Chapter 25 Conquest of Chimera

Chapter 25

Conquest of Chimera

  Not long after Kia and Kian had washed and dressed for the day they heard a knock on their front door, it was Lucius and he was not alone.

   The first thing Kian saw when he opened the door were two Brook Sprites glowing from inside Lucius’ ears. The sight was rather humorous but no one was laughing.

  “Day’s greeting,” Lucius began, “I hoped you slept well.”

  “Actually we didn’t,” Kian said as motioned for Kia to join him.

  Upon seeing Kia with Kress clinging on her right ear, Lucius let out a great sigh of relief.

 “I take it your glowing passengers are Kress’ parents,” Kian said smiling as he welcomed them in. 

  Lucius nodded as the two sprites zipped away and gathered around Kia’s ear where Kress was still clinging. She got an ear full.

  “When we awoke and could not find you,” said Peter her father, “we could only hope you had not become lost in the deep woods again.”

  “You should have learned your lesson;” Tess her mother added, “punishment is in order.” She zipped back to Lucius informing him she and her husband would be taking their daughter back home and that he should give the new arrivals a strong warning concerning their reckless behavior.

   Lucius nodded again trying to listen patiently but became quite irritated with the whole situation.   

   “Tess,” he began, “Do you really think these two took your daughter or held her against her will?”

  Kress pulled away from her father and sliced up to Lucius’ left ear. “I came here on my own. It is not their fault, we over slept, I’m sorry. We were so tired.” She started to tell them about her dream walk to the west, but thought better of it. She was in enough trouble as it was. “I just wanted to visit Kia, I’m sorry. I never intended to spend the night here.”

  “Well it is quite certain you will not be spending the day here.” Her father declared as he flew up to her and clasped her arm. Come, now!”

    With that, Kress and her parents turned and flew out the open door. They did not get far.

They had only flown a few feet down the walkway when Kress’ golden light turned bright red and she drooped slack as an empty balloon in her father’s hand.

  Her parents hovered around her saying something no one but they could hear. Then supporting her unconscious body between them they darted back inside before Kia Kian and Lucius realized something was terribly wrong.

  However, the moment the Sprites brought Kress near Kia her golden glow returned and she came to, quite unaware of what just happen to her.

  After satisfying himself, that his daughter was all right Peter left her in the care of her mother and flew right to Kian’s ear grabbing it so hard it actually stung a little.

  “What did you do to my daughter?” He demanded.

      “Nothing intentional,” Kian shot a desperate glance at Lucius, “we need to talk, all of us, Kress’ parents too.” He motioned for Lucius to take a seat on the couch. After they were comfortably seated he related the previous nights’ event, leaving out no detail and even telling them how someone had created Kia from his old Earth memories and preferences and how as a new born infant was able to leave his body. He even told them about his life on Earth, how he died and woke up in new body, how on Earth the separation between animals and people was so great and so well defined that killing eating animals was perfectly acceptable, that even wearing their skin was perfectly normal where he came from.   

  “Then you are our grandfather;” Lucius declared, “a beast to be sure. And you plan to kill and eat us.”

  “No! Never,” Kian jumped up, “No.” he reiterated, “You are people. They made you people. I don’t know how, and I have no idea why. But I don’t care about your feathers or your fur, your claws and hooves. Whatever animals were before they were not human beings, clearly they are now. You are all people now. Killing you would be murder. Eating you would be cannibalism and wearing your skin would just be gross. How I lived my life then is not how I’m going to live my life now. It would just be wrong.”  

   “Then you no longer have an appetite for flesh,” Lucius leaned back stretching his arms out across the back of the couch.”

  Kian and Kia looked at one another. “Yes,” Kian boldly stated, “yes we do, but they gave us the ability to make anything we eat taste like anything we want.”

  “How safe for us,” they could not tell if Lucius was making a joke or an astute observation.   

  “Then sprites were prevalent on your ancient home world,” Peter spoke into Lucius’ ear.

Lucius happily relayed the question.

  “No Peter, sprites fairies, centaurs, mermaids and the like only existed in myth and legend; someone has great power but a child’s sense of what should be.”

  “This ‘they’ did they make marks that are not pictures.”

  “Marks,” Kian sat down in the chair facing Kia’s, “you mean words, writing, written language, I can’t say what they do other than what I have seen since I came here, but we used to. In fact I can write something for you right now if you like.”

  Lucius leaned forward and pulled the stick of charcoal he used for measuring from his apron. “Show me.”

  “Of course but I need something to write on.”

  “I know,” said Kia as she jumped from her chair ran to the personal facility, returning with a clean cotton wipe cloth.     

  “Here Kian, show me too,,” Kia said, “I want to see this, writing.”

  “Really, I just assumed, you’re just full of surprises aren’t you sweetheart. I’d never guessed you were illiterate.”

  “Is that a bad thing?” Kia asked.

  “No dear, not necessarily.” With that, he preceded to write, ‘I live here’, then showed it to Lucius.

   His eyes widened into round black mirrors, “This is what I must show you, this what few have seen and no one understands. We eat, then we journey.”

   “I want to go too,” Kress said looking at her father, her eyes pleading.

  “Thanks to last night’s adventures,” Peter bowed his head to hide his wet face, “you  must go with them. I know where the blood went. It went into you. I saw it. You’ve changed our lives forever.”

  “Yes you have,” said Lucius, “ Kia and Kian could not hear Peter and Lucius did not share. But he did share this.

  “And now we have enemies.”

  “Yes,’ said Kian, “we do.”