The Forgotten Arts Chapter 1 Preview
I have a special treat here today. I've been working hard on The Forgotten Arts, and have really struggled to get this first chapter right. I am finally pretty happy with where it is, and I'd like to share it to get some impressions! So please, give it a shot, and let me know what you think!
Overture
She fell, branches snapping under her weight till she came crashing into the ground. Breath rushed out all at once, leaving her desperately gasping for what felt like hours, trying to fill her burning lungs again. Smashed bits of tree rained down from the path she had made in the dead branch canopy. Pain carved into her like a thousand white-hot daggers. She could feel warm currents stream across her face. Whether blood, or tears, she could not say.
Then she saw the edge of the roof from which she had fallen… no, where she had been thrown. Thrown? By whom?
She grasped at her head with cut and bruised hands. Her mind was a churning blaze of anguish. It swelled with every breath, like gasoline on a bonfire. What did she mean by thrown?
And then it all came rushing back to her: the claws, his lifeless body, the chase, those eyes. Those eyes. The burning coals suspended by coiling shadow. Those same eyes she saw peering down upon her from the rooftop.
Her heart hammered erratically, and sense finally returned to her thoughts. She tried to push herself to her feet, but fell back to the ground once she put any weight on her left leg, screaming as bolts of unimaginable agony sparked through her.
She looked down, and saw her leg twisted about the wrong way. Unintelligible words dribbled forth from her lips. She had to fix the wrongness. She had to become whole again her body no longer made sense, an alien collection of flesh and bone, smashed and slapped back together again in some sick and twisted game.
A shriek pierced her ears, stabbing and gnawing even as she covered them. She looked back to the rooftop, and the eyes were gone. Her bottom lip trembled. She had to get out. She had to get away.
Exhausted, battered arms dragged the rest of her forward in a desperate crawl. She pushed with her right leg as much as she dared. Jolts of pain knifed through her as she pulled the ruined leg along. Finally, the lump in her throat became unbearable, and she sobbed uncomfortably as she did what she could to keep moving.
In front of her, something felt wrong with the air. A rip formed as the image of the shadowy woods contorted and warped. She couldn’t help but stare at the phenomenon, pain and exhaustion clouding her mind.
From the tear a pale, bare foot slipped, followed by another. Thin, delicate hands grabbed at the edges of the hole in the air, forcing it to open wider, till the rest of the body came forth. It was the naked body of a slender woman with skin that was beyond pale. It even seemed to glow in the crushing gloom of the woods. Not seemed to, it truly did, nearly blinding her at first. Silver hair, which seemed to have been spun of moonlight, draped about her shoulders, covering her slight chest, and reaching down past her waist. Her face looked like a perfect porcelain mask, reflecting the light from some unseen spotlight, but the eyes… they were a pair of voids that seemed to eat at any light that dared draw near.
The pale woman spoke in a whisper, as if her lips were just a centimeter away from the listener‘s ear, even though she stood at least ten feet away. “Child, why run away from your fate?”
She shook her head, and swatted about her ears, as if chasing away a cobweb, and resumed her crawl. The woman followed, her feet neither disturbed leaf, nor blade of grass, and cast no shadow, nor illumination upon her surroundings. The voice returned “So much pain. So much struggle. But for what? What has your life ever meant? What are you even fighting to save?”
She had nearly made it to the street when a forced pushed down, making her already weakened arms give out. Her face slapped into the mud, filling her nose with wet earth. She turned her head, and saw those burning coals staring at her, like a predator amused by the struggles of its prey.
A thick black tendril of shadow wrapped itself around her left arm. Its grip tightened more and more until a sickening, deafening crunch ripped through her. The pain was beyond excruciating. She couldn’t even scream for several minutes.
The burning coals burned brighter and brighter, relishing in her agony. The pale woman walked next to the creature, and stroked the coiling mass of shadow affectionately. “Do you see now, child? There is no escape. Your struggle was always meaningless, your efforts, pointless. Now you will be consumed, and become a fiber in the wreath of shadows.”
She spoke with half-words and groans. Between the unimaginable anguish, her heart thundering with the steadiness of a conductor being shocked to death, and the inescapable fear dominating her mind, she couldn’t speak intelligibly. She reached towards the street, the silver ring on her right hand catching the moonlight.
One door closes, another one opens.
“And what a fiber you will be…”
She screamed.
The Forgotten Arts
Phase I: The Edge of Night
Diurne I: The World Turns
I have seen the edge of night,
A broken, wretched dream
Torn from the eyes of the weak and feeble.
Ours is a time of darkness
A savage evil besets the land
Vastly unseen, and opposed by those few able.
Past a thin veil,
The world turns unsuspecting
Of the calamity held just out of sight.
And we are losing.
Envy not the brilliance of the sun,
For that luster be wrought by burning agony.
“Up late last night?” Came a sweet, confident voice that sounded so...
Kora woke with a start and saw the familiar figure of Amelia, a second year student, and Kora’s roommate. Amelia smirked as she took a sip from her cup of, most likely, tea, gently resting between her hands as she sat at the breakfast table.
Amelia was immaculately dressed, as always. Her clothes were perfectly ironed and free of stains, or stray strands. Her make up accented her face’s contours just right, with dark smoky eyeliner that made her bright green eyes look positively incandescent. Her long, light blonde hair was intricately styled with a generous fishtail braid, of alternating purple and blonde strands, that framed the left side of her face. The right side was loose, with soft curls as her hair passed her shoulders in a gentle purple ombre.
