"Beyond the Infinity"
By: Starwin
Advanced Authors Notes:
Hello everyone! Welcome to the third (and final) installment of this "trilogy." If you read that last line and thought, trilogy! Oh crap! Should I have read the other two parts first? I say to you, yes… yes you should have… Go, read them, I'll wait for you. Seriously, go…
Alright, all caught up? Good. :D
While you can push forward without reading the other parts, I'm going to be honest with you, it will be difficult. There is a lot (seriously, a lot) that has happened and while it's possible to sit back and just enjoy the story without back story, it will be challenging.
So, with that in mind, I have included a "Story so far" post on my message boards, feel free to catch up or, if you already read the previous stories but have forgotten (since it has been a while), review—before moving on.
But I highly recommend reading the story(s) over cheating off my notes.
Anyhow… Enjoy.
Episode 1: Haven
Part 1: Hidden in the Shadow of the Sky
Spinning slowly, far below, the bright green and blue gem known as Earth floated weightless in the infinite expanse of space. Great masses of white clouds drifted slowly across the planet's surface. As the world spun, the light of the distant sun receded across the face of the planet, leaving a wake of night, broken only by the glittering lights of cities.
On the edge of the coming night, in the twilight, was a mass of clouds that were not white but dark gray, almost black, as if the coming night had seeped into them. These shadow clouds swirled in a solemn spiral. The other clouds avoided the dark mass, as if they feared coming in contact would turn them gray too.
Without warning, a fork of lightning erupted from the swirling clouds. The blue-white energy raced through the atmosphere, out into space and on into the infinity. Then all was silent once again and the swirling clouds continued to spin, but faster now. A second crack of lightning, but this one stayed within the clouds.
Slowly the gray swirling clouds started to expand, larger and larger, faster and faster. The edge of the storm ripped into the white clouds, tearing and devouring them. The storm tumbled across the sky spreading in all directions. Much too quickly the terrible storm had grown large enough to cover the entire continent below it. But it did not halt. The storm poured over the world and in minutes, the entire Earth was consumed in a gray blanket of shadows.
Hay Lin was running. She wasn't sure why she was running. She wasn't sure when she had started running. But she knew she had to run. She had to run as fast as she could.
The blurry world bounced around the edges of her eyes. Slowly things began creeping into her vision. It was dark, dark like nighttime. Why was she running at night? She didn't stop running.
It was raining, cold freezing rain that bit at her skin. Why was she running in the rain? She didn't stop running.
She was in Heatherfield Park, there was slushy mud beneath her bare feet. When had she come to Heatherfield Park? Where were her shoes? She didn't stop running.
She was naked! Hay Lin stopped running. She wrapped her arm around her unclothed form. Why was she naked?
Everything around her seemed unreal, oddly distant and intangible. Air forced its way in and out of her burning lungs as she stood in the darkness panting. Her legs and arms felt strange, though from what she could see they looked no different.
The moment of pause began to slip away as her thoughts focused on one desire, one need greater than anything else — she had to run. That was the thought that kept repeating in her head, an overpowering urge to keep running. Hay Lin watched while instinct and reason battled in her brain.
Closing her eyes tight, Hay Lin shook her head trying to push out all the noise, all the things that didn't make sense. Her friend, Cornelia had attacked her, had turned her into a monster. Cornelia had made Hay Lin hurt her friends, had made her hurt Will…
Violently, Hay Lin shook her head. She didn't want to remember that. She didn't want to see what had Cornelia had done. What she had helped her do.
Yet there it was, no matter how her thoughts tried to run from it, the memory was pushed to the forefront of her mind. Inescapedable and haunting, the image of Will impaled on spikes of earth. She had watched her friend die. She had stood there and done nothing while she watched Will…
The thought was too much. Hay Lin ran with tears burning down her face. She ran from the horrors behind her. She ran from the insane person she had once called friend. She ran from the world, trying to escape to some place beyond it, where even her thoughts wouldn't pain her so. She ran… out into the street.
