Conscious, Conscientious

“Did you make a new friend, Zayza?” the thin blonde man asked quietly. “I hope you don’t mind us killing him. You can keep his head if that makes you feel better.”

Those quiet words sent a shiver down Lammy’s spine as he stared dumbstruck into this disturbing stranger’s eyes. I’m…I’m going to die, he realized.

Zayza struggled to mumble something out of objection through the darkly-dressed man’s firm hand. He jerked her head closer to his and moved his fingers slowly on the knife that he held to her neck. Zayza’s eyes blinked flinchingly and her nervous breathing intensified.

“Shut up,” the dark man hissed into her ear.

“He’s right,” began the other man in a calmer tone. “You have no right to complain. You’re about to feel the burden of watching someone suffer for the choices you’ve made. He’ll die slowly and painfully, and you’ll soak in every last second of it.”

Zayza reached a hand towards him, shaking her head, but the man holding her kneed her hard on the thigh. She shrieked, shrinking back.

“Before we kill you, boy,” the thin man started, “tell me: how do you feel about your fate being the result of another’s actions?”

Lammy didn’t respond. He had no idea what this guy was talking about.

“Hmm…nothing, huh?” sighed the man. “I’m not surprised. Then how about you, Zayza? Is there anything you’d like to share with us before your friend dies?”

The man confining her cautiously released his hand from her mouth, eager to hear what she had to say.

Zayza remained unspoken for a moment, watching the cruel tall man. “I’m sorry…who are you?” she asked.

The blonde man practically fell over, taken off guard by her question. Even in the situation, Lammy found it hard not to laugh at the sight of such a serious man becoming so confused. “There’s no use in playing dumb at a time like this…” he said when he recovered, making sure his hair was still perfect and returning to his earlier demeanor.

“I’m not, I promise,” Zayza said. “I’m sorry…I’m sure we’re supposed to know each other somehow, but I can’t remember how—”

“Enough of this foolishness!” her captor snapped. “Let’s just kill her now,” he told the other man.

“Patience! You know we can’t do that, you idiot!”

“You’re the idiot, idiot,” the dark man grumbled grudgingly, but his peer ignored him.

“I’m truly sorry,” continued Zayza. “I’ve misplaced my memories, so I don’t know why you want to hurt us. But please leave Lammy alone. He’s a good person. I’ll take the punishment for whatever it is I did, but don’t hurt Lammy.”

“Um…Lammy?” the darkly dressed man asked with a chuckle. “That’s a stupid name.”

“It is,” agreed the other, “and this is an interesting development…” a sinister smirk appeared on his face and he slowly made his way closer to Zayza and her captor while placing his hands in his pockets. Zayza tried to back away, but the man held her in place. Soon the blonde man was right in front of her, staring down at her unblinkingly.

“You have no memories, you say? So that means you don’t know what this is for.” Keeping his hands in his pockets, he lifted one leg back and launched it into Zayza’s shin. She yelped, and the man holding her quickly pressed his hand back on her mouth.

No! Stop it! Lammy cried in his mind, but he couldn’t bring himself to actually say it.

Appearing pleased, the blonde man removed one of his hands. “Or this,” he said coolly, and punched her in the stomach. Zayza coughed and fell forward, but the dark man kept her on her feet.

Leave her alone!! Lammy screamed in his thoughts as tears were beginning to build up. He considered running and finding a way back into Tailpiece to get help, but if he tried, those men would probably catch him in no time. If only Deon were here…he wished as his heart raced.

The blonde man put his hand under Zayza’s chin and gently lifted her head to make her look at him. Her remarkable green eyes stared into his without anger or hatred—only sheer confusion. A tear rolled down her cheek.

“Look at you; you’re pathetic now,” the man observed. “You really have lost your memories…what a shame. But this doesn’t change the boy’s fate. He must die to keep anyone from knowing about this.”

“Is that so?” asked an infuriated voice from behind Lammy. His heart skipped a beat as he turned to see exactly who he thought it was: his mother. She was still dressed in her nightgown, and stood angrily just before the invisible wall of Tailpiece with her hands on her hips.

“M—Mom?” Lammy stuttered.

“Lammy, we’ll talk about your punishment later,” she said. “What is the meaning of all of this?”

The two men snickered to themselves. “How nice: Mommy’s come to save the day,” the darkly dressed one joked.

“We’re just doing business; it’s none of your concern,” the other said.

“Um—excuse me,” Lammy’s mother began. “You just said to were going to kill my son. It’s every bit my concern.”

“Mom…these guys are serious,” Lammy whispered nervously. “Go get dad.”

His mother ignored him. “Now let go of that poor girl and go find someone else to bother. Go on; shoo!”

