The Keepers of the Sacred Elements: Book 1

Prologue

Sacrifice and servitude, as legend would have it, have had their roots in Alaysia since its very foundation, when the original founding members had found themselves unceremoniously swept through a vortex by a gust of wind that created itself out of thin air. So then, on one unassuming day a very long time ago, a peculiar trio of a Mouse, an Ostrich, and a Bear sat flummoxed on barren ground. Bewildered and seemingly alone, they sat with just a moment to reflect on the remarkable and instantaneous changes that had occurred.

They had come to an almost instant understanding of what and who they were, something that was mostly unknown to them only moments previously. And such it was, in those first moments in this new great land, which would later be known as Alaysia, that the Mouse understood himself to be a Mouse, the Ostrich understood himself to be an Ostrich, and the Bear, too, understood himself to be a Bear. What was even more fascinating to the three was that for the first time in their small-minded and simplest of lives, the three knew exactly what and who each other was. Why and how they knew such things were the first of many curiosities bestowed upon the three, this one of which would never be solved, and if it were to be admitted by the three, they all enjoyed the mysteriousness of it. However, the topic would certainly come to be a grateful distraction while traversing their new habitat.

On arrival to this land, certain facts became apparent. Where they once only recognised the other species in the most basic of ways, that being through smell and their own visual perceptions of each other’s size and whether another species was friend, food, or foe. In this new land, they went through sudden and quite terrific circumstances with full knowledge and appreciation of one another’s very particular countenances. It had also come to their acknowledgement that each now understood a great many things, such as algebraic formulas and recipes for tea cakes and even how the processes for plant-life photosynthesis work, along with an intricate understanding of most things’ botany! All three still felt they were in the infancy of understanding their great many new things, including the aforementioned lack of understanding of how they got to the very spot they had just now landed.

The Bear had fallen on his behind, directly facing the Ostrich side, who also sat on his bottom with his very long Ostrich legs stretched out before him. The Mouse lay with his chin and belly on the ground and his legs splayed out; he found himself between the knees of the Ostrich’s widely spread legs.

The very first observation to occur was that of the Bear, who took particular notice of the voluminous flare and colour of the Ostriches’ feathers. With an accelerated level of learning and in just a moment or two of time, he was now so fully learnt that he could understand which exact colour of the plume the Ostrich adorned and recognised the colour of this plumage to be greige, and this colour was adorned with rich but soft cinnamon undertones, ‘Quite delightful!’ The Bear had decided for himself. In this moment of deep thought, the Bear had decided he needed a name. A colour has a name, and so should he. The big brown Bear had decided to call himself Frederick. He continued to ponder the magnificence of the plume of the Ostrich, as he was rather partial to the colours beige and brown. This was probably the result of having also become newly attuned to his own shades of brown, which he had noted to be a deep, rich chocolate colour with which he was most pleased.

Frederick sat facing the left side of the Ostrich, who was still sitting uncouthly facing forward, looked down, noticed the Little Mouse, and noted its colour too; he chuckled to himself. The Little Mouse was indeed a ‘mousy white! A cliché colour indeed!’ The Mouse noticed the attention of the Bear and squeaked. Frederick gave a little growl in response. The Ostrich turned and cocked his head, speaking in his Ostrich tongue, offering a polite salutation. Frederick thought he looked like a serious fellow and, with it, quite a smart face and Frederick would soon find that he was correct in his summation and that all that the little fellow needed was a pair of glasses, but he imagined the Ostrich eyes too wide-set to wear them. To his two companions, he gave them his name.

As Alaysia’s first inhabitants sat on a dirt-filled patch of ground, they came to discover that each had understood the other’s native tongue, and this got them gabbling amongst each other for more than a few minutes about their most recent events. Their incessantness had failed to make them realise the occurrences that were happening about them.

In the dullness and greyness of day, as the trio nattered, sprigs of green and brown began to shoot through the ground, and in seconds, they grew, and then, in just a few minutes, the sprigs on the barren and lifeless land were transforming into lush forestry. It was not until shadows of the developing saplings had started crossing over the threesome and shading them that they had ceased their gabbling and looked about them in astonishment once more.

