Chapter 1
Fair warning... This is a first draft, so it hasn't been edited in any way. I hope you still find it to be an enjoyable read, though! Any feedback is also appreciated.
I am self-aware. I know this. I know a lot of things, even though somehow I also know that I have not yet seen or experienced such things. For example, I open my eyes and I understand that I should be seeing something other than the darkness surrounding me. Somehow I am being confined and my body is folded in on itself. It’s terribly uncomfortable. I need to stretch out. I slam an elbow into the hard wall around me. It gives off a very satisfying sound.
Crack.
Yes! I slam again and again until the small cracks turn into breaks and whatever is confining me begins to drift away in pieces. I hit the bottom with the heels of my feet. More breaking. Soon I will be set free. Except… wait a minute. Even as my body becomes freed from its prison my eyes are still only processing darkness. Am I blind? No. I know that too. I’m at the bottom of something, in the dark space of it.
Water. I’m underwater. My eyes slowly start to adjust, and I realize what’s actually happening is that they are producing their own soft light. There’s another creature down here with me, swimming by. I quickly make my way over and look into its large eyes. I can see mine reflected in them, circles of glowing arctic blue. My irises.
Seemingly afraid of me, the creature scurries away. I push off the floor beneath me and glide through the water, making my way up and up until I can see light shining through what I know must be the surface. The sun! I want to feel it on my skin, to warm my core, to truly bring me to life.
I’m so close now. I just need to take a small break to let my limbs rest. I can feel exhaustion from the trip pulling on my body like a lead weight. I sit down on the floor, letting the now unsteady water gently rock me. There are waves up here. That’s what moves me. Although I am still underneath them I am close enough to feel their force upon me.
Once I’m ready, I take off again, and I don’t stop until I break the surface. It’s a whole new world up here. The sun gives off so much light and warmth that I feel myself shying away from it at first. I need to go slower. I need to adjust. The first thing I do is take a deep breath, sucking in fresh air for the first time. Air in my lungs feels right. How had I been underwater without it for so long?
The water is shallow enough now that I can walk. Sort of. It’s more like trudging as my body seems to gain weight as I pull myself out of the water. Small fish are swimming around my feet. I almost trip trying not to hit or step on any of them, though I’m not sure I actually could. They’re so fast!
I sink to my knees in the sand when I reach it. Run my hands through it. The water washes up over my legs and leaves the sand dark and packed. I scoop some up, mold it in my hands, and watch the water fill the small hole it left behind. That’s when I hear a rustling coming from the long grass a little ways away. Something else is here with me. Or someone?
I only catch a glimpse of her. A human girl. She’s walking through the grass, shoving it out of her way. Whether or not she has a destination in mind, it’s hard to tell.
“Hey!” I call out. Except my voice is a tad too quiet, raspy. “Hey!” I try again. Her head turns in my direction, and when her eyes finally land on me, they go big. She looks scared. I’m trying to think of something more to say when she makes a run for it. “Wait! No!” I add, climbing to my feet. “Don’t run!”
She’s fast, weaving through the trees like the tiny fish weaved around my feet in the water. But I need to talk to her. I need to know where I am. I need to know why I am where I am. She might know. She might know where I came from, where others of my kind are. I’m sure I’m not the only one. There had to have been others before me at least. To create me. That was how it worked. Birth. I should have parents. Yes. They would be called my parents. Maybe this girl will know something.
“I just need to talk to you!” I try.
“Help! Somebody HELP!”
No no no… don’t scream…
“I’m not going to hurt you! I promise!”
I am speaking her language right? She understands me? I suppose I’m not entirely sure. Maybe I’m just making noises at her as far as she’s concerned.
She does glance back at me as if considering something. It’s enough to cause her to slip up. Her foot catches on a fallen log and she stumbles forward, crashing into the earthy ground when she’s unable to catch herself. As I approach, she scrambles to get away.
“Stay away from me!” she yells. “Don’t hurt me!”
I take a seat on the fallen tree trunk, making sure to keep a decent distance between us. I understand her, so that’s a good sign. She must be able to understand me too.
“I’m not going to,” I remind her. “I just want to talk to you.”
She looks me over, head to toe. There’s still a good amount of fear written all over her expression. Why is she so afraid of me?
Then I see it.
Her skin is tanned a light brown. Her cheeks are rosy from running. Her hair is a mess of dark curls and her fingernails are a natural shade of pink. When I look down at myself, all I see is white. An inhuman level of white. My skin, my hair, my nails, everything about me except maybe my eyes. Oh, Goddess! I hope they’re not still glowing! Hopefully they don’t need to be now that I’m in the sunlight.
Do I also feel gills… on my neck? She doesn’t have gills. I’m like her, but I’m not quite like her.
Oh… oh no…
I’m naked.
From head to toe.
I’m naked and I look like a monster to her. I get up from the log and start to back away from her some more.
“I-I’m s-so sorry,” I say. “I thought… I didn’t realize I’m not entirely like you.”
“What are you?” she asks.
I shrug.
“I suppose I don’t know.”
She gives me a quizzical look.
“How do you not know what you are?” she asks next.
“Well, I was just born. I hatched out of an egg and now I am here. Alone. You’re the only other thing semi like me that I’ve seen. I’m not at all like the other things I saw underwater. I assumed I might actually be human like you, but apparently I’m not.”
