Eldrus: Old Legends Chapter 1

As first impressions go, it wasn’t the best. The landscape was dark and broken, with the remains of something that might once have been great scattered about. Some areas were frozen, others were burnt, even more were locked into a perpetual state of wetness. A great battle had indeed been fought here. A civilization had crumbled. But as the saying goes, when one door closes another opens.

The story went like this: this place was once called Kvenland, a magical safe realm for mystics. It only became notable after the great Emergence, a year or two ago. Mystics of all kinds flocked here to escape the oppression of humanity, which has lessened great amounts since the battle of Kvenland. What led to it exactly, no one knows. One day, the great magical tree that used to dominate the sky crumbled and fell. Many died even before the Titans started fighting.

But after the dust settled, a portal opened. A portal to a mystical and magical world we have come to call Eldrus. My ultimate destination. Eldrus was large and unexplored, a world larger than even that of earth. The perfect escape, the perfect place for me to hide. Living there would be hard, sure, but it would be nothing in comparison to where I was before. And as a bonus, there were magicians there. Perhaps they could figure out what was wrong with me. I was broken from my thoughts when someone came and tapped me on the shoulder.

“Hi. What’s your name?” the man asked.

“Who wants to know?” I inquired.

“David. You looked lonely, so I figured I’d talk to you. There aren’t many people that brave the trip to Eldrus alone.” David said.

“I’m not most people. My name is Allen, Allen Douglas.” I lied. Sure, my first name is Allen, but I wasn’t going to give away my last name so easily.

“So what brings you to Eldrus?” David asked.

“Curiosity. Freedom. Escape. Pick one.” I told him. I was being surprisingly open with David.

“Well, I suppose you’ll find out when we get there, huh? The bus is about to leave, we’d better hop on board.” David asserted. I nodded and the two of us walked to the bus. We were the last passengers to board. I struggled past some of the larger mystics on board to reach the back of the bus. I sat down in the last seat on the right, and David sat down next to me. I looked out the window at Earth. This might be the last time I see it, in a couple of minutes I’ll be under an alien sky and on my way in life. I thought.

The bus started up and the engine made worrying noises. I had gotten passage on an old bus, as it was much cheaper than the normal fare for travelling to Eldrus. I buckled in and held my breath as the bus started forward. The entire world started to become obscured, and then in a second it was gone. Grey nothingness with black spots replaced it as our journey across the bridge between worlds began.

I pondered what would happen if the magic holding the portal intact was to snap. Would we be lost in the nothingness, or would we be thrown into one world or the other, stranded? Or perhaps we would simply disappear; gone like the wind. Suddenly, the landscape changed again. The greyness vanished and was replaced with a brilliantly colored sky. I looked down at my watch (I had already adjusted it to Eldrus time) and saw that it was high noon here.

For a while, I was pleasantly captivated by the beauty of my surroundings. The sun here wasn’t yellow; it was more red, tinged with flecks of gold. It seemed to set the yellow grass on fire, and turned the enormous rock pillars stretching to the sky a burning orange. The bus stopped with a jerk, and I unclasped my seatbelt. I waited my turn to get off the bus. Everyone on board was excited to get off, for many it was their first time in Eldrus; myself included.

I stepped off the bus and breathed in the rich air. It seemed to even taste better than that of Earth’s did. I walked up to the nearest luggage station, where I met my simple backpack. I put it on and went to the nearest customs kiosk. I was directly behind David, who appeared to be having difficulty with the officer there.

“My fees should have been paid off by my company! I’m a representative of Eldrus Electric, here to supervise the new solar panel additions? Look I’m right there on your screen, David Alensky, scheduled to arrive today.” David said. He pointed to the kiosk officer’s display of incoming travellers.

“Yes, yes. Now I see you. Your ride is outside. Have a pleasant stay in Eldrus.” the kiosk officer said. I could see now that she was human. Seemingly the only human kiosk officer around. It was pure luck I met her.

“Hello, my name is Allen Buchannon. I just came off bus 288 and I’m here to clear my travel.” I told her.

“May I see your passport?” she asked. I handed her my passport, wrapped in leather. “Alright, everything checks out. Anything else?”

“I was hoping to find some travel to Mycliff. And also hoping to find out the name of a certain pretty kiosk officer.” my attempt at a pick up line was obvious and she saw right through it.

“Maybe you should wait until you get into town before you start trying to pick up ladies. Which, by the way, you can do by getting on bus 107 outside just over there.” she pointed to an exit to my right.

“Thanks. But I still don’t know your name.” I told her inquisitively.

