Atlas – 7

The morning sun peaked through the window as Aleks woke with a slightly confused disposition. The room around him was unknown until memories of yesterday came to him. The elf, Sol, their attempt at sharing some words despite the language barrier.

A loose-knit brown shirt and black trousers and a pair of brown boots were hanging over the small chair in the corner of the room. The clothes looked new, without any sign of wear or even discoloration. As he began changing into them, he found that they fit him perfectly. He was dressed in the shirt and was in the process of cinching the trousers around his waist when the trap door opened.

Sol’s silver hair emerged followed by her pale skin and her pointed ears. A smile was on her lips as she regarded him. She motioned for him to come. He descended the steps carefully, using his powers to give himself a little more secure footing by making himself lighter.

Sol wore a crimson tunic and earth-colored pants with black riding boots that went up a good way on her shins. She had two bronze bangles one with what looked to him as rubies inset within the bangle, and what looked to be a large emerald on the other. A bronze clasp choker inlaid with a sapphire was wrapped around her neck. The colors she wore against her pale skin made a sharp contrast to the point that she looked paler than she was.

The interior was smaller than he imagined, but it seemed to be just the right size despite that.  Aleks looked about, eying the various odds and ends that were strewn about and hanging. There were various jars and bottles filled with various things from roots and liquids, to little animal parts and one even held what looked to be a little live critter. Most if not all of these were in the front part of the dwelling, or at least the front of this entire room. The rear was where the kitchen, dining table, and what looked to be a cellar door.

She gestured to a chair in the middle of the room, tilting her head slightly. He settled on the chair that was next to the dining table. She then began to work around the compact but airy kitchen. She flowed with grace and poise that he imagined a fairy tale princess would possess as she moved about. He wanted to help, and so he stood up. He was met by a glare that would run anyone’s ice cold. The glare too was poised and graceful, and he froze in place. The glare slowly faded away replaced by a smile and then another nod to the chair. He didn’t think twice and took a seat once more.

She grabbed various vegetables and aromatics, then began chopping and showing her knife skills in full display. With that done, she moved onto a hunk of meat that looked much like a steak. She cut up the meat into pieces, then she took some salt and pepper and seasoned the meat and the vegetables liberally. She then turned to the fireplace and began tossing logs into the pit.

She then made a motion with her hand, her fingers tracing and moving in a pattern while she spoke words. Her voice seemed to suddenly have an echo-like quality to them and then the fireplace lit up with flames.

“Damn,” Aleks thought. “She definitely is a cape and has fire powers.”

He dismissed the thought as she placed a pot on the fire. She then reached down and opened the cellar door and disappeared for a few moments. Aleks could hear the rustling of jars being moved about then she emerged from the steps. She had a jar of what looked like animal fat in her hand as she closed the cellar door behind her.

She took a fair amount of it with an accompanying spoon in the jar and let it sizzle in the pot. She then

She was cooking in a pot that was suspended over the fireplace, and she was making a stew of some sort. From his seat, he could see the stew was ochre in color with an aroma similar to a curry. He watched her as she had put some browned meat and potatoes into the bubbling pot. She was humming a tune while she worked, and it wasn’t like any tune that he knew but the melody was happy and the cadence was upbeat.

When the food was done, she fished out two wooden bowls from a shelf and portioned out the curry into two bowls. With both bowls in hand, she approached the dining table and placed one in front of Aleks as she placed hers opposite that bowl and took a seat. She handed him a wooden spoon.

“Thank you.” Aleks said as he took the spoon. The smell of the bowl of food made his stomach growl and he couldn’t help but be a little embarrassed. He saw her hide a small little chuckle as she nodded to his bowl. He took a spoonful of stew, deciding to taste the stew first.

The stew was almost creamy, with a spicy-smoky base flavor that then turns just the right amount of salty at the end. He then took a bite of the meat was beautifully caramelized and the taste reminded him of a marbled steak. His expression must have been plain as day as a broad sweet smile was on Sol’s face as she ate. She watched him carefully, and she seemed to try and hide the fact that she was observing him like a cat would when encountering something new.

The flavors were enticing him that he couldn’t hold back himself as he dug in with a gusto of a starving man. Before he knew it, the bowl was empty and he felt a little embarrassed that he did not show any ounce of poise or even table manners as she had.

