Forsaken, forgiven & 1000 glass tears (preview)

Channy put a hand to her head and sighed, he was being impossible. Couldn´t he understand that there were no people there, that they had to look for another door soon or else they might, no, would die in the jaws of some angry dangerous, untamed forest animal? If so, why was he whining on about being hungry and tired? As if they both weren't. But they had to find a door and fast, they weren't the only hungry things in that dimension. She heard another branch snap, they were everywhere. They shouldn't have ever entered the forest, they should have kept to the beach, then they wouldn't be lost. She looked around them, there wasn´t even a clearing where they could
open a door. Epiko moaned something about being hungry and shut up when she shot him a glare. Then she sighed again, it was no use being angry with him, she put her hand on his shoulder and smiled when he looked up, anyway, she wasn´t like that. He smiled back. -It´s alright. I know I´m annoying most of the time. Anyway, I ought to be helping you look for another door so we can get out of here and maybe get something to eat in the next dimension.
-Mm, I see you understand. Sorry anyway though. I´m not normally like that, must be getting hungry too.
-Hey! Whats that light there? It could be a way out of here!
-Finally!
They ran towards the light, but didn´t find what they expected. There was another door, but what they saw through it made them stop in their tracks and run to hide in the forest again. That other dimension was full of hideous creatures. They were of all sizes, from puppy sized to the size of an elephant. They had deformed human faces that looked like they had been crushed and torn, more then age-worn. They also had over-sized golden-colored eagle´s wings on a lion´s body. They were sphinxes, only Epiko and Channy didn´t know that. Or did she? Channy felt as if she held faint memories about such creatures, as if she had known them all her life, no, more than all her life, she had always known them, since the beginning. But, what was the beginning? She felt her mind about to answer, but her head was aching and spinning and all she could remember when her vision cleared was the loyalty that lay in the sphinxes. She knew how, behind those fierce eyes and sharp talons, there was a big heart, willing to do all it could to please he who won it.
Without warning Epiko, she walked out to the sphinxes, her hand on her still slightly aching head, and stroked the coarse feathers on ones neck. It turned and met her affection with the lowing of its head, rubbing it´s neck against her shoulder as it invited her to sit on its back. She sat down and felt it rise underneath her, as it took off into a gallop before taking to the air. The sensation was almost like the one of riding in the Eskimos sledge, except here she could look down and see the earth rushing by beneath her, like a never ending flowing river. The almost-Amazonian forest stretched below her, cliffs of a golden hue creating space for waterfalls, rivers forking and ending all over the place. The intensely dark-green canopy his hundreds of creatures, each emitting it´s own cry to the world. It was so beautiful. That scene was the most beautiful she had ever contemplated and she was gaping at all that you couldn't see at first sight, no, you had to see to reach the heart. She stroked the feathered head and it responded with a loud squawking-roaring sound. She was so startled at that sound she fell off. She was falling air whipping at her hair, moving to lets her fall with a loud “whoosh”; and then she suddenly felt herself stop in mid air, sharp talons turning into a cradle, keeping her from any harm. Feeling reassured by the strong, firm grasp the sphinx held round her waist, she opened her eyes and looked down. The view was almost the same one she had been watching before, but she liked it better like this. The hight was once again, not threatening, but pleasant, and the breeze was combing her lose hair. She lifted a hand to it, the hair clasp she had put in it must have fallen out somewhere back when she almost fell. She quickly forgot it as the sphinx swooped down over a lake. It had lifted its legs so as not to drown her, and when her back entered in contact with the feathers she realized it was going to drink. It was amazing how anything could drink in mid-flight like that. It was simply opening its mouth as it flew low over the water, letting it spill everywhere. Channy giggled at it. It was so amazing it wasn´t even choking. It heard her laughing and turned its head around. She gasped, was it going to hurt her? Had it found her laughter insulting? It tilted its head as much as its position permitted and let the water bounce off its free claw, spraying her with it and leaving her drenched. She was soaking, worse then in the Eskimos world.
Wait, where was Epiko? He must be worrying about her. She had just went off without saying anything. She stroked the sphinxes neck, and whispered that she had to go back. And, it turned around! It had actually understood her. She was amazed so much by this creature, by its non-corresponding grace in movement and intelligence. It turned its head to face her, who in that time had climbed to its back again, and she saw its eyes properly, they were golden, dark green and golden at once, and they were full of wisdom. It was ancient, of course it understood her, it had encountered people before. It put its head on one side again, sunlight reflecting in its eyes, making golden streaks cover the green once again, but not completely, only slightly, looking like golden bangs...golden bangs? They made her remember a face, a face long lost to her memory, leaving only its silver glass eyes and the gold white bang in front of its left one, not covering it completely, that cruel evil smirk...
The sphinx squawked again, reminding her to keep her balance, making her forget what she was about to remember, who she was about to remember. She smiled at it as they were landing back where they had started, that was a memorable experience.
Epiko was still waiting for her.
-Are...are they...you know...err...alright.-He said, feeling uneasy around them.
-Of course,-Channy smiled.-they´re our friends.
She stroked another ones neck, feeling the feathers not so coarse. This one was younger. She smiled. She had already taken back what she had thought earlier, they didn´t know people, they knew her.
We do not know the true value of moments until they have undergone the test of memory.(Georges Duhamel).