The Other Side of Life (Book #1, Cyberpunk Elven Trilogy) (5 page)

The first thing Anya noticed was the elves’
collection of weapons, which was displayed in a glass cabinet
beside one of the walls. There was a classic AK-47 assault rifle,
double edged daggers, razor sharp throwing spikes, a curved knuckle
knife with a polished burgundy-and-green wood grip, and a medieval
crossbow shaped in the form of a dragon’s head.

“
So, what do you think?”
Dresan asked, putting an open hand out to their surroundings, with
undeniable pride in his tone of voice. Anya was studying a macabre
painting which hung on the wall, depicting a headless skeleton
king—one hand held the grinning skull with a fancy crown, while the
other hand circled around the hilt of a silver sword. She reached
out to lightly touch one of the skeletal figure’s bony fingers—and
drew back when she thought she saw the skeletal hand move. Did
it?

“
Just like a movie,”
Leticia commented almost absent mindedly, but with sincerity. “But
a lot better,” she was quick to add.

“
Mostly Dresan’s
handiwork,” Tavia let their human visitors know. “Everything you
see here is fully solar-powered.”

That meant a lot of solar energy. Or an
extremely efficient energy system, that the elves had in place.

“
You must have an IQ of
175,” Leticia said, facing Dresan.

“
One forty-two on the Elven
scale, to be exact,” Dresan replied with a humble smile.

Anya hid a grin, as she made her way to a
table. Leticia had always liked intelligent guys. Anya didn’t have
a favorite type, but liked it when others appreciated her skills—as
Nin seemed to, with her thieving talent.

Something was leaning against the table,
which Anya thought was quite interesting. One part of it held a
cylindrical glass panel filled with murky blue, green, and purple
swirls.

“
Those violet swirls were
made from discarded midnight lipgloss made for toddlers,” Nin
pointed out to Anya, stepping up beside her. That such strong
chemicals were used for aesthetic purposes was abominable, to the
elves. “We found some old stock at a warehouse—the chemicals
disintegrate in the ions, instead of polluting the
planet.”

Anya smoothed some fly-away strands of her
shoulder-length hair, before picking up the object. It was a little
heavier than Anya expected. She peered into one end of it. “What’s
this?”

“
A heavy-duty plasma gun,”
he grinned, like a kid in a candy store. “And you are pointing it
at yourself.” The words
deadly
beauty
went across his mind at the same
time.

Anya quickly returned the gun to its
original spot. She looked up at Nin, trying to read him, and figure
if some of his hobbies involved a whole arsenal of firearms. “So,
are you a hit man, or something? How many people have you
killed?”

“
Elves don’t kill—humans
do.” Nin’s tone had a bite of cynicism in it. “Ours work like stun
guns.”

“
They can wipe out your
memory though,” Dresan’s enthusiastic voice rang out, “if set to
maximum power. I created that, by the way.” He was always pleased
to chat about the gadgets and gizmos he had created.

“
How about…knives, and
stuff,” Anya ventured. “Do you use those too?”

Nin caught her sneaking a peek at his boot.
“We’ll use those to maim people, if we need to…then knock them out
afterward. We try not to kill.”

Tavia had disappeared into a small room,
where she sat before three slim computer screens. The screens were
touching side by side, and one of them had multi-colored post-it
notes stuck all around the border.

“
Looks a little like ours,”
remarked Anya, standing at the doorway of the room as she admired
the computers. They were sleeker than the ones she owned. “Lei and
I each have two screens.”

“
Double trouble.” Nin was
busy opening a small safe in one corner of the room. The safe was
hidden in the wall, and would be easily overlooked by a casual
observer. He had to keep his hands from shaking—he was guessing it
had been a long time since any human had set their eyes on the
parchment. He had been warned against trusting humans, but it was a
risk he was willing to take.

The desktop picture appeared on the center
screen, where Tavia was situated. The picture was a well-lit photo
of a popular fashion designer.

