The First Drop

Xak felt as though he was floating on air. No… it was more like floating in the waters of the Jeweled Lake, like he did as a child. In fact, he even felt as though he was drenched. A long white tunnel stretched into infinity before him. The only thing disturbing the tranquility was a muted, sustained roar in the background. Now that he concentrated on the noise, it sounded as if it was getting steadily louder. Soon it seemed to be all encompassing, so loud that his whole body ached. The long white tunnel ahead of him seemed to reluctantly fade away as the roar tore him back to reality.

Xak awoke abruptly, the roar vibrating throughout his entire body. He was floating in a large pool at the base of an impossibly tall cliff. A waterfall cascaded down from above the clouds, smashing into the water at the far side and causing the ruckus. Unnaturally huge trees grew all along the edge of the large body of water. Even the undergrowth seemed larger than what he was used to. All in all, everything seemed to dwarf him in size, and made him seem very small. Snapping out of his reverie, he noticed that a current was to pulling him towards a river that curved into the jungle and out of sight. Deciding that he should figure out where he was now before he was pulled off deeper into this strange place, he swims against the gentle current up to the bank of the basin, and drags himself onto the muddy shore.

He sighed and flipped over, staring up into what little of the cloudy sky he could see past the canopy. He couldn’t see a glimpse of the blue sky he was used to. And what little sunlight filtered through the heavy cloud cover had an odd bluish tint to it. Xak set his mind to thinking about where exactly he could be now. Clouds were above him, whereas they had normally been below him. It would take someone much more stupid than Xak to realize what that implied. He had been pushed off of Kriiqit into what he had always been taught was an endless cloudy abyss, where any unfortunate Kriiqen would fall forever. And yet, here he was on solid ground, well muddy ground at least, but all the same. All the evidence pointed to the fact that all he knew had been a lie. There was a world outside of Kriiqit.

Xak couldn’t be sure how long he lay dazed on the bank, contemplating all the stunning and unexpected revelations, as he had no way of telling time without view of the sun. He was still nowhere near quelling all his metal turmoil when he heard something over the sound of the waterfall, and whatever local wildlife scurried through the jungle behind him. It sounded like a woman talking, but the voice had a lilting, musical quality he’d never before heard from any woman. It made him want to seek her out and talk to her, and hear her voice talking to him. He shook his head, driving away the odd impulse. He didn’t know who or what could be in this strange place. He could suddenly recall vivid horror stories Melanya used to scare him with as he grew up. Stories of large winged creatures with beautiful delicate features that stole away bad children on particularly misty mornings. Who or whatever was coming, Xak wasn’t about going to wait out in the open for it. But still, the voice seemed to tug at him, and he felt reluctant to just run away. Rationalizing it as not wanting to go blundering into the jungle just yet, he pulled himself to his feet with effort and staggered behind the nearest tree. He slumped behind the large tree and sighed softly; he hadn’t noticed till now, but he was pretty bruised up. For the first time, he wondered just how he had survived the fall from Kriiqit. The thought was abruptly swept aside as the pleasant voice he heard passed by the other side of his hiding spot.

It was close enough to hear what the woman’s, for he was sure that this could be nothing other than a woman, words. “Ah! What a great day!”

To his surprise, a second, quieter voice answered, “Yeah! You’ve been saying that since we left home.” The second voice had the same irresistible quality,

“And it still is, which is why I’m surprised, whenever we come over here, it always tends to rain. So don’t make fun of me little sister!” She let out a giggle that made Xak’s spine tingle. It was the last straw; he had to see whose voice that was. He began edging around the tree to take a quick peek.

The second voice let out a high-pitched squeal and giggled, “I’m not big sis! I swear!”

“Well good. I’d hate to have to tickle you again.” Both voices giggle impishly.

Xak peeked around the edge of the tree and saw the most beautiful, and least dressed, girl he had ever seen. She had a smooth, heart shaped face with a straight, blue hair that went down to her waist. Her skin was a pale white that seemed to glow in the blue lighting. Her delicate wings fluttered slightly as she stepped into the water, and her firm round… Wait a minute. Xak did a double take. Then he did a triple take. Although she looked like a normal (Although unnaturally beautiful) girl, she had a pair of insect wings growing from the small of her back. In fact, they looked like they belonged to a dragonfly more than a Kriiqen. Although, the mysterious winged woman made it work.

While Xak was admiring the view, the woman continued to talk to her sister, who as far as Xak could tell, wasn’t there. The only thing in the clearing Xak could see was a small insect flitting around the beautiful girl. In fact, she seemed to be talking to the insect. Xak rubbed his eyes and looked closer at the insect flitting around. It wasn’t a bug at all! It was another girl with wings, although this one was much smaller. She really was a little sister! It was hard to make out details, especially with her flying around so much, but if he squinted Xak could make out shoulder length blue hair, a tad lighter than her older sister’s, and her features were also close. The only difference between the two was size. Not just the obvious size, everything about them contrasted their size, from their hair length to their bust size.