Not even looking, the only warning Hay Lin had was the blinding headlights of the car. There was no horn, or screech of tires. As Hay Lin brought her hand up to shield her eyes she finally understood the meaning of a "deer caught in headlights."
Fear and terror froze her in place, as though her muscles were just as scared as she was. Time slowed to a lumbering stop. Hay Lin couldn't tell if reality had really paused or if it only seemed that way to her. The car continued to crawl towards her, only feet away.
Arcs of water sprayed from its tires as they slid soundlessly across the rain soaked street. Hay Lin could see every rain drop more clearly than she had ever seen anything else in her life.
She looked through the curtain of rain and her eyes found the front bumper of the blue car that would collide with her. She saw past the headlights, past windshield and to the bald man, in the white robes, who sat calmly behind the wheel. He was much too calm for anyone—who was about to run another person down—should have been.
There eyes met for only a fraction of a fraction of a second and then the car slammed into her. Up became down, pain erupted everywhere, more intense pain than Hay Lin had ever felt. Metal and glass impacted her fragile body, breaking her and cutting her. And then she was thrown off the car as it sped on.
She tumbled painlessly through gentle air before crashing down hard onto the street. Terrible pain exploded inside her. It was beyond pain, beyond comprehension. Her brain had no word for pain like this. No thought that could describe the agony the wracked her form.
Red darkness crept in at the edges of her eyes as she struggled to draw breath. The last thing she saw as a pair of feet walking towards her. Not the driver, but someone else, someone worse, worse than the pain. And then it was all gone, save for the darkness.
It was the incessant beeping that woke Hay Lin. Her whole body shook at the noise of the alarm and her eyes snapped open in a panic. There was cold sweat on her body and even though she was under many warm blankets she shivered as if she were out in the cold rain. The beeping continued.
The young Asian girl's eyes scanned the uneven darkness of the unfamiliar room, trying to put a name to the place. Where was she? What was this place? The panic from her sleep was still pounding in her chest. And the beeping continued.
At last Hay Lin found the funny, frog shaped, clock next to the bed, her bed. Her hand stretched out with a memory of its own. As her fingers touched the button that would silence the clock, the beeping changed. Hay Lin could swear she hear the clock whispering her name. That the beeps hadn't been beeping sounds at all!
She pressed the off button quickly. The beeping stopped and that's all they had been, beeps.
For a long moment Hay Lin's eyes stayed on the clock. Even still… there was something about the odd shaped clock… something that reminded her of… someone… the thought was lost and Hay Lin pulled the covers tighter over her body, hiding inside them like a cocoon.
Still in shock, still unsure of where she was, Hay Lin kept her eyes open as she lay under her covers. Even though she couldn't see anything, she didn't even want to blink. Slowly, she pulled open the covers until she had a proper hole to peak out through.
The young girl held herself tightly as she sorted out the reality in the darkness. This was her room. Those were her things, on the floor. This was her bed she was laying on. These were her blankets wrapped around her. And—Hay Lin double checked to be sure—these were her pajamas she was wearing.
Holding out one of her hands, Hay Lin flexed it, watching her fingers open and close as though unable to comprehend them. How… how had she gotten here? How was she ok? The last thing she clearly remembered was the car—was the pain. But the more she thought about it, the more it seemed like a distant dream. Already the images were starting to slip away from her.
A startling knock came at her door and Hay Lin let out a yelp of distress.
"Hay Lin, are you ok?" called the voice of her mother, sounding a little worried.
"Yeah, mom," Hay Lin answered automatically, her heart rate still very fast from the sudden shock.
"Well, hurry up and get dressed, your friend is waiting downstairs to walk to school with you," replied her mother. Hay Lin's eyes swiveled to the door. But she could already hear footsteps moving away.
Someone was waiting for her? A friend? For one horrifying moment images of a red haired girl flashed through Hay Lin's mind. Terrible images… Images, of death.
Her eyes slid to the frog shaped clock that sat silently on the table next to her bed. Then she closed her eyes and rubbed her face with her hands and forced herself out of bed.
