Dwarves (Dwahrvs) – “Dwarfs” were male, and “Gnomes” were female. Dwarfs took immense pride in the length of their facial hair. Gnomes let the hair atop their heads grow long. A tangled mess of dwarven manes made them appear about a foot or so taller and thicker than in reality.
Trolls (Trohls) – Trolls were small people with hairy bodies, protruding faces, rigid eyebrows, and feet resembling a hand suitable for gripping. Their unique feet made them difficult to track because they left shallow imprints in the fertile soil. Excellent climbers, trolls were quite helpful in securing fruit from high to reach places. They were also the first people to experiment early on with cooking meat over the fire, with varying amounts of success.
Entics (Ehnt-iks) – Little entics grew very little hair and had antennae atop their heads, which glowed on the ends. They developed the ability to see well at night. They could sense changes in weather patterns and burrow deep underground.
Three other intelligent races existed, bringing the total of humanoid persons up to twelve. However, these fell into a group all their own called “Taurs (Tawrs)” because they were deemed to be more animal and savage than the other nine. Taurs lived in their own tribes separated and cut off from the others. These three races were:
Centaurs (Sehnt-awrs) – People with the upper body of a human and lower half of a horse.
Minotaurs (Minoh-tawrs) – Crude bulls and cows with the head of a bovine and thick hairy body of men.
Slithtaurs (Slith-taurs) – Cold-blooded snake people who spit poison and only trusted their own kind.
This was the way of the primal world of Fabella. Nine people doing what they could to advance society and three taurs doomed to always be excluded to the wild.
The tribal community that developed here was less of a “Let’s listen to the Lord” kind of society and more of a “Let’s try it and see if we die” kind of community.
Emit — the faun — gained a firmer grasp on how life in Fabella worked. Daily life was ruled by an unrelenting, often dangerous, search for food. Males hunted wild game from dawn till dusk, and females broke their backs gathering fruit. Resources weren’t available to make tribal roles in Adele more complicated than that.
The first generation of intelligent beings on Fabella grew into adults. Emit morphed from the tiny ten-year-old of his birth and into a proud young buck. Large black horns curved up from his forehead, a healthy beard covered his sharp jawline, and he had taken to styling his long hair into dreadlocks. A fur loincloth around his waist quickly became the preferred clothing of choice. The tropical island’s punishing humidity made it too hot to wear much else.
His favorite loincloth was one he made from the fur of an abada. Abada (A-bad-ah) were small horses with two horns. The only problem was that they were such a simple kill that their numbers on the island started to dwindle. It had become much harder to capture one than it had been five years ago. Emit made clothing from fiercer monsters, a headdress made from the skull of a dragon was one of his favorites, but he only brought that out when he wanted to impress members of the opposite sex.
Fadir and Emit became best friends. Like most elves, Fadir grew into a tall and lean young adult. Long greasy violet-blue hair fell over his hypnotizing midnight blue eyes. While everyone else ran around frantically struggling to hunt, Fadir hung back and waited for prey to fall in his traps. Stress or worry about living never weighed him down.
Deadfall Traps were his specialty. Deadfalls used logs or rocks as weights positioned over bait and held up by a stick. Prey would be lured into the trap by bait, causing them to brush up against the stick, triggering the trap and crushing the animal to death. Simple but effective.
Fadir and Emit did everything together:
Celebratory body slams took place daily.
They invented the high five entirely by accident.
If one of them went hungry, the other went hungry.
Fadir and Emit formed a brotherhood more durable than stone.
“Suta! Suta! {Get it! Get it!}” Fadir never hunted much, so the job always fell on Emit’s broad shoulders to make kills. Fadir chased around prey crying, “Suta! Suta!” which in the Primish dialect translated directly to “Get it! Get it!”
Before the invention of weaponry, the primitive people of Fabella only had what Lord Lukis had given them. Nothing. Emit’s black horns really came in very handy. Killing prey involved tackling it to the ground and snapping its neck. He preferred mashing his horns into its heart, but either way proved useful. This way of hunting burned a lot of energy. Emit and Fadir hiking back home to the Adele Peninsula each evening. Most of the time, they returned empty-handed. Hunger was a feeling the two friends knew exceptionally well.
One day found Emit tasked with chasing down a particularly nimble huspalim with Chief Col and Fadir. Huspalim (Hoos-pahl-im) were ape-like creatures with red fur and an oversized cranium they used to butt heads with predators. They would use their long tails to grab low hanging branches and swing until they gained enough momentum to launch themselves headfirst at advancing hunters.
After suffering embarrassing blows from the elusive red ape, Emit was eager to bite into its flesh. He made several unsuccessful dives for the small creature, but it proved to be much too fast. The huspalim scurried up a tree and vanished into the dense tree canopy.
Emit lay on the jungle floor panting. It had been several days since he last ate. All he needed was a little food.
Chief Col sat on a tree limb barely strong enough to support his weight, watching the hunt unfold. A headdress of multicolored feathers could barely cover up the chubby dwarf’s red hair. His status as the first being created on Fabella and chieftain of Adele had gone a bit to his head. The five-foot-nothing adult dwarf viciously teased everyone he met, laughing at their expense and stealing food while he was at it.
“Ha! You’re the worst hunter ever!” shouted Chief Col with glee.
Emit dusted his butt off. “I lost my balance.”
Col often followed them on hunts to collect off their kills like a common scavenger. Fadir at least contributed by building traps. Red-haired Col used his power as chief to make everyone else, namely Emit, do the stuff he didn’t want to do. Privately, Emit didn’t think their dimwitted tribal chief dying would be the worst thing in the world. Col shifted so much responsibility over to Emit that he was practically the real chieftain of Adele.
“Whatever you kill today belongs to me,” stated Col.
“How do you work that out?” scowled Emit. “Fadir has a family of five to support, and they haven’t eaten in days.”
“Mugasa. {Tough.}” Col twiddled his stubby thumbs on the tree. “I’m hungry, so that means I get whatever food I want because I’m the chief. If you have a problem with it, go to Lord Lukis.”
Lord Lukis hadn’t shown himself in twenty-four years, and Col knew it. He viciously employed the almighty’s name to win any argument. Nobody dared go against him because it could mean going directly against their god.