Upon seeing the sight, the Mouse, unable to contain his curiosity, began scurrying amongst the grass. His excitement as he ran and sniffed the air had caused an almost fateful catastrophe. The little fellow had caught his little claws right on the edge of a huge embankment that was forming almost in the very spot in which he stood. He could feel the tremble of the ground and the groan of the earth separating right from where he stood. The ground shook, but only a little. This minor disturbance caused a sound so furious every fibre in his being seemed to tremble, and his eardrums could hardly take the sound. If he had been any further forward, he would have toppled into the chasm that had formed. With the ground ripped open and no longer moving, he could hear what sounded like the trickling of a small stream. The tiny fellow mustered up his courage and looked beside himself to see the water of the most crystal and pristine blue was rising up from the ground and trickling over the edge and into the chasm; he felt his little heart calm to its quiet rhythm of the gentle trickling. He was not calm enough to gather his wits completely, and he did not dare look over the edge before him as he felt tiny bits of soil topple over the side of the massive gap in the ground at the tips of his claws. The chasm appeared to be so deep he could not hear the rocks hit the bottom. That may be because the water beside him in the newly forming stream was growing deeper.

The ground had stopped moaning underneath him, but the sound of the water in the brook was ever-increasing now and morphing into the sound of a semi-violent rushing river. He watched the brook develop into a deep, deep blue as the depth of its water increased. He could see the ground under the water sink further, or was the ground he was standing on rising? This he could not tell. Either way, all that he could discern was that the volume of water was increasing. Deep ripples and small waves were forming so quickly in the creek that it was now a full-flowing river that had turned into a gush of water flowing over the side of the mountain. The sound of the water flowing over the mountain now was roaring, and the ground was creaking and moaning once again, but he was too preoccupied with keeping his nerve to notice. The Little Mouse had found himself in a state of shock, and before he could gather himself, he felt himself being lifted up off of the ground and placed roughly a hundred metres back from the ledge. He heard what may have been an inaudible gaggle from the Ostrich, who was now coming to his senses enough only to come to the realisation that the ground was moaning and moving beneath him yet again, and of course, this placed Little Mouse into another state of nervousness. Then, in one instant, everything became still and quiet except for the sound of the waterfall. The Mouse and the Ostrich stood unmoving for a moment, and when they felt that the danger had passed, they dared to look about them. The heartbeat of the Mouse had slowed, and his nervous system hushed itself into a welcome reprieve. When the Mouse and Ostrich surveyed their surroundings, they spotted the river embellished with buttercup flowers. Birds of various kinds flew above their heads, and the smell of flowers of orange, pink, and purple perfumed the air. The sky, which had been what seemed only moments ago a dull, vast, grey colour of nothingness, was a perfect sky blue. The sun shone above, yellow and bright. Far enough in the distance to the north were snow-capped mountains, and to the east, the same distance away, was a forest of fir trees, and to the west, it seemed barren; nothing had seemed to form out there, except the sky seemed a darker shade of grey.

The Ostrich picked up the Mouse from the ground and placed him within the bed of feathers on his own back for safety. Then, almost in unison, they remembered that they had not seen Frederick since before this great formation, and the Ostrich took his long strides through the apple blossom trees and the cherry blossom trees in search of their comrade.

Little Mouse was squeaking in nervous tones and running about on the back of the Ostrich in a state of despair; this despair was for Frederick’s concern and welfare. The Ostrich could feel the movement over his back like one would feel a tickle, and he did his best not to be irritated by this action, as he knew the Mouse meant no harm. He occupied himself instead, and with deep thought, he looked about the place. As the Ostrich did this, the beauty of this wonderland grew. It seemed to grow with almost every step that he took. He noticed cobbled footpaths were forming, and stone walls with vines of grapes and pomegranates in full bloom had grown over them. It was not lost on the Ostrich that there were creatures of all kinds inhabiting this forestry, and it caused him to win. Why had they landed in this place with it, starting out so barren and becoming so lush and full of life so quickly? He did not know how to answer this, but all that he knew was that as each step that he took and the more urgent concern for Frederick’s welfare grew, the more abundant and richer this land grew. Rainbows were developing, and pots of gold were forming at their bases. Butterflies flew about them, and the vibrancy of colour increased in every living thing. I interrupted his thoughts by the Mouse, who was now jumping up and down on the Ostrich’s head with no veritable force but with fierce and frantic repetition. The Mouse was squeaking furiously to the Ostrich to head west; he was not sure why the need to head west was necessary but did so immediately, and as he did, a path of soft grass and firm ground formed beneath his claws. He could also make out large, juicy worms that were trying to bury themselves in the soil, and he could not resist picking one or two of them and then three, four, five, and even more as he made his way west. This irritated the Mouse, as he took it to mean that the Ostrich had forgotten the urgency with which they were tasked, which, of course, was finding Frederick. So, the Mouse supposed the Ostrich to have a right and thorough ‘bird brain!’ This was not a compliment to the Mouse’s mind, and he figured that the big dumb Ostrich would not even understand it to be an insult, even if he said it out loud. Little Mouse, despite his better judgement, began to moan and groan in his Mouse language with various contemptuous mutterings.

