I awoke to the sound of an alarm from my clock that shines on the ceiling at night. I keep it, I guess, because my mom gave it to me, and it's
an antique. You never know how much money you can get for things like that someday. Go back to sleep! my mind screamed. I had been up pretty
late the night before thinking about the happenings of the previous day, and what I would say at the Gray Council meeting. Wait! Oh schazzbott,
I forgot! The meeting! I had talked to my brother and his girlfriend the night before, and I was pretty sure he thought I was crazy! He decided
that I could assemble a meeting of the Gray Council, if I wanted to. Luckily, he didn't mind. He was just wondering why we, the Gray Council,
were needed. I better get going to that meeting, or I'm not going to have anytime to talk to Lia. I quickly dressed and ran out of the house.
It's a good thing we have those moving sidewalks in Cartersville, I thought. They make things so much easier and faster.
The Infinity Fountain, dead ahead. Wow, it only took me 5 minutes. Considering the really bad traffic (Ha!)... not bad. Lia was already there,
waiting for me. Wait! Why is Galadriel here? "Hey, Galadriel! Sorry I'm a little late, Lia. I got caught up with extra schoolwork."
Yeah right! Schoolwork. What was I thinking! Oh well.
"Oh, okay," replied Lia, "so, why did you want to meet with me?"
"Well, I've got a question. Don't laugh at me, but do you know anything about Elsewhere, the Beyond, the demon Nothing, Tristan, the
Ordens, or the Dream-master?"
"Why?" questioned Lia.
"Because Tristan told me to talk to you..."
"Tristan?! Oh yeah! He's my family's guardian angel. How do you know him?"
"I got into an accident. Tristan saved me from being squashed by tons of oncoming cars."
"Sounds like my accident, Neil."
"Really? You got into an accident?"
"Yeah. I'll tell you what happened. I was walking across an intersection, and I swear the light was red. Cars started to come toward me.
The light said red; I didn't know why everyone was going.
"You are so stupid, Lia!" said Galadriel.
"I'm not stupid!" exclaimed Lia.
"Whatever! There's no traffic light in the place where you're describing! There's also no intersection! Hello! Have you gone crazy?!"
said Galadriel sarcastically.
"No, I'm not crazy, Galadriel! There was an intersection and traffic light there! I swear there was! It's some kind of an invisible light,
and I can only see it because of Tristan. Now do you get it?"
"Okay, fine, Lia. I still say you're crazy, though."
"Whatever! Anyways, Neil, I was frozen in my tracks. Suddenly, a man, Tristan, came out of nowhere. He seemed to point his hand directly
at the middle of the road. He made his hand move down, and at the same time, a pothole formed in the ground. He knocked me out of the way, and
a bunch of cars crashed from the pothole. I blacked out..."
"That's almost exactly like my story," I said.
"Electric. Anyway, I felt so dizzy! I awoke in a palace. Tristan came up to me and introduced himself. He told me that I was in the
Dream-world and in the house of the Guardians. It was huge! He called that part of the Dream-world Gelore, the land of the messengers. He said
he was my guardian angel, actually, my whole family's guardian angel. This is because I'm part of a Great Family...
"A Great family? You're part of a Great Family?"
"Yeah. My Great Aunt that is very sick. She's the person who's in charge of my Great Family, our Matriarch. I'm the one next in line to
take over. That's why Tristan was trying to keep me safe."
"I'm sorry about your Aunt. On the other hand, that's electric that Tristan is your family's guardian!"
"Yeah, well, I'll tell you the rest of my story. Tristan told me to watch out for any demons that could harm me. He then told me he had to
go tend to another problem. He disappeared. I awoke lying on the sidewalk. I was okay, but I had a headache. That's what happened, and that's
how I know Tristan."
"That's electric. I bet the thing he had to tend to was me. I was in the Dream-world too."
"That's strange."
"Yeah. Well, why are you here, Galadriel?"
"Well, Lia said I should talk to you about Maus, an Orden, and about the Beyond."
