Reality Seems Twisted - Ch 1

He stared at the man who he never thought he would see again in all his life. A worm of disgust began turning around in his gut then worked its way up through his throat to his mouth. The words came out like venomous poison, “What are you doing here. You’re supposed to be dead.”

The man arose from his chair, tall yet not so terrifying as when the younger one last knew him. Brown eyes tinged with red stared down at him from the height which was now less than two feet taller than his own stature. The dark face seemed to hold a twinge of regret as he spoke in reply, “I can’t tell you how sorry I am.”

“Sorry?” The young man replied with dark eyes widening. “You are sorry? Why ever should you be? Don’t tell me you are trying to repent for all your misdeeds?” The vaguely surprised look faded then twisted to a glare. “The great Mitra Shakti has no heart.”

“True, but I am not he any longer.” The older man replied with voice speaking slowly and soft in tone. “My name is Ozzy Tallis. That is who I was before I became corrupted.”

“How can I know that you have changed?” The young man bordering on maturity asked.

“Just watch and wait,” he replied. “You have to trust me.”

“I can never trust you after what you did.” The youth retorted while he pushed past him.

“Then trust Lyndie,” the man said as he wrapped his arm around his daughter who stood at his side.

“In any other situation I would,” he replied. The dark eyes of the youth traveled from the man to the young woman who was about the same age as he. “I can’t with this though.”

“Why not?” The young woman asked with a puzzled look in her bright green eyes.

“Lyndie!” He called out exasperated. “He put a curse on you for light’s sake!”

“That doesn’t matter Kala,” she replied with a shake of her head. Her long gold strands shimmered down her back to her hips. “He is my father and I love him no matter what he does.”

“Lyndie! You can’t mean that.”

“Oh but she does,” the elderly gentleman said as he hugged her to his side. He was a good three feet taller than she was and practically dwarfed her. Heavy handed he guided her over to sit with the other woman in the room.

The woman was silent as she listened to the conversation. She didn’t want to interfere with them. Her chin length blue hair cut with straight bangs across her brow did not move, not even a strand. She stared at them with icy blue eyes as Lyndie joined her to sit on the couch by the fireplace.

“No she doesn’t. Right now Lyndie is no more than a doll. You stole her heart to imprison it so she could never love anyone but you. It’s not right. If you really have changed, no, if you love your daughter then you wouldn’t want to see her like this. Lyndie is not a toy! She’s a living breathing creature who has a mind of her own whenever you’re not around. Sir, you have to break this curse you’ve placed on her so she can be alive.”

“She doesn’t want to be free. Do you Lyndie?” He smiled as he looked down at her then turned to face the youth again.

“It doesn’t matter what she says, because she’s not free to answer for herself!” Kala called out loudly above Lyndie’s answer.

“She loves me and that’s all that matters,” the man replied.

“No it doesn’t. Love cannot be restrained or controlled. It is a powerful dynamic force that rolls through all of us. We can either repress it or let it grow.” Kala spoke as he glanced between Lyndie and her father. “You sir are not only repressing your own but hers as well.”

“That’s not true, is it Lyndie?” The man looked down at his daughter with a smile. “Tell him how it is.”

“You know that I love you Father,” she replied.

Kala groaned as he heard. He began to turn away from them to stalk out of the cottage. Just as he reached the door the continuation of Lyndie’s speech made him pause.

“But you also know that I can not love anyone else, not even Mother.”

“How dare you!” The man Ozzy Tallis roared as he heard her reply. His hand rose to strike her for her insolence. His murky brown eyes flared up in anger, but it died down as he saw her expression. What have I done? His hand dropped limply at his side. “I...am sorry.”

Lyndie watched her father then lowered her eyes. She covered the soft sobbing with her hands. As the woman leaned in to comfort her Lyndie curled her body to the taller woman’s.

Kala stared at them then spoke with voice low and almost dangerous, “Outside sir, now.”

Ozzy stared at his daughter and servant a moment longer then turned to the young man’s call. He did not answer, but his decision was clear as he followed the other outside of the cottage then down the path into the gardens. As he walked he held his head hung with hands folded behind his back.

When they reached a distance where their yells at each other could not be heard from inside, Kala stopped walking. He turned back to stare at the man. “Now do you understand?”

“I just didn’t want to lose her too,” he spoke with voice cracking. “I didn’t think that would happen.”