Fadir swooped in. “Emit’s sorry he raised his voice.”
“Su astelwa. {No, I’m not,}” grumbled Emit. “I would have caught that huspalim if Col hadn’t interfered with my focus. He distracted me. Col’s a bully. We’d all be better off without him.”
“It’s okay.” Fadir thumped Emit on the shoulder. “You’ll get the next one.”
Emit forced a smile. “That’s what you said last time.”
“And I’ll say it again and again until you kill the biggest animal in the jungle,” said Fadir.
Fadir always took advantage of an opportunity to reinvigorate his friend’s spirit. Emit would never have survived the past twenty-four years without his best buddy in the whole wide world by his side.
“Hey, guys!” Col called out to them. “I found something!”
They marched through the jungle to see Col had, in fact, discovered an interesting artifact. Emit’s blue eyes fell upon a small tan object poorly hidden under leaves.
Fadir picked up a stick and poked the soft exterior of the odd animal carcass several times before slipping the stick beneath a pair of floppy rib cages and lifting it up. He kept the oddity at arm’s length, afraid the “animal” may stop playing dead and claw his face off.
Shaking the animal caused a few loose innards to slip out.
Col picked up a rectangular black organ Emit had never seen before. He bit down on the tough exterior. “This is too hard.”
“Maybe this thing is a shell,” suggested Fadir. “All we need to do is smash it, and an animal will be inside.”
Emit snatched the black organ from Col. He wound up, ready to crush it on the nearest rock.
“What the hell are you doing?!”
Emit paused mid-swing to find a teenage girl marching up to them. He had never seen this girl before. Her shoulder-length curly brown hair wasn’t as greasy like all the other women. Her white skin was the palest Emit ever saw, and she had the same midnight blue eyes as Fadir. Her dress, consisting of a deer hide draped over her slender frame and a feather poking out the back of her head, seemed out of place.
The girl tore the device out of Emit’s hands and swung the dead animal carcass over her shoulders. The whole time she yammered nonsense to herself. “This is the last time I stash my pack in the woods. Dumb idea to explore anyway. Look at me, I’m dressed like friggin’ Pocahontas.”
“Who are you?” interjected Fadir.
“Call me ‘Stephanie,'” she couldn’t be much older than sixteen. “You three stooges didn’t play with a metal disk, did you?”
Emit, Col, and Fadir all shook their heads.
“Stephanie (Stehf-ah-nee)” performed a quick inventory of the carcass innards, which Emit began to suspect may not actually be an animal at all. She stopped rooting through the carcass to face Emit. Her midnight blue eyes surveyed him suspiciously for a moment.
“My name is Emit,” he said after Stephanie’s silent judgment went on for too long.
“Have we met before?” asked Stephanie quizzically.
Emit couldn’t recall speaking to the mystery girl. “No.”
Stephanie threw up her hands in exasperation. “How could this day get any worse? I had this whole thing planned out in my head. So much for first impressions, I guess.”
Emit couldn’t be more confused. “Are we supposed to know each other?”
“Not yet,” said Stephanie. “I’m a traveler, from . . . somewhere – somewhere far away. I don’t think now is the right time to tell you. Jesus Christ, you guys haven’t even learned how to build tents or make fire.”
“I can make a fire.” Emit felt the need to impress her. “I don’t know what tents are, but I could eat those too.”
Stephanie rolled her eyes. “Well, hurray for you, Tarzan.”
“Who is this Tarzan you speak of?” Emit scratched his head in confusion.
“Sounds like food,” guessed Fadir.
“I get to eat if first!” shouted a chubby Col.
“I give up. This isn’t going the way I thought it would at all.” Stephanie stalked off into the jungle. “Don’t follow me.”
“Are you okay?” asked a concerned Emit.
“I’m fine!” shot back Stephanie in a tone suggesting the opposite.
“You don’t sound fine,” noted Emit.
Stephanie marched deeper into the jungle. “You got a lot to learn about women.”
“Who cares about women?” wondered Emit aloud.
“I like males,” stated Col matter of factly.
Stephanie didn’t answer. She faded from Emit’s sight, followed by a distant POP!
“I think she liked you,” joked Fadir.
Emit socked his friend on the shoulder. “Let’s go home.”
Chapter Three
Everyone emerged into life with the ability to communicate with each other. This simple lexicon relied on getting to the point. One word could have a variety of definitions. The term “Astelwa,” for example, was understood to be a negative answer to any question. This language became known as “Primish.” For a while, they all spoke and lived together in peace.
The manufacture of natural objects as tools were first developed by entics in year 2. Stone, bones, animal teeth, antlers, and horns all provided a variety of uses. The earliest stone tools were sharp flakes broken off from larger pieces by use of a hand-ax. A hand-ax was a jagged rock complete with a sharpened point strong enough to withstand blunt force. Hand-axes quickly became the primary tool for art, butchery, and pretty much everything.
Borders of the Adele tribe expanded past the peninsula to include the entire gulf of the flame-shaped island. Most hunter-gathering groups migrated seasonally. People huddled under giant flowers, mushrooms, and nests spread out along the Domitan (Dohm-it-ahn) River. This winding stream was highly significant because it provided fresh-water.
Pottery first started to be designed by elves in year 17. The first pots weren’t decorative. They were dry, hollow, crudely formed pieces necessary to transport water from the Domitan River back to the family nest. Decorations adorned these clay art pieces when their owners desired to differentiate them from others. Families kept their own designs, and it became customary for every member to have a pot of their very own.
Trolls developed agriculture in year 20. They began to domesticate plants and experimented with training animals to varying degrees of success. They harvested fruit and vegetables for later distribution amongst their own kind.
Harpies commanded the different species of people to split into their own little tribes. Skin color and gender didn’t matter much when people with horns, wings, and hooves all fought over the same food. People groups separated themselves based primarily based on type. Halflings like trolls, dwarves, and entics got the raw end of the deal as it was assumed that their height made them weak and therefore, should be subservient to more prominent, taller people. They always got bullied around, and halfling tossing became a favorite pastime. Emit, and Fadir refused to be torn apart because they were different species, committed to always remaining by each other’s side.
