New Morn - Chapter 3
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Chapter Three
“Know that not all of those wonders are kind. Messaria is beautiful yet dangerous – as are those that live upon it. As much as I wish this place could be utopia, it is not. My greatest desire is that you will come to love Messaria as I do.” – Crowns, Star. 1:1-1
“Certainly we learned that Messaria can be unkind. Whether by the beasts or the men who inhabit it. The Script clearly shows love for Messaria, but utopia it is not. In fact, some of those early months leading to the Battle for White Bluff felt entirely the opposite.” – Musings of the Gods’ Morality: Notes of the High Orator, 0 FLI
Five days had passed since Pontaes’ Awakening from that blissful void. Four days of ingratiating himself with Lera and her brother Quin. Five days of grumbling stomachs, heat fatigue, and sun burn. They hadn’t reached the palace they’d spotted on the first day. All they had found was an impassible river the prior afternoon.
The river thundered down from the eastern lip of the valley and split into a delta about two miles inland. Each branch of the delta was over fifty feet across and churning as it thundered down from valley onto the sandy shoreline Pontaes had awoken on. Pontaes’ group had followed the river a few miles east, desperate to find an end to this delta and a place to cross. They had been unsuccessful. The river wove through a lush valley of olive and cypress trees, more slender only in rapids where crossing would be impossible.
Now it was the evening of their fifth day naked and lost. When we finally make a crossing, returning to the sea will add another day to our journey. It was infuriating. The palace had seemed so close on that first day, but the coast bended and wove like a snake, and the winding path they took had added days to their journey.
The group made camp on the river’s bank, spread out beside the water with fires every twenty feet or so. They washed their sweaty bodies in the river, cooked fish they had caught, and rested their weary feet. If they didn’t find a way to ford the river tomorrow, Quin had said he would strike out alone and search for one himself.
Seeing that palace had given Pontaes a purpose upon Awakening. That palace would be a haven from the rigors of life out here under the sun. The command urged Pontaes to action. Rule. He had been the only one to hear that word. That had a weight to it. An importance that Pontaes was keenly aware of. Reaching the palace on the other side of this river was only his first step. For now, Pontaes needed to convince these people that he was their best chance at survival. Pontaes considered how to do that as he sat by the fire, listening to the crackling of the twigs and distant thunder of the river’s rapids. Quin and Arden sat at the fire as well. Quin sat nearby because he still felt the need to keep an eye on Pontaes. Arden sat nearby because he was unnerved by the wilderness. He needed Pontaes’ calmness to reassure him. Pontaes didn’t mind that. It reinforced his purpose. It reminded him that these people needed him, even if they didn’t know if yet. But they do not look to me. They look to Quin and Lera.
Pontaes turned his face upward. The larger of the two moons had already risen. Dim glimmers of stars peeked through the red and purple watercolor sky. He thought of God’s voice and wondered if He was up there. Then, to his own surprise, Pontaes began to pray. He had never prayed Before. He was bad at it. The words came clumsily. God give me the wisdom to find my path. Give me the strength to bring these people with me. Give me guidance. Pontaes prayed for the better part of ten minutes, hoping for passage across this river and memory of Before. No one responded.
“What are you doing?”
Pontaes looked down from the sky and saw Quin scowling at him. “Praying.”
“To who?”
“I am not sure yet.”
Quin scoffed but didn’t say anything more.
Pontaes didn’t like Quin – a feeling that he was certain was mutual – but Pontaes also understood the man’s importance. If I can show him I am worthy of respect, the others will see it too. It had been Lera who had organized this group. Lera who kept them together and on the path. But Quin commanded the same level of respect. Pontaes had to admit that the man had done a good job. He had fed and protected these people for nearly a week. A week in the wilderness with no deaths. That is an accomplishment in itself. While Quin was forceful and decisive, Lera was warm and just. Pontaes was convinced that one was useless without the other. He would need them both.
Pontaes looked over at Arden. The skinny man sat with his knees pulled to his chest, brown eyes dancing with reflected firelight. Arden’s lips moved subtly. Pontaes frowned. He has been quiet recently. When was the last time he said something? Pontaes hadn’t spoken to his friend today or most of the previous day. He has been strange since we Awoke. Pontaes still didn’t remember anything specific from Before, but he was certain Arden used to prattle for hours. In the madness of the past week, Pontaes had forgotten to prod Arden about his lie on the first day. He decided now was the time. “Arden?”
Arden started, then met Pontaes’ eyes. “Yes?”
