Shadows of the Beyond: Chapter One
Heat waves sizzled the sidewalk on a hot July day one summer. The children who usually swarmed the streets with their games were all inside. All, that is, except for one boy, a small thing with tousled brown hair and freckles.
Charles could feel the sun burning his freckles, could almost feel the skin turning red. The lemonade stand he sat behind was built from leftover cardboard boxes he had found while scrounging around the garbage dump a few blocks away. Business was slow. It felt like hours since his last customer.
Then two younger kids, probably four or five years old from the look of them, rode up on their tricycles. They got off and came up to the stand.
"Charlie, you're supposed to come with us."
Charles blinked. "How did you know my name?"
The two children -- a boy and a girl, both about the same height, both with curly blonde hair -- stared at him with deep eyes that seemed to be seeing beyond him. "Charlie, it's time," said the girl.
"Time for what?" He looked at his watch. It was almost three o'clock.
"Time for the change," the boy said. "You need to come with us."
"Come with you where? Who are you?"
The girl frowned. "We can't tell you. Yet, at least. But you need to trust us. We won't hurt you."
Charles remembered something his mother had told him about not going anywhere with strangers, but for some reason these two didn't feel like strangers. He wondered if he'd met them before, at school or at the store.
"Do I know you from somewhere?"
The boy nodded. "Yes, you know us quite well, but it's been a long time, and when the curtain--"
He suddenly stopped as the girl gave him a frantic look. "Never mind. We haven't forgotten you, though."
"Yes," said the girl. "We think about you almost every day. But there isn't much time left. Will you come?"
Somehow Charles knew that this was it -- if he said no, he wouldn't have another chance. He also knew, deep down inside, that if he didn't go with the children, something terrible would happen.
"Yes, I'll go. Can I tell my mom?"
"I'm sorry, but there isn't time," said the boy. He extended his hand. "Here, hold this, and don't let go, no matter what."
Charles grabbed his hand. Suddenly there was blackness. It wasn't like the lights had been turned off, but rather like all the light that ever existed had been sucked out of the universe. It was more than the absence of light, though -- it was a real, almost tangible nothing. Charles felt the ground beneath his feet move like waves of the sea, bubbling and writhing. He had a feeling it wasn't ground anymore, but something else -- the darkness.
Then, slowly, he began to feel very cold. It began in the tips of his toes and crawled up through his feet, climbing up his legs, making the hair stick straight up and the skin tingle with goosebumps. Then he felt it enter his fingertips, his arms. When the cold entered his head through his eyes, he felt it quickly shoot down through his body to his heart. He began to panic. Before the chill could reach it, however, he heard a voice.
"Halt." It was soft and at the same time very hard and stern. Charles couldn't tell whom it belonged to or where it came from, for it seemed to come from everywhere. He expected the voice to continue, but it did not. As soon as it had spoken, however, he felt something warm begin glowing in his heart, growing and expanding and dissolving the cold. It filled his chest and his arms and hands and legs and feet. Finally it rose up to his head. He felt strong and clear and wonderful, as if he could conquer the world. As the warmth got to his eyes, the darkness vanished, just as suddenly as it had appeared, and was replaced by a blinding whiteness.
Charles blinked a few times, his eyes adjusting to the brightness. The whiteness was moving, dancing joyfully to a melody which he felt more than heard.
"We're here." Charles turned and saw the boy and the girl standing on a hill behind him. He turned back and was puzzled by the whiteness. Then he looked up. Far, far above him, higher than the clouds, he saw the spray of a giant waterfall. The waves cascaded down in front of him, hitting bottom far below at some point he could not see. The water was purer and clearer than any water he had seen before.
"It's beautiful, isn't it," the girl said. She was standing next to him. He turned and saw the boy on his other side.
"Where are we?"
The boy looked up at the waterfall. "The real world."
Charles frowned. "The real world?"
"You see, Charlie," said the girl, "your world isn't the only one there is. It's just a copy of the real world."
The boy chimed in. "Your world is a shadow of the real thing. Everything there comes from something here. You've heard of the Niagara Falls, right?"
"Of course."
"This is the real Niagara," he said. "It's not in the same place, of course, but do you see the difference? The Niagara in your world is hardly anything compared to this. And it's the same way with everything."
Charles thought to himself for a moment. "Does that mean I'm not the real me?"
The girl smiled. "Of course you are. But when you're in your own world, you become a shadow of the real you. You can't tell the difference once you're there, of course. It's the same way with dreaming -- you don't know you're dreaming until you wake up. Do you feel any different now than you did before?"
"There isn't time for this, Alana," the boy said. "We have to hurry."
Alana's lip turned down. "I forgot. I'm sorry."
"Wait," said Charles. "You still haven't told me what the big hurry is. What's going to happen?"
"You'll find out soon." The boy turned around and pointed.
Charles turned and looked in the direction of the boy's finger. Far beyond the hill where they were standing, there stood a mountain, higher than any he had ever seen before, even taller than the waterfall. Between them and the mountain the ground was covered with lush, deep green trees.
Then Charles noticed that there was no sun in the sky. There weren't any clouds to hide it, either. "Where's the sun?"
"There's no need of it," the boy said. "The light from the King fills the whole world. The whole universe, in fact."
"What's the King? Is that the name of a star?"
"No, silly," said Alana. "He's a person, like you and me, but much better."
Charles frowned. "How can a person light up the whole universe?"
"I don't know, but he does, and that's all that matters." She smiled.
"The King is the one who sent us to get you," said the boy. "He said to take you to the foot of the mountain, but only if you want to go."
"But I don't even know what I'm doing here! Why should I do what the King says?" Deep inside, however, Charles knew he had to obey the King. And even deeper, he knew that he wanted to obey him. He didn't know why; he just did.
Alana looked at the boy with concern. "Saro, say something."
Saro gulped. "Charlie, can you trust us?"
"I don't know." Charles closed his eyes, slowly shaking his head. "This isn't real. It can't be."
"Charlie, look around you," said Alana. "You know it's real."
He couldn't deny it. The waterfall was far more vivid and alive than anything he'd ever seen back home, even in movies. And the mountain -- the mountain made his heart beat faster just to look at it. It was so...deep. Yes, that was the right word for it -- everything here was deep, in color and height and life and everything else.
"Okay." Both Saro and Alana smiled. "But only on one condition."
Alana quickly said, "What?"
"You tell me what the King's real name is. He does have a name, right?"
Saro frowned. "We can't. It's not something you can tell people. You have to find out for yourself, the way we did."
"Charlie, he does have another name in your world," said Alana. "I think you'll find that out as you get to know him better. But that's something we can't do for you."
"Well, if you won't tell me his name, can you at least tell me what the cold was?"
Alana shivered. "Please, let's not talk about that. Not here."
"But I want to know! I won't go unless you tell me." Charles knew he was acting like a baby, but he was suddenly possessed by a drive to know the source of the cold.
"You'll find out soon," Saro said again, a sad look coming into his eyes. "All you need to know now is that the light of the King will always overcome the cold. But sometimes it doesn't come until you're just about ready to give up."
A cloud came into the sky from the east. "It's time," Alana said. "Will you go?"
Charles sighed. He knew what his choice needed to be. "Yes," he said. "I don't know what I'm getting myself into, but I'll go."
"Thank you!" cried Alana. Saro allowed himself a smile.
