Howl Your Appellations

The New Light

BOEN OPEOR

When I woke up it didn’t feel natural; it was like light forced itself in, to open my eyes, as if  several dozen shining fingers worked together to pry my tired eyes open. Finally, without much of a choice, my eyes were open, and I could feel my whole body pulsate. I hadn’t had a physical body in a while, so it felt slightly nauseating to move or even blink. My eyes were open, but I still couldn’t adjust to the light, everything was still white and static. It was searing, like what they describe would be the gates of heaven. I heard a voice of a girl and then multiple voices talking and overlapping one another. I couldn’t understand anything, and it felt extremely unnerving. My eyes still hadn’t adjusted and the noise from the silhouettes continued to stir. But although I felt a wide array of emotions, my body barely demonstrated it and performed in lags; it was as if my consciousness was still adjusting to reality, some part of it was still held up or behind time. It hurt.

Eventually, the chatter and noises died down, and it seemed that only two people were in the room with me. I waited for myself to fully come back and for one of them to tell me what’s going on. Ensuingly, a soft voice reached my ears, it was not the voice I hoped for, but it was something soothing. The voice said, “You can relax now, everything must be so confusing for you, but it’s gonna be okay.” he then proceeded to pat my head. That was the first thing I felt that was real and tangible, I responded by being tangible as well. Deciding that being just tangible was no good, I focused on the person’s face. I squinted hard and thought hard about my wanting to thank and see him. The amount of energy that took was absurd and, honestly, impractical.

Finally, his face. The man had big dark hazel eyes behind his square brown glasses; his head is sort of the shape of an acorn with wavy dark blonde hair as the crown. He had a light complexion with stubble on his chin and wore a loose black sweater. But that wasn't all, shining above his head like a rainbow was the word "Imus". It was bright and golden with a regal font. 

"Imus." I managed to say, and the man reacted with a tiny flinch. "Can you see it?" He asks, leaning closer in front of me. I stare at his word halo, blinking as if it refreshes my sight every time. It was really there, no doubt about it. I limply tried to touch it and the man allowed me to do so, he held such soft and gentle expressions.

My hand simply phased through the word halo as if it was just a hologram, an inner projection of some sort. The man chuckled a bit and began to explain, "So you can see them after all! How many can you see?" I raised my index finger to verify that I could only see one. He nods.

"That's fine. It's always normally just one at the start. And it's mostly likely the name of the beholder. It's nice to meet you, Boen." He smiles and pats my head. I let him indulge himself and waited for him to be satisfied. "I'm Imus, as you can see."

He points at his word halo and started to walk to the side of my bed and sat down on a wooden chair. "You can see it which means you're one of us. Welcome to the world of Appellations."

A surge of memories and emotions started to invade my head and I began to scream and cry. I finally remember what happened! I was looking for the wolf girl and met Krolo in the woods instead...He chased after me and I tried to fight back, but he caught my leg and…!!!

"AAAAAAAGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!" I let out a shriek of terror.

"Hey, hey, hey. It's okay you're safe. The Weres that attacked you are gone and Prince has been subdued. You're safe. It's okay." Imus reassured me as calmly and empathetically as he could. He held onto my shoulders to help me relax, it almost felt like an incomplete hug, but it still got through, the intention at least. I decided to let myself breathe. That night, terror happened and now I'm here. That night is long over and I am here. I repeated those words to myself until I managed to somewhat calm down. Imus was supportive and patient the whole time. He gave me a grey handkerchief when my tears stopped flowing.

"I...that night...was… a blur. There were giant wolves and a lot of blood. A beast that looked like an amalgamation of every dead wood and tree crushed everyone. It took my backpack and..uhm...did...Did I manage to find the wolf girl Reese in the end? Is that how I got here?" I asked Imus.

He looked me straight in the eyes, as if looking for something inside them, eventually he said "Yes. Reese brought you here." 

For some reason, I didn't feel too happy about the fact. I feel like I'm forgetting something or someone, but I can't remember. My brain wouldn’t cooperate as I pushed myself to remember. I began to feel a tad tired again. Imus merely stared and sat as if he was waiting for something to happen. I slowly let myself look around the room and pieced together what I could recognize through their silhouettes and outlines.

I was in an infirmary room with a cabinet of medicine and medical books, and other medical equipment like a desk, weighing scales, and crutches. There was a wide  window covered by a thick white curtain on the right side of the room but the light from the outside still managed to slip through the gaps of the linen. The only thing that was out of place was the bed that I was on. The wood-carved bed with etchings of dancing wolves and the moon felt too much like a bed for a master bedroom. The bed was as big as two infirmary beds. And the pillow was the broadest I’ve ever seen. It was quite comfortable and soft.

The room felt reliable and cozy, like a little medical cottage. I still felt the fatigue of materiality, so I couldn't absorb my surroundings properly. Every move I made required slow and careful developments. I closed my eyes when my head was back in its natural position. 

I was relived that I saw darkness. If what I saw when I closed my eyes was the searing light again I would have gauged my eyes out with my own fingers. I breathed rhythmically, inhaled slowly through the nose and exhaled slowly through the mouth. This was when I heard faint chatters from outside the room, there wasn’t really a door just a beaded door curtain that was hanged to the side, and a thin layer of white cotton cloth aiming to imitate the purpose of a door. The chatters were soft, but two female voices rose above the other murmurs, one was the voice of someone who might be doting and partial while the other was a voice of someone who is solicitous and slightly fervid. Eventually, the doting voice trailed off and only the solicitous voice remained. After a few seconds, I heard footsteps.

“Um, uh,” the voice uttered which sounded closer, as if she was inside the room, “Welcome! You’re awake!” she awkwardly exclaimed. I slowly moved my head and tried to pinpoint where exactly the voice was coming from. I can hear a slight swishing sound as if someone’s slashing as stick in the air like a metronome. I saw a silhouette standing closely and in front of the door. I squint really hard until I could make out the whole person, but the first thing that I managed to see was her word halo, “Reese”.

“Reese!?” I exclaimed with mouth agape. I still couldn’t see her face properly, but I could see her tail swish-swashing behind her. Finally, her full image subsequently loaded, and I could see that it was really her: the poncho-wearing wolf girl I took a picture of! With a few different aspects here and there. 

She seems to be shocked that I just blurted out her name like that. She looked at Imus with a confused expression, Imus merely nodded as if he read her mind. Reese darted her gaze back at me and  with a great big smile she says,“You can see Appellations!?” It hasn’t sunk down that what I’ve been seeing on their heads are actually the Appellations mentioned in Skia’s book! Is this why it’s so important?

I smile back at her and reply, “I think I do. It’s so nice to finally meet you! I owe you a lot for saving me.” I don’t have enough strength to be enthusiastic, but I feel like she can tell that I’m excited to finally meet her. She approaches my bed eagerly and holds my hand with passion, “Don’t mention it! And just so there won’t be any guilt in my conscience, that night it was the three of us that helped you out!”

“Really? Who were the other two?” I ask.

“Well, Imus and Lissana of course!” she says. I don’t understand, “Huh, Lissana?”