When the Lights Go Out

This tales is written in a kind of Brother’s Grimm style fairy-tale. A tale to scare children of the Jakarak TreeStriders to stop them following the lights of the Archlight-Shimmerbugs at night. I hope you enjoy.

Iona Hazlehurst

It was a quiet night, that fateful day. The stars shone brightly in the clear azure sky, the snow-covered trees below reflecting a pure and comforting glow. Young Hadik sat among the branches on the edge of his village with a curious glint in his eye, as there often was, looking out into the forest beyond the relative safety of his homestead. The Earth Speakers had always told many tales of the dangers that lurked in the shadows of the great trees on which the Treestriders built their homes. Tales of terrifying beasts and ravenous insects, of vicious flora, and of haunting visages. Yet they did not scare young Hadik… No… They filled him with wonder… A wonder that would, on this very night, make him a story too.

The minutes felt long as his gaze dropped to the forest floor below, his unquiet mind a cascade of daydreams and fantasies. Oh how he longed to just take the leap and run through the snow covered underbrush, to be free from fear and see all of these stories for himself. As if they had heard his silent call, a small cluster of bright and colourful lights snapped him out of his imagination, hovering just above the floor below him. One such light moved away from its group, growing larger and larger until it reached Hadik’s hand, leaving a faint fluorescent trail behind it as it went. The archlight shimmerbug, as we know them now, fit neatly into his palm, its globe-like body radiating light of various hypnotising colours. Blue, green, yellow, white, the changing lights brought a gasp of admiration and disbelief forth from Hadik’s lips before a smile settled itself on his face. The shimmerbug stayed there for but a moment longer before beginning to move back towards the others below,wanting him to follow. Mesmerised by its light, Hadik felt obliged to go, looking tentatively towards the village at his back before beginning his dangerous descent. Using his long clawed fingers to grip the giant tree, he  rushed to join his light emitting friends with an enthusiasm he’d not had for many years. When he reached the base, hundreds of shimmerbugs awaited him. Glowing in every colour you could imagine as they danced around him, the light hum being emitted from their translucent wings sounding like music to the ears of those who beheld them. Young Hadik was awestruck, swaying to the sounds of the forest as he danced among them, unaware that he was moving further and further from his home. He danced until the stars began to shift behind clouds now forming in the night sky. He danced until his legs were sore and breath ragged. He danced until he could dance no more.

Exhausted, he finally looked around to see that he didn’t know where he was anymore. A shimmerbug noticed his hesitancy and moved its round body on to his shoulder, its hum sounding like a whispered melody, lulling him to rest. His legs tired, he smiled faintly, looking down to the floor for the first time since he began his adventure into the unknown, hoping for a place to sit. Blurry eyed and tired, he stumbled towards the shade of a great tree, but a loud crunch broke him from his half-lidded slumber, his eyes darting to the noises source under his hair-covered feet. The air around him grew stale and a cold as a shiver ran the length of his back, lifting his foot to see a half-crushed Jakarak skull looking back at him. All at once, his world began to turn itself upside down; a sickening nausea rose in his stomach as the shimmerbugs turned a bright and dizzying red. All around him he saw bones of many creatures, humans, Jakaraks, and Teppywigs alike. The red light illuminated the snow-covered floor like crimson pools, bones protruding from its volume like spires. Young Hadik held onto the tree by his side for dear life as his head spun, his breathing erratic and eyes wide. This dream was no dream at all, but a nightmare, dangerous and bold. The humming of the shimmerbugs wings pounded his ears in deafening choruses of white noise before suddenly going silent, their lights going out, leaving young Hadik alone in the darkness of the night.

