letting go
by: karen marie dumont

What’s on the Mountainside?

The beautiful starry sky rang out with whispered songs that were carried down to the earth by the wind. Zachariah Frogsworthin sang along to the tunes of nature as he pulled on his thin leather moccasins and began his descent from his house on Dragonhearth Mountain toward the small town of Shreedens. This route was one commonly traveled by the short, chunky man of 150 years of age. Zachariah was a man of the trade and it was with a pocket full of gold and the heart full of compromise that he set of towards the marketplace in the center of Shreedens like he did every morning before dawn. Yet there was something different in the air this morning that gave Zachariah reason to feel wary.
The forest around him was rustling and full of life as he continued to walk. Up ahead was a clearing, a meadow on the mountain side that slanted so he would be able to see Shreedens from within it. He reached the meadow and his white face turned even paler than before. Something strange was flooding towards him with horrific speed.
“What is this?” Zachariah asked himself as he back away. The thing coming at him was like nothing he had ever seen before. It rushed along through the trees like the waves of the ocean, but it covered the trees and coated them with a layer of its silverfish color. Everything was turning into this substance. It was almost like everything was frozen within this silvery unknown.
Zachariah turned to run away, terror in his eyes. Reality began to sink in, he was going to be killed by whatever this was, but he ran anyways. He was trying to warn his people. At last Zachariah let out a cry of defeat as from the inside-out he was covered by the mysterious stuff. His last thought was that he had failed and that whatever had killed him and destroyed his home, was going to destroy all of the Ancient Earth.
Zachariah was swallowed up by the nameless monster, which continued forward a hundred yards and stopped, right at Zachariah’s doorstep. Where it froze into a solid thing and remained unmovable and indefinable. Soon all of Ancient Earth would know that danger was nearby, but poor Zachariah was dead.
———————
The Problem is Clear

“I demand order this instant!” King Thanilion yelled out over the mass crowds’ frightened cries. He needed to make a decision and he knew just what to do.
“I do not know what this thing is that has infected our lands, but I understand that it is a danger to our survival as people.”
A peasant woman called out from below the king’s window, “This thing killed my husband!”
King Thanilion let out a monstrous sigh as he spoke, “I realize that action was taken too late for some, but there is nothing I can do until we find out what this is. I promise you I will not rest until I know what is happening here. Now if you’ll excuse me.” With that, King Thanilion got up and went into the castle.
He was walking and suddenly he was struck with a small amount of panic. He began to think and decided he would have to ask the only person he knew that would be able to help. As he passed one of his guards, he whispered into his ear. “Get me Akina Elektra.”
——————————
Big Sister and Little Brother

Drops of sweat beaded down Akina Elektra’s forehead as she spun around and kicked behind her. The feeling of her foot making contact gave her reason for relief. She’d been at this training program for hours. The 100 square foot courtyard had been filled with trainers, servants of the castle who had backgrounds in magic, fist fighting, and swordsmanship.
Akina had been given the task of beating each of them at their game. She had just taken down another fighter. She turned around and saw that somebody was coming at her with a sword. Squinting against the sun, she could see it was her good friend and brother, Helstinar. He drew his sword and the boyish twinkle in his eye told Akina he was up for some fun too.
“Hello, brother. What brings you to the training arena this early?” Akina teased. Helstinar didn’t usually go to the training arena during the day anymore. As much as Akina hated to admit it he had far surpassed her with the sword and now he mostly practiced at night when the sun was gone. Right now it was near noon, and he should be off with the king.
“Can’t a brother come and challenge his sister?” He inquired.
Akina replied with the one quip she knew would make this a great fight. “Now I wouldn’t want to hurt my little brother.” It had worked. Helstinar’s mouth creased slightly and he answered the comment by readying his sword.
“Please Akina, your older by no more than a few minutes,” as he said this he took the offense and swung with his sword, but Akina easily blocked it. He was slightly shocked by the speed and accuracy of her block, but he didn’t show it, “I see you’ve been practicing.”
“I see you haven’t,” Akina flipped her sword and spun around and caught it a centimeter from her brother’s neck. He looked surprised, and then he smiled.
“My dear sister, you seem to have forgotten that I always have a way…OUT!” Helstinar swung his sword around and knocked Akina’s from her hand. He smiled triumphantly, “looks like you lose this round, Big Sister.”
Akina just smiled. She raised her arm high and pointed a finger towards him. “You would think that wouldn’t you, Little Brother,” she said as a tiny stream of red light came out of her hand. It hit Helstinar right near his neck and he fell to the ground laughing.
How could I be so stupid? Helstinar thought as he lay there laughing until tears fell from his eyes. Akina is magical; I should have known she’d use the tickling spell. When he couldn’t take it anymore, he yelled out for Akina to stop, “That’s enough Akina, please stop, please!”
“Oh alright,” Akina sighed as she dropped her arm and walked over to help up her brother. He was an exact duplicate of her, but taller by a few inches and with shorter hair. Both had white hair with vibrant pink streaks through it, Helstinar’s went to his shoulders and Akina’s went to her waist. Today she had it pulled into a loose bun, and slack strands were pasted to her skin from the sweat on her forehead. Her usually outfit of black pants with a black leather corset had been modified to comply with the heat of the day, her corset had been removed and her cotton shirt hung baggily on her slim body. She flopped down next to her brother.
“Akina I was told to come and get you, King Thanilion wants to speak with you.” Helstinar cringed and waited for Akina to explode. She was a very on task person and very loyal to King Thanilion and the thing she hated the most, was being late.
Akina shot up off the ground, gave her brother a playfully angry look and said, “Well I guess I will just have to let him know that you are incompetent of finding me and that I had only just received the news.” With that she ran of towards the castle entrance, on the way picking up her sword and placing it back in it’s sheath with one swift movement.
She is growing up so quickly. Helstinar thought as he watched her go. It pained him to know that she might not live to see a year from now.
———————————
Akina’s task