“
That’s the guy…who designs
eco-friendly fashion, right?” Anya pointed at the screen. She
recognized the face. The fresh-faced twenty-three year old hosted a
TV show, had appeared in numerous advertisements, and could rock a
pair of pink jeans better than most girls. “His latest
biodegradable-something was received very well.”

“
Tavia has a little crush
on him…” Nin took the liberty to provide added
information.

“
He’s
very
talented,” Tavia snapped, as she
called up some programs on the screen. “The dream catcher?” Tavia
had hung it on a hook that was in the center of the room’s ceiling.
“He made it—just for me!”

Anya nodded slowly, along with Leticia, who
had entered the room. Tavia was definitely infatuated with the
famous Japanese designer.

“
He’s one of us, by the
way.” Tavia waved a hand towards Dresan and Nin, to make her
point.

“
Akira Mizuno is…an elf?”
Leticia was floored. It would certainly explain Akira’s passion and
exuberance in “nature-inspired” designs, and his undying advocacy
for better environmental practices in the world of
business.

“
His brother-in-law runs
Kiisha, the organic food company.” Dresan popped into the room,
handing Anya and Leticia a couple of honey sticks
(
made by Kiisha, of course!
Anya noticed).

Five individuals were a crowd in the small
room.

“
How many elves are there,
out there?” Anya took a sip of the honey snack. It was divine. “Up
there, in the human world, I mean.”

“
Quite a few,” Nin replied.
He had gotten what he wanted from the safe. “We’re all around—we
just blend in very well.” A look of determined ambition came over
his face; his dusky violet eyes glinted for a moment. His tone
suggested he was fully focused on more pressing matters, like what
he was recruiting Anya and Leticia for.

Tavia’s transparent touch screen monitor
displayed images of a parchment, or some kind of medieval
manuscript painting. A gilded border framed the sides of the
lively, vibrant, and richly colored painting. Anya would have been
happy admiring the artwork, but Tavia started to explain some of
the portions.

“
Over here in the center…we
have an illustration of a tree.”

Anya could spot the dark
green branches in the picture once Tavia mentioned the word,
‘tree.’ At the bottom of the tree were three letters:
o . i . l.

“
We have two pieces of the
parchment.” Nin carefully lifted the items he had taken from the
safe, as he showed them to Anya and Leticia. These were the
original pieces that were identical to the images on screen. More
details became apparent on closer inspection.

“
That’s a medieval scribe…”
Nin’s slender fingers indicated which pictures he was referring to.
“These are artists at work…over here”—Anya and Leticia had to
squint to make out the image—“are some artisans constructing a bow
and arrow.”

Two short paragraphs of unreadable text
graced the left end of the parchment pieces.

“
We are missing one piece,
which is most of the middle portion.” Nin took in a deep breath, as
he held the first parchment strip. His tension came from his need
to find the missing piece. “This is the upper portion,
titled
orn.
” Then
he pointed to the second image on Tavia’s screen. “This is the
lower portion, titled
lir.
”

“
What language is that?”
Anya asked.

“
Elven?” Leticia correctly
guessed.

Nin nodded.
“
Orn
is Elven for
tree.
Lir
means
life.”

Tavia clicked on a document. “We have a
translated version of the poem…”

Nin read aloud the pieces of the poem:

~~~~~

. orn .

Let not the eye fool

Thee—for there she stands, ever

Renewing the Earth.

*

. lir .

In your wanderings

And dealings, neglect not—the

Other Side of Life.

~~~~~

“
That second one’s…pretty
straightforward,” Anya said with conviction. A shiver ran through
her—she was thrilled to know this “other” part of life existed. How
many others did too?

Nin simply smiled. Anya wondered if he would
elaborate.

“
The first poem”—Nin
cleared his throat as Tavia opened up an aerial-view map, which was
accompanied by a host of geographic co-ordinates—“is about
Bloodstar.” Nin pointed to the screen before Anya or Leticia could
interject. “It’s a tall tree—a fig tree, standing at a hundred feet
high—found in the heart of the Amazon Basin. Incidentally, in Elven
lore, this location has always been referred to as the center of
the world.”

