Chapter One: (Eighteen years before)
All was silent in the village. It was a peaceful and serene afternoon, filled with normal activities, related to preparations for the daily, evening Gathering. The colorful circular village was one of the largest in the universe, inhabiting nearly fifty-thousand souls. The multi-layered lights pulsated from the thousands of square homes, surrounding the central dome-like structure...the Thrall. Straight and winding paths connected the buildings, their borders lined with thick flowers. It’s residents roamed about on these paths, which were in places wide enough to be called streets. Through gardens and doorways they could be seen discussing things in soft or often loud tones, when occasion warranted. The women sang or danced about, keeping an eye on their ever rambunctious children, who ran here and there playing their childlike games. The fields and meadow surrounding the great city were dotted with figures; delightful laughter echoed across the open spaces.
The colored forest, emanating it’s varying hues like a pulsating light itself, gave no cause for alarm. It was quiet and calm. Only the playful singing of birds could be heard.
A young mother walked down one of the paths near the edge the village, heading towards the arched gates that opened out into the fields. Her long dark hair fell across her shoulders, complementing a pair of flashing green eyes. A toddling three-year-old girl clung to the woman’s left hand, her childish chatter bringing a warm smile to her mother’s lips. Another child, nearly an infant, was balanced on her hip, sucking on a thumb. The baby was also a girl. Dark curls encrusted her tiny head.
“Smell the roses, Valerie,” the mother encouraged the three-year-old.
Valerie released her mother’s hand and bent forward sticking her nose directly inside a huge blooming red rose.
“Elyon! Elyon!” Valerie exclaimed, jumping to her feet and clapping her chubby little hands, obviously delighted by the pleasing aroma.
“Yes, my love, it is Elyon. Everything you see, feel, hear and smell is Elyon.”
“More, Mama, more,” the toddler hopped up and down losing her balance.
Her mother instantly caught her hand, setting Valerie back on her feet.
“Careful, Valerie. Lets show Rachelle the fields now.”
Valerie clung to her hand, big wide eyes, very much like her mother’s, glanced with a pugnacious twinkle up into the sky. The baby, Rachelle, cooed softly, her own green eyes watching her sister.
“Sarah!”
The woman turned around at the sound of her name. A tall strong young man was striding towards her, just down the path a ways. Another little dark headed girl, several years older than Valerie, bounced on his broad shoulders. Her hands clung to his hair, as she grinned from ear to ear. Sarah’s lips parted at the familiar sight of her beloved husband and eldest daughter.
“Caleb...where have you been?” she teased, her smile turning to a playful smirk,“ dancing in the Thrall, no doubt?”
His returning smirk confirmed her suspicions as he planted quick kiss on her up turned lips.
“You are intoxicating,” he grinned, mischievously.
Sarah quickly kissed him back, not at all self-conscious at their children’s presence.
It was the Great Romance...the very life that gave them breath. Love was never concealed here in the colored forest.
Valerie wrapped her arms around Caleb’s legs, squealing to be picked up. He chuckled, eyes dropping from Sarah’s and reached down swinging Valerie up into the air. She and her sister both squealed, Valerie in delight, her sister in fear.
“Daddy! I’m gonna fall!”
“No, you’re not, Keira,” he reassured his eldest, settling Valerie on his hip, one hand stilling holding Keira’s legs in place across his chest.
“Where were you headed off to, my dear,” he asked, glancing back at his wife.
A smile still tugging at her lips at the comical sight of Caleb, with the girls hanging off of him in every direction, replied,” The fields. Rachelle, as you know has started crawling and I think she would love the flowers that grow there.”
Sarah kissed her baby’s soft cheek.
“Excellent! Let’s go,” Caleb enthused, brown eyes gazing at her with the deepest affection.
The little family hurried down the path and through the gates, Caleb bouncing up and down in stride, to make his daughters scream in delight.
Finding a quite thick patch of daises that grew across the southern meadows, just along the tree line, Caleb and Sarah set their daughters down. Valerie and Keira immediately set off on a tumbling game of hide-and-seek with their father. Their little bodies could easily be hidden, when they crawled; concealed by the thickly blossoming ivory and purple daisies. Caleb pretended to be astounded at their cleverness and thrashed about after them, causing them to giggle in uproar and then jump on top of him. He fell, allowing them tackle him to the ground.