Kora looked about herself, still in a daze. She looked to her right hand, feeling there should have been something there, but she couldn’t recall what it could be. She was sitting opposite of Amelia at the breakfast table in the kitchen of Amelia’s… no, their house. That’s right. Kora had made it into town late last night. She looked over at the front door, and saw a lazily-stacked row of boxes she had brought in last night. Kora vaguely remembered sitting down at the table last night, exhausted from the long trip to get to Connoverton, and then…
It would seem that she had fallen asleep on the spot. Her muscles and joints were all too pleased to complain about the irregular position she had rested in. Kora groaned, rubbing some measure of normalcy back into her neck, which seemed to be the worst off.
“Still waking up it would seem?” Amelia said, taking another sip from her cup. Kora nodded. “Next time, if you are set on not sleeping in your own bed, might I suggest the couch. It is much more accommodating. Even the floor, I think, would be more comfortable than a rigid wooden chair.”
“Oh, believe me, this was not a choice. Last thing I remember is sitting down. Then, poof,” Kora said, gesturing last word with a wave of her hands, which set her a bit off balance. She only just barely caught herself before she slipped off the chair. Amelia was clearly amused by the clumsy spectacle, judging by her wry grin.
Kora steadied herself and yawned. “Enjoying this, are you?”
“Oh, I surely am. Looks as though mornings will be much more eventful than I’d imagined.” She got up at this, and took her presumably empty cup to the kitchen sink. “You know, darling, you really should get ready. Your first class is starting soon, and we need enough time for me to show you the way. “
Kora looked at the time on her phone, and her eyes bulged nearly out of their sockets. She scrambled over to the row of boxes, half-tripping over the chair in the process as it came clattering to the floor. The choice not to label the boxes she had brought suddenly proved to be a rather foolish one as Kora desperately clawed at each box to find which one had her hair brush or school uniform.
Amelia made a show of looking at her wristwatch at the corner of Kora’s vision. “Guess it’s too much to hope for help?”
“Oh, dearie, why would I get in the way of the funniest thing I’ll see all day?” Amelia said with a chuckle. “Some times you have to watch people burn on the pyres they build themselves.”
She found her box of uniforms for Ahasteno University before her brush, and decided to just work with what she had. Kora threw off her clothes and quickly slipped into the wrinkled white blouse, blue vest, and black slacks within. Thankfully, it would appear, she had the foresight, or plain dumb luck, that she had thought to pack her shoes and socks, along with the optional tie or ribbon that students could wear. She took the long ribbon and tied her shoulder-length red hair back in the quickest, messiest ponytail she could manage. She’d fix it later. Next she whipped her socks on, obviously going the opposite way. She didn’t have the time.
Kora slammed her feet in the cool black leather flats and burst from the front door. Amelia followed, laughing quietly to herself. “Now that was impressive. Up and ready to go in five minutes.”
Kora just rolled her eyes, too out of breath from the scramble to care. They walked down the street towards the tram station at the end of the road. It was a warm August morning. Muggy, but not completely unpleasant. A gentle breeze rippled through the leaves of the trees that flanked the side walk just outside the house.
“Let’s see, it’s Monday, right? Help me remember to put out the trash tonight, collection’s in the morning,” Amelia said, seeming to glide as she walked.
Kora yawned, holding her hand over her mouth as she followed. “Yeah, like I’ll remember.”
“Oh, I do always hold out hope for you, dear,” Amelia replied.
“Geez, thanks, Amelia,” Kora said with a grumble.
Amelia turned and grinned, obviously pleased with herself. “You can always count on me to have your back.”
The two walked for a moment in silence till Kora broke it with, “What class do you have first today?”
“Oh, Differential Equations just down the hall from you, ” Amelia replied nonchalantly.
Kora winced, “Yikes. No thank you.”
“No heavy math for you, Miss Undeclared?” she teased, another mischievous smirk on her face.
“Not my strong suit. I’d much prefer a good book,” Kora replied, shrugging.
Amelia nodded. “Can’t say I blame you, dear. It can be exceptionally dull. Not everyone wants to get into quantum mechanics”
“Yeah, I’ll definitely save that for you,” Kora replied while shaking her head.
They could see the campus tram station, where three color-coded platforms sat for the trio of lines. Amelia explained what the platforms were for as they approached. First was the T line, marked with green, which went into the town square. Next was the O line, marked with red, which ran around the perimeter of the town. Last, their destination, was the U line, which ran between student housing and the main university campus all day, every 15 minutes.
“There we are dearie, looks like our ride is here already,” Amelia said, nodding to the tram sitting on the platform.
They briskly ran up the steps to the platform, and then onto the tram itself. She checked her watch, seeing that they had only made it with a minute to spare. Right on cue, the tram’s silver doors slid close, and the car gently nudged itself down the line. It continued to pick up speed until it reached a comfortable cruise along the railway, subtly swaying side to side as they went.
She looked around the tram car. It could probably hold a hundred people before it would be a squeeze, at least. There were a lot of students, but it wasn’t quite full. It was perhaps half so, giving everyone ample breathing room. Interestingly, it also made friend groups rather easy to pick out, since the students had formed into small huddles, or pairs. This would be the last tram before students would be late for an 8am course. She wondered if these were the only students who got suckered into an early class like she, or if others had just made their way earlier.
