The Garden of Armenia

[Keanumoreira]

Chapter 1: Opening doors that weren't there yesterday

 

The green mist thickened around the copse of the pine tree forest, the permafrost as hard as an adult’s skull, stretching wherever the landscape crossed. The bitter bite of winter gripped my spine and nibbled at my ears and rosy checks, my eyes just awakening from a life altering experience.

 

“M-mommy…?” The ripped pages of the mystical book flutter and dance along the passing wind, the branches of the trees shivering and bundling up as they sway and move to the wind's fluid movement.

 

“Mommy…”

 

The land is unrecognizable, the purple birds that soar above and maneuver through the forest a surreal sight. I pull my face away from the freezing ground and investigate the change of scene. Something…something very terrible has just happened. “MOMMY, where are you!” There is no response but of the echoes that follow, and I find myself all alone in a playground much too massive.

 

I turn around to the book half buried in the snow, the ripped pages still swirling about it in a blue cloud of powerful magic, the force exerted so strong that it nearly knocks me to my feet as I reach out to pick it up. At once, the commotion ceases, the blue cloud dissipating into thin air, the snow brushed about resting on the ground in gentle snowflakes, and the great wind banished as if on cue. My eyes sparkled on its brown hardback cover, the smooth streaks of detail resembling the roots of a mighty tree, the book itself representing the strength and endurance of this hand crafted image. I recall the moments that passed as I stood there in the attic, the dominant sun poking its head through the window as it illuminates a small space on the floor, the various illusions of shapes shooing away the darkness covering the dusty box ahead. I slowly approach the lone object, listening to the moans of the creaking floorboards, pushing away a pesky network of cobwebs showing off their silky patterns of artwork and closing in on the circle of light. I descend to my knees and stroke at its top curiously, accidentally tossing it into the air and crashing onto the floor like lightening, the vacant room roaring in anger as it bounced from corner to corner. It all falls silent, and I redirect my attention to what’s been locked inside that was so important to cause a dramatic moment. The words are unreadable in the dim light, but upon opening and flipping through the tattered pages, colorful pictures race from edge to edge, each one that followed more complex than the one before it.

 

“Who would throw away such a thing?” I whispered, eagerly diving into the complicated inscriptions and symbols etched on the parchment, until something standing out caught my eye. I turn the page back to more unreadable words, perhaps in a lost language, but written in blood. “Huh…now what is this?”

 

It looked as if someone deliberately attempted to scratch out the words, but the fading suggested that whoever was here last, must have stumbled upon it too. I ignore the warnings screaming at me in my face as I foolishly lean closer and squint, struggling to pronounce the archaic text. I was playing with fire for sure as there must have been a reason why this book was hidden in the house for so long, and surely, the already missing pages was a clear sign of “Go back, do not go any further”! But like a cat curious with a rolling ball of yarn, I had to investigate, I had to open that book, I had to see what would happen, what goodies lied within and the long missing secrets of old people or system, perhaps written within, that was meant to never be uncovered from the blanket from those who placed it there.

 

“Muki-humlock-tidas…” The words come out of my mouth, but nothing seems to react to it.

 

I gaze back down at the text and repeat it, “Muki humlock tidas!” A light draft seems to open from the book, scattering the dormant dust on the windowsill. Filled with hope, I read them louder.

 

“Muki humlock tidas”! The draft turns into a gentle wind.

 

“Muki humlock tidas”! Louder now, my hair splitting widely as it picks up,

 

“Muki humlock tidas”! Sprinkles of blue dust-like particles appear and skip around the ritual, the floorboards splintering with each blast of energy that follows with my chants.

 

“Muki humlock tidas”! A ball of energy fully forms around me, the floorboards uplifted and spinning about randomly, unknowingly revolving around me as I am levitated in place, the paper on the book embering into ash as an angry red haze risings from the cover.

 

“MUKI…HUMLOCK….TIDAS”!!! At once, I am shocked out of my trance to find that I had unleashed an unstoppable evil, the walls banging like war drums in an ear shattering scream, the floor ripped from its foundation and the glass stripped from the window, a menacing whirlwind of debris swallowing everything in its path. The box is instantaneously ripped to shreds and I can feel my very being drawn to this center of hell.

 

Tears stream hysterically from my eyes as I beg it all to stop, trying to pull away, but the evil book tightens its grasp and engulfs me within its core, eventually devouring itself in a violent explosion of tremendous destruction. Before I knew what hit me, I find myself here, in the eye of the hurricane, the calm following the storm, the moment before all but a distant memory. Despite what just happened, I feel the book in my hands with renewed interest, intent on discovering what else there was to read. Whatever this truly was must have been a treasure to those who once held it, but I as I look to the world around me, it is apparent that this is a serious matter. Wherever I was, I knew that it wouldn’t be as simple as turning the next page, as every chant seemed dead and this world ever more real. “Why won’t it work”?

 

I kick the permafrost and stomp, holding it closer to my chest as it gets colder and colder. I flung my hoodie over my head, whimpered, and trudged on, pushing myself to find an answer and to escape from this world.

[LordWushin]

Very interesting! Look forward to more. Great piece.

[Keanumoreira]

Thanks. :D Edited June 2, 2011 by Keanumoreira

[csgators]

Some deep stuff, makes me think of my rebellious youth and lessons learned.

[Flintlockecole]

Intresting.