Hollow Days

The sound of rushing water could be heard from miles. It shushed any other sound. The clear, blue water danced around in the strong current. Waves dropped on one another, emitting a domino effect throughout it all. The sun was out, it was bright. Clouds seemed to move out of their way consciously, the ray blamed down on the river. It was inviting, tempting as if you wanted to jump in. So beautiful.

No animals or any beings seemed to be around. Not a sound except for the water clashing could be heard. It was quiet and refreshing, how could someone not be held captive from it? It seemed to send out a light vapor, and the rocks at the bottom continued to grow red through the cracks.

The beam of light shone on the infant. As if the world was welcoming him. The baby with Mitch-Match hair closed his eyes in response. Once his eyes shut, he felt he couldn't open them anymore. He was still conscious, but the darkness from his eyelids just felt better than the beaming sun searing his retinas. Before he knew it, the calm from the rushing water and the dark had made much time pass.

The baby boy started to feel hungry, usually, he would be breastfed by his mother, but she was nowhere to be found. His pale blue eyes opened up to the full moon, his mouth was dry, and his tiny stomach wanted to let out a growl, but that wasn't possible. He barely had any energy to cry, let alone waste it on sending any more signals to his brain.

It was officially three days and seventeen hours since he had been fed. In the carriage, his big sister, fed him using the cups of milk in her silver ring. She had fed him using a white syringe. It was uncommon for a baby not to have their mother or any women's support before one, so they haven't made anything to hold the milk. The only thing that they could do, found an alternative to keep their baby alive. It had worked, but since the baby didn't have milk, or motherly support anymore, there was no need for an empty alternative.

The silver moon shimmered brightly against the night sky, and a baby was sitting right next to a river. The baby's inscriptions reversed, from the white being clockwise, now to counter-clockwise. And vice versa. The young boy felt energy seep into his skin.

The light and dark energy seemed to feed him, he felt like he was on a high. It didn't taste like anything, yet it felt so good.

And for the next months, the power didn't stop once, nor did he get full. The baby with no name learned how to crawl. Unlike other babies, who would take many tumbles and falls before they could crawl; this almost toddler seemed like he knew the basics from the beginning. As soon as he had enough energy to be awake for more than eight hours he began to crawl.

He outgrew the cloth that once wrapped him, he was now a naked baby with abnormal intelligence. With only a few more months, him being one year and two months old, he began walking. Not a single time did he wander away from the river, the cruel cold not the unholy heat seemed to bother him.

The boy seemed to be empty with emotions, his face was clear, so clear that if he didn't blink, he looked like a mannequin. The toddler finally stepped into the river, after months of not even looking in its way. Just as one foot seeped into the water, the current harshly pushed him down, the river was at least twelve feet deep, and with a toddler who barely reached three feet, this was a lot. He was pushed down by the harsh current, and without any room to even take a breath, the young boy seemed to have been found with the flow of the river. Many waves pushed him down, but then he would circle up to the top.

As if his instincts kicked in, he attempted to swim, 'attempted ' was the keyword. The river seemed to beat him even more with his restraint, the boy needed to breathe, and even though it didn't show on his face, he was wondering how to get to the top. He wasn't frightened nor panicked, just curious. With seconds passing like hours, the little boy fell limp in the river. His brain is still operating, but not his body.

The white and black inscriptions on his body seemed to fade into his skin, his skin turned a more natural pigment, but his eyes seemed to stand out more. Under his reddish eyelids were a glimmering pair of eyes staring into the abyss. The right eye turned refined white, yet the hair on the same side was raven; almost like a yin yang symbol. Then again, on the left side was a pristine dark eye, not an ounce of light would dare to flicker on it.

It was truly extraordinary.

***

Somewhere not so far.

White horses marched through the forest, they were at least thirty of the majestic-looking horses, each combined in some tight formation. They were coated in red blood, it wasn't the horses, better yet, the beast that was slayed by the humans riding on top of it.

The men were clothed in white latex clothing, and the shirt fitted tightly, so as not to restrict their movement. The gloves were there to keep their hands of theirs warm, but they also were rubber, it was fall so they had to be wary of such conditions. They wore white fitted pants, with gold stitches and a gold print on the right side of their upper thigh. It was safe to say, they weren't looking to hide, no, it seemed they were wanting to stand out inside of this forest.

The man in the front of the group had the same attire, however, he wore a long white, thin fabricated, coat. The coat reached the top of the ankles.

All of the soldiers had blood in them but non of them had their blood spilled. They were marching through the forest decapitating anything that stop a threat and collecting information. They were all on this mission to receive information about one thing.

The River that threw every majestic creature away from it. It was said that not one varmint could get to one hundred feet of it. It was truly concerning, to see how many of the majestic beasts that lived in this forest could go to the green core grade. So for such a beast not being able to come anywhere close was surprising.

Outsiders who saw the river described it as beautiful, it was clear but you could see the blue tint on it. It was deep, though they could get an exact measurement because of the pressure that they were experiencing. The closer they got the more it weighed on them, so they barely got ten feet in.

When they got a red mark on the ground, which indicated that it was indeed the one hundred feet mark. The one in front, General of The Royal Guards, Arzona, seemed to want to confirm the statement of the public by crossing the line.

Time ticked by and the second they stepped over the line, not a thing happened. They heard so many stories of how people heard their hearts stopping against their ribcage and experiencing trauma just one foot in... but now it was nothing like that. It was just peaceful. Arzona, signaled the rest of his troops to follow in, but this time they tossed over the horseback and continued on foot. Arzona reached the ninety feet mark in no time, he could speed up this process but this assignment was for information.

Eighty,

seventy-four,

sixty-seven,

fifty-one,

forty-seven,

thirty-eight,

twenty-nine,

seventeen.

Only a couple of feet from the river they could see, without any pressure, that there was no river. There was the outline, it was sure deep. But it wasn't there. There was no water only clay from the bottom of the river. They continued their task and moved forward, finally reaching somewhere between nine to eleven feet, they saw a baby.

The General of The Royal Guards kept an emotionless facade, but on the inside, shock filled his sense. It was a baby boy, naked, in the middle of fall, drenched in water. Water that could only come from one place.

The river... but where was it?