Fadir was the first one in the colony to produce real-life offspring. Emit’s mates always ended up dying from disease. Lord Lukis blessed Fadir with five children (Awn, Roo, Trai, Fo, Fife) with his mate, Mara. The Adellans were a polygamous culture. Males usually lay with more than one mate. Mara was Fadir’s favorite, and the only one to bear offspring.
Mara was the most beautiful maiden in the tribe. Her diamond-shaped face, rosy cheeks, and bright smile shined through the layers of dirt. No other mother in Adele was more patient and tender as she raised her family. Emit couldn’t help imagining her by his side with a mix of faun and elf children. He could never do that to Fadir. Their friendship meant too much for Emit to risk losing it over something as trivial as matters of the heart.
One day, Fadir stepped up his hunting game from constructing deadfall traps to inventing spears. The first spear was really nothing more than a broken branch sharpened to a point. Emit and Fadir went into the wilderness with his family to try it out. Bugs buzzed around their heads the entire trip into the depths of the rainforest. Emit slapped insects against his dark skin so much his whole body started to ache.
Fairies (Faer-ee) flew about the jungle, darting over a sea of tropical flora and fauna. All fairies were female. One fairy in the colony would undergo a sex change to become the alpha male for reproduction purposes. They would hover in mid-air over an orchid in full bloom to collect the sweet nectar. Wings came in all sorts of colors and designs, which the fairy could manipulate at will. A fairy talented in this practice could shift the patterns on their wings to resemble the face of a fierce beast to frighten away would-be predators. It worked on animals, but not on little elf children.
Fadir’s six-year-old twins, Trai and Fo, chased fairies as the family trekked into the jungle. They never caught a single one. The two youngsters made too much noise for them to be successful. Still, it was entertaining to observe them smash their chubby little hands through orchids in an effort to catch the little sprites.
“Not too far now, boys. Stay where I can see you,” called Fadir.
All five of Fadir’s children had sky blue hair, just like their mother and father. Eldest daughter Awn in particular had blossomed into a gorgeous teen elf. She was the spitting image of her mother. Tall, lithe, and a smile that lit up the world. Emit couldn’t help calling her “Mara” once or twice.
Out of all the children, the oldest son, “Roo,” was the one Emit liked the most. At ten years old, Roo had grown out of the childish fairy-catching phase and begun the path to become a skilled young hunter. Emit found himself able to identify more with Roo compared to Trai and Fo. Roo took a genuine interest in learning how to hunt from Emit. The elf boy had already killed his first abada. Proud matriarch Mara made a cloak out of the hide and draped it over her son’s narrow shoulders.
Emit carried Roo into the dense jungle on his broad back. Roo held on to Emit’s horns to keep from falling off. He ran as fast as he could to give the boy a bit of a thrill.
“Put me down, Uncle Emit, I want to hunt,” said Roo.
Emit deposited Roo on the ground. He did anything after Fadir’s children called him “Uncle Emit.”
Blue haired, diamond faced, Mara, sidled up to Emit cradling baby Fife in her arms. Awn brought up the rear. The teen was almost like a second mother to her younger brothers. Emit estimated that in a few more years, she would be holding her own infant.
“I still say Trai and Fo are too young to be hunting.” Mara closely followed her brood. “I keep on having this vision of a huge bird swooping down to carry them off.”
Fadir did his best to put Mara’s mind at rest. “Relax. With this new spear, they’ll be able to defend themselves against any beast.”
Emit scoffed at the weapon. “Use whatever you want, Fadir. No weapon will ever outmatch my horns.”
Fadir scraped a hand-ax against the spear point. “You can only headbutt a keythong to death so many times, Emit.”
“I don’t headbutt my kills. I gouge them. Get your facts right,” quipped Emit.
“I see no difference,” retorted Fadir snidely.
Chief Col sprinted up to them. The insufferable curly red-haired bully had been more vile than usual lately. More responsibility kept being put on Emit’s shoulders. A lesser person would buckle under the weight.
“That stick is never going to work,” said Col breathlessly. “You’re going to fail, and you’re stupid for trying.”
“If you’re so sure it’s not going to work, then why are you following us?” asked Emit.
“To steal from you if the spear does work,” Col didn’t even bother trying to lie.
Emit had enough. “You disgraceful little –”
Fadir put his hand up to halt Emit. “— Calm down before you say something you’ll regret.”
Emit wondered how long he could put up with Col’s behavior. “I’m more of a Chieftain than him. He always puts everything on my shoulders, and I’m sick of it.”
They marched further into the wild jungle putting as much distance between them and Chief Col as possible. Bugs continued to buzz around Emit, biting him and sucking at his blood. The wet, humid air only made the hike worse. Insects started to make themselves at home in Emit’s scraggly beard. He could feel them crawling all over his face, cheeks, and even inside his nose.
“There are two things I hate about this world,” Emit crushed another random insect on his neck. “One of them is bugs.”
Fadir paused to sharpen his wooden spear with a rock. “What’s the other?”
Emit was busy inspecting the fertile soil for animal tracks and not paying attention. “What did you say?”
“What’s the other thing you hate?”
“Loneliness,” Emit couldn’t bear to look his friend in the eye.
“You’re not alone. You’ve got me, and my family.” Fadir gestured to his five children and Mara. They all made their way through the jungle with great difficulty. “We’re all together in this world.”
“I want love,” confessed Emit. “I want to be a father.”
Fadir’s face softened. “The only one you need to blame for your lack of a proper mate is yourself. You can have a life with any doe back at Adele, but you’re too picky. What is it that you want anyway?”
“There are a lot of bad days here on Fabella. I need someone who, on my worst day, will still love me.” Emit reclined on a fallen tree. “I’m beginning to doubt whether she exists.”
Fadir laughed. “I’d believe you if you didn’t have a new doe at your campsite every night.”
“Well, I have to give them an equal opportunity to rise up to the challenge of being my mate,” Emit countered with a sly grin.
“Have you ever thought about broadening your search to include other females?” Fadir settled himself down on a log covered in thick moss. “What if the right partner for you isn’t a faun?”
“Eww.” Emit tried to mentally picture himself with a human woman. “How would that even work?”