“Are you speaking to yourself?”
Arden flushed. “I am just thinking.”
“Of what?”
“Just…” Arden trailed off, then shook his head. “Just thinking.”
Pontaes deepened his frown. He almost pushed further, but he knew Arden. I have to be soft with him. That is the only way he will tell me what I want to know. If Pontaes pushed too hard, Arden would clam up. So, with great effort, Pontaes softened his voice and face. “I just want to know if something is wrong, Arden. You can tell me when you are ready – but you cannot fool me. Something troubles you.”
Pontaes saw Quin lean over to better eavesdrop from across the fire.
After a brief pause, Arden let out a ragged breath. “There is something wrong with my head – with my thoughts.” Arden quieted again and Pontaes kept silent, knowing Arden would continue as long as he didn’t feel like he was being interrogated. Eyes still locked on the fire, Arden said, “I think in another language, Tae. In many languages.”
“I thought you spoke many languages Before.”
“I did, but not these. These are different. There are more of them.”
“How many?” Quin asked.
For a moment Pontaes thought Arden would go silent at the question, but, to Pontaes’ pleasure, Arden said, “A few hundred. Perhaps more.”
Quin scoffed. “Bullshit.”
“Do you doubt my friend?” Pontaes asked, letting himself speak without emotion.
“This man simpers and whines for the past week, limps over every hill like a lame dog – and now this? Damned right I doubt him.”
Arden flushed again.
Something wrathful sparked in Pontaes’ chest then, but he disguised it well. He didn’t lash out or scowl. He didn’t gesture rudely. He didn’t pick up that rock and slam it into Quin’s temple. He just turned back to Arden. “Can you speak them?”
Arden hesitated, eyes lingering on Quin, then nodded. “I can write them, too.”
Pontaes nodded toward the sandy ground between them. “Go on.”
Arden thought for a moment, then, with his finger, wrote the rushing river in the sand. Then, just below, Arden wrote al torras spreng. Below that he wrote dar verra kornan. Then another phrase in a script of images, like simplified hieroglyphics; another in a boxy script; another with sweeping lines, precise dots, and geometric shapes; then another and another and another. Arden stopped at ten repetitions, having written to the edge of his reach from where he sat. “I do not know the languages’ names, but I know them. I dream in them. Sometimes they overlap in my head. Sometimes when I speak, a word from the wrong language comes out in the place of the word I intended. I didn’t know these languages Before. I didn’t know any language as well as I know these.”
Pontaes didn’t know what to think. What purpose does this ability serve in this sort of place? God had brought Pontaes and all of these people to a wild land, almost devoid of civilization. Why make Arden a translator? “What can I do Arden?”
“Not sure there is anything to do, Tae, though I appreciate the sentiment.”
Pontaes nodded. He had thought as much, but the best way to keep Arden close was to keep him happy. Rhetorical gestures like that served them both.
Pontaes gazed out across the camp and its glowing firelight and saw Lera rise from her seat a few groups over, then make for the woods further up the riverbank, alone. Pontaes stared at her long legs as she made her way out of the campsite. He felt a different sort of spark in his chest then, not wrath like he’d had for Quin. This spark was more urgent. He had been waiting for a moment to speak with Lera alone.
“I am going to relieve myself.” Pontaes stood and hurried after Lera, leaving Arden to sit uneasily with Quin. A few people nodded to Pontaes as he went. The small child – Aeren – shied away as Pontaes strode by. His mother claimed Aeren didn’t take easily to strangers, despite his initial curiosity at Pontaes’ appearance in the cove. Pontaes knew that was a lie. He’d noticed Aeren’s fondness for Arden and some of the other stragglers who had joined their group these past few days. The child’s suspicion of Pontaes annoyed him. Having the distrust of one so innocent undermined him. Suspicion was a contagion. The unease of this child could spur the ire of the entire group. But earning the trust of a five year old wasn’t high on Pontaes’ list of priorities. If he ever hoped to rule as he was commanded, he needed the loyalty of this group. To earn that, he needed the loyalty of the siblings. Pontaes felt that he had been given this group as a test. A small skirmish in a war of politics. Practice for what came next. Winning over a band of scared scavengers will be easy compared to a city.
Pontaes walked out of the firelight and into the woods to the east. The trees were sparse here and, once Pontaes’ eyes adjusted to the gloom, the moons lit his way. He strained to listen for Lera over the churning river. After a few minutes of wandering he heard rustling branches in the dark. A breeze sighed through grove of trees, branches groaned and shuddered.
