Guardian of the Dream
Part 2 - The Flower's Guardian
Chapter 2 - The Flower's Trap
Tanda gathered all of the ingredients that he needed to perform the Soul Call. He returned to Noshir’s hut just as his sister-in-law came back from drawing water. He asked her to not let anyone into the hut until evening, as he was going to be attempting some complicated magic weaving inside.
Noshir's hut was a very much like all the other farmers' huts. It was shaped like an upside-down bowl with walls made of mud. Other than the south-facing door, the only source of light was the hole at the highest point of the roof for letting smoke out. There were no windows. A straw carpet was spread out over the earth below, with a space in the middle cut out for the sunken hearth. Kaya lay on the west side of that sunken hearth, wrapped up in shilya bedding.
Tanda closed the doors of the hut. Then he erected four bamboo stalks, one in each cardinal direction, around the room. He tied the stalks together with hemp rope, making a square barrier. That done, Tanda sat cross-legged by Kaya's pillow and held onto a magic weaving tool made from a spike of zebra grass. This tool was used to send spirits out of people’s bodies. Every Soul Call began with the magic weaver’s soul leaving their body.
Tanda closed his eyes and started rocking back and forth, murmuring the proper incantation. His swaying motion gradually became circular. To the right, to the left. To the right, to the left.
As Tanda rocked and swayed, his soul did, too. It took on the rounded shape of his movements and shrunk down, becoming small and warm like a glowing gemstone.
Tanda let his thoughts drift to the birds of Nayugu. Let my soul turn into a bird. Please.
And it did. Tanda’s soul transformed into a bird with wings made of light. The bird opened its eyes, and Tanda was united with it. The first thing he saw was a ray of light, comparatively bright in the darkness of the hut around him. The light extended from Kaya’s forehead upwards toward the ceiling, where it was lost from view. Tanda beat his soul’s wings and followed it upward.
Tanda paused and looked down. His own Soul Thread was attached to his physical body’s forehead. At the other end of the thread, a bright light shone from the zebra grass that was still in his hand. That would serve as his guiding light when he had to return to his own body, after he found Kaya.
Flying was effortless. As he traveled, Tanda caught sight of many other white, shining Soul Threads all around. Several extended in the same direction. Curious, Tanda kept following Kaya’s Soul Thread, along with the others that were going the same way. He couldn’t tell exactly where the Soul Threads had gone just yet; the sky ahead of him was partly obscured by fog.
When Tanda flew into the fog, it immediately dissipated, re-forming into a net.
Oh, no.
Tanda reacted immediately, changing the shape of his soul from a bird to a long sword. He was about to cut through the net, but then he stopped himself.
The net was made of other Soul Threads. Each was attached to another body, somewhere. If he cut one, that person’s soul wouldn’t be able to find their way back to their body.
"Tanda." He heard a voice calling his name. "Come down here."
The voice was shrouded in darkness. Tanda squinted, identifying pale red light in the distance. The color was like a warm fire burning on a winter night, but the shape of the light was wrong for that.
No, not fire… a flower?
The flame-colored lights had the rounded shapes of flower petals. The light shining off each petal flickered like firelight, but it wasn’t the same. Looking at the flower made him feel warmed from within. He transformed back into a bird and flew in the direction of the fiery petals.
It was night, but Tanda could see well enough in the flower’s illumination. He flew over the enormous walled garden of a palace. There were no people anywhere that he could see. The petals of the flower danced and swayed as if in a breeze, though Tanda felt none. Shadows danced along the palace walls and its plain wooden roof.
Tanda landed in the garden, then changed his soul’s shape from a bird to his ordinary human shape. His feet were cold. He looked down and saw that he was standing in clear water up to his ankles. It seemed that the entire garden was submerged in water a few inches high.
From one thick stalk, many more thin, leaf-covered stalks reached out like branches. The flower was supported by roots stretching out in every direction, all visible above the ground. Far above Tanda, flowers bloomed in clusters. One flower in particular rose above the rest: it was huge, and looked like it might bear fruit. Both the large flower and the smaller clusters had the shape of bellflowers. The inside of each blossom glowed with warm, fiery light. The light was reflected in the water below. It was a sight to behold.
"Beautiful, isn't it?"
Tanda turned his head to look at who had spoken. Someone stood in one of the palace corridors above, beckoning him. Tanda climbed a staircase to reach the corridor and stopped there.
The person who’d called out to him was a tall man that Tanda had never seen before. He wore a long gray robe tied with an emerald-green sash. His right side was illuminated by the flowers in the garden, but Tanda couldn't see what his face looked like clearly. The harder he tried to look, the more vague the man’s appearance became.
"Tanda, Son of Tomca."
Tanda shook his head. "Torogai--you call her Tomca, did raise me, but we aren't related."
Tanda sensed rather than saw the man smile. The man’s face was still frighteningly drawn with the suggestion of features that weren’t quite there. "If your souls are connected, regardless of blood ties, you are family."
