Listener : Breaking Silence

Chapter 1
Breaking Silence

Jon sat out on the back deck, slumped in the lawn chair, it was a navy blue, his favorite color. He liked to come out here after a long day, he always sprayed bug repellent on first, because every summer swarms of bugs came to his subdivision. Bringing many bats to the area. He closed his eyes a little, and listened intently on the sounds around him. The chirping of the crickets, the flapping of the many bats that had nested near his house. Then his hearing increased, and his view on everything around him changed. He heard the bats' munching as they grabbed up moths and mosquitoes, and the rustling of grass as a squirrel ran across the yard. Then he shut out everything. It was so eerie, the silence, but it was fun to exercise his ability. His parents called it selective hearing, but he knew it was much, much more. He had learned to listen to things soft and high, things far away, and then to shut out everything. But in this session, he decided, he would try something new. So he listened even harder and a near impossible thing happened. Suddenly he heard everything around him in a new tone, but it wasn't overpowering, almost comforting. Soothing. He completely closed his eyes and let himself rest in the peace he had found.
"Is he awake?" Said a voice.
"No, but don't touch him" Said another.
"But there are swarms around him!" Came one quite near to his head. He tried to keep still, but the urge to eavesdrop compelled him to stay still.
"Dive near him, get as many as you can" Instructed the second voice.
"He's asleep, be careful though" Said the first. He was wondering what they were talking about, or if this was just a dream. He felt something brush past him. He was getting annoyed now.
"Don't wake him!" Exclaimed a voice.
"Too late" Jon blurted out. He shifted around a little so he was sitting up straight. He saw that it was still barely light out, and there was a small crescent of light still hanging over the horizon. Enough to see that there were several shapes buzzing about in.
"Fly!" Screeched a voice. Followed by a few cries of terror and surprise, the shapes flew away from him, and he felt different, as if a part of him was smaller, but still hanging on. He expected it to be a dream or his imagination, but he was fully awake. His deck was square, with steps leading off one area, breaching the perimeter, and the twin glass doors perpendicular to the stairs. He looked around the deck, but those odd looking things were gone. All but one he saw. It lay hanging on the railing looking at him. It was a bat, a fairly small one, but definitely a bat. It was staring at him, he could feel it.
"Hello" Came a greeting, seemingly from the darkness itself. Yet he knew where it really originated from. His eyes opened wide as he stared into the face of the small bat.
"Hi" He said, nearly speechless. There was only one logical explanation to this. It was a dream, but he desperately hoped it wasn't. He had always wanted a good adventure, but now he had second thoughts.
"You're a bat" He said after a short pause.
"Yes, and you are a human" It seemed to say after another few seconds. Jon was baffled, he needed it to be a dream, in a few second he would jolt up in bed, his alarm clock blaring.
"You are talking," He whispered, hunching closer to it. The small bat was hanging on the wooden beam that served as a railing on their back deck.
"No, you are just listening correctly" It appeared to have said, the bat's words were smothered with curiosity, he hoped it was as freaked out as him.
"I'm Jon" He said bluntly, holding out his hand, then* slowly pulling it back when he realized it wouldn't understand he was trying to greet it.
"I'm Clea" The small winged creature said, making it sound like 'Klee'.
"I'm Jon" He repeated dreamily, still wondering if he would be waking up or not. The only reply it gave was a small jingle sound that resembled a laugh.
"It isn't funny" He said, annoyed.
"Yes, but I expected you to run off in the other direction" Clea said.
"I'm dreaming" He muttered, sitting back in his chair. The same jingle-like laugh came from it.
"Then I should wake you up" Clea said, and with that he jumped from his perch on the railing and flew straight towards Jon's face, diving upwards at the last second and landing in his hair. Jon just sat there, his eyes as wide as saucers. So he wasn't dreaming. Hooray.
"So now that that is cleared up. You should explain yourself" Clea instructed, using his small claws to dig in Jon's scalp.
"Well you're that bat, you need to explain yourself first" Jon said, eyes turned upward toward the bat.
"Or I could just show you" The bat replied shortly after. It opened its mouth and Jon heard a faint squeaky sound, then his find was flooded with images. A roost in the trees, a group of bats hunting, flying from owls, as well as many others suddenly grouped in his mind like a forgotten dream he just now remembered.
"That was an Echo" Clea said, interrupting the flow of memories. Jon jerked a little, nearly sending the small bat off of his head.
"I want to come" Jon said in an imposing tone.
"Where?" Clea asked.
"To wherever you bats have a colony, I want to come with you" Jon explained.
"We live in the trees, you couldn't if you tried" Clea countered
"I will wait on the ground then" Jon retorted, he knew the location might seem private to the bat, but he wanted this one thing, and that would be all.
