Set in Stone

“Three….Two…One…Go!”1

Lia turned around quickly, a huge smile on her face as her friends disappeared. Her auburn eyes scanned up through the thick canopy of trees, searching for possible hiding spots. Or predators.2

She had lived in this thick, vast green ever since she first opened her eyes; nothing ever ceased to amaze her, no butterfly that she wouldn’t chase or shadow she wouldn’t explore. Her curiosity stretched far beyond the grandfather trees that shielded her head, though. She often wondered where in this wide world she was, where she came from, and what lie beyond the bark that created gnarled faces and stared back at her…3

“Ha, Ha! Found you, Alice!” Lia swung around a thick tree like a monkey, energetic and thriving. Alice blushed and scowled, but eventually helped Lia find the twin boys and Alice’s sister.4

“Well,” said Jim after they had been found, “What now?”5

Lia turned in thought for a moment. She eventually bobbed her head up again, a little indecisive. 6

“Let’s go to the beach.” She said finally, waiting for her friends’ reply.7

“Wait!” replied Alice, eyebrows knitted together. “Why? Can’t we just…Stay here or something? We’ve never been that far out before, and I’m sure our kin will worry.”8

Lia laughed a little nervously. 9

“Well, I’ve been down the roads enough times, right, boys?”10

They looked at each other uncertainly, brown eyes swiveling to look anywhere but into the stubborn eyes of Lia.11

“Err,” Andrus started, “I suppose. Though we have to…make dinner! Yes, we have dinner duties tonight, right, Jim?”12

“Oh, of course!” said Jim with evident relief.13

“And I have to…” Alice stuttered, “Watch my babe of a sister! How could I have forgotten?” She hurriedly started down the path with the twins, all of them shouting back stiff goodbyes and farewells. Lia looked sadly and a little angrily to the last child standing with her- Akira. Akira stood tall, without fear. Her golden locks curved around her neck, piercing blue eyes digging into whoever looked far enough into them.14

“I’ll come,” she said a little blatantly. Lia was surprised; she had expected her to make up some stupid excuse as well, but instead she held her hands in fists and took the lead towards the edge of the deep, dew-covered forest.15

Even before the two reached the last banana leaf sprawled out in front of them, they heard it: the deepest echo anybody had ever heard before: a sinister hissing that sounded like something taking baited breaths of the salty air. It was he water in a cove, splashing in and out with a rhythmical beat. For the first time in a long time, two pairs of eyes could stretch into the once-blue skies; now laden with dark, angry storm clouds. They seemed too heavy with rain, like a burden unable to be kept for too long. A secret. A message. Though after a long while of staring into the skies, Akira finally took a few steps into the smooth sands and wriggled her bare toes around the shells that were scattered among the beach. As Akira sat and enjoyed the slightly warm wonder, Lia ran immediately to the very edge of the coast and dipped a finger into the clear waters. She swooped and caught a ruby-red crab, which pinched her as she laughed and let the grouchy animal free. Like a small child, she splashed through the waters, scaring away brightly colored fish and other gill-equipped beings. Eventually the two met again as the sun had begun to decline from its spot high in the sky, illuminating the clouds like different-colored paper lanterns. They talked by the edge of the forest, staring into the glimmering ocean when suddenly a rustle in the bushes sounded off. It startled them so much it could’ve been a gunshot; but instead of a trigger they heard a low, throaty growl that let them know it was time, now, to run. First slowly, then gaining a great speed they ran to the edge of the coast, further and finally right by the waters as they saw a pair of glowing yellow eyes melt into the shadows once more. It had been a leopard, for the telltale black marks on its hungering face had melted back with it into the jungle. Lia had stopped when she saw the leopard recline, but Akira kept on running, sending sands flying into the air. Looking back, she tripped over a large oval rock, did a flip, and laid flat on her back with oomph; Lia had to laugh. As Lia sauntered over, she stopped abruptly at the rock that had tripped Akira. She helped Akira up and pointed to it, saying, 16

“Doesn’t it look like an…eye?”17

“A little, I guess,” replied Akira, her pride still hurt. She resumed dusting sand off her legs. Indeed, though, the oval rock stuck abruptly from the beach, like an eye closed in deep slumber. Lia looked across the beach and was stunned to find an almost identical rock, not too far from where she had stood before. Akira now paid attention, staring from Lia to the rocks. She bit her lip. Lia finally got to her knees and slowly ran her finger across the old lines on the worn rock. Then everything happened.18

It began with a tremble. A shiver. A shudder. Then grew into a violent shaking, and the waters on the coast churned, and Lia’s eyes widened to match Akira’s. Akira was thrown to the ground, and emitted a small shriek as she fell on her arm. Lia jerked her hand away from the rock that was creaking and moving, the lines jumbling and changing. Then the rock opened. Purely opened, and the whole world shook. Akira was thrown violently into the ocean, a gruesome crack echoing out as she hit a jagged rock. Lia could hear distant screams from her village, and every particle of land was moving, being shaken off the island into the waters. Trees split in half like dainty twigs, sliding off with all the dirt and roots and life that accompanied them, the sand drained away in a heartbeat as if in a funnel, and Lia held on. As she was thrown like a rag doll, held on for dear life on that rock, as the whole island stood up and shook and shook and shook. Eventually everything was gone. Everything but the pale sun glinting on a strange, smooth phenomenon- scales. Miles and miles of multicolored scales were left, slippery and sharp. The hissing from the cove in the ocean stopped. A massive head lifted from the water, thick neck turning slowly and color changing from stone-grey to a bright red. The eyes turned toward her as well, and the slit of mouth from a dragon showed grey teeth, turning white and shinier every second. The eyes were the same auburn as Lia’s, and a voice spoke that seemed young, yet was so old: 19

“Many years I’ve waited here20

In a slumber deep and filled with fear21

As I lay trapped in cage of Earth22

In deepest slumber, for all I am worth23

Letting foreign beings grow24

From falling leaf to falling snow25

From burning sun to the cloud’s tear26

As the time comes close and deathly near27

To feel my heart beat blood again28

And break ‘way from this stony chain29

That bound me down, but now I am free30

And for letting me go, I shall spare thee.”31

Lia shivered as a tear rolled down her face. The clouds let free their burden, for their job was done, their message complete. Drops of ice fell down and drenched the life below.32

Lia screamed.33