
Chapter Two
"What is that?" I ask.
We had been walking for over an hour, and the small amount of food that I had assumed had done little to stop the rumbling of my stomach. To distract me from the constant hunger that was almost consuming my every thought, I decided to question my surroundings.
So far I had learnt all about colours; blue, green, brown, purple, white, black, all of different shades. They say that we can see about 1000 levels of light-dark, 100 levels of red-green, and 100 levels of yellow-blue for a single viewing. This means that there is up 10 million different colours out there to be seen. I have to wonder how many different kinds of shades of colour I have already witness and will never no.
Blake of course was being helpful and pointing everything out or answering any of my questions. From trees, to grass, bark, flowers, leaves, animals... everything you can find in a forest he was pointing it out.
Jackson was a different matter. I could tell he was getting frustrated with the constant questioning; it could have been the sighing, or snorts, but it could have been from his comment after my latest spill on all the different trees.
"Did you know that there is over 25 thousand trees in the world? A tree can absorb as much as 48 pounds of carbon dioxide per year and can sequence 1 ton of carbon dioxide by the time it reaches 40 years of age. It is the reason we are all able to breathe, why it makes Earth a suitable habitat for us humans."
"Oh my fucking god. Will you just shut up already? No one cares how many trees there are in the world, or all about the different flowers, or about your stupid colours. No. One. Cares, do you get it?"
"I find that hard to believe Jackson. If no one cared, their would not be archaeologist, the people who literally go out there and dig to find something new; to learn more about were we all come from. Astronomer, a person who studies the stars to find what is hidden; once again to learn knew things. A Botanist, a person you studies plants. Ecologist, a scientist who studies the environment and the way that plants, animals, and humans live together and affect each other." I take a deep breath and stare at the back of Jackson's head. "I could go on forever about every different kind of study a person can do to learn about what Earth holds and the universe. People wants to learn; that is why you go to school, attend college. If people didn't then how would you learn what time of herb or fruit you could use to make your meal? What kind of tree is used to build your home? What flower or plants are dangerous and which ones are safe? How to speak, talk, and walk for that matter. You wouldn't have electricity, your clothes would never change, and you wouldn't be able to help that guy that is over your shoulders right now. It is basic human wiring that people need to learn new things to be able to survive. If people didn't care about anything or never learnt anything new, the human race most likely would have died out a long time ago."
I end my rant with heavy breathing, having had stopped half way through my speech, Jackson and Blake staring at me – well Blake in amusement and Jackson... his face was a perfect blankness. I had no idea what he was thinking and that annoyed me more that I could control.
I know I still have a lot to learn, but human expression seems to be something that I understand, it was just their description I was having a hard time understanding. That's why I asked Blake to describe their appearance, to help understand the difference from one person to the next.
I don't know if Jackson heard Blake and myself talking before when we whispered to each other, but I ask for him to describe their appearance – actually it was the first question I asked. I explained to him that I wanted to know how to be able to explain the difference from one person to the next. I could see the difference clearly, I was just not able to put it into words.
He pointed everything out from his perfect cheekbones, to his strong jaw, to his perfectly shaped eyebrows, to his ice blue eyes, and luscious lips perfect for kissing; all his words not my own. He had white blonde hair with an olive complexion, and was 6 foot 2. He even lifted his shirt to show his 6 pack and what he called a V that dipped low down into his pants. I knew my fingers itched to run them over it and I think he could tell by the smirk on his face. He also told me would one day he would show me what was below but it wasn't the time; that earned a smack from me, I'm clueless about some things, but that I wasn't.
Jackson was described in a more subdued tone. Apparently he had boring black hair, boring green eyes, a stupid deep tan, and was covered in tuff stickers. I asked what they were and he told me tattoos. I knew he down played it a lot, because they were both as good looking as the other. Jackson was more built than Blake, and I could see the muscles straining against his shirt. I kind of wished he would show me what was under his shirt, to see if it was just as impressive as Blake's.
But know that he was facing me again, I was able to take more in of him, and realised he was even taller than Blake and had an amazing collarbone that demanded to be touched, to be stroked. But as if sensing my appraisal he turned swiftly and walked away.
I was brought out of my by musing by Blake's question. "What's what babe?" Blake had come to calling me babe, and I secretly liked it coming from him.
"Oh, ah, nothing. Don't worry." I look towards Jackson and sigh. "It's nothing."
Blake must see the direction of my sigh and wraps an arm around my shoulder. "Hey, don't worry about Jackson, ok? He is just having a bad day and he is taking his frustration out on you."
"Is everything ok? I don't mean to be a inconvenience to any of you." I pause in my walking to look up at Blake.