Her eyes naturally came to rest on a black plastic half-sphere, most likely a security camera, on the ceiling of the car. For some reason, once she had seen it, she couldn’t help but stare at it. The hair on the back of her neck stood on end, and she shivered. For a moment she…
Kora tore her eyes away from the camera, and turned to the wide window before her, watching the various trees, streets, and buildings pass by. She idly thought back to her arrival last night. She still couldn’t remember falling asleep… but she did remember she had a strange dream in her sleep. What kind of dream was it? Was there anything she could remember other than the fact it happened? She felt at the fingers of her right hand, expecting to feel something other than skin… but what could it be? It seemed so odd to her. She usually remembered her dreams so well, even the ones she’d rather forget. Often her dreams had her relive memories, especially those steeped in regret and shame.
And then she saw her face, sending bolts of lightning through her mind. It was her—
She forcefully shook her head, drawing a curious look from Amelia. She couldn’t trust her mind to wander at the moment. Moving here, coming to this school, it was a fresh start for her. She had to treat it like that. Kora needed something to ground her in the moment, and so focused again on the passing sights and landmarks to pass the time.
The Ahasteno University campus gradually came into view, situated on a vast hill that overlooked the town. Amelia said there were 25 buildings in all, pointing to a simple map on the wall of the tram that showed the campus from a top-down view. There were three rings of buildings that circled around the Student Union in the center. There were four buildings in the first circle, ten in the next and fifteen on the outer ring. Streets, smaller buildings, gardens, and other amenities dotted the spaces between the rings. There was too much to make out in a single look, though.
Amelia pointed to the Performing Arts building as they passed by, which was arranged in a ring, with a large amphitheater in the middle as a kind of courtyard. Student groups put on performances there nearly every day. One of the Theater professors, Amelia had heard, liked to hold class there when weather permitted. It could easily be seen from the train, as it was only a short walk from the station, which pulled in at the geographic middle of the campus, in front of the Union. Kora’s first class, “Fundamentals of Statistics” was on the opposite side of the station, on the outer ring of campus.
When the train came to a stop, Kora and Amelia stepped onto the platform and quickly walked toward the Marwell Analytical Studies Building, or “the MAS”. Kora had examined the map, but she certainly hadn’t completely memorized where she needed to go, so she followed Amelia. Even if she was cut off from her in the flood of other students rushing to their own destinations, Amelia’s height and brightly-colored hair made her quite easy to find again. Well, that was at least what Kora hoped.
In front of the Student Union, a large, multi-story cylindrical building she could see just a short walk from the tram station, was a large public square that could easily fit a football field. Embedded gardens, trees, and benches dotted the expanse. Amelia nodded to the space saying, “Later, after our classes are done, Union Plaza will host a welcome party/festival type celebration for the first day of school. We should definitely come join in. There will be food, performances, and tables set up for the different clubs. It’s so big that even people from the town will come to celebrate as well” She looked back to Kora, winking. “Who knows, maybe you’ll make some friends.”
“Somehow, I doubt that you mean normal friends. You mean a boyfriend, don’t you?” Kora said, sighing.
Amelia smirked. “Oh, what would ever give you that idea?”
Kora snorted in response, shaking her head. You could say a lot of things about her, but ‘persistent’ probably summed Amelia up the best. Whether that was a good or a bad thing, well, that depended on the subject of said persistence.
They came around the corner of what Kora thought was the Physics Building, and there was the MAS. It was, perhaps, the most boring rectangular, brick building Kora had ever seen. As they entered, she saw a couple of students sitting in a large lounge area. She wasn’t really paying attention to what they were saying as she made her way to the elevator, but she did hear a man’s voice say something about a strange dream. She wondered briefly what his had been about.
Amelia glanced at a folded piece of paper with Kora’s class schedule, and the rooms they were in. She hit B1 on the elevator, and handed Kora back the paper. Once the doors open, she said, “Just around the corner to the right for you, darling! I’ll be in a class just down the hall, so I won’t be far when you get out.”
Kora smiled in thanks, and went to the right. Sure enough there was her class. She took a seat near the front of the class, close to the door. It was an auditorium style classroom, with what she estimated to be about a hundred seats. A young, and rather short woman came shuffling in. She placed a well-worn bag on the desk at the front of the room and took a moment to rummage through her things. She came around to the front of the desk and sat on it, her feet dangling as her legs were far too short for them to meet the ground as she sat.
“Right then. I am Sandy Clark, you may call me Ms. Clark, Ms. C, Clarky Clark, any variation you can think of, but absolutely not Sandy.” She opened with a slight shrill tone in her voice. “No one has ever called me Sandy, not even my mother who, in her… wisdom decided to put that name on my birth certificate. That isn’t going to change today.”
She took a drink from a water bottle she fished from her bag, and somehow resumed even more shrill than before. “Statistics is all about numbers, and their relationships to each other. It is the key to all the secrets in the universe.”
Ms Clark coughed and tucked her legs under her bottom on the desk. “It’s also completely meaningless.” Some in the class laughed at that. She shrugged. “It really is. It’s both. Statistics means a great deal to those who know how to read it, and absolutely nothing to those who don’t. On the other side, it is meaningless if composed or presented poorly, and groundbreaking if done right.”
“Former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, and his staff, collected and organized hundreds upon thousands of pages of information on operations in Vietnam every month, with statistics on nearly every aspect of the war. There was so much that not only couldn’t all be comprehended by a sane person, but it ended up being meaningless despite the nature of it being analytics on the war effort, an incredibly not meaningless thing.” Ms. Clark said, scratching her nose.
