The Allegory Of Triberias: The Call Of Destiny .

The Human

THE SEA OF ERVANA,
2420 AA, After the Great Ascension.

Killion's eyes flattered open and he found himself staring deep into a set of large unfamiliar eyes. Silver eyes? He frowned at the face that was now looking down at him with a gaze full of worry. He watched even as set of full red lips fell wide open. A cry of surprise emanating from them. And then just like that, the face fell away from his view.
Soon he found himself wondering if he had actually seen her or his oxygen deprived brain was just playing tricks on him. That had to be it. He had lost a lot of blood and his mind was feeding him delusions just to wade him through.
Something hit the ground next to him followed by another cry. This time, it was a cry of pain. That much he could tell from the sound and instantly, he confirmed that it had all been real and that he had not imagined any of it. There was someone right there next to him and though he could not turn and face them, he was aware of their presence.
That someone had also somehow had managed to open up his visor and had even brushed a hand across his face.
Killion struggled to turn and search for her. For the owner of the presence, but the sharp pain that was ripping through his abdomen forced him to remain in place. Right, he was injured.
A crunch of feet on sand and loose rocks and the silver eyes were back on him.
This time, he also noticed the long black hair. Long black hair that hang down from the sides of her head like obsidian curtains and the shiny red robes that covered the entirety of her body, all the way from her neck to her toes.
Red and gold, he noted to himself and a skin so brown it had to be caramel or just a few shades lighter than the real thing.
"You're that red streak." he croaked out with a smile. His voice sounding scratched even to his own ears. It must have been all the screaming he had done. Yes, the screaming he had done as they carried him away, he thought with a smile before admonishing himself.
Why do he always do this in the most awkward of situations? It must be a nervous reflex, he finally decided and almost laughed at what his mind had just conjured up. Turning into a philosopher? Hardly.
"The Red what?" the young woman bent down to ask him. Her dark eyebrows furrowed into a deep frown that elicited a chuckle from his own dry lips. That expression was just too comical! He thought even as he wondered how he was to begin to address her.
"I am not dead, which explains that sharp pain in my abdomen and my extremely weakened state." he stated knowing fully well that it was his suit that was preventing him from going under.
"No, I do not think that you are dead." she answered him and he had to restrain himself from laughing at her very thoughtful expression. Didn't she get that it was a joke? An ice breaker? Well, it was still rude to laugh at her seeing how much she was concerned about his welfare. "I was trying to help you. Though, I do not know how remove it." She added as she once again attempted to remove his helmet.
"No! No! Please! Don't do that!" he rasped out in a bid to stop her. Not only was he dressed in only his special underwears beneath the suit but also, the suit was acting as his life support system. Hence removing the helmet would prove quite detrimental to his well being.
"This suit is what is keeping me alive!"
"Not for much longer I am afraid, especially if you continue being this adamant." Her silver eyes glared for failing to comply with her wishes. It was impossible though, but he was also convinced that he had seen those eyes glow. Could that be possible? No, that couldn't be right, right?
"I am going to die either way, that is, if I do not make it back to civilisation in time and if the sun sets again who knows what will happen when those terrors come back."
"I can help you." The woman reached out into her robes and retrieved a small crystal bottle. She uncapped it and tipped the contents over in her hands. A small amount of golden liquid flowed out into her palms as Killion stared on curiously. What was she going to do with that? He wondered. How was oil going to save him? He did not want to think badly of her, but if she persisted and insisted on removing his helmet, he would have to protest. He would not risk his life for merely a little oil.
"What is your name?" she asked him as she capped the bottle and placed it on the ground beside her. She then rubbed her palms together and spread out the liquid evenly, all the way to the tips of her fingers and at the back of her wrists.
"Killion and what are you up to?" he questioned her. She did not respond though. Instead, she closed up her eyes and reached out her palms to touch him. For a moment he was taken back when she touched him and he even tried to slink back and away from her, but of course, he could not do so.
He did not have the energy to do so, nor could he manage it. What with the bulk of the sandy ground behind hi. and his wounds that were still restricting him. Therefore, with no choice but to remain in one place, he resorted to watching, awestruck even as the woman with her closed eyes and the palms of her hands pressing lightly on the sides of his forehead, started to glow.
It started with a glimmer, a white light being emitted from the centre of her palms. The light then enveloped him, starting from where her hands held him in place and eventually,it spread out from his head to his entire body. He could feel the warmth seeping through his moist skin even as it moved down and settled deep into the marrow of his bones.
Slowly his flesh began to itch. He could not see it but he could feel it knitting together. The gaping holes that were in his abdomen being patched up even with every passage time.
Finally, the woman's eyes opened just as his strength returned to him. His health had been restored and he could even move. He was no longer feeling weak and his skin that had once been pasty became flushed with life even as he moved himself to sit up.
"How were you able to do that?" He wondered, able to support himself for the very first time in over twelve hours.
"I am a Great and the emollient allows us heal wounds." She replied with a soft smile as she dropped to sit down on the sand beside him. In her hands was the crystal bottle and inside it was the remaining golden liquid that she had used to coat her hands before using them to heal him.
"And that is the emollient?" she nodded. "What exactly is a Great? Scratch that - What is your name?" he added after having second thoughts. His mind was filled with so many questions. Most of them whys and even though he was still curious, it was more polite to ask for her name before anything else. Speaking of polite, he had not even thanked her! He stared out mortified.
"I am Havillah, daughter of Jaykob and Tamaar, elder of the Great." She drawled out automatically and he guessed that with the ease that she had spoken those words, it was something that she had been taught to say even as a young child.
"Okay...A Great." he mumbled, losing himself again in her strange introduction. A Great, what was that? A tribe or something?
He was tempted to think that the girl was loony, but he had seen and felt her power. He had not only felt her heal him but also, he had seen her fly! He took in her heavy shimmering robes again. Robes that were of a fashion that had never seen or heard of before and then, there was the gold. As in real gold and not just some gold coated thread and Killion felt his mind boggled.
"Honestly, I don't know what to make of all this, but thank you for helping me out. Now, all I have to do is just figure out a way to get home. Perchance, can you fly me there?" he smiled charmingly. He could only hope that she did not find his request obnoxious and therefore, his smile grew even more brighter.
With her powers, who knew what she would do to him if he actually managed to offend her. He thought as he put his all into it.
"I am sorry but I cannot!" his smile faltered as she continued. " As it is, I am lacking enough of the First Virtue and cannot attempt such a feat at this moment. It would be extremely risky to even try." she added and he could only nod though he did not really understand a thing about what she had just spoken.
First virtue? What in tarnation was that? He thought to himself as his racked his brain for an answer. Was it what she had used to heal him? Did that mean that it could be depleted? And if there was a first, did that mean that there was a second or even more virtues? What was a Virtue anyway?

