Ascent of Lies

Chapter 3

STRAY BEAMS OF LIGHT darted thought Fujita's half-opened eyelashes. With great effort, she lifted one of her arms and stroked some loose strands of hair out of her face. Then she lifted her head as far as she could, let it rest on her arm, and looked around.

The world around the Admiral was strangely familiar to her. As she forced her eyes to focus and scan the area, she saw that she was surrounded by trees and grassland, stretching as far as her eyes could see. The trees were at least a hundred meters high. Their trunks had a creamish shade of white that was marked with yellow and black spots. The leaves were of a bright green colour that almost seemed surreal, and only grew in the utmost tops of the trunks.

The grass on which Fujita lay, was of a much deeper shade of green than the leaves that filled she sky above her. The contrast of these colours and the whiteness in between seemed to give the place a mystical air, at the same time eerie and beautiful. The silence that surrounded Fujita also added to that eeriness, only broken by a soft rustle of the leaves high above and the murmur of a small river slightly on Fujita's left.

The place somehow reminded Fujita of her ancestral home, and in her half-conscious state, she was succumbed by a wave of memories.

--

It was a burning hot mid-summer afternoon, and a fourteen-year-old Fujita jumped hastily through the forest next to her and her grandfather's house. She was on her way to the top of the mountain where her friend Zantor was waiting for her. Here, she was in total control of her surroundings. She knew every tree, every branch so well that she did not even have to watch her feet to know when she had to jump over fallen sticks and trees and keep herself from tumbling on the ground. This was her home, and the only home she had ever known. Her grandfather's little house on the edge of the cliff that overlooked her city Katalor was all good and well, but every free moment that she could spare she spent in the forest.

In a moment, Fujita would pass the river Ganti, that began high in the mountains and flowed all the way to the lake at the edge of the city, where it provided the citizens with water, as it had done for centuries. But here it was nothing more than a small creek. Fujita could easily pass through it without getting wet above her waist, and a little cool water would do her well on a hot day like this one. She jumped into the calm blue liquid and skidded over a few rocks to the other side. There, she passed the abandoned hunters cottage and entered the clearing.

Fujita sat down and took a moment to rest. Not that she was tired – she never was – but she liked to be alone, and this place was perfect for peacefully sorting out her mind.

This had not been a good day for young Fujita. It was the fourth of July, exactly ten years since Fujita's parents had passed. She herself had barely know them, she was only four years old when they had died and she barely had any memory of them. For her grandfather, however, it had once again been a traumatic experience. twenty-four years prior, he had lost his wife and had been left with a twelve-year-old daughter – Demiyah, Fujita's mother – to raise on his own. Only four years before that, he had lost his eighteen-year-old son, and even before that he had fought in the Great War. Every last grain of happiness had been torn out of the poor man, and he reflected that greatly upon his only grandchild. It had not token much of Fujita's infinite stubbornness to get outraged on this doomed day, and he had hit her until she had managed to find a way to run away.

Once Fujita was free, she had contacted her only friend, the only one who she allowed to see her weak side. It was so easy for the alien boy to cheer her up. He had known his own share of despair, but seemed to have an endless supply of positivity.

Fujita shook her head to get rid of the lingering memories and jumped up. The place where Zantor was awaiting her was only four kilometres away, a distance she could easily cross within a half an hour without breaking a sweat. The young girl jumped up and continued her trek. After a minute, however, she stopped. Something felt wrong, and Fujita knew better than to ignore her instincts.