Half dazed, Hay Lin dressed before making a trip to the bathroom to clean herself up. A few minutes later she was headed down stairs, her head finally starting to clear. Until she saw who was waiting for her.
Hay Lin almost dropped her book bag as she covered her mouth to stop the squeak of surprise. Sitting at the table, watching TV with her parents was… Irma. 'Why… how…?' Were the only words repeating in her head. Hay Lin's mind was reeling. It wasn't possible, she couldn't be…
But when Hay Lin tried to reason why it wasn't possible, her thoughts failed her. Specific events slipped through her fingers like sand. She felt like she was losing her mind! Like she really hadn't woken up at all. That her dream had just sort of slipped sideways into reality.
"Hay-hey!" shouted Irma, snapping Hay Lin out of the daydream. "About time you got up, come on!" There was a broad smile across the brown haired girl's face as she moved to her friend. Hay Lin looked away uncomfortably. "Huh? What's wrong? Aren't you happy to see me?"
"I… uh…" Hay Lin stalled, unsure what to say. There were words flying all around her head. Words Irma had yelled at her. And there was the memory of a hot hand print on her face from where Irma had slapped her. And… and… it was all a dream… it couldn't be real… it didn't feel real!
"It's nothing," said Hay Lin, forcing a weak grin. Irma raised a curious eyebrow.
"Ooooo-k," said Irma shaking her head, smile still on her face. "Let's get going or we'll be late!"
"Right. Late for what?" asked Hay Lin.
"School!" replied Irma rolling her eyes. Everything still felt a little off some how. "You sure you're awake?"
"Not really," Hay Lin mumbled into her bookbag so that the words were difficult to hear.
"Wait!" called Hay Lin's mom. "You can't go outside like that!" Both Hay Lin and Irma looked at each other, then at Hay Lin's mom. "It's raining! You need umbrellas at the very least!"
Thick gray storm clouds covered the sky overhead and cold rain pattered against the umbrellas of the two girls. They walked in silence almost the whole way to school. To Hay Lin, it felt like the walk had taken only a few seconds.
Inside, the halls were dry and the class room was warm, even if their lesson was boring. Hay Lin was only half paying attention to their teacher as he prattled on about… something. Her eyes kept drifting down to Irma and sliding over to Taranee.
Taranee… There was another girl she hadn't expected to find in her class today, but, for the life of her, Hay Lin couldn't figure out why. Everything inside her head was all jumbled up and every time she got hold of something it slipped away.
Lunch came quickly and Cornelia joined them. The four girls ate together, Irma telling a story that Hay Lin was hardly listening too, while Cornelia and Taranee laughed at just the right moments. Hay Lin stayed quiet and no one seemed to notice.
As lunch ended, and they were all getting up to leave, terrible pain shot through Hay Lin's leg as she tried to stand. She let out a cry of distress and Irma moved quickly to her with words of concern. But the cramp was already fading, except, it hadn't felt like any cramp Hay Lin had ever experienced before.
Then, before she knew it, the school bell was ringing, signaling the end of classes for the day. Hay Lin hardly even remembered coming back from lunch. Had she fallen asleep in class?
With a hurried bustle the students got up to leave, chatting away like they didn't have a care in the world. In the noise of the students it was the soft sound of the rain patting against the window that drew Hay Lin's attention. It seemed to be the most real thing in this…
"Helloooo, Earth to Hay Lin." Hay Lin was returned from her lost thoughts as Irma tapped her on the forehead. There was an uncertain smile on Irma's face. "Are you awake in there?"
"Maybe," whispered Hay Lin, she felt groggy, like she really had been asleep.
"Do you want to walk home together?" Irma asked as Hay Lin began to gather her things.
"Sure!" said Hay Lin putting on a bright smile.
The rain continued to fall, cold and wet and relentless, from the gray sky. Again, the walk home felt like only seconds. It had been awkwardly silent. There were questions burning inside Hay Lin's head. Questions she wanted to ask so badly.
"Well, see you tomorrow," said Irma with a wave and she began to walk away.