Lammy slapped his hand against his forehead. We’re goners, he told himself.

The two men exchanged glances, with twinkles in each of their eyes. The thin one spoke: “I don’t think you picked up on our hint,” he said slowly. The other man shoved Zayza onto the ground and faced Lammy’s mother, but remained aware of Zayza as she lay there watching.

“Oh, I picked up on it. I just don’t care,” replied Lammy’s mother.

“Mom, don’t…”

“Then I suppose we’ll be killing two people today,” said the blonde man.

Lammy didn’t know what to do. These guys were acting like they did this kind of thing every day, and his mom—who wasn’t a fighter and never even used her powers—was talking to them like they were nothing. Even if Lammy tried to help with his limited abilities, he knew it would be useless.

“Lammy, don’t worry about me,” his mother told him. “Just stay inside for now.”

“But—”

~

Lammy blinked. It took him a moment to realize he was now in a completely different location. Next he realized all he could see was whiteness right in front of him. And finally, he felt the ice cold wind ripping against his body. The loud, ghostlike gusts filled the atmosphere with an eerie song as Lammy tried to figure out why it was so frigid, and what that white substance shooting all around him was. Even the ground beneath him was white as his hair, and strangely soft.

Through squinting eyes, Lammy looked around to try and see what else was around him. What just happened?! he wondered. Then he spotted a figure lying in the white powder. Her hair was flying around in the wind and he caught a faint hint of a green color on her shoulder.

Zayza! Lammy thought. “Zayza! Is that you?!” he tried to yell, but he could barely hear himself and the relentless wind seemed to suck the air right out of him. Trying to shield his face, Lammy started making his way over to her.

It appeared she was the same distance away from him as she was when they were in the woods only seconds ago. He had to take large steps, as the white powder sank beneath him each time. Eventually he made it beside Zayza and dropped to his knees.

Zayza was shivering tremendously, hugging herself tightly as her eyes looked ahead wide open, clearly in shock of the sudden cold. Even though Lammy had his black tunic and pants on to protect him, he could feel the wind blowing right through him. So he figured it must be a dozen times worse for Zayza, who was only in a dress. The powder was already beginning to cover her.

Come on Lammy: think! he pictured Deon saying in his mind. Get creative! Lammy knew he needed to come up with a way to help her, fast, and the only resource he had were his amateur powers. Well, here goes nothing, he thought, and imagined a brown blanket over Zayza. After some concentration, he managed to allow the blanket to enter into existence on her, covering her from the neck down. “It’s not very creative,” Lammy said aloud. “But it works.”

Zayza’s shivering was now less violent, but Lammy was disheartened to see the blanket was getting wet very quickly. It was also beginning to fade in and out of existence as he struggled to keep it in place against the wind.

Come on, I have to do better than this! he realized. If I can just cut off this icy wind…Lammy closed his eyes and pictured a tall gray wall. He reopened his eyes, struggled to look to where the wind was hitting them, and in his mind placed the wall right there. It slowly appeared, sinking into the white terrain. Immediately the sound of the wind became muffled and the icy substance stopped whipping them. “Yeah!” Lammy celebrated. “My cousin would like that one!”

“G-g-g-good j-j-j-job, L-Lam-my,” said Zayza beside him, her chin vibrating up and down from the cold. Lammy noticed that she was now hugging the blanket close to her and was in less of a shocked state than before. “W-where are w-w-we?”

“I don’t—” Lammy started, but he went quiet when a crunching noise started coming from the bottom of the wall. The crunching increased, and to Lammy’s dismay, the wall was starting to lean down towards them. “NO!!!” Lammy bellowed, lunging at Zayza and covering her head in his arms. He tried to shield his own head at the same time, ducking as low to the frozen and powdery ground as possible.

“Oh!” Zayza exclaimed, startled. “What’s happening?”

The crunching through the dense white powder grew faster, and Lammy knew the wall was about to fall on them. He slammed his eyes shut and braced himself, but unexpectedly, the noise vanished. Lammy waited a few more moments, but no crushing came.

He cautiously opened one eye, and the other soon followed. Then he released Zayza and peaked over to the wall, to find that a man dressed in a thick hooded coat was holding it up, facing them with his back pushing against the wall. His tan face was barely visible, bundled behind the fluffy hood, as he looked down at them with light eyes.

“I know you’re confused,” the man said, “but don’t worry, just get out from under here!”

Lammy quickly realized the man was struggling, so they had to move fast.

Oh—wait a second…I’m an idiot! he thought, and he simply imagined the wall to vanish. It disappeared, and the man fell backwards into the white powder. Luckily, the ice-wind had died down significantly to a gentle but freezing breeze.

