Myth Land (unedited)

XXXI

I was getting tired of the night that kept on coming. Why can't it always be sunny instead?

The night was somehow became the warmest blanket in a winter. Too warm, however, that it burnt my eyes and melted my lids.

Where's my writing again? Oh, there... I remembered. Inside the cubicle, but big enough for me to see from the outside. And where were my friends? I didn't know, but sure they were somewhere safe.

A situation like this made me wanted to look for them, but if what they wanted was a moment of solitaire, I shouldn't bother.

I walked very close around the cubicle like a piece of paper and almost fell to a small stream of water beside my feet. The last time I splashed myself with water from the stream spread around the cubicle area was when Golden was still there. Remembering Golden and his ambition rang a bell about the others. The soft blue sky light of the moon would feel warm in the best way if Sophie was there singing us a lullaby. The soil underneath my feet wouldn't feel so rough and hard if Philip was there to let me sleep on his fluffy back. Then the rest of the night wouldn't be so meaningless only if Fronisi was there telling us all the wisest words while waiting for the dawn to come.

The reflected creature stared emptily back at me. Yet still not as empty as my mind and soul. I knew that tiny harmless monster. She was I. Indeed. I was a harmless, weak white tiny mouse. I have no other weapon but my words, but why did Sphynx always tell me that I was dangerous? Others were sweating hard to fight. But I. What was I even doing?

I stared hollowly long enough until I realized that my reflection was not there anymore. I'm dead! I am finally dead! But I wasn't. It was the clouds which covered the moon—or at least I thought so. Then I realized that it was still shining brightly above me. I dipped my front right foot, or which Sphynx called right hand, to the stream and saw my hand turned purple.

Is this...

I pulled my hand back and smelled it.

Poison!

Quickly I ran to look for clean water and washed my hand as soon as I found it. The poison pathetically contradicted itself by opening my eyes opened wide—completely aware. I inhaled a quite large amount of oxygen until my chest bloated and exhaled it all at once. Repeating it a couple times, I became more relaxed and ready to think clearly.

Where should I start? What just happened?

The poison was flowing to my direction, and the fresh transparent clean water which one sparkled was slowly becoming dark-purplish and thick. I traced the stream to find where the toxic came from. Thus I walked along a very long connection of streams and confused myself enough to feel like giving up.

I did keep on going though sometimes I met many dead-ends. But isn't dead-ends good? They tell you which choices should be eliminated.

And with my body sweating like human, my breath was uncontrollable as I almost finished my marathon with the time, I found it; the source of the curse with the ability to kill all of the creatures in the Center within minutes.

On the side of a small pond which connected to at least twenty branches of streams was a dark creature, not a lot bigger than me, standing still while pouring the toxic from a bottle made of bamboo.

'Insulsus.'

I wasn't even surprised anymore.

Unlike the very first time when I caught her hiding the human-made creation in the middle of the night, she turned her head slowly looking at me with her eyes larger than the moon and her lips painted in red curved a cynical smile worse than Joker.

'Look who plays as a hero here? For one... more... time.' She whispered loud enough for me who was standing a few steps away from her clearly. 'I guess the hero forgot to set her alarm earlier.'

She shook her bamboo to empty the very last drop of her deadly liquid then threw it to the pond.

'You have painted all their bodies with toxic, and now you want to poison the inside of their body, too? You want to kill them, is that what you want? You can't even win this if the Baboon drink the water and die. What you are doing to people is pointless.'

She burst out laughing, and her devilish high pitched voice echoed in the silent night.

'All must die. Together. At the same time. Their bodies and my soul. To what I have been through. This is my ultimate dream comes true.'

She then bowed down like a princess who pulled her invisible skirt up.

I lost my ability to think clearly as I ran and jumped towards her to kill her with my last strength, but she jumped to the side and ran away. I was to chase her. I wanted to. But stopping the toxic from spreading was more important than trying to kill the source of the problem at that time. She had all the toxic poured anyway.

I knew I didn't have much time but when I was about to get to the Christmas tree to stop the poison from flowing, a familiar voice called me.

'Pearl!'

I turned around and saw Sphynx. Her face pale, her lips looked frozen and dried, her eye widened, created a round shape, as round as a yellow ping pong ball. She slowly came to me, limping, but I could not see any wound on her feet. I didn't know where she came from, but her lips had turned bluish when the cloud gave the moonlight a way to shine on us.

'What happened?' I weakly asked. Pitying her and her so-unlike-Sphynx features.

She told me that the poison had spread to almost every source of water. Although she told me with a smile, I could obviously tell the huge differences in her voice. Even when she shouted my name, it sounded more like a loud whisper in a middle of a heavy rain than the annoying loud voice of Sphynx.

Our eye contact broke when we heard the sound of footsteps coming from afar, and gradually turned into the sound of someone running—no... more than one creature running toward us. It got louder and louder that it hurt Sphynx's eardrums that she pinched her eyeballs with her eyelids, yet somehow it didn't bother me at all. We became very alert and started to study our surroundings until we realized that the sound came from two different directions. We stood with our backs against each other's. As the silhouettes grow bigger and clearer, Sphynx was all ready to attack. With her head spinning and feet trembling, she pulled out her claws.

I lowered my guard as the dark figures coming right in front of us made me feel safer. There were they. Decorus and Hyena.

'Sphynx. It's all right. They are my friends, Decorus and Hyena.'

Her muscles relaxed as she sat on her tail and let out a long sigh with her body stood like a withered rose.

'I know this man, Decorus. He is famous among the Christmas Tree Family. Pleased to meet you Hyena,' her voice became as soft as a dying grandmother that you need a full concentration to be able to listen.

Hyena approached Sphynx and bowed, 'Pleasure is mine. Excuse me for being rude, but what happened to... you?'

Sphynx shook her head fast. 'Doesn't matter. What matter is that this is the right time. The time which every single animal has been waiting. I cannot decide whether I should blame the one who spread this poison all over the Center or thank him...'

'Her.' I just really had the urge to correct this part.

'Thank her because she made it possible.' Sphynx smiled to Pearl. Her ping-pong-sized eyes had then become smaller and more plaintive.

'Don't tell me,' said Decorus.

'Yes.' Sphynx surprised the three of us with her normal voice in half-consciousness, 'We are doing the fish.'

-tsl

*Hi guys! Thank you for reading this far! We are very closer to the revelation of the end of Myth Land. Stick with us, will you?

XO
The Sunflower Lady