Meanwhile, Sarah set Rachelle down, letting the child crawl on the soft, luscious grass and then seated herself crossed legged, waving to several friends, other young women, who were taking a walk several yards away. They were laughing at Caleb and the girls.
Sarah’s eyes returned to Rachelle. The baby was sucking her hand, also watching her father and older sisters with marked interest. “You’re not quite old enough yet, darling,” Sarah murmured, brushing her fingertips through the child’s downy curls.
Butterfly darted across the baby’s face. She gurgled, one little hand groping towards it, her eyes wide.
Rachelle laughed and then swiveled her head back towards the rest of her family. Caleb now had Keira on the ground, tickling her unmercifully and Valerie was attempting to climb on his back. Keira’s bubbling laughter echoed through the meadow.
“Pinch him in the back, Val!” she hollered at her second-born. Valerie glanced back at her mother as if unsure if that was a safe action. Her green eyes twinkled mischievously.
Feeling movement from Rachelle, Sarah turned away, not seeing if Valerie heeded her advice or not. Rachelle was just hiking up her rear and attempting to crawl through the flowers. Her little hand grasping the swaying blooms as they bent to the earth. Caleb’s holler of protest, was answer enough of Valerie’s intentions.
Sarah fell back against the flowers herself, enjoying the sheer blissfulness of it all. In a couple more hours the Gathering would begin. As always she looked forward to it. This was Elyon’s love, the delight of his people.
She didn’t even hear the screams when they first erupted, nearly one-hundred yards deep in the forest. Sarah’s eyes were closed, listening to the familiar sounds of her family around her. But her eyes flew open when Rachelle’s tiny body bumped against hers as the baby tried to crawl up onto her mother.
Sarah giggled, sitting up and pulling Rachelle into her lap.
“What is it, Chelle? Tired of the daisies already?” That was the baby’s treasured nickname, encouraged by Valerie who could not speak her sister’s full name without slurring it.
Rachelle’s eyes gazed up at Sarah’s wide and unblinking. Full of innocence.
Sarah heard a distant scream. Her eyes flew up scanning the field. Everything appeared to be as it should. Terror was not something she would have recognized. So the strange noise confused her. It clearly came from a human throat, but who would make such a sound?
Caleb was now crawling along the ground, with both girls riding on top of him, kicking their legs to make him move faster. He didn’t appear to have heard the noise.
Then there it was again....a clear audible shriek, filled with some kind of sensation that sent chills racing down her spine. The voice that followed, was shouting an inaudible stream of words. It came directly from the forest. Sarah froze. It was her brother’s voice.
Daniel’s voice.
“Caleb?” He didn’t appear to hear her, because of the loud, giggling voices of the girls.
The screams intensified, and now she could distinctly see the familiar form of her sixteen-year-old brother racing through the trees towards them, waving his arms frantically.
“Caleb?” she repeated, much louder, alarm in her voice. Daniel would often run, he was known for his unmatched speed, but the way in which he ran was not normal, or in anyway recognizable. If she could imagine what it was like to run for your life, that was exactly the picture she was seeing from the scene of her rapidly approaching brother.
Caleb heard her voice and the screams now. He sat up, both girls sliding off his back in a giggling heap.
Sarah jumped to her feet, holding Rachelle close.
“Caleb, something isn’t right,” she said, her voice filling with intensity. She hardly understood what she spoke, only that what she was saying was the truth.
“Is that Daniel?” he said, stepping forward.
Sarah didn’t have to nod as her brother burst through the tree-line heading straight towards them. His face stricken with the most indescribable expression she had ever seen. His screams were now discernible words. His blue eyes so wide, she could see white.
The people across the meadows were all staring at him, stirring uneasily.
“Run...they’re coming! The Shataiki! They’re attacking!”
Sarah’s heart jumped to her throat, not understanding the words he spoke.
The Shataiki? Of course not...what nonsense. Their enemies would never break the rules. They would never cross the river. But Daniel’s eyes spoke the truth...there was no denying it. He rushed nearly into Caleb.
“Run! What are you waiting for? They’re killing everyone in their path.! Hurry, see the cloud?” he pointed towards the south through the trees, anxiously gripping Caleb’s arm.
