Ellen woke up as usual; well rested and ready for her duty. She got her body up and swung her thin legs over the edge of her bed and stretched all four of her arms. Yawning a little bit, she then got on her feet and walked across her cozy small home to a stand that had a bowl of water placed on it. She washed her fairy-like face and moistened a few parts of her green body as well; water felt so nice and refreshing on her body that resembled a plant. While she was invigorating herself, she could hear the quiet squeaking of the mice coming from some dark corner of her home. They were hungry, she assumed. And as soon as she was finished, she stepped towards a table that was standing next to a small window. She had a block of cheese waiting on the table and she cut a few pieces from it for her little friends. Ellen crouched down and four mice skittered across the floor towards her and none of them had eyes. She offered the pieces of cheese for them and the little rodents accepted them happily. Ellen had no idea where these mice had come from or the magical block of cheese that would replenish itself every now and then, but she was happy that the little critters had somehow managed to sneak into this dimension.
After Ellen had fed her small companions, she stood up again and gave a quick glance at the window. It was offering the same view as always, an endless meadow filled with sunflowers basking in the sun that never rested. Then Ellen let her gaze wander around her home for a brief moment, for she enjoyed admiring her little treasures before heading out. If a human had seen this collection of various objects hanging on the walls and from the ceiling, they probably would think that it was just a bunch of trash that had no value. But to Ellen, they were more valuable than the riches humans felt greedy about. To Ellen, these pieces of treasures – whether it was a stuffed animal, a comb, a flute or a pocket mirror – they presented a life of somebody, they held individual stories within them and carried such sentimental value that no money could ever possibly achieve. They were glimpses of untold tales and that was why Ellen would pick up these items whenever she would find one, so these stories wouldn't be completely forgotten because at least one person would cherish them.
It was time for Ellen to head out and do her duty. With her light steps she walked to the door and as soon as she opened it, a flood of warm light infiltrated inside. She stepped outside and closed the door behind her, leaving temporarily her mice friends and the collection of treasures.
Her little cabin was located in the middle of a sunflower field that seemed endless. No matter which direction she would look, the sea of flowers would reach all the way to the distant horizon. There were no trees, no other buildings… nothing. It was just her and the sunflowers. And above this endless field was a red sky, a sky that had witnessed so much death and destruction that it had dyed it crimson. On some days it would be blood red as the grudge of spirits would rise higher, but sometimes it had a lighter color, just like that day. Now it was pleasantly orange; it seemed that the spirits were in a good mood today. That was a good sign. Ellen took her first steps to walk among the flowers and started to patrol the field, just like every other day.
Of course, she couldn't really tell if a day had passed or not. The sky was always red or orange and the sun would never set, it would continuously shine and bring warmth to the flowers that reached for the sky, but were condemned to stay on the ground. Sometimes it felt like that time had completely stopped in this dimension, but occasionally Ellen would meet some lost soul that had accidentally traveled to this place, and that would serve as a reminder that time was fleeting even here. Every now and then she would also find little objects, like the ones that she had put on display in her cabin, as they would spontaneously appear from other realities to this one. The manifestation of these treasures was a hint that time was marching forward even if it sometimes seemed that it was standing still.
One could think that Ellen was a lonely individual, her only friends being the mice in the cabin and the only interactions with other sentient creatures were with the ones who had accidentally traveled to her dimension. But that wasn't exactly true. The sunflowers here weren't just plants, they were souls of the dead that had just taken a different form, not by choice but because that was the will of gods. They were war heroes, martyrs and other people who had sacrificed themselves for the greater good. Originally this dimension was created for those who had fallen in an ancient war that wiped out an entire civilization. But later on, other brave souls were able to bloom in this place as well, coming from many different worlds. Here, they can rest in peace in the form of a sunflower that will never wither away and will be blessed and nourished by a sun that will soothe them infinitely. Ellen will take care of the resting souls; this duty has been bestowed to her since ancient times.