Fadir shrugged. “I don’t know. Just a suggestion.”
“What if I fell in love with an entic?” Emit chuckled just thinking about him with the absurd notion. “My neck would hurt from looking down at her all the time.”
“Or with a centaur mare,” joked Fadir. “You’d be crushed under their body.”
Emit’s mind drifted off to thoughts of Mara. “What about an elf?”
Elven Fadir fixed his friend with a skeptical look. “What do you have against elves?”
Emit realized he’d put his hoof in his mouth. “Nothing, they’re beautiful creatures.”
Fadir thought of another person that would make an awkward combination with a faun. “What about –“
The terrifying screech of a keythong rang out as it tackled Fadir to the ground.
Keythongs (Kee-thawng) were male griffins. Lacking the wings of their female counterparts, keythongs came equipped with retractable spikes instead. They were among the most feared monsters lurking in the jungle. Attacking one was considered suicide. When it came to saving Fadir’s life, Emit didn’t need to pause for a second.
Emit sprang into action. He dove forward, driving his sharp black horns into the feline keythong’s side. Summoning all his power, Emit threw the beast off Fadir, sending himself to the jungle floor in the process.
Spikes sprouted out of the keythong’s body as it charged forward.
Emit dodged the attack and drove Fadir’s spear into the beast’s head. The keythong fell dead with a loud thump. He turned to check on Fadir.
Fadir lay on the ground, mauled to a bloody pulp.
Mara and Fadir’s five children burst through the jungle to see their dying father. Emit stood frozen on the spot. Powerless. His best friend in the world would soon be gone.
“Emit.” Fadir’s voice weakened with every word. “Come closer.”
Emit staggered forward.
Fadir clasped Emit’s hands, squeezing them with all his might. “Watch over my family.”
Tears soaked the faces of Fadir’s five children. Faces he loved so deeply and would do anything to protect. Emit’s eyes circled through the elves. They were his children now:
Fair Awn stared at her dying father.
Bold Roo held back his feelings of sorrow to seem brave.
Bright Trai, usually talkative, was struck silent.
Mischievous Fo’s trademark toothy smile was gone.
Baby Fife was too young to know what was happening.
Then his dear friend’s sweet mate, Mara, cried a waterfall of tears.
“Promise me,” begged Fadir.
“I promise.” Emit felt the elf’s grip slipping away. “I will protect your family until my dying day.”
Chapter Four
The people of Fabella never buried their dead. A dark blue haze covered the jungle floor as Emit made a fire and burned Fadir’s body in a sacred funeral. Col left after the first keythong claws dug into Fadir. He couldn’t even stay to mourn the death of a tribal member. Orange flames danced in the children’s big eyes as they watched their father burn. It was grotesque and harsh, but so was life. Why should death be any different?
Fadir’s family would not go back to living in the nest they used to call home. Emit had to do his best to accommodate them. Life under the tree-size mushroom Emit called “home” offered little shelter, but it was out of the way. Every being on the peninsula had to decide against battling the tide on the beach or retreat into the jungle to fight the wild animals. Most of Adele’s population chose the latter. Many would be eager to have the mushroom as their home.
Five little elf stomachs grumbled loudly. Witnessing their father’s death, had made the children quite hungry. They had become too familiar with the feeling of empty bellies. The circumstances warranted a reward, and Emit gave them the abbagoochi carcass he traded with a goblin for the dead keythong.
Abbagoochies (Ahb-bah-goo-chee) were marsupial bear-like creatures with black and tan fur. They mostly stayed up in the trees because walking out in the open presented them as easy targets. They exclusively dined on licorice leaves; basically, the worst plant Fabella had to offer because of their fuzzy exterior. Abbagoochie meat was tough and hard to bite into. They didn’t make for the best game, but the primitive people of Fabella couldn’t afford to be selective.
Yesterday Emit’s biggest worry was how to roast meat over an open fire. Today he had more lives than his own to care for. Nothing in Fabella mattered more than those five kids.
Awn, Roo, Trai, and Fo eagerly bit into the marsupial’s tiny arms and legs. Mara nursed little baby Fife on her breast. Emit’s stomach rumbled like a volcano ready to erupt.
“What are we going to do?” wondered Mara out loud.
“I don’t know,” confessed Emit. “Nothing is ever going to be the same.”
The next day, Emit set out to be a father. Part of being a parent was making sure the children were fed. So he went out into the jungle in search of food. An ababil nest sat on the cliffside nearby. Fadir’s family would love the eggs.
The nest sat too low for him to reach it from the top and too high for him to steal the eggs by climbing up a nearby palm tree. Emit refused to give up. Clearly, the best option would be to forget about the whole thing and move on. Giving up had never been a habit of his.
Moments later, Emit had a vine wound securely around his waist. He couldn’t find one strand long enough to make it from the tree down to the roost, so he tied three vines together.
Emit’s heart thumped ferociously inside his chest as he climbed down the cliff face. The mother must have been out on a hunt because she hadn’t been back to the nest in the hours it took him to prepare, but she might return any second. Touching the stone-cold eggs filled him with a sense of joy. Fadir’s family would not go hungry tonight.
Each egg was about the size of his forearm. Their moist shells felt like they had been dipped in fresh river water. He only carried one up to the cliff at a time. It would take several trips for him to collect all the eggs.
All things considered, it was a good day. It wasn’t even midday yet, and Emit had already collected enough food for Fadir’s family. Life finally went his way for once.
However, not everything went according to plan. When he made it back up to the surface of the cliff, Chief Col waited for him.
“Mahutana!” greeted Chief Col before suddenly shifting to a commanding tone. “{Hello!} Hand over those eggs.”
Rage boiled within him as Emit stared back at Col. “They’re not yours.”
Col’s face turned redder than his hair. “I’m the chief. I want them. They’re mine. Give them to me.”
“No.” Emit said defiantly.
“No?” Col had never heard the word directed at him before.
Emit tightened his grip on the eggs, tucked away in a pouch sitting on the side of his waist. “You heard me. Back off.”
Col moved to steal the eggs.
Emit’s dark arm swung into Col’s chest to bat him away, not hard, but with enough force to send the dwarf leader toppling down … down . . . down . . . down, straight to his death at the bottom.
