Imagine: being lost

Imagine: being lost

The sun shone warm upon his face as he lay on the grass. From a distance he could hear singing and laughing. A frown formed on his brow. He would need to open his eyes soon. He didn’t want to. Whenever he did, it seemed like he fell through the cracks of the world and into some other place where he didn’t belong.

Leo opened his eyes and reality shifted. He found himself standing in a cobbled alley. The sky was grey and all he heard was noise. Not knowing where to go, he just walked straight ahead. The alley gave onto a road filled with people. Looking around he turned left on a whim.

It had been like this for days now. Maybe longer, he wasn’t sure. Leo couldn’t remember how he’d gotten here. He felt it to be a big city though he had no way of knowing. The oncoming stream of shoppers pushed him to the right hand side of the road. He walked on staring at the iron railing with signs indicating restaurants by the water below.

He could see them on the wharves across the canal. Their tables set out for customers that would choose to sit inside. He passed a flower stand where the salesman shouted something he didn’t understand. On his left people weaved in and out of shops with bulging bags in their hands.

Leo followed the arc of the cobbled street until he came upon a road with vehicles rushing by. A jab in his stomach told him this was the wrong way. Not wanting to blindly follow his gut, Leo turned right, crossed the bridge and turned right again. He went back into the crowd along the canal.

His shoulders sagged as he walked on. He had no idea where he was. Sometimes it seemed like the sunny island existed only in his dreams. Yet the people around him spoke a language he did not understand. And there was his pouch. It hung on his belt with small stones, flowers and a vial filled with water inside. It was important that he had it with him. If only he could remember why…

He saw an elderly man with kind eyes and a patient air. Leo spoke to him. The man looked puzzled. After a while the man shook his grey head and walked away gently tapping Leo’s shoulder as he passed. Leo moved on. This side of the canal had restaurants at street level as well as below. Hunger gnawed at his stomach.

A woman approached him. Her face was clean though her clothes showed signs of wear and tear. She spoke words that meant nothing to Leo. He found her voice soothing. She didn’t seem to mind his lack of understanding. The woman, who might have been in her forties, took him by the arm and led him through the crowd. He followed her to a gate in an alley wall.

Inside long tables were set out. The woman smiled at him with her blue eyes. A young girl with wavy black hair approached them. While the women held their conversation, Leo wondered at their differences. The woman’s hair was light and straight, her cheeks had a hint of pink. The girl had dark eyes slanting upwards.

A face flashed before his mind’s eye. A young woman. One who belonged to the sunny island. Leo wondered if he would ever see her warm smile again or the way her golden eyes could catch the light. Estrella! Suddenly he knew her name. With her cherry blossom hair and rose coloured skin she was like no woman he had seen in this place.

Leo ate without tasting his food. Estrella was real. If she was real, then the Island must be a real place because she was there. When he became aware of his surroundings, he realised the people here were beggars. He studied the woman who was paying for his meal. She had the air of someone who lives on the streets. He wondered if she knew any place in town where this world was thin.

With food in his stomach and water to clear his mind, it seemed the only explanation. He must have been thrown through a thin spot connecting this world with his own. If he could find the location, he’d be one step closer to going home. Though he felt less confused, he still couldn’t communicate with anyone.

Leo tried asking the woman about the city. She smiled and nodded. It was no use. Leo left her to find his way back to the canal. The place he needed, the thin spot, it had to be somewhere near here. As he wandered around more images started to fill his mind. Two children stood against a blue sky. A boy and a girl, with similar features…

He wondered if he would recognize the thin spot, the connection between his own world and this one. He had been along this canal so often now… Maiven and Kendrick, the boy and girl in his vision. They were twins, the younger siblings of Estrella. She had been teaching them when someone - their mother?- had called her away.

Leo stopped dead in his tracks. Estrella had been teaching them magic. He had made fun of their clumsiness. As direct casters they didn’t use materials for their spell work. The twins were still learning to focus their magic. The expression on their faces had made him laugh out loud. He’d said something that upset them. They had looked at each other, turned to him and…

He shivered. He hadn’t known Maiven and Kendrick could do this sort of thing. Confusing his mind had been bad enough. But sending him to another world was a mean trick. They knew he wouldn’t be able to use his magic here. He was a material caster after all.

Leo looked at his pouch. The items inside were his materials. The elements that bound him to his own world. Back there he could use them to cast spells. Here, they were out of place. He wouldn’t be able to do magic until he could connect to this world. He’d need to know the local elements and perform a ritual of connection. A mean trick indeed.

Still he felt better knowing what he was up against. He definitely needed to find that thin spot. If he could somehow reach out to Estrella, she might be able to bring him back. They had been on top of the high hill with the bell tower when this had happened. A clock started striking the hour.

Leo looked up. A tower loomed over the city. Leo nearly laughed out loud. He had been so close all this time. He started to make his way toward the tower. But the winding roads tricked him into the wrong direction. Instead of getting closer, he kept looking up to find the tower had changed position.

Frustrated, Leo spoke to a young man who seemed to be his own age. Leo pointed at the tower and asked the man if he knew how to get there. The man was confused at first. Leo used his hands and feet trying to get his point across. At last the man smiled and motioned for Leo to follow him.

Night had fallen. Leo stood in front of the tower wondering what to do next. Lights had sprung up all around. Though the street was less crowded, he felt self-conscious examining the place in front of strangers. A group of young girls came through the passageway beneath the tower.

For a moment the street was empty. Leo ducked into the passage and started scanning the dark stones for some sign. He had no idea what he was looking for. He reached out to the stone in front of him. A jolt travelled up his arm. The air around him sizzled. A far off voice was calling his name. Could it be Estrella?

All shame forgotten Leo shouted her name at the stones. A group of students who’d been approaching the tower decided to walk around rather than through the passageway. Leo didn’t care, he just wanted to go home. He stroked the stones with both hands now. They warmed to his touch but nothing happened.

All of a sudden he felt tired. He had spent days going around these streets in some confused state of mind. Standing here without the means to get through was more than he could take. He let his forehead rest on the stone between his hands. The heat grew in an instant. Hands gripped his wrists. “Leo!” He raised his head to find Estrella’s golden eyes staring at him on the other side of the stone barrier.

Their hands were no longer visible. Blindly Leo felt for her wrists and grabbed them tight. “How do I get through? I can’t use my magic, what do I do?”, he asked all in one breath. “Just… Hang on.”, Estrella grunted. Her rose face turned fuchsia as she frowned. Her golden eyes blazed. Lightness spread through Leo. He tightened his grip on her wrists.

Everything turned to light, he couldn’t feel his own body. Then there was warmth. Hands on his arms, something soft beneath his feet. The sound of birds reached his ears. Slowly, Leo opened his eyes. Her warm smile and golden eyes told him what he needed to know. He was home at last.