“Lera?” Pontaes called out.
The rustling stopped. “Pontaes?” Lera asked. She peered from around a bush and sighed. “You scared me. Why are you out here?”
“I wanted to speak.”
She eyed him, then stepped out from behind the bushes. “It must be important if you followed me out here.”
“It is difficult to find a time when you are alone.” Pontaes sat on a fallen tree, doing his best to appear unthreatening. He had set her on edge by following her out here. He needed to put her at ease. “You are popular. I have not been able to find a time for us to speak.”
Lera didn’t sit. “You must be shy if you are afraid to speak in front of the others.”
Pontaes made himself laugh. “I suppose.”
Lera crossed her arms. “Very well. What was important enough to stalk me into the woods to ask?”
Stalk? “I… have not been entirely truthful to you, Lera. I wish to come clean.”
She frowned, but said nothing.
Pontaes had to focus on her face to keep himself from being distracted. Her beauty turned ethereal in the soft glow of the moons’ light. “When we met, you asked me for my command. I said it was Learn.”
She relaxed somewhat. “That is what this is about? We knew you lied, Pontaes.”
So she did notice. Every conversation I have with this woman increases my opinion of her. “My word is not like the others’. I did not know you when you asked. I did not know how you would respond if I told you. I suppose I still do not, but I only ask that you hear me out before you pass judgement.”
Her frown returned. “Tell me.”
He met her gaze. “Rule.”
She scoffed, unfolded her arms, and turned for the river.
“Lera, wait.” Pontaes stood and followed. “Lera.”
She stopped on the bank of the river and turned to meet him. “What is the purpose of telling me this? Do you hope that I will let you lead these people? I cannot. I did not ask them to follow me in the first place.”
“I do not ask for anything like that.”
“You expect me to believe that you were told to rule over us?”
Pontaes stopped in his tracks. “I did not want this burden,” he lied. “You are the only person I have told other than Arden. It weighs on me like a chain around my neck – not knowing why I was given this command. Again, I ask you only to hear me out. Nothing more. Please.”
Her face didn’t soften. “Go on.”
“When I was in that void, I had visions of the palace on the coast – of the city. It is a vibrant place, Lera. A city of tens of thousands. It is everything we need it to be. It was during those visions that I was told to rule. I did not know what to think at first, did not know that the word carried any weight until I met your people and heard that each of you were given a command as well.” He took a step closer and gestured back toward the camp. “I have seen how those people revere you. It has not been a week since they met you, but they do revere you. Your brother listens to you, respects you, and as you said, you did not ask for their trust. They gave it freely. I only ask for advice.”
Lera studied him. “What advice would I give you?”
“Anything. You are a special woman, Lera. Your counsel would be precious to me.”
“Why should I trust you?” Lera asked. “Why should I back your claim to that city?”
Pontaes felt the thrumming in his chest, heard his command pounding in his skull. Rule. Rule. “Lera, do you not see? We have Awoken on these shores with no memory of ourselves or this place. All we have are our commands. Deity is the only explanation for what is happening to us. God told me to rule – just as he told you to cultivate. I did not chose this for myself, but I mean to live up to His expectations.” Then Pontaes waited in anxious silence, the only noise the rushing water and the creaking trees. He couldn’t tell if he had gotten through to her.
Finally, she asked, “Will you tell the others now that you have told me?”
“Would you?” He asked.
“No. I would wait until they trust you, whenever that may be.”
Pontaes painted a smile on his face. “Already your advice is invaluable.”
Lera scoffed and shook her head. “I have not agreed to anything yet. Let me think. I need sleep. Let us return to the others, they will be –”
A growl emanated from the brush behind them. Gruff, low, and warbling with rage. The hair on Pontaes’ neck stood up. Lera stared behind Pontaes with wide eyes. Pontaes turned.
A man stood behind them – just a few feet away. Ten feet tall, hunched over, with one hand rested on the trunk of a tree, staring toward Pontaes and Lera. Shadows from the canopy above obscured the thing and it was visible only by the shifting moonlight between leaves. Tendrils of blackness twisted and dissipated off of its shoulders like smoke. It was nude, though its groin was featureless and smooth, its skin charcoal.
It had no face, just shadow.
From the shadow, another growl rumbled. The rumbling started low, then rose to a perturbed, high-pitched whine.
Pontaes put out one arm to keep Lera behind him.
The beast lunged forward.
© 2025 GE Sutton. All rights reserved.
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Holy shit what a cliffhanger! Nice!