All Your Fates (Currently editing/updating)

Chapter 11: Calling the Norns ~ Randy Astle

Chapter A – Calling the Norns

 MUSIC TRACK LIST:

Gyorgy Ligeti / Seven Planters – Lux Aeterna Dark Ambient Remix (https://soundcloud.com/seven_planters/lux-aeterna-dark-ambient-remix)

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DAVID’S POV

My head hurt. Again. Why could I never get used to that part?

I pressed my hand against my eyes, waiting for the pain and vertigo to subside. My teeth ached, like I’d just bit into an ice block, and for a moment I thought I was going to keel over backwards. I staggered around and actually had to reach down and feel my body to make sure there was only one of me. Don’t know what I was seeing in those sunglasses, but at least I was now in one piece. As my head cleared I slowly opened my eyes.

Well this was different.

It was some kind of shack, or a hut I guess. The walls were made out of tree branches, woven together and plastered with some kinda mud, and the ceiling, get this, was literally thatched straw. I felt like I was in one of the Three Little Pigs’ places.

There were windows in each wall and the only light was the sun streaming through, lighting up the dust that rose from the dirt floor. There was some furniture, all wood, but not very much, just a couple stools, what must have passed for a table, a woven cot, and some wooden boxes shoved over in the darkest corner. That’s it. Guess I wasn’t going to find a place to recharge my phone.

I took a few steps around and noticed I was wearing some kind of leather moccasins, and an itchy brown tunic—or toga? Not sure what you’d call it. But it hardly reached halfway down my thigh and, sure enough, there was nothing else underneath to protect me from the elements. Great. I’d somehow found a universe where they hadn’t invented underwear yet. Or pants, of course. Why have one without the other? My whole body tensed up as I felt the breeze on my…er, equipment. This was gonna be hard to get used to.

Or maybe I was only half dressed! I started rummaging around the room, looking for a stash of cool leather underwear—boxers or briefs?—but I only found a bunch of primitive junk like a pile of rocks with symbols painted on them and a bunch of paper scrolls. Those looked interesting, like in a kung fu film or something, and I started rummaging through them. Maybe there’d be something that’d tell me a bit more about where I was—and help me start looking for Emma.

I figured the biggest one would be best, so I pulled it out and started to untie the little cord around it. “Who do we ask for help when we don’t know which way to go?” I’d always wanted a chance to quote Dora the Explorer, but when I spoke I heard something scuffle around in the corner of the hut, with all the boxes. I paused a moment . . . not sure I wanted to see what kinds of pets they had in this universe. But it moved again. “Aw, what the hell.” I tiptoed over and looked in.

Great. A baby. A naked, human, little teeny tiny boy baby.

“Oh, hi, little guy!” I bent over to get a better look at him. He stared back, a little bit of curly hair up on top, some drool working its way out the side of his mouth. I guess it was irresistible because I reached in and started tickling him under his chin. “Who’s a good boy?” I asked. “Who got left naked all alone in a box? Who’s in a box? Who is it? Who’s in the box?”

He cooed and swiped at my finger . . . and I started to think just who was this little kid? Someone had left him alone in here. Who would do that . . . to this poor, cute, little, innocent—

“Gaaaa!!” A stream of yellow liquid came spraying up toward my face. The first drop hit me in the eye, then—like how time slows down when you’re about to get flattened by a semi—I felt little splotches of warmth on my cheeks, chin, and neck—and the rest, the big stream, was coming up fast. Scrambling for safety, I fell backwards, tripping over another one of those damn boxes and crashing to the floor, on top of the scroll I was holding with my left hand. I hit the side of my head pretty hard on the dirt floor and got a little disoriented. Looking up I saw someone standing in the doorway, hands on hips, looking at me.