3 Eloise in Otherland

How long has it been?

The boy barely remembered anything from before the darkness. Had it been days? Weeks? Months? Years? The darkness was endless, and the water beneath his feet was just as endless. Strangely, his feet did not plunge through the foam, nor was the darkness too dark; for light radiated off of him, that wasn't too blinding nor too faint.

He could barely remember his own name, let alone his own face. He had hands similar to a human boy-and he was sure he was human-for he had five fingers and five toes. He knew he had two arms, and he knew he had two feet. He knew he had two eyes, one nose, one mouth and two ears and he knew that he had hair growing on top of his head.

But what struck him as odd was its color. Whenever he thought he recalled a happy thought during the rare times he spotted land instead of water, he knew his hair was the color of gold that was almost too blinding. On normal days however, his hair was an odd color of... pink. Or was it a faint red?

And when he was feeling lost or confused, like now, his hair would lose its luster, almost appearing white or gray. The light that radiated off of his body seemed to fade...

What would bring him out of this inexplicable melancholy however, was the girl he often called Alice.

The little girl was beautiful, with lush golden hair that curled at the ends and amber eyes that gleamed against the darkness. She always wore a dress made of sky blue silk, with sleeves that puffed at her shoulders and had a black lace overlay. Her feet wore simple leather shoes and white socks trimmed with black lace. On her head was a fancy black and white ruffled headband that accentuated her doll-like features. But in spite of her queer beauty, she seemed to him a very sad young girl.

She seemed to him like a literal doll.

Her name was not Alice. She was not a curious little girl who followed a time-conscious rabbit down the hole. She was a girl forlorn, who like Alice, dreamed of nonsensical things and told nonsensical tales. For some inexplicable reason, the boy knew that her name was Eloise Gallagher: a girl who had been trapped in this world for god knows how long. He somehow knew that she was trapped far longer here than he ever was.

His prime motivation was to get her out.

How did I meet her again?

"Alice," he called for her. His voice echoed through the darkness, expanding the light from his body. What the light unveiled was a beautiful world filled with green and yellow glades, of spiraling trees and multitudinous flower beds of every color. The air was crisp and clean, and the water was blue and clear.

But no one was there.

The boy sighed, patting non-existent dust off of his sleeves. Midway through his thoughts he blinked and paused, and then he stared at the reflection of the water where he waded on and found the long-forgotten face he had recently been contemplating about.

Ah, there he is, he thought, as the memories come crashing back at him like a tidal wave. He smiled at the image under his feet: carnation hair that fell over his shoulders like a curtain, kind blue eyes that seemed older than his years, and hollowed cheeks and thin lips that were a little too pale to his liking.

"Hello there, Qionne," he smiled wistfully. The smile was quickly replaced by a frown, because the image on the water was not the person he had hoped to see. The person on the water was Frei, the exiled prince of Elfeinne.

He wondered how his brother was doing.

"I can't right now," he scolded himself, closing his eyes as he took a deep breath of the crisp, clean air. "I have to find her. I have to save her."

Even if it takes all of me, he added in his mind, collecting himself as he once again yelled, "Eloise! Where are you?!"

But no one answered, just like the many times he had asked the question before. He frowned. Was he going mad? How long had he been searching? How long had he been waiting?

"Where are you?" That was the question... the only question that Frei had been asking since the past years.

... ... ...

"In a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is because everything would be what it isn't. And contrariwise, what it is, it wouldn't be. And what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?"

- Alice

- Alice in Wonderland

... ... ...

It was two weeks since Frei of Eifhendorr recovered his memories. He remembered that he used to be the Empire of Garuda's crowned prince, that his father was Phoebus the Chariot King, and his mother was Eva of the Lunar Capital. He also remembered that he had a twin brother named after the full moon, and that he was named after a mythological god of the elves.

In this world, there was no sun.

"Why am I here again?" he asked.

