The swamp became a magical place for Coffey. When she first laid eyes on it, it was just a large, murky lake with lush vegetation springing up from its depths and at its borders, with forms of green-capped islands randomly breaching the surface. The trees that grew in the area were large and the canopy created a ceiling over the entire swampy lake that to Coffey seemed to stretch on for miles in front of her. It was a dreary, dank landscape that she first laid eyes on and it was sticky with humidity. The sounds of wildlife was steady and made the entire place hum. But the longer she stared out at it all, the less bothered she became. There was sunlight trickling through the tree branches and it seemed to give off orbs of light like she had seen on the hill when the tiny figure appeared to her. These orbs seemed to cascade from the rays of light and settle into the environment, some danced along the surface of the water while others gathered in swirling clumps over the green-capped islands.
“My name is Lofet,” the man with shiny, golden skin and wings at his back said. “Welcome to my home.”
“What is this?” Coffey asked, shaking the wonder from her mind. She stood and inspected Lofet skeptically. “Why I’m here? What is you?”
“You Earthers call us fairies ’cause that’s the name the white Earthers use. But I am the son of the Yumboes and the Mmoatia,” he said and then gestured with a hand at the lake that was more alive with the orbs of light than it had been when Coffey stared out at it before. “We are the Umbatia, and we share a common enemy. The same Earthers who enslaved you, are threatening our home.”
Just as he finished, there was a loud explosion in the distance that rumbled the ground. Lofet grabbed Coffey before she could protest, and her desire to protest quickly dissipated as Lofet flew with her at his side over the waters as the orbs of light seemed to congregate and join him as they made their way to a far shore of the swamp. They landed behind a large tree and Coffey followed Lofet’s lead, peering from behind the trunk in the direction of a large section of the forest that had been demolished. It was like a meteor had struck the Earth and there were smoldering tree branches leaning away from the crater’s edge.
“They wanna drain this swamp to build their canals,” Lofet whispered. “We been keeping ’em back, they don’t really understand why it’s been so hard for ’em to do what they want, but that ain’t stopped ’em from trying.”
“How y’all keep ’em back? Y’all magic? That’s how you brought me here?”
Lofet nodded but he stared out at the woods beyond the crater in the forest. There were men moving the leaves and branches and Coffey heard them cursing and screaming their frustrations.
“Why you need my help, you got magic?” Coffey asked and Lofet stood facing her, both of them still in the shadow of the large tree trunk with orbs of light floating around them. He held his shiny palms up to Coffey that were a lighter shade of the gold of his skin.
“Meet my hands, like this,” he said.
Coffey scrunched an eyebrow as the other lifted curiously on her brow. As she looked at the palms, discs of yellow-white light formed at each of Lofet’s wrists, ringing his hands like collars. She was skeptical, but knew this man would not harm her, not after saving her life on the hill. She slowly lifted her hands that were dark and shiny from the humidity and calloused on the palms. She slowly met her hands with Lofet’s and the discs at his wrists grew as they advanced toward her hands. Coffey flinched as the light connected with her hands and the discs decreased in size as Coffey’s body absorbed the light.
She felt it coursing through her body like a warm glow that saturated her every fiber and cell. She closed her eyes as the warmth conjured a feeling of pure ecstasy that came alive deep inside her body and then followed the warmth that her body had absorbed. And she felt a heat between her shoulder blades, then a sudden ripping of her skin that was pleasurable in its stinging pain. She felt her body as a pulsating energy, warmth and then ecstasy, and she felt herself floating. When she opened her eyes, she saw what seemed to be thousands of people who looked like Lofet. Some had golden skin, others bronze, ebody, or bone white. They all flitted wings at their backs and hovered against the backdrop of the swamp that seemed bigger to Coffey.
She realized that she was floating just like everyone else and she was completely naked. She realized Lofet was at her side and she looked at him, her face a question.
“The Umbatia have been on Earth so long, we are practically Earthers. And we have human cousins.”
– – –
from the Manual and Reference of the Fonlands
The Legend of Pultine
Pultine was born in the lush forest of the disc of Agê. It is said that the great tree Iuma, that dwarfs the trees of the Eastern Forest and is one of the first sprouts to peek up from the rich soul of the Agê disc, grew a large knot at its center and after almost a decade Earther time, gave birth to Pultine, who nestled on a large flower that sprang forth from the knot, relieving the large bump at Iuma’s center.
The birth of Pultine was a joyous occasion on the disc of Agê, and even Agê herself visited Pultine as she slept and ate on her flower, nursing on the nectars that Iuma fed from petals that seemed to sweat and then trickle nourishment to the babe.
Pultine was a black Mmoatia. The details of her parentage are not clear, though obviously Iuma was the mother who gave birth to Pultine. Whether her sole parent is Iuma, or if Iuma was impregnated by one or more Fonlanders is a secret that Iuma shared with no one, including Pultine.
Pultine’s physical appearance was similar to that of a black mmoatia and it is for this reason, that everyone assumed Iuma was not her only parent. Her body was much larger than the typical mmoatia. She had long limbs and jet black skin, and her wings were feathered, while most mmoatia have chitin wings that are large compared to the size of their bodies and opaque like stained glass. Pultine’s feathered wings had the appearance of the typical chitin wings of the mmoatia. Her eyes were bright against her dark skin, like glowing marbles of gray. She had black hair that grew as an unmoving afro on her head that came to jagged peaks and valleys, and she was known to wear shawls and drapes of silk that accentuated the ease with which she moved over land and through the air.
When the Discs of the Fonlands began to appear in Universe Prime 5, Pultine was the first Fonlander to wander through the rifts that opened all around the Discs that all led to the same point on Earth. She liked the smell of the primitive Earth. She made three trips over the span of millennia and she interacted with early humans on Earth. It is said that Pultine is the mother of Fonlander/Earther hybrids, though the details of her exploits on Earth are not well documented.
– – –
“You a daughter of Pultine,” said the female Umbatia who helped Coffey with her clothing. They were in what seemed to be a modestly decorated home in the hollow of a tree.
“Y’all don’t know about what you is and what you can do because y’all don’t have a strong connection to the Fonlands.”
Coffey’s mind was racing. Even when she floated naked before the thousand eyes of the Umbatia, she had no words, no particular shame; her mind was too crowded with questions and disbelief. She stared at her reflection in a mirror that hung on the wall and she saw the features of the strange beings, the Umbatia, in her face. This was all real, but Coffey still waited to wake up from the fantasy.
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