"How do you know Maus, and how do you know about the Beyond?!" I questioned.
"Maus saved my life in the Beyond, you dimwit."
What! How could she... why would she... need her to save her life? Now I'm more confused. Wait! The phone call! Now I remember. That's how she
knows Maus. Maybe she saved her from that monster or whatever was chasing after her. Maybe that monster or whatever it was, was Nothing.
"Hello! Earth to Neil! Are you even listening to me?!" Galadriel screamed at me. I snapped out of my thoughts.
"Sorry. How did Maus save your life?"
"Well, I was sitting on one of the benches in the Infinity Fountain one day, and suddenly, out of nowhere, I was grabbed by this monster.
It looked like it was just a giant shadow. I mean, it was strange; there was no one except that shadow. No one there, just this shadow
figure." Galadriel shook her head, as if trying to clear it. "Anyway, the dark thing grabbed me and dragged me into, I guess, some
type of portal. I ended up in a place called the Realm of the Living Dead, or at least that's what Maus told me. I was in a canyon of some
sort. There was lightning overhead. There was a bright light on the wall of the canyon above me and to my left. There could have been another
bright light on top of the canyon in front of me. There was a black river directly in front of me, which I later found out was called the
Endless River of No Return. There was a reddish crescent moon poking through the clouds to my right..."
Wait, is that…that's the place Galadriel so called talked to me on the phone from! "Wait! That place sounds exactly what you were
describing in that mysterious phone call!"
"What are you talking about, Neil?! I didn't call you on a pay phone. Have you gone nuts?!" Galadriel questioned with worry and
sarcasm in her voice.
"I've not gone nuts. If you didn't call me, then who did?"
"I don't know what you're talking about at all! Why would I -or anyone else- call you from the Beyond about me? Now I'm freaked out even
more!" Galadriel said in a confused voice.
"I don't know why that would happen or how you or someone else would do that either. Well, forget about it for now. Continue on with your
story." This is really starting to confuse me even more, I thought to myself.
"Fine. Well, since you already know what the Realm of the Living Dead looks like, then I'll just tell you what happened. So, I looked
around at my surroundings for about a minute, and I suddenly heard an enormous roar. I started to run, because I didn't know what to
do..."
"The phone call mentioned you were running away from this shadow figure, as you would call it, like you were a crazy maniac. This is
starting to all make sense!"
"Well, I'm glad it's making sense. Excuse me! I was talking!" said Galadriel.
Man, this girl is getting on my nerves! "Go ahead."
"Okay then. The shadow figure got closer and closer to me. I think Maus said that the shadow figure's name was Demor..."
Wait! Demor?! Who's Demor? I thought. Galadriel continued on. "We must have run for 5 klicks. I was getting tired by then. Demor just
grabbed ahold of me. I tried to fight back, but I couldn't. I blacked out. I woke up to the sound of running water, and I could feel turf and
cool grass underneath me..."
"That's where I woke up when I blacked out after the car crash! Strange!" Now I'm confused again. This is getting stranger by the
second! I thought to myself.
"Weird! Anyways, Maus was there with me. She was the one who saved me from Nothing. She also showed me around Elsewhere. Maus explained to
me all that I have explained to you. That's how I know Maus."
"Wow! The Ordens were the ones who saved me from Nothing. Who's Demor? Wait a second! When did this happen to you?"
"Demor is the shadow demon. Duh! That happened just yesterday, after school. When did you have an experience like this?" questioned
Galadriel in a serious tone of voice. Wow! She's actually being serious, for once, I thought.
"That's when I got the phone call!"
"I don't know where, when, how, what, and why you got that phone call. So, you're really confusing me!" exclaimed Galadriel in a
curious and mean voice.
"Galadriel, don't worry about it. You overreact! I'm just wondering why I even got that call."
"Yeah. Whatever. Strange. Hey, look. There's the rest of the Gray Council coming towards us."