“What matters is.” She rolled backwards off the desk in a kind of lazy flip and wrote on the dry erase board what she said. “Data, Analysis, and Interpretation. That’s it.” She wrote the last period with a violent stab into the board with the marker. “That is what this entire semester is going to be about. Those three things in various different forms across many kinds of problems and applications.” She stood behind the desk, leaning forward as she put her weight on it.
“Sounds like absolute torture, doesn’t it?” she smirked as most of the class let out a nervous laugh, Kora included. “Worry not, my students, I am going to make this excruciatingly boring stuff as fun as I can make it.” She said turning back to the board before whipping her head back. “Honestly, not really just for your sake, but mine also or I might be asleep like Mr. Sleepytime on row three is right now. You little turd!” She flicked a marker cap at the student she was talking about, hitting him square on the forehead.
The student immediately shot up in his seat, trying to figure out what had happened. “Let’s go, Sunshine! Throw me back my marker cap and let’s learn some Statistics. This isn’t Napping class, dumb-dumb. That’s across the hall.”
“And then she threw a cap at this kid that was sleeping at his desk, and told him Napping class was across the hall,” Kora recalled, giggling. “It was hilarious, probably one of the funniest moments I’ve ever had in a class.”
They sat under a tree just outside the Marwell building drinking some coffee they had grabbed from a vending machine. Amelia smiled warmly, “Sounds like it, darling. Glad you had a fun one.”
“Yeah, I think Ms. Clark is going to be a pretty entertaining instructor, if anything.” Kora said. She took a large gulp from the can of Pequod Mocha Triple-Shot Espresso. If she didn’t get some caffeine going now, she’d never make it through the day.
“That’s good. You’d have hated my Diff EQ professor. So monotone. It’s like the guy isn’t even there.” Amelia said, rolling her eyes. She nursed a can of the same coffee Kora had gotten, but Vanilla instead. Knowing her, Amelia would probably be drinking it for hours.
“Not exactly what you want for an early morning class, huh?”
“Tell me about it, dear. Had I not had my tea this morning, I’m sure I’d have been dozing off in minutes.” Amelia replied. “Oh well, next one for you is Brit Lit, right? I bet you’ll enjoy that one too.”
Kora nodded, and took another big sip from the can. It was powerful, bitter, with a satisfying chocolatey kick. A tasty drink, sure, but not something you would want more than one of in a sitting. “What makes you say that?”
Amelia groaned as she stretched, using the tree as leverage to pop her back. “Call it ‘woman’s intuition.’ It will never steer you wrong, darling.”
“Sure, what ever you say,” Kora replied, chuckling as she shook her head.
“Ever the non-believer I see,” she smiled wickedly, “no wonder you can’t find someone.”
“Hard to find someone when you aren’t looking, Amelia.” She sighed, and took a last mighty swig from the can. “Like I said, I don’t have time for something like that. Not like you are any better”
Amelia laughed with a wicked smirk. “Oh, darling, if only you knew.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” Kora asked, crossing her arms.
“It means we are about to be late to class, dear. Let’s get a move on.”
“I’m going to venture a guess that really none of you are here for a major in British Literature?” asked Dr. Edwards, a rather dismal look on what Kora could only describe as a sorrowful face. Most in class shook their heads in response. “Yeah, I didn’t think so. Not exactly everyone’s first choice these days.
“I never was too keen on it as a student myself. I thought, ‘Hey, why bother with the words of long dead men when my novels are yet to be done.’” He shook his head, then swept his hands about himself in a gesture usually accompanied by a ‘tada!’ “look at me. Only one book I’ve ever written sold more than a few hundred copies, and the one that did was my first.”
He sighed, adjusting his impossibly thick glasses. “But, here I am to talk to you about stuff a bunch of old dead men and women said. It might seem pointless to you now, but there is quite a lot to learn from the words of those who came before.
“Words shape our world. They give us hope in the pits of despair, and comfort in our pain. Words have both led men to victory, and their undoing. We connect to each other through words. We break from each through words. They can change everything of how we think about the world “ he said. The doctor then took a drink from a flask with a faint smirk.
“So, let’s talk about some dead people.”
As she left the classroom, Kora’s stomach was quite aware of the fact that she hadn’t eaten anything for breakfast. Almost perfectly on cue, Amelia popped into view, smirking. “Alright, dearie, let’s get some lunch. I know just the place.”
“I’d eat anything right now, lead the way!” Kora replied.
They left the Language Arts building, and over to the Student Union next door, in the exact center of the campus. The bottom floor featured a large open promenade with various shops and services for the students. Fast food chains of all kinds had taken up residence all along the space, offering quite the wide range of tastes.
Amelia lead Kora over to a Harland’s Chicken. She was about to walk up and order herself, but seemed flustered as she dug in her purse. “Well…”
“Lost your wallet?”
Amelia glared at Kora. “Of course not. I just… temporarily find it in a state beyond the present reach of recoverability.”
“Wow,” Kora said, exaggerating her surprise by clasping her hands together, “well if you did lose it, I’d be happy to get you lunch. But if you’ve only ‘temporarily—‘”
“Oh, fine. Yes, I lost it, dear.” Amelia said with all the frustration of a child forced to share her toys.
A few minutes later, they sat outside on one of the many concrete benches that surrounded the Union Plaza. A couple of students were at work assembling what looked like a stage, and a few booths for the party Amelia had talked about that morning.
She had ordered a pair of fried chicken sandwiches, with green onions, asiago cheese, romaine lettuce, and bacon. Whoever Harland, the namesake of the restaurant, was, he sure seemed to know how to make some impeccable fried chicken.