Although the souls are mostly slumbering in their comfortable eternal sleep, sometimes they will get disturbed. As Ellen was slowly walking among the flowers, she spotted one that required her attention. In their normal state the sunflowers appeared as regular plants, but when they start to get unstable, a silvery swirl would appear in the air on top of them and from the center of the flower, the face which they had while alive would emerge and attempt to leave their floral form. Often it was because in their dreams, they could see something that makes them want to go back to their home world, such as seeing their loved ones in great distress or that a massive destruction had struck their land and they want to help get things back in order. This particular soul flower had seen that his beloved husband had fallen ill, and so severe was the sickness that it was threatening his life. Of course this soul wanted to go and help him, not really being aware of the fact that he was dead – he had come to this dimension just recently. Ellen came to the flower and gently took a hold of it, caressing it tenderly as if it was her child. She started to whisper words of an ancient language no mortal remembered, and although her words were quiet, they held great power in them. And in a short moment, the soul had calmed down and its form got reduced back to an ordinary sunflower. Ellen knew that his husband would join him soon and then they could bloom together side by side for all eternity.
As a very old being that had dwelled in this dimension since its creation, Ellen knew the story of every soul that had come here for their eternal rest. She could look at any sunflower and then she would be immediately able to tell what their life was like. To most who had visited the endless field, all the flowers looked exactly the same, but Ellen was capable of distinguishing them from each other. It was an important part of her work, because if a shepherd of souls can't tell that each is unique, what kind of caretaker would that be? Some of these souls had been here for thousands of years, which means that most of them had been forgotten by time in their home worlds, for the mortal memory was unfortunately a short one. But here was somebody who could remember all their grand deeds and achievements and their life, and Ellen would never forget such things, even if the souls themselves were unable to remember.
Ellen was whistling a soothing song which she had learned from one of the souls as she continued to stroll among the sunflowers. It summoned a gentle breeze that tenderly rocked the flowers and Ellen was certain that she could hear faint singing as the souls joined in her song. It warmed her heart a little. But then she could perceive a different kind of sound, something that didn't really belong to these fields; a sound of a bell. Curious to find out what was the cause of the unfamiliar noise, she stopped whistling and headed to the direction where the chime was coming from.
She found a little owl that seemed completely bewildered – she was just another dimension traveler that had accidentally entered this plane of existence, Ellen assumed. She had a bell hanging from her necklace, so now Ellen knew where the sound had been coming from. The owl was carrying a backpack and she had this mysterious shimmer glowing in her pure feathers which Ellen really admired.
“Oh, hello there!” Ellen chirped in a friendly manner and smiled at the owl. “It has been a while since the last time someone visited here. May I get your name?”
Still perplexed, the owl looked around before answering. “I, um… I'm Mia. It seems that my calculations went a bit wrong… Where am I?”
“This place has no name”, Ellen replied. “This dimension is the resting place of fallen heroes. I'm Ellen, the one who takes care of the souls that end up here.” Ellen tilted her head a little. “You're not the first one who enters this dimension by accident. And you're definitely not going to be the last, either.”
Mia nodded repeatedly as she was listening to Ellen's words. Then she looked around some more, however this time she didn't seem as lost and was admiring her surroundings instead.
“This feels like a nice place”, Mia commented. “It's pleasantly warm and the sky is beautiful and I sense serenity which I haven't felt ever before.”
She probably wanted to take a better look and got on her wings, rising up to the air above the flowers and fluttered on that height for a little while, letting her gaze wander around the unfamiliar world.
Ellen followed for a moment how Mia was enjoying the view, but eventually she opened her mouth to speak again: “Well, Mia, I can help you get out of this place. At least I assume that you don't want to linger here?”
“I'm in no rush”, Mia responded and then shifted the gaze of her big eyes at Ellen. “I'd like to know more about this world! If I can have a moment with you, that is.”
“Of course, I don't mind!” Even though Ellen wasn't exactly a lonely person, she really enjoyed it whenever she could spend time with somebody, so she was happy that Mia wanted to stay for a while.
“Sorry if I'm being too nosy here”, Mia apologized, “but I'm very curious about different dimensions. In fact, I'm making a book that covers the subject! I could write a chapter about this place.”
“Then I'll give you all the information you want to hear”, Ellen said and then she pointed in the direction of her cabin. “See that cabin over there? That's my home. May I invite you to come over? We can discuss things over a cup of tea.”
“Sounds good to me”, Mia consented.