Those words hit Tanda with unexpected force. Torogai was an strong woman who was not suited to motherhood, but perhaps, somewhere deep down, he did think of her as his mother. "And you are the Flower's Guardian."
The man nodded.
"If you know who I am, then why did you try to stop me from leaving with the net made of Soul Threads? I didn’t come here to harm the Flower, only to return a soul it has captured to its original body." Tanda tried to speak calmly and politely, but the situation he’d found himself was confusing. He wanted answers.
"This world exists for the Flower,” the Flower’s Guardian said. “It exists because the Flower dreams it. The souls live in the flowers and encourage them to bear fruit. In return, the Flower lets them dream their greatest desires."
That much was obvious. Tanda looked away from the man and turned to look at the Flower--the largest one in the garden. "In my world, insects distribute pollen and contribute to fruit production in exchange for receiving nectar from flowers. I understand the concept, but…"
Tanda returned his attention to the Flower’s Guardian. "Most flowers don't put the lives of those insects in danger. Insects spend only a short amount of time on the flowers and live out the rest of their lives until they eventually die. But if someone is captured by the Flower's dream and they stay there too long, they die. That isn't right or normal."
The glowing eyes of the Flower’s Guardian were the only part of his shadowed face that Tanda could make out. "That is not the Flower's sin. It's that child's fault."
"That child?"
"The soul of the baby that Tomca took with her. He's living in your world now."
Tanda remembered what Torogai had told him. So the baby survived? He’s in our world?
"What did he do wrong, then?” Tanda asked. “How is he connected to all this? Why can’t the dreaming souls return?"
"He is the wind, you see. When Tomca returned to your world with him, a long time ago, a passage between this world and your world opened. At night, he uses that passage to return to this world as a soul."
"Because this is where he was born. His mother's womb."
The hair on the nape of Tanda’s neck stood on end. The voice of the Flower’s Guardian changed as he spoke, gaining echoes and resonances that Tanda hadn’t noticed before. One echo sounded like a woman’s voice. But when Tanda tried to focus on what he was hearing, he lost the echoes and resonances, and the Flower’s Guardian spoke in the same voice as before.
"He is the child born alongside the Flower, inseparable from this world. When this beautiful Flower bloomed in the garden, he became the wind that allows the the Flower to bear its fruit. He is the wind that invites the souls of people from your world into this one."
Tanda raised his head. Torogai had told him something similar. "Then Kaya and the others were invited here by him, and got trapped in their dreams?"
The Flower's Guardian nodded. "Yes. But you mustn't be upset about that. He is the wind, after all. When the time comes for the Flower to bear fruit, the one who will shake the Flower, wake the dreamers, and return their souls to your world will also be him."
"Then when he comes back here and wakes the dreamers, Kaya and the others will be able to return to their bodies?"
The Flower's Guardian nodded again. "Yes. But he has stopped coming lately."
"What?"
"The Flower's fruit is ripening. In three days, there will be a half-moon. The Flower will die, its petals scattering to the wind."
"Three days of my world's time?"
"Yes. Since Tomca's visit opened the passage that joined our two worlds, time moves the same here as it does there. Look."
The Flower's Guardian pointed up at the moon in the night sky. It looked like it would soon become a half-moon.
"At the time of the half-moon, a strong wind will come blowing in. Strong enough to scatter all the petals."
"Will this world will die along with the Flower?"
"The souls that entered from your world, slumbering here, have to be awakened by the wind before the petals scatter. They must be gently encouraged to return to their own world. If they do not return, they face death here, and their souls will scatter along with the Flower’s petals.”
Tanda looked at the swaying flowers in the garden. Some of the flowers were attached to the stalks so flimsy that they looked like they could fall off at any second.
"Why?" Tanda whispered. "Why hasn’t he come back?"
The Flower's Guardian lowered his voice. "I don't know. Why did he run away? Why won't he come back?"
Tanda scowled. "He knows that he's responsible for all these lives, doesn't he? Are you sure he won't be back before the night of the half-moon?"
The Flower's Guardian smiled again, dim and indistinct. "Are you saying that we should wait until then? That’s a dangerous gamble. He used to come here every night, but he’s stopped coming for the past few nights. He's choosing not to return. What if we wait, and he doesn't return?"
The Flower Guardian paused. His tone was smooth and even. "I don't care either way. All that matters to me is that the Flower is about to bear fruit. If you want to save the dreaming souls, you will have to bring him here, even if that means using force. That's the only way to save the lives of the people trapped here. I only hold power in this world. Only someone born in your world, someone with a physical body, can pursue him."
Tanda gazed at him in wide-eyed comprehension." So, I should…"
"Yes. Will you try? He is the wind. A normal human won’t be able to catch him in just three days. If you borrow the Flower's power, you will be able to access powers beyond those of normal humans."
