Myth Land (unedited)

XXX

We leaned towards him, and of course we made him uncomfortable. Nonetheless, he was still the same Decorus. He asked us to sit normally, and so we did. Then, for the very first time, Decorus let Hyena and I to be a part of his life.

And he started with, 'I used to have a sister.'

She was the kindest, the softest, and the gentlest among all wolves. All she cared about was making sure that everybody had their meal served, and she always tried her best to be the one who mediated a quarrel. She always put others before herself, took care of those who were tired or sick, made sure that nobody got left behind when the wolves were in a journey. When the time for her to go to the Christmas tree arrived, it was hard for little wolves to let her go so far away from the Outer. She was everybody's role model, especially for her brother, who always looked up to her. Decorus.

She said farewell and promised to always be OK. Privately to Decorus, she told him not to be worried, for if she weren't able to come back, it would only mean that she had made a huge accomplishment.

'When you get older, it'll be your turn to take a good care of everyone around you,' Decorus repeated what his sister said.

They were wolves, and wolves always had the advantages for only being wolves. He assured himself that her sister would be fine and that one day he would be exactly the same as her.

One night after almost a month of his sister departure, when the moon was covered with clouds, and the air was cold as ice, Decorus was woken up by a noise from the bushes near the forest where the wolves were staying. He followed the sound far enough until he arrived at the end of the Outer. Went farther to the cliff then only cats with nine lives would survive only if it didn't slip and fall into the sea where big fish lived to guard the island. And there he saw. At the edge of the cliff he saw no other than his sister.

'I was to call her. Wanted to ask whether it was time for her to go home, but she was busy talking with someone. To the fish, I guess. I eavesdropped, and she made me love her even more.'

He never thought that someone would care so much about the big fish until he listened to her sister trying to persuade them so that they might want to join other animals to compete at the center for next year.

'It was hard for her to be able to convince those fish. They have absolutely no idea what's going on outside the sea. They have no idea what Myth Land is. What they know is that they have big bodies, and they were born that way to protect this island. It was hard to make them understand that my sister wanted to help them. Still, she didn't give up. She didn't mind explaining over and over again until each one of the fish understood. Again and again until the moon was no longer covered by the clouds.

'She was very happy when those big fish agreed with her idea. She was just... she just wanted everyone to be involved. She just wanted everyone to have the same chance.'

When she finished talking with the fish, she found Decorus stood quite far behind her. He told us that she saw him like it had been a decade since she left. Then she hugged her little brother and told him that she was going to do something amazing. Keeping it a secret, she had no idea that Decorus had been listening to her. She kissed him good night and asked him to go back to sleep. And just like that. She left for the second time.

'Or the last time,' his voice was almost gone.

A day later, Decorus met a parrot who was just sent back to the Outer. He asked him whether the parrot might know his sister and asked how she was.

'Oh, he knew her. Everybody knew her. One unbelievably kind-hearted female wolf with very strong charisma whom everybody loved, except the baboon. The parrot only looked at me with his peak parted a little. Swallowing the words that he had on the tip of his peak. Without him having to say anything, I understand.'

And that was how he knew. It was her last good night kiss.

'He disagreed. They had a little argument. She was told that some are meant to stay where they belong and live the fate given to them. But my sister, of course, argued by saying that each individual has the ability to choose what kind of life they want to live and create their own fate.

'I couldn't... I couldn't breathe. I couldn't move. I couldn't talk. I didn't even know whether I was staring at the parrot or at the illusion of my sister. I didn't even know what to do. I didn't even know how to feel.'

The baboon, just being him as a king, killed his sister within the snap of this finger. Not with his own hands, of course, for he enjoys being at the top while seeing others suffer. He threw some gold leaves to a snake and gave him the order to kill her.

'She told me she was going to be alright.'

No watery eyes. No tears. No sobs. Just the usual Decorus ending his story with a smirk.

We only listened and tried to process all of the information which came directly from Decorus' mouth after twenty three days of not telling us anything. Who was that being standing in front of us there? He was very soft... very warm... very fragile... too... delicate.

Just the time I thought he needed he a hug, he said, 'Don't pity me like that. I'm fine.'

Yet at the same moment he avoided to make an eye contact. We smiled at him, but he smiled at the sky as if someone was smiling at him from above.

We looked at the same direction as he did. There were stars painting the sky with riddles... Making us wonder what the answer was... Then we found a clue...

It was still noon. There is no star at noon other than the sun. We glanced at each other, but the gleaming objects were magnet to our eyes. As those sparkling items got bigger, we realized that they were gold leaves. The leaves that the animals had been dying to get were falling from the sky as the pigeons flew. Decorus and Hyena might not notice something odd, but I did. Those pigeons looked a bit too... colorful.

'Are these for us?!' Hyena picked up some random golds from the ground.

'Even if they are, I don't feel like getting them by doing nothing,' Decorus replied.

Hyena laughed and threw the leaves from her hands, 'No! They're painted!'

I was certain.

'Hey... Hyena, Decorus, I was wondering if...'

'If we could just go back to our cubicle? That's exactly what I just thought. Let's go.'

Oh, well... I didn't feel like finishing my words. They walked ahead to our cubicle, and I followed.

When we just arrived, Decorus excused himself to look for food, and Hyena said that she wanted to sleep. I was about to get inside the cubicle, but I glanced at a very huge piece of leaf across my cubicle. Curious, I approached it.

'Hey, Pearl! If you need me just wake me up, OK?' Hyena shouted.

'All right!'

I focused back on the leaf and adored of how dry yet thick and strong it was. It was one very huge leaf which any wolf could use as a blanket.

'Oh, wow...' I murmured to myself, 'I can use this.'

-tsl

*) Hiii! I hope you enjoy this chapter, and if you have thoughts, suggestions, comments, please feel free to leave them in the comment section. I would be so happy to have a conversation with you guys! Please do give this story some votes if you like it. It will mean so much to me. Thank you for making me write this far... It is all because of your support <3

Rise and shine

The Sunflower Lady