A large wolf with blood-colored fur and ruby eyes emerged from the bushes behind him. It sat beside Frei and allowed the exile to pat its head and scratch its chin. The beast wagged its tail slowly in appreciation, and for a dog, Frei sometimes thought the wolf had characteristics that were more cat-like than canine.

"This world has no sun," the wolf answered.

Frei was surprised not because of the fact that the wolf talked, but because of how he was unfazed by the sight of a creature talking.

"How many times have you told me this?" Frei asked worriedly. "I feel that this hadn't been our first conversation, my friend."

"Since you came," the wolf answered with a subtle roll of its eyes, proceeding to groom its left paw.

"If you wanted specifics, it's three hundred sixty-five since the time you were exiled into this god forsaken place."

"Do you know why I was exiled?" Frei asked hopefully.

The wolf regarded him ruefully. "I do not."

The prince sighed, leaning against the meadows as he stared at the now blue sky. Since the time he regained his memories, the darkness within the realm had subsided, granting eternal daylight wherever he went. Be it fishes, fowls, beasts, or birds... they were everywhere. It made him wonder where the poor creatures had been when darkness was their only friend.

"There are barely any houses here," he observed. "Not even another human on sight... save Eloise."

He ignored the grass that pierced his cheeks as he turned to look at the wolf. "Do you know where she is right now?"

"No," the wolf replied. "But I have seen her."

Frei sat upright and demanded an answer through his gaze.

"She's been hiding," the wolf answered, averting its peerless gaze towards a distant mountain that looked like a hook. "From the leviathan."

"You mean the Jabberwocky?" Frei asked.

"Ah, so you know," the wolf murmured. "Though I'd hardly name a monster after some child's fantasy."

Frei grinned, hugging his knees to his chest as he watched rainbow-colored flamingos fly over them.

"If birds as odd as them could exist in this world, why not a Jabberwocky?" he asked the wolf, cocking his head to the side. He glided a free hand on the soft, prickly grass, plucking one blade and holding it to the beast's face. "And if grass could be any other color than green, couldn't a Jabberwocky just be as evil and menacing as a leviathan?"

The wolf snorted. "You remind me of a man I once met when I was still from that world and not here."

The boy's ears perked at the revelation. "You're not from here?"

The wolf chuckled. "This is the first time you asked me that question."

"Then I am glad," Frei murmured. "That means I'm moving forward in spite of forgetting." He pushed himself up and angled his head in a silent invitation for the wolf to walk with him. Slipping both hands into the pockets of his white trousers, Frei began his pace while the wolf began his story.

"I am one whom they call 'Lotus'," the wolf said as he walked alongside the boy. "I was found floating half-dead on a lotus pond until three women found me. They nursed me back to health, and made me do their every bidding."

Frei pictured it in his mind as the wolf told its story: a handsome young wolf cradled by flowers afloat the waters. He imagined that the dog might have had different fur, perhaps a chestnut brown, or a silvery snow white.

"How kind of them," the exiled prince commented. The wolf threw him a deadpanned glare.

"They were the ones that banished me here after I failed to do one of their errands," the wolf said after a brief pause. His scarlet eyes looked misty, perhaps remembering ghosts of a distant past that Frei could not fathom.

"That seems harsh," Frei remarked. "What were they making you do?"

The wolf tried hard not to growl. "Foolish things," and after a pause, "cruel things."

They neared a narrow turquoise river, stopping to marvel at the colorful lights that bounced off the riverbed. The water seemed to shimmer the moment Frei's light touched its surface, and it gleamed even more so when the lad bent to dip his fingers in the running pool.

"You don't have to tell me if it makes you feel uncomfortable, Lotus," Frei told the creature, although curiosity and concern were evident in his expression. He drew light circles in the water until magia expelled from his fingertips, shedding light on the world beneath the river. "The way it sounds, those women seem like witches."

The wolf grinned at that, proceeding to bend its head and lap at the water. "They are."