Akina ran down the west corridor of the castle towards the quarters of King Thanilion’s throne. She stopped short as she reached it and took a minute to catch her breath. After a second, she knocked on the heavy oak doors and waited for a response.
“Enter!” Came the booming voice of the king. Akina pushed the big doors open and found herself thinking that they really were quite heavy. She walked into the large throne chamber and bowed when she came before her king. “Akina, I really wish you wouldn’t bow to me. The day is soon when I will bow to you.” King Thanilion rose from his seat and looked Akina up and down. “I see you’ve been training, is that why it took you so long to get here?”
Akina blushed as she answered his inquiry, “I got slightly sidetracked.” She walked over to the king and sat on the step beside him. “So what is it that requires my presence? Not that I don’t enjoy being in your presence, King Thanilion.” Akina looked at the king and knew right away that something was wrong and that he needed her help. “What is it, Sire?”
King Thanilion looked at her and thought of her as if she were his daughter, which she practically was. The beautiful fair skinned girl almost always knew what he was thinking. She was amazing. “I wonder if you have heard about what has been happening outside the kingdom walls, Akina.” His eyes bore into hers with fiery intensity.
This must be really serious, Akina thought as she broke off from his stare. “I am sure that I don’t your highness. What is it that is happening?”
King Thanilion rose and began to pace. Akina listened intently and watched him move back and forth like a pendulum. “Something is destroying our world Akina. It is big and nobody has ever seen it before. It washes over everything like water in a river, flooding the trees and houses and even people, and when it is done moving, it stops and freezes like the steel of your blade. It has the color of metal too, but this is unlike any metal I have ever seen.”
“It came again last night, Akina. It killed a local merchant, Zachariah Frogsworthin. It will destroy everything unless we figure out how to end it. I have decided to place you and your brother in charge of figuring it out.” King Thanilion said as he turned to face her. “That is, if your both up for the challenge.”
Akina rose from the step she’d been sitting on, “It would be my pleasure.” With that she bowed deeply and strode out of the room.
——————————
To the Mountain

Akina stopped short when she reached Dragonhearth Mountain. Her jaw dropped and she stared for minutes before moving again. This looked oddly familiar to Akina as she stooped to the ground. Akina had seen something like this in science class once at Meredith High School.
Akina hadn’t always lived within the safe walls of the castle under the protection of King Thanilion in Ancient Earth. She had once lived in a different time, in a different dimension. On what is known as earth, in the United States, Brooklyn, New York had once been her home. The year was 2004 and the world was advancing to quickly for Akina’s liking.
This must be their doing. She thought as she raced towards Carmella, her beautiful caramel colored horse. She jumped onto her back and raced back toward the castle. She had to pack, change her clothing, and grab Helstinar. They were going to Brooklyn.
—————————
Brooklyn, New York: 7071, the Age of Chrome

