The Sketch: The Voyage of Soal

Midnight Psychology II

It was a cloudless night, despite the gloominess of its day. Sickly blue and green tents had settled on top of the dull, flat hills surrounding the lost city of Meinhaym. Anter, dipping her legs into the water, talked with Soal, who was sitting next to her admiring the scenery of the sunken city. The top dome of the palace and its needle still remained above the sea level, possibly a safe place for Dark Soldiers and/or Dark Hands could be hiding. But for now, Soal was puzzled over the dazzlingly vast amount of stars in the sky. He had heard that in the old days, earth's night skies looked like this too. It was beautiful, and he could never possibly count all of them, but he had found something particularly odd as Anter was pointing out constellations, such as Moth and Ethau, and Soal found one of his own. He had discovered a letter in the sky, a group of stars so close together that they looked as though they were one band of light. He saw the letter L in the sky. But then he saw another letter, and another after that... an I... an N... a T... a C... an O... an R... a P... an I... an N... a D... a U... an S... a T... an R... an I... an E... and an S. This has to mean something, and as soon as Soal spelled it out he knew what it meant. Lint Corp was putting their mark on this world just like an old-fashioned product, because they had made it after all. He still found that unbelievable. That gave him a question, too.

"What was it like when you were young?" he asked. It was a question he was dying to answer himself as well.

Anter waited a few moments to answer. "My mother, the queen of Lubreigha, died when I was born. That mad Retna the new queen, even though she was only about your age, and she wasn't all that queenly. The king had wandered off to the Anaki Kingdom, where the undead Anakians lingered, and never returned. Earlier our mother had hired a royal babysitter to watch over us now that we were orphaned; and her name was Lenli. She was an Interloper who looked a little bit like you, but half-bird. And she taught us to play music; and she taught us the future, and she was the closest we had to a mother. But one day, she wandered away and never returned. After that, Retna and I were forced to fight back against Ranklonnus, the Anakian general who was invading our kingdom in search of the hidden gateway to another universe, even though I was just a baby. Soon, the Guardian Dragons sank the entire kingdom of Lubreigha under the sea to protect it from the Anakians. Retna was warned to travel to the mountains. She went to the volcano, where she met Porter. But I was left behind, there was no one to warn me. Two foolish castle-servants tried to escort me to the mountains, but they dropped me in the water accidentally and I drowned. I still can't swim. But because the Lubreighan Royal Family has a gift of incredibly slow aging, I was left down there at the bottom of the sea until Kiwi found me in a submarine a thousand years later... and I was alive. Then I was reunited with Retna, and his adventures continued. What's your world like? How is it where you come from? I'm sure it's much better than here." She sniffed at her own lecture on Lubreighan history.

Soal just looked to the ground and didn't say anything. He didn't want to tell anyone, even the three characters he related to most.

"Oh," Anter was a sympathetic kiwi, "Maybe not. I'm sorry to ask. But there was something I just feel like telling you. I still remember the old days, when Retna kept leaving her fiddle lessons in order to meet with her best friend from the village, Petra. They were very alike, but very different in stature. The nicest dress Petra could afford was a simple checkered skirt with a bow tie on her neck, but they were loyal friends. Then came the day that she disappeared; and Retna freaked out. After months of separation, she found her again in the form of a ghost with a green outline. You could hardly see her. But she was still loads of fun, and she could even breath underwater. That's why there are rumors still going around that she and other green-ghosts still live in Lubreigha."

"Interesting," Soal commented, "I come from a world where people became greedy, and became a force of nature. But they couldn't stop themselves from laying waste to their planet. I don't think I can tell you any more. It's time we get to sleep." Soal laid down on the smooth rock and dozed off almost instantly. Anter continued to look for constellations. It would be a big day coming up. The next week would be a whirlwind of battle.