Witch Doctors Inc: SEASON ONE (Completed!)

Part 5.17

I dip my toe into the purpleness. It shifts, mist-like, only to reveal more of itself underneath.

"What's the World Between Worlds?"

"It is the Everywhere Place," Rikamu tells me, "and the Nowhere Place. From here Rikamu can see everything that was, and everything that will be."

I don't like this place at all, but I want to know the truth about Amitabh, so I let Rikamu continue.

"The Light One went deep into the earth to sleep. His children sleep with him, but he left Rikamu behind. He left Rikamu to take care of the humans. But he did not leave Rikamu alone. He gave her a companion."

Rikamu presses her palm to my forehead again. With another surge of magic, the World Between Worlds vanishes. We are back in the Forbidden Place, but the plants are different. I don't recognise some of the flowers either, hanging over us like big bobbing white hats filled with fireflies.

Sitting under the strange flowers is light itself, shaped into the form of a young woman.

Hair like silken frost, falling in waves all the way to her knees. Eyes coloured like rubies, set in the serenity of an ivory face.

She wears a thin white dress that could be spun from clouds. Her arms and legs are long, too long for a human, but they are lithe and give the gentle impression of swaying branches.

I feel a pang as her humming reaches my ears, and realise I'm looking at a young Rikamu.

The older Rikamu chuckles, the first time I've heard her do so. "Rikamu was not always old, no. She was young once. She has lived for so long she cannot count the years."

"How many years ago is this?" I ask, gesturing at the glade in front of me. "Approximately."

Rikamu counts on her fingers. "One thousand...two thousand...three...no, no. Rikamu must start again."

I watch the scene before me with muted awe. "Can she...see us?" I ask.

Rikamu shakes her head. "We are watchers. We are not of this time, no."

The young Rikamu in the glade tilts her head to the side. "I know you are there, Amitabh." A smile dances in her eyes. "You can never sneak up on me."

A velvety chuckle from the shadows.

My breath catches.

Into the glade steps a creature the likes of which I've never seen before. He is humanoid, but he can't be human. Golden scales ripple over a sculpted torso and muscled limbs that end in scythe-like claws. A river of gold hair flows down his back, and his eyes burn with the energy of dying suns. A tail, thick and forked, swings back and forth over the grass.

"My love," he says, in a voice I've heard once before.

Rikamu's head tilts upwards, and her ruby eyes catch the starlight.

The man-creature walks slowly towards her. With every step comes the bright chime of bells. It takes me a moment to realise they're coming from the belt at his waist, which is adorned with silver bells and crescent moons.

The young Rikamu lets her chin fall into his cupped hand. "You are not as quiet as you think, my love," she laughs.

"I sometimes think you can hear my heart beat," Amitabh replies. "Come, let us forget the humans. A night like this deserves a dance."

He twirls her around, and she laughs with delight as her hair swirls around the both of them.

"A dance, yes," she enthuses. "What a wonderful idea. Let us weave through the sky. I hope the stars are ready for us."

There's a slight pressure on my forehead.

I open my eyes to the World Between Worlds.

I turn to face Rikamu, who is muttering to herself a little way off.

"You were in love," I say.

It comes out like an accusation, though I don't mean it to.

"Yes," Rikamu replies sadly. "Amitabh and Rikamu. Rikamu and Amitabh. Never alone." Her gaze is wistful for a moment, but it sharpens quickly. "But Amitabh was not like Rikamu. No, he was not. Amitabh was the Dark One's child, and Rikamu is the Light One's child. Amitabh feasted on the energy of others. He hungered for that which was not his."

We're now back in the glade, where Rikamu and Amitabh move in an ethereal dance of twisting limbs that traverses earth and sky. The trees sigh as they are woven with brushes of gold, silver and red. A melody of bells swirls around the two lovers.

"But Dark balances Light. They are two halves of a whole. Amitabh feasted on pain and sorrow, that which Rikamu found in the hearts of the poor humans. With Amitabh at her side, Rikamu took the pain away. She did not need to take hearts then." She turns away from me, and smiles at the image of herself twisting through the air. "Amitabh would only take what they did not want. For Rikamu. He did this for Rikamu. But Amitabh's hunger had no end. It had no end..."

Dark leaves stained with blood.

A body in the grass, devoid of life energy.

Amitabh stands over him, scales brimming with golden magic. He sighs with pleasure. It's a deep, indulgent sigh, as if this moment has eluded him for an unbearably long time.

"Thank you, my friend." He chuckles softly.

"Amitabh, my love, you cannot hide from -"

The young Rikamu's voice cuts short. A petal-soft hand caresses her mouth. "Amitabh, no. You have not. You said you would not."

Amitabh's eyes flash with annoyance. "I am what I am, Rikamu. I cannot be what you want me to be."

"You promised." Pearly tears gather at the corners of Rikamu's eyes. "You promised that you would only take that which is not wanted."

Amitabh draws himself up to his full height. He looks down at Rikamu with unbridled pride. "The Dark One's children are not as the Light One's children," he tells her. "We care not for the suffering of humans. We feed and we drink. We are born to be unhindered."

"Was it a lie?" Rikamu's beautiful face is pinched with sorrow. "When you said you would do anything for me?"

"I cannot live in shackles! I will not live in chains! You would that I limit myself to pain and sorrow? You would that I know no other taste?" He dips his head, scales rustling, then raises it to meet Rikamu's gaze. It is like watching a river of molten gold flow. "Do you know what happiness tastes like, my love? It glimmers! It glimmers on the tongue...would you deny me that?"

The tears are flowing freely down Rikamu's face now. They catch in her hair, blinking like dying stars. She closes her eyes. "I love you, Amitabh," she whispers.

Amitabh's laugh is triumphant. "I knew you would not deny me," he gloats. "Come, my love, let us feast! You on the Dark, and I on the Light!"

Leaf-coloured magic swirls out of Rikamu's fingertips. It hits Amitabh with such force that he's thrown backwards. Amitabh's gasp is lit up in a flash of green.

The magic binds him to the tree he has crashed into, weaving his limbs into its bark as if his flesh were thread. Bit by bit, Amitabh disappears into the tree. His eyes are the last to go. The orbs stud the tree for a moment with the final glow of a dying sun.

"My love...why?"

Then there is only a faint melody left, like the ghost of bells.

The tree glitters once, then returns to normal.

Rikamu collapses to the ground.

Sobbing.

Alone.