ARGUEDITAS: Up is Down

“Come find me,” the Evergreen Lady whispered to the fearful and diminished soul, “and you may go underneath. Don´t go to the fires… come find me, my dear. Or blinded forever…”

“Stop it!,” Decanus hopped up out the bed. While he was panting rapidly after the repeated dream, he just realized seconds later that the size of the dagger and the heat of the point of it in his right hand almost crossed his dog's ribs as she was sleeping by his side. His Vallhund, Loulou, being mostly energetic and emotionally uplifting whenever his owner´s skin feels bleak so she could stay warm, fell immediately to the floor and she was so terrified that her moans deafened Decanus for a few minutes. He didn't even bother asking for silence, or whatever that meant to him after that horrifying and haunting death that occurred six months ago. Although his mind was crowded of vociferous whispers and dreary images involving yells and words of love, hectic noise became a close friend of his. As close as his dog? He even started to consider “noise” as family because misery is all he's ever known… within his own room of red walls inside his brain that generate the fires and, therefore, his fury. To the surface! Go, quickly to the surface!... that was the exact order her dear sister gave him that night near Gotland, the desolate island of Sviar found in the beautiful sea of The Baltia. Although he doesn't swim, he wanted to go back underneath somehow to listen to her voice one last time. He told himself repeatedly to not be afraid and that everything would be fine at the end.

Out of the blue, cracks were heard. Decanus should've stayed up earlier because he knew the storms at midnight became drastically destructive after the Baltia Wars that happened some years ago, before he even hit early adolescence. Before deepening into an unnecessary cycle of back and forth memories, he put back his precious dagger into his coat and hugged Loulou, smiling sweetly at her and said “hide well and I'll seek you later, alright? Good girl”. Finally, he went out of his cabin and went upstairs to observe the dark horizon which it has never been as visible as he could have ever imagined. The skies were red as usual. Then, Decanus quickly took the wheel of the ship and tried to avoid the lightning rays as the wood kept cracking underneath his feet. Loulou must have been in utter shock and trembling downstairs. The winds were violent and merciless, damaging the sails and starboard. It was just like the hell that he and her sister went through… except for one particular element.

Later that night, one of the most marvelous creatures of The Northern Coast arose within the perilous storm: half a dozen of fire-breathing seals from the north of The Baltia suddenly invaded the port side of the miraculously not yet destroyed ship. To Decanus´ surprise, they didn't breathe fire to attack… but to communicate. Distinctive and bizarre ardent orange and red figures burned some sails and struggled to become understandable to Decanus who was trying to read their eloquent yet confusing language. Standing still, shocked, regardless of the physical pain he had gone through, he witnessed the passive fireballs that smoked into thin air within seconds… but many fires went upside down. Though some were still burning sails for sure, some fireballs shot directly to Decanus went under surface just before they could burn the flesh and blood of the young teenager. Nonetheless, one by one they were all struck by deadly rays. No one survived. They all fell out of the ship As soon as they all passed away quickly enough, the aggressive winds and rain ceased and at last! Earth was visible as Decanus kept a weather eye on the horizon for a few seconds. A hopeful yet afraid smile came off his cheeks as his jaw rested on the wheel.

His ship, The Ruby Twins, was drawing nearer and nearer to Decanus' infamous destination, Evergreen Valley, for the blade in in his coat was burning. Decanus took a long breath and searched for the water he had stored in a little bottle which was strongly tied to the bottom of the mast near the wheel. Just after he drank a bit, he then complained, “So if Thor really exists… since when did he send those creatures? Six, six seals or whatever they are since she... w-why not… butterflies or Vallhunds or… Loulou? Loulou!”.

But so he remembered. As soon as he reached the door to his cabinet, he remembered he had told him to hide so he could proceed with the next step of the game. “Loulou! Where are you sweetie? I´m gonna get y-,” the little Vallhund sprinted at his owner looking for warmth. “Hey buddy, what’s wrong? It´s OK, storm’s done. Wanna eat somethin’? No? Gosh, Amy… I need you. I'm “ridicously” lost without you”.

His sister's name was Amelia, and she used to call his little brother Decanus as Dean. He always thought Amelia hardworking and responsible because of all the duties and negotiations she had to do with not so trustworthy merchants along The Baltia, although his and her reputation along the seas was not recognized as a trajectory to be admired. They both lived sneaking on people's noses and stealing money from Vikings in their camps near the coasts of Sviar. One could affirm that both Decanus and Amelia were considered juvenile Vikings. One day in Stockholm, capital of the respectable kingdom, Amelia gave him as a present a journal of his uncle who had been part of the Baltia Wars. Strange yet astounding creatures such as the fire-breathing seals were recorded and analyzed within many pages of the journal. On the back of the journal, a dagger was attached to it with a red bow, favorite color of both siblings. “This is meant for you,” Amelia told his little brother smoothly, “our uncle gave it to me… but I'm sure a brave little kid like would find some better use of the wonderful knowledge found within here! What? “Knowledge”? Um… it´s like information that a person can acquire… excuse me, “gain”, through… I don't know, watching living and nonliving things, listening to music or people… you know, daily events. It's all about perception and interpretation as our uncle used to say. Language. In fact… look, see these creatures? These are the Infereals, or fire-breathing seals. These are rarely seen on The Baltia as their habitat is the whole coast of Sviar, but legend says that whenever seals appear before you get deep into the vast seas of The Baltia they tell you to “wake up” before you get stuck forever. I certainly don´t understand what that means… but I´m sure water and ground meet for a reason, you know?”.

Memories. The good and useful ones were back. Of course! Six seals in six months. It's the first time he had seen such creatures in a storm and it felt like Hell. The seas were turning red, which was no good sign whatsoever. However, Evergreen Valley was just a few miles away as he looked through his small telescope, observing the narrow passage leading up to the lake valley. Legend says, no one has even survived getting in there. But so he realized: he had to be the fish for once. What if the surface and the sky were Hell? What if Heaven was underneath, green as he had always dreamed of it before he was in peace with his sister by his side. So he did the absurd: he went starboard and port back and forth, pushing both as we was running towards each other to reach the other side. Loulou was confused about this strange behavior and barked at him. It all happened so fast that the ship suddenly went upside down and was standing still. The skies were blue and the surface was not the surface anymore. Loulou was not visible anymore.

The Evergreen Lady suddenly appeared before Dean´s startled eyes who was holding to a the biggest mast. Emerald, pine, mint, and seaweed colors invaded his mind. The room inside his brain was no longer red. So, the Lady closed his eyes and whispered to his ear: “you're unblinded forever”.

And at last: She was there, glowing her beautiful and emerald dress, which was surprising to Dean because he had memorized her sister's clothes and that was not familiar. Loulou was just by Dean's side with green eyes. The current scenario was just getting as bizarre as it could ever get. “Amelia? Amy! It's me, Dean! Your brother!”. He hugged her with all his childlike but mighty strength.

“Dean.. You little bastard! You listened to me! You got it!”

“... What?”

“I was wrong. This is not the Hell I envisioned. This is Paradise, and I was wrong by telling you to go up the surface… no time for further explanations. That comes later! But for now, look”. She blinked at him.

Dean saw himself into the mirror and so one thing of many became clear. As soon as he saw his glowing seaweed eyes reflected upon him, he knew that the Evergreen Lady was no longer a legend. Ladies or seals or whatever strange creature, language and communication was the key. His dagger in his coat was as cold as the north coast of Sviar. Dean was no longer the darkness that blinded light right where his heart was.