“Please take the curse off her.”

“I can’t. It was one of Maska’s spells. If by him dying it hasn’t been broken then I don’t know what to do.”

“What about your death?”

“In all truth I’m already dead.”

“What?”

“When the tower fell I met with the shadows. They were content with my demise. Her mother was there and explained to them what really was going on.” He laughed brokenly. “They let me come back to be with Lyndie for as long as I could. Only I know the way to break the curse so I’ll let you in on as much as I know.”

The much younger man nodded slowly. “Explain then.”

“Very well.” He nodded then took a deep breath. “As you know the curse is threefold. One is that she can only love me. Two is that she turns into a baby during the day but will be fully grown in the night. The third is that she can never know how to break the curse herself. Even if I told her then she’d forget immediately.”

“I know that,” Kala said impatiently. “But how do we break the curse?”

“I’m getting to that,” Ozzy replied then sighed. “She has to break the curse herself by falling in love then confessing it.”

“But how can that be? It seems impossible.” Kala said as a frown formed. He half turned away from the man.

“One thing is for sure, she’ll never find her cure in here.” Ozzy said with a sigh. “I’m giving you permission to take Lyndie out of the enchanted garden that I built to protect her. Please take Captain with you. Maybe she can remember who she was before I ruined her life too.”

“We’ll have to ask, but if she wants to come then she could help with taking care of Lyndie when the curse turns her into a five year old child.” Kala nodded slowly with a pondering look taking its place over his face. “Are you going to come with us?”

“No, I’ll stay here. I’d only be a distraction,” he replied then lowered his head. “Besides everyone else wants me dead. If they knew that Lyndie was my daughter then she’d be wanted dead as well.”

“Children pay the price for their parents’ mistakes, unfortunately.” Kala agreed with a short nod. He turned to walk back to the cottage. “We should leave as soon as possible.”

“I agree,” Ozzy said with a nod. He followed after the younger man down the path to the door of the cottage. “Would you talk to Captain? I’ll spend what little time I have with Lyndie, if she’ll let me.”

“All right,” Kala replied. He pushed open the door and walked through it into the main room. His dark eyes turned to examine the inside. For the moment he couldn’t see where the two women had gone to so he moved in further. His ears caught the sound of water running and he followed it into the kitchen left of the main room.

Inside Captain held a washcloth under the water pouring from the faucet in the sink. She wiped the tears from Lyndie’s face then rinsed out the cloth before she hung it up on a railing. She smiled as she hugged the younger woman gently. “It’s going to be okay dear.”

“Yes it will,” Kala spoke softly from the portal between the two rooms. “Your father has allowed you to leave this place Lyndie. We’re going to go traveling. If you’d like to you can come too Captain.”

“Really?” Lyndie gasped as she looked up at him. She hugged Captain then skipped over to hug Kala as well. “Oh that’s wonderful!”

“We’ll probably leave tomorrow just after sundown so you can see everything as an adult instead of a child.” Kala spoke with a soft smile as he hugged her in return. His eyes lifted to look at the other woman. “Captain, what do you think?”

“I’d like to come,” she replied.

“Great,” a deep voice spoke from behind Kala. Ozzy stood there with a faint smile on his lips. “I’ll be staying here. Maybe trying to take care of this place while you’re all gone will help me to get back to my roots so to speak.”

“I’ll miss you Father,” Lyndie said as she moved from one man to the other to hug.

“Now now Lyndie,” he said with a soft smile. He hugged her then with his hand brushed through her hair. “It’ll be just like before only you’ll be the one who is traveling. Captain and Kala will take care of you if anything happens.”  

“I think she can take care of herself if she’s given the opportunity sir,” Kala replied with a smile. He walked into the front room. “So Lyndie, do you still have those rooms for guests?”

“Yes silly,” she giggled. “Captain and I could stay up in my room while you and Father take the guest rooms.”

“Sounds good. We don’t have much to pack, just food, but that can be replaced pretty easily in the spring season which is outside of this enchanted garden.” Captain said with a grin.

“Yay!” Lyndie jumped up and down in place as she clapped her hands. “It will be sunrise soon, so let’s all get some rest.” She smiled then paused from jumping to hug her father again. “Let’s go out and enjoy the sunrise Father.”

“Okay dear,” Ozzy replied. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders gently. The two of them left the cottage to wander through the garden plots out in front.

