ELANIA

Love, your love

Elania entered the bedroom and found Maron sitting in bed, leaning his back against the wall as in the corner to his right sat their already packed bags, ready for the burdensome journey ahead. Walking to his side, she then placed the tray on his bedside table and handed him one of the cups, the one that had been spiked with the fine purple dust.

“Thank you darling,” he said.

“You’re welcome,” Elania said and went to her side. She placed the tray on her bedside table and grabbed her cup as behind her Maron took a few sips of his tea.

“Mm this is delicious, try something new?”

“Yes.” She turned to him. “It’s an old recipes of old man Jhika’s, thought I’d steal it.”

“Well done, it’s lovely.”

“I thought you might like it.”

“I love it,” he said and they chuckled.

“Good.” She joined him in bed and together they went on enjoying their tea, with Maron enjoying his so much he put it away quickly.

“Mm that was a delicious cup of tea, definitely hit the spot.”

“You’re welcome,” Elania said and they shared a warm smile. He then placed his cup on his bedside table and moved closer to her where he kissed her shoulder, her neck and her cheek and then hugged her, leaning his head against hers. “I know you’re afraid of what lies ahead but we will be o.k. The might of God will see us through.”

“Amen.”

They looked at each other and smiled as she then moved in and planted a sweet kiss on his nose.

“I love you.”

“I love you more,” he said and slid his head a little down and rested it on her chest as Elania kept her eyes on him as though waiting for something. Out of nowhere, he gave a huge yawn.

“Oh dear sounds like someone’s a little tired.”

“It would be very strange if I wasn’t, I haven’t slept in two whole days.”

“Maron!” she said as she placed her cup on the tray. She knew he was going to have a hard time sleeping because of how worried about her he was but she didn’t think it was going to reach the point of him not sleeping at all.

“I was worried sick about you. Every time I tried to sleep I’d pop awake.”

“So you decided to keep yourself awake until I came back?”

“Yes.”

“Goodness, what would you do without me?”

“Absolutely nothing,” he said and they laughed as again he yawned.

“Alright that’s it, it’s time for you to get some sleep. We’ve got a huge journey ahead of us tomorrow and we need to be in tip-top shape,” she said as she softly pulled him off her chest and pushed him back onto his pillow where he yawned a third time.

“I’m so tired.”

Elania chuckled and rested on his chest. “Thank you very much for staying up until I got back, not necessary but sweet. But I’m back now and I release you.”

“Thank you my darling,” he said and she chuckled as she kissed his cheek.

“Alright you get started on your sleep whilst I take care of these dishes.”

“You need any help?”

“Not from you,” she said and Maron chuckled.

Elania lifted the tray and went to Maron’s side to get his cup, and grabbing it and putting it on the tray, she then walked out of the room suspiciously looking back at him as he gave out yet another big yawn and fell asleep.

Downstairs, Elania walked into the kitchen and put the tray in the sink. Opening the tap, she then washed the dishes, and as she rinsed them and placed them on the dish rack, suddenly she froze, a wind began to blow outside and the hearing of it immediately pushed her heart a little over the edge. It wasn’t Iris but it reminded her of her and she hated the sense of dread the remembrance of her wickedness brought upon her. Old man Jhika told her not to be afraid and not to doubt herself but she couldn’t help it, the measure of fear Iris had awoken inside of her was one she never even thought she could feel. It was very alarming and it had her wishing she could just wake up and brush it all aside like a bad dream.

She knew God was going to be out there with her, upholding her with His Righteous Right Hand, but what if she didn’t have what it took to play her part. No amount of training could ever prepare her for what was out there and she had only gotten two days-worth of it, Elania sighed in despair as fear quickly came upon her, like an icy chill at the back of her neck. And not just the fear of whether the skill old man Jhika had imparted to her was going to be enough to get her to the place where the leaders met so that she could summon Valkillian, but fear of the unknown as well.

And Maron, how was he going to survive out there? Going into a place so dangerous with no fighting skill, the outlands were literally going to eat him alive. At least she even had some skill, it wasn’t much but it was something compared to the nothing he had and it was that something that was going to be one of the major determining factors in whether she made it or not and so that in itself clearly showed how important it was. Of course she didn’t feel good about leaving him behind, because she loved him dearly and was going to miss him terribly, but she was doing what God had instructed her to do and that was by far the most important thing. Because God is God and no one knows what is best for us more than He does and so always His Instructions are to be followed.

Morning came and as the sun rose in the clear blue sky, it brought forth a beautiful bright day. Maron was still in bed fast asleep but his dreams started to fade away and so slowly he began to awake. He stretched his hand back to Elania’s side expecting to touch her but he didn’t, her side was empty.

Opening his eyes or rather trying to as they were extremely heavy, he then looked back expecting to see her sitting by the edge of the bed but she wasn’t; she wasn’t there. And wondering where she was because they always got out of bed together, he then sat up and looked around the room, yawning like a bear that had just woken up from hibernation.