They shared a brief silence as a world of extraordinary creatures was unveiled beneath them. Fish-bones swam through the currents, lions and tigers with fish tails leaped through the foam, naked men and women with webbed hands and feet and scales for hair frolicked within the waters. Clusters of light and corals swept the beds in a myriad of colors and unfamiliar water foals jumped through waves and waves of blue and green. It took Frei's breath away, and he wondered why in all his years trapped in this world, he had never seen such a sight before.

"How long have I been here, Lotus?" he asked the wolf, for what he assumed, again. Though he may already know, he needed the creature's confirmation.

"Six years," Lotus replied. "More or less."

Frei frowned. "Qionne must be worried. And I still hadn't found Eloise."

"You seem more concerned about others than you are of yourself," the wolf remarked, turning away from the river as it proceeded back to the glen. "Whenever you ask that question, it's always followed by stories of a moon child or stories about that girl."

The prince's frown was replaced by a gentle smile, "I worry for my brother," then he added with a rare display of conceit, "he does not function properly without me."

"You worry about a pampered brat and a looney girl," the wolf muttered incredulously, "and you are here trapped in a world of darkness for six years, with no one but a dog for company and a handful of wavering memories."

Frei followed the wolf a few paces back and shrugged, "It's the company and the memories that keep me sane."

"It's the company and the memories that drive me insane," the wolf disagreed.

Frei grinned apologetically. "I mean no offense, but those who desire oblivion have many regrets."

"I regret many things," the wolf said. "Perhaps speaking with you is one of them."

"Ah, now that is offensive," the prince laughed.

His chuckle died down in favor of gazing over the meadows and rivers. This other world was indeed a sight to behold, much too different from Terra. Flowers were the size of trees, trees were the size of bushes, the grass had colors that ranged from green to blue, and rivers had reefs that pierced the foam and scraped the skies. The coral peaks curled like hooks as if trying to sew the oddly sharp-tufted clouds to the ground.

The sky seemed farther than the sky of his world, hovering above him like an endless tunnel towards... nothing. It was both beautiful and frightening, Frei thought, that the physics of this world was so surreal, never making any sense.

"I wouldn't want to forget this world when I leave." he murmured to himself.

The wolf grunted in agreement, and the rest of their walk was shared in silence, not knowing that a pair of amber eyes were watching them from the protection of a thorn-less rosebush.

... ... ...

Another week had passed. Since Frei failed to keep track of time due to his blank memories, he considered counting the day as six years and eight days since his banishment.

Frei made do with a canopy of trees with sensuous branches as his makeshift house and gathered cotton from the giant blue dandelions that floated through the air. With a needle made of a sharp metal twig and threads made of unbreakable twine, he sewed pillow cases, blankets, and sheets for his hammock, and built stools and tables from white wood. He fashioned shirts, pants, and undergarments from the silk-like skins of large weeds that washed ashore from the rivers, and took the skins of dead boars (or what he assumed were boars) and cleaned them to serve as walls and doors of his cottage.

He gathered clay from lumps of mud found in nearby caves, some driftwood that seemed dry and flammable enough and piled them inside his cottage. He channeled magia and built fires, molding pots and pans through a fire that never burned his skin. Before then, Frei would only eat fruits and raw fish, but the little kitchen he fashioned for himself allowed him to cook stews and sauté vegetables for his everyday meals.

It wasn't as luxurious as his castle in Elfeinne, but it would have to do if he was to stay in this world for a little while longer.

It has been eight days since the endless daylight, and Frei for all his patience worried that he had already lost his mind. The boy closed his eyes and took a deep breath, because somehow in the midst of his isolation he felt that he still had control over himself and his surroundings.

The wolf named Lotus occasionally visited him, surprised that Frei was able to recall their latest conversation. Lotus often tested him, asking him about the world where he came from, about a child named after the moon and a girl whom he had never found. Frei would answer every question honestly and correctly, and the wolf would grin in satisfaction. The creature did not enjoy a forgetful companion. From there, the prince concluded that he wouldn't be losing his memories any time soon.

