Epica

Ra’ulr, taller than most folks of his tribe felt dwarfed every time he walked through the Qlarq jungle of the west. The towering trees, twisting creepers and blue shrubs covered the earth. The sunlight barely made its way through the blow cover of the towering trees. “Do you see it?” Ra’ulr whispered to his companion, Tor’il.

“Yes.” He squinted his slitted eyes, “It’s grazing around 20 bowlengths away.”

“Good.” Ra’ulr slowly inched closer in the direction Tor’il pointed. His padded feet muted the cracking of twigs and dried leaves. The two hunters within 10 bowlengths. Ra’ulr stringed his oakwood bow and loaded the arrow. The Arrow dashed and pierced the beast in the eyes, killing it instantly.

“Yeah.” Tor’il rejoiced and patted Ra’ulr on his back, “Whatever we’ll do without you, brother?” Ra’ulr smiled and the two walked towards the fallen beast. The horned beast weighed atleast 10 stones Tor’il estimated, “This is gonna feed every one of the villagers today. Great kill.” Ra’ulr knelt next to the beast and chopped it’s tongue off. He lifted it above his head and offered it to the Jungle God, whispering a thankful prayer, he buried the chopped off tongue.

“Help me carry the beast.” Ra’ulr said as he tied a rope at the forelimbs. Tor’il helped Ra’ulr and two lifted the heavy beast on their shoulders and started towards the east. Ra’ulr looked up in sky and saw a veil of dark blue leaves fluttering. Thank the Gods above Tor’il can see in darkness.

“So brother,” Tor’il started a conversation, “That girl, Rhe’a seems to have taken a liking in you.” Ra’ulr cheeks flushed red when he mentioned her name. Though Tor’il couldn’t see his face, “So something did happen.” Tor’il let out a chuckle. How the fuck did he sense that.

“Yeah.” Ra’ulr smiled, “We kissed.”

“Jungle God,” Tor’il sounded astonished, “When did it happen?”

“A couple of weeks back.” The two pushed towards the east, their steps muffled by the paddings, “We kissed at the foot of Soul Tree. It was magical. The dried, brown leaves were falling as we kissed. It felt like we had the blessings of Soul Tree.”

By the time the two had exited Qlarq the sun had made its descent and was below the horizon, turning the eastern sky purplish, “You lead the way Tor’il.” Ra’ulr said as they walked through the flatlands filled with blowing sand and lurking scorpions. “Warn me if you see a freaking bug. I hate them.”

The sunset brought a chilling wind, hitting them directly in their faces. They covered their faces with wet masks to protect the sand from damaging their skins, “At 100 bowlengths,” Tor’il eyes were as wide as they possibly could get, “I see something. Smoke is rising from the ground.” Tor’il focused harder, “The sand is slowly shifting towards it, as if something it tugging it.” The two carefully neared the spot.

When they were at just a bowlength, Ra’ulr put the heavy beast to the ground and walked. A circular fissure had opened in the ground. Ra’ulr knelt to the edge and peeped inside. At the far end of the fissure a golden light irradiated. Ra’ulr felt the ground and pulled out a heavy stone. He dropped the stone and waited for it to ring. Endless? “You think it’s endless?” Tor’il read his expression as the two knelt carefully at the edge.

“Never seen anything like that.” Ra’ulr said, his eyes looked for answers to the questions that slowly bubbled into existence. The fissure slowly grew and the two pulled back. Their eyes were locked at the golden light shining from within yet not illuminating the dark hole in the earth. What the hell is this. The sands flowing towards the opening gained speed. The wind changed direction and for a moment Ra’ulr didn’t realize what was happening.

“Get away from here.” He shouted as he was hit by an epiphany. The two tried to run away from the hole but the fissure sucked everything in and mighty Argardians were falling into an endless, dark pit. At first, they screamed realizing their unnatural death, but minutes later they had lost their energy and voice screaming. The fall lasted for hours, or so it felt. Finally, they crashed through the golden light and it almost blinded them. A gentle thud and they felt hard, hot surface on their backs and unpleasant cacophonic sound mixed with human voice echoed in their ears. When finally, their vision returned they found themselves in a world not their own.

Towering, unnatural structures stretched as far as his eyes could gaze in the sky above. Ra’ulr rubbed his eyes trying to fathom the view. He got to his feet and found Tor’il sitting in pain and keeping his eyes tightly shut. The unnatural amount of light here must be a pain. Ra’ulr quickly walked to him and handed him another mask to cover his eyes. When Tor’il was done, Ra’ulr observed his surrounding and let it sink in.

Huge humans, reaching about 8 feet in height walked around them ignorant of their 4 feet presence. Unlike Argardians who were clad in rugged bottoms and white shirts, these humans wore colorful clothes. A passing human fashioned a pink dress so tight to his skin that his lungs would probably collapse. Another woman wore some demeaning clothes, nothing on the top and a tight, small pant that revealed the linings of her natural parts. Some humans walked naked and were tattooed all over their bodies.

“What do you see, brother?” Tor’il asked, sensing Ra’ulr’s awe.

“Some weird ass shit.” Ra’ulr noticed each and every human passing, “I’m not sure about these humans.” Are they humans? Are we on some other planet? He thought as he recalled a deep conversation he had with Rhe’a about humans and how wonderful it’d be if there was some out there beyond the endless dark sky, watching over us, observing us.

Without realizing, Ra’ulr looked towards the sky and only thing that looked remotely like it was small cracks that appeared once in a while as something in the sky shifted. He focused harder and saw moving carriages of light and metal, and humans flying hundreds of bowlengths above them. I cannot even send an arrow flying towards them. They look like those tiny bugs I detest.

