There were so many animals in that world that they needed to be regulated. Some of the animals were domesticated, and most all the animals were pretty tame ‘cuz there was no threat, from or against. Most humans lived by water there and were farmers. The primary food there was grown, and a few people threw nets in the water for fish.
Highland Town, I believed, was just on the other side of the next mountain. We came around the corner, and at the top of the mountain, there it was! We came into town and were met by the Elders of the town, and we asked if they’d seen Ed. They said yes! And they said he was on the other side of town. They proceeded to show us around.
They were very friendly people. I could see why Ed stayed there. It was a pretty big town for a human residence in that world. One of the elders said, “Let me see if they’re here.” He knocked on the door, and sure enough Ed came out and greeted us.
I guess I never seen anyone so happy to see anyone before. “Hey, good to see you two!” The elders left, and sure enough, Ed had a girlfriend. Her name was Tracy. Seemed real nice. I asked if Linda and Tracy would make something to eat.
Really, I just wanted to talk to Ed alone. Told him sorry he couldn’t go home, but we need to talk. I told him, the Bigfoot people say we can’t leave. “Well, between you and me, I’ve got a plan!” I told him I met a man named Bill, and he told me a story and we might be able to go home, but it won’t be easy.
I started telling Ed about the doorways, and asked if he remembered about the Golden Key I have around my neck. He remembered. I told him it came from the Bigfoot world. Bill told me this world has a bunch of keys, but it’s said there are only two Golden Keys. One was around my neck, and Bill gave me the other one. No one knows I have both, but it’s said that the Golden Keys will unlock any doorway, and might even allow us to go home, because there’s one thing that most people and the Bigfoot don’t know—there’s a magic doorway!
The magic doorway only appears in certain spots on this planet and at certain times, but needs a Golden Key to open it, and then the magic doorway will take you where you want to go.
But, of course, there’s a catch! There’s an old man who lives in a cave on the other side of the desert where a mountain starts and the desert ends. There’s a hidden cave in the side of the mountain. The old man knows when and where the door will appear. Bill said not to let the Bigfoot people find out. He said we would need one other thing, a compass. The compass will show us where the door will be. Bill said the old man in the cave can tell us where and how to find the compass. But above all, never let the Bigfoot people know anything!
We stayed a couple days, and we were all going to leave and look for the compass and the old man. Ed and his new-found friend, Tracy, were pretty chummy, and we asked her if she wanted to come with us. She said she did. She said she’d been there all her life.
Ed and I decided not to tell her our plans right away, just that we wanted to explore the planet more and that she would make the perfect guide. So we headed out of the village: myself, Linda, Ed and Tracy. (By the way, my name is Randy.) I told Tracy we would like to go to the high desert mountains to the human village of Oasis. I was told by Bill that the old man in the cave lived near there, or so Bill had heard. Tracy said it was a long journey away. She said she’d never been there but that she thought she knew how to get there.
So we were off to Oasis village in the high desert. Tracy said it was at least 3 or 4 weeks away.
Tracy and Ed were pretty close, but Ed said there was something about her. Maybe it was just that she was born there, or maybe something different. She was a bit secretive, like maybe she was hiding something.
Well, we were off. Tracy said we should first head to the Great Falls of To-Wonga. The Great Falls are the only place that an ancient statue still stands from the ancient people who lived there before the Bigfoot. This is the only remnant of the ancients left on this world that shows what they looked like, and Tracy said that at the Falls the water glows even at night!
I was real curious to see the statue of the ancient beings and to see what they looked like. We headed southeast through the Forest of Weer. They say the Forest of Weer’s trees are the oldest on that planet. The trees are blue, they say. When the planet was young there was less oxygen in the atmosphere and the trees grew blue, and some of the trees were thousands of years old. They say the largest one is 980 feet tall and over 30 feet around.
The Forest of Weer is the biggest forest. It’s said it’s a hundred million acres. We were only going through one edge of the forest, about 20 miles across. Amazing! Blue trees! Looking up and seeing as far as you can see, to the tops of the trees! There was thick brush and a small trail heading through the forest. It took three days to pass through the edge of the Forest of Weer.
While going through deep in the forest, we seen the blue jackalopes, the only place the jackalopes are blue, from eating plant life in the Forest of Weer. I was told by Tracy that it’s good luck to see blue jackalopes because they’re rare. After leaving the Forest of Weer, the trees became less dense and were back to green and normal foliage.
I noticed that the further southeast we went, the dryer the air became. There were also less trees, and the foliage was changing, becoming more desert like. There were also less Bigfoot people. It was odd not seeing Bigfoot people after seeing them all the time.
It had been a week since we’d run across any water. It was a good thing we had plenty of water with us.
A week and a half since we left the Forest of Weer, and we had three or four days more before we reached the Falls of To-Wonga. One more day passed, and we reached the River of To-Wonga. It seemed a flock of gryphons lived near the rocks next to the To-Wonga River. Tracy said it was two more days until we reached the falls.
Now that we were at the river, we stocked up on water and fish. I was amazed that the gryphons were friendly. They are legendary creatures with the head, talons, and wings of an eagle, and the body of a lion.
One more day passed uneventfully. We got up bright and early the next morning, so we could get to the falls. Finally, around noon, we showed up at To-Wonga Falls. To my astonishment, the ancients were humans. People who looked just like us were the first that ruled this planet!
The writings on the stone statue explained all: the humans left that planet and went through the doorways long ago. They left the planet so the animals would prosper and left the Bigfoot people in charge to protect them. It’s kind of funny—it went full circle. The true secret of that world is that the ancients knew. Humans would kill all the animals, and to preserve the planet, they all left.
Then we forgot that world.
They left the marker at To-Wonga Falls so anyone looking could find out, but it would take a long journey to find out. On one hand, I felt ashamed, and on the other I wondered how we lost our intelligence—and how many other planets did we go to through all the different doorways?
Knowing all of this changed how we looked at the world. We were all a bit more humble, but we still had a mission, and the next day we would be leaving To-Wonga Falls to go to Oasis village in the high desert.
—Randy Long
https://primitiveentertainment.wordpress.com
http://readadamnbookwithrfy.blogspot.com
https://primitiveentertainment.threadless.com/
https://www.redbubble.com/people/richardfyates/shop
https://www.facebook.com/richard.f.yates/
No comments:
Post a Comment