by Ted Dekker
“Thomas!” he cried. “I’m flying!”
Sure enough, Johan floated higher, about a hundred feet above the ground now, faltering slightly, screaming with laughter. Three other boys joined Johan in the air. Then the air began to fill with others who took to the air like children in their dreams.
“Thomas,” Michal said. Thomas stood frozen by the sight. “Thomas, try it.”
Thomas looked at the Roush with apprehension. “I can fly?”
“Of course. Elyon has changed the world for us. You’d better do it while you can because it won’t last forever, you know. He is just playing. Try it.”
Thomas reached out instinctively and grasped the fur on Michal’s head for stability. He jumped tentatively and found a lightness that surprised him. He smiled and jumped again, with more force. This time he floated several feet off the ground. The third time he leaped with all his strength, and he soared off balance into the air.
Johan buzzed by, squealing with delight. He had obviously learned how to maneuver. Thomas found that he could gain momentum by shifting his body weight. There was just enough gravity to allow forward motion.
Within minutes, Thomas flew with the rest of them. It wasn’t long before Rachelle, Johan, and Michal joined him, and they set off to explore their new world. Chattering like children between peals of laughter, they flew to the inverted globe’s highest crest and looked down on the village far below. They landed on a meadow, its flowers hanging upside down and pointing to the village now barely visible below. They walked upside down, hearts fluttering like butterflies, stepping carefully at the odd angle. Then they leaped off the grass, skimmed the trees down one side to the lake, and plunged into its jade waters.
In the warm green waters flush with light, they heard delighted laughter through the full range of the scale, from a deep, rumbling chuckle to a high, piercing giggle. And with wide-eyed glances to see if the others had also heard, they knew at the first chuckle that it was Elyon. If they were beside themselves with the staggering scope of the adventure, Elyon was beside himself at bringing it to them. And they laughed with him.
The hours fled. They played like children in an amusement park. There were no lines, and all rides were open. They flew and explored and twisted and turned, and it wasn’t until after midday that the world began to reshape itself.
Within an hour it was back to normal.
And Thomas remembered Bangkok.
Rachelle approached him, laughing throatily. “Now that, my dear Thomas, is what I call a fabulously good time!” She spontaneously threw her arms around his neck and squeezed him tight.
Thomas was so surprised that he neglected to return the hug. Rachelle pulled back, but she didn’t release him. She cocked her left leg behind her and stared into his eyes.
“Would you like to kiss me?”
“Kiss?” He could smell her sweet breath.
“I am helping you restore your memory, or have you forgotten that as well?”
“No.” He swallowed.
“So then I would like to help you remember what it is like to kiss. I will have to show you, of course.”
“Have you kissed anyone before? I mean, another man?”
“No. But I’ve seen it done. It’s very clear in my mind. I’m sure I could show you exactly how it’s done.” Her eyes flashed. She ran a tongue over her lips. “Perhaps you should wet your lips first; they look quite dry.”
He did it.
She leaned forward and touched her lips gently to his.
Thomas closed his eyes. For a moment everything seemed to shut down. But in that same moment, a new world blossomed into existence.
No, not a new world. An old world.
He had done this before.
Rachelle’s lips separated from his. “Trust me, dear, you’re not in a dream. We’ll see if that sparks your memory.”
Heat spread down Thomas’s neck. He’d done this before. He’d kissed a woman before! He was sure of it.
He must have looked stunned, because Rachelle offered a satisfied smile. It was true, her kiss had taken his breath away, but there was more. It had brought something back.
“Tanis is coming to speak to you,” she said. “He still insists that you’re his apprentice in the fighting arts, but I think he’s more interested in the histories.” She put a finger on his lips. “Just remember, they’re dreams. Don’t get carried away.”
Rachelle turned and stepped down the path, looking pleased and supremely confident despite her best efforts to appear nonchalant.
Thomas’s mind immediately chased a new thought that had presented itself while she warned him about the histories. Suppose both realities were not only real, but woven together? Like the boy had said at the upper lake, the lion and the lamb, both real. Both images of the same truth.
The same reality.
What if . . .
“Rachelle?”
She turned back. “Yes?”
If the two realities were interwoven, maybe he was meant to rescue in both. Rachelle here, Monique there. Could Rachelle lead him to Monique?
“You’re staring at me,” Rachelle said. “Is something wrong?”
“That was very wonderful,” he said. Very wonderful?
She winked. “It was meant to be.”
“Could I ask you a question?”
“Of course.”
“If there was one place from which you would like to be rescued, where would it be?”
“That is your job. To rescue me.”
He hurried forward, taken with the possibility that worked his mind. “Yes, but if there was one place. Say you were trapped and I was to rescue you. Where would that be? Please, I have to know so that I can rescue you.”
“Well, I’m not exactly a storyteller. But . . .” She faced the forest and considered the question. “I would say that I would be held in a . . .” She spun toward him. “A great white cave full of bottles. Where a river and the forest meet.”
“Really? Have you ever seen such a cave?”
“No. Why should I have? I am fabricating this for you, like a storyteller would.”
“Is it here, in this forest, or somewhere far away?”