Ellen started to walk towards the cabin and Mia followed by fluttering around her. Even though it looked like there was quite a lot of distance, it didn't take them for long to reach the building, which baffled Mia a little bit. But crossing long distances with ease was something Ellen was capable of doing, it was a very useful ability to have for someone who had to take care of an endless sunflower field.
Once they were standing by the cabin, Mia inspected its simple form with curious eyes. “Looks cozy”, she commented.
“Thank you”, Ellen answered and opened the door to her humble little home.
Mia had decided to land – it would be rude to fly around someone's home, after all – and she was struck with awe upon the first glimpse she got of Ellen's home. The treasures she had collected were precious in her eyes as well and Ellen was pleased with her reaction. They weren't pieces of trash to her, either.
“Please, take a seat”, Ellen gestured at the table while she made her way to a small stove.
Mia hopped on one of the chairs that was standing next to the table and her big curious eyes examined everything around her; the insides of the cabin and the view she could see from the window. Meanwhile Ellen was preparing tea and soon Mia could hear the whistling of the kettle. Shortly Ellen came to the table with two cups of hot drink and placed them on the table.
“Here you go”, Ellen said and then sat down on a chair.
“Thank you”, Mia thanked and noted what a wonderful scent the tea had, it was very sweet.
“Now”, Ellen spoke and leaned on the table with two of her arms, smiling at her guest, “what do you want to know?”
Mia had dug from her backpack a notebook, a quill and an inkwell, and she was ready to take some notes. “Tell me everything.”
So Ellen did. She told about the ancient war that took place in a different world and how gods created this one for the souls of the fallen to rest. That was also when the gods created Ellen and gave her the duty to look after the souls. Then Ellen told that later on, the sunflower field wasn't exclusively just for those who fought in the ancient war and it became the resting place of other heroes as well, all coming from different worlds. But Ellen's duty didn't change, it never did. She talked about how she would wander around the field every day to take care of the soul flowers and how she knew the life story of every single one of them. She also mentioned that sometimes she would find items that belonged to some of the resting souls and that was why she had put them on display in her cabin, so they wouldn't get lost. And at last, Ellen told a little bit more about herself, that even though she loved to be in here, sometimes she dreamed of visiting other dimensions as well.
“Hmm, that is a great dream to have”, Mia said as their conversation ended and she put her writing tools back in her backpack. “I think you should pursue it someday! Personally, I love to explore different worlds and discover everything about them!”
“Yes, maybe one day…” Ellen spoke a little absent-mindedly and drank the last drops of her tea. “But I don't know how the souls would be doing if I left them.”
“I'm sure you'll figure it out someday!” Mia exclaimed cheerfully. “Maybe not now or anytime soon, but you know, one day. Meanwhile… I think I could help you out a little.”
“Oh?” Ellen stared at her very curiously. “What do you mean?”
“If you really want to know more about other worlds, I can bring them to you!” Mia chirped. “Not literally, of course, but I'm a dimensional traveler and it's my passion to gather information about all the places I visit! I can come to you every now and then and show you where I've been! That way you'll get familiar with other planes of existence.”
“That would be wonderful!” Ellen was happy about this suggestion; she didn't know had she ever been this glad about something. All the other beings that had visited the sunflower fields didn't stay for long and never intended to come back. But Mia was different.
“Well, I have to go now”, Mia said and she hopped down to the floor from her chair. “Thank you for the tea and for introducing your world to me! I really appreciate it.”
“You're welcome”, Ellen said and smiled and stood up.
Mia was once again searching for something from her backpack and soon she brought out some sort of weird device; it was a metal square with two antennas and a bunch of buttons. She pressed some of the buttons and the device started to hum a little, the antennas sparked and soon they shot forward beams of blue light. They merged together in the air and as they did so, they started to form an oval-shaped swirling portal. All of this was so strange and new to Ellen and she watched this play intently.
“Goodbye, Ellen!” Mia said as she glanced at her one last time. “I'll visit you soon!”
“Bye!” Ellen replied and waved at the little owl.
Then Mia hopped into the portal and it slowly shrunk, soon fading away. Mia was gone and Ellen was alone again – well almost, but then she heard the familiar squeaks coming from one of the corners of her cabin. But Ellen wasn't sad, she would look forward to Mia's next visit. It seemed like that after all this time, after thousands of years, she had finally made a friend.
The thought brought a smile on Ellen's face.