“Only one more class for the day, right?” Kora asked after taking a sip of New Pember-Kola.
Amelia nodded, “That’s right.”
“Is this welcome party going to have swag?”
“Oh, last year I got enough shirts and other crap to fill a closet” Amelia said, winking.
“Well that’s good news. Free stuff always makes big, loud parties worth it.” Kora sighed. “Personally I’d rather stay in, and finish that book I’ve been reading.”
“If you ask me, you spend far too much time with books and video games.” Amelia pointed, ”You should find someone who makes you happy, not something.”
“I already have that.” Kora said, nodding back to Amelia.
To this she giggled. “Oh, I don’t count, sweetheart. Besides, It could never work between us.” Amelia then, turned her back to Kora, and looked over her shoulder back to her. “Unless…”
“Yeah, no. I think you are right. Too much work,” Kora said with a smirk.
“Excuse me? I am not ‘too much work’,” Amelia said with a sniff. “I am just the right amount. Anymore and I’d be unbearable, any less and I’d be boring.”
“Oh, I don’t think we ever have to worry about you being boring.”
It had been about twenty minutes since her Early World History class was supposed to start. Strangely, the professor had yet to show up. Most of the students had waited for about ten minutes in before they decided to bail. The few who remained whispered to each other back and forth, wondering if something had happened, and postulating about where she could be. Doubting herself, Kora pulled out her schedule to check it again. Sure enough, Early World History, Dr. Whitacre, Language Arts: Room 202, 1:30pm.
Kora scratched her head, put her things away in her bag, and walked out of the room. She had some time before Amelia’s class would end. It seemed like a great chance to get some reading in. She found a cozy corner in the lounge on the bottom floor, and made herself at home. But, as she pulled up Phoenix Current on her phone, she found herself watching the other people in the lounge.
There was a boy and a girl sitting together at a couch a cross the lounge. She rambled on about something, gesturing excitedly. Kora couldn’t quite make it out, as the pair was just out of earshot, but she caught a word or two that were said with particular emphasis. “It was so weird… ”, “… so foggy.”, “… terrifying…” The boy was obviously mesmerized by her. Kora figured that she could be easily be talking about damn near anything, politics, the last book she read, the weather, even a painfully detailed recent history on her bowel movements, and he probably wouldn’t care. Not that she blamed him, the girl was quite cute.
At the other side, where there were many circles of chairs around tables, sat a rather large man who was at least four times Kora’s weight, and half again taller. He was devouring what appeared to be a turkey leg. Kora could not help but stare in disgust, horror, probably even wonder, as the man bit into the piece of meat, and ripped a mouthful away. The man chomped with a ferocious fervor, like he had been starving for days. Once he had practically cleaned the bone of any scrap or pinch of flesh, he reached into his bag and pulled out another turkey leg. Kora shuddered at this, unable to bring herself to watch the spectacle for a second time.
A pair of girls sat a bit closer at another table one with brown hair and glasses seemed to be explaining different terms that she pointed to in a textbook. “Well, you see, that’s the thing about the ‘Synthesis of Wills,’ it is not just the product of one person’s mind. It is the product of everyone’s across time and space. Your choices and thoughts coalesce in the great wave of the present to form the swash and backwash that forms our future. But it isn’t just yours. You are just a drop of water in so many thousands, millions, billions of drops.”
The other girl grabbed at her head. “Is this really going to be on the test?”
“You better believe it. Dr. Haloix’s life’s work has been on the ‘Synthesis of Wills theory” the first said, nodding.
Kora’s attention then went to a pair of older women walking around the lounge. They looked to be instructors, or some kind of faculty members.
“What do you mean she hasn’t been in yet?” said the first, an older woman with stark white hair and wrinkled skin like worn, crumpled paper.
The second responded, obviously struggling to keep up with the first’s pace with her considerably shorter legs. “Just that. Professor Whitacre hasn’t been in today at all, from the looks of it. She hasn’t made it to any of her classes, her office hasn’t been touched, and her parking spot is vacant.”
At this Kora shot up straight as an arrow. Professor Whitacre, that was the professor who hadn’t shown up. She quickly grabbed her bag and moved to follow behind, since the two were about to move out of earshot.
“Surely she called in.”
“No, the faculty office says they haven’t heard anything. They’ve been trying to call her all day. She’s just gone.” The second woman said, putting her hands in the air for emphasis.
The older woman shook her head. “She is out there somewhere. Galena has worked here for thirteen years, and has never taken a personal day, a sick day, or even vacation time no matter how much I urged her to. She wouldn’t just disappear. Especially not so on the first day of classes.”
At this point they went through a doorway clearly marked ‘Faculty and Staff Only.’ The door slammed shut behind them, as if putting a definitive nail in the coffin of any idea she might have of following any further. She looked around herself, not exactly sure where she was since she had been so intent on listening to the pair.
Kora thought as she tried to retrace her steps. What did it mean? Had her professor had an accident on her way? Or had something worse happened. Those eyes…
She shuddered, and was about one more turn from probably getting lost again when Amelia came about the same corner.
“Ah, there you are, dear. Did I keep you waiting? I didn’t see you at your classroom,” she said, a curious look on her face.
Kora started, not expecting, well, anyone to show up in front of her. Though, it would make sense with the flood of students pouring out of classrooms at the moment. “Oh, right. Yeah, the teacher never showed up. In fact, if what I heard is right, she hasn’t been in all day.”
“Quite peculiar, that. Suppose it gives you an interesting story for your first day!”
