‘And that, my dear friends, is how I found the jewel of Ilah!’ she finished. Her audience was mainly comprised of children around the age of ten, who all gasped in delight, while the older listeners stood idly like Jaden behind them. ‘Now,’ she continued, ‘what shall I speak of next?’
‘The Alliance!’ called out a child.
‘No, the Resistance!’
‘Ukota!’
‘Good choices, all good choices!’ said the woman warmly. ‘But what about something darker, something more secret … something you’d hear of nowhere else?’
Jaden eyed her suspiciously. It was bad enough to talk as if she knew everything, but even worse to tell of something no one else knew about. What could she possibly think she knew exclusively? He would have interrupted a traveller at this point, usually, but he found himself curious rather than objective, and decided to listen intently.
Along with Jaden, the audience was silent in anticipation, waiting for her next words.
‘I come before you today with a story often thought to be of myth and legend, fragments of which have been passed around the entire globe for centuries. Even the strange creatures from the Ukotan jungle have a part in this story, for their rise came when humankind had come closest to its end! Yes, I speak of the Forgotten Years.
‘No one can say for sure why we do not remember them, nor when they occurred, but by our calendar, we assume it was nine hundred and ninety-seven years ago. The Forgotten Years,' she repeated slowly. 'Ah yes, you might question how I can know of them if they are forgotten, but, they are named thus only because all but a select few have indeed forgotten them. There are those still roaming the lands that remember, and they will risk their lives to prevent them from returning. You see … it was in those times that our world lost its way and became victim to something quite mysterious. In the early months of its arrival, life flourished. Everything became healthier, more beautiful … more wonderful. Even humans were able to run further, jump higher and heal faster. It seemed a divine blessing! But this utopia would not last. The very thing that had made life so much easier was the very thing that would cause its ruin!
‘As everything became stronger, very few things made the crossover into death. Loss of limbs seemed to matter not, the blood would somehow stop running and the creature would not care for what had happened. Soon even the loss of brain function and vital organs would not hinder the life forms. Their flesh would remain animated, but they would change. In both animals and humans, personalities would become more aggressive, hateful, and yet strangely happy. They would kill others, or try to fight them, for reasons we cannot even guess. Humans would wear smiles as they inflicted their sick and deadly wounds upon their victims, and so it soon became known as the beautiful death.
‘The beautiful death, yes … for one was seen as dead if cursed by this strange disease. Those that were still healthy were forced to retreat from lands that were contaminated, taking refuge where they could. Armies were sent to combat the hordes forming around them, some even hoping to put an end to this evil, but the creatures were evolving, they were becoming harder and harder to fight back. You see … they were eating one another, unknowingly combining their strengths. Beasts and humans alike, some with very little flesh on their bones, were soon standing at over fifteen feet high, deformed and unrecognisable from what they once were. They were the spawn from hell if ever there were to be any. And this is how the creatures in Ukota first rose as one of the most vicious predators on the planet.
‘What happened next … no one is sure. Even those that have remembered so much know nothing. And so it is with great pride I show you this next piece of the puzzle, for it is one of the only pieces left in existence! I call it one of my greatest finds on my most rewarding treasure hunt, and you’ll see why now!’
The old woman paused to reach into her backpack and bring out two scrolls, one coated in plastic, covered in dirt with holes and crinkles throughout it, and the other seemed new, as it was made of paper with only travel dust over it. She unravelled the paper first and placed it on the ground, keeping it open with some stones she found nearby. She unravelled the second delicately, taking the greatest care not to damage it any further, and then held it up for all to see.
‘Can anyone tell me what this is?’ she asked.
All stared as hard as they could, trying to discern the pictures and lines they could see under the muck and liquid stains.
‘A map!’ called out a child.
‘That’s right,’ said the woman, ‘but can you tell me of what this map is?’