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...Shadows in the Dusk...
A young man of average height, wearing a heavy black pea coat stands alone in a cemetery. Rows of tombstones, seemingly endless, were lined horizontally throughout the graveyard; all had been aged with time. However, the grave before the young man in the pea coat was aberrant by all means. The color of the tombstone, argent white, that seemed to almost shine in the glare of the sun. He stood a few feet from the grave, however, his shadow, on the other hand, reached the base of the headstone. His hair, an aggregate of brown and black values, swayed madly like a plastic bag in a rushed gale of wind. The young man's eyes seemed dull, consisting of a low tone of blue and gray. His eyes, seemingly lifeless orbs, peered into the grave before himself. Clenched tightly in his hands was an amply packed bouquet of flowers, ranging from roses to lilies. He forced his body to take a few steps toward the grave then fell to his knees; the bouquet was slightly released from the tight grasp. Tears came now. A multitude of clear droplets slid down his pale face, they were a sign of life in his placid eyes. He slowly lifted his arm and extended it toward the tombstone, which made the bouquet slant forward and transformed the bouquet into what seemed to be an extension of his arm. Words were mumbled behind a choked voice, and then repeated until he could no longer speak. Without warning an eerie force seemed to grasp his wrist and pull down on it, he dropped the bouquet at the base of the headstone. The young man hopped on his feet promptly, gazing at his arm. What had grabbed his hand? He pondered for a time then returned to his previous thoughts, he held the approaching tears back, he would not submit to his anguish again. To the clouded sky his eyes soared, he couldn't bare the sight of the names on the tombstone, Torroto. Roger and Ann Torroto, his parents, both buried under the same tombstone, Torroto, the name he had known for so long. This name, Torroto, seemed to vanish in his mind along with his parents. Only four weeks earlier his parents had died in a disastrous train incident, leaving with him a few of his distant relatives who rarely visited. The young man thought about his name, Ilan Torroto. He ruminated if he could truly exist anymore, was he real now that he was left with no parents and the remnants of a shattered family. A strong feeling of relief rushed through his body, like a canoe darting throughout a raging river. He shook the notion away it due to its complete absurdity, of course he would remain in existence. In the distance he caught the slight sound of metal clank against the stone of a headstone. Through the corner of his eyes he caught a glimpse of the blurred anatomy of what seemed to duplicate a tall human. With a swift movement of his body he turned to face the conundrum of what he had seen. In Ilan’s line of vision there was no form or phantom of any sort. He frowned then started aloud in an apathetic tone, “Maybe I'm going insane.” He slowly forced his feet to move, one and then the other until he managed his way out of the cemetery. A flat and large square of decrepit cement that was slightly slanted and upon a mild hill served as a parking lot. Two vehicles, both meager compared to the fresh “master's of the roads” seen on countless daily commercials. One, parked strangely in the middle was a dirty shade of maroon, the tires were bedraggled. This vehicle was not Ilan's. Directly across from this vehicle was one of a dull shade of yellow, however only the doors of his car remained the original bright yellow. Ilan moved his right hand into the side pocket of his pea coat, and slowly removed an assortment of oddly shaped keys. He sorted through them until he located a short key then slid the key into the hole on bright yellow door. Within a few moments he was inside the car, starting the ignition, and slamming the door shut.
The road, slick from a recent rush of flurries, was rough on the vehicle’s tires. Ilan peered out of the front window, activating the windshield wipers to brush away some of the flurries that had fallen earlier. Traffic became slow as more flurries rained down, getting slightly heavier, however they fell at a hasty pace. About half an hour later he pulled up at a small building, a sign with an enlarged coffee mug beside a tall glass of light brown tea. After parking in a slanted position, he opened the door then stretched his legs out above the concrete, then yawned. Ilan shut the door and headed for the entrance of the building. As he entered the restaurant the ecstatic eyes of a blonde hostess shot to his face. A loud and joyful phrase of words struck his ears, “Good morning, welcome to Brimstone Brewery!” Ilan tried to evade a conversation with a mumbled, “Hi.” She started to come around the hostess stand when another voice rang out Ilan's name. The hostess turned to see a young lady with long dark brown hair; she wore a white blouse on top of an olive green long sleeved shirt, and a short skirt that consisted of an assortment of orange and red that covered her legs to the knee. Ilan began to walk towards the lady in the multi-colored outfit after noticing that the hostess had backed down. After greeting each other with a long hug they sat down at a circular maroon table, the chairs were light red. Ilan had slipped off his coat and laid it on the chair before either had sat down. She looked at Ilan in a sincere way then cleared her throat, “So how are... I mean ...how are you handling things?”
