Destination Starlight (6) Behind him, the door opened quietly and Mirya stepped in, followed by Varden and Kay. All gasped seeing Rijiin dressed in the leather. Kay smiled as did Varden and so did Mirya. The maiden had gasped the loudest, however. They had come to check on him, waiting downstairs and Rijiin taking longer than usual to be changed. The newly transformed elf glanced at the door. “The leather costume we wear, suits you Rijiin.” Varden said as Rijiin had turned. The newly transformed elf realized that he had not heard the door open or the trio step inside. Yet he still managed an agreeable nod. “You have my thanks for the gift.” Rijiin replied, smiling, “It does suit me, but I sure have a lot to get used to by wearing this.” “Be at peace. Come and let me show you Saint Brigid, even though it is not your home, or the encampment where you will be with the others over time.” Mirya told him and he nodded, “Let us start your journey toward your new destiny and life before you.” "There are more of you?" "Aye, a few of us remain, as we are fading over time as the centuries have progressed forward." Varden replied and Rijiin managed a grimace. Mirya stepped forward as she took up his hand. She led him, navigating the stairs and out the door into the village itself. Here she showed him one end to the other of Saint Brigid. The newly transformed elf met David, Hester Francis, Mick, and many others. As he stood with Mirya near the blacksmith’s shop, he felt a tug at his side, on his sleeve. Turning he stared into the eyes of a young blue eyed girl with long blond hair, clad in a long blue gown. She was quite beautiful, fair, lean, and almost Elven… “I’m Charity. Welcome to Saint Brigid.” She said and the newly transformed elf managed a nod to her, bowing slightly to take up her hand and kiss it gently. Charity gasped and smiled, as did Mirya at the custom. “Thank you, dear maiden.” Rijiin told her, looking into her lake blue eyes. He could almost see starlight there. She had been initiated as a witch and the Elves called her Cara, and he sensed she had great power. She was a priestess of the elves. She seemed to sense he was different and smiled at him in earnest. “So, is Rijiin coming to the encampment tonight?” Charity asked, and Mirya had gasped by her open question. She contemplated her question only briefly with a short shake of her head. “It’s not time for that yet.” Mirya said, “He still has to adjust for a time to this place and his surroundings as he is from far away. He will be staying with us for a long time.” Charity had seen Mirya and Terrill bringing him in to Saint Brigid on Night flame and sensed something irregular was happening. She had seen the blue aura surrounded him brightly. She was not expecting this handsome young elf to be before her, remembering him as he was before. “You will like it here in the village then in the encampment. Your people are good folk and help you adjust.” Charity told him, “Just be at peace, following and learning your role here. You will understand soon and find your path like I have.” Charity sensed that he was not from here, but neither did she know off his plans not to return to the future where he was from originally or of the portal that had brought him here. Rijiin planned to keep it that way. Cara smiled earnestly at him and then to Mirya. “Thanks Cara.” Mirya said, “Fine wisdom… and words…” The young girl grinned, bowing slightly. “I know you are coming tonight to the encampment, but will Sana and Lake be at the encampment also?” “Yes, they will.” He glanced uneasily at Mirya, who shook her head at the look. Her return expressions told him that all was well and he need not worry. Rijiin dropped his shoulders and forced himself to relax. He nodded to Cara who stood with him, gazing into his gray eyes. She managed a small smile. “You are so strange Rijiin…” She said, “From what direction is your far off land from whence you hail?” “West…” He said simply, glancing at Mirya who had a mysterious grin on her face and sensing his unease. However, it quickly became a frown. Mirya realized that he had not mentioned his time travel or the portal that had brought him here. He deliberately had kept it to himself, knowing that such information would only confuse and alarm her. He spoke with her further, making small talk, deliberately avoiding many of the young maiden’s inquisitive questions. He glanced at Mirya who had a look of understanding and he slightly nodded to her in response. Cara excused herself and he turned to continue exploring Saint Brigid with Mirya, after the young blond maiden walked toward the forest. When the dim light of late afternoon finally came, Mirya smiled and embraced him as she stood on the street of Saint Brigid. He stood in front of the church and the house of the priest. “I must return to our… err… my people.” She said, “I’ll be around in a day or so to see how you are adjusting.” “I look forward to it, Mirya.” He said, bowing formally to the young elf maiden who smiled at the motion. The maiden departed, walking toward the gate and she disappeared into the woods. A few hours later, he found himself on the common, alone as he did the forms of Aikido with his blade. He slashed, parried, blocked, and spun, executing the motions with exact, frightening precision. A few of the commoners and kids watched him do the swordplay in astonishment, at the beauty of the motions. He did multiple forms, and when he was through, he slid the blade back in the sheath. He circled his arms, holding them down, palms out as if to clear his mind. He glanced at the kids and the common folk who watched him in curiosity. Rijiin still wore the green and gray leather, looking like an elf, as he sheathed the blade at his side but he did the motions of a martial art of Feudal Japan, at this moment. They were very confused by the motions. The elf walked alone in the dim light toward Kay’s house, his blade hanging at his hip. Villagers noted the sword at his side, and his attire, bowing formally to him. They greeted