“Carol. To get a last name, you’ll have to find me again.” she smiled. I returned the favor and then walked out the door. I found my bus quickly and hopped onboard. The transport was going to take me to Mycliff, presently the only town in Eldrus. Once I arrived, I was going to try and explore, hopefully find something to eat, and then go find some lodging for myself. I wasn’t looking for anything fancy, just a place for a temporary stay. The money didn’t matter. None of it was mine anyways.

The bus started up and rolled along the road to Mycliff. I gazed outside at the wondrous landscape. The day here was a bit longer than on Earth, 26 hours, which made me realize how much time I was going to get to enjoy it. Inside the bus, it was hot and smelled of sweat. It was at least a hundred degrees outside, and the air conditioning inside the bus barely made the heat bearable. I made a mental note to get a place with air conditioning.

I got off the bus when it stopped and looked around at the still-developing town. There were strange buildings everywhere, much of it appeared to be housing. There were even places built into the towering pillars I mentioned earlier. There were bridges crossing great chasms, which cut the town in many places.

I looked up to find many things flying above me. What was there would have terrified anyone two years ago, but now? Seeing flying griffins was normal. In fact, the griffins were the easiest to believe could fly. Some, I assumed, had to be using some sort of magic to keep them aloft. Many of these flying things were gliding between buildings, sometimes carrying things. Possibly for construction, I thought.

My attention was drawn to a great building built partway into a cliff. It seemed just about the only thing that was finished. There were magical creatures flying in and out of it, but none were carrying much. From description alone, I had to assume it was the home of the wizards and mages that had moved here from Earth. Apparently, magic was stronger here or something wacky, which I would never understand.

My feet moved through the knee high grass toward a half-finished building with a sign for food on it. I was starving, apparently interstellar travel takes a lot out of you. I opened the pull door to be greeted by a welcome blast of cold air. I walked inside to find two staircases leading up. Class 1’s & 2’s, the sign at one stairwell read. Class 3’s, the other read. Classes were used to identify you in this day and age. Class one was human, class two was bipedal and could speak, class three was more bestial and often could not communicate in the ways we take for granted.

I began to climb the stairwell labeled for me, class one and two. The cool air was nice as I walked up the stairs. Doing this in the heat outside would be terrible, I thought. I reached the top step and got a view of the place. It only had three walls, and was built into the side of the cliff. The place where the fourth wall would have been was completely open to the outside, offering a fantastic view of the land.

From here I could see the end of the plains and into the deep and strange forests and swamps that surrounded it. The orange tinted blue sky glowed with the light of the sun, no trace of a cloud anywhere. Eldrus was truly the most beautiful place I had ever seen. My train of thought was broken by a question.

“Would you like a table sir?” asked a waitress next to me. She was a naga, half snake half human. I tried not to notice.

“Um, yes. Somewhere near the edge please.” I told her.

“Will anyone else be joining you?” she asked.

“No. It’s just me today.” I told her and she grabbed one menu.

“Follow me, please.” she slithered away and I followed, careful not to step on her tail. She sat me down at a two person table right where I wanted to be. I looked at the menu and ordered something close to home for me. I got a water to drink. I slipped my pack off my shoulders and slipped it underneath the table. I waited for my food, gazing out at the awesome sight before me. That’s when I was interrupted again by someone sitting down next to me.

“Hope you don’t mind me sitting here, but I need to talk to you.” said a young man as he pulled out a chair and sat down.

“What do you want?” I asked polite as I could.

“I’m a mage in training here, and I can’t help but notice that you seem to give off mass amounts of magic in waves. I’ve never heard of anything that did that, ever. So how can you?” the magician asked.

“First of all, I don’t even know your name. I don’t really feel comfortable around a person until I do.” I told him.

“Oh, sorry. Name’s Lawrence, but you can call me Larry. Everyone else does.” he rushed.

“I’m Allen. And about your question, that would be part of why I came to Eldrus. No one on Earth seems to be able to figure it out.” I left out as much as I could. Lawrence stared at me for a minute, judging me.

“Can you come with me? I might be able to take you to someone who might be able to figure it out. That’s what you want, right?” Lawrence asked.

“Sure. Long walk?” I asked in return.

“No, just a few minutes.” he told me. I paid my bill and grabbed my pack, then we left. I told him I was new in town, and didn’t have a place to stay yet. He told me about his life, and how he only had a year or two left until he graduated. He also informed me that I could sleep at the academy if I wanted, for helping with research and so on.

The walk was certainly short, just as Lawrence had said. But the heat still had enough time to make me sweat. It was getting cooler outside, but only a little. Lawrence said it never got below seventy degrees fahrenheit, even at night. When we walked into the home of the mages, I was not pleasantly surprised with cool air as I had been at the restaurant. The entire place was very open, so air conditioning was impossible. Lawrence practically dragged me to an elevator.