Kora shrugged and the pair walked out of the Language Arts building.
Union Plaza was dead ahead of them, and she could clearly see dozens of tables, stalls, even a couple of trailers set up around the space. There was a raised stage, positioned in such a way that the Union acted as a kind of backdrop. People were setting up instruments and checking sound equipment. A few students were streaming in through the tables, but not too many.
Amelia grinned, and said, “Come on! Let’s see what they’ve got!”
She grabbed Kora’s hand, and pulled her towards the gathering. Before she knew it, Kora had no less than ten blue or green t-shirts with different variations on the university logo. Most, if not all, of the clubs and student organizations had at least a table with information, sign up sheets, and some kind of goodie just for dropping by. One table for the Ahasteno University Spirit Committee had a trivia challenge about the history of the school, and other facts. Who is the school mascot? Athena the Wise Owl. What are the school colors? Blue, Green, and White. Who is the founder of the University? Owyn Ahasteno. What were the first degrees offered? Philosophy, Psychology, and Physics.
Kora got most of them right, except for the last one. Honestly, who would have known that? Regardless, she ended up winning a nice blue baseball cap with Athena in Green, and a white outline. Of course, had she gotten it right, she would have won a nice jacket. Maybe she’d drop by the Spirit Wear store in the Union later to get it.
After maybe 30 minutes or so, Kora’s tote she had gotten from the Recycling and Conservation Society was nearly bursting from the sheer amount of apparel, tumblers, and other swag. A band had started playing on the stage. Apparently they were a local student rock band that had become quite popular last year on campus. They were pretty good. She wasn’t a big fan of the lead singer, but the rest of the band really made up for him. She could see why they had caught on. Kora couldn’t seem to get their name right. One time she thought she heard Duck Sandwich, the next it sounded like Jack Say Witch? She wasn’t sure which was more bizarre.
After awhile, the smell coming from the various food trucks and concession stands was just too much to ignore. She looked to Amelia. “Hey, are you hungry?”
She shrugged. “Not really, but go ahead and grab something. I see someone I need to talk to real quick. I’ll catch up!”
Kora nodded, a bit disappointed, but that incredible mix of smells had ensnared her mind. She needed something.
She walked over to the corner of the plaza where most of the trucks and food stands had set up. She was amazed at the range of offerings. There was Julio’s Taco Time, Oodles of Noodles, Subby Sammy’s, Burger Catastrophe, Terry’s Buns, Roadkill BBQ (which she really hoped wasn’t roadkill…), Mabel’s Sweet Treats, and Attack of the Waffles. Kora honestly wasn’t sure what she wanted. Well, no, that wasn’t it. Each had something she wanted. But she couldn’t order that much food, right?
“Too much good stuff, right?” Came an unfamiliar voice from behind.
Kora whipped around, and saw a young man, maybe about her age, with short curly black hair, who stood just a bit taller than she. “Uh, y-yeah. Yes.”
He smiled like a little kid on Christmas Morning. “Don’t worry. I’ve got just the thing.” The boy took her hand, to which Kora blushed profusely, and pulled her towards the red and gold food truck that had “Terry’s Buns” written on the side. He waved to the worker inside, calling “Two, please!” The worker waved back and ducked back inside the truck.
Kora stood uneasily, staring at her hand firmly grasped by his. The boy seemed to notice her discomfort and quickly let go, holding his hands in the air “I’m sorry, I didn’t me- I just—ack.” He scratched his head. “I shouldn’t have dragged you around like that without permission. That was stupid of me.”
She frowned, frankly just puzzled by the strangeness of the situation. Her hand awkwardly hung where he had let go. “A smart man would at least ask for a name, and give his in return first.” Kora said, rather colder than she meant to, as her cheeks flushed red again. Was that really necessary ?
The boy smiled that same, extraordinary smile again, and knelt down before her, kissing her hand, and saying “I am Jean, Second Year at Ahasteno.”
Her cheeks felt even warmer. “And you apparently are completely clueless of proper boundaries and etiquette with women you do not know.”
Jean quickly stood up, a pained expression on his face. “I apologize again. I get so excited—and you are just so beautiful—”
“Now I know you are having a laugh.” Kora said, pulling her hand away.
“You think I’m not serious?” Jean said as the worker walked over.
“Hey, Jean! How is your father?” the man said, a tray held in his left hand as he slapped Jean on the back with his right. The impact rippled through Jean like he had been hit by a sledgehammer, causing him to cough. The worker was a short, but formidable man. His muscles could clearly be seen through his tight navy blue shirt. Could this be the Terry that the business was named after?
Jean laughed, still coughing. “He is well. Busy, you know, with the festival.”
“Who is this young lady with you? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you skipping around with a girl before!” The man said, handing her a basket from the tray.
“This is…”
“Kora Gates. I’m no one special, just a first year at the University.” She said, peeking into the contents of the basket. It looked like a small tennis ball-sized bun with sesame seeds and green onion on top.
The man smiled. “Well, Miss Gates, this celebration is for you! Enjoy yourself! My buns are my life’s work! All the ingredients come from right here in Connover.” He spun around, his free hand pointing outwards to illustrate his point.
Giggling at how animated the man was, she took a bite of the bun, and was immediately overcome with a burst of flavor. It was so many things at once: sweet, and then salty, and a touch of spice. She could taste scallions, garlic, the distinct mouthfeel of slow roasted pork, and even some fruit and floral notes that were just beyond her grasp to identify. It was all wrapped up in bread that might as well have been a savory cloud. Somehow flavors both delicate and powerful seemed to coexist in such perfect balance. Kora couldn’t help but smile.
