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#4
DEC 11 |
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“Cradles of Civilization” Part Four
“Gardener?” Garfield asked, looking around the clearing into which he’d emerged. He coughed into his fist and stared down at the glowing white spittle. He could feel the lives of the millions of bacteria that existed within it, as well as his own parasitic load. He felt ill and took the opportunity to sit down heavily.
So much had happened since he had decided to leave all of this behind. He didn't want to be a hero any more. He no longer loved the lime light and he no longer wanted to be the ‘idol’ of anyone. He'd spent his entire life trying to be loved and trying to be accepted for what he was only to see the only person he truly felt did that taken from him.
His quest to try and loose himself in nature had failed, being forced to study at the hands of various animal-powered heroes he didn't truly know. Their lessons were in his abilities and not in himself, never truly taking the time to understand or to learn about him and his role in everything. First the horrible vision of the future in the form of the Freedom Beast’s helmet, then the confrontation with the Gorilla fan-girl and Vixen in her home village. Both of these heroes tried to tell him…no, lecture him…in how to make himself whole in order to take advantage of a power he never really wanted to possess.
Now he was forced to travel through the realms of animals with an ancient monkey-faced female. Without understanding he'd ended up miles from where he had begun. The jungle around him was thick, humid, filled with plants he'd never seen before, although that wasn't terribly unusual since Garfield had never been one to understand or pay attention to plant life despite sharing its hue. He got to his feet slowly, wiping the back of his hand against a leaf and beginning to push his way through the greenery. He smiled to himself; at least he'd have some peace and quiet amongst all the problems and constant ‘guest appearances’ from other heroes.
He couldn't have been more wrong.
Stepping into a large clearing with a wide and beautifully clear river running toward the button of the short grass covered land, Gar was faced with a number of humanoid-looking animal people. He stopped dead in his tracks, trying to comprehend what he was seeing.
Sleeping underneath a tree lay the slow chest rises of a man's body with a frog’s head. He lay with his hands on his chest, rising and falling with each breath as the sun beat down on him. Gar wondered why he wasn't drying out as he cast his attention to the fight that was taking place in the center of the clearing. A large humanoid insect was driving its leg into the stomach of a crocodile man, who fell backward, his tail spilling behind him and his jaw snapping at nothing. Around the fighting pair other Animal Men stood, their bodies undulating with laughter or chewing on legs of meat or the leaves of plants.
Gar was taken aback at how casual it all was. Here in a clearing, in what could be any country in the world, Animal Men were fighting, sleeping, eating and...
He turned his attention to the thrashing shallows of the river, where a fish-headed woman was being taken from behind by the unblinking face of a large crab man whose eyes constantly twitched and searched for something as the pair enjoyed the throes of love making.
“See anything you like?” asked a voice from behind Gar. He felt his hair stand on end and his blood run cold. What manner of beast would be standing behind him when he turned? What would it make him do? Would he be eaten, would he have to fight for his life or, worse...would he have to fuck for his life?
As he turned around he closed his eyes and hoped for the best. As he opened them he found the pleasing and somewhat relieving sight of a bird-headed woman. She cocked her head to the side and put a feather-coated hand on his shoulder directing him toward the group of Animal Men that existed inside the clearing.
“I don't want to go in there,” Garfield said quickly, looking back at her as she smiled and pushed him in anyway.
“You don't have much of a choice at this point, Garfield.”
He sighed loudly and touched the bridge of his nose. “Why does everyone know me before I know them?”
“It's what happens when you enter the realm of the Animal Gods,” the elephant man said, releasing his grip on the octopus woman which he had his arm around. “You've entered the Wild Lands.”
“Excellent,” Gar said, with condescension, under his breath.
“You don't seem overly happy with this turn of events?” the bird woman asked, confused. “This is certainly a very joyous occasion.”
The elephant man laughed as he made his way towards Gar and the bird woman, pushing her from his path and gripping Garfield around the shoulders. “It isn't for him. Garfield here doesn't want to be a part of this,” he said, his trunk flicking upward and touching the green hero on the side of the face. “Tough.”
He slapped Garfield in the chest and sent him flying onto his back. Slowly encircling him, the Animal Gods stood around him, looking down with their Godheads.