But when he was alone, drinking in the scenery of endless lawns and magical creatures from his place beneath a white oak tree, he would search the labyrinth of his mind and try to understand why nothing surprised him about his predicament.

Had he expected to live in such a world?

"Nothing makes sense," he told no one with a dry chuckle. "I must be going mad."

"You are not."

A voice both familiar and strange enticed Frei's ears. His head slowly turned to his right, eyes going wide at the sight of a girl who was two heads shorter than him. Her blue dress was slightly torn but still decent, covered in the same dust and dirt that smudged against her cherubim face. Her thick locks fell in subtle swirls behind her back, shimmering gold against the light that gleamed from his body. Her body was turned to the scenery, save her head which faced the gaping boy, her amber orbs bright but blank like a porcelain doll's eyes.

"Eloise," Frei said, testing her name on his lips. He slowly stood up, careful not to startle the girl from running. "I... finally found you."

The girl took a step back, moving to hide behind a nearby tree that looked like a purple birch. Its trunk barely hid her form.

"I won't hurt you," Frei whispered. "I've been looking for you for so long."

But the girl ran, dashing through the fields of barley to the south. He followed, ignoring the little sand-stones that pierced the soles of his bare feet.

"I won't hurt you!" he cried after her. "Alice!"

"Eloise!" the girl corrected, though she still ran a few paces ahead.

"Please, don't go!"

"I must!" she yelled back. "The Jabberwocky follows!"

"There's no Jabberwocky!"

But there was.

The ground beneath them shook, and soon an earsplitting shriek resonated through the air. Frei managed to block his ears with his hands, but it caused Eloise to stumble on her tracks.

Frei caught up to her, finding her thrashing and screaming on the barley field. The grains clung to her already dirtied dress, and her soft golden locks tangled against the brown twigs.

"Make it stop!!!" she screamed. "Make the monster stop!!!"

On the far horizon rose a serpentine dragon, with scales like ebony glass. Its head was crowned with webs of onyx, as shiny and dark as its bloodthirsty eyes. Frei watched it and froze in terror, slowly crouching to the ground as all of him shook and trembled. He tried to scream, but no sound left his lips. The leviathan's shrieks and Eloise's cries dulled into distant sounds in his ears. The light that radiated from his body dimmed and the darkness that seemed non-existent gathered before them like a looming cage.

He curled into himself, hiding his head between his arms as his face kissed the ground. Frei could no longer hear anything nor see anything, but he could smell the earth, and the air, and the river water...

Furred paws invaded his line of vision. Gazing up, he found the scarlet-furred wolf with ruby eyes, glaring at him condescendingly.

Help, Frei tried to say, but he was too afraid to speak.

"Are you not Begotten of Maya?" the wolf asked him. "Are you not born of Deu like you so insistently boast?"

Boast? When had he boasted?

"Get up," the wolf commanded.

But he couldn't.

"Get up," the wolf repeated, a growl hidden in between.

"Can't," Frei gasped.

The shrieks of the leviathan then loomed above him, the darkness a blanket over the prince and the girl.

He could feel the talons scraping lightly over the fabric of his shirt.

"Diaval!" he heard the wolf curse in Elfeinne tongue.

Frei could not see, but he knew that the wolf charged at the dragon who was ten times its size. He could hear the snarl rumble from Lotus' jaws as the canine lashed at the leviathan's scales. The flapping of the Jabberwocky's wings tore the winds and sliced through the fields, ripping the sleeves off of Frei's shirt as well as some strands of Eloise's hair.

Chancing a peek, he found the wolf and the dragon spiraling up the starless ink sky, glowing like red and purple comets. They clawed and snarled at each other, droplets of blood spritzing from their wounds like scarlet rain over the earth.

