Age of Men Page 14

during the night? The night could hide all sorts of unseen dangers and danger was not a direction he wanted to steer towards… especially with Timmy by his side.

  When they decided to call the tree cove home for the night, Jack noticed that the grass all around the tree seemed to be illuminated. On closer inspection, he saw that millions of little firefly creatures grazed on the grass which in turn reflected their light. Timmy found the little glowing creatures fascinating and it took some convincing to get him into the cove, but once inside he fell asleep almost instantly.

  Throughout the night Jack watched as Timmy lay asleep with his head in his lap; watching him ever so cautiously and glanced out the cove at every night sound he heard. Every ten minutes or so the tranquil humming of the insects in the undergrowth would be disrupted by the distant roar of an unknown creature – something that made Jack nearly jump out of his skin every time. The strange sounds of the night were unsettling at first, but when Jack realized they were far off into the distance he relaxed a bit and soon thereafter fell asleep.

  When Jack woke up sunlight was shining down on them and illuminating the inside of the tree. He opened his tired eyes and when he noticed that Timmy was no longer in the cove. He sat upright with a jerk; his eyes searching the vicinity around him. The first thing that he thought of was that one of the growling creatures might have made their way into the cove and snatched Timmy while he slept. It was an unsettling thought for a father to endure.

  “Timmy?” Jack called out.

  “Daddy!” he heard Timmy’s voice outside.

  Jack stumbled out of the bark-cove, went outside into the sunlight and was immediately taken aback by the magnificent sight of the two suns rising to the north that created an array of pastel colors across the sky. The larger sun was a bright orange while the smaller one was a warm yellow mixed with a red vortex of colors in the middle.

  He checked his surroundings frantically, but was relieved to find Timmy standing a few yards out; staring up at the rising suns. Despite being on a strange planet, Timmy was still his little boy who was intrigued by everything around him.

  “Daddy, look!”

  “I see them.” Jack said awestruck.

  A flock of creatures flew overhead looking peaceful and sang their songs as they flew off towards the rising suns.

  Jack stepped closer and ruffled Timmy’s hair; his boy was excited beyond words about the new world they found themselves in while Jack was worried. Everything seemed so perfect, and as the saying goes; if it’s too good to be real it probably is. Could it be real? What would have brought them to such a magnificent paradise? Were they brought there by a person? Who would be able to orchestrate such a transportation, and most importantly, where was the rest of humanity?

  “Come.” Jack said.

  “Where are we going?”

  “We need to find something to eat. We should look for another fruit tree or something. And I think we should look for mom as well. She’s gotta be somewhere.”

  “What do you think this place is called?” Timmy asked.

  Jack shook his head and said, “I have no idea, but whatever it’s called it’s a wondrous place.”

  “Maybe we died and we’re in heaven?”

  “I don’t think so.”

  Though heaven was a marvelous thought, Jack wasn’t convinced that it was the answer.

  Timmy took Jack’s hand as they walked east towards a field that was covered in small, white flowers that gave the illusion of snow. As they reached the flowers, they all scattered up into flight; they weren’t flowers, but instead were millions of small butterfly-like creatures – some lingered around the human as if studying them. Timmy gasped excited at the sight of the millions of little creatures buzzing all around them. Jack himself was impressed by the beauty of the small creatures. The little creatures had two small heads, two legs and two sets of white wings that flapped in synchronicity. Timmy reached out and a butterfly creature lingered near him for a moment and then flew off towards the clouds above; making him giggle with excitement.

  They walked for about a mile across the field before the field of grass became a field of shrubs and finally a forest of trees. The trunks of the trees were as wide as houses and stretched up hundreds of feet into the air to form a ceiling of leaves and branches that blocked out most of the sun. The forest was alive with the sounds of birdlike creatures chirping and soaring from tree branch to tree branch.

  As they walked they passed a blue frog sitting on an unearthed root. It was the size of a cat and watched the humans cautiously as they walked on by before it croaked once, sprouted wings and flew off.