“I feel as though I've sat down in a Hindu Calender,” Garfield joked, starting to feel a little more like himself. The elephant man said nothing as the frog man knelt down next to him and offered his hand.
“You know where you are now, so I guess it's up to us to explain what's happening.”
Gar rolled his eyes. Here came the big build up before they began to explain anything. Why wouldn’t anyone tell him anything in a straight forward fashion?
“You work for us now. The Parliament of Beasts is going to be brought asunder in a War between the other Parliaments. The Stones, Waves, Vapors and Flames will fight until they're all destroyed and we can't allow our worshippers to be caught in that.”
“That was...pretty straight forward, actually. So, what do I do then? I can't fight Elementals, I've seen what Reddy can do, what Diana can do. I'm nowhere near that powerful,” Gar admitted.
The Animal Gods looked at each other and nodded slowly. “You're not the Elemental for the Parliament of Beasts, Garfield. Tefe Holland is. You're just someone who works for us, as we work for her.”
“What's the pay like?” Gar joked again.
The frog man offered a weak little frog smile. “We need you to make sure that the natural world doesn't break under this war, Garfield. Animals and, to a lesser extent, plants.” This was met with some murmurings from the herbivorous God heads, only to be silence by the elephant god. The frog continued.
“As the waves crash against the stones, the Flames burn the Green and the Vapors lash against the Waves, the Animals of the world are going to need protecting from these elements. They're going to need a man of Animals. As Gods...we can't take part in helping the common animal.”
Garfield looked up at the frog man and shook his head. This was always the case with gods, wasn't it. They always wanted someone else to do their dirty work. They always needed someone else to take the blame, just in case their worshippers really started to believe they could do anything and depended on them. Why couldn't they just say they couldn't do everything? Why couldn't they just explain their limitations?
“So you want me to be these animals’ protectors? You want me to be out there being their defender and saving them from the other Elements?”
The Animal Gods nodded sagely and crossed their arms.
“Amongst other things,” the fish-headed woman said. That piqued Garfield's interest, as she was met with disapproving looks from the remaining Gods. She bowed her head and turned side on to the group.
“What does she mean?” Gar asked, trying to get to his feet only to find himself knocked back down again by the powerful legs of the frog man.
“Doesn't matter at this point, but you are essentially correct, Garfield Logan. You will learn new abilities, you will be our tool in the world of man and you will protect animals from the Elements, from themselves and from humanity.”
“Sounds like quite a lot of responsibility,” Gar said, only to find himself lifted off the ground by the elephant man.
“Oh, it is. You should be honored, Garfield. We've not needed someone like you in nearly 60 Million Years. Not since the Dinosaurs died and the Parliament had a major re-organization.”
“What?” Garfield asked, not knowing just how far back the Parliaments and concepts of Elementals stretched back. What's more...how did an Elephant God know about Dinosaurs?
Gar didn't have time to pursue the line of questioning as he was heaved through the air, his body arcing over the clearing and into the cool and clear waters of the river. Almost as immediately as he hit the surface, which felt like solid stone, he broke through and opened his eyes at the foot of a large tree in the Okavango Swamps. The Gardener and her people had gone, leaving Garfield sitting next to a spent apple core and a standing, pensive looking Congorilla.
“Well?”
“Why do we not tell him of the entities?” the fish woman asked as another hail of fists rained down on her body, knocking her into the dirt and covering her thin, shiny-scaled body in bruises.
“It is not your place to disrupt all of our plans, Icthyus,” the Insect God chirped, his foot landing on her gills, forcing blood from them in jets and a cry of a pain from the god herself.
“We are nothing separately. Together we are an entire kingdom,” the bird woman scolded, offering a hand to the fish’s beaten body. She accepted it eagerly and was pulled to her feet.
“He will learn of the entities when we deem it necessary. Until then, you will do well not to mention them and work with us, instead of trying to show us up,” the Elephant man berated, gripping the Fish God’s arm tightly and thrusting her toward the waters edge.
“The entities pose no threat currently. We should concentrate on other things.”
“Your Avatars are moving into place, beloved,” the skeletal face of the dead creature said, staring into the cold, white eyes of his love. She flushed a bright speckle of colored light as she looked away from him and back at the board.