The younger man sighed as his eyes followed their path. After the door closed behind them he turned back to the woman who was slightly older than himself. “So Captain, will you go to bed now or stay to talk?”

The woman shrugged. “We’ll have plenty of time to talk tomorrow, but not much time for sleep. G’night Kala,” she spoke softly then walked to the guest room to fetch her things.

“G’night,” he murmured as he watched her. Kala shook his head then went into the other room. Once inside, he looked to make sure that no one else had first pick. After that he made sure his cloth bag was packed. He sighed faintly then pulled off his shirt so he could freshen up in the nearby bathroom. With that done he returned to his guestroom to sleep.

The woman Captain gathered her things and took them up to the bedroom on the second floor. In the upper bathroom she washed then dried herself off. She pulled on a nightgown to cover herself while she curled up on her side of the bed.

Meanwhile outside Lyndie and Ozzie walked hand in hand. They followed the crosshatched paths as they wandered through the garden plots. Around them the night flowers began to close while the day flowers began to open. Over the horizon the sun’s rays began to peek, bathing the garden in a warm red light.

Lyndie gasped softly as the pendant around her neck began to glow. Her hand moved up to clasp it as her other hand clutched tighter to her father’s. “The change always hurts.”

“I’m sorry dear,” Ozzy replied with a soft voice. “I didn’t want it to be that way. Maybe soon it will no longer happen.”

“I can only hope,” she replied. Her eyes closed tightly as she stopped walking. “I have always wanted to go out and see the world.”

“I didn’t want you to go because it was so dangerous.” He spoke as he turned his eyes away from the sun to look down at her. “But more so I didn’t want you to go because I was afraid that you’d find someone you love more than me. I didn’t want to lose you Rozalynde.”

“You won’t lose me like that.” She smiled up at her father even though her face showed pain. Every moment that passed faded her features from near adult to teenager to preteen to child. As her body changed she continued to speak, “Even if I would have fallen in love with someone I still would love you.”

“I’m so sorry,” he spoke as he watched her. His hand loosened in her grasp. Ozzy shifted to pick up her shrinking frame so he could cradle her in his arms. “I never wanted this to happen.”

“It’s okay Daddy,” she smiled and cuddled up to his chest. “Please, I’m tired.” Her hand moved up to cover her mouth as she yawned. By now she’d changed to the three foot tall five year old child. She didn’t look all that different from when she was older.

“I’ll take you to bed.” He smiled softly down at her. Ozzy turned his footsteps to lead back to the cottage. It was a one and a half story building with the door in the center of its front wall. Two windows were on either side with two more on the second floor. A chimney stuck out of the far right side. Ozzy sighed as he fought down the memory from when he’d first built it for Lyndie’s mother. With his daughter in one arm he pushed open the door with his other. He wandered through the cottage then up the stairs to the second story bedroom.

Captain pulled from her doze as Ozzy entered with Lyndie. She hid under the blanket as he walked over to deposit the sleepy child beside her. The woman smiled up at him while she wrapped the blankets around both of them. “Goodnight sire.”

“Goodnight,” he replied softly. With a nod Ozzy turned to leave the room and travel back downstairs. He looked around then wandered to the guestrooms which were on the other side of the stairs from the kitchen. The first door he opened had Kala sleeping behind. Quietly he closed the door and traveled to the other side of the bathroom where the second guestroom was. He entered there, then settled in to curl up in the bed to sleep.

The next nightfall everyone rose to start their ‘day’. Ozzy was the first to rise of them all and he wandered around the house to make sure he knew where everything was before his daughter left. Lyndie meanwhile rose next in her adult form. She moved to clean up as much of the house as she could before she packed then joined her father in the kitchen. Captain and Kala woke last and made sure their weapons were in good repair before they packed. Although Ozzy was no longer the tyrannical ruler there still were those who followed him roaming over the ravaged kingdoms on the continent. It would still be dangerous out there for some time.

Captain moved downstairs to join the father and daughter in the kitchen. She knew how to pack for long journeys so she began to pack dried fruits and berries, nuts, cheese and bread into small bags. As she did she made small talk with Lyndie to explain why she picked what she did.

Kala wandered out to join them as he caught the scent of cooked fish in the air. He glanced around to look at the table set with baked potatoes and steamed green beans. “What’s this?” He asked as he moved to the kitchen.