The touch of Col’s sandy skin still lingered on Emit’s arm, though the dwarf no longer stood there. The dwarven leader’s broken, lifeless face was still frozen in a state of surprise as he lay spread-eagled on the ground below.
Blood poured out of Col’s body, much more than Emit thought existed inside the dwarf. A fierce wind howled. Rain fell from the heavens, mixing with Col’s blood and creating a crimson river.
A small voice rang out. “What did you do?”
Emit whirled around to see Roo, Fadir’s eldest son. He didn’t realize the elven child followed him out into the jungle.
“What did you do to Chief Col, Papa Emit?” Roo’s voice quaked in fear. “You–you made Chief Col die.”
Nobody had ever killed another person before. Such a thing was forbidden. What would the other people think? Emit committed the first murder. Killing animals for food was okay, but not a person. This was something different.
“Mama!” Roo ran through the jungle screaming, “Mama! Mama!”
Emit pursued his adoptive son through the wilderness. He couldn’t allow word of his misdeed to reach Adele. Roo needed to be silenced before he reached the beach.
Nature turned against Emit. Roots tripped him, and branches slapped him hard in the face. By the time Emit caught sight of Roo again, the child already finished telling everyone in the tribe how Col had been murdered.
“There he is!” cried Roo.
Mother Mara pulled her children close. “Stay away from us, you beast!”
Yesterday Emit had been like a father to the five elven offspring. Now he was some savage animal. Tears welled up in eldest Awn’s sweet eyes, Trai couldn’t bear to look at him, Fo’s face had not moved from the moment he heard the news, Fife would not stop bawling, and Roo’s finger still hovered in the air as he identified Chief Col’s killer. He was not “Uncle Emit” to them anymore.
Stones, clumps of sand, dirt, and bones rained down on him as the tribe hurled anything they got their hands on. Adellans of every shape and size tackled Emit. Fingers clawed at his flesh. The press of their bodies made it difficult to breathe. Emit started losing consciousness; soon he’d be dead.
“No!” Emit howled out to anyone who might hear him. “Don’t kill me! I want to live! LET ME LIVE!”
Emit freed himself from the clawing hands of Adele’s creatures and seized his chance to flee. His hooves slipped on leaves as he scrambled to escape the tribe. Any hunter who tried to stop him fell as he charged through the crowd of people.
He reached the end of the colony and looked back at Fadir’s family. Mara, Awn, Roo, Trai, Fo, and baby Fife were the only family Emit ever knew. When the day began, they were the most important people in his life. They all loved him like he was their father and called him “Uncle Emit.” All he wanted to do was protect and care for them. Everything changed. Fadir’s family gazed upon Emit with incredible fear in their eyes. He became a monster to them, worse than the keythong which killed their father. A beast like him could never be anyone’s father.
The world spun around him as Emit plunged deeper into the depths of the tropical rainforest. He raced through the maze of twisted branches and huge flowers. Emit couldn’t remember ever traveling to this corner of the expansive forest before. Nothing around him looked the least bit familiar.
He didn’t pay attention to where his hooves carried him until he ended up back at Fadir’s resting place; smoldering remnants of the fire from the day before still remained. Emit collapsed to the ground and wept.
“Get up,” said a voice. “We need to talk.”
Chapter Five
Emit suddenly became aware someone stood behind him. A sky blue robe with lilac cuffs caught the corner of his eye. Emit knew who it was without looking. “You did something to me.”
“I granted your wish.” Lord Lukis was the same as he had been when Emit was born. “It was always going to be this way, and I’m sorry. There’s an active good here. Even though it may be hard to see right now.”
“I don’t understand,” contended Emit.
Lukis gently set his amber hand on Emit’s shoulder. “This is a bad day for you, Emit. I’m not going to argue with you about that, but I promise you things are going to get better. Great turning points of history and life are filled with tears. There are things that will make us fall and things that will make us soar. No man or beast alive is immune from seasons of brokenness. That includes me. You’re the eternal protector of Fabella now.”
“What does that mean?” Emit rose to his hooves and turned to face Lukis.
Lukis’ long untidy black hair blew in the wind as his bright blue eyes twinkled back at Emit. “It may not seem like it now, but this is a gift. Creation of Fabella wasn’t for my benefit; it was for yours. I’ve given life to you and you must steward it well. I’m sorry for what happened. Really, I am. Now comes the hard part. The duty of protecting Fabella is accounted to you, and you are accountable. You’re apart of this now, whether you like it or not, and must see it through to the bitter end.”
“Answer the question,” charged Emit.
Lukis sat down on a stump. “I made you immortal. From now on, you are the only being this world who can never die. Your very life essence is tied to Fabella.”
The shock of this truth from Lord Lukis’ lips terrified Emit to his core. If he understood Lukis correctly, the god had cursed him with eternal life. No matter what happened to him in the future or what he did, Emit’s heart would continue to beat. His entire body trembled at this unexpected earth shattering news. This wasn’t right. It couldn’t be possible.
“This — this is not what I had in mind. This wasn’t what I wanted.” Emit didn’t know whether to be furious with Lukis or completely dumfounded. “Go ahead and kill me. Take it back.”
“Couldn’t even if I wanted to.” Lukis remained seated on the stump. “There are some laws even my divine power can’t break. It really doesn’t matter to me at all what you want. Things happen every day that nobody intends. Some good. Some bad. Don’t cast me as the villain of your story because life didn’t work out the way you planned. This is my game and you are going to play it.”
“You’re the almighty creator of Fabella, aren’t you?” challenged Emit.
“One of them, yes,” responded Lukis.
A loud peel of thunder rippled across the island as punishing dark blue clouds gathered overhead. The dreadful sight of birds taking flight from an unseen evil added distant squawks to the sudden storm.
Emit instantly zeroed in on Lukis’ cryptic reply. “What do you mean by one of them?”
“There is another creator of Fabella,” revealed Lukis before hastening to add, “but I have to caution you against looking for him. Dark Lord Malum is my direct opposite. He will never give you the happiness you seek. He is only committed to bringing destruction and misery upon Fabella. He’s a vengeful god of disease and without mercy.”
