The Light in Aquala

The blinding flash caught everyone off guard. The woman's Neon suddenly seemed to explode.

It became incredibly bright and the rich purples and gold on her face melted inward, then burst outward in a blinding wave of colors. Purples flared first, then the gold and threaded through all of it was the silver, thin and sharp as lightning.

The flash enveloped the surrounding area, lighting up the canopy like it was daytime. The shadows amongst the trees shrank, as though the whole jungle had taken a single step away. For one long second there was no darkness left anywhere, only light, and then the light broke apart and scattered into thousands of drifting fragments that tumbled slowly toward the ground and dimmed as they fell.

The creature’s deep howl seemed to shake the air around them and echoed through the jungle.

Both Lena and Mara protectively closed their eyes harder, holding tightly to the branches. They pressed themselves against the tree trunk, trying to make themselves as small and invisible as possible. The rougher, knobby bark dug into their backs and palms, and tiny pieces of dried moss broke loose beneath their fingers. The air around them seemed charged, almost electric against their skin after the sudden explosion of Neon lights.

For several moments, they did not move at all.

They could hear the creature below them breathing heavily, followed by the faint scrape of its claws against the ground. Somewhere deeper in the jungle, a bird chirped once and then abruptly stopped. Leaves rustled around them, and a faint breeze carried the rich, damp smell of the jungle through the branches. Neither sister dared open her eyes.

After a few moments, Mara decided it was worth risking a peek to see what was happening. Carefully, she opened one eye. The blinding flash of colors from the woman had disappeared completely, so now was her chance to see what was happening.

The woman and the dog-like creature were standing below, looking confused. The woman slowly turned her head from one side to the other, searching for something, while the creature's ears twitched as it scanned the darkness.

Their eyes seemed to be struggling to adjust after the sudden brightness. Then realization hit. The sudden extreme flash of Neon colors from the woman had made it almost impossible for her to see into the darkness.

Lena and Mara's own Neon glows had disappeared when they closed their eyes, so the sisters were no longer two differently glowing figures hidden in a tree. They were simply shapes among the ancient branches, almost indistinguishable from the shadows surrounding them.

Mara slowly opened her eyes a little wider and glanced toward Lena, who was just beginning to cautiously open one eye herself.

The creature suddenly whipped its head toward Mara and looked up.

Mara froze. Her heart seemed to stop for one terrifying second and then she could feel every beat of her heart pounding against her ribs as she stared down at the creature. She quickly closed her eyes again and waited.

For a long while, neither sister moved. The seconds seemed to stretch endlessly.

Lena could feel the weight of Mara sitting beside her as they clung to the branches, trying to make themselves invisible. Their shallow breathing barely made a sound as the breezes went by. A thin trickle of sweat started at Lena’s hairline, adding to the dampness she felt from the humid night air.

Both sisters were suspended in silence, afraid that even the smallest movement might give them away.

Eventually, they slowly started opening their eyes again as the perimeter lights were dimming, their soft glow fading until the area below them was lit only by the moon. The quiet sounds of the woman and dog-like creature shuffling around the tree seemed to have disappeared. Their footsteps had become softer and softer, fading into the moss and the fallen leaves until there was nothing left but the natural sounds of the jungle.

The cicadas started chirping again, first one and then another and then a whole chorus of them rising and falling in waves, and somewhere deeper in the trees, a night bird called twice, and another one answered nearby them.

Lena by this time was scanning the surrounding area for any signs of movement, while Mara kept checking a little device that she had pulled out from one of her cargo pockets.

What looked like random lines were fluctuating wildly at first, and then they slowed and finally settled, combining into one solid straight line. The faint glow from the device illuminated Mara's fingers as she studied the display, her mind already trying to make sense of what had happened.

They waited for about half an hour more, then decided to climb down, grab their backpacks and leave in a direction leading away from their home village. They would circle back later once they were sure it was safe to do so.

Neither of them wanted to take any chances with the strange woman or the creature that accompanied her.

On the ground at last, Mara was relieved to see that the woman had not disturbed her backpack and breathed a sigh of relief after seeing her beloved scientific equipment was all still there. As she quickly checked the familiar pieces of equipment, she was reassured by their weight and shape beneath her fingers.

Whatever had happened that night, at least her precious equipment was safe.

Meanwhile, Lena was gently brushing off the leaves that were still on her backpack. Most of them came away easily, slightly damp and curled at the edges. But a few had stuck to the fabric where the damp had pressed them down, and she had to pick them off one at a time.

When the last of them was gone, she pulled the backpack closer to her to open it, deciding that a cool drink of water was in order. Her throat was dry from the difficult climb up the rope and the hours of holding still. She went to grab one of her canteens of water and some food from the outer pocket layer and froze.

The food was gone when she reached in.

The pocket was empty except for the canteen, and the canteen had shifted to one side, as if something had been pushed past it in a hurry. Her fingers closed on something that was not food. Something flat and folded and soft at the edges.

She gingerly grasped the paper and pulled it out, turning toward Mara and whispering for her to shine their small flashlight on it. The beam of light fell across the folded paper, illuminating the handwriting in the darkness.

“SORRY. We took some food. We will repay you. Meet at the waterfall. Rivia.”

It was a message from the woman.

The handwriting was small and even and slanted slightly to the right, and the word sorry had been written first, in capital letters.

Lena raised her eyes at the paper and looked at Mara, who had a softening expression on her face. The tightness that had been in her sister's jaw ever since the flash of light was slowly disappearing and her blue-green glow was slowing down to a calmer state.

“We should go. The very first thing she said was sorry, which is something that a good person would say. Obviously they were lost for a while, otherwise she would not have taken any food. Plus she knows we were in the tree and is letting us choose whether we want to meet her or not.”

Mara turned the paper over in the beam of the flashlight, not answering right away.

The cicadas kept up their steady chorus around them and the faint smell of crushed leaves rose up from where their boots had trampled them. Mara finally nodded in agreement, although if she were completely honest, the deciding factor was that none of her scientific equipment had been taken.

They quickly drank some water and ate a handful of dried fruits and nuts before heaving their backpacks on, securing them tightly in place. The water was cool and refreshing after the long hours of tension, and the dried fruit satisfied their stomachs for the time being.

The familiar weight of their backpacks was actually comforting on their shoulders once the straps were adjusted and things were secured.

Lena went and gathered up the perimeter warning lights and put them into a large side pocket on Mara's backpack then after zipping it closed, they took a look at the massive tree.

The Neon colors were still flowing through the bark, especially around the place where they had been sitting. In the darkness, the colors appeared almost alive. Blues, greens, violets, and other shifting shades moved slowly beneath the surface of the enormous trunk, following the twists and ridges of the bark.

The glow was subtle now, nothing like before the blinding flash from the woman, but it was unmistakable.

Mara looked at it thoughtfully, finding it interesting that the tree’s Neon glows had been more active where they were perched. She wondered if their presence somehow affected it and if the tree’s faded glow was a reaction to the blinding flash of light from the woman? She made a mental note to investigate it later and also search the records at the Academy for anything that could help her understand.