"Okay." Who called me if Galadriel didn't? My eyes started to go crazy on me. Why now, right in front of the rest of the Gray
Council? I started to see a trace of what was another world. A figure came up to me and said, "I'm Caleb, your guardian. I've come to help
you."
"What! Who are you! Can anyone see you?"
"No, no one can see me. Only you can. Everyone else is frozen in time."
"Why are you here?"
"I want to warn you of the things to come. Be careful, Neil. You're in great danger."
"I know I'm in danger because of Nothing..."
"Not because of Nothing! Because of the things to come! Beware of them, Neil. Use your gifts to help you. Use your eyes, too. You never
know what you might be able to do with them."
"Hey! Where are you going! Don't leave me!"
"Remember, beware of the things to come!" He was gone in an instant. What just happened? Beware of the things to come? I'm so
confused!
"Earth to Neil!"
"Sorry, Galadriel." It's as if time started up again, I thought to myself. "Hey everyone!"
"Hi, Neil," everyone said.
"Yo, little bro, are we going to go to our normal spot in the Infinity Fountain?"
"I think we'll sit somewhere different today," I replied.
"Sounds good to me," my brother answered.
"We'll sit in the 160° area of the fountain today."
"Electric. Everyone, we're meeting at 160°," said my brother.
"Okay!" everyone replied.
Everybody arrived in the designated area. I don't know why, but I was led to pick that spot. It was like someone or something was telling me to
go there.
"The Gray Council meeting is now in session. We have gathered here to talk about a problem Neil needs help with," explained my
brother, "Neil, you've got the floor."
"Okay. Well, like my brother said, I need help with something. You see, there is this place called Elsewhere, also known as the
Dream-world, that I went to. Don't ask questions quite yet. The Dream-master, a lady known as Gail, has asked me to help her with a special
mission. She needs all of us of the Gray Council to help. We can turn down this invitation, if you'd like, but I think we should help. What do
you guys think? Give me your opinions."
"I think it's a great idea, but I don't understand," said my brother.
"Don't worry about if you don't understand. I don't even understand fully yet. Just trust me and trust Gail. Please, for the sake of
Elsewhere."
"Well, alright," replied my brother, "what do you guys think?" Everyone agreed on this, so I was very happy. Luckily,
everyone seemed to cooperate.
"Then, we'll accept Gail's invitation. Gail said that she would set up a portal so that we can enter Elsewhere. That okay?" Everyone
was cooperating perfectly. I was glad no one was arguing. I think something peaceful came over them. Something that just seemed to say,
"Don't worry, he's not really crazy." Immediately after everyone agreed, something, I didn't know what it was, grabbed Farrell and
dragged him away. Everyone screamed and tried to run after it, but it didn't help. This figure was too focused on kidnapping Farrell. As I
tried to see what this thing was, I noticed that this figure was just like the figure Galadriel described. That's it! It's Demor! Wait a
minute, Demor is just a shadow. This demon is... more solid.
Farrell struggled to get free, but he couldn't! "Let go of me!" he screamed. It just kept on dragging him. Suddenly, a portal, a
black hole marring the shallow waters of the Infinity Fountain, opened, and he was taken through. But before he went through, he blacked
out.
"What are we going to do, Michael?" asked Galadriel. Everyone was panicking.
"Calm down. Just calm down," replied Michael.
"Hello there," said a familiar voice as a figure appeared before us.
"Who are you?" questioned Michael.
"I am Gail, the Dream-master, and Farrell is in trouble. The only way you can save him is to go through the portal into my world,
Elsewhere as you call it. Please, for the sake of Farrell and the Dream-world."
"We'll go. Everyone come on! Lets go!" I said. Maybe we should just let Farrell die, though. He's not too important, I thought.
"This way," said Gail. We all stepped into the portal. No turning back now. Everyone knew that we were in danger. All we felt and saw
was blackness. Whirls of color and light blinded all of us. Slowly, each person opened their eyes. "Where are we?" |