She sat with her back straight, never dipping her head or shoulders as she brought a spoonful of soup to her lips. She had a loaf of bread that she had pre-torn into chunks that she dipped into the stew with the help of her spoon. He tried to look away, to give her some measure of privacy while she ate but he found his eyes wandering back to watch her as she did. When little bits of stew would escape her spoon and make it onto anywhere else but her chin, a napkin was immediately in her hand, dabbing and wiping away any evidence.

He wanted to make small talk, but he knew that they did not know each other’s language. He wasn’t quite sure what to do now but thankfully she had finished her meal. He was about to pick up the bowls when she made a sound.

“Ehem.”

He quickly pulled his hand back and sat in silence as she began cleaning up the table. When the plates and bowls were put in a small basin, she then rummaged through a cabinet with small drawers. The cabinets reminded him of those you would see in an apothecary.

She then pulled out what looked to be a jar filled with a gray substance in the form of a cube. She unstopped the jar and retrieved the gray cube and placed it on the table before putting away the jar.

Aleks eyed the item curiously, realizing that this was a piece of clay. When Sol sat, she had a sculpting knife and began to shape the clay. At first, he wasn’t sure what it was she was forming, but then he realized that he was making a mouth shape on one end, forming a spherical shape opposite the mouth. When she was done, she made a last inspection before placing it down on the table between them.

She looked at him with a smile, then raised both hands with her palms pointing down towards the clay mouth. Her hands began moving in the air, following shapes and patterns and complicated symbols. All the while, she began speaking in a different language again. The same echo-like quality to her voice was back once more.

He watched the clay with a curious intensity and was a little worried that the table would catch fire too. But then she stopped, her left hand withdrawing and her right hovering over the clay with palms toward it.

Suddenly she spoke, and her voice was not coming from her lips, but rather from the clay. She was also surprisingly speaking in plain old English.

“Hello, Aleks. Can you understand me?” Her voice was the same melodious one that he heard prior, but now she was speaking in English. He was caught off guard that he could only stare at the mouth in awe.

“Aleks? Can you understand me?” She asked again.

The second time snapped him out of his surprise and he looked up at Sol and then at the mouth then back to Sol again.

“Yes. I can understand you… Can you… understand me?” He responded hesitantly.

“Indeed I can!” She said. He watched her own lips move, and it seemed to move as if she was speaking in a different language. “Pardon me that I did not perform this spell sooner, as I had to collect the clay for the spell to work.”

“Spell?” Was the first question that had come out of Aleks’s lips. He had plenty more but that was the one that slipped out.

“Yes, a spell. Have you… never seen magic before?” She tilted her head a little at the question, her eyebrow raising.

“Magic? Uh, like the street kind of magic?” Even he had to admit he sounded stupid asking that question. “Sorry, that was a stupid question. No, I have never seen magic before. I… didn’t know magic was real.”

“You didn’t think…” She seemed as baffled about his statement as he was about hers.

“What a curious thing to say! Is magic not practiced in your homeland?” Sol asked him as she produced a leather-bound book and a quill and inkwell. Aleks stared at the items and a realization began to dawn on him.

“Sol… I’m not on Earth am I?” He felt like he already knew the answer even before she gave him a curious look.

“I have not heard of this Earth.”

“Shit. That’s… the place that I come from.” He said with a resigned sigh.

“Ah. Unfortunately, I have no recollection of this Earth, in neither writing nor maps.” She paused for a moment, dipping a quill into the inkwell then she began scribbling on a blank page. It was in a script that he didn’t recognize. “Perhaps this has a different name in my language.”

Aleks was beginning to think that he certainly was not anywhere near earth. His ORT training had prepared him for this type of event. Whether being introduced to a new world or a new civilization, some basic things were covered.

“Sol, you mentioned that this is magic.” He gestured at the table with the mouth that was talking earlier. “What about the fire?”

“Yes, that is simple fire magic. You truly do not know magic then?”

“No. I’ve never seen anyone do things like you.” He replied in earnest. He thought of his powers, wondering whether that was magic. But he didn’t need to speak an incantation, nor did he need to do any of those hand movements. He simply needed to touch something, or someone and feel the draw of gravity on them. “But I do have access to a power…”

He wasn’t sure whether he should reveal his power, but he thought about her saving him, or at the very least nursing him back to health. He placed a fingertip on the book that then concentrated on it. The pull of gravity here was surprisingly a tad bit heavier than it was on Earth. Regardless, he released the book from gravity’s grasp and then gave it just a fraction of a push upwards before canceling that specific push.