Anya thought of how many times she’d seen
world maps. It never occurred to her even once that there might be
another whole side to what she already knew.

“
Is this a real tree?” Anya
asked. Half of the Amazon was already made up of fake
trees.

Nin gave a nod before continuing. “It’s said
a maiden once sacrificed herself to save her fellowmen.” The
dramatic tone in Nin’s voice captured the girls’ attention. “Legend
has it that’s why the roots are red—because none had more love or
strength to lay down their own life for their friends.”

“
Really?” asked a wide-eyed
Leticia, who had always had a keen interest in
mythology.

“
It might not be true,”
Tavia was quick to add. “You know how information can get twisted
sometimes, when stories are passed down several generations…though
we’ve all heard of The Star Prophecy, in one way or another, from a
long time ago.”

A wave of still tension filled the room.

“
What prophecy?” Anya was
the first to break the silence. “Why’s the tree called Bloodstar?”
Anya knew of a cult comic book of the same name, though it wasn’t
about the tree Nin referred to.

“
That a maiden sacrificed
herself, to save all of humankind,” Nin said. He remembered the
second part of Anya’s questions. “According to…one legend,” Nin
went on slowly, not wanting to confuse anyone, “the maiden had a
lover, who cried his heart out at the foot of the tree, at her
departure. His tears glistened like the stars, which mingled with
her blood. Hence the name: ‘Bloodstar’.”

Leticia was heartbroken to hear the tale.
Anya, in contrast, actually wanted to know why the lover hadn’t
been more of a hero, to save the maiden from her misfortune.

“
What we
do
know for sure,” Nin
added, in a subdued tone, “is that Bloodstar also functions as the
Tree of Life.”

Tavia zoomed out on the map. Blotches of
blue space in between green vegetation indicated pockets of
water.

“
What do you mean,” Anya
ventured, “by that?”

Nin was close to reverent when he next
spoke. Bloodstar was sacred to the elves, as well as humans, in
ancient times. “The tree sustains all forms of life on the planet.
If the tree perishes, every living organism dies also.”

“
You have
got
to be kidding me.”
Anya gave something between a scoff and a laugh, flicking some of
her hair off her neck. “You’re saying that every living…thing, is
dependent on this one magical plant. For survival?”

Nin shot her an icy, stony look that would
send anyone into compliance. “The human body relies on one
organ—the heart—doesn’t it? If that dies, wouldn’t you die
too?”

Anya thought for a moment,
and nodded slowly. Quite out of character, she did not argue.
Instead, a sudden ripple of fear ran down her spine.
What Nin said does make sense,
she thought.
Too much
sense...

Dresan seized the opportunity to shed some
light on the history between the Elven and human races. “Humans
depend on science too much,” he said in a level tone of voice.
“It’s in the Elven code and nature, to maintain some balance.
Lately we have been very busy trying to save the planet.” He
paused, for dramatic effect. “Literally.”

Nin had regained his usual cool, debonair
composure. “So, based on the shredded edges of the parchment pieces
we have with us, this is what we’ve determined we are looking
for.”

Leticia was highly impressed with the elves’
meticulous detective work. She whispered to Anya, “I bet they have
labs around that would put the human forensics labs to shame.”

Tavia’s screen zeroed in on a piece that was
uneven on both edges horizontally—with a jagged bottom edge which
slanted slightly more to the right.

“
It’s just like solving a
jigsaw puzzle,” Nin mumbled, “provided we’re lucky enough to get
our hands on the missing piece.”

Just then, he clapped his hands together,
and pivoted on his toes to face Anya and Leticia. “That’s where you
two come in.”

Both the girls were in a mix of excitement
and apprehension. They were flattered to have their “skills” and
talent recognized, but at the same time they questioned their
readiness for such a task.