"Fine, but do not expect anything" The bat said, climbing down one of Jon's arms.
"It is in that direction" Clea instructed, using one of his wings to point, then gripping tightly to his wrist as Jon jerked up, and set off. Jon didn't care if his parents wondered where he was, he would gladly accept the punishment. He stepped over various twigs and logs in the woods, as he set off deeper into it. Clea offered frequent tips on how to get there faster, he paid them no mind. After a long while of walking, his legs started to ache. Clea burst out "We're here" From his shoulder.
"Now what?" He said.
"Well I suppose the Council will want to hear of you, I will be right back" Clea said into his ear before flying off into the trees. Jon just sat there, taking the scenery in. A small creek was nearby, indicated by the sound of dripping water, two trees lay on their sides, one was blackened and charred. Another tree, this one an oak, had grown near horizontally, over a small pit that looked to be a dried part of the creek. The sun had set completely by now, and he didn't have a flashlight with him. He was certain he could hear voices nearby, but they were very faint.
"Clea?" He asked into the darkness, hoping to hear the sound of fluttering wings. Then the forest was filled with alarm.
"How does he know?"
"Is it true?"
"Who is he?"
"This is a human!" He lost his concentration on the voices when Clea landed on his shoulder, making him jerk with fright.
"Well?" He asked, tilting his head to look at him.
"The Council is very excited and afraid" Clea said, sounding worried.
"Who is the Council?" He began to ask, but was interrupted and answered at the same time when several figures landed next to him. From what he could see, almost ten bats had come, all landing on branches or logs. The bravest landing next to him. He suddenly noticed he was sitting in what appeared to be a circular row of logs, which explained the fallen trees that shaped a 'V' in front of him. There was what had appeared at first to be a random stone in the middle, but he knew it represented a stand. This was the Council.
"Is this the human?" One of the bats asked another.
"It looks like it Y'rnos" The other replied. One of them flew to the center stone, he hoped it was the leader of the group. He also hoped it was friendly, he needed to stop worrying.
"Hi" He mumbled to it after a few seconds. There were no sounds after that, unless silence itself had a sound.
"Do not greet the ground boy, face me" The imposing voice ordered. It was a kind voice, but one that needed to be recognized. So he looked up from the forest floor and stared in the direction of it.
"So, this is Jon?" The bat-leader asked Clea, who was still sitting patiently on Jon's shoulders.
"Yes Leider, this is the Listener" Clea said after a moment of silence. This was followed by hushed gasps of surprise from the rest of the group.
"What is a Listener?" Jon asked Leider, noting that
Leider" sounded like "Leader".
"Forgive him, he does not know" Clea explained to Leider, who was taken aback by Jon's question.
"How sad it must be to not know of your own talents" Leider said to himself. "Hearing me say this should be explanation enough boy" The bat said, turning his attention back to Jon. "Have you no idea of the power you now possess?" The creature asked.
"Power?" Jon asked loudly, raising his eye brows. He had no power, so why was this bat saying he did? For all of his life he was just a mediocre child, he had never had any real talent, and was always regarded as just a part of the crowd. He could run fast, but he was not the fastest. He could jump far, but not the farthest. The list went on for quite some time, and despite that his parents always told him he was special, he was sure everyone else's parents told them the same thing. He scrunched up his face, pursing his lips up in a confused expression. He could now see near nothing, his only source of light was the moon, which was hidden behind the thick tree line. The bat began to explain everything.
"Every once in a while, sometimes hundreds of years apart, a human like you gains the talent of Listening, each one is destined to fix something in the world, some fail, some relish the victory" At this that bat flew over to the ground in front of Jon with a crunch of leaves. "However, there has not been a Listener for so long, that we suspect that you will be one of the greatest Listeners Jon. You are not just a Listener, you are The Listener" After this there was an agonizing silence, in which Jon sat there, his eyes wide. Everything was silent now, not even the bats weren't making any noise. He tried to say something, but it came out only as a whisper.
"What if I don't want to be The Listener"
"Well, you have to, and you want to!" Leider said, jumping up to the rock. "Most Listeners felt the same way at first, but something drives them, something irresistible" Explained Leider from his perch. Jon thought about this for a second, and knew deep down that Leider was right. He simply couldn't refuse this undeniable urge for an adventure.
"I'll do it" He said bluntly. The small gathering erupted into what seemed to be applause. Clea giggled in excitement, and Leider simply sighed in victory. It died down after a while, and Leider turned to Jon.
"Get some rest, tomorrow we will start your training" Leider said happily.
"But it will take me hours to walk back to the house" Jon complained, his legs were still aching from the long trek.
