I know I'm supposed to be celebrating, but what do I really have to celebrate about? The death of my mother? The death of my friends? The possible destruction of my home and entire species? I stay in the apartment that Sendaar, Hotaru, and I have been lodged in over the past four days.
The band plays outside in the Merchant's Square. Fireworks can be seen rejoicing outside my window. I slump my frame against the windowsill, staring painfully at the cheer and joy. My sighs fog up the glass with each heave. I end up making a game of it, counting the seconds it takes to have the fog dissipate.
A jolting knock echoes through my door, waiting for me to answer it. I do not. The caller comes in anyway; by the smell of something burning, I know it to be Hotaru.
"Hey," he says quietly, which is rather unlike him. I don't respond with any form of greeting, rather I play with the scarf around my neck. I miss Shadequill and the Professor. Who knows if they're even still alive.
"How are you holding?" He asks, pulling up a large chair to sit in. "I'm sorry about your mum. I bet she was very lovely."
"That she was." I agree quietly.
"You had a good thing going- with your mum and all." Hotaru says. "Me, I didn't think the domesticated life was for me- parents and families and all that." He waves a furred hand nonchalantly, "I thought it would be better to run off and explore. I was only forty when I left."
"Was it worth it?" I ask.
"You tell me," he replies, throwing me a locket. It is hand crafted silver with intricate dragons etched on the face. I open it up to reveal a clock, and a picture of my mother.
"M'mum!" I exclaim with surprise.
"Actually, that would be our mother."
"B-but, how?" My emotions burst out of me in the disguise of confusion.
He laughs and smiles, "You never were very observant, were you? And always forgetful. I wouldn't blame you for not remembering much of your childhood. We never talked much anyhow. You were with your books and I was always in the back playing."
I caress the locket with my thumb, stroking the picture of my mother. She is smiling, looking outwards as if she is looking at me. A tear forms in the corner of my eye and dances down my face.
"I don't suppose you could share her with me?" He asks. His hand stretches out, asking for his photo back.
"Of course," I say, choking back tears. I never noticed how similar we look. Besides the lack of scales on his forearms, back, and tail and the ear piercings, we look like we could be related easily.
We smile at each other and I give him a hug. "Let's go out with the others." Hotaru grabs ahold of my shoulder and we walk out of the apartment. "Oh, by the way, you're apparently supposed to make a speech in Bellsulion's place since he can't make it."
"Wait, what?" I say with surprise and a hint of stage fright. I've never been good with presentations; I end up stuttering terribly or mispronouncing words. The Professor would always lecture me on my presence and posture when presenting my projects.
My brother chuckles at my bashfulness. 'M'brother.' I think to myself, 'How amazing is that.'
Hotaru gives me an encouraging shove on the neck. "You'll do fine. If it's anything like you're speech on herbs and fungi you'll do just fine."
"Oh, man, ye really remember that?"
"Ha! Mum practically dragged me to the school to hear your presentation; I don't think I could ever forget that one." We both laugh, reminiscing on the past. I wonder how much we have missed out on each other's lives.
We arrive to a wall of people celebrating our small victory. They notice us at once and cheer us on as we walk through the path clearing before us. Apparently, Hotaru is a heroic warrior- holding up a toppled over, crumbling building to save a mother and two children, all the while fighting off two soldiers with just his magma stinger.
The crowd applauds, patting our shoulders and trying to touch us. I feel a bit uncomfortable being crowded around with so many people reaching out and petting me. I'm not quite into the whole petting zoo thing and I really don't want to start now. But what can one do, since these people have been through quite enough to take off ten years of their lives. It's best to just grin and bear it.
Sendaar waves his arms to get our attention and we make our way to meet him. "Ah, there you two are! I've been looking for you everywhere." His lackluster scolding is nothing more than playful banter. I playfully nudge him and he returns the gesture. Hotaru also jumps into this roughhousing, if that's what you'd call this, and gives me a jesting shove. We duke it out in a playful swatting war until Adlanniel comes around, immediately dropping our hands and putting on innocent faces as if we aren't the rambunctious handful that we are.