Suddenly Xak felt a twinge of conscience as he realizes that he’s spying on two naked girls as they bathed. This didn’t feel right to him. He decides to show himself and apologize for watching them. Maybe then they could tell him where he was, why they had wings, and if there was a way back up to Kriiqit. Then he could take the beautiful winged girl back with him, tell all Kriiqit of the world below them, become a hero, and be pardoned by the king, reunite with Melanya, marry the winged girl, and live in luxury for the rest of his life. The perfect plan! But right as Xak was about to call out to them, someone else beat him to it.

“Hey there! I said hello!” an oddly dressed man in tan fatigues and a funny hat called out as he came from the underbrush on the opposite side of the pool. He had a well-groomed white mustache that curled up on either side. Xak had never seen someone so strange before, but the man goes on oblivious to his own oddity, “Young lady there, I was wondering if you could give me assistance, I said I was hoping you could tell me just where I am.”

The two bathing women looked at each other and whispered conspiratorially, but loud enough that Xak could hear.

“Ooh, he looks nice. Can I have him?”

“I suppose big sis. But promise me I get the next one.”

“Of course Ira, the next human’s all yours.”

“ Excuse me! Missus! I said pardon me, but I need some assistance. I appear to have gotten turned about, and I can’t find my camp. I said I’m afraid I may be in a bit of a bind. So if you could get dressed, I said if you’d put your clothes on.”

Xak couldn’t help but feel jealous of the strange man. Why was she talking so friendly to that mustachioed weirdo? Why not him? He was about to call out again, and show the winged girls what a real man looked like when he noticed that the man had apparently gone off. He was nowhere to be seen. The girl waved and then picked something up from the ground. Her sister, (Ira wasn’t it?), flitted over to look at whatever the winged woman picked up. Xak couldn’t tell what they were doing, what they might be saying, or even what they were looking at so intently. Before too long though, the older sister tilted her head back and after a few more seconds turned and came back with Ira flying along beside her. Xak is able to catch the back end of their conversation.

The small one flitted up “-ow was he Lucy?”

‘Oh, the older sister’s name is Lucy.’ Xak thought, ‘What a pretty name.’

“You keep asking me that, he was good. He’s certainly energetic!” Lucy laughs and her hand brushes her stomach.

“Oh, I wish a human would come for me too!”

“Well until one does, why don’t you swim a bit? I’m feeling a bit tired now, so I’ll join you soon.” Lucy pats her sister on the head and stretches out on the bank. Ira just nods and zips off, hitting the water with a small splash.

Xak watched the scene with great interest. He didn’t understand what they were talking about. He recognized most of the words, but just what they were talking about was beyond him. Regardless, now that the mustachioed man had left, Xak decided to reveal himself. He couldn’t think of any reason to hide from these winged sisters. He hoped they’d forgive him for spying on them so long. He stepped out from behind the tree.

The two girls didn’t see him, or if they did, they paid him no attention.

Xak cleared his throat slightly.

Lucy just lay on the ground, her hands behind her head. Ira splashed about in the water, cheering like a child half her age.

“Uh, excuse me. I was-” Faster than he would have thought possible, the two girls were in front of him. The elder peered at him, and the younger buzzed about his head. “Um. Hi. I woke up here, and then you guys came, and I was hiding.” Xak stopped babbling and turned red as the sisters began talking to each other as if he wasn’t there.

“A human! A human came! Just like you said!” Ira squealed.

“I told you. He’s all yours.”

As Xak stammered questions incoherently, and consciously forced himself to look up, Ira smiled, and flew to his head. She pointed a finger at him. After a few seconds she frowned. She pointed again. She tried pointing with both hands. Xak raised an eyebrow, “What are you doing?”

She ignored him again. “Big sis! It doesn’t work!”

“Doesn’t work?” Lucy asked, “Are you sure your doing it right?”

“Ya! Of course I am!” Ira stuck her tongue out. “But it’s not working.”

“Move aside and let big sis do it for you. See how a pro does it.” Lucy cracks her knuckles and walks up to Xak who, to his credit, was no longer trying to explain himself, or ask questions. He decided to just wait and see if they eventually would talk to him. Lucy points at him, to the same effect as Ira. “What gives?” She jabs her finger at him a few more times.

“See! See! I told you Lucy! He’s just strange! It doesn’t work on him.” Ira circled her sister.

‘I’m strange?’ Xak thought. Wisely he didn’t say it aloud.

“Well I guess there’s only one way for me to have him. I’ll just have to be your real big sis.” Lucy giggles a bit and stretches.

“But Big Sis!” Ira whined, “You said he’d be mine!”

Lucy sighs. “But you can’t have him. Neither of us can affect him. And we shouldn’t just let him go. I’m the only one who can have him.”

“But you promised!” Ira flies up to her sister’s face and makes her best puppy eyes. “Pleeeease! What if we take him to Kran?”

Lucy makes a show of thinking over the response. “Alright Ira. I guess we can take him to Kran. If Kran is unable to do it, no one will.”

“Wait, do what? Who’s Cran?”

“It’s Kran, with a K. And don’t you mind human. Come with us.” Ira grabs Xak’s hand and walks into the jungle, pulling him along. Xak sighs inwardly and allows himself to be pulled along by the strange woman. People outside of Kriiqit are so weird!