A book!: Day 23

[2] Um's Tale: Chapter 2 (23,433 / 1,000,000)

The nearby fires, now extinguished, no longer provided any illumination to Um. What little moonlight that reached into the hollow of the tree revealed a diminutive figure, crouched low to the ground. Its form shifted in the shadows, swaying this way and that in a perpetual dance, akin to a leaf on a gentle breeze. The head remained steady, locked onto Um’s position, and he heard a shrill voice speak.

“What are you?”

Um jolted in surprise as once more the voice came from just over his shoulder. He stole a glance behind him, but saw nothing save for empty forest. The swaying creature, still largely obscured by shadow, maintained its intense appraisal of Um.

“What are you?” the creature repeated its question. The voice came as a whisper directly into his right ear.

What am I?!? What are you?! Um thought to himself. What do I need to say to make it out alive? Come on… Think!

“Um…” Um said.

“An Um!” the shouted voice bounced around directly in Um’s head. Its gentle swaying stopped and it broke into a jubilant jig.

The same harmonious choir of voices split the silence of the forest once more. “An Um! An Um!”, they chanted in unison.

“Wait!” Um pleaded, one hand pressed to his head in confusion, the other held out before him in desperation.

“Wait!” The single voice purred, and it halted its jig.

“Wait! Wait! Wait!” a few of the surrounding voices hissed through the branches of the trees, no longer in sync with one another.

“I’m not an Um. My- my name is Um,” he stammered, hands shaking.

The figure stood for a moment in quiet contemplation, continuing its gentle swaying. It advanced slowly towards Um, who was still sprawled in the dirt in the threshold of the tree hollow.

With more light illuminating the form, Um could finally make out details of the creature. What he thought were shifting shadows, were actually part of the creature itself. The boundaries of its body were not clear, instead it fuzzed at the edges of its form into a dark mist of sorts. As it moved, it never stopped its rhythmic swaying, and wisps of darkness trailed behind its movements. The effect made it extremely difficult to track the creatures already erratic movements, and Um blinked rapidly in confusion. During one such blink, he lost track of the creature. He immediately spotted it once more standing directly beside him.

The creature stood no taller than a few handspans, barely able to tower over Um’s prone form. It gazed down on him with startlingly human eyes. Um could sense there was an uncanny intelligence behind those brown eyes, one that was boring into him and appraising his very essence.

Can I make a break for it? There’s no way. These things took out those men easily, Um thought.

The creature cocked its head and stooped down low to Um, staring intently into his eyes. Um noticed the creature had no nose or mouth - it had no distinguishable features at all, other than its piercing eyes.

“Interesting…” the single voice returned in Um’s head.

“Interesting? Interesting!” many excited voices blew through the forest once more, even less synchronized than before. A few high-pitched echoing laughs accompanied the words, and a few voices even attempted to break into song before they were hushed by others.

“The Um will come with us,” the voice sounded in his head with finality. The head tilted, and its eyes pinched at the outer corners in what Um realized was a horrifying attempt at a smile. A shifting, wispy arm stretched out to Um where he lay.

Come with them? But the village… Um shifted and looked back in the direction that he had come, not taking the outstretched hand. The midnight sky was painted with a swath of orange on the distant horizon - clearly the fires were still raging. His mind went back to his home, an empty hut with dirt floors and a leaky roof. A squat table set for three where he sat alone most nights, gnawing on stale bread. He sensed emotions rising in his chest, but he swallowed them down and turned to face the creature again. It was still swaying gently and gazing down on him, smoky appendage outstretched before him.

It’s probably all gone, he thought.

“Um… alright,” he said.

He reached out and grasped the shadowy figure. Expecting an ethereal substance, Um was surprised to grab onto what felt like solid flesh. That was hardly the most surprising experience of that moment, however. For when he made contact with the creature, a violent swell of energy overwhelmed his every sense. Dazzling colored lights filled his vision, and a cacophony of jittering yelps, songs, and shouted words thundered in his ears. The smell of blood, charred wood, and flowers, among many other things, bombarded his nostrils. Strangest of all, he felt dozens of tiny hands pressing against his body in many places. He instinctually yanked his hand back, and the placid darkness of the forest returned.

The creature still stood before him, hand outstretched, patiently waiting for Um. He gingerly reached towards the creature once more, and with scrunched eyes and a clenched jaw, he made contact. Prepared this time, the sudden assault on his senses did not totally incapacitate him. Still slightly overwhelmed, he peered through squinted eyelids. The creature which held his hand was no longer a shadowy wisp, but a radiant beacon of light. It alone was responsible for a large part of the brilliance which nearly blinded him. Twisting and leaping among the tree branches, Um saw similar points of light, each a distinct hue. The warbling voices returned, but not the tiny grasping touches.

Um’s eyes began adjusting to the light, and the points of light resolved to form shining figures. The creature in front of him was of a similar build as before - a thin figure that would be no taller than Um’s knee if he were standing. The creature’s dark wisps that previously seemed to absorb all light, were replaced by equally ethereal eddies of seemingly pure light.

“This way,” the creature spoke into Um’s mind. It gestured towards the hollow of the tree just before him, which now emitted a soft, pulsing glow.