Someone screamed in the distance and Ra’ulr turned towards the source. And saw a gigantic man wearing a warrior’s clothes running towards them. Not understanding what to do next the two dashed away from the approaching man. The gigantic man was at their heels in an instant and in another past them chasing a wild woman who was dressed in a black coverall robe. Probably some sort of criminal. Are they able to see us. “Hello?” he tried to touch another passing human who went straight through his forearms.

“What happened?” Tor’il asked, sensing confusion.

“I cannot touch them.” He said looking at himself. He slapped Tor’il on his back who abused him in return. “I can touch you. I can feel the ground beneath me. I can hear the jarring sounds, and feel the hot wind blowing and the choking smell of Sulphur and carbon. Yet I cannot touch these humans.”

“Can you hear that?” Tor’il asked cupping his left ear, “Something is humming in that direction.” He pointed, “We should follow that sound.”

The two followed the sound and moved through the winding roads and towering, man made jungle. They still tried to avoid the passing humans as it felt ridiculously awkward and also everytime a human passed through them, they heard a gentle shriek of pain from the monstrous being, as if it felt their presence.

They were finally out of the jungle and into an open wasteland of metal, rotting food and human excrete. The air was heavy with Sulphur and methane and it became extremely difficult for them to breathe. The humming sound which had guided Tor’il was now clearly audible to Ra’ulr, along with hundred different sounds he had never heard.

It came from another jungle, more natural than the previous one, yet gloomy and darker then their own. Instinctively Ra’ulr looked up towards the sky and saw floating waste and a gentle red sun and bright blue star. Two suns? Definitely not our planet. Though the sun looks awfully like our own. Ra’ulr thought.

The two scurried and moved through the wasteland and reached the base of the gloomy forest. “Come in.” The wind whispered to them and Ra’ulr heart pounded hard against his own chest in anxiety and fear, “There’s nothing to be afraid of Ra’ulr.” It whispered again. How does it know my name.

Gathering guts and praying to the Gods above he set his foot inside the gloomy forest. “Tor’il, I’ll need your help here.” Ra’ulr felt for him on his right, “Take of the mask, it’s pitch black here. Oh be ready to be shocked, I’ve seen some weird ass shit just now.”

Tor’il removed the protection from his eyes and he gave out a gasp of shock and awe, “What do you see? Talk to me.” Ra’ulr said.

“There are humans everywhere. And they are unnaturally still and in a strange box. Something is connected to their belly buttons, like the cords we cut on a baby. They are calm and still… Breathing gently.

“They are interconnected and it’s flowing somewhere. I see a faint light coming from the same direction. It’s almost blinding.” Tor’il grabbed his head and tilted it towards the source of light. Ra’ulr eyes constricted a little. It was bright and yet it didn’t light up the jungle like it should have.

“We’ll follow that light.” Ra’ulr said and the two walked.

“Where the fuck are we?” Tor’il started again. How can he talk so much? “Maybe in some far off country?” Tor’il guessed. Let’s keep him in the dark for now. Ra’ulr decided.

The light was glowing from a huge, skyscraping door made of material unknown to Ra’ulr or the brilliant Argardian scholars. Ra’ulr brought his hand forward to touch the door and it opened before he could feel the texture. A blinding light hit their eyes and Tor’il screamed in pain covering his eyes with his hands. “Why the fuck does this happen again and again? Can’t you give me a warning?”

“Enter.” The wind whispered in Ra’ulr ears.

“Where are we?” Ra’ulr asked, hoping for a reply, “Who are you?” as he entered the glowing chamber. His eyes adjusted quickly and he saw an empty, white room with walls, ceiling and floor merging to create an illusion of spherical chamber.

“I’m Epica. An artificially sentient being. I was created to take care of the last of the humanity left on the earth.” A voice echoed.

“Last of the Humanity?” Ra’ulr asked, “Wait… We are on Earth?”

“Yes. You are on Earth.” Epica said in a mechanical voice, “Yes the Last of the Humanity. The powerful Kings, the Rich Businessmen and Beautiful actresses left the dying Earth to colonize the stars.”

“She’s insane. Let’s get hell outta here.” Tor’il said smirking at Epica.

“Why weren’t we able to touch the humans?”

“They just holograms.” Epica replied, “They were designed to keep the minds of the resting humans working. Yet every time you pass through them they’ll sense you. The voices were also artificially created.

“You are gotta be kidding me!” Ra’ulr smirked.

“What is your name young one?” Epica asked.

“Ra’ulr.”

“Did you enter through a huge opening in the earth?”

“Yes.” Tor’il answered.

“That opening was a vent to this machine that Last of the Humanity created, before escaping. The vent bends the space-time fabric creating a wormhole passing through which you can travel time.” Epica paused for a dramatic effect.

“You’ve come through the future and are looking at the past.” Epica said.

“You said these were the Last of the Humanity, and yet here I’m standing in front of you, a Man from the future.”

Epica didn’t reply immediately, “Some who weren’t capable of escaping the earth or being cast into these pods and chose to die, I guess probably survived.”

“Why did you bring us here?”

“I needed company of a sentient being. I’ve been here for a thousand year and talking care of these almost dead humans alone. I’m bored.”

“Are we going to leave?” Ra’ulr asked.

“Someday, yes.” Epica chuckled, “And don’t try to run, or escape on your own. You don’t know the way out, I do.”

Sighing, Ra’ulr sat down, legs crossed. He pulled Tor’il sit next to him, “If we are here for a long time, can you please adjust the light.” Tor’il said, “I’m in pain.” The lights adjusted to a comfortable level for both and they embraced themselves for a long, interesting—if not realistic time.

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