"Wait!" shouted Hay Lin, Irma stopped and looked back at her, puzzled. "I… we… Irma I have to ask you something." There was worry and uncertainty across Hay Lin's face.
"Ok," said Irma. The rain continued to fall on them. Hay Lin put off her question as long as possible before blurting out, very quickly.
"Didwehaveafight?" ask Hay Lin, very fast.
"Huh?" asked Irma, not understanding. "I didn't catch that."
"Did we… have a fight?" asked Hay Lin again. Irma looked shocked but shook her head.
"Of course not, why would you think that?" replied Irma confused. Hay Lin let out a sigh. It really had just been a dream. All of it. Cornelia hadn't killed Will, everything was fine, everything was all right.
"Uh, no reason," said Hay Lin. "I just had this really bad dream about Will last night and it kinda messed with my brain I guess."
"Whose Will?" asked Irma genuinely confused. Then a devilish smirk spread across her face. "Is Will your secret boyfriend you haven't told me about?"
"Irma that's not funny!" said Hay Lin, she could feel panic rising in her chest.
"Sorry, sorry," apologized Irma. "I won't tease you about your secret boyfriend."
"No, I mean it's not funny to pretend you don't know who Will is," said Hay Lin. Irma raised an eye brow.
"Uh, did I meet him at a party, Hay Hey? You know I'm terrible with faces…" Irma said, scratching the back of her neck. Hay Lin shook her head, this… this was wrong.
"No, Will is a girl! She has red hair! She's leader of WITCH!" Hay Lin shouted. Irma looked taken aback.
"Is that a TV show? Cause' I don't know what you're talking about Hay Lin," said Irma shrugging her shoulders.
"Yeah, it's a TV show," replied Hay Lin, her features falling. This was all wrong.
"Well, you know I'm not much on TV. I'll take loud music over TV any day," said Irma with a smile. "I'll see you tomorrow then?"
"Yeah," said Hay Lin trying not to let her pain show as she waved goodbye to the best friend she didn't even know. Irma walked off, waving goodbye for a few more seconds. Hay Lin was overcome by the strangest sensation that the world was wrong but she tried to ignore it.
Slowly, Hay Lin moved to the entrance that would take her inside the Silver Dragon, the restaurant that her parents owned, and out of the rain. But she did not open the door. Instead she stood there a moment, her thoughts uncertain.
Determinately, as if fighting some unseen force, Hay Lin pushed herself away from the door and jogged after Irma. Something wasn't right. Irma wasn't right. And Hay Lin was going to find out what!
The small Asian girl ran faster, her steps splashing her with icy water, but she didn't care. She had almost caught up with Irma, who apparently couldn't hear Hay Lin running towards her at nearly a full sprint now.
Irma turned the corner and a moment later Hay Lin screeched to a stop at the edge of the curb, looking down the sidewalk, where Irma should be. But Hay Lin did not see Irma. Instead she found only an empty street. No cars, no people and no Irma, just the endless, freezing, rain.
Sopping wet Hay Lin trudged across the restaurant. The few customers that were in today hardly glanced up at here as she entered, but all of them watched her out of the corner of their eyes. Silently judging her or, at least, that's what Hay Lin thought.
She had almost reached the door in the back—that would take her to the small kitchen area and then up to her room—when she stopped. There was a man, sitting at the table next to the door, reading the news paper, waiting for his food.
Hay Lin's eyes raced over him, his bald head, his white robes. He was clearly out of place and the rest of the world seemed to become darker around him, as though he were more tangible than the rest of the world.
The bald man looked up at Hay Lin and smiled pleasantly.
"Hay Lin!" cried her mother's voice as she appeared from the kitchen carrying a tray of food. "You're soaked! What happened?" her mother set the tray down on a nearby table and embraced her daughter in a rough hug.
Hay Lin's eyes slid back to the bald man, or rather the empty table he had been sitting at, because there was no one there. He too had vanished… like Irma. Or worse… maybe he had never been there to start with…
"Go up stairs and get changed before you catch a cold," continued her mom, finally letting go. Hay Lin nodded slightly and her mom smiled at her before lifting the tray once more and moving off to one of the few tables that had people at it.