"I can't. I can't. I just can't," Frei yammered weakly, bloodshot eyes never leaving the image of the wolf and dragon in battle. "I don't know how to fight."

"The night cometh again, no, no, no, no," Eloise wept beside him. "No more nightmares and nonsense, no, no, no!"

Frei shut his eyes. "Be brave, Eloise, be brave," he said. But there was no courage or reassurance in his voice.

"Mariiiibagoth!" Eloise cried, sounding more panicked at every syllable as the sky continued to rain blood.

The monster had somehow thrown the red mutt off itself, flinging the wolf to the ground with a hard throw. Lotus was somehow not as wounded as Frei expected, though there was a soft yelp that escaped from the dog's lips as it struck the earth.

"Lotus!" he cried. But the sound was no more than a whisper.

"A sun that does not shine is no sun," the wolf muttered as it forced itself to stand. "But a dead star."

"I am not a dead star," he muttered shakily.

"Then where is your glow?" Lotus asked, scowl returning as the wolf made a mighty leap back to its airborne enemy.

The leviathan made another deafening roar, piercing through their ears.

"Will the moon stay dark because the sun was hidden by shadow?" Lotus cried, spinning as its tale-turned-sword slashed against the Jabberwocky's wing.

"What?" Frei gasped. In his mind, he saw Qionne, his younger twin, whose light was wavering because he could only shine through the strength of his older brother.

"Will the morning never come for the girl trapped in darkness?" Lotus asked, voice resonating through the closely growing abyss.

"I can't fight!" Frei yelled, cocooning himself with his trembling arms. "I'm afraid."

Eloise's scream mingled with the leviathan's as it swooped down to drag the wolf through the barley fields. Somewhere along the way, another piece of fabric from both hers and Frei's sleeve was torn by the wind, small scars drawing blood on their skins.

"Stop screaming," Frei pleaded to no one. "Where are you Qionne?"

But Qionne was not there, he realized.

Fear burned in the pit of his stomach. Qionne believed him brave. He knew he was not as cowardly as this. So why was he afraid?

'Why can't I be brave for myself?'

He searched inward, trying to find even a tiny sliver of courage he could have done. But all he found was a voice, so similar yet so different from his own.

"I don't care what they say, Frei. To me you are the bravest brother ever. I'll make them see that, because you are the sun, and I am the moon."

Dread and awe washed over the prince as he realized... this was not the first time he had this conversation with the wolf. Nor was this the first time he encountered such darkness and fear...

"You're afraid?" he could hear the wolf sneer. "Then you will die here."

Frei had overcome this sometime before.

"I will not die," he hissed through his teeth as he forced himself to stand.

A field of light enveloped him, resonating through the field to the rhythm of his heartbeat. The leviathan above him cried in fear, fleeing towards the gradually retreating shadow.

Frei raised his arms in oblation, drinking in the air and power surrounding him.

"Resonata," he whispered. "Resonate."

The light grew, inflating like a bubble covering the fields, waters, and forests.

"Resonatem,"

Crystals from beneath the earth sprung up, scraping skies like tall bamboo shoots.

"Resonance,"

The rocks collected light until they glowed on their own in hues of green, yellow, pink and blue.

"Eli's light, fill this world," Frei declared with finality as he lowered his arms to his sides.

He didn't realize that he had closed his eyes until he saw that the monster was gone. To his surprise, the sky was black, but it was not totally dark, for the crystals he had summoned from the ground served as beacons for the night. Frei knew he might have exhausted his power somehow, stumbling until he fell on his bottom with a wry laugh.

"This world is nonsense," he snickered, though there might have been a frightened sob in between.

"I must be going mad."

Frei turned to Lotus, only to find that the wolf was no longer there.

"I start to wonder if you are real," he whispered to himself. "Or if you are just a figment of my imagination."