“Close by,” she said after a moment’s thought.
“And how would I find this cave?”
“By following the river, of course.”
“And which direction is it from here?”
She looked at him curiously, as if objecting to his pressing for details. “That way,” she said, pointing to her right. “East.”
“East.”
“Yes, east. I’m sure of it. The cave is a day’s walk to the east.”
He nodded. “Then I will rescue you.”
“And when you rescue me, I should want another kiss,” she said in complete seriousness.
“A kiss.”
“Yes. A real kiss, not one from your silly dreams. A real kiss for a real woman who has fallen hopelessly in love with you, my dear prince.”
She turned and walked down the path.
Thomas walked quickly, if for no reason other than that he was thinking quickly.
Rachelle’s kiss had spawned a whole new thread of possibility. It found its origin in this one thought: What if the two realities were more than just interwoven; what if they depended on each other?
What if what happened in Bangkok depended on what he did here? And what if what happened here depended on what happened in Bangkok? He already knew that if he was healed here, he was healed in Bangkok. And what skills he learned here, he could also use in Bangkok. But to think that the realities might depend on each other . . .
It was a staggering thought. Yet in so many ways it made sense. In fact, he was quite sure he’d come to the same conclusion in Bangkok. If it were another way, the boy would have said so. Elyon would have discouraged his dreams. But he hadn’t. He’d left the choice up to him.
God wasn’t a lamb or a lion or a boy. He was all of them if he chose to be. Or none of them. T
hey were metaphors for the truth.
The truth. One truth. Two sides of one truth. Lion and lamb. The colored forest and Bangkok. Possible?
He still wasn’t sure which reality was real, but he was that much more convinced now that the truth in both realities was real. And he had to be very careful to treat both as real.
Kara had said that.
Of course, this didn’t mean that just because he loved Rachelle he was meant to love Monique. But it was quite possible he was meant to rescue Monique. That was why he was learning how to rescue Rachelle in this Great Romance.
It had to be. And if so, he may have just discovered how to rescue her. Or at least where to rescue her. He should sleep immediately, dream of Bangkok, and test this theory.
Thomas stopped on the path. If he was meant to rescue Monique in the histories, then what was he supposed to do here, if this reality also depended on his dreams?
Thomas stopped on the path. If Monique was real, wasn’t it possible that Bill was also real? That they really had crash-landed in a spacecraft as Teeleh had insisted?
What if that was the only reality?
Maybe everything else was only a dream. He was really from Earth, being terribly affected by this strange planet. His stomach turned. The thought suddenly felt terribly compelling. It would explain everything.
He had to at least eliminate that as a possibility. The only way to know was to return to the black forest. He should at least consider—
“Thomas! Thomas Hunter, there you are!”
Tanis ran out of the forest, waving a crooked red stick in his right hand. “I have looked everywhere for you. Did you enjoy the change this morning?”
“Incredible,” Thomas said. “Spectacular!”
“The last time, he split the whole planet in two,” Tanis said. “You may have forgotten, because it was before you lost your memory, but we could see the stars above and below. Then the fissure filled halfway with water and we dived. The dive itself lasted a full hour.” Tanis chuckled and shook his head.
“That’s amazing,” Thomas said.
“This?” Tanis waved the stick. “You like it?”
“I meant your story’s amazing—falling for an hour. What is that?”
“Well, it’s something I’ve come up with based on something I remember from the histories. Maybe you know what it’s called.” He held it up proudly.
It was a stick, shaped and bent like waves with a hook on the end.
Thomas shook his head. “No, I can’t say that I recognize it. What does it do?”
“It’s a weapon!” Tanis cried. He jabbed the air like a clumsy swordsman. “A weapon to scare off the vermin!”
“Why would that work?”
“You don’t know? The Shataiki are terrified of the colored forest. This is a weapon from the colored forest. It follows that they would be terrified of it as well. We could use these weapons on our expedition.”
Thomas took the device. It was a sword of sorts from the histories. A very poor one. But the fact that it was made from the colored wood made for some interesting applications. Thomas could hardly forget Teeleh’s reaction to the small piece of colored wood from Johan.
Thomas swung the sword. It had an awkward feel. He looked at Tanis, saw the man was watching him with interest.
“This is called a sword. But you’ve forgotten to give it a sharp edge.”
Tanis jumped forward. “Show me.”
“Well, it needs to be flat here and sharp along this edge so that it can cut.”
Tanis reached for the sword. “May I?”
Thomas gave it to him. The man went to work with his hands. He was a storyteller, not a craftsman, but he had enough basic skill to quickly reshape the sword by coaxing the wood into what looked more like a sword. Thomas watched, confounded by the sight. Rachelle had explained the process to him, but he’d failed miserably at all of his own attempts. Reshaping molecules with his fingers was something he would evidently have to relearn.
“There!” Tanis shoved out the sword.
Thomas took it and ran his fingers along the now flat, sharp blade. Amazing. This in a matter of moments. What else could Tanis build with the proper guidance?
Thomas felt a stab of caution.