Ilan began to frown, “Well...it's definitely been hard...I mean how am I supposed to handle my parent's death?”
“No, that's not what...never mind Ilan. Well are you busy this afternoon?”
“I'm going home; I'll probably just go to sleep. What about you?”
She sighed, “Well I was hoping we could, I don't know, see a movie or something.”
“Aren't you still with what's his face?”
“Yeah but we could go as friends, I'm sure Reed would be fine with it.”
“I think I'll pass tonight, I'd rather-”, he was cut off by her sneer.
“Don't be like that Ilan, I know it's only been four weeks but...I think it's better if you spend time with others, to help you get over things.”
Ilan seemed to have become flustered, “Julia, I don't want to get over-”, once again he was interrupted but this time by a server with a squeaky voice, she wanted his order. He named a special type of sandwich off the top of his head and a green tea. Julia glanced at the menu then named a sandwich and an herbal tea. Ilan gave a weak smile to the server as she headed into the kitchen, her shouts of their order could be heard from there table. Julia looked into Ilan's eyes and blushed as he stared back into her dark blue eyes.
“What is it, is there something on my face”, she stammered.
“No... nothing at all.” He steered his eyes away as he laughed.
“Well, I wish you'd reconsider coming to the movies with me tonight.”
“Ah...alright, call me tonight and I'll see...it depends on how I'm feeling.”
She raised her arms and rejoiced with a rather loud, “YES”, calling the attention of all eyes of the others in the restaurant. She quickly lowered her arms, a feeling of embarrassment rolled over her. Ilan snickered for a quick second then stopped when he felt the end of her shoe collide with his knee.
“Ow! What was that for?”
“That was for laughing at me!”
Their lunch came soon afterwards, they finished up then continued some aimless conversation then headed out of the restaurant. He said his goodbyes as she entered her fresh, “master of the road”, which was gargantuan in comparison to his own car. As she drove off he, once more, heard the sound of metal clank against the brick of the building behind him. Ilan turned quickly to the building behind him, with a movement of great haste the figure from the cemetery flew over his head. A black cloak that seemed nearly three times the size of the figure in both length and width cast a dark shadow over his body. The figure grasped hold of a nearby street lamp at its center with one slightly tan hand, a pair of long legs, caped in black leggings, were placed against the pole for support. The large black cloak seemed to almost be slowed in motion as it swayed aimlessly in the wind. Ilan's dark brown eyes scanned the figure, slowly from the cloak, then to the legs, the grasping hand, and then onto the face of the figure. He was taken aback by the sheer beauty of the cloaked one's face, it was a woman. She had a head of long hair that at the top spiked off in random directions; from her eye level the hair slowly became straight and ended with two long strips, one on her left and right. The color of the hair was a vibrant blooming red infused with a dull orange that created an enchanting color. The woman had perfectly curved eye sockets, the cornea of her eyes were a fulgent white, and the pupil was black surrounded by a brilliant green iris. The women peered through Ilan's eyes and into his soul; he could tell that she was searching for something. He decided to engage her with a question, “Who are you?”
Silence filled the parking lot for several long moments until she spoke, an angelic voice, seemingly inhuman, “Raiko. I have been summoned to return to my former duties, thus I am searching for the Podam.”
“The Podam...what is that?”
She commenced in a blurred movement that resulted in her appearance behind Ilan. He jumped at the sound of her voice, “A Podam is a great being that can heal the world, save it from its deadly mistakes.”
