Skylands Historia - Duality

Chapter 9 - The Garden of Secretive Secrets

"And stay out!!"

Kaos watched from the edge of his backyard as a band of Greebles scurried into the underbrush, yipping and chirping with their tails between their legs. He let out a sigh, wiping the sweat from his forehead off on the back of his hand, leaving a smudge of dirt in its wake. As the afternoon sun beat down on him, Kaos turned his back to the trees, returning to the task his father had so graciously bestowed upon him. Weeding duty; a chore that usually fell to him when his parents felt 'eternity' in the dungeons wasn't fitting enough a punishment. It was usually saved for the yearly cleaning, but Kaos supposed this was a... special circumstance. And man, did the backyard need it. Kaos rolled his sleeves up as he walked, balancing across exposed roots and shallow streams that ran the color of mildew. Broken tiles protruded from the dirt in some sections, like a long forgotten pathway, or perhaps even a giant chess board. But now, the majority of it had become one with nature, with only remnants remaining. The very same nature Kaos had to push back, armed with an 'arsenal' that consisted of a pair of rusty pruning shears and his bare hands. A set of weapons that would make any creature quake in fear... as long as that creature was plant based and inanimate. Kaos stumbled forward as his foot snagged on a tangle of brambles, the thorns slicing at his ankle. He hissed at the sudden sting, then pulled his ankle free, kneeling down in the crumbly soil with his shears at the ready. He waited for a moment, in case the brambles decided to leave on their own. When they didn't budge, Kaos let out a huff, then began snipping away at the base of the tangle, squinting through the glaring sun and snippets of stem flinging haphazardly from the dull, rusted shears. He made quick work of the bush, or at least as quickly as he could manage, picking up the severed bundle of gnarled branches and carrying it over to the small piles he was accumulating.

Father had instructed him to organize the clippings; one pile of 'salvageable' material for Father and Mother's out-of-work 'hobby', and another of junk. So of course, Kaos had made three. One for Father, one for the Greebles to scrounge through, and one for himself. Kaos dragged the bush back to the back wall of the house, using his free arm to shield his eyes, trying his best to ignore the definite sunburn he was going to get as he tossed the bramble into his father's pile. The berries that grew on it could make a nice soda, though knowing his parents, they'd probably use the thorns or something. Kaos had always wanted to try the soda they made, despite the mixed reviews Dyskord had given it over the years. His favorite had been 'radioactive suction eel', though he had only given it a three out of ten before passing out on Kaos' floor. Kaos had also seen flavors like 'sand' and 'mud' on the occasions he had snuck down into the cellar. Needless to say, the odd ingredients and off-putting side effects he had witnessed had dampened his curiosity towards actually sampling the carbonated concoctions. Maybe once he was a little older.

Kaos wiped the sweat from his brow, then looked up at the sound of the side door shutting, the squeak of its hinges followed by footsteps in the patchy dirt. Kaos craned his neck as his mother stepped into view, heading into the forest as she did practically every day. Some days it was early in the morning, others it was late afternoon, most likely heading to work. Kaos watched her walk briskly down the cobble path, the cloak she had wrapped around her shoulders flowing behind her, until she faded out of sight as the reaching branches of the trees swallowed her whole. Kaos shuddered, feeling a chill run up his spine as he turned away, needing to get back to work. Kaos grabbed his shears, beginning to pick and preen at the area around him. Pulling up leathery weeds and trimming back foul-smelling bushes that had been left to run rampant. As he worked, though, Kaos could feel his mind wandering back to last night and the mention of his mother's 'work'. Surely that's what she was heading off to do. Kaos jammed his fingers under a particularly stubborn root, attempting to not so gently coax it from its earthy nest. He couldn't help but glance over his shoulder from time to time, his eyes drawn back to the forest. He could no longer hear her footsteps, merely the slight breeze dancing through the autumn leaves, and the rustle of vermin in the underbrush. He shook his head, finally wrenching the root from the ground, the force sending him tumbling back; right into an unsuspecting Greeble. Kaos looked up as his vision spun, the Greeble leaning over him with a curious expression on its flat, flaxxish face. It ran its long tongue over one of its eyes before bounding onto Kaos' face and then off towards the underbrush with a sharp tug. Kaos groaned, rubbing his forehead as he sat up, watching the pest scurry off on all fours, dragging something along behind it. Kaos paused as he watched the end of it get pulled into the bushes, feeling the breeze brush against the back of his neck...