“Elania?” he called out to her but there was no response. Throwing the blankets off of him, he then got out of bed and made his way down the stairs, almost missing a step even as his eyes were so heavy they kept on closing. “Elania?” He checked the living room and the kitchen and they were both empty. He then went and looked through one of the front windows and at the flip of a switch, all the sleep vanished from his face. It wasn’t morning, it was mid-afternoon. “No, no, no,” he then said as he ran back up the stairs. Entering the bedroom, he looked to the corner where both their bags were and there was only one, his. “No, no, no,” he went on as inside his heart began to knock on his ribs, his wife had gone into the deathly outlands all by herself.

Maron ran to his shoe rack and grabbed his boots, and put them on like he was in a race, and when he was done, he pulled a shirt off the clothes rack and put it on as he flew like a bullet to the door. He wanted to go and check all the possible locations in the forest she could be at before he shifted his panic into high gear, but then he came to an abrupt stop and looked to his bedside. There was a piece of paper on it and it had his name written on it. His heart skipped a beat. Who was it from? Was it from Elania or was it from Iris? Maron got his shirt all the way on and quickly went to check. He got close and recognizing the handwriting, he stopped and sighed in great relief. It was Elania’s and after sitting down on the bed and grabbing the piece of paper, he then unfolded it and read it.

“My love, please forgive me for what I have done but this is something I was gravely instructed to do on my own. Please don’t be upset, I put lilirose in your tea to make you oversleep so that by the time you woke up I was long gone. If I could have you out here with me I would, you know I would, but God told me to leave you and so I did. The journey ahead is a dangerous one and old man Jhika not only prepared me for it physically and mentally but spiritually as well. A lesson that was more valuable to me than any weapon taught because it helped me unlock a higher level of access to the Holy Spirit’s fire, a fire with which I can face the impossible. I may be out here by myself but I am not alone. Not only is the strength of God with me but your love is with me as well. Your love is the passion that will keep me going, so please hold on to it and let not a moment pass by that your heart does not think of me. Let not a moment pass by that your heart does not call out to me, for it is through that call that my heart will know that you are there. Please, let me always know that you are there. I know being out here by myself scares you but I need you to believe and trust in me and above all, I need you to believe and trust in Him. Pray for me my love. Let God hear your prayers that they may cover me as a shield. You may feel compelled to come after me but please don’t, this is what God has spoken and His Words will be honoured. Don’t worry, I will carry you with me every step of the way and not a moment will go by that my heart will not think of you. I love you my darling and I am going to miss you so much. I’ll see you when I get back, love, your love,” the letter read and Maron sighed as he threw his head down. It had been hours since she left, even if he wanted to go after her, he wouldn’t even know where to begin.

Elania was gone and Maron’s heart remained devastated. Holding onto their love and praying for God to see her through was equally as important but he wanted to be out there with her. He wanted to protect her as a man should his woman but God, who could protect her more than he ever could, was with her and so that calmed him down. He was the one who led her out there and where He leads He guides, and so he knew that no matter how hard things were going to get out there, Elania was going to be o.k. because God was going to be with her every step of the way.

Dropping to his knees, he then bowed his head and prayed; surrendering not just his fear but his anxiety as well to He who is faithful to take them away. For it is written in Psalm 34 Verse 4 that when we seek the Lord, He will answer us and deliver us from all of our fears, and so knowing this, Maron opened his spirit up to Heaven so that God could take his burdens away and give him the strength he needed to stand strong and hold on.

Over the wall of Wetuana Village, Elania continued making her way through the white sand desert outlands. She was wearing a dark grey cloak with its hood over her head, a pink and purple floral dress and brown leather ankle boots, with her bag on her back and her weapons on her too. The dagger was hanging from the belt around her waist and the bow and quiver were on the left and right side of the bag respectively.

It was mid-afternoon in the outlands as well and so the sun was on its way down, that didn’t matter though because it was still blazing, shining bright like it was high noon in a sky that was not only clear but soft pink in colour, the first thing she noticed and marvelled at the second she entered the outlands.

She was desperate to find shade so that she could sit and rest but there was none in sight, and so she had no other choice but to keep walking, so tired she was sweating like her head and the top half of her dress had been dipped in water. The air wasn’t poisonous as they were led to believe, it was however dry and hot and that was what the pink cotton scarf she was wearing over her mouth and nose was for, to keep her lungs from cooking, and it too was drenched.

The desert outlands consisted of hard flat ground, stagnant air and scorched purple coloured trees and shrubs that were scattered all across the land, with a few irregular shaped burgundy red boulders that stood here and there; some by themselves whilst others were stacked together into heaps of different shapes and sizes. It was a very rare sight and it was one that did a fantastic job at reminding her that she was definitely not in Wetuana anymore.