“Wha... is that some sort of joke, you can't expect me to believe-”, he was interrupted by her voice.
“Kira! Micah! Ruso! Fernous! Geriuk! Reveal yourselves!” In a fraction of a second each of the others appeared, one by one, behind Ilan, the five of them also wore the over sized black cloaks. Raiko gave each of them a stern glare, they quickly responded by giving their names to Ilan. A bald man, stout with muscle, cleared his throat and began, “I am Geriuk”. The one beside him was tall and thin, nearly no muscle, his hair was gray and spiked backwards. He started with a heavy British accent, “The name's Fernous chap! How do ye' do?” Ilan replied without words but with a simple nod. Next in line was a tall woman with short blondish-brown hair with bangs that were swept to the left side of her face and nearly covered her light blue eyes. She spoke softly with what seemed to be a light German accent, “Hello, I am Ruso.” Following her was a shorter man who was about Ilan's height, his hair was short and slightly curly with random hints of straight spiked clumps, the hair seemed to be a dark shade of green. Ilan noted the man’s alluring grayish-blue eyes and nearly terrifying smile. He started in a low tone, “My name is Micah...nice to meet you Ilan.” Ilan's eyes opened widely, his head was filled to the brim with questions like, how they knew his name, and if their motives were true, and what did this Raiko mean when she said, “summoned to return to her duties”. Ilan heard the sound of someone clearing their throat loudly; he quickly located the one making the noise. A short young boy stood before him in one of the black cloaks, his hair was fairly short and light brown. The boy peered at Ilan through giant brown eyes, a sense of great enthusiasm shown on his face. A rich Australian accent started, “Hi, I'm Kira! It's great to finally meet you Pod...I mean Ilan!” Raiko looked at Ilan and could see that he was extensively confused at the moment. Ilan looked down at his hand which grasped the keys, these people were clearly insane. In a sudden movement he had jumped into his car, he slammed the door shut then started up the ignition. Ilan switched the car into reverse, backed out of the parking lot, switched into drive, and sped down the road. The bald one called Geriuk approached Raiko, the apparent leader. “Should we follow him?”
Raiko closed her eyes for a moment then reopened them, “Yes. However, time may have stopped for our mass teleportation but it will soon begin again, cloak your selves from normal human eyes and follow the Podam. Alright, let's move out!” In a flash all six of them disappeared into the air, in the restaurant all were frozen in time. Exactly three seconds after they had gone, time restarted. Ilan had not even noticed this during his conversation with the six of the cloaked figures.
As time restarted Julia slammed on the brakes and held her chest in a panic and started to breathe heavily. “What was that?” She panted heavily, keeping a firm foot down on the brakes. After a few minutes she hesitantly eased her foot off the brakes and began to drive again. Her car made its way quickly to the end of the back road she was on. As soon as she escaped from the narrow short cut she was engulfed in the heavy traffic of the main roads. A loud yawn erupted from her mouth; she tried to hold it in with her right hand but failed and placed it back on the steering wheel. A red light about thirty feet from her changed to green and the rush of cars began down the extensive road. Before she got to the next light she turned on an exit, the sign had been splattered with mud and dirt to the point where the numbers were covered, but she knew these roads. Almost half an hour had passed as she got off at another exit and neared her destination, she then began to think about the strange feeling that she felt as she left the restaurant. However, she quickly disregarded her thoughts as she pulled into the driveway and parked the car. She owned a fairly large one story house that she and Reed lived in. As she got out of the car a man made an egress out of her front window. When she saw him she called out his name, “REED!” He turned with haste and an excited look rushed over his almost oval face. Reed was tall and muscular, at least more than Ilan. He was known for his good looks, and his name brand, “Rich Boy” clothes. He approached her, his chest made a firm outline on his tight beige shirt, his long blue pajama pants swung back and forth over his bare feet. He reached Julia then wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly, “How was your lunch? I mean, how was he?”
She embraced his hug then gave a weak smile, “He was doing alright, might come to the movies with us tonight. That’ll be good for him, at least that’s what I think.”
