As quickly as the sleep found me it deserted me the same and I awoke to a startle. I was still a little groggy and it seemed as if a thousand light bulbs were all shining ahead of me, twirling and swirling and dancing all around me. And then everything snapped straight.
“Welcome back to the world of the living boy.” Rasped Fryll,
“You’ve been asleep for quite a while, I apologize but there were matters me
and Calminaion needed to discuss and I figured that after a long journey you
would need the rest. Especially for today.”
“What do you mean, especially
for today?”
“Well my boy, I’ve made a decision, I’m going to train you.
We can’t have a Cerediron running around who doesn’t know how to use his
powers.”
As he said those last words Fryll walked over to a chest in
the far corner of the room, apparently the lights were a way of travel here,
because we no longer were in the library study room, but now in a great hall
surrounded by tall stained glass windows that glowed greens and blues, with
candles of every shape and size lining the perimeter of the room. There were no
doors in nor were there any ways out that I could see. Probably to make sure
that we weren’t disturbed, or I give up and try to leave. As I was taking in
the sudden grandness of the room, Fryll rustled through his chest and with a
great “Aha!” he pulled out a bracelet unlike anything I had ever seen before.
It was golden with what looked like silver grain within it
similar to that of a tree. It was round and simple but yet it had a dull green
glow; and had an engraving of a small dragon with ruby eyes that seemed to
stare right into you upon the faceplate.
“It’s called the Dragon’s Force. It’s an enchanted bracelet
that will aid us in your training, here stick out your hand.”
And so I did, I was expecting Fryll to unlatch some hidden
clasp and put it on me but the most curious thing happened. As if on cue the
bracelet unwound itself and in the shape of a dragon flew around the room and
surrounded itself around my right hand.
“Now then the dragon’s force is something of great value.
First off it will only bond with one person and one person only during its phase.
That’s you. The second thing that makes it special is that it will not come off
until an eternity has passed. And Third...”
“Wait an Eternity?? What do you mean? I’ll be wearing this,
the rest of my life??”
“Boy just listen and let me finish, all will be made known
to you in due time. As I was saying, thirdly it grants the wearer the ability
to live for an eternity. That’s what is truly remarkable about it and what is
crucial for your training.”
“You’ve got to be kidding, I have everlasting life?”
“No everlasting life is life that last forever, you on the
other hand have a life now for at least an eternity. There’s a difference.”
Thinking on this made my head spin. I think Fryll may have
lost a few marbles along the way, but hey maybe there’s a reason for all of
this.
“Alrighty boy, now that you will live for an eternity, and I’m
Immortal, we can begin. First Lesson: This place is special, time doesn’t flow
in a straight line as you are used to, and rather it is like a soup all jumbled
up into a big ol’ mess. What I want you to do; is to find a way to the Hills of
Teneheldrin when the tree at the very top bloomed. Fetch me that blossom and
bring it here and your first lesson will be complete.”
“Ok? Now how am I supposed to do that?”
“Well now, if I told you everything what would you learn?”
“I don’t even know where to begin!”
“You begin with that book; in it are some pages about this
place, use those pages to make your path. I have business to attend to but I
leave you a companion.”
Reaching into his cloak, Fryll pulled out a small smooth
pebble not much bigger than a quarter. Blowing on it and whispering an unknown
word in a foreign language the stone seemed to take a breath and slowly grew
until it was about a foot high, had two legs, and what could only be described
as a strange little head.
“This is Demeythos; he will join you on your journey and
provide anything that you need, other than the solution.” With this he turned
to leave, but not without turning and saying with a glimmer in his eye, “Paper
and ink are in the cabinet over there. You will need it.”
With that Fryll disappeared into a cloud of small specks of
light that fluttered into the air and dispersed.
So there it was, I began a journey in school, left school,
only to find myself about to take the hardest class I’ll ever know, wearing the
Dragon’s Force, granting life for an eternity, and of course on top of all of
that; a pet rock. I thought things couldn’t and wouldn’t get any stranger but
they did.
Fryll was right when he said that within the book I’d find
the pages that would help lead me on the path, the only problem was I had no
idea how to create the gateway.
“I figure you don’t know how I’m supposed to make a gateway
to here?” I said as I pointed to the book.
Demeythos looked up at me, made a cooing sound and hobbled
over to the closet full of the supplies that Fryll pointed out before he left.
“Maybe you are helpful and not just a, rock.”
As I walked over and opened up the cabinet and began pulling
out sheets of paper, pens, and pencils of all shapes colors and sizes, I didn’t
notice the new page that was being created within the book. The page that explained everything about how
to make a gateway, I finally took notice of it after a few rough attempts at
trying to “create” a gateway of some sort to no avail.
On the page in the book, it showed a wall covered with
sheets of paper that seemed all patch worked together to create a massive door.
The curious thing though, was that it seemed like the door was opening from the
papers. In that moment I knew what I had to do.
I started pulling sheets of paper, taping gluing, drawing,
inking, coloring, the doorway that suddenly became clear in my mind, and what
seemed like days finally came together. As I put up the last sheet of paper,
the doorknob, it seemed as though the room shifted a bit. Then as I knew what
would happen I grabbed the handle and pushed the new doorway open.
Turning to Demeythos, “Come on boy, it looks like we have a
tree to find.” And so began the quest to find the impossible blossom.