Absently Hay Lin moved to the table where the man had been. She had seen him before some place, but she couldn't clearly recall where. Already his features were sliding from her mind.
Hay Lin was just about to walk off when she noticed that the newspaper the man had been reading was still on the table. With a trembling hand, the frightened girl reached out and touched the paper, half expecting it too to vanish any second. But it did not.
Slowly, Hay Lin rotated the grayish newspaper until the words were right-side-up and she could read them. Her eyes flicked across the headlines and she felt her breath catch in her chest.
"The World is a Lie…" was what the first half of the headline said. Hay Lin stumbled backwards, knocking over a chair. She could feel the eyes of everyone in the room turn to her but Hay Lin did not say anything and she did not right the chair. Instead she sprinted to her room, slamming her door behind her and hiding under the covers of her bed as though she were a little girl.
In the warm blankets Hay Lin hardly noticed the chill from her wet clothing. Her mind whirled with the words of the headline she had read. Although she did not want to, the terrible words replayed over and over in her mind as she lay huddled in the darkness of her room. "The World is a Lie, Hay Lin."
This couldn't be real. That was the first thing Hay Lin thought as she felt the ice cold rain pummeling her skin. This had to be a dream.
Shadowy trees spread out in front of Hay Lin as she lay in Heatherfield park once more. It was nighttime and the park should have been completely dark, but instead it was haunted by a cold blue light that spread across the ground and lingered on the trees.
The light was coming from behind where Hay Lin was laying. She tried to stand, to turn around, but found that she couldn't move. Her eyes swept across her limbs. Vines, entangling her arms and legs and body had wrapped themselves around her.
They weren't normal plant vines either. These vines were glowing with blue magical energy. And they hadn't just wrapped around her, they had grown into her skin… her silver skin.
Acting on instinct more than reason she bit at the vines, tearing them away. It hurt, but she could endure, and soon she was free of them.
Rising to her feet Hay Lin winced in pain. Her body ached.
What was she doing here? How had she gotten here?
As if in answer to her question bright blue light flashed from behind Hay Lin, illuminating the ground and the trees. It cast her shadow along the ground, something about the shadow was wrong. Its shape… wasn't… human…
Closing her eyes, as though seeing what was making the light would be too much, Hay Lin turned to around. Slowly, she opened her eyes.
For a moment she could only see stinging blue light. But that moment quickly passed and Hay Lin wasn't sure what she was looking at.
The first word to jump to her thoughts was "pyramid" but that wasn't quiet right. It didn't look like any pyramid she had ever seen before. Great stretches of blue glowing runes moved and danced around the surface of the structure. While the building was triangular is shape, its sides did not seem solid or fixed. In fact the building itself seemed to steadily be getting larger.
The point was a good hundred feet above her, yet its base was much too small. Coming out from the top was a pillar of blue light, pricing the clouds still higher above, churning them in a great spiral.
Hay Lin's eyes returned to ground level. Her breathing became uneven and her heart pounded against her ribs. At the base of the pyramid were two great silver-metal monsters, their own blue eyes cutting into her. They stood at either side of a doorway, guarding it—at least, that's what Hay Lin guessed they were doing.
She would have given anything to run but to her horror, Hay Lin's footsteps took her forward, towards the great dark doorway, towards the metal monsters that watched her.
As she got closer Hay Lin could swear that the structure was becoming larger and not just because she was getting closer, but because it was actually growing. Trying not to look at the metal monsters Hay Lin's eyes found the ground.
But it seemed there was no escape here either, the same blue root-like veins that had been wrapped around her, ran through the earth under her feet. They stretched deep under ground and out in every direction, and Hay Lin could seem them, even through the soil, as if their glow was powerful enough to overcome solid earth.
Hay Lin looked straight ahead, not wanting to see anymore. She avoided eye contact with the monsters that she knew would pounce on her any moment and rip her to pieces. But they did not and Hay Lin moved past them and into the shadowy darkness beyond.