Ozzy moved past him with a pan of fish in his hands. “I thought it would be good for everyone to eat before they left.” He moved to the table to place the dish with the others.

Lyndie moved out with a pitcher filled with water in her hands. “Don’t you think it would be good to eat? We won’t have to stop for a while then.”

“All right,” Kala nodded as he watched them. “Can I help?”

“Nope,” Lyndie chirped. “Just go ahead and sit. We have gotten everything out already.”

“Okay,” Kala smiled and moved to take a seat at the small table.

Captain moved out from the kitchen to sit down across from him.

Ozzy and Lyndie both sat down in chairs opposite each other. The older man served the food in portions while his daughter poured the drinks. Once everything was served they began to eat.

After he murmured thanks, Kala started to eat. When he was finished he picked up his dishes to take them into the kitchen. I don’t want to get too late a start. Here it may be fine to live by night but in the rest of the world it isn’t so easy.

Ozzy moved to join him. “Hey, you can leave the dishes for me to do. I don’t mind. Plus I know you’ll want to get going as soon as possible.”

Kala nodded in agreement. “Thank you sir.” He turned to walk back out of the kitchen to the main room. As he looked around he noted the women gathering their bags. “You girls ready to go?”

“Just about,” Captain called as she pulled a short blue jacket on over her orange dress. A dark gray cape was fastened to its collar. “Are you?”

“Let me get my cape then I will be too,” he replied.

Lyndie went into the kitchen to fetch the bags of food. “Me too!” She chirped as she moved to rejoin them. Once she did Captain draped a short cloak over her shoulders.

The elderly man left the kitchen to watch the small band prepare to leave. A sigh left his lips as his muddy brown eyes caught every movement. When they were fully clad then he moved to open the cottage door. “Take care of yourselves and good luck,” he said while he held the portal open for them.

“Thank you sir,” Captain said as she moved to walk through the door. “Should we make a time to come back whether or not this works?”

“That sounds good,” Ozzy replied.

“How about one year from today?” Lyndie offered. “It sounds like an awfully long time, but I’m sure the travel will make it go much faster.”

“It does sound like a reasonable amount of time,” Kala said with a nod. He walked out of the door to join the older woman.

“All right,” Ozzy said. “We’ll meet here in one year. How about we make it more concrete to help remembering? The last week of April is what it is now.”

“The last week of April it is,” Kala nodded again.

“Goodbye Father, I love you,” Lyndie hugged Ozzy tightly then broke away to join the others outside. She smiled up at him with a hand lifting to wave.

“I love you too Rozalynde,” he replied as he hugged her then let her go. “Goodbye my dear daughter.” The elderly gentleman lifted his eyes to Captain and Kala. “I’m sorry for everything I’ve done to you. Please be safe on your journey through the remnant.”

“Well be as safe as we can sir,” Captain replied. She nodded then turned to start the travel down the path away from the cottage.

Kala nodded in reply then took Lyndie’s hand. He started to follow after the woman through the paths in between the plots of garden.

Lyndie walked with Kala. She lifted her other hand to wave at her father as they left. It wasn’t until he closed the door of the cottage that she turned her gaze ahead of them.

Around them the land turned to forest. Behind them was the meadow crosshatched with paths around plots of flowers. In the very middle of the clearing was the cottage with small fruit trees around the sides then small berry bushes around those. Before them the trees rose then circled around to keep the cottage separate from the rest of the world.

The forest was a wild place. Branches of the trees knit together when the leaves fell from winter’s harsh caress to keep any inquiring eyes from peering in. When the leaves began to grow they moved into an impenetrable barrier. The lore of this place was that no one who entered ever returned. It was almost true; only Kala had survived his wander through it, but even then it was difficult.

With the creator’s permission given to them to leave the forest wasn’t nearly so intent on baring them from passage. The trees unlaced their leaves with the branches pulling back to give a more airy feel to the grove. Along the ground the tree roots pressed down to stay within the dirt to allow free travel.

Captain walked first as the group traveled. Her blue eyes kept a constant watch. She kept one hand on the hilt of her dagger to be ready for anything.

Kala followed after her. His black eyes turned from one tree to another as he watched for any treacherous movement. One hand moved to the hilt of his sword while his other hand tightened its grip on his companion’s hand.

