Story Time

I remember the first time I saw the Masked People vividly. I was about fourteen years old at the time. School had just ended for the day and I was on my way home when I noticed the bare streets. Not a person in site, the usually bustling reef rest in an unsettling silence.

"Travis! Don't doddle, get in here immediately!" It was my sister, Rean. I could tell by the sheer tone of her voice that something was indeed wrong.

Rean had been my primary care giver since the Masked People took my parents thirteen years prior. She was much older than I and showed no interest in staring a family of her own like most her age. I think I had exhausted any desire she had towards starting a family.

“What’s going on?” I asked in a joking manor knowing Rean had a tendency to blow miniscule things into much grander issues.

“It’s the Masked People! One of those unidentified Eclipse things landed!” I couldn’t hide my excitement. The Masked People! I only knew of them from stories, school, and those who claimed to have seen them last time they landed one of their crafts.

“Travis why in the name of Poseidon are you excited?” I watched curiously as my sister locked every entrance to our small dimly lit house.

I was uncommon in the fact that instead of fearing the masked people I was genuinely curious about them. They did after all take my parents away in one of their eclipse shaped sky riders.

“Where do you think they come from? Another world?”

“Honestly, Travis? Where is your head? Go to your room! Not another word about the Masked People until they return to wherever they came from!”

Not wanting to distress my sister further I obeyed. My room was small containing a bed, a desk, and a small collection of crusted over ornaments that I’ve found on the ground. Most were oddly shaped and were nearly indestructible something the builders I showed them to didn’t fully understand.

I became increasingly more restless. Why did the Masked People wear masks? Were our worlds so different? “I have to find out,” I said to no one in particular. With as much stealth as my fourteen year old self could muster I crept from my room and out into the square. It didn’t take long for me to figure out where the Masked People were. A large crowd had formed of curious bystanders. I couldn’t help but shiver at the eerie silence that surrounded the dense crowd.

“What do you want with us?!” A large man with heavy features bellowed, startling the unsettled crowd. Not having caught a glimpse of the Masked People yet I continued to grow more and more impatient. Finally after a bit of struggling I managed to break my way through the heavy crowd. What I saw shocked me.

Instead of slimy, disfigured, mutant like creatures the Masked People looked just like we did. The only real differences I could find was their language, which seemed slow, and their masks which were fill with…well, nothing.

“What are you doing here boy? Those things could be dangerous!” I man pulled me back by my shoulder, his vise like grip surly bruising my shoulder.

“But Sir, they look just like us! How do you know they aren’t Sea People too?”

“Are you blind boy? Look! It doesn’t take a scholar to know those things are very different than us! Just look at them, face masks full of nothing, they’re nothing like us!”

Large gasps of excitement and fear spread throughout the crowd as their sky rider released another man. He joined his other fellow Masked People a tentative smile playing across his face.

“Hello!” The man said clearly in our language. “We understand your fear, but we have not come here to cause harm, we simply come to you with a message.” How did his voice carry through that mask? He seemed sincere, almost excited.

“How can we trust you?” A brave soul yelled out, “You took two of our own last time you landed!” The masked man simply laughed.

“We did not take them, they came willingly!” My heart slipped a beat, they left us willingly?

“How can we be sure?” The bystander questioned.

“Dr. Avis and his wife are quite alright. They came with us so we could relay this message when the time was right.” The man held up an imaginary scroll of sorts, his eyes twinkling with excitement. “The Doctor and his wife would like you to consider joining our world. You see we’re really very similar. Long ago we all lived as one community but after a great war we fled to different regions.” He took a quick breath, his eyes scanning the crowd for some sort of encouragement. “It’s time you return to our world. History after all repeats itself. You’ll all be much safer in our world.”

I could tell immediately that  the crowd had no intention no taking the man’s offer. It wasn’t as though any of us knew if what he was saying was the truth. All risks aside I felt my legs step out from under me, the man smiled towards me his arm gesturing for me to come nearer. He turned to the others speaking in their native tongue.

“I’m Travis, Dr. Avis is my father.” The masked man clasped his hands excitedly directing me towards the sky rider. “Where are we going exactly?”

“My boy we’re going to the surface!”

And with the courage of a sea lion I allowed the sky rider to carry me off to a new world. A world I could have never imagined. A world that would eventually become what I knew as home.