The Journey of a Traveller

The Sunset.

The songs of nature gradually died, leaving the stage. The creatures were hurrying to hide in their comfortable burrows, nests, caves to seek the warmth of their families and shelter from horrifying Beasts that come out during the night.

Fields of fresh grass were slowly swaying, following the direction of the mischievous Breeze from the dark forest nearby, creating an illusion of waves upon the sea with dancing fireflies being the reflection of the rising moon.

The villagers have had finished their work for the day and were now making their beds, playing with children or tending to the cattle.

Peace.

However, there was one house that was anything but tranquil.

A woman's painful cries filled the air inside the building. The man next to her was doing his best to help and soothe his hurting wife, while frantically praying for her, and their baby's wellbeing. The nurse looked tired, but never stopped her duties and finally, after five hours of suffering, the healthy baby girl was allowed to see the light of the world.

"You did it, Amelia. You did it, dear." - The man carefully caressed his wife's face as he wiped away her tears, not taking note of his own. They managed to pull through. At last, they succeeded and got their happiness after countless tries, prayers and tears.

Meanwhile, the nurse gave the oddly quiet baby a bath, wrapped her in a towel and brought closer to the new parents with a smile. She was an old woman and knew this pair all too well for not to be happy now.

"Here is your little princess, Amelia, Kelm. She is very healthy and is ready to meet her family!"

Amelia stretched out her arms, got the hold of the baby and focused on the delicate treasure of her life. Silky, short, curly, lemon-blond hair was ticklish to the touch and soothing to the heart. Kelm's gaze was filled with tenderness as he stared at his family.

"Hey, she has your hair." - He stroked Amelia's locks with a wide grin plastered on his face.

The baby began to move, frown and opened her eyes, revealing a rich, ruby colour of the irises.

"And your eyes, Kelm." - Amelia happily announced to the father.

"Alright, boy, leave the room for now, please. I'll tend to you women and you'll see them in a bit." - The old lady announced while pushing the resisting dad out of the room.

"I can help!" - He attempted to persuade the nurse.

"Get out, idiot!" - She kicked him out. - "Amelia needs to rest, clean herself and a little bit of brake from you! Go wipe your face, crybaby!" - She shut the door, leaving the flabbergasted man outside.

"I-"

"Go and prepare the place for them to rest, Kelm..." - Tired voice of the granny came through the door. - "They can't stay at my house, you know?"

"Y-yes!"

"Amelia, he is such a fool... What good did you find in my son?"

"You know everything already, Mother." - The new mom answered while observing her child that fell asleep. - "You know it too well, Gunya."

"You bet I do! Now, let me take a look at my Granddaughter! I didn't even speak to her yet since I wanted her to hear your voices first!"

***

'Where is this?' - A thought flashed past her mind as she tried to open her eyes and learn about the environment through movement; however, she could perform none of the tasks. Fear emerged from her heart, rapidly paralyzing her head and thoughts.

'What is going on!?' - She began to struggle wildly and with time, that felt like internity, she was able to move her sluggish body. The feeling of weak muscles, fragile bones and oddly thin skin spooked the girl and encouraged her to continue.

'My body isn't supposed to be like this!' - She wanted to yell; yet, as she continued to move forward down the tunnel that she could only feel, she began to wonder. Why did she think that the way her body felt was wrong? Isn't this normal? Probably a delusion.

What is a 'delusion'?

Why is she thinking?

Suddenly she felt herself being free from restrains and as she took a deep breath, a terrible pain struck her. Tears couldn't come out from behind tightly shut eyelids, so the only thing she could do was screaming.

The pain gradually died down and the girl started concentrating on the environment. She felt a pair of giant hands picking her up and carrying through the air. Somewhere at the back, she could faintly hear noises that filled her with a strange affection.

Then, something unusual touched her tender skin, causing a surprised flinch. She attempted to open her eyes again but felt something blocking them and decided to wait for the thing to disappear. The strange, fluid thing enveloped her body, washing all of the disgusting stuff away. Soon, it was replaced by soft cloth and she was once again carried through space.

'What is 'cloth'? The thing that is around me? How do I know about it?'

When a new pair of hands took her, she decided to try and open her orbs one last time. Making a huge effort, she finally managed it.

To be greeted by a lot of blurs. The two closest blurs seemed to be the owners of the noises, which she was soon proven to be right, as an excited, but a quiet voice came from one of them. She strived to explore more, but a wave of tiredness washed over her, causing her to fall into the hands of slumber.

***

"What is this?!" - The little girl exclaimed as she was seeing something extraordinary. Millions of colourful pictures were flying in circles above her and were entering her tiny body one by one. She froze and opened her mouth as if to confirm something. - "I can talk?" - But she considered talking as more of a miracle right now.

"And stand!" - she added after noticing that there were no hands around her.

"Then, this is a dream, right?" - She didn't have to voice her question but still did since she liked the sound of her own voice.

What is a dream?

A difficult question. She always disregarded them as a peculiar work of imagination.

Eh? How did she know this?

She just did.

No, wait, she learnt all of this at some point!

But when? Wasn't she just born?

Born? The tunnel is called 'born'? No, she was born. The blurry vision and tiny statue were enough to confirm that.

"Agh! Where does this weird knowledge come from!" - She shouted and rolled around as if trying to trough it away from her head.

Yet, only more familiar but strange things started to appear in her brain confusing her mind even further.

Time passed and she calmed down. Bits and pieces of different information started to form a particular sequence and she observed it with interest. As it was happening, something really warm appeared in her chest and with more and more information, it grew stronger and more prominent. The girl became jubilant by the new feeling and wanted to feel it more.

Soon, only one last picture was left hanging right before her hands. Curious, she stretched out her little fingers and touched it.

Just like every other piece, it was absorbed by her body and as it fully dissolved, a bright light emerged from her chest and illuminated the black surroundings, causing her to wake up.

***

The baby opened her eyes because of a naughty, morning sunbeam hitting her with its light.

The vision remained blurry, but she could now make out colours.

'I was reborn.'

The baby clenched her fist weakly and focused on a blur before her. Golden-yellow 'something' was long and was connected to the skin-coloured blur.

'This is... should be hair... Wow. They are so bright!" - She moved her hand about and wanted to grub a lock, but failed, as they were too far from her.

Her wiggling woke up the blur with dark brown eyes. The girl was able to make out a smile on the face of her mother.

"@#%&*^$%, *&^%#!" - The blur uttered something nonsensical which soon echoed from behind.

"@#%&*^$%, Mi^%#."

'Mi? Is that my name?'

A pair of strong hands carefully lifted her off the sheets and repeated. - "@#%&*^$%, Mirta."

'So my name is Mirta.'- Mirta smiled at her brown-haired father, causing the later to squint his bright red, fiery eyes in delight.

This was the first morning in her new life and it was one of the most pleasant ones ever.

Though, one question remained; how did she die?