The Games for Gaiathal (Part 3 of 'A Tale of People and Apples Trilogy')

Chapter 11: The Second Game, Part 2

Calysa

Calysa smashed through her door with courage, but to her confusion she fell upon white, shining sand.

The sand her hands pressed into was comforting yet hot in the southern sun, the waves from the ocean crashing and bringing her comfort somehow.

As she stood and brushed the white grit from her blue and golden uniform at her knees and elbows, she immediately knew where she was, the salty sea and smell of leaves almost overwhelming her.

It was the landing mouth of the Southern Island, where the Island Games were held just off the coast of her home city. It seemed like a distant memory of her and Luka winning the Island Games, yet in reality it happened rather recently. These Games didn't seem familiar to her.

She brushed Luka's face from her mind as she trudged inwards. What she was about to face, she had no idea. But she was defenceless, and scanned the shore for any sign of the so-called 'Trading Stations'.

To her left were great tables that were set up, empty plates and mugs upon them but having been used, Orcas taking them down and loading them upon crafts to return to Orconia City.

She found herself at the conclusion of the feast following the Island Games, though she didn't know when these Games took place.

"Hello?" She yelled to them, but none looked back. It was as if they couldn't see her, or hear her. She saw that Aimos was among them, helping carry tables and offload plates and mugs, though his hair was dark and lacked any grey in his beard.

She realized this memory was in the distant past. A memory when she would have been much too young to enter the Island Games, certainly not upon the Southern Island herself.

As she got closer to the tree-line, almost the exact location her and Luka had broke through at the beginning of her innocent contest, she noticed a man with his back to her, squatting in the grass and tweaking some sort of machine in a garb which matched the colour of the sea. This man did respond to her, to her shock.

"Hello?" She said to the man, who rose slightly from her words.

Tears filled her eyes as the man finalized his turn.

"Cali? I knew you'd come," The man said back to her.

His hair was as black as hers, his eyes a darker brown. A warm smile spread across his face which mirrored and amplified hers. He flashed her the mischievous squint she had inherited from him.

"Dad?" Calysa said and sprinted, lunging at the man and throwing her arms around him.

Calysa knew he was not real. But it didn't matter. She was too young to remember him, but embraced him all the same. The father she didn't have growing up during the years where she could form memories. The only blood left that she shared, a glimmer and miraculous mirage she latched onto.

"Dad, they're all dead. Mum, you, Calixo..."

Her father rubbed his hand on her back in comfort, and hugged her tighter. "I know, sweetheart. Come. I have to show you something."

They rose and Calysa wiped her face, grabbing her Dad's hand as he guided her deeper into the jungle.

"What are you doing here?" Calysa asked, wondering why he was not helping the others clean up the Island Games, the Island Games that he had invented, after all.

"Did your mom ever tell you I was a scientist?" Her father said to her, her eyes widening with shock.

"No, never..."

"Come on, you've never wondered why you're so smart, sweetheart? It's in your blood. I sure hope you stuck with school."

Calysa laughed through a layer of tears at her rolling eyes. "Ya, Dad. I stayed in school."