Theandric Thursday # 4: Living the dream.. part 2!

Theandric Thursday is a fortnightly feature on my blog, where I'll be having fun with putting down those weird thoughts and stories that occupy my mind most of the times. The dictionary definition of 'Theandric' is 'Relating to the joint agency of the divine and human nature'.

If you're interested in participating, write your own Theandric Thursday post and drop your link in the comments section. Feel free to write reality, part-reality-part-fiction or fiction, anything above the 'normality' of our world. ;) You can use the above picture on your post and link back to this post.


Hey, I know I was supposed to post this last week, but you know what I'm going through, right? Some sympathy please. ;) As it is, this part of the story is very long. So I won't chit chat more, you just leave whatever you're doing and read this! :P

This story is continued from TT post #3, Living the dream...and something else.

***

I hadn’t realized when it got so cold. I was shivering, but maybe that was only fear. As much as they were terrifying, my eyes were still drawn to the four white, beautiful creatures towering over me. Who was this one? Blond hair, almond shaped brown eyes and red lips forming a tight line.

“I’ve seen you before!” I blurted out, not being able to control that emotion anymore. If I’m already stuck with these weirdos, I might as well know who they are.. or what. The female stepped perilously close and snapped, “Oh Goddamit! Not again! Does this look like a fancy party to you?” I winced. She was too close for comfort. I could feel the distinct smell of salt in her. Weird. “Just shut your questions and tell me, what is it that Lomar’s after?”

Despite all the nerves, I couldn’t help being surprised. Lomar. It was a very familiar word.... a very familiar name. Though, there isn’t really anyone I know who’s called Lomar. It was a distinct memory, something I thought I could put behind if I never thought about it again, I didn’t want to. If these creatures are connected to him, I was sure I was in for something really unpleasant.

“I don’t want to talk about it” I barely whispered. But that was enough. She was literally nose to nose. This wasn’t the response she was after, I realized as she caught me by the shoulders and pressed her nails into my skin. “You’ll have to. There’s no time. Tell me now!” she hissed, her salty breath on my cheeks. The next moment, she released me. The familiar guy, whom I decided to call FG in my head, stepped forward.

I might have missed what he said had I not been looking at him, he spoke so softly. You would think it was just one of those lost words and whispers carried by the wind. “Listen, I look like Liam Hemsworth, don’t I?” Gosh! That’s it! I’d been gaga over that character ever since I saw the Hunger Games! What is Liam Hemsworth of all people up in a tree house with me, not to forget three other scary creatures and doesn’t even look like a human!

“But,” I stuttered. He was unsmiling when he put up his hand all tired-like, as if I’d already exhausted him, and continued. “I’m not him, of course, which is where our truth comes in. We’re ancient Aymara* people who...” He stopped seeing my awed expression, since I was sure my jaw had dropped listening to the words ‘ancient’ and ‘Aymara’. He continued and I noticed his voice had taken on a slightly higher pitch. “Hey! Don’t go on looks. I know this must be hard for you but you have to understand. And that would be easier if you just listened to me, alright?” He settled himself on one of the soft pillows, so we were face to face. I didn’t fail to notice the female twitch, though. The other two simply stood staring at FG, whom now I mentally referred to as LLH, short for ‘Lookalike of Liam Hemsworth’. I nodded and he spoke. “Maybe you don’t know, but Aymara are traditionally people living in and around Lake Titicaca in South America, since centuries before outsiders discovered our abode in 1535. Our great ancestors did their best to make them leave us alone, but they wouldn’t budge. They loved the Lake, but only because it’s a convenient waterway for their big steamers, not for reasons our ancestors worshipped the Lake and worked so hard to preserve its sanctity.

Lake Titicaca. Pic courtesy: The all mighty Google!