“It would never work.” He tossed the sword back to Tanis. “Remember, I’ve been in the black forest. One small sword against a million Shataiki— not a chance. Even if they are afraid of the wood.”
“Agreed!” Tanis said. “It would never work.” He hurled the sword into the forest. It clattered against a tree and fell to the ground.
“Now, about the histories—”
“I don’t want to talk about the histories right now,” Thomas said.
“Your dreams are wearing you out? I understand completely. Then more training. As my apprentice, you have to apply yourself, Thomas Hunter. You’re a quick study, I saw that the first time you attempted my double-back, but with the right practice you could be a master! Rachelle has taught you some new moves. Show me.” He clapped twice.
“Right here?”
“Unless you’d rather do it in the village square.”
Thomas glanced around. They were in a small meadow. Birds chirped. A white lion watched them lazily from where it lay by a tall topaz blue tree.
“Okay.” Thomas took two long steps, launched himself into the air, twisted, and rolled into a forward flip. He landed squarely on his feet, back to imaginary opponent. Amazing how easy it felt.
“Bravo! Wonderful. I call that the reverse, because your opponent will never see your heel coming around on the flip. It would knock a black bat dizzy. Here, tear your tunic up the thigh to give you more freedom of movement.”
Thomas did so. The leather pants they often wore wouldn’t present this challenge, but the tunics could be restrictive during wild kicks.
“Good. Show me another.”
Thomas showed him five more moves.
“Now,” Tanis said, stepping forward. “Hit me!”
“I can’t hit you! Why would I want to hit you?”
“Training, my apprentice. Defense. I will pretend you are a bat. You’re bigger than a bat, of course, so I’ll pretend you’re three bats, standing on each other’s shoulders. Now, you come for me and try to hit me, and I’ll show you how to protect yourself.”
“Sparring,” Thomas said.
“What?”
“It was called sparring in the histories.”
“Sparring! I love it! Let’s do some sparring.”
They sparred for a long time, a couple of hours at least. It was the first time Thomas had been exposed to the full breadth of the fight method developed by Tanis, and it made the martial arts of his dreams feel simple by comparison.
True, all aerial maneuvers were easier here, in part, presumably, because of the atmosphere. But he suspected the moves were easier also because of the method itself. Hand-to-hand combat was far more about the mind than muscle, and Tanis had both in abundance. Not once was Thomas able to land a blow on the leader, though he got closer with each attempt.
Amazingly, Thomas’s stamina seemed nearly inexhaustible. He was growing stronger by the day. Recovering from his fall in the black forest.
“Enough,” Thomas finally said.
Tanis lifted a finger. “Enough for the day. But you are improving with astonishing speed. I am proud to call you my apprentice. Now”—he put his hand on Thomas’s shoulder and turned him toward the forest—“we must talk.”
The histories. The man was incorrigible.
“Tell me, what kind of weapon do you think would work against the Shataiki?”
“Tanis, have you ever confronted the Shataiki? Have you ever even stood on the banks of the river and watched them?”
“I’ve watched them from a distance, yes. Black bats with talons that look like they could pop a head off in short order.”
“But why haven’t you gone closer, if you know they can’t cross the river to harm you?”
&
nbsp; “Where’s the wisdom in that? They are tricky beasts; surely you’ve seen that. I would think that even to talk to them could prove fatal. They would employ all sorts of connivances to trick you into their water. Honestly, I am astounded you survived yourself.”
“If you know all of this, why are you so adamant about an expedition? It would be suicide!”
“Well, I wouldn’t talk to them! And you survived! Also, you know many things that might shift the balance of power. Before you came to us, I might never have seriously considered an attack, even though I wrote many stories about it. With your knowledge, we can defeat the vermin, Thomas! I know it!”
“No! We can’t! They fight against the heart, not measly swords!”
“You think I don’t know this? But tell me, wasn’t it true that in the histories there was a device that could level the entire black forest in one moment?”
A nuclear bomb. Of course, any use of a nuclear weapon would be a landmark recorded in the histories.
“Yes. It was called a nuclear bomb. Do you know when such a device was used in the histories?”
“Not specifically,” Tanis said. “Several times, if I remember. But mostly after the Great Deception. In the time of the tribulations. Are you saying that even with such a device we couldn’t destroy the Shataiki?”
Thomas considered this. He looked to the east where the black forest waited in darkness. What was it Michal had said? The primary difference between this reality and the histories was that here everything found an immediate expression in physical reality. You could virtually touch Elyon by entering his water. You could see evil in the Shataiki. So maybe Tanis was on to something. Maybe evil could be wiped out with the right weapons.
Thomas shook his head. It sounded wrong. All wrong.
“I’m not suggesting this nuclear bomb,” Tanis said. “But I’m making a point. What about a gun, as you call it? With enough guns, couldn’t we hold them off at the river?”
A gun. Thomas shrugged. “A gun is only a small device. They come in bigger sizes but . . . this is ridiculous. Even if I could figure out how to make a gun, I wouldn’t.”
“But you could, couldn’t you?”
Possible. He couldn’t bring a gun here, of course. Nothing physical had ever followed him in his dreams. But knowledge . . .