Walking on, suddenly she stepped on a fragile piece of ground that not only cracked around her but sunk a little into the earth as well, and immediately coming to an abrupt stop, she looked down and saw a noticeable c***k that went all around her. She gasped as inside her heart leaped, she needed to get herself off that piece of ground quickly or else she was going to fall in and who knows what was going to happen to her then. There could be rocks at the bottom and if she fell in, the fall could seriously injure her or worse kill her.

Quickly she sought to get off, but the moment she lifted her leg so that she could place it outside the c***k, the piece of ground sunk into the earth again and she yelped as inside her nerves went so cold they froze like ice, that piece of ground was on its way down and if she didn’t get off, she was going to go down with it. A moment later, it sunk again but this time it didn’t stop, it kept sinking and with the reflexes of a cat, Elania leaped off the sinking piece of ground and landed on the side.

The piece of ground sunk all the way down into the darkness below with the sound of the crumbling to pieces on its way down. She was just about to sigh in relief when just then, the piece of ground she was on cracked around her and began to sink as well. It was headed down into the darkness just like the other piece but quickly Elania leaped off of it, and not wanting to stick around lest the same thing happen again, she decided to make a run for it, as every piece of ground she stepped on cracked and broke off behind her, turning the small portion of sunken ground into a wide hole as the ground crumbled in every direction.

She ran on with her heart in her mouth and dove forward about two meters, and when she landed on the ground, she quickly looked back to see if the ground was still breaking and it was. It continued to break all around including in her direction but just upon reaching where she was, it stopped. The ground stopped falling in and the earth became quiet as below, the fallen pieces crumbled on.

Elania sighed in massive relief; the blackness below was that close to claiming her life but she made it. She thought she was safe but just as she was about to get up and keep going, the piece of ground she was sitting on cracked and fell into the earth. She screamed, so loud her lungs turned inside out, she was falling into a deep darkness that was quickly beginning to look a lot like her death.

The piece of ground continued to fall and as it hit against the walls of the narrowing hole, it crumbled to bits as Elania fell on and hit herself hard against the very walls, tossed from side to side like a rag doll. She was bashed for a good seven seconds when she fell through the opening at the bottom and landed back first on the white sandy ground, with bits of sand falling on top of her. Giving out a deep cough like she was about to puke, she then turned onto her side to catch her breath, coughing on like she was choking on a whole frog; the fall was so rough that it completely knocked the wind out of her. She even removed her scarf so that she could catch her breath quicker, and when she did, she looked up at how far down she fell hoping to climb her way back up to the surface but it was too high; there was no way she was getting out that way. She needed to find another way out and so she stood up, dusted herself and began looking around.

She was in a cave and it looked like it ran underneath the entire desert, with a darkness so black it looked like the night. There were pillars everywhere and rays of sunlight coming in through small crevices and holes in the ground but they were barely piercing through the darkness and so though there was sunlight coming in from almost everywhere, it still wasn’t good enough to provide sufficient light for her to make her way through. Plan B. She removed an oil lamp from her bag and lit it with a box of matches, and when its flame was up and burning a rather decent light, she got up onto her feet, turned north-east and started walking, making sure to watch her step so that the incident that just transpired didn’t repeat itself.

Elania walked only a few meters when suddenly, a sound came from behind her; like a small group of men in a hundred meter dash just ran passed her. Quickly she stopped and turned back, and not only was it quiet but there was no one there. She then walked back to check what it was and looking down, she saw numerous hollow holes in the sand coming from one direction and going in another. She gasped, there was something down there with her.

She looked around, swinging her lamp from side to side trying to see something, anything but the darkness was fighting back and so she saw nothing. She took a few steps back and as she turned around so that she could keep going, she walked into something, soft and silky, like spider webs but thicker, and sticking to her like glue, Elania struggled to get loose.

Just then, she heard the sound again, much closer this time but when she looked back, there was nothing there. Her chest went cold with fear. There was definitely something down there with her and not knowing what it was made the situation that much more frightening.

Again the sound went, not from behind her like the two times before but from above, from the cave ceiling. Quickly Elania looked up but all she could see was black; the lamp’s light was bright but it wasn’t bright enough to reach the cave ceiling. Her heart pounded on and as she lowered her head and looked forward, she saw something standing in front of her, on the other side of the webs; a furry white spider-like creature with five large black marble eyes, a scorpion-like tail, sharp teeth and a mouth that could swallow a bear whole.

Elania gasped, with shivers running down her back so cold everything inside her turned to stone. She finally knew what the creature was and she wished she didn’t because it was horrendous. It shrieked, with its shriek so sharp it sounded like twenty witches screaming, and looking into the darkness of its mouth, Elania freaked as the creature’s heavy breath pushed her back, freeing her from the sticky web.

