In The World Of Losinanda (Completed)

CHAPTER TEN - Shengena

Iriel kept true to her words, she came every other day to the child's disappointment. Shengena realized the boy was always whispering about not needing any help or companionship when Iriel walked into the cave. The little boy wasn't the only one with grievances, to Shengena's dismay, she had failed to fully enjoy the blue-eyed's presence.

Her nightmares had grown more lucid and graphic. Now, she could remember what she had dreamt of, the dreams came in the night and in the day whether she slept in the open or in the interior dark.

She had been grateful for the little boy who had made a fire hearth in the middle of the cave; afterwards, she had been able to see the drawings on the walls more clearly. However, since her nightmares left memories, she was reluctant about the need of light. The drawings on the wall were of mermaids with their tails wavering behind them, some were of men of the sand whose faces were covered, dressed in long white garments; others were of scorpions rising from the sand or goats with long horns and angry wild sheep with the wildest unforgiving eyes. She had also discerned that the sheep always had dark shadows behind them that were not of their shape.

The first night after Iriel left Shengena to herself, she had dreamt of being seduced by an underwater creature; in her dream, she had been looking at her reflection by a lake shore when an enticing being that Shengena could not remember its description had pulled her under the water. She had held her breath but the being had swum deeper and her lungs had given, gulping down gallons of water; she could still remember the pain in her chest as it filled with the dark liquid. The being had spoken and told her to breath in, itself having gills but Shengena couldn't find a way to obtain air in the water. She had looked around, panicking, breathlessly trying to talk to the being having forgotten how it had talked to her in the first place; and as her lungs demanded, she inhaled the water.

She was sure she had met the end of her days but instead had woken up with a wet face, the child shaking her vigorously. The boy had tried to push some pungent herbs under her nose while he told her of her wild screams which had made him rush, fearing she was in danger. As they calmed and boy looked up into her eyes, she saw it reflected that he knew Shengena believed the danger was real.

Iriel had come the day after but her lively conversation had failed to help Shengena forget the realness of her dreams. The drowning visions had continued for another week until that day.

That afternoon, she had woken up coughing blood with the agony of sand passing down her throat. She had dreamt, she lost her way in a foreign dessert, as she sat down taking a break from her fruitless searching, slowly, men and women in camels started gathering around her and in one, an unaccounted blink, she was surrounded.

All of them were dressed in linen cream white; their hair, noses, ears and mouths covered to protect them from the dry winds. The group had watched silently as scorpions had started crawling from the dunes, all were running towards her, trying to bite her, their stings deep.

In the beginning, she had seen ten scorpions but after a few seconds she couldn't count anymore, they were all over, in a hip around her limbs, digging their fangs into her skin; sinking her into the sand. The hot sand had covered her feet then her full body, she had tried to cry for help but sand invaded her mouth; the group above stood in silence, observing.

Shengena rubbed her chest, the pain of ingesting sand still present. 'Is it me or is it this place ', she had asked herself all afternoon and evening. She made a point to ask Iriel about the myths of the devil's den. Maybe, I am hallucinating and it's just those drawings on the walls.

Later that afternoon, when she had stepped outside for air, she found the huge red-crowned white crane sitting under the open roof, the child had mentioned seeing the bird around, he had confidently assured her that it wasn't hostile.

Shengena walked closer to where the bird laid and sat beside it, sharing the golden evening sun that reminded her of Iriel's hair. The crane had looked at her while she was approaching but went on to pretend she wasn't there. Either way Shengena appreciated its radiating presence. The creature had a peaceful aura around it and for the time she sat there thinking of nothing, she believed that nothing could harm her as long as it was there, not even those increasing murderous dreams; she had only had a similar peace in one place; the trees of memories.

She should ask Iriel to stay the night, she thought. She couldn't ask the child, he always appeared to have a place he had to be and Shengena had failed to help with the chores. After the sun had set, the bird had flown to its home, carrying away its heavy body with its magnificent wings. She decided she would name him Lour. The night before, she had mistakenly referred to the bird as a 'it' and the child had looked at her disapprovingly then told her that the bird was in fact a 'he'. She wasn't sure the crane would be receptive to the name but wanted to be able to talk to him when he was there, about her nights in the cave, maybe Lour would make an effort to shield her from them, she thought.

The only event that Shengena had been left looking forward to everyday was the child's lengthy companionship at supper. She enjoyed Iriel's company in the morning but the kind chief appeared to enjoy studying her then talking to her, she asked to help her wash, dress, eat or just watch her sleep, wordlessly. The other day she had asked Iriel, " What are you looking for in me?"

She responded, "I don't know, but am sure it's in you." Shengena didn't bother to ask further; vague responses are one of few things that made her dislike people.

She paroled the space surrounding her new home not searching for anything specific; she found that the ruined cave was larger than she had imagined, there were several entrances to rooms that had been made for different purposes, some were for large meetings and others for small gatherings. A few were for leisure; she saw a room with a hot spring filling a man-made hollow. Some were for visiting guests which she assumed one was where the boy slept. She realized it was more an establishment without doors than a cave and the roofless terrace wasn't a ruin but a design.

The place had been miraculously cleaned but Shengena was still able to notice that it had been left abandoned for a long number of years, enough for the wear to show on stone. She remembered Iriel's comment about a thousand-year curse and gathered it was the exact time the cave had been left unused. 'He' had taught her to count the age of stone and trees by the style of corrosion and the nature of the trunk.

Back at the main entrance she sat on the floor waiting for the boy to come back with their weekly provisions wondering why they were the only two people living in the grand beautiful grotesque cave in a small little isle called the dark island.

Suddenly she remembered a meditative technique she had learnt from a wise tree in the dreams of darkness; she crossed her feet and started meditating, she talked to her soul and listened to her heart.

When the child found her, she was in less torment, she had figured a way to converse with her dreams and the spirits of the cave; everything that was not understood became bothersome and Shengena wouldn't be bothered anymore because she had understood. As she leaped to help her curious friend with the load, she stored the date in her mind, she would remember it as the day that the nightmares ended and her learning begun.