It was not warmer inside. In fact, it was colder. Hay Lin could see her frozen breath escaping her lips as her ragged breathing continued. The entrance hall led immediately to a set of near vertical stairs.
To Hay Lin, it felt like the walls were contracting around her with each step she took. Like the outside, the inside spun with blue runes. Hay Lin tried to decipher the strange moving symbols, to see if she recognized any of them, but they didn't mean anything to her.
Unable to stop herself, drawn forward by some intangible force, Hay Lin ascended the perilous stairway. There were no hand rails and she didn't dare touch the walls so she was forced to crawl up the stairs on all fours, it felt oddly natural.
High above, at the end of the stairway Hay Lin could see a small opening. Her eyes locked on it, focused on it. She tried not to see the narrow hall, or the walls that felt like they were moving closer every instant of every second.
And after what seemed like a short eternity, Hay Lin crawled out of the stairwell and into the room at the top of the pyramid. It was not what she had been expecting.
The room was not a square box, but a sphere, even the floor dipped down. The walls were semi-translucent and Hay Lin could see the distant lights of the city, surrounding the park. She tried to look elsewhere, to see other things but in the end, her eyes were drawn to the center of the room, to the two people floating above the ground
In the very center of the sphere, floating between the two people, was great orb of energy. It looked like a mini blue sun. And floating around it, in a slow orbit, were two young girls. One had silver hair, she was dressed in all black, trimmed with silver. Across her face was a featureless silver mask. Tendrils of energy leapt from the walls of the spherical room and into her body, before pouring out into the mini blue sun.
The other girl that orbited opposite the silver haired one had blond hair and was dressed in much more familiar attire. Her eyes were closed and for a brief moment Hay Lin thought she knew her, but the name slipped away.
At first Hay Lin thought the energy the blond haired girl was contributing to the mini sun was coming from her body too, but as she continued to drift around the orb, Hay Lin could see that it was the blue gem around her neck that was releasing its energy, terrible, powerful energy.
Neither girl seemed to notice that Hay Lin was there. Not sure what she was suppose to do now Hay Lin sat, and pulled her knees up to her chest and watched the slow dance.
After what seemed like forever, but felt like a few second the blond haired girl opened her eyes. They quickly fixed on Hay Lin.
She lowered gently to the ground, while the masked girl continued to drift around the orb in the center, pouring her life force into it.
The blond girl moved towards Hay Lin, a cold smile on her lips. Hay Lin felt afraid, but she couldn't move.
"I see you have healed nicely," said the blond girl, examining Hay Lin. "I was worried about you." Hay Lin said nothing. The blond girl looked back at the floating orb.
"The time is coming," said the blond girl. "I will need you soon." She looked back at Hay Lin. "Don't go too far."
A distant shrill sound pierced Hay Lin's ears. As Hay Lin turned her head to listen the world faded away.
BEEP. BEEP. HAY. BEEP. The blankets on the bed stirred slightly. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. A low mumble and grown came from the small mound of covers. BEEP. LIN. BEEP. BEEP. At last a lazy hand reached out from under the bed sheets, missed the frog shaped clock twice before finally hitting the off button. The blankets lay still for a long moment.
BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.
"Alright I'm up!" shouted Hay Lin throwing off the covers and reaching for the clock. But it was silent. A tremble ran through her body and Hay Lin hugged herself, shaking slightly, her nightmare distant in her mind but not forgotten.
It was a full minute before Hay Lin got out of bed and stood in the darkness of her room. She was surprised to find herself in her pajamas, since she distinctly remembered falling asleep in her cloths. But in truth she didn't really remember falling asleep at all.
Silently she made her way to the bathroom. The halls were still dark, what time was it? The middle of the night? Hay Lin didn't care.
She turned on the shower and almost stepped in fully clothed. A few seconds later she was ready and without checking the water temperature stepped in. She nearly screamed but managed to choke it down. The water was ice cold. She turned on hot, but it was just as cold.