Tearing through the very web, the creature shrieked at her again and quickly she got up and ran away as it then chased after her; breaking through the pillars eager to catch her like a cat chasing a mouse, as it shot webs at her out of the tip of its tail like spit out of a cobra’s fangs.

She ran and hid behind a thick pillar, and not wanting the creature to see where she was hiding, she covered her lamp with her cloak. The creature looked around but it couldn’t see her anywhere and so it stopped and switched its sight to night vision mode, hoping to catch her hiding in the shadows where she thought she was safe but wasn’t. It looked this way and that way but still couldn’t see her and so it continued moving; disappearing into the darkness as Elania remained hidden, using the beat to catch her breath.

She was about to get up and make a run for it when out of nowhere, some loose sand fell on her. Quickly she looked up, but she couldn’t see anything because it was dark and so she removed her lamp from underneath her cloak to shed some light and the moment she did, the creature came into the light and shrieked at her. Elania screamed and ran off as the creature dropped down from the ceiling and continued chasing her.

The creature closed in on her and when it reached her, it whipped her with its tail and she flew through the air and hit her side against a pillar, cracking a few ribs and dropping her lamp. She fell to the ground and groaningly reached for the lamp, and the second she held it out to see where the creature was, it popped out of the darkness charging at her with its mouth open wide.

Elania screamed and quickly dove out of its way, and as it smashed into the pillar, completely shattering it, she got up and ran off. The creature shook the sand off and continued chasing her as it shot more webs at her. It missed her a good number of times because she ran in a zigzag manner but finally it caught her, on her hand, just as she held a pillar to keep herself from falling and she stuck to it like glue. She tried to pull herself free but she failed, the webs were super sticky and were tough like twine.

She got her dagger out and cut herself loose, but not doing so quick enough, the creature reached her and again whipped her with its tail. She flew and smashed into another pillar, this time cutting open the right side of her forehead; dropping her dagger and her lamp in the process. She fell to the ground and upon her looking in the creature’s direction, a web smacked her right on the face.

Elania fell back panicking; desperate digging her nails into the web to get it off so that she could see and breathe. It wasn’t a good time to not breathe and it certainly wasn’t a good time to not see, there was a creature down there trying to kill her for goodness sake, she needed to get that thing off of her as soon as possible.

She knew she dropped her dagger in the same space she was in and so she started to feel the ground for it, whilst the creature continued charging towards her. The dagger was a meter away from her but suddenly it flew off the ground and into her hand and swiftly but carefully, she made a cut where her mouth was and took in a deep breath, just as the creature reached her and it whipped her with its tail again. She flew and hit herself against yet another pillar, bashing her head again, but at least this time protected by the webs on her face that cushioned the impact.

She didn’t lose the dagger this time and so after hiding herself behind the very pillar, she used it to cut her face free of the web, intentionally leaving the bit that was over her cut so that it wouldn’t get dirty and infected. The creature showed up and couldn’t see her anywhere and so it began to creep looking for her, going a little to the left and then the right and back to the left where it continued going and eventually disappeared into the darkness.

Elania saw it go and quickly she ran in the other direction to grab her lamp. She picked it up and continued running as behind her the creature popped out of nowhere and continued chasing her, shrieking on as it shattered through the pillars like a bulldozer.

It gained on her and opened its mouth to eat her but Elania threw herself to the ground, and as the creature ran over her, she pulled her dagger out and chopped off one of its eight legs. It shrieked and started to pound its feet on the ground trying to stomp her but she positioned herself well, so well that she chopped off another leg.

The creature shrieked even louder, with its shrieks echoing throughout the cave, as Elania came out from underneath it and ran off. She was hoping to reach one of the big pillars so that she could hide behind it and rest, even if it was just for a second, but the creature spotted her and immediately chased after her, with its wounds spewing out thick green blood.

Running on and not seeing the ground disappear underneath her, Elania fell through the air and rolled down a sandy slope, all the way to the bottom where she shattered her lamp. The fire died and the paraffin spilled on the sand, and quickly she got up onto her knees and crawled to safety before the creature showed up. It was another section of the cave and it had a lot more cracks and holes compared to the other one and so there was more light. It was nowhere near as bright as outside but at least it was bright enough for her to make her way through without the lamp.

The creature appeared and started making its way down the slope and seeing it, Elania pushed herself closer to the pillar, breathing heavily but holding her scarf over her nose and mouth to mask the sound. It reached the bottom and scanned the area, and seeing her nowhere in sight, it went off to its left as she remained breathing a sigh of relief.

In the clear for now, Elania removed her bag and groaningly tied her scarf around her cracked ribs; it was enough pain to make a grown man cry but she stood strong for her life depended on it. She then looked at the paraffin on the sand and at the creature’s webs that were all over and her eyes brightened with ambition; she had an idea.