A Nagas tale

Sands of time

It's been a month since I came back February is supposed to be a month of love. A month to celebrate one's love and yet here I stand in a sandy wasteland. I look at the little heart-shaped letter I made with a letter to Kogen. This letter carried the words I wish I could tell him. 'It's been a month, and the piece of cloth I managed to bring with me no longer carries your scent. Sleep has become my friend showing me you. My notebooks become my hidden stash of wishes. My heart only beats harder for you. My mind only focused on a way back home. I miss you each hour I do not find something to do. This hot wasteland makes me wish for those cold days we spent napping. I miss hearing you talk, hearing you laugh, seeing that gorgeous smile of yours. I wish I could hold you with my arms and confine you to me. These days I feel so suffocated with how little I feel your aura. I hope to see you soon. I hope I can say how much I love you to your face. I love you so dearly my handsome Kogen.' I press the heart to my head before setting the paper a blaze. I watch the ash float away in the hot breeze. "A dream letter?" I turn to Dad who walks over to me. I nod "Ya'know you can give a person nightmares with those." He jokes. I frown not happy with him at all. 'So he saw me die twice in this world.' I recall what he told me before. 'Your first life you made it to the age of 16 before you died of an incurable disease.' He seemed so indifferent to that information. 'There was nothing much I could do, so I lived my life with your mother till she passed on and found another wife.' He told me about his second wife who gave birth to me but I was a boy instead of a girl. I was the oldest of five children, during the greatest world war which Dad and I got drafted into. I died at the age of 28 being gunned down trying to save my comrades. I look out at the desert before me "Audrey, I understand you are mad at me for dragging you into this but please." he gets closer taking my hand "Help me understand what happened to my friend." he begs. I turn to him "Your friend?" I ask he nods "I did not tell you this before." he sighs finding a rock nearby to sit on. I follow after him sitting with him I listen to his story. "When I was much younger I went into the ancestor's cave to explore." he starts. "I found a small rift in the wall showing me a different cave." he looks up at the skies "I met a young naga under the name Arther the heir to this world." He closes his eyes. "We spoke to each other every day. We showed each other the cultures of our worlds and exchanged Ideas." he smiles "We did this for ages until I was around 2000 years old, and one day he found himself a wife, she was beautiful! She did not talk much to me but she seemed so happy." He lowers his head "30 years after I met her the rift suddenly closed in the night. I tried to see him with my eye but, this world had changed so much." he tells me. "A desert?" I ask only to get a nod. "I was shocked at how much the world changed in a matter of 30 years." he looks at me. "So this is why you want me to help you understand what happened?" I ask he nods "If there is a way for me to understand what happened to my friend, I promise I won't make you stay away from what you love." he whispers. I can hear the pain in his voice as he asks this of me. I look out into the desert. there are still three of those odd stones we found out there. "I'm already a month deep in research so you're asking too late," I mutter getting up and walking back to the base within the mountain. "Audrey, you are so stiff." He huffs following after me. I nod "I don't have the time to relax," I answer honestly wanting to find a way back home quickly. "I swear I didn't..." he stops I turn to him "Didn't what?" I ask curiously. He shakes his head "No, it's nothing." He answers as we head back to our research. I learned through my dad's book that those people who are trying their hardest to guard the stones are part of a religion dedicated to the naga. From the bible, he found in the first excavation sight they were praying for forgiveness. I look at my notebooks filled with the research based on what Dad wrote. This religious group guards these stones like they are national treasures. These stones according to what Dad knows are similar to the ones back home that Grandpa maintains. These stones have the same carvings in them. 'For the lives of our kin, with my soul, I seal the all-consuming ancestor.' this phrase is repeated on the scale they found in this cave and the stone Dad found earlier. I tap my finger on the last bit 'all-consuming,' I look at the drawings Dad managed to get from the original sight.  A large naga eating its tail. I walk out of my room looking up at the cave that is sealed with an old collapsed stone on the way back to the original sight. Dad had such a long time to get this cleared out but he didn't. I turned to him as he talked with the men helping. 'was there no funding? no adequate equipment?' I wished Grandpa could chip in some information about what they meant by 'all-consuming ancestor.' "Audrey! we are getting ready to go for the third stone! hurry!." He shouts at me. I nod walk back into my room and change into some more appropriate clothes for the hot sandy world outside. The drive there was long and interesting with the guys talking about their chats with family and friends. 