In the Beginning...

First chapter of my SDC3 book (some chapters - like the first one, may be a bit short)

With slight difficulty, he moved up and away from the river. He’d been under it for so long he had nearly forgotten how to be above it. He stumbled a bit before regaining his balance, then continued up to the banks near the grass and pulled himself up slightly from the water and sat down, looking around while he rubbed his legs to get back the warmth that was once in them.

For some reason, his whole body had been itching to go to this place, and he didn’t even understand why. And now that he had arrived here, the feeling of longing was gone, and replaced with despair. He knew this feeling from before, before he came back to Earth. He had felt it so many times in the place he was created, not knowing what he was or where he was going �" just going aimlessly forward in the quest for answers.

He shook his head and the water from his hair blew in every direction. The water was hard to get rid of. It was, after all, already parts of him.

When awakened on the moon of the Exile, it didn’t take him long to understand he had to get away from there and back home to Korea. But even in Korea, he felt unwanted and the powers that were now inside him �" calling for the seas �" were too overwhelming for him to understand. In the end, he had succumbed to whatever was driving him, and he left everything behind, just to be part of the sea. He hadn’t minded it the least, because he had always been fascinated by the life under it, and especially the creatures. And finally, after such a long time away, he finally felt home. But one day, swimming by himself in the sea, something inside of him lurked his insides and told him to travel to another world �" yet again. Something was pulling him away from everything he knew, and it was a scary thought he tried to shake off…without success.

With time, it was hard to hide whoever he was. Over time, after to have awakened from his slumber, with none to turn to �" he noticed specific changes in his appearance. Perhaps one of the toughest things to hide was his eyes. Once brown, like most Korean, after the slumber, they had turned to bright blue, which could be any Korean with any blue contact lenses…if it wasn’t for that white cross in the middle of them, shining bright as light underwater to guide his way through the currents.

And now, he had made his way, to the shores of….France. By instinct, he had followed the calling in his heart, and with every day passing, getting closer to his destination; his heart had ached more and more. The feeling was related to a long lost lover, whom you knew you would find at the other end, which you had dreamed about for years. The feeling was filled with excitement and most of all �" peace.

 

Even though reaching the shore, he knew the travelling was not over. His insides lurked against the east, towards the woods, past the villages and the fields of wheat. It was still a while to go, but he would walk it �" as he had nothing to lose.

 

From the small backpack he had brought with him on his back through the endless waters, he picked out a pair of glasses, soaked in salt water, which he shook hard to get most of the water off. They were shaded. He put them on to hide his eyes and started walking down the road near the coast. By day he travelled by the road, at night he slept near the woods, away from the people. With no money at all, and the only food to eat was from rivers or the sea, he kept close to places where there were less humans. If opportunity had it, he would travel with floating rivers, relaxing on the waves �" invisible to other humans, playing with other creatures living in it. Small fish, otters, shrimps, crabs, bugs, beavers…

 

 

After a week of travelling by foot, he stood face to face with a humongous gate. At his side, there was a long dirt road, with woods on one side, a river on the other. He had been walking for quite some time without seeing any cars or any other houses, so he assumed the property was very large and quiet. On the other side of the gate, stood a huge mansion. It was actually two buildings, as one could barely see the beginning of the second structure in the corner, looking as if there was a big round courtyard in the middle of the two houses �" probably with a fountain. The road up to the house was quite long as well, with what once was a lot of flowerbeds, which was now a lot of dead plants. The mansion looked deserted, and run down and had probably been abandoned for years. However, by the look on the grass, it looked as if there were still animals there, as there were poo on the grass. The tall fence seemed to go around the entire property, but as far as he knew, there could be a loophole into the forest in the back.

The mansion itself was a kind of pink and brownish colour, with 4 floors of height with at least 6 or 7 different rooms. The other structure on the property was larger and he couldn’t tell from the outside of the gate how it looked like.

His heart was throbbing now. Feeling as if his heart was about to leap out from his chest. With intensity it lurched him on. He stared through the gate. For some reason, something inside of him really wanted him to go in, badly.

He jerked the gate slightly. It was locked and unmovable. He looked around for a doorbell of some kind and saw a little box at the other side of the road. He walked over to it and pressed the only button available on it. The camera in the corner was focusing on him, but even as he could hear it zooming in and out, nobody replied in the speaker.

He stepped backwards and looked to both sides. The river seemed to float into the garden under the bricks and he figured it was probably the easiest way for him to get in. Avoiding the camera, moving to the other side of the road, he jumped into the river fast and disappeared into its depths.