 “Anyway, there was one particular outsider who found an unnaturally high interest in our beliefs. Our ancestors knew better, of course. He wasn’t someone to be trusted, they could look right through his pretence. He pretended to be interested in becoming one of us, he said he wanted to worship our Lord, Viracocha*. They tried all means to send him away to his country and when our ancestors were successful, they celebrated. However, the celebration didn’t last long, for the land was swarming with bloodsuckers a few days later. They came in hundreds and started killing our people off. The few of our ancestors who managed to survive by running to their special hiding places, later realized that the creatures were vampires sent by the intruder, who was agitated at being turned down. The Aymaras, furious at their loss, tracked down the intruder and killed him off. They returned to their land, which now reeked of blood and loss and worse, a few hundred of their population who were just bitten, not killed. Those bitten were kept in cellars and behind bars for a while.

“You can imagine the plight of the ancestors; they had to keep their own wives, husbands, friends and children, tied up and confined because they suspected they would be dangerous. However, the bitten ones, like they were called in those days, never showed signs of meanness, anger or evil. The ancestors thanked their Lord, for they believed that the magic, love and purity of their lord Viracocha was too powerful for vampires. There were signs, of course. They looked different, like vampires, to be precise. Like us. Thus was created a new mix, and we were born to our parents almost 60 years ago. We have a mixed blood, so we grow very slowly. Sometimes we get bored with the way we look, so we sneak up to humans in different countries, take a part of their skin and through a painless process, we start looking like them. Anyway, a few years ago, as was predicted by our ancestors, we had some intruders. They didn’t attack, but one of them wanted to be a part of our community. We aren’t as smart as our ancestors, but we know their teachings. This was almost like the case of the previous intruder, just Deja Vu, and so we tried to capture and kill this one before he could leave. Nasty business, but we couldn’t have vampires raiding our land again. Due to a real sad case of inattentiveness, the intruder escaped.

“You know what happened then, don’t you?” LLH spoke like wind. The way he said, it wasn’t a question. It was a fact I had to acknowledge. He put one hand on my knee and as I glanced down, I saw how bad I was shaking. There were goosebumps on my arms and I had trouble breathing. I realized he was trying to calm me down. How touching. What did he say about his age? 60? Damn! Before I knew, I was speaking in a voice that seemed totally unlike my own, a mechanical one like a robot. “I’ve seen all this many months ago. All in my dreams, or call them nightmares, for that’s what they were. This whole story you recited, you could’ve saved your breath, I know this. I saw this. He stayed on the land 10 days, hiding in a spot very near your shrine of Lord Viracocha. One night, seeing his opportunity, he dived into the Lake and stayed there 5 hours 49 minutes, finally emerging with a golden cup laid with silver at the rim, kissed it once and took off. The Aymaras didn’t realize something was wrong until after a few months when their people started suffering. There were health problems and they had a hard time performing the simplest of magic. Their prayers weren’t answered. All this while, he misused the power and made hundreds of slaves. That intruder is Lomar, who’s been torturing people all over the world.” I finished speaking. All was quiet as they all stared at me. Some parts of this story must be new to them, I thought.

The female was the first to recover. “I can’t believe this! A human?” She used the word as if it was like acid on her tongue. LLH leaned forward, making me shiver involuntarily. “Are you sure that’s what Lomar took? Our Lord’s most precious tool?” His voice was almost breaking, as if he couldn’t believe something of this magnitude could ever happen. “I didn’t know that’s Viracocha’s most precious tool, but that’s what I saw,” I whispered. He brushed his hand over his blond head, the one that was on my knee, I realized with a pang, an expression of agony distorting his features. I had to blink twice and shake my head to understand what he was saying next. “You realize we tracked you down with great difficulty. There was certainly a glitch in Lomar’s plan. Your dreams and your head wasn’t affected by the immunity curse he spread all over.” He smiled. “You’re special, you know that?” I couldn’t help smiling.

“All right!” came a harsh voice and the female, whom I mentally called the SI, short for ‘Stupid Intruder’, pulled LLH up by her side and continued, “We’re going to track him down, because you don’t possibly know where he is, do you?” I shook my head. “Fine” she snapped, turned away and held LLH’s arm, pulling him along with her, out of my tree house. Thankfully, LLH had the sense to stop and say something. “Hey, you know your information is immensely helpful. I’ll try... I mean,” he glanced back with a shy smile, “we will try our best not to come looking for you again. Hopefully, we’ll have Lomar killed before you next go to sleep.” He winked, smiled and stepped down the ladder Xavi made. His cronies followed him dully. Huh, interesting company he keeps, I thought.