'I've been keeping myself so busy, I haven't called Aaron or Milton.' I feel guilty for being so occupied that I don't have time to think of them. After driving for what felt like ages the aura is finally only feet away. "here!" I shout making the truck stop. Sam and Dan became my guards for this mission while Dad was guarded by his men. We decided to go with just the six of us since we needed the truck to move quickly if we came under attack. I spot the aura just below our feet buried in the sand. "We need to dig!" I pull out the portable shovels from our packs and start digging. After digging for a while we find a large cave opening. I look inside the dark cave seeing pillars made of what looks like chiseled sandstone. "this way." I follow the aura that is inside this cave. I look around the cave finding the inside of it was made of more sandstone carved with what looks like ritualistic symbols. I walk down the path seeing the perfectly built floors. "Is this... an old building?" I ask "Audrey, it's dark my eyes are not as good as they used to be." Dad hisses. I nod "Then get your glasses old man." I order. Sam and Dan laugh at my lack of interest in his complaints. I flinch as light showers the room. My eyes widen seeing the large carving of a naga before me. I walk into the room seeing the aura just at the end of the room. "Is this a worshiping..." "Inside! they are inside the ancestor's shrine!" my curiosity is quickly cut short. "Fuck! hurry!" I shout running to the stone. I pick it up and put it in my bag. I start running for the exist the others rushing after me. I rush out of the cave the sound of gun exchange pulling me out of this discovery. I scream dodging a bullet as I roll down the dune. I stop at the bottom of the dune getting onto my palms before Sam and Dan roll down the dunes after me. "Do you have it!?" they ask not waiting for my answer before quickly putting their forearms under my armpits and lifting me off the sand. "Yeah! I have it!" I shout seeing Dad and his men holding off the Algor. Dad's men push him down the dune leaving us wide open. The Algor gets to the edge firing at us instead. I quickly flare my aura learning before my Aura was good for blocking gunfire. I cover Sam and Dan with my aura to protect them from the incoming gunfire. "ugh! I still can't get used to this!" Dan shouts as Dad shoves us behind the wall of men ready to return fire. Dad grabs my shirt shoving me into the truck. I stumble into the back seat finding a spot to sit as everyone else piles in. "Go!GO!GO!" Dad shouts. I look at my bag pulling out the light stone. The letters glow a bright blue color 'It's the same as the other two.' I frown, annoyed that this did not provide more information than the last one. "So?" Sam asks curiously I look up at this sand-covered blonde guy. "It's the same as the other two." He knits his brows "What the hell? Isn't it supposed to be different?" he asks. I shake my head feeling a sinking pit in my stomach. "these stones can't be the same as the others... there has to be something we are missing." I look up at my Dad. "Could there be something you missed in the original cave before it collapsed!?" I ask. Dad frowns "I missed so much in that cave, I just hope the collapse did not erase anything." he admits. "How is it that these stones still have lingering Auras when this world is void of any aura!?" I ask hoping he has some answers for me. He shakes his head "I'm not sure... I don't know how that's possible either." his answer only drives this mystery deeper. "Wait Audrey are you saying these stones all have the same Aura as this Ancestor of yours?" Dan asks I nod feeling perplexed. "Your books do not mention the ancestor's era... could it be that the Ancestor sealed themselves to the world?" I ask. Dad frowns "The current generation of naga have limited information on the past, I recall my father telling me about an ability." he puts his hands together before hiding his face. "This ability used to be passed down to the next generation but for us, it skipped over my father and I." He lets out a deep sigh. "It's a spell, I believe Father said it's an ancient spell that got lost as time passed." he seemed troubled. "What is the ability?" I ask curious about what importance this ability would have in searching for answers. He shakes his head "This ability is a form of communication with the ancestor." he explains. "C...communication with a dead being?" I ask. He shakes his head "It is not dead Audrey, well not ours." he explains. "As a child, My father would explain that the ancestor is simply sleeping. Waiting for the era he walks the earth again." I look at the stone 'sleeping? so the ancestor in our world is only sleeping?' "How can something remain alive without eating?" Sam and Dan ask. Dad nods "There are animals in the world that do as they do, like snakes, and some amphibious creatures can slow their metabolism and go into dormancy." he explains. "So, then the ancestor isn't sealed?" I asked understanding what he was saying. "Yes, he is, there is no mistaking the stone's spells and purpose to seal away the ancestor." he explains. I frown 'So then the seal is acting like a sort of blanket creating this dormancy state?' I wondered seeing the base come up quickly. Once inside I hope out and take the new stone to the containment room. I walk in looking at the two stones we had already gathered. I put my hand on the stones 'I want to know what happened, if the ancestor can hear me... I want to learn your story. The story of this dying world.' I look at the letters on the stones. 'these look.' I traced the stones realizing they resembled a snake's scale but it was too large for it to belong to a snake. 'What in the world is the story behind such a titan's death?' I felt like the more we found the more questions piled in my head. "Audrey! chows ready!" I turn to see Dad poking his head into the room. I nod "Alright, give me a second." I mutter pulling out a sketchbook. I draw the scales one at a time marking down the differences in the scale. Any chip or broken piece any dip in the stone or scratch.