He turned to his left and found Eloise still curled like a cowering babe. Slowly but gently, he placed a hand on Eloise's shoulder, both to anchor himself back to his senses and to give her reassurance. Frei's touch startled her, but she did not withdraw from him.

"I'm sorry I did not find you sooner," Frei told her. "But I remember now."

"What?" the girl asked.

He contemplated, searching his mind for the answer that he knew was already there.

"This world did not exist," Frei answered. "But you made it so that it would exist. A world where nothing makes sense."

Light danced in her eyes, giving life to an almost grave image.

"Maribagoth," she whispered.

"Yes. It's me, the Maribagoth."

"You have promised that it will all make sense," she muttered, her tone shaking with venom and accusation.

"I did," he confirmed. "And I swore to keep that promise."

The girl sat up, amber eyes flaring.

"It was dark and it was haunting!" she hissed. "It was years and years of nothing!"

"I know," he said. "You waited for so long... trapped in this world without light. You had no friend here."

"Maribagoth!" she hissed, her eyes moist with unshed tears. "My friend is the Maribagoth!"

"I am the Maribagoth," Frei answered. "You have imprisoned your friend."

The girl scratched him angrily and swiftly, nails scraping across his left cheek. Light scars bled and dripped scarlet liquid down his chin, but it did not unsettle Frei. The pain brought a few tears to his eyes, but his sorrow was not for his wound. He took both of the girl's hands and brought them to the ground. They sat there, face to face, both bearing questions that neither could answer.

"Because you were alone, you stole me from the world that makes sense," he accused, tears finally spilling from his eyes. "I will never see the city of Eli, nor be crowned King over the land of the eagle. I will never be married to a princess of the north, or a chieftain's daughter of the south. I will never again walk the lexicon of the Elders, nor will I mount the phoenix of Brisingamen."

Frei paused and saw the image of guilt and anger shatter her ashen features. Her hands shook beneath his palms, but his determination refused to break the hold he had on her.

"I will never see my younger brother grow and become the greatest man I know him to be," he said, realizing that this was the most painful revelation of all. "He will be a better king and warrior than me. He will be ruthless and cunning, but he will be stubborn and stupid in the most fundamental matters of life. I will never get to witness that because you brought me here."

"The Maribagoth is mine!" the girl answered him angrily.

"No," he answered. "The Begotten of Maya belongs to all. The Sun belongs to the sky, but you took the Sun away and led him here."

"You were looking for me!" she wailed.

"Yes. I was because you asked me," he answered ruefully. "I relented because you are hopelessly and utterly lost."

He released her hands and brought his own to cup her face. A gentle smile, almost father-like, played across his lips. "And I intend to save you."

Eloise regarded him skeptically, "Why?"

Frei had been wondering about the same question for over six years... but like the many times he remembered, he knows...

"So that you wouldn't be alone," he answered truthfully. "Because you are my friend."

He stood up and patted the dust off of himself, extending a hand towards the still crouching girl.

"How long have you been waiting for me, Eloise?"

Tears spill from the doll-like girl's cheeks. "Forever."

Eloise placed her hand on his with uncertainty, slightly trembling for this would be the first contact she had ever made with anyone.

"I don't remember much, to be honest," Frei whispered as he used his other hand to gather her other hand into his touch. "I get flashes. Sometimes they are just sounds, other times images. I barely recall the time and day we met, but I know that you somehow needed me. I know that you were alone in this darkness for far longer than I have. And I know that I can show you the way out."

The girl scowled, a surprising change from her blank angel features. It almost frightened Frei if not for the hold he had on her hand.

"How can you when you can't recall the way?" the girl asked him, quiet like a whisper but loud enough for him to hear.

Frei turned to the endless sky, its now blue eternity marred by clouds that glittered like rainbows of stars. "This world has no sun, but I am a Son of Deu and Begotten of Maya."

He turned to the girl and cupped the side of her cheek with his right hand. "I am the sun that lights up this Otherland. I was sent here so that I may shine."