Momowords

“Well-well you could have been more graceful in your fall.” was all Lyra managed to splutter.

The boy rose slowly, and stretched.

“I knew I’d stayed in that form too long. I always get cramps. Professor Uriah keeps telling me to practise but it’s so tiring, you know?”

“I…” trailed off Lyra.

“Hey, I’ve never seen you two before. Newbies?”

“No, we were just on our way out in fact.” pronounced Lyra, recovering from the shock. “Do you mind telling us how?”

“How what? To leave? Well you’re going completely the wrong way. Wait…” said the boy suspiciously, “are you running away?”

“Pfft,” scoffed Lyra, “no, we were given permission. By… the headmaster.”

“There is no headmaster here…” said the boy slowly “but I do know the way out!” he brightened.

“Really? Could you tell us? That’d be great, thanks.”

“Follow me.”

He led them down a path. For a while, the silence was only filled with his humming. The tune seemed familiar to Luna, but she couldn’t quite place it.

“My name is Nym by the way.”

“Nym? I’m Lyra, this is my friend Luna.”

“Hey Luna!” Nym smiled at her.

“Umm, hi.” she answered, still thinking of the chameleon.

“So, what’s your other form?”

“Huh?”

“Your other form! What animal do you turn into?

“Oh, uh… that’s a, umm, private question.” answered Lyra over a long period of time.

Nym arched a questionning eyebrow. It turned brown as he raised it. It had been the same colour as his hair. Green.

Luna stopped dead in her tracks. Lyra hadn’t noticed, distracted.

“How- how did you do that?”

“Well… I am a chameleon you know.”

Luna just stared at him, in awe. Nym continued walking, a smirk on his face.

“Here we are.”

They were in front of a tall, brown gate, but Luna gathered that the brown was mainly rust by the looks of it.

“Uh, how do we open it?” asked Lyra, quite reasonably.

“Well you have permission don’t you? Just speak into this.” He pointed to a small device on the side of the gate.

“And what do I say?”

“Your name.”

“My name?”

“Yeah, your name. Is your other form a parrot?” said Nym sarcastically.

Lyra gave him her best evil eye, and straightening up, she walked quickly to the little device and spoke her name clearly:

“Lyra Galimore.”

“Lyra Galimore, you have no permission to leave the compound.” answered the machine.

“But I-”

“Lyra Galimore, you have no permission to leave the compound.” it repeated.

“Ha! So I was right! You were trying to escape!” exclaimed Nym rather too happily.

Lyra was fuming. “You people have no right to keep us, we desire to go home.”

“And you are Newbies!” added Nym joyfully.

“Please, you don’t understand-” started Luna.

“Sure, sure I do. You’re gonna follow me again now, and we’ll figure it out. That okay?”

Still fuming, Lyra followed him out, Luna close behind.

{ Now don’t think I’m forgetting Luna! Both Lyra AND Luna are the main characters, so no favouritism on my part ^^ }

Now that they were walking back, the two girls could see just how big the building was. It was four storeys high, eight windows on each landing. Big wooden doors stood wide open, as though awaiting them. The boy strode through them and led them up a set of stairs, and down a corridor. They halted in front of a door.

Nym knocked two clear knocks.

“Come in!” a female voice said.

Nym opened the door and they entered a small office, with a door leading off to the right. A young woman sat behind a desk, filling in some papers. She had brown hair bunched up in a messy bun, and glasses rimmed her nose.

“And what can I do for you today Nym?”

“Hey Avi! It’s these two girls here.” Nym nodded in their direction, “Lyra Galimore and Luna.”

She smiled.

“Lyra and Luna! Pleased to meet you! Luna Mercury I presume?”

“I… yes. Umm, how do you know that?” asked Luna uncertainly.

“Why, because we’ve been expecting you for a long time. I gather you tried running away? Father warned me you might.” She shrugged. “But even though we won’t make you stay of course, you will give us a chance to explain ourselves. I know this must be stressful for you, but you mustn’t worry, everything is going to be fine.”

“That’s what parents say just before something goes wrong.” said Lyra calmly.

“Well I’m not your parents.” answered the lady called Avi. She rose from her chair fluidly. “I will show you your rooms now.”

“We never even said we were staying. You know in the normal world this is called KIDNAPPING.” yelled Lyra.

“And this is not your typical ‘world’.”

She walked out the room gracefully, a slight swing of the hips in her steps.

