The Land Lost In Time: The Great Hall Of Alebrijes

“Who knew such a small little figurine could be something so big and wonderful?”

I ask myself holding the Alebrije figurine up. “Can you come out again? Please?” I say as the I set the figurine down on the coffee table in the middle of the living room. It only takes a few seconds before it began glowing and light swirled around it like, it resembles the ring around Saturn as the figurine grew to a large size and came completely to life, it’s a jaguar, with large owl like wings, pink as a cherry blossom with a sunflower pattern on each side, moth antennas on its head. It had beautiful floral patterns and its eyes are like gold, the tail like a snow leopard’s. I smile and chuckle, “It’s you. You… you’re back!” I exclaim as the Alebrije nods and sits down, folding its wings behind its back. “You know, child…” It began. “You have yet to learn my name.” It tilts its head as it says this. “Oh…. Right. I forgot to ask. What is your name?” I ask it. “I am Helianthus.” I nod. “Sunflower…” I say to myself-

What?

Why’d she get named Helianthus?

Cherī, I originally named her ‘Mourning Dove’ but it didn’t really fit…

Oh.

Will you let me continue the story?

Yes, your majesty.

Uh… Just call me, Arianna.

Are the Alebrijes-

let me finish telling the story and you’ll see…

Oh, okay…

Anywho…

The Alebrije nods, “Yes. And you are?”

“Arianna. Pleasure to meet you.”

“You…. You are the artist who created me…”

“Yes, I imagined you and then sketched you. Let me guess, you come from a world that’s basically a figment of my imagination come to life?”

“The Land Lost-…”

“In Time.”

The Alebrije is taken aback at how I say the last part of the land’s name. “Yeah… I uh, thought that up too…”

I tell her. She shakes her head. “But how do you know it exists? You shouldn’t know. You…” She pauses. “You are supposed to be dead.” Her ears pin back and she hops down from the table and walks to me. “But you do not look dead.” She tells me and I sigh. “Yeah… not yet…” I say as she shakes her head. “Don’t think like that all will be well.” She reassures me, I can’t help but still overthink it sometimes. “But…. But how did you get here? You’re supposed to be apart of a comic I haven’t even finished!” I ask her. I uh, still haven’t finished that thing yet actually. “I am here to bring you home.” She walks closer to me. “Home?” I ask. “Yes home, now come along, the people are await your arrival, our world is in danger. I have no clue as to how it could have happened but the land is beginning to die. The pieces of its heart have shattered, they scattered across the land in a time of mourning…”

I know exactly what she’s referring to, but I’m not gonna talk about it. “So… you all need my help?”

She spreads her wings out. “Yes. Yes we do. We must leave now!”

She rushes out the door as she is about to take flight she stops and turns to me. “Well what are you waiting for? Come along now.” She tells me as I slowly walk to her and slowly mount her, it’s a bit odd riding a jaguar but what worries me the most is, how high she might end of flying.

Of course at the time there was no time to think and she took flight, she flew high above the clouds, it was beautiful, really, but I was TERRIFIED. I have a huge fear of heights so fear rid of all the beauty almost immediately.

She flies for a while longer before it seems she’ll fly right into a lake, once she dives in she zooms in so quickly we have no time to even get wet. She flies right into a cave hidden away and as she flies further through a bright light engulfs us, once it subdues the crystals all over the cavern’s tunnels leave me in awe. They’re absolutely stunning as they glimmer in the small amount of light that reflects off them, the cavern seeming to glow alongside them. Once we exit the tunnel we enter a different part of the cavern, the large open space has a hole in the ceiling above, the sun’s light beaming onto a cherry blossom tree in the middle of the cavern. Water gently flows into the cavern and around the tree, she flew around the tree before flying though the opening in the cavern and out into the open, so many biomes were seen…

Resmbling deserts, the artic, rainforests. An ocean that seems to flow with solar winds from the sun around a volcanic island. Another island that seems to have an ocean made up of the lights of the Aurora Borealis, and seems to have what I can only describe as soft, lavender, stardust, dusted all over. I remember imagining all of this, imagining being here. She flies over to a more tropic side of the land and lands in front of what seemed to be a temple looking structure built within a hill, a stained glass window above the wooden doors with different Alebrijes carved into it. I dismount Helianthus as she leads me inside. Once the doors open the structure seems to be filled with stones carved with what look like depictions of past wars the Alebrijes helped fight or fought alone.

“Helianthus, what have I said about…”

I know this Alebrije…

I know her far too well…

I called her Acrylic, but her true name,

“Mini?”

I ask her, her ears perk up, she has chihuahua ears and jaguar ears, she’s a jaguar like Helianthus but her wings are that of an owl’s, her eyes are shine like gold and silver, she has a snake’s belly and the armor of an armadillo, small spikes along her spine, tiger stripes, a long, furry tail like that of a snow leopard’s and a lemur’s. Her wings decorated with black stripes and red dots. Her eyes have a flower petal pattern around them, along with the sides of her face.

“How did you get here?” She asks me. “Well, Helianthus brought me here.”

“You understand why?”

“Yes…”

“Then to the Palaces Of Jade, we must go…”