The man laughed whole-heartedly. “And there it is. A taste you can get nowhere else because every bit of it comes from this town. Enjoy the life’s work of Terry Tanaka.”
She quickly finished the bun and looked to the man, no, the artist. “Mr. Tanaka—”
“I know that look! Of course, I’ll make you another! But then you really must try some of the other food here. Ann Maybel’s Apple Turnover is truly in a league of its own!” he said as her bounded back to the truck.
Kora stood speechless for a moment. She wasn’t entirely convinced that the entire encounter had been real. Had she really eaten something so incredibly delicious? Mr. Tanaka was almost more a cartoon character than human.
“You know, he told you about Miss Maybel because he’s been trying to get her to marry him for ten years now.” Jean remarked in between mouthfuls of pork bun.
“I wonder who could turn down someone who cooks this well.” Kora said, looking to the food truck where the stout man worked, happily singing to himself.
Jean smirked sheepishly. “See why I had to bring you here?”
Kora shot a suspicious look at the young man, but it quickly softened. She blushed again, and held out her hand. “Well, why not show a girl a good time?”
Several hours later, the sun was long set, and the moon was overhead. Kora honestly had no idea what time it was. She had just been having too much fun to notice. Her evening with Jean had been quite unlike anything she had ever experienced. He seemed to know just what at the festival she would be interested in.
She could tell things were starting to wind to a close. Some of the stalls, even the stage where several student bands had played, had been moved or broken down already. Many of the performers were enjoying some well-earned food, and chatting together about their day. They seemed like a tight-knit group. Kora wondered if maybe they were part of a traveling troop.
But there were still signs of life. A few groups sang songs of old and new, drinking, laughing, embracing one another. A few of the food stalls still had as much business as they had earlier in the day, dutifully fulfilling orders for customers. And while most of the performers had called it quits for the night, there were still a couple out that performed for the students and assorted townfolk that remained.
Kora and Jean walked around the Plaza slowly. It had probably been close to their one hundredth lap by then. It certainly felt like it. Her feet and legs ached, unused to walking so much. Despite the rather awkward way they had met, she had grown quite happy that he had, for lack of a better term, yanked her along for the ride.
Jean was an earnest, fun-loving young man with a great deal of passion for his hometown. He had told her all about growing up in Connover, about when the University had started building when he was a young child, and how he saw it rise to the jewel it was now. He had seen a small town grow large because of the University, yet still the people who lived in Connover continued to live a small town life.
Nearly everyone that they had met at the various attractions knew Jean very well, like so many aunts and uncles. Apparently he was on the planning committee in the Student Council, and he used his connection with his father as head of the Chamber of Commerce to arrange for the various business and performers who had come to the event. She was also rather surprised to find out that most of the food trucks that had come to the event actually came nearly every day to a parking lot he had arranged to be repurposed into a food truck park.
Each of the business owners seemed to be intrigued that Jean had been running around with a girl. This of course, was much to Kora’s embarrassment. She didn’t even really know the boy, and from the look these people had in their eyes, she could see they were already envisioning romance, a wedding, children. It was all too much too fast.
Still, she decided to push that away, and just enjoy the moment that Jean and she were sharing. Sometimes enjoying a good time with another person made for some fantastic memories, regardless of who it was. It felt good to let go, drop her guard, and just experience the now. Though she couldn’t deny that this whole affair made her more than a little interested in her companion for the evening.
“Oh wow!” Jean said suddenly as he quickened pace, pulling her along. This had pretty much been the way the whole night had gone. Kora had decided it was better just to go with the flow rather than fight Jean every time he saw something he wanted to show her.
They came upon a small ring of people crowded about a single performer. He was a very finely dressed man, with a classy three piece suit and crisp white gloves on his hands.
“This is Ernesto! He’s a magician, or illusionist, as he puts it. His tricks are incredible! Seriously, I can’t even tell how he does it,” Jean whispered to Kora. “I can’t believe he is here. I haven’t seen him come to town in years!”
Kora watched carefully as the man set his hands, palm up, on the table before him. He spoke with a strong, passionate voice that seemed to grasp at her ears. “So much in our lives is not as it seems. See here, an empty table. What if I were to tell you, Lexi, that what you most desire is on this table already?” he said, pointing to a cute little girl in the crowd.
The girl stared wide-eyed. “How did you know my name?”
“I used my mind, of course!”
“Like mind powers?” Lexi asked, astonished.
Ernesto grinned. “No, I heard your mother call your name to quiet you down when you were talking during my show earlier.”
The girl blushed. “Sorry…”
“Think nothing of it!” he said, and then gestured to the table. “Now, what would you say if I told you what you most desire is on this table?”
The girl giggled, and said, “But nothing is there!”
“Ah, but that is the thing, is it not? It is here, you just cannot see it, yet.” He paused, waving his hands dramatically over the table. “Tell me, dear, what is it you most desire right this moment.”
“Anything?” she asked, her eyes lighting up.
He smiled brightly. “But of course.”
“Hmmm,” she looked to who must have been her mom for a moment, then back to the man. “An Angelica Defender doll. The one from the new movie with the two gold swords, and the pink dress! Oh! And she says, ‘Evil, Despair. Angelica Defender shall destroy you!’” Lexi said, enthusiastically waving her arms around as if she were wielding the swords herself.
Ernesto laughed, as did the audience. “My, my, my dear. That sounds great. Now, I want you to close your eyes, and hold the image of that wonderful doll in your head.”
