Chapter 4

He then took my hand-I didn’t say anything-and started leading me through the thick trees. “So-”

“Wait. Wait. First off, tell me…” I looked around nervously. “What was that thing?” 

“Oh, that?” He smiled. “Kimera. They’re as common as rats, twice as dangerous. They taste amazing, though.” 

At that I gave a little squeal of disgust. “Ew! You seriously eat those things?”  

“Yeah, they’re a major food source for us. All the forests around here are crawling with the things; we don’t even need to farm them.” 

       I raised an eyebrow and wondered what kind of crazy dream-world-whatever I’d landed in. “Okay, okay, um…” It’s probably obvious that this place and this guy were unnerving enough but there were a few things I was dying to know. “Listen, just tell me: who are you, who is we, and where is here?” I snapped at him. 

       He gave a solemn nod. “Uh, in order, I’m Alex, we—that is, my people—are called Malinites, and here is Kendry.” Of course, two of those words held no meaning to me at the time. Seeing my confusion, he went on. “See, Kendry and Earth have always been closely intertwined-”

“What’s a Kendry?” I asked. He looked a little taken aback, like I’d just asked a really dumb question. 

       “Kendry is…this. This world—uh, dimension—no, I think it’s a planet—whatever. It’s the land we’re standing on. Kendry. Namely, the southeastern corner of it, a kind of country called Skyrek. The place you just left is Earth, right?” I nodded. “There’s a few…portals, I guess we can call them, which link the two. Well, there were. You just found one of the last remaining ones. But a long time ago, people would just move between the two. And my kind? We loved your kind.” 

“Kind. What kind?”  I asked. He gave a bright smile. 

       “Humans! We adore them! So many of our…names, our ideas, influences, everything, we borrowed from you humans and your world and your history and—okay, so it was mostly what we were able to scavenge from what you all dropped down here. We had to fill in some gaps. 

“Anyway, you probably know about some of the races that live here, they’re our allies that we’ve sent to Earth-you’ve probably seen them, you might even have names for them--” 

My mouth fell open, a look of idiotic shock as I figured out what he meant. “You mean…elves, fairies, mythical...whatevers, all come from here..? And they’re all real?”  

       “Whatever you’re calling them, yes and yes. Some have died out, of course, but all you need to worry about are just two races. Malinites and Kavarians, or Kavs,” he said. “We call them flies, ‘cause they’re not much better than real ones. They’re all crazy.” I saw one of his eyes twitch just a little. “Savage. And incredibly dangerous.”

“More deadly creatures? Fabulous.”

       “Don’t panic, though. If anybody around here’s going to be safe from them, it’s you. And of course, if everything goes well, we won’t be seeing too much of them, unless they’re dead. Anyway, my name, as I said, is Alex.”

“Alex what?” I asked. “Do they, uh, have last names here?”

“Yes,” He answered, pausing for a second. “Alex Vervain.” He glanced around and cracked another smile. 

“You can also call me Prince Alex.” 

“’Kay—wait, what?” I stopped in my tracks. A prince? No. Impossible. Though he was clean-shaven and young, he looked much too...messy. He was wearing jeans, for fuck’s sake. Prince? Really? Really?

I said the first thing that came to mind. “So you’re here to sweep me up and we’ll live happily ever after?” I snorted.

“Something like that,” he said. I guessed he was joking too. “Let me tell you about the flies before I tell you anything else. About, hmm...two hundred years ago, my kind had control over this entire country.”

“Had?"

“Had, yes. We kept the flies in line, they never bothered us much. Until they violently overthrew us, I mean,” he explained. "Hundreds were killed, including my ancestor--"

"--So you guys aren't immortal." 

       He gave me a bemused stare. "What? No. I'm twenty. Anyway, here’s why I care. My kind was banished-the ones that weren't killed-into the deadest, most miserable-looking wasteland in the country. The only wasteland in the country. It's called Oasus, and--” Alex suddenly darted behind a thick tree and pulled me with him. I opened my mouth to speak but he quickly shushed me, continuing in a whisper. "—And they police the forest that surrounds it. We're not supposed to be here. C'mon." I never saw a thing, but Alex led me a few more yards and finally spoke again.

        "This is where we've been trapped for two hundred years." He pulled back a few thick bushes and led me past them. "Welcome to Oasus." And instantly, everything around us had changed. There was no life beyond the boundary of the forest, a brown and cracked desert behind a wall of green. I looked back: lush greenery. I looked forward…dead, gnarled trees, dry, parched ground, little white bones everywhere. I stood just at the border, still head-tiltingly confused at the surreal effect it gave. As I noticed the small clusters of short buildings off in the distance, Alex went on like all of this was perfectly normal.

        “As you can imagine, we’ve been waiting for the chance to strike back at them. And waiting. And waiting. And for the last twenty years-since I was born-we’ve been raising an army.” He gave me a smug little smile and straightened up a bit. “I'm leading the rebellion."

“Good for you. And…” I somehow pieced together where this was going and silently begged him not to say it...

“Well, when I was born, there was this…oh, let’s call it a prophecy. It said a human, a woman, would arrive and lead us to victory over the flies. That human, of course, is you.”

"Yeah...no." It was my turn to laugh. “Look, your highness, thanks for saving me back there, but I don’t know you, I don’t know your…people, and I’m not going to put my ass on the line for your centuries-old grudge.”

He looked completely stricken as I said it. “Wh…what?“

“Bye!” I turned and started to struggle back through the greenery. I'd find a way back...or die in the forest. Whichever.  

        “Wait. WAIT! Please come back! I—I won’t go back without—please don’t go—wait!  You haven’t heard the best part!” He was stammering as fast as he could, following me, grabbing for my wrist. When I tugged it away, standing to glare at him, he fell to his knees.

“Hear me out. I’m begging you.” 

“Start talking,” I sighed, realizing he may well have been my only way out of this place anyhow. 

“Chastity. Don’t you want more power than you could possibly imagine? Don’t you want to be…almost worshipped by an entire race? A really, really nice palace to live in for the rest of your life?”  Making a desperate sales pitch, with a hint of desperation in his smile, he took my hand and said it one more time.  “…Well?” 

“Well,” I murmured. He hadn't mentioned all that...it really didn’t sound so bad. Maybe he was even telling the truth. He did look as though he’d cry if I left…

“…Okay, explain what it is I have to do,” I muttered. He got to his feet. He looked happy enough to kiss me.

        “Well, that's the beauty of it." I raised an eyebrow and he went on. "To be honest, you’re more of a…good omen than anything else. My father--King Octavian--is really superstitious. So is everyone else. If we have you on our side, at all, regardless of what you do, we win. What do you have to do? Absolutely nothing.”

        I never thought I'd see red eyes with a begging, puppy-dog quality about them.“Were you planning to give me a choice?” I finally said. “I guess I’ll have to-” I was interrupted by him wrapping his arms around me so tight I could hear my ribs cracking.

“You have no idea,” he said, “How much this means to me. To everybody. Me, especially...”

"...Good for you.”