Sol gasped in amazement, her eyes going wide as she observed the leather-bound book. Her smile was radiant again, and Aleks found his heart leaping from his chest at the sight. “She is beautiful.”

With a thought he let gravity reassert itself on the book and it thumped quietly on the table.

“Your magic is! This is! ! You cast no spell, yet the magic came!” She said through the clay. She snatched the book and began to furiously write in it. What poise she earlier had seemed to vanish in this fervor upon which knowledge was the fire. “Tell me what else it is that you can do?”

“Uh. I can only perform that. Where I come from we call it gravity manipulation.”

She seemed to hang onto every word he said, her quill scratching at the book madly. “This… gravity. It exists in our world too it seems.”

“Yeah. It does.” That observation was ripe with scientific potential. “If this is indeed a different world than ours, would it also obey the same laws of physics? For now, it seems the answer is yes.”

“Wonderful! This is astounding!” She excitedly tapped the quill off the lid of the inkwell and she placed it down next to the book. “What else is it that you can control with this gravity manipulation?”

“In the simplest of terms? I can touch something or someone and alter their gravity. I can make them heavier or lighter, I can change it so that it can pull things much more strongly.” He tapped the lid of the inkwell and put it back on, stoppering the bottle. He had both the lip of the inkwell and the stopper drawn together in a strong bond that the force required to pull them apart would more likely break the glass or the cork than separate it.

“Try and open it.” She eyed the inkwell curiously, taking it from the table and observing it closely. She put it right in front of her face, inspecting the lip of the bottle with a fingernail before grasping the cork. She tried with a casual pull. Her fingers slipped immediately from the cork, her body not expecting the resistance that it put.

The confusion was plain on her face now as she eyed the item a little more closely before placing her fingers around the cork again. With a firm grip, she pulled at the cork one way, and the bottle the opposite way. He could see the strain in her as her grip was solid. A barely audible ripping noise was immediately followed by the back of her hand holding the bottle smacking against the table with a loud thud.

“Curses!” She exclaimed as she dropped the inkwell and rubbed the back of her hand. She eyed the inkwell with her brows furrowed before looking at him. “That is quite the trick.”

He didn’t respond. Instead, he picked up the inkwell and placed it in front of them, his hand holding the edges of the bottle gingerly, while he let his other index finger tap the ruined cork. He released the pull between the glass and the cork, and instead directed that pull away from each other.

The cork popped with a sound similar to a champagne bottle popping open. Another look of surprise came over Sol as she took her quill, dipping it on the unstopped inkwell, and began writing again. “This is wonderful!”

“I can show you another thing.” He turned his hand over, palm up as if inviting her to reach out. She paused for only a second. Then she reached out and held his hand. Her hands were long and candle-like, soft and smooth. He greatly appreciated the trust.

With little effort, he released her and himself from gravity’s constant pull. She began floating. At first, she screamed, startled by the sudden release. The hand holding his turned into a vice-like grip, while the other attempted to steady herself on the table. The table had enough weight and heft to it that she was able to anchor herself. Her panic turned into utter joy as she looked around her, her body floating and her hair webbing behind her like a mane.

“This! I never! Aleks!” Her lack of words made him smile broadly. This was the best part of his powers that he did look forward to. Whenever he would go to those charity events for kids that wanted to meet heroes, he would let them experience what it was like to float in space.

“I’m going to let go of your hand, okay? I promise you won’t fall but be careful about how you move.” As if his reminder wasn’t enough, her foot that was now floating behind and above her head jostled some of the pots and pans she had hanging above the butcher’s block table she had.

“Okay!” She said cheerfully. Aleks let go and she floated in place for a moment, her other hand still steadying her in place. She let go of the table and seemed to hold her breath. She drifted a little and then smiled. “This is simply splendid!”

The pure and unadulterated joy that she held made Aleks smile. She reached for the table again and righted herself, bringing her legs and adopting a cross-legged sitting position while she floated.
 

“How long does this spell… this power? This power last?” She asked as she surveyed herself. Her hair was still a jumbled web floating about her in all directions.

He paused at the question and thought for a moment. “I haven’t tried to find out how long it will last, so I’m truly not sure now that I think about it.”

“Ah! Then we have a task before us! Please lower me to the ground and we shall conduct a test!” It seemed that she was quite the academic mind. Aleks gently pointed her gravity towards the floor and when she had both feet solidly planted on the ground, he released her. Her hair fell about her and she took a moment to find her proper footing and smoothed her hair.

