ALLETARE

11. Welcome

Chituru felt like an idiot. He closed his eyes and sighed deeply. 'I'm going to die because of a woman I barely saw'.
As he fell, he remembered the proverbial, 'your life will flash before your eyes' thing to happen but it never did. He kept his eyes closed and awaited death as he fell and fell and fell and fell...
When he realized he was still falling he wondered.
'It's not as if I want to die or anything but... why am I still falling?!'
Finally summoning the courage and giving in to curiosity, he opened his eyes and the sight before him amazed him.

Allettare still held on to Tim. Her eyes locked on his as they were face to face. Slowly, she let go of him, her eyes still fixed on his as she did so and moved to his side, allowing him full view of the sight before him. She watched as his expression went from fear of her leaving him to that of pure wonder and fascination. Like a child who was given his very first automated toy car to play with. For the umpteenth time she hoped and prayed to their moon goddess that he was the one. That he would truly be able to help her and her people but she didn't want to burden herself with such thoughts. The time would come for that. For now, she would appreciate the opportunity of witnessing the sight of someone seeing her world for the first time.
In that moment, Tim turned towards her. Excitement and confusion was written all over his face. Allettare smiles at him and said, 'All will be explained in due time but for now, welcome'.
Tim was in awe. The very sight he was witnessing amazed and baffled him. They were both still still falling but it seemed as though time had slowed them for just them.
It was twilight. The moon was so full and bright and beautiful that it seemed closer than humanly possible. He kept staring at it, lost in its glow and beauty that he found himself unconsciously stretching out his hand just to see if he could touch it before he felt a hand on his shoulder.
'She'll steal your soul'.
'What?'
Allettare just smiled and said nothing more. Tim felt more confused than ever but refused to ask any more questions. He felt she would explain at her own time.
They kept falling till they got to the clouds. They weren't white but were purplish pink and looked like cotton candy you would buy at an amusement park. It felt just as soft as he imagined they would be. His eyes began to flutter close as he felt himself enveloped by it. Allettare's voice felt miles away as he felt himself drift away. Almost immediately his eyes flew open and he looked around, a bit disoriented.
'What happened?'
'The clouds...they...like you'.
'Huh?'
'I'll explain later'.
Tim looked warily at Alletare, 'Will I be safe?'
Allettare laugher. It was an exquisite sound.
'As long as you're with me, you'll be safe'.
Oddly, her voice and words assured and soothed him.
Not long after, they finally reached the ground, tiny insects-like creatures floated around them and the air felt cool. Chituru landed a few seconds later.
'You're here?! But... how?!'
'I couldn't let you have all the fun'.
Tim laughed. 'How did you pass the clouds though?'
Chituru shrugged.
'I let him through'.
Tim and Chituru turned towards Allettare at the same time, as if they had just realized she was there.
'Hi, I'm...'
'Chituru. I know'.
Chituru was speechless.
'How did you...?'
'In time I'll explain but for now we need to move. Come on'.
Left with no other choice, Chituru and Tim followed Allettare. Thousand of insect-like creatures floating around them added to sullen illumination of the moon on the purplish-blue grass.
Tim kept his eyes on Allettare. His entire attention was on her. On the other hand, Chituru looked around cautiously. The field of grasses seemed to go on and on and on...
Out of curiosity, he took off his sandals to feel the grass. The feeling caught him off guard. He almost crumbled. It didn't feel like grass. It felt feather soft and as soothing as a lullaby. He laid down flat on the grass and was almost lost in its sweetness when he realized that Tim and Allettare were gone.
'Tim! Tim!'
He looked up but was met with silence.
'I can't believe that these people... Tim left me!'
Chituru thought about standing up but for some reason, his brain couldn't signal his legs to move.

Allettare and Tim kept moving in silence.
'Allettare'
Tim was met with more silence.
'Allettare'
'Allettare!'
She stopped and looked at him. 'What's the problem?'
Tim looked at her in shock. 'What's the problem?! Look around you! It may be normal to you but this...' Tim said gesturing with his hands, '... is freaking abnormal to me!'
Allettare let out a sigh. 'Sit down'.
'When there's grass every...'
It was at that moment that Tim looked around and finally noticed that they were out of the grass fields.
'What...? Where...? How...?'
She let out a sigh again. Then she looked around sharply. 'Where is Chituru?!'
That was when Tim realized his friend was nowhere to be seen.
'He must still be at the grass fields'.
'Come on! We need to get him back!'
'I understand that this world is new to him but why are you in such a hurry?'
Allettare looked at him and Tim felt a shiver through his body. It was the first time he had seen such a serious look in her eyes.
'He'll die otherwise'.