SHUT OFF
Elior walked through the forest that was her home. She had spent many good
moments here, memories that made her laugh, or sometimes cry. But although she
liked her environment she couldn't call it home. Home was people and there
were no people in the forest. There were birds and animals and sometimes she
had been sure that she had heard voices, but never has she seen people. Maybe
it was the wind playing tricks on her... Or maybe, and this maybe was what
Elior was hoping for, maybe there were little cracks in the fabric of time
where she could squirm through.
Time was a deceptive thing in the forest. Elior had felt her people dieing and
being reborn, but she had only aged 20 years. 20 lonely years of knowing, but
not living. She could only guess at how much time had passed by in the real
world. Was there even such a thing left for her?
Elior shook her head. She shouldn't waste her time thinking about such foolish
philosophies. Of course there was a real world. And she was going to find it.
Lately there had been something different in the real world. She couldn't
quite grasp it's meaning, but Elior knew that if she was ever to escape she
needed to do it now.
With a last look at her forest she entered her hut. She sighed. It surprised
her how hard it was to leave her prison. It had been intended to keep her safe
for maybe 5 years of war... but no-one had come to get her. That had left a
terrible mark on her. The only ones knowing about her hideaway had been her
parents. They were dead. The thought had struck her soon enough when she had
sensed the number of her people dwindling to 11. At present time she knew for
sure there were again over 200 scattered in the galaxy.
Maybe it was Faith, or maybe just coincidence that she felt a large cluster of
her people on that same planet that had been the home of their enemies. Earth.
The signal was faint, distorted through time, like the survivors of her people
had been smart enough to go back to a time where they could still hide.
It didn't matter, really. The faint signal was strong enough for Elior to lock
on. In her little wooden house Elior sat down on her makeshift bed and
concentrated. She had long searched for the small hole through which the sense
of the real world reached her. For a long time she had thought it was coming
from the place where she had entered, but that spot was sealed shut. Only one
from the outside could open it.
Elior roamed the perimeter, testing it, feeling at it's firm material. Pushing
and pulling, grasping the fabric of it's molecular structure until she found
the place again. The hole was so small that she more sensed it than saw it in
her mind's eye. Carefully she took a look outside. The stars and planets she
saw were not unknown to her, she had seen them in the night sky for countless
nights and once like this.
"It's now or never..." she told herself.
Taking another deep breath Elior closed even her mind's eye for the fabulous
view. In stead she focused on the signal. When she felt the bond take, she
reached out to the hole and squirmed through.
"God... it hurts." she yelled, not able to keep the scream in.
What followed she hadn't been able to foresee. She was not a seer, so how
could she have? The scream had weakened her concentration. Elior was fully
aware of her body again. There were two options, stop and try again or take it
with her in stead of just reaching out mentally like she had planned. For a
single moment she was tempted to stay a little more in her forest. But Elior
knew that she would be stuck here for years longer. No, she needed to go now.
Carefully, stretching herself between the hole and the hut she recited the
teleportation spell she had learned ages ago back home. It was a terrible
strain on her strength to do it alone, fighting the barrier.
Even more pain came to her, seeping through the link with her body. Pain like
she had never felt it before... but she had not yet lived and the pain was
something that could stop her now. Not anymore. With freedom so close she
could taste it.
Elior looked up. She blinked to focus
her eyes and slowly her senses returned. The ground below her with it's grainy
texture, the air a tight blue dome above her. Elior stood up and noticed that
the portal had swayed a little in the last moments of the journey, she had
been too overwhelmed to notice.
Maybe it was for the best that she hadn't appeared in the midst of the small
group. She turned around and saw them on the path below her. She saw they were
headed her way and felt relieved. She had a few moments to rest before she
would have to explain herself.
Elior sat down on a rock and waited. So this was Earth. Elior tried to imagine
the people living here killing her parents. She had expected to feel a need to
avenge herself. Something that would represent her feelings toward the humans
that had chased her to her prison. But no such feeling emerged.
These were not the people who had done that to her. They were like children, innocent
and unknowing of the vast world that was out there. It had never been in her
character to be vindictive and most likely that was a good thing when you
travelled back in time.
Elior sat up straighter. The cluster of people were getting closer. She looked
at the place where they would emerge and tried to look harmless and casual.