“Alright then. Do heavier objects make it more difficult for your… powers… to work?” She said, tripping up over what to call his ability once more.

“No, it doesn’t, but I can only alter an object or creature the size of a car.”

“Interesting. What is a car?” She scribbled on her book once more as she asked her question.

“Oh, it’s a carriage of sorts.” He had hoped that they had carriages here at least. For a moment, she only wrote in silence before dotting off what seemed to be the end of her writing for now.

“Splendid! I have a rather large boulder in my garden that we can practice on.” She had said. Somehow, he was willing to play along without any reservations. Knowing the limits of his powers was going to be beneficial for him in the long run after all.

“Alright then! Lead the way!” He said enthusiastically. He felt giddy with energy all of a sudden, but he didn’t want to question it lest he spoils the mood he was in. Sol grabbed the clay mouth and headed for the door.

The outside of her cottage wasn’t what he was expecting. It was surrounded by a dense forest. The trees shot up from the ground in various shapes and sizes. The green hues ranged from the deep fern colors to the lighter sage and olive colors. She led him through the side and heading back. The cottage itself was built with what looked to him to be strong wood materials, with little to no metals inside.

Looking back, he noted that there was very little metal inside the cottage. On the outside, even less it seemed. He noted the second-story window on the front of the cottage as he followed Sol. “That must be the same one, or at least it looks like it.”

He craned his neck back and looked above the tree line to see if he recognized it. He couldn’t make out any specific patterns he recognized but he was firm in his belief that was the window in the room he was in.

As they rounded the rear of the cottage, Aleks could make out the garden. The garden was large, delineated, divided, and separated by a fence. It was broken into multiple areas by crops that were on the ground, crops that shoot up like vines, and above-ground crops. He estimated the collected area to be at last as big as a football field.

Right in the middle of it all was a large boulder. It was roughly eight feet tall and about four feet wide, with a rounded square shape at the base then a little more oblong point at the top. There were runic carvings on it, and it looked to be the same script that she was writing in. She turned to him with a smile and a curt nod. “Here we are. Will this be difficult for you to work your powers on?”

“Uh, no, I don’t think so.” He said gently as he approached the boulder. He was careful not to step on any crop, not that the crops in the area they passed by were above ground. He examined the curious feature of the garden. The surface had an almost polished quality to it. It was gray and porous to the touch.

Aleks exerted his power on it, having it free from gravity and then causing it’s down point to the sky very gently. It slowly began to lift and when it was a sufficient height, he let it float in place. “Do you have rope?”

“Yes, I do.” Sol replied, heading for a shed that was attached to the back of the cottage. Aleks looked about, spying a second window on the second story of the dwelling. He looked across it and found that this might be the room that he was in instead.

“But where was the ladder that went up to that other room then?” He thought to himself as Sol returned with rope in hand.

“What is the rope for?”

“We need to tie down the boulder so it does not float away with the breeze.” He tilted his head to the boulder. Sure enough, the boulder was already moving a little ways away from them as the wind was picking it up, despite there being very little wind.

He knew some basic knots and lashes that would work to secure the boulder in place so that it wouldn’t float away. She watched him work with a careful eye as he wound the rope around the boulder. There was barely enough rope to lash the boulder securely in place on one of the corners of the fence where very little crop would be flattened if his powers were to give out at any moment.

“There. That should be secure enough. Unless the winds pick up that is.”

“Wind is not a concern so deep in the Nuvali.” She said as she orbited the boulder, watching and looking carefully both at the lashing that he had placed around it and the boulder itself as if attempting to discern a trick to his powers. “I believe this will hold as well. You have masterful rope work, Aleks. Where did you learn such a skill?”

Aleks flushed for a moment, before getting a hold of himself. “I… uh… back on Earth, we have a group where a young boy can join to learn about skills like this. That’s where I learned it from.”

She stared at him for a moment before nodding her head. “I see. Will you teach me this skill? I believe I may benefit much from acquiring such.”

“Sure. Okay.” His voice croaked a smidge.

She turned back to examining the boulder. A growing silence enveloped the space between them. Only then did Aleks realize the forest was eerily quiet. No sounds of skittering animals in the underbrush. No pervasive winds rustling the canopy overhead. No cawing bird in the distance, followed by wings flapping in the air.

He was about to ask Sol about the distinct quiet that hung over them when she turned and smiled at him. “Come, let us sit and discuss more about our worlds and we may perhaps find a way to get you home.”