Fallen From the Heavens

Stranger from the Unknown

He had most of his necessary things packed in one big sack and stood in front of the portal. Ready for his journey, he nodded to the man at the controller in the next room The man saluted him. On the speaker phone, he said, "Safe journey, your highness". Suddenly the tiny cubical of a room went dark and the portal hole became alive with swirling colors and thunderous load bangs. Valence stepped into the portal and disappeared.

...............BAMMMM!!!!! He popped out into the sky with a bang and was falling straight towards the ground. Helplessly, he tried to call upon his strength to stop, but to no avail. The atmosphere was rushing by him in a second. Clouds and birds moved out of his way. The ground appeared in the far distance below him. Closer and closer it came. WHAMMMMMMMMMM!!!! He lay there motionless, knocked out from the blow. His unconscious mind fell into a deep coma.

A girl with bright red hair was gathering wood for her small village. After she was done, she went into big field on the outskirts, wanting to rest under her favorite apple cherry blossom tree. On her way, she tripped over something. Cursing under her breath, she got back up and turned around to see what it was. A boy, no younger than she was!!! He had black coal hair and torn clothes that looked like they were traveled in for a very long time. He was sprawled across the ground in a heap of tangled arms and legs. She bent down to see if she could hear a heart beat. Pressing her ear against his chest, she heard it, but it was very faint. Picking up the boy by the arms, she hurled him over her shoulders and onto her back with a grunt, blowing loose strands of hair out of her face. Then she started heading back towards her village.

Faint voices reached his ears. It sounded pleasant. Then suddenly a flash of bright light lit his brain up in a fiery frenzy. He cried out. A very beautiful woman with flowing blond hair appeared before him. Her eyes where hard to look into. "Valence, wake up. You must wake up." He realized that it was Her speaking, though her lips weren't moving. "You have to keep going. Don't give up my love; I will always be with you." She kissed his forehead, making him scream again in pain. The place of the kiss seared him like a bunch of poking needles. Stepping back, she slowly faded away. His eyes flew open, his mouth gasping for air. His head felt like it was splitting apart. Sweat was pouring from his body. A cool wet towel was wrapped around his head, and bandages covered most of his body. He tried to get up, but a hand stopped him. "Don't, you will only hurt yourself." It was a girl with fiery red hair and deep amber brown eyes. She looked to be about 19 but could be younger.
"Where am I? Who am I?", he asked with a puzzled expression.
"Just rest. We will figure that out later, I promise."she whisperd. She tugged the covers over him and sat down on a stool a few feet away. It looked like she had been up all night and day watching over him.
"Who are you? Where am I? What happened to me!?", he tried to pull the covers off again.
Getting up, she reached over and gently put her right hand over his eyes. Closing her eyes, she whispered, “Just rest............".
Drowsiness over took his body and his muscles started to relax. His eyelids felt like small weights rested on them. Slowly, he fell into a deep soothing sleep.

Dream's shifted from one to the other. In one dream, he was standing before a crowd of light and they all began bowing respect to him. Then he was whisked to a dream where he was running in dark space, something evil chasing him. He looked behind to see what it was, but then the dream changed again. He was falling without control...crying out, he tried to stop himself, then a huge black blanket was thrown on him, muffling his shouts and screams, until he couldn't breath. He struggled against it.
Arms were shaking him, nearly pulling him out of his bed. "Wake up, its just a dream. Please wake up." He stopped struggling and fighting the blankets. Slowly his eyes opened to see the same red haired girl staring at him with a worried expression on her face. "I think that you should stay awake for a little while. Are you hungry?"
Leaving his nightmares behind, he suddenly noticed that his stomach was aching for food. "How long have I been like this?"
She looked up from pouring soup into a bowl. "A week and a half. Here." She handed the steaming bowl to him.
He grabbed it with haste and began to gobble down its contents. Bowl empty, he handed it back to her.
"More please."
She filled it up again. After 4 helpings, he finally became full. "Thank you." He looked at her closely. "I have questions. Do you have answers?"
She picked up her knitting and began to work on it. “I found you lying in a field knocked out pretty bad. That’s the only answer I have for you."
"What did you do did to me a while back." She looked at him confused. He rolled his eyes. “You know, putting you hand over my eyes and all. It felt as if you were shutting down my brain. I can't explain it." He shuddered.
"Oh. I'm a healer. I can do magic and healing spells. If you had stayed awake, it would have done more damage to your brain then what you already did. I'm terribly sorry."
"No its ok." They were silent. Then he looked around and inspected the room.
The room's only light source came from a bright fireplace in the center of the room with a chimney rising up to the ceiling. There were lots of books piled on bookshelves connected to the walls. Herbs, jars, and bottles sat on one table in a corner. What looked to be a kitchen was on the right side of the front door. On the left side was a small oak dining table with two wooden chairs. There were three other doors leading to other parts of the house. The little bed he was lying on was in a niche in the room. Looking above him he realized that he was laying in a bunk bed. The room's shape was strange to him. It was circular instead of squarish.
"Do I live here?"
She busted out laughing, tears of mirth forming in her eyes. "Heavens sake, no. I don't know where you live or where your from." She paused. "By the way, my name is Lily Rose Donna. You can call me Lily or Rose, it doesn't matter to me."
"Oh. Well my name..... I can't remember." His face darkened.
Suddenly a loud whistling filled the air. He clapped his hands over his ears, looking around wildly.
Lily gently put her knitting down, got up and took the tea kettle out from hanging over the fire. She got two mugs and filled them from the kettle. Then she took the mugs to the little table with all the bottles and jars, opened one jar and put some of its contents into both mugs. Then she opened a glass vile filled with pink fluid and poured a little of it only into the blue colored mug. Then she walked back over to the bed and handed him the blue mug. "Here, drink this." She sat back down on her stool and sipped from her own mug, watching him.
He hesitated, not sure if she was trying to poison him or something.
"It's not going to kill you, silly." she giggled. "It's going to help make your head feel better and get rid of those nightmares you've been having. Trust me."
He looked back down at his mug and thought "What the heck." He took a big gulp, and immediately cried out in pain. It was hot! His eyes began to water and his tongue felt numb and scorched.
Lily started laughing again.
"What's so funny!” he demanded.
"You’re supposed to sip it, not gulp it down!” She laughed a bit more and then settled down. She showed him how to sip.
Then they sat in silence, each thinking their own thoughts. When he was done with his mug, he handed it to her. Then he started yawning.
Lily got up, taking the mugs over to a wash bin filled with water. "I believe it is time for me to retire to my room."
"But I've got so many questions!"
Lily's forehead crinkled. "I know, but I promise we will discuss them tomorrow. In the meantime, you really need your sleep as do I. We can't think if our brains need rest."
"But I -”
"If you don't, then I will have to force you asleep again. Please don't make me." her voice sounded exhausted.
Then it dawned on him. "You stayed up all those days making sure I was ok, didn't you?"
Lily nodded. "And now you are doing fine. If you need anything in the middle of the night, just call my name, ok?"
"I will."
She helped him lay back down and pulled the covers up, tucking him in comfortably. Walking to one of the many doors, she said "Good night.....stranger from the unknown" and disappeared behind it.
"Night", he replied. Watching the fire slowly die out, sleep over took him, and this time not so painful.



Stay Squeakinistic,
Hilirie