Akina looked around her in awe. This couldn’t be her home. There was no way this was Brooklyn. Where were the buildings, the roads, and the people? Everything around her was so desolate and dark. The sky was clouded silver and lightning flashed through it constantly.
Helstinar looked around in disgust, “This is where you lived for 17 years? Why on earth would you want to be here?”
Akina walked a few steps. The air was warm and heavy and she realized why she didn’t see any people, because the thick air was making it hard to breath. She looked down at the ground and saw a newspaper. She picked it up and looked at the date. Her eyes widened and she almost barfed as she read the caption.
It said, “Crazy Scientist’s experiment leads to destruction of world we know!” What Akina read next was even scarier the date read June 34, 7070. This must be wrong, Akina thought. There weren’t even 34 days in June.
Suddenly the earth shook violently and Akina’s first thought was an earthquake was happening. She moved closer to her brother and they knelt low to the ground. Then a voice came from somewhere over a loud speaker.
“Show yourselves at full height, newcomers. We will not hurt you, but this air will kill you so please stand up.” Akina looked at her brother who had already drawn his sword. She signaled for him to put it away and they rose together. Akina looked up and saw a huge clear capsule was moving towards them. One person was inside of it. He was a dark-skinned man of about 35 with a burly manly look about him. Was dressed in an odd white suit and as the capsule moved forward Akina saw that it was a one piece.
The capsule was very close now, maybe 100 yards, and then lightning struck it. Akina and Helstinar ducked low and covered their eyes from the blast. Akina finally looked up expecting to see nothing where the clear thing once stood, but instead saw that it had not even been touched. It stopped five feet in front of them and Akina and Helstinar looked at it in frightened awe. The man inside pressed a button and Akina watched as a door slid open. She turned towards Helstinar who just stared at her with such a frightened face Akina thought he might have a heart attack at 18 years.
The man in the clear thing stared at them then yelled out, “Well don’t just stand there. Hurry up and come on in or the next bolt will hit you.”
With those words in mind, Akina moved forward followed by Helstinar and entered through the door into the white and clear sterile machine. The man in the white suit looked at their ash strewn faces and smiled warm heartedly. “Hi,” he said. “I’m Bob.”
————————————
City #7527 of country #13
The capsule had dropped into a hole in the ground and they had ended up in a huge room that looked more sterile than an operating room. It made Akina ashamed knowing that somebody had cleaned this room, and that her dirty clothing and shoes were going to soil it. She stepped out onto the nice white tiled floor anyways and looked around the room. There wasn’t one thing decorating the freshly painted white walls. There was no furniture, there was nothing. Just walls, floor, and now three people.
“What is this place, Bob?” Akina questioned as she looked around at the emptiness.
Bob looked at her and knew what she was thinking, “Don’t worry about it, Miss Elektra. This is the sterilizing room. No other room you will see will look nearly as dull as this room.”
“What is a sterilizing room?” Helstinar asked as he looked around in awe and fright. Akina had almost forgotten that he was even less use to this then she was. At least she had gotten sort of used to having large amounts of buildings and technology being around. Helstinar had always had tons of grass and trees around him. He’d never seen a car, or a bus, or even a computer.
Bob looked at his awe and found it very strange. “You really aren’t from around here are you?” You have know idea, Akina thought as he spoke, “A sterilization room is where we will get your clothing off and get you cleaned up and then you may enter our city.”
Akina looked at him. She couldn’t believe what she had just heard. “Are you telling me that Brooklyn, New York is underground now?” Akina asked.
Bob laughed good-naturedly. “You could say that,” He said. “But nobody has called it Brooklyn for over 100 years, it’s now known as City #7527 of country #13.”
————————————
The chamber
“This is where you two will be staying,” the tall, skinny boy of maybe 15 said. “But you must, if you’re not too tired, come and talk with our counselor. She can answer all of your questions and you can answer all of hers.
Akina looked at Helstinar who nodded. “Very well then. We’ll go have a chat with your counselor. Please lead the way.” The boy nodded and began walking down the hallway toward an elevator. He pressed the button and no sooner had he moved his hand, then the elevator door opened.