Sarah and Caleb’s eyes both swung too where he pointed.
Nothing.
No, wait, there did seem to be a dark haze. Then she smelled a stench, born in on the wind. Nothing in the colored forest smelled like that. It was evil through and through.
Sarah panicked,” Caleb the girls!” she screamed rushing towards her children.
But Caleb and Daniel were already ahead of her, scooping Valerie and Keira into their arms.
“Run to the Thrall!” her husband shouted, holding Keira tightly against his chest. All three raced towards the village.
More screams erupted from the forest behind them and Sarah slightly turned to see several more people stumble into the valley. Two were covered in blood.
Horrific shrieks followed as everyone began running towards the village.Then Sarah began to hear the Shataiki’s screeches. It could be nothing else, because they were so unfamiliar, yet so frightening, in a way she had never felt before. She felt a shadow and glanced back again, gulping in horror. The haze was now a thick black cloud, hovering above the forest still maybe half a mile back.
“We’re not going to make it!” she wheezed to Caleb, noticing the speed with which the cloud approached.
“Run, don’t look back!” he shouted.
Thirty seconds later they were approaching the gates, the frantic mass of people congregating there was already beginning to clog up the entry.
“Shataiki! Shataiki!” everyone was screaming.
“We have children!” Caleb shouted, pushing his way through. The struggling crowd parted.
Daniel and Sarah followed and some how they made it through the gates, but the streets were just as congested.
The Shataiki’s screams were now just overhead. The enemy’s cloud was beginning to darken the sun.
Caleb swung around face to the skies, his eyes still shocked and frantic. The cloud was a writhing swarm of tangled, feathered bodies. Red eyes glared down with hate upon them. Sarah’s screams were frozen into silent horror.
Keira was also clinging to Caleb in frightened silence. Valerie was sobbing. Rachelle was wailing. Sarah didn’t even try to soothe her.
Daniel shoved the door to the nearest house open, screaming at them to take cover. Confusion swirled around them, as the people blindly plunged for any kind of safety, the majority not even aware of what they were running from. Sarah stood next to Caleb, unable to move, her face locked on the skies.
Daniel was still shouting at them, people were already brushing past him for safety in the house.
Sarah shrieked as the first Shataiki dove to the ground like a bomb attacking three young girls in the middle of the street. His talons digging into their flesh...ripping and clawing.
The crowd surged forward in fear at this, as within seconds more Shataiki followed, tearing through the people. Sarah felt Caleb pulled away from her in the frenzied crowd.
“Caleb!” she screamed, reaching for him. He had disappeared.
Another Shataiki attacked someone only two yards away from her. They fell writhing in a pool of blood.
She and Rachelle would be their next prey.
A hand suddenly grabbed her arm and she felt herself pulled across the street and through a doorway.
It was Daniel.
He slammed the door shut and turned to face her. She was intelligibly screaming at him about Caleb. But he held her back, and scooped up Valerie from the floor where he had left her. About ten other people sat in frightened huddles throughout the room.
“Down to the basement!” one of the men ordered,” They’ll get through the windows!”
Feeling numb with despair, Sarah followed everyone down the steps to the cool, underground storage room. Someone screamed from the back of the group, as something smashed through the window. Sarah heard a shriek as she was shoved towards the back of the room, against the wall. Scuffling followed, shouting and then the door to the stair slammed shut and the lock slid in place. Everyone was in.
One man stood with blooding dripping from a deep gash across his forehead. A Shataiki had dove into the window just before he’d left the room and attacked him. But now they were safe.
Daniel set down beside his sister, cradling a whimpering Valerie. Her head was buried in his chest.
“Caleb...” Sarah moaned.
“Perhaps he hid in another house,” Daniel tried to reassured as did the others.
But deep down in her heart Sarah knew nothing would ever be the same again. Someone had crossed over the river into the black forest, someone had eaten the forbidden fruit and someone had gone against Elyon.
But who? Why? How could someone desire to do such a horrible act?
Sarah’s cries mingled with her child’s as she buried her face in Rachelle’s back and cried. Darkness washed over her spirit.
Death was here. The people’s blood was defiling everything it touched.
And in her heart she knew Caleb and Keira were gone.