Left to stew in the eerie silence that now filled the dense black night, young Hadik sat and hugged his knees, shaking from the cold now piercing his fur like daggers. But this nightmare wasn’t done with him yet, no, it had tasted his fear and drooled for more. Out of the lightless forest, a low croaking-growl echoed through the trees, making birds scatter and insects burrow. Loud, thumping footsteps followed, the trees shaking from their weight and bending to give way to their creator. Young Hadik froze in terror, watching as the world around him gave in to the beast that lurked, unable to tear his eyes away from its silhouette as it grew larger and larger. In a flash, the beast's face crossed a break in the forest cover, starlight hitting it like a spotlight, making the whole world slow down. His eyes traced its hungry features, the Earth Speakers had told many tales of the Greater Drog, the few stories that young Hadik had wished to never see for himself. Nature has a funny way of teaching you that which you never thought you needed to know. As likely to be unforgiving and harsh as it is fruitful and beautiful, nature is a two sided sword and to wish to see one you must bear the other. This was a lesson that young Hadik had not yet learnt, a lesson that presented itself on that fateful night. To sink or to swim. To fall or to run. To die or to live.

Whatever his end had written for him, young Hadik knew at this moment that he was not going down without a fight. A rush of adrenaline coursed through his veins, urging him to his feet. Without a second thought, he took off running on instinct, branches tearing at his fur and cutting his skin as a determination took hold of his mind. The beast followed, moving with a speed that did not match its lumbering size, frustrated croaking groans piercing the air. It was gaining on him, and he knew it. His mind raced through every story he knew, searching for anything that might help him survive the horror on his heel. Yet no matter how much his frantic thoughts rummaged through the library of his memories, nothing was helping. His limbs began to feel heavy, his lungs weak, his determination failing. Just as all seemed lost, he saw a small squirrel out of the corner of his eye scurrying quickly up a tree to escape the terror ripping through the woodland, giving him an idea. The Greater Drog is a huge and powerful beast, but it has no means to climb. Without a second thought, with the creature nearly at his back, Young Hadik leapt for the closest great tree and began to climb with all the strength he had left, his long claws tearing into the bark in desperation. Fortunate, was he, to be a Jakarak of the Treestriders to give him such speed for his ascent. The Greater Drog leapt after him, trying with all it could to close its powerful jaws and swallow him whole. Its teeth grazed the hairs on Young Hadik’s feet as he barely escaped their grasp, a panicked breath forcing itself from his tired lungs. Reaching the thick branches high in the great tree, he collapsed, hugging the wood for dear life. He had made it… Or so he thought.

A predator does not let its prey go so easily, certainly not one as intelligent as the Greater Drog. It circled the tree for a while, waiting, watching, planning. It waited until Young Hadik let his guard down then it struck, charging at the great tree with tremendous force. From root to branches it shook like an earthquake had rocked its very core, startling Young Hadik and nearly throwing him from his branch. His claws dug in, narrowly avoiding a long and dangerous fall. CRASH! Again it struck the tree with a ferocity of a thousand axes, Young Hadik’s claws carving lines into the bark as it made him slip further towards death. But he wasn’t scared, no, the trees were his home and he knew them better than some beast of the ground. A new determination gripped his mind, this was not going to be his end. Scanning the tree for anything he might use, his eyes settled on a large branch slowly splitting away from the great trunk with each shake. With all the strength he had left, Young Hadik pulled himself to that branch, taunting at the beast below. Bit by bit the jagged branch broke more and more until finally, it snapped, plummeting towards the ground at staggering speeds. The Greater Drog looked with fear in its eyes towards it before it plunged itself deep into its head, its eyes rolling back into its skull and turning whiter than the snow beneath its feet. Lifeless.

Staggering away from his now defeated foe, Young Hadik’s legs shook in pain and awe, making him collapse against the great tree that was his savior. He looked to his hands to see several of his long, sharp claws gone, blood dripping onto the snow in harsh contrast. His body ached, his mind spun, but his eyes lingered on the Greater Drog dazed in pride. Sleep began to creep in, lulling his eyes shut. Tarak wrapped the roots of the great tree around him in comfort, the snow forming a blanket over him as he drifted off to the ancestors, his eyes never to open again.