Emit tuned Lukis out. “I don’t care who or what this other creator is. He isn’t the one who cursed me.”
“No, but he was behind the anger which led you to seek vengeance against Col and what made him such a terrible leader.” Lukis stood up; his sky blue robe billowed in the wind. “Col hurt people with his evil. I never should have put him in charge. That was my mistake. I am the one to punish him for his actions, not you.”
“Killing him was an accident,” defended Emit amidst a whirlwind of panic and confusion.
“I know, but that doesn’t make it right,” charged Lukis. “If I’m capable of making mistakes, so are you. Now you have to atone for what you’ve done. There are consequences for everything. No cosmic law grants forgiveness because what you did was unintentional. To say your actions don’t matter implies that they are insignificant, but you are significant so I judge you accordingly. Even though you’ve really messed up, I’m not done with you.”
“What happens next?” wondered Emit.
“That’s up to you,” Lukis circled around Emit. “Every person in this world fears the unknown. You’re no different in that regard. There’s no repeats in life. We can move forward together. Side by side as partners to make this world a better place. We could be a team and build a paradise where living with anxiety and fear is a thing of the past. Don’t you want that?”
“I do . . . but not with you.” Emit couldn’t lie to Lord Lukis’ face. “When I was born, you told everyone you’d be with us, then you disappeared. We needed you to lead us. We needed you to be our heavenly father and you weren’t there. Why should now be any different?”
Lukis staggered backward. He clearly suspected this would be Emit’s response to offering a partnership, but it was evident by the pain in his expression that it still hurt. Emit had successfully wounded his creator the only way possible. “I was there. I guided your actions of goodwill. That innate sense of compassion you have is all my doing. There’s a light in the midst of all this darkness and people need to be reminded of that. Be the one to paint that for them. I chose you because I know what you can become.”
“That’s not enough.” Emit knew the pain he was causing Lord Lukis but kept talking anyway. “You can be god of your world, but I’m going to be god of mine.”
A tear slid down Lukis’ brown cheek. “You can’t do this on your own. You need me. Everything you’ve done and will do comes down to me; so don’t act like you’ve done it on your own. Independent greatness leads to an out of control soul. Look outside of what is possible and think about what might be.”
“Then go. Leave me alone and never speak to me again!” shouted Emit.
“Very well, I won’t speak to you again until the end.” With those final words, Lord Lukis disappeared in a shimmering wave of blue sparks.
Chapter Six
1000 FY
The first thousand years were the hardest for Emit.
Every time a generation passed, he lost a little bit of hope. After a thousand years, he had nothing left. Emit spent hundreds of years dwelling on Col’s murder. Immortality gave him the strength to defy an almighty god of Fabella and survive to tell the tale.
The more time passed, the longer his stringy beard became along with his filthy dreadlocks and horns. Emit’s humongous black horns were so massive his neck broke every time he moved his head. In a few years the bony appendages atop his head would be too heavy for him to even stand straight. No method of clipping faun horns existed.
His only goal in life was keep his promise made to Fadir in his dying moments and protect his family. Emit expanded his solemn vow to include Fadir’s descendants. There was no way to truly safeguard the elves forever, but Emit could ensure that Fadir’s bloodline continued.
Once everyone who remembered what he’d done to Col was dead, Emit returned to Adele to take control of it as the colony’s chief. He expanded their boundaries through the jungle so that the center of Adele was no longer on the beach, but deeper inland. Adele flourished under his leadership. Chief Emit settled Adele at the base of a rock formation that looked like a giant hand reaching up from the ground, ironically called “God’s Hand.” His people lived in hanging tents suspended from trees, clay homes, tents, grass huts, and burrows.
By the year 1000, Adele had wheels, domesticated animals, stone tablets, and a pictographic writing system. Emit supplied his people with harpoons made of antlers fashioned on the end of a sturdy stick. Poultry was largely raised for meat. Trained dogs followed their masters on hunts. It was always easy to see a canine gnawing on a bone outside a tent or clay hut around Adele.
Emit adopted a spotted lapro (Lap-roh) dog for companionship he named “Prig.” Lapros were among the first canines domesticated on the island. The typical male lapro had brown fur with black spots and a thin mane running down the back to the tail. Their short hair made the tropical environment easy to stand. Lapros spent most of the day sleeping in trees. Hunting was a sport they mostly undertook at night. A pack of lapros helped bring in more food to the tribe.
Prig was the alpha male of his pack, making him the perfect fit for Emit. With the dog by his side, Emit had complete command over Adele’s lapro pack. There were rare times when he thought he could actually understand the canine’s barks and growls. Prig was a loyal friend, even though he was a dog. With Prig curled up at his hooves eating a slab of meat right off the bone and his tribe working away, Emit was finally at peace.
Taking Prig on hunts through the jungle was always the highlight of Emit’s day. Fadir’s descendant, an elf boy named “Miko (Mee-koh),” had just turned twelve and it had become tradition for Emit to take all descendants out to the site where Fadir died. They needed to know their history and how important their ancestor had been to their chief. Emit always left out the story about how he killed Col. He didn’t want to remember the biggest mistake of his life. It was too painful to think about and should be forgotten. So he let the tale fade into myth and legend throughout the island.
“Look Miko, this is where your ancient ancestor met his end.” The clearing where Fadir had been mauled so many centuries ago had barely changed. It was still surrounded by lush green ferns and towering begonias. “He made me promise to watch over your family and I keep my vows. That’s important for life because it fosters trust; the bedrock of any relationship. Listen to me, for I am your eternal guardian. I can’t prevent you from dying, but I pledge to do what I can to make sure nothing bad happens to you. That not only goes for you, but your descendants as well.”
Prig’s whole spotted canine body suddenly stiffened with alert.
“Get behind me.” Emit knew to trust Prig’s senses this deep in a jungle teeming with monsters.
Something zoomed through the air and hit Prig. The proud dog collapsed to the unforgiving jungle floor. Bones in his ribs broke with a horrifying SNAP! An electrified net covered the spotted lapro from head to tail. Shockwaves of electricity sent spasms of pain tearing through his canine body.