I peeked over the side of the tree house, but couldn’t see LLH or SI or anyone anymore. Seeing a shadow of movement on the left, I snapped my head over to that side, only to see Xavi looking angry. “You were supposed to meet me at 7!” he called from below. “We’ll be late for dinner. Better get down here right now and don’t whine all the way when I ask you to walk faster!” Great. I wished LLH could be here, if only for his speed and strength, so I wouldn’t have to walk all the way with my over-sentimental brother. As we walked anyway, I let my mind wander to Lake Titicaca, Aymaras and their Lord Viracocha, the white and bearded representative of the Sun on Earth, carrying all his worshippers’ troubles in his gold and silver magical cup. I found myself wishing LLH would find and execute Lomar, that demon, and retrieve the cup.

So many things happen in life, that you can’t really keep track of it all. That’s why some information is repeated to you in your dreams so that when the time comes for a varied breed of an ancient magical community to visit you for information, you’d know what to say.

***

*Aymaras are real people in Lake Titicaca who really worship Lord Viracocha. The story’s mine, of course, based on what I read about the Aymara people. Nothing like the sort happened, really. :P The inspiration came when I was reading about Lake Titicaca in the book, 'Discovering the Wonders of our World' by Reader's Digest. 

PS- Please. Do. Not. Kill. Me. For. This. Crazy. Story. And. The. Length. I mean, you have to understand, right? I’ve written something after weeks! The weight of emotions would be something! ;)


Read Usama's awesome Theandric Thursday post 'The Girl at the Bus Stop'

Theandric Thursday # 3: Living the dream... and something else.

Theandric Thursday is a fortnightly feature on my blog, where I'll be having fun with putting down those weird thoughts and stories that occupy my mind most of the times. The dictionary definition of 'Theandric' is 'Relating to the joint agency of the divine and human nature'.

If you're interested in participating, write your own Theandric Thursday post and drop your link in the comments section. Feel free to write reality, part-reality-part-fiction or fiction, anything above the 'normality' of our world. ;) You can use the above picture on your post and link back to this post.

I was certain it was a dream. I mean, seriously? A tree house in the woods? That's what I get as a birthday present? They stood with me grinning, clearly satisfied with my awed expression, if that's what it was. I was certain no human even had the capability to open and hang their mouth as I was doing at that moment. It was too superliciously awesome to be a reality in my plain life. But hadn't my family always made sure my life isn't really plain? Haven't they always tried to make me live whatever I'd dreamed of? "Bu...but", I sputtered. "Dad!" I finally cried and hugged him tight and clung on to him till the moisture from my eyes was dried and well, stuck on his shirt. 

"Yeah, we had nothing to do with this", snorted my younger brother Xavi, sweeping his arm all around as if graciously unveiling a palace. Which it was, to me. Much much much better than a palace! Mom came forward and hugged me tight. "It's a delight to see you happy, darling," she said softly and kissed my forehead. I stuck out my tongue at my brother, to which, surprisingly, he replied with a sly grin. "Want to see if your weight breaks the poor ladder I spent hours making?"  

Pic from Google.

I saw the wooden ladder again. "Neat job," I admired. He tugged at my hand and we were at the bottom of the short steps. I still couldn't believe these wonderful guys built me a tree house! It's less than half a mile from our place just outside the woods. I never imagined what I'd continuously been dreaming about, aloud, they would go ahead and do it! Well, I always said it'd be fun to climb up this tree and settle somewhere in it and read books. Especially since the tree overlooks a stream nearby. I hadn't really imagined a tree house! But I guess Mom would've freaked out over the thought of insects and all, which really don't bother me and which would still be a problem anyway, since I'd still be up on a tree. Well, whatever the reason, I had not a thing to complain, for just as my head popped up and I saw the house from the inside, I felt like I couldn't breathe! In a very good way. It was small, but warm and cozy, big enough for four and had a small bookshelf, some board games and a couple of the softest pillows we owned! "Oh boy!" I nearly whistled. Nearly because I don't really know how to whistle. "Did you guys know you're the bestestest people in the world? Ever?" I sang loudly while putting one foot into the tree house. It was even tall enough to hold me! Though not my brother, I saw. He had to slouch. 

