The World Outside The Shell

Chapter 9: The First Dance

The sound of thunder faded to silence. I opened my eyes in a dusty stone room of the temple. I walked for a long time in one direction, listening for the familiar sound of the waterfall, then reached a green door. I pushed on the rotting wood and the door swung open.

The room beyond was the inside of the cottage, and I ran inside, closing the door. The outline of a window formed on a wall inside the cottage as the green door vanished. 

The storm continued outside as the shell appeared to rise out of the temple, over the waterfall, the forest, and the marshlands. I tried to imagine the shell responding to my thoughts and immediately descended close to Lady Ri.

I was feeling confident and imagined a door opening to the outside, but no sign of a door, and watched as Lady Ri studied the shell.

In a few moments, the heated discussion between Lady Ri and Gromm turned to action when he pushed the shell with some effort onto a narrow ledge.

The StarGlave began to hum with a deep musical note as I watched Gromm struggle with a final push. The shell dropped off the ledge, tumbled down a hillside, narrowly missed a few large trees and splashed into a river. The trees rushed by and the shell was returned to the marshlands. I felt a sense of relief and freedom. 

I sat down and considered what happened. I turned to the window and shouted,  “It appears that Lady Ri has no further need of a turtle! I am relieved to be traveling away from Gromm and his blades.” 

“Lady Ri is too busy saving the world to care about a turtle.”

I was startled when a voice responded and was shocked to find Lady Ri in the cottage holding the StarGlave in one hand and the map in the other.

“Goodbye turtle. I needed the StarGlave to read the map,” said Lady Ri as she aimed for the window and attempted to blast a hole to the outside. The window was undamaged. “I need a way out of here…ugh…open door!”  She waved the StarGlave in the air shouting commands in her musical voice. 

I laughed when she tried to run out of the cottage, and slammed hard into a blank wall as I imagined the door moving to the opposite wall. I practiced small changes inside the cottage, in secret and for my own benefit. I once imagined a painting of Lady Ri, which instantly appeared on a wall. I studying the painting for hours, wanted to understand her motivations. I destroyed the painting when her eyes suddenly appeared to blink while a smile formed on her otherwise blank features. 

Lady Ri said, “Go with me.” She dropped the map and the StarGlave onto the table. She approached with a determined look and I realized there was nowhere to run. 

I backed up to a wall and considered my options.

Lady Ri took my hand and danced, singing with her melodic voice and leading me in a strange ritual. “I thought your human form would like to have a little fun.”

I said, “Why are you here? I thought you wanted me to disappear into the marshlands.”

Lady Ri smiled and said, “Do you think I have another form? I am simply a human on a quest to save the world.”

I said, “I already know you were a turtle born in the same marshlands. The short bald man Venn, confirmed by suspicions when I questioned him about the turtle shells he carried. I need your secret to controlling the transformation.”

Lady Ri pulled me close and looked into my eyes. She said, “The door.”

I said, “Do you have a place like this in your shell?” I focused on opening a door to the outside world, and the door appeared.

Lady Ri said, “None of your business. Are we floating in the sky? I will share the secret to maintaining a human form in the world outside when you find a safe place to land.” 

I said, “Fine.”

Lady Ri kneeled at the door opening to watch the landscape, then jumped through the door opening with a loud shout of triumph. She landed on a rock formation, an island safe from the rising waters.

The connection we shared for a moment was gone and I remained in the cottage. The sky darkened outside the window and the door closed in the blink of an eye. I laughed when the door vanished.

I said, “The painting of Lady Ri was on this wall.”

© J. Bateman

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