“Yeah. I think it’ll be good for him if we all hang out together.” He let go of her and started back to the house.
She followed slowly behind him until they reached the front door and she grabbed his neck and pressed her lips lightly on his then began to give him a passionate kiss. At the breaking of their kiss she whispered, “I love you.” He repeated those words to her and they entered the house.
The Brimstone Brewery had only been a few miles away from his home, thus his speedy escape from the seemingly insane group of people was hardly worth the effort. Ilan locked the doors of his antiquated vehicle, smiling at the bright yellow doors as he turned to his home. He had a small house that failed in comparison with Julia’s house; however for Ilan home was home. He made his way from the driveway to his front door with speed; his handy keys were in the lock in a flash. After entering the house he slammed the door shut behind him and released a sigh of relief. The house was one story and had a large living room with a fairly large flat screen television in the corner, two love seats sat before it, one against the wall and the other in the center of the room. Down a short hallway and to the right was Ilan’s bedroom, this room was not as large as the living room. In the center of the room was a queen sized bed covered with gray sheets and a black comforter on top. Ilan leaped from the door to his bed and silently rejoiced in the comfort that he received from laying on it. He stared up at the white ceiling that seemed to give off a smooth appearance, after a while his eyes slowly slid closed. Sleep came quick over Ilan; however, his mind had become filled to the brim with questions about the people in the parking lot. These thoughts fled from his mind as dreams began to fill in their spaces. He had fallen into a dream that seemed more vivid than any he’d had before. Ilan stood in the middle of what looked like a massive field; all the grass had died. Around him were figures that he couldn’t make out and he tried to question them but words seemed to evaporate before escaping his mouth. In this dream he felt an overwhelming force swelling up inside him, it was not painful and yet the feeling was not pleasant. An unfamiliar voice began to shout, “No, Ilan…don’t do this, we can stop this…please calm down and regain control!” He searched for the owner of the voice but the blurred figures were of no help in identifying the speaker. Then he began to glow with a bright light that illuminated from his core, now he felt as if the force was trying to claw its way out. He grabbed the sides of his body and leaned over in a strange pain, and then another voice sounded, this one familiar by all means. “Ilan…don’t do this, please don’t! I don’t want you to die too…please don’t do this!” Confusion began to take hold of him as the dream became more real, the owner of this voice was Julia and her figure was seen clearly. Ilan felt a sharp pain then started to scream inside of his dream, they echoed through his house. In the dream he lost control of his body, the overwhelming force exploded and eradicated all of the blurred figures along with Julia. Ilan sprang from the dream and landed on the floor beside his bed, he was covered in sweat. What had seemed to Ilan only one dream and a short amount of time had actually been three hours of sleep. He checked the clock on his dresser several times in disbelief of the time. Ilan rose to his feet then sat at the edge of his bed and pulled out his silver cell phone. The time was confirmed again then he searched through his contacts and selected Julia. The phone rang twice and then she answered, “Hey Ilan.”
“Hi…so about this movie what do you two want to see?”
She waited to give an answer so she could decide, “Um…I was thinking about that new one called Color Your Mind which plays at 7:45, how about that one?”
“Sure, I’ll meet you at Cinema 21 alright?”
“Okay, see you then,” she waited for him to end the conversation but he did the same, the few moments of awkward silence was broken by their laughter. Ilan closed his cell phone then connected it to the charger and yawned loudly.
The faded yellow car pulled into a narrow parking space at the movie theatre around seven thirty. Thanks to the internet Ilan already had his tickets so he was in no rush to get inside. A wave of cold wind rushed passed him; he buttoned up his black pea coat as he made it to the doors of the theatre. However, he stopped when the metal clank sounded once more. With a slight shift to the left with his head he saw the one called Raiko with the large cloak flowing in the cold wind. “What do you want from me?” Ilan questioned.
“You are the Podam…that is why you can see us in our current state.”
Ilan peered around the area then looked her in the eyes, “Wait, you mean that only I can see you?”