I peeped out from the side and flashed my biggest smile for the camera. I knew I never look good in pictures with my teeth showing, but that time I just couldn't stop it. And I didn't care for a silly picture! 

"You guys can stay up there, but be home by dinner time!" Mom called. I saw my parents walking away slowly towards home, holding hands and talking softly. Once or twice I saw them looking back at me, half hanging off the side as I looked at them. I waved and they did too, smiling. 

"You know, Dad worked really hard on this house and you can show your appreciation better than trying to break that log over which you're hanging" Xavi said in a voice that seemed almost..... reprimanding? And I was the elder sis! 

"Don't you have anything better to do than hanging out with your sis up on a tree house?" I snapped at him. I know it was wrong to hurt him like that, especially since he was the one who made that ladder and I was sure the board games idea was his, too and I knew he was also an emotional kid. What kind of a girl am I, anyway? My family gifts me my dream-turned-into-reality and I thank them by speaking rudely with Xavi? Not fair. But before I could sort my thoughts and apologize to him, he was already climbing down. Great. We hadn't even spent more than 5 seconds together in that tree house. I seriously don't deserve anything.

"Xaaa...aaaavi" I called out to him, "I know I'm an idiot and it wouldn't be fun here without you. You know that and you can't go just now and make Mom and Dad upset with me." No answer. "Xaaa....aaavi, what about the games? I'm S-O-R-R-Y! Please show me the ladder isn't weak and climb up again!" 

What is it with guys? He wouldn't speak a thing. He just looked up at me all tired-like and said, "I'm not going to tell Mom and Dad anything. I'll be at Bill's place, err..football match up on TV. Meet me at 7 at the birch tree." And off he went. I sighed and leaned back inside. It wasn't because of the football match that he was going to Bill's. I knew it was because of my big, stupid, fat mouth. As awesome as the tree house was, it lost its appeal to me. I realized things looked beautiful and appealing to you especially if you're with a loved one, or if you have some love inside. I seriously didn't, I thought, for even the stream running outside or the green and red bird perched atop the next tree couldn't do anything to uplift my mood. 

I nestled against the soft pillow and closed my eyes, feeling the sweet afternoon scent of the trees and wilderness blowing with the wind. In good spirits, I might have felt a bit like Katniss, up in a tree. Though she slept in a sleeping bag strapped to the branches and I was way more comfortable than she could have been, but still. It'd have been fun pretending our enemies are lurking somewhere out there, if Xavi had been here. I let out a long sigh. I'd really have to make up with him. It's just not fun, not having him around. 

        * * *

I felt something real soft under my cheek and something real hard under the rest of me. I drew my eyes open and propped up on my elbow. Right, the tree house. I was sure it was all a dream, but here it was. But then, I certainly had been dreaming of something. Going to sleep and getting up not dreaming of vampires was something that was rare with me these days. My bad. I decided to start with The Vampire Academy series right after the Twilight series. What can my poor brain do anyway if all I give it are stories of blood-sucking vampires? But then, it had seemed so real. No, I didn't see Edward or Dimitri. That's just what I wish I could be dreaming, but those vampires are always shrieking, red haired, evil-female vampires, running after me all the time. 