"Then sleep here!" Leider offered, his voice laced with joy. Several members of the Council agreed. Jon simply nodded and brushed away some leaves, it would undoubtedly be an uncomfortable night, but it would be worth it in the end. He put his hood over his hair and pushed his head back into some leaves, using them as a pillow. The night was warm and he knew that his newfound friends would be watching. He had always wanted something like this to happen. Now it had. He gently closed his eyes and welcomed rest.
"Jon... Jon... Jon!" Urged Clea, rousing him from his dreamless sleep. He cracked open his eyes, looking past the sand that had formed there. Clea was staring into his face, only inches away. The sigh was so unnerving that he jolted up, nearly knocking the small bat off his chest, while at the same time slamming the top of his head against a log. "Follow me" Clea said excitedly, flying to a nearby tree branch, waiting for him to rise. He pushed up on his arm, and his other arm grabbed onto the log. Hoisting himself up, he stood there, wobbling a little. He thrust him arms out, relishing the feeling of stretching, and in one swift motion he brought them to his face, peeling the sand pellets out of the corners of his eyes.
"Coming" He mumbled, stumbling off into Clea's direction. After he got near enough, the bat flew to another far off branch, and he walked to that one as well. Clea flew and even sometimes jumped from the branches. They repeated this for quite some time, until they came to a fairly large clearing. It seemed to be a copy of the Council's meeting area, but many times larger. To an untrained eye it looked to be just a simple clearing, with an odd looking rock formation in the exact middle. Jon knew what this was though, it was a massive Council, for nearly every animal he could possibly imagine lived in the forest was here, and they had each merged into several groups. Each group was made up of one whole species, in one there was a pack of wolves, in another squirrels. Snakes, deer, bears, and nearly every other thing he could think of. He suddenly thought of the whole situation quite absurd, and nearly laughed at the thought of it. He had always read of things like this happening in an adventure book, but had never quite pictured it to be real. Boy was he wrong. He looked more closely at the massive gathering. The groups that were made up of the smallest animals had the most numbers, but to him, it was obvious that the wolves had the most authority here. Jon entered the clearing with Clea on his shoulder. The assembly, which was chattering away about the new of The Listener, suddenly fell into silence, one of the wolves walked over to him.
"I am Markus" The wolf said, nodding his head towards Jon "You should be Jon, I represent the Wolves" Markus said. The large wolf was a faint black, so he looked a dull grey, with sparkly blue eyes, the most clichéd wolf Jon had ever seen. Several other animals stepped up to introduce themselves. He met a squirrel named Yemman, a rabbit named Jakov, a bear named Gareth, and a snake named Hax. There were several others, but he couldn't remember their names, and one was not even pronounceable to his tongue. The wolf named Markus stepped up to the large rock. "We have the Listener with us, the assembly starts now" Then he turned to look at Jon "Welcome to the Full Council, follow me" With that, Markus jumped from his perch to the ground, and dug away a few leaves and sticks, and uncovered a small entrance to a room that looked like it had been carved inside of the rock formation, light seeped into it from various cracks in the wall, Jon peeked in as Markus trotted into the small room. Jon followed him, and sat cross legged. The many animal representatives followed, and sat in a circle around him, Leider flew in and hung from a perch that was stuck to the side of a wall. Clea was still clinging to his shoulder.
"So?" Jon asked before he could stop himself. Some of the animals glared at him, others simply stared in awe.
"We decide what to do with you" Gareth growled, Jon blinked a few times.
"I thought I had to go through some sort of training." Jon stated.
"Yes, but we must decide who will teach you" Leider explained. Jon sighed, he wasn't sure about this anymore.
"I say we let the bats teach him" Jakov offered "They found him first"
"Let the wolves teach him, the bats trained the last one" Gareth muttered
"Yes, and that Listener failed as well, for that we are sorry" Leider interjected.
"I say we let the wolves do it!" One of the deer members said, with that Markus walked to the middle of the room, and sat on his haunches.
"All in favor of the wolves, go left, all in favor of the bats, sit right" He announced, and almost immediately several of the members went to either side, some waited a moment and then chose one. Jon studied each side, Markus and Leider hadn't moved. It seemed to be a near tie, but it was obvious that the left side had won.
"Over two thirds have voted for the wolves, the decision has been made." Markus declared.
"Animals use a democracy?" Jon thought aloud, thinking the subject was hilarious. Markus simply nodded, followed by some of the others staring at him oddly.
"Sorry" He said defensively, he noticed Clea had been silent the whole time. The group left the small room and each representative merged with their original group. Markus walked over with another wolf, this was white, with what seemed to be a bluish tint to its underbelly and maw.
"This is Mist, she will be your caretaker" Markus instructed Jon. Jon bowed his head to her, as Markus had done to him.
"Hello Jon" She said, her voice was soft and silky, unlike Markus's, who was gravely and rough "Follow me" She simply ordered, walking off. It seemed that most all of the other animals were doing that as well. He trudged after here, Clea still on his shoulder.