"You do not understand any of what I have said." she grinned back awkwardly, obviously embarrassed for having overlooked his situation.
"Absolutely." Killion laughed.
"Well... I have an idea though." She said as she griped his arm and pulled him up. "Don't let go." Was the only warning he got as the air beneath their feet began to stir up and ripple just like a gentle wind would do upon a still water surface.
Suddenly she launched them up so high that Killion found himself squealing in both fear and delight.
Despite having rocket thrusters in the soles of his armour, this speed and a height were something that he could only dream of even with such an invention.
"For a first timer, you sure don't look scared." she commented and he nodded his head in agreement.
"I am truly bonkers to trust a total stranger to do this to me!" He laughed. "Anyway after a whole night of flying with the wyverns, this is nothing compared to that terror."
"Wyverns?" she furrowed her brows in confusion and Killion went ahead to clarify.
"Lind worms, dragons... They are reptiles that have wings and can breathe fire?"
"Aaah... So, that was what it was?" she responded much softly to herself. Moments later, their feet landed on the clouds and he almost yelped as he expected the ground to let through.
"What is this? I never thought that clouds were actually solid?" he settled after finally realising that he was not going to fall through. He was tempted to test that theory though. However, in the last minute, he restrained himself from jumping up and down too afraid to go for another sky dive.
"They are not. It is hard to explain, but it is something to do with the interaction between the atmospheric pressure and the special properties of a nearby plane." the girl told him uphazardly and he could tell that she was not ready or willing to go into depth by explaining things that would probably take forever to outline. "Anyway, we are here." She said as she sat down on the edge of the cloud and began to stir up the mists with a flick of her hand. "I will try to get you home from here. If you can just close your eyes and try to imagine it, that would be very helpful. Can you describe it for me?" She added as she urged him to sit down.
The idea had just come to her after finally realising that she had been able to breach the gates. She had never heard of anyone doing the same, but it was amazing to think of what she had accomplished. She had just been to the other realm!
Killion curiously raised up an eyebrow at her, but he obeyed her nonetheless and began to describe his home town.
"It is a small town. A seaport town that we call Bethesda." he closed his eyes and smiled. Smiling back at all the images that his thoughts had conjured up in his helmeted forehead. "It is part of a huge continent we call Erydria with a peninsula to the east, west of the Ervana Sea." he droned on as he remembered the shape of his country on the continent's map. As he did so, he felt the girl shift beside him and curiously, he opened an eye and watched her.
Unaware of the attention, she turned back to the view and started to flick through the clouds like they were pages of a book. The clouds changed form beneath her bare hands and subsequently, the view that was appearing beneath them.
What was this? Killion wondered as he finished describing his home town and she turned back to face him, smiling at what she had just unveiled.
"Is that-" his eyes widened even as his jaws dropped in surprise.
"Yes! How? How did you..." he started to ask, but then changed his mind when he realised that she might not want to disclose it. "Never mind that, I wouldn't understand it anyway." He smiled and she nodded.
What technology was this anyway? Was it even technology? It sounded like something out of a fairy tale or one of the stories that his grandma used to tell him. First there was the flying, the healing, walking on clouds and invoking a place just from memory? He had a lot of questions but was afraid that he would over step his boundaries by asking them. Afterall he did not know how an agitated Great reacted in certain situations.
"Shall we?" he shook off his thoughts to let out a boisterous laughter at how formal and inviting it had all sounded. Calla would surely hate this, he snickered at his thoughts and the girl's words that had sounded more like an invitation to tango. "I am sorry though." she continued to tell him. "I'll have to drop you into the ocean." She added after some time. They had been descending for quite a while now and he found himself raising an eyebrow at what she had just said. "As it is, I am not supposed to be seen by a human." she continued to explain, after suddenly recalling the new law that had just been decreed.
"Right, because you're a Great?"
She nodded before continuing.
"I hope you can keep this encounter a secret?"
A secret? It was his turn to nod even though he did not understand any of her reasons.
"I promise." he wanted to say, but everything happened so quickly that he did not get the chance to tell it to her. As he splashed into the water, he watched as the girl shot back into the sky, dumbfounded by the experience and the fact that he was alive.