Emit raced to tear the net off Prig, but a shockwave slammed into his chest. The electric shock propelled him head over hooves into a palm tree so forcefully it snapped in half.
A mountain of a man, clad head to foot in black armor hovered over him and little Miko. The armor looked more like the exoskeleton of an insect. A mask covered half the man’s face. The nasal area had a sharp curve to it and a pair of ears shot straight up. This was a different kind of monster than one Fabella had ever known before.
Emit rose to his hooves. “Who are you?”
The man broke into mirthless laughter. His thin lips peeled back, revealing a set of sharp teeth.
A pair of sneakers crunched down on loose gravel. Emit’s eyes angled up blue jeans, and past a black leather jacket over a sunshine yellow blouse, to land on a head full of bushy brown hair of a teenage girl. Rays of sunlight bounced off the finely polished six-inch chrome wand in between this mysterious girl’s nimble fingers.
Music blared out of a metal disk in the pack slung around her narrow shoulders.
The curly haired girl raised her wand. “Saltu!”
Three yellow arrows zoomed out of nowhere.
All three arrows bounced off the man’s heavy armor. He tried firing his weapon at her.
“Aritu!” The teen girl produced a forcefield to block the sizzling shockwave of energy. Then she countered with a flow of searing hot magma. “Turminabandu!”
The hulking man couldn’t counter the girl’s superior fighting skill. She commanded an outstanding ability more powerful than the strongest man in the world. Emit couldn’t help but stare awestruck at her effortless command of such incredible power.
The girl blocked every shot from the man’s electrified weapon with ease. She actually seemed to be having fun facing off against the hulking villain. Her curly brown hair bounced as she bobbed and wove left to right.
A mechanical hum reached Emit’s ears. Palm trees crashed to the ground as a flying craft smashed its way into the jungle clearing. It looked like an egg. The sheer size of the monstrosity blotted out the blazing hot sun. Emit couldn’t see if anyone lingered behind the controls.
“You dirty rotten cheater!” screamed the girl over the thundering crescendo of fallen trees. “What’s wrong, Set? Big man can’t handle a little girl? You pussy!”
The man, whom the girl called “Set,” vanished aboard the oblong craft in a simmering beam of light.
The boisterous teen girl gave him a middle finger salute as the craft blasted off into the sky. She joined Emit’s side by Prig. “He’ll be back and stronger than before.”
Emit tore the electrified net off Prig. He picked up the curious contraption, examining every facet of it. The netting was made of a flexible material he had never seen before. The holes were only wide enough for his finger to stick through. The net still contained a charge, burning his hands an ugly charcoal black. His burnt skin instantly healed when he took it away from the net. This was something from another world.
“Hey kid, you want some chocolate?” The girl reached into her tan pack for the treat. “My mom packed me a sack lunch for time traveling, but she always forgets I hate almonds.”
Miko nibbled away at the almond chocolate bar.
Emit tossed the net aside and focused on the girl. He’d seen her before, she said her name was “Stephanie,” but it couldn’t possibly be the same teen girl. That had been hundreds of years ago. “I’ve seen you before, what’s your name?”
“Oh good, we’ve met. I was really afraid I screwed up the time and space continuum.” The girl wiped sweat off her brow. “Good thing I wore my lucky bra, right?”
“Your name?” repeated Emit.
“The name’s, Lafleur. Stephanie Lafleur.”
It was the same teen girl Emit met so many years ago. She couldn’t possibly be immortal like him. This Stephanie Lafleur person was something different.
“Now would be a good time for you to tell me where you’re from,” ordered Emit.
Stephanie heaved a long sigh. “I’m from the future.”
Emit didn’t quite know how to react to this news. His eyes swept up and down Stephanie’s trim physique covered by yellow, blue, and black clothing he’d never seen before. She didn’t seem to pose a threat.
“I’ve lost ten pounds. No magic needed. Don’t I look great?” Stephanie spun around in front of him. “Body by time machine. Think I’ll call it the chronodiet.”
“Are you like the man who attacked us?” grilled Emit.
Stephanie was actually offended he would suggest such a thing. “Set is a monster. He’s a demon of a man who only wants to maim, destroy, and conquer the world.”
Emit recalled the name she used. “Set?”
“That’s the name of the man who attacked you,” said Stephanie. “Sort of, anyway. I’ve probably already said too much.”
Emit cradled Prig in his arms. “That shell he wore and craft he flew away on, those aren’t from Fabella are they?”
“No. Set is not from Fabella.”
Chapter Seven
“I gotta trim those horns of yours. I can’t take you seriously with those huge things atop your head.” Stephanie said before sweeping her wand through the air.
Emit’s huge horns fell to the ground, reducing the black bony appendages on his forehead to stubs. With the weight gone he was able to stand up straight and move his head without breaking his neck.
Stephanie stuck around to shed some much-needed light on her identity and purpose. “Alright I’ll try to walk you through this the best way I can.”
They spoke in the cavern under God’s Hand so the inhabitants of Adele wouldn’t overhear them. Prig lay unconscious by Emit, warmed only by the light of the crackling fire Stephanie created by pointing her solid chrome wand at kindling and whispering a strange word.
Stephanie began by picking up an arrow. “What is this?”
“An arrow,” Emit seated himself by the fire ready to soak up everything.
The first bow was made from a tree branch and strung with dried muscle sinew. Arrows were simple sticks with their ends sharpened into points. It was a primitive, but effective new weapon capable of taking down prey from a distance.
“Did you have any bows and arrows when you were first created?” inquired Stephanie like she already knew the answer.
“No,” responded Emit.
“Right.” Stephanie paced around the cavern. “The bow and arrow is one example of how Fabella has developed over time. This is going to keep happening. Every year will bring more new weaponry and art. Set comes from a place where so much time has passed that his people have technology and knowledge far more advanced than anything on Fabella.”
Emit thought he understood. “You mean strange nets, balls of lightning, and flying eggs?”
“Among other things,” said Stephanie. “Am I going too fast?”
“No.” To be honest, she was going a little fast, but Emit didn’t want her to think he was dumb. “You said earlier that Set didn’t come from Fabella. Where is this place where he’s gained all this knowledge?”
“It’s called ‘Arentium,'” reported Stephanie.