“The Animal Man has been placed as the defender of the Parliament of Beasts, my soul,” she said, casting her gaze down at his rotting hand that clutched at hers, never moving and never leaving her grip.
“Then mine must be moved into place, my heart. We must have pieces that are cut of the same cloth, but of different worlds.”
She nodded sagely at his words, tilting her head and pointing with her long, thin arms and extraordinarily long, delicate fingers toward the blue-scaled man who represented his Defender.
“He will be my opposite to your own,” he said nodding as he moved the piece closer to the pieces depicting Satanna and her minions. “Interesting, is it not?”
“What is that, my love?” the life creature asked from her throne of dead and developing animals and plants.
“That for these entities to become our Defenders, Avatars, Champions and even Elementals, they must die first. I find it interesting to see that our cycles intertwine even more with these specially-chosen individuals.”
She smiled and stroked his shoulder softly. “I agree. To be born only to die and be reborn is a special gift,” she cooed as he moved in for the kiss.
“A gift only we can bestow.”
“Went well, did it?” Congorilla asked, taking Garfield’s hand and lifting the groggy boy from his sitting position.
“How...long?” he asked, blinking quickly and rubbing his eyes with his fingers.
Congorilla grunted and pointed towards the sun in the sky. “About two days. Give or take about three hours,” he grinned, letting his body rest on his knuckles.
The green boy’s eyes widened and his movements paused. “Two days? It felt like...”
“I know. Feels a lot shorter, doesn't it? My first time was a bit weird as well. I was out for a week but I felt like I was literally under for seconds,” he admitted in his slightly off Scottish accent.
The young man paused, looking up at the huge Golden Ape. “Why did you have the apple?”
“Believe it or not I wasn't always a giant talking Gorilla. I used to be a really bloody talented game hunter.” He held up a hand as Gar’s face twisted in disgust. “Not proud of that these days, but I was very good at it; tracking and especially the murdering part.”
“You seem very proud of it,” the former Beast Boy stated.
“You seem to rather enjoy ignorance but that doesn't mean you're proud of it,” Congorilla quipped and gestured toward the Swamp Land that lay beyond the small Island.
“Touche, I guess,” Gar admitted, dropping off the edge of the island and into the swamp water.
“I would gather that you are feeling a bit more like yourself,” Congorilla asked as Gar looked up at him.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“You're talking like a normal person again, and you're acting as though you're not made from angst,” the Gorilla commented, pushing his hands through the dark, muddy swamp and occasionally lifting up rocks to see what was attached to them. “I like seafood.”
“Uh…right,” the green-furred man agreed with more than a little hint of confusion.
“So...” Congorilla continued. “You have your purpose now. The Gardener showed you the way to the Wild Lands and the Animal Gods showed you their plans, right?”
Garfield nodded slowly. How did he know so much?
“Yeah…figures. Anyway, I'm here you direct you to where you need to go next and to give you one last piece of advice,” the Golden Gorilla added, pulling himself from the swamp water into the long grass. “You need to trust your mind, Garfield.”
“What do you mean?” he asked as the Gorilla pushed his way through and onto the soft sands of the beach before them. “Wait...how did we get from the swamps to the beach?” the young man asked.
“Better to not question some of these things, Garfield,” Congorilla said with a smirk. “As I was saying...I need you to consider something before you set off. I need you to think – amalgamation is about binding your body, it’s about binding your soul and your heart but, more importantly, its about binding and using your mind.”
“So here is my question to you,” he said, pushing Garfield down a sand dune gently. The young man's feet ran away with him, sending him hurtling down as the Gorilla stood at the top of the dune, the sea air rippling through his fur. “Do you want to be a man’s mind in an animal’s body, or an animal’s mind in a man’s body?” Congorilla asked, turning away from the former Titan and offering a backhanded wave. “Come back and find me when you've worked out the answer!” he yelled, leaving Gar staring up at the Golden Gorilla in both confusion and annoyance.
What sort of a question was that? He cupped his hands over his mouth and yelled toward the ape. “Where the heck am I supposed to go now? You didn't guide me!” he called.
“The sea, Garfield! You're supposed to go into the sea!”
Gar shrugged, walking into the surf and slowly transforming himself into an emerald dolphin.
Couldn't get much clearer than that, could you?
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