“Whoa!” the man exclaimed. “I guess that’s a better way to handle it.” He laughed while sitting up. Lammy and Zayza also heard the laughter of someone else coming from the side. They both looked and saw another man, who looked totally identical to the first in clothing and facial features—only this man’s eyes were brown. He joined his companion and observed Lammy and Zayza with a smile.

“Now here’s a sight you don’t come across every day,” he commented. “A snow-haired kid and a formally-dressed girl hanging out in a storm…without any winter clothes, at that!”

‘Snow-haired?’ ‘Winter clothes?’ What is this guy talking about? Lammy wondered.

“I hear you bro, this is definitely a new one for the records!” the other agreed cheerily.

“So friends,” the first man began, “I’d love to hear names and types.”

Lammy wasn’t quite sure what he meant at first, so Zayza spoke. “My name’s Zayza and I’m a Dreamer,” she answered politely. “This is my friend Lammy, who, as I just found out, is an Imaginer. Thank you for saving us.”

“A Dreamer and an Imaginer, eh? That’s an interesting combination,” the man commented. “Our names are Folel and Foler. If you couldn’t tell, we’re twin brothers.”

Lammy realized he was right earlier: outside Tailpiece, there must be all kinds of power types—or consciousnesses, as Zayza called it—other than his own. Apparently, he was an Imaginer.

“I guess we’re all learning a lot today,” the other brother said. “At any rate, you two must be freezing. Allow us to take you in to warm up.”

“Really?” asked Zayza excitedly. “That’s very nice of you.”

Lammy wasn’t as eager as her, despite his numbing limbs. We just met these guys, he thought. They seem nice, but we don’t know for sure.

“Don’t worry; come on!” both brothers said simultaneously. Then they looked at each other and laughed. “That happens a lot,” they said in synchronization. Folel nodded to Foler to let him speak.

“I think it has more to do with the fact that we’ve been teammates for years than that we’re brothers,” Foler explained. “But I could be wrong. Now, hurry and follow us before you two turn into giant icicles!”

“Yeah, this calmer weather won’t last much longer,” Folel agreed.

Zayza and Lammy stood up and followed the lead of the brothers. Lammy had no idea how they knew where they were going when all he could see was whiteness everywhere, yet he had no choice but to trust their navigation.

“If you don’t mind me asking,” Zayza said, “what kind of consciousnesses are you two?”

“I’m a Feelreader,” Folel told her.

“And I’m a Thoughtreader,” Foler said.

“Wow, that’s a good blend,” commented Zayza.

A Feelreader and a Thoughtreader, huh? Lammy thought. So…does that mean Folel can sense people’s feelings, and Foler can read minds?

“Exactly, Lammy!” answered Foler kindly.

Lammy’s heart jumped, but then he remembered: Thoughtreader…right…As cool as that type was, he felt it was a bit invasive.

“Foler, you’re making the poor kid uncomfortable,” Folel told his brother.

“Am I? Sorry.”

Eventually they could see they were heading towards a small, white village. Strangely, the stormy weather ceased right where the village began, and inside it Lammy noticed small, round flakes of white powder falling gently out of the sky and onto the pale blue ground. The slightly undersized round buildings were made out of blocks of ice, and they each featured a circular hole that served as the entrance and exit. By now the four consciousnesses were not far from this place.

“Here we have our snowy village,” Folel announced.

“It’s so adorable!” said Zayza. “What’s its name?”

“Actually, it doesn’t have a name,” explained Foler. “We just call it ‘Our Snowy Village.’”

Snowy? Lammy wondered. Is that what all this white stuff is called? Snow? It sure is uncomfortable…

“It’s too bad you don’t like the snow,” Foler said. “I never get tired of it!”

Lammy stiffened, once again remembering that Foler could read minds.

“I was thinking the same thing,” mentioned Folel.

“I know,” responded Foler.

“Right…” Folel continued, “there’s definitely a pattern to how people feel about snow: they either love it or hate it.”

How come these guys are only reading my mind and feelings?! Lammy screamed in his head. Why not bother Zayza while they’re at it?!

“Because that would be rude,” Foler told him calmly.

ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

“Relax, Lammy. Don’t get so worked up,” Folel told him with a chuckle. “No worries, we’ll give it a break.”

The four of them began their entry into ‘Our Snowy Village.’ As they proceeded, Lammy tried to wrap his mind around all of this. Life had just thrown so much unfamiliarity and chaos at him in only a handful of moments, and his head was spinning just to keep up. He thought about his mother: she stood up to those two violent strangers with such a confidence he had never seen in her. And while his memory could have been dramatizing the event, he could have sworn there was an unusual glow in her eyes.

But worst of all: before he could witness the outcome, he somehow ended up in this frosty new land.

Please be okay, Mom…Lammy thought to himself.