She smiles, knowing we're goofing off. "You ready to give your speech?" Her hand is placed on her hip in an inquisitive way. She has her hair in a half-crown braid with beads and sparkly gems weaved into the braid.
"As ready as I'll ever be," I say weakly. This speech will probably bomb, but it will probably be a tad bit better than my herbs and fungi presentation, luckily for Hotaru.
"Good, the president will introduce you, so just head up towards the stage when he says your name." Adlanniel informs me, which I appreciate her doing so greatly.
The president is a short, middle-aged man wearing a fine suit and tie. He fidgets with his pocket watch that dangles in his hand from a long, bronze chain. The man talks for quite some time, and I'm ashamed to say that I drift off to daydreams during this time, only keeping just enough of myself focused to hear my name being called.
As I hear my cue, I realize that squeezing past all these people would be disastrous, so instead I leap into the air and fly over them and the stage- circling once to land. They cheer with upmost enthusiasm, which I guess to be associated with my fly by; I hadn't meant to look flashy, I just couldn't think of any other straightforward way to getting to where I need to be.
I step forward to what looks to be a flashy microphone, fully decorated with metal wires encasing the diaphragm. "'Allo," I begin my improvised speech, "'bout three weeks ago, I was given a simple and mediocre task. 'Twasn't anything special; just something any ol' student of science would partake in. What I didn't know was in a matter of days of b'ginning m'task, I would be thrown into the mix of something much larger than any scientific experiment.
"I saw something that no creature should 'ave to go through. I saw a massacre of families and the destruction of many homes in a peaceful community. It breaks m'heart to think of all those innocent lives, stolen by the brutality of people who think they are more worthy and more significant than the rest of their brethren.
"This, this League of Mist is no more than a self-absorbed extremist group that is so stuck in their belief of superiority that they can't see how equally important each creature is to Yugure. This blindness is their weakness. Each species has their own gifts to give to the worlds we live in, and if the Mist wishes to carry out genocide, then they are fools!
"I 'ave seen m'fair share of death, but there is something - a pattern - I've noticed about this fact of existence. When one thing dies, life is there to take its place. 'Tis all 'round us. Nature's key trait is to survive. When one tree dies, a new one shall sprout to take its place ev'ry time. With those odds on our side, how can we lose?"
A chorus of cheering resounds in the audience. I must have said something right, so I continue, "When we fight f'er life, there is no chance of defeat! The way of life is on our side! How can we back down when the proof of victory is so evident!? We can't! We mustn't back down from our rights!" I now am in a yelling contest with the crowd, seeing who can be louder: with their applauds and shouts of praise or me and my motivational speech.
"As long as I am standing, I shall fight f'er m'brethren, m'home, m'family, m'homelands known as Yugure! Who else shall take this vow?!"
"AYE!" The entire congregation yells with emphasis, fists raised to the skies.
"Then ye are m'brothers and m'sisters. And as m'family, I vow to protect ye with ev'ry fiber of m'being and with ev'ry breath in m'lungs.
"I am y'er Guardian of the Green."
/*cries a bunch and virtually hugs all my beloved Yugurians*
I can't believe that I'm sitting here typing this. This is one of my final posts for this book. Day Twenty-Six is the final chapter of Plummeting Into Uncharted Depths. You have just finished the book.
Congratulations and thank you for reading!
BUT WAIT, there's more!
Stay tuned for the Epilogue and teaser chapter of book two! They should be posted soon.
Be sure to comment, vote, and all that other crazy stuff you know I love. I've just went through and edited all the chapters of their errors. Of course, if any of you lovely readers loves to be a stickler for grammar and punctuation and sees a no-no, feel free to point out any errors you may find- I'd appreciate the extra meticulous eyes.
I shall be putting this under the completed category as soon as the teaser chapter is posted. I will try my luck at publishing this beaut into a physical novel! Who knows, maybe this fun hobby of mine might go somewhere.
Thank you all for your support throughout this book, and leave a comment if you'd please to let me know what you think of the story. I reply to all my readers' comments.
Looking forward to the next journey,
~Eno/