ETTING 
OME 
O 
LFANDRA
Anton's Journey chapter 5 - She Enters
ETTING OME O LFANDRA
He could have argued with the mouse had
he wanted, he had no fear of that little rodent. But to argue with the
entire crowd of animals would have been downright suicidal. After he witnessed
the brutal death of the Dodo, he was taken aback by the suddenness of it
all. He thought all the Dodos were extinct… well they certainly were now.
Poor bird, it didn’t deserve that. This never happened in any of the stories…
Anton had gone, like the mouse requested,
standing tall as he did so. He didn’t turn his back on it for a second,
lest it become agitated with him as well. What a day. And still he hadn’t
eaten. Now, as he walked down the beach, the true pangs of the day’s
exertion began to catch up with him. His stomach growled, and all his limbs
ached. He would have to rest soon… but dare he risk it, in this world of
all places? It may have well as been night, for the darkness that covered
the sky. But it wasn’t night, it was the thickness of clouds that all but
blocked out the light. Did night ever come to this world? And what nightmarish
creatures came out when the light had gone? Anton guessed that they wouldn’t
be friendly.
Anton began to wander towards the treeline.
Perhaps he could find something to eat there. He recalled the tale of ‘Alice
Through The Looking Glass’, where even the plants had been alive. He shuddered
and hoped that this wouldn’t be like the garden of live flowers.
Fortunately, it wasn’t. No angry shrubs
came to greet him as he came to the trees. No brambles came to lash him
with thorns. No surprises. Well, actually, there was a surprise. Nestled
high in the branches, his canine vision spotted a nest of twig and bramble.
“How convenient.” Anton smirked. The nest
meant food.
Scaling this particular tree with care,
he hauled himself up the jagged branches to where his meal lay. Like in
Wonderland Woods, these trees were unnatural. But that was no obstacle
compared to the hunger of the hunter. Climbing up the last branch, Anton
shimmied his way along to where the nest lay; he was up a good height now.
Fifteen, twenty feet at a guess. Peering into the nest, he smiled with
satisfaction at it’s contents; eggs, just like he had hoped to find. Strange
they were… five of them in all, green and brown spotted. Anton didn’t care
what they looked like, as long as they were edible.
Reaching into the nest delicately, he closed
his hands around three of them, leaving two, and began his climb down the
trunk. However, before he’d even gotten halfway, he heard a rasping shriek
overhead. Casting his gaze up, he saw where the cry had come from;
the nest’s owner. A fabulous beast, it had the body of a bird, but the
head was reptilian, arched on a long serpentine neck. Uttering it’s cry
again, long forked tongue flickering, it dived down, claws outstretched,
ready to rip into flesh. Anton jumped, falling a good ten feet, before
rolling when he hit the ground. Placing the curious eggs to one side, he
stood up, ready to defend his dinner.
The bird swooped up again as it missed
him, before diving for another attack. But Anton was ready, and ducked
again. Screaming it’s protest, the creature turned and gave a dreadful
hiss - spitting a mucous, green goo as it did so. Unprepared for this,
Anton hardly moved, and cried out in pain when the substance splattered
against his cheek - it was acidic. Luckily, none of it got into his eye,
which was the intention of the bird. Wiping it off with the back of his
hand, he threw himself aside as another volley came his way. Picking himself
up off the floor, Anton grabbed a pointed piece of wood that had fallen
from one of the trees. As the bird opened up it’s mouth again, he threw
the stick like a spear - straight down the creature’s throat, into it’s
brain. Killed instantly, it dropped out of the sky with a hiss, before
landing in a feathered heap before Anton. Satisfied with his work, he began
to move towards the water, to wash off the painful effects of the acid
- until he remembered what it had felt like when he was in the water last
time. Muttering foul oaths, he returned to the trees to claim his prize
- three eggs, ready-to-eat. Scooping one up in the palm of his hand, he
examined it for a moment - before tossing it into his muzzle. He heard
the crack, as his teeth broke the shell - moments
before he spat it out in disgust. The taste was
revolting! He looked at the broken egg on the ground - as a thick, brown
substance oozed out from between the cracks. Fighting nausea, Anton sighed
as he had to go hungry, yet again. But looking down, he saw the corpse
of the bird he had beaten earlier, and sighed yet again.
The bird wasn’t much of a meal. It was tough,
and wiry… And finding its acid-producing glands had been a hard and gory
task before Anton could even contemplate eating it. But the meat provided
was at least enough to keep hunger aside for awhile. Standing to his feet,
a pile of bones to his left, Anton got up shakily. He sure felt weak though.
Maybe he should rest. As he stood, his stomach cramped terribly. Maybe
eating that bird wasn’t such a good idea. Or perhaps
he’d swallowed some of that egg…
These were his last thoughts, before he
fainted into darkness.
Slowly, painfully, he opened his eyes. He
felt refreshed though, certainly. At first, his eyes took time to adjust
to what little light there was. But slowly, his eyes came into focus, and
he began to make out a shape, looking down at him. As the shape focuses
more, he began to see the face… and sat up sharply, half startling the
girl or woman standing over him. Pushing
himself backwards along the sand a little, Anton began to see more of the
person. Yes, it was a girl or young woman, perhaps about nineteen… her
eyes were of a piercing green, long, straight black hair fell orderly down
the side of her head. Her skin was pulled across a sharp, angular jaw,
and her lips were pressed tight, thin, pale lips. As she stood up, Anton
began to notice what she was wearing… black, knee-high boots, and a blue
dress with a white front…strange combination. Both were in pristine condition.
Anton noticed that everything about this girl was… immaculate. She radiated
a strange sort of energy. Not exactly clean but… intense, raw, energy.
Pushing himself to his feet, Anton whispered
in awe, “Alice…”
The lips twisted to a cruel smile, and
seconds later Anton was inexplicably sent flying backwards by a blasting
force.
She has entered.