“Ah-rehnt-ee-uhm,” repeated Emit.
“How do I describe this?” Stephanie thought to herself for a brief moment before continuing. “Fabella is a world full of life. Arentium is sort of the same thing. That world is dying though. People there can’t survive on their own, so they need to collect resources from other worlds.”
“Like Fabella,” asserted Emit.
“Like Fabella,” echoed Stephanie.
“How do I get to Arentium?” Emit wanted to tear apart every person in that world for Set’s trespassing. “Set came to Fabella. The worlds must be connected somehow.”
“There is a connection.” Stephanie started to say something else then changed her mind and said, “You must stay away from Arentium. The more distance you keep the better off you’ll be. Believe me. You’ll go nuts and create a huge mess.”
“Why would you think that?” asked Emit.
“Because that’s what you always do!” screeched Stephanie. “Some problems can’t be solved by creating as much chaos as humanly possible.”
“Most can,” grunted Emit.
Stephanie took off her black shoe and beat Emit over the head with it. Every word out of her mouth was punctuated by a rubber sole to the cheek. “Do. You. Remember. Why. You’re. Immortal?”
“Ow!” Emit shoved Stephanie away. “Stop it! Stop it!”
Stephanie relented. “You created your own mess, Emit. As long as your first reaction is violence, you’ll always be creating more enemies. You killed Col. Payback’s a bitch. Keep it up and see what the consequences will bring. I guarantee you they won’t be pleasant.”
Emit massaged parts of his cheek where Stephanie hit him. “How do you know about Col?”
“I know everything about you, Emit,” said Stephanie. “Your capacity to love is greater than your capacity to hate. That’s the real difference between you and Set. You can fight, but you do it because you care. Not because you want to be a bully.”
“What are you?” Emit knew Stephanie couldn’t be a normal girl. “Are you a goddess?”
“I’d like to meet the guy who thinks so,” quipped Stephanie. “I’m your granddaughter.”
Emit couldn’t hide his surprise. “My granddaughter? But I don’t have any children. How could you be their child if they don’t exist?”
Stephanie gave him a wry smile as she dug into her pack. “I came from the future with this little titanium beauty.”
Cradled in Stephanie’s hands was a round device fashioned out of a material like the shiny wand. Firelight rebounded off the solid smooth exterior. In the center was another smaller red circle. Emit reached out to touch it, but Stephanie tore it out of his arm’s reach to show him how it worked.
“I can part the titanium disk into two halves like an accordion, see? I’ve got a dock to charge my phone. Can’t use any apps that need an Internet connection, but at least I can play music. This screen helps me pull up my destination. Then I press this fancy red button and presto. I added the bumper sticker in the back to make it cute. It’s pink and says ‘I make time traveling look sexy,’ See?” Stephanie squealed with glee. “I’m a time traveler.”
Emit couldn’t be more lost. “What’s that mean?”
“Okay, I can see I’m losing you. What’s something that happened in your past?” grilled Stephanie.
“The day Fadir died.” Emit felt sullen and miserable thinking about that fateful day.
“Ugh, don’t be such a bummer. Pick something better than that. Don’t you have any fun memories?” prompted Stephanie.
Emit thought for a minute. “There was this one time when Fadir and I were trying to make a fire. So we have no idea what we’re doing. Fadir thinks that if he waves a stick around in the air that it will make fire somehow. He’s standing there waving it around and hits this elf girl in the head. That’s how we both met Mara.”
The memory was so fresh in Emit’s head that he could see it. He was a thousand years old and could remember that day almost as if it just happened. Every speck of dirt on Mara’s diamond shaped face as a child and the look of complete surprise on Fadir was permanently etched into his mind. Even though they were long gone, his dear friends were still with him.
“I could go back to that moment. Even the day you killed Col. Every moment in the past and future is open to me,” explained Stephanie.
Emit paced around the cave in bewilderment. “So that’s how you were able to appear so many years ago and still be a teenager?”
“That’s right,” said Stephanie.
Emit felt more empowered now that he’d gotten something right. “And you’re my granddaughter from the future?”
“Right again!” said Stephanie brightly. “You and I are going to be best friends. I’ll be like your conscience. This is gonna be so much fun! Pound it, Gramps.”
Stephanie thrust her fist forward.
Emit thought she was throwing a punch and bat her hand away.
Stephanie withdrew her hand. “We’ll work on that.”
“What is that gray stick?” inquired Emit.
“That’s my wand,” said Stephanie off handedly. “It’s chrome. I can use magic without it, but the wand helps with target practice.”
“Magic?” This was the first time Emit heard of such a thing.
“It’s a power I have,” stated Stephanie. “I can make things happen just by saying a word. Things you could only dream of.”
“Can anyone use this magic?” wondered Emit aloud.
“Not everyone, no.” Stephanie sat cross-legged on the cave floor. “I don’t really know why some people are able to be witches and wizards and some aren’t. Magic biology is weird that way. There’s so many rules to magic I don’t understand.”
“Do some magic now,” commanded Emit.
Stephanie scowled back at him. “I’m not some trained monkey. You can’t just order me around like a genie. I’m not here to pull rabbits out of a top hat for your enjoyment.”
“Why are you here?” asked Emit.
“Because you need me,” responded Stephanie. “Someone has to teach you right from wrong. Like, for instance, it’s wrong to order people around. You can ask someone politely to do you a favor by saying ‘please,’ but don’t forget to say ‘thank you.’ Use the magic words, that’s lesson one.”
Emit saw her tan backpack sitting off to the side and reached for it.
Stephanie snatched the backpack from him. “Don’t touch other people’s stuff and keep your hands to yourself. That’s lesson two.”
“What’s in there?” inquired Emit.
“Stuff.” Stephanie swung the pack over her shoulders. “I have a speeder I call the ‘Bluedini,’ and a watch with an invisibility device.”
“What are those?” asked Emit.
Instead of answering Stephanie sniffed the air with a look of disgust on her face. “Learn to bathe and brush your teeth. That’s rule three. I’m tired of talking. Which way is the beach? I wanna get my tan on before I have to go back to my 4th period World History class.”
Just like that, Emit’s life got much more complicated