Helstinar was so terrified by this. This machine was more than he could bear. Akina looked at him and right away knew that he was scared. She grabbed his hand and winked at him with her reassuring smile. They stepped onto the elevator together. The boy pressed a button and they descended. Akina counted the floors they dropped. By the time the doors opened they had gone down 46 floors.
“Bottom floor,” the boy said. I can’t go any farther, but you just walk down this hallway and go through the door on the end. You can’t miss it; it’s the only door on this floor. With that he said farewell and walked back onto the elevator and it ascended again. He wasn’t kidding. Akina looked down the hallway and saw that there was nothing in it except a door at the very end.
“Better get going then,” Helstinar said. Akina nodded and they began to walk down the corridor to the end. When they reached it, Akina raised her hand to knock, but before she could a muffled voice came through a crack in the door.
“Come in please,” the voice said. Akina looked at Helstinar then turned the doorknob. They entered a beautiful room that looked just like that the library in the castle. There were books all over the walls and a huge fire warmed the room from a fireplace. A pleasant looking older woman was sitting in a chair next to the fire reading the Bible. Akina liked her already.
“Excuse us, ma’am,” Akina said. “We didn’t mean to disturb your reading time. It’s just…”
“I know, Akina.” The older woman of about fifty said as she set down her Bible. She saw the look on Akina’s face and elaborated. “Bob told me all about you. Please won’t you sit down? My name, by the way, is Barb.”
Akina and Helstinar sat in the chairs which faced the lady’s chair in front of the fire. Akina needed to know right away. “If you don’t mind my frankness, Barb, I have to know, what happened to the earth?”
Barb sat up and looked at Akina with intensity that matched that of King Thanilion’s the other day. “I will just tell you then. One year ago, a horribly psychotic scientist did the unthinkable. It started twenty years ago, when this man first started his studies. He had the crazy idea that the earth could survive without plants or wildlife or anything really. He pitched the idea to the government once, but they rejected it unanimously.”
“He continued his project in private, recruiting goons just like himself as he went along. Finally last year he got his mob squad positioned in different areas all around the earth. They set off plutonium filled bombs, and at the same time, he filled the atmosphere with chloride gas. It immediately killed all plants and animals and about 45% of the human race. The survivors rebuilt ruined cities underground.”
“He realized that his project failed when his food supply began to weaken and he decided things had to be changed. So for the last few weeks he has been very slowly draining the chloride through a portal into a different dimension. No one, including him, knows where it is going, but I sure feel sorry for whoever encounters it there.”
Akina thought she was beginning to understand now, “Why do you feel sorry for them, Barb?” She asked.
Barb answered, “Well, Akina, wherever the gas is going, when it mixes with the atmosphere there, it will most likely…”
“Turn into chrome and kill and destroy the entire world,” Akina finished for Barb, who nodded. Akina sighed. “How can this be stopped?” She asked.
Barb answered, “I really don’t know if it can, the closest I can get to an answer would be to find an ancestor of this scientist and kill him off at the source. This is why it is so great to have you both here.”
Akina hated where this was going. “What is the name of the scientist, Barb?” Akina asked and held her breath.
“His name is Thomas Elektra,” Barb said with a harsh sadness. Akina could hear the regret in her voice as she spoke her next words. “The descendants of Helstinar Elektra. I’m afraid you’re the only one who can stop him.
——————————
Time to Die
“Helstinar don’t do it, please.” Akina tried to get the sword from Helstinar but he just pushed it closer to himself.
“Akina this must be done. It is our world’s only chance.” Helstinar was right of course, but he was Akina’s brother, she loved him very much and she couldn’t let this happen while she was alive. “Akina it must be done. Don’t worry though, it was meant to be.”
Akina was now in tears. “I won’t let you do it. Not as long as I am standing here.” Helstinar looked at her with so much maturity and wisdom that she almost thought she didn’t know him.
“I know that, Akina,” Helstinar said. “Which is why I must do this,” He said and with that he swung his sword around and landed a hard handle right on Akina’s head. She slipped swiftly to the floor, tears still in her eyes. Helstinar knew she wouldn’t be out long, so he turned the sword around, said a quick prayer, and then with one rapid movement pierced his heart.
As he slipped to the floor, he uttered his last words, “I love you, Big sister.”
——————————
Letting Go
Akina entered the castle with a heavy heart. She dragged the body of her dead brother with her. When she looked out the window and saw Dragonhearth Mountain was completely green she knew Helstinar had done the right thing. King Thanilion was coming down the hallway now with a wide smile, but when he saw what Akina was dragging, it turned to one of deepest sympathy.
“It was for the best,” King Thanilion said.
Akina nodded, her mouth was very dry, “I know.”
Then Akina and King Thanilion embraced and he led her to the courtyard where they talked for the rest of the day. That night Helstinar was buried. He was given his own royal tomb and there was much mourning. It didn’t matter though. Helstinar would be remembered forever as a brave warrior and a noble man. Akina smiled as she thought about how wonderfully blessed he was right now, as he looked down on her from heaven. She really loved her little brother.

The end.