I looked at my cell phone. 6pm already! I slept for more than 4 hours? My Lord, I must have been a log in a previous life. And I didn't fail to notice that Xavi hadn't called or texted either. Since it was almost dark now and I couldn't read, I thought I'd go to the stream and just hang around for a bit. I put on my shoes and climbed down. As I trudged along the short path, I thought I heard slight hissing and it was quite creepy. I mean, crunching of leaves beneath someone's feet was okay or even the voices of someone talking or breathing was fine by me. After all, I wasn't the one who owned this place, as much as I wished. It was public property, well, except my tree house. But hissing? That's weird. I didn't see anyone though, so I continued and clambered onto a small rock-like structure at the edge of the stream we liked to call Miss S, I don't know why, and waited for time to pass. 

Google again

I love the stream. It flows towards the east and the water's so clear that I could see a trout or two flowing with the stream. I leaned forward a bit and liked the way my reflection looked back at me, all distorted and flowy. I smiled and pulled my hair open. I looked again for the effect. Perfect. Most people wouldn't think a distorted image would be nice, but I liked the way it was, especially with my hair now billowing about. I wished I had my camera to click a picture, though I doubted it would look this beautiful in the picture. If there's anything I've learned with photography, it's that some things the camera looks at with a better view and there are some other things you find so beautiful that the camera cannot keep up with the beauty.

I hadn't heard a single thing, not even the hissing, so when I saw another, absolutely white reflection in the water, hovering right above me, I was every bit surprised. And terrified, if the way my heart jumped to my throat was any indication. It wasn't Xavi. I didn't think it was even anything human, but it sure looked like one. A familiar one? Before I could turn around or completely process the fact that there were, in fact, three more, a cold hand clasped around my mouth and the hissing I had heard earlier was right at my ear. "You make a sound and all I would need to do is turn your head the wrong way. And no one will ever know what even happened." Now I was completely terrified, if there were any less terrifying feelings earlier. In another second I was hanging upside down, my open hair not seeming like a great idea at all, the hand still firm on my mouth and we were off. I hadn't even noticed I was crying before it blurred my vision. Since my hands were tightly bound with another pair of hands (what did he have? Four arms?), I blinked continuously till I could see better. I saw two pairs of legs walking sideways and one at the back. If what I gathered from the makes of their shoes and jeans was a right guess, two were guys and one was a girl. Every one of them made those hissing noises after every few minutes. That was creeping me out. Not that the whole situation wasn't creepy anyway, since I'd just been kind of kidnapped by a bunch of things I didn't think were human, but that hissing was even creepier somehow.

I really couldn't think how I could escape, because one, I was heavily outnumbered and two, they seemed pretty strong, even the female maybe. The one holding me seemed to be made of stone. What? Stone? Really? A..... vampire? I couldn't breathe. No wonder they moved so easily, stealthily and that hissing! What does it mean? How can a freaking group of vampires find me and kidnap me for no reason? What did I do except dream about them and that isn't really something I can control. If there's anything good about all this, there better be some Edward-or-Dimitri-like vampire. But why? I'm no freaking Bella Swan or Rose. 

After what seemed like a million years, they stopped. "Where do we interrogate her?" I heard the female voice for the first time and it sent chills down my spine. It reeked of pure evil. I still couldn't see anyone's faces. The next second I was on my way up a tree and was put down, not very gently, I might add, on the floor of my own tree house! I looked up at their extremely beautiful, but terrifying faces and felt myself shuddering. One of them was very familiar. Xavi couldn't stand straight since the roof wasn't high, but these guys loomed over me, upright and I was pretty sure they were taller than Xavi. 

Xavi! If I managed to stay alive till 7pm, I was sure Xavi would come looking for me. But was that a good thing or a bad thing? Xavi was obviously not as strong as a vampire and there were four! Will he be in danger too? 

***

This was turning out to be a very long story, since I'm incapable of telling anything in a few words. The second part of this story will be continued in Theandric Thursday post # 4.

PS- My brother isn't really called Xavi. I asked him what he would like to be called and he came up with a few great-sounding names, before settling on Xavi. I never thought he had a creative streak in him, so I had to ask how he thought of the name. "Huh?" he said. "It's the name of a football player." 


PPS- Read Usama's Theandric Thursday post # 3 at his blog, Randomized.