We went up several floors. Our destination was floor 7, third from the top. We exited the elevator and walked down a twisting corridor. The hallway opened to reveal a massive hole in the building, the one which I had seen many avian creatures fly into. It was just as busy now as it was when I first saw it. Lawrence lead me down a haphazard side path, talking all the way. I was surprised how much I learned in about twenty seconds of him talking.

He opened a side door and stepped inside, gesturing for me to follow. I climbed through the rectangular portal into a large room. At one end were several hospital beds, at the other were counters and tabletops piled with books and different scientific instruments. Lawrence led me through a maze of these tables to find a young woman sitting in a chair, typing on a computer.

“Diana! I found someone you might find interesting.” Lawrence said. The woman spun her chair around to face me, and gasped.

“Who are you?” she asked impolitely. She stood up and practically ran up to me.

“Allen. I suppose you’re Diana?” I asked.

“Yes, yes. What are you, by the way?” she asked like it was a perfectly normal question. I suppose that in this day and age, it was.

“Human, last I checked.”

“That can’t be. No, no, no. Not possible. Sorry,” she said as she stepped away from me, “I’m not usually like this. You’re just the most interesting person I’ve ever met.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment, as I have only spoken like five words to you so far.” I said.

“No, not you personality. Just the power radiating off you. It’s interesting.” she told me.

“I take back what I said about it being a compliment then.” I pointed out.

“So how did you come by such power?” she asked, looking like she was certain to be entertained by whatever answer I gave.

“That would be what I’m here to find out. I came to Eldrus to see if I could find someone who could sort it out for me. Can you?” I asked, hopefully.

“I can try. Come with me.” she led me back through the maze of books and scientific looking equipment to an empty bed. “Lie down.” she commanded. I did as she asked, nervous about it despite myself. For a while she just stared at me. I assumed she was doing something to gauge how much magic was coming off me and trying to compare it to something else. Then she slapped me.

“Ow!” I complained. “What was that for?”

“I wanted to see if the magic surrounding you would react to your emotion. It definitely is connected to you somehow.” Diana told me.

“Yeah, I got that.” I said sarcastically as I rubbed my cheek. Lawrence looked apologetic.

“Alright, well give me until tomorrow, then I might have something. You can stay here if you want, Lawrence can take you to a guest room for tonight. Feel free to explore the town and whatnot, I’m sure you’re excited to see what we’ve built here.”

“From what I’ve seen, it’s already more amazing than anything back home on Earth.” Diana didn’t respond, she just walked away into her books.

“She’s not usually like that. Usually she would ask before she slapped you.” Lawrence told me.

“Good to know. So, anywhere I can drop my pack?” I asked, gesturing to my luggage laying by the side of the bed.

“Yeah, I’ll get you a room. Is that all you have?” he asked.

“Mhm-hmm.” I grunted. “Didn’t have much back on Earth, just enough to get me here.”

“Hmm. Well, follow me.” Lawrence said. I grabbed my backpack and slipped it over my shoulders. The mage lead me back out into the cavernous hole in the building and down the winding path to another door. When this one opened, I found a hallway beyond. Lawrence walked down it as I followed him toward a door just like any other. He knocked and whispered something, and the door swung open.

Inside was a small-ish room, with a bed in the far corner and a desk sitting against the wall. There was a large window by the bed, with a view of the beautiful landscape below. I set my pack down by the door and walked over to the bed. I looked out the window in wonder.

“It’s amazing how quick you begin to take it for granted. If you want me to show you the town, I’ll just be across the hall.” Lawrence told me.

“Who was she?” I asked.

“Diana? One of the better magicians I’ve ever met and a great teacher.”

“But there’s something you aren’t telling me.”

“How’d you know?”

“I just do. Now tell me.”

“She’s a phoenix. You know- big orange feathery bird?”

“I know what a phoenix is, Lawrence. I did study a bit before I came here.” I told the young magician.

“Really? So you’ve been planning on coming here for a while then.” he half-asked it as a question.

“You could say that. Also, there wasn’t much to do back home. Reading about myths and legends was a pretty good pastime.” I told him.

“Where did you live, by the way?” he asked me.

“Basically the middle of nowhere. A little town. Carson, in America. I made a lot of memories there.”

“Sounds nice. I lived in a big city before this place. But it’s been almost a year since I moved, so I don’t have a lot of friends that live there anymore. Do you have any friends you’re missing right now?” The inquisitive mage asked.

