Reuben Cabot: 4/20/97, Part I
The pain was beyond endurance, and lasted forever. The fire coursed through my arm until I thought I would lose consciousness. Suddenly, it stopped, as though someone had flipped a switch. I was on my knees, gasping for breath, my throat ragged from screaming. Then I realized, someone's hand was on my wrist. Through blurry eyes I looked up to see a young girl, perhaps Mary's age, gripping my wrist and looking at me sternly.
She released her grip on my wrist, and I looked at my arm. It was burned, and looked horrible and hurt worse. I'd deal with that when I could. Strangely, though, the skin on my wrist was pink and undamaged, but it was covered with a strange tattoo. It was an intricate black webbing that seemed to move as I looked at it. I shook my head and addressed the girl.
"Who...who are you?"
She stepped away, and I saw for the first time that we were not alone. I think. I looked around to see that, in addition to the young girl, we had been joined by what looked for all the world like an small elf, a elderly, naked, pregnant woman, a young girl who looked like Mary, only with pointed ears and fangs, and...a fountain? That hadn't been there before.
I ignored the girl for the moment. "Um, greetings to you all." The newcomers looked at me curiously, but I noticed that Kevin, Kasee, and in fact all of the mages looked at me in puzzlement, as if they couldn't understand what I was saying. I also noticed that Walks All Paths, who had been in human form, had dropped to wolf form.
I wondered - initially, the newcomers had been standing next to the mages, as if paired off. This sparked an idea...
*Hey, Dog? Could those be their avatars?*
He looked at them thoughtfully. *It's distinctly possible. Unlikely, but possible.*
I didn't have any other option, so I went with it. "Greetings, good folk." They drew nearer at the sound of my voice. "It would appear that these mages have been separated from their avatars - yourselves. I ask you to please stay near while I try to help."
I turned to the girl. "I ask you again: who are you?"
She shrugged and said, "I am the first."
Several of the mages started at the sound of her voice. Kasee looked suddenly fearful, Kevin dropped prostrate facing her, and Cab snarled a bit and pulled a dagger. Disturbing. I kept an eye on them as I continued to talk to the girl.
"The first of whom?"
"I am the First of the Four."
"Who are the others?"
"They are not yet here."
Suddenly, Kasee jumped up and bolted for the treeline. "Oh, crap." I jumped up and ran after her, catching up with her easily, since she apparently still couldn't see. I grabbed her and dodged a flailing fist that would have smashed my nose.
"Kasee, it's me, Reuben. Calm down, dammit. No one is going to hurt you..."
She shook her head and tried to speak, but nothing came out. She looked toward my voice in despair and I realized she couldn't understand what I was saying. Shit. Maybe separating from their avatars had scrambled their brains. I led her back to the rest of the group, talking to her in soothing tones, hoping that would be enough to calm her.
When I got Kasee back and sat her down next to Cab, I realized it had gone very quiet. Dog and the girl were staring at each other - glaring at one another, really.
"Dog? Is everything OK?"
No response. I started to worry. They continued glaring. I stepped between them, facing Dog. *Dog! What are you doing?*
He shook his head, and there was a look on his face I'd never seen before: fear. *I don't know. She...I...* He looked at me, baffled. Great. I'd pursue that later.
I turned back to the girl. "Where are we now?"
"This is The Place."
Great. That was useful. "Do you know what has happened to these people?"
"They have been separated from their essence of Pure Ones."
My initial guess had been correct. Now what? "How can they be reunites with their avatars?"
She looked at me contemptuously. "We have all of these shards. Why stay here? Why put them together again?"
"These are my friends. They must be rejoined with their shards and returned to normal." Well, however normal we'd been before...
"It's never been done before."
"It must be done."
I figured I wasn't going to get any help from her. Let's see, how could I join them? I looked around and tried to figure out which avatar belonged to whom. I guessed it would be disastrous if I tried to reunite the wrong avatar with the wrong person. I looked at the elf-like man, who grinned at me mischievously. That had to be Kasee's avatar. I pulled out a crystal from my pouch. "Here. Would you like this?" I edged closer to Kasee.
It didn't work. He ignored me. I straightened up to hear the girl laugh at me.
She reached into the coals of the fire with her bare hand and pulled out something that hadn't been there before: a basket. In the basket were a number of orange fruits. She handed it to me. OK, I guess I need different bait. I started to offer it to the elf, but she laughed again.
"No, you must put it where you want them to go."
I thought on that for a moment, then walked over to Kasee. The girl tossed me one of the fruits. It was something like an apricot. I pulled out my pocketknife and sliced off a bit and held it up to Kasee's mouth. She sniffed at it, then almost bit my fingers off. She reached out and, fumbling, took the fruit from my hand and devoured it. When she was done, the little elf walked over, smiled, and jumped into her. She sat up in shock.
"Kasee? Are you OK"
"Yeah. I can see again."
The girl, who had been standing next to the basket with her arms folded, said, "Fun, isn't it?"
I moved on to Mary. After she ate the fruit, the fountain moved toward her. Moving fountains? Strange. It superimposed itself on her, and she too looked around in wonderment. She stopped when she saw the other girl. She stood up, and they looked at each other intently. They each took a step toward one another, saying in unison, "If there were two..."
And they disappeared.
Oh, man. This made no sense.