"Yeah, maybe... I don't know." He shakes his head and looks towards Jackson. No, towards the man hanging over his shoulder.
"I know you don't know me or anything, I don't even know me," I say with a shake of my head. "But if you ever want to talk, I make just as good as a listener as I can talk."
Blake smirked down at me and nodded. "I don't doubt it." He stares down at me for a moment as if thinking over my request and I stay silent allowing time for him to come to his own conclusion.
He nods and directs me to keep walking, keeping his arm around my shoulder. "We found that guy lying on the ground, completely unresponsive. All his vitals say he is perfectly fine, but... I don't know. The weird thing is, the place we are going to, our home; it's kind of a secret community. There are around 2 thousand of us that live there, and the outside world doesn't know about us. No one, and I mean no one has ever stumbled upon us before and there have never been new comers'. Not until today. The two of you have never been seen around her before, and trust me I know everyone. So, the question is, why is there not one but two new people on the same day, one who is unconscious and the other with no memory of anything but also a walking talking Google."
"I don't know, but I do remember waking up and remembering how painful it was. I don't know how long I lay there before I could even open my eyes. I've already explained what my memory was like, but I don't have the answers you are seeking. Maybe that guy does, and if he is anything like me, he may be in a lot of pain which is why he hasn't woken yet."
"But you have, what makes you different?"
I look up and smirk, "I'm female, and we handle pain differently to males." I look forward and can see the end of the tree line just ahead. "Are we here?"
Blake looked to where I was looking and smiled. "Yep. Welcome to our home."
"Awesome. Now can we get food?" I say rubbing my hands together in anticipation.
"Yeah, but it will have to wait for a bit. You will have to meet the elders first."
Just as I was about to respond I was brought up short by what I was witnessing. I stop on top of a cliff looking down into a... a Kingdom. There was no other word for it. The mountain surrounded it in every direction, like a protective barrier from the outside world. But don't mistake it for thinking the place would be small; just by looking from one side of the mountain to the other, I could tell it would take a day of walking at a brisk pace.
I could see the place was set up into six sections, all meeting in the middle to a tree raised on the highest ground. The tree almost looked like a symbol, a focal point, and stood taller than everything else, nearly as tall as the surrounding mountains themselves. When every other tree was of all different shades of green, this tree didn't just stand out because of its sheer monstrosity, no. It was its colour, a vibrant burned orange, so beautiful it was almost impossible to take my eyes of off it.
When I finally did take my eyes from the tree, I started checking out the different parts of the village. Five out of the six looked like housing, starting at the base of the mountain were more simple houses made out of wooden logs, as if they were the commoners, the poor people. The further up she looked it went from a grey stone to the whites of white marble. In front of the five sections was a statue, almost like it resembled those people in each of the sections.
One was a four-legged creature and had its clawed hands resting on a rock; it had its head looking up into the sky, mouth open in what looked to be a growl. The one beside it was a man; the man in the statue itself was a pale white marble, almost like it was see through, and was like he was cloaked in darkness. He had his mouth open in a snarl and enlarged teeth. I glanced over to the next where I could see a man stand tall with arms raised either side. In one hand a red flicking substance raised high, almost like a beacon. In the other was a blue one, this one was pale almost white. It also looked like the males' coat was flapping in the wind behind him, but was caught frozen in time. The next one almost seemed ethereal; it looked like it had been woven with silver and gold, this one had both a man and a woman in it. The woman was crouched in front of the man with what looked like a shield in one hand and a sword raised over her head pointing towards an unseen enemy. The male just stood there with a long staff and a ring of gold and silver flowers decorating his head, almost like he was a ruler, and she was his shield. It wasn't until she fully focused on the head did she see the ear sticking up from beneath his hair. The last was of a man that looked like it was changing into a animal, but it was like it couldn't make up his mind, the animal kept changing always down until a bird sat at the mans feet.
Looking towards the last section, I was still awed at the beauty of it all. There was one building that was the biggest of them all, and what appeared to be built into and around a waterfall. The whole building looked to be made out of glass and had a sweeping balcony that over looked a magnificent pool of water below. A set of white and black marble steps led up either side to the building and under an archway that led directly under the waterfall.
Below the building were smaller building, all made out of the white marble and appeared to be the town's main centre. There had to be a hundred of the structures and she couldn't even fathom what they would all be used for.
Everything I was witnessing I would never have believed if I weren't laying eyes on it right now. It was almost like the town was magic... is magic. It was then she realised she was able to define what was what, from colours, to the difference between stone to marble, and what animal was what. I still haven't remembered my name, but it was a start and I was happy with that for now.
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