My story for Dead End 4

Earth Keepers – Tory’s Travels

By Luke Page

Tory is a normal dude who has been searching for the answers to life’s great mysteries for a long time. He is fascinated by the unexplained and has a very curious mind. He lives a lonely life as a student in archeology, a subject he finds himself to be somewhat passionate about. One day, Tory’s school organizes a field trip to Mongolia lead by renowned archeology experts. The trip goes well and Tory has a great time learning about ancient civilizations, visiting temples… There was one peculiar temple which he could not get out of his mind. It was the last one they visited before returning home; a temple dedicated to the Khangarid a.k.a. Garuda. The Khangarid is depicted in Hinduism and Buddhism as a large humanoid bird or angel. Many statues resided in this temple, some 2 to 3 times taller than Tory. As awe-inspiring and perplexing as the Khangarid statues were to him, it is a particular patterned wall deep within the temple which caught his attention the most during the trip. The wall (as well as many other artifacts and structures) was presented by one of the lead archeologists as a recent discovery made during an on-going dig, he would later add that people are currently debating on whether or not the patterns can be deciphered.

When Tory gets home he feels very differently about his surroundings, he loses interest in everything but the pattern on the temple wall in Mongolia. That very night, Tory is taken back to the temple wall in a dream; the patterns on the wall form a bird-like shape which glows and magically flies through the wall, revealing a dark tunnel. After walking in the darkness for a while, Tory finds himself in a room with walls made of light covered by great long vines. Out of the dark, on the other side of the room, comes the bird who guided Tory here. The bird is called Dode the Dweller, it telepathically communicates with Tory, tells him that it’s a pleasure to be visited and that it was been waiting for a long time for something like this. Dode offers Tory a wish and he instantly asks for the ability to fly; the eagle is amused because flight is such a trivial thing to it. Dode explains that humans are meant to find out how to fly on their own and in exchange for this gift it needs Tory’s memories. He accepts.

Tory awakens in a hospital bed a year after the field trip to Mongolia. He is overcome by a great fear of this environment. While attempting to escape the hospital, doctors and scientists who wish to study his amnesia manage to corner him in a room on a high floor. He leaps out the window and flies off in the distance.

To be continued

Garuda statue

Abstract bird sculpture