The Little Mouse caught himself in his own thoughts. ‘hadn’t the Ostrich just saved his life earlier in the day? Why was he so agitated with the big, dumb bird brain? He should be in a state of honour and gratitude, right?’ The Mouse, in these moments of thought, had decided that it was out of his concern for Frederick that he took his frustrations out on the Ostrich. This sets Little Mouse’s thoughts into greater turmoil because he cannot understand his deep emotions for Frederick. It was not like the Little Mouse himself even knew Frederick all that well. They had only met each other for a few hours, or even just half a day. Shouldn’t he have the same affection for the big dumb-dumb that had saved him from virtual death? He felt such a concern and attachment to the Bear that he could not fully understand why, so he tried to keep his thoughts with the Bear. He knew somehow that Frederick had found himself to be in some sort of predicament, though he did not know what it could be. His instincts, which were much greater than his size, told him to head west, which they were currently doing… BUT THIS BIG DUMB OSTRICH JUST WANTS TO EAT WORMS! His own thoughts on the subject screamed in his head.

So, the little creature huffed and puffed as he ran back and forth along the length of the Ostrich, trying to contain his frustrations. He ran from the top of the big dumb bird brain’s head and down his long, thin, rubbery neck, which Little Mouse hated the feel of under his pads, and this, of course, added to his very turmoil, and then along his back and even up his tail. Unbeknownst to Little Mouse, this continued action not only enhanced his own agitation but also agitated the Ostrich. With both of them caught up in their own individual states of duress, they had failed to notice the fauna changing around them.

The path they were on, which was lined with petunias and sunflowers, had begun to wither and shrivel; the flora was losing its vibrancy, and some of the smaller orange and purple petunias had begun to shrivel up, turn black, and die. Then, in the quietness and gentleness of the day and out of a teeny tiny little pair of lungs, came a momentous roar, which shook the leaves on the trees in the surrounding perimeters: Will you stop eating those wretched worms, you big overgrown imbecile! Little Mouse cowered and trembled at the sound of his own voice, barely able to comprehend that the thunderous demand was his own.

The Ostrich stiffened but managed to gulp back the worm that was hanging out of his beak. He ruffled his plume on his back with severe annoyance and hoped with urgency to shake the little vermin rascal off of his back and onto the ground. The Mouse dug in his claws with enough tenacity for claws to dig into the skin of the Ostrich and take hold so as not to fall such a long way down to the ground and risk breaking his spine or neck, for it seemed a long way down. With almost as much vehemence as the Mouse himself, the Ostrich let out an array of Ostrich sounds. It was not that the Mouse’s claws had caused any considerable pain or hurt to the Ostrich; his response to the behaviour of the Mouse was one of pure annoyance and frustration and anger. This wretched Little Mouse, whom he had felt such affection for and rescued and carried on his back, could show him such contempt and ill will as to disrespect his services of transport and protection. He had even followed the Little Mouse’s instructions, and all he got in return was insults and contempt. Now, the little wretch had added injury to insult by drawing actual blood and doubling down on his very own back; this incensed the Ostrich almost to no end, and he played around with every part of his body, from his talons to his wing tips, from his tail to his beak, and screeched as he did so. You contemptuous little brat rascal! How dare you hang onto me while insulting and disrespecting me? How dare you demand a ride on my back! The Ostrich was roaring, his body still a cacophony of movement, and spittle rained from his beak, landing even as far as metres away.

The pair of them were absolutely incensed with each other by now, the Ostrich still spraying himself around. He was running off pure adrenaline by now, and Little Mouse, digging his heels in with such force, was determined not to leave the Ostrich’s back. Though, to a mind with more common sense, one would assume his personal safety would be greater had he been on the ground, especially for one who seemed to be constantly shot with nerves like Little Mouse. Most other beings would also be concerned for the bones and spine of the Little Mouse, and it would rightly be assumed that his very bones would too be more likely preserved in a fall rather than the bull ride he was currently enduring, but stubbornness had prevented common sense right about now, and it would seem that nothing would persuade the Ostrich and the Mouse from bellowing at one another with much infernal rage.