Hay Lin leapt out of the shower, dripping all over the rug and the floor. Her mind was slowly catching up with her now that she had been given a burst of adrenaline. It usually took a few minutes for the hot water to come on.
The thought of grabbing a towel didn't even occur to her as she checked the water temperature over and over. But it was always cold.
Hay Lin wasn't sure how long she stood there with the shower running, but it was a long time, an hour maybe? The water didn't even warm. At last, she turned it off and returned to her room, leaving her pajamas on the bathroom floor.
It was still dark outside and the patter of rain echoed above her. Hay Lin stood with her eyes closed, in the center of her room, listening to the rain and wondering if it would ever stop falling.
After a long time she finally opened her eyes, only to be greeted by darkness. With a sigh, Hay Lin dressed and made her way down stairs.
The lights were on in the kitchen and she found her father moving about the tiny work space, getting it ready for the day. The small TV flashed with pictures of the news, the weather report, calling for clouds and rain all week. The sound was very low so Hay Lin couldn't hear what they were saying but the images said enough.
"Good morning sweetie," said her dad, stopping for a moment to kiss her on the forehead. "You're up early today."
"Yeah, I…" she was about to say she couldn't sleep, but that seemed rather obvious since she was awake. "Anything I can do to help."
"Of course, why don't you go setup the dining area?" replied her father with a smile. Hay Lin nodded brightly. This was more like it, this was more normal.
Hay Lin flicked on the lights in the restaurant and got to work. She changed tablecloths, put out new placemats, silverware and glasses. Then she swept the floor and preformed other minor tidying.
"All done Da…" Hay Lin started to say as she re-entered the kitchen. But the room was empty. Hay Lin sighed. It was nice that her parents worked at home, but, the problem was they were always working when they were home. And even though she got to see them it was like they never really saw her.
Fixing a quick breakfast, Hay Lin leaned against the counter in front of the TV and turned the volume up slightly so she could hear it over the crunch of her cereal. The newscasters were talking about some tragic story that Hay Lin had missed the start of.
"And now, here is our foreign correspondent Ori with breaking news about the ongoing conflict," said the newscaster. Hay Lin nearly chocked on her food as the images changed to a bald man, dressed in white robes. He was looking right at her. Not just at the camera, but right at her.
"The world is a lie, Hay Lin," said the man. "Do not accept what you are presented with, simply because it is presented to you. Do not push aside what you know in your heart to be true."
Hay Lin's jaw dropped, the TV… it was talking to her!
"You must not surrender. You must not accept," said the man. "You must not forget, who you are." The man's eyes lingered on Hay Lin for a long time as though willing her to read his thoughts. "Back to you Dave."
The image returned to the previous newscaster "Tragic," he commented before continuing on as though it had been just another normal report. Hay Lin stumbled backwards, knocking her bowl of cereal off the counter. In crashed to the floor and shattered, sending ceramic shards all over the kitchen.
Irma did not arrived when it came time to leave for school. So Hay Lin walked alone. The rain would not let up and her umbrella seemed useless against its assault.
The streets were oddly empty but Hay Lin hardly noticed as she walked quickly. The gates to the school were open, but, there were no other students arriving. Was she so late that everyone was already here?
The front doors were unlocked, but just like the world outside, the halls were empty and silent, save for the ever present patter of rain. Hay Lin walked slowly down the hallway, looking in on class room after class room.
Each one was empty. Was it Saturday? Had she completely gotten the days mixed up? At last, Hay Lin reached her class room and pushed the door open. But she wished she hadn't. This room was not empty.
Every seat was full. Every seat had the exact same person sitting in it, looking at her, smiles on their faces. Hay Lin froze. Every person in the room was Irma Liar.
"Hey, Hay Hay," echoed all of the Irma's at once. Hay Lin stumbled backwards and slammed the door. Her hand was still firmly grasping the knob, ready to hold the door shut if any of them tried to open it. But the knob did not turn and no one tired to open the door.