Lyndie came last in the group as she trailed slightly behind him. Her green eyes glanced around at the forest and people around her. She could feel the malice that emanated from the land. Her body began to tremble at the rush which came when they reached the deepest part.

Kala glanced back at her as he felt her tremble. “Are you okay?”

She nodded faintly while she replied, “Yes I am. The forest is angry though and it scares me.”

“You’ll be fine,” he spoke softly. “We’ll be out soon.”

She nodded in reply while she fought down another shiver. “I hope everywhere else isn’t like this.”

“There are many angry places unfortunately, but not all land is like this.” Kala spoke gently as he tried to reassure her.

“We have to warn you that much of the anger comes from your father’s actions. He did many things that most consider to be bad.” Captain spoke as she moved towards the end of the forest. “He brought war to the world. In war there is no real right or wrong, just kill or be killed until either everyone is dead or everyone gives up the fight to be under the most powerful person’s rule.”

“I don’t like that,” Lyndie said as she listened. The shivers began again as the trees quaked around them in the moonlight. Her eyes glanced around as fear started to fill her.

“No one likes that,” replied Kala with a shake of his head. “Which is why everyone is angry with your father. It’s best that you not tell others who you are. If anyone asks then just say, well, that your parents are dead. It’s close enough to true that it won’t be a lie.”

“Okay,” Lyndie replied with another shiver. She moved closer to cuddle up to him.

Kala wrapped his hand around her shoulders. He hugged her gently to him while they walked through the forest to the end of it. When finally they came to the break the atmosphere changed from subtle anger to depression.

The land that stretched out west of the forest was covered in meadow. Further to the south-west was a small range of forest. To the west and north-west was a river that cut off this land from the rest of the continent. Behind the forest to the east and south-east was the ocean.

Though it was spring there was not much fresh grass that rose from the ground, leaving the land with a dirty brown look. Above them the air swirled with currents of blue and gray. What shrubs there were could only be described as pitiful.

As the princess of Tallis gazed at the kingdom which was hers she wept. She wept for the bit of desolation that she saw. It was so a different from the paradise she knew as her home. What the enchanted garden was now is what the kingdom should be but was not. By just observing the land she knew the hardship that the kingdom had fallen into. Lyndie glanced around the land and whispered, “What have the people gone through?”

“Much worse,” came the soft reply from Kala. “But now is the time for you to try and bring the kingdom back from desolation.”

“And we will help you,” spoke the gentle voice of Captain.

“Thank you both,” Lyndie whispered. She lifted her hand to brush away her tears. She took a deep breath then let it out slowly as she spoke, “Let’s go see what the people are doing.”

Kala nodded then gestured to the south-west. “We’ll go that way. Most of the people will be setting up in the meadow around the river either on this the east side of the continent or on the river in the center of the continent. To the south is forest where there will probably be the majority of the people.” His hand followed the direction he spoke as he held his arm outstretched. Finally it dropped to his side to rest lightly on the hilt of his sword. “Once we go past the river we won’t be in what was Tallis anymore. The kingdom we’ll enter is called Ramia.”

“Where your mother came from,” Captain interjected.

Lyndie nodded slowly then her eyes widened as she gasped. “Are my mother’s parents still alive?”

“I don’t know,” she said.

“We could try to find out,” Kala said. He smiled at Lyndie as he patted her softly on her head. “I don’t know how far we’ll get, but we can at least try to find them.”

“I know names,” Captain said.

“So do I,” Kala added.

“Please tell me,” Lyndie asked. “I didn’t even know my mother’s name. I want to know my grandparent’s too.”

“Okay Lyndie,” Kala said with a nod. “Your mother’s parents are Queen Aleya Buell and King Jurate Malina. They ruled over Ramia before your father swept over the land. You know how your mother traded her freedom for her people?”

“Yes,” Lyndie said with a nod of her own. “Captain explained to me about it. Eventually they fell in love and then I was born.”

“Good,” Kala said. “That is just about all we know too. Let’s go now to find the first bit of civilization.”

“Okay,” chirped Lyndie as she walked with them. She moved with her skirt brushing against the grasses in the slight wind. Her hands pulled up under her short cape to keep them out of the chill. She turned her eyes to watch the moonlight shimmer across the waving stalks before them and the leaves in the trees further away. This journey would be a test, in more ways than one.