him as if he were gentry. “Greetings, Fair one.” They said, and the elf merely smiled. He bowed formally to them, walking past with silent steps. He at first had corrected them, but actually stopped, remembering the images of himself in the mirror in his room at the house of the village priest. Rijiin entered the house of Kay and navigated up the stairs to his room. There he sat Indian style, his hands on his lap as he meditated. He saw the starlight in the darkness, and he saw images of the past, present and even future in the starlight. The elf saw a body lying in the autumn sunlight, in a pool of its own blood. He grimaced at the images that he saw there, and the surroundings that he vaguely remembered, as if in a dream. “It is very strange to see those images.” The elf said, opening his eyes, resettling himself on the floor, next to the large bed that dominated the room. He let the starlight twinkle in the darkness, and he focused on the patterns for a moment, as their power seemed to relax him. He was there all night, hardly sleeping, as his body did not seem to need it. He skipped a meal and just sat meditating, his mind and soul focused on the starlight that seemed to refresh him, clearing his troubles. The next day, leaving early, that Rijiin explored Saint Brigid on his own every day for a week and found his way to the forest beyond. Here the elf, with little fear, entered it. The elf found his way around, and explored the deep greenery of Malvern. He stood on the junction of the Malvern and the Rhillion Rivers, deep in the forest, and peering at the extreme beauty of the scene before him. The elf merely grinned, and here he settled in. He drew the blade at his side, doing the forms quickly from his usual memory of the martial arts, slashing, parrying and moving fluidly with them. Rijiin moved lightning fast with his motions, and when he finished he sheathed the blade at his side. Not far away, Mirya had sensed him, and came to him watching as he worked the motions with the blade, fluidly and with frightening precision. The elf had sheathed the blade, when he was done, and closed his eyes, letting the starlight sooth his cluttered mind. He had not need for sleep much in the last week being in this time but still had the familiar nightmares of the future, seeing the gore of a body lying in its own blood in the cold morning light. The maiden stood up and entered the clearing, applauding as he finished the motions. Rijiin grimaced as he turned his head, not expecting her to be here. She approached him and crossed the stream on a log that had fallen over it, to stand in front of him. “That was amazing Rijiin.” She said, embracing him warmly. “What are you doing out here in the forest? Are you lost?” “Nah, just exploring and seeing what there is to see.” “Malvern is fairly wild. I am surprised you have not been assaulted by bandits or wild animals.” “It is not as intimidating as it once was when I got here.” The elf admitted, “It is almost home for me, adjusting a lot to this place and I am astonished by the beauty that surrounds me here.” Mirya nodded, and she took up his hand. “Come… let me show you back to Saint Brigid, no doubt an easier way to get there.” She offered, and he shook his head. “Be at peace Mirya.” He said, “I will be alright, I am going a little further north of Saint Brigid, to explore this new land.” “I would advise you from heading north, until you are ready to see the darkness that looms there.” She said, and the newly transformed elf glanced at her. “There are many burnings, and the dungeons are filled with the damned.” She said, “I don’t want you to see those places with your own eyes until it is time.” Rijiin smiled at her, flattered by her concern. “Alright Mirya…” He said, “I will stay within this area of this region and at least see all I can see here before heading north.” She nodded, holding his hands. The young maiden noted the blade at his side, the ivory handled blade that he carried for the games, and she knew he had kept it sharp and keen, upon waking from his slumber. Over the next five weeks, a month and a half more, he traveled abroad, visiting Saint Blaise and Furze but going no further than those two villages. He saw many different kinds of people, but also saw the influence of fear that the Inquisition threatened with their presence in those towns. He explored further south, and even west into the Aleser Mountains, exploring the rocky-mountains that towered above Saint Brigid, clear to the north. Rijiin walked south, cutting through Malvern and ending up in the southern road, east of Saint Brigid. The youthful elf walked quickly toward his adopted town. He was clad as he was, in the green and gray leather, wearing the hooded cloak across his shoulders. He arrived at Saint Brigid at sundown, and made his way along the street, waving at the villagers. As he walked along, Cara had been walking nearby and she spied the elf to rush toward him. The young woman embraced the elf, making him gasp in startled astonishment, but Rijiin in turn put his arms around her to embrace her back. Charity gasped at the embrace before the elf stepped back, bowing wide and low in the way of his new people. The motion seemed only natural and he managed an amused smile as he pushed back the hood of his cloak. “Welcome home, Rijiin.” Cara said, and he nodded. “It is nice to have a place to return to and call home.” He said, but he also managed a grimace at the thoughts, and questions he had as he continued to change. “Where have you been? It’s been over a month!” “I have been abroad, acclimating myself to this place and have seen a lot in my travels.” The elf replied, “But it is always good to return to Saint Brigid.” “You have been missed a lot around here.” Cara told him, “Mirya and the others have been coming often and wondered if something happened in which they had to look for you.” “Be at peace, nothing happened.” Rijiin said, “I would never allow that to happen. I am proficient in my use of the steel at my side, if provoked I