Teleka: Dawn of a New Age

Chapter III: A Fool's Gamble (1/2)

Format legend:

<<• = beginning of flashback scene

•>> = end of flashback scene

• • • = switching perspectives

~[dialogue]~ = telepathy contact

words in bold = sound effects

- • - = beginning/end of chapter

- • -

In a village known by its people as "Southall" sat a man near an enormous lake surrounded by white and gray sand.

It was the same sand he and his sister would often play in when they were children. They'd spend several days meticulously building castles with large motes, villages with multiple houses and giant walls to give them protection from potential invaders, only to watch it all wash away with the inevitable rain.

The man's visit to the lake was brought about by a day off he had earned from working as a guard for a neighboring village town called "Vernomwood". Like many, his duties would consist of the same tedious routine: Standing still in one place, breaking up occasional scuffles, stopping suspicious people from either entering or exiting before returning to yet again stand still in one place.

Known by many as a job that paid, but not nearly well enough.

WHIRL

The line of a fishing pole whipped through the air with hands gripped firmly onto the carved-in grooves of the wooden handle, but more so out of annoyance than preparation. With every few throws of the line followed an occasional sigh of disappointment. Believing that a retreat to the lakeside would grant him an escape from his usual routines, the irony of finding himself possibly caught in yet another began to show its unwelcoming face.

With his rod leaning behind him, he readied another aggravated throw of the line, but suddenly found himself freezing and slowly turning around to observe the source of what sounded like approaching footsteps.

"Emilis? What are you doing here?" he asked.

While ignoring the question, the little girl made her descent from the top of the hill where the road was and sat down near the edge of the lake. Her sandy feet stretched slightly forward to watch as the grains washed away with the small waves created from a steady breeze.

Calling it quits on his unsuccessful fishing endeavors, the man made his way over to the girl, whom he could tell from a distance seemed visibly troubled by something.

"Milly?" he said as he stabbed his wooden fishing rod into the soft sand. "What's wrong?"

"I'm mad at mama," she responded.

"Oh great, what'd she do this time?"

"She lied to me about the Caledonia story!"

The man hesitated, "What... Caledonia story?"

He tried to ponder what the girl's mother could have possibly said to make her so upset about something seemingly so miniscule.

"You know, the one about the war? She told me the war is over and that maybe we could go back one day, but she didn't say that we were banished!"

Emilis picked up a small rock, turning it around in her hand to observe its rigid, granite texture.

"All this talk of peace trees... just a bunch of rubbish!" she said as she angrily threw it in the lake.