“An… egg.”
I nod.
She covers and uncovers her eyes a number of times, varying in amount of time.
“Right… so… apparently I’m not hallucinating right now.”
“Where am I?” I ask, taking my turn at a question.
“Catheedra. You’re… you’re on the island of Catheedra.”
We study each other for a moment longer. The look on her face suggests that she is still in disbelief regarding my existence. When she’s had enough, she turns and begins to walk away.
“I need clothes!” I call out.
“Town’s that way.”
She extends her arm, points off to her right.
“I… I think I need a way to pay for them? I don’t have anything,” I add.
She lets out an exasperated groan.
“Right. Just born. No clothes, no pockets, no money. Fine then. Follow me I guess.”
She doesn’t stop to wait for me, so I hurry to catch up. I make sure to stay behind, hoping it makes her more comfortable.
We walk for a long time, ducking under low branches and stepping over more fallen trunks. I guess that we were in some kind of jungle, judging by the foliage and the animals scurrying about. Somehow, I know all of this even though I don’t know who or what I am. It makes no sense to me.
The air is thick and a sticky sort of wet. Humid. It’s also warm. I’m sweating despite my lack of covering. The shade from the trees helps a little, but not as much as I would like it to.
I imagine I look a mess. My hair, which is almost dry now, has fluffed out some. My legs are covered in sand and my bare feet are picking up mud and bits of leaves and sticks. I feel gross. At least the water had washed away the slimy substance that had covered me earlier. I don’t need that on top of everything else.
Eventually we come to a stop at what looks to be a small hut and the strange girl leads me inside. It’s made up of three small rooms. In the first one an old, worn down couch sits in the far corner. In the other corner is a small circle of stones on the ground. The inside is filled with wood, the whole thing is covered with a metal grate. A large pot sits on top of it all. Right next to it there is a bucket full of water. She leads me into one of the other rooms.
This room contains a bed, a woven basket filled with what I assume to be clothing, and a wooden dresser. On top of the dresser is something shiny that catches my eye. Upon further inspection I realize it’s a broken piece of reflective glass. A mirror, I believe. For the first time, I’m able to truly see myself.
There are several noticeable things, like the fact that my irises are just as white as the rest of me. Not glowing. Not Blue. My lips and my hair match. I look like a children’s coloring book page that they had forgotten to fill in. I look… eerie. My gaze moves from myself to the hand-drawn pictures nailed to her wall. I take particular interest in a picture of a girl with bright, candy-like, two-toned hair. It’s so fun. I wish my hair looked that way.
“Here,” says the girl, tossing me a few articles of clothing. The toss lands a few feet short as she stops midway through when she turns to look at me. “Holy… shit.”
“What is it?” I ask.
She pushes my hand with the glass back up to my face so I can look at myself again. Much like the picture on the wall I had been looking at, my hair is now split into two different colors. Mint green and cotton candy pink. Two miniature buns are tied up at the top like little cat ears, and all around it’s much shorter than it had been while it was white.
“How did you do that?” she asks.
I put my hand on the picture.
“I was admiring this,” I answer. “I just… I imagined what I might look like if I were to have that hair. I really liked it.”
I pick the clothes up off the floor and begin to get dressed. She has given me a pair of ripped jean shorts and a plain white top that is just a tad too short for my lankier frame.
“You have to try that again!” she says excitedly. “Picture yourself with skin like mine!”
And so I do. I imagine myself with sun-kissed skin and cheeks that flush pink when I run, no gills. I imagine myself with the same color blue eyes that she has, and nails that will match my new hair. As I do so, I watch the color wash over my body inch by inch, like ink being poured into a hollow vessel.
“How did I do?” I ask when I’m done.
The girl’s eyes are wide again, but this time in amazement rather than fear. She looks genuinely thrilled now.
“You’re a SUPERHUMAN!” she yells out. “I met a superhuman!”
I laugh.
“I don’t think that I’m a superhuman,” I argue. “This isn’t really a super power.”
“Still! It’s awesome!” She can’t contain the excitement pouring from her voice. “You can change the way you look. Nobody else can do that. You’re special!”
I am special. Do I want to be special, though? Is there a purpose for it? Maybe this is just one more step on the path to learning who and what I am.
“What is your name?” I ask.
“My name is Kaleesa and, I’m sorry, but I think we need to start over. Just pretend earlier didn’t happen.”
“You mean where you were running away from me and screaming.”
Her cheeks flush.
“Yes. That is exactly what I meant. What’s your name?”
I can only imagine the blank expression on my face. I don’t have an answer for that, and I hadn’t considered how weird it is to not have a name. It was instinct to ask what hers was, but what had I been planning on responding with?
“I… um....”
She frowns.
“Do you not have one?”
I shake my head.
She’s quiet for a long moment, absolutely silent. Her eyes are on me the whole time, and I feel myself growing self-conscious. What am I to her?
“Aija.” When I don’t say anything, she continues. “It means ‘creature of the water’ in Sudgarian. They’re a tribe on a nearby island.”
“I like it. Thank you.”
She smiles.
“I hoped you would.”
“It’s been very nice meeting you,” I say.
“It’s nice to meet you too.”