"Why are you still here Clea?" He asked to the small bat.
"It is tradition that the first animal to meet a Listener, is his guardian" Clea responded lightly, the bat was obviously excited about this. "Though they have to leave their family and all their possessions, it is still a great honor" The bat added.
"Well you're doing a great job" Jon encouraged, reaching his hand up to pat Clea's head.
"Thanks!" Clea said happily, a small grin spreading across his face. Jon stopped behind Mist, they had come upon a small opening in the earth, most likely her den.
"Enter" She told him, and he obeyed, Clea holding onto his back as Jon crouched low and crawled into the small cave. It seemed to be a simple home, there was four small piles of leaves, what appeared to be a blanket was lain upon one. Two small wolf pups poked their heads out from under it.
"It's the Listener!" One of them exclaimed, its eyes lighting up. They both ran over to him and tried climbing on him, Clea cried in protest but was knocked aside by one of them.
"Be careful" Jon warned, picking the dizzy Clea up off the ground.
"This is Sonny and Lighter" Mist said to Jon "You two, this is Jon, The Listener" She said to the two excited pups, they were now bounding around Jon, and sniffing Clea at times.
"And Clea, the bat" Jon reminded, he found he couldn't stand up, but could crouch low to the ground.
"Does he play?" One of them asked.
"He's a human, they don't play with wolves, Sonny" The other said, Sonny had jumped up onto Jon's chest, staring into his eyes with a curious look.
"He looks pretty funny" Sonny blurted out from her view on Jon's chest. Clea had stayed silent, and was being cornered by Lighter, who was staring suspiciously at him.
"Don't be rude, I'm going to be hunting" Mist said, walking out of the den, Jon stayed put for a moment, then Mist peeked her head back inside "Can you watch them for me Jon? Thanks," Before he could protest, she was gone.
"Jon, help!" Squeaked Clea, who was now trapped by both the wolf pups. He rushed over, pushing one away gently while letting Clea jump onto his arm.
"Clea, you should wait outside" He warned, Clea left gladly and grabbed a hold of a tree branch.
"What do you two want to do?" Jon asked impatiently, sitting down on his back.
"We want to play!" Sonny said as she spun in an odd circle. Finishing by looking at him with her head tilted and tongue sticking out. It was so comical that both Lighter and Jon burst into laughter. Sonny stuck her tongue back in her muzzle and bounded to Jon's side. "You know how to wrestle?" Sonny asked, her green eyes shining.
"Yes..." Jon trailed off, Lighter was now sniffing his shoe. He felt the whole thing was quite unnerving, talking to them and all.
"I'm tired" Lighter said, Jon figured Lighter was the more laid-back of the two, Sonny had inherited all of the playful energy.
"I am too" Jon admitted, laying his head against the motley blanket. Sonny panted a little, then laid down, breathing heavy. After a while she got up and crawled over to Jon, curling up next to him. He smiled a little and closed his eyes a little. Lighter stayed where he was, blue eyes unmoving for a second before they were closed. Sonny made a small snoring sound, and Jon's smile grew. In nearly every book, adventures usually started with some horrible tragedy, then ended with a happy moment like this. What troubled him was that he now feared that this would end badly.
A few moments, or hours, passed by without any disturbances to the small den built into the side of a hill. Nevertheless, Jon felt something was wrong. This feeling was so strong it woke him up. His eyes opened quickly, unblinking for a second, he gently pushed Sonny aside and brushed a few leaves off of himself. In the silence of the small home the crunch of the leaves seemed deafening. He hoped that Sonny and Lighter were asleep enough not to notice. He sat at the base of the small entrance to the den, letting his eyes adjust to the lighting. He slid himself out of the pit, and blinked a few more times. Grunting a little bit as he pulled himself into an upright position. He still felt like something was wrong, but not a bad wrong. It wasn't evil. Just... Out of place. "Hello?" He called into the dim forest. The sun was setting gently. Still blinking, but slower, he stepped away farther from the little den. Now that he was a fair distance away from his temporary home, he would be able to listen better. Jon tilted his head, scrunching up his forehead to listen to whatever was out there. He tried to listen harder, passing whatever level had allowed him to hear Clea. There was then what sounded like a cannon. A cannon that was being shot into a vast pool of water. Of course, there was no water in the area, and he had no idea where anyone would be able to get a cannon. Then there was a man in front of him, seemingly twenty years old. He was wearing a white polo and faded black jeans. He had a handsome face, with years of labor etched into it. He was your basic cliché hero's appearance. Jon studied him for the first few seconds, and in the next few wondered who he was, and in the seconds following, wondered how he got there. "Who are you?" He inquired
"My name is Gabe, fear not" The stranger panted.