would not hesitate to take a life, but I rather not if it is all possible.” Cara smiled, as she walked with him, his silent steps on the partially cobbled street toward the priest’s home. As he approached it, the darkness concealed him as he entered the house of Kay, navigating the stairs silently as he entered his room. He found he could see everything clearly, highlighted in a lavender and purple. Here the elf did not sleep, keeping his blade on his lap, sharp and keen that it was. He closed his eyes letting the starlight relax him, despite the images of the future that he could see clearly, the troubling images that showed him many things, but were unclear and mixed up. The one image he saw often was the body, what he did not know to be the human remains of his very humanity, still lying in the bright winter light somewhere in the future he had once called home. The images were distressing, also confusing. Rijiin stood up and peered at the sunrise of morning that lightened the sky of another day in a new century, his new home. However, at the same moment, now two months since the gathering time, that two kids Carla and Miguel walked along the sidewalk. As they walked, both grimaced at the rancid smell of metallic blood and rot that overwhelmed the area. They walked along the creek side, on the far side of Capitol Expressway, and along the fence line of the many houses that lined the row here. They had not been expecting the rancid smell, having come this way a hundred times to cut over to Tully Road, and walk to the mall that was not far away. Carla grimaced, hit by the horrid smell a second time, glancing at her brother. “Jesus Miguel, didn’t you use any spray?” Carla joked, and he glanced at her. “Not me sis…” He replied firmly, and he shared a similar frown at the smell, “Something has up and died here, though.” As they walked a little further, along the service road along the creek, they turned the corner. Carla gasped and pointed as the sight of blood, splattered on the walls of the cement portion of the creek corner, half dried and pooled on the bottom that surrounded a dismembered human form lying there. “Oh my god…!” Carla gasped, pointing, “Look at that!” Her brother gasped and both of them ran toward the trail nearby and down the bank into the creek bed. They gagged and covered their noses and mouths, trying not to vomit on the spot by the smell. The body lay in a contorted position, pieces of it laying nearby, partially covered by water that pooled around it, and other parts in the dried parts of blood that splattered the concrete. It was covered in maggots from the decay over the two months lying exposed. “It’s a body!” Carla gasped, slowly approaching it, a bloody hand and arm and the remains of a torso, chest, legs, and a dismembered head all left laying here. “Holy shit, sis!” Miguel said, grimacing as they stepped back and Carla pulled out her phone with a shaking hand. “I think I’d better call someone.” She gasped, as her eyes welled up at the carnage that lay out before her. Several times, she tried to dial and almost dropped her phone, almost vomiting from the smell, blood and gore around her. “Who the fuck would do such a thing? It is inhuman carnage.” Miguel murmured, “And by the looks of it, it was a white boy!” The authorities were called, arriving within minutes as well as Fire and Ambulance, entering near Tully Road and along the creek that paralleled Capitol Expressway. Traffic was shut down on Capitol, as the Police quarantined the area as dogs and the Coroner were allowed to enter, examining the body. The brother and sister stood in silence as they watched the many officers work, answering questions by the police detectives who questioned them. They were recognized as the two good Samaritans who had discovered the body of the former human that lie here in a pool of dried blood. Although it was far too late to save a life, it would certainly have an impact to settle the question of whom he was and where he once lived for a family not far away. Together the young brother and sister had never seen such gore in their lives, even though Miguel was a gang banger with the crypts that roamed the East Side of San Jose. He was horrified that someone would slaughter another human being like this, even though he himself had killed others in cold blood. Both were very solemn, but very shaken up. “Even the gangs would not slaughter someone like this and cut them to pieces!” Miguel murmured, “This is no gang hit, it is something else more sinister.” Both the kids had a pensive look on their faces as the police examined the body and gathered it up, putting it in a body bag. Miguel’s sister was horrified and wept, clearly upset by the find before them. “We have an ID!” A voice shouted, as an officer held up a blood-soaked wallet in his gloved hand. He opened it as he brought it up to the detective in charge of the case, Detective Stone, SJPD. He put on a glove as he opened it and began taking out cards, cash and everything out of the wallet. Nothing was touched still intact the same way as the former person had worn it in the century far away, having put it in his pocket instinctively when jumped out of time and space. Detective Stone glanced at the bloody picture, and the name on the card. “Mister Nathaniel Miller.” Stone said and grimaced at the blood covered identification, brushing off the maggots that covered it. “Age... twenty-three.” He shook his head. “Well, Mister Miller, what happened here, and what happened to you?” The detective murmured, placing the cards and everything in a clear bag, handing them to the coroner. “Seal off this area, no-one in or out.” The detective said, as neighbors and residents surrounding the creek site were questioned. The Police researched the reports and found a missing persons report, of a student who had disappeared a month or so ago by his family and the coroner made the identification by partial mangled face on the head that it was the same person.
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