If it could be possible—and it would seem that it was—the rage of the pair was abated by extremely loud thuds, and the ground shook even more than the Ostrich flayed or the Mouse roared. Both stopped in their tracks in a little shock, and the shock increased in both as they peered about them. The world around them had grown barren. The flowers had withered and hung limply; all the surrounding trees were dead and were falling all about them, even the grass path under the Ostrich pads had grown hard and rocky, and there was no sign of life at all, no soft grass underfoot, no fat juicy worms, just barren rock, and this ground hurt the pads and claws of the Ostrich. The Ostrich, noticing his pain underfoot, raised his head and exhaled, hoping this action would give him momentary relief. He was thinking about how this kind of ground would never have bothered him back in the old land, but it sure did here, and he turned his attention to the sky for a distraction. The sky had turned back to a dull grey, and not a single wren could be heard chirping, nor a butterfly could be seen fluttering anywhere around.

In unison, the pair exclaimed, What on earth…!

The Ostrich went on to very quickly note that they were not on earth, and the Mouse readily agreed and said, This looks just as it was when we arrived…!

… but worse… interjected the Ostrich. Had we travelled further west than we thought... but that doesn’t make any sense... I was just eating worms as I walked, and then we stopped. The Ostrich began questioning himself.

It makes no sense! The Mouse squeaked. Nothing makes sense here, though, nothing at all! The Little Mouse felt the Ostrich wriggle a little underneath him. Are you alright, Mr. Ostrich?

I can just feel a little trickle of blood from your claw, and it is itching me.

Let me clean it up for you. And so, the Mouse used the Ostrich’s own feather to do so by way of his own front paws.

AAhhh, sighed the Ostrich dropping his head with relief and gratitude, and he noticed the most peculiar thing. A little bit of grass grew beneath them.

Little Mouse! The Ostrich called. The oddest thing has happened. I think I am beginning to understand something… Quick, come here!"

The Mouse scurried to the top of Mr. Ostrich’s head. Look down, Mouse! It is grass regrowing. I think I know what is happening here!

Unfortunately, the grass did not survive very long underfoot, but it did not perturb Mr. Ostrich from sharing his theory with the Little Mouse, and the Little Mouse did not take long to agree with the theorising of Mr. Ostrich. This exchange between the two about their theories and the agreement upon which they landed had then given way to very hearty apologies and a very lengthy discussion about what had led them to their uncouth and negative behaviour and treatment of each other. They had decided to put it all down to the overwhelming nature of events and the lack of time to process all such things involved with the unexpected arrival to a new planet or dimension or wherever it was they currently found themselves. The Little Mouse concluded their healing by then thanking Mr. Ostrich for his rescue and allowing him to ride on his back all of the long distance they had just travelled. Mr. Ostrich accepted the Little Mouses’ gratitude and suggested they now move on, deeper into the now barren and dead wasteland desert, as he did not know how much longer his feet would endure on this ground.

Well, said the Little Mouse, onwards and forward to search out Frederick!

Onwards and forward sounds like a redundant statement, Mr. Ostrich said as he began the journey over the stony and rocky terrain. So, this began another back-and-forth bickering about what would and could be considered linguistic redundancies. Neither of them minded as they continued the journey forward. Both of them watched the purple and pink of the sun setting in the distance and admired it greatly, but neither mentioned this, both preferring to goad each other with silly arguments. In the end, they concluded that both of their own native tongues had legitimacies that should not be ignored or disrespected by the other and were happy with their conclusions.

After their proud resolution, they had argued back and forth about a great many things throughout the night as they walked, not quite knowing where they got the strength and energy to have continued for such a long time without tiring. A new tapestry of red and orange was beginning its ascent in the east, and it was noticing this that the Little Mouse and noble Ostrich realised they had travelled through the night.

Well, we definitely don’t know where we are now! squeaked the Mouse. One thing is for certain: this land looks very similar to where we first arrived and not as barren as what we just left.

This is true, Little Mouse!

I am not sure what to do from here. There has been no sign of Frederick at all, not one paw print... what on earth happened to him? Curiosity and nervousness tainted the cries of the Little Mouse. All I know is that I felt the need to travel west... and this was on nothing more than a hunch. I sincerely hope we haven’t left him injured where we started.

He was there one minute... and gone the next. It must have been after I left him to find you and…. Mr. Ostrich paused his speech as he was seeing the now-familiar development of the world around them; new grass was growing with even more vibrancy and lushness than the first occurrence. The duo watched wide-eyed and silent and never thought they would grow tired of seeing all the life and wonderment develop around them.

So much life and vibrancy were forming about them at a startling rate. There was