  Timmy was amazed by the sounds of all the unseen creatures and wondered whether they were all as magical as the flying frog. Jack, on the other hand, was a bit more vigilant. Hundreds of different animal sounds could potentially be hundreds of dangers lurking in the shadows.

  The sounds of the forest around them suddenly fell quiet. Jack paused and his eyes searched their surroundings for any signs of danger. The abrupt silence was unnerving and a bit of a concern which was intensified when something rumbled in the distance to their left.

  “What is it, daddy?” Timmy asked bewildered.

  “I don’t know, but we should keep moving.”

  They continued through the phenomenal forest until it finally gave way to another open field of lavish meadows. A river about fifty feet from the forest was lined with old arching pillars that reached about fifty to sixty feet into the air. Some of the arches were broken while some pillars stood askew – most of them were overgrown by creeping plants and from the looks of it they were constructed decades, perhaps even centuries ago by a civilization which has long since moved on. Jack kept staring at the arches, especially the ones that were still intact as they approached the river; wondering what they were meant for. Were they just old ruins or were they something else like Stonehenge back on earth?

  Jack and Timmy reached the ravine that reached about ten feet across from bank to bank with a stream of crystal clear water running through it. He motioned for Timmy to stay put while he climbed down the few feet into the gorge and then he reached out to help Timmy down. The stream itself seemed deeper in the middle and Jack could see a school of little fish swimming in the river. If fish could survive in the water then it had to be safe to drink, so they walked over to the stream and drank of its fresh and revitalizing water.

  Jack drained his cupped hands of water, shook them dry and stood upright staring at the banks, the arched pillars and the beauty of the meadows beyond. He noticed a cave in the side of the bank across the stream – a cave most probably dug by some kind of creature. Whether the creature held any kind of threat to them was another story.

  He glanced up at the meadows of heavenly green grass that seemed to stretch on forever and wondered whether they would ever find Alicia. It was a vast new world and she could be anywhere. He didn’t even know how far the meadows stretched – it could stretch out for all eternity and his wife could be on the other side of the planet.

  A skinny, old man with wild hair and pieces of food stuck in his beard scampered out of the hole in the river bank; wildly waving a bony finger at them as if talking to a disobedient child.

  “What are you doing here?” The man screamed outraged in a hoarse voice.

  Jack was relieved to see another human being, but puzzled at the unwelcomed greeting they had received. He stepped closer to the edge of the river.

  “Hello there.” Jack greeted warmly.

  “Get out of here!” The man insisted in a lowered voice.

  “We’re of no threat to you. We just need some water. We don’t know where we are. Can you help us? You’re the only person we’ve come across so far.”

  “I told you to get out of here.” The old man insisted in a hushed tone, “I don’t want you here.”

  “Please, sir. If you can just tell us where we are?”

  “I’ll tell you where you are.” The man grunted, “You’re in th
eir territory. And you led them straight to my home. Get out of here before it’s too late, you stupid bastard.”

  The man grunted and scampered back into his cave as he hissed and cussed to himself like a madman who lost his sanity years ago.

  “Wait.” Jack called out.

  That was odd, Jack thought to himself. He turned to Timmy to ensure he was not frightened by the crazy old man and then noticed a shadow move across the surface of the water; the shadow was large and seemed to belong to a bird. A loud shriek echoed across the meadows, bounced off the mountains in the distance and rolled back over to the river. Alarmed, Jack searched their surroundings and then looked up to the sky to find three gargantuan flying lizards with wings of fire descended towards the gorge. They each landed on an arched pillar that creaked as their scaly claws clenched onto it. As the creatures folded away their wings, the flames extinguished and exposed fleshy wings with tears and holes in them. The one creature shook its head and grunted steam from its nostrils before lowering its head to drink water. Jack watched in horror as the creatures, too terrifying to comprehend, lowered their heads and drank water. The creatures had four eyes and razor sharp teeth measuring almost ten feet; sprouting right out of their scaly, cracked lips.

  Jack cautiously motioned for Timmy to get behind him as the massive beasts drank water oblivious to the presence of the humans. What sort of