Amentia

Chapter 24 - Heartless

Some time was spent washing their ugly but practical farming clothes and drying them with the help of the wind, courtesy of Anna, and a sort of magical blow-dryer, courtesy of Nina. Even though the girls wanted nothing more than to wear their own clothes —which were safely tucked away into one of the burlap sacks—, they knew they weren't clothes made for walking in the forest. So they had to put those beige monstrosities back on, as they still had several hours until they reached the nearest populated area.

They followed the river eastwards, walking at a slightly faster pace than before because the trees didn't grow close to the bank, so the ground was even and without obstacles. It was refreshing to be able to walk at a normal speed, since walking slowly was physically straining.

With a clear view of the sky along the way, they watched as the clouds began covering the sun and turning the bright and colorful purple forest into a dull and graying gathering of plants. Humidity began sticking to the girls' skins as well. They almost regretted bathing and taking the time to dry their clothes if they were going to get wet anyway.

The rain started a whole two hours before they could reach their destination. Nina made herself useful right away, producing from her mind two wide rainbow-colored umbrellas. She'd used them many times in the past, since she refused to carry actual umbrellas back on Earth, despite living in a country where it literally rains all the time all year round. It had always amused her when people were confused to see her fully dry as she walked on the street seemingly without an umbrella, as if the rain simply couldn't touch her. It was the one perk of people not being able to see what she made with her power; at least she could freak people out.

As the rain progressed, it started getting chilly, and strong gusts of wind threatened to flip their umbrellas back. Anna tried her best to keep most of it at bay, but the wind didn't much like to be restrained when it was taking part in a storm; it was like interrupting someone in the middle of sex. So the girls moved closer to the trees to avoid the wind, deciding against entering the forest because, even though it would keep most of the rain off, it would be too difficult to navigate in this weather and poor light.

So they walked together arm-in-arm along the first row of trees near the river, Nina staying focused on keeping the umbrellas up, grateful she didn't need to be paying attention to the ground as well.

At one point, Zoe stopped walking, which caused a domino reaction and made the whole group stop one by one.

"Is that what I think it is?" Zoe asked with an unsettling grave voice. She was looking to their right, towards the forest, and pointed a finger to what seemed like a big round rock or maybe a very thick bush, something quite innocent for Zoe to be so concerned. But as they walked a bit closer, they realized the truth.

It was a pile of corpses, five of them. It seemed like they had been buried in a shallow grave and the rain had removed the earth and revealed them. Three of them had the same bright orange skin the girls had seen in the workers of the Temple, and the other two had dark-green skin and small horns on their foreheads. In the dim light it was hard to tell if they were male or female, especially with the minuscule knowledge the girls had of the people of Amentia.

It was something very disturbing to see, not only because they were dead people, but because of the way they had been left there. It reminded Nati of pictures she'd seen of the bodies left during World War II, discarded like trash, barely buried with no respect for them. She wondered if this was how they always treated their dead in Amentia, or if this was just as shady and criminal as it looked. From an Earther's perspective, this was a murder and consequent body-dump. It was just heartless and cruel.

The girls stood there frozen for a few long minutes, the weight of the scene setting in. God, they were tired of seeing dead bodies. Meiko said a prayer in her mind for those people's souls. Zoe moved her feet inside the muddy earth and gently placed a hand on the nearest tree, and the rest of the group watched open-mouthed as the plants near the pile of corpses began moving and placing each body next to each other on the ground. Next, the earth itself moved and absorbed the row of bodies until they were no longer visible from above. Less than a minute later, the area was already covered with leaves that blew in with the wind.

There was a moment filled with nothing but the sound of raindrops hitting the umbrella tops until someone spoke.

"We're not far from our destination, are we?" Nati asked.

"Twenty minutes," said Zoe.

"Not the best way to welcome newcomers, I'd say," Nati said, repressing a shiver.

"We're still going there? After seeing that?" Nina asked, wide-eyed.

"We don't really have any other choice, do we? We've practically ran out of food," Nati said.

"What if it turns into something like the human village?" Nina asked, suddenly feeling a burn on her shoulder blade. "This feels like a bad omen."

"Well, if it's any consolation," said Anna, paying attention to the wind, "whatever is in that town, it's the right place to be."

She didn't say that sometimes the right place to be didn't exactly mean good things were coming, but telling her that wouldn't be helpful, and she still hoped at least some good things were in their way. They had to be.

Nina pursed her lips and growled, but finally said, "Fine, we'll go, but I want it on the record that I was against it."

"Noted," said Nati as they resumed walking.