“Only when we have are cloaking devices enabled, otherwise anyone can see us. This happens to be an ability of the Podam.”
“Prove it, go stand in front of that guy right over there!” Raiko accepted this challenge and in a burst of immense speed she appeared before an older man with a shiny bald head. Ilan smirked in doubt as he approached her; however his face formed an expression of awe. The man walked straight towards her looking straight through her as if she didn’t exist in his vision. The man came within a few inches before Raiko reappeared before Ilan with a slight smile.
“Alright, let’s say I believe you…what do you want from me?”
“For you to take part in your duty as a Podam, we need you to save this world. However, you’re going to have to start trusting us so we can help awaken your abilities.”
Ilan raised his right eyebrow, “I don’t care about these so called ‘abilities’, just leave me alone. If the world needs saving then let me ask you, why doesn’t God just do it himself?”
“He created this world for humans correct?” Ilan nodded to the question and she continued. “God has, throughout the ages, given this opportunity to humans so that they can heal their world; he wishes to see humans accomplish this. Wait, you had the first vision already didn’t you?”
“The dream, how did you know about that?”
“It was not a dream Ilan…it was a vision of what is to come. I hope it was pleasant however, do not tell me what happened in the vision. If I know then I could influence the outcome of our mission which could end good or bad.”
“Mission, I’m sorry this is just too insane…my friends are here so leave, I don’t want to look like I’m talking to myself.”
Ilan walked away from Raiko then greeted Julia and Reed, the movie was about to begin so they headed in after a few short pleasantries. Raiko watched solemnly as they entered then vanished.
Raiko appeared at the crown of a building that pierced the sky like a mortal arm grasping for the heavens. She rested in a sitting position then stared at the city before her and sighed, “How…did we end up this way? This world is dying and I am beginning to doubt this Podam, please send me guidance.” A moment later, a member of her group appeared and sat beside her, this was the one with the grey hair named Fernous.
“It appears as if the boy does not wish to be the Podam, what can we do Raiko?”
She turned to him and frowned at his question, “Nothing, we can’t do anything my friend…Ilan cannot be forced into this duty.”
He stared into her eyes with a firm gaze then spoke, “We will not become mere shadows in the Dusk to this boy…in time he will see his purpose. Then we can begin our journey, we owe it to this world and Ilan. He lost his parents because of the power he holds deep within, and this world hasn’t seen a Podam in many years. Raiko, we cannot allow this world to fall to ash!”
Raiko turned her eyes back to the city then to the cloudy sky, “Fernous my friend, I believe in your words with all my heart and we will save this world.” Snow began to descend from the sky filled with clouds; the two of them sat atop the building and embraced the cold flurries.
The movie had ended on a cheerful note which could be seen from the joyful expression of Julia and Reed. Ilan, on the other hand, seemed to have lost his completion with the sickness of worry. Through the entire film all he could think of was the idea of having to “heal” the world; he tried convincing himself that it couldn’t be real. As they headed for the parking lot, Julia turned to Ilan, her expression of joy dissipated, she questioned him but he made up a quick excuse. They parted at separate rows of the parking lot and headed for there cars. Reed held Julia close as she shivered from the cold wind and snow, he peered over into the next row of cars to see Ilan on his knees. He informed her and they sped to his aid, he had gone completely pale. Julia felt his cheeks and was horrified by their nearly frozen surface. “Reed, help me get him up! I think he might need a doctor.” Her eyes began to tear up as she finished these words, Reed quickly responded by helping him to their car. Ilan was laid down on his back along the three large seats in their bulky vehicle. Reed acted with haste and began in a wild speed out of the parking lot and headed for the hospital.
The waiting room of the hospital had a strange aroma that slightly annoyed the smelling nose. Reed and Julia awaited the news from the doctor that had helped them get Ilan into the hospital. After a wait of over an hour the doctor appeared from a door at the opposite end of the waiting room. Julia stood as he reached their location, she could not tell from his face what the outcome had been.
 Dual blader · Tue Mar 04, 2008 @ 03:14am · 3 Comments |
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