After a short while her breathing steadied and Hay Lin opened the door again, but the room was empty. Shaking her head in disbelief, Hay Lin ran. She ran from the school, she ran across the car-less streets, she ran home… to the empty restaurant.
"Mom! Dad!" Hay Lin shouted as her eyes swept across the tables, set and ready for customers that would never come. There was no answer. The world was empty. She was all alone.
The chime that hung by the door sounded as it opened and Hay Lin spun around startled. She whished she hadn't looked. Standing in the entrance was a girl with long blond hair and piercing blue eyes. A blue gem hung around her neck and there was a slight frown upon her face.
"So this is where you've been," said the girl quietly, her tone disapproving.
"Cornelia…" whispered Hay Lin, slowly backing away. The blond girl held out her hand.
"It's time. I am ready," said Cornelia. Hay Lin couldn't stop herself, she took Cornelia's hand and the world melted away around them, like it was a water color painting and the rain was dissolving it.
"Up, Hay Lin, take me up," commanded Cornelia. Hay Lin had no idea what Cornelia was talking about but that didn't seem to matter. They were flying, racing away from the ground, up towards the clouds.
A blue pillar of light spun with terrible speed at the center of the storm clouds, turning the sky. The spinning clouds moved as fast as a hurricane now.
"This is good," said Cornelia as they came within a few hundred feet of the clouds. Cornelia spread her hands and began to speak in a booming voice that seemed to shake the sky. "Forgotten and lost in darkness. Banished from the light of the universe to the edge of nothingness. I summon you back kingdom of the night. Fortress of Rakadin!"
As Cornelia spoke the last words the clouds suddenly tore apart. A huge black sphere expanded high above, the blue pillar pushing into it. The sphere of darkness grew larger and larger until Hay Lin thought it would swallow them up.
And then, something appeared out of the darkness, something massive, the size of a small city. A Castle. A dark kingdom with looming spires and menacing walls of black stone. The sphere collapsed on itself and the blue pillar of light flickered before going out.
The castle began to fall towards the Earth below, but Cornelia seemed to be prepared for this. With a roar of effort Cornelia pulled the pyramid that sat far below from the ground, it raced up towards them.
With a horrible realization Hay Lin saw that there was no where to go. Falling towards them was a huge castle. Racing up from the ground was the point of a pyramid. She and Cornelia would be crushed between them!
But Hay Lin was willing to accept that. She closed her eyes waiting for the moment of impact to come. Instead, she felt her feet lightly touch the ground. Hay Lin opened her eyes. She and Cornelia were both inside the spherical room at the top of the pyramid.
Hay Lin looked at Cornelia, whose face was turned upwards. The structure was still ascending with blinding speed towards the bottom of the falling castle. Closer and closer, faster and faster until at last the two collided.
The force of the impact knocked Hay Lin off her feet, but Cornelia remained standing. The pyramid cut though the underbelly of the castle, pricing deep into the heart of Rakadin before slowing to a stop.
They were no longer flying upwards, but nor were they falling. Cornelia waved a hand and a wall of the pyramid faded away, they had stopped so that just the tip was ground level with the floor of the room. A smile spread across Cornelia's face.
Authors notes:
Hey everyone! Welcome back. I know it took a little while, but, hey, this is a story of epic proportions! I can't write this stuff in just one sitting overnight… although, some of the later chapters maybe as I start stressing near the ending…
Anyhow, the real question I bet everyone is wondering is when is lunch?… Wait… no… what happens next?! (and what's for lunch?) Well, luckily, you don't have to wait too long to find out, I brought tuna… (okay, done with lunch jokes). The next chapter will be posted next, next Saturday (that's November 14)! And each chapter to follow that format until we are done (so every other week, or twice a month, complete list is in my forum)!
At present the first draft of this story is 17 chapters long. Four episodes broken into four parts each (there is totally no hidden meaning behind that, don't look any deeper… wink), with the final episode being five parts.
Anyhow, I hope you've enjoyed the first installment of this story. Feel free to leave a review! I love reviews… and tuna… I'm gona go make a sandwich now…
HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!
Starwin out. (for now)