“No. Didn’t have many friends back home.” I told him. That’s an understatement, I thought. “See you tomorrow?”

“Sure. Whenever you want.” he replied and left the room. I went and sat down on the bed. I pulled out my journal, skimming over past entries as I went. I was going to run out of pages soon, I hoped I could find a replacement somewhere in Eldrus. I pulled my pen out of backpack as well and started to write.

1/12/2015 Earth Date 17:42 PM Eldrus Time

Well, I’m finally here. It took almost a year, but it was worth it. I was just looking through some of my previous entries and saw what I was feeling when I first left. Scared, paranoid, just terrible in general. But here I am now, in a world millions of light years away from Carson. A million light years away from Jared and his goons. Tomorrow I’ll finally find out why. Why they kept me there for so long. I literally can’t wait, so I won’t. I’m pretty exhausted, so I’ll just sleep. I’ll write again soon, hopefully with what I’ve been looking for all this time. Till then, journal.

I closed up the journal and set it in my backpack. I pulled the covers off my bed and threw them across the room. I don’t like sleeping with covers, it’s too unfamiliar to me. I half curled up on the exposed mattress and fell asleep. I had no idea what awaited me in the day ahead. I suppose that at the time, I didn’t care.

***

I was in a room with pure white walls. I was sitting in a chair that was much too short for me to comfortably sit on. The room was bright but there was no light in it. It was simply impossible, then again, what isn’t possible these days? I tried to stand up, but I couldn’t. My arms were tied to the sides of the chair, and the chair in turn seemed to be glued to the ground. I pulled and pulled but it didn’t give way.

“Allen!” I heard. My head jerked in the direction of the noise. There was no one there. “Allen, run!” I heard from a different direction. Suddenly my surroundings changed and I was in a dark forest which seemed all too familiar. I navigated through the twisting maze toward a destination I didn’t know.

I came out onto a highway, where I saw a great light just before it hit me. When it did hit, it knocked me backwards into complete darkness. I hadn’t stopped falling yet, and it didn’t appear I would anytime soon. “You can’t! He didn’t do anything! Let him go!” I heard a familiar voice scream. Then a gunshot and a thump. Lights flashed through the inky darkness. Alarms and sirens and screams. “Stay with me! Come on! You can pull through this!” I heard a new voice scream. I didn’t recognize it.

My eyes flashed open as I awoke into darkness. I was walking towards the only light I could see. It was orange and yellow and red. It danced like fire across the walls, but somehow I knew it wasn’t fire. I turned a corner around a rock wall and saw the biggest chasm I had ever dreamed of. It seemed to encompass an infinity of space, but still be underground. In the center was a great dragon.

I wasn’t afraid. I didn’t care about what was to happen next. I just jumped. Down and down and down and down I fell. The walls, the ceiling, and the dragon all blurred together. Suddenly I was outside again, hurtling toward the ground. There was something flying around to the right of me, moving just as fast. I suddenly started to slow down and curve to make a landing on the ground.

And then I was back in the white room again. I frantically looked around. Someone, wake me up from this nightmare! I screamed, but no sound came out. I struggled against the chair. It’s grip was unrelenting. I felt a prick in my arm and then it’s release. I looked to see what had stabbed me, only to be launched somewhere else.

I was on a darkened staircase, headed down. I was running as fast as I could. I have to get to the bottom! I thought. I dared not make a sound as I ran. The steps beneath me didn’t creak or crack. I landed at the bottom of the stairs and threw open a door. I rushed through it to find myself staring through a window. I saw myself on the other side, screaming and struggling to get free of a chair in an all white room.

I went and banged on the glass, but I didn’t hear myself. I scrambled to find a door, or anything that would get me to the other side. I finally found one, and turned the knob. I walked through the door to find myself in the white room, only it wasn’t white anymore. And the person I just saw struggling in the chair wasn’t there anymore. The walls were torn and broken, and much of the room was covered in a thick, red liquid.

“It’s funny you should come back here, you know. All those good times we had.” a man said behind me. I whipped around to find myself on a beach. The sky was overcast and the waves lapped at the shore. There was a wad of dark clothing that had washed up onto the coast. I moved over to it and lifted it up. Suddenly, it moved without me and suspended itself in the air. It defied description.

***

I bolted awake in my bed, panting and sweating. My breathing started to slow once I realized where I was. I was away from all that. It was over now. Well, hopefully it’s over, I thought as I looked at my watch. It was now 8:15 AM in Eldrus. Finally time to find out what caused my life to be the way it is. Finally time to move on. Time to forget about the White Room and everything that happened there. I got out of bed and went to go meet Lawrence, the key to my sanity staying intact.