 

The cold air upon his bare skin was a little over the top as he reached the surface again. For some reason, he had, in fact, ended up into the back courtyard fountain he had assumed was there in the beginning. He climbed out from it, sitting on the edge, looking around the property as he shook the water out of his shoes and his shades, while closing his eyes not to seem too suspicious.

As he got up and walked against the entrance of the front house, he dried most of the water off his clothes. That was one of the few things he could do. Having the ability to control water in any shapes and forms, he could do whatever he wanted as long as he imagined it happening. And right now, he imagined himself dry. Free of water. And so the water was sucked into a single area as he walked �" onto the ground under him.

He peeked through the windows of the terrace doors he was facing and slightly jerked the handles. They were open. He carefully slid in and was welcomed by a cold breeze that made his bones shiver. So far, he had not seen a living soul in this deserted place but the feeling inside of him had started to back off and he was at some point �" in a state of peace, however, curious to why he was there, he continued searching for anything at all. Room after room he passed. They were all empty, although some of them had furniture, ripped and broken of course. When he entered the furthest corner of the house, he came to a medium sized room with a fireplace, a bookshelf with a lot of books in them, a cosy blanket on the couch, a TV and a gaming console in the corner. The room had a wooden door leading to the side of the house, and the fireplace had recently been used. 

His heart beat a little faster now, knowingly there were someone in the house avoiding him. For clearly, the fires had been put out recently and the smell of smoke was still hanging in the air.

He tried to call out soft voices for anyone, but as usual, nobody replied.

The door to the next room was ajar. It was dark. He hesitated for a moment as if daring to go in or not, but decided to have a go. In worst case …. Well, he didn’t really want to imagine the worst case. He pushed the door open a little more. “Hello?” Nobody replied. Although, still sunlight outside, the room was in complete darkness. The window-blinds had been closed shut and the lights were off. The room was slightly smaller than the cosy living room he had just been standing in, but he could clearly see it was a bedroom. In fact, the bedroom had three beds in it and with a closet that filled the entire Westside wall. “I come in…peace” he said and instantly felt stupid for saying it, like a cheesy alien movie from the cinema. He sighed, but threaded carefully into the room. He was already stiff scared by now, unable to imagine what to expect.

The door shut behind him and before he could turn around to see what it was, someone hit him in the head, grabbed his arms and pressed his body hard against the side of the bed, face down.

“WHY ARE YOU HERE? WHO ARE YOU? WHO SENT YOU?” the voice was wild and slightly dark. He didn’t respond. He didn’t know how to. The person behind him twirled his arm as he pulled it.

“Aaaaggghhh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you….aaaaaaahhh” unable to withstand the pain, he shot a huge water ball from his back against his attacker, and rolled over fast to the corner in the dark, facing whatever had attacked him, yet unable to see him. He sat on the floor stretching his arm. He heard someone walking in water by the door, but could only see a shadow moving over the lights coming from under the door.

“Who are you?? Can I see you?”

“Why do you want to see me? Did they send you here to collect me all by yourself? Man, such a fool”.

“Who are they? I know no one. I came here from Korea…”

“Lies!!!”

He thought for a second before he spoke again. “Dancing Galaxy….I am from Exolon. Do you know it?”

“Exolon……” the voice in the dark said, steps closing in on him from the corner. “Most of Exolon was wiped out a few weeks ago. Barely any survivors. So you lie!!”

“Please!” He saw a shadow jump onto the bed next to him. He looked up into darkness and saw nothing.

“I woke up from a long sleep and I couldn’t find anyone, so I came here. Something wanted me to come here. I know it sounds stupid, but I had to come.”

“A slumber…” something whispered into his ear. He sat completely still, still staring on top of the bed. A pair of beastly eyes looked down upon him.

He removed his shades to get a better look of the person…or creature above him and looked at him through his own eyes. They both stared at each other for a long time before the person with the golden eyes slid down from the bed sitting right in front of him, his face almost touching his, and he felt a hand touching his head, while he was too afraid to do anything about it. Some part of him was really scared. This new person seemed to move around like an animal. Sneaky, tilting head and small growls. Almost hypnotizing. The eyes were a sore welcome into his life. The past few months he had thought something was wrong with him, having abnormal eyes and now finally, he finds another person with different eyes, just like him.

“What are you?” he said and reached onto the person with the golden eyes. He backed off.

“I’m like you it seems �" just different. I too have slumbered. But I woke up at a different place. In Eden!”

“Eden?” He sat upright looking at him questionably. “I didn’t know they were even in the war…”

“The war affected the whole galaxy it seems. However, there was no war when I fell”. Something sniffed his neck and slightly licked it. The stranger grabbed him by the collar and lifted him up from the floor against the wall. “I don’t know who you are, stranger…but, I think I like you” he said and gave him a mouthful of a wet kiss…