"What kind of powers?"
"The power to find the singer, no matter where he might be. The power to catch him, no matter how far you have to chase him. And the power of the one who protects the Flower--the Flower's Defender."
The voice of the Flower’s Guardian echoed through the garden, the palace, and the whole world around them. It enveloped Tanda in a resonating hum.
"Become the Flower's Guardian, Tanda! Save the souls that sleep within the Flower!"
The perfume of the flowers in the garden overwhelmed Tanda, making him feel drunk. He didn’t want to surrender to the headiness of the flowers’ fragrance. He attempted to ground himself, so that he could think better.
"Tanda, son of Tomca."
Tanda choked on the flowers’ fragrance. His vision grew dim. He tried to move and discovered that he couldn’t. He was held in place.
"Become the Flower's Guardian, Tanda! Please, bring him back to me!"
Tanda closed his eyes. He gritted his teeth, fighting the oppressively powerful perfume, struggling to retain his senses.
This might be a trap. Something isn't right.
That thought made Tanda hesitate, but he couldn’t identify anything that was obviously wrong.
I came here to rescue Kaya. That’s the only thing I need to think about.
The Flower's Guardian started whispering. "He sang his song to Kaya, and to all the others. That is how he invited them to come over to the world of the Flower. He is responsible for bringing them here."
Tanda summoned the strength to ask the Flower's Guardian a question. "He invites the souls over here by... singing?"
"Yes."
"Then that would make him a singer."
"Yes."
Anger welled up from within Tanda. Kaya had become infatuated with a traveling singer--and just after, she’d fallen asleep and hadn’t awakened. The singer was most likely Torogai's dream-son. He’d planted dreams that could never come true in Kaya's young heart. He’d stirred up her the feelings of hopelessness for the future. That was why she was stuck here--why her life was in danger. He’d seduced her with an impossible dream. Kaya would never have what she so desired in the waking world.
Tanda wasn’t typically an angry person. The feelings roiling through him now overwhelmed him like the perfume of the garden’s flowers, intoxicating and intense. His hatred was directed at the singer who had done this to Kaya.
Tanda had no idea what would happen to him if he became the Flower's Defender, but he couldn’t save Kaga as he was. If he was going to save her, he had to drag that singer back into this world and force him to do his duty.
Facing the Flower’s Guardian squarely, Tanda said, “All right. I will become the Flower's Defender."
Guided by the Flower's Guardian, Tanda descended into the palace's garden. Together, they approached the main stalk where the largest flower bloomed. The stalk was so thick that four adults wouldn't be able to encircle it with their arms, and at its base a large number of roots entwined with each other in a complex pattern.
Tanda sat down cross-legged in a depression among a mass of roots that resembled a chair in shape. The Flower's Guardian stood in front of Tanda and asked him to remove the clothing from his upper body, leaving him wearing nothing but his hakama pants.
Then, the Flower’s Guardian reached out and touched Tanda with his finger, tracing out a line starting from Tanda's right calf and moving past his knee. The skin where his finger made contact turned green. It looked like a vine was creeping up Tanda’s leg.
"Your right leg is yours no more. It is the Flower's." The Flower’s Guardian chanted the words like a prayer.
Tanda felt the sensation in his right leg disappear. He felt afraid. He didn’t really understand what the Flower’s Defender was--what he was becoming.
The Flower's Guardian quickly drew the same pattern on Tanda's left leg. "Your left leg is yours no more. It is the Flower's."
Losing feeling in both legs so quickly was a terrifying experience.
Calm down. Calm down. Control your own soul, even if you can’t control anything else, Tanda thought.
Tanda gritted his teeth and endured the process. The Flower's Guardian moved forward, casting a shadow over Tanda's face. He touched Tanda's throat with his finger. Tanda full-body shivered. The finger traced another vine down his throat, over his chest and stomach.
"Your body is yours no more. It is the Flower's."
Tanda’s body went numb. He could still move his head independently, but everything else resisted his conscious control.
The Flower's Guardian removed the blossom of one flower from its stalk. It became a mask with no holes that covered both eyes, the nose and the mouth. Sharpened leaves grew from the base of the blossom. They reminded Tanda of Kaya's hair.
The Flower’s Guardian placed the mask over Tanda’s face. Tanda gritted his teeth, but made no protest.
The Flower’s Guardian paused, then said his final chant. Tanda thought that he saw the Flower's Guardian briefly split in two, but he couldn’t be sure. A cold wind passed over him, clearing his thoughts and making him feel steadier.
"Your dreams are…"
Tanda heard the spell, and chanted one of his own at the same time.
"...yours no more. They are the Flower's."
Only my dreams shall remain mine.
A shock like impact rippled through Tanda, as if he’d been thrown back by a great force. He lost all feeling in his limbs.
Tanda had become the Flower’s Defender.
No comments:
Post a Comment