The Fabulous & The Ancient Artifact

Part 7: The Tutelary Guardian

"Oh, Guardian Angel, without fail, please watch over me. Protect me like armor from evil, dark, and misery!" begged Cauã, just before falling asleep. He said this short prayer nearly every night. It was something that his grandmother had taught him, going against the will of his parents who told him that angels didn't exist.

Sometime later, the boy saw himself levitating. He couldn't feel the warmth of the blanket on his skin or the softness of the mattress underneath his body. He tried to grasp for the bed, but felt nothing between his fingers. But what truly frightened him was when he opened his eyes and saw hundreds of purple moths carrying him through some kind of tunnel of light.

All of a sudden, he was plopped down, sitting on soft grass, and his glasses shot forward in front of him from the fall. Though his vision was a little blurry, the sight in front of him left him in awe. There was still daylight and the sunbeams lit a beautiful garden, brimming with exotic flowers that he had never seen before.

Over in the corner where he had landed, there was a short lawn with deep green plants whose leaves were streaked with veins of purple. The stems were violet and some of the plants had red flowers, while others even had some juicy, yellow fruits hanging from them. Cauã didn't recognize that plant species at all. His grandmother certainly didn't have any in her garden.

Remembering his glasses, Cauã lay down on his stomach, arms and legs outstretched. He took a second to appreciate the softness of the grass under him before he started moving his arms and legs around, trying to feel for the glasses that had been launched from his face. The grass and other small plants under his weight were pressed down and looked like a snow angel.

"Here they are! Phew," he exhaled, returning the smudged glasses to his face and sitting upright.

At that exact moment, Cauã felt a bite and then a pinch on his rear. Startled, he jumped forward, wondering what kind of bugs could possibly be in a place like this, but when he turned to look, he was dumbstruck.

Some of the plants he had been sitting on were moving. Two of them, covered in red flowers, started to wave and shake in a frenzy. Then, they pushed themselves out of the ground, tossing clumps of dirt to the sides. Cauã noticed that their roots, which looked somewhat like bulbous beets, were clustering together to form branches, then arms, then legs, which they were using to move around. The boy squinted his eyes hard to try to see better, and was amazed to see that the roots really did have human features, and that the leaves and flowers were in fact their hair. For a moment, Cauã thought he was losing his mind, since he thought he saw Mrs. Conceição's froggy face in one of the plants. He rubbed his eyes beneath his glasses only to see that another plant seemed to have Mr. Walter's walrus-like mustache.

"Pay attention to where you sit down, boy," scolded the plant who, amid the roods, had a thick set of curly stems above its mouth.

"You're going to step on someone's head walking around so carelessly," shouted another plant whose lower limbs reminded him of the veiny legs of his teacher.

The plants each dug holes in the ground and buried themselves, leaving only their leaves and flowers above the surface. Cauã backed away, first slowly then faster when he saw the other plants moving as well. He really started to move quickly but in a confused and dizzy state, he plowed straight into a sign staked into the ground that said in Kangelus: 'Caution! Beetdrake Garden. Bites may cause temporary hallucinations.'

That must be the name of these crazy plants! Cauã determined, rubbing his hand over the place he had been bitten, trying to soothe the stinging sensation. He felt a wave of dizziness and decided to sit down for a moment, this time being very careful not to tread on or squash any beetdrakes.