Part Two

            The parade’s hyper energy had finally died down with the sleepy sun. Avail was heavily saddened, because it wouldn’t be until another month when she would be able to witness those glorious creations.

She had once envied the Manifestors. It was one thing to simply imagine, but to literally bring those whimsical thoughts to life will always be both a desired and hated gift.

“Cameron, how about we visit the Still Waters before you head in?” Avail was far too energized to let the day end so bleakly.

“I’d rather spend the rest of my energy dragging myself to bed, than staring at water that doesn’t move.” Cameron was obviously grumpy from sleep deprivation. Avail just chuckled and waved goodbye as her friend entered his cozy cottage.

“Goodnight, then! See ya’ in the morning!”

 

            The Still Waters was not just a place of total solitude, even though it was enclosed with the Divine Forest’s trees. The trees were so high, reaching the top would take half a day. Its forest was so serene, that even if someone were to get lost, the divine trees could calm and guide the misled soul.

Despite that risk, people were constantly subjecting themselves to this maze of a forest. Only because The Still Waters is also a place where someone can seek their future. The catch was that the water would only reflect an image from the future for a split second. But not every puddle of water was blessed to tell fortunes.

“Alright Fido, time for my favorite part!” Avail had rested her knees on the soft bushels of grass, and leaned her weight onto her hands to hover directly over a small puddle of water. It was shaped into a perfect circle, as were others. The only dissimilarities were the sizes, making for a surreal scenery as the multi-sized puddles descended into the distance.

            She noted how the liquid below her was practically a mirror. The water seemed to have emphasized even her most minute features. Short deep black, and tight coils sparkled on her head. Her eyes so darkened, they seemed soulless, but the reflected stars of the sky had brought them to life. The light of the moon illuminated the nutmeg tone of her skin.

            She gazed into her reflection’s eyes, as their darkness then began to engulf the entire puddle. The water no longer held any reflecting attributes. Avail’s anxiety was tugging at her to look away, for the blackened depths of the puddle seemed infinite, which was disturbingly frightening.

            Surprise replaced her growing fear, as a swift picture of a young child surfaced the obsidian water. The child almost completely took after Avail, except they had black coils that curled all the way to their shoulders. And the hair was styled in a neat low pony tail. They shared the same color of eyes, and skin tone; although the child’s skin seemed to be slightly darker. The image vanished, returning the black water to its still reflective state.

            Avail was now staring back at herself, her face stained with complete confusion. Sighing in frustration, she flopped backwards onto the fluffy, yet prickly grass.

“Fido, what the heck was that? Me two years from now? I thought the water was supposed to show you the far future?!” Her hands covered her face to muffle her uncalming yelling. Fido just hovered over the puddle she was once staring into, as if searching for the answer.

“Isn’t weird, though? This world knows no time limits. No one here ages or dies. We all just live on…being the same.” Avail released a sullen exhale, turning onto her side. “I was hoping I’d see myself as a Manifestor…” Shutting her eyes, she couldn’t remove the image of the child.

 

            The ground thundered and roared. The heavy sound had startled Avail out of her coma of a slumber. She’d nearly forgotten how to walk as she fumbled onto her feet. Her sporadic eyes searched her surroundings, but she saw no damage that was related to the horrendous sounds of the raging earth. Reverberations danced underneath the balls of her feet, as if the depths of the terrain were building up for a grand explosion. And for the first time, for Avail, the puddles of The Still Waters had rippled.

            She noticed that the remains of the water had faintly reflected dark pink highlights. Her nervous eyes immediately drew up towards the source of the abnormal source. The sky had been tainted with a sickening saturated fuchsia tint. Its clouds took on a shadowy gray, and appeared as if they had been painted on with a porous sponge. The sky literally looked sick, as if it had caught a deadly virus upon its skin.

            The earth had finally seized its tantrum, for the time being. “Fido, this world doesn’t have earthquakes.” Avail whipped her head around to her friend, but Fido was nowhere in sight. For as long as she has known Fido, she learned that he would never leave her side.

“No, it can’t be time already…already?” Avail’s words shriveled with every syllable, as her heart finally split apart from the pressure her despair, allowing her blackest and most miserable fears to finally spill out. The world she had discovered pure happiness in, where the people and their imaginations literally lived on the same land, was finally ending.

            Avail felt herself beginning to spiral further into the abyss of her depression. I knew this was going to happen. I knew it was only a matter of time before I would have to return to that place. She hugged her sides, and turned to escape through the forest, back into the city.

Cra~ckle…SNAP! One of the gargantuan forest trees had descended onto the earth, having been slain by the merciless earthquakes and gravity. It landed heavily, crying out with a tremendous thud. Silence immediately replaced the eruption. And like a domino effect, the other trees behind followed suit; each collapsing one after another. The noise from the falling forest had created a thunderous catastrophe. Her only capability was to watch the calamity before her.

“FIDO! FIDO!” Panic was now steering her reason, as Avail screeched and cried for her closest companion. “Please! You can’t leave me! FIDO!” She sobbed with outrageous dread.

            As if responding, the earth released a pent up furious roar. Deep fissures rapidly raced down the field of puddles. The profound gaps competed with each other, racing to see which one could make it across the earth the quickest. The waters were merely collateral damage, having been devoured by the crevices. And in just that instant, the Still Waters had been totally wiped out.

            Hysteria impersonated Avail’s reason, as she carelessly sprinted through the broken forest. The pointed twigs were sabotaging her escape as they punctured the bottoms of her bare feet. She had forgotten that she removed her shoes while spending time at the Still Waters. Pain stricken as she was, Avail was excruciatingly desperate to find anyone, any living form to explain what was happening to the world. Escaping the destruction of the forest was a mere quest, compared to the impending disaster that was impatiently waiting for Avail.