Chapter 7

  Max’s Story - Max

  Max looked up and toward the north, towards where his story had truly begun. He couldn't see it. The large cliffs, the waterfalls, but in his mind, he could see it still. He looked back at Link and said, "You remember the day that I fell off the cliff near the three rivers?"

  "Yes," it was horrible. Link added, " and because of the air currents near the cliffs, the birds that tried to check on you were forced back. We all thought you had to have died."

  Max nodded and said, "I probably should have died. When I fell, it felt like I was falling forever. And yet, it seemed that there was something underneath me. When I hit the water, it was a complete change. It was like I fell into a different world, a world of water. I didn't know which way was up. I didn't know where I was. So, I just started trying to swim to the surface.

  As I swam, the water seemed to get darker. I felt something, and then I saw it, a large yellowish creature coming at me. I immediately turned and dove deeper into the water. To my surprise, a few moments later, when I broke through the surface and took a large gulp of air. I found I was not originally swimming toward the surface. Whatever scared me caused me to go in the correct direction.

  After realizing I was in the middle of a river, I immediately tried to start moving toward the shore, but found myself in the rapids. The rocks were everywhere. I banged one and then another, always just trying to keep my trunk above water, trying to keep air in my lungs. I was battered and bruised. The moment I thought I was starting to get control of my body, and moving towards the shore. I spotted something moving in my direction.

  "Help?" Link asked.

  “No. Crocodiles." Max explained.

  Link shook his head and shivered, "What happened?"

  "I turned away from the crocodiles and swam out further into the middle of the river. There were still a lot more rocks, and I was getting really tired. I felt, at times, I was bumping into something. The water seemed to be getting shallower, so I was able to push up off the ground, off the bottom, and get a footing just for a second before the water pushed me further downstream. I could barely tell that on one side was the cliff going up. There was nowhere to get off or out of the water that way. But the other way, toward the ground, lay the crocodiles. Then I noticed that the crocodiles stopped and turned back.”

  “Why'd they quit following you? Link asked.

  “Because they realized there was something far more dangerous in the water, a waterfall.

  "There's another waterfall?" Link said.

  "Yes. It's not nearly as big as the one that comes off the cliff at Three Rivers, but it is still large. And at the bottom, I found later, was full of rocks."

  "How did you get out?"

  "As I said, there were times, because the water was not as deep, that I was able to push up off the ground, though the current was pushing me toward the falls."

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  "Yes," Link responded. His hands in front of him, seeming to be excited to hear the story, though he knew the ending because Max was standing right in front of him.

  Max could see that the otter was excited to hear what happened, so he continued, "I heard the rush of the water, and I guessed that there was another waterfall. So I tried to get toward the shore. I was having a lot of trouble when all of a sudden I felt, I think, that same large creature underneath me. This time, though, when it came by, I pushed. And it seemed to me that as it was coming up at me, I pushed. And my pushing and it's coming up helped. I got closer to the shore. And so right before I got to the falls, I came to the edge and was able to crawl out."

  "So, you were safe?"

  "I didn't think so," Mack said. "As far as I knew, that creature could come out of the water like a crocodile and come after me. So I began running. I ran across the high grasses and down the hill to the Lower Planes. I was convinced that something was coming after me. I was battered and bruised. I felt horrible, but I used everything I had to keep running. And as I was running out of energy, I ran into two elephants, a couple. When I saw them, I stopped, and because I was so tired, I fell to the ground. They came around, the large male trumpeted out a warning, and all of a sudden, I was surrounded by the herd."

  "You found another group of elephants? Were they talking like you?"

  Max shook his head. "No, they didn't talk, but they saw one of their own in need. And they adopted me. When I woke up later, I saw them surrounding me. I remembered my name but nothing else. I didn't know how I got there. I barely remembered running. But the herd took me in as one of their own and helped protect me. And I've been living with them until yesterday."

  From above, the Osprey was asking questions in the speech of birds that Max didn’t know.

  Link looked up and asked, "So how do you know who I am?"

  Max nodded. "That happened yesterday. The herd was getting ready to go to the stream. Max pointed with his trunk upstream from where he had walked. and I saw a tree that I thought I could push. I did, but it hit me and knocked me out."

  "Why did you push over a tree?" Link said, asking if it was a strange thing for an elephant to do.

  Max shrugged and said, "As an elephant in that herd, when you get to maturity, you're supposed to push over a tree. Eat the roots."

  "Why?" Link asked.

  "I don't know.”

  “Are the roots good?"

  "No," Max answered truthfully.

  "Then why push it over?"

  Max shook his head. "I don't know, Link. All I know is that every elephant in that herd, when it gets to the age of maturity, has to push over a tree."

  "And I knew that I had grown up, even if I was a lot smaller than the other elephants. But they kept treating me like a child. Making me walk behind my mama."

  "Your mama? But you're. Oh," Link said, understanding. "The female elephant that adopted you."

  Max nodded. "Yes. And when I saw that a certain tree, I thought for sure I could push that one over."

  "And it fell wrong," Link assumed.

  "Yes, I was pushing on the tree and then pulling it to try to break it loose so it would fall. When it came falling toward me, I couldn't get out of the way."

  "So what happened? Link continued, “How did a tree falling help you remember?"

  "Max looked back at the otter and said, "It wasn't the tree falling. It was the hit in the head that did it. I was knocked me out. When I woke up later, alone, that is when I realized I could remember my past."

  "So this accident caused you to remember what happened before the last accident?" Link surmised.

  "There was a."

  The Osprey flying overhead gave a loud, “Cheereek”.

  Max looked up, and the bird flew nearby again, and Max asked, "What is up with the osprey?”

  “Well, I don't think that bird believes you."

  Max shook his head. "That's what happened. And whether that Osprey believes me or not, how else would you explain how I survived?"

  Link looked and said, "I can think of only one way. That makes sense to me. The creator helped protect you."

  Max couldn't argue. Though he had forgotten for a long time about the creator, about his former life, he now knew it seemed that something had protected him, helped him, even if he forgot who that might have been.

  But now Max had a mission, things he had to do. Now, one of those was made easier. Max had someone who could tell him how he could get home back to the parents he had forgotten.