The girl immediately slammed her eyes shut. Ernesto scratched at his beardless chin, and nodded. He pulled a silk handkerchief from his vest and held it over a certain spot on the table, closest to the girl. Kora was watching from behind the man, so she was ready to see what kind of trick or sleight of hand the man would use to make the doll appear.
“Now, my dear, I want you to open your eyes when I say the magic word ‘Realize’. Can you do that?” the girl nodded quickly. Ernesto took a deep breath and said, with a calm, unnaturally clear tone, so clear that all other sound seemed to be muted for a moment, “Realize!”
That same instant, he whipped the handkerchief away from the table. The girl opened her eyes, and, a brightly clothed doll in a perfect blister packaging was pulled into being on the table with a crisp popping noise. The girl squealed with excitement, and snatched the doll from the table, hugging it tightly to her as the crowd applauded.
Kora couldn’t believe what she had seen. It had actually formed out of thin air. She could feel it when it had materialized, like a tug on her heart.
“Didn’t I tell you, Ernesto is amazing!” Jean said.
“He really is…” she agreed, still trying to understand what she had seen, and that feeling she had. “Did you…”
“Huh?” he replied, still watching.
“Did you… “she held her hand to her heart. “feel that?”
He looked back to her, a curious look on his face. “What do you mean? Feel what?”
Suddenly, Ernesto turned and looked directly at her with his bright green eyes. “Ah, my good people, we have a first year here! Let us welcome the lovely Kora! Come darling!” he said, gesturing to her, and directing the audience to wave and clap.
Kora blushed, and waved back weakly as she stepped up to the table. Her embarrassment from suddenly becoming the center of attention numbed by the shock that he knew who she was, and at that, had even seen her. She had been nearly completely behind him, and he hadn’t even looked their way yet.
“Now, what Lexi most desired was here upon this table, and she knew what it was even before she had seen it,” Ernesto began, gesturing to the girl who had already retrieved the doll from its packaging. He held his hand out to Kora. “Your right hand, darling,” he asked. She obliged, feeling more than a little nervous.
“Some people, though, have forgotten, or hidden away that which they hold most dear,” He said, as he placed his free hand over her right hand. Then he almost whispered, “Even when they carry it with them wherever they go… Reveal.”
That same feeling pulled at her heart as he whipped his hands away. The audience applauded. A ring had formed on her ring finger—No, that wasn’t it. This hadn’t been like the doll. And the ring seemed so… familiar.
Then it all came rushing back to her. Her face. The sound of her voice. Her scent. Her final words.
Kora’s knees buckled, tears welling in her eyes, her breathing shaky.
She looked to Ernesto, panicked, speechless. He nodded his head. “You will understand in time,” he said, just loud enough for her to hear. Kora looked to Jean, who had been cheering and clapping, but suddenly stopped when he saw the look in her eyes.
Kora took a step back, and then broke into a full sprint to the tram station.
Kora opened the back door to the house that opened up to the kitchen. The whole train ride home, she kept putting her hand in her pocket, and then pulling it out to see if the ring was still there, hoping it was just a temporary delusion. But the ring was still there. The questions still lingered. His words echoed in her head. “You will understand in time. “
It had been so clear when she first saw the ring. That face she knew. Those memories… But they were gone now. All that was left was the shock of what she had seen.
She grabbed a glass, poured some water in it from the sink faucet, and took a large gulp. She kept staring at the ring, nearly expecting it to disappear just as quickly as it had appeared.
Freaking out about what was going on wasn’t helping. She needed to learn more about what this ring was, and what it meant. If only she hadn’t panicked, she could have tried to get some answers out of Ernesto. She would just have to find him tomorrow.
Kora sighed, and sat down on the couch. She kicked various articles away from her, victims of her rush to find her uniform that morning that had been cast about in her haste. Her legs felt so weak after such a long, strange day.
She tried to picture the face she had seen. The sound of that voice she had heard so clearly. Kora looked to the ring, hoping, once again, that looking at it might trigger those memories again. But…
The ring was gone.
Kora scrambled, looking around for it everywhere in the room. Had she dropped it? How could she have been so careless? After what must have been half an hour of retracing her steps, looking under every piece of furniture, and even an unnerving reach into the kitchen sink’s garbage disposal, she was at a complete loss. She knew she had it all through the tram ride back. Maybe it had fallen from her finger in the walk from the station to the house?
She laid her head on the arm of the couch, exhausted, defeated, and full of regret for how such a wonderful day had ended. She ran away, terrified by a magic trick, and now she didn’t even have the object of such terror. As usual, Kora had found a way to royally screw everything up.
So much for a fresh start.
Nocturne 1: Past A Thin Veil
Kora carefully stepped through a densely-grown forest. A thick veil of mist drifted silently through the trees in the night. Anything more than just beyond her reach could only just be made out in vague hints of silhouettes, more a suggestion of existence than anything.
Something drove her forward, but she couldn’t be sure what. A low-hanging branch smacked into her forehead. She hadn’t seen it coming in the gloom. Kora stumbled forward, then tripped over something on the ground, bringing her down hard on her left shoulder.
Then, she could hear a clacking sound in the distance. It was like two sticks smacking together. Or two stones? Kora groaned, holding her head as her vision darkened, until all she could see was an endless void. She reached out in the gloom, the ring on her right hand nearly incandescent. That same ring.
She could hear something in that darkness. A yearning. It was..
Then she saw those eyes, staring back at her.