A beetle scuttled over to them. Lyra stared down at it.
“Do you think there’s someone in there?”
“Hmm, probably. I mean, you do know you could be staring at a person.”
Lyra looked away awkwardly.
“Do you really believe this stuff though? It’s like the X-Men, but… real. I think. What he said back there, does it mean we can do that too? Turn into animals?”
“I don’t even though if I’d want that. Mum, Dad, our normal lives… and our friends. I don’t know, I just… it’s weird.”
“Yeah, you bet.”
Lyra looked around.
“Hey where’d everyone go?”
“Let’s go see.”
“Wait, no, that’s the point. While everyone’s gone, we can try to escape!”
“But, what if we are Mutatios or whatever, what if it’s better if we do stay here. We might harm people otherwise.”
“What, and stay imprisoned with these weirdos!?”
Lyra took off at a run, quickly followed by Luna. They ran for five minutes, until they reached the edge of the forest.
“Come on, let’s go.”
“Uhh…”
Lyra grabbed her sibling by the hand, jerking her forward. They ran for another ten minutes, tiredness getting the better of Luna. PE had never been her strong point. Lyra on the other hand, was extremely fast, and good with her legs. Her agility let her climb to the top of the nearest tree in record time, taking in their surroundings.
“Well, this place is huge. We could- gahh!”
Lyra felt a sharp pain in her leg, and looked down quickly. A big lizard, no, a chameleon, was sitting on her left leg, with claws digging into her flesh. She screamed, shaking her leg, jerking it up and down, until the lizard finally fell from its perch, tumbling down to hit the ground with a loud thud.
“That hurt!”
The two girls looked down onto the forest floor in surprise. Curved in a ball lay a boy with grass-green hair. He shook his head slowly getting up, uncurling his back. He looked directly at Lyra, accusation plain in his eyes.
“You could have been more careful, I do have a spine you know.”

“On this planet used to live a race of people called the Ranturs. They were as similar to a human as one could be, living on another planet. One day, the head of these people called them in a meeting. He said there was a war raging on in neighbouring planets, and that invaders were liable to attack them soon. So they set up an army, and prepared for attack. Sure enough, a couple of days later they were swarmed, and fought hard during a long blood filled battle. It lasted 3 years. After those 3 years, the invaders, named Saketh, won. They took over and ruled the entire planet, including the others it had colonized. However, the Saketh were not completely human. They were also part animal, and had fur, or claws, or cats ears, or horns, or sharp teeth, each distinguishing them as a human version of a particular animal. For several centuries they lived together, and slowly, peace settled, and they mixed. However, the new-borns had a special ability. They were able to turn themselves into an animal. Say, a dog, or an elephant, or a butterfly, or even a flea. Anything. And those new-borns are the people who live on this planet. We are called Mutatios. And so are you. Yes, you two dear girls.”

The old man let that sink in in silence.

“I don’t believe you.”

“I wasn’t expecting you to. But I swear that it is all quite true.”

“But, er, we’re not on Earth then?”

He smiled softly.

“No, you are not on Earth. You are on Darnnis.”

“Earlier you talked about the Haay. What is is exactly?”

“The Haay is a great book, that contains the names of all of the Mutatios. To keep track of who’s who and who can turn into what, if you want. A person Encyclopedia.”

“I still don’t believe you.”

“You don’t have to now, but you’ll believe me soon enough.”

“I want to see Mum and Dad.”

“Your parents aren’t here. They’re on Earth.”

“But they’re wondering where we are! I don’t even believe you! Let me out! Let me out of here! You’re all mad! Let me out!” Lyra was screaming now, and she slammed herself onto the door, bursting it open. Luna quickly hurried after her sister. They both ran down a corridor with paintings and tapestries hanging off the walls. They turned a corner and kept doing so until they reached an open door opening onto… the outside. Everything was so beautiful. The lawn outside was long and green, well kept. There were beautiful plants everywhere, and trees with all kinds of fruits and flowers growing on them. It went on it seemed for ever. It was full of running children, or resting teenagers, or just simply strolling people. And animals. There were so many kinds of animals it was hard to think it was real. A lion, a frog, a monkey, a mouse, so many. They were everywhere, with humans. It was so strange and yet so beautiful. They had never seen anything like it. It was like magic.

“Wow.” breathed Luna.

“Yeah.” agreed Lyra.