Memories (Of Dreams and Demons)

Ogarato

This is the first rough draft for Chapter 28 - Ogarato - plot and action outline, needs polish and to paint the background scene.

I don't think the shadows expected us to make it to Ogarato. As the town grows in size at our approach, the early morn slowly calms. A stillness falls upon our young adventure, as if a storm has passed and now the world takes a silent breath of relief. I can still smell the watery scent of rains now past on the air, yet both frogs and crickets are uncharacteristically quiet.

The skies are full to the brim with ominous clouds; avalanches of elements rolling across the horizon, gobbling up stars as if they were little houses, their lights snuffed out of existence. Yet they too are quiet; unstoppable, slowly hobbling along high above content to keep the moon smothered away beneath an unhappy grey.

And behind us? Behind, the world burns, the fiery glow of grass fires illuminate the skies a dreadful orange, fires caused by the upheaved campfire we fled after our clash with the boar. Our blankets, half our supplies and weapons, perished alongside a countryside surely culled of life. The reds and oranges of morning wildfire are thick smudges of colour that clash against the greys of the clouds above.

My only hope is that the man of shadow is trapped back there, somewhere deep amongst the flames, burning too, or lost beneath the shadows of storms too heavy to navigate. He'd leave us alone then, maybe even for good. I sigh, feeling no hope; I doubt it'd be that easy.

Still, with Naoko softly humming again, I know she too must feel his presence long gone. Whatever has happened, we've managed to escape his chase once again, for now. So, sometimes holding hands, sometimes appreciating the empty lands alone while she skips ahead, we move forward together.

As we approach the town, strange feelings of both belonging and being lost at once wash over me. Two conflicting ways of thinking trying to make room in the same spot. It leaves me feeling more empty than anything else, neither taking hold, leaving nothing in their place.

Ogarato looks a lot different than I remember. The edges of town are filled with the outlines of unfamiliar buildings, hazy and translucent, as if covered in a thick smog, dwellings glimpsed behind a smokescreen. The clouds that brood overhead only add to their surrealism, flickering as if they're about to vanish any moment.

This is not Ogarato, is it? The houses look odd, their roofs higher, sharper. Each has a twisting chimney puffing out little clouds of smoke to join their primal brethren in the skies above. The air feels lighter, alien, strange sounds and smells carry across the wind, of food I do not recognise, scents and perfumes too exotic to be local.

The streets are windy and cobbled, curving around the base of a hill on the west side of town, connecting more houses. Thousands of people must live here, rather than the mere hundreds I remember. Most houses have a vegetable garden tucked away either behind the kitchen or along the paths, wild little jungles of leafy vegetables with no pattern or order.

Occasionally a low-flying bat swoops past in the air above us, sometimes diving close as if curiously checking us out. Naoko pulls a face every time, glaring at them. Some must be as large as us! Either way, they don't feel threatening in any way, nor do they fly over too close to touch.

Despite the signs of life, the speckles of windowed light, the active chimneys, the smell of meat cooking on the air, I see no one. It's as if the town was placed here to be seen, to be inhabited, to be full, felt, kettles already boiling and fireplaces stoked, but no one moved in. So now it slowly drifts away.

"Where is everyone?" Naoko asks me.

I shrug, "I don't know. What is going on?"

"Maybe they ran away from the shadows," Naoko nods, "from the fires."